After a Month

So I’ve been here for over a month now, what have I been doing, right? My full-time job is still language training and I’m studying Portuguese (officially or unofficially) just about all the time. My weekday daylight hours are spent studying with Luis and/or applying what I’ve learnt. By the grace of God I seem to be doing pretty well with it and I’m able to flounder my way through most situations. This is good, because somehow I got roped into PREACHING next weekend in Portuguese. My goodness, please pray for me…

Yesterday I made my first visit to a real rural church here in Africa, and it was one of the most singular experiences of my entire Christian life. I went with two other missionaries and a local pastor, and when we arrived you would have thought we were celebrities. Everyone was so happy to see us and so honored that we visited them – I felt truly blessed to be surrounded by so much gratitude and joy. I love the people here.

Now for a bit about the area where I’m living:

This is the city of Nampula, population ~500,000. Yeah, that puts it around the same size as the city where I grew up but anyone from Grand Rapids can tell you it’s not quite on par for size. There are half a million souls packed into and around a city with one stop-light – not much bigger than Lowell, for you Michiganders. Of course, most people live in bairros (I guess you could call them suburbs, but with much less order) around the city and just come into town for the amenities. Like water. Note the mountains in the background, though. Not bad, eh?

These first two photos were both taken from a pseudo-mountain on one side of the city. This one is looking in the opposite direction. All around Nampula there are these groupings of rock formations; it was the first thing that struck me when I was flying in. It’s flat land… big rocks… flat land… big rocks. The only geography I’ve ever seen like it was in the middle of Australia. It’s pretty cool.

Last weekend we had a team meeting in Nacala, which is a port city – meaning that our meeting was really held at the beach. Well there isn’t any sand, as you can see here, but there are some small but pretty cliffs and some great snorkeling. The water was nice and warm (by anyone’s standards except Aunt Sue’s, who doesn’t like to go swimming unless she can poach an egg in the water) and the fish were plentiful. We took some underwater photos with a teammate’s camera, so hopefully I’ll be able to get those posted before too long as well. This second photo is of some fishermen rowing by as the sun was setting, after what I’m assuming was a hard day’s work.

A few prayer requests:

- May God continue to assist me in my language learning, that I will be able to communicate effectively with all those around me.

- May the Lord bring across my path those in Nampula who are eager to hear about Him.

- May I find opportunities daily to exemplify God’s love to those around me, and may I be strengthened daily in His Word.