Front of our house with veranda. House is on the second story.
Making Christmas Cookies
Decorating the Christmas PalmHappy New Year!
The tradition here is to eat a late supper (11:00). They put out a huge amount of food, sodas and many drink beer as well. They play their music loud and dance in the streets all night long. We stayed up only until 2:00. The tradition is to invite friends and neighbors to supper so we ate supper with the neighbors and than went outside at twelve o’clock where everyone was cheering, setting off fireworks everywhere and dancing in the streets. We walked over to Aleixo’s uncle’s home and ate another meal with their family. When we returned we went to bed. Augusta told us that in the years past the people suffered a lot from the war. First the Portuguese war and than the civil war that was worse than the first war. She said it didn’t enter the cities but there was no food because it was not safe to grow food. They did not leave the city because it was too dangerous, even ten miles outside the city. She said this is why the New Year is so important and Mozambiquens celebrate it because they are celebrating one more year with out war and suffering.
Christmas on the other hand was not quite as large a celebration and was kind of difficult for us being in a very hot country and far away from family and friends. We made cookies and gave them to a few people and also had a open house for friends and hosts at Steve and Cheryl’s home. We also decorated a palm branch for a Christmas tree.
Last Saturday we traveled to Gondola to look at houses. Gondola is on top of a hill overlooking the vast countryside of forest, savanna and rocky granite peaks that seem to jut out of nowhere throughout the hilly country. We have been there several times over the last month. The first time we went to meet the people of the Mennonite church in Gondola. They are very excited for us to come. The church is the second Mennonite church in Gondola (there was only one more) and is only 6 years old. They have planted three other churches in the countryside and are trying to reach more people. They helped us look for houses over the past few weeks. We succeeded in finding a house that suits our needs. It is close to the church and the bus stop to Chimoio, it was the least expensive, has a decent kitchen and bathroom and is decently comfortable. There are also verandas on either side of the apartment/house that overlook the beautiful countryside.
On the way back it rained and I looked out the window at some of the fields of corn. It looked as if the wind had blown some of the corn over, hopefully not to the point of damage. It reminded me of how often at home in Nebraska a storm would come through and blow corn over as much as 30% at times. I remember being worried about how it would affect the farm financially. The reality here is that if this happen here it is not a financial loss that people experience, it is loss of food and possibly the loss of life because most people don’t have the means to by food and will go hungry if the crop doesn’t succeed. Thus the rain this week is a welcome site.
It is the New Year and we are looking forward to one more month of language study and than moving to Gondola to where we will be for the next few years. We pray for wisdom and courage in the coming year and are thankful that there is no place that we will go where God is not!
The tradition here is to eat a late supper (11:00). They put out a huge amount of food, sodas and many drink beer as well. They play their music loud and dance in the streets all night long. We stayed up only until 2:00. The tradition is to invite friends and neighbors to supper so we ate supper with the neighbors and than went outside at twelve o’clock where everyone was cheering, setting off fireworks everywhere and dancing in the streets. We walked over to Aleixo’s uncle’s home and ate another meal with their family. When we returned we went to bed. Augusta told us that in the years past the people suffered a lot from the war. First the Portuguese war and than the civil war that was worse than the first war. She said it didn’t enter the cities but there was no food because it was not safe to grow food. They did not leave the city because it was too dangerous, even ten miles outside the city. She said this is why the New Year is so important and Mozambiquens celebrate it because they are celebrating one more year with out war and suffering.
Christmas on the other hand was not quite as large a celebration and was kind of difficult for us being in a very hot country and far away from family and friends. We made cookies and gave them to a few people and also had a open house for friends and hosts at Steve and Cheryl’s home. We also decorated a palm branch for a Christmas tree.
Last Saturday we traveled to Gondola to look at houses. Gondola is on top of a hill overlooking the vast countryside of forest, savanna and rocky granite peaks that seem to jut out of nowhere throughout the hilly country. We have been there several times over the last month. The first time we went to meet the people of the Mennonite church in Gondola. They are very excited for us to come. The church is the second Mennonite church in Gondola (there was only one more) and is only 6 years old. They have planted three other churches in the countryside and are trying to reach more people. They helped us look for houses over the past few weeks. We succeeded in finding a house that suits our needs. It is close to the church and the bus stop to Chimoio, it was the least expensive, has a decent kitchen and bathroom and is decently comfortable. There are also verandas on either side of the apartment/house that overlook the beautiful countryside.
On the way back it rained and I looked out the window at some of the fields of corn. It looked as if the wind had blown some of the corn over, hopefully not to the point of damage. It reminded me of how often at home in Nebraska a storm would come through and blow corn over as much as 30% at times. I remember being worried about how it would affect the farm financially. The reality here is that if this happen here it is not a financial loss that people experience, it is loss of food and possibly the loss of life because most people don’t have the means to by food and will go hungry if the crop doesn’t succeed. Thus the rain this week is a welcome site.
It is the New Year and we are looking forward to one more month of language study and than moving to Gondola to where we will be for the next few years. We pray for wisdom and courage in the coming year and are thankful that there is no place that we will go where God is not!
1 comment:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years guys! I am so glad that by means of modern technology I can stay updated on all of the adventures that each of us are up to these days. Our entire group continues to pop in and out of my mind on a regular basis. I am sending you a tremendous amount of love and support from Cali.... Blessings to you in the new year.
peace,
Erin
Post a Comment