Rachel's Reflections

All was peaceful inside my home as I prepared to head out on errands. Then in a moment, everything changed. I heard a chicken squawking frantically. I heard my dog running excitedly. I heard my guard yelling. My heart plummeted.  "Irma," my guard called me, "we have a problem." The neighbors chicken had gotten into our yard and my dog had grabbed it before he could get to it. I sighed and walked around the corner to see my dog ripping feathers out of my neighbor's once beautiful chicken. No one was going to be able to get that chicken out of her grasp, unlike the feathers now drifting aimlessly through the sand. I walked gloomily over to my neighbors house and explained what had happened. Incredibly my neighbor said it was an accident, the fault of the chicken, and refused my offer to pay for or buy a new chicken.  Two days later I discovered my driving school had failed to inform me that it was time to take my written test. Because of their negligen

I stepped out of the bus and stared wide-eyed at the huge building across the street, teeming with youth coming and going in preparation for the conference. I had no idea the conference was going to be that big. There was somewhere around 1,500 youth from all over the country, just within one church denomination! What a privilege to be able to participate and learn from that conference! I learned about the culture, both church culture and Mozambican culture I learned personally from the speakers I saw how the youth of the future are being raised up and challenged I gleaned ideas for how to follow through with individuals from my church I visited and encouraged friends from Word of Life camp two years ago and was myself encouraged and blessed to be with those friends again We got stuck on the return trip for FOUR hours and I only staggered into my house at 3:00am exhausted To top it off I got Typhoid Fever. Thank God I took the vaccine in January so the symptoms are almos

My dogs were going crazy because of the visitors in the yard. I tried, unsuccessfully, to control them. It didn't help I had my phone in my hand. With no pockets in my skirt, I looked for a good place to set my phone... not on the ground obviously, it could be stepped on. The hood of the visitors car right in front of me, perfect. I got the dogs under control, then talked with the visitors. We brought some stuff inside the house and then I walked them back out to say goodbye. After they left, I wondered where my phone was. Oh no. I immediately realized I had left it on the hood of their car and they were gone. I went back and outside and told my guard and his wife what had happened. They were dismayed. He immediately pulled out his phone and said "call them." The problem is, like most people, I don't have numbers memorized. I asked him to go down the road and look to see if it had fallen off already while I went to my leaders house to try calling the visitor

Mama S had her baby! Last week I took her to the doctors for a checkup. He said she could have the baby within a week. I told her to let me know when she needed a ride to the hospital. But then I forgot. I was visiting another family in Chibubware Thursday afternoon when the phone rang. Caller ID said Mama S. I answered "Hi Mama S, how are you?" The husband answered, "we are at the cemetery," and hung up. [important insert: I live near a cemetery] I was confused at first. I explained to the people I was sitting with and one of them told me to call back and clarify if they were needing a ride to the hospital. I called back and Mama S answered. She confirmed that, yes, they were asking for a ride to the hospital. I hiked back up the steep Chibubware path, panting at the top, went home to get the car, picked them up and brought them to the hospital. I told her to please tell me when she had the baby. She called me later that night to te