History in Mozambique

Here's a photo of Kevin and I in front of the chapel at the Fort at Ilha da Mocambique. This chapel is the oldest european-built structure in the southern hemisphere and was built by the Portuguese in the late 1500s. The fort was built later and was a base of operations for them in their control of trade and land off the coast of Africa. Kevin and I enjoyed spending a couple of days with colleagues and visitors at a beautiful beach. Unfortunately I was down sick the whole time, but at least it was a beautiful location. Mozambique has a lot of history, most of it bad, and you can read about it by using google. I say it is bad because there was so much oppression of the peoples of Mozambique, as there was with pretty much every colonial invader around the world, but in Moz it was especially harsh. -C

Making an Mk's Day

This is a photo of the three dear folks who flew all the way from Western Canada (Vancouver) at considerable expense to minister to our children during our recent conference. The AIM conference was held in Nampula, for 39 adults and 11 children, from June 21-28th and was a very busy time. Barb Woodring came, along with Noah and Phil Balzer (father and son) to care for our children during all the meetings, but it was much more than that. they presented a full-on VBS program complete with surprises every day, treats brought from Canada, special events, and a birthday party with presents for each child! They had the kids every day from 8:30-12:30, 1:30-5:30, and then from 7-8. I don't know how they maintained such a level of energy to the end of the week, but they did it with smiles on their faces. The theme of the week was "God's Promises", dealing with covenants, and they used a lot of hockey-related images during the week too. Noah and Phil had brought their hockey gear and did skits for the kids as hockey players, and there were hockey t-shirts, jerseys, and hockey sticks for all the kids. There was even a day of "hockey training camp" and it was hilarious to see the kids running races dressed in adult hockey gear. They had such a blast and we are so grateful to Barb, Noah and Phil for their sacrifice of time, money and energy to minister to our kids. It was a week they'll never forget, and we hope that they all come back again next year! - C

Malaria, Again

Well, we had hoped to avoid malaria this year but unfortunately I came down with it 10 days after returning from South Africa. I must have caught it in Maputo on my way back. I was down for a week with that nasty stuff and was glad to be rid of it. One of the treatments I took had sulfa in it, which I didn't realize, and so I had some itching along with the malaria misery (I am allergic to sulfa).

Toby had malaria (his fifth time) at the end of June, just as our conference ended. He always gets really pale and has a sore stomach, so we know to take him in and get him tested. He's had a problem before with reoccurances, so we'll be sure to bring a malaria test kit and treatment to the USA, as hospitals tend to "freak out" when you show up with malaria and want to admit you! But hopefully there won't be any reoccurances. Poor Toby always wants to keep going when he is sick - doesn't want to miss any time with his friends. He has recovered well, though he looks a bit thinner and we must fatten him up in the USA! - C

Moving house

We moved out of our house on June 2nd, and moved over to the SIL missions compound across town, into the house of friends. I was so sad to move out of our house, which had been a real refuge in times of trouble during these three years. The move went smoothly and we were grateful for the help of all of our AIM colleagues in town, who came with their trucks (everyone has trucks here, which helps on moving day!) to move our things across town to the 40-foot shipping container at the AIM property. We are thankful for this container, where all our belongings will be safe and dry during this next year while we are gone in the USA. It does get quite hot in there though, so we've found another home for our DVDs and computers while we are away. The container is packed full - moving an entire house was a new experience for me, as we've never lived in more than an apartment, really. It was a big job and my back was pretty sore at the end of it. Right now we are in the furnished house of a friend, which is a huge blessing. There has been much less to pack up at the end, and we are getting ready to pack the suitcases to go to the USA on Saturday, 17 July. We leave here at 9:30 am on that day and fly 3 hours to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, where we spend the night. The next day at 4 pm, we fly to Dubai, a 5 hour flight. After a 3 hour layover in Dubai, we take the 13 hour flight to New York, where we'll be met by some very happy grandparents! - C

Monitors Chosen!

HEre is a photo of the monitors who are being trained to take over the program while we are on Home Assignment.

These men are dedicated church leaders who are working for no pay. They will each be leading a weekly Bible class, which lasts 10 weeks. We hope that there will be several rounds of classes during this next year, and that the monitors will stay strong in the Lord, and healthy. They are participating in this program because they want to see others grow in the wisdom and knowledge of the scriptures and of God, and it is exciting to see them at work! Kevin has been supervising their classes since March, and discipling them along the way. -C

It's been awhile!

I realized that my last post was done in March, and I apologize. We hadn't had internet at home from late February until early June, and just never had the time to update the blog from the internet cafe.

A lot has happened in the last few months and I will try to do some short blog posts to catch you up. However, we are moving from Moz to Connecticut on Saturday, so there is not much time! - C

Toby turns 8!

Toby turned 8 on April 25th, and we can't believe he is so old. He is in second grade this year, and has been reading longer and longer books all by himself. He is voracious reader, and has in particular been enjoying the Hank the Cowdog books this year. We are so blessed with a great library at his school, where he can take books out weekly. This is a photo of a recent MAF flight, by the way. He and i got the chance to accompany these two MKs to pick up their dad. We flew 1 1/2 hours but once we got there, the clouds were too thick to land, so we had to turn around and come back without the dad. Toby rode in front with the pilot, and when the pilot told he that we couldn't land because of the clouds, Toby was quiet for a minute and then asked calmly "Does that mean we are going to crash?". The pilot was quite taken aback, and told us later that he'll have to phrase that differently in future!

This year, Toby has been meeting twice weekly with a Portuguese tutor, and shown a lot of progress. He doesn't enjoy speaking Portuguese that much, but we think it was because he wasn't very good at it. His skills have improved remarkably and he is more comfortable playing with kids who speak no English. He has been very successful in school this year and is an enthusiastic learner. But he is even more enthusiastic to spend time with his friends, of which he has many. He is very social, and lots of fun to be with. In particular, he's gotten very good at several complicated board games and regularly trounces his parents but is a good sport when he loses. We are enjoying him in different ways as he grows, having deeper conversations and discussions, and he has a real interest in spiritual things. We are so proud of the person he is becoming and look forward to what the year holds for him! -C