MozamWeek

Arriving in the town of Tete from the south, you descend into the Zambezi Valley and catch a glimpse of the river on the horizon... we are coming home! That was weeks ago now. We stayed in town and made some important contacts, went to church, and took off for our "home away from home" (away from home away from home!) We have been staying in a borrowed home for about 2 weeks. The house is about 4 hours away to the north... but it is closer than Sweden! We are still looking for a house to rent in Tete... but while we search, we are happy to live in Vila Ulongwe and visit Tete for business as needed. This week we are in Tete to submit our residence papers, visit the translators, look for water on our lot, look at possible rental house, and check in at the kids' school. Next week back to Vila. We aren't quite home yet, I guess!

Finally the pictures. When we were in Vilanculos we had one of those very good vacation days. Perfect weather, lovely surroundings, and someone else responsible for planning the day. We were picked up in a 1969 VW Bug... the whole family rode out to the beach where the dhow (Mozambican sailboat) was waiting. After an hour out to the Magaruque island we really enjoyed the sand, calm lagoon, and the snorkeling on the reef. We came back the hotel sunburned and happy. The next day we are on the road again for 7 hours... after that, another day with 6 hours on the road and we got a glimpse of the Zambezi River and the town of Tete!

Well, we have returned to Mozambique with all its color and sound and smell and sweaty heat. We have come back to the place we left... The road back was longer than the road away... there was more waiting and preparation and regretting the preparation that was too late. Why didn't I do that earlier? I don't know. Maybe I have learned this time... maybe... I have my many excuses for not keeping up my promise to publish a "weekly snippet". Maybe I'm back on track. Yesterday, Mikael managed to get MY computer to connect to the internet via the dial-up connection. So if all is well, he will manage to connect it again tonight and I will publish this snippet from Vila Ulongwe near the Malawi border of Tete province in Mozambique in southern Africa. We have been in this place (Vila Ulongwe which isn't really Tete) for just a week. HOME now to our kids. It takes a week or being unpacked to feel at home in contrast to the other stops in the journey where: You leave the...

We arrived in Tete yesterday. Im borrowing a computer to write this and the portuguese keyboard is driving me nuts. I will write more soon as I get my own connection worked out! Thanks for all the prayers. We had an amazingly good trip, but it was long! I have to get the kids dressed now from their swim... we have promised to attend a traditional South African Braai (barbeque) this evening at the international school where we hope to enroll them in January. HOT... Sweaty... and happy to be back.~ Ive got pictures on the way, but they can wait a day or so.

What else is new? Ask anyone who has been "left behind" after the Mikael and Jeni leaving the country blitz... it is a mess, we never get it all done, and somehow, people still love us. Of course, they may be glad that we are gone for 3-4 years at a time. That way they don't have to deal with the mess as often. We are going to bed. I weighed the suitcases and they come out to 20kg, 17kg, 17kg, 20kg, and 26kg. Now, if you average that out, you will notice that we have precisely the right allowable weight in our bags. I was impressed with that result since it was the first and only weigh-in. Hopefully they won't make us shift the heavy to the light, but it would not be too hard. We have NOT packed the carry-ons yet. But the "pile" beside them looks reasonable. We are tired... did I say that yet. I have again learned a lot from the leaving experience. Watching the kids deal with it is encouraging. They have actually been great. Today they hung out together and ...

The following slide-show has pictures from the last week. We have been checking off the "to do" list and it is getting shorter every day. That is a positive accomplishment! The kids went swimming with Mikael and Farmor one last time on Tuesday. I stayed home and showed the house to the potential buyers. The house is sold now... we haven't met the new family, but have heard that they are expecting a baby. It is a good place to have kids. Quiet, near the forest, and just enough neighbor kids to keep things interesting. We went ice-skating yesterday! One last time. John go to try out the ice for the first time on skates. Katie and Jake still fit in their skates from last year. It is nice that they opened the rink just in time for us to check it off the list! Mikael's sister is now the inheritor of a pair of ladies' white figure skates... size 38 (Europe). I'm not going to make a place in a box for those! See the snow? Farmor found it behind the rink... dumped ...

David Ker our long-time friend and partner with the Nyungwe Bible translation project in Mozambique has just created this short promotional video to show in churches. I think he did a great job... and just in time for us to use it once or twice here in Sweden before we return to Moz in about 11 days! Have a look and let me know what you think! I will also encourage you to save the link to this blog. I think some of you get my posts by e-mail, but don't log on to see the rest of the stuff I have on here. I love your comments by email, but if you share them on the blog, others will see them as well. Thanks!