Service times are:

-Saturday, March 7th at 7 pm
-Sunday, March 8th at 9 am (don’t forget about daylight savings time)
-Sunday, March 8th at 11 am

Here’s a map and directions if you’re coming from somewhere else.

Village Boy with Popsicles

Village Girls Being Sillyfaces

Mark, Jen, Nasimo, Chantal, Rosa and the Wood boys came to the airport with me.  Jun was leaving on the same plane.  Boarding time came and we were rushed through onto a little jet, the kind with only 3 seats per row (Pam prayed that I would get a small plane because they’re more fun).  It was small enough that the asked us to move to the back of the plane because it was imbalanced for take-off.  I sat in the very back left corner between the wing and the engine.  There was a misty rain as we waited and occasionally streams of water would leave tracers on the window.  We left early.  The plane made a steep accent, the land is greener now than when I arrived.  I noticed all the buildings that had been invisible when I flew here in November.  You just had to know what to look for.  I watched the beaches go by and recognized a few of them.  They served lunch immediately and there was cheesecake.  It’s was hard to eat without the kids- I didn’t escape thinking about them and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to.  One thing my stay has produced is a keen awareness of what is available to whom.

My Dear Friends Mymuna and Nasimo

In my estimation I’ve left at least a ventricle and quite possibly an atria or even both at with my family in Pemba.  There’s the Iris kids, the village kids, the missionaries and tias, the babies that have broad teethless smiles- the kind that would show all their teeth if they had any, babies that only want you and fall asleep however you hold them.  There’s the challenge of putting Mildo (his name is “Mildew” heh heh)  to bed after he’s asleep in your arms.  He grasps your shirt and then monitors your intentions.  Plenty to miss.

Agira is Sweet

I’m writing from South Africa- I’ll be here for 5 days before arriving at SFO in San Francisco, 1:25pm on Thursday, February 12th (Happy Birthday Kiddo!).  It’s cold this morning.  Please pray for my friends in Pemba and for me as well, daily bread, keep us from temptation, deliver us from the evil one, exalt God, that sort of thing would be good.  Especially pray for Nasimo that he would have a close godly Mozambican friend.

Beautiful Sunrise the Beach. I took this picture on my phone, it's quite a lot more amazing in real life

Thanks for your prayers! All of our toddlers are doing well. Vitor is through with cholera and Merina seems to have kicked malaria also. Please pray for my Fatima who seems to have become ill with malaria. Yikes.

I’ve noticed lots of skin infections on the tops of the heads of a bunch of village kids too.  Please pray for us all!!

I’m teaching Piano on base and Fatima is one of my students.  I have to say that the girls learning piano are pretty amazing.  We’re doing a bit of music theory- by the third day they were able to name every note as well as form scales and chords.  They moved the keyboard into their house so they can practice and do their “homework”.

This isn't my housemate

Please pray for our kids. We have one boy from the toddler house who is hospitalized with Cholera. Fortunately it looks like none of the other kids picked it up. One of our younger girls, Merina, is sick with malaria. We have two sick babies, one appears to be constipated and the other one balances the equation if you catch my drift. As for me, I am well although I’m being bitten by mosquitoes more these days.

Kids drawing on the rocks at the beach

One student drew a simple model of the human heart that I taught. Nice.

Think, who knows you very well in all the world. When leave your country and go somewhere else who knows you? If it is your first time coming to Mozambique no one here will know you except God. Think, when you are sleeping and you can’t see anything, who protects you? If you want to trust God you can look at Luke 12:

“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; Yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”

If go anywhere in the world you can trust that God will give you what you need even if it is a poor country or a rich country. God has a plan for you where ever you go. One time I met a man who came to Mozambique and banditos stole from

Nchamo at his table in the back room of a mud hut

Before you are born, when you are in you mothers tummy God has a plan for you. Sometimes, as you get older you forget the plan. Just like a child, when he is three years old he remembers something but when he is 16 he doesn’t remember what he was doing when he was three years old. If you are rich or if you are poor sometimes it distracts you from what the plan was.

If you are rich maybe sometimes you think you are god and everything is zero and you are a VIP and everything is about you. You might always think about cars, computers, airplanes, boats, clothes, houses, jewelry, girls, everything and you forget who was rich first. Who was rich before you and who is the most rich in all the world?

You can always give time

You think maybe if you have a lot of stuff you will feel good, but it’s nothing. Share what you have. Even if you are poor you can give to people by volunteering and giving your time. Sometimes the only thing the children here need is time. It’s not just the children sometimes if you just sit with your friend then he is happy. If you only give him money but don’t spend time with him or show him love then you don’t know his problems and every time he goes away he is sad. Even if you are rich when you don’t have friends or people to stay and talk with you then you are sad.

Rich people have a responsibility to give. Some rich people here don’t know Jesus but then because of their giving they find out about Him. One time Jesus was talking to a man who was very rich:

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sad because he had great wealth.

Remember those who don't have

When you speak the truth more trust comes, more truth and more vision from God. To be responsible with giving you need to know Jesus and you need to have peace. If you don’t know Jesus how can you be responsible with giving? How? A man from England was visiting Mozambique and he gave someone a lot of money to go help the people in the village. The man who took the money didn’t help the people in the village,

Kids from our base passing out candies to village kids for Christmas

Remember, God, He knew you before you were born, and he has a plan for you. Don’t worry if you are rich or poor you still have to give. Don’t forget to look for people who want help- remember who is the most rich all the world. Do you know what to do to avoid being sad? Try to remember. When you give, you need to know God. Pray when you give and He will bless it. Remember who knows you the best in the whole world. I hope are blessed and that you give and pray about giving and that you will always remember this message. This message is not just from me, God is using me to tell you this message.

