Joys and Frustrations

Well, it has been awhile… I know that Melissa is probably very, very busy with her wonderful new baby, but if you’re reading this Melis – I can totally say that I feel exactly the way you said you did in the villages – I’ll go from wanting to give almost everything away to thinking about souvenirs and what I would want to eat when I get home. It doesn’t help that we have a 5-star resort across the road on the beach and that they’ve now allowed the base’s school students (us) to visit and dine and relax on their clean, crowd-free beach with volleyball net… I actually felt physically sick when I went there to sit and read yesterday – it’s not that I think that enjoying something clean and peaceful is wrong but, I thought: why us and not them? I guess another question would be whether the people who are not used to that or perhaps may not know how to appreciate it in a way that would not upset the owners even want to go there; perhaps things like that are not the important parts of life, perhaps these things only give momentary pleasure. I have been visiting local houses, tiny mud and bamboo and grass-roof houses, and the ones I’ve been to are well-kept and appreciated by their owners, and there is joy and peace there. They have found community and family regardless of what their surroundings may look like.
I wish I could take pictures of the surrounding places we have visited but it isn’t really safe to carry a camera in the villages. One place I previously mentioned, Artur’s house, has an amazing view and is in an area with less traffic along it’s tiny trails (they’re all enclosed by bamboo fences). It is very peaceful. We have been there 3 times now and every time, very unexpectedly, they feed us. I worry that this leaves others in the family unfed for that meal, and we (the visitors) have usually already had lunch or a recent meal at the base, but to refuse would be extremely rude – the Mozambicans take much pride in their hospitality, and they should because it is very wonderful. I did get into trouble though the first time we ate there because I ate with my left hand; I tried to explain that this wasn’t a problem in Canada and we eat with both of our hands – I don’t know if that made the situation better or worse, they probably think Canadians are disgusting for using both hands! (for sanitary reasons). The issue passed though and they have invited us back…. One exciting thing that happened last week is that we visited a cook’s house (Jordyn and I have been working in the kitchen 3 times a week and have built friendship with some national workers). On our visit the cook asked us to pray for his heartburn, which we did, and he said it was “normale” afterwards. We then got asked to pray for his sister-in-law, auntie, and sister. His sister had a stomach problem – I just kept saying to God “prove the witchdoctor wrong” – she said that is was cured afterwards. A few days later we talked to the cook again, and he said his chest was still better but that he had a headache that day – we prayed for it 3 times and then he said it was gone. Soon after, back at our house, we were talking to a housemate who mentioned offhand that her head ached so we jumped on it and prayed – it took awhile, 10 minutes or so, but it went away completely! This REALLY excited me because I know that I can trust her word and I don’t always know with the nationals – they don’t really show how they feel on their face (it is cultural) and sometimes I don’t know if they just ask for prayer because they want a blessing (which is just fine, God can bless away!) , and also the language barrier makes communication hard.
Last Thursday we also visited the city’s hospital (one of four, I believe) – it didn’t shock me like I thought it might. It was clean, a little crowded, with 8-10 simple beds in a room that would hold 4-6 in our hospitals. There is absolutely no electronic equipment here. We were in the children’s ward handing out fruit and juice and offering prayer. Many family members visit and sit with the patients; the ones we saw were all 2 years old and under. A few didn’t want prayer because they were Muslim, and some had to receive translation from another visitor as our translator/leader only spoke Portuguese and not the local tribal dialect. Most accepted prayer fairly readily – you have to understand that there were almost no Christian churches in this area before the organization I am with right now came here 4 and a half years ago. Now there are over 700 churches, so the spread of prayer and hope and Jesus has been very fast. Back to the hospital, one baby we prayed for I thought felt feverish as it had malaria and after praying she felt like a normal temperature to the touch. I was like “Oh God, let that be a miracle and that the malaria is gone!” - there is a very high death rate here for children under 5 years of age.
One thing I am struggling with is how to love the very difficult to love. The village children who visit daily can be very hard to deal with – one of them who is probably 14 years of age thought it would be funny to tell me that it is good to hit me with a rock and then proceeded to attempt to do so. It then went to hitting me with a small stick and then later threatening me with a stick that had a nail driven through it. While it wasn’t severe or injuring, those actions were NOT okay – that was the first time I have raised my voice and spoke firmly. I tried to explain that he was a good boy but that those actions were not good, I want to impress a positive belief into his self worth instead of the anger and punishment he always sees. Sometimes it is hard to deal with and you just want to run away from it all.
Actually, that (what I just said) would be my only prayer request – I’m not at the end but I do feel very tired, so prayer for energy would be great. And prayer for that boy, his name is Seleman. He comes here daily for a reason, and I think the reason goes beyond having physical needs met. I want him to know love, God’s love in a realistic way through friendship.

Our teams have been set up for the extended outreach, for which I have been accepted. My team will be going to the province of Nampula, only a 5-6 hour drive away (the other teams have 11-19 hr drives so I am thankful!). We will be in tents the majority of the time and visiting villages, moving every one to two days. We’ve been told we will take every 3rd or 4th night off to keep our stamina up. The dates are August 10-24 so I won’t be contactable during that time. Please pray for us as we’re leaving the open heaven over the base and venturing into territory that is not our own=).
Well, that’s it for now! I hope everyone is doing really well, that my sister is taking care of my place and not keeping the family upstairs awake late into the night=) – or that my living room will be painted flaming pink on my return; actually flaming pink would be kind of fun, clashing but fun. I need to find out if the Schaitel’s now have an addition to their family!!!!! I miss you all!!!!!
Love.