Grand Church Opening!

Goodbye Green & White stripy tent! Hello HUGE new church!

We had the grand opening of the new church building on Easter Sunday, and it was packed with people from all the smaller Comunhão na Colheita churches in the surrounding area.

Lots of singing and dancing by our new larger worship team,  and they even wore matching outfits - so it was an exciting time for everyone!!!

It's a nice building, although quite 'cavey/echoey' from a sound engineer (such as myself) point of view, and I now have to find a way to install a decent 'permanent' sound system...

My Little Sister

This has NO relevance to my life and work in Mozambique as a missionary, but I just wanted ya'll to know: My little sister got married yesterday!!!! She is now Mrs Annelie Vermeulen and I am so proud of her! It was a fantastic day, beautiful ceremony and a stunning reception. I really pray that they will have a long and happy life together!  Here are some pics:

Jan & Ani Vermeulen

16 March 2008

Jan, Ani, Me & Gerrit (Jan's Brother)

Peter (Dad), Me, Melodie (Mom), Ani & Jan

Jan & Ani with Pastor Colin McGeer

My little Sister & I

A good way to end my year!

Today is my last day of being 23, and I think I'm ending it on a good note :-)

This morning at 6am I got a call from the PA of our base director, asking me to fill in for her at 11am because she would not be able to teach the Mozambican student pastors today. I think I must have been sleepy cos I heard myself say 'Sure', what's the topic? 

It was to be on Forgiveness, but because our director is fluent in Portuguese there was not translator scheduled... I desperately tried getting hold of anyone who could translate for me, but could find no one, finally I decided to just go ahead and be prepared to speak in Portuguese. Dr E had a little book on Forgiveness that he loaded me, and all my friends encouraged me and gave me the confidence to go for it. (But I was still very nervous!)

It was the very FIRST time that I teach in the bible school - usually the other missionaries have a syllabus they follow, but I had to teach from scratch! I am so grateful for the 3 years I spent in the UK at a ministry where Forgiveness was taught often!!!

When I arrived at the class the other teacher was just finishing up, and for some random reason one of our fluent in Portuguese long term missionaries happened to be in the class, and she was willing to stay and translate for me! I probably could have taught in Portuguese, but having a translator meant I could teach deeper and more meaningfully.

So it went really well, at the end, two of the pastors gave testimony of things that had happened in the past that they were still carrying, and now was the first time that they could forgive the people who wronged them - quite amazing!

I also went rock collecting just before the class, and did a demonstration of how holding onto unforgiveness is like carrying a bucket filled with stones around with you - I kinda forgot a pastor was standing there holding the bucket, and he was getting tired! But I think it got the point across...

Next time I hope that I will have more time to prepare, and then I could prepare a teaching in Portuguese, but until then I am having fun trying to put my newly acquired Portuguese into practice!

Oh and the other thing that happened today: I named a baby! 

Our laundry lady had a baby boy last week Wednesday and she still came to work the next day, she was so excited about the birth, but could not tell me what the baby's name was. Then last Monday I asked her again if she had named the baby yet, and she said, "You can choose a name for him". Eeek!  But I thought about it, so this morning when she came to do our laundry she asked me and I told her that I named her baby 'Tiago' (translated it is 'James') - she liked it!

So to round off my year: I've named a baby (for the first time) and taught in the bible school (for the first time)!

Nearly back in Pemba

This is my last night in South Africa, I am packing - trying to fit a myriad of random things in my bag: Glue and patches for Iris' little rubber duck boat, new wiper blades for my car, plastic medicine baggies for the clinic, Portuguese books for the kids' resource centre, all my university books AND all the stuff I usually buy to take with me: Tins of food, pasta sauce, sachets of juice mix, dog food...  keeping in mind I only have a total of 30kg/66lb luggage allowance!

But I am really excited to be heading 'home', albeit to a hot and rainy Pemba - it has been nearly 2 months - I miss it so much!

Leaving Portugal

My time here in Portugal is at an end, and I'm preparing to swap the chilly European winter for a HOT and humid summer in Mozambique! 

It has been an incredible time, not just of learning, but also of rest!  These 6 weeks in Portugal has been so freeing for me. There has not been the fear of getting mugged as I walk to school everyday, and life is just easier: Shopping for groceries, cooking, public transport, internet... I had forgotten how 'easy' life in a 1st world country can be! But I think that I'm all recharged and ready to take on living in a poor 3rd world nation again!

I have learnt loads and am excited about going to put my language into practice. Of course there is still lots I dont know (it takes longer than just 6 weeks to learn a language), but I have a good foundation now that I can continue to build on.

