Arrived in Canada

30 September 2011

It is a blustery, rainy day and we are in a “cottage” surrounded by a forest on the shore of Lake Huron in Canada.  Actually, the cottage is a mansion with five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a huge A-frame living area.  Just beautiful.  The perfect place to rest and refresh ourselves.

at the "Cottage" on the Bruce Peninsula, ON, Canada

 It is already a month since our last blog update and we are miles away from Mozambique, resting and regaining energy as we prepare for our home assignment in Canada and the U.S.  We left Mozambique on the 25^th of September with two bags and four carry-on bags.  We had the best trip ever with all our flights on time and connections smooth.  Our luggage arrived safely and the customs agents didn’t blink an eye at our fully stamped passports.  Susan’s father was at the airport to pick us up and after one night at his place, we were on our way north to spend five days at the cottage for some R & R.

the completed bathroom block at CAM school

 Now backing up a bit, we had an incredibly busy September.  Every day we were able to see more and more completed at the new CAM and the students and teachers settling in.  The transportation to the school changed a bit and now we have two mini-busses and one large bus that pick up the students and teachers and bring them to school and take them home.

CAM Dedication: flag presentation by CAM students

 A highlight at CAM a week before we left was the 15^th year anniversary and dedication of CAM.  We were privileged to have Claude and Marilynn Meyers, the founders of CAM, join us as the special guests and speaker for the day.  What a blessing to hear the history of CAM and how God provided in miraculous ways right from the beginning when CAM was just a dream.  Now CAM has gone through another amazing event of moving to a new location.  God blessed us with Melvin Kelly who was our construction engineer and his wonderful crew of Mozambican workers who worked to finish the school in record time.  Teachers, students, and all the construction crew worked so hard to get everything ready for school to open.  We know God has great plans for CAM and for the families it is touching and will touch in the future. 

L/R: Melvin Kelly, Gary & Diane Gray, Larry, Marilynn and Claude Meyers

 We continued to work alongside of Gary and Diane Gray, preparing them for our departure.  We are so thankful to the Lord for their willingness to take our spots and be a part of the OMS team in Mozambique.  We were able to leave knowing that things would be in good hands. 

Packing and having to say goodbye to Felix

It was good to finally get things organized in our own house.  We moved the third week in July, but had boxes that still needed to be unpacked in September.  Slowly but surely we were able to get most everything unpacked or stored in one of the rooms in our house.  We even got some things hung on the walls too.  Just as we were getting settled in our house, we then had to get things packed to take to the States.  What to take, what to give away and what to leave behind was filling our minds as we packed to leave.  

OMS team farewell dinner for us

We look forward to our time in the U.S. and Canada.  We are getting our schedule organized and so far we will be in Canada until October 12^th when we head to OMS headquarters in Indiana.  We have meetings and physicals scheduled in the first week.  The weekend of October 21^st – 23^rd we will be a part of the mission’s conference at World Gospel Church.  We fly to Washington State on the 25^th and will spend the next week settling in our home in Sequim and finding a car. 

 We are working on our speaking schedule and when we have things firmed up we will post the dates on our blog.  Thanks for your prayers.  We hope to see as many of you as possible.  Our email will remain the same so you can contact us through that.

God bless,

Larry & Susan

CAM is moved and running

29 August 2011

I promised to update our blog after we moved and I never imagined that it would be such a busy time of moving and how long it would take to really get settled.

Moving into our new duplex apartment on the OMS Compound

More of moving in

Unpacking the 92 boxes of A Beka curriculum

We moved to our new home on the mission campus the third weekend of July.  We had lots of help and were able to get everything moved here in three days.  We did have one more load at the house that we got the next week, but we were living out here by the end of July.  Just as we started loading up our personal things, Larry received a call from the Port of Maputo letting us know our CAM textbooks had arrived and we needed to pick them up.  It was an answer to prayer to have the books before school started, however, the timing was not the best.  We were able to hire a truck which brought the books out to the new site, thus saving us the effort of moving them twice. 

1st of 3 large containers to move the school out

The new school wasn’t quite ready for us to move on Monday, August 1^st, but on Tuesday the 2^nd the big moving truck arrived at old CAM and the packing began.  What a job.  We were so thankful that we had hired a moving company to help.  If we had done it ourselves, we would still be moving things, one truck load at a time.  All the boxes and equipment came through the move in good shape.  The only bad thing that happened was that the truck backed into the new fence and totally knocked out a post.  The moving company took full responsibility and discounted the price to pay for the repair of the fence. 

