MozamBecca

What’s bringing me home

2010-06-14T09:28:00.001+02:00

I’m going to update this a few times I think, don’t think these are the only things I miss lol.

*well obviously what I miss most about home is my family and friends, but there are lots and lots of little things I reaaaaally miss about Richmond and the States in general:

*Kitchen 64 & having Graham serve me just like old times :o)

*Mojo’s Cheese fries w/ ranch and Jessica!!!!

*choice. you have so many choices in America. 200 types of cereal, all readily available at all times, as with everything else in grocery stores. *You can even ask grocery stores to stock items for you personally!* 200 restaurants to visit in any given 20mile radius. Choices choices choices!

*my beautiful VW Passat!!!!! Taylor, I’ve longed for you so, so desperately :-) I can’t wait to drive you again!!

*my 2nd neice/nephew! due November 5th!!!

*the colemans, katie, scott, connor, brayden, cason and declan –>those little cuties better remember me and remember well! lol

*something in my heart is really calling me to Richmond’s children, maybe God has something in store for me

*beautifully paved roads (yep, even downtown’s Richmond’s roads)

*rules for the order and chaos that can happen in community living

Dia das Criancas

2010-05-30T19:46:00.001+02:00

wrote this a couple days ago:

This day is huge –or so I’ve heard. Every time it’s spoken of (in hushed tones of course, and with s-p-e-l-l-e-d words) it’s portrayed to be an equivalent to Christmas. And let me tell ya… Christmas was a huge day. Great day, lots of fun. New Years was –by far!– the most fun day yet, but Christmas was really close too. So… Children’s Day… wooosh, it’s gonna be something else :-) Well anyway, today Laura and I started prep for the gifts the boys will get. Together we went through all the big huge wooden boxes in the middle room of the dorm and pulled out all the toys we have stored. I should say that Iris runs completely on donations. It’s amazing. From missionaries to children to staff, all salaries and needs are met by donations :-) Ahhmazing! Well, we started organizing all the toys. All the many, many toys. Any child’s heaven, in fact. I love organizing, so I was in my zone, lol. We had little grocery bags filled for each type of toy: bouncy balls, slinkys, action figures, army men, match box cars (which will forever remind me of Josh & Jason), arts and crafts, pencils, notebooks, and on and on and on. It was really awesome, knowing we are able to give 30 boys a bag full of toys twice a year (Christmas & Children’s Day) and still even more throughout the year all thanks to visitors’ donations. So in the next couple days I’ll decorate bags for the boys and then Laura and I will organize what goes into each one. They’ll also get shoes and a whole outfit :-) It’s gonna be really cute.

I’ve posted up some pics of Christmas, one of the whole dorm and one with my uncle playing with their new toys. When I was looking back through my pictures for Christmas, I realized the Christmas card I sent home was of me, Laura and room 1. This is the room Naftal was in, he’s front and centre in that picture. With the best smile ever, he’s so beautiful. So strong and stoic, but he could have the greatest smile when he wanted to. I take great comfort in knowing I’ll see him again. Amazing comfort.. but I just wanted to let you guys know that –if you got a Christmas card, you also got a great picture of Naftal :-)
(or if you just got your Christmas card, in May… like Jessica’s lol)

the best memory ever

2010-05-17T19:21:00.001+02:00

story time:
I had only been here about seven-ish weeks, Laura had been gone for only a week or two and I had my first new boy to greet. I didn’t know exactly how to welcome him, not sure what the tias had or didn’t have to give him and such. So I say hello to him and give him a hug then try to fit him for a shirt and pants, which was a bit challenging b/c he was really big and built. Well, about a week goes by, he’s starting to get his feel for the centre and understanding the ins & outs, of which I’m sure the boys’ explained to him. He’s come to the afternoon program, gone to church and maybe school –can’t remember if it was out by then?

One day, as I’m walking up to the dorm under the heat of that blazing afternoon sun, this little boy comes running up to me. As he’s speeding away from the dorm he looks up at me and smiles, grabs my hand and turns around to walk with me to the dorm. I about melted to the ground in a puddle. Up until that point the boys had held my hand often, but it was only because I was a new person not because I was me. Well this time, it was because I was me. It was Naftal. I loved that day. I wrote it down in my heart the moment it happened. I knew then how special it was and I know now how even more special it’s become.

it was the first great memory I made at the centre

YouTube link

2010-05-14T19:37:00.001+02:00

check out my life in movies: http://www.youtube.com/user/pelicanorc

Family Update (and Richmond/jobs plans)

2010-05-14T19:10:00.001+02:00

huge, amazing, awesome, spectacular news: my sister is pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so stoked it’s crazy. This is my happy place when things get hard :-) She’s due November 5th. I’m back in Richmond August 5th, just in time to start her 3rd trimester. feels like everyone is preggo..? I’m so excited to have another neice/nephew it’s ridonkulous! I hope its a girl :-D

So, if God wants things to go as I’ve roughly got planned out…this is what the next year of my life looks like: Moz until August, then Richmond until early 2011, then finally head off to Nashville (or at least a city that is not Richmond, but this is only if I choose to lower my standards –I haven’t chosen this yet though lol). And then, lol (I realize it’s silly planning thiiiiis far in advance) after about 2 or 3 years in Nashville I’d really love to move to Australia, Melbourne-ish area.

So many people think I’m crazy. It’s nothing new. I’ve heard things along the lines of “crazy dreamer” since I was 12. I dream big :-) If you don’t dream big then what do you expect out of your life? Laura and I had a big conversation about this last week, when I was feeling a bit down about dreaming of Nashville. She’s so lovely :-) Anyhoo… I need to find a job to support me while I’m in Richmond and I need to find a job in Nashville. I love how these are just the sorts of things you can’t do on your own. I’ll only ever find a job with God’s grace and my community’s support. Life is beautiful :-)

I really want to work with Jen while I’m in Richmond. That would be amazingly perfect. She’s just started watching kids in her home so that she can stay home with Kayla and the new baby. I SO want to do this with her! I’d also really love to be a nanny. I know nanny jobs don’t really lead anywhere, they’re certainly not career-starters. But I’d still love to do to it in Richmond :-) I’ve got my eye on a place called Youth Villages in Nashville. I’ve really got a heart for residential care for children/older youth. Here at the centre we have tias who work 4 days on 3 days off and live here full-time when they’re “on.” I want to do this in the states. I feel like I can invest so fully and easily if I live where the kids live. Youth Villages seems to have this same mission. Please pray I’ll find something like this in Nashville :o)

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Nelspruit Pictures

2010-05-14T19:09:00.001+02:00

for those who can’t see these pictures on Facebook, here are some pics from a weekend in South Africa with Emily & Heather as I bought a new visa

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Friend Update

2010-05-13T20:39:00.001+02:00

ANNE’S COMING IN 9 DAYS!!!!!!!!!

