My brother commented that I should share more about what we do spiritually.  That has given me pause, as anyone who knows me knows I give rise to more questions then answers.  I have thought a lot on how to answer my brother, and the events of the last days have given me my answer.   I have wondered whether to relate this story in a manner of how it unfolds or how it makes sense.  Since we are not at the end of it and some things still don’t make sense, I will go for the as it unfolds version, get ready to have a few questions and be confused!  You’ll need to have read the last blog ‘hard days week’ to have any hope that this makes sense.

            We had pretty much figured that the computer, cameras, money and all had all gone it’s way and we would not see anything that had been robbed. I had prayed some fleeting prayers that the computer and stuff would be returned. Dave has filled out insurance forms I have counted my stuff as gone and started filing for new documents.  I have already heard the ‘come back tomorrow’ several times from the different officials in different departments that I’m dealing with to put things back in order, bike documents, drivers license, immigrations, religious affairs, social services.  Even the police we have yet to get an official document out of them saying that we have been robbed!!! To make it more fun Gango had a appointment to go to Zimbabwe for medical tests and so Joao Simao is having to do all the run around and he is new to all the… shall we call it ‘politics’ for lack of a better PC word… of all these officials. 

Back to the grind of building, fixing and getting ready our new mud huts to move into.  (They still are looking pretty nice).  Dave was playing carpenter putting in the counter top in his house.  I was playing landscaper so our land will drain better in the next deluge.  Jo was playing homemaker and learning to roast cashews. (We have had a great harvest this year and it has only started).  Grace was playing.  The kids were playing with each of respectively.  Joao Simao out of breath comes running up to Dave and I in one of our mango chucking breaks.  Suzi has called Joao Simao on the phone from Maputo saying that he can help us get Dave’s computer back.  He says that he ran into a guy, Orlando, trying to sell it!!!  He then disconnects.  On Joao’s phone there is no call back number just says ‘private number’.  So we just sit asking questions, Is he telling the truth? (unlikely) Is he in Maputo 1200 ks away? (725 miles)  Is he actually in Beira wanting to set us up for a ‘buy back’ of our own things? (they did this before).  The phone rings again.  He says he is at the police with the guy who stole it Orlando and a few other statements that give nothing but more questions.  The phone disconnects again.    We again discuss among us what to do, the phone rings again more odd statements more questions.  After giving up that he is going to call again and we have no way of contacting him we drop our mangos and go back to work again.  Later Joao comes running up to us again, this the most bizarre, it had been a call with no one talking, just the back ground noises and conversations.  Joao listened and could hear Suzi and others talking in the background.  He could tell it was the police and Suzi was being ‘interrogated’  by the police as to the computers existence.  The phone disconnects.  This time the call back number was left!  Joao calls back and it is the chief of police in Maputo who answers!!!!  The police then interrogates Joao over the phone as to who he is and what he wants with Suzi!!  Joao tells the whole story of the theft to the chief of police and all we knew as mentioned in the last blog.  He said he would ‘work’ on Suzi! The chief of police says that he would call us back when he worked it all out.  Now we are really full of questions what was the chief of police doing with Suzi’s phone or Suzi with his?  Why was Suzi apprehended by the police?  Who is Orlando?  We were pretty sure that Suzi was in on the break in but we couldn’t figure out how the police had got on the deal.  The next day the police call us back and tell us everything that we already figured, it was Bebe Suzi and Lino that broke into the house.  They then had split the money and goods and Suzi went south to sell the computer and the computer is in their (the police’s) possession.  According to Suzi the documents cameras and other stuff are still with the other guys.    This police in Maputo then asked us to go to our local police so that we could set up an African conference call (everyone in the same room when he calls from Maputo).  We then learned that Suzi was trying to sell the computer and the guy he was selling it to tried stealing it from him so Suzi took him to the police!!!  The police then got suspicious of Suzi.  At the beginning point of the ‘interrogation’ of Suzi he was asked to empty his pockets and the phone came out and in the exchange was accidentally made to dial… US!!!  And very conveniently the ‘private mode’ had been switched off!  Thus Joao is listening to the beginning of the ‘interrogation’. Joao calls back and the police answer the phone in hope of a lead on the investigation!!! 

Joao, Dave and I are now sitting at the local police station setting up the retrieval mode of the operation.  We need to buy 3 tickets to Maputo one for Dave (the computer owner), Joao (translator and center of the event), one policeman to put the cuffs on Suzi and bring him back.  We also need to buy 4 tickets for the return journey as we’ll be bringing back Suzi!  Now keep in mind this is a 16 hour journey each way so we have to feed and house the police as well.  We figure this is going to cost to the effect of 500 dollars, maybe more a three day trip for 3 and return for 4.   Keep in mind if we don’t pay for this all it just isn’t going to happen.  In my previous blog I mentioned my tirade at the police station one of my accusations was that the police always ask for money, the officers that I was chewing out asked me who had asked for money my response was ‘I’m still waiting on this one’, he very proudly and arrogantly said ‘Oh so nobody actually has asked you for money then!!!’ Back to this meeting now when they started telling us that we were going have to pay for all this, I just gave a look to the police officer that had been so arrogant before… he didn’t hold my glare too long.  My saying is ‘if you get robbed here, it’ll cost you more if you go to the police’.  Many times it is cheaper to leave the police out of it and count your losses.  But in the case of insurance claim and documents you have no choice, you have to have a police document.  And in the case before us if we don’t file charges everyone will just walk and we will get nothing back.

