After yesterday’s dictionary marathon, I wasn’t eager to spend another day sitting at my desk.  I lasted in my chair long enough to produce a page with a week of Scripture readings in Nyungwe which I printed and then headed out the door. 

Photo: Baobab with Dzuntsa mountain range in background.

The weather is glorious right now in Mozambique.  The hot season is ending and the dry season hasn’t quite begun.  The result is that everything is cool and green and beautiful. 

Photo: A baobab from below.

In one pocket I had a handful of fresh peanuts which I was shelling and eating as I walked.  In the other pocket I had my cell phone which in addition to being a tool for talking to people, is also capable of taking pictures and playing music.  So that’s what I was doing, walking down a dirt road, munching peanuts, snapping photos and listening to everything from Jack Johnson to Newsboys!

Photo: A baobab in flower

I stopped by the school to say hi to our neighbor, the school principal, and gave him a copy of the Scripture portion I had produced.  Then I headed for the village leader’s house.  On the way I stopped in at someone’s yard where three men and a woman were sitting on the ground passing around a cigarette.  The cigarettes that the older women smoke here are called kandudu and they are really fat.  And what’s worse, the women smoke them backwards, putting the smoldering end in their mouths and inhaling.  Now that’s an unfiltered cigarette!  I was a bit puzzled by everyone’s behavior and even suspected that they were smoking something a bit stronger than the home-grown tobacco that is grown here.  I then got back on the path for the village leader’s house and he and I had a nice visit which I will report on later this week.

This afternoon, I asked the school principal to check a few phrases on the print-out.  He suggested talking to the community leader about whether we could display these Scripture pages near places where people tend to congregate.  He thought the corn mill, the village well, and bus stops would all be great places to display these.  But first, I need to get permission from the community leader.  Sounds like a fun project.  I might have to go visit the community leader tomorrow.