Bible Translations and Goat-Eating Pythons

Our very first week in Mozambique, we met a couple working on a Bible Translation project in Milange.  They were in town for a short time and they helped show us around the market in Nampula and allowed me to “interview” them so that I could share about their work in our newsletter.  At that time, they were busy working on the book of Acts, and 1st and 2nd Peter. 

Last week, we had the amazing experience of getting to attend the Takwane Bible Dedication in the city of Mocuba.  The same couple who had devoted almost 20 years to this project, returned to Mozambique to celebrate the completion of the work and see the published copies get into the hands of Takwane speakers who would finally have the Word in their heart language.

Why would we attend such an event?  Our new Caravan allowed us to take several SIL (Wycliffe) missionaries who live in various parts of Northern Mozambique to Mocuba for the dedication.  Dave was one of the pilots, and fortunately for me, there was enough room for me to tag along.

Pilot Dave and Pilot Dave

Mocuba’s airstrip is not used very often, so the airplane drew quite a crowd.  We had to buzz the airstrip several times to clear the people off it before we could land.  Even after landing, the children ran up to the plane, not realizing how dangerous the propeller could be. 

Crowd at the Mocuba Airstrip

 After we arrived, the ladies helped decorate the church, along with the youth from the church, for the dedication to follow the next day.  The next day when we arrived, there was a chorus of women that greeted us in song, creating a festive atmosphere.  During the dedication, there was music and a host of speakers, some who worked on the translation project and some church leaders who were excited to have the Bible available to their congregations.  There were also representatives of government and community leaders that shared in the celebration. 

Celebration in song

At one point a passage was read from the Bible and although I could not understand what was being said, there was a thrill in listening to God’s Word in yet another language.  

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth - to every nation, tribe, language and people.  Revelation: 14:6

Reading of the Bible in Takwane

This trip was my second ride in the Caravan.  On my first ride, I tagged along as we took some of our MozMed team to Tupiuto for a meeting.  Unfortunately, the king of the land had died and the funeral was that day, so their meeting got cancelled.  However, they had also planned to go visit the family of one of their former assistants who helped with the medical project.  He had been murdered, and the family was suffering and they were hoping to help.  The reason that he was murdered was because he was an albino.  Without going into much of the specifics of what happened, you can follow the link to this article  (http://www.evanjafrica.org/2016/06/07/witchcraft-murder-and-hunted-people/) to understand why such things might happen in this part of the world.

While the Daves were doing some air work, we drove about 45 minutes down a sand road and then turned off on to a path barely wide enough for a vehicle and drove another 45 minutes.  When we finally arrived, quite a crowd gathered around us.  One of the people I was with told me that I was the main reason for the crowd.  We were remote enough that the children there had probably never seen a white person (I was the only one in the group that afternoon).  We had a meeting with the family, left a bag of rice, grain, and oil, and plans were made on how to help the family.  Then we began the trek back to the airstrip where the Caravan was waiting for us.

Since then, Dave has had several more flights on the Caravan.  While I won’t go into details on all of them, after over-nighting on the island of Vamizi, as they were preparing to leave, they saw a large python killing and preparing to eat a goat.  Whoa!  What else can I say?

Field Trip Day at the Airport - Dave explains what it is like to be a pilot

Back to the Future...

(we are seven hours ahead now, you know…)

I was pitifully negligent in updating the blog while we were in the United States, but as we have returned to Mozambique it is time for an update.  Sorry for the long-windedness!

Our return was a bit delayed for several reasons.  First one of Dave’s training classes was moved from January to late March, pushing our return into April.  Then we were delayed in getting the necessary work permit needed to get our visas (our resident documents had expired).  Once we received the permit, there was a slight problem that had to be corrected, delaying our visas by another week.  But, with all of the correct paperwork in hand, we were able to make our return travel plans.   It should be noted that ordering tickets a mere two days before leaving can create a longer trip back than normal.  We travelled from Lubbock to Dallas and then boarded an almost 15 hour flight to Doha, Qatar.  Then after a 9 hour layover, we boarded an almost 8 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa where we had another 6 hour layover.  We then flew to Tete, Mozambique where we processed through customs and immigration and then finally arrived in Nampula a few hours later.  Arriving late in the evening, we weren’t expecting much of a greeting, but we were surprised by a group of friends and colleagues that welcomed us with excitement.  They even came to the house to visit, helping us stay awake and battle the ensuing jet lag.  Oh, and I’m quite certain Charlie and Lobo (our awesome guard dogs) were excited to see us too. 

Last day in the United States (courtesy of Amy J.)

Our timing was perfect, because we arrived in Nampula just a day before a team of twelve folks arrived to visit our program here in Mozambique.  You can read more about their visit in our latest newsletter (which you can view here: Holmes May 2016 Newsletter), but we had a wonderful time helping to introduce them to Nampula life and what MAF is doing in Mozambique.  While they were here, we had the dedication service for the new Caravan that arrived in Nampula back on Easter Sunday.  It was a great event and it was wonderful to see the support of the local community show up (more on that in our newsletter as well). 

A chance to check out the Caravan before the dedication ceremony

After the group left, Dave and I spent a couple of days unpacking our house so that we could find some sense of normalcy.  Unfortunately, some of our things had gotten moldy while in storage, so there was a bit of cleaning to do.  Thankfully, our colleagues were great in making sure the house was clean and our bed was ready for us!  We had planned to take a few more days to get the house sorted, but as is typical in life, Plan A rarely works, and instead we move from one fire to the next.  While the group was still visiting, we learned that we would have an inspection at the airport the next week.  This inspection is extremely important as it has the potential to get our Caravan up in the air sooner than later.  However, there are a lot of technical issues to address.  So, I stayed home doing laundry and scrubbing mold while Dave helped prepare for the inspection. Having just returned from the States, we are unfamiliar with the new hangar and all of the recent developments that have taken place.  As Dave put it, answering inspection questions feels a bit like having a test on the first day of school and finding out it counts for 100% of your grade.  

One of the fun things about returning to Mozambique has been getting to see some of our Mozambican friends that we haven’t been able to keep in touch with via email or Facebook.  We received a nice welcome at our church last Sunday.  The neighbourhood boys seem older have been anxious to visit with Dave and have been quizzing me on when Taekwondo would start again.  After so long, I have been struggling to make my Portuguese make sense, but it is coming back slowly.  The most difficult part has been hearing “you are fatter” and taking it as a compliment.  I also have to get back into the cooking groove.  After being spoiled by moms and convenience food of America, we are back to making our homemade staple foods (we will probably be back to our Africa weights in no time with my cooking!).  

We had the privilege of bringing back a computer with educational software for one the neighborhood boys (his older brother works with us at the hangar).  A youth group from a church that supports us in West Virginia decided to raise the funds for this and we presented it to the family last Sunday.  The mother was in tears, declaring it a blessing from God.  This is a special family to us and we hope that this helps him further his education and expand his future opportunities.