MozamWeek

We have too much. I've noticed this as I pack and unpack when moving between countries. We have to weigh and box up our leftovers (stuff we didn't give away and aren't taking with us). The things I keep to remember the life I have lived and hope to live once again someday. Some of it is necessary. Those boxes of past tax records and bank stuff... a Ziploc with about 25 expired passports. (These are actually necessary sometimes, who would guess!) Those two boxes of kitchen stuff came in very handy when setting up house again in Sweden! I needed those nine years after packing and storing that box Some of it is wonderful. Photos and albums of days-gone-by bring true joy when shared with those we love! We don't look at them often enough. We might have too many, but my friend pulled out a picture of my dad she had from our time in high school. If she hadn't saved it, I wouldn't have it. The box with a few baby clothes from our sweet tiny children... or their fi...

Usually at this time of my "leavings" I am becoming more and more irritated by my current country and culture. I remember times of temperamental impatience as someone took too long to find a price for my can of tomatoes... or a car managed to perform a particularly common irrational moving violation in my immediate vicinity... or a beggar asked just one more time...   I've not felt that this time. This last time. I am more filled with understanding and nostalgia. I'm much more gracious than usual. This can only be the grace of God, I think, as I pack another box and say another goodbye. Tears are always close. I well up at the slightest inclination... crossing the Zambezi at sunset... waiting for cows to get out of the road... sweating in the heat as the kids come out of the school... remembering him or her or those other ones. I sigh a lot. I've heard it is good for you. I hate crying, but my grandma warned me it gets worse with age. I'm proving her r...

I know it is hard to accept that you might be the answer to a big problem. I know it is hard when I am the answer to a need bigger than I can meet alone. Before you reject a Syrian neighbor, I suggest you meet a person who is from another home than yours. I suggest you consider what it means to be hopeful that you can start somewhere safe. What is it like to leave everything crushed behind you. People you knew and cared about are just gone... Then you show up in the "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave" and find the doors locked and the neighbors trembling because you are there and you are different. You long for safety and you are stared at from behind closed doors. You look different. It is hard to communicate. You don't know anyone. They don't want to know you. I am grieving here in Mozambique, far away from my homeland. I see post after post shared by people I love declaring they have no place for Syrian resettlement. They "hate Obama" and they...

Long ago, our mission directors decided that a short American girl should share a desk with a tall Swede in Maputo, Mozambique. They were in the same department and the office was very small. That's the beginning of our story. We've told it often and in many circumstances: when we visited churches everyone wanted the "love story"; when we met people in Mozambique and they wanted to know how we ended up together; when I've given a lift to a lady on the side of the road and she asked how I ended up in Mozambique and questions led to the story. God has used the story to show many how he can lead with a smile, and a whisper of hope. We married at the age of 30. It seemed very old at the time! February 22, 1997 Mikael and I have made a life together, and we have mostly allowed God to guide us. He's guided us through good and bad decisions and moved us a little closer to His vision of who we are in Him, I hope. We are never quite there... but we are moving the...

We have been in Mozambique for a very long time. This is our oldest daughter visiting a village a half hour out of town in 2003. This was most of what she knew about the world at the time. This village was new to her, but not scary or strange. Our home was surrounded by a green, lush garden. Tea time under a guava tree was a daily ritual with Rosa and Maria. I admit, this looks a little "colonial" in some ways. But that is just life in Africa: our kids are white and everyone else is not. When you have a picnic this is what it looks like.  By 2012 my kids were happy in their school. The translation project was well under way. I was out and about visiting friends and finding places to share Nyungwe stories. There weren't many. Not many people were interested yet. We were on the verge of a new big thing, but we didn't know it.  After our "furlough" for a year in 2012-13, we returned to Mozambique. Little Zebra Books started publishi...

