When they came to Maputo we took them to visit some orphanages and other ministries as well as to the village of Mukhotwene.
There were lots of kids to love and hug at Iris Ministries.
We visited a school in the village. We also did kid's clubs and a training for church leaders.
Here are some of them singing and dancing.
Mirtha made capulana bags for all the ladies on the team.
We visited Kruger Park a couple of days.
Two groups of rhinos traveled toward each other until there were about nine of them in one place. I think it was a family reunion!
We saw some rare sightings - this is one of the wild dogs. We also saw black-back jackals on our night drive.
It was our first time to see Cheetah! There were three of them finishing off a kill and about 50 vultures standing around waiting for the leftovers.
In between teams, Mirtha, Yudel and Deborah moved to the orphanage. Funds were donated for land and enough to start building a house for them. They are excited and are a great help to the ministry. We miss them!
Two days later a group from The Chapel in Ohio came and Steve went to Zambia. The Chapel has adopted two villages in Gaza. They do ministry in one village one day and then repeat it in the other village the next day. They taught women, leaders and children on the Sermon on the Mount.
Usually they meet under a tree but this day there were some sprinkles.
Maria is an amazing cook using a charcoal fire and she never burns the rice or the xima!
The wise and foolish "men" - Tom and Caleb, our friends.
On Sunday the team attended the wedding of Reginaldo and Olga. We have known Reginaldo for five years as he was one of our microenterprise trainers and then built many chicken houses for the project. He has been saving up for his wedding for about three years. The village leader told us it was the first wedding in the village for 15 years as most people don't go through the formalities. The village was 17 km off the main road - way out in the boonies. We did not see many smiles from them - it is a somber occasion and a sad time for the bride as she leaves her family and joins her husband's family. One of the songs from her family was "bye, bye, ciao ..." which made her cry. It's one of those cultural differences that are hard to understand.
