Hard at Work!!!

We have many roles here in Mozambique. Our primary role at the moment is to be learning as much as we can about all the different programs. Rick however just cant seem to leave his construction background for too long, and has been hard at work getting Dwight and Lynn's roof on! (for which they have been extremely gratefull- it looks soooo much more like a house now!!) We are also in the middle of making plans for the little cottage that is our temporary home, as we have recieved a generous donation of funds that will allow us to complete the ceiling and verandah, which will make the cottage a LOT more livable in the coming HOT season!

Dwight and Lynn's place with one half of the roof almost done!

Lynn has been busy taking me along on home visits, so I can get to know the families we work with, and their individual needs. It is always a blessing for me to go to these homes. I love to visit with the people and more often than not there is a baby I can cuddle for at least a few minutes. African Moms have no problem handing their babies over- they love to see us white ladies cuddling their little ones. Of course, with me cuddling so many babies- and none of these babies having diapers- it was only a matter of time until one of them peed on me! Here is the little culprit- Gerente (which means "manager"). He is the grandson of Pastor Ricardo,whose church held the welcome service for us when we first arrived. Oh well- I guess ive been lucky to make it two months without actually getting peed on! The things we have to suffer for ministry! :)

In two weeks our annual VBS starts up at the mission school, and we are hard at work preparing lessons, craft ideas, and games. It is a lot of work to come up with 4 hours of activities for 10 days for over 100 kids, ranging in age from 6-12 or even older! We are looking forward to it though, as it will be our first real chance to organise some childrens ministry here in Mozambique. Part of Rick's "preparation" and "planning" for this two week event was determining whether the construction plastic here is strong enough for a slip& slide. Yes, this fell under the category of work! Its tough- but somebodys got to do it! Also falling under the category of work; trying to teach our worker Clemens how to have a water balloon fight so Rick could try out how easily the balloons popped. Some things you just have to be here to see- so here are some pictures of the slip & slide testing.

Rick testing out the slip&slide- those men in the background thought he was using the water to wash the plastic (many people here use this plastic to help keep the rain out) they were QUITE shocked when he took a running start and jumped on it! I can just imagine what they were thinking the crazy muzungu was up to now!!!! ahh.. sunlight dish detergent makes a great slip&slide- they should sell this stuff alongside the plastic- we used the same exact stuff at the camp we used to direct in Northern Manitoba!he stood up to try and stop himself... didnt work- right after this pic he was a little wet muzungu mud ball (so of course he just HAD to go again to clean off!)

a little girl participating in one of ricks object lessons-they had to race around the room- one of them blindfolded.

Also part of last weeks work, was spending Saturday morning "observing" the children's program at Pastor Ricardo's church. We observed about half an hour and then Pastor Ricardo turned to us and said- "ok, now you give a word" (refer to past post on church services!). Well, after Rick's first "word" (which apparently was not long enough) we ended up being asked to give about 4 more "words" until it was noon and time for lunch! At one point Rick and I had all the kids being rain and the wind, and the adults being thunder, helping us act out the story of Jonah- we had a great time, and the kids had a blast too. It was a great time and we look forward to going back another week (more prepared!) to do another morning of kids ministry!

Girls demonstrating an African Praise and worship song for us, complete with stomping and shuffling!