Word from the world

back at it

2008-11-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

so here I am - back in my place on the couch in the living room, reflecting on the past couple weeks where sometimes time seemed to be standing still, but now I can't believe it's already over. I'm trying to catch up with life here at home - everything I missed while I was away, while trying to process everything that now seems to have gone by in a blur.

Overall I just find myself feeling ridiculously blessed beyond words. For the first time in my life I am actually really excited to be home. My life is overflowing with love from all directions. so much that I find myself at times not even knowing what to do with myself because I am so overwhelmed with it. It is the most incredible feeling ever. and as cliche as this all sounds, I have no other way to describe it.

My last night in Pemba was seriously one of the most amazing nights of my entire life, thus far. I got to hang out up at my friend Rosa's house for the whole night, and at the end she ended up gathering up all the girls in her room and sitting me in the middle of the floor and getting them to sing and pray over me. that is a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life. holding little 2 year old Christina on my lap, the sound of those girls singing. their perfect harmonies, and tiny voices just telling God how much they love him. them all around me praying for me and my family in Portuguese, and then Rosa and Chantel continuing to just soak me love spoken directly from God through them... it is a moment completely beyond words.

Leaving the next day was hearder than I remember it being the last time. Knowing it may be years before I get to go back. not knowing where certain friends will be at that point.

The few days we had in South Africa after leaving Pemba were good, but pretty difficult for me. I wanted to either be with my friends in Pemba, or back with my friends here at home. being stuck in transition was really hard. but while we were there I met an amazing south african couple, who I hope to go back and work with the next time I go to africa. and we went on a pretty amazing safari. Saw lots of amazing animals up close and personal - very personal in some cases.... sarah and I definitely got attacked by some monkeys...! aaahahaha.

So now I'm home. happy, and overflowing. job hunting, missing far away friends but thankful for the ones here, and praying that I won't lose anything I learned or experienced there.

*sigh*

life is good, my friends.

Closing time

2008-11-06T02:54:00.000-08:00

My last few days here in Pemba are coming at me at ridiculous speed. I can't believe we only have 2 more days here! that's insanity..... I've definitely been feeling the urgency of that the past few days, andhave just spent as much time as possible hanging out with friends here.

This trip has been different for me - less spiritual (although there's been plenty of that as well) and more relational stuff. I've spent a lot of time just building up the friendships I had here from the last trip. there are a couple people here who I've gotten pretty close to this trip, and my heart is already really sad to be leaving them in a couple days. but ... that said - I still have a couple more days to hang out with them, so I'm going to take advantage of that as much as possible, so this will probably be my last post from Pemba.

South Africa in a couple days. should be fun. life here is good. it only continues to get hotter, and I don't seem to have enough minutes in the day for everything I want to do and everyone I want to see!!

Speaking of which - I gotta get going! See you in South Africa! See you for real in about a week.

hearts

2008-11-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

The past few days here have been amazing. I can't even begin to try to remember it all, and even if I could what I write here wouldn't do it justice.
My friend Heather finally arrived - I don't remember if I mentioned that or not yet.. so it's been so great spending time with her. I've gotten to play lots of music in the past few days. My friend Rosa and I spent some time up in one of the gazibos the other night and she taught me some portuguese songs, and we worshiped and talked. It was so great. Last night we had a (brace yourself....!! haha) techno dance party!!! bahahahaha!! up in one of the gazibos, one of the long term missionaries here organized this worship/rave/amazing dance party thing that was fricking amazing!! hahaha. God was sooooo tangible during the mellower worshipy times, and then it was just SO much fun dancing and jumping around toghether. haha. I loved it. that's something I've wanted to organize at home for a long time, so it gave me the extra excitement I need to hopefully do something about it this time when I get back. hehe.
This morning I think I realized that I just have less than a week left here in Pemba, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. I'm excited to go home - I miss it (weird!) - but the past couple days have been so amazing. I finally am getting into the rhythm of life here, building some amazing friendships with people from the last time I was here, spending time with old friends, and meeting some great new people. As usual, it's going to be pretty bitter/sweet when I have to leave here.
but! now it's time for church, so I gotta get going!! yay carnival style piano and crazy dancing! hehehe. then the church team is headed to this crazy beautiful beach about 20 minutes from here. *ahhhh, the hard life of a mssionary* hehe.
tcheu!

