Another month has gone past and we turn our attention yet again to describing something of our life here in Maputo. To a large extent successful missions work comes down to the ability to make friends with people and to make the most of every opportunity. Over the past month I have spoken at a school assembly and taught a Sunday School class - both of these it must be said were in English. Sharon has joined the worship team at one of the two churches that we regularly attend. She has also started attending a ladies' Bible study - and this most definitely is in Portuguese. 

Of course, this being Africa, not everything has gone smoothly. Here are three examples of the sort of challenges that people routinely face on the mission field. (1)  Nathanael came down with a horrible rash and no one was sure what had caused it. The previous Saturday we had taken the boys to the beach for a couple of hours. The water flowing through the Maputo estuary is polluted and it is possible that Nat reacted to something washed up on to the sand. Thankfully he has since recovered. (2) Josiah and Daniel have been practising for weeks for an inter-school athletic meeting. Then on the morning of the races, the heavens opened and Maputo experienced its first heavy downpour in the time that we have been here. Our boys waited patiently in the pouring rain as the organisers tried to press ahead with their programme. Finally just as Daniel was getting ready for his first race, the event was called off and everyone was sent home. Not surprisingly Josiah and Daniel were most unimpressed. (3) We were limited in what we could bring here by air, so we arranged to have some of our belonging sent by sea freight. This arrived in the port three weeks ago and it ought to have been a trivial matter to have the goods cleared through customs. As we have been granted residence visas, we are allowed to bring in used goods duty-free. However for unknown reasons the customs authorities have proved reluctant to facilitate their release. One official after another found fault with the paperwork until finally our clearing agent arranged an interview with the customs director himself. We have been told that he has released our belongings but thus far we have still to see them!

Our primary reason for being in Maputo is to learn the Portuguese language and this is reflected in our daily routine. We rise early and take our three older boys to school. Sharon and I then meet with our language tutor for a two hour lesson, followed by a period of private study. In the afternoons we aim to practise our Portuguese in informal situations, whether this is buying tomatoes in the market or trying to locate some plumber's putty to repair the shower head that Daniel pulled off the wall! In the evenings once we have fed our children and checked their homework, Sharon and I turn to and attempt our Portuguese homework for the following day. We are taking our language study very seriously and while we are clearly making progress, it is quite exhausting. Yet without a good grasp of Portuguese, we will be able to achieve so little for the Kingdom of God in this nation.