Peregrina

Homeward Bound

2011-01-09T00:10:00.000-08:00

Good-bye tropics, hello frosty Chicago! Actually, since Chicago is my favorite city, I'm excited about living near it once again. I land at O'Hare at 11:00 am on 1/11/2011. Cool, eh? See you all soon!

12 Songs of Christmas

2010-12-24T06:45:00.000-08:00

(This is a local restaurant's attempt at a Christmas tree.)

The Song ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas’ has a fuller meaning to me now than it did before I spent Christmas in the tropics. Now I’ve complied a short list of retitled carols written from my Mozambican perspective on the holiday. Enjoy!

The 12 Songs of Christmas...Mozambican Style

1. Silent Night, Sultry Night
2. Lo How a Rose E’re Wilting
3. Let it Pour! Let it Pour! Let it Pour!
4. Baby It’s HOT Outside!
5. Little Summer Boy
6. All I Want For Christmas is Air Conditioning
7. Up On A Housetop Raindrops Plop
8. The Coconut Cracker
9. Hark! The Herald Budgies Screech! (or monkeys for those who don't live with Claudia)
10. Rockin’ Around the Coconut Tree
11. I’ll Be WARM for Christmas

and my personal favorite...

12. Do You Smell Like I Smell?

Hee hee! Have a Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Story

2010-11-25T02:10:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is a simpler holiday than the gift-giving chaos that is Christmas. I’ve always loved it for that reason, but in the past two years, it has taken on special significance. It was on Thanksgiving Day, 2008, that I was rescued from a remote Mozambican village called Bunga after 14 hours of intense sickness and heart-pounding fear. It’s a long story, I warn you from the beginning! But I need to tell it because it ends with grace and gratitude. And both should be shared, especially on Thanksgiving.

A week in a rural village was part of the orientation program for my mission. Even though I minister in the city and was living in the city of Chimoio at the time, a visit to the ‘bush’ was important. City-Africans often have strong roots in rural areas and bring the bush with them into their city lives. Understanding that life, then, is essential for anyone working in Africa. Not long after I arrived I met Katey, a former missionary kid who had grown up in Mozambique and spent much of her time in Bunga studying Cindau, a national language. She invited me to join her in November for a week of teaching English to the school boys she sponsors. I accepted, grateful to not have to go through the bush experience alone!

I had mixed feelings about going to Bunga. I was so tired. Tired of missing people. I missed my family, of course, but I was surprised to still deeply, painfully miss the folks I’d met in Portugal even after being in Mozambique almost four months. It was just that I had yet to make friends in Moz. I’d been travelling almost constantly since my arrival. I had met hundreds of Mozambicans but couldn’t remember any of their names. I was never in one place long enough to really get to know any of them. And I was constantly surrounded by colleagues who—though well-meaning—insulated me from the culture, making the adaptation even more impossible.

When my colleague Jinx drove up in his Land Rover and we started packing it full of maize (Mozambican staple) to take to the village, I was excited but nervous. The villages are a lot different from the cities, a more intense cultural and relational setting than I was used to. I was also nervous about the inaccessibility of the village. Bunga is five hours from the city of Chimoio, cut off from civilization by a crocodile-infested river that can only be crossed by ferry. But it was that very element that made it attractive too. I would be out of contact. For a week I wouldn’t have to answer emails or think about home or Portugal or my orientation assignments. It would be back to the basics of living and learning and getting to know people, observing and participating. I would be with the same Mozambicans long enough to put names with faces and maybe, just maybe, get to know them as people, not just as objects of some sort of detached cultural study. I’d had enough of that. I wanted one week where things were more personal.

As we drove deeper into the bush I was delighted to see that everything was so green, a verde flamejante, as they say in Portuguese. They hadn’t had great rains, and I wasn’t that sure what it would look like. They had told me there was famine in the area. For whatever reason, I was expecting desert. I wasn’t expecting the sheer colour of everything. Deep shades of green and red earth in complement with the blue sky and clouds. Oh what clouds form there! They stack up like piles of marshmallows, miles and miles high and move fast, in constant rearrangement. Banana, mango, papaya, coconut trees and dense dense bush, countless flowers and vines all. A beautiful mess, the mato (bush) of central Moz. And of course, villages tucked here and there all along the pot-holed road.

We bounced along and Jinx talked about the history of the area, the culture, pointing out signs that warned of landmines still left from the war. When we finally turned off the main road—if you can call it that—we entered the forest, driving along a footpath, hugged by trees on both sides. I had to roll up the windows to avoid being slapped by the branches. At one point the mango trees were so close that as we drove under them they showered us with the fruit. The sweet, sticky smell of mangoes was everywhere. Finally, we drove into a clearing where there was a little concrete, tin-roofed cabin and a machesa, a round mud meeting house with a thatched roof. Katey came running barefooted down the footpath, which continued into the forest just beyond the machesa. She was followed by four or five teenage boys who hung back shyly while we unloaded the food into the cabin and said a quick good-bye to Jinx, who promised to be back the next week. He drove off, showering the ground with mangoes, and it was time to settle in.

Katey introduced me to the boys: Samsoni, Gideoni, Saizi, Josefa, Chipoteni, Felipe. They ran off to fill the five-gallon containers with water from the nearby river. Katey showed me around the cabin, all three rooms of it, and we threw my luggage into a corner before heading off to teach English. And that was the real introduction. We walked down the footpath toward the chief’s compound. Josefa’s dad is the chief. He has five wives and probably thirty children. The compound is circular. We entered the grounds and immediately a child ran for a esteira, a grass mat. They laid it down for us and Katey and I sat. The wives came one at a time, got down on their knees and bowed to the ground in the traditional greeting. Katey whispered the right words to me and I stumbled over them. Someone brought me sadza (maize meal) and eggs, an extravagant meal at the time. I felt guilty eating it, with the boys circled around me in their rags watching. But that is Ndau hospitality. The boys finished it for me when I protested that I was full. And we proceeded with the lesson.

For the next few days we woke at 7 to wash with water from the river. We would head over to the Inguenha’s compound for coffee. The father, mother and little sister Serena, age 8, would be up at the machamba (the fields where they grow their maize) but the boys, who work from 3 or 4 in the morning, would be home resting. Katey and I would sit and Josefa, from the best-off family by far, would bring rice and beans. The Inguenha boys, Felipe, Samsoni and Gideoni, had almost no food. Earlier in the season their father had sold their maize and drank the money. Katey and I started distributing the food we brought, starting with them.

We would spend the day going from compound to compound, eating mangoes and talking. The boys would climb the trees and shake down ripe mangoes. We would collect them and eat them as we walked. The path through the bush was covered with ants. It looked like the ground was black and moving under our feet. We talked about everything. Katey and I used rotten mangoes to demonstrate how the Earth moves around the sun, trying to explain the sunrise and sunset. They couldn’t tell me what clouds were made of. They asked questions about sin and suffering. For the first time in forever I felt like a teacher and like a member of a community.

We taught English a few hours every day. We took turns eating dinner at different homes and spent time with a few of the neighbour girls and Serena. We hiked to the machamba, way up on a hillside, to try hoeing. It was hot and sticky and tiring and fascinating and frustrating, but fun. Polygamy, AIDS, malaria, witchcraft, ancestor veneration, the abuse of women and extreme poverty were facets to this new world, which also included respect for elders, the cherishing of babies, love for the land, hard work, cooperation, hospitality and singing—beautiful, rich singing. I preached in the little church on Sunday and we talked about God’s creation the whole way back to Saizi’s house for lunch. I was tired but at peace. I felt like I was really in Mozambique and not just observing it from the outside. Yes, I had to use Portuguese and on occasion would got stuck and had to have Katey search for the Cindau word or phrase, but for the most part we communicated beautifully.

On Monday morning I woke up with my eyes a bit swollen and a rash starting around my mouth. I didn’t think anything of it, really. I assumed it was some plant allergy, perhaps pollen from an unfamiliar flower. It itched, but I ignored it. On Tuesday it was worse and had started down my neck. Well, we’re leaving Thursday, I figured. Surely I’ll be fine until then. We hiked up to the machamba with a bunch of kids that day and I took some good video. I also got a clip of Gideoni and his sister playing drums on old plastic containers. Their sense of rhythm was astonishing and fun to film. It was hard to sleep that night. I woke often with my eyes itching and had to soak a capulana to use as a cold compress. My neck was covered in the rash too, and itched relentlessly.

On Wednesday I awoke with my whole face resembling bubble wrap, the rash down my neck worse. I was tired from not sleeping but determined to make the most of my last day in the village. I wasn’t having any trouble breathing, so I didn’t worry too much. Katey and I went to the nearest marketplace with two of the girls. It was nice to spend time with girls even though they didn’t speak any Portuguese and I had to depend on Katey for communication. When we got back I had to go rest in the cabin. I was tired, but so was Katey. I think we were both a bit glad to think of Jinx’s Land Rover pulling up the next day.

It happened just around sunset, just as we were sitting down for dinner at the Inguenha’s. Almost as soon as my knees hit the mat, I felt dizzy and told Katey I’d better lie down. My heart started pounding in my ears, so fast I could barely breathe enough to keep up with it. It was so loud, I had a hard time hearing what Katey was saying. I remember her leaning over me, crying and saying, “You’re scaring me! What do I do?”

