Is Anything TOO Hard for the Lord?

We no sooner got back from South Africa than we received word the brick machine was broken down. Now the boys had just cleaned and adjusting this machine. The crew had run it low on oil and they drained it and put new oil in. They are suppose to change the oil every week because of the huge amount of hours they run it but though they say yes we do it the record shows no oil purchases. David has Dad making plans to build 3 of these machines. Before leaving the Howling Moon tent needed to be mounted on the cruiser planning on leaving Sunday. We looked forward to Sabbath but decided not to go to church just rest and study. We had Drew over for breakfast and the plan was made to go to a pretty spot on the beach out of Maputo, so I packed a lunch and he went to pick up Edward and Jenny(a couple who are team directors at Beira for Maranatha) at the airport. On our way through Maputo we picked up Crisney and Angelica principals of the Mahito and Libertad schools to take with us. These girls are 29 and 30 and both from Brazil. We had a good time us with no Portuguese and they with no English. Brundee is sending pictures of the ferry ride and the beach. A bunch of kids who were watching us enjoying our food so Bruce and I started passing around peanut butter and jam sandwiches and even ended off sharing one with the 2 moms who came and sounded like they were trying to make the kids go and leave us alone. It was great fun. One mother had a little baby tied on and she really got into the jam soo cute! The ocean was as pretty as I've seen around Maputo.
Sunday came all too soon! First we helped load the van and help get Edward and Jenny off. They had to turn in their petty cash reports so we started. I got the receipts in date order and glued them in a book. David called and had Bruce a list for Monday so Brundee and I started entering the petty cash reports. Meticais for Dec and Jan then Rand for Dec and Jan and US dollars all in a separate reports. We finally caught on. Got it done except the US$. Bruce and Brundee drove to the shop and gave the Cruiser a once over dad saw some grease that he didn't like the looks of and crawled under the rig and found that the steering column had only 1 loose bolt holding it together instead of 4 tight ones. He was so thankful! Over Breakfast he had prayed for wisdom and that he wouldn't miss anything important in his work. God is so good!!! We planned to leave early but last minute had to go to the shop and load barrels of dishes scaffolding cords and tools a huge list for the two new crews on the one day teams. Sammy (shop foreman) had a motorcycle accident and hurt his foot I put oils on and had him bandage it and left him with more telling him to soak it in hot salt water and not to forget to ask God to help him. Finally left about noon Tuesday for the grueling trip to Beira. Because of recent rains there was a lot of water on the way out of town. This Cruiser is so much nicer of a ride than the Nissan. It was a beautiful trip but we had a little trouble. The guard said sorry the reception closed 45 min ago (in Portuguese of course) I was praying. He repeated himself again and then said wait here and disappeared into the night . This is not hard for a black man to do. After a long time he returned and said someone would take us to a casa. So another man climbed on the side and away we went to the same casita we stayed the first time. There is no place in Mozambique you can go where it is so quiet and so far it is the prettiest cleanest beach we have seen. Okay so there was a giant cockroach that fell on Dad and Brundee and Dad woke up in the night with piss ants in there hair other than that I slept like a baby. We woke to rain. Brundee found some nice shells we showered took some pictures and paid to depart. Dad thanked God that before we call he answers we asked God to order the events of the day that we would have opportunities to share him and no matter what happened we would be happy. We went a long way and stopped at a place we stopped before for ice cold juice and water we didn't need fuel this time dual tanks in the Cruiser. Dad came back out and started the rig it turned and died. So they unloaded stuff got to the tools and checked things out then checked the battery it was totally dead. While this was going on the crowd was growing of 3ragged dirty boys too poor to be in school one asking for money. I made them peanut butter and jam sandwiches which they enjoyed and Brundee was impressed to give a taller quieter