How Great Thou Art!

How big is God? Big enough so that I could enjoy singing this well known hymn while standing in the midst of people from about 20 different African countries! On Tuesday evenings I have started attending a Women of Virtue Bible study. However it is not just for women, men have started attending as well. There are people there from about 20 different countries. It is a time of singing, dancing (a favorite pastime of Africans), Bible study and prayer. It is really a good service.

Tonight we sang the very familiar hymn, How Great thou Art. As we sang it I was reminded of the times in America when we would have Sunday night hymn sings or times of singing favorite hymns and this one was almost always sung at these events. Then here I am across the ocean from America and I am singing it with many other nationalities.

I guess another way of saying it isn’t God’s world small?

If you will click on the link below, you'll be taken to Selah's website and be able to click an awesome recording of this song
http://www.selahonline.com/music.htm

Concurso?

Concurso…A word I will remember.

The other day a lady was talking to me and she was inviting me to something which her church was having. I listened and I said sure I’ll go. Well those are words which you have to be careful with when you are learning a new language and a new culture. I had followed most of what she was saying but I missed out on something. After I agreed to go I found out that concurso is a contest. The lady coordinating it thought it would be good to have someone from the USA, from Brazil, from Portugal and from Mozambique. The event was about four days after the day she asked me. The more I thought about it, the more I thought am I going to be a contestant. Will I have to sing? dance? draw? compete in the funny clothes contest? What will I have to do? I thought singing, dancing, and drawing are not talents of mine.

I kept saying God is sovereign, nothing catches him by surprise. He knew that I would say yes to this event and He has it under control. Each time times of apprehension would come up I would think that.

Then the Thursday morning of the concurso was here. I walked in the church for the event. Imagine my relief when I saw a room full of youth and a I found out that I was going to be a judge and not a contestant! What relief!

It was a good event. They had 10 or so different categories which the youth could compete in such as singing, dancing, crazy clothes contest, drawing, Bible questions and even arm wrestling! Each winner for the event won prizes. It was a lot of fun.

Easter Activities

Easter

Many people have asked what I did for Easter. Easter was very good.

The day started early. I went to an Easter sunrise service which started at 4:30 am. Why so early? Because the sun comes up early here and we wanted to see the sunrise. There were about 12 of us, we went and climbed a rock so that we would have a good view of the city and of the sunrise. Because of a little rain and clouds we weren’t able to see the sunrise. But it was still nice; we sang Easter hymns and read the Easter story.

Then we (the missionaries) had an Easter service. One of the families lives on a nice farm outside of town. So we had a service there and spent the day there complete with a covered dish lunch and an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Oh and we had a really good volleyball game followed by a trip to the stream/small river for the kids to swim in. It was a good day.

It seems that Protestant churches here don’t celebrate a lot of the holidays. I haven’t quite figured out why. One missionary said it is because they don’t want to celebrate and have people confuse them with Catholics. It was interesting to me because one of the Mozambicans asked me if we celebrate Good Friday and Easter in the states. I said we do. He said why don’t we? I said good question. He is also very interested in getting more people involved in his church and he is wondering why the church attendance is so small. He has some good questions, some of the same questions which I’ve had myself.
His name is Choveke if you would like to pray for him.

Easter Activities for the Missionaries

This was taken today at the Easter celebration which we
(the missionaries) had. We had a service and then
covered dish lunch and then we played volleyball and
went to the river/stream. It was held at another
missionary's farm place, a really nice out in the
country place. It was fun...Carol

Easter Celebration in Nampula

This is the Easter sunrise service group. The sun rises
early here. We met at 4:15 am and got to the place at
about 4:30. It was a cloudy morning but we could still
see at least a break in the clouds for the sunrise.
Notice the moon behind them in this picture..We just
sang some Easter songs and read the Easter story. .Carol

What has Carol been doing?

March 2006

Hello,
I’m sure many of you are wondering how the past few weeks have gone for me. Right now I am not feeling well so I haven’t sent out any updates about my recent literacy workshops. I’ll try to sum up things in this note. This refers back to two weekends ago. Last week I was out of commission all week except for one of the literacy workshops. The Thursday and Friday prior to this we had also done a literacy workshop.

