Terrible Incident that Happened at the Orphanage

These last two weeks have been very very difficult for us here at the orphanage because something very terrible happened. A little over a week ago our little pet dog Simba disappeared. He was gone for three days and we thought that we would never see him again. Then last Thursday morning (Oct. 22) after leaving for school, Isaque came back into the orphanage with his hands and arms mangled and bleeding. He said that he was walking down a little path in another part of our neighborhood when Simba suddenly jumped out of the bushes and viciously attacked him. He said that at least one other person passing by had also been attacked. Victor and Sara (an 11th grader who wants to go into medicine) immediately put gloves on and washed Isaque’s wounds with soap and water and then Silva took him to the hospital. Then Victor and three of the older boys had to go find Simba. When they got to the place where Isaque had been attacked there were other neighbors there saying that nobody could walk down that path because Simba was there and he was “like a lion.” When they finally found Simba they said that he was not like the Simba we knew at all but was completely ferocious. Victor and the boys had to put Simba down and then the government veterinary authority flew his remains to Maputo for an autopsy.


Yesterday the veterinary authority called to report that Simba’s autopsy test came back positive for rabies. We were SHOCKED to hear this because Simba had his rabies shot last December and the next one was not due until over a month from now. We were also extremely shaken up over this because of our kids who were bitten. Simba bit Mauricio a few days earlier when he accidentally put his chair on Simba’s leg, which caused Simba to cry and bite him in self defense (one small bite that did not bleed but was still a bite). We all loved Simba and played with him constantly but do not think anyone else was infected by him, though the whole thing is so creepy and horrible to think about (for me at least).


Today Isaque, Mauricio, and a neighbor lady all began receiving anti-rabies treatment from the veterinary authority – they all got the first in a series of five injections. Please pray for them and please pray for the whole orphanage concerning this matter. Please pray that the ones bitten will be completely healed with no further complications. And please pray that no other person was somehow infected without us knowing. This has been a very traumatic experience for all of us. Simba is the first and only pet anyone at the orphanage has ever had. He was a great little dog until Thursday when he turned into a monster. It seems like all the kids (including the ones bitten) are doing okay and it seems like the veterinary authority here has experience handling this type of situation, as rabies is much more common here than in the U.S. Please just keep us all in your prayers and ask God to continue protecting and watching over all of us (and our neighbors), especially concerning this scary matter.

Isaque, age 15, was viciously attacked and had huge bite wounds all over his hands and arms. He is a fantastic kid, always looks out for younger children, is always willing to help others, and loved playing with Simba before this happened. He seems like he’s doing okay and continues hanging out and talking with his friends. Please pray that the anti-rabies treatment works perfectly on him and that he is healed without any further problems.

Mauricio, age 12, was bitten one time on the back when he accidentally put his chair on Simba’s leg. He is also a great kid – quiet, kind, and dearly loved by all the boys his age AND everyone thinks he looks like the president of Mozambique. He seems to be doing okay and is still playing with his friends. Please pray that the anti-rabies treatment also works perfectly on him and that he is healed without any further problems.

Other Very Sad Story - Jackson

Besides the Simba incident we had several other very very difficult things that we had to deal with this week. One that we would like to share is the death of a young man in our church named Jackson who sang in the youth choir and was good friends with all the kids in the orphanage. About two months ago Jackson felt very sick and thought he might have malaria. He went to the hospital and they could see that there was clearly something wrong but found that it was not malaria or any other illness they are familiar with here. Jackson stayed in the hospital from then on and got worse and worse. According to everyone from church who visited him and said they saw this, Jackson then began vomiting up bones, even though he had never eaten anything with bones in it. To me this sounds impossible but everyone here says it is “witchcraft.”

In Mozambique people have been practicing animism/witchcraft for hundreds of years. This includes praying and sacrificing to ancestor spirits, concocting potions and spells to try to make something happen, and lots of other very bad stuff that ends up harming people very very badly physically and spiritually. As Jackson got worse he started asking friends to clean out his baracca (little stand that people sell stuff from) and they found a lot of witchcraft items in there. He also kept telling people to take the bones he had been throwing up and give them to Victor. Since Victor is a pastor I think he imagined that Victor would do something with the bones to undo the witchcraft or something. But Victor reprimanded the people who were bringing the bones and told them he didn’t even want to see them and that as Christians we don’t need to and should not have anything to do with stuff like that.

