Flight Schedule to Moz

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

~Psalm 139:9-10

Our plane tickets are purchased! We're headed out on Friday. A huge thank you to everyone who has been supporting our ministry, encouraging our hearts and praying for our family.  Below you'll find our flight schedule. And here is a link to our latest prayer letter: July 2016 Nace Update & Prayer Letter 

Friday, July 29th: 

* Load up the rental and drive to Lisbon

* TAP Portugal: 7:10pm departure for Maputo, Mozambique 

        (Diego wants you to know we're going on an Airbus340 and it has FOUR engines). (This is noon US mountain time).

Saturday, July 30th:

* Arrive in Maputo (Moz's capital) at 6:50am 

        (here's to hoping we all sleep on the plane). 

* LAM Flight departs at 12:20pm for Nampula 

* Arrive at 2:25pm.  Home Sweet Home! 

The End of An Era

What will a year of life in Portuguese schools do for your children?

Diego spent months crying and worried about school.  Every day was a challenge to get him to school, and sometimes it started the night before.  But now? His school year is done and he is sad to be leaving his friends and teachers behind.  We have even been by to visit the school and play for a couple hours (they have a summer program).  It is amazing to see this guy's transformation throughout the year.  He now eats so many more food options. Even lulas (squid).  When I see him in action, talking with the other kids - in PORTUGUESE, at high rates of speed - I can hardly keep my jaw from dropping.  His language skills far exceed mine.  Diego's favorite songs are Portuguese, he can sing the chorus to the Portuguese national anthem (he learned with when Portugal won the European soccer cup) and Happy Birthday in Portuguese as well.  He knows the Coimbra city bus routes better than I do and he recognizes all the different types of trains in Portugal...This kid even had a few lines of Portuguese up on the stage in the year end play - he was an airline captain! 

(Diego's last day at the Jardim de Infancia)

Lucas turned 7 months the day after we arrived in Portugal, and now has a whopping 20 to his name!  That's almost 2/3 of his life spent in Portugal.  He has always gone happily in to school and would be heartbroken if he understood that he isn't going back.  He can be given instructions in both English and Portuguese and will usually understand what you are saying.  He loves soup and his favorite meal at school is spaghetti noodles with chicken sauce.  His teachers say that he speaks about 10 words (we can only understand olá, agua, sopa, mama and dada).  He also knows each of the other kids' by name in his class.  He gives beijinhos (kisses) and abraços (hugs) with joy.  And he loves to clap and dance!  Lucas has become our little Portuguese explorer... cats have nothing on him when it comes to curiosity! Everything must be climbed.  This includes kitchen counters, suitcase stacks, fountains... And every space must be discovered. Every kitchen drawer and door, every little thing must come out and be dumped on the floor.  Keeping him away from the knives and breakables is a challenge!  

(Lucas' last day at the Creche)

We've been doing the summer life for the last couple weeks, waiting on our visas and going a little stir crazy.  Most of the toys are packed (we finally unpacked some of the legos for Diego) and many of our friends have moved away or are gone on holiday.  Every so often we take a field trip, some little and some big. To the market, to the playground, to the windmill, to the Douro, to the grocery store... Diego says they are all fun because they all involve a ride on the bus! :) 

(Stircrazy antics - wrestling on the bed and climbing on the dresser)

(It was a pleasure to visit this windmill and watch the corn being ground - fascinating!)  Grady's video on how it works is here on youtube: VIDEO

(A ride down the Douro River to Porto. We went through one of the world's tallest locks 35ish meters.)

And then, at the end of this week, we got the email I had been obsessively checking throughout the weeks for... our Mozambique visas arrived at MAF Headquarters!  They're currently in France, in the care of Fedex, and headed our way.  Tickets are being purchased for the end of next week.  Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our visa status, this is a huge answer to prayer  and there is much rejoicing this weekend in the Nace household! Praise God for his continued provision! 

(Chilling in the square... waiting for those illusive visas)

The Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day (late)!