I’m so excited it’s crazy :-) I wish everyone from home could come see my life here. I’ve invested so much here I can’t even begin to explain everything, I want you all to see it first hand! But it’s okay. Before I left Anne and I had already talked about her coming to visit and I was 95% confident she could come. I was only holding back that little 5% in case she couldn’t, I’d have room to be disappointed. I’ve already got our time together planned out, well mais ou menos.. I’ll meet her and my aunt at the air port then go home with my aunt for the whole weekend. Me and Anne will spend Thursday night and Friday catching up and hanging out with my family. Then on Saturday my friends from the centre will come out and hopefully stay the night. I want to head out to an island or the beach, but (as usual) transportation and finances are a bit of an issue. So I don’t know how that’ll work out but I know it’ll be fun :-) **God’s really been showing me how to trust him, and not worry but just be confident in waiting, it’s great** Then Sunday night we’ll go to worship @ Jimmy & Linda’s house and finally go to the centre afterwards.

We’ll spend the whole week with the boys and going on visitors’ outreaches. It’ll be my first time on a lot of the ministries the visitors participate in, I’m excited to finally have the chance. We’ve got four main outreaches that include visitors’ regular help: street ministry (they visit the jail and give food out in a park in the city), hospital ministry (go into the city and pray over the sick in the hospital), the Bocaria (local trash dump, they go and minister to and pray over the community living there), and weekend outreaches into the bush where they preach the Gospel. I’m excited! Anne’s gonna love it. Then the next weekend we’ll (omgomgomg!) go to Kruger Park with my family. This is the best part. Kruger is a safari park! I’m finally gonna see lions and zebras and really feel like I’m truly living in Africa. It’s going to be friggin sweet! We’ll drive down Friday or Saturday and then (God’s such a smarty pants) Anne and I will head home on Monday, catching a ride with Meghann and her mom who will be in Kruger that same weekend. While my aunt and cousin drive down to meet up with Uncle Todd. It looks as though everything will work out wonderfully :-) I’ve been trying to get to Kruger for so long, when I was last in South Africa I was really disapointed to not have the finances to afford the trip, since we drove past the park! Ahh, it hurt. But whatever, even if Anne and I don’t go to Kruger it’s still going to be an amazing time :-)

**she just got here this afternoon! we went to dinner and ice cream with my family :o) and sat outside by the pool chatting for ages, with tea of course!**

Life Update

2010-05-08T18:54:00.001+02:00

Job Update
Things change here so often, it’s ridiculous. People come and go all the time; new people come, old people leave, current people visit home for two months at a time. It’s ridiculous! So, in light of these changes, I’ve taken on more responsibilities. In hospitality it’s: keys. Keys. Keys. Keys. It’s a nightmare, but it’s all about organizing and categorizing…sooooo, (call me loony) I love it! At any given time we’ve got between 15-50 visitors, they sleep in their own little area we call the Visitor’s Compound. They each get a set with 3 keys (their room, their kitchen and to the actual compound which stays locked 24/7). I’m the one who has/gets to make sure each set of keys is correct. I’m not sure how to explain just how headachy this job is. I’ve been doing this since December and it’s just never ending. I just stepped in and took over because I love organizing. But I didn’t realize it would never be fixed. We never truly have all the keys we need and certainly not the number of extra copies we want. But it’s cool, it’s cool. :o)

I’m also doing this new thingie I call “car mileage.” The directors asked me to do the admin on keeping track of cars: how much they’re driven, their problems, and how much money is put into their tanks. It’s pretty messy because there are 14 cars and one missionary keeps track of these things for one car. So every Monday I’m emailing all the missionaries trying to track down what they wrote for their car. But it’s working pretty well, I’d give it an 85% success rate. It’s only lacking because drivers don’t write everything down the way their supposed to and I’ve got quite a bit of chasing to do with my colleagues. It’s a work in progress. :o)

The big change is this: Laura’s going home for 6 months! She’s leaving in mid-June, 7 weeks before I follow suit and head to Richmond. This is going to be tricky, because it means I’ll have to train-up a new missionary, leave for the States and then Laura will come back to a new person running the dorm. It’s going to be a bit odd, but I’m really excited for Laura. She’s going home to spend more time with her family and to start graduate school. I’m such a huge supporter of both these things :-) Please pray that a missionary will come here long-term with a heart for working with my dorm. And pray we get one before I leave. I don’t particularly want to run the dorm alone again, it’s a bit lonely and I still haven’t learned quite enough Portuguese to feel confident with the Tias’ explanations for things. But I especially want the chance to train a new missionary so that the boys’ lives are still relatively the same until Laura comes home. *I know I use the word home a lot, to talk about the States and here.. but that’s just my life* Pray over this whole situation in general :-) I know it’ll work out, but as usual, I just wish God would let me (little miss planner) know soon.

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Sopa!

2010-05-05T17:12:00.001+02:00

I did the Afternoon Program today with Room 3 (the youngest who are about 6) and we made soup :-) The only other time I’ve ever cooked with them was when we made a cake for Laura’s homecoming back when I first got here. So this was a new adventure..one that I didn’t even volunteer for without first stepping back and really processing through it. But then I figured how bad could it be? I’ve only made soup one other time in my life but these are six year olds. And not just American six year olds, but six year olds who will eat anything you put in their hands and say “doce!” (candy!).

It was a good time, lol :o) I love cooking, especially when I don’t follow a recipe and just go for something. The first step, the same one every young chef learns is: wash your hands. So I stood at the sink with a chair from the kitchen table and had each boy come and wash their hands. They were surprisingly good at this… the kids in America put their hands under the water right when you put the soap on, its useless. But my (amazing) boys first scrubbed their hands without provocation and then rinsed them –I was proud. Haha. Well after all hands were clean I set them up to color (and touch what I can only assume are germ-ridden colored pencils…. heh… oops?) I had each boy come up in turn and pour water into the pot, put vegetables in along with it and then stir. It was pretty freakin’ cute, I’m not gonna lie :-) And the soup turned out delicious (yay me). It was so good I even gave some to a tia, because I wasn’t worried she’d hate it :-) I love the Afternoon Program

Anatomia de Grey

2010-05-04T16:14:00.002+02:00

Grey’s is my favorite show and Meghann is my hero.

She visited home in February and brought back with her all (yes ALL!) seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, even some of the current season! It was heaven. So for the past, I dunno, 3-ish months we’ve been spending most Tuesday nights watching Grey’s. When Emily got here she brought season 2, then Meghann returned home with all seasons… we’re about to start season 5 tonight. Haha, it’s so great. It’s the little things, ya know? Don’t tell me anything about the current season, please, I've only seen the first 13 episodes. But that’s so exciting –I’ve seen the first half and I’m in Mozambique!! God is good in so many ways :-) Me and Emily are the hardcore viewers, Meghann and Erin watch often but then there’s Fiona and Heather… Maybe it’s because their English? They hardly watched until recently. As of last night I think I’ve finally got Fiona into it :-) She was really upset when Season 4 ended, until I got to tell her we’ve got Season 5, hah. But we’re still working on Hev. Pray for her lol, she needs to join us :-)

yes, I just devoted a whole post to Grey’s --it’s that good.

life updates are on their way soon. hopefully this week :-) lots to update!

lovelovelove

City Streets

2010-04-13T11:26:00.001+02:00

I made a video a few days ago, and now I’m sitting in a coffee shop able to enjoy internet strong enough to upload it :-) It’s not the smartest thing to take pictures out in the street, but I couldn’t imagine going home and not having what I see everyday on video. So I took the risk, and because of it I’m super happy. Stupid, maybe, but happy? Yes!

