David and Goliath

I thought I'd take a quick minute to share with you some of the small things we do in my classroom day in and day out. In Bible we started the year out in Genesis going from Adam and Eve to Abraham to Joseph to Moses to Joshua through Judges and we are now in 1 Samuel. Today we learned about David and Goliath. A story that is so well-known that I feel like it often looses its weight. SO in an attempt to show my kids how HUGE Goliath really was we measured how tall he was (around 9 feet) and made our own Goliath. You can see it's pretty overwhelming when you give it a new perspective. I think it does a good job of showing that God really did use a young shepherd to defeat and kill, a massive giant who had been mocking His glorious name for forty days straight!

music from the heart

During my time in Beira I was told that Beira is the heart of Mozambique, it's right in the middle, the major city for all of central Mozambique. The culture, languages, landscapes and architecture are all very different. Living in Maputo I've grown to love this city and the culture I live amongst day in and day out. It was interesting to observe and learn from a different culture within the same national bounds. People jokingly told me that I was from the feet of the country, and needed to instead venture to the heart.  Allow me to share with you some music from the heart of this beautiful country! 





I was able to go to an ACAC (Associação Cristão de Artistas Criativos) meeting. These guys are able to be part of a community that helps them have the ability to write their own music in their native languages (which are different than what is spoken in Maputo). This is so important! Lately ACAC has also been able to get their hands on a small recording studio so the music can be preserved and spread to others. Opportunities like this are easy to find and obtain in America, but here it is very difficult and usually expensive. So this opportunity is wonderful and encouraging for these guys. I find something special about being with people as they are able to worship in their first language. Words cannot explain it. I thought I'd share some of what I was able to experience with you and let you see their talent for yourself. Be encouraged as they are singing for the Glory of our Great God!

day at the clinic

When I was in Beira I was able to go with Brian Meyers (a fellow WorldVenture missionary) to the hospital. He teaches medical students most mornings then spends time in the afternoons at the clinic. When we first arrived he showed me around the hospital. We then made our way to the classroom that he was going to lecture in for the morning. It was as I expected. A modest room with desk and a white board. It even had an air conditioner! We hooked up Brian's computer and projector and students started to come in. It was interesting how much I was able to understand, since in the world of medicine most portuguese words are very similar in English. 

After the lecture we walked a ways to go to the clinic. Once we arrived Brian introduced me to several of the people that work there. Something that I wasn't expecting was for the clinic to be so nice. I was informed that it is because Americans fund and run this particular clinic. Local Mozambicans are able to come to this place for medical attention at a very cheap price of 1 met, which is less than 5 cents. 

We saw several different patients throughout the time. Most were women with their sick babies. Some people had strange symptoms and had to take a malaria test. Most of the children had some sort of anemia. I was grateful that I didn't have to witness any graphic procedures or situations. I was even able to take the vitals and check blood pressure. I am grateful that a place like this is available in a place where health is sometimes hard to come by and sicknesses are even harder to treat. 

Living here has made me more aware of the effects of diseases and lack of treatment. AIDS is a simple fact of life for most people, if not directly then through a close relationship. It's a different reality than in America. This hospital is the central hospital and serves all the people in central Mozambique. There are only two other hospitals of this type in the whole country, which is four times the size of California! Patients who make it to the central hospital almost always have a serious problem and have most likely already been referred from the local, to the regional, and finally to Beira. Chances are they will have to go through some intense treatment or may not live much longer. It is a rough life, something I have a hard time imagining even though I see it before my eyes.

Getting ready for a professional day in the white coat at the central hospital.

Patients waiting to be seen at the clinic.

travel time

I was lucky enough to travel during our ten day spring break. We started out leaving early on the first for our WorldVenture Mozambique team retreat. The drive was about 12 hours and consisted of roads that wouldn't be considered actual roads in many parts of the world.

We had a couple of days of meetings, including a good time of worship and sharing our hearts and how God brought us each individually to living, loving and serving here in Mozambique. This did so much for my heart and was a HUGE encouragement to me. Easter we were able to have a service together, in English, and spent the day at the beach. We attempted to build a large sand castle but the high tide was coming in faster than we had expected.

After the retreat I went with the Meyers, north to central Mozambique to the city of Beira where they live. Brian does teaches at a medical students at a hospital and works at a clinic. His wife, Megan, works with an organization that started about three years ago called Christian Association of Creative Artists. They meet to help Mozambicans write and produce their own worship music that is Mozambican instead of translated western music. I stayed with them for about five days and was able to check out what they do. It was a great opportunity to see the lives of other missionaries in this country. And Beira is right on the ocean, which was an extra treat!

Un-American History

Here's my high school US history class of juniors and seniors. You can see all their bright and beautiful faces (except for one that was ducking to hide from the camera). But they are often the joy of my day and keep me on my toes. It adds an interesting twist teaching American history to a classroom of kids who (all except two) aren't American and haven't ever really lived in America. It is a challenge for sure!

There are eight nationalities just among these kids: Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique, Kenya, India, Brazil, United States and South Africa. One thing I'm grateful for is the difference in perspective. How do things like WWI relate to us living in Mozambique? How did the slave trade impact people living in Africa instead of only how it impacted people living in North America? What can we learn from the Reconstruction Era as we are living in a country that is in the process of recovering and rebuilding from a Civil War that just ended a short 14 years ago? How about capitalism and how America has been built on that, amidst living in a Socialist country recovering from communism?

Often it is hard to find relative connections to what we are studying and the world that we live in here. But we still find ways to bring things back to our everyday lives, even if we do tend to stretch it a little bit. I'm thankful for the opportunity I've had to not only teach these kids, but also build relationships with them, that most days include a lot of laughing.

In August, when I first walked into CAM, the week before school started, I was caught off-guard when I was eagerly asked to teach high school US history. I am not certified to teach history or high school. And I haven't even taken a history class since my first semester of college. But God's grace is sufficient and I actually ended up being the most qualified person for the job, simply by the fact that I am American and most recently studied history. Who would've thought. So I trusted the Lord for His wisdom and strength in an area I didn't feel so competent in and it has turned out to be a huge blessing. I'm so grateful to not only have relationships with each of these students, but also the ability to be able to teach them, laugh with them and see them learn new things. Teaching isn't always about the curriculum or the concepts being presented, but more often than not about the overall impact that can be passed down and values that can be shared.