A couple of days after Christmas we made a trip to the beach along with another missionary family. The experience was so typically Mozambican that I decided to write it up as our next monthly update. I hope that it captures something of the beauty and rawness of life here, and that it inspires all of you in your prayers.

Maputo sits on a bay with a great beach but the water is so polluted that it is not really safe to swim. Hence we decided to travel north to Macaneta, approximately an hour’s drive from Maputo. Initially we made a very good time and you could almost be forgiven for thinking that we were still in the UK. Daniel received an audio book for Christmas: “Charlie and the chocolate factory” and we all enjoyed listening in the car to Charlie’s adventures. But then we ran out of road.

Mozambique has too many rivers and too few bridges. Sometimes it is necessary to drive across a shallow river bed. On other occasions there may be a ferry service provided. Although we were by now only one or two miles from the sea, our way was blocked by a wide, salty river. We could see the ferry on the far bank: it was made of metal and powered by a diesel engine but essentially it was a raft with space for five or perhaps six vehicles. Fifteen minutes later we drove on board and the ferry took us without incident to the other side.

What happened next is rather embarrassing and I’m tempted to omit it from this narrative. The final stretch of road was very broken and over time a lot of sand had blown in from the dunes. Halfway along the road we became bogged down in sand: our wheels were spinning and we could neither move forward nor backwards. It was clearly time to engage the 4x4 capability on our car - the only problem was that hitherto I had never needed to do so. I pushed the 4x4 gear stick down, I pulled it up, I shoved it sideways, I put the car in neutral; I did everything I could think of but I could not engage the 4x4. Eventually I pulled the gear stick in the correct direction and our car took off across the sand. Once we move to Tete, our 4x4 drive will come into its own. In the meantime it’s good to know that it works so well.   

We parked by a camp site, quickly covered our boys with suntan lotion, and moments later found ourselves on the most beautiful beach. Sharon and I plunged into the water to find that the waves were so strong that we could easily be swept off our feet. In the meantime our boys went off to see what types of sea life they could find. Parts of the beach were covered with crabs that appeared to be playing a game of ‘chicken’ with the sea. As each wave arrived, the crabs would scuttle sideways up the beach and as soon as the water withdrew they would scuttle back down again to the water’s edge. From time to time a crab would mistime its movements and it would quickly dig down into the sand so as not to be swept away. I dare say the crabs were searching for even smaller organisms washed in by the waves, but to us their behaviour was wonderfully comical. Our boys managed to catch several of the crabs but under no circumstances were they allowed to bring them home.

The other sea life of note was a blue jellyfish about the same size as a tea saucer. We had to warn our boys not to touch them as the jellyfish in these parts are mildly poisonous. Nevertheless Nathanael still managed to stand on one but thankfully its sting faded after about fifteen minutes. I found it quite disconcerting while swimming in the sea to be suddenly surrounded by three or four of these jellyfish, but as a rule we left them alone and they didn’t bother us. Did you know that the collective noun is a smack of jellyfish?

At lunch time we found shelter and tucked in to the sandwiches and provisions that Sharon had prepared. These days the outside temperature is in the 30s but inside a car it can become even hotter. The reason I say this is that Sharon had made cheese and ham sandwiches, and when we brought them from the car we were surprised to find that all the cheese had melted and we now had cheese and ham toasties!

We returned eventually to the ferry and to a queue of five vehicles ahead of us. As we waited, the sky became overcast and a light rain began to fall. The cars ahead of us boarded the ferry and initially I thought we would have to wait for its return. The ferry operator decided that he could fit us on but I don’t know that he had looked properly at the length of our vehicle. We nosed forward until our bumper was touching the car in front, but the back of our car was clearly hanging over the edge of the ferry. In fact our rear tyres were still on the ramp that needed to be raised before we could depart. I suppose that I could have tried to reverse off the ferry but the tide had come in, a storm was starting to blow, and I didn't want to risk sliding off into the river. So instead two men used a winch to raise both the ramp and the back of our car. Moments later we left the bank and I honestly wondered if we were going to make it. Such ferries are common in Mozambique, safety standards are not always adhered to, and sadly accidents do happen. At one point as I reached down to find the money for the fare, Sharon reminded me of the 80s pop song by Chris de Burgh: “don’t pay the ferryman ... until he gets you to the other side.” As the rain poured down and the thunder rolled, the words of that song seemed especially poignant.

Thank God we crossed the river safely and we made it home in one piece. Even though we were driving along a national highway, the road was unmarked, unlit, and the many potholes quickly filled with water. We kept our speed down and prayed the other drivers would do the same. Meanwhile our boys listened to the continued adventures of Charlie and Willie Wonka and I don’t know that they even realized how difficult was our return home.

Please Pray

In January we need to submit our application for permanent residency, a process that can be subject to many delays. Please pray that our papers would be processed without unnecessary delay  We hope this month to begin preaching and teaching in Portuguese. Pray that opportunities would be given to us Please do pray for our health and for the Lord's protection against all kinds of unexpected dangers Emotionally we continue to be very up and down. Pray for grace to cope with the heat and the struggles of daily life Continue to pray for progress in our language study Pray in particular for Gregory for greater ease in following spoken Portuguese

Grace to you

Gregory and Sharon Kane

________________________

Sharon's 'Joke of the Month'

* Sanity Test *

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the director, "What is the criterion that defines a patient to be institutionalized?"

"Well..." said the director, "we fill up a bathtub, and we offer a teaspoon, a teacup, and a bucket to the patient and ask him to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would choose the bucket as it is larger than the spoon or the teacup."

"Noooooooo!" answered the director. "A normal person would pull the plug."

(You are not required to tell anyone how you would have done on this test.)