Moz #3

Wow another week has passed already since I last wrote; it really doesn’t feel that long ago. You all would laugh if you saw me sitting here typing this email. The kerosene lantern isn’t giving me enough light on the key board so I have my flashlight sitting on my shoulder shining on the key board with the string from it rapped around me ear on the other side of my head. It works this way I don’t have to use the back spacing as much. Oh and of course the mosquito are keeping me company as I write to you. They are definitely friends that stick closer then a brother, because they are sticking me all over. Anyways better get to filling you in on what has happened since I last wrote.

We praised the Lord that Peter and Annelisa made it back safely after their looonnggg trip from Pembe. They had to wait a few times on big trucks that were stuck and in their way. In one place water had washed the road away leaving a six foot deep ditch and so everyone had to pull off to the side and drive through someone’s garden. In that place a truck sunk in the mud and was stuck so they had to wait while a couple other trucks tried to pull him out. It another place a truck driver missed a gear going up hill and rolled backwards and jack knifed blocking the whole road. These things are all part of traveling in Africa I guess. Also Annelisa was totally over her malaria by the time they got back Sunday afternoon, which she was so thankful for.

Work has gone very well this week. The wooden counter top in the kitchen is all done and I have made five of the cabinet doors which leave two more to go. I am making flat panel doors. Kind of like the ones I made in Mexico but not quite as nice because I don’t have a router. I make a wooden frame and then have to cut a grove all around the inside to inset quarter inch plywood. I would normally do this with a table saw if I didn’t have a router but seeing as I don’t have either I had to make a table saw out of the circular saw. I turned it upside down and screwed it to a piece of wood and then nailed another piece a wood down as a guide to run my wood against. After a few tries of setting my guide and a lot of saw dust in my face and some in my eyes I managed to get the boards for two doors done. They are turning out better then I thought they would. Annelisa says it is going to look like one of those model kitchens in the magazine. I think it has been a long time since she has seen one of those magazines, but anyways they are pleased with the way it is turning out.

Here are a few pictures to show some of what I have been doing.

Wall and door I put in in the bathroom.

This is what it looked like before I started working on the kitchen.

This is the part Victor helped me with.

The form all ready to pour the concrete top.

I am only using the finest quality lumber as you can see.

This is what it is looking like now.

I have been getting a little more creative for my meals lately. For breakfast the other day I pealed, sliced and then fried a few potatoes and then fried up some onions and green pepper and then added a few eggs. I fried the eggs and potatoes separate if you didn’t understand that. Also there is some corn flour here so I have been using it a few mornings and making up some stuff kind of like cream of wheat if you have had it. I had it for breakfast almost every morning when I was here last time. One morning I added some banana to it and it made it taste even better.

Tuesday evening I was making my supper. I had chopped up a bunch of vegetables and was making some sauce to go with while I boiled some potatoes. Tanya had already made there supper and she had it in a pot on the stove. Our stove is very small and I was cooking with two pots and there really isn’t room for three, but I was managing quite well at keeping them all on. Just as my potatoes finished cooking I must have bumped Tanya’s pot and it feel of the stove and dumped all over the floor. They had just gone out and bought two chickens and cooked them up and taken all the meat off the bones and she had used some of it for there supper. I felt so bad but Tanya was very understanding, but didn’t believe me that I had knocked it off the stove when I first told her, she thought I was joking, like I would ever do something like that. She made more for their supper and I shared some of my vegetable sauce stuff that I put way to much chicken stock in. Jesse said he liked it but I am not sure how much of a compliment that is because he will eat most things and enjoy them. Then Wednesday evening for some reason Tanya took the rest of the chicken out of the fridge and forgot to put it back in and it all went bad so they only got one meal out of it all and you might remember me saying that meat is very expensive here and we don’t have it much. Oh yes I hadn’t mentioned that we have a fridge. Back a few months ago someone came and bought a gas powered fridge for this house it is such a blessing for us. I am not sure how it can burn gas and make things cold but it works some how. Jesse and Tanya often have pop in there and I get to enjoy it with them. It is nice when we make more food then we can eat we can put the left overs in there rather then having to stuff ourselves to finish it so that it doesn’t go bad.