Victor and other pastors here constantly preach and counsel people to separate themselves completely from all witchcraft practices. But it is very very difficult for many to give up a belief system that has been practiced in their families for endless generations. It is very normal to find Christians in church who have little witchcraft charms tied around their waists under their clothes – they are too frightened to give that up as they believe it is protecting them. When a family here has a serious illness or other problem and they don’t think God is taking care of it, they often revert to witchcraft, even if they are Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, or any other religion.

So a few days ago Jackson died in the hospital. The doctors never figured out what was wrong with him. We believe that he was a Christian but had been struggling to free himself from witchcraft for a long time and was finally discarding all the items involved during the last days before his death. I’ve never heard of someone “throwing up bones” before but nobody here is skeptical or surprised to hear about it.

Victor did Jackson’s funeral on Thursday and it went really well. A lot of people in the neighborhood who are not in the church community were there and seemed very interested in the message. Victor talked about how we would all honor Jackson by remembering the good things about him even though he, like all of us, had both strengths and weaknesses. Victor talked about the importance of living a life in Christ and nothing else and what it means to be a Christian. We hope that Jackson's family and friends who knew how he was trying to rid himself from the bad things in his last days will not wait until they think they are going to die to do the same. Jackson still had things he wanted to do before he passed away and he didn’t get that chance. Jackson’s death was very sad. We hope that somehow whatever happened, though still very mysterious, will help others get rid of any bad things they are holding onto and truly follow God.

And One Good Story from this Week – Visado’s Wedding

This morning Visado and Flora were officially married at Union Baptist Church and had their wedding reception here at the orphanage. This is a really big deal because weddings are pretty rare in Mozambique. When the Portuguese first came here traditional African marriage customs were replaced with the European style wedding ceremony. Hardly anyone here can afford to put on a European style wedding, so weddings stopped happening in most families. Today the majority of couples end up talking to their family and then starting a life together without ever having any kind of official ceremony before the community. This is so common that even the government census recognizes the couple as being "married." Visado and Flora have been considered "married" by their family for many years and have three children of their own but never actually had a wedding.

Since Visado began working at the orphanage a few months ago Victor has been mentoring him on the importance of family and having some kind of wedding ceremony before the church and community. We wanted to help him have his wedding in the church, which finally happened today. Visado’s parents died when he was young but Flora’s family is nearby and sent a goat over for the meal. Last night Victor and the kids slaughtered and marinated it and then everyone was up early this morning cooking the wedding feast. It was a cloudy day with everyone cooking over an open fire and reminded me of the coziness of camping. The kids made goat, beef, chicken, rice and beans, french fries, and hundreds of Christmas cookies (Jenni style, their choice). After the wedding the whole church came to the orphanage (in many singing truck loads). Visado and Flora are both in the Tcharuwani Choir so there was tons of amazing live music from lots of people, including our kids, at the reception. Everyone had a great time and we hope that this wedding will encourage more young people to look for a way to get married in front of their families, church, and whole community.

Visado and Flora were married at Union Baptist Church and then had their reception at the orphanage. Everyone had a good time.

One More Piece of Good News - Dionisio

The last good thing that we are able to report is that Dionisio has recovered from the measles and no other child was infected. He really went through a horrible month alone in his tent in isolation but is now back outside, happy, and playing with the rest of the kids. We thank God that he recovered from this.

Construction on Boys' Dorm Finally Resumes!

Thanks to some more generous donations construction has finally resumed on the boys’ dorm!!!

We were able to purchase enough cement to fill up the orphanage truck. The cement was then unloaded into the store room in the cooking house.

Then tons of wall plastering began.

Smoothing out the walls.

Meanwhile back to one of the soon-to-be most beautiful bathrooms in all of Mozambique . . .

Sink-Installer comes with drill.

