One month from today… I will be leaving for Africa!! I’m
excited and nervous.
My trip plans are coming together slowly yet surely. I
still need to apply for my visa. I just need to go over all my paper work one
last time, go get a money order and then I will be all ready to mail it off to
the Mozambican Embassy in Washington.
My plans as of right now are to fly from Detroit to
Washington… where I will meet up with my friend Karin. She is spending the year
in Lesotho and so we are flying from Washington to Johannesburg together! This
is a 17-hour flight and so I couldn’t be happier to have one of my best friends
on it with me! We will arrive in Johannesburg Friday night and spend it in a
hostel with some friends… before Nunu and I take the 8 hour bus ride to Maputo!
When I’m in Maputo, I will be staying at a guesthouse for
Missionaries. Nunu and Sumate (national missionaries who work up in Pemba) will
also be in Maputo visiting family. They will be about 1.5 hours away but have
agreed to show me around and help me buy Christmas presents for the kids…
things like shoes and soccer balls. I have a feeling I won’t leave the
guesthouse unless I have someone by my side.
Nunu and I will also be traveling to Ponta de Ouro for a
few days. The Dream Project has 6 acres of land in Ponta. My hope for the trip
is to be able to document the land by taking pictures and measuring anything
possible so that one day when The Dream Project is ready to build, I will have
a good sense of the land and be able to do some architectural drawings for
them.
The final leg of my trip is to Pemba, to celebrate
Christmas with my boys! I’m going by bus and I’ve heard this trip can take up
to 3 days! I feel like this is going to be a whole new experience for me and
I’m hoping I will have lots to blog about… or maybe I should be hoping for the
opposite! I think I will be up in Pemba around February 1st, but it
will depend on when Nunu’s work in Maputo is done. I’m surly not brave enough
to take a 3 day bus ride alone in Mozambique!
It is hard not having exact days, but this is life in
Mozambique and it’s good for me to get used to being laid back about things.
I’ve heard the bus to Pemba doesn’t really run on a schedule… I mean I’m sure
it’s supposed to but just because the schedule says it goes on Wednesdays and
Saturdays doesn’t mean much. When Nunu & Sumate were looking into their bus
rides from Pemba to Maputo, one of them was telling me that there are no buses
at the station and so they couldn’t find out when the next bus would leave
until a bus arrived from Maputo.
I’m trying to learn to go with the flow and not build up
my expectations… as I realized on my last trip that if you don’t expect much,
you’re never let down.
Support Update:
I’ve raised 66% of the funds needed for my trip in January
and almost 21% of my goal for monthly support.
Specifically a few of my needs are:
- Financial
Support – You could personally support me or you could host a book party
or fundraiser of any sort.
- Communication
Support – I have a few people on my mailing list that don’t use email and
I’m hoping to find someone that would be willing to mail them an update or
two while I’m gone.
- Logistical Support – While I’m gone someone that would be willing to follow up with some of my contacts and arrange book parties or speaking engagements.
Prayer:
- Visa preparation and approval.
- Keep my focus… as I was challenged last week in my small
group, remembering the Gospel everyday.
- Not getting caught up in the details… going with the
flow!
- I’m collecting Christmas presents for the kids. I’m
trying to keep things organized… what’s been donated… what do we still need…
how much money has been collected… what can I buy with that in Maputo… and of
course will it all fit in my suite case!
- Support raising!
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