Greetings from Maputo!

Well, at the close of our first week on this blogspot, we've had one comment. Thanks, Dave!!!!

It's been a good week this week. Here at the Seminary we've been having our annual Holiness Convention all week. Basically we've had special chapel services each day with our former District Superintendent, Rev. Manuel Tshambe, as our guest speaker. He has preached well and there have been good responses to his messages. Classes have gone as normal with nothing too special to report on that front. We're at the mid-point of our first module of 1st Term so next week we'll be having mid-term exams and/or quizes.

Believe it or not, we've slept under blankets two nights this week - and it's mid-summer here. Wednesday afternoon a storm blew up and the rain poured and the wind blew. The temperature dropped into the upper 60's which for here, at this time of the year, is COLD!!! It rained all day on Thursday and only cleared in the wee hours of Friday morning, but yesterday the temperature was back up into the normal range - high 80's/low 90's - and it's been that way today as well.

We've had a different kind of day here today. It started out normal enough, and Rhoda and I both had our lists of things to do, what with it being Saturday and a "day off" and all that. I must say that Rhoda's list had things for me to do in addition to my own list, ha! First on my list was to get the grass cut in the back yard. I did the front yard last week but didn't get the back done, and with the rain we've had this week, it really needed it. I could have done the front yard as well it's grown so much since last week, but I didn't.

After that was done, I headed off to the men's dorm to hang up a bulletin board and to replace three lock sets in doors to student rooms. I also needed to replace some door handles as well (our guys don't know their own strength). Just as I was finishing the last door, Rhoda rang to say she'd discovered the drain blocked in the guest apartment where we were planning on putting some visitors tonight, so I went by the took shed and got a plunger and headed up there. When I got there I discovered, to my horror, that the termites had struck yet again and filled the drain pipes with sand, including the trap under the sink, and not only the kitchen but also the adjoining bathroom. My fear was that the pipes from the other bathrooms and the washing machine was also clogged up with sand, but fortunately, it was just the kitchen and the one bathroom.

Well, there wasn't anything else to do but tackle getting the pipes unblocked. I went out to the back of the building to check the inspection plug and found that the sand filled the pipes all the way out of the building and into the ground. So, I came home to get a shovel and the hose pipe since it appeared we'd have to dig up the pipes. I got started on that and a couple of the students came to give a hand and we worked steadily on it until almost 5pm before we finally got all the pipes cleared out and the water running through the drains again! The sun was beating down on us most of that time and we were exhausted when we got finished. In the process, I discovered some plumbing problems in the bathroom which I'll need to fix before we can put anyone in there to stay, and we need to replace some broken drain pipe outside of the apartments as well, so we'll be working on that on Monday it looks like.

When we first came to Mozambique in 1992, other missionaries told us - "Mozambique is a place where anything can happen, and if you wait long enough, it usually will." We've found that to be true! And as we write this blog week by week, we'll try to share some of that "anything" that happens.

Every blessing. Dave & Rhoda