Sinks are now in!

Window-Bar-Maker comes with measuring tape.

Then he makes bars to go in the bathroom window (there will be good ventilation here).

Meanwhile Janete has successfully planted a little garden of couve behind her house. For the last two years I have been more than confused about what couve actually is. It’s the main thing that the kids always try to plant here and then cook in some of their meals. But what is couve in English? Finally today I looked it up in Portuguese Wikipedia and then translated it into English. I still have no idea what it really is but found that couve is “Brassica oleracea, or Wild Mustard” (?!?!) and is in the same family as kale, collard greens, Chinese broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and kohlrabi. Doesn’t that make it sound tasty? Anyway – it’s very healthy, has lots of Vitamin C, and grows well in this region.

Today's Event Watched By All

What was today’s big event, watched for several hours by the whole orphanage and much of the neighborhood?

A very old looking container has been sitting right behind Victor’s and my house (in the MIDDLE of the orphanage) for many many years now and today it was moved to the FRONT of the orphanage.


I know that a container being moved a few hundred feet doesn’t sound like something you would want to spend hours watching, but ANYTHING could happen so there was a huge crowd. The thing that made the whole thing highly worth watching to me was that every single job involved in moving the container (driver of giant tractor thing, driver of transporter truck, chain-hooker-upper, digger and scraper, and manual placement of container in truck bed) was done by one guy!!! It was like a crazy one-man circus but with a purpose!

Man driving tractor thing (Seattle people please notice it’s a Volvo tractor) and making it pick up container.

After leaping out of tractor and running around behind the big box, man suddenly appears on top of it, directing helper on how to hook it up. (That is the back of Victor’s and my house behind the container.)

Man runs between tractor and container-carrying-truck every few seconds as he maneuvers the container using the tractor and the truck almost at the same time. Here he is just having leaped out of the truck and about to run back to the tractor.

After driving both vehicles to the front of the orphanage he again resumes racing back and forth between them (here he is running from the truck back to the tractor).

After finally driving the truck out from under the container for the last time, he sprints back to the tractor where he will guide the container to it’s final sitting place.

And this is our new front of the orphanage landscape.

Bye Mano TJ!

Tuesday was a huge day of sadness at the orfanato because Mano TJ left us after being here three whole months. I don’t even know where to begin in telling all the things that TJ did while he was here, but some of his roles included water engineer, fixer of anything, tutor of every subject in a language he had never even heard three months ago, driver to places most people would never even attempt going in a car or gigantic truck, hole digger, emergency latrine construction supervisor, Whinnie the Pooh reader, explainer of things like how satellites work and how to ventilate libraries, photographer, translator, English teacher, band electrician, host and tour guide to visitors from all over the world, water hauler, cook, meal server, preacher, African youth choir member, mentor, impossible internet homework assignment assistant, preventer of kids making explosives for homework, guard, explorer, Bible study leader, Michael Jackson expert, and tons of other amazing and helpful stuff that I don’t even know about.

All the kids came home from school to gather under the tree and say goodbye. Everyone was VERY sad and many were shedding tears.

Each kid gave TJ a final hug before he departed the orfanato for the last time. I tried my best to capture TJ shedding a tear but he was able to hold off all his sobbing until he got on the plane.

Thanks for everything TJ! Now everyone here is either waiting to hear when you’re coming back or waiting to just see you walk back through the gate with all your stuff.

Prayer Request for Dionisio

Please pray for Dionisio who is one of the boys in the orphanage. About a month ago he got sick with an unknown illness and after several trips to the hospital we found out he had measles. We do not know how he got it but the health officials have told us that he has to be completely isolated so that it does not spread to anyone else. Kids in Mozambique normally get vaccines when government health officials visit neighborhoods and villages and we are not sure if Dionisio ever had one for measles or not. We are thankful that nobody else has been infected but Dionisio has been alone in his tent for many weeks and he still has it. Please pray that Dionisio will recover quickly and for his emotional and spiritual well-being while he is sick and alone in his tent for such a long time. Thank you.

