1/17/2013
World race “day 10” in Dondo, Mozambique.
Oh, Africa. So today was pretty normal. It went something like this:
7:00 wake up because the 5 girls I’m sharing a tiny room with are all up & getting ready.
7:02 discover about 8 new bug bites on my legs – despite using a bug net.
7:05-7:25 try to make sense of my stuff and the day– brush my teeth – wash my face – hear mangos falling from the trees outside – etc.
7:25 Feel like something is biting my face. Yep. Definitely a brand new bite, right on my jawbone.
7:30-8:15 Sit in the kitchen (not really speaking to the other 5 racers who are in there journaling and typing on their computers. Pray they understand I’m not a “morning person”) with my laptop and attempt to enter withdrawals and expenses into the excel budget for this month. Confuse myself, feel overwhelmed, and then eventually kind of organized…
8:20 Walk to the hut where there are 10+ P squadders already eating bread. Feast on my roll and listen to the discussion about various anti-malarial medications, sunburn, and side effects.
8:40-9 Finish getting ready for the day. Find a spot and have quiet time
9:00 Squad worship time – good for the soul.
9:30ish? Leave with the treasurers to run to the ATM to withdrawal the rest of the moolah for the month. I awkwardly fell into the back of the truck bed we were going to be riding in. So smooth.
9:45-10:30 Do our thing at the very busy bank, make friends with the other people in line, got asked for my Facebook info but never actually gave it out, wait on our ride to come back, went back inside bank to make change and came out to half of the group being gone because apparently the truck broke down? Played the thankful game…
10:40 Ride’s back, climb into the truck much more gracefully, ride to the store, give money to logistics to buy water for our squad,
11:00ish Get back to Iris and realize everyone’s waiting on me. Write down info off of Martha’s cell phone to show our driver because our contact isn’t with the driver, try to figure out if the “well water” at the ministry site is safe to drink, etc., rush to switch out my stuff for the day and put on my shoes…
11:04 Climb into the van with my 11 squad mates. Try to relax and take deep breaths.
11:06 Pick up 5+ African passengers who are practically sitting on my lap.
11:07-11:15 Listen to worship music on my Ipod with my eyes closed because as I apparently told the girls on my team, “I just need a few minutes to not be in Africa…”
11: 40 Pick up Eli (ministry contact) and a few more locals 🙂
11:45-12:00 Get dropped off past the market, discuss lunch, walk back to the market and buy rice, beans, cabbage, onions, peppers, tomatoes, oil, and bananas in Meticais and actually grasp how much I’m spending on everything.
12:00-12:20 Walk to our ministry site down in the community – with a quick stop to buy coal.
12:30-3:45 Constantly drink water, have great conversations, rake some of the grass our team members were hacking down, prep some food, attempt to learn some Portuguese, pray, play duck duck goose with the neighborhood kiddos, eat the delicious “lunch” around 3:30 J, touch a tiny baby, read Psalm 107, enjoy the cool breeze…
3:45-4:30 Walk back to the highway, sit under “our tree” and play the thankful game… a lot… look at our sunburn and take goofy pictures. Realize I haven’t really looked in a mirror in probably 3+ days… haha…
4:30-5:10 Ride back to Iris with 23+ people in the 15 passenger van. Plus a bucket of fish in the back. And a guitar. Pray against motion sickness and can’t stop staring at the gorgeous green landscape.
5:15 Baby wipe “shower”
5:30 Dinner of rice and cooked spinach, with nuts.
5:30 to 6:40 Treasurer meeting and stuff. Lord, bless us.
6:40-7:30 Arrive late to a sweet team time. Feel distracted and tired and then encouraged and excited! 🙂 plus tomorrow were playing Catch Phrase. Oh, yes.
7:30-9:30 Squad time: being outside and singing worship music without instruments overtop of bugs and neighborhood noise. Prayer time. Sharing time. Boom, things and people are getting real and I love it.
9:40-10 Laugh and chat with the girls in my room before they all fell asleep and I started typing this because I realized my days in Dondo are already flying by and I don’t want to get to the end of this month and not actually know what my crazy busy days consisted of. 🙂
