Nov 16th ~ An emotional day

November 16th ~ 7:50pm

Today took an emotional toll on me.  Got up and went for a swim bright and early as usual.  We left for Mieze by 8:15.  We were able to give out the boys gift boxes today.  It was so fun to watch them open them.  Especially Izak.  He really liked the dinky cars and the bouncy ball that Isaac put in there.  

We also got to see the medical clinic and after lunch we join in the feeding program.  They had a little service in the church, then all the women in the village and surrounding areas line up to get food to take home to their families.  Many of these women walk for miles and miles for some rice, beans and oil.  There was one women who walked a long way on crutches as she only had one leg.  

Soon after that we headed back to Pemba to go to the beach.  I wasn't really feeling up to swimming so I stayed on the beach and watched everyone's things.  I was able to do some good thinking and praying while laying in the shade.  It's so hard to see how little people here have.

After the beach we came back and relaxed.  We lost power again for almost 2 hours I think.  I'm exhausted again tonight.  So many emotions trying to bust out.

Nov 15th ~ Girls Gift boxes & Feeding program

Note: I'm so sorry I haven't updated.. we are going on 8 days of sick kids.  I'm praying we get it all cleared up by christmas!  I promise I'll get the rest of the journal entries in the next couple of days.  I'll write them today as I have time between helping sick little sweet pea in the bathroom.  

November 15th ~ 3:15pm

I skipped swimming today and regretted it.  I woke up and the power was out so the fans were out.  I woke up at 6:30 very sticky and gross feeling.  After devotions at about 8:45, we headed to Meize.  We spent a little time with the kids and we were able to distribute the gift boxes to the girls.  When everyone got theirs, they raised them above their heads and sang "Thank you Jesus"  It brought tears to my eyes.  I will never forget these moments.  

Afterwards we took a walk to see the foster homes and the goat farm.  I had kids hanging off me the whole time.  

Izak as always followed me around.  I learned that he is 12 years old.  Such a sweetie.  I would take him home if I could.  He fought to get two mangos from the bag and then gave me one.  I'll be so sad to leave him.  I didn't see Maria at all today but another little Maria attached herself to me for a little bit.

We left Meize and came back to the Pemba base.  We helped out with the children's feeding program where they feed the village kids rice & beans.  It literally broke my heart to see.  Older siblings with little ones on their back and little ones following them.  

One girl had four younger siblings and she had a Tupperware type dish.  She poured all their plates into it, gave them each a handful and then headed home with the rest.

Another family came through, the two older ones had babies on their backs and must have had 4-5 little ones following them.

Another little guy pulled a ziploc bag out of his pocket and filled it up. Then he ate what wouldn't fit.

It was all so overwhelming.  My emotions are all over the place right now.  I feel like I want to go home but I don't want to leave the kids here.  Especially Izak.

5:50 pm

We went down to the market to buy some food to make a good supper.  Unfortunately when we got here, we have no water and the stove doesn't work. Not sure what we will do now.  

"I pray that  your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given those he called - his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.  I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him."

 Ephesians 1:18-19 

9:30 pm

Well we also lost power for a while.  When it came back on and we got some propane, Don D made us a delicious meal of omelettes  salad and "sausages" that were more like a cross between hot dogs and Bologna   It was good except we didn't have any water to wash the lettuce so we had to use bottled water which we were trying to conserve.  So the salad had a bit of sand in it. No big deal.  The power went out again as we were cleaning up but the water came back so that was good.  The power didn't stay out for too long though.

I'm feeling weird emotionally today. All I want to do is sing but I feel really down.  I'm not sure if it is the impact of what I saw today. I know that by the time we left Meize, I was ready to not be touched for a while.  Those kids are all so desperate for attention.  They will just come up and wrap their arms around me or sit right in my lap or right next to me.  Sometimes the smell overwhelms me but I couldn't ever turn them away.

"Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ." Colossians 4:2

A Slideshow presentation I made

I was asked to put together a slideshow presentation for church on december 9th.  I really enjoyed putting it together... here it is.

Nov 13-14th Meize!!