Brothers, Sisters, and Cousins in the Orphanage

VoVo, Gil, Janete (brothers and sister), and Ruben (cousin). These kids were tiny when they first came to the orphanage more than seven years ago. Now the boys are all teenagers and Janete is on staff.

We have 54 kids in the orphanage right now and most of them have siblings here with them. I always get really emotional when taking their pictures in their little family groups – especially little ones where there's just two of them and I think about what it must have been like at some point when they had nobody but each other.

Jordão, Dorcas, and Jose (brothers and sister). Our newest kids who arrived just a few months ago.

Ofeita, Francisco, and Atija (brother and sisters)

Dionisio and Estela (brother and sister)

Graça and Isac Pequeno (sister and brother)

Martinho and Carlitos (brothers), with cousins Anabela and Virginia (sisters) and Mena (niece)

Mauricio, Felix, Isaque, and Canito (brothers)

Merecido and Celso (brothers)

Cocas and Minoca (sisters)

Samito, Silas, Helder, Felix, and Ronilda (brothers and sisters)

Manuel and Marinho (cousins)

Pilonte and Rock (cousins)

Clara and Salmon (sister and brother)

Regina and Lazaro (sister and brother)

Terçia, Zaqueio, and Leonora (cousins)

All the kids who don’t have any family in the orphanage: Back row: Gabriel, Little Victor, Nolita, Claudia, Gizela, Sara, Filipe, Daniel; Front: (Simba), Belson, Canito, and Jeremias.

The photos in this entry include all the kids in the orphanage and were all taken this month (September 2009).

OUR NEW WELL!!!

We have GREAT news, which is that we now have a well!!!!!


Over the past five years we’ve had kids walking several kilometers carrying water on their heads, a shallow hand-dug well which quickly dried up, and city water piped in only to be shut off during the times water is most needed in the dry season. Last year during the dry season we had no water for over a week several different times. It was scary and stressful. The kids could not take showers or wash dishes and cooking and drinking water had to be rationed.


After hearing about this last water crisis one friend took it upon himself to raise money for a well for the orphanage. After receiving this awesome gift, we waited for the next dry season (which is now) and were then able to have a deep well drilled. We are SO happy to report that we now have a 55-meter deep drilled well right behind the boys’ dorm, inside our property! It is hard to even express how incredible it is for us to have our own water source and we don’t even know how to describe the relief we now feel, knowing we will not have to face another water crisis.


We would like to give our greatest thanks to everyone who gave donations for the well and especially to those who raised the funds on our behalf. And we would also like to continue saying thank you to all of you who support us through prayer, donations, letters, and visits! You make it possible for us to care for 54 kids who would otherwise be living in the very worst situations. Thank you so much for making our ministry here in Mozambique possible.


Here are some pictures of the well . . .

A man from the drilling company testing the water while all the kids watch.

This isn’t an old-fashioned well with bricks going around in a circle and a bucket being dipped in from a rope. It’s a PVC pipe going down 165 feet into the earth with an electric pump (currently plugged into the dining hall kitchen via extension cord) pulling the water up.

TJ measuring water pressure.

TJ marking down his findings.

Isac Pequeno, Jordão, and Canito getting water.

Our next task is to build a water tower, hook up a gigantic filter, and then connect pipes that will distribute the well water throughout the orphanage. We are SO grateful to have our very own engineer, TJ, with us right now working on the design for all of this!

Isac Pequeno, Canito, Estela, Ofeita, Belson, Mena, and Jose making little round, three-layers-high, mud cakes.

Our little beast Simba is fine and happy. (If you saw the kinds of hideous wounds this dog has come home with you would not believe he is still alive.)

The girls had a big soccer game, practicing for a competition at school. (In this picture: Graça (very far left), Sara (header), Leonora, Estela, Gizela, and Terçia.)

All the boys watched from the wall. (Girls playing: Graça, Anabela, and Nolita. Boys sitting on the wall: Pilonte (very far left), Mussa, mechanic, Martinho, Salmon, Little Victor holding Dorcas, Manuel, Francisco, TJ, Jordão, and Felix (at gate).)