I have a hard time keeping up the pace of "real" work when my kids are home from school. This past week was their half-term break. This coincided with the national elections in Mozambique, so there was plenty of reason to leave paperwork behind and find something else to do together. I have a good friend here in Tete who is blessed with a Mennonite background (like mine) and an air-conditioned kitchen (unlike mine). So when I got a text asking if I wanted to "do donuts" during half-term break, I knew it would be a great chance for some healthy mom-and-kid activity. (In my childhood dialect of northern Indiana, "doing donuts" can refer to "cutting kitties" -- spinning cars around on icy parking lots or the like.) She suggested  this recipe  which she has used in the past. I've not made donuts since I was a little girl in Indiana, as far as I can remember. At least not any that were as memorable as grandma's. Here is my photo documentat...

Just ask my mom... I'm not that easy to live with! After 5 months living with her in Alabama, we spent 5 months living in England. Now we are spending about 2 months living with my in-laws in Sweden. For some people, this would be a nightmare. For us, it is a blessing with certain challenges! The nice thing about having in-laws in different countries is that they can't compete with each other for your attention. They get your family COMPLETELY each time you come home to them. In both homes we know we are welcome and loved.  Mother-in-law in Swedish is  svärmor - -  like "swearmother" the connotations are ancient! Let me introduce you to my mother-in-law: Iréne Bister just turned 70. She can bike to the market and back quicker than I can get the car out and drive there. Irene climbed the windmill hill in England faster than me. She swims in icy water at the lake with my kids and I can barely dip in my toes. She bakes, knits and cleans like a whirlwind! One might ...

We just spent 4 wonderful days with Mikael's parents and younger sister. It is such a blessing to have family around! In our little community here, filled with students from 15 different countries, there aren't many grandparents hanging around. We live with an intense connection to people we only see every few years. It is a strange life, but I think we get to appreciate each other all the more for it. It helps that I have some pretty awesome in-laws! They arrived on Wednesday in time to pick up Jakob from school on his 11th birthday! He was very excited and felt a little like he was the sole reason for their visit. They came to celebrate him, but also because Irene is turning 70 this month! We had a special dinner and cake and presents from Sweden. It was nice. Since Mikael and I are both taking classes this month, Katie got to entertain them in the mornings. On Thursday we headed to Oxford. We got lost because I wanted to show them the beauty of Oxfordshire... but also be...

Hello there Friend! I've not been too busy to write to you. I was temporarily blocked out of my blog. Our internet in England is usually pretty good, but we get glitches. I'm surprised to see that I got in so easily today! I'm so surprised that I didn't even plan what I was going to write! I must take the opportunity as it comes. So, here we are together again! The day after Easter is a holiday almost everywhere. We enjoyed our Sunday at Long Crendon Baptist Church where we have decided to attend. They have lots of kids the right age for our kids... and lots of Wycliffe people so we don't have to explain what we are doing hanging out in England for five months. (They are used to missionaries on study programs dragging their kids around the world.)                               We drive about 25 minutes through the countryside to a tiny town near Oxford. The church is on the "High Street" ...

We have landed. Again. This time on an island not far away at all. We are fairly near our last hop... only one time zone changed. We didn't have to change our language this time. We change our spell-checker version to blend in on paper. We taxied out in snow and slush. Freezing weather and Pakistani driver. Five extra large, brand new suitcases found a new home. The next day, the sun came out.  It snowed. Rolling the heavy stuff into body, heart and head took muscle. Two boys huffed and puffed their men together. Green tracks in the formerly unblemished blanket of white.  Very green for mid-winter. New schools. New friends. New challenges. New ideas. New... New... New... So glad that He who makes all things new is the same always. So glad He who knows all things knew this day always, too. So glad... for green in mid-winter and sunshine in snow and heart and soul and five suitcases that hopped here together.  Nothing new about that! So glad! ...