Because the Fourth is also a Coimbra city holiday celebrating the Rainha Santa Isabel in Coimbra (A Portuguese queen-saint who lived here), we were able to watch a fireworks display!  We’d be hard pressed to find a more beautiful fireworks setting – along the shores of the Mondego River, with the skyline of Coimbra rising as a backdrop with our University's clocktower standing tall and proud above it all.  It was at midnight… so Lucas slept straight through to the ending bang!

(Grady & Diego worked together for some great shots)

Rainha Santa Isabel, married to the king that founded our university, had a heart for the poor.  Legend has it that Dom Dinis (her husband) caught her stealing food from the royal kitchens and dispersing it to the poor.  He demanded she open her apron, but when she did God miraculously transformed the food into roses which spilled out over the street. 

(Queen Isabel with her roses)

While we were waiting for the pyrotechnics to start, we dropped in on an outdoor Fado concert.  (Fado is a traditional Portuguese music genre).  Take a listen:

Perhaps not your average Fourth of July weekend (no corn on the cob, BBQ or American flags in sight) but still fun!  Some of the songs were even about the sadness of leaving Coimbra (a common occurrence for graduating students).

We are still waiting on our visas, BUT the good news is our work permits have been approved!  They are required for the visas and took a fair amount of work by our teammates in Mozambique.  Our visa applications should have arrived at the Moz embassy by now, so please pray that they are approved with no delays.

There has been a lot to do as we wait.  Much of it has centered around insurance logistics from Grady’s accident.  After going back and forth many times between insurance and the bike shop, Grady is now being reimbursed for his totaled bike.  We still aren’t sure how he managed to bend the frame in two places but still leave the wheels undamaged!  Grady has also gone through the whole process of listing and selling our car, writing letters to the boys’ schools, and much more.  I have been meeting weekly with one of my professors (one hour of English and one hour of Portuguese: it’s a win-win for us both), studying for a Moz aviation exam, packing and cleaning.

The boys are still in school (although they’ve already had their year-end parties/performances).  We let Diego decide if they should continue these last few days/weeks or stay home and it was a definitive YES to going to school.  We are so thankful to see how far he has come from the continual dread for school he had last fall/winter!  He is already talking about how he is going to “ter saudades” for the jardim de infancia... (a very Portuguese way of saying he will miss/long for his school after he leaves).

(Lucas was a little shy... he cried during his time on stage) 

Grady’s back is slowly improving.  He has the least pain when walking, and the most when sitting.  We have been able to go on a few longer hikes through the hills surrounding Coimbra lately – it’s a joy to watch him marching along with his walking stick!

(Monsanto, hiking down from the castle) 

(Schist village in the hills outside of Coimbra)

Please continue to be praying for our visas to be approved and arrive safely to us.  Also be praying for the upcoming travel to Moz.  Grady is GREAT at entertaining the boys and can hold Lucas for longer periods now, but we’ve got a LOT of luggage to corral.  

Thanks for checking in on us - much love from the Naces

Home

Lately I have been contemplating our approaching move (still no visas or set date).  While we are all eager to arrive in Mozambique and begin life there, saying goodbye is rough. Over the last year we have made our home here, and home is never an easy thing to see in the rearview mirror. I always feel like I’m leaving a piece of my heart behind.  But we’re also bringing some of home with us through memories and through experiences that have changed and shaped us into who we are today. 

(driving by some sardinheiras aka geraniums)

(a small fraction of Dona Helena's garden; see the Birds of Paradise and think: Costa Rica)

When we arrived in Portugal everything was blooming, bursting forth in full glory. Every walk past the small gardens of our neighbors up to the car, every pass through the botanical gardens on the way to class, even zooming past gardens on the bus brought forth a sensation of sights and smells that calmed, soothed, and comforted this out-of-place, discombobulated soul.  Over time I began to view them as little gifts from God, reminders of his care for us, even in the littlest ways.  And I was comforted by the memories I found, even as I moved across the world.  Things that, amongst the sometimes overwhelming differences and the challenges that come from being isolated by language barriers, helped me piece life here into a new normal.  There are blue hydrangeas (like at our wedding), deep red geraniums at the windowsills (Grady’s mom and I hung them outside our windows all summer while we lived in WA), nasturtiums clambering over the edges of retaining walls (like home in WA), grapevines leafing out (like the wild ones along the roads in TX), vibrant bougainvillea formed into archways (my favorite in Costa Rica), on and on I could go.  They offer memories of home, connecting my life today with my past, keeping me whole.