boy a Portuguese Bible. Dads first thought was it was a waste he can't read anyway. The man at the gas station said no battery go back 1 kilometer and ask at the village there. Everything had to go back in the truck and lock down and Dad had to go with no one else (good thing he loves the heat) back 1k.Its funny but because of our prayers in the morning and how God has been taking care of us I thought God will help him find a battery and I will see him again. The boy12 that got the Bible carried it hanging out with us went home and changed his shirt and came back with that Bible. The men at the station called him over and looked at it and then one came and asked me what kind of book it was. Portuguese Bible. What kind of church. Seventh-Day Adventist and from then we passed out 8 more Bibles. One of the men at the station said he went to the one day church 12k back and could he have one for his mother too. It was so neat right where we broke down. While we waited for Dad (long time) Brundee got out our guitars and played and sang about Jesus and people stopped with their wheel barrows along the road people coming in and out of the gas station stopped to hear and when the men weren't pumping fuel they came and sat by us(a man moved a bench over in the shade by the truck)and listened to the music. Then joy of all joys we saw Dad coming and behind him a man with a bike and on the bike a battery. The men at the station seemed surprised but I told them God answers prayers. Brand new and just like the one that died. Only 3366.mt Dad said he hiked1k and no one would help him but he went to a cell phone hut and the guy new a little English he even head a battery but it was no good. So he went with Dad by shopa (transportation van) 14k to another village where they had 30 batteries. And they had the one we needed. The guy brought it by bike to our truck at the station. He payed him 100mt and 20 for the shopa. So we said goodbye and traveled on by now late and it would be dark soon. At one point we got behind a truck with guys on top who were wandering all over the road mostly on the right which is the wrong side here with on coming trucks and buses. It was scary. Dad had a hard time with the bright lights and the chuck holes but did a fine job and we got here close to midnight or so. It was sure good to be here safe and sound. We got up early and the guys worked early to late getting the Scania+Trailer off and fixing the Samil20. I even got to help grease the Scania with Brundee and inventory the church materials with Drew. It has been good to see David again as well as our USA friends at the seminary (Sheryl Haberly’s Mom and Dad and their two boys. There was a last minute addition to their crew a guy named Brett from Colorado. He is a really nice kid and a mason. He is enjoying his 3 month venture here in Africa. Plenty to tell his Methodist church back home. We are glad he’s here. I have a mission story a lady from the states just shared with me. She has a friend and used to be coworker who was at an airport to get a flight home. On the way past a gift shop he saw a butterfly and since his wife collected them he thought she might like to have it and stepped in to inquire about the price. While he was there a man collapsed at the door of a heart attack and being an ICU nurse he resuscitated the man and got his heart going saving his life. He caught his plane and went on home. Later a box came in the mail from the man who he helped. The letter was full of thanks from the family for the part he played in saving their Dads life. Remember that he had said the only reason he was there at the right moment was because of the butterfly in the window of the shop they wanted to purchase it as a gift for him for his wife. But on calling the shop they were told they didn't have a butterfly in their window and never had. Amazing. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Genesis 18:14 For the Lord nothing is too hard. The rain we had just before coming from Maputo caused some unsanitary conditions I saw on the news. Glad we are here. Keep praying for us. It’s working! Never stop we need it.As they say in Afrikaans Lovies from Africa

Afrikaans

