Merry Christmas!!

Just wanted to send you a “Christmas Card” via our blog wishing a Merry Christmas! 

 It may be 100 degrees outside, but our Charlie Brown Christmas tree helped get us in the spirit of the season! 

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 

Luke 2:10-12

Other News: A trip to the States and First Flights

 One of our planes has a propeller that needs an overhaul (required after 2400 hours).  The propeller is one of the few parts on a plane that regular aircraft mechanics can’t work on without special certifications.  Because this plane is registered in the U.S., the propeller needs to go to a shop certified to work on propellers in the United States.  After doing some checking around, we learned it is actually cheaper for someone to carry the propeller as luggage on an airline flight than to ship it to the US and have it shipped back after the work is completed.  Also, Dave will have an opportunity to observe the propeller assembly which is great experience for when we bring it back and it needs to be reassembled and put back on the plane.  Given the timing of the work to be done, we decided to schedule a holiday visit to our families in Texas as well… what a blessing!

Also, Dave has started his flight checkout process and has started flying.  We thought we would include a few pictures of some of his first few flights here as well! 

Dave was dropping off one of our flying doctors so she could treat patients in a remote area for the week.  In addition, a patient was being flown back to his village after a stay in the hospital in Nampula (he was flown to Nampula from his village on a previous flight).  

Dave next to the patient that was brought back to his village from Nampula in the MAF plane

Talking to some of the kids who came to greet the plane

Maputo: an Oasis, getting in cars with strangers, and squash pie

 Our flight down to Maputo was about two hours…the same trip by car would have been three days!  After our last adventurous road trip full of car problems, we decided we could get by without a car in Maputo for a month.   We arrived on November 1^st and took a taxi to Casa Koinonia, “the Oasis for Missionaries”.  The house is run by two sisters, Evangeline and Juanita, who have served faithfully in Mozambique since before the war (both wars actually).  One really interesting thing about staying at “Oasis” is the number of interesting people that come through.  We have met people from South Africa, Portugal, Brazil, Australia, England, Canada, the United States, and of course Mozambique… all who serve in some kind of mission capacity in Mozambique.  What is amazing is how so many of them have a common acquaintance or are connected in one way or another.  The folks that speak Portuguese were great (and very patient) to practice on while we ate meals together.  When we weren’t busy at school or doing homework, we have tried to make ourselves useful by helping in the kitchen, setting tables, or helping Evangeline with computer work. 

The school was great and has been giving us the language structure we were hoping for.  We have rotated between 4 different instructors who have challenged us and helped us grow.  It has been the first time since Dave and I have been married that he has mistakenly been called Jill multiple times since “Gil” is apparently a nickname for the masculine name Gilberto!  One unexpected surprise was another couple, from England, also staying at Oasis and also attending Portuguese classes at the same school.  They will be living in Nampula as well so we will be able to continue the friendship after school is over. 

Large Statue of Samora Machel

Maputo, being the capital city of Mozambique and very close to South Africa, is very different than Nampula.  The roads are much better and there are more modern buildings and shops.  Each day we walked about 15 minutes to school and we made it a habit to go on a walk around town as well.  Each day was a new opportunity to practice Portuguese… it might be the police wanting to check our documents, a man who washes cars wanting to talk to Americans, or an artist trying to sell his work.  We walked to the Jardim de Namorados (Park of Lovers) to sit and study, order a coke, and enjoy the view of the Indian Ocean.  There was also an artist’s park nearby where local artists sell their work often while working on their next master piece.  Several times we walked closer to the town center where you can see a giant statue of Samora Machel, the 1^st president of Mozambique and a hero to most Mozambicans.  One day we ventured out to find the American Embassy so we could register our trip.  It was fun to get to see our Stars and Stripes flying high, but unfortunately they told us to register on-line and we didn’t get to go in. 