I’m in cafe sol right now with a big group of girl friends. This place is the closest I can get to Starbucks, it’s an ex-pat haven :-) I can actually evesdrop on conversations in English! I can people watch and understand their language –love it :-) It’s a very needed break after

a hard last week.

ShopRite

2010-04-11T10:14:00.001+02:00

This is our local grocery store, ShopRite, it’s kind of like a Food Lion. Kinda. Last friday there was a ShopRite run in the afternoon so I took one of my boys with me. I took Estevao (steve) who’s about 8 years old. I went up to the dorm and told him to stay in his nice school clothes but told him I’d explain why later. I didn’t want the entire dorm knowing I was taking him until the very last minute otherwise I’d be showered with “take me too!” I ended up being showered in those anyway, but I like to think I stopped some of it, lol. So anyway, we’re in the bus with two other missionaries and one visitor and I pull out my old cell phone so we can listen to music with earphones. Estevao is not a quiet kid, not at all, it’s part of what I adore about him. But on the ride there he was so out of his element it was adorable! He was silent! I kept dancing to the music trying to get him into it and he’d only give like 10% effort :-) So when we get there I tell him the rules of ShopRite before we walk in –something I learned from babysitting. I told him to always hold my hand or touch the cart and not to ask for anything, at all. He did amazing! He was my little helper, it was so cute :-) He loved pushing the cart, something I forgot all kids love to do. He carried things for me, and put the vegetables on the scales. So cute! And he did really well not asking for anything, but he did make an effort to point out every cool toy. Which up until that point I had never noticed. Nearing the end of the trip he saw a big cool toy car and said in English, “me for car.” I died laughing inside, but told him, “Don’t ask for anything please.” And then he said, again in English, “I said Jesus!” Hahaha, I died. So once we had finished getting all of our coisas (things) I bought him a soda and chocolate. The drive home was lovely, he almost spilled his soda a hundred times and his hands were covered in chocolate –a true kid :-)

Saying goodbye

2010-03-26T23:55:00.001+02:00

This past week Naftal left our little world and went to Heaven, where true life begins. It was a lot to take in, a lot to handle when I’m so far away from “normal” and my family. But God has everything under control, and He’s given me an amazing peace about Naffy. I miss him so much, but I only cry selfish tears when I miss him. I don’t actually want him to be here, because who would choose earth over Heaven? No one should. Two things I want to process about Naftal: one) the doctor over his case, and two) saying goodbye to boys.

One: Ros told all the missionaries at the Monday meeting that our doctor had explained to her how the head doctor on Naftal’s case directed the other doctors under him not to provide anything except Paracetamol and a multi-vitamin. The doctors under this head doctor, according to our doctor, were upset about this instruction. My first reaction to hearing this news was: oh my gosh that is disgusting and horrible, we have to pray for this doctor’s heart because no one should live like that –ever. And I was thankful for this reaction, I was glad not to hate the doctor. But now that I’ve thought over the millions of motives this doctor could have had, I really, really hope that God just gave him wisdom. Even in the States, Naftal’s future would have been bleak. He probably would have lived for many more months, but I doubt he would have been happy. I don’t think he would have been very comfortable at all. I pray that God gave his doctor wisdom and foresight that Naftal really wasn’t going to live very long. And once again, no one would ever choose earth over Heaven, if they were in love with the Lord. I love to imagine what Jesus and Naftal could be doing. That’s really special. I also really hope (and think) he gets to hang out with my Granddad and Adam.

Two: Simois & Daniel are moving back home next week. For so many reasons, this breaks my heart but makes me smile. At first I was only upset, but now I’m mixed up between being really joyful that their family is going to be a real family, and wishing we could all just go to Heaven now like Naftal. I know this may sound odd, but I don’t like thinking about how Simois and Daniel are moving out of the center into a world where I can’t contact them. It’s what I fear about moving away from the centre in general.. no longer will I have easy (or any?) access to these boys’ lives and hearts. I have so much security in Naftal right now that I just so desperately wish I had with all of the boys, especially Simois who I’ve grown so close with. I’m still processing through all of this, because like I mentioned, it’s great and completely awesome that they get to be a family. I just have to pray for the future of all our boys with a very committed heart. I want them to grow into men of God and the centre provides a nice(r) bubble for this to happen than (possibly) the community they could live in outside of Iris. I don’t want to worry about anything, or be discouraged, I know God’s going to work everything for His plan and purpose. This is going to require a lot of prayer on my part so that God really has HIs time to talk me through everything.

…just thoughts..

Videos

2010-03-22T15:24:00.001+02:00

hey guys, i've got some videos up on youtube. couldn't get it on my comp, no time -- but check out youtube: pelicanorc!

Pics from February(ish)

2010-03-07T11:23:00.001+02:00

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24!!

2010-02-08T20:05:00.001+02:00

My birthday is on saturday!!!!!! BIRTHDAYS ROCK! :o)

fall into my lap

2010-02-08T19:57:00.001+02:00

So the whole time I’ve been here I’ve really been learning how to pray and wait for God’s provision. It’s mainly been with money, but today some pretty cool things happened. I found out this weekend that I have to move out of my house and into a smaller room in the visitors compound. **there is a lot of shifting around here as long term missionaries come and go, my move is making room for a couple** For a lot of reasons, this will be a very uncomfortable move, but I’m keeping my head up and very stubbornly telling myself I cannot carry about with a foul mood. So, I checked out my room today, and in some ways I am looking forward to it :o) I noticed two things in the room that I will need (or maybe want lol): a desk and a mirror. I instantly decided to pray about it and let God give me what I need, knowing those are not things to worry over. Well later on in the day, a fellow missionary told me about a desk that can go in the room! Ha! How awesome is that :o) I actually laughed out loud when she told me because it was just too cool. *I’m still praying about the mirror!* Well this is really silly, but, I also prayed for more chocolate. Haha, crazy I know! But anyway, the only sweets I have here are chocolates and the bar I’ve been chipping away at in the refrigerator is getting very small. I’m negative in money right now, so I knew I wouldn’t be buying chocolates any time soon. Well!! At the meeting tonight John & Sandra gave all the missionaries chocolate bars!! Woohoo! I’ve been learning how to see God as my Father recently, and little lavishing gifts like these make me feel like His beloved daughter. I love how God lets things fall into my lap.

