October 2nd

Good afternoon friends and family,

Today (Friday) was a full day and one that was not planned. Slept in till about 0600. I heard Grace up and around getting Heath ready for school so I got up and washed my face and combed my hair and started the day with hot coffee, Rackson was still in bed so I made the coffee, ugh! when he got up he made the second pot. As I stated in the last report Bro. Collins mother died Thursday while we were in Mozambique. Today was the funeral. Collins called and invited all three of us plus Rackson and Grace to come. We did as a show of support. There were well over 300 people, family-friends and members of her church. The body was in the house and the women were preparing her for burial. It was a long process being interrupted often my family members coming in and mourning long and loud. We got there about noon and sat around waiting for the service to begin. At noon Collins came and got us and we moved into the courtyard where we were put in the front row so we would see and hear all. He wanted to move us to the shade but that would mean someone would have to move and make room for us we said no, I won’t make that mistake again. After 2.5 hours in the sun all three of us were in need of water and shade, PTL for a cool breeze throughout the service. The singing was good. They had a 40 member choir who also served as mourners and flower barriers. When the body was brought out and placed in the front yard the family made noise as only mourners can. While comments were being made several women went into the house to clean up from the preparations. New dirt and water were brought in and a clean floor was put down, when dried it was swept and made smooth. It concluded with a nice talk by the priest and we were dismissed to go to the cemetery which was a loooong walk from the house for the many hundreds. Bro. Collins mom and dad got saved about 3 years ago when Rackson and I went soul winning. His dad attended Bible Way but the mother could not break with the catholic church, this was a sadness for Bro. Collins. We started home after a hard walk to where we parked. We were hot and tired and the traffic was horrible, it was backed up for miles. We did not have lunch so I thought I might die in Malawi but my son said I would make it. What does he know? As for the others? Who cares. Rackson knew a way around the back-up but it took us way out of the way but we were moving so it must be progress. Stopped at a nice restaurant for dinner and I became a lot better person. We ate our fill and came on home about 1800. I had a warm/cool shower and feel much better. I wish we could have taken pictures but it was not at our church and I did not want to embarrass anyone. It was a very different experience from an American funeral. Tomorrow is Saturday service is a village to be announced. Pray that souls will be saved and the Lord glorified.

Because of the Cross,            

Chuck, Taylor and Sheila