One week down

2008-10-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

Not a lot has happened since I last updated this blog.
We went on our outreach to the bush - that was pretty great. definitely redeemed all my negative experiences with outreaches from the last time I was here, haha. We got to sing a ton of songs with the kids, and dance, and play games with them. then when they were showing the jesus movie, I just cuddled with a couple kids (whyyyyy didn't I think of that before?!! it TOTALLY made the movie way less annoying to sit through! haha) and then after the movie we prayed for a ton of people, and the majority of them got healed!! we didn't have a translator, so every person who came for prayer just showed us what was wrong on their bodies - touching their ear, or their head or their stomach.. Sarah, our friend rachel and I prayed for a woman who told us something was wrong with her eye, and when we were done, she started dancing around, and looked SOOO happy (mozambican women rarely show emotion, so that was huge!) and ran right up to the mic and told her story to teh whole village in makua. so something pretty cool must've happened! haha. a lot of the other kids we prayed for too said they were better, and went up to the microphone to tell everyone about it! super cool.

other than that, I've just been spending lots of time with the kids here. the kids over at Noviana (the community in the village just outside the Iris base, where our church raised money to build them a community area and stuff) are SOO beautiful! so timid and quiet and happy. I love hanging out with them. as soon as we're done on the internet we're going over to see them for a while, so that's exciting.

I've also been able to spend LOTS of time with Namuna, and get to know some more of the village kids. some of the older Iris kids are teaching sarah and I more portuguese, which is GREAT because I've been frustrated at myself for not spending more time learning it when I was at home for the past 2 years. but I like learning it from them so much better. :)

alright - as usual I'm out of time. life is great here in pemba. I'm getting back into life here, and it's wonderful. you don't realize how much you get used to living as a "westerner" again, so I've been working on getting back to Pemba-Jen, because that is definitely when I am at my best, hehe. I love the way life is here, and how relaxed, and un-stressed and carefree it is. *smile*

hope you're all stayig warm back at home!!

2008-10-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

can I just start this blog by saying that I think it is absolutely hilarious that I don't even have to sign in to blogger on these computers?? I'm STILL signed in from 2 years ago!! hahaha. I just type in the website, and it goes right to my account. haha. and also that Rhianna is blasting in here right now. bahaha. I love it.

ok. so, as usual I've spent too much time reading emails (I love it! keep em coming!!) and haven't left enough for writing in this blog. so I'll just write a bit about what's been going on.

This trip is pretty different for me than last time. as a student I had stuff to do and places to be every day, and hardely had time to get to a computer, or even to catch a moment by myself. but this time I have nothing but time! I have to go in search of things to do, and that's a little different for me. stretching. but still good, I suppose.

the most exciting news of the trip so far is that just after I updated this blog the other day telling you that I hadn't seen Namuna yet, we were heading out to lunch and just as we were leaving the iris compound I saw her running towards me!! she collapsed into my arms and cried, and I just held her for SO long, trying to keep myself together. it was by FAR the best moment of the trip so far. I love that girl SO much, and she has occupied so many of my thoughts in the 2 years since I was away from here. it was SO great to see her, and that she remembered me. we've hung out every day since, and hopefully I'll get to see her a little later today.

I'm using every single bit of Portuguese I can remember from the last time here, and trying desperately to learn more so I can communicate with the kids better. I definitely wish now I had spent more time learning it when I was home. but what I remember can get me by.

I've lost all but 1 of my nose rings already, haha. so my plans of still having my favourite piercing when I come home may not be as realiztic as I was hoping. ahh well... I can always get it repierced a 4th time... haha.

I've had a couple nights where I could just go away with some friends and play music, or listen in on a worship practice.. nigths that remind me just how much I LOVE this place for what it is. the music, the beautiful people, amazing harmonies, distinctive african rhythm... *sigh* it's so good.

and so warm! haha.