-Nchamo Muedine

Half a bottle left

I’ve been here long enough that I catch myself speaking portuguese to my cat. In fact I did our village school without a translator for about an hour and a half yesterday…although my grammar is atrocious, really.

In the past New Years here has been rough. Staff tell of witch doctors coming out all over the city in their full garb. Perhaps something that US-ians can relate to more is rampant drunkenness. Fatherhood isn’t valued much in this culture and an excuse to drink loads of EtOH doesn’t help the situation.

Loving fathers DO exist here- This man lost his wife and can't take care of his daughter. His beautiful little girl lives with us but he comes to the base and visits her often. Here they are together on Christmas. This picture keeps at the forefront of my mind that every child here has a story. Every one.

Please pray for families here. For a new spirit of real love and for protection from temptation and evil of every kind.

I have a funny story for you…when white people walk through the village they’re bound the hear children yelling “akunya, akunya” which means white-person, white person. Adults chuckle. Visitors are advised to avoid walking through the village in case a situation escalates. I had to go get some “matopi” for our pottery class so I went into the village with two Mozambican friends. Sure enough within the first minute a child piped up “akunya, akunya, akunya” to which another child replied (in Portuguese) he’s not an akunya, look at him. The two began fighting between themselves over whether or not I was white enough. Good times.

Now when a village kid calls me akunya I just look around really fast and say “where??!?” and everyone seems to think that’s pretty funny. There’s one place in the village where, when I turn the corner, they just yell “Eduardu, Eduardu!” and come running. These are my students and their brothers and sisters.

May God give you exactly what you need in the year ahead, lots of love, Ed

…and here’s a picture my friend Sam took, just cause I like you:

Beautiful child waits in line for food

Nchamo Muedine

Christian brothers and sisters, the love of God spreads to all the world. Many people in Africa are Christians, they love Jesus but they need someone to come explain.

Many people do things to commemorate Christmas but it is difficult for these people because they don’t have anything. It is important for these people that you pray, asking God to bless the country and give more power to the people for everything that they need. Nothing is impossible with God! We need your help but prayer is so important because it touches everybody in Africa. If you send money then sometimes the people don’t get it. If you send money here in the mail, sometimes people open the mail and they take the money out but if you pray and God hears your prayer he provides for everybody. Come see Mozambique, now it is different because many people are trusting in God. God brings more power for the country. Some children lose their families to be christians. That is like me, I lost my family when I was 6 years old to be a christian.

If you get this message tell another person to pray for our country so it will spread the love of God. You have a lot of money, but it is not possible for all people because there are so many people. Try visiting the countries and pray over the countries and look at what Jesus wants to change. You need to think about you, how God changed your life, then come and tell your testimony. Maybe if you tell your story then somebody else will know Jesus. Even me, I have a dream to go to other countries and tell people about God. Even if you don’t have anything you need to continue to share that message because the message is for everybody.

Jesus wants to give you more- more responsibility for teaching other people about God. This message is from me, a young boy, sixteen years old. I am working with missionaries wherever I go, they are like my family.

Please pray for Africa and the world, for peace and love and faith. Please christian brothers and sisters don’t fear when you want to visit the world because Jesus is with you everywhere you go. Me too, I pray for you. When God calls you anywhere, you need to just go.

When you are finished reading this message please keep it in your heart,

-Nchamo Muedine

Nchamo would be really blessed to hear what you think of his writing. I’ll give him a copy of all your comments so he can read them!

This girl was more interested in her christmas Fanta than her new turtle

A Merry Christmas at the Boy's Dorms

Mary and Joseph on the way to Bethlehem

The crowd gathered at our front gate and we let a several in at a time to go wait in the church

There's two groups in the church the mass in the back and a small group of about 40 waiting to get in line at the kitchen

Paulo is leading a train of kids, ten or twenty at a time, up to eat

People wait in line to be served at the kitchen

Everyone gets a Fanta or a Coke at the Door

Village kids enjoying their chicken, rice and salad

Everyone gets a gift as they leave

For more christmas pictures from today have a look at my friend Nikki-the-sound-engineer’s Africa blog.

Love Ya, Hope your Christmas is awesome too!

I’ll run our unofficial little summer school until January when the official school goes into session then I’ll help the kids in our class get signed up there. We just found out yesterday that the school here on base is the top school in the whole province of Cabo Delgado. Please pray for me, Jun and Nasimo as well as our students.

Update: I don’t usually take a camera to school because it’s distracting but I caught a few moments on my iPhone so you can get an idea of what school looks like. Enjoy!

Update II: Friday the class peaked at 25 students which was a bit much. The upside is that about half of them understand the concepts and methods of subtraction well enough to subtract numbers in the millions although a riot almost broke out when I tried explain the concept of “borrowing.” They calmed down after I explained it. The downside (or the other upside, depending on your goals in life) of a class that size is that we had our first classroom fire.

My Village Class

New shirts would be good - Makes me realize how much our kids on base have