Day Off. . .sort of

We've already been here a week now, and our days have been filled (or shall I say Scott's days) running from the Minister of Justice's offices, to the Minister of Religion, to the car dealership, to the insurance company. . .Everything takes hours--or to be more accurate--days.

My job, on the other hand, have been very busy giving the kids some sort of routine with home schooling and other activities, find out what goods we can buy here, and to make sure I keep up with my own writing deadlines.

It was nice, then to make Sunday somewhat of a day off. We went to the church of a friend of Scott's, who asked him about forty-five minutes before church started if he could preach. Because of the short notice, and the fact that we are still learning the differences between Brazilian Portuguese and Mozambique Portuguese, he spoke in English for the most part, but still did a great job. This first photo is of Scott praying with some of the men.

Language has been an interesting challenge, mainly because everyone wants to speak English here. No matter how much I speak Portuguese to people, they almost always respond in English. The car dealers are all foreigners and don't speak Portuguese, so our exposure has been limited. Once we move up north this will change, but for now, I'm trying to study when I can to keep up with the language.

As for our paperwork, Scott is to go back again tomorrow and we are hoping that everything will be signed. Please pray that things will go through so we can get settled into our house. Either way, we will go back to SA for the weekend to a meeting and Lord willing, to apply for our permanent visas that we have to get outside the country.

More photos soon. . .

Lisa

Sights of Maputo

We drove around town today, and I got a close up look of Maputo. We looked for a stove and checked out what was available in the grocery stores. Being the capital, we plan to come down here every few months to stock up on items we can't get up north. So if your interested in taking a peak at the city, click on the video below.

We are still waiting for news on our paperwork. They called us on Friday with a problem and told us we needed to redo some of the papers. That will be done by Monday when hopefully we can get the last signature.

Blessings!

Lisa

Laundry Day

With over a week since we last were able to last do laundry, I was thrilled to be able to catch up while we are here at the guest house. I've been encouraing the kids to wear their clothes a couple days, so was happy that we only had two medium loads of laundy. Washing, should be a snap.

I told the kids I was going to be back as soon as I dumped the first load into the washer and then we would start school.

Or so I thought.

Turns out, the washing machine wasn't exactly what I'd expected. Neither was my morning.

Apparently, just having a washing machine here is a blessing. There doesn't seem to be such a thing here as extra large capasity washers that both wash, spin, and rinse.

Yes, you heard me right.

Here's how the process goes. You take a small load (the key word here is very, very small) and put it into the tub side of the washer for about three minutes. When those clothes are done, you've now got to set the clothes into the spinning side. The tricky part here is that they have to be perfectly laid in a donut pattern around the small cilander so the weight is even and they are not off balance. If they are, the washing machine complains. Loudly.

Spin the clothes for a couple minutes, and now it's time to rinse them. By hand, of course, in a small plastic tub in clean water. Then it's back to the spinner one last time.

Over two hours later, my two small loads had turned into six or seven loads that are still outside drying.

So much for throwing my clothes into the washing machine. So much for school.

But that's not all of the story. There was a blessing watching Jayden and Mariah who thought it was fun to help out. And chatting with the sweet older woman who runs the guest house. She patienly taught me for over an hour the ins and outs of working the delicate machine. And I talked Teresa, a widow who has worked here for eight years and wants to improve her English.

It's one of the things I have had to learn here in Africa. Things move slow, and relationship are key. I think it's a concept that might not be so bad after all.

Ventures in Mozambique

We arrived last night in Maputo, Mozambique, after a ten-hour drive across the border of South African/Mozambique. We are now staying at a small missionary guest house which is surrounded by a garden in the middle of the hectic city. Our plans are to stay until we've finished going through all the red tape of staying here legally.

Scott and Gustavo went to one of the government offices today to pick up our papers that we've been waiting for, for over a year. These papers will allow us to work in the country through our mission. We were told last Friday that they were finished, but once they arrived, they were told there was still one signature left and that they would be signed later today. We will see. They've told us this several times before. It's simply the way things work here. In the mean time Scott is off looking for a car for us (we sold our cars in SA).

