hello friends and family
very soon i will most def be posting my final thoughts and events from my last week in africa!
the reason for the delay...after i flew into little rock from mozambique i was home for less than 48 hours before i flew out (again) for the lovely state of washington for my best friend and roommate anna b. shaffer's wedding!
i just flew in tonight! and i must say it was a prefect wedding! i'm so happy for anna and her hubs nathan mielke! and i was so blessed to be apart of their ceremony and apart of their lives in general (ha ha seriously though i love them).
blessing and prayers to them.
kisses and love to everyone. talk to you very soon.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
wafrica: week number 5
Salama salama!
(p.s. not sure if I have told you this yet BUT the reason for the “w” in front of the Africa in the title of my post is this—in the local language Makua you put a “w” sound in the front of most countries when you are talking about them…so right now I’m in wAfrica and in a little over a week I will be in wAmerica…yes it IS as funny in real life as on this blog)
Well we are about to begin our last week…very very sad. BUT I am also very excited BECAUSE on Wednesday all of the interns and the missionary families are going to a private beach in PEMBA, MZ! Yes you read correctly—private beach. ☺
But enough about what I to come…let me tell you about this past week!
MONDAY
Supposedly it was a “rest” day; however it was time for half of the interns to make dinner…the last two times we did boys vs. girls but this go around we mixed up the groups.
SO my group: Mark, Ted, and Kaitlyn Shaker (yes Shaker; one of the missionary kids thinks her last name is Shaker and not Schaefer so cute)
We decided to go for a wAmerican themed dinner including: burgers, fries, and lemon meringue pie. Headed to the market around 10 a.m. got our fixens including the goat meat…yes beef is scarce. We got back to the Howell’s house around 11.30 and started cooking. We made homemade rolls for the burgers and we actually ended up having to make two batches because the first batch came out not as burger sized buns but little dinner rolls buns…we gave the little girls mini burgers.
After lunch and during the bun fiasco Ted and Mark proceeded to cut up the goat meat…it took them 3 hours.
Yes 3 hours.
African eat the bone so the meat is not cut into nice strips like in America, where the bone is easily removed. No no here the animal is just hacked into whatever pieces are easiest, and because of this it makes separating meat from bone a pain-staking task.
Got the meat cut. Got the meat ground. Salad made. French-fries…oh the French fries.
We cut up the potatoes around 12.30…we covered them and then around 4 we went to cook them…they were covered in brown spots. We were unsure if this was a bad, good, or neutral thing…so after a slightly stressful moment we called Amy, found out they were fine and started to season them.
So bun fiasco; now we have the potato fiasco.
I got to make the pie! I love making PIES! And I’m an expert at meringue thanks to my Grandmother (thank you Granmommie Pat) because every Christmas she makes meringue drops with chocolate chips and she taught me how to make them.
So Kaitlyn made the crust. Great. I made the filling. A little miss colored because the egg yolk was orange and not yellow and the white sugar was brown and not white, but still excellent. The meringue was awesome. It peaked perfectly. Put the meringue on top of the filling—lovely. And waited until everyone got there to put them in the oven to brown the top….
We started dinner. Everyone loved the burgers. Awesome they took literally 4 hours to make. The buns were perfect. Salad good. Then the buzzer went off. I went to get the pies and the middle had partially liquefied.
Yes it had liquefied. I’m not really sure what happened. All I could figure was the oven was super hot from all of the baking and it baked the pie too quickly…so quickly it liquefied most of the middle.
It ended up being fine. But it was the third fiasco; so by that time we were all a little like “seriously?” ha ha (at least kaitlyn and I were…well the boys were pretty frustrated about that meat)
Everyone loved dinner! Everyone loved the pie. And then we played a South African version of scene it and my team won twice! Hooray movie knowledge.
TUESDAY
Village visit day!
Mark, Ted, Kaitlyn and I went out with Allen. We headed out to the village where Ted did his bonding; so we were greeted with a large crowd of children. All of them were excited to see Ted again.
Allen is memorizing Titus with some of the church leaders in the village; so that was great to sit and listen to them as they recited Titus in 3 different languages (respective to the person who was memorizing language of choice).
They fed us rice and matapa. Good.
We got back and met with our good friend Fawnetoo about some cultural differences between the West and Mozambique. The language barrier was pretty difficult but we pushed through and got some good answers for our culture study.
We each are responsible for a topic of our choice then we are supposed to interview locals to expand our knowledge of the local culture.
We headed over to the Howell’s to hang out; played a couple rounds of Bang…oh yes it is a card game that has been obsessively played since we’ve arrived.
Headed back to the Westerholms for dinner. Bed. Early. I know lame, but true.
WEDNESDAY
We had another round of cultural questions for some of the missionary’s workers. The topic I chose was the transition from childhood to adulthood—I got some interesting responses and found out of really sad things about the youth and the lack of regard for purity and marriage.
We attempted to print off some hymnals but the power went out so we could not use the printer. We then had our weekly intern meeting where we process our week together as a group.
It was a good meeting; I shared about the book I’ve been reading, “Teaching Cross Culturally” and we had a lot of discussion about evangelizing to Muslims; and we also had an encouraging conversation about the power of prayer and how we use prayer (it sounds weird to write what we discussed in a list form, but all of the things we talked about were full of life and information—it is just difficult to reproduce here. Forgive me for that)
Then we had team night at the Howells! Another missionary family (the Salwayer’s who have 4 boys all named after guns….yes so awesome) joined us as they were passing through town.
It was a really chill team night because the semi-finals of the World Cup was on so some of the guys went to watch it down the street at a restaurant.
The rest of us just talked and talked about how futball (soccer) players are apparently wimps…don’t ask me ask Ted; he holds this opinion very strongly.
THURSDAY
We ventured out all the interns Alan and his daughter Ellie to make a lorena stove, similar to a rocket stove. It is a simple mud structure that is used as opposed to an open fire; it helps to prevent burns and smoke inhalation.