On Saturday night we had a team birthday party for two of the members who had birthdays this month. We were all able to attend except for one guy who wasn’t able to travel in because of bad road conditions. It is the rainy season now which means that it has rained about 5 of 7 days maybe in the afternoon or during the night. Of course somedays more than others.

Sunday was a 1 year anniversary celebration of a church not far from the city. There were people from another church who had walked 11 hours to arrive at the celebration! The way the cars travel it would be about 55 kms, I’m not sure how many kms it was by foot, it was still a lot anyway you look at it. We feasted on chema, rice, goat, and chicken after a 3 hour or so service.

Then Monday I woke up and went walking. When I returned from that I realized that I did not feel well at all. After that is when the “fun” started. I won’t go into details of anything but I’ll just say Monday and Tuesday I went from the bed to the bathroom. Wednesday I was doing a little better still not great. But I knew that Thursday we needed to go on the literacy workshop. I did have a little bit of an appetite on Thursday which was good.

After traveling 100 kms on pothole dirty roads we arrived at our destination. There were 24 people at the first literacy workshop. We took the material to them and showed them how to teach the actual literacy classes in their churches. The area is so large here that there is no way one person could go to all the churches in different areas and lead the classes so we train people in the church to teach the classes. They decide when the best time to have the class is, a lot of that depends upon planting time and harvest times for the machambas-the gardens of the people.

I did enjoy going in the watering hole with the ladies for a bath. That was nice.

Friday we returned to Nampula. By the time we returned home I was feeling tired. I did enjoy some potato soup and NCAA basketball.

Saturday and Sunday I rested and stayed home. There were things I wanted to do but I decided I still wasn’t feeling the best so I didn’t go. I have been able to see some of the NCAA basketball tourney which has been a blessing.

This week I am still taking medicine working on getting my strength back up to normal. I’m a lot closer than what I have been but still not there yet. I know many prayers were lifted up for me on Sunday because I felt a lot better when I woke up Monday morning!

On a language note, I’ll be stopping Makhuwa lessons for now and just working on Portuguese. I think this will be good, that way I can work on some things in Portuguese which I’ve realized I need some help on since the Makhuwa lessons have been in Portuguese.

I’m sure I could have written a lot more for you. But that is all for today. I’ll work on getting some pictures to you as well because I know you would like to see those. Right now no interesting stories like pigs coming in the outhouse on the trip. However there was a chicken who thought about coming in our tent. Thankfully he decided not to!

Take care,
Carol

P.S. If you haven’t picked up the Beth Moore devotional book, Voices of the Faithful, I would really encourage you to go pick it up today. Today’s reading, 3-29-06, was written by one of my missionary friends. As I read this devotional I thought I have those same thoughts. In short the college age son was sick; his parents were in Middle America where they lived. He called home and said if I ever wish I could be home today is the day. The missionary then cried out to God to provide someone to fill the void that she couldn’t feel because of being miles away. God provided in his sovereign way a doctor who had been on a missionary medical trip to work with this family. As I was reading that just now I thought that is the way I felt the other day. I just wanted someone to take care of me, someone to say it will be okay, someone to bring me water. Looking back on the week I can’t say that I had just one person who God gave me to help me through but there were different ones at different times who were able to help me even if it was “just” a phone call to check on me. Of course there is nothing as “just” a phone call, sometimes that is just as important as many other things…..

What More Could a Person Want??

The smiles say it all!

Sharing a Meal with some friends

I had the pleasure of eating at a Mozambican's house the other week. The family just recently had electricity installed in their house which is a blessing for them. For the meal, we feasted on chicken and rice, common foods for Mozambique and also very good foods.

Some Fun and Games....

Carol is relaxing in Jo'Berg, South Africa playing with the timer shot on the camera. Carol is still Carol as you can tell from the sequence of shots. Oh, well- if at first you don't succeed, take another shot!

