Molly

A couple of weeks ago, the day our motorcycle got stolen, CSI:Mozambique, Molly threw up. In the moment I thought nothing of it, but after the bike got stolen, I wondered if someone had poisoned her (sadly this isn’t all that uncommon) to aid in the theft of the bike.

Overall she seemed fine. But a few days later she began walking weird, as if she was drunk. She would look right at me and start to walk and even though she was looking at me she would walk about 45 degrees to the right. It was odd. I thought maybe she had an ear infection and sent Nunu off in search of a vet with no luck. She would have good days and I would think she was getting better. Then it started getting worse and I noticed that her hind legs weren’t really working.

A neighbor dog came over and Molly usually liked to show her dominance by standing over this dog and sort of chewing on her. It’s sort of a thing these two do. Well one day I saw Molly doing this except she was completely leaning on the other dog. Within a few days she was having problems standing up, her front legs would move but her hind legs would not. That night I held her by the belly so she could go to the bathroom and then I laid her in front of our door for the night.

The next morning, I heard her whining and ran out. She needed to go to the bathroom and as soon as I stood her up and helped her to the grass, she went. I knew it was over.

Nunu went out again in search of a vet and finally found him at the shop.

I hate losing animals, and I’m sure my neighbors find it odd that I cried for a dog and maybe the guard and vet found it odd that I insisted I carry Molly to her grave. But as I sit back and try to process all of this… I just keep thinking how easy animals are to love.

No one ever taught me to love an animal. As long as I can remember when I see four legs and fur I just want to befriend, touch, pet and cuddle that animal. I don’t understand how some people don’t love animals that love unconditionally and listen without offering clichés like people so often do, they are just there for you.

It got me thinking, why isn’t it as easy to love other humans? Don’t get me wrong I like people, but let’s be honest… some people are difficult to love. As a Christian, I know that God has called me to love others and so I continue working to see people through God’s eyes: to see the good, to see the specific purpose and gifts He gave to them, to see people as God sees them. 

CSI: Mozambique

It’s the rainy season. Days filled with hot sticky heat but in the distance you can hear the booms of thunder gradually coming closer. Eventually the sky opens up and the rain pours, filling buckets with clear water and cooling off the air.

Tuesday was exactly one of these days, it cooled off and I began looking forward to getting a good night sleep. By 8pm, I was showered and in bed reading, Nunu went out to turn on the generator and as the fans kicked on I was in my happy (cool) place. We asked our guard Bouanassa to shut the generator off at midnight and fell to sleep.

The night was just as any other, a noise prompted me to ask Nunu if he locked the door and when he said yes, I was right back to sleep.

Until I heard Bounassa talking outside, I don’t even know what he said. I looked at my watch, it was only 10pm, I thought to myself, “He isn’t supposed to shut the generator off till midnight.” That’s when Nunu frantically said, “My motorcycle was stolen!”

What! Wait! How? It was sitting on our front porch. Where was the guard? Where was the dog? How did I not hear anything?

Nunu rushed outside, cellphone in hand and he and Bounassa were off. I felt helpless. Honestly I wanted to call 911, but that doesn’t exist here. So I got dressed and put on shoes. I went into the front yard to try to see where Nunu had gone and I shut off the generator, so I could hear if Nunu called for me. I grabbed Molly’s leash and while she apparently isn’t much of a guard dog, she makes me feel safe.

Nunu comes back, no sign of anyone. He is really mad, wondering how a motorcycle could have got passed our guard. We both really like Bounassa but you can’t help but wonder was he involved, motorcycles don’t just disappear. That’s when Nunu goes back to the porch and looks for the tire tracks. He finds them and they lead to the back of our house, not the front. He realizes that someone cut a hole in our fence (chicken wire that we installed to keep our beautiful view and ocean breezes). He goes around our fence and he and Bounassa take off in that direction.

The fence from outside the yard.

I go back in the house with Molly and I walk in circles in our living room, praying, freaking out, praying, I should lock the door, more prayers, I need to do something. I pick up my phone and start typing a message asking some friends to pray with me and as I lift my finger to hit send, the screen on my phone changes… it’s Nunu calling, he found the bike!!!!