 The move took two very long and busy days.  The teachers and school workers were on hand to help with the unloading.  We directed the moving men where to unload the things.  On Thursday and Friday we started to get the classrooms organized and things put in place.  What a job!!!  We were so fortunate to have Gary and Diane Gray here to help through the entire process.  They have been such a great blessing to us.  We thank the Lord that they are here to fill in for us while we are away for our home assignment.

Teacher Orientation August 8th

The next week was the teacher’s orientation.  It was a combination of training and continuing to get the rooms ready.  We had already delayed school for 7 days and we didn’t want to delay it again.  It was lovely to see the classrooms take shape and the teachers did a great job of decorating them.

The bathrooms are still in process of completion.  There are still things to finish off, but what is finished looks great.  For the first week of classes we were able to use some of the bathrooms.  I think everything will be finished by this week.

Golden with his third grade class

First day...rather rainy...kids gathering at the rondovel

The first day of classes for the secondary students was the coldest and wettest day I had ever experienced in Mozambique.  The busses arrived in time, but we had to hurry the students to their classrooms to keep them out of the rain.  The next day when the elementary joined in, it was a little better, but still windy and cold.  But in spite of the rain, the children were happy to see each other and the new school, but probably not as happy to have to get busy and study again.

Cynthia with her second grade class

We praise the Lord for sufficient staff for the year.  We are starting with 66 students and believe that it will grow in numbers once people realize that we are here.  We still have not advertised, because we wanted to make sure that we were able to make the move and that everything would be ready in time.

The busses are working out and it is so convenient for the students and teachers to have a ride to school now.  There are still some bugs to work out, but we praise the Lord for a positive beginning to our 16^th year of CAM. 

Last weekend was our annual Field Council meetings where the team gather and plan for the next year and beyond in all the ministries.  Although we were all very tired, the weekend was productive and we PTL for all He has done this past year and we look forward to what the next year will bring.

OMS Mozambique Team during Field Council meetings: August 2011

We Are Moving...

15 July 2011

Boxes, boxes everywhere!!

CAM Textbooks packed for moving

More Textbooks to move

New CAM Entrance.  Doors still to come.

We are moving!!  Yes, you already knew that the school was moving and we are in the final stages of the construction of the new school.  It is wonderful to see the classrooms and offices developing, and now the bathroom block is up.  The final things are being added to the classrooms.  The ceiling tiles are next to be installed and the windows and doors are being fitted.  There is still one more wall to paint in some of the classrooms, because we were waiting for the windows and doors to be installed so we wouldn’t have to paint it twice.  Melvin Kelly, our construction engineer, has been an amazing help and has kept all the workers encouraged and moving towards the goal of completion.

hanging the false ceiling and lights in the office

As soon as the rooms are secure, we can start moving the old school to the new school, and that is where the boxes come in.  The teachers at CAM have been busy packing up all the textbooks, teaching supplies and the entire library into boxes.  They have been very good to label them so I can find books when I need to.  The old school is full of boxes.  The chalk boards, white boards and bulletin boards have been removed from the walls and this week they are working on the computer lab.  What a lot of cords and things to pack up.  We are getting down to the wire.

The offices need floor tile and the ceiling tile installed and we are waiting on the doors and windows to be installed so the rooms will be secure enough to move the things in. 

Bathroom Block under construction

About two weeks ago we made the decision to delay school for an addition 10 days to allow the bathroom block to be completed.  We can’t run a school without bathrooms.  That has been a good decision and it has given us more time to get things ready.

Larry repairing the door at our new home

When I am at school, all I see are boxes and bare walls.  Guess what?  We are also moving from our house to a duplex on the new property.  Our new home is a bit smaller, but we have been able to choose colors to paint the walls and watch the place take shape.  The floor tiles have been installed.   We are waiting on the ceiling tiles and the bathroom to be completed and then we can start moving.  Our house now is a disaster with boxes in every room and the hallway.  It is a good time for us to sort through things to give away, throw away or keep.  You can imagine that it is stressful for us to say the least, but we are thankful for God’s faithfulness to us throughout this amazing journey.  Thank you for your prayers.

Gary & Diane Gray...our replacements during furlough. YEA!

