Friday, December 4, 2009
Update: Blessings in the Home
Introducing My Mom to Lichinga
We gave my mom a small taste of Lichinga, from bean leaves, bean patties, bananas (that only last about 2-3 days), roasted peanuts, to Tiffany’s homemade veggie burgers, fried minnows and cema (boiled maize flour). We also were blessed to have chicken a couple of times and cheese. We’ve gotten used to some things here, but my mom was pretty shocked by some of the things that are different. Most things happen at a much slower pace, people “cut in line” (as we would call it in the U.S.) at stores or even at the airline office and don’t think twice about it, fruit that looks perfectly good still could have small worms in it, you can’t flush toilet paper at many places, and little children carry their baby brothers and sisters on their backs. Yes, things are culturally different here. One day we ate with Victo and Gazani at the bible school. A boy was there who tasted ice cream the first time in his life (my mom bought ice cream for us all). Victo had to instruct the boy in eating it so it would stop hurting his throat (don’t chew it…don’t swallow too much, too quickly). Sunday I accompanied my mom as far as Maputo, Mozambique, on her way back home to America, and then I returned back to Lichinga on Dec 1.
Wood Table: After many months of waiting, we finally picked up our folding round table from the carpenter. We designed the table to save living space and be expandable to accommodate a total of 10 – 12 people. The stools are supposed to be completed before the end of this week.
Wall of Fire: My mom helped me put up the wood frames that will support the second part of the Nachazi wood wall (“wall of fire”). The frames will allow us to build the wall up to the roof (we have a single storey house, and none of the rooms have a ceiling).
Internet Access: We also have internet access from our own house now. Thank you Jesus! Now Tiffany can use the internet more often, and it’s easier for us to write and respond to emails. A local phone company offers a wireless phone with internet service. We power the phone via solar power.
Free Furniture: My wife has wanted a sofa for a while. Someone told us that they had furniture for sale, but when we arrived at the person’s house we found out that the furniture was sold even before we received the message. After missing out on the furniture at another missionary sale, my wife talked to God about the fact that we kept missing out on all of the good furniture that was for sale in our area and how she didn’t want to settle for furniture that she didn’t like. Well, the next day when we went to someone’s house, Tiffany remarked on how she liked the furniture. The individual gave Tiffany the handmade furniture, 2 sofas and one cushioned chair, for FREE! The person had just bought new furniture and was considering what to do with the existing furniture. The furniture Tiffany received is exactly the type she likes.
Refrigerator: My praying wife also asked the Lord for a fridge. It’s not simple to run a nice size fridge off of solar panels. But, when the Holy Spirit told me to start looking for one, I knew Tiffany was going to have what she’d been praying for. While I was in Maputo (the capital of Mozambique), I found a medium sized fridge with a freezer section (just the kind my wife wanted), and it uses a lot less power than many others, so it can run off of our solar system. As I am writing, I’m thinking that this blog update could have easily been filled up with the “Testimonies of my Praying Wife”.
As always, thank you for your prayers and gifts of love that you send to us. Let us know if you have any prayer requests that you would like to share with us. May the Lord continue to show us all His face and let His favor rest upon us.
Always for His love,
Tyren and Tiffany Haynes
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