Ok, so this post is about American Independence Day, not the local Independence Day.  We decided this year to co-host a big gathering of Americans (and anyone else who wanted to join us) at our house.  We sang the national anthem (the words were posted for all the kids who hadn’t the faintest idea what they were), barbecued meat (everyone brought their own), shared our salads and desserts, listened to American music, sat around and talked, had a big water balloon fight (I think the adults enjoyed it more than the kids!), and played softball.  I think what I enjoyed most about the day was the

chance to just relax and be myself.  Of course, I am myself a lot of the time, but I can’t be ALL of myself most of the time.  It was nice to fast-talk in American idiom, to tease and harrass others and know they wouldn’t be offended, play “our” music, talk about stuff we all know about from “home”, and slide into first in the softball game.  That last one was an accident when I tripped on the way.

The stress of living cross-culturally does not only apply to our interactions with local people; it carries over into all of our cross-cultural relationships.  That is not to say that I don’t enjoy the international people I know – I enjoy them tremendously!  But one often has to filter social cues (do we kiss on both cheeks?  one?  shake hands?), choose one’s topics wisely (there are certain wars – including current ones – we don’t discuss with certain nationalities), and there are sometimes actions that offend us even though offense was never intended.   Language can be an issue, and when our shared language, Portuguese, is a second language for both parties, it is easy to misunderstand each other.  All of that to say, it was more relaxing that I ever imagined it would be to be in the midst of a bunch of Americans who were simply there to relax.  Although we try to adapt to our cross-cultural living situation, we frequently do not realize how much effort that takes.  -C

We had the nicest treat in the month of August.  Kevin’s parents came out to spend four weeks with us!  The kids had school holidays for the whole month, so we were able to travel a bit and enjoy some time together.  Since our terms here in Moz last for four years, we only see family that often unless they spend the $4000 necessary for two people to travel out.  It is a long trip!  We are so thankful that they made the effort, and they also brought us some wonderful things, including Christmas presents for the kids that we had ordered, and also gifts from other family members.  We had 7 nights in Malawi, with two days travel each way.  Both Kevin and I were feeling so wrung out, and were grateful for this getaway, all paid for by his folks, as well as for the opportunity to show them some of the nice things we enjoy as a family in Malawi.  Later in the month, we had three nights away at the beach and Mozambique Island, also so refreshing.  Both of them helped us around the house wherever they could, and departed leaving us with some nice new improvements to the house and yard!  One of the hardest things about being here is having the kids so far away from their grandparents, and it was wonderful to have this time for them to reconnect and to see what the kids’ lives are like. – C

Finally, the time that we have been waiting for arrived!  We have been hoping for some new monitors to expand the program for a long time.  There is a large TEE program in a city about 5 hours from us, and one of the directors of that program, a Mozambican pastor, was generous enough to travel to Nampula to do the training.  He is on the far left.  Only four of the hoped-four six men could join the training, but they were glad to be there and the older six monitors continue to be faithful.  The latest round of classes finished last week, and the next term of classes should start up next week!  At this point there are almost sixty students studying all over the city. – C

In July, the kids’ International School had a end-of-year sports day.  Here’s a photo of Ben with two of his little friends, both MKs.  You can see the beautiful mountains (hills, really) behind them.  Here’s also a photo of all the students, dressed up in tie-dye for sports day.  There were the usual footraces, tug-of-war, obstacle course and long jump.  With such a diverse student body, it is always interesting talking to the various parents.  Also joining in the sports day were about 11 MKs who homeschool. 

Ben fell off the monkey bars at school last week and broke his arm.  Well, actually he was leaping out to a far rung and missed.  When I chastised him, he said “I already did it four times before that and I made it!”.   I guess he got tired.

Anyway, God cared for Ben in a remarkable way on that day.  Kevin was at home and immediately hopped in the car for the 45 minute drive to pick Ben up.  He called to tell me what had happened, and at that exact moment I was having tea with a physiotherapist friend who knows of the spanish-speaking orthopedic doctors at the central hospital.  She immediately got on the phone and managed to find someone who was willing to come (on his day off) and meet us at the hospital. The school principal put Ben in his car and drove toward Kevin, making the time between when Ben broke the arm and when he was at the hospital only about an hour.  Poor thing had a rough ride over those bumpy roads with a broken bone.

