all in a days work.....make that two months!

cement is being made for the office walls in this old run down wheel barrel and mixed with a shovel. a glob of this concoction is put on a smooth slab of wood and thrown on the wall. (i have a video that i will see if i can post....apparently it can be done!)

while the substance is still soft the excess is scraped off with a level (you need to improvise a little in the bush) more water is splashed on and the wall is smoothed out. when the cement dries, before it is painted, the ruff surface needs to be soothed a little more. the problem is, sand paper would last about three strokes. if you look real close you can see the object of my choosing to do this tedious task. a little hunk of left over wood! no i could not have used the level because i didn't think of it until now and yes i could have found a bigger piece of wood......if i had taken the time, but i was eager to get the job started. it proved to be a senseless decision when the wood slipped from my grip and i smoothed the wall with my knuckles. "did i learn from my mistake and take the time to get a bigger piece of wood?"....mmmm nope! i just opted to be more careful......didn't work. i can honestly say i put my heart into these walls.

besides i had to keep moving, Albertino is a fast painter and he was gaining on me.

after the room had one day to dry we set out to put the office back together again. that means organizing a lot of junk! i think people in the bush collect more junk than the city of Calgary ..... o.k maybe just Ardrie.

the best part about rubbishing through old junk is falling upon a hilariously old and useless item. in this case we found a BAG a them! old and ridiculously ugly glasses. but hey one mans junk is another mans treasure. Gabriel took them home! i was baffled that someone would actually want them.

from left to right is Gabriel, Matthew, Francois and myself posing with our new found accessories!

and who could leave out this handsome face! it a Mozambique Earkel!

o.k that's enough about that. so i have been sitting the office for most of the day trying to get some much needed e-mail catch-up done, since the weather is not that great and the farm is exceptionally quiet this weekend as half the missionary team is in South Africa, and i felt a walk was in order. unfortunately i forgot my camera but when technology fails us we are left with imagination.....

i began my walk down the dusty road that lead from the main highway to the ASAM farm with a hacky sack (in case i found some kids eager for a new game) and a flashlight (just in case my walk is longer than planed). as i was walking Steven, who is featured above in the stunning purple glasses, noticed me wandering about. we went to visit Gabriel and i got to meet his wife and son. then we walked further down the road to visit two of the orphans i had met on numerous occasions. along the way i was admiring the beauty of trees upon trees and expressed my awe to Steven when a noticed a herd of cows coming my way....and then a cluster of goats....even a man riding a donkey! people were sitting outside their huts catting with the neighbours while kids ran unchecked.

we stopped to play hacky sack with Mibia and Francisco and then headed back. but not before stopping to meet Stevens wife and twin boys. they are six months old but they had the figure of a new born. ooohhh they are so tiny! by this time there is a slew of kids who are following me and touching my hand. as i left they began to chant "chow, chow, chow!" the chants grew louder and louder and my turning periodically and tickling their bellies didn't help much. as i walked past Gabriel's house the commotion drew his attention and i shrugged my shoulders. he said something in a strong but calm voice and the chanting stopped. i carried on to the highway were i met with three ladies who spoke Portuguese. (women this educated is a rarity) using what little Portuguese i know, i found out that one of the women's name was Isabella. Isabella proceeded to ask me for the hacky sack in my hand and the sweater wrapped around my waist. i think she would have asked for the shirt on my back if i hadn't turned down that dusty road to go home. i would have loved to give her my jacket because honestly i don't need it that much and she undoubtedly has much less than i do but giving it to her really doesn't help at all. a free gift to a poor uneducated person makes a beggar out of them. no...we need to give them much more than just a few clothes and a meal to eat; we need to teach them. teach them how to irrigate their land so they can have a more nutritional diet; teach them skills such as sowing and wood working that they can use for a job; teach them basic hygiene so they can avoid diseases. suddenly this task of serving Mozambique has me feeling inadequate.

