The Last Few Days in a Nutshell

I'm sitting, Indian style, on my bed, three pillows tucked under my left arm, the floor fan (which actually isn't on the floor despite the name) blowing on my back, and my brain trying to figure out what to update about. 

Does that ever bug you... when you post a whole bunch of stuff throughout one week and the next you have absolutely no idea what to post about? Well, that's where I am. Just stumped at what to write about on my blog. So, I hope that this post, about the last few days... or just Sunday, doesn't bore you to much :P 

Alright here it is, yesterday was Sunday. We went to church and it was... empty. Well, almost empty. It was funny though! About 80% of the church had gone to the Nazarene Church to celebrate their 100th anniversary with them. That left a few Mozambicans, us, and the Rwandans. All the songs we sing in our church are a cappella. They sound beautiful... when the congregation can pronounce the words. Tee hee hee :P We started to sing one song and none of us except the few Mozambicans could pronounce the words. So us girls and the Rwandan ladies are all trying to keep from laughing cause it just went silent until the chorus which we could all pronounce. It was funny :P 

After church ended we headed on home and the Woodrows picked us up to go to SIL to practice music for that night. Music practice went smoothly. I got to play "And Can It Be?", "Oh Lord You're Beautiful" and "Who am I?". We've been trying to get "I Can Only Imagine" down smoothly... but so far it just hasn't been working out... we've been trying ever since January 2007 :P Maybe one day! Anyways, leading the worship went well and the message afterwards was really good! 

We headed on home after the SIL service and had dinner. The pastor's wife came over to talk to Mom and give us some of the special drink stuff that they have at every big party. :) She said the party was looong! From 9am-3pm! Woah!! ... After she left we all headed for bed... except Dad, Damarise, Mom and I. We stayed up talking in our room 'til 10:30pm when...*Vwoom* the electricity went out. It's rather humorous actually. :P Ok, it was hot! But it's only our little section of the street that goes out. Like 10 houses! It's crazy!! It didn't come back on 'til 9:44am this morning. I was almost wishing it would stay off longer so that we could break our 15 hour record. But oh well :P I'm thankful it came back on when it did! It was getting hot! Although it made me even more thankful that God has us here now instead of way back when the Woodrows were first here. They said that the electricity could be off for 6 months at a time! Woah! I think I'll stop complaining about a few hours! :P 

Well, that is my last couple of days in a nutshell.... And today is Monday :) Yeah! I love Mondays! What a wonderful day of the week! Hehe, ok sorry that was random... but I guess that's what this whole post has been :P 

I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful day! 

Internet off, lights out, and heat abounding!

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." -Philippians 4:12

Paul said in Philippians that he had learned to be content no matter what the circumstances. Well, I realized that I am still learning. 

This week, Monday through Friday, the internet was out. It wasn't to bad, just rather annoying to not be in touch with friends and see what's happening in the world. I am SO thankful though that it is back up and running! Yeah!

Wednesday night around 9:30pm the lights went out... ok, not only the lights... the lights, fans... all our electricity. It wasn't a huge deal in the cold season, but now... wow! Hot doesn't even begin to describe how it felt! I don't think I have ever sweat more at night than on that night! It was to hot! Finally Thursday morning at 7:30am the electricity came back on! Yeah!

Speaking of the heat... it is scorching over here! It is the hot season! But these first few months of the hot season are hot and dry! It should start raining around December. As for now, we go through the day sweating up a storm and drinking gallons of water! It is over 90ºF in the house with the fans on! I'm melting! 

Okk, enough complaining. I was thinking through this all last night. Not really thinking it through, just complaining about it. Complaining about the internet, the heat, the fickle electricity. I wasn't content. I didn't focus on the things I did have. I had food. Ice! (So nice in the hot weather!) I had family, friends. I had the love of God!! Yet there I was complaining about the trivial things. Wow! It was high time I realized how blessed I was and how much there was to be thankful for. :) 

So, as you can see I'm still working on being content in all circumstances... it's tough! But I realized there really is SO much to be thankful for! :D It's amazing! We serve an amazing God Who blesses us with more than we can ever fathom! :) Wow! 

Who turned out the lights?

A couple weeks ago, Damarise, Sarah, Dad, Mom and I were sitting in our room. The boys were in bed. The fans were swirling giving off a cool breeze. The lights were beaming across the room, helping us see each other. It was a normal evening until "Shhzzzz". Silence. Everything went dark. The fans quit spinning. And we all groaned. Oh no, the electricity went out again. We waited a few minutes to see if it would come back on soon, but to no avail. Dad and Mom got up and went to get a flash light. We looked outside to see if it was the whole town that was out or just our street. To our surprise not only was it not the whole town it also wasn't our street either. Everyone's house but ours it seemed had electricity. Now that was odd. Mom and Dad looked around to see if maybe the circuit breakers had blown. Nope they were intact. What else could it be?! Ok ok, before I give it away, let me explain how the electricity works here in Mozambique. We have these boxes on the wall (as seen in the picture) and you have to buy your electricity then type in the number on your receipt into the box and vwala you have as much electricity as you paid for. So, I'm sure you've guessed, we forgot to buy more electricity. No! We were sure the store would be closed by then (it was 9pm). We asked our guard if he would mind seeing if it was still open. It was! :) We were overjoyed! We got a slip with the numbers on it. Typed them in. And electricity was back on. It was a funny experience and hopefully from now on we won't forget to buy electricity when we're low ;)