Hokay so!

I have a little bit of catching up to do in filling everyone in on what's been going on here lately. Sorry! It’s been quite the 2 weeks and I will try to make sure I hit all the highlights!
10.21.08-10.25.08-Tuesday-Saturday
Well in this week I started up voice classes and helping teach English class with Christina. This has been a lot of fun, and any time spent with the kids is always good! I am learning more Portuguese during the English classes as well which helps a lot and helps us all have more fun communicating with each other due to us learning the same words in the others language!


This week has also been extremely HOT and on the day that I thought was just completely unbearable Victor brought home my beautiful fan. Oh it could not have come at a greater time!!! As the week neared its end, though, it began to get cloudier and cloudier and come Saturday it actually drizzled and sunday (the 26th) it actually rained pretty hard for a little while. This could be a sign that the rainy season is near…o the thought!



10.26.08-Sunday
Today Victor threw a huge picnic for his church. When he first told them he was going to have this for them, none of the adults knew what a picnic was and only the kids from the orphanage were familiar with it. He had BBQ chicken and regular chicken prepared, cake made by Janet-one of the girls on staff, rice, and soda! For some, they have never seen or tasted any food like this. (The BBQ chicken, cake and soda that is.) When Victor asked them what they thought about it, they said they didn’t know because they had nothing to compare it too. They seemed to enjoy it a lot though! When they began serving out the food, they decided to do things different and start with all the kids. There were at least 60 kids and only about 10 adults. As they began to serve I just kept looking at the food and thinking “there is no way this food is going to feed all these children AND the adults. There’s no way!” Christina and I were both a little stressed. But as I stood in this mindset, it wasn’t but maybe 2 minutes later God reminded me of the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. “He had only 5 loaves and 2 fish. All were filled and they even ended up with leftovers”. This was the next thought that flooded through my mind, as the line seemed endless, and gave me peace and confidence to trust in the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Once everyone was served I at last stood in front of a table; a table of plenty. With dishes that didn’t seem to empty; a pot of rice that didn’t seem to have a bottom; I stood in awe of my God once again and was thankful for His faithfulness and for His word! I am continually becoming more and more aware of why he tells us to meditate on His word day and night. Had it not been for the reading of it I would not have known that story and been reminded of it and Gods faithfulness proved throughout it. If it were not for His word, every promise and every act of faithfulness, we would be a people without the knowledge of hope; a people without purpose; a people living daily in fear and doubt because we have nothing that shows another way. How amazing it is that God made and gave a way so that we do not have to be a people like that! How amazing it is that we have this compass to help us through life, situations, thoughts, etc. How amazing it is to still have the freedom to read it; hiding it in our hearts that we may know Christ and not sin against him! “O Father, may we ne’er take your Word for granted, but rather hide it in our hearts that we may be reminded of your faithfulness, reminded of your commands, and in return be obedient and faithful and pleasing in your sight.”

So for the rest of the time during the picnic, while everyone was still eating and hanging out, Christina and I hung with the kids taking pictures left and right! It was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy the fellowship so much!!


Then, because of the weather getting rainier, a few of the boys came over to my house and put up black tarp on the windows They told Victor that "We can't let sister Ashlie suffer in this weather!" So then they took the initiative to doing something about it. They are so sweet and are always looking out for others needs and then meeting them to the best of their ability. What a conviction and example of a servants heart!

That evening Victor, Christina and I went to the SIL (Wycliffe) church for their evening service. It was really neat and we are hoping to go again next Sunday to hear the youth choir sing! OH and after the church service we went out to eat and I got a HUGE plate of rice and fries and chicken. How much did I pay you ask? A whopping $4.00 U.S. dollars! Oh man. Talk about a steal!



