May 27, 2012
Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the Lord
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Here we are in Africa again. We had a wonderful time in Hamilton, Ontario with my father and step-mother Anne. We were able to spend time at the OMS Canadian headquarters and we also had dinner with Mike and Sarah Thiessen (the family who were in Mozambique until their son, Gabriel was diagnosed with cancer). Gabriel continues to do well.
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| leaving for the Toronto airport |
The first leg of the trip started May 4th from Toronto to New York (JFK) was a bit worrisome because as the plane was next in line for take-off, the captain announced that JFK airport was closed due to bad weather and we were going to have to wait until it cleared up. Oh no!! We only had three hours in between our flights. Would we make it? Praise the Lord we were delayed only an hour and soon were on our way. We were thankful that we had two hours between our flights. It took almost all of that to get checked in for the next two legs of the trip.
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| Us with Nathan and Anne Krampitz in Hamilton, ON, Canada |
We had a long but very good flight to Johannesburg. Fourteen and a half hours of sitting, eating, watching movies and attempting to sleep. We didn’t get as much sleep as we had wished to, but we felt pretty good when the plane landed in Johannesburg, South Africa. We had a six hour wait until the next flight. That was long, and we got in a cat nap while we waited.
The flight from Johannesburg to Maputo was quick and uneventful and soon we were in the new arrival terminal of the airport. We got into the terminal and our passports and visas were checked quickly. No problems there. The next concern was if all of our luggage had made it. It had!! Next was customs. Would we get through without any inspection. Larry prayed that the eyes of the official at the x-ray machine would be blinded so we would not have to declare anything. We were only bringing in personal things, but sometimes the customs officials think they need to make some extra money by charging duty. Praise the Lord, the suitcase before ours and the suitcase in between our suitcases were questioned, but ours were free to go. It only took us 20 minutes to go through immigration and customs. A record for us!
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| "Sunny" our new addition has totally adopted us |
Before we left Mozambique our beloved 12 year old kitty, Felix, began to fail in his health and actually went blind and we felt it was time to put him down. After we left Mozambique, our colleagues took him into the vet. We knew we would have another cat eventually, but had no plans to find one right away. Our house cleaning lady and dear friend of over nine years had other plans. She just couldn’t see our house as a home without a kitty. That was our big surprise when we arrived - little Felix-like kitty waiting to be loved. He is mischievous and oh so loveable. He adopted us right away. We have named in Sunny.
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| a view inside our living and dining room |
Now we have been back for three weeks and we have been able to spend time to get our house organized and unpacked. We have set up an office/storage room and later will finish up the guest room. Our bedroom has been organized and we are working hard to downsize from our previous 1600 square foot home to the present 880 square foot one.
We have been busy organizing the school picnic and graduation. There are ony eight school days left of school and many things to do before the students finish the year. We are so thankful to Gary and Diane Gray for their willingness to be in Mozambique and take on our ministries so we take our home assignment time.
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| CAM Chapel each Friday morning. |
It has been special to see the students, staff, our team and many friends again. We have plugged back into church at the seminary and although there are new faces, it s wonderful to be back.
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| Gary and Diane Gray being honored at CAM Chapel |
The past two chapels at CAM have been special programs giving honor to the Grays and the seniors. The campus looks wonderful and there have been many changes since we left last September. We are glad to be able to help close out the school year and graduation, which just happens to fall on Larry's birthday, June 1st. It is also "Children's Day" in Mozambique, so Larry just says he is always a child on his birthday in Mozambique.
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| Diane honoring the three CAM Seniors |
Thanks for all your prayers for us as we traveled and our luggage.
We are looking forward to what God has in store for us this term and sharing it with you. Your prayers and support sustain us here and you are so appreciated.
God bless,
Larry & Susan