I think we're going out on an outreach to the bush this afternoon - that's where people usually see the blind eyes being opened, and the deaf people hearing. all that good stuff. so as you guys are just waking up (it's just quarter to 6am there!) be praying that that goes well, and leave me lots of comments!

*love!*

WE'RE HERE

2008-10-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

So here I am! Back in this cute little internet cafe - which unfortunately it seems like the AC isn't working today, so we're sweating like pigs. haha. mmm, wonderful. haha.

We arrived yesterday afternoon, and spent the day getting organized, and rested. It was a long trip here - I forgot how much that initial travel takes out of you! I'm just a little bit jet-lagged this morning, but the excitement of being here makes it ok. I've seen a ton of kids I know so far - most remember me, and a couple don't. I haven't found Namuna yet, or my friends from the HG school - they're all away in Beira on an outreach, and will be back sometime next week. So in the meantime I'll be busy trying to adjust to the heat, and making NEW friends!

It's definitely different being here as a visitor and not a student. Unfortunately I don't have time to get into it right now - we just have 1/2 an hour before we have to head back to the base for a meeting about Mieze (where hopefully we'll be headed later this week to visit the goats our church bought last christmas, and all the kids there!).

So for now - Bom dia! We all made it alive and well. I'm adjusting - it's different.. I forgot that it's not all easy, but it's just day 2. No complaints here!! Just wishing I could see friends, mostly. :)

Peace & love!

Back To Africa

2008-09-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

It's almost that time again! In 24 short days a small team from my church (my dad, my little sister Sarah, a man from our church named Marcus and I) will be heading back to my beloved Pembatown. A place that has been consistantly in my dreams and my thoughts every single day for almost 2 years. It will actually almost be 2 years to the DAY when we land back on African soil.

We head out on October 19th with the intention of helping Iris in any way needed while we're there. Sarah and I are pretty good at the hugging kids thing, so you'll probably be hearing lots of stories from us about hanging out with the kiddies at the orphan homes. Dad and Marcus will be scouting out materials and locations for dad to start his windmill project (for his blog and more info check out http://greenskyenergy.blogspot.com/). We'll be returning on November 14th (not nearly a long enough visit in my mind, but I'll take what I can get! hehe) with lots of stories, and hopefully lots of vision and excitement to bring back to share with everyone.

I never thought in my life this would happen, but as I leave Saint John this time I'll do it with a little sadness in my heart. God is doing so much here these days that I just want to be a part of, and not miss out on. The youth group I've been leading since just a month before going to Africa last time just makes my heart so happy, and I'll miss all my youthies terribly. But, thankfully with the wonders of the internet I'll only ever be an email (and a ride to town in the back of someone's pick-up) away.

I think today I had my first moment when I actually realized I was going, and how soon it was... and got REALLY excited! So I thought I'd get on this blog again, and let you know that I'll be keeping you posted as often as possible while we're away. It'll be a different experience being there as a "short-termer" and not a student, but two of my closest friends I made while I was there last time will be back again while I'm there, and I'll get to see Namuna again - the little village girl that completely stole my heart. so I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!! hehehe.

*oh excitement*

Prayers would be much appreciated in this time before we leave, and also while we're away. There's tons of prep still to do, and believe it or not, it's not all sunshine and happiness living there either - you know... little things like malaria... weird bacterial things... too many mangos... (read blogs from my last trip for probably more detail on that than you need, hehe)

ps

2007-01-23T19:31:00.000-08:00

if you want to keep reading blogs from me you can catch my other blog at http://blog.myspace.com/musical_fiasco

tcheau

a synopsis

2007-01-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

I sit here, tears streaming down my face, longing to be back in the place where my entire being became so alive. where my heart was content and wanted to call "home" the moment I set foot on its red soil. and it is now that I finally feel able to bring myself to write to you my humble description of my time there, in beautiful africa.

I encountered God there in a way that I cannot even describe. I don't think I even totally realize myself - all I know is that he is more real to me now than I have ever known in my life. he is real, and cares, and speaks to us even about the most mundane, routine circumstances. my greatest burning desire is to move closer to his heart, and to see the people surrounding me catch a glimpse of what I saw there, and what I'm trying to find here. to grab onto it with all their might and never let go. to catch a glimpse of your eye, and fall so passionately in love that they can't do anything else but seek you.