Gabriel was the referee and instructor and VERY VERY serious about it. (Graça, Leonora, Sara, Gabriel, Nolita, Terçia, Gizela, and Ronilda.)

Estela and Virginia – two girls nobody wants to mess with, especially Virginia!

Victor eating sugarcane with a huge machete-sized knife in the kitchen. (Normal for him, entertaining to me.)

Ilha de Moçambique

Ann on Ilha de Moçambique (Mozambique Island).

On Monday we started a little trip to the coast with my sister Ann and cunhado (bro-in-law) Mike. First we went to Mozambique Island, one of the most famous places in East Africa.

After driving onto the island (on a kind-of-scary one lane wide, three kilometer long bridge) we immediately found a gigantic tree that made everyone think they were 12-years-old again. Mike, Victor, and Ann climbing in the tree.

And then they each departed the tree by swinging off on these big Tarzan vines.

After that we went to lunch at a great little restaurant.

Ann, Mike, and Victor all had shrimp in red coconut sauce over rice – they all loved everything about it except for how tiny the portions were.

After lunch I went outside and took a picture of this boat because it reminded me of all the pictures I saw of pirates in the news a few months ago. This water (in this picture) is in the Mozambique Channel between Mozambique and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

Victor and me.

Ann, Victor, and Mike walking.

Ann and Victor had many intense conversations and Mike listened “thoughtfully.”

Me in front of some ruins.

The Portuguese came here around the same time that Christopher Columbus first reached America. Then until 1975 (almost 500 years) they ruled Portuguese East Africa (present day Mozambique) from this island. They did a few good things (like pretty architecture) and tons of bad things (like slavery and killing and exploitation). I won’t go into details about all the bad stuff they did on the island but basically the Portuguese built up this island with magnificent grand palaces, a massive fort that they even had sea battles against other European countries from, churches, houses, mansions, and everything else. They ruled the whole country from here and made Macua people work for them as slaves (in Mozambique and shipped to Brazil). The Portuguese probably imagined what they had built on this island would be indestructible and ruled by them and their ancestors for hundreds of years more. I’m sure they imagined that after their time here passed people would be in awe of what they left behind. But now, a few very short decades after Mozambique won independence from Portugal, everyone and everything that had ever been on the island before the Portuguese got here is right back on again. Now it is as if the Portuguese had never been here at all. All the grand stuff they left behind is still there – but the people are living how they always used to live right on top of it. I kind of like that.

Besides the ruins there were a lot of things on the island that kept reminding me of Rome, like this.

Ann, Victor, and Mike.

Look how pretty people paint the boats!

A dramatic cross next to a church on the island.

It seems that we can not go anywhere without it being way too “eventful.” We planned to only go to Mozambique Island for a few hours and then go to Pemba for two nights. But while we were on the island the alternator on our car stopped working. So we had to spend the night there!

Mike and Victor relaxing at the really cool hotel that we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy if our plans had gone through.

The next morning we got up and had a great breakfast of omelets and bread with ginger papaya jam. Then we just prayed that our car would still make it off the island (on the one-lane wide, three kilometer long bridge) before breaking down.

We were relieved and thrilled to make it off the bridge and then we followed directions to a “mechanic,” which was basically eight little boys playing one-on-one-on-one soccer under a tree between the local opposition party headquarters and a mosque. Mike and Ann just want every experience to be as adventurous as possible so they loved the whole thing and were immediately in the soccer game.

Victor called the orphanage truck to come get us and several dozen people came to “help” get our car in our truck.

This is how we had to ride back to Nampula.

The view from our seats. Getting in our car IN our truck was funny enough. But I could not stop laughing my head off the entire three-hour drive home, imagining everyone we know in the streets in our neighborhood in Nampula seeing us riding in both our car and our truck at the same time.

Here is where they get salt. The ocean water comes into this shallow place divided into sections and then when the water dries up only the salt is left.

Unloading the car from the truck back in Nampula.

Ann and Mike were pretty disappointed to miss seeing Estefano and Pemba.

But they were happy to resume their playing with the kids back at the orfanato.