“Pray.” I said. It was all I could think of and I knew it was where we had to start. After praying, she explained to the boys that I was ill and then ran off to the cabin to get some Claritin that she had brought, hoping it would help avoid a serious reaction, a breathing problem. Josefa moved over on the mat and took my head in his lap. He began to pray aloud over me, tears in his eyes. Though it was dark I could see the tears and the fear. I think I blacked out for a bit. When I woke up, Katey was running down the path with the medicine in her hand.

She fed me the medicine and Josefa and Saizi carried me to our cabin. They made a pallet of blankets on the floor and laid me down. We started taking my pulse every 15 minutes or so, using the digital watch Katey had bought for Samsoni. I can’t remember how high it was at first, but I think it was somewhere in the 130s for most of the night. Now, my knowledge of cardiology wouldn’t fill a teaspoon, but even I know that a heart-rate of 130 is quite high for someone who is lying down and barely moving. I remember the look in Samsoni’s eyes every time they took my pulse. He had no idea what the numbers meant either, but he knew I was sick. Katey was panicky. I was trying so hard to just keep breathing slowly and evenly, trying to keep up with my heart rate somehow, fighting for calm. I was scared sick, but even then I felt bad for freaking everyone out! Katey decided to go up to the machamba and try to get a text message out on her cell phone. It was our only chance to get help.

I hated to let her go, to let go of her hand, but I knew I had to. I was so afraid that she would come back to find me dead. Some of the boys stayed, and soon, very soon, the cabin was filled with villagers, family and friends of the boys, church people, even the village chief. They sang and prayed, and Samsoni held my hand. I fought to stay calm and not panic and make things worse for myself and for them. All I could hear was my heartbeat, pounding, pounding in my ears, mixed with the voices of the villagers.

When Katey came back she said that the messages had failed. I knew there was nothing we could do but wait for dawn and try again. If I made it to dawn. Everyone sang for awhile longer and then about midnight most of the villagers left, leaving the boys with us. Several lay down and went to sleep. There was nothing they could do. Katey and Samsoni kept vigil, taking my pulse at intervals. About 2 am it had come down from about 130 to about 110. I told them to go to sleep. They lay down and left a candle burning for me. I laid there in the candlelight with nothing but the sound of my heartbeat. Every so often it would skip a beat and then come back beating with force. It terrified me. I would panic and try to sit up every time it happened, but I was so weak, so tired it was hard.

About 5 am half the village was back to see how I was. There was no change whatsoever, but I was alive, and I could see their relief. Katey went up once again to the machamba to try to reach Claudia, my boss. This time, they managed a connection. The message from the night before had gotten through by some miracle, and my colleagues Velo and Dan, an RN, were already on the way since no one could reach Jinx. We waited. Driven out of the machesa by a poisonous snake, we waited in the shade by the cabin because it was already hot inside. I was so tired.

Finally about 8 am we heard the jeep crashing through the mango trees. Then I remember Dan standing over me smiling. He knelt down and asked me how I was. I had to have Katey explain. I was so tired and still my heart was pounding so hard it was hard to speak. He listened to my heart and examined the rash and gave me a shot of prednisolone. As soon as that drug hit my heart I could feel it spread out through my body. The weirdest sensation. My heart immediately started beating normally and ceased pounding. I don’t know if it was the drug or the relief, but I immediately felt better. They put me in the car and began to load all our stuff, Katey distributing the last of the food among the boys. Josefa, dear Josefa, came to the car window and took me by the hand. He didn’t say anything. I thanked him and asked him to thank all the others for their diligent care of me through the night. Oh, there was so much more to say, but I was so tired I just couldn’t speak. We drove off on the long bumpy road back to the river, across the ferry, back to Chimoio. And that was the last time I ever saw Bunga and our boys.

My teammates and I celebrated a simple Thanksgiving meal together that afternoon and I called my parents. My dad was mashing the potatoes and my mom was making the gravy when I called. I could hear the sounds of the dishes clinking in the background. I gave them a skeleton outline of what had happened, though without much of the drama. I was tired and still not ready to really face what I just experienced. But even that first day, Thanksgiving Day, I could see the thread of grace running throughout the experience.

How did that message get through that night? We couldn’t get a message out to anyone all week. We tried before, hoping Jinx would bring more food for the village. Why it never worked before but worked that night only God knows. To find out at dawn that help was already on the way was a miracle. But I admit, I was grateful that we didn’t know it the whole night. I was already killing myself with guilt and it would have made it worse if I had known Claudia and everyone else was worrying. That was God’s grace for me in that moment.

Also, imagine, I was surrounded that night by the singing poor, the very ones He came to save. If anyone understands suffering and could empathize, they could. So their prayers and hymns were fervent, harmonic, lovely in the dark quiet of the village night. They surrounded us, a palpable vibrating solidarity, a hopeful dirge in which Christ was singing too. That was grace.

When the dawn came and they helped me outside, I remember lying there looking at the grass, the trees, the sky, overwhelmed by the colour and the buzzing, humming life, the dark friendly faces of the boys, Katey’s smile and the clear sunshine. My gratitude was too deep for words. I could just sit and be, and be thankful.

When Katey left again to try to send a message, I asked her for her Bible in English. I turned to the 103rd Psalm and read it over and over. “Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases...” And I felt in need of both. I felt that the fear of death that overwhelmed me was sin and I was sorry for it. I felt the weakness in my body needed a healing I couldn’t give myself. “Like a father has compassion on his children...” I needed my Father to do for me what I could not do for myself, and I knew He would. And I knew I had a long process ahead, a difficult and lonely road down which Christ would accompany me towards healing, towards growth. I felt it, and even though I was tired and homesick and sick and miserable, I was grateful that He embraces me just as I am and yet refuses to leave me thus, insistent on moving me, in His company, toward growth. Why should He go to so much trouble for me? Grace.

In the deep isolation of the trauma symptoms that followed the allergy attack, the less I was able to communicate the lonelier I grew. I would spend the night hours lying awake, alone in the dark, reliving the events countless times. I would cry out to Jesus and find Him near. When it got really bad and my mind attacked me with my body, I would imagine Him sitting there with me in the stillness, taking my head in his lap just like Josefa. My tears were His too, but not my fears. And in those fearless, gentle swimming eyes I would find a moment’s comfort, a little company.
It was His company that sustained me, carried me. In the faces and voices of Katey and the villagers. In Velo and Dan’s rescue venture. In Claudia’s insistent care. In my colleagues’ compassion and concern. In the lush mato beauty we travelled through. In doctors and counsellors, friends and family. His company.

And here He is again, helping me recover, to let what’s past be past so that I can move forward, always in His company. And that’s the grace of this, the meaning of it, walking with Him. I feel sore, stretched “like butter scraped over too much bread.” But pain holds the promise of growth. He shares our pain and I share His and the Mozambicans’ pain, humanity’s pain. We are all bound up in the same story, pressing toward the same goal, sustained by an invisible Hand wise enough and kind enough to direct it all toward a glorious consummation, an endless Thanksgiving in His Presence.

So that’s what I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving. Now, bring on the turkey!!!

Homeward Bound

2010-09-23T10:54:00.001-07:00

• After months of waiting and praying for improvement in the anxiety symptoms I have struggled with, it is clear to me that I am dealing with a full relapse of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for which I was treated last year. Instead of choosing to heal me without more counselling, God has chosen a slower path of recovery for me. There is no way to receive the treatment that I need here in Mozambique while continuing my ministry, so I am coming home once again on medical leave sometime in December or January. I will finish this second semester with my students, which ends the first week of December, and then prepare to return to the States, probably for several years. I will move in with my sister, Holly, who lives near Chicago. This will let me be near several of my siblings as well as my Hope Free church family.

• I wish I could explain why this is happening. I can’t. I can only tell you from my heart that I thank you for being so supportive and wonderful. I was called to go back to Mozambique once again, for my own good and for the good of my students. Now I know exactly what kind of work I need to do to equip myself to stay long-term in Mozambique. I also got a taste of what it is to teach Bible to Mozambicans. I understand better what challenges they face in their churches and personal lives. I understand their sufferings a little better and will have the opportunity to develop skills that will help me counsel and disciple them in their own context. The decision to leave is agonizing, but it has been made thoughtfully, prayerfully and with the counsel of many who know and care for me, both at home and here on the field.

• My hope and prayer is to return to Mozambique, though I am not sure when that will be. What I do know for sure, is that I am not alone. Christ’s company is what sustains me. He is the One who holds me up when shame and an intense sense of failure threaten to overwhelm me. I am no failure. I am His girl. All of this has happened for a reason. He knows what’s going on, so it’s ok if I don’t. I learned a song, just the chorus of it, a long time ago. I don’t even remember the title of it, but the chorus says, “God is too wise to be mistaken. God is too good to be unkind. So when you don’t understand, when you don’t see His plan, when you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.” I know in whom I have believed.

• I just taught through the historical books that trace His hand in Israel’s history and remind me over and over that our God is the God of the big picture but also of the minute details. He can weave one event into His tapestry in such a way that what appears to be a catastrophe in the limited vision of one person’s life can turn out to have redemptive value for many. He can take a boy sold into slavery by his own brothers and use him to save entire nations from starvation. In the midst of government-sanctioned infanticide, He can save the life of a tiny boy who appears on the surface insignificant in terms of how many were lost. And when that little one grows up to become a murderer and flees to the desert to escape punishment by living as a Bedouin shepherd, God can call him to be one of the greatest prophets, a deliverer whose very life would point toward a finished salvation. He can choose among the great a young harpist/shepherd to be a king, use him, chastise him, walk with him and reveal through him so much of God’s own character in poems sung and hummed and prayed for generations unceasing because of their simple, beautiful truths about the Almighty as a refuge and very great reward.

