Niassa Outreach - Dec 2007

So, just over a year ago I went on a 2 week extended outreach to Niassa Province BUT I never blogged about it! So here it is now... just over 356 days later!

This is what I journaled way back then... "Extended outreach totally blew me away. after I had decided that I would take the plunge and go, I heard that there would only be 2 teams: one to Nampula prov, and the other in Cabo Delgado. I really wanted to go to Niassa, so I was disapointed, but I'd comitted to co-leading a team so I would just go. I saw carlos one day about a week before outreach and randomly said that I wanted to go on whichever team he was on. He said,' That would be great, I'm going to Niassa Province" I nearly jumped up and down with joy! I finally had the opportunity to go to Niassa. So exciting - and then I met my team. Co-leading with me was Jarod and Erica, the 2 HG students that to me had stood out the most for their leadership qualities and ability to have FUN. So I was really happy. I didnt really know the others on my team, but I figured that I would get to know them pretty quickly (trauma bonding!). We also had a really good team of Mozambicans going with us, as translators, worship leaders and cooks.

We were:
Carlos Wacha: Fearless Leader


Erica Grimaldi: Co-Leader


Jarod Ely: Co-Leader


Ruth Donaldson: Keeper of the Cash


Ruth Alexander: Assistant to the Cooks


Rosalind Walker


Sharon Ridenour: First Aid/Nurse


Kara Rowley: Midwife (you never know!)


Jessica Wereley


Stephanie Mueller: Assistant to the Cooks


Emilee Johnson


Marisa Gourley


Don Foster


Lopes Mozambique: Our Driver


Johnny: Worship & Translation


Egas: Translator


Lazaro: Worship


Assane: Cook


Antonio Balanca: Cook


Teresa: Cook


and of course me: Token Missionary, co-leader and Sound Person
.

Using the adage that "A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words" I have decided to tell the story of the adventure with photos!


Team Niassa!



We camped in villages...



...and we camped near the mountains



And I slept in my pickup most of the time (until the generator leaked and I had to evacuate!


Many an hour was spent in the back of this camião


And some of the time was spent behind it too!


It was a long and dusty road


As I just said"It was a long and dusty road"...


A desperate effort to keep the dust at bay!



We were there to spread the Good News


Dancing...


Fighting off swarms of flying bugs...



...and Preaching our way across the Province


The outreaches served a dual purpose... Generator = Electricity!





We had the biggest, most airy kitchen in the world!



And our leftovers always went to the kids in the village


The man in the tree we called "Mango Man"... he was one of the Niassa Pastors who travelled with us, and he JUST ate mangos. All the time, breakfast, lunch, supper, snacks. For some reason he had a diarrhea problem...




It wasn't all just work work work - we had some down time too!




The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful


We spent 2 nights at the Iris base in Lichinga



Where we enjoyed CLEAN and airy bathroom facilities for the first time in a while...


We also took some time off to visit Lake Malawi (Lago Niassa)


But for the most part this was the first thing we saw in the morning...


:-) OK people lets do the Can-Can!




So there you have it - a quick look at our outreach. It was amazing, we saw miracles and healings and the team was just such a pleasure to be with! Truly one of the good memories I will treasure from my time here in Mozambique"

Jungle Fever!

This past week a team from SunWest Christian Fellowship in Alberta, Canada came and they built the most amazing Jungle Gym for our kids! The grand opening was last week friday, and even Heidi took a turn to play!







The kids absolutely love it!

Victor at the Beach

We had some beach fun at Murrebue the other day with 2 of our kids: Victor and Carlitos - my dad had sent a bright green inflatable tube with me, and we had a blast playing in the water with it. Victor absolutely loved it - he loved diving head first off of it too, so we had to watch him carefully! (Carlitos was scared of the green thing, we put him on it and he screamed! - so he went off and payed in the sand)

Jessie and Victor

It was quite windy, so we had hold on to the tube at all time, else it would have blown away!



We have also recently received some donations of beach play things - some shovels, buckets and a cute little water mill. I built a really cool sand castle - but the kids didnt see the sense in it - they were more interested in using the buckets to fetch water! Finally I dug a 'doorway' thru one of the castle walls and got the boys to pour water into the 'courtyard' and watch how it runs thru the door and out. They enjoyed that!


Victor playing in the sand


And of course, you can never leave a sand castle standing and Carlitos had a fantastic time stomping on the 4 castle turrets. It was great to get out and relax over the weekend!