wolves dressed in sheeps clothing

meet the Prairie Bible Collage team from Three Hills who came to serve with SAM Ministries here in Mozambique Africa. these girls may have the impression of innocents but spend two weeks with them and their true colours are soon revealed. it all started with the second night of their stay at the farm; due to lack of better things to do after the sun went down a few of the nurses though it would be great fun hiding in the darkness of the trees to scare the rest of their team. i fell victim to this plan of attack.....twice! also i had the joy of retrieving my bedding from the trees one late night before retiring for the evening.....but sweet revenge was to be had. i will tell you of that in moment but first let me explain how the pranking escalated. on their second last night at the farm, the Jortosh team decided they wanted to get in on the fun as well. they came to our site late in the night to steal our shower curtains and all our utensils. naturally they suspected myself (i can't imagine why) they then turned their blame to Lynn and Dwight because they also had reason for revenge on the girls. i believe it had something to do with their front door being duck taped shut..... and maybe some corn syrup plastered on their door handle and garbage lid. the conclusion was finally made that the Jortosh team was to blame. the girls waved good bye to the Jortosh team as they headed out to visit one of the local churches......then the wolves were unleashed. these girls were were relentless!! they strung Nat's clothes on a line through the trees. they duck taped a bunch of stuff to the branches in the trees. they hoisted a tent into the air with string between the trees down the path that they would have to drive down. they stole a bunch of things (some of which is still being found) they put hot sauce in their jam and stole their dinner meat. oh, they also hung Nat's bed in the air on string and duck taped it. the came site looked like a tornado ran through. after their evil deed was done for the day we all left to visit a local church as well. to confess their sins maybe. many more pranks were executed though out the rest of the Prairie teams stay but the one i enjoyed the most was getting up early on the last day to seek revenge on the bandits responsible for my bedding finding it's way to the trees out side my tent. after locking the girls in their tent with a suitcase size lock i proceeded to remove the tent poles allowing the entire tent to fall upon them. i felt my mission was accomplished when one of the team members out side the tent attempted to bring the girls comfort my shoving pancakes through the small opening so the girls could eat.....it was loads of fun.....however....the last laugh was on me. after returning from saying good bye to the nurses at the air port i was welcomed home by a dead furry animal tied to the zipper of my tent....complements of Nat Zook. you may, in the near future, find a picture of my friend on Nat's blog. if you are really interested (in his ministry on the farm of course) the link can be found under "my friends" on this blog.
meet the Jortosh team! aside from all the pranking the two teams really did make some positive impact in the community. I spent most of my time with the team of nurses taking them on home visits to the orphans and widows supported by ASAM, however I often joined the Jortosh team on some of their leisurely activities. the Jortosh team specializes in children's ministry which involved skits and games done at the schools and churches. they also spent some time helping Nat work on his house. if you are interested in learning more about their ministry visit http://www.jortosh.com/

we are now on our way back from showing the Jesus film. one the way there, Amber and i stood in the back of the truck, with no hands, to see who could last the the longest without falling down. (we called it truck surfing) on the way back our only concern was keeping warm! so you might be asking "what is the Jesus Film all about?" well a projector and screen are hauled to a requested location to show the movie of Jesus's life and death of the cross. the movie has been translated into the mother language, showna. because very few locals get the chance to see t.v, let alone a movie, this events can draw up quite a large crowd. at the end of the movie the audience is welcomed to come for prayer for either the acceptance of what Christ did for them or simply a sickness they are struggling with. it seems unfair to categorize the request of prayer for sickness as 'simple' but i have come to except that this is, unfortunately, life for the Mozambican people.

Spending time with the nurses and watching them interact and give medical attention made me question my adamancy against becoming a nurse. I know I told many of you that I wanted to do something in the medical field but didn't feel that nursing would be my venue. Well I may be wrong. I felt very charged up when the nurses were teaching the locals basic sickness prevention and what to do in the event of a accident. We also went to visit a man who was bed ridden and I felt the sing of the need for medical attention; a need that is evident in many parts of the world. who knows what the future hold but i guess this was my reason for coming here

so i finally got to do something i have been waiting to do since i arrived in Mozambique two months ago. you can not truly experience the culture until you ride the shoppa. the shoppa is a communal taxi that is often in the back of a pick-up truck or a over stuffed van. Matthew, Nat and myself got up at 6:00am to catch the next shoppa which never runs on a fixed schedule. we could have waited for a van but chose to settle for a truck since we had been waiting for twenty minutes and there was no guarantee for another one any time soon. everything was fine until it started to rain. Nat and were fine because when the rain came the driver offered us the front seat but poor Matthew was not thrilled with the idea. to appease our good friend we stoped in Vanduzie to switch to a van.

this is were i became a object of this sweet child's curiosity. most young babies see a white person and shriek with fear as though they have seen a ghost. this little one could not contain her desire to explore my face! i honestly can't say i minded much.