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!

Video: What is Extended Outreach all about?

This footage was put together from various of my fellow team member's cameras, and I thought it sums up outreach :-) Enjoy!




OK, well, of course outreach is more that just that... :-)

I was on outreach...

I totally did not get around to letting ya'll know that I was actually leaving to go on the extended outreach - things just got so crazy that I didnt get time to get online - but I'm back now, and preparing to go to Language School in Portugal... I'll write an update soon on how outreach was, but if I had to sum it up in 3 words it would be: IT WAS AMAZING!

So keep a look out for a nice long post with pics and all!

Final Week

HG is coming to an end, and this week is looking to be SUPER CRAZY busy busy busy. Extended outreaches leave this coming Saturday, and our days are packed solid with preparing for graduation, team building day, outreach and then there are still a myriad of things to be finalized (generators to be fixed, lights to be bought, scuba diving to be done (just kidding)... :-) I was trying to schedule having a meal with one of the students, but this week I'll be surprised if I can even find time to eat :-{

Malaria :-( AGAIN!

I've just had malaria (AGAIN!!!!) and was in bed for the entire week... But I'm feeling much better, mostly have my energy back but still just taking it slow. Its nasty. Horrible.

Fondue in Pemba

We had a real swiss cheese fondue last night! My Swiss friend bought it when he was in SA last month, and yesterday was the day the 4 of us decided to try it out! It was so yummy. Obviously we dont have a real fondue set, so we improvised with a stainless steel pot, some tea candles, and a wire spring contraption to keep the pot above the candles.





It worked quite well for the most part, but just before we finished the cheese, the pot sorta slid off the wire and we had to eat the last bit of cheese VERY quickly!

Video: Little Victor!

He is 17 months old now and he's started walking!!! SO cute!





He also went for a ride on one of our 4 horses - he enjoyed that loads:

Medical Outreach - Montpuez

This past weekend I went on an overnight/weekend outreach to Montpuez - it was a joint medical outreach so something totally different from the usual outreaches I've been on!

Montpuez is due west from Pemba, and the road is smooth and tarred all the way - although we went into the bush bush down a dirt road for about an hour to get to the village where we were going to stay the night.

The Holy Given students had to ride on the back of an open camiao - at least it didnt rain!


My car is AMAZING, I love it!!! So handy and practial and useful! It has made my life so much easier in terms of carting sound equipment around and setting up in the villages at night I feel more secure about the equipment not being messed with.

I set the sound desk etc up in the back of my truck, so I have a place to sit during the movie and also I can close the doors to prevent the system disapearing!

This is our "high-tech" setup, it works really well! The Mediaplayer has replaced the DVD player we used to use, and the hard drive based system has been invaluble, worth every cent!

All set for outeach!

Unfortunately it RAINED that night, so we only showed about 1 hour of the film before I decided to pack up - we were all soaked by the time the system was in the car, and the whole team was in bed by 7:30pm! It was the first time that I've been in bed before midnight on an outreach, and sleeping for 10 hours was brilliant!

Tent Land - This village has not church building, but the pastor opened his yard for us to camp in

All the cooking is done over a fire - here they are heating the water for coffee in the morning!


Just look what missions has done! These are my friends Eric the Doctor, and Raphael the Accountant!

Saturday dawned slightly cloudy, but it was not going to rain - there were some patches of blue peeking thru the clouds, and by 7am it was starting to get kinda warm.

The Medical Landrover

The Medical team (headed up by Dr Angie), started setting up the brown tent where they treat and pray for anyone who needs medical attention. The problems they encounter range from asthma and scabies to basic wound care, so they are kept really busy! All the kids in the village are also de-wormed, and they stand fairly patiently in line waiting for their turn. Each kid is also prayed over, so it's an awesome ministry opportunity.

Dr Angie de-worming some kids

In the Medical Tent: This little girl has asthma and her fatehr was told by the witchdoctor that there was nothing anyone could do to help her! (Dr Angie was able to help her of course)

We did some more evangelism in the village while the medical outreach was happening, so the sound system was setup again




It was a good outreach - the 2nd night we were in Montpuez town, and there were a number of hecklers and 3 fights broke out while were preaching, but we showed the Jesus film and even though I was sitting with the sound system, I heard from some of the students that there were a number of healings! So good! :-)