(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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
