Off to Zambia

We want to start this blog off by thanking our wonderful families and friends who have blessed us with many packages. We have realized how much we miss and take for granted the things that we can get so easily in the States. This past week we received several boxes of Lucky Charms (for Jenni) and packages of beef jerky (for Corey) and many other US things which we have enjoyed greatly. We also received the new Chris Tomlin CD which Jenni has worn out already. It is a great CD! We highly recommend it for everyone!

Lately, it has been SO HOT. We think we’re going to burn out our A/C in our room! It has been working overtime for us! It’s very humid here and the sun is so intense. We think we might eventually melt, especially since it is only going to get hotter.

Well, we’re wrapping up our language study this week and that’s kind of scary since we are far from communicating effectively. We had another funny experience with our language class this week. If you remember, we learned how a “castanha” can be a chestnut or donkey poop. This week we discovered a false cognate that we thought was pretty funny. The word we learned was “constipaçao”, which sounds like constipation. So we thought our language teacher was telling us he had constipation, but he really had a cold. Just a little difference!

We have had many interesting experiences here in Nampula. Last week, we had been asked to help a family in one of the churches that needed help with transporting a baby that had just died. A pastor had asked us if we could transport the baby from the city hospital to the family’s house (about 40 kilometers outside of the city). It was a lot different from what we’ve seen in the States. There was no casket, no ceremony, nothing like that. A family member of the baby’s mother just held the baby wrapped up in an African cloth (capalana) until we got to the mother’s house. We were able to witness another huge difference in the way people live here compared to America.

Next Monday we will be going to Zambia for a 5 week training. This training will teach us how to live AFRICAN STYLE. (ie, living in the bush, learning about African culture, how to go to the bathroom in a hole in the ground, how to wash our clothes by hand, etc.) We think that it will be good to actually live how Africans live and gain a heart for them and their way of life. After our training, we are going to visit Victoria Falls and take a much needed break! We are so excited about this! It is one place we definitely wanted to see while living here in Africa. Also, while we are there, we are going to jump from one of the highest bungee jumps in the world! It is about 100 meters and you jump from a bridge that looks over a river. It should be fun. OK… if you know Jenni…this would never happen unless we were the final 3 on the Amazing Race!

So you probably won’t hear from us for about 6 weeks or so. We wish we could have some access to family and friends, but we don’t. That is the way of life for Africans, so we will have to get used to that part as well.

Please Pray For : 1) Our stomachs while living in the bush. We are nervous about it because we have had some “stomach issues” for some time now, and we really don’t want to experience these issues in the bush! Also, the mosquitoes are really bad now that it is hot, so pray that we don’t get malaria! 2) Safety as we travel to and from Zambia. We return Dec. 11th 3) This week we will say goodbye to some missionaries for a little while as they go on furlough. Please pray that God would raise up new leaders for our team. 4) Please pray that we wouldn’t take too many steps back in Portuguese since we will not be immersed in it for 6 weeks. Pray God would protect our memories from losing to many words!

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” Job 1:21

In our last blog, we wrote about being able to work at an orphanage. We were so excited about this opportunity we felt God had given us. It just seemed like the perfect fit for us. However, we recently found out that we would not be able to work there as our primary ministry. This was very sad and disappointing for us, because we were really looking forward to working there. However, we will still be able to work there on our day off! We know God is still in control though and His plans cannot be thwarted. Whether or not we understand why He took this away from us, His name is still worthy to be praised and we are excited to see what He has for us!

Last week we were able to see Choveque’s (our house worker and friend) wife get baptized. It was our first time to see a baptism since we’ve been here. It was really cool because it was in a river and it made us feel like we were in Jesus’ time. There were hundreds of people who were there to either watch the baptisms or to be baptized. After every baptism, the people broke into a chorus in Makuwa. It was a great cultural experience for us.

We now have a couple of weeks left of Portuguese classes and needless to say, we are a little nervous about this. It is coming along…just not as fast as we would like. We do have a funny story to share about our language learning. Last week our teacher asked us if we had ever eaten a “castanha”. Neither of us had ever heard this word before and so we looked it up in the dictionary. The word had 2 different meanings. First, it was a type of nut, which is what he was talking about. The other meaning it had was donkey excrement! We had quite the laugh! We told him NO to both definitions! We now know to be very careful when someone offers us “castanhas” because someone could either be giving us chestnuts or donkey poop!

We have another story which is just too good not to share. We have recently been eyewitnesses to the eating of a grasshopper by a native Mozambican who happens to be our language teacher. We both agree that it is the most disgusting thing our eyes have ever witnessed. Last week Luis caught a grasshopper (not just any grasshopper, but a very large one) and said he would eat it. So…we threw it into some water to boil it and put a little bit of salt into it…and 10 minutes later…Bon Appetite! It was thoroughly disgusting!

Here are some prayer requests for this week: 1) Please pray for the meetings we will have this week with the pastors here. Pray that God would give us vision and direction for the ministries we are here to lead. 2) Pray for our last weeks of Portuguese. We need discipline in studying and divine intervention with memorizing 3) We will be leaving in 3 weeks for a training in Zambia that we are nervous to attend. We will give more information in our next blog about it, but please pray for our health and safe travel during the 5 weeks we will be away. 4) Pray for us as the heat of Mozambique has started to “zap” all of our energy!