October has come & gone I can't believe my first month in Pemba is over. My heart is a little sad that I'm at the half way mark. I feel at home here now. The things that were strange & uncomfortable at first have become pretty normal & nice. I can't wait to come back to my friends & family in the States but I hate that I have to leave my little life & family here to do it. It's a different world here, so I decided to give a brief play by play of a day in my life here. Ready set go...
1) Wake up & climb out of your mosquito net around 5:30am (the sun is all the way up by then). If you're the first one up- walk to the bread tree to get your house's basket of bread rolls for breakfast. The large quantities of MSG makes them slightly addictive so watch out. :)
2) Eat, brush your teeth & wash your face with water bottles, put on your capulana (native dress) & get in the Word for a while before 8:00 class starts.
3) Attend class from 8am-1pm. This is about 2-3 hours of worship & 2-3 hours of teaching mixed together. Half the time we're all just laid out in the floor soaking in Fathers presence. It is so thick! The honey of his presence is poured all over you. It's a yummy, warm, sticky, delicious presence. Agendas are determined by Holy Spirit so no two days are the same & He loves worship! There's nothing sweeter than loving on your King & being loved on in return. October class teachings were mostly on identity as a son/daughter & inner heart healing.
4) Finish class around 1pm & head to the cafeteria to stand in a massive line & have lunch with the kids who live on the base & the Mozambican bible school pastors. You usually meet someone new at lunch & you always get rice & beans!
5) Afternoons are filled with different activities: small group meetings, extra elective classes, soaking/intercession in the prayer hut, going to the water store to buy clean drinking water, carrying 50lb bags of rice & beans on your head to divide up & give out to local mamas, hitch hiking into town to go grocery shopping (it takes a minimum of 3 hrs to "run" to the store), making trips to the well for water, visiting the villages to love & minister to people, cleaning your house, washing your laundry in buckets (tedious! You'll redefine what "dirty" is to cut down on loads), work out hopefully with out having a heat stroke & if you can squeeze some extra time in you get to journal!
6) Dinner bell rings around sunset at 5:30. They bring some variety into dinner for us...you could get fish heads, cow hooves, matapa (an amazing local dish made of a spinach like plant, tomatoes, onions & ground peanuts), or cabbage all served with rice. The best dinner nights are Wednesdays & Saturdays - you get a tiny little chicken breast or "spaghetti" (noodles with chicken broth)!
7) After dinner for the first few days of the week we have classes, house family time & Wednesday night church. Thursday - Sunday nights are open to hang out or process what's happening in your heart. Every thing is a process here. It's a process to take a shower, go to town, walk to class with kiddos grabbing all over you. Things take about 3 times longer than you would expect but I've grown to like the pace here. It's an event oriented culture rather than a time oriented culture so you can't get stressed about time because no one is in a hurry.
8) Take a bottle shower & get ready for bed around 8:30. I tuck in my mosquito net & hit the hay around 9. It's amazing the sense of security a tiny little net can give you when it comes to protection against flying & creeping things at night. Busy days make for restful nights & I've slept great here. I've been attacked by bed bugs twice now but I've conquered them both times (I have the 50 bite marks to prove it) :)
That was a glimpse into "a day in the life of a harvest school student". It's pretty active! This week also had several "firsts" for me that were noteworthy so here are 3 of the highlights...
1) Some of my roomies & I went snorkeling last weekend! We met 2 Mozambicans who loved Jesus, had a boat, & charged a great price so that was qualification enough for us :). We rented snorkeling gear & set off for an adventure in what looked like a pirate's get-away boat! It was hilarious to see 8 girls crammed into a fishing boat sitting on top of nets & rope while being rowed to a near by reef. The two guys who were our guides were hilarious & spoke great English. They had both gotten saved from Iris groups coming to their villages & showing the Jesus film. One of them was Paul & when I met him his first 2 questions to me were "What is your name?" & "Do you know Jesus?" Fun fact- they had 3 little fish that had been living in a pool of water in their boat for 2 months. There was a tiny leak down there so they always had fresh water. They named the 2 bigger ones Justice & Mercy & the baby's name was Kevin :) Yes I have pictures.
2) In class on Thursday we got into our small groups with our Mozambican bible students & had a foot washing ceremony. Calling it powerful is an understatement. Foot washing ceremonies almost seem to have become "trendy" in some places but we wanted to press deeply into it. We reflected on what Jesus did for his disciples when he washed their feet. When Peter objected to letting him wash his feet, Jesus reminded him that unless he let him wash his feet he had no part of Him. It's hard to let someone wash your feet, especially if you would rather serve them than they serve you but Jesus says "let me wash your feet". Everyone felt extremely humbled to have their feet washed but the whole time we were reminded "You are worthy. Jesus says you're worthy". I touched Jesus' feet every time I touched theirs. Every time I picked up a dirty foot to clean it I was cleaning Jesus' feet. These men are my brothers. I felt so honored to wash the feet of amazing men who are getting trained up to carry the Gospel to their country. It was a blessing to serve them & pray for them while we washed. I wept the entire time...and so did several of them.
3) I had the privilege of spending my Saturday morning with several amazing Mozambican teenage girls who live on base. Two of my roommates planned a day date & met up with them at 8am to go to the market in the village near by. We bought ingredients to make matapa & shema for lunch. I've described matapa above but in theirs they add coconut milk & mango...it's to die for! Shema is a dense corn meal porridge that you roll into balls with your fingers & use to scoop up the matapa to eat. It's my favorite dish here! I'd had it in Zambia years ago & was stoked to find out that they have it here. I could eat matapa & shema everyday. We brought the ingredients back to their house, cooked, painted our nails, & they semi-corn rowed my hair while they told us their dreams. We had a blast. They want to grow up to be economists, doctors, & lawyers. They are going to do it! They are so dedicated to their studies here & all of them speak at least 3 languages- Portuguese (national language), Macua (the local language), & English on some level. They are amazing girls & next Saturday were having them over to our house to cook them pasta (their favorite dish). We hope to be able to adopt their dorm for the rest of school & add some little sisters to our house.
It's been a fantastic week. It feels like every week gets better than the last. Sure I have my bumps- days where I'm pooped, where I've gotten super sick, where I'm sunburned 10 different ways & miss home but, man, is it worth it! Father has given me abundant grace & joy to deal with any discomfort & he's healed me every time I've gotten sick. He's so good, He's so beautiful, He's so faithful, & He loves so well. Thanks again for taking time to keep up with me & keep me covered in prayer. I say it in every post but your prayers are invaluable to me. Thank you for keeping me lifted up, fought for & blessed! I love you guys.
Love, hugs & blessings,
Madison