The man we were supposed to build the stove for did not show up where Alan had told him to meet us so…we ended up talking to this other lady and decided to build the stove for her!
Got old termite mound dirt. Got dirt. Mixed them together. Got water. Mixed that in and wa-la you have mud for the stove. Throw in some grass and you’re ready to build. Mind you there were a lot of blisters, a lot of buckets full of dirt being carried, and a lot of mixing going on to get to this point.
Built the stove. Alan and Jon left to get some more water. Kaitlin Petty (KP) also left with them because she was not feeling well ☹
Finished the stove before they got back, but it was ok because the woman needed the water for personal use. She and her family were very grateful and we were glad to help!
That afternoon we went to our last ladies class with Rachel. It was bittersweet. It has been fun getting to know some of the ladies and singing with them every week has been a blessing.
Kim taught the lesson and she did a great job; all of us were tired from the late night before and from working on the stove all morning long SO the ladies kept asking if we were sad; they thought we wanted to go home…but really we were all just pooped.
All in all though it was a great day.
FRIDAY
Village visit with Chad.
Kaitlyn, Ted, Mark and I headed out around 10.30 a.m. went to the village where Mark did his bonding. We picked up Mark’s “dad” and other man and we drove through the BUSH on a tiny bumpy path to a village about and hour away.
We did a short study with them and then hoped back into the car and drove for about another hour to the village where Chad and the guys have been going every Thursday.
We were at this village singing and doing a study with them for about 3 hours. I got a lot of reading done. But it was fun to see where the guys have been going every week; AND the lady who cooked us lunch/dinner is an excellent cook (Jon has claimed that she is the best in Africa).
Headed back; it was pretty late and we had been driving a long time….and when we got to the village to drop off Mark’s “dad” we were immediately called over to another part of the village where someone’s hut had caught on fire!
It was very scary coming up, seeing everyone panicking and hearing women wailing crying. I just kept praying that no one was hurt. Chad and the guys helped to pull some of the grass off of the house next to the fire, so it did not catch. The fire died down; no other house caught on fire, and no one was injured. So it ended up being all right; and the family got most of their belongings out of the building.
So that was intense and very sobering. But I’m glad we were there to help, even if it was just a little bit.
AND
That night we helped Amy decorate cookies for our Fourth of July party. So fun!
SATURDAY
Headed out around 7; same group with Chad again and we went to the same village with the really good cook.
We sang for over an hour! It was so much fun! And they asked each of us interns to lead a song, so that was fun; a little intimidating but fun.
We did not stay at the village too long BECAUSE Saturday night was our FOURTH OF JULY PARTY!
So we wrapped up around lunch; ate with the family, then headed out. As we left the good cook asked for my dress…yes the one I was wearing. It is not rude here to ask for things you want or like…needless to say I declined her request.
Got back and got excited for the party!
Amy went ALL OUT. She made (mind you all homemade) egg rolls, spinach dip, salsa, home made chips, cheesy pita bread, pigs in a blanket, spinach croissant amazing little sandwich things, chicken, popcorn, and cookies!
It was amazing!
We had a water balloon toss. Alan and Jon won. Nice job guys.
Then we had a horseshoe tournament with a bracket and everything. I got to the semi finals against Kim but alas she beat me. THEN Kim went on to face Ted for the championship; and I’m happy to say that she dominated. Hooray girls rule.
Also a high light of our party was the intern fashion show…a couple of weeks ago we all went to the market by ourselves and bought World Cup themed outfits…we presented them in a fashion show format…it was hilarious and a bit disturbing. Ted had on some shorts that were a bit too tight and a top that could be called a mid-drift.
But the highlight of the evening was after we were done…Jon took Kaitlyn Shaker’s white jeans embroidered with colorful animals and put them on for all the see….they were so tight…oh so tight. My eyes were burning for quite some time afterwards.
We “presented” our culture studies and then played a rousing game of telephone/Pictionary. If you have never played you MUST! It was so so so funny we all laughed SO HARD!
I’m proud to say that we stayed up way past our normal bedtime! Ha ha Great day!
SUNDAY
Woke up at 5.15 a.m.
Boo.
Mark, Ted, Kaitlyn and I drove with Chad to church this morning. The church was about 2 and a half hours away. So we had to get up extra early to make it on time.
But when we got there we discovered that the church leader was working, because the Governor was coming to town and the man from Montepuez Chad had expected to be in town was seemingly no where to be found…Chad was unsure to begin with if the man could be trusted but no one knew where he was so we assumed we’d found our answer…BUT he showed up.
And because there were no members of the church Chad has help start we piled in the car and went to another church down the road. It was in an outdoor shelter and it was so much fun. Great singing and they asked Chad to preach; it was fun to meet some new people.
Hoped back in the car; hungry and ready for a 2 plus hour drive.
On the way home we stopped; climbed a mountain. Ha ha not out of the ordinary for this group. I went this time! It was beautiful! A little hard on the asthma, but I made it!
Hoped back into the car; bought some bajeas (those bean things we made a few weeks ago) for lunch.
Long drive. We were all falling asleep since we woke up so early. Finally made it home around 2 o’clock.
Went to drop the guys off but the Howell’s were not back from church yet, so they came over and despite the fact that we were all falling asleep we played a rousing game of nerts. And I WON! Oh my gosh! I don’t think that has ever happened. Ha ha
Chilled out for a while.
And now here I sit. Almost ready for dinner and excited for the World Cup final which is tonight!
I’m so to watch oh yes. I have to come on I’m so close I have to watch the finals.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for pushing through. Ha ha This time next week I will be on a plane to the United States…so I might not post until I’m home.
BUT this next week we have one more village visit on Tuesday then leave for the beach on Wednesday; fly out Sunday morning. Be back on the 19th.
Weird weird weird keep praying for the end of our time here.
Love you all.
