Category: Mozambique

The Library is Open!

When given the opportunity to crate our belongings from the United States to Mozambique, we were certain to bring many, many books. Thanks to my sister’s research and hard work coupled with homeschool funding through the IMB, my girls are given the gift of English reading in our Portuguese world!

Since access to English books is quite challenging in a non-English speaking country and access to any literature at all is also quite challenging, we came up with a fun idea:

🎉Stauffer Library! 🎉

Stauffer library began with measuring the kid books, measuring the wall space, doing a little math and hand drawing the blueprints to three happy bookshelves. Proce negotiations, logistics for retrieval and three weeks later, the local carpenter produced some happy (and heavy!) book shelves. The girls and I then alphabetized all our chapter books by title and shelved them. Picture books were organized into topics and shelved. Sections were divided and labeled (yay, happy laminator machine). We also filed a section for magazines and a handful of newspaper articles (again hard to find in English so we picked a paper up after waiting for a few months for our trip to South Africa) which was also laminated for durability.

The girls each have their own small basket for the books they are reading each week. Once per week the girls get to rotate being the librarian, serving their library patrons who come in to switch out their books, and reshelving each book alphabetically (for chapter books) or according to topic (for picture books). While waiting for another patron to borrow their books, the girls have enjoyed reading magazine and newspaper articles.

My librarians have been ECSTATIC to get the chance to recommend books that they have read to their sisters and have been perfecting their alphabetizing skills (the littles with adult help).

At the end of library hours everyone has enjoyed returning to the homeschool shelves with their small basket of new books for the week as the library is closed up.

The library has also proven lovely in selecting books to share with English-learning friends and English-speaking teammates as well as making it easier to pull books for homeschool use.

And we even have a library cat! 😉

(This library is cat approved, for sure.)

It’s fun to see my girls still get to “go to the library” while living at least a day’s drive from any potential English library (though we’ve never yet found one).

My bookworms are VERY happy. ❤️

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Becoming a Stereotype

I wrestle with it. It keeps me up at night. I struggle to put it into words. To assign it a voice and a depth of meaning. Like a Mama bear pacing in front of her cave in some moments. Like an obligation I do not know how to quite carry. A spiraling into the unknown.

I swing between complete responsibility, wrestling to discern maturity during full disclosure, and an “it’s beyond my grasp” deflation. This unknown people becoming known. Because some white people showed up.

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How does one portray them? How can I explain them? Things I wrestle with about their culture that I’m still processing, sometimes aloud. Things I admire. Overwhelming lessons. Overwhelming obligations and responsibilities.

All while walking on a thin line. How can I keep them from becoming a stereotype? They’re not just faces to push a platform. Faces to represent a statement they never made.

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What would their mother think? That baby who could be portrayed as helpless that she has nursed through the first two years of life as her utter prize. Her long awaited miracle. What would his father think seeing his son be portrayed as desperate? That son he is intentionally raising to be a man.

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Tread lightly, beloved, as you tell a story that is not your own. Step carefully and carry the responsibility well as many may unknowingly place an agenda on their shoulders, words in their mouths, or an ideal written on their faces that they would never say.

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He is N’s boy. F’s baby girl. F and Y’s precious sister who my girls run to hug from across the field. They are my precious D and L who pushed past my foreign ways with giggles and I always just so happen to find sitting right beside me each week. He’s A’s boy who always looks after his brother, and holds his hands out to the little ones to make sure they know there’s a seat for them. They and countless others. They are real, live, and utterly amazing people.

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People with voices.

People with stories.

People with hopes.

They are ours because they’ll have us, not because we claim them.

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I wrestle with it. And I think we all should. Because they’re not props. They are people. A bright future. And we have a responsibility to them, whether we know them personally or not. They’re not a status. They’re not a symbol. A poster child for a lesson they never intended to teach.

 

Tread lightly, beloved.

Step carefully and carry the responsibility well.

There’s always so much more to learn. Growth to be had.

(She reminds herself at 2 a.m.).

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How can it even be put into words?

 

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Wordless Wednesday: Fresh From the Tap

Who wants a drink?

