Sunday in Maputo

Getting ready to enter Central Church of the Nazarene

Maputo Central Church of the Nazarene

Reception in pastor's office. She was not there but many other pastors were.

Tim addressing the congregation.

Some of the 2000 people who worshiped at Central church today.

Exhibit at the Museum of Natural History

Connie risking life and limb...at least limb with a big crocodile.

Lunch in an open air restaurant downtown Maputo.

Today was a wonderful Lord’s day. This morning we attended Maputo Central Church of the Nazarene. About 2000 people attend the church every Sunday between the three services. The have a large children’s church and an under 30 targeted Portuguese service at 8 AM every Sunday plus the Shangaan service at 10AM. We attended the service conducted in Shangaan. This is a tribal language denominate in this area and the primary language for the older generations. Most younger people in the city today speak Portuguese so the Portuguese population is growing and the Shangaan is shrinking.

The congregation and pastor made us feel very welcome. The lady pastoring the church has been here 26 years and they will not let her retire yet. We could not understand the language but Dr. Restrick and the seminary director Margarida Alanga sat amongst us and translated key information so we could follow along in the Shangaan hymn books Rhoda Restrick brought with us to church. The pastor had Tim Sharrock come up and bring greetings from the group as Margarida interpreted from English to Shangaan. After church the pastor provided a reception for us in the pastor’s office attended by our group and a number of retired pastors from the congregation.

After church we went on down town to the National Natural History Museum. It is open to the public for free on Sunday afternoons. We looked at sculptures of wildlife of all kinds from across this region of Africa and in the Indian Ocean.

We then went to a downtown corner restaurant called Mimmo’s for a late lunch. The restaurant is open air so we had a very nice breeze and could experience the sights and sounds of downtown Maputo as we dined. Mimmo’s served many American style foods like Pizza, roasted chicken, spare ribs, as well as seafood and pasta dishes. After eating way too much we made the return trip home by way of the coastline road.

This evening was movie night. The Restrick's brought their projector over to the W&W house and we all ate popcorn as we watched “The Gods Must Be Crazy”, a perfect movie to watch when in Africa.

They day was a little warmer than usual and though the clouds threatened rain this afternoon, it never did arrive, so the humidity is still pretty high tonight. Tomorrow we will head back out to the work site and help finish the foundation block laying and move on to the next stage of getting the basketball court paved.

Crafts, Cats and Coastlines

Lunch...Prego no Prato

Don and Mike get 2 first class seats for downtown Maputo

Looking up the Indian Ocean coastline from the restaurant

Seaside lunch downtown

Morris Norris is at work on the table

First off, I am happy to report that Tim is feeling much better today. He is a little weak and tired but he says the flu like symptoms are all gone. Thanks for all your prayers. They were answered!

Today was a much needed rest day for the team. We got up at the usual time and had breakfast at 7 as usual. After breakfast and devotions we relaxed (some of us played Rook) until time to tour downtown Maputo. Maputo is a city of about 5 million people. Mid morning we loaded into two vehicles and traveled about a half hour down to the city center. Our route took us through many narrow bumpy dirt streets with no name. Eventually we came out onto a nice brick street, lined with palm trees that lead straight to the ocean. At the Indian Ocean we turned south and headed along the coast line toward downtown.

The first stop was a very nice city park with a craft mall winding all the way through it. We shopped for wood carved crafts and other locally made wares. The sales people were very pushy to make a sale but very willing to bargain for price. So it was normal to end up with a price at half or less than half of their initial price quote. However they did not like taking no for an answer and would follow us all the way to the trucks if we refused to buy something if we had shown even the slightest interest in it. Most of us found some very nice handcrafted boxes, wall hangings, and the most popular of all, large curved slices of tree bark with carved women’s heads rising up from the top. I think the salespeople called them “families”, but we came to call them “choirs” since they look like African choir scenes to us.

After shopping at the craft park we drove a few blocks through downtown Maputo to another park that had an ocean side restaurant. We had lunch on a patio overlooking the Indian Ocean. The food was very good. Most of us had Prego no Prato (minute steak on a plate). The dish is served with a fried egg on top. It was very good. The sea breeze, the food and the company was very nice. After a couple scoops of ice cream we headed further into down town for a brief shopping spree at the downtown market. This market is not as nice aesthetically as the one in the park and this one has much higher pressure salesmen then in the park. If we so much as pointed at an item the closest salesman would follow us all the way through the market trying to sell that craft to us. Even when we were loading into the trucks to leave we could not shake them. Only when we drove away did they finally stop trying to make one more sale. We drove back to the campus and rested for the rest of the day, enjoying the company of the Bauza’s and the Restrick’s over dinner. Now it is dark out and a beautiful full orange moon is lighting up the night sky. It was a perfect sunny day once again today.

