ave been greatly impacted by the church services here and love being with the locals and although I do spend a lot of time with a certain "brown boy," the language barrier prevents me from "hanging with the locals" as much as I'd like to. I apologize if the "brown boy" comment was offensive to anyone, I blame my parents for not ingraining within me the importance of being "P.C." and of course I was merely referring to Gizmo. (whenever I try to take a picture with him, he insists on trying to lick my face which is why I am always closing my eyes)I'm going to break pattern here and throw in a "Danny Tanner" moment before the end of the entry. Speaking of, isn't it odd that those Olsen girls grew up learning great moral lessons from Uncle Joey and Jesse and the like, only to turn out so lost- perhaps that's judgmental of me, I really don't know what their spiritual lives are like, but US Weekly (which yes, is very factual) does not paint them in the best light. Ok,back to the Danny Tanner moment: I read something in "Experiencing God Day by Day" which completely applies to my experiences here thus far:
"Your Heavenly Father Knows You"
Matthew 6:8 "Therefore do not be like them (them being the hypocrites who pray long, public prayers just to be seen). For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him."
"Even before we call on Him, the Father has already begun to provide all that we need (Isa. 65:24). Jesus wanted His disciples to learn how intimately God knew and loved each of them. That is why He told them to pray. He assured them that even before they prayed, God knew all about their situation.
Prayer is not designed for us to inform God of our needs, for He already knows them. Why, then, should we pray? Prayer enables us to experience God more intimately. The more a child experiences the loving provision of a parent, the more convinced he becomes of his parents' unrelenting love. Often a parent will anticipate a child's need before the child recognizes it and be prepared in advance to provide for that need. Our heavenly Father knows exactly what we will face today and next week. He is eager for us to experience Him as He provides for us.
To our surprise, we often discover that God knows far better than we do what is best for us. At times we assume that we know what would benefit us. We can even be foolish enough to assume that we don't require anything of God. Yet God wants us to go to Him in our need (Matt. 7:7). He is ready to show His strength through our weakness. Our heavenly Father knows exactly what is best for us, and He is prepared to provide for every need, if we will but ask (Phil. 4:13). "
Months before I came here, I would often pray a very vague prayer for preparation and that God would “go before me,” not knowing exactly what that would look like. Now I know. God came before me and prepared a wonderful place for me to live with a fabulous roommate. He came before me and prepared a bible study with other Americans. So often I have felt like I accidentally ate crazy glue (which wouldn't surprise me since I once cleaned my face with nail polish remover, yes, it killed) and my lips are sealed shut (is anyone else now singing, “Our Lips are Sealed?”) since I can’t speak Portuguese. (Sorry that sentence was so confusing.) So it was a huge blessing to be able to actually talk to a group of Christians and to be fed spiritually as we discussed the book of James. The house where we meet is in walking distance from our house and my new British friend Aisha took me on Tuesday.
God has clearly come before me and paved the way. I just read the verse in Ephesians which says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." The verses immediately prior to this, stress the importance of understanding that we are not saved by our good works, we are saved through faith, a total gift from God. So although we are not saved or loved because of our works, God prepares work for us to do. The works He has prepared for me at this stage in my life is to serve and inspire my students at CAM. My very insightful future sister-in-law recently pointed out that God has all in different places to do different good works. I hope she doesn't mind if I quote her:
"At CUi I took a class in ministry and it talked about how we are all called to service and called for each individual occupation, you don't have to be a teacher or a pastor to be called by God. It's so true though...while your calling right now is to serve in MZ, mine is to work as God's hand in nursing..."
Indeed wherever we are, we are God's servants and he has prepared good works for us- not so we can boast and earn His favor, but rather, so we can glorify Him.
Alright, I'm struggling transitioning...So other than going to church and bible studies, here are some other things I have been doing before school starts.