I’m trying to keep track of these answered prayers, specifically when I ask for things I can’t afford. Today I got to #17. That’s like one a week!

that’s what I like about you

2010-01-30T10:51:00.001+02:00

1. you can jump out of the car during traffic and buy any of the following: fruit, pasta, rice, vegetables; movies, paintings, boutiques; skirts, t-shirts, tanktops, pants; and my personal favorite: molds for cinderblocks.
*when the dog bites, when the bee stings*

2. seeing little feet print everywhere in the sand :o) little toe prints make my day better, every day. i look down and think “awwww that is so cute!” and it never gets old!
*when i’m feeling sad*

3. never having to carry things from one place to another on base because there is always a boy around to help, especially when buying refrescos & carrying my suitcase –both super heavy.
*i simply remember my favorite things*

4. sending boys to the market so that i don’t have to walk in the nasty heat :o) and giving them something productive to do during the summertime

*and then i don’t feel so bad!*

5. eating with my hands

6. refrescos: i LOVE drinking coke out of a glass bottle. it’s old school and tastes amazingly better. coke light rules. *there is no diet, they have “light” everything instead*
7. this is a love/hate relationship: my beautiful pink mosquito net, with pretty butterflies. i feel like an african princess. but sometimes i just want to fall into bed but i can’t, i have to crawl through my net.
8. i live at the beach. the Indian Ocean beach, no less! it’s the coolest ocean on the map because its the furthest from home! *sweet*
9. the nearby islands and the bay: beautiful and easy/cheap to get to.
10. all the delicious fresh french loaves and fruit i can find every morning.
11. I get to (re)-learn Portuguese! *this is actually something God’s been showing me slowly: it’s a very safe environment for me to learn one of my native languages, kids don’t really care if you mess up every single word ;-)
12. My family is right next to me :o) It’s an amazing safety net, a great comfort and such a unique and amazing opportunity to get to know them better! This time here is going to change our relationships for ever, how cool!
13. I live at a children’s centre, my boys are here all the time. Which is completely exhausting a lot of the time. But it means I get to eat breakfast with them in the morning, I get to see them during showertime –which is so adorable—and I get to band aid scrapes, oh and hug them good night! i love night time with kids :o).
14. Podcasts, this isn’t unique to Africa but it’s definitely unique to my experience: I can download loads of podcasts from home and stay connected :o)

border trip

2010-01-27T19:50:00.001+02:00

Wow.. today was so … african! I had to go to the border and get my visa stamped, something I have to do once a month (long story). The day started with rain. I was really excited because it hasn’t rained in a long time, maybe a month, and usually it means I get to wear jeans because it’s not hot. It was humid and rainy all at once though, so I wasn’t in jeans… I decided to wear my white shorts since most of the day would spent in the car. In my head that meant a skirt would be uncomfortable and they’d probably stay stark white all day. Well we left right at 9am, me and Gildo (the driver) and all seemed fine… that is, all seemed fine in the first 100 feet of driving. When we left the center I quickly realized what a journey it would be to get to the border in the rain. It was a torrential down pour. The car’s A/C wasn’t working very well (but it’s the only car with A/C)and there was no heat to speak of, making the windows wet inside and out, so I couldn’t see what was in front of me. I prayed Gildo could. Here’s a little history about Mozambique: freedom from Portugal: 1975, end of civil war: 1995; country-wide floods: 2000. So every time it rains, it’s really flooding. Thus, the toll was closed which meant we had to go the long way; the long way on top of the slow driving due to rain! And, Gildo was taking our truck off the road and driving through huge puddles most Americans avoid, in order to get in front of the traffic! Basically, he was doing exactly the opposite of what Americans are taught to do –scary! Oh my gosh, it took 3 hours to get to the border, which is how long it should take round trip!

Well everything at the border went well, which is an amazing blessing, and kept my spirits high for a most of the rest of the day. Right when we left the border Gildo slows down and says, what I understood as: I’m tired. But no, oh no, he was saying “oh no, the tire.” So we pull over and he jumps out to check out the tire. In true Mozambican culture, we end up with five guys helping us. So I just stayed in the car, even though I wanted to help (because I love cars) I thought staying dry was a better option :o) I ended up just furthering the stereotype of white people being lazy and girls knowing nothing of cars…but again, I thought being dry was a much better choice. So they put the spare tire on, and for whatever reason, the decision is made that this spare isn’t good and we need to fix our original tire before trying to make it home. From later observation, I’m pretty certain there was next-to-no tread on this spare tire. So we drive two minutes with the guys who helped us hitching a ride in the back of the truck and land at a little place that apparently fixes cars. I’m in a small heaven here :o) First of all, the guy who’s working there looks my age and he’s really cute. But more importantly, I get to hang out at a car shop and watch this guy fix the tire in Africa! It was awesome. This, like the border stop, kept my spirits high. I took the liberty to walk around and check everything out, it was really fun! So after ten minutes and 100 mets ($3) we’re off again on our original tire.

This is when it really got fun, about ten minutes –no, five minutes, into the drive this tire starts making a weird noise. I point it out to Gildo and he says “It’s fine--” But before he can finish his sentence the tire totally blows out and we’re on the side of the road for round two. This time is different in so many ways though… first, we get no help. Second, I realize Gildo doesn’t really know how to change the tire (probably never having owned a car). He lifts the truck before loosening the blots, classic beginner mistake. Well it’s (#3) starting to rain, again, and to add on to the rain the road and every where around the truck is covered with ants (#4). To try and paint a picture for y’all: the ground is moving there are so many ants. This is when my attitude to laugh about the day turns immediately into frustration and disgust. I have ants and rain all over me! Eww. Difference #5. So I try to show Gildo how to loosen the bolts (the only way me and my mom could ever do it was to stand on the wrench and bounce a little) and he gets them loose in no time. *white shorts, not so white anymore* Then he tells me to get in the car, which I do immediately because I’m really tired of constantly stomping my feet to keep the ants off (which doesn't work any way). I literally couldn’t make contact with my feet to the ground with out having ants on me. Moving on, I’m back in the truck again because I didn’t need Gildo to tell me twice. He ends up finishing about ten minutes later and jumps into the car –dripping wet. I felt so bad for him, he was wet pants and shirt all the same.

We’re on the road again, and this time it looks like we’ll make it home. This is where it’s important to remember that little detail about the spare tire not having tread left. I was literally praying the first 30 minutes into the drive home because I was so scared. Gildo didn’t seem to get that you have to nice and gentle with spare tires, he was taking the turns at 180kph. I don’t even want to know what that is mph. :o) And this is the tire on my side, too! We stop at the first gas station we see to get more fuel and I go in to buy chocolate. Because at this point, I need comfort food, and it’s 2pm so I need food in general hah. I bought two cokes, two sandwiches and a big chocolate bar. It was great that this place had sandwiches, uncommon for gas stations :o) I got home around 3pm, three hours later than I had expected. All in all, I got what I need done and I was home safe: good day. Nothing went according to plan: African day.

Pool Time!

