Cinnamon Rolls!!! By: Meg

Last week I made some Cinnamon Rolls from a cookbook that we use here in Mozambique. So I made the dough, let it rise, rolled it out, cooked them, and made the icing for them...but they were NOT good! They did not rise like they were supposed to and the dough was very thick. So I decided that I would try again! And this time I made the BEST rolls that I have ever made!

Here are some pictures of what I did! 

Straight out of the oven! Ummmm!

Then LOTS of icing! 

The finished product! 

My helper! I love her to pieces!

They were better than they looked! 

Hugs,

Meg

Exploring Quelimane

While Lee was out of town us girls decided to go exploring on Sunday afternoon. We cleaned ourselves up, put on nicer clothes and went for an early dinner. Then, we went down to the waterfront. 

After we parked the car we walked down a block to the water.

Looking out over the river
(Quelimane is just up the river from the ocean.)

In the background you can see all of the shrimp boats.
You would think that we could get cheap shrimp....nope!

Getting so big!

My girls!

Once we decided to head to the car, a group of about 5 street boys found us.
They ran up to us and started begging for food or money.
We walked quicker and quicker towards the car and
told them that we didn't have anything to give them today,
 but they just tried harder.
We do help these boys from time-to-time by giving them food and juice,
but we would never give them just money.
 Since we had nothing this particular day we just had to deal with the tapping,
pitiful faces, sad words, and the rubbing of their faces on our arms.
They went with us all the way to the car.
And then they plastered themselves up against our windows.
So pitiful!

The next stop was the Chuabo Hotel! It is the nicest hotel in town.

They have a restaurant on the top floor with a veranda overlooking the water and the city.

So, we went there to just look.

First you must brave the very old and tiny elevator. 

Down below you can see the old Catholic Church. 

And the beautiful river

The swimming pool that they are working on!

The girls figured out how to peak into the kitchen and see them working.

Looking out trying to get their bearings.

The only way to get to the land across the river is by ferry.

Here you see the city of Quelimane

Our house is somewhere in the middle.
(Notice all of the coconut trees.)

Love my girls!!!

Next stop.....ice cream....or something similar!

It was surprisingly good!

Other than wishing Daddy was with us.....it was a great afternoon!

Tracy

Various Happenings

This post is really for the grandparents. I know how much they want to see what has been happening around here lately. So, here a glimpse......

We love receiving our awesome packages.
This one is from a SS class at Hickory Grove....

...and these were from the grandparents!

An MK friend of the girls was in town for a very short visit and spent the day with us.
They had an awesome time tie-dying t-shirts.

Working hard

Activities like this are such a blessing.
There is so little to do in our town that is really fun.

Love the backyard, don't you?!? 

Nice job Emma!

Lilly doing one for Mom!

It doesn't rain here for most of the winter and spring.
So the day it rained last week was so weird.
Lilly couldn't resist going out and playing in the rain!
When Flora arrived, they started singing "Singing in the Rain" together.

How sweet is this!

LOVE this girl!

One day earlier this week I was walking through the market and ran up on this.....a watermellon!!!
I was so excited!! When Lee saw it he said, "You are prepared for it to not be ripe, aren't you?"
I was prepared, yet optimistic!

This is what it looked like :(

Actually, it wasn't bad. I guess it is a different variety.
Lilly and Sheldon liked it.

Lilly kept eating and eating.....

....until it was totally gone.

And then there is the pumpkin that I found.
Before I cooked it and made it into pumpkin bread, Emma wanted to carve it. 

And carve it she did!

Before it hit the oven, this is what it looked like.

The other news around the McDaniel house is that we have a new car.
It is an older Land Cruiser that is perfect for our family.
We can fit so many people in it and still have room to breathe!

And then....there is always a whole lot of language going on.

This is all of the girls working together with the language helpers on an art project.
I continue to try new things to help them learn and motivate them!

Really, this what it is all about much of our day...... studying Portuguese!!!!

I pray so fervently for the Lord to bless me with Portuguese
so that I can tell these women and children that our God is ABLE!!!!

Tracy

Coalane Baptism

This past Saturday was a very exciting day for some very special people.

Five people from our Coalane church family were baptized. 

Here baptism doesn't happen quickly. 

For one thing there is so much false teaching that the pastors want to insure 

new converts understand the basic Truth. Also, there is very little water at this time of year. 

These 5 have been waiting for several months to be baptized. 

We traveled about 30 minutes out of town to a place that has a deep pond still with water.

(I was so sad that I forgot my camera. 

Therefore, I had to take pictures with my phone and they aren't great.)

Walking to the pond

Notice the arch. They do this for special occasions.  

The Believers from Cipriano's church came to celebrate with us.

The men planning the baptism....always just before the time to start....never before this time!

Cipriano asking the baptism candidates about their decisions to follow Jesus through baptism

Cipriano entering the baptism waters.

This is Paizano.
He has been saved for about a year and been on fire for Jesus ever since.
He is Lee's new portuguese teacher and a great friend of ours.

Raised to New Life!

This is Paizano's precious wife, Janina.
Actually they are not formally married.
In this culture it is thought that you cannot have a wedding
without a HUGE celebration for friends and family.
For those who have very little, this is impossible.
Therefore, they make a commitment to each other and call each other their spouse,
yet have not stood before God and made vows.
Paizano and Janina understand that God desires for them
to be commitment through the exchanging of vows
in the presence of others and have plans in the works to do just that.

This is Hortencia.
She is the mother of Regina and Amandia.
You will remember those 2 little girls from past blog posts.
She is a precious mother. I was thrilled to witness her baptism.

Many of you know this face.
This is Bionda.
She is a friend to my girls and daughter to my language teacher.
She is the only child I have ever known to be baptized here.

Suzana and her 2 daughters...Bionda and Yona.

Pray for the enemy to leave these guys alone! They need for the people of God to disciple them and for their faith to grow deep!

Tracy