We Are in Pemba

Tuesday morning we had hoped to leave Lichinga by 5am, but we still had to get one of the flat tires fixed that was punctured when we went to the lake. After getting the tire repaired we left at 9:30. We had a good 6 hour 300km trip down to Cuamba. It was so nice that Peter was going that way anyways and that we didn't have to go by chap it was so much more comfortable with him. Some SIM missionaries there in Cuamba had us over for supper which was very nice of them.

We spent the night in Cuamba and were up early the next morning to catch the train to Nampula. We got tickets for second class cause we heard that things are often stolen in third class and you don't even always have a place to sit. Second class only cost about $11.00 and it was an eleven hour train ride and we had beds that folded down of the walls if we wanted to sleep. It was a very nice way to travel. That was the first time I had ever traveled on a train. I have been on subways in cities before but never traveled any great distances. We probably went about 500km on the train but the train wasn't very fast and it made many stops. This gave us a chance to take in the sites of the wonderful scenery. The mountains were very stunning.

Some children at one of the places that the train stopped.

Trying to get some sleep on one of the beds.

I wish I had my rock climbing gear when I saw some of these.

We picked up many people along the way most of them got into these to box cars. They would bring a lot of there produce and things with them to take and sell in Nampula.

Most of the time when we would stop people would be coming to the windows and selling different kinds of food and drinks.

They don't often look old enough to be taking care of younger children but they do anyways.

We arrived into Nampula at about 4:30pm. We had been given directions of how to get to the bus station but when we go to where it was supposed to be it wasn't the right place. Thankfully we met up with a nice english speaking muslim man and he walked us across town to the bus station and part of the way there we met a taxi driver friend of his and he drove us the rtes. of the way. The bus station was supposed to have a place inside where we could sleep the night because we had to be there early in the morning to get the bus to Pemba. Unfortunately there wasn't any place inside to stay and there were many other people spending the night there as well with many things they had bought in Nampula to take back to where they live to resell. the space was quite limited so we ended up renting some grass mats and sleeping in the bus parking lot under the stars. Thankfully it didn't rain but the bugs bugged us a little and didn't make for the best nights sleep.

This is where we camped out for the night.

On Thursday which was our third day of travel we had a 7 hour bus ride to Pemba. We were met my a missionary couple from the Iris base here and they brought us to the base and made us feel very at home. We are enjoying having electricity, running water and internet. It is quite warm here and Rudy is finding it especially hard to handle.

I have heard many things about the base here in pemba and the missionaries here from the missionaries in Lichinga so it is nice to be able to see what goes on here and put some names to faces. They have about 150 children that live with them here who have lost one or both of there parents. They also run an elementary school here and they have 1,000 students in the school must of them are from the surrounding villages. They provided lunch everyday for all 1,000 students. Thats a lot of rice and beans. They have many other ministries as well that I don't know much about yet.

This afternoon I went with several others to the jail. Every Friday afternoon they minister in the jail. The jail is a real floating crowd as some are just there very short term or awaiting trial. So each week you are often dealing with new people. They also go to the prison on a different day of the week and that is where the prisoners are who are in longer. We had a great time in the jail with about 20 men and 10 ladies. A few of us share the gospel and we prayed for many people who were sick.

A picture Rudy took of a fishing boat on the beach.

For supper we went to the Pemba Beach Hotel for some long awaited burgers. They were great and the view was stunning. This is supposed to be the third nicest beach in the world. That's what someone said, anyways it is very nice. Hopefully tomorrow we will get a chance to go in and check it out for ourselves.