2010-01-27T19:41:00.001+02:00

this was last week: 20-Jan

I took all the boys to the pool this week! It was such a great week because of it too. :o) I had the opportunity to take the boys this week because I had enough funding from home, so: THANK YOU!!! Your support has been such a great blessing to the boys, each one of them had a great time! I took the youngest room the first day, on Tuesday. I counted out ten pairs of water wings and spent a lot of breath inflating them only to find out the boys didn’t want or need them at all! These were the littlest boys, average age of 5, but they wanted nothing to do with them. Only one boy wanted to wear them, and cute little Shelton still never left the stairs the whole time. Haha, but he had a great time nonetheless! I loved playing with Shelton, trying to persuade him to come off the stairs. I felt like my mom because he just clung to me the whole time (even though he could touch the bottom). He was hilarious :o)

Wednesday I took our oldest room, about 8 years old. They were crazy! Typical boys. Jumping and flipping off the edge. At one point, Salamao’s head was about two inches from slamming into the edge of the pool… oh so horrifying. It’s so hard for me to play with boys sometimes because they are so rough! I have so many memories of watching Scott rough house with Connor and Brayden and having to walk away and talk to Katie because it was just too scary! But anyway, none of the boys were harmed :o) In their typical boyish luck.

Room 1 was possibly the most fun because I worked it out so I could really spend the afternoon at the pool. This is the middle-age room with boys about 6 and 7 years old. The other two rooms had only had about an hour at the pool, but these guys got a solid two hours and the visitor who helped me even bought cokes for them at the gas station on the walk home! I also got really tan that day :o) Or.. to clarify, I got pretty burned but I woke up Saturday very tan and burn-free!

Sadly, I don’t have any pictures because I only just got my camera back from having forgotten it over Christmas at my family’s house.

bad decisions

2010-01-24T21:55:00.001+02:00

I’m learning to hear God’s voice, learning to discern His desires from my own. Something always comes into my heart that isn’t from the Lord. Every minute I’m battling a new sinful desire. So many times this ‘something’ is much more desirable to me than what I think God can offer. But it’s short. It is so short. And leaves me so much more empty than before the indulgence. I’ve had so many moments this past week where I promptly acted having knowing exactly what God told me to do. I was so proud of myself at these moments, hoping they would turn into lifelong behaviors and attitudes. But this weekend I deliberately did what I told Him I didn’t want to do. *sounds like Romans 7…* I made a commitment to the Lord that I’ve upheld on other days. But I went to sleep last night saying, “no, I don’t want to do it tomorrow….” And I woke up this morning still fighting that commitment. I didn’t want to do it. ..and I’m stubborn. …and stupid. So I didn’t do it. And now I’ve spent the entire day thinking about everything I haven’t done. Ever. In my entire life. Yeah, Satan stepped in, took advantage of my brokenness. He took the opportunity to turn my bad decision and deserved disappointment into a day filled with self pity and an overall disgruntled attitude. I’m still fighting what he’s throwing at my heart right now. But I’m trying to think about what God has given me, the many blessings I can count in my bed room right at this moment. I can see ten things, within arms reach, that have been true blessings from the Lord. I am choosing Christ. I am focusing on how to make my “right now” and my tomorrow: better. What decisions and choices will I face tomorrow where I can say “Okay Lord, I will follow through with what I promised You.” I don’t want to mess up again. I don’t want my determinedness to become stubbornness. My word will be true. If I say “okay, I’ll do this” then I am going to do it. Because today sucked. And I don’t need it to repeat itself due to my bad decision.

dinner time

2010-01-01T14:56:00.001+02:00

this isn’t super fancy or exciting, but i made a movie of the boys at dinner time :o) it starts off with them just playing around and waving (which they love to do) then you see them serving each other their plates and spoons. it ends with them saying the Lord’s prayer in portuguese :o) hope you like it!

New Years Eve!

2010-01-01T14:45:00.001+02:00

We celebrated New Years last night with a party and fireworks! I spent the whole of the day doing hospitality things, mainly organizing the visitors and helping set up all the activities for the festa (party). It was a really long day, of course, but I loved it. I was incredibly busy from 9am until 1230am but it was still great :o) The festa started at 7pm with a movie: Merry Madagascar (which, btw, is completely hilarious. a must own for every parent) and then we began the stations. I had set up 8 different stations with crafts or games: making a prayer card, a crown, necklaces out of beads, etc and my favorite: chubby bunny. This game is awesome, Ithe counselors used to do it at the YMCA camp. You put a marshmallow in your mouth and say “Chubby bunny” and then slowly add one and repeat without ever eating the marshmallow. It was completely hilarious, I think the boys about 12-15 were the best at it because they understood the competition in the game and they had no inhibitions about having chunks fly out of their mouths. It’s a completely disgusting game but so hilarious! Sadly, I left my camera at my family’s house so I didn’t get any good pictures or videos. The stations were run by visitors and missionaries and they were going really well, until we tried to switch stations. My American head just assumed we’d have a loud speaker or something and someone would say “Switch!” and bam, it’d be done. But no, of course not, what was I thinking? I looked around for the loud speaker and it hit me: I live in Mozambique. So the switching was hectic, to say the least :o) We only switched stations 3 times (instead of 8 haha!) but it still took almost 2 hours. So in the end, it worked out just fine and the kids were happy :o) Then we watched another movie, gave them a second (and fancy) dinner with soda and sausage sandwiches, and finally headed down to the soccer pitch for fireworks! This was my favorite part of the whole evening. Here in Africa they’re allowed to set off fireworks on their own wherever they’d like, but they’ve only got 30 minutes. Very scary for any American-raised girl…this whole “anyone can set them off” business. I’ve never been so close to fireworks in my life. The hilarious part was that the fireworks scared some of the children, there’s a beautiful display in the sky and their crying from the sounds…typical, but still a little funny. When the fireworks were all going off around the community it was stunning. It was so beautiful. All across the horizon all you could see were sparkles and fireworks. The trees and houses covered up some of them, and that’s when all you’d see were sparkles.. but they looked like fairies to me :-) At one point someone right next door to us set off a truly professional firework that kept bursting and bursting for like 2 minutes. It was so cool. Last night was my favorite day here, by far :o)

now go backwards

2010-01-01T14:24:00.001+02:00

Date: December 28th, 2009

My uncle took me out driving Sunday morning. Yep… wow… I don’t know where to begin except to say I didn’t realize just how intuitive I am until I had to try and fight to ignore every instinct in me. Driving on the right side, staying to the left, thinking the left side is the slow side… all weird. But by far the hardest part was remembering that I didn’t know the length of the car, which meant I had to pay close attention to everything outside to the left of the car. My uncle got pretty scared a few times, I must admit, having been sitting on the left side with a clear view of just how close I was cutting it. He was a good sport :o) But it’s hard to think, “You’re close to the right, so you probably won’t hit anything on your right. It’s the left side that you can’t see Rebecca.. the left side! watch out you almost took the mirror out!” Haha, no no, I don’t think I got that close.

Other things I had to remember, which I don’t have to think about at home: potholes. massive ones, the kind that can take your car OUT. There aren’t very many 4-stops even though there are hundreds of intersections… yeah, that was fun. Drivers here like to pass a LOT. and that means you can be in your lane then all the sudden have a car 10 feet in front of you, coming your way in your lane. Yep, your lane. that’s fun, too.