I'm struggling to find the ease in which everything flowed there, here in canada. longing for the spiritual giants to look to, and the encouragement and support that were a constant part of life there. looking for the courage I need to step out in what I've become, and not shy back to who I was. you've shown me the amazing things that this place could be, and I want it with all my heart.

I loved being under that tent, and having you come fall like a heavy blanket over us, downloading your heart into ours. feeling you in the wind. or like a wave pouring over us. tangible. all united as one spirit, singing and dancing with the angels. flowing with your spirit, moving freely in our individual gifts. not always knowing exactly what you were doing, but knowing we'd be changed when we got up off the floor. or having extremely specific things pinpointed, brought to the surface and completely restored. I am not the person I was when I left. I feel so so blessed, and enriched, and humbled. I am falling in love, and you are drawing me closer. never failing me. waiting in anticipation for me to turn my busy eyes to you. raising such a strong curosity, and desire.

africa, to me, was life changing. I don't care about sounding cliche, cheezy, over spiritual or fanatical. God has given me so so much. more astoundingly beautiful people to love, a deep love for a country and a culture, and I feel so much more clarity and more grounded than I ever have in my life. confidence. *deep breath* there's no way I could ever begin to explain to you what africa was to me, I don't have words to articulate it, but here is some of what's been placed on my heart, and enstilled in my spirit.

thank you Jesus. with all my heart.

Toto, we're not in Africa anymore

2007-01-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

So here I sit - freezing toes, warm sweater, back at my computer eating European gummy bears. It's still pretty unreal to me. What's the first thing you did when you got home, you ask? Well... I got to go to a funeral. Then I came home, gave my family some presents, and unpacked all my junk in the middle of the living room, haha.

The remainder of my trip was pretty uneventful. I don't remember where I left off, really. I got to Maputo, met up with friends and then headed off early on the 11th. We were in a cramped bus with no bathroom or air conditioning, so it was a loooong 10 hours. But driving through South Africa is so beautiful, we kept things interesting by almost missing our bus to buy chicken, and hitting people with pillows and stuff. We got in to Joburg around 6, and met up with a native Johannesburger (hah! burger... I'm tired...) and he took us to his place for a bit, then out to supper which was incredible, and then I was off to the airport.

The flights were good. Very long and uneventful. The most exciting part was meeting a girl from canada, living in south africa who had been to Iris and then watching a chick flick about dancers, haha. I got a lot of weird looks walking through the Detriot airport, and getting off the plane in Bangor wearing shorts and flip-flops while everyone else is all bundled up in their winter coats and scarves. When mom saw me, first of all she didn't recognize me right away because I am so dark, and then she jumped up and down a lot until I came out of security, haha. It was great to see my family. So we stayed up late in the hotel room and I talked a lot, and then I slept in a bed.... with blankets.... and didn't die of heat stroke. We got up early and headed home. We amde it across the border with hardely any questions, and then I got to stop at SSU for a sec to say hi to all my sleeping friends. They definately made my entry into Canada a wonderful thing. hehe. They make me so happy.

So tomorrow is church, and I'm excited to see everyone, but a little anxious about all the questions, and attention that is coming my way. This next week is going to be insane. I miss Pemba, and heat and friends a lot, but I'm so excited to be back and see what God's going to do here in the next few months. It's gonna be great.

bye bye pemba

2007-01-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

So I've made it to Maputo. After a draining 4 times saying goodbye to my friends, and a few too many stressful trips to the airport with no luck I finally got on this afternoon, and it was the best goodbye I could've asked for. A huge load of Iris people were flying out with LAM this afternoon, so I got to hang out with them all at the airport for a couple hours with them and just relax knowing that I was on my way back home, finally. So when I got to Maputo, I had someone waiting for me at the airport to bring me back here to Oasis where I stayed in October, AND while I was eating supper Carly's face popped up in the window which means..... DUNN DUNN DUNN DUNNNNNNN I'm not travelling to Joburg ALONE in the morning!! oh man. it is SUCH a relief. as usual, I have no time to write..... but eventually I'll do one massive post or something.... off to joburg in the morning. back in NB the 13th hopefully. Horray!!

