Merry Christmas

“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child

with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened

their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”

Matthew 2:10-11

Dear friends,


This is the 4th year we have the privilege to celebrate Christmas in Africa. Completely different from what we were used to, with fireplaces and warm clothes, now we are closer to the pool, wearing t-shirts and drinking Coke with lots of ice!

Although we only see a few Christmas lights on the streets, we still think and remember that we are celebrating the most important event on the humankind history. A baby was born, loved by some and hated by others, but bringing to all the people a new reason to live, and hope for eternal life.

Here, in Mozambique, we are so happy for being able to share this good news with all those who God send us to, and we know how important are those that, far away from us, are closer enough to pray and to support our ministry. Thank you so much!

This year, we want to reflect and think on what do we really want to give to Jesus, as those man did, opening their treasures. May our gifts of “gold, incense or myrrh” be what we value the most in our lives in order to give it to the one who gave us the most precious thing – His own life, so we could live.

Thank you for being a part of our family,

One more cast...

It seems our family love to use "casts"!
The first one to use it was Raquel, in September 2008,

Then Mariana, in May 2009,

Now, in 2010, our cat Pimpão!

We are now accepting proposals for who will be next, in 2011!

Clothes distribution

Few months ago, we have been blessed with a 20 feet container of humanitarian aid for mozambican people.

Hundreds of boxes, filled with clothes, shoes and many other articles to be distributed among the needed people. If fact, it takes us many hours before everything ends at the "final destination".

First, we need to find out what is in the boxes:

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Then, divide everything by type and sizes on the right place:

And finally, deliver it where it is most needed. This time at the 1º de Maio Orphanage, in Maputo:



Back Online...

Dear friends,

So sorry for being far away from this place.
Time is always running and sometimes, important things like updating blogs, are kept on the side.

During the last month, many things happened. Here are the highlights:

- Mariana worked on a school project that was part of an exhibition at the Portuguese Consulate in Maputo,

- Alice welcomed her sister Sónia and nephew Martim,

- Mariana won the soup contest at the Portuguese School,

- We saw a leopard at Kruger National Park,



- and we are still very happy, as always!

11 years old

Mariana is 11 years old, and this is her fourth time to celebrate her birthday here is the South Hemisfere.
Pimpão, the cat is also celebrating his 1st birthday!

Traditional Games of Mozambique

This last weekend, Beira, the second major city in Mozambique, hosted the First National Meeting of Traditional Games, a governmental initiative with the participation of 11 delegations from the 11 provinces of Mozambique. Around 275 athletes and officials atending this event.

At the opening cerimony, more than 800 local children played a huge coreography, with a colorful design.
MDI (International Sports Ministries) was involved as a partner on the Organizing Committe, helping with documents, planning, games research, collection and other processes.

The goal is to recover the traditional Games heritage and transform it as an educational tool throug experiential learning for community transformation.

Peace in Maputo

The peace is a reality in Maputo, this morning, with everbody reporting to work and everything returning to normal.

Tomorrow is a national holiday and we hope today the city will be completely supplied with food and gas.

We are all safe, thank God!

Social unrest in Maputo - 2nd day

After a peaceful night, with some gun shooting far from our place, the city wake up this morning for its 2nd day of riots and social unrest. Everything is closed, and people are starting looking for food.

The TV News show more confronts in different areas of the city, with the army shooting to dispers people.

This morning we found 2 bakeries open and hundreds of people trying to buy bread.

I was able to get into a closed stored to buy some milk, eggs and bread, just in case this will be extended for more days.

To those who have contacted us, showing their love, thank you so much for your prayers and support.
We are safe, thank God.

The Guardian
Reuters
AllAfrica.com
CBC News

Social unrest in Maputo

This morning we wake up in the middle of a strike and social unrest due to the increase of prices in the country.


Some roads to the city are blocked, they are burning tires, and schools are closed.

The army is trying to control the situation.

We have been advised to stay at home.

1-2-3 Training Conference - Nampula

34 leaders from 12 different denominations get together in Nampula for a 7 day training in Sports Ministries, Experiential Learning, Whole Life Soccer Coaching (Ubabalo eAfrica) and KidsGames initiatives. As we did in Beira, the last day the group applied what they have learned with 140 kids from different places in the area.

Check the pictures!