Now for a word about third world hospitals.  We have a fairly typical one here.  Like most hospitals, when you show up at the emergency room you will have a long wait.  The wait could easily have been 4 or 5 hours for us.  Then you are evaluated by the nurse or doctor and sent to the specialist you need to see, where you’ll wait another long time.  Then he’ll send you down to x-ray, where you’ll wait again for a long time to get the xray, then wait again for the xray (which may or may not turn out), then you’ll wait again to see the doctor.  He’ll set the bone, probably very roughly and probably incorrectly, then send you again for xray.  Repeat the process.  Then you go back to get the cast.  This is in a hospital full of miserable, poor people who have all been waiting for hours.  Old, broken equipment, dirty (though they do try to keep it reasonably clean).  Nurses are generally unkind and bribes are frequently requested.  We hear many stories of bones set improperly, with it having to be rebroken later, or casts done wrong, and having to return within a few hours or days to get it redone.  Doctors are rough with their patients, because they are so rushed and overworked.

But none of this happened to Ben!  No, God was merciful to him, and to us.  The doctor walked us right into the exam room (occupied by 3 other people in various stages of getting casts, including one boy screaming his head off).  He examined the arm and told us exactly what was wrong with it.  He set it immediately (very painful for poor Ben) and put a light cast on it.  My physiotherapist friend was with us the whole time, and the doctor allowed her to stay with Ben while the bone was set, when we were sent out.  Then he walked us down to xray and told the techncian to do the xray, which was done in 5 minutes.  5 minutes later we had the xray.  He walked us back up to the exam room, where he put the big cast on.  We were literally out of there in less than 30 minutes.  Ben was smiling and happy, and we were very relieved.  

When Kevin and I made the choice to come to this poor country, there were sacrifices we were willing to make.  I have suffered through a 12 hour trip over bumpy roads with a torn ligament in my knee, to where there was a doctor who could help me.  I have flown out for surgery and been without my family.  With only a shot of morphine, I had a procedure done at the private clinic that is only ever done under general anesthesia  (with some trauma afterward!).  We accept that this is a part of our life here. However, we fervently wish that our children would not suffer physically for being here because no good care is available.  God answered our prayer in this case, and we are so grateful to Him.  He provided exactly what was needed, when it was needed, and we see it as a miracle! – C

Here’s a photo of Ben with our new puppy, a 7-week old Jack Russell Terrier.  Those of you know JRT’s know that they are a handful!  However, we had one last year (Nacho, who died a few months ago at 9 months old) and really enjoyed his personality.  We want a little dog to be in the house at night and be our “mobile alarm system”.  This breed is also good at catching snakes and rats, though our cats seem to be keeping the rat population down.  We finally decided to name him “Mattuvi”, which means Peanut in the local language we are learning, Macua.  We hope he is with us for a good long time!  Meanwhile, the big dogs (giants to him!) are being kind to him and the cats are thoroughly annoyed with his presence.  We are animal lovers and so we are enjoying all the commotion. – C

Here’s the last of our photos!  And as we began, we end with a video.  This was taken yesterday at the church we visited and is a group of men sitting and singing together before church started.  Well worth hearing!  Just click the link.

Singing Practice

And also, another photo to remind you of what we are doing here. . . not exciting to look at, a bunch of guys looking at books; however, the lives that are being affected are indeed exciting to think about!  Thanks to each of you who makes it possible.

This Sunday we had a typical church visit outside of town.  The city churches are a little different, but the outside churches (10 min outside town by car) are still very “village”.  This was the church started by one of the monitors, Pastor Castello, and we arrived at 9 am, waited for an hour for everybody to arrive and the ladies cooking the lunch ahead of time to be finished, then went in.  This is a photo of two ladies cutting up the greens which were to go into the peanut and coconut milk sauce.  Very tasty!

Here’s a photo of me sharing a little rhyme about prayer with kids after the service.  The service itself was normal length, about 3 1/2 hours.  This is because everyone has to get up and share some singing and dancing, or a skit.  Then there are lengthy announcements, prayer for the sick, the sermon (given by Kevin in Portuguese and translated into Macua) and various other things

Here’s some of the folks waiting for the service to begin, and is a pretty typical look at village life.  There is a lot of visiting, sitting around on straw mats and watching the world go by.Everybody knows everybody’s business!

 

 

 

I would like to say that this is a photo of Kevin sharing some deep spiritual truth with the kids, but in fact they are watching him play Angry Birds on his phone!!  This was done on purpose to draw the crowd away from Toby, who was tired of being intently watched while he read his book before church started.  He had already spent 30 minutes playing with the kids and wanted a few quiet minutes.

 

 

 

 

There sure are some awfully cute kids!   It is our hope that they will grow up being taught by their parents, who are taught by the church leaders we are training, that Jesus Christ loves them and died for them.  That’s why we’re here!

Here’s that photo of bread that I promised.  It is sold in what folks in the USA would call “rolls”, though here it is just called “breads”  They cost between 2 and 2 1/2 meticais each, which is betwwen 6 1/2 and 7 cents.  We buy 20 each day, and eat them all!  There are different types, but they don’t vary too much.  It is a huge advantage of living here, having fresh bread each day (which is sold practically on every corner) and we enjoy it a lot.