The best analogy I can think of to explain how weird it is to drive on the other side is trying to ride a bike backwards. I felt like I moved to a completely different planet. And here they ride all their bikes backwards, with little tiny mirrors to help you out. It felt like someone said “welcome! we don’t ride our bikes the way you do. You know how to ride, right? Okay, good. Now go backwards.”

want some cake?

2009-12-19T16:43:00.001+02:00

last night was the funniest night i’ve experienced in my entire life. no questions asked, i’ve never laughed that much. i went to bed thinking fiona, heather and i were crazy, just hyper silly girls.. i thought we had turned to laughter in effort to salvage the day where (quite literally) everything went awry. but no, truly funny things happened.

it all started with the cake, the laughing that is. we’re at my family’s house and we were making a birthday cake for erin. so we google a “very moist” recipe and go for it. we even took two trips to the store to get things we didn’t have (slash, forgot.). as the ingredients were coming together my faith in the cake was crashing… it was runny, very very runny. as i put it in the oven i said, “i don’t think this is going to work….” and sure enough, one hour later, we’ve boiled a cake. yup, boiled. haha. it’s turned into this goupy brownie batter mixture, but its delicious! the day before hev & fi made a cake that, similar to this one, didn’t rise but that one tasted of gross eggs.. so in a small way this was a step up because it tasted good :o) we put the “cake” into a pot and messed with it on the stove hoping it would do something, anything, maybe even solidify enough to use as ice cream topping. the laughing fits begin when fiona very seriously asks, “want some cake?” as she drips it from a spoon. haha. at the end of the night, we’ve got our cake in a plastic crystal light container in my fridge.

at this point in the day, just before we took the cake out of the oven, only one thing had gone wrong: we came to my family’s house in hope of escaping noise and children and ended up attending the embassy’s (family) Christmas party. but that was fine, we hadn’t been upset about that because it was only one small this, thus far that is. after the cake fiasco we are ready to leave for erin’s birthday dinner. we’re in the car, making a u-turn in the street and heather states, “there’s a problem with the power sttteeerrrring (as she’s trying to turn the car around).” we try and get the guards at my uncle’s to look at it but, being Mozambicans, they really don’t drive and have cars, thus no desperately needed car knowledge. so we’re stuck at home. waiting for a driver to come from the center. the driver tells us he’s close, so (mostly me) all of us get moody and emo and very bummed that not only do we have to miss erin’s dinner but we also have to leave now and go back home. we all completely forgot we were dealing Mozambicans here, they say five minutes and mean 30! so when we think the driver will be here in 45 minutes that turns into two hours. we keep putting off watching a movie and ordering dinner because we think the driver will be there any minute. right when i get the movie going the door bell rings. so we take our cake and head off to get dinner with the drivers (who double as very fun cool guys)

after getting pizza to-go, we’ve swapped cars with the drivers. they drive home our wonky car and we stuff into the front of a pick up truck. then begins the jamming of heather’s arm into either mine or fiona’s sides as she attempts to switch gears with a person sitting on the hump seat in the middle. laughing starts again. and also fiona’s very close encounters with her hand and my mouth as she tries to lock the door from the hump seat. more laughter. we’re driving home with laptops, settlers games, and pizza in our laps. as we’re trying to pass out pizza and our arms are discombobulated and intertwined, we’re also looking for the kfc where chico and his friend are waiting for a ride home. we pull up to one and call chico, then realize we’re at the wrong kfc. there are only 3 in the city..we laugh off our stupidity. so then we’re feeling a bit confused, and naturally ask for help (because we’re girls, not boys). well the kind woman in the car next to us (the one we yelled at for ages trying to get her attention through her closed window) tells us with a very confused expression that the road we’re looking for is in fact the road we’re on. haha, we die laughing at this point and from here on our we don’t stop laughing until we’re asleep. so we drive up to the correct kfc seconds later, since we were so close, we get chico and his friend in the bed of the truck and head home. we’re flying over all the bumps and holes in the road, in true heather fashion, and we’re making it home in lightning speed. chico calls from the back of the truck and begs her to drive slower. laughing again, but apologizing at the same time.

we finally make it home to the center and as we’re dropping off the notebook with the car details i look up to heather dying laughing, wanting to know very quickly what’s funny this time so that i can join in. in one second i see why hev’s laughing… fiona is on her hands and knees having just fallen into the sand. she tripped her way off the step and all of her things that were once in her hand are now next to her strewn about on the sand and she’s not moving. other than her laughter, fiona’s not moving, and certainly not getting up anytime soon. and so, we laugh more. the night was wonderful. for a day that came very close to being dreadful, it was amazing. the kid party, the cake, eating fiona’s hand, greasy pizza in the car with three girls squished into two seats, and finally fiona’s graceless fall, the day was amazing. we had a fit of laughter again in church this morning, where hev actually left she was laughing so hard, it was a great night :o)

time for movies!

2009-11-30T10:30:00.001+02:00

this is my first attempt at making a movie.. who knew windows had this? i would have had loads of fun in high school with this lol. so this is a short video of some of my boys :o) i’m working on another one to show you guys a typical dinner, but this is just us playing. hope you like it!

My Cuties :o)

2009-11-24T15:53:00.001+02:00

These are during the afternoon program.

Here’s Zequito and Pedro singing the ABCs :o)

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The afternoon program is something Laura does that I’ve kept going while she’s gone. The boys adore it, it’s really cute :o) I’ve got 3 rooms in my dorm and once a week each room gets to come into Laura’s home for a lesson or activity and a snack. Laura does way more teaching than I can do, seeing as I’m merely learning Portuguese :o) so I do lots of fun silly stuff with the boys. We did macaroni art last week, that was really fun and it was my first time ever doing that with kids. It went way better than I thought it would go! The boys were really into it, and I ended up having a few boys come in later on in the week to finish their papers. I’m pretty sure every single boy taped his up on the wall in their rooms, it was seriously adorable. Last week we did stuff for Laura, but it’s a surprise :o) so that news is gonna have to wait!

..holding a miracle..

2009-11-24T12:47:00.001+02:00

8 little kilos, he’s six and he only weighs 8 kilos, even after being here at the center for nearly a year! About two weeks ago Lucas really scared us. I went to my family’s for the weekend only to get multiple phone calls and emails desperate for prayers for little Lucas. It was awful. And I couldn’t drive myself back to the center, I had to wait until a driver could come get me. He has ups and downs, good days and bad ones. But that weekend it was really bad, and the nursing staff was telling everyone to pray and prepare their hearts for God’s will to take the lead. Scared me to the core, especially since Laura was gone. I wanted her to be around and Lucas needed her to be around! But God did take control :o) and now he’s doing better than ever! He walked all the way to my door (which is really Laura’s door) from the place where they eat dinner, which is probably 100ft and 3 big stairs! It was so amazing. I was so excited when I saw he came the whole way, it was an awesome surprise :o) So now every time I hold Lucas during church or sit with him and his little stacking ups I think, “I’m holding a miracle. A real live miracle is in my lap this instant :o) “

and it’s the best feeling in the world.