• It has been a hard year of struggle and personal loss. It has also been a year of great joy, of meeting some of the humblest of my brothers and sisters and watching their faces as they too discover Him, as we together explore and examine this God With Us who took the risk to reveal Himself, to offer Himself for us to accept or reject. What a humble love, the love of God in Christ! But when the symptoms of this disorder become severe enough to make it impossible to concentrate long in prayer, hard to read, hard to meditate, then my walk with Him starts to be put in jeopardy. That is not a sacrifice I will make. It is a sacrifice He would never ask of me. So it is time to step out, find healing, and seek His face. He’ll guide me one step at a time. Thanks for your friendship. Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

2010-09-06T05:18:00.001-07:00

Hello, friends!

Here are a few shots of the path I travel every day between home and the school. I just thought you'd like to see my neighborhood. Enjoy!

Bible School Pictures

2010-08-21T07:15:00.001-07:00

Hi, folks!

I thought you might be interested in seeing some pictures of the Bible School. I don't know if I ever posted any of the new building, which was completed in February just before we started classes. The name of the school in Portuguese is Instituto Biblico de Sofala, Sofala being the name of the province in which we are located. Then I included pictures of the grounds, my classroom, the corridor and me teaching about the covenants. Enjoy!

Kandice Marie

2010-07-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Kandice Marie, it’s hard for me to accept that you are gone. I can’t come back on home assignment and make a trip to Indiana to see you. I’m angry that you had to die so young. I’m angry at Stupid Cancer. Thailand was waiting, and it breaks my heart that you’ll never go back there. I weep for your family and for your teammates. I want to tell you a few things that I remember about you.

• I remember that when we first got to Moody and had all settled in our dormitories we sat in a group in the common room and introduced ourselves. We had to go around and say “I love you” in a language besides English. You said it in sign, of course.
• For four years we were neighbours. I remember you and Mary and Amanda laughing hysterically in the next room and I would go over just to see what was so funny. I remember how when you smiled you smiled with your whole self. When you laughed you laughed out loud.
• I remember that you were always showing me pictures of you and Tara. I hope she knows how proud you were of her.
• I remember that time you and I got into a prank war. I can’t remember now who started it. I snuck into your room one night and stole all your underwear, soaked it in the bathroom, put it in a Jewel bag and froze it in the kitchen freezer. The funniest part was that it took you like a week and a half to discover that it was missing!!!! Did you really have a lot of underwear or did you wear the same pair for awhile??? Of course, you got me back. I came into my room one night and Jessie was half asleep. She said, “I think someone just came in and was rifling through your underwear drawer, but it might have been a dream.” I knew it was no dream! I ran to the bathroom and there you were soaking my clothes with water and FLOUR! Flour, Kandice Marie, you little punk! So when you offered me a truce, I took it because I knew there was NO WAY I could beat you in an all-out prank war! You never did ANYTHING halfway and I was out of my league!
• I remember sitting on the dorm roof and chatting about childhood and dreaming about the future. We had no idea where it would take us, did we?? But it was fun to dream.
• I remember how dramatic you were, especially at open houses. Weren’t you one of the ones behind our re-enactment of “The Princess Bride”? Weren’t you the ROUS, or am I mistaken? You were the life of a party, girl.
• I remember when you got back from China and showed me that picture of you in a national dress. I thought to myself how well it seemed to suit you.
• I remember us eating macaroni and cheese and that pasteurized cheese spread on Saltines!
• I came back for graduation and we were all just about to leave. I hadn’t seen you yet to say good-bye when suddenly you were there next to me. You didn’t say anything at all. You just hugged me hard and walked away.
Thank you for being a part of my life, for your courage and faith and strength and for living so intentionally, for smiling so bright. I’ll miss you. Love you.

Sheri

Belo Norte

2010-07-05T21:45:00.001-07:00

Here are a few snapshots of the north of Moz and our team's annual conference. Enjoy!!

Fixated

2010-06-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes missionaries here in Africa get fixated on the difficulties that come with living among the poor. When I go the centre of town, I have to cross what we affectionately call “the Blind Bridge.” It’s called that because it is lined with beggars, mostly blind, who sit and call out for money and hold out their hands in hopeful expectation of acquiring a coin or two. In a land where there are few if any government-run programs for the poor, the desperate live off of personal generosity. That is, they beg door to door. At least once a week, sometimes more, someone comes to my door asking for money or work or simply a handful of rice.

Friendship in Africa, I’m learning, is fundamentally different than friendship in the US. It would never occur to me to ask a personal friend for money to pay my electricity bill unless that person happened to be a VERY close friend and I was absolutely desperate. I would then work to pay off that debt as fast as possible. Life for a Mozambican is different. Friends ‘borrow’ from friends all the time, and refusing to “share” brings serious problems into the relationship. People give to each other fully expecting to have to borrow in the future. They live in constant debt to one another. It is simply the way things work in a community-based, survival culture. For a foreigner to whom friendship is more or less disinterested, that is, it exists simply for the enjoyment of the people involved, this difference is bewildering. After numerous requests from people I would only loosely term “friends,” I sometimes have “culture-shock” days when I dread answering the door because I know it will probably be someone asking me for a loan.

Thievery is another challenge that poverty generates. When I first came to Mozambique I spent a lot of time with more experienced missionaries who impressed on me how common it was to be mugged or robbed. We have “robber bars” on our homes. Some of us have personal guards. Everything we own is kept under lock and key. When we venture out, we hold on tight to our handbags. It is simply a reality that we all live with, including Mozambicans themselves.

I confess that after a few months here I have become a bit cynical about the whole situation. Sometimes I start to think that EVERYONE here is a crook and that anyone who pays me any attention is only doing so to get something from me. I feel like I should tattoo ATM across my forehead because I almost feel like Mozambicans only see me as an opportunity for a free handout.

Then there are moments that challenge my perception and humble me back into the realization that generosity can still be found among these poor. I remember once standing in the rain with a colleague of mine waiting for a chapa (a Mozambican mini-bus, the most common public transportation). We were getting drenched and it was getting dark. An empty chapa stopped in front of us, and it was obvious that the driver had finished work and was headed home for the day. He told us to get on and asked us where we were going. He drove us straight to our location, ignoring the normal chapa route, and then refused to let us pay for our ride. Just the other day I got on another chapa. I sat down next to a girl about 14 years old. We smiled and greeted one another and the chapa went hurling down the road. As we were riding along, she reached into her pocket and pulled out some candy. She smiled shyly at me and offered me a piece. I smiled and took it and thanked her. She got off at the next stop. That same afternoon I was walking home from the school with some friends. They saw a lady they knew selling oranges. We stopped to greet her and she gave us each and orange, refusing to let us pay. After going home, I went to buy bananas. I chatted with the banana-sellers a bit and then chose a nice ripe bunch. I paid for them and was sticking them in my bag when the banana-seller, a girl about 15, took an extra banana from a nearby bunch and handed it to me with a smile. A student of mine, a poor one, mind you, invited me to his church to teach a seminar with him. He picked me up and we caught a chapa. He refused to let me pay my way there or back.

The examples of thievery and begging and poverty here are innumerable. But I am finding that the incidents of simple decency and generosity are starting to stack up too. I think that in the end, it’s the one I choose to focus on that wins. So for today, I choose to fixate on the generous side of Africa, the hospitable, warm, friendly side that offers to share what little it has with friends and guests without necessarily expecting anything in return. And maybe I’ll shelf the cynicism for a day and go answer the door with kindness, refusing to further humiliate those who are already down. After all, they are, in a sense, the ‘least of these.’

Passover Mozambican Style

2010-05-23T04:58:00.001-07:00

On Saturday I hosted a Passover seder to help my students gain some historical context for the Exodus and the Lord's Supper. They seemed to enjoy it and asked a lot of insightful questions. I was pleased with how eagerly they participated. They even learned a simple song in Hebrew, which they LOVED! Here are a few photos of the event. Enjoy!

My New Car!

2010-05-15T04:14:00.000-07:00

The neighbor kids love to play on my porch. Some little urchin left this masterpiece behind. Who needs to spend money on toys when you can make something just as fun with dirt and sticks??!! Pretty creative and resourceful children are!

For Rob

2010-05-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:13-15

I was standing at the front of the church surrounded by the missions committee. It was the day I had waited for, worked for, prayed for since the age of 17. It was the day many, many others had waited and worked and prayed for too. My commissioning service. They were all there to pray for me before I left for Portugal in October of 2007 to prepare to serve Christ in Mozambique. And it was this verse that my friend Rob Griffith read just before he led that prayer. Rob was the head of the missions committee as I was preparing to serve in missions. His encouragement and support, prayers and sense of humor, timely wise emails are one of the many reasons I am sitting here today, in Mozambique, where I serve as a missionary teaching God’s Word.

I look out my window on a world far different from Roscoe, Illinois, where that commissioning service was held. I see palm and coconut trees, chickens and goats, mothers carrying babies on their backs and water in jugs on their heads. The climate, the language, the culture, everything is different. But at the heart, the people are the same: they live their lives for themselves, cut off from God. It is a life filled with fear, vengeance and witchcraft. A life dulled by alcohol and sex and endangered by both. They need to know that God has chosen to reveal Himself in His Word and in His Son. They need to know Immanuel, God With Us.

