I had a whole list of work things to get done this weekend, but things panned out a bit differently. After the usual Saturday morning chores I made it out to the Woodrows for the girls’ crafts group for the first time in I don’t know how long, for what it was worth. Then I needed to hurry back, change and catch another chapa to take me to SIL, where I was attending the farewell of the Prestons, a couple who have been with SIL in Nampula for seven years, but are now leaving on furlough and to fill a support position in South Africa. It was lovely to see some people again, since I’ve been living like a hermit recently… I got home around 19h30, and, to my dismay, my weekend guard hadn’t shown up - after all my anxiety of the previous two nights! Once again my missionary friends came to the rescue though - one family live less than a block away (and are therefore constantly being asked for favours! 
) and they had a relative of their guard staying there who could come over and guard for me, and so he was also here on Sunday night. I was so grateful, because by then I was so tired and needed to sleep, and the Lord also graciously diminished my fears and made me realise truly how fruitless my worrying about hypothetical situasions is.
Sunday was unfortunately also far from restful. The morning’s service was a great blessing, as we had the privilege of having two of our dear teenagers baptised - a young girl called Ancha (whose father is one of the leaders in the congregation) and Andrew Woodrow. Our wood-and-bamboo church building obviously doesn’t have a baptismal font, so we all went outside into the garden, singing hymns as we went, to the cistern that is always used for this purpose.
After any baptism we always have a “cup of water”, which is actually refreshments, and there was also a kind of serious game going on where our new members had to answer some questions, with the end in view that the congregation would get to know them a bit better. I had to run out on this, though, as I had many other things planned for the afternoon. A friend gave me a ride, and I tried to withdraw money (so that I wouldn’t be as visible as in the middle of the week on foot), but the ATM’s were out of money, I guess because of the end of the month. Then we went out to SIL and I got some cuttings from this incredibly thorny shrub they have there - the idea is to try and plant a hedge outside our veranda, time will tell whether it is successful.
On top of all this and planning to go over to the Rogers’ for the Eurocup final, late afternoon I got the message that I was invited to the birthday dinner of Claudia, my one Mozambican friend, at 18h30. It was eventually I, my friend Clemilda and another Brazilian missionary who is also a dentist, Ida, who went from our Bible study group, the rest were all either study friends or family or what have you. It wasn’t an unpleasant evening, but we did end up talking to each other mostly. Claudia and her boyfriend also came quite late, and I did not want to miss the start of the game, so I was quite adamant that we leave in good time :-). Planning something like that for a Sunday evening was a bit inconvenient for all, I’m not sure why that was decided…
This is a horrible picture… but anyway me, Clemila, Ida and Claudia
After all this acitivity, I must say it took every ounce of energy to enjoy the soccer game at all… and after a while, I desperately didn’t want Germany to score as well, because I couldn’t bear the thought of overtime. Today I was, predictably, tired, and don’t feel I got that much done, but Dr Woodrow and I had a good meeting with the SIL people we are coordinating with for the Conference, and even though on a lot of matters we are still desperately praying and not sure how we’re going to get things done, I feel a bit more restful and able to trust, once again, that the Lord is in control and will override our failings in such a way that His name will be glorified, notwithstanding our own opinion on how things turn out.
