AFRICA: TRANSFORMATION

What fun it is to serve the Lord!  He is always gracious and has such a sense of humor…..the latter shown to us at the local 8-lane bowling alley here in Maputo.  Many of the boys in our camarata (dorm) have never seen a bowling alley, much less hold a bowling ball in their hands.  I told the boys we were going on a field trip during the July holidays – and the night before I gave out new socks!  Here in the bowing alley, you can bowl in socks, rubber-soled street shoes or barefoot.  At least the boys would have new clean socks – and when  we arrived, they opted for shoes also.  As you can see from the picture, the boys all stood up and cheered one another on!!

          

A good time was had by all, and, who says you have to stick your fingers in the ball??!   I encouraged the boys to go again – and dropped the hint that it was a great place to take a date – and the more, the merrier.  I am sure we will be going again during the Nov-Jan school holidays.

    

In August, one of our Brazilian missionaries exchanged ‘I do’s’ with one of our Mozambican young men here in the center.  Agostino, in his early 20s, has been a Christian role model for the boys and also in our transportation dept. as a driver for us.  Clara, in her early 20s, has been with us two years, and they are a ‘match made in Heaven’.  Agostino and I have been close friends ever since I came here and he showed me so much of Maputo and its history – now he is married!  The Brazilian custom is to become engaged at the engagement party, and this was what they did so we missionary family could be a part of the happy occasion.  Instead of the rings being placed on the left hand, the engagement rings are placed on the right hand ring finger.  At the wedding, the rings are then placed on the left hand ring finger. 

The All Africa Games (Olympics) are now in progress in Maputo.  The stadium is a 20 minute walk from our center, and some of the venues are free, while other venues are about $2-$5 a ticket.  I have only attended the Moz girls basketball game so far – will post pictures next blog.  Swimming has proven to be of great interest – maybe because it has been 90F-105F since the games began.  Of course, soccer (futbol) is packing out the stadium, as is basketball.  So as not to be biased, I do have to say that Mozambique is not medalling well at all.  We still have some time…games are not over until Sept. 18th.

As for me, I am preparing to visit America – family and friends – for the first time in 2 years and 8 months.  God has provided for me to visit family in Texas and Mississippi, plus friends in Mississippi and Texas!  I am quite excited to spend Thanksgiving with family and be brought back to this ‘century’ in the latest and greatest ‘stuff’ in the U.S. 

Blessings to you and yours!

CHICKEN POX, VIRUS, CHILDREN’S DAY, DRAMA……..

Oh what fun we have here!  However, just like any where else in the world, we have our share of illnesses – seems the chicken pox just loves to hang out here at our center!   Our babyhouse (36 1-4 year olds) has been off limits for almost a month now as chicken pox and rotavirus makes the round.  We have isolated a few babies in the last couple of weeks to our prayer house, hoping to contain this last outbreak.  Your prayers are so appreciated – not only for the children, but also for the people who are working 24/7 with this house…the nurses, dorm mothers, and the Mozambican tias (mamas) who live with these children.  We have a little boy, Shelton, in the hospital at this time very ill – your prayers for his recovery would be a blessing. 

      

The music program did their first presentation and it was terrific!  This group has never performed like this before – new drummer, guitar, and keyboard players added to the excitement.  The song was YOU ARE HOLY.  We did it for church, then we were asked to do it for the two school assemblies.  This month we will do it at Som De Seu (the Sound of Heaven) service in the city.  God is blessing this ministry abundantly. 

              

          

Our current project is dance to the song I AM.  New drummer and bass player added and 7 new teens doing the dancing!  Excitement, fun, hard work and lots of prayer is our key as we feel the anointing from the Lord even in our practices.  We were privileged to have a team from Texas come to one of our practices and God directed them to lay hands on and pray for our team.  It was fabulous.

Children’s Day….Christmas on June 1st, is always  a blessing.  The Camarata I oversee of boys 15-17 years of age, was brightly decorated with balloons and ribbon as we all shared in the giving and receiving of presents.  Food was plentiful in the form of cake and jello, and we thank God for His abundant blessing upon us.  Thank you to all who support this Camarata – especially this time of the year and for Christmas.  You are such a blessing to us!

    

On the home-front – I am so excited to be visiting America the latter part of October and month of November.  It will have been 2 years and 9 months since I been ‘home’, and I so look forward to seeing my family and friends once again.

That is it for this update……..more exciting news to follow in next blog later this week!  Bowling, wedding, engagement, etc.  Blessings to you and yours.

AFRICA: TRANSFORMATION

Of which I am so privileged to be a part of here in Mozambique.  April was such a busy month for me with catching up on the boys in Camarata Nova (dorm), and getting back into the ‘swing’ of things after my break in England and South Africa February and March. 

May has been busy in preparation for Children’s Day June 1st.  Thank you to those who have contributed toward this marvelous, fun-filled day.  This month has also been awesome as the 15-18 year old girls have agreed to a discussion group once a week. 

            Our beautiful girl group!

We are going through the book by John and Stasi Eldredge titled ‘Captivating’.  Yes, it is quite the challenge cross-culturally to bring the pages to life for the girls.  God is good and, as the teacher, it is imperative the Holy Spirit do the “translating”.  Needless to say, there is a lot of prayer and preparation required.  This along with two other ‘discussion groups’ for the boys, keeps me on my toes!

