CrabbMJ Travels » Travels

Cape Town, South Africa

admin — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:34:33 +0000

date Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 11:00 AM (This travel blog entry posted 34 minutes after Judy sent the email)
subject Re: Cape Town, South Africa
mailed and signed by gmail.com

Finally able to respond a bit on borrowed computer, others waiting in line. We are doing great, Milton in construction on school and church, Judy in medical clinic. We saw 161 pts today, I am the last station to give a gift prepackaged by VBS group and to offer prayer, wonderful people hear. Weather cooler and air conditioned rooms, although not fancy by any means. Two more days of work than new church dedication on Sabbath Day (March 21, 2009), [then] off to Kruger National Park with this group! Home on Wednesday March 25th.

Love you all, (I need to figure out a name that fits for all) Dad, Milton, Papa, Judy, MOM, M&M
Anyway we love you all!!

Last Block Laid Today in Mapandane Church

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:04:56 +0000

We laid the last block today and put into a slot the names of all of us who built the Mapandane Church. Tomorrow we will sweep the cement floor out and put together pews. Today I walked across the sandy road from the church to see a girl who was pounding greens with a large stick 3″ thick by about 6′ tall in a stone bowl on the ground. I tried to do it – the stick was very heavy – hard work. Took a picture of family there – will add to this site when we return home. Our first rain since arrival began at about 3 a.m. this morning and rained off and on all day – good thing the church roof was on today so we could work inside.

One of Judy’s jobs was to mark the corrugated steel roofing where the workers would screw them into the steel beams. Milton and I worked on a section laying block together – then we would assist others by handing them block as they reached near the top.

Images from Pastor Marvin Wray blog: nadchurchtour.blogspot.com

Sabbath Day in Africa

admin — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:42:12 +0000

When we arrived at our worksite today for church with the nationals, they were already in progress inside the new church! The roof is on as you know from Marvin’s website, but they had cleared away our work equipment, set up blocks with scaffolding boards for pews. When it was over, we passed out bags of beans for adults and toys for kids, and just interacted with the group trying to communicate. Becky had brought soap bubbles (Brenda sent with her) that was really a hit with the kids. I put fun stickers on each child, and then the women wanted one too so they had fun reading the word on the one they would pick out. Ate our lunch on the bus coming back, hopped in the pool to cool off and sitting around relaxing until we return to work tomorrow (Sunday). On Tuesday we go to a beach on the Indian Ocean, then Wednesday we are off to Kruger National Park for two nights in a 4-star hotel we hear for night/day safari.

Mozambique update

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:57:54 +0000

We were unable to go to work site today
US Embassy notified Maranatha about a possible unrest at a toll booth that we drive through each day, so as a group of Americans we were told to stay in our compound. We were able to drive out to a “Safeway” type store to buy some cold drinks and snacks. It was great to have a day off to relax – it is very hot & humid and tents are in the sun all day.

So I was able to get a few more minutes on this computer.
There is a caretaker family who lives on our compound with three little children that don’t go to school, so Milton and Becky played frisbee with them today, and I gave them some fun stickers to play with. They appear really poor and sickly, but work cleaning their yard and helping pound corn with their mother while father cares for the grounds. We see hundreds of children going to and from school as we drive in the morning to our site. There are so many that go to school, that there are 3 daily sessions for different groups, so kids are coming and going all day. The people here are a handsome people, and the children have really cute faces.

Our church is almost done – maybe Sunday & Monday.
Tomorrow we will worship with them outside the unfinished church under a cashew nut tree, and next week in the new church. Next Tuesday, we will take a trip to beautiful Belene beach on the Indian Ocean and to the factory where the blocks and roof steel we use are manufactured. Then to Kruger National Park on Wed for 2 glorious nights in a 4-star hotel with air (after our hot tents).

~CrabbMJ

Maputo & Mapandane

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Our compound is in Matola, 10 km west of Maputo. Building church in Mapandane. Each allowed to use pastor’s computer for a few minutes, and he has requested no extras or downloads of pics. Sorry. I will try to get some more time on computer at least for stories. I am disappointed we didn’t bring our own computer. Thanks for launching our website! People are very friendly, have met a few women at our work site and we try to communicate – saw darling baby today.

~CrabbMJ

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