The mason who started laying block on Friday was back today working with Carlos and a crew of seminary students to lay the foundation blocks on the north side of the building. Hopefully early next week we will be able to fire up the cement mixer and pour the ring beam that will contain the gym floor.

…News Flash from Connie Sharrock…Mike Norris’ cat has made his debut! He has found his way to a position of usefulness on the kitchen dinner table. Named by Bob McMillan, Morris Norris is useful as a Peanut Butter holder, a handy seasoning holder, sweetener tail dispenser, and if you tip his front paws forward you have easy accessibility to the dinner napkins…Morris Norris, what a useful cat!!.....

Blocks and a Mixer

Friday in Maputo has gone well. As I write this I am being serenaded by the Seminary choir rehearsing in the chapel. It is a beautiful and uniquely African sound that I hope I never forget. The weather has been wonderful again today. The rain has conveniently come in the night once again leaving us with a perfect day to work outside...with sunscreen and lots of water that is.

Tim Sharrock is having flu like symptoms that started yesterday afternoon. He is getting up for meals but is really tired and is being forced by Connie to rest. It may just be that the extreme pace he has been on since before arriving last week in Mozambique has finally caught up with him. We are hoping that rest, cold and flu medicine and a relaxing weekend will be what the doctor ordered. Please pray for Tim's speedy recovery.

Last evening we had dinner a little later than usual so the Bauza's could prepare an Argentine meal. It was a sort of going away celebration for their oldest daughter Tammy who flew back to Argentina today and then bus north to Paraguay to begin her senior year of high school. She will be living with her grandparents in Paraguay while back in South America. So this was a special occasion with delicious food including an incredible desert.

Today we worked on digging the trenches between the pillars so the mason could start laying block. Even the Juniors and Seniors are serious about helping in this project. Not long after we started digging trenches this morning three students in uniform and with backpacks still on their backs, stopped by and took our shovels and rapidly cleared out a big section of trench, between classes. We were grateful for their very kind gesture and help. The labor today was pretty intense with lots of digging and hauling of block. But the block is progressing well on the south side of the building. The mason and some seminary students will keep working until dark again today and probably much of the day tomorrow to finish the foundation we have dug out for them. Next week we will be pouring a large amount of concrete so it was important that we try to get the large mixer on campus working. With some serious elbow grease, a new air filter and some electrical work, Don was able to get it working just before quitting time today. So progress was made. Not as fast as we would like but progress was made.

Many of you know how much Mike Norris "likes" cats. Well he walked into his room today to find he has a new friend. This is reminiscent of a similar episode in Ghana. This time instead of a ceramic Siamese, he found a brown wood carved Siamese was nestled on his bed. Of course he is now on a hunt to find out who did it, and we are watching out for him to try to bury it at the construction site. 

Bibles and Footers

Nancy and Don preparing the column bases to go in the holes

Half of the 500 Juniors and Seniors presented with Gideon Bibles

Using a bed sheet to find the laser level "dot" after the laser stopped spinning to produce a "line"

5 of the 16 Seminary students who helped pour concrete today

The sign on the coconut tree says this is a construction site now.

Heavy but brief rain woke many of us up in the early morning. But as usual, shortly after sun up (about 6AM) the clouds broke up and made way for a partly cloudy, but mostly sunny day. The breeze was a little stronger today which really helped in the afternoon heat. And when we stay in the breeze or have a fan running it is hard to even notice the humidity. The daytime high temperatures are consistently in the mid to high 80’s with lows around 70.

First thing after breakfast and again after lunch,  when most of the crew went off to work on the gymnasium, Tim and I had the privilege of distributing Gideon testaments to the 11^th and 12^th grades who attend here on the Seminary campus. These students come from all over the area and seem to be very bright and well mannered students. In this area most schools stop after 10^th grade. So there is a demand for schools that offer the last two years of high school for the best and brightest, who wish to finish high school and especially for those who plan to attend college. These students seem to take education serious considering this is optional and they must pay tuition. The last head count I heard for the high school enrollment was 480, but the School Director told us today that the new term is just starting and she thinks the final headcount will be significantly higher. Students attend the school in shifts which is common in Africa. The early students go to school from about 7 to noon, and the afternoon students go from about noon to 5. As far as we can tell Tim and I distributed about 500 Bibles today between the two sessions, plus the Bibles we gave to the teachers and administrators. Next week we will distribute Bibles to the Seminary students.