(p.s. not sure if I have told you this yet BUT the reason for the “w” in front of the Africa in the title of my post is this—in the local language Makua you put a “w” sound in the front of most countries when you are talking about them…so right now I’m in wAfrica and in a little over a week I will be in wAmerica…yes it IS as funny in real life as on this blog)
Well we are about to begin our last week…very very sad. BUT I am also very excited BECAUSE on Wednesday all of the interns and the missionary families are going to a private beach in PEMBA, MZ! Yes you read correctly—private beach. ☺
But enough about what I to come…let me tell you about this past week!
MONDAY
Supposedly it was a “rest” day; however it was time for half of the interns to make dinner…the last two times we did boys vs. girls but this go around we mixed up the groups.
SO my group: Mark, Ted, and Kaitlyn Shaker (yes Shaker; one of the missionary kids thinks her last name is Shaker and not Schaefer so cute)
We decided to go for a wAmerican themed dinner including: burgers, fries, and lemon meringue pie. Headed to the market around 10 a.m. got our fixens including the goat meat…yes beef is scarce. We got back to the Howell’s house around 11.30 and started cooking. We made homemade rolls for the burgers and we actually ended up having to make two batches because the first batch came out not as burger sized buns but little dinner rolls buns…we gave the little girls mini burgers.
After lunch and during the bun fiasco Ted and Mark proceeded to cut up the goat meat…it took them 3 hours.
Yes 3 hours.
African eat the bone so the meat is not cut into nice strips like in America, where the bone is easily removed. No no here the animal is just hacked into whatever pieces are easiest, and because of this it makes separating meat from bone a pain-staking task.
Got the meat cut. Got the meat ground. Salad made. French-fries…oh the French fries.
We cut up the potatoes around 12.30…we covered them and then around 4 we went to cook them…they were covered in brown spots. We were unsure if this was a bad, good, or neutral thing…so after a slightly stressful moment we called Amy, found out they were fine and started to season them.
So bun fiasco; now we have the potato fiasco.
I got to make the pie! I love making PIES! And I’m an expert at meringue thanks to my Grandmother (thank you Granmommie Pat) because every Christmas she makes meringue drops with chocolate chips and she taught me how to make them.
So Kaitlyn made the crust. Great. I made the filling. A little miss colored because the egg yolk was orange and not yellow and the white sugar was brown and not white, but still excellent. The meringue was awesome. It peaked perfectly. Put the meringue on top of the filling—lovely. And waited until everyone got there to put them in the oven to brown the top….
We started dinner. Everyone loved the burgers. Awesome they took literally 4 hours to make. The buns were perfect. Salad good. Then the buzzer went off. I went to get the pies and the middle had partially liquefied.
Yes it had liquefied. I’m not really sure what happened. All I could figure was the oven was super hot from all of the baking and it baked the pie too quickly…so quickly it liquefied most of the middle.
It ended up being fine. But it was the third fiasco; so by that time we were all a little like “seriously?” ha ha (at least kaitlyn and I were…well the boys were pretty frustrated about that meat)
Everyone loved dinner! Everyone loved the pie. And then we played a South African version of scene it and my team won twice! Hooray movie knowledge.
TUESDAY
Village visit day!
Mark, Ted, Kaitlyn and I went out with Allen. We headed out to the village where Ted did his bonding; so we were greeted with a large crowd of children. All of them were excited to see Ted again.
Allen is memorizing Titus with some of the church leaders in the village; so that was great to sit and listen to them as they recited Titus in 3 different languages (respective to the person who was memorizing language of choice).
They fed us rice and matapa. Good.
We got back and met with our good friend Fawnetoo about some cultural differences between the West and Mozambique. The language barrier was pretty difficult but we pushed through and got some good answers for our culture study.
We each are responsible for a topic of our choice then we are supposed to interview locals to expand our knowledge of the local culture.
We headed over to the Howell’s to hang out; played a couple rounds of Bang…oh yes it is a card game that has been obsessively played since we’ve arrived.
Headed back to the Westerholms for dinner. Bed. Early. I know lame, but true.
WEDNESDAY
We had another round of cultural questions for some of the missionary’s workers. The topic I chose was the transition from childhood to adulthood—I got some interesting responses and found out of really sad things about the youth and the lack of regard for purity and marriage.
We attempted to print off some hymnals but the power went out so we could not use the printer. We then had our weekly intern meeting where we process our week together as a group.
It was a good meeting; I shared about the book I’ve been reading, “Teaching Cross Culturally” and we had a lot of discussion about evangelizing to Muslims; and we also had an encouraging conversation about the power of prayer and how we use prayer (it sounds weird to write what we discussed in a list form, but all of the things we talked about were full of life and information—it is just difficult to reproduce here. Forgive me for that)
Then we had team night at the Howells! Another missionary family (the Salwayer’s who have 4 boys all named after guns….yes so awesome) joined us as they were passing through town.
It was a really chill team night because the semi-finals of the World Cup was on so some of the guys went to watch it down the street at a restaurant.
The rest of us just talked and talked about how futball (soccer) players are apparently wimps…don’t ask me ask Ted; he holds this opinion very strongly.
THURSDAY
We ventured out all the interns Alan and his daughter Ellie to make a lorena stove, similar to a rocket stove. It is a simple mud structure that is used as opposed to an open fire; it helps to prevent burns and smoke inhalation.
The man we were supposed to build the stove for did not show up where Alan had told him to meet us so…we ended up talking to this other lady and decided to build the stove for her!
Got old termite mound dirt. Got dirt. Mixed them together. Got water. Mixed that in and wa-la you have mud for the stove. Throw in some grass and you’re ready to build. Mind you there were a lot of blisters, a lot of buckets full of dirt being carried, and a lot of mixing going on to get to this point.
Built the stove. Alan and Jon left to get some more water. Kaitlin Petty (KP) also left with them because she was not feeling well ☹
Finished the stove before they got back, but it was ok because the woman needed the water for personal use. She and her family were very grateful and we were glad to help!
That afternoon we went to our last ladies class with Rachel. It was bittersweet. It has been fun getting to know some of the ladies and singing with them every week has been a blessing.
