Back in Mozambique

Well, I’m journaling in spite of the fact that we have no internet.

So this isn’t really going to be posted on June 3^rd. That’s ok. Part of the habit of posting blogs it actually to form a better habit of writing daily.

My hubby and I have been on three different airplanes, and one 4 hour bumpy bumpy road trip to get to our final destination of Chimoio. We arrived to our African home around 6 in the evening just after the sun was setting. It’s winter here. That means short days and less sunlight in the evenings. So we left the airport as soon as we could. We were a little held up in the immigration area, but we didn’t get stopped at all in the customs. That is a spot that can cause a real headache. So at least we only had one headache since the officer found a problem with our paper work. His solution wasn’t to pricy, but oh how we wish we had meticals to pay the fee. The price for a visa in dollars is way more expensive than meticals.

Anyway, that is taken care of. I tend to think it is a blessing for them as long as they are doing their job and following their convictions of what is ‘right’ according to their every changing rules and ‘laws’. So rather than be grumbly that we had to pay more for this or that. I am believing that Jesus knows all of our expenses, expected and the unexpected. He knows how to provide for all our needs and the needs of all his children. So if they were ‘wrong, or corrupt, or whatever’ in charging us this fee then I rather not only begrudgingly forgive them for something that is a frustration to us. But actually bless them for working diligently according to their convictions.

So I take a deep breath and bless them. God knows how to love his kids. I’m not blindly or knowingly giving into some corruption – I have an official receipt for this visa fee. So, he’s explaining that this is what he is supposed to do, and he is really helping us to be in the country legally….We ask a few more respectful questions because we had been informed differently, but the answer is emphasized that this is what has to be done. There is an option to pay for a 30 day visitor visa, that has been denied for lots of travelers, or possibly some fee for having an expired DIRE. I don’t know all the rules (and I probably won’t post the details on-line cause I don’t know if that is a good idea) but anyway

We have the entry border sorted. Our dear friend drove us to our home where his wife, our Mozambican pastor and his wife, and one of our beloved Mozambican sons had organized a lovely Mozambican dinner for us all to enjoy together. Am I emphasizing Mozambican enough? So yes, I’m HAPPY to be back in Mozambique! Over all, Yesterday was lovely no unexpected expense at the border going to ruin my day!

After greeting our friends and Mozambican son Ngenie, we sat down together and ate dinner. I had looked around our living room and notice very few changes in the way that we had left the furniture and dishes on our ‘china hutch’ shelf. It’s not really a china hutch. It’s a book shelf that we use for the prettier porcelain plate and things. We are so please to walk into a nice tidy home after such a long long long long one more lonnnnggggg journey. Did I mention three planes? Ok, I did….did I say how many hours? Cause there is a reason I haven’t written or posted anything in this blog….um like two eight hour flights and some 12 or 13 hours of layovers. Maybe more, I try to forget so it doesn’t ANNOY me….wouldn’t want to stay frustrated over that fact that we have all kinds of technology and can send people to the moon, but we still have to fly for a billion hours. Now I’m exaggerating…. Texans tend to tell tall tales. So please pardon me. And understand that I get kinda pooped from long travel, it is however, entirely worth it to see my big beautiful family!!!!!

So anywho, we all sat down for dinner and caught up on as much of over a year and a half of history as possible in about 3 hours of fun lively conversation. Our lovely South African friends said goodbyes and see you in the morning.

Then our dear Mozambican friends who have been caring for our home since October offered to heat up a kettle of water for our evening bucket baths since the water pump on the well has petered out for possibly the 6^th time. The motor does wear out or the electrical wires short. Stuff happens. I totally expected to come home to our Mozambican reality and give up a few western comforts. I did laugh to myself when I had washed my hands earlier after just walking through the door and heading to the restroom because I notice right away that there was a basin and bucket with water – indicating that the pump for running water was not functioning. I had really enjoyed some lovely long baths and showers during my little mini-vacation in California. I was especially savoring the steaming hot running water since I anticipated water shortages or the possibility of no running water. This is normal life in Africa. It takes so much time and energy to run a house here. These little details like a burnt pump or electrical shortage are a bit tricky here. Sometimes there aren’t resources to fix the pump, and sometimes there are. But the most important things are important and water can wait. I guess that is another thing on our list to find out about fixing. –bunny trail.

So anyway, I was going to write a bit about today, but I’m pooped and better head for bed. It’s been a very full day from about 8 in the morning to 9:30 at night. We saw friends who popped in to say hi, and organized some details for a party tomorrow. We met some lovely volunteers who became a part of the Iris Chimoio family of volunteers while we were away in the states. They just fell in love with the children and are SUCH a blessing!!!