We started back to school today as the kids have had about three weeks off. It will be nice to get back into something of a routine even though it is for a short time. They’ve had mixed emotions about moving, which is normal, but overall, they seem excited. In a lot of ways, they are more flexible than I am.

One of the nice things about staying here is that everyone eats together in the dinning room, and I don't have to prepare the food! This is especially a blessing considering we don't have a car, and I have no idea what is available here even if I could find a grocery store.

If the paperwork goes through today, we should be able to go up to Inhambane for a few days where we can start getting settled in and learning our way around the town. Our furniture won't be shipped until we’ve left the country, applied for our permanent visa, and all the paperwork is finished, but it will still be nice to start working on a place we can call home.

Below are a few photos of us leaving from South Africa and our new, temporary home at the missionary guest house, including a place where the kids can study. Please continue praying that we can get the paperwork finished quickly so we can get settled.

More soon,

Lisa

Back home again

It's strange being home. . .and yet not home. We drove past our old house over the weekend, on our way to visit some friends of ours. I could almost imagine driving up to the house and walking into it like we did seven months ago. It was like being home again. . .and yet it's not home anymore. At least not our permanent home.

We're still temporarily staying with Scott's aunt and uncle through tomorrow. The kids have enjoyed spending time with friends and so have we. It's been great to catch up with as many as we could in a short week filed with other business and appointments.

Tomorrow we head on to Joburg. We will be there for about five days for a team meeting, doctor's appointment and a bit of last minute clothes shopping for the kids (who outgrew everything in Brazil).

Monday we leave for Mozambique with Bia and Gustavo, our co workers. The hitch is that it will still be several weeks before we will be able to move into our house. We will be waiting in the capital to finish up the paperwork to get us moved officially into the country.

The group worked on out house this past week and ended up being such a huge blessing. The house was in worse shape than we first thought and required a lot of work including plumbing and electrical. And this is a new house! We will still have lots to do once we move in.

Prayers:

1. Please pray that our paperwork will be finished quickly so we can settle into our house. Without the paperwork, we can't move into our house with our furniture.

2. Safe travels back to Africa for Bia and Gustavo.

3. Patience for all of us as we go through this transition.

4. Please pray also for our orphans in Zimbabwe. We are getting ready to send more food to them. The situation there is becoming more and more difficult.

I'll try and send some photos soon. Especially of life from Mozambique!

Blessings!

Lisa

Green grass and blue skies

While we miss Brazil, we are certainly enjoying the green grass and blue skies of South Africa! Just walking across the lawn is great after six months in the hectic city surrounded by cement.

We are spending the next week seeing friends, replacing the clothes my kids outgrew while in Brazil, and doctors' appointments before heading on to Mozambique.

On another note, the internet here is very slow. I'm not even able to post a photo right now or send email from my regular account, so if I'm slow in responding, you'll know why.

We appreciate so much your continued prayers for our family. We will be living in temporary housing the next month or two as we work to sort out our visas. Please pray that we can sort this our quickly so we can move into our house in Mozambique and transfer our things across the boarder. The group from SA is painting and fixing up the house right now. They are really a blessing as the owner wasn't able to finish a lot of things, so this group will be doing that for us.

More soon from the heart of Africa.

Lisa

Back home to South Africa

Last Friday night we ended up saying good-bye to friends until one o'clock in the morning. It was a bittersweet ending as we were sad to leave, yet ready for this next phase of our lives.

While I was excited to be back to an English speaking country and see friends here again, it's been hard to shove aside the Portuguese. A good sign I guess. We now have two weeks in SA to work on our paperwork and finish up some last minute things before making our next big move. Members from our church in northern SA are on their way to Mozambique right now to fix up a house for us. We found out about two other house for rent a couple days ago, so when they arrive they will be looking at them, calling us, and then we will all make a decision as to which house they will actually fix up for us.

As for Brazil, I made a short slide show, mainly for our Brazilian friends and for our family who met many of these wonderful people. Hope you enjoy it too.

More from South Africa soon. . .Lisa