Friday, December 14, 2012

Our guard's new house

A few weeks ago we spent a Saturday morning helping our guard's family with their new house. The most common type of house here is a stick and mud type of house. First, they build a structure out of sticks and logs. Then, they mix up a thick mud and put the mud on walls. We wanted to show our love for this family by helping with this process.

Here is their old house. It is so very tiny and about 6 people lived in it.
Imagine when the torrential rains came!?!
Moniz's wife and I working in one of the bedrooms.
Lilly helping
Emma helping too
Moniz and his big smile
Sheldon.....getting dirty!
Smile Sheldon
I really like Moniz's wife.
She is very kind and not afraid to talk to me.
So many women don't seem to care if they have a relationship with me or not.
She is different.
One day in the spring she walked 2 hours from their village just to bring me a bag of her rice!!!!
2 hours!!!!
All done....and the mud to show for it.
Way to go Meg!!!
Skirt and all!
Meghan loves pictures of her feet.
They were so kind to give us mangos and some rice.
We ate some mangos as a snack and then took some home.

Tracy

First Family Camping Trip

A few weeks ago we went out as a family to visit a new work area and to share the Jesus film with the people there. We took our faithful friend Pastor Choosie with us and traveled for about 4 hours to what felt like the end of the earth. 

Everyone did very, very well, however there were challenges!

The Mozambican mountains!
It is crazy because we live near the ocean
and don't think much about our country having mountains!
The sun starting to set.....and we were not there yet!
A full car
This was the happy Meghan!
Their brand new structure
Guests are ALWAYS honored with a seat in this country.
Here was our set-up when we arrived.
Be assured that this was the absolute best they had to offer.
(They insisted that Lee sit in the "big" chair -- the green one)
So......we sat down
and...they watched us!
Beginning to unload the equipment
Then we started with out tents.
The problem was that everyone in this community wanted to stand and stare at us.
So......I decided to get some frisbees going before my children came unglued!!!!
The group really enjoyed these flying objects, even the older ladies.
But, eventually, they grew tired of this game and came back to stare.
So, we continued to put up tents as the sun went down and the people watched over us.
We were able to set the tents up in a way that gave the girls a little bit of privacy.
Then the Jesus film started and all the kids went to watch that.
Praise the Lord that Jesus draws a bigger crowd than the white girls!!!!
Finally, about 9:30pm they had our dinner ready.
We had rice and goat.
Then, I put everyone in bed!

Despite trouble with equipment....the Jesus film was shown to around 200 people from this tiny village and surrounding villages.
Pray for this work to continue in Jesus's name!


I want to be able to say that we loved on these people and 
share Jesus with them, but it was hard to do. 
For one, almost no one spoke Portuguese. 
Also, it was so hot and dusty that doing anything was very difficult.

We had no electricity, no bathroom....well...
we had a little square grass walled structure where you "go" on the ground. 

We had only the water that we carried.....which we ran out of!

Then, it was so hot!!! There was only one tree in this whole village for shade.

And we did not sleep much........

We have learned that when a church has guests, it is customary to play the drums and 
sing as long as possible through the night.
It is kind of like the longer they keep you awake.....the more they are glad you came!!
Well.....they were glad we were there.....and we got very little sleep!

The next morning Lee enjoyed talking with some pastors that he knows from some neighboring villages.
Everyone else was having a very hard time getting going.
We had some bread and bananas for breakfast.
Trying to put on their big girl pants and a smile.
Time for church to start.
Can you see how hot they were?
Lee preaching!!
After church we went and sat under the one tree to wait on lunch.
ALL of the kids came to look at the white kids.
I thought Meghan might take someone out at any point.
Notice that you do not see her.
She is in the car taking this picture.
She wanted you to be able to see how the kids were crowding around us.
Normally the kids and I try to interact with the women and children,
but this day it was just too hot and we were so tired.
It was very hard to show Jesus's love this day.
As soon as we had lunch, we jumped in the car and headed to the nearest town (an hour away) to buy soda and cold water!!!! 

Then, we headed home for some cold showers and our beds!!!

And, we will press on!!


Tracy

Our Thanksgiving -- By Meg

Last Thursday was a fun day for us! For lunch every one was going to be eating at the D's house. There were LOTS of people! And every one was back home! 

We had a great time hearing stories form everyone! And we had a great time eating some food!

All of the food!!!
Take the picture so we can eat!!!
Friends!
We ate and ate! 

All gone! 
Now, for desserts!!!
Daddy's Buddies!
Paizano - Dad - Choosie
We are SO happy to have them back home!!!
 After we ate we talked and talked and talked!!!

Told you!!! 
Friends!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving and we hope you did too!!!

Hugs,
Meg

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Our Christmas Party -- By Meg

On Wednesday we had a Christmas party with all of our missionary friends here in Quelimane. It was a great time to meet together and play games! 

First, we ate and then, we had a gift swap. It was VERY funny! 

Here are some pictures of the fun that we had!

Decorating the night before. 
Waiting for everyone to arrive. 
Everyone is here!!!
The desserts, plus brownies in the oven.
Drinks
 Then we ate!!

All the girls...plus Nate!
Then we had our gift swap...Dirty Christmas Style!

First up was Anthony...He got a tea set. We all laughed out loud!!!
Here are some of the others getting their gifts!

Uncle John, He got nuts!
Dad got coffee! And he doesn't even drink it!!!
Nice Sheldon!
Chocolate chips!!
Matthew got a journal w/ butterflies on it!!
One of the best things used here!!! A fly zapper!
Heinz Ketchup!!
 Then all of us girls gave each other a little gift!!! I love them!! They are so sweet! 

Sweet!
Emma, Me, Lilly, Lilah, Eliana
Lilah was so pumped about her ball (She called it a "ba")!!!

Our family picture!
Even though it was 110 degrees( not really), we had a great party! Those people are like family to us! 


Hugs,
Meg