* Running with Aisha. Wouldn't that be cruel if she was Asian? Aisha is our
neighbor's girlfriend and is here to do research for her PhD in social work. So she's only 27 about to get her PhD and she's British- yes I feel stupid 95 percent of the time I'm around her. Those Brits seem to be so smart although my friend Jenny assures me that it's just the accent. Many of you know I love speaking in a British accent and fear that Aisha must think I am trying to be like her since I find myself speaking very proper when she's around. God knew that I would need to run here but he also knew that I wouldn't have the most meaningful conversations with Gizmo, so he brought Aisha. Unfortunately she leaves at the end of August, but she has been wonderful in showing me the ropes and how to survive by myself on the streets as a young, white girl. (did that just sound like we're prostitutes?) Oh and I have to tell you about another "Katie" moment when we took the picture below. We run at 6 in the morning (I know I'm desperate for friends or I never would agree to this) and after a run one morning I got my camera and asked the guard to take our picture. What I 
haven't told you is the guard speaks no English and I still asked him in English figuring my charade skills would suffice. I also did not tell you that our guard is about 80, almost completely blind and has never seen a camera before. (I know- not real comforting to have a blind guard but the robbers don't know that) So I do my pantomiming, hand him the digital camera and stand next to Aisha. This adorable man then pointed the camera at himself and just stood there. It was at that moment, I realized my "Katie" moment.If any of you are planning a trip to England, you need to read this next part. I told my friend Katie about how I'm learning all these new British phrases and she decided to help me out and sent me the following bits of advice: (Katie, sorry I didn't ask, hope you don't mind cause there's really nothing you can do about it!)
"Now that it is nearing the start of school, I thought it my duty (can't help but laugh at that word) to warn you of some British sayings you may come across. These phrases or words might alarm you at first. But, have no fear, this is the reason for the warning:
1. Rubber. No, no, your student is not asking you for a condom. They just want an eraser and an abstinence lecture might get YOU called into the principles office.
2. Mate. Again, it is not the season or a request...just talking about a friend here.
3. Plimsolls. Yeah, there are all sorts of strange because this means gym shoes. I think you should just call them your "tennis" like my grams.
4. Mucking Around. Make sure you are listening closely on this one. Oh, and be careful when trying to use it because the ol' shoulder devil is in your dome chanting the rhyme to this and it might slip out...again, ending in a principal visit.
5. Sleeping Policeman. Not sure if there are any of these down there...but your new British friends are talking about speed bumps. This one is actually kind of funny. Can't make fun of them here. But, you can call them "Topes" and impress them all with your Spanish knowledge. (I know this because when we took a family vacation outside of Cancun we all got the trots bad. We learned to call out the massive speed bumps in advance so we could all flex hard.)
6. Lorry. Why they call a truck a girl's name is beyond me...but when they say "Mind the Lorry" you should not think to yourself "I can take her...bring it on". Just get out da way!
7. Ice Lolly. Not a cold Wet Willy. If you are offered this by a Brit...take it.
8. Lass and Lad...self explanatory I know. I would die happy if you said to your Brit friend, "Hey ya, Lass, stop mucking around and mind that sleeping policeman. Grab me a rubber whilst you are at it!" If they get out of the way you could tell them that it was a good thing they were wearing their plimsolls this fortnight. What a "chum" you would be. Good "mates" are hard to find."
Now don't you wish this Katie had her own blog- I'm going to take this moment to suggest it to her:) She is quite the master at photoshop but you'll have to ask her why she was holding an axe and bow. OK, I feel kinda bad posting a picture of Katie without her permission. To make her feel better, I'll post a few other random photos but won't name any names.
Moral of the story: be careful what you send me and take funny pictures of your loved ones and send them to me and I'll post them so we can ALL have a good laugh!
* I've also been trying to pick up Portuguese by watching TV and movies with Portuguese subtitles. This is how I justify buying pirated movies. Actually, I don't really need to justify it, I've never really been convicted about buying pirated movies- if you are convicted, you are holier than I. I was way too excited when I saw they already had Harry Potter on the black market. Tempted to make a non-p.c. joke, but I'll refrain. I did just finish my first official Portuguese lesson tonight given my a local Mozambican so hopefully I won't be the "dumb mute" for too much longer.
* READING! If you thought I was cool before, now you know I am an avid Harry Potter fan and
a book worm. I recently finished A Thousand Splendid Suns which was absolutely fabulous! I highly recommend this book- it's a fictional story about 2 women in Afghanistan and takes you through some of Afghanistan's tragic history. I think I scared Madalena when she saw me reading and I was continually wiping eyes so I could see the words through my tears. My dad wasn't quite as big a fan as I, so men might not be as into this one as us women. (I don't think I've ever referred to myself as a woman, lady maybe, but not a woman.)