Homeward bound - almost

2007-01-09T05:39:00.000-08:00

Alright, so here's the update that I'll write while my pages load since the internet is really slow today... Otreach was good. It was pretty draining but I'm refreshed again and able to say that the good things outweighed the bad. 9 days in the bush was definately intense and exhausting - mentally and physically, but it was a good experience overall I think. I was never so glad to be back in Pemba as when we pulled in on the 4th though. I didn't see any elephants, but I DID see a baboon as we were driving by. That was kinda cool. lots and LOTS of chickens and goats and lizards. I ate a snail and crab eggs (from a street vendor on the side of the street, haha). I'll write more about the trip later.

As for today, I should be sitting in Maputo right now but - true African style - I got sold a ticket that doesn't actually exist. The airline doesn't even fly on the day they sold me the ticket for, so I showed up at the airport this morning, said all my goodbyes, waited until 1/2 an hour before my plane was supposed to leave and then found out it was "amanya" tomorrow. So I freaked out a little bit, but luckily I had some of my Mozambican friends there who could translate for me and help keep me calm. So to make a long story short - I went to the airline and tried to get my money back, they told me to "write the manager," went to LAM to try to buy a ticket for the plane that was flying out at 3pm - didn't have enough money, so I'm going on faith praying that they'll use my ticket for today at the airport tomorrow which would mean that I would stay the night in Maputo tomorrow night, then bus to Joburg and arrive there the day I need to fly out, instead of staying one night there as well. Oi! stress. I'll be home soon. In the wonderful Canadian cold. If I call you "coonya" it's just because I'm making fun of how white you are, haha. That's what all the village kids yell as we walk by in the villages here. Keep me in your prayers - I need em'.

More from me when I'm not so stressed.

christmas, what??

2006-12-26T05:56:00.000-08:00

Back from the bush. We head out again early tomorrow morning, but we were back at the Iris center for Christmas. It was an interesting week – to say the least. We got all of our stuff ready for 9:30am on the 19th, and in true African style actually headed out around 3pm. About an hour into the drive I discovered that I suddenly had a full blown cold - plugged nose, cold and a sore throat which progressed into a cold. The next morning I woke up and could hardly move my left arm. I looked down only to find a huge swollen, fluid filled bump, almost an inch off my arm. I went to the doctor with us and he had no idea what it was. We assumed it was some kind of bite, and left it at that. 2 days later it popped so we promptly disinfected and bandaged it. To add to my list of physical defects derived on my trip in the bush is a foot infected in 2 spots, a weird bump thing on my lip, and more than frequent trips to the latrine – once again. I have come to the conclusion that the bush hates me.

I experienced a deeper level in the “spiritual realm” than I ever have before. There was some intense witchcraft in some of the villages we went into. I mean, it’s always there but there was one village where as soon as we would start up a church service all the women went over across the field and did their little witchcraft thing against us. I was kept awake all night to the sound of their drums and chanting just outside the church where we were sleeping. There are so many babies who are sick and have the witchcraft beads around their necks, so you know their parents have taken them to the witch doctor in an attempt to heal them – it’s insane. It makes you really realize how much you need to depend on God to keep you safe from it all.

To be completely honest I’m finding it pretty draining. You go to sleep with the entire village staring, and waking up to them still there - staring. You get to a village late at night, set up in the dark, show the Jesus movie, pray for people, pack up first thing in the morning, do a church service, drive a couple hours and doing it all again. People line up after the speaking for prayer, which can be really cool and we’ve seen God do some awesome healings and stuff, but there is also the frustration of the language barrier and the fact that some of them are just up there to be touched by a white person.

Aside from all that though, there were definitely positives on the trip so far. Some places we’ve gone have been so incredibly beautiful. We were pretty much as far out in the bush as you can get in Africa, driving in the back of an open cameo over dirt roads so we get to see true, untouched, authentic Africa. The sunsets have gotten better each night, and I’m getting to know a few people who I never talked to much before which is cool. I saw a ton of adorable kids, experienced some true Mozambican culture, and keep being blown away when I realize to myself, “hey…. I live in Africa!” God’s healed some people when we pray for them – even a blind woman can see now! And he’s doing a lot in me, which is worth everything I’m going through.