That’s my whole job here, to point them in the direction of God’s revelation and let Him take them the rest of the way out of darkness and into light. It is this passion that Rob and I shared, that made us friends, that kept us in touch. On April 29, 2010 at 5:50 pm CST, Rob went home to meet Immanuel face to face.

And I am left to read his last email to me, in which he said, “I pray for you daily and often think about our mutual missions experiences.” That’s what I’ll remember most about Rob Griffith. He was a man of prayer and a man with a passion to send workers into the fields to preach the good news that God is with us, that we are not abandoned on this planet and destined to live our lives for ourselves. Rather, we are invited to know the One who made us, to live our lives for Him, which is the only way to truly have life abundant.

How will they hear the good news, Rob? I’ll preach it to them. How will I preach it? Because you and so many like you have sent me. I thank you, my friend and brother. I will honor your memory by living my life for the One who lived and died for us both until we are together again in His presence.

Love,

Sheri

Back in Touch

2010-05-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hi, folks.

Sorry for the lack of communication for awhile. A fiber optic cable of the coast of Mozambique was severed. Since it was pretty deep in the ocean, it took awhile to get it fixed, so we were incomunicado for some time. It looks like things are more or less working now, except for Facebook. I hope to be able to give you a better update soon. Take care,

Sheri

Introducing...Zeus!

2010-04-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

This is my lizard friend Zeus who lives above the light on my porch. On occasion when I go to turn off the light, he freaks out and falls on my head or shoulder. Sometimes he perches above the door on the porch, and if I open the door, he freaks out and falls on my head too!

Apparently, he now has a wife, to whom I have given the name Hera. What else?!! No, they are not the size of gila monsters...only about 6 inches long. But even so, having one land on you is still disturbing. They are amazingly fast and it was quite a feat to get this close to get their picture. I am hoping that Hera turns out to be more level-headed than Zeus and that she has better balance. Otherwise, I'll have to be doubly careful opening the door! Enjoy!

Stay Focused

2010-04-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

So I was walking downtown a few weeks ago just behind a little girl and her mother. The little girl, cute as a button, was all dressed in pink with braids in her hair. She saw me and kept turning around to look at me. There are SOME white people here, but to a child we are always an object of interest. At least they are honest enough to blatantly stare and not pretend they're looking somewhere else when you catch their eyes!

Anyway, so we were walking along and I thought to myself, "If this kid doesn't stop looking at me and watch where she is going, she'll run into something." So I tried to walk faster so I could pass them and walk ahead of them, thus allowing her to stare at me and watch where she was going at the same time. Trying to be a sensitive white freak, you see...

Too late. WHACK! She hit a pole! Poor kid, it knocked her flat. She was tough though, didn't even cry. She just picked herself, ran after her mother (who hadn't noticed a thing) , and continued looking back at me. For her sake, I turned down another road and waited until they were far away before continuing on my journey.

I have to say, though, this little incident made me think. It is SO easy to get distracted here. People have all sorts of problems that I cannot fix: poverty, disease, family problems, disunity in churches, etc. I also have my own problems to deal with: the heat...lingering anxiety...the heat...homesickness...the heat...the language barrier...the heat...my own self-doubt...and the heat to name a few!

I cannot solve all of those problems, though I do what I can when I can. What I have to do, though, is keep my focus on the path I've been called to walk. I have to be faithful to what I came to do, and that is teaching God's Word. If I fix my eyes on that goal, I see the obstacles, but I don't run into them. I find a way to work through them. I don't let them detain me too long or knock me down because I have my eyes fixed on something else, or perhaps, SOMEONE else.

A Kind Word

2010-03-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

When you are standing in front of a bunch of people trying to communicate something week after week, once in awhile you get the feeling you're talking to a wall. There is something that is simply not connecting in the minds of the audience and you can tell by the looks on their faces. This happened in last week's lesson on Sodom and Gomorrah. I was trying to get them to tell me what the story teaches about the character of God, that the Bible is primarily focused on revealing who GOD is. It talks about human behavior too, but the overall purpose is not to tell us how to live but to help us get to know the ONE we're living for. What we learn about ourselves and our behavior or the encouragement we gain from reading the text is secondary. The first question to ask in reading the Bible is not, "what's in this passage for me?" The first question to ask is "who is this God that I serve? What does this story teach me about HIM?"

For some reason, the point I was trying to get across was simply NOT working. They kept retelling me the storyline, totally missing its meaning. I didn't blame them. As a teacher, when EVERYONE is missing the concept the problem is usually with the teacher, not the students! I left the lesson discouraged thinking, "Great, I've come all the way to teach and I am NOT good at it!"

So I went home that night to regroup. I spent the week praying and planning for this week's lesson, trying to find a way to help the students understand that same concept. By God's grace, I came up with a game which I thought might help. I figured, at least even if they don't get it, they'll enjoy the game, which will be an improvement over sitting through another lecture.

I tried the game. Not only did they like the game, I could tell by the conversations buzzing in the room that finally that one concept that they HAVE to catch in order to rightly read the Old Testament was finally becoming clear to them. I started getting answers that hit the target just right and I could tell the students were really pleased with themselves and excited about being able to apply the concept.

So I finished our lesson and walked out of the classroom into the mosquito-infested night, relieved but still frustrated that it had taken me so long to get the point across. I walked past a few of my students and one of them said, "Oi, professora, foi uma aula muito rica!" That means, "hey, professor, that was a really rich lesson!" I could have kissed his feet. He's a quiet person, more or less, and sometimes doesn't even come to class. He had NO idea how relieved I was to hear from the mouth of one of the students that they had learned something, that the lesson had value!

That one kind word made my whole week! So this week, in the wake of that small victory, I plod on planning another lesson, searching for another way to help the students engage with the text and hopefully, get to know its AUTHOR a little better. I know that there will be other disappointments, failures, whatever you want to call them. But by God's grace I'll keep going, since it's HIS work anyway. And perhaps I'll remember this week to say a kind word to someone who has tried to help me or teach me something. Who knows how much he or she might be needing to hear it!

You Know You're in Mozambique When...

2010-03-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

1. You see a goat riding a bicycle and think nothing of it.
2. You celebrate because the high temperature was only 87 degrees instead of 90.
3. You carry a capulana (wrap skirt) folded in your purse.
4. You have another capulana on the nail by the front door, one in the bathroom, one in the bedroom, etc.
5. You sleep under a capulana because the temperature dropped from 90 to 87 degrees and you feel slightly chilled.
6. You know several lizards by sight and have named at least one.
7. Your daily prayer items include such inanimate things as: your water tank, your gas tank, your electricity, your plumbing, and your internet connection. (You pray for people too, of course, but I am trying to make a point!)
8. When you take out your trash to toss in the trash pile on the side of the road, you take care not to disturb the multitude of chickens.
9. You are adept at dodging puddles and potholes and children and bicycles while walking to work.
10. You navigate purely by landmarks like trees, the color of buildings, groves of sugar cane, familiar-looking goats and other such things. After all, who needs street signs?
11. You write lists like this just to amuse your friends and family back home and to let them know that you're doing ok!!!

First Exam

2010-03-11T06:26:00.000-08:00

May I just say that this being a teacher thing has really cool implications. Like now I get to GIVE tests instead of TAKING them! I suppose it is a twisted sort of enjoyment, but I had so much fun the other night watching them all ponder question number 9 on the image of God. I got some pretty great answers from them too! And they all passed! Hooray for learning something!!!

Stop praying for Rain!

2010-03-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

Greetings from soggy Beira!

Thanks so much for praying for rain! Boy, you people must really pray hard because we've had nothing but rain for two weeks! The earth is wet, the roads are wet, and the frogs are singing like crazy. We thank and praise God. Now we ask for sunshine so that the crops can grow and intermittent rains over the next two months so that they stay moist for a late harvest. Maybe that should be the real request: pray for a decent harvest even if it does come late.

The truth is, Mozambicans use the soil so poorly. Their slash and burn approach--or whatever it is--strips the soil and makes it harder to grow crops than it should be. We have agriculturalists working to teach them a methodology called "Farming God's Way." Google it. It's pretty cool. They have had great success in other areas, but Mozambicans are still tied to traditional methods, afraid that the ancestors will punish them if they change things. Pray for liberty from these traditions that keep them poor.

Thanks for your prayers. You are wonderful partners to have in this work. Chat with you later...

Rain Update

2010-02-26T03:37:00.000-08:00

Thank you all so much for praying for rain! We have had steady rain for awhile now. I took a trip to Chimoio yesterday and got to see some of the countryside that has suffered the most from the drought. It was very wet! Some people have replanted their fields and the corn is already growing again. Others did not. Perhaps they could not afford the seed. It will be a tough year for some, but we are very glad that rain is finally coming and may help prevent severe famine. Thanks again, folks!

Furniture

2010-02-13T22:38:00.000-08:00

I'm making a bit of progress with the house, don't you think? I bought a set of wicker living room furniture and am hoping to have cushions made for it. It is lovely, hand-made here in Mozambique in a region west of Beira. It's also suitable for the climate since you don't stick to it in the humidity!

The table and chairs I bought in a little store downtown and had them delivered. I loved the round table. Round is hard to find here, so when I saw the set I snapped it up! So now I can have people into my home! I still need a bed, bedside table, bookshelf, etc. I'm hoping to have a local carpenter make them, but we'll see! That's it for now! Take care and enjoy your cold weather, those of you who have it!