November 13 ~ 6:45 am

Water was beautiful this morning.  We went at 5:30.  We have the truck now so we were able to go down to another part of the beach with no rocks.  One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was the garbage.  Walking through the streets, they were filled with garbage literally.  There wasn't a spot you could step that wasn't on peice of garbage. There were spots on the road that looked burned with pots on them like people had used them for cooking.  No breakfast this morning.  I am glad I brought my almonds.

9:15pm

Lots to write about today.  This morning after our debrief and devotion, we had the morning free.  Darlene, Morgan and I went to the girls dorm to talk to the girls.  There was a girl named Justina who played the guitar really well and had a beautiful voice.  

We also got to visit the sewing shop.  I was able to buy a bag and a couple of skirts to wear.  After lunch, we all hopped into the back of the truck and headed to Meize.  I brought the video camera so i was able to get some awesome shots of all the kids running to the truck.

Thankfully others had their camera's out since I had my video camera out.  Don M got this shot!

Maria and I shortly after arriving in Meize for the first time.

There were so many kids hopping into the truck and all over the place it was a bit overwhelming.  When I finally got a chance to get off the truck a little girl shyly came and stood beside me.  When I moved, she moved all day.  She was so sweet.  I didn't learn her name until suppertime because she spoke so low.  As the day moved on though, she began to come out of her shell.  She is a very silly girl when she warms up and she was just cracking me up.  Her name is Maria and she is only 6-7.  Amazing that another Maria has touched my heart.

I also had Don Kantel point out our sponsor child Izak to me.  I got to watch him for a little bit. He is really handsome and very reserved and quiet.

Izak from afar before we met.  He's the one in the striped shirt.

After a bit, I was dragged into what looked like a school room by a little girl named Gracinda!  She wanted to braid my hair.

Gracinda!

Lots of other girls joined in as well.  Beth's sponsor child Jihomalya joined in.  At least I think it was her. (It was her!) 

Jihomalya is on the right with the beads in her hair.

I took out pictures of my family and the kids gathered all around.  I must have said everyone's names about 20 times.  Even a little boy about 2-3 would point at each person so I would say their names.  Eventually the older girls were able to say them from memory.  It was so wonderful to share my family with them.  It made missing them and the hurt that comes from it a little bit better.  The best thing about it was that Izak came and asked me to say their names and when I got to my Isaac, he was so surprised.  He is really really sweet.  Later on I had Don K tell him who I was and that our family sponsored him.  He kissed me on the cheek and said thank you. Such a sweetie.

It was movie night so we all sat down and cookies & popcorn were handed out. 

 I was sitting with Maria playing with her and I see Izak sit beside me.  As the evening moved on, he sat closer and closer until Maria, Izak and I were playing together.  I was able to give him one of the bracelets I had brought.  

I was so sad to have to leave them tonight.  Darlene asked me earlier that day if I thought I would come back and I honestly said I wasn't sure.  After today, if I could spend all my time in Meize, I could live there.  All of those children't were just beautiful!

Oh!  I was actually able to take pictures with my own camera because Lisa and Don D found me a charger when they went to town.  God is Good!  As I was writing last  night I felt God telling me that I had to step out in faith and speak it out about my prayers with my camera getting charged.  So this morning, I went to Joy and prayed with her.  Not ten minutes later, Lisa came in with the charger!  Thank you Lord!

Tomorrow we get up early for a swim as usual.  Then devotions and then back out to Meize where we will take a walk through the village and take the kids to the beach.  It should be so much fun!

Ephesians 5:1 ~ Imitate God, therefore, in everything thing you do, because you are his dear children.

November 14th ~ 5:30pm

Today was good.  Up again at 5:30 to take a swim. Water was so nice and refreshing.  We had devotions at 7:30 and it was off to Meize at 9.  First stop was to the Meize farm.  Don K explained how it worked and we walked around for a bit.

mmmm mangos!

The next stop was to see the kids!  Maria and Izak found me first thing and stuck like glue.  Don K then took us on a tour of the village across the street.   The kids from the base came with us and once again Maria and Izak stayed right by me.

We were shown the houses that were being renovated and we got to meet the families.  Izak became a bit protective.  There was a boy that kept pinching my arm. Izak took him by the arm and threw him away.  He was really sweet though.  Halfway through the walk, he slipped his hand in mine. He has a great smile.