Now what does this have to with my brothers question of what I do spirituality?  I have found that I just do what I believe to be right, and it’s like watching paint dry.  Then from nowhere everything happens completely independent of anything I may have attempted. All I had done was ask for grace.  I tell the boys what is right and just and they just kind of look at me.  Then I will walk in on them at another point and they will be having bible studies or praying together, or they will come and ask me to read or tell them stories.  I’m here in Africa building mud and bamboo huts, throwing mangos at kids and frequently talking to myself.  Then getting glimpses from time to time of what God is doing.  They say that how people relate to God is a reflection of how their fathers were with them, my father dieing when I was a kid explains my spirituality, or at least an excuse for it.  But  I have the responsibility of setting in motion the format for these fatherless boys. That is my spirituality.   At Kedesh (at least on john’s part) the dead are not being raised, the blind are not being given sight, (when I visited the states this last time I needed bifocals!!) last time someone came and ask me to pray for their severely dehydrated baby I prayed while giving it a coke… and it died on the way to the hospital.  It seems there is nothing in that realm I have to offer, I do wish I had more to offer.  But some how some way things happen in spite of me.  His faithfulness is the only spirituality.   I see two scriptures that say different things.  The sheep and the goats…  Clothe the naked visit those in prison (and in this context visit those you are going to put in prison!!!  How is that for spirituality!?!) feed the hungry…  The other scripture is Lord, Lord did we not cast out demons prophecy and do many miraculous signs in your name?  I hope to bumble through this life having shown some sort of kindness and compassion and be accepted as faithful, because that is all I have to offer.  Then there is the possibility of the fanfare of the miraculous and be rejected. But I did cry when that baby died, I grieve that I have nothing more to offer.  My spirituality.  Dave and Jo West it’s in your court!!

Another good example is this web site.  Dave Hahn is the one who gets full responsibility for this site (out side of my babbling). He keeps asking me if I have any suggestions for the site… Hey why ruin a good thing I’m just going to keep my mouth shut and continue to be blown away by how cool it is turning out THANKS DAVE!!!  I’m just a guy that all these weird wonderful bazaar things keep happening to!!

Well we had another storm… it lasted not quite as long, this one just 2 hours, but this was a bit more powerful.  The damage was in dollar wise worse.  It took off the east side of the boys house and cast it 30 meters. A piece of metal 16 meters long and 3.5 meters wide with all the wood that it was nailed to it, even half of some of the trusses. Literally ripping sheets of tin like paper.    The good news is that the walls that we re-plastered took the beating.  The next morning we had people coming asking for help to repair their houses.  Many people lost roofs, many trees in our area had blown over.  Now weather (yes pun intended) these two events are related or not, but there was a article in the paper just a day or two ago that said that Maputo (Beira wasn’t in the study but is in worse situation then Maputo) saying that Maputo was a city that would be devastated by global warming.  There has been discussion for years whether the city of Beira should be moved or not.  Much of Beira actually is below sea level, by a meter or two.  Kedesh is at about +19 meters.  We have now had two powerful storms in nearly a week.  This second storm brought just a mere 80mm 3+ inches of rain compared to last weeks 130 5+ inches, makes one wonder what kind of year this is going to be.  Good news is that I hadn’t seen it so dry as it was here before.  Everything is turning green now, the goats are happy there is food for them again, but mangos are still their favorite.

For you who have been here before much of Biques is now a part of the beach.  The very back veranda is completely gone.  The little round room out back was being under cut as of a week ago, the veranda right off the main restaurant has only a half meter of sand in front of it.  The beach proper where the waves hit is about 2 meters below the floor level.  So when you go out on the veranda and look over the beach you are looking over a little cliff right at your toes.

Dave and Joao went to Maputo to retrieve the computer and of course it doesn’t happen simply.  The bus leave Beira at about 4am and arrives Maputo that evening.  The next morning they go to the police station to take care of all that needs to be done.  They get the break down of what and how things happened.  Suzi says that Lino was the  one that stole the things and sent him the computer in Maputo to sell it.  Suzi left it at a friend of his house for safe keeping until he could set up the buy.  This friend then took the computer and was going to sell it.  Suzi became indignant and noble and called us saying he knew who had our computer and would get it back for us.  I guess he figured if he was not going to profit off us neither would anyone else. (This is a very, very frighteningly common way of thinking here).  So he then takes this other guy to the police.  Dave had to prove to the police that the computer was his so he went on the computer to show pictures and the like even his passport had been scanned into the computer.  But the thieves had deleted everything all pictures all documents everything.  Dave went to recycle bin and found a few papers that he had written that had not under gone the final delete and since he had ‘signed’ them he was able to convince the police that the computer was his.  The police then gave the computer to Dave.  Dave and Joao get up to merrily go their way and the police lets them know they are not quite done yet…  now since I was not there I will leave the details to Dave.  But let’s say this.  The police started telling them they had to fill out these forms then these others and the ‘process’ would go ‘upstairs’.  Going on to the next step they found people that were unwilling to help and wanted money to make things move along.  This process lasted 5 hours… Who is going to break first, the asker of the bribe or the person who just wanted their things back?  While going through this long waiting process as to who will blink first, they talked with another man who just had his documents stolen and he ended up having to pay nearly 100USD to get them back.  In the end they went from official to official till they found one who was willing to push the papers through, just for the mere reason it was his job.  But even at that when Dave finally got his stuff and just wanted to get out of there Dave got up and was leaving this guys office, the official chastised Dave because he did not know how to ‘agradacer’, ‘to be grateful’ to people.  Most of us reading this if we tried to ‘show gratitude’ to the police in our countries, we would be put in jail!!

He hath shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you God?