We’re BEYOND thankful for the WMU’s gracious gift of our water filter so we don’t partake from the tap.

– Sometimes it’s green, honestly.

– Year-round boil advisory. 😜

– Still thankful to actually have running water in our home.

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Oh Brothers Let’s Go Down

 

You may have had a chance to see Matt’s post about the recent baptisms in Maxixe, but I wanted to take a minute to share the “behind the scenes”.

Here are some video clips of the reality, joyfully embraced, of the whole church walking over 2 miles roundtrip to and from the baptismal service.

 

 

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Even little Eden put forth such a joyfully willing effort to trod along in the sand.

 

 

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Once there everyone settled in a minute as we got organized and the kids naturally enjoyed each other’s company. And as I shared on baptism day, our baptismal had ten cattle drinking, two herdsmen bathing, and one woman beating her freshly-washed laundry in a beached log. Oh wonderful Africa, how we love thee. 😂

 

 

 

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Before baptism, each candidate shares their personal testimony (as was done by this youth in Chopi and was translated for Matt into Portuguese). One day we may not need a translator, but for today it was really cool to hear both tongues share of God’s work in each candidate’s life.

 

 

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After shared testimonies, the church is open to question the candidates. It was an open floor for any of the candidates to be individually addressed and asked questions clarifying their testimony, theology, etc. Some such questions were asking for an explanation of what is the gospel and what are their plans and thoughts about the Christian walk after baptism. I love how the Chopi group wanted to be sure their candidates were rock-solid and fully understanding of the symbolism of baptism (and not the saving powers) and the new Christian’s responsibility to the Body of Christ.

 

Then the candidates went away while the Body of believers decided if they were ready for baptism. It was very interesting and in no way a formality. They were really deciding and talking among themselves about the salvation stories and the candidates’ answers to their questions. And then, because the Chopi know how to have a good time, they called the candidates over and notified them that none of them are qualified and it’s time to walk back to the shade tree. Then they immediately told them that of course they were joking and that they’d be thrilled to have them join the Body of Christ there in Chopiland. Haha! These people are flat out fun.

 

 

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Into the waters they showed the story of their lives before salvation and out of the water they came as new creations in Christ.

And then we all walked back, some of us dripping more than others. Some of the little ones, like Eden, had gotten tired from the first walk and found a refuge on the back of willing siblings and friends. That’s what community looks like. And it’s beautiful.

 

 

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Back to the shade tree for a celebration service and the first Lord supper for the new believers among the Body.

Farewell and everyone departed afterward, promising to see each other again for Tuesday’s Bible Study under the shade tree. I may or may not have had to wake up a small one who knocked out cold during the service. 😉

God has been reminding me lately how we have come to really live among those here. It’s sweet little “see you on Tuesday” normalcy that casually rolls off a Chopi sister’s tongue as she says goodbye on Sunday. It’s the youth that always sits close to share my Bible with me that I can now joke around with because we carry history. It’s understanding some of the playfulness of the people because they’re comfortable enough with us to let guards down. I don’t deserve such an honor to walk alongside of these beloved people. It’s not easy (as life never is), but it is indeed such an honor and a joy.

Welcome to the Body of Christ in Chopiland.

All are welcome.

Come and hear the Good News.

 

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From our Home to Yours

We just wanted to share some more pictures of our homeschool days.

 

What a blessing it is to learn and grow together.

We’ve had many great hands-on discoveries – and some were even quite tasty!

It may be listening to Vivaldi’s Winter movement in Four Seasons and painting a winter scene (even if I had to explain what Northern Hemisphere winter means – hah!), writing and drawing without hands, learning the most tasty chemistry around, enjoying classical music on headphones during some reading time, learning about blood analysis at a local clinic, planting herbs, reading endless books (especially to cats), exfoliating with mud creations, playing ancient civilization games, celebrating Biblical feasts (not pictured but in previous posts), science experiments with Daddy, computer reading lessons, learning the ukelele, Portuguese classes with a youth from the Maxixe church, but we just wanted to share the joy of discovery with you all.

 

What a privilege it is to discover!

Thank you for journeying with us.

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