Guest post by my friend Jim Taylor… enjoy!
People often ask me if we have seasons in Mozambique. The answer is, of course, "Certainly."
We have Wet Season and Dry Season.
We have Mosquito Season and More Mosquito Season
We have Tourist Season and Not Tourist Season.
AND… we have All Gold Ketchup and Peri-Peri!!
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Saturday Night
The air is thick tonight .. heavy with moisture and the humidty fills your lungs as you breath. The breeze off the Indian Ocean is warm and carries the sound of the surf so clearly that a quarter mile away it sounds as if it were just beyond the edge of darkness. A few solitary stars twinkle in the night sky but the moon has yet to appear. An old friend, the Southern Cross, is obscured by clouds. The village is quiet and the base seems deserted. It's a night for reading … I retreat back into the air conditioned house and locate my book.
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Driving in Pemba is always a challenge. For one thing, there are few street signs and fewer traffic signs. None of the round-abouts have anything to tell you who has right-of-way. There are no center lines and even if there were, no one would pay attention.
Add to that pot holes from the size of your hat up to the size of a VW Beetle. There are sections of streets that have more holes than they have street.
People walk everywhere .. on the road .. across the road … in the road. As you are driving down the street a vehicle will pass you directly into oncoming traffic. At times, as a motorcycle passes you a car or truck will pass him .. all with traffic coming directly at them and sometimes with someone passing into them! You end up 5-wide on a 2-wide street. Accidents are rare. Everyone watches out for the other guy.
The rule of the road is "give way". Make room for the other person. It actually is a Scriptural idea .. yield the right of way to others.
But I always feel like I am in a "Dodge'em" game when I drive through town.
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Some visitors who are helping on the base were at our house yesterday. They were asking about the gifts of the Spirit. I was sharing what I know and encouraged them to step out. This morning one of the girls shared how last night they had walked to the market in the village to buy a few things and coming back, they met a young Mozambican boy who had a severely bowed leg. It affected his mobility.
They asked if they could pray for him and he allowed them to. Nothing was seen to happen at the time and after a bit they began walking back to the base and he accompanied them. The further they walked the straighter his leg became until just before reaching the base, it was perfectly normal!
He was so amazed he did not know what to do!!
They all rejoiced and shared with him to give Jesus the credit. The last they saw of him he was running home to share the news with his family.
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We now have 2 classes underway in the village of Mieze; a teaching/training class for the Leadership in the Church and a Mieze Women's Project Class that has been running since last year.
The Leadership Class is now 2 weeks old. We are covering "Foundations" and it has been well received.
The Women's Class is working with widowed and abandoned mothers who basically have no means to improve their lives. We are teaching health/nutrition/sanitation … saving, budgeting & starting a small business, and goat care and management. The women have been participating very well and we are hopeful of seeing a real change in their futures.
We also have a class of women in Pemba covering the same topics as the class in Mieze. It is a newer class having just begun a couple months ago. These ladies also have responded well and have been excited about some of the projects we have done with them. One that we did both in Mieze and Pemba was to give the women each a bag a charcoal with the understanding that they would sell the charcoal and bring us back our original investment. They would then keep the profit.
This has worked very well! We have had 100% return on the original funds and all of them made a profit .. some more and some less but all made something.
Combined with Bible teaching and times of worship, we have been having a great time with these ladies!!
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Mama Heidi is back in Pemba. The children always love it when she returns. They spend time practicing songs they will sing in church tomorrow and it is neat to listen to them worship.
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Pemba is fast becoming a "boom town" with lots of foreigners piling in here. The gas and oil discoveries near here are creating a different atmosphere. Thousands of oil field workers are coming and just in this last year the town has been changing a lot.
We have been privileged to get to know a few of the Halliburton and Anadarko guys. In particular John "Tiny" Huddleston has been a real blessing. With his urging Halliburton and Anadarko have put on some great barbecues for the children here on the Iris base. Many of the kids got their first taste of a Texas-style barbecued hamburger! The feast that the crew put on for Thanksgiving was a first for Pemba and I am sure Mozambique. Hundreds of pounds of potatoes, 125 pies, 60 turkeys, at least that many hams .. I don't think that much meat has ever been in one spot in Pemba before!
Keep the crews in your prayers. They work hard .. are far from homes and families .. and in a tough environment. It's hot and humid and all that goes with working in the oil patch.
We would like to be a help to them however we may.
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Well .. just a little news from Pemba, Mozambique. It's going on 10PM Saturday night. The soft glow of the security light on the other side of my wall creates strange shapes from dangling papaya tree leaves and little gecko's and small lizards run about looking for a meal.
It's another night in paradise!!
Twyla is in the US until next month. I am missing her here but I know it was Papa God's plan for her to be there. We appreciate your prayers!!
–
Jim & Twyla Taylor
Ministerio Arco-Iris
CP #275 Praia de Wimbe
Pemba, Cabo Delgado
Mozambique, Africa