Kim taught the lesson and she did a great job; all of us were tired from the late night before and from working on the stove all morning long SO the ladies kept asking if we were sad; they thought we wanted to go home…but really we were all just pooped.
All in all though it was a great day.
FRIDAY
Village visit with Chad.
Kaitlyn, Ted, Mark and I headed out around 10.30 a.m. went to the village where Mark did his bonding. We picked up Mark’s “dad” and other man and we drove through the BUSH on a tiny bumpy path to a village about and hour away.
We did a short study with them and then hoped back into the car and drove for about another hour to the village where Chad and the guys have been going every Thursday.
We were at this village singing and doing a study with them for about 3 hours. I got a lot of reading done. But it was fun to see where the guys have been going every week; AND the lady who cooked us lunch/dinner is an excellent cook (Jon has claimed that she is the best in Africa).
Headed back; it was pretty late and we had been driving a long time….and when we got to the village to drop off Mark’s “dad” we were immediately called over to another part of the village where someone’s hut had caught on fire!
It was very scary coming up, seeing everyone panicking and hearing women wailing crying. I just kept praying that no one was hurt. Chad and the guys helped to pull some of the grass off of the house next to the fire, so it did not catch. The fire died down; no other house caught on fire, and no one was injured. So it ended up being all right; and the family got most of their belongings out of the building.
So that was intense and very sobering. But I’m glad we were there to help, even if it was just a little bit.
AND
That night we helped Amy decorate cookies for our Fourth of July party. So fun!
SATURDAY
Headed out around 7; same group with Chad again and we went to the same village with the really good cook.
We sang for over an hour! It was so much fun! And they asked each of us interns to lead a song, so that was fun; a little intimidating but fun.
We did not stay at the village too long BECAUSE Saturday night was our FOURTH OF JULY PARTY!
So we wrapped up around lunch; ate with the family, then headed out. As we left the good cook asked for my dress…yes the one I was wearing. It is not rude here to ask for things you want or like…needless to say I declined her request.
Got back and got excited for the party!
Amy went ALL OUT. She made (mind you all homemade) egg rolls, spinach dip, salsa, home made chips, cheesy pita bread, pigs in a blanket, spinach croissant amazing little sandwich things, chicken, popcorn, and cookies!
It was amazing!
We had a water balloon toss. Alan and Jon won. Nice job guys.
Then we had a horseshoe tournament with a bracket and everything. I got to the semi finals against Kim but alas she beat me. THEN Kim went on to face Ted for the championship; and I’m happy to say that she dominated. Hooray girls rule.
Also a high light of our party was the intern fashion show…a couple of weeks ago we all went to the market by ourselves and bought World Cup themed outfits…we presented them in a fashion show format…it was hilarious and a bit disturbing. Ted had on some shorts that were a bit too tight and a top that could be called a mid-drift.
But the highlight of the evening was after we were done…Jon took Kaitlyn Shaker’s white jeans embroidered with colorful animals and put them on for all the see….they were so tight…oh so tight. My eyes were burning for quite some time afterwards.
We “presented” our culture studies and then played a rousing game of telephone/Pictionary. If you have never played you MUST! It was so so so funny we all laughed SO HARD!
I’m proud to say that we stayed up way past our normal bedtime! Ha ha Great day!
SUNDAY
Woke up at 5.15 a.m.
Boo.
Mark, Ted, Kaitlyn and I drove with Chad to church this morning. The church was about 2 and a half hours away. So we had to get up extra early to make it on time.
But when we got there we discovered that the church leader was working, because the Governor was coming to town and the man from Montepuez Chad had expected to be in town was seemingly no where to be found…Chad was unsure to begin with if the man could be trusted but no one knew where he was so we assumed we’d found our answer…BUT he showed up.
And because there were no members of the church Chad has help start we piled in the car and went to another church down the road. It was in an outdoor shelter and it was so much fun. Great singing and they asked Chad to preach; it was fun to meet some new people.
Hoped back in the car; hungry and ready for a 2 plus hour drive.
On the way home we stopped; climbed a mountain. Ha ha not out of the ordinary for this group. I went this time! It was beautiful! A little hard on the asthma, but I made it!
Hoped back into the car; bought some bajeas (those bean things we made a few weeks ago) for lunch.
Long drive. We were all falling asleep since we woke up so early. Finally made it home around 2 o’clock.
Went to drop the guys off but the Howell’s were not back from church yet, so they came over and despite the fact that we were all falling asleep we played a rousing game of nerts. And I WON! Oh my gosh! I don’t think that has ever happened. Ha ha
Chilled out for a while.
And now here I sit. Almost ready for dinner and excited for the World Cup final which is tonight!
I’m so to watch oh yes. I have to come on I’m so close I have to watch the finals.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for pushing through. Ha ha This time next week I will be on a plane to the United States…so I might not post until I’m home.
BUT this next week we have one more village visit on Tuesday then leave for the beach on Wednesday; fly out Sunday morning. Be back on the 19th.
Weird weird weird keep praying for the end of our time here.
Love you all.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
wafrica: week number 4--SURVEY TRIP
Hallo hallo hallo from Mozambique!
Hoping and praying you all are well! We are coming to the last few weeks of the internship (sad day…I’m trying not to think about it ha ha). We still have a lot to do including a beach holiday with the missionary families!
But for now why don’t I tell you about this last week!
On Saturday, June 26 we loaded up the cars at 5.00 am and started off on a 12-hour drive to Mozambique’s Niassa province, which is west of Montepuez (where we are living).
[The purpose of our trip was to survey some towns in the Niassa province. We gathered information that will be helpful to future missionaries if they plan on moving to the area.]
It was rough roads and by rough I mean I was air born out of my seat quite a few times—especially at the on set of the adventure BECAUSE I was riding with Chad…Chad likes to drive fast (just like Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights). Alan drives a bit more slowly over the bumps and ditches in the road, therefore he is usually about 30-minutes behind Chad. Every hour or two Chad’s car would stop and wait for Alan; we calculated that if the 30-mintue pattern continued Chad and the members of his car would wait for Alan a total of 2-hours for that day’s driving time.