White Skin

2009-11-01T10:49:00.000+02:00

so I only have about five minutes, but the cutest thing happened during church :o) I sat in a different place today, in the back with people from the surrounding community instead of with my boys in the front. I had to sit somewhere with an easy exit for hospitality stuff. But anyway, this little boy ends up sitting next to me and getting really cuddly with me! It was so adorable :o) He was probably like 8? ..8ish. He's holding my hands and rubbing my skin and I'm just thinking it's the cutest thing, but then I realize that he's staring at me. His eyes are following intently where his fingers travel.... it's because I'm white! Haha, I'm pretty sure I laughed out loud when I realized this, despite my sitting in church :o) He was rubbing over my freckles and my knuckles, slowly and deliberately. Then (after realizing) I showed him this big huge freckle on the arm that was further away from him and he rubbed it --no joke-- for like ten minutes. Haha, the joys of living in Africa :o)

What's a normal day?

2009-10-27T11:18:00.000+02:00

I get asked this all the time by you lovely folks at home: what's a normal day for you? I attempt to explain that nothing here is normal ;-) Everyday I run around trying to find different people to get different things done, like the maintenance team to fix something (because boys tend to break things often and easily), or a nurse for a sick boy, or a missionary/visitor to help out with my boys and play with them. ...there's a lot of running. Well, no, it's not running. No one runs here, at least not when it's hot (which praise the Lord it's been in the 70s for a week!). But there is a lot of moving around for the staff here, and since everyone's busy with this running, it makes it quite hard to accomplish all of your to-do list... which means the next day will be filled with running yet again.. and thus: a cycle begins. But I love it :o) I can rest easy in knowing I don't know what to expect. So, what's a normal day for me? Every day. Because everyday is different so every day is normal.

God is my Provider. This is the side of the Lord He's been showing to me most, and it's been amazing. I'm learning to completely trust in Him to give me what I need, and not in my own doings. See, I'm broke. It could be possibly more descriptive to say: dirt broke. This isn't a knew state for me, I was oftentimes broke in the States too, haha. But at home I knew how to to get more money: babysit more. I'm seeing that that was a luxury, that knowledge of how to get more money. As of yesterday I had 140mets (something like 4 or 5 bucks) in my wallet and I've got $13 in my bank account. But the issue with this bank account money is that I don't know how much the fee will be to pull it out! I can't seem to figure out how much they're charging me over at Wachovia, sometimes its .50cents but sometimes it's $5.00!! So I'm too scared to touch it and overdraft into an astronomical debt. But! It's been fine. Because God is my provider :o) Amen. There is always enough. That's a motto here at the center, and it's completely true. Yesterday I had three lovely ladies over for dinner because I had more than enough food :o) I found this awesome market down the road from the center and ohMYgosh it is cheap! I bought vegetables for stir-fry for something like $2! I still have 50 mets in my wallet! God is so great :o) Also, I've been wanting a new mosquito net for my bedroom because my current one is blue.. my room is pink (obviously.). So I didn't neeeeeed a new net, no, I knew that. But I wanted one! So bad too! And yesterday a friend of mine got a new net for her room and graciously gave me her old one! It's a beautiful white :o) God's awesome.

In about three hours I will be doing my first afternoon program without Laura, or any help for that matter! Today it's the littlest ones, about 5 years old :o) I made a little craft puzzle for them, it was fun doing it hah. It's a puzzle of the alphabet where only two pieces fit together, the captial and small letter :o) It's cute. They'll also be doing a puzzle with their name. This is if everything goes well! We'll see... :o)

Tomorrow is voting day here, pray the country. I have a missionary in here with me now talking about how none of the tias may be around tomorrow... haha... and there's no school... So this means I may be left alone to give the boys showers, breakfast, lunch, dinner, showers and bedtime alone. hah. That's so ridiculous it's funny! God will help me out tomorrow :o)

I'm off to start my first afternoon program! I love you guys :o)

week as a visitor :o)

2009-10-05T21:30:00.000+02:00

Regardless of what day I actually post this on, I'm writing on September 28th :o)

It’s Monday morning, the start of my fifth day at the center. I'm in love. With everything: the culture, the people, the customs, the missionaries and the children. It's all facsinating to me. Weird, definitely :o) but it's a good weird. Right now I'm sitting in the visitor's compound, laptop out, watching a little Swiss boy smack the tire swing with a stick... it's amazing the things little boys find fun. I spent the end of last week hanging out with the other visitors and going around to different ministries and communities Iris is connected to. Thursday night, my first night, we had a church service here on grounds for the children. Celia, on spoke about a trip **hah, well, I'm back at my computer two hours later :o) I stopped mid sentence to go over to Laura's dorm and play with her little boys, that was fun. Little boys are the same, cross country and world wide, it's lovely. All I could think about the first hour were Connor and Brayden.. I love them... I remember how they could talk me into pushing them on the swing for hours and I wouldn't even realize it. Not until the next day when my arms were sore and I had to figure out why.. well back to the present** Celia spoke at church about a visit she had to Northern Moz, and it was amazing because she preached to the children that they are rich and blessed. These children here at the center are so wonderfully blessed. They're safe, have regular meals, have friends their age and older and younger; they have a providing family here at Iris. It's so fascinating, beginning to understand just how blessed these children are.. it really puts into perspective how greedy the rest of the world is. I don't think greedy is the right word, but the rest of the world lives on a very different standard. We are even more blessed. Which means we have even more responsibility to the world. I'm okay with the responsibility.

I also visited the Borcaria, which is the dump (or kind of a landfill?) for the city... it's all the trash of the city.. but... there is a community living there. It's overwhelming. I can't even write much about it because I'm still trying to process and understand all that I saw. I have to go there many more times before I can expound on everything I felt. But it was wonderful because we had the opportunity to pray over a lot of people. A lot! There were about 250 children and parents in the little hut (exactly what you would imagine: a hut in Southern Africa) where we sang praise songs.

At the center I have played with the kids in the baby house and the kids at Laura's dorm. The baby house is hilarious. It's sooo cute and full of crazy/excited children! The house has about 40(?) kids ages one to five. You walk in and they run at you. Literally. It's a bit overwhelming because they all want to be held and some are quite insisting.. but you can't pull off holding more than two kids at once lol. It's crazy how they just want attention and couldn't care less what kind of attention it is.