God is good to us. So we had a lovely dinner out with one of our new friends, and we are so excited to see as many friends and as much family as possible while we are here for a short time.

Oh, and we are trying to find a yummy poisen for the rats who are building a lovely home in the roof of our rental house. I keep having visions of the rats from the CG film ‘ratatouille’ in my head. I’m a bit terrified that the whole rat colony will have more rat babies and drop through the old worn out ceiling under our old aging roof…..oh sweet Jesus, help us to not have rats dropping in on us via windows, cracks under doors or any other entry they find available…..

Housekeeping tip for living in Africa: try not to rent a house near a garbage dump that only gets emptied once a week if we are lucky!!!!!

Anyway, life if full of surprises here and we have a good laugh when the rats and cockroaches show up….they are notorious for finding the craziest hiding places…..some of our small kitchen appliances haven’t been used for months or maybe even a year, so guess who made little nests inside our coffee grinder? Yeah so that was a fun part of my day today…..finding where the little buggers where hiding…..because I was using my coffee grinder.

I totally drank that coffee too because the bug nest was in the underside of the grinder. We washed the bowl with the blades and wiped the electrical part down. As the little electric motor started whizzing and the beans grinding, I noticed one of those tiny tiny little cockroaches. I am used to them. Just kill them and wash the mess. There was a lot more than just one bug to kill however, and I got a little grossed out for about a second. I know why they are there, and that bugs are bugs….so I can logic my way out of being too annoyed. This is after all their happy climate – subtropical climate does mean that housekeeping is a constant battle again the buggies like cockroaches, ants, termites, mosquitoes, and flies. It’s all part of life here.

So welcome to my candid rendition of African homecoming…..

Hope you are not to jaded by my ramblings. I really do love living here, it is just more obvious some of the things that I had begun to take for granted as I spent so much time away from our home here. I will constantly be thankful for our parents offering three lovely bedrooms, an office and bathroom for us to stay in in Colorado. During our time there we have never killed a cockroach, chased a rat out of our room or taken bucket showers.  

All pretty normal things in our African life….and it isn’t torcher. It’s the reality of living in an undeveloped country in an old un-renovated rental house in an old neighborhood on a dirt road with so many contributing factors to a bug problems, rodents and electrical and water issues.

I’m comfortable here, happy here, and also happy in America. I will always be thankful to get clean at the end of the day. I will always celebrate running water a little bit more, or a lot more, than a bucket bath. But I know that it is a blessing to use a full bucket of warm water to get clean, when there has been a drought in this part of Moz. I know that Papa God has blessed our well and it has not dried up when others have. That’s why I’s still super thrilled that we have water! I do have a tendency to find the silver lining in the various circumstance that we face.

Tonight we were remembering that last year we were guests of a very affluent man in a powerful position in his government. We were very happy as guests in his penthouse apartment, and we are very happy to be guests in a home without running water, or even in a home with a dirt floor and grass roof.

Its good to just love on people and focus on what they live without, but that we can learn from them because they are genuinely happy with their lives. We see how JOYFULL they become when they know Jesus! They don’t want bigger houses, and more appliances. They want peace, love and JOY! They need to be able to face any situation with JOY, and that’s better than finding a silver lining in a grey cloud.

My husband and I love to give our Mozambican friends and family presents. They are so thrilled with a sweater, or lip-gloss.  They put on the clothes and wear them right away. They are really grateful, not asking for a receipt so that they can return the gift if it doesn’t fit.

I learn deeper heartfelt gratitude from my beautiful Mozambican friends because they don’t expect more stuff. They don’t worry too much about what they don’t have. They take care of what they do have, and are truly thankful when we give them presents. So I don’t worry to much about bugs and rodents that live here, I focus on hanging out with our friends. Drinking coffee with our guests, and eating meals to build friendships.

So the next time you see a mouse don’t squeesh it….Just kidding. Kill that thing if it is inside your kitchen and not a pet. But its really not a “woe is me’ problem. Its just a problem. The more ‘problems’ you can face with a calm cool attitude, the more and greater problems you can face with a calm cool attitude. You might even become a missionary and leave your comfort zone where lots of things that are considered big problems (like a non-flushing toilet because its clogged or the mechanism is broke) that are among ‘problems’ you might face everyday and learn to be an overcomer who is less focused on convenience (I do love convenience and comfort) and more focused on loving people and understanding their reality….Then it hurts less when I get a bug bite. I’m facing the challenges my friends face. If they can do it with a smile, then they can teach me how to do that too!

So here’s to overcoming the little and big frustrations, scares, and unwanted buggers in our lives as we are learning to love more people, more deeply.

Lots of love,

Missionary momma mia