A view of the Indian Ocean and Maputo

 On one particular day, the government raised the chapa rate (public transportation) and many people protested the rate increase.  Because there was some violence in the city the last time they raised the rates, many people chose not to ride chapas that day.  One of the guards at Oasis walked for three hours to get to work because he was afraid to take a chapa.  Fortunately, the tension was short-lived and everything was back to normal the next day. 

When we made our road trip down to South Africa back in July, one of the custom agents at the border crossing was interested in the work MAF does and told Dave he was a pastor here in Maputo.  He wanted us to come stay with him and attend his church on our way back from South Africa, but it didn’t work out.  Since we were in town, Dave contacted him to see if his church was within walking distance of where we were staying.  He told us he would have someone from the church pick us up to give us a ride.  As we rode along with Gisela and Kito, we realized we were actually going to a small town outside of the city.  The church was set up under a tent, but had a sound system, keyboard, and a praise team.  The music and preaching was in Portuguese and Xichangana (the local dialect in this part of Mozambique).  Afterwards, the pastor, Pastor Linder, and his wife took us to lunch and then droves us all the way back to Maputo with an invitation to come back the next week.  We are hoping that MAF will be able to fly him and several of his colleagues to show the Jesus Film when they come to the Northern part of Mozambique in January. 

After lunch with Pastor Linder (Jim S…this pic is for you since a picture of Jill in a skirt is so rare!)

Because they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Mozambique, we had an interesting time explaining the traditions of the holiday to our language instructors (the first time we ever had to go to school on Thanksgiving day!).  Because Evangeline and Juanita are Americans, they planned a special dinner.  We had chicken instead of turkey and a squash pie (seasoned just like a pumpkin pie!).  Instead of cranberry sauce, they picked some tart berries from the garden and made a sauce.   At dinner, we had people representing five different countries and giving thanks!  Maybe it wasn’t completely traditional, but we still came together and gave thanks to God for His many blessings!

The table set for Thanksgiving: Our new British friends Ian and Cheryl, and Evangeline and Juanita

Still not sure what kind of berry this was, but it made a nice sauce

Ecclesiastes 3 – Seasons, Birth, Death, and Change

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die…

Included in this blog are some of our fun wildlife pictures that we took while in South Africa in July.  We get lots of questions about the African wildlife…so here you go!

Here in Nampula, the cool season is over (we had a couple of months where it was in the 70s and 80s) and now it is getting hot (it is usually in the high 90s).  It has been extremely dry and dusty since the rain stopped in May, but this morning we had our first rain in a long time.  We will slowly start getting more rain, and by January we will have regular rain.  In a way we are dreading the rain because the roads become a muddy mess and so do our feet.  On the other hand, right now the roads are almost sandy in some places and there is a layer of dust on everything that you can’t get rid of.  As the dry season has gone on, we haven’t been getting water at our house and for the last three months we have had to have water hauled to our tank.  With the rains, we can begin collecting rain water to fill our tank and water will probably be more readily available from the city as well.  It makes me hum that 80s song “the rains down in Africa” (thanks Jess!).

waterbuck

We have had some interesting cultural lessons this past week.  Both of the guards we employ had babies in the last week and needed some of their paychecks early so they could pay medical bills.  Armando, our part time guard, had his first baby, a boy.  Amisse, our regular guard, had his fifth child, a girl.  It is a custom to have someone in the family, oftentimes an uncle on the mother’s side, name the baby, so it will be interesting to see how these babies are named.

During our language lesson yesterday, we heard wailing noises pass by our house and our language instructor said that someone died.  As we left after our lesson, we saw a group gathering at the house across the street where a nice Muslim family lives.  Later in the day, we went in to town and I picked up some food items to take to the family.  We changed into nicer clothes and walked over (this time with some appropriate Portuguese condolences) and learned that one of their children (a 15 year old girl) had been sick for a long time and had passed away.  And so, for the second time in our neighborhood we have seen families lose someone dear to them much too young. 