After the walk, we sat in the shade and some of the ladies got lessons on how to carry things on their heads.  

They also handed out the swimsuits that we had to donate to them.  Maria ran up to me to show me her pretty pink one that she had on.  We also had lunch. I had Izak on one side of me and Maria on the other.

After lunch, we loaded all the kids onto two flat bed trucks and took them to the beach. 

 The water was like a hot bath.  It was hard because the kids jumped on my back and it was sunburned so it hurt. The kids poking me doesn`t help either.  We had fun though I was disappointed at the water because I was looking forward to some cool water but it was actually hot.  

Morgan was baptized in this hot water today too!

Now we are all sitting around eating.  We actually had chicken with our rice tonight.  I`m exhausted.

My boy Izak!

Izak relaxing

Martino getting down and playing with the kids.

I'm sorry!

So Mondays are incredibly busy. Gymnastics start at 9am and we just keep going all day long. I did not get to write an Africa journal post today. To make up for it, I'll write 2 or 3 days worth tomorrow!

In other news, our friendly elf Finnbeck Jimmy arrived on dec 1st to spend until Christmas with us. Each day when the kids wake up they find him in a different place. Tonight he is doing some zip lining with his friends the little people. The kids are gonna laugh in the morning!

Nov 12~ A visit to Noviane

November 12th ~ 4:50pm

This morning we were up bright and early to go to the beach.  It was so refreshing after sweating all night.  Now I can say that I swam in the Indian Ocean.  Which by the way must have 10 times more salt in it than our ocean.  

After that we got cleaned up and received breakfast which was one bun.  It was delicious and amazingly it filled me up until lunch.  After breakfast we met in the church for Heidi Baker's service.  It was their kids church with 2 hours of worship and then Heidi preached.  One thing I got from her message was this.  "You will not go without if you share all that you have"

The church is in the bottom half of the compound where the village children have access to so there were all kinds of kids running around.  They would just swarm you if they thought they could get a handout or if you had something interesting like a camera or a bible.  

There was a girl there about 11-12 named Danya who was just sweet.  She tried on my hat which I had discovered was too small for me. I forgot about it though and walked away.  I realized later that she still had it and they had told us that the village kids would take things so I figured it was long gone.  About an hour later though, she found me and gave the hat back. I told her she could keep it.

After that we had lunch and Don & Elizabeth came and took us to Noviane to set up the trampoline.  The kids there were so fun.  We did some face painting and we had some toys that we played with them and once the trampoline was set up, the kids had a blast on that. 

There was a girl named Ziena who knew english very well so the other kids would look to her to translate.  She was so funny.  

This is Ziena.  She was embarrassed because  Papa Don was bragging about how well she knew english.

Another girl who really caught my heart was Maria.  She doesn't live inside the compound but her older sister does.  At first I was taken back by here because I gave her a bracelet and then she would go hide it and then look for another member giving out bracelets and get one from them as well.  I think she ended up with 6-7 of them.  She was really sweet though and kept touching me and singing to me.  She didn't know any english but she sang "Jesus loves me, Jesus loves you" to me and danced.  She had a beautiful smile!  

The one in blue is Maria.  See all those bracelets on her wrist?

They all have wonderful smiles.  There was a boy who kept asking me to take his picture and another tiny boy about 2-3 who gave me a thumbs up every time he saw me.

There was a mix up in communication when we went to leave.  I ended up left behind with Gail J.  We had to walk back on our own and I had to carry the duffle bag which wasn't very heavy since it was practically empty.  It wasn't too far but probably about 2 km.  I very nearly had an asthma attack when I got back though.  I just couldn't catch my breath but I think I'm okay now.

9:30 pm

I had a major headache tonight.  It's possible that the walk and my breathing caused it.  After supper, we relaxed for a little while which was good because I needed some downtime.  At 7:00 we went to a harvest school service where there was worship and the speaker was Duncan Smith and his team.  The message he spoke really went straight into a place inside me.  He talked about the spirit of independance.  He gave an example where if we are offered something or if someone offers help we say "no thanks" because we don't want to acknowledge that we need help.  I realize this is exactly what I do.  I don't want to be a burden to anyone.  I want people to not see my weaknesses.  I need people.  He said love is not love if it is only given.  It needs to also be received.  