10.27.08-Monday
Today, after the older kids English class, we added an English class for the little kids. It was so cute and they were eager to learn! We did sentences like “I am/I am not hungry”, “I am/I am not hot”, I am/I am not cold”, and “I am/I am not thirsty”. Ok, time for a funny story about the pronunciation of “th”. In both the older and younger kids class, sounding out words that have “th” in it is so hard for them. It always comes out a) firsty or b) tirsty. They try so hard to get the proper sound out but it’s just so hard for them! It’s so funny to watch them put so much emphasis on putting there tongue in between their teeth, too, and then still not getting it. Bless the hearts! With the little kids we also do things like “sit down”, “stand up”, “jump”, “clap”, and “stop”. It’s a lot of fun!
So, after English classes, Victor, Christina and I spent the majority of the day getting our visas renewed. Come to find out they will only extend my visa for 30 more days each time which would then leave it expiring again on the 1st of December. This would mean I would spend a whole extra day in Mozambique with an expired visa. We will either have to spend the money to renew it or see about changing my flight time to leaving Nampula on the 1st rather than the 2nd. I pray God’s will is done and I trust that it will be!
The voice class today was a bit..discouraging. The student haven’t been reading or memorizing the verses I’ve been giving them and I don’t want this just to be a class for techniques. Especially since the group is made up of a church choir and Christian band. For the past 2 weeks I have been trying to encourage them to memorize and hide Gods word in their heart, that way when they sing praises to him they know who it is they are singing to. For some reason, though, they have not been doing this. Today I had Victor give a devotional on the verse I gave for them to work on over the weekend. It was Psalm 5:11 which says: “But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.” He gave the history and background of this verse and spoke on it for the next hour. I began to realize, also, that not everyone has easy access to a bible, so, I changed things up a little bit. What we are going to start doing now is on Mondays I will give out the verse and we will spend the first part of class reading the chapter and seeing what the original context of it was, that way there is no confusion. Then, through out the week I will have them copy down the specific verse and at least work on meditating on it through out the week, being ready to share something they either learned or were encouraged from it on Fridays class. We’ll see how this goes! The verse for this week is Psalm 118:24 “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
10.28.08-Tuesday
Today seemed to be exceptionally hot, considering the past couple days was nice and cloudy with a cool breeze. I was pretty tempted to buzz all my hair off, but then I regained consciousness.
This was a very chill day, which was good, considering I wasn’t feeling all myself. I ended up taking a nap and waking up a little more energized! When I went outside all the kids were sitting under the big tree in between Christina’s house and mine and I stopped to hang out with them for a bit before dinner. While we were hanging out one of the little boys Isaac came running through everyone pulling a string with a Barbie doll car attached to it. As he went by I noticed there was something sitting in the “driver’s seat” of the car. I stopped him and my eyes were quickly adjusted to what it was: a dead rat with a hole pierced through its neck! *GAG* I was so disturbed but somehow managed to get lots of pictures. They took such pride in this and found it very amusing that I was disgusted. Once I finished taking pictures they picked it up by the body and chucked it. Hand washing was the least of their concern, too. But, that is another HUGE difference in the cultures for sure!


10.29.08-Wednesday
Today I woke up and felt heavy hearted. I think a lot of it has to do with not feeling quite myself physically and allowing the discouragement from Monday’s class effect my outlook on how today and today’s class would be. In my devotions I was encouraged by these verses:
-Psalm 25:3 “Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.”
-Romans 5:3-5 “We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us.”
-Philippians 3:13b “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”
-Psalm 16:7-8 “I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”
-Jeremiah 32:27 “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything to hard for me?”
Again, I see the importance of God’s word. It is the fuel for our souls, the nourishment to our bodies, and the glasses our hearts need to see God’s sovereignty!
Well, needless to say, the voice class went so well, so fun, and left us all so encouraged! We opened with prayer and a song and then jumped into review from last week and then I introduced them to vocal warm ups. I’m not sure who enjoyed this more, me or them! =) At the end of class I taught them a new song: “Kum Ba Yah” (No, not the camp fire one). I split them all up into 4 groups, gave them each parts and then had them sing those parts together while I sang the verses. It sounded so amazing and I made sure to record it! We then ended in song and prayer and everyone left with such an excited and encouraging glow. “Thank you Jesus!”