Lilac-breasted roller

Dave has been overseeing some welding work being done at the MAF houses and at the hangar.  One interesting difference here in Mozambique when hiring this kind of work is that you need to go buy all of the supplies and provide a lot of the equipment needed to do the job.  Dave spent many hours running to different stores trying to find the right size metal, etc. needed for the job.  He is now quite skilled in Portuguese when it comes to talking about metal and welding!  On more than one occasion, he has gone to the home of the welder, Joaquim, to give him a ride with his equipment.  On one occasion, Dave met the whole family and they said they would like to meet me as well.  So yesterday, we went to their house and visited for about an hour.  I told Fatima, Joaquim’s wife, that I needed to learn Portuguese first, but that I wanted to learn one new Makua word.  By the time we left, she had taught us probably ten Makua words, but one is all I stored in my brain!

A week from today we leave on another adventure!  We are headed to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, to take an intensive Portuguese course for one month.  We will fly to Maputo (a good three days drive south), and stay at a Christian guesthouse run by two “retired” missionary ladies.  The house is close enough to the school to walk, and they provide most meals.  Our language studies up to this point have been very good and rich with culture, but haven’t really included the grammar structure of the language.  The course we will take in Maputo will give us more structure but will still emphasize talking.   We hope this will give us a big boost in our communication abilities before we take on other responsibilities with MAF.  Because Maputo is the largest city in Mozambique, we will be exposed to a different type of Moz culture and are excited about this opportunity!  We don’t know what our internet situation will be in Maputo, but we will try to post some cool photos once we get down there!

African Grey Hornbill

Female kudu

Vervet monkey

White-headed vulture

Hakuna matata...no worries!

Blue Wildebeest

Zebra with impala

Remembering a Little Girl

The Saturday night that we returned to our house after our trip to South Africa, we were greeted by our guard, Armando, and three neighborhood boys, Isaac, Torino, and Veloso, standing outside of our gate.  The boys regularly come over to our place to visit and practice Portuguese/English.  They asked if they could come over right then and we told them we needed time to unpack and settle back in, so we agreed that they would come over Monday evening.  Monday evening came and went and we never heard from them.  The next morning, after our Portuguese lesson, we saw several cars and a large group of people at Torino and Veloso’s house.    As our language tutor left, he said that someone must have died.  We noticed that despite the large group of people, it was very quiet and somber.

Later, while Dave was out, he saw Veloso, and he asked him if everything was okay.  Veloso informed him that Gustodia had died.  Gustodia, often called Toto by the other kids, was his 5 year old sister and probably the friendliest kid in the neighborhood.  Normally when we open our gate, all of the young children immediately start waving and yelling “How are you?” without really knowing what they are asking.  If you respond in English or Portuguese, they usually will just ask “How are you?” again!  But Gustodia, unlike the other children, would come running up to us to shake our hands with a big smile.  She often would come and knock on our gate for no reason at all except to say hi and sneak a peek at our dogs (the rest of the children wouldn’t get near Charlie and Lobo).  On one recent occasion, I was walking to our church down the road and she came running up to me and said something I didn’t understand.  I reached out to shake her hand and she looked up at me with her big friendly eyes, mouthed a kiss, and then kissed my hand and waved goodbye.  That was probably my last encounter with her. 

We don’t know why she died.  Dave asked Veloso if she was sick or hurt, but all he said was that she had pain in her head, which can mean a lot of things here in Mozambique.  As we mentioned this to our colleagues with MAF, they commented that unfortunately this happens far too often here and that this wouldn’t be the last time we encountered such a tragic death of young child.

But as for Gustodia, we will remember her for the sweet child of God she is, and we will probably always think of her when we hear a knock on the gate.

Container and Road Trip (You Can't Make This Stuff Up!)

It has been pretty exciting since we last posted.  