Ann and Mike

Mike and Ann (my sister) are here!!!

The second Mike arrived at the orfanato he disappeared from our house and we found that he had gone outside and gathered a little group of kids to start the first of many, many games.

The first game involved throwing discarded tile chips at bottle caps. It became so serious that a white board had to be set up outside to keep score (with Virginia as the score keeper).

The second game is Ann's game (retrieved from her childhood) and is basically dodge ball in a circle – very wild and funny.

Ann's next game was jump rope. Ronilda could hardly even keep twirling the rope she was laughing so hard at Mike’s jumping!

There are no limits to the number of things that can be played with a jump rope.

Then there was Night Frisbee.

A fire occurred next-door.

When you see a fire you should go get a stick and then rummage around in all the dry grass right next to it. Why? Because if there were any snakes in there they will be coming out. Yes – fire, dry grass, snakes, kids with sticks, rummaging around, and flip-flops – all combined into a very appealing activity option.

A group of snake hunters (Mike included) searches the shrubs for snakes fleeing the flames.

The more sensible people watch from the wall. (Isac, Dorcas, TJ, Isac Pequeno, Jordão, Samito, José, Clara, Ronilda, Ofeita, and Ann.)

The snake hunters with their sticks.

After not finding any vipers, spitting cobras, or mambas in the bushes they give up the snake search.

But everyone gathered and ready with sticks in hand can not be wasted so they begin hunting for gigantic bugs instead.

Bugs like this . . . (Felix)

are supposedly very tasty. (Clara)

Finally after enough bugs were caught to satisfy all, everyone was ready for another gigantic game of circle dodge ball.

Claudia, Ann, and Clara.

Isac Pequeno fractured his arm at school today. They gave him this plaster cast at the hospital. He is supposed to stay in it for 30 days. Please pray for Isac Pequeno and the healing of this injury.

CD Launching

The kids at the orphanage are really really good singers. To make a long story into one sentence – the orphanage has a band, last December we recorded their songs, and this past week (thanks to help from the OCC team and many others) we had a big concert to “launch” the CD here in Mozambique.

After some final tiling, . . .

digging, . . .

“Joy Ride” around Nampula, . . .

awesome dinner with the Woodrows. . .

and rehearsal at church the night before . . .

it was finally time to load up the trucks and head to a theatre in town.

Arriving at the theatre.

Different groups practiced. (When people launch CDs in Mozambique they have a big concert and invite lots of other groups to perform too.)

While everyone else was (very seriously) watching the final rehearsal on stage, a group of boys were up in the back of the theatre trying to copy the ballet moves they had seen Nicole performing (nobody here had ever seen ballet before now). (Filipe, Nicole, Felix, Rock, Gabriel, and Jorge.)

These pictures can not capture how outrageously funny this was (so please just try to imagine it). (Felix, Jorge, Nicole, and Gabriel doing a big leg stretch.)

The OCC team performed. (Ashlie, Sarah, and Michael (Josh was playing the piano off to the side and Nicole was dancing in the background).)

The group from the Congo singing is always a highlight of any event.

Grupo Coral Tcharuwani was also launching their CD with us this night.

And finally our kids sang and they were amazing! (Jeremias and Ruben on keyboards, Gil on drums, Felix and Sara on guitars, Domingos playing saxophone, and Clara, Graça, and Anabela singing.)

The kids’ band is simply called “Banda Orfanato Evanjáfrica” (Evanjáfrica Orphanage Band) and their CD is called “Kinetta Na Yesu,” which means “Walking with Jesus” in Macua. They have seven songs and six of them are in Macua and written by the kids. I love the kids’ music SO much and their music has become beloved to the people here in Nampula. Every time the kids sing people here can not stay in their seats and not one minute passes before almost everyone is dancing down the aisles.

We are currently working on making the kids CDs available in the U.S. and will post information about it here on our blog soon.

Well Drilling Problems

After drilling on and off for over a week in the place where they believed there was water, they struck something that they said was “bad water.” We are not really sure what this means but maybe it’s that the water is mixed with something else in that location (?).

