Surprise Gift

A year ago my dear friend Fatima told me she had a surprise for me...

Soon after that, I was at her house to pick her up for Bible study, and that's when "Britney Spears" (above) walked into the room.

Fatima has two teenage daughters who live in the city of Maputo. They named the cat.

This was the surprise. I thanked Fatima, brought Britney home, and promptly changed her name.   

I called her "Chiguinha" (shee - geenya)

Chiguinha is a Mozambican dish made of a cooked leafy green (like kakana a bitter green leaf), cooked cassava, coconut milk, crushed peanuts, tomatoes, and onions (it's the green item on the right).

Chiguinha the cat seems to be comfortable in any position.

Her name is funny to most Mozambicans and maybe the only way I can compare it to a pet name in the U.S. might be like this:

"An African woman moves onto your block in America.  She partakes in the local foods and culture of your area. One day someone gives her a dog for a pet. The African lady likes the sound of the word lasagna and she also likes the way the dish tastes.  So she names her dog Lasagna."   

Mozambicans may, or may not, think it's strange, but they sure like to laugh when they hear the cat's tasty name.

Here is chiguinha the food (with a side of rabbit leg) lovingly served to me by Mama Ermelinda in Cala, Inhambane.

The surprise gift of Chiguinha :)  

15th Inhambane Training

This last weekend we had our church leader discipleship training in Quissico, Inhambane. 

On the Saturdays of our training weekends, I work with the ladies who are leading the women's Bible studies in their churches.  

Left to Right: Lucia, Olga, Margarita, Bertelinda, Ermelinda, Palmira, Aimee

On Sunday, one of the young ladies, Palmira, shared a message about praising and obeying God.

We also had a special guest this weekend, Jose Banales, who was here to visit and encourage the churches. The student church group in Quissico led a time of praise through song and dance. 

It was beautiful authentic Txitxopi praise.

Afterwards, Jose showed them the video he had taken of their dance.

Left to Right- 
Hermenegildo, Aimee, Palmira, Valdez, Victoria, Cessaltina, and Eugenio in front.

Baptism and Clothes

I went to Maputo for some team meetings and...Ana's baptism!

Ana, coming out of her house (her sister, walking behind her, was also going to be baptized).

Sisters, Herglencia and Ana.

Fatima's oldest daughter, Chaxi in the red sweater, and niece, Estefania in the front, were also getting baptized!

Mama Isabel encouraged the baptism group at the church in T-3.

Fatima

With the whole group...what a joy.

On my way back to Inhambane, I packed up my car with giant rice sacks full of donated clothes from the churches in Maputo for the churches in Inhambane - Pastor Abel's initiative! 

Pastor Abel unloading clothes for the church in Maciene, Inhambane.

Mama Marta carrying a sack.

Rice sacks of clothes.

Fashion show

Papa Jorge scored this pair of pants which he immediately put on over his other pants.

A precious smile

Kids from the church in Bangusa.

The church group in Cala singing a welcome and thank-you song.

Something blue

What a blessing to be a part of the Mozambican church body giving to another part of the Mozambican church body. 

Some Scenes from Inhambane City

Studying the Word of God in my Portuguese Bible

I use Mozambican materials for wrap-around skirts called "capulanas" 

This is a house next to where we do our church planter discipleship training in Quissico. 

It makes me smile because it reminds me of my older sister, Shauna. When we were little girls, she would get her lovely blonde bangs cut (like the part around the door) and she looked so cute that I would kiss and hug her...which she detested! 

When we do our church leader training, we need to get water for cooking and drinking. We fill these containers, called "bidoes", at the local water pump. 

Washing the beans for lunch at the training session

This is the song book in the Tsonga language that we use in our church services. I say and write my name "Emi" because "Aimee/Amy" is a bit hard to pronounce here.  

Here's a view out of my truck's dirty rear view mirror.  The licence plate number is etched into the mirror, and there are metal fastening strips on it so it can't be stolen as easily.

The nose on my surfboard

A creature I saw on a leaf near the ocean.

A fisherman in a traditional dhow

A giant fish caught off the coast of Inhambane

An advertisement for the cell phone service I use called, Vodacom.

"tudo bom pra ti"..."all good for you"

Inhambane City

I've been doing a lot of walking to get to know the city.  

I stepped inside the cultural center to learn more.

There are some beautiful old buildings here.

Interesting trees along the Inhambane bay.

There are a couple of dogs that like to hang out by the bay.

Dog #1...

...and Dog #2

There's a coconut tree on the property where I'm living.

  

My fruit weapon of choice - katana (machete).

After 20 minutes of hacking away...

Coconut Africa

We also had our 13th training session with the church group leaders in Inhambane this last weekend.  I shared with the group about God's great love for us and our need to repent and believe in Jesus to enter into His kingdom. 

I had also brought two more coconuts with me to use for our Saturday lunch. The lady with the white sweater, Margarita, a coconut opening professional, had it open in 2 minutes flat!

It was a joy to teach these women's group leaders about the life of Ruth from the Bible.

Left to right : Margarita (from the church in Maciene), Ermelinda (from the church in Cala), and Ermezilda (from the church in Bangusa).