  

First, in mid-July, our container arrived.  Our clearing agent arranged to have the container trucked from Nacala, the port city, to Nampula where it would be opened and inspected by customs.  When customs arrived, the truck driver got the tools to break the lock and after banging on it for a while, the customs officials said that the lock wasn’t made in China or it would have broken already!  In the end, we had to cut the lock off.  After customs saw the shipment, they told us to unload it and that they would be back in a couple of hours to inspect it.  We unloaded our belongings, items that belonged to six or seven families, tools for the hangar, and about a gazillion boxes of Bibles.  Fortunately customs was very reasonable on the amount we would have to pay for the shipment.  Once unloaded, we sorted everyone’s stuff and began trips back and forth from the hanger to the house.  It has been since June 2011 that we packed up our house in Wichita Falls and since December 2011 that we said goodbye to our carefully selected items to ship to Mozambique, so we were like kids on Christmas morning opening our tubs to see what we had packed ourselves so many months ago. 

Top Five Items We Missed:

1.  Oven/Stove: It is wonderful to be able to use an oven to bake in after so many months cooking on a little single burner.
2. Dave’s tool box:  After all of the car problems that we have had, not having to borrow tools or MacGyver-rig something has been great. 
3. Martial arts gear: My taekwondo classes were super excited to have some equipment and I already have some kids sparring! 
4. Tie for fourth place – Printer/Blender 
5.  Our beloved couch: We were so excited to get our old, but well-loved and very comfortable couch, but sadly, the wooden frame broke in multiple places while in transit. L Perhaps, it will be a project for later (fortunately we still have a couch available to borrow for a while).

Shortly after our container arrived, we had the pleasure of having someone from MAF headquarters come and stay with us for a week while making a routine visit to our program here in Mozambique.

Towards the end of July each year, our program joins families from Lesotho and Kenya in South Africa for a family conference.  Because there were some things we wanted to have done to Grover, the Land Rover, which we could not have done in Mozambique, we decided to drive rather than fly.  What better way to see the rest of the country than to spend three days driving south.  Before leaving, Dave spent several days getting Grover ready and we met with some seasoned travelers who have made this trip many times to get advice because there are limited places to stay and get fuel.

Things we learned on the road trip in Mozambique:

1. You can make a plan, but good luck keeping it! 
2. Bring every spare car part you have.  Bring motor oil….lots and lots of motor oil. 
3.  BYO TP… if you can find a restroom, it will not be provided.  The side of the road will work, if you can find a spot where there aren’t people walking! 
4. See a doctor and get rid of it before you leave. 
5. Mozambique is a beautiful country with beautiful people and wildlife. 
6. The Lord will provide… the right people and places when you are in need.

Read on for the rest of the story:

Driving consisted of dodging pot holes, other vehicles dodging pot holes, and people walking

 Our first day went pretty smooth, except for the roads, which were anything but.  Late in the afternoon, shortly after refueling, when I shifted gears suddenly the engine revved, but we weren’t going anywhere.  We slowly coasted to a stop on the side of the road.  When we got out, we heard the hissing sound of a flat tire and decided to tackle that problem first.  After the tire was changed, a small group of Mozambicans came out of the bush to see what was going on.  An old man carrying a baby began to point to our rear driver’s side tire.  We discovered that the gear that transfers power to the wheels was stripped out.  We also realized that cell phone coverage was not good in this area.  Dave climbed up on top of Grover and texted a friend back in Nampula to see if they knew anyone in the area that could help us.  Meanwhile, the Mozambicans were trying to figure out a way to help us get the part, except we were about 7 km (4.5 mi) from the nearest town, the stores would already be closed and it was starting to get dark.  Then the old man mentioned the name James White.  We texted back our friend in Nampula to see if he could contact James White and found out that he contacted the lodge where we were planning to stay and they were going to send James White to tow us.  We were actually only 8 km (5 mi) from the lodge!  While we were waiting, we learned that the men talking to us were Christians.  I asked them if they needed Bibles and we were able to give out six Bibles to the group.   As the sun was going down, another vehicle stopped to see if we needed help.  They were staying at the same lodge we were and were willing to tow us.  We quickly bolted the piece back on and threw on the tow strap and off we went.  About half way there, James White found us and took over on the towing and we made it to the lodge.  The lodge operates a sawmill, where a bush mechanic is employed, so early the next morning we met with him.  He didn’t have the parts we needed, but was able to weld the shaft to the gear so that we could complete our trip and have it properly repaired in South Africa.  He even sent us with some tire weld since our spare could not be repaired.  And the total cost for his labor: $4.