Man, I have so many stories to tell from it so far, but no time and the internet would definitely not do them justice. I definitely had a Christmas Eve that I’ll never forget, but no internet time to write it – get me to tell you the story when I get home!

(can I just say that the pussycat dolls are playing here in the internet café, and I find it kind of amusing. Haha. So funny.)

Christmas was great though. I got back from outreach at 4am and since the sun comes up at 4:30 I decided it would be smarter to just stay up rather than go to bed, get a couple hours sleep and feel way worse when I got up – plus, a shower was definitely top priority after having zero water for a week, and smelling pretty rotten. So I took a trip to the well and got some water for a nice bucket shower, since there was no running water in the house, and then did some laundry. After that I chilled out for a bit, and then went up to where all the kids live and watched Heidi give out their Christmas presents. It was so cute. They all got new clothes and a ton of candy, haha. Then I braved the chaos of the kitchen where they were feeding probably the entire population of Pemba rice, chicken and coke for their Christmas dinner. It was great.

Tomorrow morning we head back out into the bush, to the North of Pemba for 9 days. It is going to be intense, but I have a feeling I’m going to see an elephant, so it will be worth it, haha. After internet we’re making a pit stop at the store to get some bush necessities – aka cookies and candy. So great.

Day old blog

2006-12-16T04:53:00.000-08:00

I wrote this yesterday, but the internet didn't work. so I saved it and am posting it today. news since the post below - I spent the day at the beach today, and I just realized how close christmas is. it's totally not a big thing here, so every once in a while I see a chtristmas tree and realize it's just around the corner. weird. here's the rest of the news:

Today is graduation. I came into town early to get some "shopping" done before 11 when everything starts. These past few weeks have been busy, as usual. We had a couple great guest speakers, some fun excursions, and I went on my first outreach to the bush, and just have one thing to say – do NOT eat a lot of mangoes in a short period of time. I became intimately acquainted with one of the village latrines, and that is not a fun experience. It’s really funny in the bush because there are kids who have never seen a white person before, and some are terrified! I made 3 kids cry by smiling at them. Haha! You go to bed with the entire village around the perimeter of your tents, staring, and when you wake up – oop! There’s the whole village STILL staring! Haha. Oh man. It’s also rainy season now, so we had a nice little afternoon torrential downpour that flooded all our tents, and made cozy waterbeds for us all that night.
Tuesday we leave for our 3 week out reach. I am on a team that is traveling all around the province of Cabo Delgado going from village to village. I was excited about it at first, but now after last weekend, I’m a little nervous. I didn’t have a pleasant first village experience, but I’m sure it’ll be great. We’re gone for a week, come back to Iris for Christmas which I’m excited about, and then head out again for another week. The other teams will be away in Nampula and Zambezia, but the ones staying in Pemba and our team will get to be here with the kids.
It’s strange seeing the end of this trip get closer. People who aren’t staying for the outreach have already started leaving, and the thought of leaving my housemates has us all a bit emotional when we stop and think about it.

Last night a group of us went out to eat, and then decided it was the perfect opportunity to jump in the ocean. Definitely one of the highlights of this trip, I think. No children, no floaty stuff because it was high tide, thousands of stars. Ahh. I love living in Africa. (I wonder how much snow we have at home….)

Still no elephant sightings, but I’ll let you know after outreach.

mama jenny

2006-11-25T02:43:00.000-08:00

These past few weeks have been completely incredible. I have experienced so much, and changed in a way that I don’t think I can describe in words. I’ve witnessed my first Mozambican funeral (also my first infant funeral – a 6 month old baby died in the night here last week…), my first Mozambican wedding, God’s awesome healing from multiple things – a skin bacterial thing, and Malaria 2 days ago – and so much inner healing. God’s been totally just cleaning me up inside out. It’s phenomenal.

