I made a quick trip down to South Africa this week to get my residency visa. In April I sent in my passport with a visa application so I arrived in Mozambique with that and then you can have two thirty day extensions, Capana just took my passport and some other a paperwork at thirty days and they stamped it and let me stay. But before the 90 days are up you have to leave the country. So Eric took me to the Mozambique embassy where we turned in some paperwork, my passport and some money. I got the residency visa and in the next few weeks I will go to Pemba to fill out some more paperwork and then hopefully they will give me my residency visa. You can pray for that all to go smoothly!
While in South Africa I celebrated my birthday with some new friends. Eric worked in Balama for over ten years, he went back to South Africa in June. On Monday He greeted me with a huge smile and a hug when I arrived in Johannesburg--I was happy to see my substitute uncle! He took me to meet his daughter Roselle and her husband Rian. They cooked steak with a side of salad with feta cheese as soon as I arrived. They made me feel right at home. The following afternoon after the visa as well as a visit to Nelson Mandelas statue, I met Eric's granddaughters Franska who is four and Alika who is 18 months. They are precious and Franska was eager to introduce me to their four dogs, two sheep, 13 horses and bunny named cheerio. She reminded me of my niece Leah who had just turned 5 the day before.
Wednesday was my birthday, how am I twenty-nine already?! It was my first birthday to not be with any of my family and I was only able to talk to two sisters for a few minutes so that was REALLY hard. But, God knows and I'm so grateful that He gave me a substitute family for the week! We went to the girls school in the afternoon because Eric and Rozelle will be doing some work for them and they needed to put some stuff together to give an estimate. We walked to the playground after they finished to pick up the girls. Franska came running toward us and with outstretched arms yelled, 'Katie!' Aah, I felt so loved! Rian and Rozelle made reservations at their favorite restaurant which serves the best prawns (shrimp) in Pretoria--I have it from a very reliable source! They were delicious and so was the chocolate brownie with ice cream. They made my birthday so special and even brought in the grandparents for a real family party.
Today I'll head back to Balama, Mozambique.
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