I started out in Chad’s car, BUT my neck started to bother me (I have a pinched nerve in my neck) SO I made the switch to Alan’s car—thankfully Mark was kind enough to switch with me—because see there’s another catch to the “car situation” (if you can even call it that): Alan’s car has air conditioning and his radio/ipod hookup works…Chad has neither such luxury.
So I joined the ranks of Alan’s car about 3 hours into the trip! We listened to several interesting podcasts from radio lab including one about parasites…yes parasites.
Soon after the parasite podcast we started going over several bridges and small bodies of water—let me build you a picture: the bridges were small, in length and width; they were made out of logs and occasionally some cross boards underneath the logs for support. The space between some of the logs was wide—wide enough for say a wheel of a truck to get stuck in; but over and over again we drove over and made it!
When we came to the small ponds (if you could even call them ponds, puddles really) the task seemed easy—we had just driven over some perilous bridges for Pete’s sake—BUT as we (in Alan’s car) rounded the corner we came upon an unpleasant sight—Chad was stuck in the mud.
Yes. The mud of a puddle/pond.
This was no laughing matter (he he he) We got out an assessed the situation and determined that Alan could drive around Chad straight through the pond and make it to the other side, once over he could pull Chad out!
We got in Alan’s car. Rolled up our windows and prepared to drive across. A little extra gas, a large splashed AND we made it!
(sorry to keep you on the edge of your seats)
We got out some of the towing equipment (not sure what to call it exactly) and within 5-minutes had Chad out of the mud!
The rest of the day consisted of more driving; a few more car switches (I did return to Chad’s car) and then around 3.00 pm we arrived at the Tallbot’s house –the Tallbot’s are a wonderful family of American missionaries who live in ………… We stopped at their house to visit and rest our legs.
They were so sweet and had coffee and dessert waiting for us; they also gave us a tour of their land. They had a beautiful house, a lot of rabbits, chickens, and so many trees and plants it was phenomenal.
Hopped back into the cars and headed to our final destination—The Dutch Reform Mission compound in Maroopa.
We stayed in Maroopa Saturday and Sunday night AND we were treated with such hospitality home cooked meals, coffee, tea, dessert, and a lot of conversation.
The couple that lives at the compound are from South Africa; their names are Frits and Nikki; both are from Dutch descent and both are amazing. Right after we arrived Nikki brought us hot tea and coffee; then she showed us to our houses. Yes our houses. The girls and boys both had our own houses with beds and bathrooms.
We had a rousing dinner, which consisted of women jokes as told by Frits and a couple of the guys (the names have not been mentioned to protect the innocent…Ted and Jon). We also had a great time of Bible study and discussion which was great because we got to talk with another missionary team from a different denomination and nationality.
SUNDAY
We went to church on the compound and we were asked to sing some Makua and American songs…we were a sight to be seen I’m sure, but the Africans seemed to like it so we were pleased with our musical selections. Also the children from the congregations Sunday school sang…so so so cute! I took some video of them so I will for sure post that (eventually).
In the afternoon we took a tour of the land including the farms and different agricultural projects they have going on. We also divided up the survey questions (the reason we are on the trip) between our group members. I was in charge of learning about housing costs and general living conditions in the area.
We had another rousing night of jokes and Bible study.
MONDAY
Then the next morning we woke up early and headed onto Maua and Neipeepe.
The drive was GEORGEOUS; the mountains jut out of the ground and are spaced in a way that it looks like God just dropped random HUGE boulders in the area.
We arrived in Maua for a day survey. The first place we visited was the Catholic Church and the Padre’s name—Frits. I go my whole live not knowing one Frits then within days I meet two of them.
Padre Frits was kind and generous. He gave our group some picture Bibles they had translated into Makua-Shreema (the local dialect of Makua). He showed us around their compound and he took us to their church. BUT the strange thing about the Catholic Church in Maua is this—they are not opposed to ancestor worship. They have actually taken the traditional practices used in local ancestor and spirit worship and infused them with the Bible. For example: The name they use for Jesus, as healer in the Makua Catholic Bible is the same word for witch doctor. They do not show Jesus crucified on a cross but on a Y shaped tree; the Y shaped tree is the traditional place where sacrifices to ancestors would be made….so in a creative attempt to contextualize the Gospel into the Makua culture, they have essentially synchronized the two. A very interesting experience.
We then spilt up into two groups and went on the search for some leaders from different denominations. Alan, Kaitlin Scaefer, Mark, Zack, and I met with a woman we is a part of the Evangelical Church of Christ. She was kind and took a break from her work to answer all of our questions, AND THEN she fed us lunch: Egg sandwiches, french fries, and coffee. Needless to say we got some evil looks from the other group…who turned down lunch when it was offered to them. ☺ (our bad)
We then drove on to Neipeepe—which was a small town another 3 or 4 hours away—and because of a time crunch we were only there for maybe an hour. So unfortunately we did not get to spend much time with the church members there.
We then piled back into the cars and headed to the booming metropolis of Cuamba! (that is not sarcasm it really is a big city). The drive was probably 5 hours long, which was very unfortunate especially because we all thought it was only going to be 2 or 3 hours…so tired, drained, hungry, and sore we pulled into Cuamba around 9.30 pm.
Luckily we were staying with a fellow missionary in Cuamba so she had a hot dinner waiting for us right when we got there.
The woman’s name is Millie and she has been a missionary in Africa for over 30 years! She was awesome: hospitable, sweet, down to earth, funny, and very encouraging. The girls stayed at her home and the boys stayed at a guesthouse about a 5-minute drive away.
TUESDAY
Thankfully we took Tuesday kind of slow. We were all very tired of driving. We interviewed some teachers from a Portuguese Bible school; they were very kind and showed us around their “campus”. They also showed us the preschool they run down the street from the Bible school. The sweet little kids sang to us and stared at us (per usual).
We then took a walk around the city, looking at prices of food and different items that would be helpful to know when we write our survey reports.
