Around the World in Mozambique

Living in Moz, we have had the privilege of making friends from all over the world.  Not only have we learned much about the Mozambican culture over the last year, but we have become much more aware of what makes Americans distinct.  Through the expat community here, we know folks from Brazil, the Netherlands, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and I’m sure I’m missing some countries.  Speaking of  “around the world”,  In just a few short months Dave has flown the equivalent of one trip around the world in Mozambique!  That's a lot of flying!

While we are not usually involved in the work our passengers do, it is fun to share some of the cool things going on “around the world”…

Recently Dave transported some missionaries to Quelimane, saving them about 14 hours of travel.  After Dave dropped them off, they had to take public transport and then a boat ride to reach their intended destination.  They say sometimes the boat ride can be up to 8 hours, but they were fortunate this time and caught the tide just right and made it in under 2. One exciting possibility for future work: there is already an old airstrip that with some work could eliminate the public transport and boating leg of the trip.  Later, Dave also got to fly some Southern Baptist missionaries to a town called Lichinga where they were preparing for a new family to come and serve.  On both trips, we also transported some groceries and supplies to missionaries who don't have access to as much.

We also do quite a bit of flying to a titanium mine on the coast of Mozambique, one of the locations the flying doctors go.  Recently when the plane was being loaded for a doctor flight, I noticed a box of Bibles and inquired what they were for.  I was told that some mine workers from Zimbabwe had started a church and asked the doctor to pick up the Bibles when they came to Nampula.  The church, located in a predominately Muslim area, started in a house and has now grown large enough for them to build a small church building.    

This past week in Gurué, Dr. Pim showed the JESUS Film four nights in a row after working in the clinics all day.  It is kind of fun to know we had a small part in that effort since he borrowed some of the equipment we purchased to show the Film.

Taekwondo at the Orphanage

Lastly, here are some cool pics from our Uganda trip.  Our latest newsletter explains in detail the purpose of our trip, so we won’t go into that here. 

Driving in Kampala, Uganda

A nice view from the MAF- Uganda Hangar

On our free day, we decided to go white water rafting on the Nile River.  Note: you won't be able to view the video from an email...so make sure to click the title link to the blog if you want to see the video.

This pic was right before we got stuck on a rock (Dave & I are sitting up front)