Last Work Day in Maputo

Three wheel barrow lanes are open, no waiting.

Last dump truck of the day got stuck in the sand so they had to unload by hand

The stone is spread and compacted. Ready for the finish pour to start next week

The crew that helped us these two weeks. These guys will be the ones to pour the floor

The dinner bell rang and people came from every direction to the cafeteria.

The women of the team receiving wraps and scarves at the dinner.

Today was our last day at the Seminary. We wanted to get as much done as possible today. Carlos had originally planned for us to pour a portion of the floor today so we could have pictures of the finished product. We told him we were not concerned about pictures, just making sure the structure is built right. So in the interest of a better finished product we spent the day preparing the ground properly and spreading and compacting two dump truck loads of large stone. By the end of the day and with the help of numerous seminary students and a gas powered compactor, the entire floor is ready to receive rebar and concrete. We would like to have poured the whole floor this week, but it was not meant to be. Had the excavator shown up when Carlos requested to level and prepare the site before we arrived, we would have been pouring concrete these last couple of days. We can leave confident that Carlos’ crew and the students will be able to finish the floor and hopefully future crews will put the roof over the court and add the rooms they wish to add to the end of the building.

Today is Bob McMillan’s birthday. He claims to be 39, but we all know he is really younger:-). The team presented him with a card and two small handcrafted bicycles to add to his miniature bicycle collection.

The Seminary prepared a farewell presentation and dinner for us this evening in the cafeteria. It was a very nice event. Director Margarita made a “Welcome” presentation. She says that in Mozambique culture they do not make a big deal when people arrive because they don’t want the visitors to think they want them to leave. So they say “Welcome” at the time of farewell. The Seminary presented the ladies of our group with traditional wraps and head scarves. They gave the men in the crew carved wooden maps of Mozambique to show people where we were. The dinner was very good: chicken, rice, french fries, and several other traditional local dishes. And the hospitality was great. It was nice to eat with the faculty staff and students and the families of the married students.

The team revealed prayer partners and coincidentally every person’s prayer partner was the other prayer partner’s partner. So we had some comical moments as we found that we had reciprocal prayer partners. After some pineapple Fanta everyone was off to pack so we are ready to leave very early in the morning.

We will leave about 6AM for the 3 and a half hour drive to the south gate of Kruger National Game Reserve. We will drive into Swaziland first since our drive is from Swaziland and needs to enter into South Africa from there. By midday tomorrow we should be "on Safari".