Manga 'n' that

So we have just got back from our second afternoon at the Grace of God church in Manga, where the amazing Pastor Manuel runs a school for Orphans, and generally helps and feeds them. He is such a great guy, he started up the whole thing with nothing, not even a building(they built the church themselves last year) and now they have official status as a school so the kids can get their grade certificates and he has over 200 orphans. We go over on a Thursday afternoon for 45 mins english lesson and 45 mins bible study with 80 kids(split between two classes).
Last week we started off with the alphabet (with actions) and 'my name is'. Sadly it seemed to be a disaster, they copied everything we said, including the portuguese, and nothing seemed to sink in, they were all so nervous that when we asked a question they just giggled. The bible study was on the lost sheep, so we asked for 6 volunteers to come up and read the story, we got six and even had to turn some away, but then the older girls refused to read because they were too embarrased. So we moved on to the drama, splitting into two groups. Sophie had the littlies and they had fun pretending to be the sheep, but as hard as emma and i tried the older ones did not understand what we wanted them to do. The colouring activity went well though, and Pastor Manuel was very happy, but we all left feeling exhausted and a bit low. This was probably partly due to the fact that we had had to wait forever for a chapa to Manga and then got on the wrong route so had to alk FOREVER in the hot sun somewhere we didnt really know. Oh what fun. The lovely pastor Manuel came in half way through our lesson with ice cold fanta for us though so we picked up a bit.
This week however we felt very prepared, and Amber came along as well(she is feeling better yay) It went so well, we were amazed when some of the olders girls greeted us in English and were able to tell us their names, we had thought that they hadn't understood at all. And they all got the hang of numbers really quickly. There was only one class as the others were having vaccinations so we felt really relaxed, it was great, Pastor Manuel even joined in the colouring. We have decided that Emma should move to Mozambique in order to design Sunday school worksheets, they looked really professional!
Last week Oasis mozambique had a retreat day at ummm, well I forget where, it was on the beach somewhere in Beira, and we led the prayer meeting part talking about how we should encourage each other, especially as all the departments, except Central, were missing their team leaders and lots of changes were taking place. We are leading the prayer meeting again next week on Valentines day, so expect stories of cheesy dressing up!
Emma and I are enjoying a social life this week, we went to Jim and Janes for dinner on Monday (with soph), have diunner at Marinas tomorrow, having a party on Saturday for Marlenes birthday (she was 14 on tuesday) and are going to Tim and Beths for lunch on Sunday! How popular are we?
Also debating whether or not to have my hair braided, any suggestions?
Speak soon
Byexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx