Saturday Night at the Movies

Well it's Saturday night and i'm all packed and ready! It is a really exciting time, having had the privilage of visiting Casa Reom before i am not really apprehensive as i sorta know what to expect. Our cases are full of football shirts for the boys, kindly donated free by Second Sports, balloons, games, water bombs, gifts and of course ...cuddly toys! We all met together this morning to finalise plans and pray that God will bless and protect us on this adventure. We were all given mosquito bands to wear on our wrists and ankles while there, a sort of African tagging system, in addition to sprays etc. we had already bought, for which i am very thankful as i remember the bites from last time, i think they like us fair skinned critters.
Martin reminded us that we were all responsible for looking after our own tickets and passport, at which point i thought it prudent not to mention the school ski trip, where i watched everyone, including my son, board the plane without me as i had left my passport at home thinking i was on the students collective passport! oh how i remember the brave face i put on as they left without me and i returned home.. thankfully i was able to get a flight the next day but i won't make that mistake again! - Please God, remind me if i have forgotten anything, on this whole adventure i am depending on your guidance.
The reality has sunk in that i really am going back to Africa, we have a commissioning service tomorrow for the team and i pray that all fears may be relieved for those who may be anxious, i know this is the start of an amazing journey for everyone and all those who have experienced this before have been changed from within, i am looking forward to church tomorrow, but church next week!!!!!........... i have never experienced such joy and humility as i did in Pastor Bongas church .. to me they seemed to have very little to sing about but the joy and faith they exuberated was humbling and infectious .. i am so looking forward to re-visiting such a spirit-filled place. I am ending my Saturday evening at the movies, i have been lent a dvd of last year's visit to Casa Reom and will watch with anticipation and delight of what God has in store for us all on this journey.

Two Days to Go!

With just two days to go the team met to run through final preparations and details for the trip. There were lots of questions and some remaining anxieties mostly dealt with through information and laughter.

Visit to Casa Re-OM by members of St. Matthew's & St. Oswald's

In June 2008 5 members of St. Matthew's & St. Oswald's in Rugby UK are visiting the mission project we support in Beira Mozambique. Casa Re-OM works with street children and has orphanages at Inhamizua and Dondo as well as a base in the centre of Beira. The intrepid travellers are Ruth O'Connell, Dawn Leverton, Ann Love, Dave Hopkinson and Martin Saxby.

The picture above was taken by Martin when a team visited in 2006. It shows Pastor Bonga negotiating with some locals about preparing the land at Nhamatanda for the boys to farm. Other pictures from that visit can be seen on the slideshow to the right.

Two of us set off from Birmingham and 3 from Heathrow, late Monday afternoon arriving in Beira on Tuesday afternoon. Please pray for the team and visit this blog regularly to hear our news and to see our photos.