Lawrence and Sarah

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Lawrence and Sarah- Prayer Warriors for Mozambique! They are from Florida and because of Florida's WMU parthership with Mozambique they have been praying for us and our work here. I've "talked" with them via email several times but was blessed to actually meet them!

2-22-06

Hello friends,

I’m sure many of you are wondering why you haven’t heard from my human in a while. Carol has been busy so her dog, Boots, is writing this for her. When she’s not here I have to stay outside so I really like it when she is home. Because then I can stay inside and play and sleep and play and sleep. I did catch a mouse for her the other day when I was outside. We were playing the crazy game where she throws something and I go fetch it. When I went under the truck instead of coming out with the toy I came out with a small mouse. I had fun playing with it. I was very proud of the catch. Well, I’m tired now so I think I’ll go chew on whatever I can find (I’m still a puppy and I like to chew things, newspaper, envelopes, socks, pillows and anything I can find). I’ll make my human finish this for me….Boots.

This is Carol writing now. I had an interesting cultural thing in a restaurant the other night. Another lady and I went to a particular restaurant because we wanted the stir fry rice which they make. Granted we were eating more on American time instead of the later African time. Anyway, we ordered the chicken stir fry. About 20 minutes later the waiter came out and said you can’t have stir fry until after 6:30, at this time it was about 5:25 pm. We said why? He said because we just called the “stir fry” cook and they won’t be here until then. But you can order some other things. Evidently one cook was there but he couldn’t make stir fry. Instead of waiting we ordered something else.

Today in a restaurant the waiter came up to us-there was about 7 of us ladies- and he said I’m going to be leaving now; can you go ahead and give me my tip? He said another waiter will be taken over for me. He wanted to make sure he got his tip before he left. We gave it to him. Actually Mozambicans don’t tip in restaurants. The wait staff is paid normal wages, not like in the states where the wait staff makes most of their salary from tips.

I have been able to watch some of the Winter Olympics. It is nice to be able to see that. The other day I received a picture from some missionary friends in Italy. It was a picture of the family playing in the snow. I almost melted when I saw the picture. The weather here is hot, probably close to 94F each day but because of the sun and humidity it seems even hotter. It has been raining in the afternoons the past couple of days maybe for 10 minutes a day or an hour per day it just depends. Thankfully I do have air conditioner in my bedroom which I turn on each night for sleeping.

I have begun studying the African language of Makhuwa. It is a challenge. But it is safe to say that I’m not mixing the words of this language with any other language because it is not like any other language which I know. Right now I have class 3 hours a day.

At the end of the month, I will be traveling to South Africa for a few days for a conference on prayer. I have agreed to be the prayer advocate for our team so an unexpected blessing was to get to attend this conference.

Next month I will be traveling out to do two literacy workshops. These will be the last two I do with Dianne before her and her husband transfer to another mission position in S. Africa.

I was able to listen to the final service of Pastor Jon and his family at Stanleyville Baptist Church. It was good to be able to listen even if I couldn’t be there. It was very touching when I was mentioned by name in his prayer saying something to the effect of bless Carol as I know Carol would love to be here because she loves her family and church family. Be with her and the missionaries throughout the world.

However as I listened to it I thought I want to hear from the people who were there. It reminded me of the eyewitness accounts of the disciples in the Bible and how much better it is to hear things from people who were actually there.

I would ask that you would pray for me as I look to join a church here in Mozambique.

I have started playing volleyball on Saturday afternoons with a group of ladies. It started out because the Brazilians wanted to play the American ladies in volleyball. It is a lot of fun. We have even played in the rain some. Speaking of playing in the rain, we had a team meeting a few weekends ago in a coastal area. It was hot. We were going to the beach later on Saturday afternoon. Well, it started raining about mid day. One of the kids wanted to go play in the rain. So he and his dad did. Then I watched them and I thought that looks like fun and looks refreshing. The mom and I put on our bathing suits and joined in the fun. When it rains the African kids love to get out and play in the rain. For some of them that’s the only bath they have so they enjoy playing in the rain.

