We have been having significant difficulties with our Internet service here and have not been able to post things lately – speeds are just too slow and we’re on then off then on then off – it just gets too frustrating so we’ll do an entry without photos.
Yesterday was Fourth of July – not a holiday here but after church, we did go to the American School where the US Embassy put on a sort of ‘fair’ with activities for the kids and you could buy some food (no hamburgers or hot dogs however!) and there were lots of flags and red/white/blue things. We saw a few people we hadn’t seen for a while and enjoyed catching up with them. The school is beautiful with lots of wonderful facilities and they are in the midst of a big building program. We stayed a while but wimped out for staying for fireworks as we wanted to be home before dark. We try to minimize our travel after dark here.
We are getting closer to being ready to return to the states but the chaos is getting to both of us. We have boxes all over with stacks of “ship back” and “stays here” and “for renters” and “give away” and “burn” and so on. We have decided to send a lot of things back to the states as we are heavier with personal things than we want to be. Next term we want to be ‘mean and lean’ so we can move north or to another location in Mozambique with minimal difficulty. The less personal stuff we have the better for that type of life. You don’t want anything with you wouldn’t want to lose, because you probably will. And, to store for a year with uncertain housing when we return, it just doesn’t make any sense. But that is lots of work on this end between now and leave day.
Today we met with Pastor Abel for a 0900 meeting at our house to catch up on our church multiplication work and a trip he had just returned from. We also talked about what will happen while we are gone to the States with the church multiplication program - we had quite an agenda, and that included time for lunch. And then, we did some maintenance on the little motorcycle he drives. I have been working with him on regular maintenance, a foreign concept here (figuratively and literally). Together, we changed the oil and checked the air filter – opps – no air filter and the store he bought it from didn’t have any, so they just removed the filter and wrapped a cloth around the air intake. The store has no idea if they will get more filters in…such is the way here. The sad part for me is that in this dusty environment, it will likely accelerate wear in the engine because the air needs to be clean. And, then, we changed the oil. I have warned him and warned him about over-tightening things. (Here I have watched so many tighten things until they break) – and I went to the house to look for something that might work better as an air filter and came back to “the oil plug screw won’t tighten”. Well, I check it out and it was over-tightened to the point it actually stripped the threads, warped the washer, and broke a chunk out of the engine casing. He looks at me kind of sheepishly and says he forgot and tightened it hard. I guess so…
We found a washer that might work to seal the broken part, cleaned out the little metal parts from the over tightening, but I was not very hopeful it would hold.
It didn’t – I got a call later that the oil all leaked out near the seminary and that’s where the motorcycle is now. We’ll have to take it to the shop again, but I shutter at how it will probably get fixed – In the states I’d just cut a new thread and put an oversized bold in it with a good washer, but in this case, with the chunk of the casing gone, we may have to weld it in place or something crazy like that. (I’d love to take a car from here into a minute-lube place in the States and say, “Yes, you’re right, you have to grind that drain plug off and weld a new one on before you add the new oil!”) Sigh……. This motorcycle makes such a huge difference in his ministry, it truly does, but it has not held up (Chinese-bike) nearly like I wish it did. Plus, it is hard to relate the mind-set to you my readers. Most of you have grown up with basic understandings of motors, screws, electronics, and the like. Guys have fixed bicycles, wagons, and watched dads and brothers fix things with parts bought at the local hardware store from the time they were little. It doesn’t work that way here. Many haven’t a clue about things like this and are doing their first learning on complex things like cars and motorcycles. Change the oil – why would you do that? There is still oil in the crankcase – yeah it is like molasses but what does that matter, it is still running today? This part doesn’t really fit – that’s ok, just pound it in with a sledge hammer, that should work – if not, Sam has a welder and we could grind a piece off of that thing over there (and you probably think I’m kidding!).
But everyday it is getting better and I have been pleased to see how Abel so faithfully works to maintain this motorcycle as he knows what a blessing it has been to him. Maybe someday he will get that second one and have it all figured out by then, having learned on this first one. He just returned from a trip to Mavila the Inhambane province where he and Aimee Howarth used the Jesus film as an evangelism tool. The reports we have received are very good but he does want me to look at the generator – for some reason it has be propped at an angle to work – can’t imagine what that is about!
A Honda motorcycle about the same size as this Chinese bike costs nearly 3 times more (and twice what it would be in the States), so it puts us in a bit of a pickle. Name brand quality things here are very very expensive. However, Mozambicans are very clever at getting broken things to work a while longer, so we will see what happens in the coming days. The bike has about 14,000 km on it at this point and is ready for a set of tires as well.
Pastor Abel left our house at 4 PM – it all took a lot longer than we thought….how many more days until our plane leaves? We need our youngest daughter here desperately! She was always around when we did packing like this and made it happen! Every day we get calls about people wanting a piece of us before we leave – it’s going to be a sprint to the finish line.
We just got word that a church planter in Zambezia province – two weeks after giving birth to a baby. Very very difficult – life is hard here for the dear people in rural Mozambique, very difficult. Likewise, Abel’s sister Raquel is in the hospital having nearly died from Toxemia and losing a baby. She effectively had a stroke affecting her right side but is fortunate to have survived. She was young (mid 30’s). Fortunately, she was relatively near decent medical care.
Belarmino is back in Maputo. Juka has the responsibility for the final things on the training center in Mocuba. I talked with him a little Sunday after church but we need to really sit down and work through the details of the project before we leave – hopefully later this week. I’m hoping for some updated photographs shortly!
Today I was reading in 2 Kings about a lady whose son Elisha had restored to life. In God’s provision, Elisha told her and her son to avoid the famine that was coming by moving away. So, she leaves Israel for the seven years and returns and her house and land are gone. Not a surprise….but God works it out so that ‘by chance’ she gets her land back but NOT just the land, but all the profit for the seven years. I love those kind of stories of God’s faithfulness to His children.
May He show you His faithfulness today!
Blessings!
Dave & Ann
“Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, ‘Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.’” 2 Kings 8:6
Wow….
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