33.3%

Today is the six month mark or 33.3% completion of our mission. It is a milestone of sorts as it marks only one year remaining here in Mozambique but the dmise of a prediction. My former boss, as I left the company, expressed his certainty that we would be back within six months. I don't believe that he intended it as a personal slight--more along the lines of "you will come to your senses by then". I am pleased to say that he was wrong. I thought that a little mid-term report might be appropriate on this day.

We live in a challenging place. Life is hard here in many ways. Quelimane is not filled with natural wonders nor frankly, much beauty. Perhaps the biggest challenge for us is a bit of loneliness. It is tough not having adult English conversation except for every six weeks when the mission president and his wife stop by (no slight to our six young missionaries intended as we do truly love our association with them). The food is OK here, and we can find enough, but it is a bit monotonous and from time to time, the thought of an Olive Garden, or Ruth's Chris Steakhouse or even Burger King or Pizza Hut, fills us with covetous thoughts.

But strangely, we live in fear that the new mission president (who begins in July) might change our assignment and put us elsewhere, doing other things--which we absolutely do not want at all. We love what we are doing here and the people we are teaching, helping and learning from. We see such a bright future for the church in Quelimane and are so pleased and even humbled to be a part of its genesis here. We would like to see it through its infancy and into early childhood at least. We will be pleased if we can stay here for another year (OK, I admit that one of us will be more pleased than the other).

We find that we didn't make any dramatic errors in our preparation to come. We generally brought the right things (though I did bring a polar fleece jacket that I will probably only wear on the airplane ride home--and not a second before that). We brought extra cash and an extra computer and few other non-essentials that have all since been stolen--so there seems to be a self correcting mechanism at play here. We didn't really have a clear vision of what we would be doing, but we find ourselves with the flexibility to sort of work out the detailed design of our position here--so we are not terribly surprised to find ourselves doing what we enjoy and what we are well suited to do. However, we didn't ever really expect to be teaching families one on one as we are doing now--but I have to admit that that it is such a delightful surprise to find ourselves with that opportunity (and yes, we still recognize that the young missionaries are much better at it than we are--but we have much more fun doing it). It really is a rich experience.

So in summary: so far so good. We are loving our mission experience, but not necessarily every moment of it--and the occasional murmuring word does indeed escape our lips. We try to not worry about the future, and the prospect of having to find work again. Those thoughts arise and it is not all that hard to banish them for weeks at a time. We miss our children and grand children and are grateful to have the periodic skype call with them and with other family and friends. Ain't technology wonderful? Feel free to brighten our day with a call to "akosborns" if the inclination ever arises.

The bugs really do get quite large here. This was about six inches long and our guard says that it was a small one. I have always hated grasshoppers and am disappointed to find them in Africa.

This is the mid-day custom: find some shade and sleep. We admit to doing the very same thing--but with air conditioning. Today was unbearably hot and humid. We have no chickens for our occasional naps.