Today marked the beginning of the concrete work. The footers were poured in 7 of the 14 holes as of 5PM  when I left the site and Calros had just arranged to pay the seminary students to work overtime to pour a few more footers before dark. So Carlos, Don and Juan stayed late to foreman this crew. Tomorrow we should finish the last of the 14 footers and hopefully pour a substantial amount of the ring beam.

The seminary students usually come to help out from 3 – 5PM, after class. Today 16 were working with us at one point. So with that much youthful energy, we old timers stood back and watched them go at it. It is great to see them excited about the project and wanting to contribute to the future of the Seminary. It has been a great way for us to get to know them as well. Many speak enough English to make for meaningful conversation and when all else fails we usually can figure out what we mean using sign language or our survival Spanish which is very similar to Portuguese in many respects.

This afternoon the ladies in the group went with Dr. Restrick to do some shopping for things we need and some scouting for our planned outing on Saturday. We will probably attend the Central Church of the Nazarene on Sunday, at least that is what most of us hope happens.

I am blogging early today because we are going to have a late Argentinean style dinner tonight prepared by the Bauza family. It has been good getting to know Calros, Sylvia and their three daughters and we are looking forward to an Argentine meal, a meat centric style meal many of us still fondly remember from our W&W trip to Pilar, Argentina back in 2005. I am sure I will have good things to report on this evening when I check in tomorrow.

Another Good Day

Students help dig the holes for the footers

Horse and wagon...Africa style. Kevin's the horse and Don's the driver

PE Class for the 11th and 12th graders right beside the W&W House

Tim sporting his sun hat. It goes so well with his suspenders.

I am reporting once again from the seminary chapel veranda. Tonight the air is dry and the moon is bright. There is a steady cool breeze keeping things down to about 75 to 80 degrees. The moon is full and bright and shining off the sparse puffy clouds moving across the night sky.

Critters that sound like crickets and locusts are singing in the background. I can hear students running around campus having a good time enjoying the evening. These sounds are all pleasant. The only unpleasant sound every night is the noise from some kind of bugs that sound like a bunch of children with no sense of rhythm communication with Morse code by banging small rocks together. The chorus of clapping rocks grows louder and nearer for a while and them it calms down and in the distance comes the reply of other rhythmless rock clapping bugs responding in Morse code. Then the cycle repeats. Fortunately the drone of our room fans and the sheer exhaustion from the day's work keeps us from being kept awake for long by this racket.

It was another beautiful day in Maputo today. The sun was bright and hot but there was an almost constant breeze coming in off the Indian Ocean, making things quite pleasant, especially in the shade. After breakfast we headed back to the familiar shadow of the rebar tree to finish the last couple of sections of ring beam reinforcement. That only took a couple of hours. The rest of the day was spent on the actual site of the gymnasium. Mid-morning we left our tree and hauled tools to the building site and surveyed for the location of the 14 holes and started digging. By lunch the seven holes on the north side of the building where done: 1 meter wide by 1 meter long by 1 meter deep.

After lunch we were joined by seminary students who helped dig the final seven holes. They also helped move the extra layer of dirt, a foot or so deep,  from the back of the lot to the low spots near the front. The dirt moving was hard work but was made easier with the extra help from the students. There is more dirt to move but it is far enough along to start pouring the footers and columns. The laser level was acting up but it worked well enough and long enough to get the corners and the center posts leveled for our earth moving. At the end of the work day a couple of trucks arrived with cement and gravel. Tomorrow we should be ready to pour the footers for the 14 columns. Once again Connie’s crew outdid themselves with great food, especially our spaghetti dinner attended by the team plus ten other guests. Everyone is fine and doing well. It was a good day.

Rebar and Sand

Banner the Bauza girls made to greet us into the W&W House

Nurse Nancy working on Don

Moving sand from the high spots to the low

Carlos and Juan surveying the surveying equipment

Building rebar frames for the ring beam

Overnight the rains came. It was loud on our metal roofs. One good thing about the sandy soil is its absorbency. As soon as the rain ended the ground soaked it up. So we went out to work about 8 as planned. We bent and tied more rebar in the morning. We built more sections of the ring beam reinforcement. After a big lunch we went back and used up the last of the rebar we had available. So most of the crew went to the building site and started leveling the dirt. I went with Carlos to buy more rebar to finish the ring beam frames. I knew we would not likely go to a Home Depot or Lowes but I was not expecting to buy rebar at a road side stand. We drove in heavy traffic about 3 kilometers up the main road by campus to the “construction district”. Each vender sold a different item. We bought some rebar from one vender, then we moved up the road a bit to buy a different kind of  rebar from a different vender. Then we went to a third shop for small sledge hammers and a fourth for a few long 2x4s. Our round trip of about 6 kilometers for three items took over an hour.