We just left Beira and in a rush to get back to South Africa to get our much needed work visas taken care of. Had we known that the conference officials were out of the office and papers were not started we could have stayed over Sabbath visited the Paul family as we planned. As it turned out we only had rest for the night at our newly found haven at Morungulu and ended up traveling on Sabbath. Sunday we unloaded everything into the Cruiser and help Caleb get on his way to Beira in the Nissan took care of things at the shop and packed for South Africa Drew having informed us that we would not be able to accomplish the papers but by crossing the border and returning is gives us 30 more days. We needed lots of parts and more tools and had trucks to look at for the boss anyway. Debbie Paul called early Sunday am and told me of friends of theirs who were happy to keep us while we were there and insisted we must stay so we jotted down the number and begin to look forward to staying in a secure place not worrying about our vehicle and meeting this family. It turned out to be so enjoyable! These people are Afrikaans white folks that could speak english! And we had so much fun with them. They have a beautiful simple home complete with granny flat and a sweet grandma named Esther, talking barking parrots and 2 mini dobby’s and a ferocious sounding dog they turn out only at night I never saw but I heard him guarding the yard. Because these people are locals they saved Bruce so much time trying to locate the things he needed it really was wonderful how God blessed. They insisted on serving us breakfast and we had dinner with the whole family at night. They are a busy close family doing so much for others. They invited us to join them and the youth from the church for Bible study at some friends and we met another couple and their kids. They asked us what all we were doing for Maranatha and we told them it wasn't so much what we were doing for God but the work he is doing in our hearts. We are learning more about prayer and faith and the confidence we can have in his promises. How we can believe that he will do what He has promised. And He does. So the South Africa trip was productive and gave us a new connection of friendship. Which is so much nicer than a hotel experience. Dankie! (Afrikaans for thankyou)

Still in Beira

We are still here in Beira. We enjoyed another beautiful Sabbath after a long hot rainy stressful week. The more they went over the trucks the more problems they found. And the more parts they needed. Brundee kept the production going while Dad had to chase parts and by some miracle by the end of the week with Miguels help had found almost every part they needed. Gerald is helping us with the bake parts for the Samil 20 (very hard to find even in SA) He is returning from a trip to SA and Dad will be able to finish temporarily so the work can go forward. On our next trip he can finish the seals and do a complete job. These trucks go over the roughest ground and have no one to maintain them so they literally fall apart. They accomplished a lot with prayer despite the difficulties. I wish you could see the lovely school they have here. It will start in another week. Everyone is returning from the holidays and gathering for the next big push. We have enjoyed getting to know the Ford brothers. I guess tomorrow David and Elmer will be here from Malawi too. Everything we have heard about Blantyre, Malawi makes us long to be there. We are tired of the SMELLS and smoke and noise of the cities and long for rest. Please continue to pray for us and all the crews working here and in Zambia and Malawi that everything will go smoothly and much can be accomplished in the smallest amount of time. Seems like we've been gone longer than we have. Everyday this week we have had beans and rice and tomatoes and we are glad for it. Lots of good water called Vumba from the Manica Mountains not far from Chomoio. Wish I could take a ton home with as it’s the best tasting water since we arrived in Mozambique. We've had some mangos (tastes like the yummy dried ones from Mothers Market). But other than the mangos the quality of the produce in the city is much inferior to that of the bush. I wish I could dry the mangoes and send some home. They are very large and orange-ish firm and not so stringy. We had Fry’s hot dogs today with ketchup and tonight mangoes and pineapple then tomorrow back to the beans and rice and tomatoes. Hungry for those green smoothies!!!!!!!!!! We seem to pray our way through the days and are very aware of God's providential care and praise him for it! Wish I knew what each one of you were up to. Write if you can. News from home is sweet to the soul and health to the bones. Special lovies to our four darling grandaughters from Uncle Brundee Pops and Grammy. We watch the videos and cry for all we miss. God keep you in His care.

