cultures and the nations

International Potluck happened last night. It was a night set apart at CAM to celebrate the many cultures represented at the school. This year there are 19 countries represented among students and teachers. This is impressive considering there are only around 60 students that attend CAM. 

The night consisted of outfits, foods, trivia, and even dances done from different countries. The costumes were very diverse and representative of the different countries ranging from India to the Philippines to Nigeria to Brazil to Russia to Canada to Holland. There were even tables with foods from each country represented. That was probably my favorite part. Overall the turnout was great! In honor of Halloween I even shared some treats and candy corn with my students!

I'm so grateful to be able to be living and teaching in Mozambique. Something that I love about my job is getting to be in a setting that does have so many cultures present. One of the challenges has been trying to teach my high school US history class. In the class there are only two Americans, neither of which have spent very many years actually living in the U.S. I must say that I have had to think of creative ways and gain new perspectives on the United States while teaching it here. The amount of languages that the students are able to speak amazes me. It has been wonderful to be able to be in such a culturally rich environment. 

Learning about culture is a huge part of moving halfway across the world. Often times I wonder about why things are done a certain way, then I think why does that seem so strange to me? Then I think why do I do certain things the way that I do? It has really changed my perspective on culture in general. Things that I never even realized are such a part of American culture that it is hard to even identify unless it is confronted. 

I am grateful for the gospel. The fact that it transcends culture. The fact that regardless of how we "do" things or what we are normally "comfortable" with we are all still people that left to ourselves are caught up in our sin. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Regardless of our culture, or even preferences, we are still dead in our sin and the only hope is Christ. And regardless of the culture or language, because of His great love, in His mercy he came so we could have life and come back into community with the Father. That's beautiful, and it's a beautiful thing to see a variety of cultures gathered together in unity because we've been washed by the blood.

Oh sing to the LORD a new song,

   for he has done marvelous things!

His right hand and his holy arm

   have worked salvation for him.

The LORD has made known his salvation;

   he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

psalm 98.1-2

feliz anniversario

On Tuesday we celebrated a birthday in my class. Dinah turned 11. At CAM when it is a student's birthday they have the privilege of not having to wear a uniform. She brought cake as we all sang to her and celebrated!

Chicken Little

On Saturday morning I woke up to a new friend who made his way into my yard. At first I was very confused. Where did he come from? How did he get over my wall that I can't even see over? And how in the world was I going to get rid of him (since I have a huge fear of birds)? But he hung out for a couple days, not really doing much, except walking around, nibbling on some grass, and sleeping under a short tree.

My new friend on Saturday morning.

The chicken sleeping in his new bed.

Monday morning I went to look for him again, but didn't see him anywhere. When I got back after school I opened the gate and saw him scurrying away quickly to hide. Mary's children, Angel and Angelo, who are my neighbors decided they would help me get rid of him. They started chasing him around. He got scared and started running. He went to my porch, which cornered him in. The stress even caused him to relieve himself there. He tried to fly, but ended up crashing into my front door, which was quite a scene. Then minutes later I hear Angel saying, "Honey, we caught him! We caught him!" She had him by the wings!! He didn't look too thrilled to be caught. They then took him to our other neighbor, who may have been the owner.

Angel holding the chicken.

Happy that we caught him!

I must say I was very impressed by their bravery and ability to chase the chicken then hold him by the wings like it was no big deal. But also it isn't a big deal, considering it is a common sight to see people walking down the road holding the chicken by the wings. I'm just curious if he has become anyone's dinner yet.

holidays....

About a week ago I was able to go on a home visit with some of the interns, Mary (my neighbor), and Martinha, a girl who we go to church with. We had to ride a choppa to make the long journey out to Machava, where Victoria, a woman from church, lives. It was my first true experience in a choppa and wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. It was definitely very hot and crowded though to say the least. After we got off the choppa we then waited for Victoria to meet us out on the main road to walk with us back to her house. She had her young baby with her, who just loves to smile. His name was Manuel. She had two other sons that were home with her as well. We got there and sang a couple songs in Portuguese and Shangaan. Then Adeirto, one of the interns read and talked about Psalm 27. We then prayed together and sang another song, called Obrigado Senhor, which has a verse in Portuguese, Shangaan, and English.


In Mozambique there have been several holidays recently. Last Monday, was Peace Day, which is why we were able to visit Victoria, due to school being out. We have been very spoiled lately with all the holidays and being out of school. It seems like every other week we've gotten a day off for some Mozambican holiday. It is a law here that all schools must take off for national holidays or else they will get fined.

Yesterday was Teacher Day. We weren't out of school, because we have been out so much lately and it isn't mandatory that we get out for Teacher Day, since it's not technically a national holiday, but we were still able to celebrate by having KFC for lunch. Even halfway across the world it still tastes like good ol' American fast food.

young generation

This weekend was filled with young people as I went to an orphanage and to a youth gathering. 