We thank the Lord that Gary and Diane Gray arrived on July 5^th.  They are settling into their home on the compound and are spending time with us learning the ropes.  We are so thankful that they will be here to take over our responsibilities when we are on home assignment starting this September.  Pray for a smooth transition for them.  Pray, also, that we will have sufficient teachers and students to support the school for this year.

The next blog will be an update after the move. 

CAM events: CAM Picnic, Musical and Graduation 2011

18 June, 2011

It has been so busy these last few weeks we haven’t gotten our blog updated. I wrote some news right after the CAM picnic, but we just didn’t have enough time to get the photos attached and up. So we will add to the update that we already have.




CAM Graduates 2011

 May 30th was the graduation ceremony for our seven grads. It was lovely to celebrate with the seniors and hear them share about their time at CAM and what they were hoping for the future. Each grad had a special part in the program and some of the parents and teachers had a part. It is hard to believe that we won’t see them at school next year.

 

CAM Graduation Dinner



The graduation dinner was held on Wednesday, June 1st, Larry’s birthday. We celebrated with the grads and their families. It was a time to reminisce and rejoice.



Bathroom block under construction

A big praise is that we got our building permit! Construction is well on the way now for the bathroom block. It looks great. The play field has been leveled and now we are waiting for the electrical to be put in before the drop ceilings can be installed. The biggest concern is to find affordable and safe busses to transport the students from town to the new school site.

At CAM we have chapel every Friday. It is a time to sing, pray and hear how the Lord is working in the lives of different people. Sometimes the different classes take charge of the chapel programs. This past Friday the 4th – 6th grade choir presented a musical called “Camp Wallaballa.” It is about a group of kids on their way to a camp and their bus breaks down and they have to wait for someone to come and fix the bus. In the meantime, they sing all these great songs about not being afraid because God is with them and they share all these great promises from the Bible and sing about standing on God’s promises. It was beautiful. I invited the parents to come and see their performance and there were tears in their eyes as well as in mine. The kids did such a great job.

 

BBQs smelled so good



CAM Picnic...lots of food



The annual CAM picnic was May 21st. We have always had it at the Boa Nova property. This year is was at the same place, but now it is more significant because it is our new school site. We set up six BBQs and several tables for the extra food to share. We ended up with almost 140 people – a record crowd. After lunch the kids played games for prizes and we gave tours to the parents of the new site. It is so great to see all the new families. We sense their support and encouragement as we are in the middle of this incredible project.



CAM Kids playing games at the picnic



Much to pray for

15 May 2011

CAM 2011 Seniors with us at the park taking their grad pictures

It has been awhile since we updated our blog.  We have been so busy since Easter time and have not had the opportunity to write.  On May 4^th we took all seven seniors to a beautiful park in town and took their grad photos.  I had ironed all the grad gowns so they could have a photo wearing their gown and cap.  While I ironed I spent time praying over each of the seniors and asked the Lord to lead and guide them in the next chapter of life. Each senior had several changes of clothes and we had a great time taking the photos.  We asked some friends to come and help with the photos.  It would have taken us hours otherwise.  Here is a photo with us and the grads.  Aren’t they a great looking bunch?!

Dynamic Women Team with Aimee Howarth in Kruger Park

OMS has a fairly new ministry called Dynamic Women.  They encourage women to sign up for trips to the various countries where OMS has work so they can see the work and spend time with the people involved in the various ministries.  Our Mozambique team was able to host a group of six women from the U.S.  We actually knew four of the six and one of them was one of our supporters from Sequim, WA.  It was a blessing to have Gail Watson come and visit us and see the different things we are involved in here.  Our colleague, Aimee was in charge of the team, but Larry was able to help drive the ladies through Kruger Park.  They saw lots of animals and actually saw the “Big Five” all in one day.  (Lion, leopard, rhino, cape buffalo, and elephant) 

We only have 13 days left of school.  Graduation is on Monday, May 30^th.  The last day of classes is June 1^st and we have our clean up day and awards assembly on June 2^nd.  The days are flying by and we can hardly keep up with all the activities. 

Next Saturday is our school picnic which is traditionally held where we are building the new school.  We wanted to get more of the classrooms ready so the parents can get a good view of what the school is going to be like when they are there for the picnic.  We scheduled another work day on the 14^th and this time we had six students and six staff from school come and help.  We were able to prime and paint three large rooms and prime two other rooms.  The work goes quickly when there are many hands to help.  We are very tired and sore, but happy to see all the progress. 