THEN
We all piled in the cars (a constant theme) and went to this great restaurant that has an amazing view of the mountains that surround the city. We had a leisurely lunch and talked about what we had seen and experienced so far on the survey trip.
Headed back to Millie’s house, played some games, read, rested, and relaxed before we interviewed her. She has so much knowledge about ministry and the people of Mozambique it was a blessing to be able to pick her brain! After the interview we ate dinner—Millie fed us AGAIN so sweet of her. Then I went to sleep on my pallet next to Kaitlyn Scheafer!
WEDNESDAY
We went out to the Church of Christ in Cuamba to talk and worship with some of the leaders.
While we were meeting with the church leaders we actually ended up splitting into two groups; Kaitlyn, Kim, Mark and Jon went with Chad to survey another village Millie had suggested which was about an hour away.
Kaitlin Petty (KP), Ted, and Zack stayed at the church with Allen while he taught some lessons. Ted and Zack got the change to teach as well which was great for them and fun to watch and listen.
Around noon we got done hanging out with the church members so we headed out to a little kiosk for lunch. Oh if you could have only been there for the conversation. Some how we ended up talking about whether or not African couples kiss…yeah that’s where we ended up. We did not come up with a solid answer but the consensus was that they do show affection by kissing but not in public.
Headed back to Millie’s played spades and a few other games before Chad’s group returned. Hung out for a while before dinner then we headed to be early BECAUSE we were set to leave at oh 5 a.m. for another FULL day of driving.
THURSDAY
Woke up at 4.45 a.m.
It was dark when we piled into the cars. Several of us tried to sleep but the bumps in the road make it a little difficult.
Stopped at the Tallbot’s again for a little rest and some coffee. Since it was actual real morning by then…not 5.
All day we drove and drove THEN around 11 o’clock we decided to stop on the side of the road and climb a mountain. Yep stop on the side of the road and climb a mountain. Kaitlyn and I opted out; so we waited by the cars…which was a little frightening because right when the group was out of sight a car full of African men pulled up, stopped, and got out to watch the crazy white people climb a mountain. But they didn’t bother us and fortunately we were not alone for too long because Alan and Mark both came back—they opted out of climbing to the top when it turned into a longer trek than expected.
We waited for about an hour before every body got back down—it was quite a show watching these little dots of people basically crawl down the mountain—we ate some lunch (while be watched by over 30 Africans) before we started back on our journey!
Amazingly we stayed in the same cars all day long! Ha ha We had some good conversation, mostly to keep Chad awake. He told us that if we wanted to make it home alive we should probably talk to him… ☺
Because we were so far a head of Alan…following the 15-minute pattern—we stopped got out and rode on the top of Chad’s truck for almost 45 minutes! It was so fun, but so crazy we were basically holding on for dear life! Ha ha
Alan finally caught up and we started off again—drove drove drove drove.
Finally got home around 9—went straight to bed after a shower.
Whew we did it guys we got through survey and YOU GOT THROUGH THE POST ABOUT IT!
But I’m sorry there is just a bit more of the week that I must relate to you.
FRIDAY
I would like to dub this day tomato day.
We spent the day in Amy’s kitchen cutting and cooking tomatoes for spaghetti sauce and salsa.
And when I say all day I mean all day—there was over 100 pounds of tomatoes to cut and cook THEN can. We got all of the tomatoes cut and all of the ones for the sauce puréed…but it took Amy another day to get all of the sauce cooked and canned.
After we cut up the tomatoes we spent the day hanging out and preparing for YOUTH DAY!
SATURDAY
I dub this day YOUTH DAY!
Alan and Chad had invited the youth and children from all of the church in the Montepuez area to a youth day at their land. Basically we spent the morning playing games and hanging out with kids and youth! We also sang, had some devotionals, and dramas preformed by the proud the wonderful interns.
It was so much fun playing and communicating with these kids! We didn’t have to speak the same language we just had to throw a ball or be silly—it was wonderful.
After youth day we were all exhausted so we headed back and rested the rest of the day.
SUNDAY
The 4th of July! Whoo Hoo.
We headed out early early in our respective groups—drove a couple of hours to go to church! Kaitlyn, Mark, Ted and I went with Alan and the church we went to was small but so full of life. They were very welcoming and very enthusiastic about praising God! It was so encouraging and made me smile basically the whole service.
We visited a sick member of the church then had lunch with the congregation. Oh and they gave us a chicken. Yes a live chicken.
After church we drove another hour or so to meet up with Chad and the rest of the group BECAUSE we were going to the WATERFALLS!
The drive there was another couple of hours or so…down some bumpy roads or more like bumpy walking paths. But we finally got there and it was amazing. The trek down to the waterfalls was kind of treacherous especially since we were being followed by dozens of Africans, but we made it and it was worth it.
Got back into the cars after we crawled over several boulders and after Mark and Jon did some cliff jumping; they waiting until we reached the cars to tell Zack and Ted…to lessen the jealous factor.
Jumped back into the cars and headed home. We had to drive through a huge soccer game…which was funny, but we got cheered so I considered it an African version of a 4th of July parade.
Got back around 7 and realized that we had been in the car for over 8 hours that day…whew.
Ok now if you’ve made it this far…I’m very impressed. Thank you for reading. Thank you for fighting through the grammar mistakes and the horrible syntax.
We have about two weeks left and it is very sad. I really do not want to leave. I miss home I miss my family I miss friends but I really enjoy being here. I will be sad to leave.
A lot of love to you all. Kisses and Hugs.
<>< caroline
Hoping and praying you all are well! We are coming to the last few weeks of the internship (sad day…I’m trying not to think about it ha ha). We still have a lot to do including a beach holiday with the missionary families!
But for now why don’t I tell you about this last week!
On Saturday, June 26 we loaded up the cars at 5.00 am and started off on a 12-hour drive to Mozambique’s Niassa province, which is west of Montepuez (where we are living).
[The purpose of our trip was to survey some towns in the Niassa province. We gathered information that will be helpful to future missionaries if they plan on moving to the area.]