The Trip To Beira

How could I begin to tell you of the beautiful and seemingly endless the land was that we crossed going to Beira. Mile after mile of unbelievable roads! Chuck holes soo deep some I'm sure you could take a bath in! Village after village, some clean with inviting paths leading here and there to different dwellings appeared busy and happy, others not so well kept with a lot of people hanging out watching the road traffic like it was the Super Bowl Games. It was pretty interesting. In the wide fertile valleys we saw many herds of Watusi cattle. Men and woman walking along the highway with hoes and things to take to market on their heads, some with pretty unreal burdens and they were moving right along. Charcoal, firewood, grass mats, water, laundry etc. There were single and double donkeys and watusi drawn carts. We saw a lot of artisans selling their wares along the road. Baskets, clay pots (wanted a closer look!) and fish carvings out of the local wood. Also Kanisu which is long lengths of a stick like reeds I believe bound together in bundles to form strong round lengths of building material. There were a lot of building projects of all kinds going on From the simplest mud huts to elaborate cement dwellings. Then of course all these interesting things were mixed up in with the miles literally of mangoes, coconuts, pineapples cashew, and all the flowering varieties of trees and plants I could not begin to tell you the names of. After a rainy muddy lot of kms we came to more chuck hole pavement and it was so funny. Boys of all sizes some way too small to be on the big highway alone would throw dirt out on the road pretending to fill the holes and beg for money for their help as you go speeding by (60- 120 km) and yes some of the trucks and buses full of people go that fast on the holes and consequently you see them broken down all along the way. Saw some big trucks with an axle dragging in the road or a wheel totally broken off. Bad wrecks are very common, and we saw plenty! Can't wait to send pictures of huge log trucks overloaded tied on with ropes! From what we saw there could have been a lot more casualties except for heavenly intervention. People walk and bike all along this road day and night too. We stayed over in Maxixe (masheesh) the toilet barely flushed with added sink water no shower and lots of mosquito’s waiting for us. Maxixe is on a bay across from Inhambane. They ferry people over continually. It was neat to see sailboats in the sunset. We were glad we brought our mosquito nets. We have a problem in this country. We are way too tall for the beds. The nets make this space even smaller and if you're touching you get bit. Poor dear sweet Brundee!!! After all the travel all cramped up he could hardly stretch out and rest. But we did have some delicious pineapples for supper and then off to sleep. It might have been possible IF the whole town didn't party under our window all the night long. Some of the music was so reminiscent of the Ra Ra Voodoo bands of Haiti I spent a lot of the night praying. Next morning we were happy to find all of our things safe on the truck and pushed on to Beira. We passed through more bad roads then actually had some good highway and made good time for awhile. Because it was New Years Eve every village or town we passed through was killing a watusi or a pig. In one place I saw two tiny girls daring each other to touch it. Some of the heads still dangled in the tree where they were butchered next to the skinned carcasses being readied for barbeque. It was quite a village affair. We saw so many fruit markets! All the colors of the fruits and the brightly dressed sellers made it a very pleasing sight. In some places all they had for sale was mangos. I laughed thinking how hard it would be to choose between sellers 20 baskets of identical mangoes from whom and which mangos to buy? Guess you could buy one from each! Bruce bought me a beautiful bunch of ladyfinger bananas and one at the end of the bunch was yellow… So I picked it off and peeled it and then heard an African man say “no it’s green” in perfect English, but I had already bitten and much to my chagrin he was right! It would be 3 more days before we enjoyed the bananas. We all had a good laugh over that one. We ran out of fuel and had to unload tools and fill up with the tanks we brought just in case by then it was almost sundown. Where we stopped I couldn't describe. African huts dotting a rolling landscape of sections of shoulder high green corn with smooth beaten paths between and palms trees at the honey time just before sunset. Finally we arrived in Beira in the dark and the celebrations had already begun. Our friend Miguel found us and took us to a safe quiet hotel right near the beach. And for the first time even at home in Matola we had a quiet sleep. A few fireworks but then quiet. Everything was closed on New Years. So no food no parts! The boys got a lot done at the new church servicing the vehicles. Changing the huge Samil tires then going over the trucks and making the plan and parts list. The Maranatha church here is so nice. The hotel kitchen