I have arrived!

Where do I start? I feel as if I have gone from one foreign world to another! Laura and I had a wonderful final weekend in South Africa. In order to maximize our time with our new friends at Hands at Work we slept very little and laughed a lot! Sunday we traveled to Johannesburg by car, to Beira, Moz by plane and then the final stretch by car to Maforga Mission near Gondola, Moz. We had arrived- to the place many missionaries before us have called the “promised land.” We continued our journey by making the bouncy ride, avoiding pot holes, to our final destination. Along the way Laura and I shared many glances both thinking- “Where have we come?” The road we took connects Beira (port city) to Zimbabwe. We drove and drove. As we got closer Jean Aimee (H@W nurse who came to help us settle in) started pointing out landmarks. We finally slowed down and she announced, “here we are!” and we turned onto a dirt path. My mind was racing- where are we going and what are we in for? Now almost a week later here we are, happier than ever!
Laura and I will share a small (but cute and perfect) house on a place called Maforga mission. There are a number of missionaries that live and work here. It’s a difficult place for me to justly explain. It functions very diversely as an orphanage/sawmill/farm/school/Christian community/baby clinic/primary health clinic/squatter village. This evening Laura and I were in the screen porch and Laura said, “Oh, Dara, I was going to go outside on the step and clip my finger nails but the cows are coming home.” We laughed for awhile and watch as the cows walked right by our house back to their home. A few minutes later we look outside and laugh as we watched the sheep coming home! It’s beautiful. This is what I will gladly call home for the next 9 months.
I will save, for another entry, how incredible the people are here- truly amazing!
As for what I am going to be doing here. Once we are recognized as nurses by the Mozambiquan Health Department Laura and I will go out with volunteers from Rubatano Home-based care. We have gone to a few of the communities this week. Wow! My heart has broken over and over but yet, I love it! The people glow when we arrive. The children chase our car as we drive down the dirt paths. They wave eagerly and they carry out benches or straw mats for us to sit on during the visit. They are poorer than poor and sicker than sick. They are in desperate states and are longing to find hope in something! I have asked myself many tough questions as we walk away from different circumstances. Many of these things I will wrestle with over the next 9 months and likely, forever. I have no answers yet but I am excited, overjoyed even to be here and to see what exactly the Lord has in store for us over the next number of months! Oh, it feels good. It is so right. It is a wonderful place to be and I wake eagerly each day to meet with the Lord and be used by Him.
“I wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.” Psalm 62: 5-7
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Please pray for good health (against malaria and everything else)and for the processing of our nursing license to go quickly. Until next time...