Where to begin...I have had a few people tell me that I need to make sure I update my blog, because people actually read it. I must say, I sometimes wonder if people really do read it and I am not the best writer and I unless I have something extremely interesting or exciting to write about I don't want to bore people...But I have been convinced that I really should do a better job at keeping this updated, so I will work on it. The past few months have been a whirlwind and I honestly haven't even had time to think about it.
We left Mozambique the 30th of April after a busy couple of months of marriage seminars, a prayer conference, and Easter services. We felt like ministry was at an all time high for us, with so many opportunities and so much to do, but we also were so ready for a break. It has been a tough year for us between political unrest, friends moving away, frustrations with building the school, and added administration duties. We were ready to just get away for bit. On our way back to the States for home assignment, we stopped in Johannesburg South Africa for a week and we had numerous doctor's appointments and labs done. Then we headed to England for a couple of weeks to visit a friend and do some sight seeing before the craziness of being back in the States. We had such a great time. The kids and I have been studying British history the past year and it was so fun to see so much history in person. Traeger LOVES history and I think we climbed every tower in every castle we could possibly fit in, because he didn't want to miss anything!
We arrived back in the States on the 23rd of May and we have already seen the dentist, Orthodontist, Ophthalmologist, and attended our niece and nephew's graduation, been to one open house, and 2 family events. We are loving being back and are looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing about the ministry in Mozambique. We have a few churches already scheduled to speak at and are waiting on dates for a few others. Here is our schedule so far:
June 3-15--in Tennessee with family and debrief with SIM in North Carolina
June 19-21--Tim in Wheaton IL for a conference on honor/shame cultures
June 23-July 7--George family cottage
July 23-29--Tim and I are both ministering on the junior high bike trip at BHBC, Traeger will be attending.
August 13--speaking at Faith Fellowship in Irons, MI
August 14-Sept 4--trip out west to visit supporters and our Mozambique colleague, Janice
October 13-15--speaking at the Chinese Bible Church in Detroit
Tim plans on doing quite a bit of fund raising for the school while we are home. We are still in need of $20,000 in order to open the school in June or July of 2018, which is our goal. We will be sending out a newsletter about ways to give if you are able to and want to partner with us in opening the first Bible School in this part of Mozambique. We are staying out in Sand Lake and I will continue to home school the kids while we are in the States because of our short time here. We plan to be here for about 6 months and will be heading back to Mozambique in early December. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible. Please contact us on email or fb to put some dates on the calendar.
Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy of our last days in Moz and our trip to England.
Saying goodbye to our good friends, Emicio and Esmerelda and my name sake, Chele. They named their baby girl(born in January) after me, which is one of the biggest honors they can bestow on a person in their culture..very humbling...Tim and everyone in Mozambique calls me Chele, so they didn't want to name her Michele, because people might not know it was me, she was named after, but everyone will recognize Chele. So now there is another Traeger and another Chele in Lichinga!
Our Easter service in Icuvi, shortly before we left.
One of the marriage seminars we held in April in the new school building. We had 8 couples that chose to renew their marriage vows before God in the Church.
A picture of us on top of Arthur's seat in Edinburgh Scotland.
On the Island of Anglesey in Northern Wales.
On top of a tower in the Conwy castle.
Walking the walls of the ancient city of Conwy...
In Manchester with Margaret, our amazing host. We had such a great time with her and are so grateful for all her help and hospitality. She is part of Anchor Education, which runs our home school conferences every couple of years in Mozambique. Margaret has been a huge blessing in the area of home schooling for us missionaries in Mozambique as well as a great friend to our family.
At Bamburg Castle on the Eastern coast of England
At London Tower in London England.
At Trafalgar Square in London.
Feeding the giraffes in Johannesburg with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The girls highlight of the whole trip...petting baby lions! After our week of doctors appointments and blood draws and meds, we surprised them with a trip to the lion safari park and we got an added bonus of running into Arnold while there for mom and dad, since the kids were completely clueless as to who he was.
