Mavalane, Seeds, and Roses

The days are passing so very quickly. We are very heavy with sadness because we know we will be gone for some time - we have less than two weeks left. We really like our current living situation so very much and really like living in Mozambique, but our housing when we return is uncertain and we aren't confident of storage, so we are bringing things back with us so we can return 'mean and lean' next term and be freer to move into a more rural setting in the north. The translation of that is don't bring anything with you that you aren't willing to lose! We also need a better car, so we are selling ours - we have loved it but it has been expensive to keep up because of its age and we've heard all the horror stories from others who have left cars for a year - better to sell it and use the money to buy something a little newer when we return. It is worth more today than it will be in a year. Plus, rats eat out the seats and wiring, the salt air rusts it, the maintenance stops, the tires go flat, the air conditioner leaks out, you get the picture. You return after a long absence and pour a wheel-barrow of money into the thing to get it going again, and when you're done, you still have an old unreliable car! So we are praying that we can fund for something a bit newer with less miles that can still take the rough off-road work that we do. The buyer of our car is a friend, so that helps also. It's a decent car, just old and tired and if I had confidence it could be stored well, I'd probably try to hold on to it - but it seems wise to let it go.

Today, we attended Mavalene church. Last night, Pastor Abel (pastor of this church) called to say his wife (Victoria) had been in an accident near a town between us and Xai-Xai. He didn't really know her condition, but he wanted to drive up and get her and bring her back to Maputo for care. Ann and I were trying to understand well the situation, weighing it against our driving at night - we both have great difficulty driving at night now because of the glare of the headlights - add cars without lights, push carts on the road, pedestrians, and then an inability to see, we really don't like to drive at night. A couple of close calls on our trips north really convinced us of this. Fortunately, our dear colleague, Larry Weil, was able to make the run and take Victoria to the hospital in Maputo - by the time they got to the scene of the accident, the people on the minibus had been moved to a local hospital. The hospital loaded her into Larry's car and he became an ambulance driver!

Basically she has a broken collarbone and after being treated overnight in Maputo, we took her home this morning, arriving at church only a little late. I was slated to preach and with much prayer, it went pretty well. I wish my language was better, but the people are always willing to help you when you get stuck and we had a nice time of back and forth. Afterwards, we all gathered around Victoria as a church and prayed for her. This church meets in a lean-to adjacent to Able and Victoria's home.

I tend to get a bit discouraged with language but I have this wonderful wife who reminds and encourages me that we haven't been here that long and while we have a long ways to go, I didn't have to have my Portuguese translated to Portuguese (that is not a misprint!) today, so it is progress. We continue to pray for improved language and think that moving north will help us there as well as there is quite a bit of English around here, but not so much in the north! If that's all there is, that's what you speak!

Ann did her medical thing and was quite impressed with the cast that they put on Victoria to immobilize her - a very clever design that Ann thought was much better than the slings used in the states. Still, as we drove the bumpy roads from the hospital, Victoria would wince with pain at every bump. She has a long road to recovery but the prognosis is very good, for which we are thankful. God really protected her in this bad accident.

The Mocuba training center construction project continues. I have gone through Belarmino's receipts and nearly have my report ready on the financial part of the project. I need a little more input from Juka in the north to close this out. The photograph is of Belarmino greeting his church on his first day back (last Sunday). His wife, Abertina, and their son Junior are on his left. Everyone was so glad to have them back from their four-months in Mocuba.

Our coming missionaries from Ireland, Melvin and Sharon Kelly, sent a sea-land container full of used desks, chairs, and other things that can be used by the seminary, our training center in Mocuba, and CAM school. It was packed so tight, it was like a giant jigsaw puzzle unloading. It was a 20-foot container but we filled our chapel in the seminary and an adjacent room with the incredible amount of stuff that we received. What a blessing and well done Melvin and Sharon! Another missionary myth busted (who says you can't ship something to Mozambique?)! Over 20 seminary students helped, so the unloading went quickly but there is a ton of work remaining to re-assemble the desks, shelves, and other things. But, what a blessing.

Another myth busted - you can't get long-stem red roses in Mozambique. I have always gotten red roses for my wife on her anniversary, one for each year we have been married. But, the first year here, I gave up trying to find red roses - found some white ones, yellow ones, but no red ones. Well, this year, our dear friends and neighbors surprised us with red roses on Ann's birthday, knowing she missed them, and so another myth busted! Here is the proof!

Today, in our time at Mavalane, we talked about faith, mustard seeds, tree seeds, trees, forest fires, pine cones, airplanes, chappas and Elevators. It all gets tied together with faith, faith in a Creator who loves us and assures us that we can move mountains if we have just a little bit of faith. But, that faith needs to be in God, not ourselves. That is something that the disciples had to learn and something we fight with daily. We all have this tendency to want to 'do it ourselves' but that really doesn't work and it certainly doesn't give us peace. Grow our faith dear Lord.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see!" Hebrews 11:1

PS - As I'm writing this, Spain won the World Cup. It has been crazy here - when they scored, I could hear the people cheering all around us - a literal roar across the village we live in. Soccer is a big deal here - a really big deal. Every little kid can do amazing things with a soccer ball and his feet. When we came into the property where we live yesterday, there were six games of neighborhood soccer happening all around the property. We weed our car around the various games to get to our house, enjoying every minute of it.