A few “noticias” (news) in our lives today…
April 7th is a national holiday in Mozambique,
known as “Dia da Mulher”, or Women’s Day.
I had the privilege to celebrate and participate with our friend and house
helper, Sabina. Every year, there is a special capulana (fabric used as a wrap)
especially for this day. There are about a thousand ways to wear these and the
women get very creative! Some have them made into dresses or pants, or suits,
while others just use them like a wrap with a matching headpiece. We took a
chapa (form of taxi bus) to town and walked the rest of the way to see the
parade. They honor the late president’s wife, Josina Michel, for her
characteristics in leading the women of this country. We offered flowers on an
alter of the military plaza and enjoyed some street food. J I personally enjoyed conversing and
people watching. On our way home, she took me through to her mom’s house, where
I tried fermented mangos and met a bunch of her family members.
Youth group has continued to keep us on our toes, as we co-lead with another couple who
work with us here in Nampula. It has been a blessing to host it at our house,
and we have been able to deepen our relationships with some, although we feel
the constant challenge of the intercultural dynamic. The other week, we had
about 25 kids, ranging in nationality from American, Zimbabwean, Portuguese,
Mozambican, Brazilian, Swedish, Dutch, and more. The group desires to be solely
conducted in English, but we are finding it almost impossible to not switch to
Portuguese in our in depth discussion, realizing a lot of the key meaning gets
lost for those who are not fluent in English. Please pray for us and our
colleagues as we prepare and lead these kids, for wisdom in topic and small
group discussion and to communicate clearly and effectively, knowing when
Portuguese is needed. Please also pray for their hearts to be open and
receiving God’s word and leaving with his impression on their hearts.
Kids:
Kira is walking and spunky as ever, and enjoys getting into Caden’s business.
Caden is such a little man, and although he loves his little sister, he
definitely treasures the moments when she is not knocking down his buildings or
crumpling his paper airplanes. We are learning how to teach them to play
together and apart…never a dull moment.
Health:
Tim’s back pain has gotten to a place where he can only manage it so far. He
does daily strength training and sometimes takes painkillers to keep it under
control, but still has pain. Due to the lack of quality care in this country,
we have been considering taking a trip to South Africa to get him an MRI and
get to the root of the problem. In this medical trip, we also need a check up
to verify that Kira is growing properly, and to update vaccines, etc. Upon
deciding to keep our car and invest the funds donated in parts to repair it, we
ordered the parts and have been trying for months to get them up from South
Africa to the north part of the country where we live…to no avail. So in this
trip, we also plan on getting our car worked on with those parts and buying
supplies that we cannot get here. We also had to leave two bins with family on
our way up, because of luggage fees and regulations, so it will be good to get
the rest of our stuff!
Friends from SoCal!
At the end of May, we will get the joy of seeing some of our best friends from
California and hosting them for a week! They are currently doing a discipleship
program with their two little ones in Africa, and will pass through on their
way out. We are overjoyed to have them and share our lives here with close
friends. They will be our very first visitors from home!!
Future:
We recently met with our Language and Field Consultants to update on our
progress and the long-term ministry goals and game plan. Because of the many
variables in flux with the team dynamic and the people group we are looking at,
they have advised us to only focus on finishing up our studies in the language
and culture before becoming too preoccupied with the “next steps”. This mentality
can be alleviating, giving us freedom to just throw ourselves wholly into our
studies each day at a time, and yet, without a clear vision of the future, it
can be easy to lose heart if we are only wondering about what we don’t yet
know. So, God continues to teach us about living each individual day for him,
since all we really have is today anyhow.
Homesickness:
It has only been 5 months, and yet we are feeling the homesickness! Friends,
family, hobbies, the ocean, the grocery stores, the restaurants, Church, and
just the familiarity and general lifestyle that all scream “HOME!” make us long
for the States sometimes. We have to be disciplined in our minds to not let our
hearts run away with the idea that we are missing out on living life while we
are here. Don’t get me wrong, we love it here and it is home, but there is
nothing like your home country. Seeing highlights of people’s lives on Facebook
can trick you into thinking that your life is not what it should be, and yet,
who’s life was ever accurately portrayed in its totality by one or two pictures
and a few sentences on the internet? The truth is, as we have recently read,
“The grass is always greener where you water it.” And we need to water the
truth that God brought us here, and we are his workmanship, his tools, his
property, his delight. It is truly a privlilege to be serving him and we know
that he is our prize.
Lots of other stuff happening, from planting gardens to property
management to new colleagues arriving, so please shout out a prayer for us and
the rest of the team here, for unity as we follow Him in one common goal,
bringing His love and truth to the nations!
Wishing
you all the best for the rest of this beautiful April!
The
Warners
Tim,
Kat, Caden & Kira