Thursday I needed some nails and few other things from town so I took Jesse’s motorbike. There are no roads at home that I could compare the roads to here so that you understand but I was riding along and came to a very muddy spot thought I could ride through the grass at the side hoping that the ground would be firmer but the bike sunk right in to the axles and the wheel was just spinning. I had to get off a drag the bike out of the mud. Shortly after this I road out onto the airport parking lot, because we are very close here, there was so much mud on the wheels that when I went to turn the bike spun out on my and I got a little road rash on my left need and arm. I am so thankful that I was wearing pants and not shorts. I had worn shorts for several days and almost put shorts on that day but I decided to wear pants. Thankfully I had my first aid kit with me so I was able to get myself cleaned up. I think this is the first real spill I have ever had on a motor bike and hopefully the last. When I got back to the house Jesse noticed that the eight inch bolt that holds the back have of the bike to the front had the nut come of and had slid out a couple of inches. Too much father and the bike would have fallen apart in the middle. I guess this has happened once before. I guess I will have to look the bike over very well before I get on it from now on.

Oh some people have been looking at this area on Google Earth and have wanted a little more info as to where I am. You will see the airport to the north of the city. There is a paved road coming to the airport. The pavement stops at the airport but follow the dirty road and not even half a kilometre up the windy road you will see a house and a barn on the left hand side that is the house that I am staying in. On the right side of the road there are some buildings that is an army barracks. The orphanage and the Wilcox’s house doesn’t show up because the pictures on Google Earth are a few years old. There house is about 400 meters from the run way.

I got to the internet on Thursday when I was in town and saw that many of you had emailed. Thanks so much for your emails, I want you to know that I am going to try to reply to each of you but please give me some time. Friday I was there at the place hoping to use the internet but the power wasn’t working this is a common problem in the city.

Friday evening Tyren and Tiffany invited me over for supper. Tiffany made pizza Lichinga style, because much of what we would normally put on pizza is not available here. It was still very good. While we were having supper Tyren was telling me that they had a rat and every night it seemed to get in and make noise so that they couldn’t sleep. Last night they borrowed the Wilcox’s cat and kept it in the house with them. They all slept fine and they didn’t here anything. Just as we were finishing supper Tiffany saw the rat run into their storage room. Tyren left to go and get the cat and Amerel and Isaiah (their two children) stood guard to make sure that it didn’t come out. A little while later Tyren came back with the cat, Elias and Annelisa. We search the storage room and soon the rat ran out and ran into the kitchen behind the stove, under the sink, up the wall and behind the curtain. Then it ran into the bathroom this whole time there were about four of us swing brooms trying to hit it but it was very fast. Once it was in the bathroom Tyren and Elias when in we put the cat in with them and shut the door. It was rather funny listening outside as it sounded like the whole bathroom was being destroyed with broom sticks hitting everything but the rat. Finally the rat was killed by Tyren’s broom. Tyren was a little upset because he destroyed his best broom but I guess it was worth it to have the rat gone. We went back in the bathroom to find the cat and could find it anywhere. It is a small bathroom and not many places to hide. Finally Annelisa found it perched up in the window sill and very scared. I guess with all the brooms flying it was a little much for the cat. Annelisa brought the cat out and showed it the rat, up until this point the cat didn’t show much interest in it, but then it grabbed it in its mouth and ran into Tyren and Tiffany’s bedroom. We thought it was quite funny but Tiffany was not too impressed. Finally the cat and the rat were removed from the house and everyone slept peacefully ever after.

Saturday morning I came into town to meet a new friend Elias Becca. He is a Mozambiquian working here in Lichinga with YWAM. I was gievn a letter to deliver to him when i arrived here. It has taken me a long time to get it to him, but we got together for lunch here in town and spent several hours sharing with each other. he has worked with Teen Missions here in Moz for about 10 years. We had lots to talk about on that topic. He is a godly young man and i hope to go out to the village he is working in when I get back from Malawi.

I guess this is long enough for now. ya I had said i would try to keep it shorter. I didn't try to keep it shorter it just happened that way. I also had several people say not to shorten my updates.

Here are a few random pictures from things I have mentioned in previous posts.

This is the snake I pulled out of the well

Just some of the awesome scenery around here.

One of the nice sunsets

My room during a rain storm.

No this is not chocolate it is a dried up mud puddle.

Some sort of bettle

A flower just outside my door.

The master chef at work.

Ok maybe not a master chef but it was eatible.

This is the car (they call this a car here) I drove into town today. We thank the Lord for vehicles like this when the roads are less then ideal.