let us it to make our dinner (lentils and rice) we were thankful. Got up early Sabbath am to go to the Portuguese SDA church just around the corner. My they love to sing. We recognized many of the tunes so sang along. Especially the children liked to listen to our strange words and I would catch them staring and smile and they always smiled back. They had a men’s group, oh my! Could they sing! All most as good as the old accapella. The lesson study in English thankfully was all about the fruits of the spirit and how we can do nothing without Christ. About not just knowing the right things but doing them through Christ. The importance of being connected to the vine. All very thought provoking and in the light of Jesus coming soon and being fit for the master to use to reach the lost. Then church. We happened to be sitting by a door by a room with windows but they closed it while the pastors prayed before coming to the front. We sang and sang and at one point I was so hot I thought I surely was going to pass out. Finally they opened the door… I have never before sat and done nothing and had sweat running down my back. Then they had a dedication of new church workers for the year with thankyous to the ones from last year and all in the front of the church with the Union President giving the ceremony. It was all very important. This church has 700+ members. Then they had the Dorcas woman’s group give a special music first what a blessing to have Jesus in my life. This they sang as they gathered from where they sat all over the church. It was so beautiful. Next a song in their native tongue equally as nice but even harder to understand. The sermon was by their new pastor and 20 minutes long about being like Paul in that all that mattered to him was the gospel of Jesus Christ. From Acts 2 end of chapter. After church we cooled down. Ate raw lentils (story all in itself) and decided at the advice of Miguel to enjoy a walk along the beach. We decided to drive then park and walk. As we drove we felt that we maybe shouldn't go walking. We kept looking for a good place and then got stuck in some soft sand. Bruce and Brundee hurried and put it in 4wd (hubs) as 5 drunk guys saw the opportunity and came running to "help". Bruce finally got it into Low and out we drove with 3 still on the back. While we were on the sand he tried to get them off. No luck! So carefully we drove back towards safer ground and lo a police station complete with policeman bearing AK47. We pull in front of him. The thugs climb down and come to our window bewildered with hands out. Bruce smiled said thanks and we drove away. Quite an experience. I don't care what anyone says about how safe it is here, Beware take care. Everyday we sense God looking out for us in special ways and in the evening our hearts are filled with praise to be safe together… We came back to the hotel and took a 1 block stroll to the beach (forget the lighthouse) and then around the park in our round about. There was a huge tree. Brundee got pictures must be ancient. We were out of water half of Sabbath. But Sunday came at last. Stores don't open till 10:00 on Sunday. Thirsty can't wait. What a let down. The shoprite here is dirty hot and so crowded. But there is water and peanut butter and jam and bread?! Scary! Got a hot plate so we can cook the oats and beans and rice I brought along. So we're in business again. Boys got a lot done today but will be glad when the parts store opens tomorrow. At work there is a huge rubber tree. Makes the best shade ever, can't wait to show you. My Grandma Ella had a rubber plant! (her pride and joy) Every Friday I got dust and wax the leaves then wax the mop and wax the living room floor. I wish she could see this tree. She wouldn't believe it. Well, I’ve rattled on and on and never so much as mentioned what I really am writing for. Thats you back at home. Carrie and Brandtley and my onliest Teagan, my forever and ever Eden and Kailah that gettin big girl grandma loves so much. And Brandon and Mel oh I think of all the fun we had together in Hawaii glad we have those pictures with us. And Brett and Tenae and Valyncie how I wish your mom and dad could come surprise me like they use to at Leoni and I could see for myself all the cool things you can do now. I'm so pleased with you! And Mom so glad you're praying for us and praying with me for our families. We so appreciate the prayers of our friends and neighbors too! We pray for all of you everyday and think of you more often than that. They really needed the guys help here and by God's grace Maranatha built over 352 churches by November last year. We saw many out in the bush along the drive to Beira. At this point in Mozambique we are close to Zambia. And we wish we could go on to Zambezie province and see the Munguluni Mission. Check out the map too as to how close to Malawai we are. Too bad we have to go back to Maputo. On our way home we will stop and see the South African friends the Paul’s in Chomoio and do a little exploring and spend the night then head home from there. Its Brundees B-day tomorrow and I can't do a thing about it. (Sighs........)