One of the wonderful projects that has developed out of the girls group already is the puppet ministry!  We had so much fun exploring the ‘heart of God’ using puppets.  Three of the girls have taken this project to their heart and will make their ministry debut on Children’s Day – BIG step for them.

 

The music program is progressing quickly.  Three of the boys who started in the program are now on various Worship Teams.  God is so good!!  They learn to play by ear – and so very quickly.  In two weeks we will be dramatizing the song by Richie Clark titled ‘You Are Holy’.  We are so excited and the costumes are almost done – even the wings for the angels (which has been a stress-factor for me). 

     Practice

             School Assembly Team

The Lord has supplied a bass guitar to us, as the boys have been learning on an acoustic guitar (need an amp also).  We also need a practice keyboard and electric guitar.  We use the old church set of drums when available.  We are praying for the Lord to add to our program some wind instruments.  He has already provided a flute – now we are praying for a saxophone and trumpet.  We believe God has them somewhere just waiting for us to ask for them – so we are asking and believing.  Several more youth are on the waiting list to join the program, however, more instruments are needed before we can go much beyond guitar, bass and keyboard.  Thank you for your prayers in this endeavor!  God is so richly blessing…..

 

Stay tuned – more exciting things to come next month!  Gotta git going, Children’s Day right around the corner!! 

Blessings everyone!!!

SA HOLIDAY AND HOME TO MOZAMBIQUE

March 16th I landed in Joburg SA to spend the rest of my holiday time with my ‘South African Family’ – actually four families.  What a wonderful fun-filled time I had.  From walking the golf course to making skirts, petting lion cubs and feeding giraffes, this has been a most terrific way to end my holiday!  BIG THANKS to all of you in SA for making my visit be filled with memories I will cherish the rest of my life! 

Jaco and his delightful family!   Nessa, Karla, Quien and Anelka

                

Vilna and her delightfully, generous family!

                                         Such a long tongue and big eyes!

                                 

Sooo soft and loves his paws scratched!

Exploring by Segway is great fun!

                    

                       ZIMPETO – HERE I COME!!!  

SOUTH AFRICA THEN ‘HOME’ – MOZAMBIQUE

March 16th I landed in Joburg SA to spend the rest of my holiday time with my ‘South African family’ – actually four families!  What a wonderful time I have had.  From walking the golf course to making skirts, petting lion cubs and feeding giraffes, this has been a wonderful way to end my holiday!  BIG THANKS to all of you in SA for making my visit be filled with memories I will cherish the rest of my life. 

   

 

Zimpeto….here I come!!

SCHOOL IS OUT!!

I so enjoyed Eagles-Wings School of Ministry for the month of February.  I must confess though, the last week of school I so started looking forward to the adventure of  ‘vacation time’.  YIPPEE!! I travelled to Cheam (Surrey) to stay with my cousin for two weeks where I learned to prepare and eat lamb!  So delicious…                

Living in Mozambique for three years, I was not prepared for the freezing winter weather I was encountering.  Thx, Gwen, for the boots, coats, sweaters and scarves!  I bundled up during the week and met with friends who showed me the sights of London and Camden Town.  Riding the train was a new experience for me – anxiety attacks the first day or two: ‘Am I on the right train?  If not, I need to get off at next stop and turn around.  If I can just get to Clapham Junction, I will know where I am.’  Anyway, all went well and I had no train catastrophes.  PTL  By the time I left, I was a ‘train riding’ pro. 

                      

After two weeks of a wonderful vacation of living the life of luxury, I boarded the plane for Joburg, South Africa.  I luv Africa….it is so wonderful to be back – the weather is warm (yeah!) and I am so blessed with many South African friends I get to spend time with!   Although I am not back in Mozambique until April 2nd, I am back in Africa and that puts me closer to my home (and kitty cat, Esperanza) at the center in ZImpeto Mozambique.

                     

Thank you for following my blog.  Stay tuned and you will be ‘introduced’ to the boys in my dorm this year.  God has blessed me with 25 boyz ages 15-17 yrs.  I am excited for what God is going to do with them and look forward to sharing with you.  Blessings to you and yours……

England

As you know, Jan. 29th I left my home in Mozambique for some rest and relaxation – time for a break!  Jan. 31st thru Feb. 25th, I was privileged to attend Eagles-Wings School of Ministry where I learned and studied more about The Father’s Heart.  Four weeks of intense biblical foundation - worship, dancing, Heavenly language, and prophetic word was a wonderful way to begin my time away.   Many thanks to both Wakley families for making this possible and taking such good care of me.  The pix below show part of the school facilities and myself with my best friend while attending school – the heater!!  I am not used to the cold weather I am encountering.

On Saturdays the wonderful Staff at school took us sightseeing – beautiful old castles, Stourhead Gardens (scenes from Sense & Sensibilities), Dancing Ledge on the English Channel.  We all

bundled up and enjoyed!

I am continuing my rest and relaxation time in London where I am staying with my cousin, Gwen.  I look forward to seeing some of the people who have visited our center in Zimpeto the last two years.  Am excited to catch up on their lives and attend church with two of them before I leave!

That is it from here……..Miss you Zimpeto!!!