On Friday we were out of school for yet another Mozambican holiday. This time Heroes Day. In the morning I went with some other teachers from CAM to visit an orphanage. It is at a place called Iris Ministries. It has been running since 1998 and houses over 300 orphans. I was impressed at how nice the place was for an orphanage. One requirement for the kids to be able to stay at the orphanage is that they must attend school each day during the week from 8-12. One other surprising thing was how much freedom the kids have to come and go as they like. This is something that is very much in line with Mozambican culture as kids are independent at a young age. The kids are taken care of by Mozambican women called tias, they are able to discipline under their own culture, which is much better than someone from a completely different culture trying to come in and discipline in a foreign way. After we were given a tour we were able to play with some of the younger kids. They were precious. Once a few of them realized that when I was holding them they could reach some leaves on a tree a line formed to be lifted a get some leaves. 

Some of the kids at the orphanage.

On Saturday I went with two of the interns, Reggie and Emilio, to a youth meeting at a local church. When I came to Mozambique two years ago we went to a youth meeting at the same church. I actually recognized the place. The people were extremely friendly and there were people representing youth groups from seven different churches. The church that it was at was actually Emilio's church. We sang some songs, some of which I recognized from church on Sundays. Then there were a few skits about evangelizing to people. And we watched a video and closed by singing and dancing to a couple more songs. As it started Reggie was trying to help me out and explain what was going on without really being able to communicate very well, but definitely trying. A man then came and sat by me asking if I spoke English. He then interpreted what was happening for me. I was so grateful and encouraged by being able to finally understand what was being said besides a few words here and there. 

Picture taken after the youth meeting on Saturday evening.

My dusty feet after walking to and from the youth meeting. 

allow me to introduce you to my furry friends....

So lately we have been having a slight rat issue. The little fellows started coming around about two weeks ago. It started during the week at night they would come out when things started to get quiet. They would usually be spotted scrambling across the room to a dark corner to hide. So we soon put some poison out. After a couple of days it started to disappear. We then put out some of the most massive mouse traps I have ever seen in my life. They were seriously as big as my shoe. The picture doesn't do it any justice.

Then early one morning one of the rats was spotted in the toilet. It was pretty creepy. We tried to flush him down, but he wasn't going anywhere, and his beady little eyes just kept staring up. So we closed the lid and put something on top of it until it could be taken care of later. A little while later the house help was  cleaning and spotted the rat before being warned. It gave her quite a shock, but she got someone to help her get rid of him. 

The next day another critter was just walking around the bathroom in broad daylight, he had no shame by now. The poison must've started to kick in and impaired his reasoning abilities. He soon started to slow down and eventually just started to wither away in the open area. We took him outside so he could pass away peacefully. 

Then on Saturday we spotted one under the bookshelf as dead as could be. One of the interns came and took him outside. It was great to see that the poison was finally working and starting to kill them off. After that we figured that the rats must've all gone away or died and we once again felt safe. 

Then on Sunday night we were sitting in the living room and heard a loud noise and some scurrying in the kitchen. Another rat then came rushing into the dining room. In the kitchen another one hurried to hide behind the stove. They had been fighting over something. We couldn't believe it. More rats! So that night we decided to close off the kitchen after chasing the run away back in there. We set out some more poison and a few days later we smelled a dead one under the refrigerator. 

Well we thought it was finally over, until last night I spotted one more. I couldn't believe it. The little guys just walked around like he was at home. They are ruthless! So this morning he got locked in the pantry and the guard got on a ladder and found him in a box which was then taken outside so he could be set free. 

We need a break around here from furry friends. The count is officially up to 11.....

weekend in South Africa

We went to South Africa this weekend for an extended weekend. Monday was a national holiday in Mozambique, and CAM by law has to take off from having school on all Mozambican holidays. So we used the long weekend to our advantage to get some visa issues under control, so a little shopping, and just get away for a couple days. 

I was having problems getting the correct visa  needed to stay here. But luckily it got taken care of, surprisingly enough in an easier way than we thought. It was a direct answer to prayer and God showed Himself faithful once again. I'm relieved to not have to leave the country every thirty days now, which could get a little annoying and become pricy.

While on our way we went through the border. It was quite a pain and very crowded and hot. It wasn't a necessarily pleasant experience, but it was an experience to say the least. Once we got through it was about another hour drive to Nelspruit. The highway is close to Kruger Park so it was exciting when we even spotted some baboons on the side of the road.

In Nelspruit we went to the mall, which was very western, it felt like it could be found in the states, except for that fact that I didn't recognize any of the stores. We had a slight complication when we went to exchange money and they were no longer accepting meticais. Meticais is the money used in Mozambique, and rand is what is used in South Africa. All we had were meticais, except for about ten American dollars, and all of the stores only accept rand. We worked through it even though it did slightly complicate things. 

One other great adventure in Nelspruit was going to McDonalds. It opened there in the past month. Everytime we drove by the drive through was completely packed and the lines were forever long. A fellow missionary from Maputo, told us that they went down last weekend and waited in a line that was all the way out the door just for a McDonalds hamburger. The surprising thing was how similar the food tasted to McDonalds in the states. The only major difference was that it was a lot less greasy. And the only thing that could've improved the meal would have been an ice cold Dr. Pepper, since that is a rarity in these parts of the world.