First Class

2010-02-05T06:38:00.000-08:00

So I wanted to tell you a story about what happened during my first class here in Moz. About 20 minutes before I had to leave to trot over to the institute I was printing the first few pages of the student notes. I had just gotten the Portuguese corrected by a colleague and hadn't yet managed to get photocopies made of all the pages. I figured I'd just print the first few to get us throught the first lecture.

So I'm about to print them and trying to decide how many copies to make. We had 16 students interested originally, but no one had yet confirmed how many would actually be in the class. So I figured I'd print 15 copies and be perfectly safe, since not all who are interested end up on the roster. Anyway, I was about to print 15 copies when I hear this voice in my spirit say "Make ten." I thought to myself, "Huh? Ten? Ten isn't enough, what if there are more students?" I was again about to print 15 when the little voice again said "Make ten." By then I knew Who was talking to me and I was frustrated. "But Lord," I said, "what if there are more than ten students?" "Make ten," was the answer.

I wondered vaguely why God was messing with me just before my first class when I was already nervous, but I changed the 15 to 10 and printed 10, rather huffily I might add. So then I get to the institute for the opening session of the year, which is essentially a chapel service. All the levels of students stood up to introduce themselves and I notice that in my class 11 students stand. Now I'm thinking, "Great, Lord, now I'm one short!" And of course He responds, "Ten is sufficient. Trust me." So after the opening session I walk to class with my students and start to pass out the papers.

And there were ten students. What happened to that eleventh, I have no idea. I KNOW I counted 11! After all, I'm not great with numbers, but I can count, and there were 11. Only ten were in the lecture that night, however, and I chuckled a bit about the whole deal while stumbling around in Portuguese.

So I get home that night, having taught those ten students, and ask, "Ok, Lord, what exactly was that all about? I mean, it's cool that there were only ten just like You said there would be, but what does it matter the number of photocopies I make?" And His answer was, of course, a good one.

"I wanted to remind you of something, Sheri," He said. "Before you stepped foot into that first class for the first time I wanted to remind you that those students are MY students. That Book you're teaching is MY book. You too are MINE. From the beginning of lesson plans down to the details, like how many photocopies you make, I am Lord of All. Don't forget."

And I hope I won't. At least, every time I go to print student papers this year, I'll remember. I still might choose to make more than 10 copies if He'll permit. But I won't forget Whose work it is I'm here doing, however imperfectly.

Rain Update

2010-02-01T04:29:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for praying for rain. We had a wet but not unpleasant weekend. I think we were all so relieved to see rain falling that we didn't mind whatever inconvenience it caused while camping. The whole region from Beira to the border of Zimbabwe is green but the corn tassled too early. It will have to be dug up and replanted. If we get rain regularly enough between now and April, the people will have a harvest, though a late one. Since most Mozambicans are subsistence farmers, this is very important if we are going to avoid widespread famine. Please pray for regular rains over the next few months. Thanks so much for caring for people you've never met enough to ask God to meet their needs. Chat with you soon!

Sheri

RAIN!

2010-01-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

We had a great rain last night, thank you all for praying! My teammates and I are headed towards the border of Zimbabwe today for a reatreat at a campground near there. We will have a chance to survey the whole region and get a feel for how things are in the fields. I'll update you Monday when I return! Thanks again,

Sheri

Prayer for Rain

2010-01-19T22:42:00.000-08:00

Please send us rain, O God Most High,
The ground is hard, the crops are dry
And all night long the children cry
And heat is in their tears.

Please send us Rain, Your Spirit pour
Our hearts are hard, a stubborn ore
And we don’t know we’re searching for
A Spring to start our tears.

Please send us rain.

Apartment

2010-01-13T00:58:00.000-08:00

Hi, folks!

Here are some shots of my apartment! No, I don't have much furniture yet. I've sort of got tunnel-vision while working on lesson plans, and find it hard to make time to do important things like find a bed! I'll get to it eventually, however! For now I'm content just to be here in my own space working toward teaching! Thanks for your prayers and encouragement which have helped to make that dream possible!

Sheri

Back Online!

2010-01-12T06:31:00.000-08:00

Boy, you people pray fast! My phone and Internet are now functioning, and I cannot tell you how nice it is! I can keep in touch with family and friends, do some banking, download Bible resources for class materials, etc! Oh the wonder of technology...when it works! Thanks for praying!

I'm hoping to post some pictures of my apartment soon. Stay tuned!

sheri

HI!

2010-01-12T01:46:00.000-08:00

Hi, folks!

Sorry I haven’t been in contact much. I am still working on getting the internet to function. It worked for about half an hour and then the phone line itself went out. As I work and pray towards fixing, pray for me not to lose patience! I can’t tell you how frustrating it is not to be in contact! I did, however, get my things from Chimoio and so am officially moved in! Know that I am alive and well and will strive to be in touch soon!

Sheri

Mele Kalikimaka

2009-12-22T23:36:00.000-08:00

A very Merry Christmas to all of you out there in the States! It looks like many of you will have a white one! Be careful traveling! You are very dear to me!

Sheri

Moving In

2009-12-20T02:41:00.000-08:00

Hi folks!

I think I sent out this plea for prayer before, but it bears repeating! I am trying to settle into tropical life here in Beira but with half of my possessions 3 hours away in a different province. Getting them moved from one place to the other, especially with the approaching holidays, is proving very difficult. Please pray that I will be patient with the inconvenience and that God will make a way for me to get settled in.

I met with the director of the Bible School who confirmed that I will be teaching Old Testament. I'd love to start planning the semester's curriculum, but I cannot do so without my resources, which are still in Chimoio! Pray also that I can find and buy furniture and somehow get it to my flat. Transport is always the biggest challenge for me but it is also an opportunity to grow! I pray I can hang on to that perspective! Thanks for your help! Take care!

sheri

Made it!

2009-12-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

Hello, friends!

I made it to Mozambique with all my luggage intact! Thank you so much for your prayers; they were answered. I am staying in our mission's guest flat in Beira until I can get all of my things moved into my apartment from Chimoio, about 3 hours away. Happily, the guest flat has wireless that appears to work some of the time, so here I am! I pray you are all well and staying warm. I know I am....chat with you later!

sheri

Packing

2009-12-04T07:26:00.001-08:00

So off I go tomorrow, carrying all my worldly possessions along! I couldn't take much the first time because I didn't know anyone in Portugal and had to handle the luggage myself. This time I have help on both ends and a much better idea of what I need. It will cost me, but at least I'll have enough to get started settling into the apartment.

Please pray with me for safe travel. That little red duffel contains my printer, packed in clothing and bubble wrap. It is an essential tool for teaching, since I'll need it to print resources for my students. Pray with me that it gets there undamaged.

I don't know when I'll be able to post next. I arrive in Moz sometime Friday, but I'll have to move all of my other things from Chimoio, where I was living, to Beira, which is three hours away. I'll also have to set up an internet connection in the apartment. I will update you all just as soon as I can. Meanwhile, know how much your friendship has meant to me over the past few turbulent years. Your prayers and encouragement are truly a lifeline to me.

God bless,

Sheri

Great News!

2009-09-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

I have great news to report! My boss in Mozambique just emailed me to say that the letter of invitation required for me to get residency in Beira where our Bible college is was signed and delivered to her! That means that I can finally reside in the province I was originally assigned for! We have been waiting for this good news for a long time, and we are grateful that God has intervened for us. Praise God with us on this day that His will has prevailed.

Thanks for all your prayers,

Sheri

Trip to Illinois

2009-09-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I am coming to Illinois soon and will be in Roscoe from the 23rd to the 28th and in Chicago land from the 28th to the 1st of October! I hope to see many of you and catch up!

Tchau,

Sheri

Luke's Wedding

2009-09-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hi, family!

For those of you who couldn't make it to Luke and Mallory's wedding, here are a few quick pictures of it. The whole album is on my facebook page. Aren't they sooo cute!? Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary

2009-08-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

My dad might smack me upside the head for posting this picture, but I don't care! In a world of shattered relationships, my parents will celebrate their 40th anniversary tomorrow! I just thought that was worth a picture and a congratulations! Happy Anniversary you two crazy kids! It's a privilege to be your daughter!

Love,

Sheri

Home Again

2009-07-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

Ah, it's nice to be home!

The wedding is over and I'm catching up on sleep and happy to see my folks again! Here's just one quick picture for you! I'll post more later when I'm really awake!

Headed South

2009-07-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hello, friends!

I am making steady progress, and ready for more travels! Tomorrow I am leaving for Tampico, Mexico and will be gone for three weeks. My best friend from college, Joye, is getting married, and I am honored to be a part of her special day! I will be back at the end of July, hopefully with some photos to share!

Thanks so much for your prayers. Chat with you in August!

Sheri

Don't Forget

2009-06-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

In the excitement and joy of being home, it's easy to forget sometimes just why I'm home. I'm here to recover so that I can go back and share with the people of Mozambique the comfort I have received in Christ. To that end, I thought I'd post some of my favorite pictures of Mozambique for you to enjoy and for me to remember...

sweet dreams...or no dreams!

2009-06-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hi, folks!

It's hard to believe I've been home nearly 6 weeks. I've made some progress and am proud to report that my nightmares have finally stopped. After 6 months of them, my relief is profound. I used to dream I was being chased through an airport or being attacked by some unidentified animal or fighting my way through Mozambican bush and I would wake up with my heart pounding.