Life in Pemba should be easier now that I know Portuguese better... at least I hope it is!

2 minutes: In Portuguese!

So sunday went well - I did 'cheat' a bit and memorize what I wanted to say, and then when I got to the front of the church I just spoke from memory - for 2 whole minutes... but it went really really well! :-) However, after I had finished my spiel the lady asked me a question and I had NO idea what she said - granted she was talking very fast and had a Columbian Portuguese accent (excuses excuses!) So I was kinda embarrassed and put on the spot, but it went OK overall and I chatted to some people afterwards and understood them easily enough and they all said that I spoke really well. 

Then my teacher, Eugenia took me to the beach at Guiche, and I could see Cabo da Roca (the most western most point of Europe)  and we sat in the gorgeous hot sun for a while [the temperature was over 20C/68F!]. I got home fairly late, but it was a good day - lots of practice speaking Portuguese!

So now I am in my last week of class - It has really been a fantastic time, and I am looking forward to returning to Mozambique to put into practice what I've learnt!

Just 8 Days Left

So this week has started (it was Carnaval, so we had a long weekend) and I only have 8 days of class left. I am doing some private lessons too, so that is good because the teacher lets me talk about what I do in Moz, and by doing that I'm learning loads of vocabulary that would be more useful in Moz than what we learn in the group lessons: For example, "I went to the doctor and had an electrocardiogram"... Cant quite remember the last time I felt the need to say that! :-)

My teacher has invited me to go to her church this coming Sunday - and today after our lesson (where I told her all about doing flood relief last year) she insisted that she wants to tell her pastor about me, and she wants to ask if I would be able to share a bit of what I do in Moz with the congregation... aaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!! But I will take on this challenge and enjoy it... Will let you know how it goes.

WoW!

I just received the most amazing news ever... I got a donation, one which allows me to stay for an extra 2 weeks of Language School! I am so excited, did NOT think that it would happen - but just so amazed by God's provision!!!

So now I'll be here in Lisbon until Feb 18! Yay! :-)

Só Sei...

As Socrates said "Só sei que nada sei", or as it would be in English: "I only know that I know nothing"... That's how I feel trying to learn 'real' Portuguese!!! Coming here, I thought that a month would be enough to brush up on what I thought was fairly good Portuguese: but I've had to go back to the beginning and re-learn pretty much everything! The Portuguese spoken in Mozambique is for all practical reasons, completely different. So it has been a grueling 2 weeks, quite discouraging at times.

It probably would have been easier to first come to Portugal and learn 'clean' Portuguese, and then apply it in Mozambique, than trying to do it the other way round! :-§

So right now I am toying with the idea of staying a bit longer - finances providing that is. I need about €350 ($520) per week to cover rent, school fees, food and transport... My schedule is pretty busy - School uses up most of the day and I do revision at night, so I don't really get to go out much. I do however go exploring around the Lisbon area on the weekends: Last weekend I went to Belém, this weekend I'm going to Sintra.

Please keep praying that I'll get the language soon: I only have 2 more weeks of class scheduled, and it feels like time is running out way too quickly!

New Year, New Country

So as you all might know, I'm in Lisbon, Portugal at the moment to attend a 4 week intensive language school.

I'm studying at the Oxford School, trying to tweak my Portuguese to a level that will be closer to fluent than what I am now! Some of the other missionaries have done this same course and are now fairly fluent, which I take as a good sign :-)

The cost of the course is in the region of Euro615/US$870, (ouch) which excludes my accommodation (I am renting a room/bed in a big house with 3 really old little ladies). This is actually less expensive than any of the other school's I looked at, so thats really good. And I guess that living with the sisters and trying to decipher their 'Lisbonese' can only help me improve my language skills.

Fortunately there is another girl from the States also living at the house, so I have an amiga to keep me sane! She will be going to Iris Zimpeto in April, and before I arrived at the house I had no idea she was going to be there. So I was happy to see her to say the least, even tho I had been adamant that I wanted to immerse myself in the language, I think now, that it would have been too overwhelming!

The main reason why I'm in Portugal as opposed to a school in Maputo is a safety thing. Also I blend in a bit better in Europe (until I open my mouth), and it's great not having people stop me in the street asking for money and telling me that 'You no love Jesus' when I dont give them anything...

So this is really exciting, I know that by doing this course I will be in a better position to assist Iris Ministries with their work in Mozambique, but it will also be an investment in myself, for the future - who knows where God will send me next?

If for any reason you want to text/sms me, you can reach me on: +351 922 068 311

I will be here in Portugal until Feb 6, 2008 - and then heading back to a gorgeous hot Pemba!