Something which I’ve been reminded of lately is that the Christian life is not a sprint to the finish. It is a race of perseverance and endurance. A good quote which I read said “to get through the journey, take only one step at a time, but in God’s strength keep on stepping”. Steadfastness determines the winner. This is something which I have had to keep reminding myself lately.

As I’ve had my pity party days it seems like I am reminded of how much I do have and how blessed I am. The other day I had been having a woe is me afternoon. Then I received an email which said that a church had taken up a love offering for me with half of that to be used for my fun and relaxation and the other half to help with some of the benevolence things which I do for people here. Tears came to my eyes as I read that because I thought here is God doing the behind the scenes stuff for me and here I am having a woe is me party. It was a great blessing to receive the news of that unexpected gift.

As I’ve been learning another language I have compared that learning to the training Olympic athletes have to go through. They train and train for many years doing the same training each day. As I’ve had the days when I’ve gotten tired of language classes and learning I’ve thought about the athletes and how dedicated they are to their sport. They have to have the behind the scenes preparation just as I’m having the behind the scenes preparation with language class. I’ve realized that being a learner in some many different ways is tough. God’s strength is what I have to depend on. We, as Christians, are all running after the eternal prize. Sure an Olympic medal would be great, it would be a great achievement but we are encouraged/commanded to keep our eyes on the eternal prize. As I attempt to do this I pray that each one of you would as well.

May God bless us all on this journey as we travel it together.

Love, Carol

Language Study

4 hours of Carol's day is spent in Macua language study. This is the African language which she is learning. The 25 year old Mozambican man is Luis, her professor. He is married with a wife and two children.

Electricity

I thought this was the neatest picture because of all the contrasts. In the background are electrical poles, in front of that are the outhouses and in front of that are happy children who don't have a care in the world.

This village where we were didn't have electricity even though they were that close to the towers.

What Would You Think?

My Fat Woman…

This is a phrase which would get many American husbands in trouble. However here it might be a common phrase. The husband’s refer to their wife as my woman. They usually use this phrase instead of saying my wife. When I have used the phrase wife they usually correct me and say my woman. The wife refers to him as her husband she doesn’t say my man. The word fat is a complimentary word to most Africans. To them, if they are called fat it is a compliment because that means things are going good for them. I told my language helper that an American man who called his wife my fat woman would be in trouble. He just laughed.

Memories from my trip to North Carolina

I'm so thankful for the trip home! God knew I was ready for some encouraging times with family and friends so He graciously provided just that! I wanted to share a few of those photos with you. Hope you enjoy them!

Going, Going, Gone!!

$50 for a package of Charmin, $25 for a 3 pack of ranch dressing, $300 for a 6 pack of Diet Dr. Pepper, $100 for Oreos, $7 for a can of ravioli, $185 for 3 sticks of Crisco, $50 for chocolate chips.

Are you wondering where people paid these prices?? It all went for a great cause. These were the prices paid at a Lottie Moon Auction during our missionary prayer retreat. Yes, you read that correctly, missionaries were raising money to support the Lottie Moon Christmas offering which supports them. More than $14,000 dollars was raised during that night of fun!

New Year's Celebration and Retreat

A New Year's Eve toast with sparkling grape juice. A few of us stayed up to ring in the New Year at the prayer retreat. We even climbed up on the roof and watched some fireworks. We just needed the National Anthem and a Warthogs game before!

My New Addition!

I am the proud owner of a puppy. Boots belonged to another missionary family and they were unable to keep him as they relocated to another area of Mozambique. Boots has been quite a lot of company for me even if he does hog the couch!

The Week

The week

I had the opportunity this past week to travel out in the bush area.
Bush area is just a generic term for traveling out in the “country”.
It’s called bush because usually that is what is out there, you and
the bushes. By the way, bushes is where you go to the bathroom.
I won’t give any more details on that…

We (Larry, Dianne, and I) left at 6 am on Monday
morning. We arrived at our location at about 9:00 am or
so. It wasn't that far, 125 or so kilometers but I
think the top speed was about 40 mph on the bumpy roads.