They have moved the well drilling trucks to another corner of the orphanage property where they have now begun drilling again.

Please pray that they will find “good water” on our property and that it will be sufficient for taking care of all our water needs. We really need your prayers as water availability can be a very scary and serious issue here! (Click here to read about the water crisis we had last dry season.)

Thank you for praying for this!

The two huge well drilling trucks moved behind the boys dorm and have now started drilling all over again.

Dinner with Victor's Family

Back: Victor’s Dad Pastor Mocala, Victor’s Mom, Carmina, Estefano, Miqueias, Artimiza, Christina, Victor, Mr. Nichols, Sarah, Nicole. Front: Pastor Mark, Michael, Josh, Ashlie.

On Tuesday night we had dinner with Victor’s family at his parents’ house. Everyone had a great time and the food was delicious! We had chicken, beef, coconut rice, French fries, and refrescoes.

Sarah, Nicole, Ashlie, Miqueias, Josh, and Estefano eating on the porch. Carmina and Artimiza in front.

Carmina, Estefano, Michael, Miqueias, Sarah, Ashlie, and Nicole were outside talking and laughing and being entertained by Josh (who had more energy than ever that night).

Victor’s dad, Mr. Nichols, Pastor Mark, TJ, and Victor. Victor’s dad told his testimony and some amazing stories about what the family went through during the Mozambican Civil War.

Victor’s Mom, Sarah, Carmina, and Artimiza.

Sunday

Youth Day was celebrated at the Mother Church this Sunday. (Somewhere in this picture are Michael, Ashley, Jonas’s head, TJ, Josh, Filipe, Marta, Sara, and Victor’s sisters Artimiza and Carmina.)

Many choirs sang.

Then the OCC team sang. Two people with cameras ran up and took picture of them, which made the whole church laugh because everyone has seen American visitors taking pictures of Mozambican choirs but nobody had ever seen Mozambicans taking pictures of an American choir before! (Nicole, Michael, Ashley, Josh, and Sarah.)

The Youth did a skit on the Prodigal Son. I think this part is supposed to show what bad shape the son was in between squandering his wealth and returning to his father because the other two guys on the floor with him are pretending to be pigs.

Pastor Mark preached about how important it is to be the way God tells us to be in all the little normal parts of life as we interact with our families and neighbors and not just during the times when we are doing something spiritual. Victor translated into Macua.

Well, Ballet, TV, and Birthday

Yesterday morning the well drilling began.

There was a big audience.

For many, many, many, many hours there was very, very loud drilling. Lots of redish orangish dirt would come out and once in a while it would spew out.

Filipe and Mr. Nichols worked on tiles all day.

But the well drilling never lacked an audience.

Though there was not really anything to “see happen” nobody wanted to be away from it (the drilling).

A ballet class began.

Little Jose’s version of ballet.

The kids LOVED Nicole’s twirls!

At night we got to watch Victor and the band live on TV!

Graça, Clara, and Anabela sang two songs

and Victor was interviewed about the orphanage and concert the band will do when they launch their CD next week.

The OCC team brought a huge bag full of beautiful blue and white soccer jerseys. Everyone loved the blue ones so much that BOTH teams decided to wear them. Somehow this did not cause any problems or confusion at all.

Tonight we got to celebrate Josh’s birthday! After singing and blowing out the candles on a cake the kids got to see a few other American birthday traditions they didn’t know about before.

I think the birthday spanking ended up being the most exciting event of the week!!! (Not for Josh, but definitely for everyone else.)

He survived getting (way more than 17) spanks from almost the whole orphanage.

And then everyone lined up for a "special American birthday game" . . .

Pin the Tail on the Donkey! It was a huge hit!

And finally . . . Dorcas is smiling now! She was here for almost a month before she started smiling, laughing or expressing herself. Now she seems to have a huge personality, calls absolutely EVERYONE “ma-MA!!!” (with great emphasis on the second “MA”), likes to pet Simba, and lets all the other kids “scare” her with a toy dino. Here she is with Jordão, Cocas, Graça, and Virginia – all the kids are really wonderful with her.