Pretty much every night I come home to a mass of people completely waisted on my front porch (drunk in the spirit, that is. Umm, ask me about it when I get home if you still don’t get it. Or look it up in the bible. It’s completely biblical) And during the day the teaching and the revelation and the direction God is giving us all is unreal. Coming home after this spiritual high is definitely not going to be easy. Our house hasn’t had any problems yet, which in my experience of community is pretty much unheard of. 10 people all living in the house the size of one living room… oi. But we all click together so well, it’s amazing. I love them so much.

So my life in Pemba right now is pretty much incredible. I’ve definitely had moments of breakdown when the last thing I wanted was a kid clinging to both my legs and jumping on me the second I step out of the gate. I miss the security of running water (and not having my "tan" wash off every time I do shower), being able to hang clothes on the line without them disappearing (and seeing your shirt on a kid the next week!), not having rocks in my food (ps - I found out I ate cat), and this week we’ve discovered the joy of rats in our house. The ant bites hurt like MAD and they’re everywhere, and last weekend there was a conference here with around 3000 Mozambican pastors and they seemed to bring with them about ½ the country’s population of flies (and left with a pair of sandals…) But the good far outweighs the bad. We found a place to get really cheap ice cream and chocolate (both of which are like gold around here), milkshakes at the hotel, we know our way around town a bit more, we’ve done some snorkeling, celebrated American thanks giving, discovered that hitch hiking into town is SO much better than getting a cab. There’s nothing better than walking down the road, hopping onto the back of a pick-up and getting a free drive into town (in large groups, of course. Hehe). “Africa! La va tante Africa!!” (I’ll sing that for you when I get home). Alright, my time here is just about up. I love you all. I can’t wait to see you and tell stories.

Salama

2006-10-28T03:17:00.000-07:00

This post can’t actually be as long as I had hoped. The internet is slower than I thought here, and get distracted trying to email as many people back as I can. But I just wanted to let you all know that I have been safe in Pemba for almost a week now (I had the “one week anniversary” of meeting Carly and Torstein today, haha). And I love it here so much. I could definitely live in Africa. I haven’t seen any gynormous scary bugs yet, but I have seen a monkey, we have 3 lizards living on our front porch, I’ve gotten to dance with some Africans, and learn some portugese and the local dialect makua. It is so wonderful. I live in a house with 10 girls, and so far we all get along really well. We hang out on our porch a lot reading.

The kids are amazing. I’ve already kind of chosen a favourite – even though I know you shouldn’t do that, haha. His name is Gassimo, and I think he’s about 10. I’ll have to ask him again,. But he is adorable, and so cuddly. ALL the kids are! I can’t believe how un-shy they are. From the first day they juts walk up and sit on your lap, or grab your hand. It’s so great. I can’t wait to tell you all stories when I get home.

Last night we were at “the tent” (where we have all our classes and church) just hanging out, and some of the local kids taught us some of their dances, and then asked us if they could pray for us. It was AMAZING. The authority that those kids have when they pray. Aww man!! It’s insane.

Margie – I gave your letter to Suzette the other day. She LOVED it, and said that she remembered you. She shows everyone her photo album.

I’m already getting a little sick of plain rice. I know it’s only been a week, but I can’t help it. We went out to a restaurant for a girl in my houses’ birthday last night, and Igot a chocolate milkshake. Awww, it was SO good. Haha.

I can’t think if anything else I need to tell you, really. The people here are wonderful, I’m filthy dirty all the time and it’s awesome, and God is doing some pretty cool stuff here. A couple days ago there was an outreach into the bush and 3 kids who were deaf since birth were healed, and they have complete hearing now. I haven’t been out on an outreach yet, but I can’t wait. I’m trying to take some good pictures for you guys, but the camera I have isn’t the greatest. My friend tor is taking some that he’s going to post online for me though, and I’m sure I can snag some from other students too. Alright – internet time is aaaaaalmost up. Keep praying, please, since they are still very much needed. Health, and money to get home would be great. Haha. Tcheau! (bye, in portugese)

en route

2006-10-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

it was a dark and story night - very literally - when I flew into Joburg last night. there was chain lightning everywhere as we were landing. my palms were pretty sweaty by the time we were on the ground. travelling went pretty smooth getting there. the layovers were a bit tedeous, and some kid spilled club soda all over my stuff, but other than that it wasn't too bad. once I got to South Africa was when the fun began. (mom and dad, I'm sorry if what you ready next will scare you....)

