Moz Part 3...THE FOOD

We went on holiday with our dear friends, the Stonier's, Jason, Claire, Daniel and Ruben. Jason declares that his holiday is made or broken from the food. Well, mine and his holiday was made. We had fresh homemade Portuguese rolls from the market everyday that we either had for lunch as a sandwich or for with our dinner,

Most lunches we either ate at Liquid Dive Adventures little cafe where they made soup, salad or toasted sandwiches. And they were oh so yummy. Or we ate out and had our "bigger" meal of the day.

Two nights we had HUGE shrimp or prawns as they call them straight from the fish man. One night we had yellow fin tuna steaks that we watched come in on the boat and the fishermen cut up and make into steaks right there on the beach. We also ate at Casa Barry a couple of times which included fresh barracuda and mackerel fish.  Oh so delicious.

Another interesting thing out of Mozambique is that they are one of the largest growers of cashew nuts. You could get them each morning in the market or driving down the road tied up to the tree. Either way, they were delicious. 

Each day we would go to the market and get our bread and vegetables we would need to use to cook that evening or eat with our lunch. It was quite the experience to bargain and take your own scale because there were often differences in theirs and yours. Not that I am saying they were cheating us, but most often their scales were in their favor. 

We had a wonderful time and eating is a huge part of anyone holiday to another country. We love exposing ourselves and our kids to different cultures as well as different foods. I still have one that is a little pickier than the other who will try anything at least once. But none the less, we try. 

Mozambique Part One

Typical village "town"

Google maps says it should take 12 hours from Johannesburg (the white star) to Tofo, Mozambique (the middle town labeled in Moz), but it took 15 hours going and 16 hours coming back. Lucky for us we love road trips. Especially adventures across any border. Just getting our visas for Moz (short for Mozambique) was quite a task. Three hours at the Moz consulate and there might have been tears. Without realizing it, I didn't have 3 empty visa pages left in my passport. In fact, I had only one empty page period. Thus the appointment this Thursday to get my passport renewed. But the consulate had compassion and granted grace for this mama traveling. He said kids couldn't go without their mama. Which I thought was interesting that it wasn't ok to just go with dad...but that's another subject and blog.

So, the main point of this vacay was to rest. And we went from the beach to lunch to the beach to dinner and some afternoons swam in a local pool. We went with our friends, the Stoniers, who now work in Zambia. So, they flew from Zambia to South Africa and then we all drove together in a van. David slept most of the way there because of his encephalitis. He rested a lot during the week. The kids and I were in the water so much. It was super clear and you could see your feet from shoulder level.

We loved our time away together. Lots and Lots of family time. Our drive home was eventful in that we had a blow out of one tire which makes 4 flat tires in the last 30 days for me. I was driving, but grateful I was not going too fast and could get to the side of the road quickly. We then had to find a spare tire in one of these villages we went through and to find one that wasn't 10 times the price because they saw an American and an Englishman get out of the van. Three stops and 3 villages later we had a spare tire. One thing for sure is that you don't want to be caught in the middle of Moz with no spare tire. There is lots of open space and very small villages in between "towns".

Next installment coming soon....

Part 2: the water
Part \3: the food

Whatcha doing end of September?

The trip is for ladies only (sorry gents) and it's a regular sort of mission trip. Here are some of the things we are thinking of doing. Visiting an orphanage, helping with a feeding scheme, doing holiday club (since it's the holidays here), visit a women's health clinic, maybe light painting or other such things. We will be in and around Heidelberg/ South Johannesburg area. We are hoping to nail down dates this week and start working on the cost. I would imagine somewhere around $2000. Don't let the money stop you. We can have fundraisers and ask some of those who can't go but want to be a  part to give. If God is leading you....there is no question about money. We will stay at the beautiful Camp Eden (international home of J-Life) or 'the farm' as we lovingly refer to it pictured above. These are some of the details I know of at this point. OH, the dates are end of Sept/beginning of Oct. Please email me at evenfamily5@gmail.com if you're interested or want more info.

Serving together, Liz

Kids Questions

Recently a friend's son had to ask a missionary kid some questions. I thought they would be great to share the answer here:

1.   Do I travel much?  We have gone one several family trips to various places. Mostly places in South Africa. We have been to Durban, Kruger National park, Pilanesburg Park, and Cape Town.  In Oct of 2014 we travelled by car to Ndola, Zambia. It took three days to drive. We drove up through Botswana and across the Zambian border at Victoria Falls where Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana meet.  This was an amazing trip to be able to see several countries all at once.  We have also been to Swaziland twice. Swaziland is the country that borders South Africa and Mozambique.  This March, my father needs to see some of our J-Life ministry guys up in Kenya and we are planning to go with. We will fly because it is too far by car.
2.    Do I help my parents?  Do I help them with ministry? Not in a direct way. We are with them a lot when they are working, but as far as day to day things, we are at school. We do lots of ministry things such as a feeding program that goes on every Wednesday. We help each holiday. There are also several church plants that our ministry and our church here help with, so we help with that when we can.
3.   Do I have many friends?  Yes. I go to a school that the high school is about 600 in number. My grade has about 120 kids in it. We are the only Americans in the school, but we don’t feel out of place. We have been in South Africa for 7 and ¾ years. We have been at this school for 5 years. My best friends are Caleb and Jesse. We have common interest such as gaming, science, art and several sports.
4.    Where do your parents work mainly?  My father works from his home office about 3 days a week and from our International Headquarters about 2 days a week which is on a farm about 25 minutes away from where we live in Heidelberg. There is a campsite at the headquarters that is used to help make money for the ministry as well as used as an outreach tool for Jesus. My dad, David, travels mainly in July, August, sept and October.  J-Life is in over 20 African countries (there are 54 total). So, he travels to see the country leaders during that time. Usually only 3-4 countries each year. My mom, Liz, volunteers at our school, Waterstone College,  and in trade we get full scholarships to the school. She works as the science lab assistant. Our school fees would be about $1200 a month otherwise and we could not afford to be at such an amazing school. We (my parents) raise all their own funds so her “working” at the school helps out a lot.
5.    What are my parents’ names? David and Liz Even
6.    My name is Matthew Even and I am in 11^th grade. My sister is named Grace and she is in the 9^th grade. We have an older brother, Andrew who works for Walmart and lives in the Bentonville area. His wife’s name is Elizabeth.

 
A website maybe to help you:  http://test.jlife.org.za/ (still under construction)
  
School website: http://www.curro.co.za/schools/gauteng/waterstone-college.aspx