* Eating!! Definitely a favorite pastime of mine. Aisha, a friend of hers, Mada and myself had quite the Friday night dinner last week. I know Amazing Race already came to Maputo but they really should have had a challenge involving where we went to eat. We went to the fish market where fishermen sell whatever they caught that day (or week) and then you bring it to one of the many small restaurants which cook it for you. We bought prawns that were larger than my cat! OK maybe not quite that big, but they were HUGE. I was imagining contestants from Amazing Race having to find a certain seller and buy a large amount of something nasty and then have it cooked and eat an entire plate of it. I've never eaten a fish with the eyeballs included and definitely choked on a few bones. The lighting wasn't that great so I'm pretty sure I ate more than I was supposed to of the shrimp but I'm glad I was oblivious. I wish I had pictures but it wasn't the safest part of town.
* Convincing Lupito that he's still cute after his haircut. Poor little rat got a mean burn from hot water. We're still not sure if the blind guard accidental
ly threw hot water on him or a disgruntled neighbor tried to shut up the little yapper by burning him. Either way, he is pretty ugly now but I am growing quite fond of him. However, he did lick my leg a lot yesterday and I woke up with rash where he licked so I need to keep my distance. Looks as if I took photography lessons from my mom and have started to chop off the top of my head:)
* Lesson planning. I go to this amazing park just a few minutes walk from the house and sit in the sun and plan. I love spending time at this park becaue I am surrounded by things I love. I am able to bask in the sun, lounge on a bench which overlooks the ocean, sit near the playground with the sounds of children laughing as they fly off the teeter-totter, listen to 90's music such as Backstreet Boyz coming from a near-by restaurant, eat delicious ice cream from the shop a few feet away and my favorite: people watch. I was at my bench last Friday when I heard singing coming from the other side of the park. Being the busybody that I am, I walked towards the singing and saw 2 brides and all of their family and friends surrounding them. Since the park is so beautiful, most people come here to take wedding pictures before the ceremony but EVERYONE comes with. The posse followed the bride and groom and photographer, singing and dancing all the while! I plopped down on a bench with a good view of it all and had to cover my mouth when I accidentally laughed out loud. I wasn't laughing at the tradition, I was laughing because I had the sudden image of the VanderDussen clan following around the new bride singing and dancing. The aunts can do a mean YMCA but that's about it:)
* Exploring! I've walked around the city a bunch by myself to get acquainted and start feeling like less of a tourist and more of a local. I walked to the school, CAM, which is about a 35 minute walk and was overwhelmed by new sights and smells as I walked. Sidewalks in Maputo are very different from what I'm used to. At home I had to avoid the occasional dog droppings and crack in the sidewalk. Here, gigantic trees grow in the middle of the sidewalk creating huge piles of broken cement blocks and the dog doodoo is the least of your worries in "things to avoid stepping on." The sidewalks are as wide as a one-way street because they are also the location of many "stores." Women set up shop on the sidewalk which means they lay a blanket down and display their vegetables while men sell shoes or clothes which are piled on a blanket and teenagers pace the streets selling nuts. Young boys set up soccer matches on the sidewalk, using coke bottles as goal posts and of course there are beggars on every corner. I blew my cover a number of times that I was not a local when I didn't know which way to look down the streets to watch for cars and nearly got hit.
Madalena took me to see a fishing village near the city to observe a different lifestyle. Being the bold woman that she is, she stopped when she saw a great picture opportunity and asked the women if I could take their picture. They laughed and said ok, for a price:) Of course.
Madalena also took me exploring on the beach where the tide goes really far out and leaves miles of dry land. As we walked, I noticed thousands of tiny holes and as we approached a pool of water, discovered that millions of crabs were underfoot! I tried my best to pretend like I wasn't thoroughly grossed out by the crabs but Mada saw the initial look of horror on my face and tried to push me into a gianormous colony of crabs! Not funny.