10.30.08-Thursday
This particular morning my alarm was the sound of the children singing praises to God with the beat of a drum in the background. There could not have been a better way to wake up! “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”-Lamentations 3:22-23 Nothing too different happened this day. Clara was sick so we pretty much laid around, talked, and watched movies all day after class! It was good for me too considering I still wasn’t quite feeling myself.

10.31.08-Friday
This was a different, interesting, and great day! Since I don’t do English class on Friday mornings with Christina, due to them only taking a test on these days, I was able to start the day spending extra time in quiet. This morning I was in Matthew 25. When I got to the Parable of the Talents I was so humbled and convicted, especially when I got to verse 21 where it says “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” O if only we/I would remember and realize the true reward that awaits those who are faithful, for then would we/I truly strive to be faithful, even in the smallest most “insignificant” moments. (I could go on for hour’s about what all God has been showing me in my quiet times, but I reckon I will save that for a blog of its own maybe!?)
So, after my quiet time I went out to see what was goin’ on and ended up meeting some missionaries that were here. There was a husband and wife from Washington just in Africa for the month to travel around and get different footage for there ministry. They were here today to interview Victor and Christina about EvanjAfrica and to get video of the orphanage and the projects going on here. Then there was a man named Pete and 2 of his children. His wife and his other son were at home doing school! It was really neat meeting them all and getting to talk to them. Pete invited me to eat an American lunch with them too; ham sandwiches, choc. chip cookies, and orange soda. It was a nice treat! Later on I ended up getting to talk with Mrs. Becky (the interviewer’s wife) for a few minutes and in those few minutes we got on the topic of something I had been struggling with personally and she came in with such encouragement! She looked like Mrs. Wall and had the tone and encouragement of my mom. I didn’t want her to leave!! But, I was so blessed and thankful for the time that she was there and that we got to talk. She was God-sent no doubt. After they were finished all they came to do we all circled up and prayed, then as they were leaving Pete invited me to come for dinner with Victor and Christina while I was still here; enchiladas’. I am so down for that.
Voice class was yet again great! Victor came and translated for the beginning of it so we could discuss everyones thoughts were on the verse, how they were encouraged, and/or what things this passage really taught them. One young man said this verse encouraged him to see that though things may be hard or difficult, or may not go the way we want them to, we should and still can rejoice and be glad in the day, knowing that God created it! After the discussion time we did our voice warm ups and this picture was taken while I was showing them a new way to do warm ups. Rather than the simple "la la la's" i wanted them to make their lips vibrate (kinda like the sound a horse makes) and do the warm ups that way. We pretty much spent that whole part of class getting them used to making that noise, considering a lot of them had never done it before. It was hilarious! (Fortunately, amidst all the laughter, they all did learn to do it!)

This evening I showed the kids “A Night at the Museum”. They enjoyed it so much!! My favorite part about movie nights is listening to their hearty laughs. They are so contagious and seem to bring such a joy to all around! Oh! Before we watched the movie Victor showed a bunch of older pictures of the kids and the orphanage. I have never heard more laughing in my life! For the first few minutes I just sat and listened, wondering why they were laughing at certain picture when they seemed perfectly fine. Victor said they are all always picking on each other, and laughing at a picture is there way of picking fun. They do it completely out of fun, and no one gets hurt by it, but it was so interesting and entertaining to watch this! I could only take a few minutes thought of just watching, and soon couldn’t help bun join right in! I haven’t laughed that hard since being away from the states. It was a purely good time.

11.1.08-Saturday
So yes, this is the update on all that has been going on lately! I hope and pray you are all found spiritually encouraged and physically well. Please know I am holding you close in my thoughts and prayers! Thank you for your faithful prayers and comments of encouragement. They mean so much and I am so blessed to be surrounded by such a wonderful family! I love you all! Oh, and I can’t believe we are November now! Wow!

Prayer Requests:
1) For Victor and Christina: That God would provide the financial supporters they need to be stable.
2) For the orphanage: That God would continue to provide the funds for the projects that are taking place now, and that will take place later.
3) For me: That I would not waste a single moment, but that in each one given I would be faithful, obedient and willing to be used to the fullest!

Thank you all again! I love and miss yall!

“Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” Jeremiah 32:17