It was rough roads and by rough I mean I was air born out of my seat quite a few times—especially at the on set of the adventure BECAUSE I was riding with Chad…Chad likes to drive fast (just like Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights). Alan drives a bit more slowly over the bumps and ditches in the road, therefore he is usually about 30-minutes behind Chad. Every hour or two Chad’s car would stop and wait for Alan; we calculated that if the 30-mintue pattern continued Chad and the members of his car would wait for Alan a total of 2-hours for that day’s driving time.
I started out in Chad’s car, BUT my neck started to bother me (I have a pinched nerve in my neck) SO I made the switch to Alan’s car—thankfully Mark was kind enough to switch with me—because see there’s another catch to the “car situation” (if you can even call it that): Alan’s car has air conditioning and his radio/ipod hookup works…Chad has neither such luxury.
So I joined the ranks of Alan’s car about 3 hours into the trip! We listened to several interesting podcasts from radio lab including one about parasites…yes parasites.
Soon after the parasite podcast we started going over several bridges and small bodies of water—let me build you a picture: the bridges were small, in length and width; they were made out of logs and occasionally some cross boards underneath the logs for support. The space between some of the logs was wide—wide enough for say a wheel of a truck to get stuck in; but over and over again we drove over and made it!
When we came to the small ponds (if you could even call them ponds, puddles really) the task seemed easy—we had just driven over some perilous bridges for Pete’s sake—BUT as we (in Alan’s car) rounded the corner we came upon an unpleasant sight—Chad was stuck in the mud.
Yes. The mud of a puddle/pond.
This was no laughing matter (he he he) We got out an assessed the situation and determined that Alan could drive around Chad straight through the pond and make it to the other side, once over he could pull Chad out!
We got in Alan’s car. Rolled up our windows and prepared to drive across. A little extra gas, a large splashed AND we made it!
(sorry to keep you on the edge of your seats)
We got out some of the towing equipment (not sure what to call it exactly) and within 5-minutes had Chad out of the mud!
The rest of the day consisted of more driving; a few more car switches (I did return to Chad’s car) and then around 3.00 pm we arrived at the Tallbot’s house –the Tallbot’s are a wonderful family of American missionaries who live in ………… We stopped at their house to visit and rest our legs.
They were so sweet and had coffee and dessert waiting for us; they also gave us a tour of their land. They had a beautiful house, a lot of rabbits, chickens, and so many trees and plants it was phenomenal.
Hopped back into the cars and headed to our final destination—The Dutch Reform Mission compound in Maroopa.
We stayed in Maroopa Saturday and Sunday night AND we were treated with such hospitality home cooked meals, coffee, tea, dessert, and a lot of conversation.
The couple that lives at the compound are from South Africa; their names are Frits and Nikki; both are from Dutch descent and both are amazing. Right after we arrived Nikki brought us hot tea and coffee; then she showed us to our houses. Yes our houses. The girls and boys both had our own houses with beds and bathrooms.
We had a rousing dinner, which consisted of women jokes as told by Frits and a couple of the guys (the names have not been mentioned to protect the innocent…Ted and Jon). We also had a great time of Bible study and discussion which was great because we got to talk with another missionary team from a different denomination and nationality.
SUNDAY
We went to church on the compound and we were asked to sing some Makua and American songs…we were a sight to be seen I’m sure, but the Africans seemed to like it so we were pleased with our musical selections. Also the children from the congregations Sunday school sang…so so so cute! I took some video of them so I will for sure post that (eventually).
In the afternoon we took a tour of the land including the farms and different agricultural projects they have going on. We also divided up the survey questions (the reason we are on the trip) between our group members. I was in charge of learning about housing costs and general living conditions in the area.
We had another rousing night of jokes and Bible study.
MONDAY
Then the next morning we woke up early and headed onto Maua and Neipeepe.
The drive was GEORGEOUS; the mountains jut out of the ground and are spaced in a way that it looks like God just dropped random HUGE boulders in the area.
We arrived in Maua for a day survey. The first place we visited was the Catholic Church and the Padre’s name—Frits. I go my whole live not knowing one Frits then within days I meet two of them.
Padre Frits was kind and generous. He gave our group some picture Bibles they had translated into Makua-Shreema (the local dialect of Makua). He showed us around their compound and he took us to their church. BUT the strange thing about the Catholic Church in Maua is this—they are not opposed to ancestor worship. They have actually taken the traditional practices used in local ancestor and spirit worship and infused them with the Bible. For example: The name they use for Jesus, as healer in the Makua Catholic Bible is the same word for witch doctor. They do not show Jesus crucified on a cross but on a Y shaped tree; the Y shaped tree is the traditional place where sacrifices to ancestors would be made….so in a creative attempt to contextualize the Gospel into the Makua culture, they have essentially synchronized the two. A very interesting experience.
We then spilt up into two groups and went on the search for some leaders from different denominations. Alan, Kaitlin Scaefer, Mark, Zack, and I met with a woman we is a part of the Evangelical Church of Christ. She was kind and took a break from her work to answer all of our questions, AND THEN she fed us lunch: Egg sandwiches, french fries, and coffee. Needless to say we got some evil looks from the other group…who turned down lunch when it was offered to them. ☺ (our bad)
We then drove on to Neipeepe—which was a small town another 3 or 4 hours away—and because of a time crunch we were only there for maybe an hour. So unfortunately we did not get to spend much time with the church members there.
We then piled back into the cars and headed to the booming metropolis of Cuamba! (that is not sarcasm it really is a big city). The drive was probably 5 hours long, which was very unfortunate especially because we all thought it was only going to be 2 or 3 hours…so tired, drained, hungry, and sore we pulled into Cuamba around 9.30 pm.
Luckily we were staying with a fellow missionary in Cuamba so she had a hot dinner waiting for us right when we got there.
The woman’s name is Millie and she has been a missionary in Africa for over 30 years! She was awesome: hospitable, sweet, down to earth, funny, and very encouraging. The girls stayed at her home and the boys stayed at a guesthouse about a 5-minute drive away.