But no more! Last night I dreamed I was riding in the back of a truck through a corn field (harmless, I think) and the night before that I didn't dream at all. Ah, sleep is such a gift when it ceases to be, well, a nightmare! I think I mentioned this in my May newsletter, but it bears repeating. Dreamless sleep, folks, don't take it for granted!

Funny how I never had nightmares about mangoes...go figure. Thanks for your prayers!

Sheri

PTSD

2009-05-25T09:30:00.001-07:00

Hi there!

Some of you have been asking me if and when I will be returning to Mozambique. The answer to the first question is a resounding "YES"! God has called me to live and work in Mozambique. (Do you really think I'd let a little Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder stop me???)

The answer to the second question is less definite. I am planning to return to Moz in August, but the date has to remain flexible. I am working with a Christian psychologist here, but PTSD is an anxiety disorder. It will take time for me to learn to manage it. But, by the grace of God, I will, and I will be stronger for it.

If you'd like to learn more about PTSD, I suggest the following link, which I've found helpful: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml

Meanwhile, I have good days and bad, just like most of you! I see marked improvement in my sleeping, which is a wonderful relief! Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement! Please feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to answer any questions or just have the chance to catch up!

Love,

Sheri

Road Trip

2009-05-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Hi, folks!

My Mom and one of my sisters and I went on a quick road trip to see some family just after I arrived in May. Here are some fun shots of the trip...a spectacular, Colorado-springtime journey over the Rocky Mountains. I got to see both my grandpas as well as many aunts, uncles and cousins.

Now I am home and resting well. I intend to stay put through the month of June. Feel free to contact me at my home address in Monument. I hope you are all well too. Keep in touch,

Sheri

Homeward

2009-04-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

As you know, I am in Beira now. I will be here a few more days before flying home on Monday, May 4th. I will arrive in Denver on May 5th and begin a time of rest and reconnecting with friends and family.

It has been an interesting few weeks trying to take care of final details and prepare to leave to come home. I am thrilled to have a chance to see people I have been missing, but, surprisingly, in spite of everything that has happened, I am a bit sad to leave Mozambique. Yes, I will be back soon, Lord willing, but still I find it hard. God has called me to be here and I have spent nine months getting to know and growing to love Mozambique, with all its poverty and disease and problems and warm singing and hospitality and potential and beautiful, beautiful suffering people. Having to leave unexpectedly makes me even more aware of how much I want to be here, even more sure that I am called to be here.

What I want more than anything is to come back strong, whole and ready to teach. A classroom, a chalkboard, a piece of chalk, and the chance to talk with students who hunger for God's Word. That's pretty much the extent of my desires. It sounds so simple, but it seems like every time I get close to that goal, it recedes into the distance a bit, impossible to catch. But that is frustration speaking, not faith.

God knows His business and will bring me back in His timing. And in the meantime, He has overwhelmed me with the great blessing of time at home. And I will say, that on my worst days here I always find joy in the knowledge that I can always come home, home to friends and family who embrace me and love me for myself, not for my missionary work or any accomplishment, but just for me. That is the love of Christ, folks, which I encounter everywhere I meet God's people. That is the love I discovered in Portugal where I was a stranger and a church community took me in. That is the love I was surrounded by that dark night in the village when the entire community surrounded me to sing and pray for my healing. That is the love my boss and other colleagues showered on me by caring for me so diligently in the days and weeks that followed. That is the love you reflect so beautifully in your whole-hearted support of me during this challenging time.

So I'll fly out of Beira secure in the hope that I'll be back soon because of God's calling and because of His love, mediated through you! May you experience that love today too. Until next time,

Sheri

A Bump in the Road

2009-04-18T02:32:00.001-07:00

Greetings, folks! I’m interrupting all the cultural information I normally throw at you for a more personal update.

I have been experiencing some insomnia, nightmares and anxiety, apparently linked to the trauma of the allergic reaction I had back in the village in November. As you can imagine, this makes language study and life very tiring. I have been doing my best to cope, but I need some time off to rest thoroughly so that I can come back strong, ready to jump in to ministry. My mission and I have decided that I should come home for some R&R so I can reconnect with family and recover in familiar surroundings.

I don’t yet have any specifics dates, but I’ll keep you updated as I go. I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I get ready to travel and make sure that things here in Chimoio are taken care of in my absence. My roommate, Carmen, has just arrived in Mozambique and is still just learning Portuguese. Please pray that I can help prepare her to be here on her own while I am away and that God will watch over and help her be able to communicate well. She has been such a blessing to me in this time!

Thanks so much for your prayers and friendship. I’ll hopefully be in touch soon!

Sheri

I'm No Dummy

2009-04-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

I thought this picture would be fun to show you. It is of a dummy made of old clothes being used to sell coconuts. You see, where this dummy is from EVERYONE is selling coconuts. Instead of standing on the curb holding out the coconut for passersby to see, this family cleverly designed someone to do it for them so they can sit in the shade and simply wait for customers. Here's to Mozambican ingenuity!

Esteira time!

2009-03-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! People seemed to like reading about the capulanas, so I am continuing my series on important daily objects in Moz that you might find interesting. This time the topic of interest is the beloved esteira, pronounced SHTARE-uh. Esteira is the Portuguese word for a floor mat made out of reeds tightly tied together. In Chindau, one of the local languages, it is called a bonde, BONE-day. It is light-weight and can be rolled up and carried on your head, or shoulder as the case may be. It has many uses including the following.

1. Bed: Mozambicans sleep on the floor on a esteira. Not exactly a posturpedic mattress, folks, but at least it keeps you off the dirt. The esteiras in the north of the country are made from very flat reeds and therefore offer little cushioning. The ones here are made of the thicker reeds and are actually more comfortable than you would imagine.

2. Sitting room furniture: A esteira is useful for having company sit on. In a Mandau village if you go to visit someone, they won’t even greet you until they have brought you a esteira and seated you comfortably. Once you are seated the wife of the house will get down on her knees to give you the daily greeting. You will remain seated on the esteira for the duration of your visit. After a week in a village, you start to get used to sitting on the ground and discover muscles you never knew you had!

3. Carpeting: Believe it or not, a esteira fits the climate here wonderfully. When it is the dry season, there is so much dust and the wind can be cold. Carpeting would be a nightmare to have to clean, but a esteira can be taken outside and dusted off easily. It is a great insulator too, so it makes your feet feel warmer than the floor in the cold season and cooler than the ground in the hot season.

4. Picnic blanket: My boss, Claudia, often takes a esteira along when she travels. I have travelled with her and we usually picnic by the side of the road, where a esteira makes for a comfortable picnic blanket.

5. Church pew: Women and children in churches very often sit on esteiras during the church service. In fact, even when offered a chair or bench to sit on, many of the women will choose to sit on a esteira. Having spent their whole lives doing so, they find it more comfortable to sit stretched out on the floor than to sit on a chair.

6. Bulletin board: Some people will take a esteira and hang it on the wall. Then they can use it with simple pins to post photos or notices or anything else they fancy. Very clever if you ask me!

7. Curtain: I currently have three esteiras hanging on my veranda. They keep the sun off the porch and keep people from being able to see in the living room windows. They rattle a bit in the wind, but I like the privacy they give.

8. Dining room table: As you can see in the picture, a esteira is where meals are eaten. They clean up easily and can seat many people at once!

That’s all I can think of for now! Hope you enjoyed this little culture lesson!

Cheers until the next time the internet is functioning!
Sheri

Demora

2009-02-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

Demora is how you say "it takes time" in Portuguese. Yes, it takes time to get back online here in Chimoio. We worked on it for a week and finally here I am again! It is nice to be back at home and sleep in the same bed night after night knowing that I don't have any plans to pack and go anywhere for a good long while. I was relieved to see a few of your blogs and find that you are all doing ok. I came home to a number of packages people sent me for Christmas! My colleagues and I enjoyed seeing what goodies were included and I shared Christmas M&Ms with them! MMMMMMMMM!

Some changes have taken place here. I now have a roommate, a delightful AIMer from Germany named Carmen. She will be staying with me in the Taylor's home for a year, and it is nice to have her. In some ways I feel as though I am starting over here in Chimoio, and it is nice to have someone to start over with! Carmen's work will be in the HIV/AIDS ministry and I think we'll learn a lot from each other. I will start hitting Shona lessons hard soon and hope to make fast progress, as it will make getting to know the folks here a lot easier, especially the women. In other news, one of my guards just welcomed his 13th child, a healthy boy. We are thinking of renaming him Abraham, the father that is! Imagine!

I do beg your prayers for Mozambique. The rains promised a good harvest in this area, but that is still another month away and the food from last year is gone. Times are hard for folks, though we are grateful for the hope that they have as they watch the corn growing tall. Pray that God will help them through the next few weeks to the harvest and that it will indeed be PLENTIFUL! Thank you all for your patience when I am out of contact! Please feel free to continue to write in my absence. Often I can READ your emails and messages though I may not have a fast enough connection to respond.

Your homey news and comments and encouragement truly mean the world to me. Thanks for your friendship and I hope to be in touch again soon! Hey, maybe even tomorrow!

Hooray!

2009-02-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

Hi, friends!

I finally am back online after quite an interlude! I have a computer that connects to the internet at last, and after several days of storm-wrought internet outage we have reestablished a connection! Funny how you miss communication when thus deprived...

