Monday, September 3, 2007

Headin' Home

Sunday was our last full day in Mozambique. We were a part of Sunday morning services at the church. There were over 250 kids up to age 11 in the Children's Church! It was bitter sweet as we drove away with kids running after our SUVs one last time.

This morning we are heading home... Maputo to Johannesburg to Dakar to Atlanta to Memphis/Baton Rouge. Over a 30 hours on the move!!

Can't wait to tell you more details in person :)

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Game Park, Youth Service, Food and Shopping

On Thursday, we took a 2 hour trip to Swaziland to Hlane Game Park. It was an awesome experience! We saw elephants, warthogs, rhinos, giraffes, impalas, hippos, wildebeast, lions and many birds. We slept in huts with oil lanterns. No electricity or air, but it was a great place! For dinner, we were served wildebeast sausage and impala stew. We saw the traditional Swazi victory dance after dinner (some of us tried to imitate it unsuccessfully). It was so nice to be in the solitude. You could almost hear a pin drop... along with the sounds of wild animals. We had the opportunity to pray for Isaac and Carol and each share about the impact of this trip to our personal lives. God is good.

The youth service began on Saturday afternoon with upbeat worship songs. For the first time today, they had electricity and the youth led worship. In another first... they broke an attendance record for the number of kids with 56!! Steve and Mona shared testimonies from their hearts. It was awesome how God tied both of their testimonies together. The boys (led by Steve and Bryan) beat the girls (led by Jane and Kelley) in a slight victory in charades... do you think a man or woman wrote this sentence? :) A team from Oasis church near Atlanta stopped by on route to a CarePoint in Swaziland. It was great having a new perspective on our experience.

Food in Mozambique is anything but lacking! There is a wonderful seafood selection, especially the prawns (large shrimp with heads still attached). The ice cream, although limited in the Hotel 2001 lobby :), is more than adequate to tempt any sweet tooth- Heaven, Mega, Chocstick and King Cone bars. Only one or two per person... so far. We haven't spotted a vending machine, but Cokes are available everywhere. There are grape and apple tizers and Fanta drinks that we are all enjoying.

We made a 2 hour stop Satruday morning at the Maputo market for a little shopping. Everyone's "game face" was on as bargaining became a sport. We did find some great deals on everything from batiks to jewelry to wood carvings to "real"Ray Bans. Steve is convinced that the Ray Bans are real (for approx. $9 American dollars)!

Tomorrow we are having church. Can't wait to see how God will move in our last day in Maputo!