My hotel "in the airport" turned out to NOT be in the airport. I got off the plane, stood in a line that too forever for them to put a stamp on my passport, and then set off looking for my luggage and the hotel. my bag came after a while (where I then hid the canadian flag tag I had on it, so I wouldn't get any more harrased than I already was). I wandered a bit, following the crowd, and some signs that talked about a hotel. I wandered some more, got some south african rand out of the machine, when a man came up to me, and asked to see the papers I was holding (hotel info). he read it, and said he had no idea where that hotel was. ".... um........ ..... really?" so then I found another guy who looked semi-offocial, and he was like "oh yeah, go outside turn left and walk to a shuttle" so I hesisitated, then stepped outside the door, and saw a long road and lots of people, and did I mention it was dark and stormy? haha. so I went back in (praying the entire time), and talked to an information guy who was like "oh! come with me, I'll take you!" so I decided to trust him. I'm usually pretty good at getting good or bad vibes off of people in regards to whether they want to kidnap me or not, and this guy seemed pretty safe. on the long walk there we talked about his friends who go to canada to box. so finally I made it to where the shuttle was supposed to come pick me up, and to save a lot of details and internet time - it did, I checked in, showered, went to sleep, checked out, and got a crazy fast cab to the bus station because I thought I was going to miss my bus.

so at the bus station, after running around a bit I got my ticket, realized that I and two others were the only white people there, and waited for my bus (which came an hour late). while waiting, the other two played rock, paper, scissors to see who would come over and ask me where I was going (the ultimate goal - to see if I was going to iris too since I stuck out like a sore thumb). SO, there I met tolstein and carly, and we traveled the whole way here to Maputo together. it was SOO great to have them with me at the border, because I would have been so confused and had a break down I think. haha. so we got to maputo, and all ended up coming here to wonderful beautiful "Oasis" where we will be for 2 nights. we're going to an englishservice here tomorrow morning, and then they (and hopefully me) will be flying out monday morning. pray there is room left on the plane for me!! otherwise I'm here till wednesday.

ok. I should get going. thanks again for keeping me in your prayers. they are what's gotten me this far. goodnight!

jen

2006-10-19T00:33:00.000-07:00

4:30am, here I go!

26 hours

2006-10-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

"I'm off to Africa tomorrow, I got my bags all packed. Did I tell you I've been waiting for this all my life?" - Ry Flyer

Ok, so my bags aren't completely packed but I've started. I don't have everything together, but I'm going. tomorrow at 3:30am I will be leaving my precious country behind and catching the 8:25am plane in Bangor.

this is actually happening!

this dream of mine, since childhood is now a reality. three days from now I will meeting all the other students, and seeing first hand what the country I have dreamed of for so long actually looks and feels like.
it seems so surreal right now. I've said all my goodbyes, yet it still feels like I will see them all on sunday at church. wow.

wow.

3 days and a bit

2006-10-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

(read the following paragraph in skittish flight attendant voice).

hello, and welcome. thank you for joining me on my blog through the African experience. here I will give you a bit of insight into my trip, and mostly let all you at home know I'm still alive and well. but for now...

I am here. 3 days away from my big trip. as of right now I still have a few major things to get done. my visa hasn't arrived from washington yet, I still have to book a flight from Maputo to Pemba, get a few bus tickets and find places to stay along the way. I know I should probably be more nervous, but I know that all of this is in God's hands. he has gotten me this far and believe me, that in itself is a miracle.

I have been soo so blessed by him, and by the help and generocity (sp?) of the church, and friends. thank you SOO much everyone who has helped me out with this trip financially, or with all the stuff I need to bring, or have just been praying for me. it is all so very appreciated. God is so faithful. all I ask now is that you would continue to keep me in your prayers, and leave me comments on here, or emails once in a while after I leave so I can hear how you lovely people are doing at home.
thanks!!

jen