Very interesting to see how the construction of huts changed as we drove south based on available materials

Dave working on one of the car problems...thank goodness I married a tinkerer!

 With our repairs, we got off to a later start than planned, meaning we would not make it to our next planned stop.  We quickly made some calls to find out another potential place to stay that was a 

reasonable driving distance.  As it got dark, driving became more difficult to miss potholes, and just kilometers from our hotel our headlights began to flicker.  Fortunately we made it there safe and sound. The next morning we drove to a gas station and Dave decided to check the oil again.  We were about 3 quarts low (that was after adding a quart the day before).  As he investigated, he saw that it was dripping from the vacuum pump and because that part was riveted shut, he couldn’t even open it up to investigate.  So, we spent about $40 a day on oil to limp it along to South Africa.  The next day, we needed to stop in the town of Xai Xai to drop off some tools that came in our container to a missionary down there.  We were planning to make it a long day and go all the way to Nelspruit in South Africa, however, we realized that our lights had all together quit working.  He told us the name of a good electrical mechanic in Nelspruit and we found a place nearby to stay before it got dark.  The next morning, Dave tinkered with the lights, but we didn’t have the part we needed to fix it, so we waited until daylight to leave.

During our hour long fuel stop waiting for the fuel trucks to finish we watched some goats wander by.

 

On our fourth day, we made it to the border. We realized this wasn’t simple like crossing the border into Canada.  We had to stop and get out on the Mozambique side to get our passports stamped and to get a vehicle permit.  Interestingly enough, Dave met a customs agent that is interested in flying in Northern Mozambique with MAF to show the Jesus Film.  Then we crossed into South Africa and started the process over again and after an hour, we were on our way, excited to be where we could get the car fixed and find a doctor.  Shortly after crossing the border, the weld on the gear broke.  Fortunately, the bush mechanic showed us how we could drive on the front wheels only, so we were not stranded this time. 

Why a doctor you ask?  Before we left, Dave had a spot on his leg that looked like a little swollen bug bite.  As we traveled, it became obvious that the spot had gotten infected and was very swollen and painful.  We already had an appointment for a routine checkup with the doctor the next week, after the conference was over, but we decided to drive straight to her office to see if we could get worked in.   She froze off the bad spot, cleaned out the sore and packed it, put him on heavy antibiotics and told him to come back the next morning to make sure it was getting better and not worse.  Then we found the electrical mechanic that the Xai Xai missionary told us about.  This man said he could fix our lights and said he knew trustworthy folks to handle all of our other problems.  He took care of ordering all of the parts and moving the vehicle between shops while we rented a car and went on to our conference just north of Pretoria. 

As we went south the roads got better and vegetation started to change

 

Bart, a paramedic from the States who was at our conference helped redress Dave's leg

After all of our troubles, we made it to our conference only one day late, but had a great and restful time there.  After the conference ended, we came back to Nelspruit to hit the doctor, dentist, and eye doctor since it will likely be a year or so before we get the opportunity again.  We shopped quite a bit for supplies that we (and other families) needed but couldn’t get in Mozambique and by Friday (a week later) our Rover was well again.  We now could take it to have the work done that we originally planned for, which has delayed us several days from our return trip to Nampula. 

These guys were our wake-up call at the place where we stayed in Nelspruit

 All in all, the trip has been a good experience.  We got to experience parts of Mozambique that we otherwise might never have gotten to see.  We learned we can survive police stops and border crossings.  We learned that the Lord puts people in our paths to help us when we can’t help ourselves and must rely on Him! Hopefully the return trip will be a little smoother!