Weekend in Chimoio.

Nice fountain in the Plaza in Beira

A few brothers I live with, Haug, Cass and Santos.

It has been a blessing for me to receive your words of encouragement and news of what you are doing and what God is doing in and around you, via emails, Facebook or text messages. Thanks so much for the part that each of you play in God’s big picture.

I unfortunately never did locate my phone that went missing so I bought a new one this past Monday. I have a new number for now but my old number which is +258825354145 should be working by Monday hopefully.

From Wednesday of last week till Monday of this week I didn’t have a phone and people were not able to get a hold of me. Felix was one of them he was sending texts and calling, but couldn’t get a hold of me. He thought that I had left the country or gone up to Lichinga because I just seemed to have disappeared. Tuesday morning I sent him a text and we got together Wednesday evening. It was good to see him again it had been a week and half since we were last together. He was at the same gathering of Christians on Sunday as I was but we didn’t see each other. I was looking around for him but didn’t see him. I figured it would be easier for him to spot me because I think I was the only white person there but I guess not. There were about 600 people so that is probably why. Anyways we were only together of about one and a half hours but we had a good chat. He has some questions about end times and the one world government and the mark of the beast. I tried not to get into this very much but just clarified one thing for him he was thinking the one world government was going to be one Christian church that was going to be ruling the world. Please continue to pray for him. He has been away from his family now for one year and would love to be able to go and spend Christmas with them in Malawi but he is not sure if he can.

It has been a short week for me with my Portuguese lessons. My teacher had to go to another city to sort somethings out and it is 700km away so he left Thursday morning and will be back Sunday evening. I have kind of got my mind around the simple present and simple past verb tenses and only about 14 more verb tenses to learn to know the language fluently but those will not be covered in this course that I am doing now. There are two more more advanced course that I could do in the future if I want. I have a about a week and a half of studies left to go.

Some shots of one of the markets in Beira.

A belt anyone?

Thursday since I didn’t have classes I took time to do some organizing around the house getting ready for the Wilcox’s arrival. They are a family that is serving in Lichinga. They are coming here to Beira for the conference and will be staying in the same house i am in. In the afternoon I met up with a friend from Lichinga who is on his way down to South Africa. I had brought a laptop for him so he was happy to be able to connect with it.

Friday morning I was out bright and early to catch a chapa at 4:30am into Beira to then catch a bus to Chimoio. I have the privilege once again to spend the weekend with Marc, Andrea, Micah and Nate Pavkov and I enjoy their company and they kind off got me into the Christmas spirit as they were setting up their Christmas tree when I arrived. It is quite toasty around here these days in the low 30sC or 90sF.

I meet a missionary lady here in Chimoio who is from the states and has an orphanage about ten minutes from where I am living in Manga. She has been working there for about 7 years I hope to go and visit sometime during the next couple of weeks. God is bring me in contact with so many missionaries all over this country it is such a joy to know we are not alone and that we are all working for the common goal of building the Kingdom of God.

Saturday I went out to the Iris base in Chimoio. I was in one of the unfinished buildings that the children play in. I happened to look down and spot this little mud doll the children had made. I just had to take a picture of it.

Sunday morning Marc and I went to a mens breakfast with a group of men from the international church here in Chimoio. We had a wonderful time together and great food. One of the missionaries that has been working here in Mozambique for 20 years shared his testimony. I enjoyed hearing him share of his experiences and someone asked him if he could go back would he do anything different. He said that he would have done language studies first. That was encouraging to here as I am studying right now.

This has been a very restful and refreshing weekend in Chimoio. I am very thankful the Pavkov’s have let me come spend time with them again. I think I am ready to face another week of Portuguese classes.

This is one of the two turtles that came with the house when the Pavkovs moved in. They just wonder around the yard.