Do you recall those lyrics, “I hear the roaring thunder?” Maybe you remember them as “I hear the rolling thunder.” Last night I had to think of those words and add a little volume during one of the most intense thunder storms I have ever heard.
I was awakened around 3 AM with what I first thought was a large truck rumbling down main street, a quarter block from our bedroom window. Then I realized the noise was not stopping and it sounded more like a jet taking off from the airport and flying around the city trying to gain altitude. It would fade in and out, but there was a constant roar with various crescendos, coupled with occasional explosions.
Maybe it was the foggy brain, but to sort it out I had to get out of bed and see what was going on. About then we were hit by a heavy rain shower and it began to dawn in me that the continuous noise was actually thunder.
There was not much to see due to being on the ground floor and lots of tall buildings all around. What I could tell was there were constant flashes of lightning, followed by long rolls of thunder blending together to actually sound like the roar of a jet engine. If I have been in the Midwest, I would have thought it was a freight train or tornado. Because the storm passed to our south, we were not in the center of it. Much of the lightning seemed to be cloud to cloud, resulting in long horizontal strikes followed by 5-10 seconds of rolling thunder. Multiply that by 2-3 flashes per second, plus echoes and you get some pretty consistent reverberations. It was impressive.
Well, if we are awed by His nature, we should also be awed by His presence. I hope you are.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
When the unique and unusual becomes ordinary…
When the unique and unusual becomes ordinary…
Is that a sign you have been traveling too much, been away from normal too long or are just too busy to find the time to write about it? Those are some of the thoughts rolling around in my head as I lay awake at 5:30 in the morning, waiting for the rest of my body to wake up before I went out jogging. So, I (Steve) am writing this brief note just to give you a flavor of life at the moment.
While I have only been on one trip so far this year, it was a bit of a whirlwind. I traveled with a team from the US to the Turkana region of Kenya for an agricultural assessment in early February and then on to Zambia with two different teams in 10 days. Coming back to Mozambique keeps us just as busy planning for my next trip to eastern Africa (4 weeks long where Rachel gets to come with me for half the time) and keeping up with the Mozambique side of things. (More details in our coming newsletter.)
There are not many dull moments right now, but we are looking forward to a break come May 12 when we start our leave. In the meantime, nearly every day has something scheduled.
One thing we have been doing is saying goodbye to some special people. The Nigerian ambassador and his wife have been part of the leadership team at our church and we will miss them.
With some other friends at the farewell party. Some of them are also leaving soon. We have had to get used to many comings and goings!
Our good friends, the Brandbergs:
Is that a sign you have been traveling too much, been away from normal too long or are just too busy to find the time to write about it? Those are some of the thoughts rolling around in my head as I lay awake at 5:30 in the morning, waiting for the rest of my body to wake up before I went out jogging. So, I (Steve) am writing this brief note just to give you a flavor of life at the moment.
While I have only been on one trip so far this year, it was a bit of a whirlwind. I traveled with a team from the US to the Turkana region of Kenya for an agricultural assessment in early February and then on to Zambia with two different teams in 10 days. Coming back to Mozambique keeps us just as busy planning for my next trip to eastern Africa (4 weeks long where Rachel gets to come with me for half the time) and keeping up with the Mozambique side of things. (More details in our coming newsletter.)
There are not many dull moments right now, but we are looking forward to a break come May 12 when we start our leave. In the meantime, nearly every day has something scheduled.
One thing we have been doing is saying goodbye to some special people. The Nigerian ambassador and his wife have been part of the leadership team at our church and we will miss them.
With some other friends at the farewell party. Some of them are also leaving soon. We have had to get used to many comings and goings!
Our good friends, the Brandbergs:
Monday, March 12, 2012
February Happenings in Zambia and Maputo
It seems we're getting a bit lazy about this blog and instead of writing much, we're pointing you to other people's blogs.
In February Steve, Jeff and Jenna Friesen went on a “beyond the bush” trip in Zambia to fulfill some of the grant requirements for the Friesen’s who are living in Tanzania for a year. You can read about their adventure on their blog here: http://tanzaniafriesens.wordpress.com/ (See the Feb 16 entry.) Here's Jenna. I think she was a lot more tired by 5 a.m. when they finally quit driving.
That is just part of the story. The next day Steve and Jeff and the driver went on and found some beautiful falls. The people want to develop the area for tourism and will need electricity for that, but they didn’t seem interested in a hydroelectric option.
So, it was a very long trip without many results. They dropped the Friesen’s off at Victoria Falls, and went back to Mongu through Lusaka on the good roads rather than the sandy track - still another 15 hour drive.
While Steve was gone I helped a Korean missionary with a CHE (Community Health Evangelists) seminar that she organized. She did a great job of communicating with different churches and seminaries who sent people. I have never seen people more motivated to arrive on time (even early!) and participate faithfully every morning for three weeks. It was amazing! Here I am at the closing ceremonies where the facilitators were presented with a capulana, a mocume (two capulanas put together to make a bedspread) and everyone got headscarves. You can see that there were some fun people there. There were about 20 people but the larger group pictures didn't turn out well.
This seminar makes me hopeful for Mozambique and its people. The participants said that they are better prepared to go to the communities with good information about health, community development and ways to share the Good News. And they are the kind of people who will go out and do something about the needs they see.
In February Steve, Jeff and Jenna Friesen went on a “beyond the bush” trip in Zambia to fulfill some of the grant requirements for the Friesen’s who are living in Tanzania for a year. You can read about their adventure on their blog here: http://tanzaniafriesens.wordpress.com/ (See the Feb 16 entry.) Here's Jenna. I think she was a lot more tired by 5 a.m. when they finally quit driving.
That is just part of the story. The next day Steve and Jeff and the driver went on and found some beautiful falls. The people want to develop the area for tourism and will need electricity for that, but they didn’t seem interested in a hydroelectric option.
So, it was a very long trip without many results. They dropped the Friesen’s off at Victoria Falls, and went back to Mongu through Lusaka on the good roads rather than the sandy track - still another 15 hour drive.
While Steve was gone I helped a Korean missionary with a CHE (Community Health Evangelists) seminar that she organized. She did a great job of communicating with different churches and seminaries who sent people. I have never seen people more motivated to arrive on time (even early!) and participate faithfully every morning for three weeks. It was amazing! Here I am at the closing ceremonies where the facilitators were presented with a capulana, a mocume (two capulanas put together to make a bedspread) and everyone got headscarves. You can see that there were some fun people there. There were about 20 people but the larger group pictures didn't turn out well.
This seminar makes me hopeful for Mozambique and its people. The participants said that they are better prepared to go to the communities with good information about health, community development and ways to share the Good News. And they are the kind of people who will go out and do something about the needs they see.