Where did YOU grow up? Was it someplace special? I grew up in a very normal place. I spent a week back in there. In the 70's and early 80's we lived in houses within a few miles of where I was born. The last house was on Popp Road at the edge of Grandpa's 40 acres. Mom, my kids and I enjoyed our stay at my aunt's house right next door to our last "Daddy-built" home. Driving down the road with the afternoon sun glowing through golden, green and orange woods I had to think, "There is really no prettier place in the world." I'm so thankful for having a chance to grow up on the edge of a cornfield... on a gravel road lined with trees... just a jog or bike ride from my grandma's house... with a blue sky overhead and fresh air blowing through the leaves. I'm thankful for the closeness of family that provided much perspective on life and shaped my choices for the future. I'm thankful for the ...

It has been over a month since my first USA post on MozamWeek. I have been quite lax in communicating, I guess. Time with family getting adjusted to this life in Alabama has been good. We have gotten together each weekend (mostly for birthday celebrations - September seems to be the hot month for that around here!) What can I write when there are no interesting cultural quirks that I can point out without offending my neighbors? I'm only half kidding. Alabama is full of cultural quirks that people are pretty proud of! Right now, we are leading up to Homecoming at the kids' school. As a K-12 school, the younger kids are also involved in homecoming more than in a larger school. So we are volunteering for banner construction and have stacks of fundraising opportunities to help with (insert a groan). Buy doughnuts? Sell coupon books? Get your face painted in class with the team logo for only a dollar? After spending so much time in Mozambique, a dollar has more meaning than it ...

I'm in Sweden. I have been for a month now. Deep sigh. The air is clean. My feet are clean! I wear white... and it stays white. Welcome back... ... after years in Africa's throbbing heart I see... The flag is blue crossed with yellow. The grass and trees are green. Lakes shimmer surrounded by pine and birch and oak. Red houses with white trim. Summer... The sky is blue from 4am to 10pm. Another day. The sky is gray with heavy clouds and cool rain. Another day. The sun warms again in the clear sky. In the car... Wheels hum on the black ribbon cutting through the pines. Passing... Fields of green... hay, oats, wheat Fields of yellow... canola flowers. Roadside wildflowers, shoulder-high... white, yellow, blue and pink... nodding in the green. Horses trotting in the pasture. Cows grazing in the pasture. Passing... Campers. Campgrounds. Boats. Canals. Trains. Stations. Crossings with booms. Summer vacation in Sweden... ...

I've been waiting for June all year long! This is the month of potential "winter" weather. Tonight, my toes are chilly for the first time since I was in Cape Town back in December! Only a person raised in the NORTH and living in an extremely tropical area (at low altitude) can really understand our craving for cool weather. We glow with glee when the thermometer drops below 80F/28C... Tonight it is even lower than that after a sprinkling of rain. I had a cup of tea in the middle of the day! But this year June brings another joy... we are going 'HOME'! Our three-and-a-half year term is coming to an end. We have booked our tickets and are packing and finishing and selling and giving away. Everything in the house is categorized: give away, throw away, sell, ship, save, maybe. The "maybe" category is hacked away by necessity. The "keep in Tete storage" is an easy default. "Give away" becomes easier as the days go on... the burden of ...

Tiny bananas make us smile a tiny bit. Christmas in Tete 2010 Some very random pictures of a side to my life that I usually don't publicize. Here is the story behind the story from the past few years. Hot Christmas. Interesting acquaintances. Food. Bugs. This is some of the good, the bad and the ugly of a missionary family in Tete! Christmas beetle- small, fuzzy and really red!  I can't get my husband to wear shirts at home, so I don't post pics of him very often I gave these guys Nyungwe Bible story books when I was visiting the immigration office. Then I found out they are Sena speakers! Interesting company. I meet people from many walks of life. I think Jesus would love to hang out with these ladies too! When we moved into this house the yard was depressing and bare. We didn't want you to feel sorry for us though! Many man-hours to plant grass in the depressing yard... it makes a difference! Nectarines are such a ...