Hello all :)

There are new photos on Truprint if you want to check them out!

Summary: This week has been good. We've got stuck into our work much more which has felt good. It's great to start to get to know the people at the church we're working with out in a place called Manga (portuguese for Mango!) - although the langauge barrier out there is quite hard! We're also getting to know the Oasis staff more, which is really great. They are absolutly lovely people. The team are getting on well (you'll be pleased to hear we did a knicker washing session again this morning!) and i think we're doing alright. We taught our first English lesson last friday, which was pretty fun!

Not so summary:

It has been really good to start our work properly. OUr timetable at the moment has quite a lot of time off because we get tired SO easily - i guess because of the language and the heat. To give you a brief outline:

Monday: morning - preparation for enlgish lessons etc. Afternoon - community visits in Manga.
Tuesday: day off. Usually comprising of internet, lunch our and beach/swimming pool!
Wednesday: Training day at Oasis office. And portuguese lesson.
Thursday: Morning - a mothers' group in Manga. Afternoon - preparation.
Friday: Morning - teaching enlgish in Manga. Afternoon - portuguese lesson.
Saturday: Kids club in Manga. Afternoon - "team time"
Sunday: Morning - church in Manga. Aft/eve - English Church.

Although it doesn't sound like we're doing much, at the mo we couldn't do ore cus we're so tired! But as we get less tired other stuff will be added to our timetable.

Getting to know the Oasis staff is really great. We have dinner at Marina's (our overseers) on a friday night, and went round to another couple called Jim and Jane's last night, which was lovely. They have two VERY cute kids! There're also other people at Oasis who we are enjoying spending time with.

We really enjoyed teaching English on friday. The variety of ability was huge, so we're going to split them up this week. It's really quite fun, and is soi appreciated!

I really appreciate getting your e-mails, they do brighten up my day when i read them! Sorry if i don't reply v quickly - i don't get loads on time online. But i will do at some point!

We did community visits for the first time yesterday. It was kind of odd - we would go into someone's house, sing, pray a bit, try to talk a little and leave! But i guess as our portuguese gets better that will get easier! But still even though it seemed very little and kind of odd to us, the Mozambiquans really appreciated it. Every time we left a house, the people that lived there would come with us, and kids would tag along, so by the end of the time, there was about 25 of us wandering round Manga! It was quite funny.

The team are getting on well, and our family are lovely. Wehave to be home in the evenings before dark - so that's about 5.30ish - and we don't eat dinner til about 9ish (afterwhich we go straight to bed!) so it does leave us with a lot of free time! But i'm enjoying reading some god books and getting to know the family we're staying with - which does come rather slowly cus of the amount of stuff we/they can say!!

Anyway, i'll leave it at that for now. You can look forward to next week's next installment!! :)

Lots of love, Sar

xx