As we walked and studied the crabs, I asked Mada about the giant piles of sand everywhere and she informed me she thought that these were actually piles of crab poop mixed with sand. Now you marine biologists may discredit her theory but either way, it got me thinking. Here were these amazing creatures, gazillions of them, living in the ocean and under my feet and I didn't even notice them. Yet, they left signs of where they had been, their
piles of poop. Makes you think of God doesn't it? Not in reference to the poop, but how He is at work constantly behind the scenes. We don't always notice Him working but if we look closely, sometimes we'll see a "pile of poop" or some other clue and see that God has been there. He was working all along. I fear that I don't always acknowledge or thank God for the ways He works in my life. I take so much for granted and fail to notice Him at work. My prayer is that daily, I would see Him working, in my life, the lives of others, in Mozambique.
I just couldn't end without having a Danny Tanner moment:)
Now don't you wish this Katie had her own blog- I'm going to take this moment to suggest it to her:) She is quite the master at photoshop but you'll have to ask her why she was holding an axe and bow. OK, I feel kinda bad posting a picture of Katie without her permission. To make her feel better, I'll post a few other random photos but won't name any names.
Moral of the story: be careful what you send me and take funny pictures of your loved ones and send them to me and I'll post them so we can ALL have a good laugh!
* I've also been trying to pick up Portuguese by watching TV and movies with Portuguese subtitles. This is how I justify buying pirated movies. Actually, I don't really need to justify it, I've never really been convicted about buying pirated movies- if you are convicted, you are holier than I. I was way too excited when I saw they already had Harry Potter on the black market. Tempted to make a non-p.c. joke, but I'll refrain. I did just finish my first official Portuguese lesson tonight given my a local Mozambican so hopefully I won't be the "dumb mute" for too much longer.
* READING! If you thought I was cool before, now you know I am an avid Harry Potter fan and
a book worm. I recently finished A Thousand Splendid Suns which was absolutely fabulous! I highly recommend this book- it's a fictional story about 2 women in Afghanistan and takes you through some of Afghanistan's tragic history. I think I scared Madalena when she saw me reading and I was continually wiping eyes so I could see the words through my tears. My dad wasn't quite as big a fan as I, so men might not be as into this one as us women. (I don't think I've ever referred to myself as a woman, lady maybe, but not a woman.)* Eating!! Definitely a favorite pastime of mine. Aisha, a friend of hers, Mada and myself had quite the Friday night dinner last week. I know Amazing Race already came to Maputo but they really should have had a challenge involving where we went to eat. We went to the fish market where fishermen sell whatever they caught that day (or week) and then you bring it to one of the many small restaurants which cook it for you. We bought prawns that were larger than my cat! OK maybe not quite that big, but they were HUGE. I was imagining contestants from Amazing Race having to find a certain seller and buy a large amount of something nasty and then have it cooked and eat an entire plate of it. I've never eaten a fish with the eyeballs included and definitely choked on a few bones. The lighting wasn't that great so I'm pretty sure I ate more than I was supposed to of the shrimp but I'm glad I was oblivious. I wish I had pictures but it wasn't the safest part of town.
* Convincing Lupito that he's still cute after his haircut. Poor little rat got a mean burn from hot water. We're still not sure if the blind guard accidental
ly threw hot water on him or a disgruntled neighbor tried to shut up the little yapper by burning him. Either way, he is pretty ugly now but I am growing quite fond of him. However, he did lick my leg a lot yesterday and I woke up with rash where he licked so I need to keep my distance. Looks as if I took photography lessons from my mom and have started to chop off the top of my head:)* Lesson planning. I go to this amazing park just a few minutes walk from the house and sit in the sun and plan. I love spending time at this park becaue I am surrounded by things I love. I am able to bask in the sun, lounge on a bench which overlooks the ocean, sit near the playground with the sounds of children laughing as they fly off the teeter-totter, listen to 90's music such as Backstreet Boyz coming from a near-by restaurant, eat delicious ice cream from the shop a few feet away and my favorite: people watch. I was at my bench last Friday when I heard singing coming from the other side of the park. Being the busybody that I am, I walked towards the singing and saw 2 brides and all of their family and friends surrounding them. Since the park is so beautiful, most people come here to take wedding pictures before the ceremony but EVERYONE comes with. The posse followed the bride and groom and photographer, singing and dancing all the while! I plopped down on a bench with a good view of it all and had to cover my mouth when I accidentally laughed out loud. I wasn't laughing at the tradition, I was laughing because I had the sudden image of the VanderDussen clan following around the new bride singing and dancing. The aunts can do a mean YMCA but that's about it:)
* Exploring! I've walked around the city a bunch by myself to get acquainted and start feeling like less of a tourist and more of a local. I walked to the school, CAM, which is about a 35 minute walk and was overwhelmed by new sights and smells as I walked. Sidewalks in Maputo are very different from what I'm used to. At home I had to avoid the occasional dog droppings and crack in the sidewalk. Here, gigantic trees grow in the middle of the sidewalk creating huge piles of broken cement blocks and the dog doodoo is the least of your worries in "things to avoid stepping on." The sidewalks are as wide as a one-way street because they are also the location of many "stores." Women set up shop on the sidewalk which means they lay a blanket down and display their vegetables while men sell shoes or clothes which are piled on a blanket and teenagers pace the streets selling nuts. Young boys set up soccer matches on the sidewalk, using coke bottles as goal posts and of course there are beggars on every corner. I blew my cover a number of times that I was not a local when I didn't know which way to look down the streets to watch for cars and nearly got hit.