God is speaking so many things to me.  One verse I got tonight was Psalm 138:8 "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love O Lord endures forever- do not abandon the works of your hands."   I have decided to trust that God has everything worked out for my life and all I have to do is trust.

My camera battery is dying.  I'm trusting that God will help with that.

Nov 11th ~ PEMBA!!

November 11th ~ 9:10am

I'm on a plane to Maputo, Mozambique now.  We will land there, go through customs and then we will board another plane on our way to Pemba.  It was another very early morning at 4:30 this morning.  Had a late night last night as well so only got about 3-4 hours sleep.  We stayed in Johannesburg last night at a guest house.  My bed was right by the door and it didn't help that Lisa said that Johannesburg was the murder capital of the world!  haha.  Hopefully I can get some sleep on the next plane.  

We got to the airport this morning in plenty of time to do a bit of shopping which I hadn't gotten a chance to do much of.  I was able to find the kids a few things that I hope and think that they will be very happy with.  It's hard to think of them without having tears well up but last night I was able to get online and received a message from Jeff that encouraged me and gave me the strength to move on.  It feels like I have been away for a few weeks rather than a few days and last night it was really bringing me down so receiving that message at that time was I think God's way of saying "okay focus on the task at hand. Everything is okay at home."  So for now my mind is on the kids I'm going to meet today. I'm so excited!

8:30 pm

These kids are absolutely adorable and amazing.  We got into Pemba around 1:00.  I was privileged to be sitting across the aisle from Don D who pointed out a ton of stuff as we landed since he'd been there many times before.  The airport was tiny.  Barely enough room to get past the baggage carousal.  But there outside was Don Kantel with 5 girls between 12-14 years old.  they were all smiles and as soon as we came out they were hugging and talking.  They were playing with all the travel pillows we had.  Having such a great time.  One girl came up to me and started playing with the pink strands in my hair asking if I had colored on it.  She was so friendly.

Once the big truck came, we loaded up the bags and jumped in the back of the truck with the girls.  We sang and laughed the whole five minutes to the base.  

Once we got there, we met up with Elizabeth, got our rooms and then got a walking tour of the compound.  It is a huge place.  I think Don said it was 1 km from the front gate to the top of the hill and a half a km wide.  One little girl came up to me and she  made me think of Kaia because she was just her size and wore a sleeping beauty shirt.  

Later, we unpacked and reorganized all the duffle bags.  Then we went to get supper.  They were serving rice with something called Mutapa which I think is kale (or green leafy something) with peanut sauce and other stuff.  It looked very slimy and since I didn't have a fork to use, I decided to eat just the rice.  Plus I smelled Barry's and it didn't smell good at all.  I will probably try it (I didn't) but I was so hungry that I wanted the rice to be just plain.  It was  good and filled me up.  It was a crazy amount of rice they had.  The pots they cooked it in were so big I could have sat in it.  It took 5-6 big boys to carry one. I would say they feed close to a thousand people every meal.  Amazing.

See that silver thing those guys are all sitting around?  It's full of rice!

After supper we just relaxed a bit and then had a our nightly meeting and devotional.  Now I am laying under a mosquito net with a flashlight as everyone has gone to bed early.  We have two fans going and it is still sweltering hot in here.  Thankfully there was a nice breeze today but Elizabeth said that is unusual.  I'm believing for an awesome breeze everyday.  

Tomorrow morning we head to the beach for a refreshing swim at 5:30 am.  The color of the water here is unlike anything I have ever seen.  I can't wait to go for a swim in it.  

Afterwards there is a service with Heidi Baker and after that I don't know.  I feel so happy here.  When we were unpacking the bags, I just felt like singing.

I had so many kids come up and high five me and ask my name.  There was a sweet little boy at dinner who as soon as Darlene crouched down, gave her a big hug.  I could write on and on I think.  I better get to sleep though.  I think I'm getting used to the early mornings.