We set up the tent first thing before the day got any
hotter. Then we unloaded our supplies, etc. Teaching
started at about 10:15 am or so. The students were all
waiting on us to arrive. Some of them had come the
night before after walking a long distance on Sunday or
riding a bike.

There were 9 students in the literacy part and about 9
students in Larry's part. Larry is teaching leaders in
the church who have the desire to be pastors. Dianne led
the literacy part which I'll
eventually be leading. These are people in the church
who desire to teach the literacy classes. It was good
to see some of the stuff in "action" like the pamphlets
which I helped make during the July literacy translation
workshop. Some of these from past years were handed out
in the literacy training time.

At about 2:00 pm on Monday we finally had lunch and I
was ready. It was rice, chema-the main staple food
here, no taste and no nutrition it basically fills a
whole in your stomach. The big "catch" of the day was a
duck which was the meat for the meal.

We ate the lunch meal
with the villagers and for the other meals we took our food.
When they don't have a lot it's a hardship on them to
try and provide all the meals for us. Africans are very much a
part of a community so the people who lived in the
village made sure that if they had food then the
students had food too. They didn't have enough plates
so they just put a bowl in front of a group of 5 to 10
people and people just eat out of the bowls as a
community. If you are African and you don't eat out of
the community plate then it's like you are insulting the
others saying I'm better than you and I don't want to
eat with you. They are used to Americans and since we
were the special guests we ate at a table in the church
which they had set up. We had taken our own plates.

Finally at about 8 pm we went to bed...I was ready.

The sun comes up at about 5 am or a little before. Some
mornings Africans start having conversations at about 4
am and they don't worry about keeping quiet...Anyway. I
slept good.

Tuesday morning we started with class between 7:30 and 8 am.
The literacy training was finished at lunchtime (1:00
pm). So in the afternoon Dianne and I wanted a bath.
We walked down to the pond area where they collect
water. Well, of course we couldn't go by ourselves, we
had a whole group go with us. It was fun. The water
felt so good. At first the African ladies were just on
the side watching us. Then I offered one of them some
soap so she came in and then the others came and joined
us. I must say it was the first time I had gotten in
the water in a skirt....It was so refreshing. Evidently
they had made it clear to the young guys to stay away
b/c they were on a rock waiting for us as we were
walking back up the path after our refreshing bath.

Then I was ready to play some ball with the kids. We
had a soccer circle going kind of. It turned into
volleyball some when it was easier to hit it with my
hand instead of chasing after us. The ladies sat on the
side. I tried to get one of them to play but she said I
don't know how. I said I can show you but she was too
shy. They did get a jump rope out and turned that for
some of the young girls to do. It was like open play
time at the gym. And of course this was all done b/t
picture taken time. They loved having their pictures
made especially to see the picture immediately. We
played until the sun went down about 5:30 pm or so.

This morning we got up and then they took us to the dam
so we could take pictures. We didn't know if we were
taken one car or two cars. Well, as I tried to get in
Larry's truck and I kept loosing my space I saw that we
would be taken both cars. For many of them this was
their first time in a car. There were two ladies
sitting in the front bucket seat and they didn't know
how to open and close the door so I know it was their
first time in a car. One lady tried to get in the
driver's seat with me. I didn't realize at first what
was happening and then I could tell she didn't know what
she was doing so I opened the back door for her. I
think there were 5 adults and 3 kids in the truck with
me. They were all happy though b/c they were going
about 4 kilometers down the road riding in a car. By
the way, the lake was pretty but we didn't see the dam,
not sure where that was.

Then we went back to the village said our goodbyes and
went on our way. I actually came back to Nampula by
myself. Larry and Dianne went to another village to
stay so he can teach until the end of the week.

By the way, I'm sure you are saying was there a bathroom?
Well, there was a hole in the ground which is considered
a bathroom. After all it had bamboo walls around it so
it was enclosed even if you could see the heads of the
tall people when we went in....Love, Carol

The Ladies Work

Do you wonder what the ladies do during the day? One of the main
things which they do is they go to the watering hole and collect the
water. Children are also taught at a young age to do this. Then they
carry the heavy water bucket on their head without spilling it!