In the afternoon Carlos hired more seminary students to help move dirt, so our crew grew steadily over the last few hours of the work day as students joined in on the shoveling, wheel barrowing and raking. About 5 PM the Seminary Director came out to make the final decision on the exact location of the building. Once she gave the orders we were able to use the laser level to survey the lot and get a good handle on how much more dirt has to be moved from high spots to low spots. Hopefully tomorrow, we can finish fabricating the rebar frames and with the students’ help hopefully we will get the rest of the grading done so we can start digging the 14 holes for the columns.

Connie, Vivian and Eva fed us way to well once again today. As we wrapped up supper this evening, David Restrick came in to present Vivian with the prodigal carry on bag she last saw in DC. The bag many of us assumed would remain lost somewhere in Ethiopia forever, made it to the Maputo airport today and back into Vivian’s hand tonight. God has watched over us. Besides basic aches, minor scratches, and a few mosquito bites, everyone is safe and healthy and enjoying working with Carlos Bauza’s family and the seminary students.

Valentine's Day in Mozambique

Bob bending rebar

Carlos (left) supervising Juan, Don and Tim tying rebar

Connie serving water to Mike

Maputo on final approach

Monday morning in Mozambique I woke up to my alarm and fumbled through the mosquito net to turn it off, pleasantly surprised that I had gotten a good long night’s sleep after two previously sleepless nights. That was the recurring story at breakfast. Not completely over the jet lag but well rested we enjoyed the morning breeze as we ate breakfast and Connie shared a devotion with us.

Some of you back home probably would like to know who is on the team. So here is a brief descripton:

W&W Coordinator/Project Superintendent: David Restrick (from Ohio), and his wife Rhoda from England

Team Worksite Forman: Carlos Bauza from Argentina. He is here for this project with his wife and three daughters

NCO Team Coordinators: Tim and Connie Sharrock, members of Mount Vernon First Church.

Mikel Norris, retired pastor, former pastor of MV First

Don Beecher, from Ashland Church of the Nazarene

Nancy Ritterbach, from Fremont  Church

Juan and Eva Vega, from Bedford Church of the Nazarene. Juan is originally from Puerto Rico and Eva is from Mexico.

Bob and Vivian McMillan, from MV First.

Kevin Hughes, from MV First

At 8AM we headed out to meet with Carlos Bauza to report to work. We quickly learned that job instructions would typically be needed in at least three languages. Our boss Carlos speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English. The workers from Mozambique speak Portuguese. Juan and Eva speak Spanish and English. The rest of us just wait for the English translation to come out.

The building plan calls for 14 columns to support the future roof of the gym/multipurpose building, a ring beam to support future walls all the way around, then a concrete floor inside this roughly 40 by 90 foot area. We are waiting for an excavator to come and grade the site, but since the operator has not shown up for over a week since he was supposed to do the job, Carlos has hired seminary students to clear the land and level the site by hand. The soil here is a reddish/brown sand that does not retain moisture and it does not compact so it is relatively easy to move with shovels.

Our team spent the day working in the shade or “shadow” as Carlos says it. In the shadow of a large tree we cut, bent and tied rebar that will be used to reinforce the 14 columns and the ring beam around the building. Though it was very warm, the breeze was perfect and so long as we paced ourselves it was very pleasant. We built the rebar frames for all 14 columns and five 20 foot sections of the ring beam reinforcement. It was a successful day on the worksite. Soon, maybe tomorrow, we have to dig the 14 big holes for the columns. 

Connie and her crew had a successful day of setting up the kitchen, doing laundry, and preparing great meals including a Valentine’s Day banquet attended by 20 people including our team, the Restricks, the Bauza family, a Youth With a Mission student from Slovenia and a visiting couple from Illinois. According to Connie, grocery prices are high, except for some local things like fresh fruit. Yesterday Carlos bought pineapples at a road side market for about 20 cents a piece.

The team is doing well and making great new friends quickly here on campus. There are always local people around including seminary students, their spouses and children, plus the 480 11^th and 12^th graders who attend school here every day. This is a vibrant thriving ministry of the Church of the Nazarene. We are fortunate to be able to play a small part in helping enhance the faciities for the student God brings through the campus gates.