Aside from my activites as a visitor here at the center, I've also been getting to know the other missionaries here. They. are. awesome! It's great here because the missionaries are always coming and going from trips to South Africa (for a new visa) and trips home on fur lough. I've gotten quite close with one girl already, who's from England. And I love her accent. I adore it, in fact, I love it so much I've noticed (it's really quite noticeable) that I've picked it up! I feel so silly but so many words fly out of my mouth and they're a weird morph between Southern and British! Haha, it's crazy. There is an awesome mix of cultures within the missionaries, some are from California and South Carolina, then there are English and Austrailians too. Also, this is my favorite, there are 7 Brazilians! Woot! I'm ready to learn Portuguese but I'm pretty sure I'm going to aim for Brazilian Portguese rather than Mozambiqucan... hehe.. it might be rude though, so we'll see how that works out! I'll be moving into the missionaries compound Oct 5th where my roommates will be Brazilian and English. Two of my favorite countries! :-)

I have two prayer requests tonight, one: that I learn the language quickly, and two: that I get more support and funding. I've had a lot of conversations about both with the missionaries here. Last night me and 3 other missionaries were hanging out and talking, we ended up praying over each other. The power of the Holy Spirit is grea :o) They each encouraged me greatly, in very different ways. We spent a lot of time in conversation and in prayer about living on faith and knowing God will provide. He wants me to depend on Him, He wants to be faithful to me. If you feel the Lord asking you to contribute to me, send me an email and I can let you know more specifically how you can help me out :o) As far as Portuguese goes, I've already tried to pick up a few words. I've found talking to five and six year old children is best because they tell you the words for everything but they don't laugh at your accent, it's a good age lol :o) Also, a missionary here has told me about a tutor who she uses. I'll be talking to the tutor tomorrow and hopefully starting tomorrow or Thursday. The price for the lessons is wonderfully cheap, it comes out to $24 a month for 8 hours (2 a week).

Well it's nearly dinner time so I'm off! I miss all of you so much :o) I think about each of you everyday! Truuuust me!

cell phones and street vendors

2009-09-22T18:44:00.000+02:00

So today is the day I got a cell phone, yay!! Now I can call ... hmm... who can I call...my uncle.. my aunt.. and my cousin... haha. Hope to see that contact list blow up soon ;-) Well, I think it's a funny story on how I got my cell phone activated... Aunt Janetta gave me an extra cell phone she has, she won it in a raffle lol! So I am completely grateful and as it turns out, it's the very first phone I ever got when I was 17! Kinda funny, my first phone in the States and in Moz are the same... but five years apart ;-) After Jason came home from school he and I headed out to buy my cell phone minutes and a sim card. Here in Moz there are no "plans" or "providers/servers," nope, it's all prepaid/pay as you go. Well, Jason and I are walking through the city and then we stop at a street vendor and Jason starts buying something... So I ask him, "What are you trying to buy?" thinking he was trying to get some knock off brand item or whatever.. I was kind of confused because I couldn't figure out what Jason could possibly need from a sketchy "don't know how they got what they are selling" street vendor. As it turns out... this is where everyone buys their minutes and sims... yeaaahhh....!! The same guys that sell stolen movies, food that is likely to make you sick for days, and handicrafts are the ones selling you minutes for your precious, irreplaceable cell phone! Haha, I love it :o)

I spent 600mets on my phone today... it's something like 3 mets = 1min, or maybe its the other way around? and 1 text = 1met. The conversion here is about 27 to 1. So it's something like 27 texts= $1 USD. Haha, aka: cheap! Also, I get ten free texts per DAY that are pre-set "please call me" messages. Jason explained that these are annoying and only the super cheap use them ... I will be of the "super cheap." no room for shame in this budget! lol :o) I also get 45 texts for every 100mets you buy... so 270 texts, is that right? (me and math are NOT friends). I also get 10 numbers to call any time that don't count as minutes. You can change these ten numbers about once a month. And finally, receiving phone calls is always free. So you text people and tell them to call you lol. All this for about $22 USD... not bad, my friends, not bad :o)

hmm... thoughts on faith...

2009-09-22T00:01:00.000+02:00

It was March 4th when I had the conversation with my mom that went something like "you're invited to Mozambique, if that's what you'd like to do after graduation." Panic set in soon after this, because many months before you could have easily caught me day dreaming of living with my Aunt and Uncle in Mozambique and working with little kids! ....only God can pull something like this together.... When that initial conversation happened with my mother my mind exploded. I kept thinking, "What?!?! This can actually work out? Why had I been so confirmed in believing it couldn't happen? I was so silly for dismissing the idea, but thank you Lord for bringing it back up!" Another dream I dismissed early in life was to live in Africa and never need shoes again. I can remember having this dream vividly when I was 12 years old. It's pretty crazy, I know. Anyways, my point is that God made this work out for me. When I said "I guess there's no way..." He said, "uhm, you just wait and see. ::chuckle::"

So I set my sights on Mozambique. And I have no idea how I'll get there or what I'll do once I'm there... and as my plans progress and dates are being set, I still have no idea!! I'm getting to the point where I'm telling everyone I'm leaving, which to me is the point of no return, but I still have no money or job. Haha! Well, once again, God steps in and sends me off to Houston. Where I not only spend quality time with my grandmother and make irreplaceable new friends, but I get enough money to fly me to Moz! And then I start getting checks from church, friends, family, and complete strangers and I somehow find myself with a bank account filled with enough money to last me a month in Moz!

What I'm trying to get at is that I am only on the cusps of understanding what faith really is... faith isn't (always) knowing why you're doing something. Sometimes it's not about the details, but I love details... God often sets a desire in your heart and then provides a way for that desire to work out in your life. Of course, it's not always this simple --but I think it more often than not, is. In this trip, for me right now, it is just that simple. God said "Go." a long time ago in my heart, and after battling a lot of fears and voices saying "You can't." I just decided to go for it. If it's a God-given desire then it will work out. This has been my mantra for many months. ***along with a lyric from a Miley Cyrus song: strength is something you choose*** Many months following were filled with "How?" and "Why?" It's not about why I'm here, that's not my motivation for leaving Richmond. It's about God showing me His way. This entire experience (thus far!) has been the most explicit example in my life of seeing and going God's way instead of my own. Faith is just going. In this capacity, faith is just saying "Ok, Lord, You're clearly opening the path for me in this direction... so I'm going to go. And I hope, one day, you'll show me all the reasons why you placed me here." I like this. It means I'm a character in a mystery.

test test? testing...1..2..3..

2009-09-21T12:57:00.000+02:00

Am I actually blogging from Maputo? Wow. I made it! I'm actually standing on African soil and loving every view in front of me :o) It's beautiful here!

A picture pretty far from my house looking into downtown Maputo.

This is so cute! It's how they decorate cars for newly wed couples, on Saturdays & Sundays there are weddings all over the place!

mmm.. pretty fascinating...
This is the Indian Ocean at low tide. Some of these boats are wrecked but others are left there purposefully by the fisherman until the next day's fishing! There are hundreds!

I got here safely (and with all my luggage! untouched!) Friday morning. Jet lag really never hit me because the whole "traveling for two days straight" messed with my head and body so much! I got here Friday, went with my uncle for a walk to get ice cream (sorvete!) down the street, went to my cousin Jason's basketball game Friday night and then fell asleep around midnight. All in all, pretty normal --just in Mozambique! :o) I've spent the weekend attempting to get acclimated and learn my way around, but it's proving quite difficult because I can't pronounce the street names and I keep thinking I'm getting into the driver's seat but really it's the passenger side!! *they drive on the right side lol* I went to church with my family Sunday night and loved it, met some girls that are my age who I look forward to getting to know :o) And on Thursday morning I head out to IRIS! Thus far my internet has been wonderful and available, but I think that will all change when I'm at the orphanage. I can't wait to get there! Hopefully my next blog will be all about the kids I meet!! :o)