Yea!  We are graduating in just 15 days

 We appreciate your continued prayers for our seniors as they make plans for their futures, and for the progress of the new school.  There is so much to accomplish and we trust the Lord to make it all possible to start the new school year by August.

rat, rest, CAM construction, and summit

April 17, 2011

Since our last blog we have had a week break from school, been to South Africa to see the dentist and the doctor and to buy supplies, and we have had another work day at the new school site.  Each day continues to bring new adventures and challenges.

During the school break we took a few days to travel to South Africa for some R & R.  We usually stay at Mercy Air which is a large beautiful compound with many guest rooms and cottages that are rented at reasonable rates to missionaries needing some rest.  Each place has a kitchen or access to a kitchen and it is a beautiful place. 

Our room at Mercy Air in South Africa

I guess missionaries aren’t the only ones that enjoy the beauty of Mercy Air.  The first night we were there we had a little furry visitor.  This little creature was different than his relatives, because in the morning after his visit, Larry discovered a hole gnawed in his toothpaste tube.  When Susan needed the hand soap, she looked high and low for this huge bar of soap that had been there the night before.  Larry discovered it behind the laundry basket with big gnaw marks as well as little claw marks where he tried to haul it away.  Goodness!  This little guy was concerned about his hygiene.  We even had food in plain sight and the rat didn’t even bother with that.  By the 4^th night we had finally rounded up a rat trap and put an enticing piece of pizza as a lure.  About 3 a.m. Monday morning we heard a big snap and we got it!

School is back in session and there are 31 school days before graduation.  Everyone is ready for the summer break, and we still have several weeks to go. 

Dinah painting...more on herself than the wall?

Marie painting the trim in a High School classroom

building the new entrance to the offices and reception area

The new school building continues to progress.  Several students came out during the break and finished painting four classrooms.  It will be a bit of time before the next classrooms are ready to paint.  The walls are getting higher and it is exciting to see all the work that is going on.  We were able to submit the plans to build the bathroom block.  Pray that we will get construction license quickly to build it in time for August.

During the break three CAM students and one teacher were able to attend a special summit to encourage high school students to get involved in their communities and help make things better.  There were about 16 American International schools from all over Africa represented.  The students had to present projects they had been a part of and ones there were planning to accomplish.  Our students presented the plan that we have to offer a sports program to the community kids in the neighborhood of our new school.  It is wonderful to hear the ideas the kids have and see their enthusiasm for what they can do.  The highlight for the students was meeting one of the key note speakers, Graca Machel.  She is the former wife of the first president of Mozambique and is now the wife of Nelson Mandela.  They were so impressed with her. 

Mr. Ben, Joash, Ude and Caris meeting Mrs. Graca Machel at the Summit

Thanks so much for your prayers.  We pray that this Easter season will be a time to reflect on the great sacrifice of love that was made for us.  The Lord is risen!  He is risen indeed!!

Larry & Susan

just a general update on things...



Beka Mech From One Mission Society sharing in Chapel

 30 March 2011

So much has happened lately, that we just don’t have the time to sit down and write about it. First of all, we had Beka Mech from OMS headquarters come and visit and spend time with our field. She spent the day at CAM and shared in chapel.

New CAM student transport?  



A new addition to the CAM vehicles is a work truck to help haul all the workers and supplies that are needed for the building site. I thought of another way it could be used. One of the greatest concerns of the parents for new school is transportation to the new school site. I had a great idea. How about the new truck? I had all the students stand in the back to try it out for size. Do you think the parents will go for the new CAM transport?

CAM students competing at the Swim Meet

The elementary students were involved in an Inter-school Swim meet. We had 12 students participate and it was good to see them compete against children from other schools in the area.





Larry & Susan leading worship at SNF



One of our ministries is the Sunday Night Fellowship. We help lead worship and set up about once a month. Other missionary families are involved too. This is a fellowship that is for those people who want to attend a service in English. There are missionaries as well as other Christian ex-pats who attend. The attendance hasn’t been that consistent and it seems as though only the missionaries who are busy anyway, are taking the time to keep it going. After a meeting with the group, it was decided to continue on until the holiday time in June and July and determine then if it will continue.  Here we are leading the worship.