But he doesn’t have the keys and with the bike in it’s locked position it’s really hard to move. He asks me to get the neighbors guard (our neighbor is out of town) to bring him the keys as he doesn’t want to leave the bike. I walk toward the neighbors screaming “Guard! Excuse me! Guard” in Portuguese. The only response is two dogs barking and growling at me. We have some friends, Jonas and Erica, who just moved about 200 feet up the road and so I ask Nunu if I should go to them, knowing he is thinking of my safety first. He says I should. I realize Molly is in the house and my best bet for passing the dogs at night is to have her.

I lock the house and Molly and I make our way down the road. I’m calling our friends cellphones as I run in my hot pink PJ’s, while making kissy noises at the growling dogs (I hope someone got a good laugh)… they don’t answer their phones. As I get to the house, their guard is gone and so I’m left shouting for their help.

I hear the deep sleep in their voices as they try to figure out who is calling their names and just what is going on. Now the three of us are on our way to find Nunu in the bush behind our house.

Nunu tells me which way to go and we are blindly going by the light of our cell phones. He says he can hear me getting closer and we keep shining our lights toward each other. Eventually I can hear him clearly without the phone.

Nunu and Bounassa had tracked the tire marks of the bike for about half a mile, maybe longer. And found it sort of hidden behind a bush. I told Nunu that I have a new nickname for him… CSI =)

We have no clue who did this or how many. At the very least 3 to 4 people because they had to lift the bike up over a fence that is a little over 3 feet tall and the only damage was to one of the handle bars, I’m guessing from the impact as they tried to throw it over the fence.

The creepy part of it all is knowing that we were watched. The night before we didn’t run the generator, no doubt in my mind the generator made a great cover for the noise. They knew our routine.

As with so many things here, I hate that we have to go through it but we do learn. We will be meeting with our guards later today talking about how important it is to not get into such a fixed routine. We will have to put up a better fence, one without our beautiful view and we will need to get some dogs that bark! Lastly a block fence will need to be moved up on our priority list.

Thanks to all of you who regularly pray for us, we so appreciate and feel your prayers!

Motorcycle in it's new nightly home, our living room.

Fence two days ago. They had to lift the bike up over the bamboo part!

It's Good to Be Back, But...

As I step off the plane and make my way down the steps, the heat and humidity wash over me, it finally hits… I’m back in Mozambique. I continue to walk from the plane to the entrance marked “International Arrivals,” I look up. Standing in the second floor window, I see Nunu. I smile, wave and feel the tears creep up behind my eyes. I have to look down. The last thing I need to do is go through customs with tears running down my face.

I make it though customs and bag checks without much incident. The bag checker was curious about a few of my items; the main concern is people brining things in the country to sell without paying the import tax. Of all things, she asks about a pile of pencils. There are maybe 40 of them, Nunu tells her they are for kids. I stand there thinking to myself, “Does she think I’ve come to make millions off of selling these pencils, I’d be lucky to sell them all for $10!”

It’s good to be back, but it’s more overwhelming than I had imagined. I’m having to take more time to adjust emotionally and to the pace of life. The biggest adjustment is that the last month or so in the states has been non-stop and the speed of my life didn’t gradually slow down… it came to a screeching halt!

Arriving here I feel helpless in so many ways. For five months I’ve been in the states, sharing stories and vision of what we plan to do. Now I’m here and I just want to hit the ground running, but that’s not how things work. I have to get back into the Mozambique mindset.

I have to rely on Nunu for just about everything; he is the one who will contact the electrical company; he will run to the store to buy food for dinner; he will… he will… he will…  You get the point. I don’t have a problem relying on Nunu but it’s just a form of culture shock; rather than me running around like crazy, he is – and I’m sitting at our house basically doing nothing.

My first morning here, I thought I might explode waiting for Nunu to wake up. When he did wake up, the explosion happened. As we started talking, I found myself crying and not really sure why. Being the great husband he is, he reassured me and let the tears fall.

Each day we come up with a to do list for Nunu and I make myself as useful as possible. But let’s be real: I’ve mostly sat around pondering how hot it is and eating mangos. Or at least that is how it feels.

My first full day here some of Binti’s kids showed up bringing us water. I was sitting in a chair looking for the motivation to unpack my bags when I glanced over at the kids, one of them waved and with a huge smile on her face said “Hi friend.” It was exactly what I needed.

I couldn’t believe that she remembered that from 5 months ago. It was just the encouragement I needed in the moment; God is so good.

So I do what I can each day but really spend most of my time just taking it all in. Enjoying time with Nunu and being able to be excited together about the next steps for The Widow’s Might.