TUESDAY
Thankfully we took Tuesday kind of slow. We were all very tired of driving. We interviewed some teachers from a Portuguese Bible school; they were very kind and showed us around their “campus”. They also showed us the preschool they run down the street from the Bible school. The sweet little kids sang to us and stared at us (per usual).
We then took a walk around the city, looking at prices of food and different items that would be helpful to know when we write our survey reports.
THEN
We all piled in the cars (a constant theme) and went to this great restaurant that has an amazing view of the mountains that surround the city. We had a leisurely lunch and talked about what we had seen and experienced so far on the survey trip.
Headed back to Millie’s house, played some games, read, rested, and relaxed before we interviewed her. She has so much knowledge about ministry and the people of Mozambique it was a blessing to be able to pick her brain! After the interview we ate dinner—Millie fed us AGAIN so sweet of her. Then I went to sleep on my pallet next to Kaitlyn Scheafer!
WEDNESDAY
We went out to the Church of Christ in Cuamba to talk and worship with some of the leaders.
While we were meeting with the church leaders we actually ended up splitting into two groups; Kaitlyn, Kim, Mark and Jon went with Chad to survey another village Millie had suggested which was about an hour away.
Kaitlin Petty (KP), Ted, and Zack stayed at the church with Allen while he taught some lessons. Ted and Zack got the change to teach as well which was great for them and fun to watch and listen.
Around noon we got done hanging out with the church members so we headed out to a little kiosk for lunch. Oh if you could have only been there for the conversation. Some how we ended up talking about whether or not African couples kiss…yeah that’s where we ended up. We did not come up with a solid answer but the consensus was that they do show affection by kissing but not in public.
Headed back to Millie’s played spades and a few other games before Chad’s group returned. Hung out for a while before dinner then we headed to be early BECAUSE we were set to leave at oh 5 a.m. for another FULL day of driving.
THURSDAY
Woke up at 4.45 a.m.
It was dark when we piled into the cars. Several of us tried to sleep but the bumps in the road make it a little difficult.
Stopped at the Tallbot’s again for a little rest and some coffee. Since it was actual real morning by then…not 5.
All day we drove and drove THEN around 11 o’clock we decided to stop on the side of the road and climb a mountain. Yep stop on the side of the road and climb a mountain. Kaitlyn and I opted out; so we waited by the cars…which was a little frightening because right when the group was out of sight a car full of African men pulled up, stopped, and got out to watch the crazy white people climb a mountain. But they didn’t bother us and fortunately we were not alone for too long because Alan and Mark both came back—they opted out of climbing to the top when it turned into a longer trek than expected.
We waited for about an hour before every body got back down—it was quite a show watching these little dots of people basically crawl down the mountain—we ate some lunch (while be watched by over 30 Africans) before we started back on our journey!
Amazingly we stayed in the same cars all day long! Ha ha We had some good conversation, mostly to keep Chad awake. He told us that if we wanted to make it home alive we should probably talk to him… ☺
Because we were so far a head of Alan…following the 15-minute pattern—we stopped got out and rode on the top of Chad’s truck for almost 45 minutes! It was so fun, but so crazy we were basically holding on for dear life! Ha ha
Alan finally caught up and we started off again—drove drove drove drove.
Finally got home around 9—went straight to bed after a shower.
Whew we did it guys we got through survey and YOU GOT THROUGH THE POST ABOUT IT!
But I’m sorry there is just a bit more of the week that I must relate to you.
FRIDAY
I would like to dub this day tomato day.
We spent the day in Amy’s kitchen cutting and cooking tomatoes for spaghetti sauce and salsa.
And when I say all day I mean all day—there was over 100 pounds of tomatoes to cut and cook THEN can. We got all of the tomatoes cut and all of the ones for the sauce puréed…but it took Amy another day to get all of the sauce cooked and canned.
After we cut up the tomatoes we spent the day hanging out and preparing for YOUTH DAY!
SATURDAY
I dub this day YOUTH DAY!
Alan and Chad had invited the youth and children from all of the church in the Montepuez area to a youth day at their land. Basically we spent the morning playing games and hanging out with kids and youth! We also sang, had some devotionals, and dramas preformed by the proud the wonderful interns.
It was so much fun playing and communicating with these kids! We didn’t have to speak the same language we just had to throw a ball or be silly—it was wonderful.
After youth day we were all exhausted so we headed back and rested the rest of the day.
SUNDAY
The 4th of July! Whoo Hoo.
We headed out early early in our respective groups—drove a couple of hours to go to church! Kaitlyn, Mark, Ted and I went with Alan and the church we went to was small but so full of life. They were very welcoming and very enthusiastic about praising God! It was so encouraging and made me smile basically the whole service.
We visited a sick member of the church then had lunch with the congregation. Oh and they gave us a chicken. Yes a live chicken.
After church we drove another hour or so to meet up with Chad and the rest of the group BECAUSE we were going to the WATERFALLS!
The drive there was another couple of hours or so…down some bumpy roads or more like bumpy walking paths. But we finally got there and it was amazing. The trek down to the waterfalls was kind of treacherous especially since we were being followed by dozens of Africans, but we made it and it was worth it.
Got back into the cars after we crawled over several boulders and after Mark and Jon did some cliff jumping; they waiting until we reached the cars to tell Zack and Ted…to lessen the jealous factor.
Jumped back into the cars and headed home. We had to drive through a huge soccer game…which was funny, but we got cheered so I considered it an African version of a 4th of July parade.
Got back around 7 and realized that we had been in the car for over 8 hours that day…whew.
Ok now if you’ve made it this far…I’m very impressed. Thank you for reading. Thank you for fighting through the grammar mistakes and the horrible syntax.
We have about two weeks left and it is very sad. I really do not want to leave. I miss home I miss my family I miss friends but I really enjoy being here. I will be sad to leave.
A lot of love to you all. Kisses and Hugs.
<>< caroline
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