Im alive in Africa!         

       I got into Beira about 1:30 today.  Solomao who is the director here picked me up from the airport and brought me to the house.  I had one of the employees take me to go shopping for food but once we got to the city I was way to close to my families and I couldn't handle waiting any longer so I told him to just drop me off at the stop that leads to most of my families.  I was walking down the path and Anna and one of her little boys saw me from a distance and came running up to me and gave me a big hug.  I then went into their house and saw the rest of their family.  Alexandre (the 10 year old) started crying and Joaozinho the little boy jumped into my arms and gave me a big hug.  It was a better reunion then I could have ever imagined.  Little did I know but the missionaries were over at their house and watched the entire reunion without me even knowing they were there.  It must have been very strange for them to just be at the house ready to start teaching and then Bam in comes another white guy speaking Portuguese and hugging everyone.  I hope it was good motivation for them to try and find families that are as special to them as Dauce and Anna's are to me.  Dauce wasn't there so I just said hi and came back later when he was there.

       Then for the second reunion I went to Amudi and Fatimas (parents of Felipe) and as soon as I came around the corner  both of their little girls starting screaming FELIPE and ran up to me and gave me a huge hug.  Amudi was gone at the time but Fatima also came running up and got pretty emotional and gave me a huge hug.  It was a very sweet experience.  Then she handed me Felipe who is huge now!  He knew who I was because his parents show him pictures everyday of me so he knows who I am but the real life size Mazungo(White Person) was a scary experience for him.  It took him a little while to warm up to me but eventually he let me hold him as his sister Anna took me around the village to show me some things.  Amudi took forever to get to the house so Anna and Ines and me had a little dance party until he showed up.  We actually got a lot of random people walking on the path to come dance with us as well.  Amudi finally showed up and it was so good to see him as well.  Other ward members showed up to his house as well so I got to see a lot of people. 

       Anyways third and final reunion that I had tonight was with Sancho. Lurdes his wife was at school but as soon as he saw me he started screaming WOW WOW WOW! He came and gave me a huge hug so that was pretty cool as well.  The day was just perfect.  I finished by going to the grocery store and getting a ride home late at night on this sketch golf kart thingy which was awesome!  It was a culture shock to witness the poverty again but once I saw my families everything was ok.  I LOVE MOZAMBIQUE!  The people here are so great and I loved being a missionary but it is so nice to just be their friend and get to kick it in the village with them and have dance parties and stuff. The next four months are going to be very challenging on me.  I am getting started with the program in some very poor villages tomorrow.  However the joy that I felt today in seeing my families again will make it all worth it no matter what happens.  I think it was one of the happiest four hours of my entire life.  Words can't even express how amazing today was! 

Here are some photos.  The little boy in the first couple pictures is Felipe who is named after me and the little girl is his sister.