Just Do It. (Nike has a point.)

There is a time for thinking and planning, but there is also a time for seeing an idea to completion. Even if it's a bit of a stretch.

This week, we're happy that my niece and her husband "just did it". After some thinking about it and planning, they finally came to visit us. From the bustling metropolis of Seattle, U.S.A. to the rural bush in Mozambique. In more than one way, this is a stretch!

Landing in Beira (after several long distance flights)

Boarding the Cessna to go "more rural"

Dwight, Royden and Ruth
(I tried to get myself in the shot but didn't quite pull it off.)

Closer to our destination

It's been a great week getting caught up and showing them around. One of our stops was to visit the mission school. Since Royden is an award winning photographer, illustrator and animator, and Ruth is a registered nurse, we used the opportunity to encourage the kids to follow their example--stay in school, have a plan (a dream) for their lives, then "do it".

Drawing a giraffe for the first class.
I bet he's never had to draw on a cement plastered blackboard before!

Drawing a smiling cartoon child's face for the 2nd class.

No one bored here!

One of the boys took the "do it" challenge quite seriously and copied Royden's giraffe drawing on the back of his notebook. Now that's what we like to see :)


After all the class visiting and drawing, it's lunch time.

Helping Pastor Tome dish up food

Mmmmm

Today, we visited a church in the Nhanhata area which is not too far from our home. The pastor of this church is studying with the mission's leadership program. It was quite the event, even for us who have been here for many years...

The joyful drumming, shaker shaking and hand clapping was pretty loud
inside this humble bush church. (The shakers above are made by filling about 5 tin cans with seeds, puncturing the tops and bottoms, then sliding them onto a stick.)

We each gave a greeting and then Dwight shared a word of encouragement with the congregation--that God is always with us to help and enable us. We are never alone.

This church, like most churches out here, is crudely built out of poles, plastic and grass. But they have a dream for a better structure one day. Here's the building plan all approved, authorized, and stamped. (As all matters official must be out here.)


Nice thing is, not only do they have a plan, but they're already busy making the necessary bricks out of mud. They're all ready to be baked and once that's done, construction can get underway.

That was pretty nice to see too.

And after all that singing, clapping, and visiting, it was lunch time.

We were honored and offered a good meal of food typical to this area: stiffly cooked maize meal served with stewed chicken. Eaten not exactly Seattle-style, but rather with one's fingers.

That was a stretch too, but we did it :)