So all my bloodwork came back normal, for which I am grateful. That does leave me with an allergy mystery, but I think I may have solved it myself. In spite of the doctor's assurance that I am not allergic to mango and can therefore eat it, I ate one the other day and...sure enough...starting getting the same rash as before. What do blood tests really know anyway, eh? So, sadly, I'll be avoiding mango from now on! A pity really, since they are so sweet and juicy here and available abundantly!

Anyway, I am feeling better and heading home to Mozambique on Thursday. Hopefully, the internet there is functional and you'll hear from me then. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support during this time. I feel in some ways like I have to start over from the beginning in Mozambique, having been gone so long just as I was starting to settle. I am constantly encouraged to know I have so many of you standing behind me. Thanks and I hope to chat again soon!

No news is good news...right?

2009-01-28T00:49:00.000-08:00

Hi, folks!

Well, here I am in South Africa! I promised I'd update you on how the doctors visits were going. They have run a number of blood tests with all the normal allergens as well as mango and come up with nothing. So the good news is that they can't find anything wrong with me! That is very nice to hear, I must say. However, it does not give me any hint as to what caused the allergic reaction and how to avoid having it happen again. So where do I go from here? I don't know, but when I figure something out, I'll drop you all a line. Meanwhile, my colleagues in South Africa have been so generous and kind looking after me and the weather is cool and beautiful, a nice break from the sauna of Mozambique!

So although I am a bit frustrated having no answers to my medical mystery, I am feeling very blessed these days. I have had time to rest well here in South Africa and recently read an encouraging book by John Ortberg called If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat. Very funny and uplifting. I don't usually do commercials, but I highly recommend this one as well as Gilead by Marilynn E. Robinson, which has been described as a hymn to existence.

For those of you facing all sorts of challenges, (financial, physical, emotional, losses of loved ones, etc.) know that my thoughts and prayers are with you and that you do not walk alone.

Cheers until next time,

Sheri

Forgive me...

2008-12-09T23:44:00.000-08:00

I think I scared some of you with that last post. Forgive me, I should have read it over more carefully before posting it. I was pressed for time and didn't think about how it would come across.

I am fine, really! I did have to spend a night in the hospital, but the doctor believes it was the aftermath of the initial allergic reaction, possibly combined with the effects of the medication I was taking for the allergy. Now that the meds are out of my system I am doing great. I am in Beira right now and will be heading to South Africa sometime in the next few weeks to see an allergist. Hopefully, we will find out what I am allergic to and thus avoid future problems. I also hope to get the computer problem resolved ASAP so that I can continue to stay in touch. Meanwhile, my boss is allowing me to use hers to update you all! I will be in touch again soon, hopefully with some nice pictures of village life!

In the meantime, I pray that your hoiday season is filled with the presence of Immanuel, God With Us!

Interruption

2008-12-09T00:14:00.000-08:00

Hi, there folks!

Forgive the delay in updates. I have not been well and ended up spending a night last week in a Mozambican hospital. (Don't worry, Mom, I'm better!) I am now in Beira for a few weeks and will be heading to South Africa to see an allergist (is that what they're called?) around the first of January. I promise I'll tell you the whole thrilling tale sometime, but my computer has decided to go on sabbatical. When it returns, I hope to update you better. Meanwhile, if you don't hear from me, don't worry and have a blessed holiday season!

All my love,

Sheri

Back from Bunga!

2008-11-27T22:49:00.000-08:00

Greetings, friends and Happy belated Thanksgiving to those of you in the States! I posted the turkey picture especially for all of you! Isn't he a beautiful specimen? He strutted around the sub-chief's compound all week and I managed to capture a photo of him as he walked by where we were sitting eating mangos!

So, I am back from the village and wanted to post a few photos and give you an update. I had a great trip, vey educational and fun. The ending was a little dramatic when I had an allergic reaction to some mushrooms we had eaten for lunch. My coworkers (one of whom is a nurse) had to come out from Chimoio to pick us up a bit earlier than we had planned. However, a shot of prednezone and some chocolate cookies later and I was doing fine. I am still covered in a rash and slightly sunburned, but no harm done! God is great! The reaction could have been much worse, but it never affected my breathing and all the villagers pulled together to help me. They sang and prayed for me before my coworkers arrived, which was such a blessing. Katey, the linguist who was my guide for this visit, was such a comfort to me.

So here are some shots of life in Bunga! This is a lady cooking sadza, mealie meal made out of corn flower. It is the primary starch in the diet of the folks in this region, so we ate it daily.

Here is a meal of rice we ate. Bungans sit on esteiras (grass mats) to eat and they share out of the same dish. All of life is also shared with chickens, turkeys, goats, dogs, cats and whatever other domestic animals the family has. The nice part is that they eat all the crumbs!

Well, our electricity is threatening to cut out, so I'll end here for now. I hope to be back soon with more pictures. Take care until then!

Bunga Bound

2008-11-17T03:52:00.000-08:00

Greetings friends!

I just wanted to let you all know that I’ll be leaving for a visit to the village of Bunga tomorrow (Lord willing) and that I’ll be out of contact for about ten days! I hope to have some good pictures to post when I get back! Meanwhile, please pray for the visit and for Moz in general. The village is currently experiencing famine and we could really use some rain! Thanks and I’ll be in touch as soon as I can!

Sheri

Random

2008-11-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

Here are some random pictures I thought you might like. The first is for Shea Johnathan. Another segmented creepy-crawler for you to enjoy. My colleague Karen emailed it to me just for you!

The second, as you can see, is a very special egg that we photographed at a retreat awhile back. We think the explanation is that the chicken that laid it was in love! Oh, and a shout out to all my little trick-or-treaters. I really loved your costumes this year! Shea was a Death's Head Hawk Moth (is that right, my little scientist?), Tenley was a butterfly, Devan was a monkey, and Morgan Paige was a giraffe (bet that made Grandma Ginnie happy!). Interestingly, these are all creatures I could potentially photograph here, except for maybe the moth. I'm not sure what its habitat is. I'll see what I can do over the next few years! Love you all! Hope you're having a happy Fall!

Zimbabwe

2008-10-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings, folks.

I just wanted to post a quick request for prayer. Could you all pause for a minute when you read this to pray for Zimbabwe? We live near the border, so we meet a lot of Zim folks coming into Moz to shop because there is literally nothing in Zim to buy. People in the interior have been reduced to eating leaves and digging for roots and it is horrible to hear some of the stories of the suffering they face. Please pray for the political situation and that the government would care more about human life than about power and reputation. Thanks.

A long journey home...

2008-10-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Ruby Jewel Russell, my maternal grandmother, went home to see Jesus the night before last. My mother was at her side. I want to thank all of you who have been praying for my grandma and grandfather over the last months. Please continue your petitions on grandpa's behalf. Her good journey ends, beginning a new start. The toughest part of his is still ahead and without his partner of 60+ years. Here is a picture of grandma at her birthday party in 2007. She was a praying daughter of God, and we may never know what wonders her prayers worked in our lives. For those of you at home, especially you, my sweet mama, I wish I could be there. Know that I grieve with you even as I celebrate her life.

Cabo Delgado

2008-10-11T05:55:00.001-07:00

I thought you might like a better glimpse of northern Mozambique. It is a fascinating place, both geographically and culturally.

This is called a chapa. It is how I travel from one city to another. This one took me from Chimoio to Beira. Then I flew from Beira to Nampula and later to Pemba. Mozambique is a VERY long country, so traveling from one end to the other takes some effort and expense! Anyway, every time a chapa stops, vendors come up to the windows and try to sell you Coke, bananas, chicken (live or cooked!), and all sorts of other random items. Once someone tried to sell me a pink Barbie Doll watch. I told him I'd think about it!

Nice playground, eh? That's life in the big city...a common sight is children playing with blown up balloons that turn out to be...items of a sensitive nature. But enough about that...

This, however, is a rural village on the coast that is nearly 100% Muslim. I spent a day there with friends and learned alot about life in a rural, coastal village. Coconut trees are everywhere, though some had recently been knocked down by a herd of elephants! The villages are certainly cleaner and FULL of children.

Fish, of course, is a staple food. It is caught in huge nets.

Dugout canoes are a common sight. Just imagine the work that goes into them! Well, that's all for now. Catch you later!

Back in Chimoio...again!

2008-10-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings, folks!

I had a great trip north and am now back online for a few weeks. Thank you all sooooo much for the wonderful birthday cards and emails and posts! It was wonderful to come home to them!

Anyway, while I was in the north I found a few pictures of creepy-crawlies to post. Hope you all enjoy them, especially you, Shea Johnathan!

I thought this was a leaf until it moved...

My coworker obligingly put her hand near this centipede so you could see its size...

We thought these were feathers. On closer inspection, they are some kind of aphid...weird, eh?

Ah, the ubiquitous lizards...mosquito eaters and therefore very welcome in our homes!

Ok, so this guy isn't creepy, but he definitely was fast. Good thing too, or I guess we would have had monkey soup for dinner! (Just kidding.)

Not creepy-crawly either, just cute!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you...this is the amazing African purple dog! Just kidding. Actually, this one has bad fleas and has to be treated with a purple medicine. That's all for now! I'll be in touch soon with some nice pictures of Northern Moz!!!

