sanding, painting, and chappas

What an adventure. The plans really played out and we painted a church.

The morning started at 7:30 am when two men from a church were waiting for us outside of our door. We got ready and met them outside. They spoke some English (one of them we knew, but hadn't spent a lot of time with), and were able to tell us we were walking to the church we would be painting. They told us it was close, but we already knew that "Mozambique close" is much different than "American close." So we started walking and walking.... and walking. It seemed even longer because you are walking through sand when you walk down the roads, it feels a lot like walking on the beach in tennis shoes. (sometimes nearly impossible.) So when we arrived we were handed little squares of sandpaper... we sanded the whole concrete building with the other members of the church. They were friendly must most didn't speak English, so we worked side my side and communicated through smiles. Then we began to paint the church. With so many helping hands it went pretty smoothly and quickly. It seemed that things were wrapping up and we realized that all the women were no where to be seen. We found them behind the church with cutting up loads of salad, boiling water for tea, and with bags of bread. They were preparing lunch... as always. My stomach immediately went weak, salad is what made me so sick last weekend. We aren't supposed to eat anything that is uncooked because it's contaminated due to their unfiltered water. I found a little bag on the floor and put it in my purse. I knew I had to find a way around another week of sickness. So they prepared a table to set all the food on and set pews around for all of us to eat. Kristin and I were able to slip our salad little by little into the baggie in my purse without anyone noticing. Kayley let Jerry eat her salad as seconds, as he was willing to endure the sickness this week. I ate my bread and drank my tea and everyone left happy.

So everyone began to tell us bye and pointed us in the direction we needed to leave. We asked them if we were going alone, and they said, well... "We have someone walk you to main road." We were all immediately nervous. The man who began walking with us (a pastor from near by that came to help paint) sensed our frustration and just kept walking with us. I prayed and prayed the Lord would keep us safe, I think this man was an answer to prayer. He led us to a corner where there were a bunch of Chappas. Chappas are what people here call 'public transport.' It's actually a stripped out mini van, that seat about 25 people. We have only heard bad stories about these things and were so hesitant to get on. We told him that we didn't want to ride it and wanted to walk, but he told us it was okay, that he was going to ride it with us, and even insisted on paying. He was so nice and our Chappa wasn't jam packed either. It took us all the way to the street the Seminary is on and the pastor man walked us to the entrance. We thanked him immensely and he went on his way. We made it walking to a far away church and riding a chappa home without having anything stolen or getting lost. I am so thankful! God really keeps us safe!

We have decided as a team that agreeing to walk somewhere in the future is a bad idea, especially when our site coordinator is not nearby on Seminary to come and pick us up. We will be sure that there are concrete plans in the future, just to be on the safe side. You live and you learn :)