Toby vs the Quran

Standing next to me is Aziza, who is the owner of the home that the young missionaries rent here (pictured below) in Quelimane.  She is Muslim as are a high percentage of landlords here.  A few months ago, she approached us for a loan to build a security wall around the property.  As the elders have been periodically robbed or threatened, additional security had some appeal to us and I got the loan approved and negotiated with Aziza an ongoing discount on the rental payment to repay the church and make it work our while.  Well, the sum borrowed wasn't sufficient to finish the project so she approached us again for an additional loan--and I was again supportive of the idea..  Endeavoring to be completely honest and clear with her, I explained how I would compute the new rent discount and the interest rate implicit within that calculation.  She returned to me today, saddened because she could not proceed with the project, because I had indicated that there would be interest on the loan--which is forbidden by the Quran.  I then commenced my quick song and dance routine--apologizing for my use of the word "interest", which of course was not correct--but was my poor-Portuguese substitute for the word "discount".  She was satisfied and we proceeded.  I have read previously of the gyrations that are often performed in the Arab world to somehow avoid charging "interest" while still addressing the reality of the need to provide for the cost of capital--but this was my first up-close and personal view of the situation.  Forgive my too-short tie today.

Here is the nearly completed wall in all of its glory.  The metal gate for people and cars are the final costs to be purchased now.

I can't claim this picture and the following two as my own, but Elder Peckham  took these on a little p-day hike this week.  Though a bit creepy, there is a certain colorful design and symmetrical beauty to these spiders.  Shelob they are not, but they are pretty good sized.   With the recent heavy rains here, bugs large and small have been out in force.

This is Debbie engaging with the neighborhood as we walked back from a visit today.  The interesting thing was that these people were giving her a language lesson--in the dialect of Chuabo rather than Portuguese..

Tinoca above, celebrated her 18th birthday yesterday.  We are quite attached to Tinoca, who we taught and baptized, and we invited her out to dinner with us.  She has a beautiful smile, and told us that she had been in a restaurant one other time in her life.

This is Debbie at lunch with Irmao Balanga, who is the head of physical facilities department for the church in Mozambique.  He was making a long awaited visit to Quelimane to check out our situation.  It was sort of fun to make a wish list of all the things that we want in order to improve the functioning of the church here.  He sounded like he would provide a great deal of what we need.  A computer, desk, chalkboards, and second bathroom being among the top items on the list.