Interruption

2008-09-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

I'm interrupting my mission to photograph the creeply-crawlies just to let you all know that I'll be out of town from tomorrow until October 8. I'm headed north to meet some of my colleagues and study Islam. I'll do my best to stay in touch, but don't be concerned if you don't hear from me for awhile. I pray you are all well and will take the camera along and stay on the lookout for good photo opportunities!

On A Mission...

2008-09-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, so my 7-year-old nephew is really interested in insects right now and wants to know if I have seen any dung beetles. Sorry, Shea buddy, but I haven't. I have seen lots of lizards, a few harmless snakes, and a spider the size of my hand (or Mommy's hand). And LOTS of mosquitoes!!!

However, since I realize the importance of this topic to many of you, including Shea, I will start a new mission today trying to procure and photograph the buzzing, flying, biting (hopefully not too often) side of Mozambique. Next post, Shea, I hope to have pictures of some of my discoveries, especially for you!

Love,

Aunt Sheri

For Lesa...

2008-09-12T01:13:00.000-07:00

I'm back from the little village of Lamego, where I had a wonderful course on language learning. I come back somewhat heavy-hearted, however. I received an email from my college roommate telling me that one of our mutual friends, Lesa, died on Friday, August 29. Lesa was 32. I had the privilege of ministering with her for 2 years in a wonderful church on the 4900 block of Chicago. I combed the internet and found her obituary, but it gave me only cold facts and did not represent the person I knew.

This post, then, is in honor of Lesa, who was gentle and beautiful and dedicated her life to bring light into the dark streets of inner-city Chicago. For some of the children she ministered to, she was the only stable, gentle presence of Christ in a world that is violent and scary and completely unstable. Lesa looked at cities and instead of seeing masses of people, she saw individual lives and sought to touch one heart at a time. For you her friends and family, I wish I could be there, but I grieve with you in spite of the distance. I only pray that I too may possess some of the wonderful, Christ-like attributes that Lesa exemplified, and that I may do my work with the same singularly-devoted passion. May God's peace be our consolation and may we cling to hope of the coming Kingdom, where, risen like HIM, we will never be separated again.

A Day in the Life

2008-08-27T03:59:00.000-07:00

Hi there, folks!

I just wanted to post a quick update and let you know that I will be out of touch for awhile. I am heading to a little village where some colleagues and I are going to attend a LAMP language-learning course. I will be back in Chimoio on September 10th and hope to be able to post again shortly thereafter. For now, however, I wanted to give you a quick summary of some of what I've been up to since I arrived in Chimoio. Enjoy!

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Waking Up:
I wake up about 7 am and try to remember which continent I’m on and why I’m surrounded by white netting. After negotiating with the mosquito netting to set me free, I get up and get ready for the day. This includes a cup of coffee or tea to help convince my blood to flow vertically instead of horizontally. I eat breakfast, which included fresh papaya from one of the trees in the backyard until we discovered that they make me break out in a rash that looks and acts like chicken pox. Bummer. Oh well, soon we'll have mangos instead!

Helping Out:
After time for prayer and Bible study I spend some time helping my colleagues prepare for their classes and seminars. They teach women’s literacy and Theological Education by Extension, both very strategic ministries in helping to build strong church leadership. This weekend we did a marriage seminar, which is also important in building healthy families and helping to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. Throughout the week they teach in various locations, from remote villages to right in their backyard. They let me tag along and I get to help the literacy students work on their syllables, grade quizzes, etc. It is incredible to watch these ladies read God’s Word for themselves.

Studying Hard:
Several times a week our language helper comes to the house. She is teaching us Shona, which is the language of Zimbabwe and of many people in this area of Moz. My colleagues already speak very good Shona and even conduct classes in it but continue to study to improve their communication. Considering that they already speak Portuguese, this is quite impressive! I am just beginning to learn Shona but am really having fun tasting all the new words.

Venturing Out:
Sometimes I walk into town to run errands. There are lots of other (mzungus) foreigners in Chimoio, but we are definitely the minority. I am working on getting used to being stared at wherever I go. Recently I ventured to the post office to mail some letters. Each letter required three stamps and the gentleman helping me handed me a little bottle of glue with which to affix said stamps. Then he and all the people in the post office (and a few peering in from outside) stood and observed the white lady battling heroically with the glue bottle trying to get the stamps to adhere. Apparently the other mzungus don’t buy stamps very often. Next week I must find a place to get my mzungu hair cut. That should be an adventure!

Asking Questions:
Apart from these activities I have a lot of material to read and work through about Moz’s history and culture. I get to talk to Mozambicans about their country, African Traditional Religions, their languages, etc. The ones I have spoken with are very patient with my questions and my pathetic attempts to use Shona!

Hearing Stories:
Sometimes in the evening our electricity goes off and my colleagues and I scramble around to find the candles and flashlights. We sit and talk, and since they were missionaries in the Amazon for years before coming to Moz they have amazing stories to tell. I am learning so much from them!

Worshipping Together:
Sundays are busy days. Since my colleagues’ students are from different churches in different areas, they try to visit them all regularly. A typical Mozambican service lasts about 3 hours. It includes lots of singing and dancing, several different offerings, sermons, testimonies, etc. If you are a visiting missionary like me, you need to be prepared at any moment to be asked to pray, give a testimony, preach or simply introduce yourself. I have not yet had to preach in Portuguese, though I am learning to pray in it as fast as I can! Often after the church service we are served lunch, typically at the pastor’s home. Here we get to spend time with some of the dear people God has called to lead His church here in Moz.

Flora

2008-08-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun pictures of our home. My colleague is a wonderful gardner and has created a small piece of Eden with help, of course, from God's sunshine and Mozambique's natural beauty. I'm not sure what the red-flowered bush in front of the house is, but the red tree over the laundry is a poinsettia.

Here is our papaya and mango trees. Mmmm...

Matsinho

2008-08-10T08:49:00.001-07:00

I thought you might like to see some pictures of one of the villages where my colleagues work. We went and visited today for church. After the service we went to the Pastor's house for lunch. It is a beautiful little village called Matsinho and the people are warm and hospitable.

The town we live in is called Chimoio. Here are a few shots of it as well.

Good-bye Beira!

2008-08-03T00:09:00.000-07:00

I'm headed out of Beira tomorrow morning and not certain when I'll have another chance to post, so I'd better do it now! Here are a few good memories of Beira for your enjoyment!

GUINEA PIGS: The neighbor across from me keeps her pet guinea pig on her balcony and I can hear it squealing for food every morning. I had guinea pigs when I was kid, so it's a nice reminder of childhood!

PRODUCE: The other day I bought a beautiful avocado the size of a small football. It cost roughly the equivalent of 50 US cents. Everyday there are fresh oranges and bananas and lots of other fruits and vegetables for sale in the marketplace. The vendors are very friendly.

FLOWERS: The nice thing about a tropical climate is that even right now in the middle of the "cold season" (75 and sunny!) there are flowering plants and trees everywhere! There is a bright purple bouginvillea (sorry, can't spell that) just outside the gate of the flat where I am staying that is spectacular. It also helps me recognize which apartment is mine!

FRIENDLINESS: The people I have met here have been so welcoming and hospitable, whether Mozambican or expatriate. The people in the churches have been especially kind and I LOVE to hear them sing with the rich, a capella harmony that characterizes sub-Saharan Africa. Incredible!

So I'm off to Chimoio and will let you know how it is going as soon as I am settled in. Peace!

A Few Photos...

2008-07-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd try to upload a few pictures of Mozambique while the computer is in a good mood...

Yes, the apartments do have lots of bars on them. Part of it is eastern African architectural style and part of it is just security. I do, however, feel like I am living in what my colleague calls "a great big bird cage."

Made it to MOZ!

2008-07-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, folks, I am finally here! Finally in Mozambique and finally on the Web! I think 10,000 plus miles (16,000 km) between friends and family was the encouragement I needed to start! I'm hoping this will allow you to peer into my world with more regularity and detail than email!

I left Portugal, beautiful, sunny, castle-studded Portugal (still miss it!) for Kenya, beautiful, cold, flower-filled Kenya!

Yes, cold! It is their winter season and temps drop into the 40s and 50s at night (what is that...14 to 18 Centigrade?)! Anyway, it was a great month full of learning and meeting new people, including many of my wonderful AIM (Africa Inland Mission) colleagues! I learned so much from them and it was fantastic to also meet so many Kenyan missionaries, students and pastors whose insight into culture and the Word of God has sharpened my thinking. I'm forever grateful... (Below is a Kenyan duka, where you can buy anything from yogurt to laundry detergent to Coca-cola, a building of some sort (blue) and some scenic shots, including goats and coffee beans.)

I had an uneventful journey (the best kind!) to South Africa where I spent a night with a precious AIM family and got to meet the people who head up AIM's work in the southern region of Africa. They have a fantastic vision and it is a privilege to work under them! Now I am under the supervision of a jolly German lady who has taught me more about living in Africa in two days than I learned in my entire time studying missions from textbooks! She's a great encouragement to me and I am grateful! I will spend a bit of time here in the city of Beira before heading onto my next destination, where I will be living with a married couple who have been here for many years and have much experience from which I can benefit greatly. For security reasons, you won't find names or faces of many people on this blog unless I have their express permission. Also, you'll be getting my contact information only through other means, but hopefully this medium will give you a glimpse of this pilgrimage I am on. That's my hope, anyway, and hence the fact that I named this blog after the Portuguese word for 'pilgrim'! I hope you enjoy it! Até logo!