Madalena took me to see a fishing village near the city to observe a different lifestyle. Being the bold woman that she is, she stopped when she saw a great picture opportunity and asked the women if I could take their picture. They laughed and said ok, for a price:) Of course.
Madalena also took me exploring on the beach where the tide goes really far out and leaves miles of dry land. As we walked, I noticed thousands of tiny holes and as we approached a pool of water, discovered that millions of crabs were underfoot! I tried my best to pretend like I wasn't thoroughly grossed out by the crabs but Mada saw the initial look of horror on my face and tried to push me into a gianormous colony of crabs! Not funny.
As we walked and studied the crabs, I asked Mada about the giant piles of sand everywhere and she informed me she thought that these were actually piles of crab poop mixed with sand. Now you marine biologists may discredit her theory but either way, it got me thinking. Here were these amazing creatures, gazillions of them, living in the ocean and under my feet and I didn't even notice them. Yet, they left signs of where they had been, their
piles of poop. Makes you think of God doesn't it? Not in reference to the poop, but how He is at work constantly behind the scenes. We don't always notice Him working but if we look closely, sometimes we'll see a "pile of poop" or some other clue and see that God has been there. He was working all along. I fear that I don't always acknowledge or thank God for the ways He works in my life. I take so much for granted and fail to notice Him at work. My prayer is that daily, I would see Him working, in my life, the lives of others, in Mozambique.I just couldn't end without having a Danny Tanner moment:)
3 comments:
Things I have realized in the last 5 minutes:
1. You can't be trusted ;-).
2. I need to be more careful with the difference between "there" and "their". When people see that messed up they automatically draw some conclusions about my education and/or intelligence. Please do not judge Westmont...just me.
3.. Principal is my "pal" in the front office...principles are my set of morals that keep me away from him.
4. The analogy between God's work and poop just doesn't get used enough. Good work you!
5. Your description of your surroundings paint such a vivid picture. It makes us all feel like we are right there with you walking down the sidewalk or people watching in the park. Bravo.
6. My photoshop masterpiece would have been funnier if I was riding the Zebra, not the Lion, while holding an axe and bow. I blew it.
7. My Grams calls sneakers "tennies" not "tennis". She is pretty with it. Almost as with it as I am for calling them "sneakers".
8. Trent's facial hair experiments plant him right in the midst of those who are eligible to be the brunt of a "You might be a Redneck" joke.
9. You really do have a soft heart if you are trying to convince that little pup that he is still cute.
10. I love your blogs. I would never start blogging due to my fear of failure and the fact that I could never match up to the standards you have set.
Katie you crack me up! I am sitting at work laughing so hard at your blog. You are amazing! SO don't get too excited...but the South Africa team is trying to see if a visit to Mozambique could work...Keep your fingers crossed! It would be so cool to see you there!
katie katie katie bo batie banana nana nanna fo fana fee fi fo... gaytie! gee wiz my eyes wanted to cry after reading you blog sir changes font colors a lot!! and for a second i was confused when you were talking about the brown boy... does he have nice teeth? you know, k-9s? haha wow, i know. im glad my blog made you cry...? thats a good thing right? fact: i did not make up the acronyms and thanks because your comments made me laugh. bye katie.
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