Where is Nampula?

Nampula is where I will be spending the next two weeks - well, some of that will be travelling. There is a better map here - one that doesn't have 'Salisbury' on it!
Nampula is apparently the 'commercial capital' of Mozambique and has about 380 000 residents. I assume that our missioning will be done somewhere on the outskirts - as I do believe we will be working in rural areas.
I actually didn't realise that I was so ignorant about Mozambique - I mean, I hadn't heard of Nampula before - yet it has an airport and seems to be a happening place. We leave tomorrow at lunchtime to get over the border before it closes. We should arrive at Nampula some time on Saturday morning. We lose some travelling time because of having to cross the Zambezi by ferry. And we are not going through Zimbabwe, which would be a shorter distance!
I'll ask my other half to update the blog if I manage to get contact with him going, otherwise things will be quiet until 9 or 10 July!

Mozambique

I am going with a team from Harvesters International to Nampula in Mozambique next week. Believe it or not, this is the first time that I will have been beyond the borders of South Africa. We will be away from home for two weeks and will be helping plant a church. More than that I don't really know!
I am looking forward to it - for very selfish reasons. This is going to be a great personal challenge (away from family, doubtful cellphone contact, introvert with a group of relative strangers). It is also going to be a break from routine that I desperately need. A time for reflection. I hope a re-energising time. I am going to learn a lot about rural mission work, which I am sure I will be able to apply in many situations.
But I do also hope that I can be involved in blessing the people in Nampula and that I can help to show them Jesus.

One Hundred Posts!

I really ought to write something significant to celebrate 100 posts!
Maybe it is a turning point.
Leaving behind life as a lay person.
Leaving behind the local church I've been at for the last four years and that has taught me so much.
Leaving behind ideas I had about the life, the universe and everything that maybe weren't actually in line with reality.
Leaving behind a dependence on my family - the church can do anything with me.
Leaving behind . . .
But I know it'll be ok. It'll be good. I know that I have never been in a situation where after a few days I didn't get deeply interested and want to be passionately involved. Wherever I am next year, whatever the situation, I know I will still be me and Jesus will still be Jesus. Just got to get through the next few months of leaving behinds . . .

New Stuff

I have a new laptop computer. Really cool and I'm so lucky. I've actually had it for nearly two weeks. Running Microsoft Vista, with some trepidation, but so far no major glitches. But then I got the max spec I could. It's a Lenovo y710, 17 inch screen T5550 dual processor and 2 gigs of ram. It's got this gadget bar on the side where it puts a calendar and whatever toys you can get hold of. I have a meter that show cpu usage and ram usage. CPU is never taxed. Ram sits at around 50% most of the time. I don't have the patience to figure out what of the many services running I don't need and the pc is not struggling, so it can sit at 50%.
I struggled to get our church Easy Worship package to run, but an email to support got me an unlock code and all sorted pretty quickly. I can't get my pc to talk to the Lexmark printer on our church network - but I think this is Lexmark's problem rather than Vista's. This is an irritation, but I now have an old HP printer by my desk doing a great job.
I'm going away in 10 days and I'm going to miss my laptop!

A Sense of Occasion

My kids are all writing exams. My boys, who are homeschooled, are quite excited at this new adventure. The elder has spent a few months at 'proper school', so he has written exams before. For the younger, this is a completely new experience. He sat down at the table on Wednesday. With a deep breath he said, 'This is the first time I am writing an exam. I feel like . . . I'm going to write an exam.' He has a wonderful grasp of language and sense of occasion. Obviously nothing else in his experience felt quite like he was feeling just then. So far, they are enjoying the exams. Wonderful thing homeschooling. God has been so good in allowing me to do this for my children. And I know that next year, although I will be in the hands of the Methodist Church, God will continue to look after my kids and give them the best.

Hyperdimensional Cube

This is cool, but I don't understand it. Hope the embed works!
6d-Hypercube from Tobby Lang on Vimeo.