First Two Days

We have now been in Mozambique for two days now.  After our long flight to Johannesburg, we took a small regional airline into the Nampula airport, the same airport where MAF is based and that Dave will be flying out of once he gets going in flight operations.  As we were flying in, we observed the green landscape below (greener than we expected due to this being the rainy season), the small isolated mountains, and the noticeable lack of roads.

A view from our flight into Nampula

 Moments after we landed and walked into the terminal, a rainstorm hit, missing us by minutes.  We were able to quickly move through customs thanks to the help of our new MAF teammates that were waiting on the tarmac to greet us.  As we left the airport, we immediately got to absorb the sights and sounds of our new city, starting with the children playing in the water that had pooled in the road from the rain. 

 We were taken to guest housing at the SIL complex which is where we will stay until we find a house to rent (one may be in the works already).  We were immediately put at ease by our new colleagues helping us to settle in and inviting us over for meals.  On the way to one of our teammates house for supper, we were stopped by a man trying to sell a pangolin (similar to an armadillo, but extremely rare).  Later we were told that he would probably sell it to a witch doctor.

Our temporary home at SIL

Despite going to bed around 11:30pm last night, we were wide awake this morning at 4:30am, which is when it gets light outside here (It seems to get dark around 6pm).  We were told that yesterday was unusually cool for this time of year, being in the 80s, however, today we got exposed to the typical heat of January.  In the morning we went to a sale that another missionary family was having as they are preparing to move to a new country.  We found a few kitchen items to help us get by while we wait for our shipment to arrive.  Following that, we got a quick tour of the MAF hangar and office and then headed to a restaurant where we had a team meeting.  This gave us a chance to get to know everyone a little better and plan out the next week.  In the next week, they will help us get oriented to Nampula, get things started with the immigration office, get cell phones, exchange money,  go shopping, etc.   Language training should start the following week.

Red bishop bird

On the drive back from the restaurant, Dave got his first taste of driving on the left side of the road while sitting on the right hand side of the car.  While there are not too many cars on the road, motorbikes seem somewhat common.  By far, walking seems to be the main form of transportation and people are seen walking everywhere.  Because the roads are so rough (especially after the recent rains) four wheel drive is a huge help and cars tend to drive on whichever side of the road has the least potholes (you just have to remember to go left instead of right when you come head on with another vehicle).  Luckily the roads are so rough that you are going pretty slow and have plenty of time to react.  There doesn’t seem to be street signs, so we are learning landmarks such as “the pile of concrete” or “the green fence” to learn our way around.  The ultimate test today was returning from our coworkers house to the guest housing by ourselves in the dark while it was raining!

Thank you so much for your continued prayers as we settle in and become familiar with our new city and the culture.  Little things like brushing our teeth with bottled water and sleeping under a mosquito net remind us that we aren’t in Texas anymore, however, hopefully it won’t take long for Mozambique to feel like home.