(nasturtiums - when it heats up they even get bugs & shrivel like WA)

After a year, Portugal has become home to us.  We have made friends, found a church, picked favorite restaurants.  We know where to find dairy free icecream and which parks are best for kids. You know you’re settled somewhere when you can plan your grocery shopping list aisle by aisle through the store! Diego has good friends at school and favorite activities to do in town. 

(Tulips decorate this Coimbra convent cloister)

And now we are looking at moving again… to make a new home in Mozambique. We are going to sorely miss Portugal, and especially Sr. Luiis and Dona Helena (our landlords) who have treated us like family.  But I am excited to discover: what will God use in Mozambique to bring us smiles? What things will we pass on the street that remind us of our lives in Texas, Tennessee, or North Dakota? What will we fly over that bring back our days in Washington or Costa Rica? And what will swing our hearts and minds back to our time here in Portugal?  As we prepare to leave, the flowers are once again in full bloom, vibrantly proclaiming to me a promise of God’s faithfulness.  So I know God has little gifts in Mozambique already prepared to comfort us, to connect us – both to our past and to our new home that awaits us! And ultimately, all this uprooting and transplanting in our lives draws us closer to The One who helps us thrive in each new setting and our true, forever home that is to come. 

 (a neighbor's garden: chock full of flower eye candy)

(the next door neighbor grows his grapes raised over his parking spot)

(our landlords are growing passion fruit & blackberries along the path)

(out for a walk)

(bougainvillea sighting!)

Survival Mode

Bom dia! It’s Wednesday morning here in Coimbra and Diego has come in with his typical Portuguese greeting of “Good Morning!” as we eat breakfast in the kitchen.  There’s some extra excitement in the air today because 1) we have homemade muffins and 2)it is swim lesson day for Diego.

It’s been a long month.  I’m worn out from the three months of “survival mode” since Grady’s accident.  The route to Moz has been anything but straight … yet we are getting closer!  We just finished our final exams – check the box on language school!  We’ve had some excellent teachers and a lot of very patient Portuguese friends as we studied.  We’ve also had an extra wide range of real life practice (with doctors, nurses, fellow hospital patients, insurance agents, bike repair technicians, traffic police, etc).  There is certainly a lot more to learn, and we sometimes have to ask questions or say things again in a different way to be understood… but the conversations where the problems occur are a lot more complex! 

You can always find unique buildings hiding out around town.

Amidst wrapping up language school and filling out paperwork for our Mozambique visas we have been dealing with Grady’s injuries.  He was cleared to drive last week, three months to the day after the accident!  Today will be his first day without the external brace.  He feels about the same, but is doing more things for longer time periods, so things continue on the up and up.

This month the car insurance for the driver involved in the accident sent us a letter saying that as things stand they will be paying for everything.  One less worry!  With that, they have also transferred Grady to the private health care system here in Portugal.  He has started seeing a much more informative back specialist who did an internship in the US and is travelling to LA this fall as a conference speaker on innovative back surgery techniques.  We like the doctor.

He did have a decidedly different take on when Grady could begin flying though.  The startled deer in headlights look he got when we said we were headed to Moz and that he planned to begin flying again in late June was classic.  Would have been funny if it didn’t feel like our lives were hanging in the balance… He says no flying for Grady until September.  And he confirmed that Grady will need a surgery to remove the pieces from his back next spring/summer.  We are still looking into options on whether Grady will remain under this doctor’s care in Portugal or transfer to someone in South Africa.

So when will you leave for Moz?  We plan to leave as soon as possible.  With the new Caravan comes another heap of paperwork to add on the shoulders of the MAF Moz staff.  Grady will be a welcome asset in the office and maintenance shop until he gets his medical renewed.  I can start flying as needed once we’re settled in. 

Currently we are waiting for Mozambique to grant work permits for us so that we can apply for the visas.  Our Portuguese visas expire June 30^th, so right now we are working through our laundry list of pre-departure items.  The boys still have school, which they love.  Things are finally slowing down and we have left behind our three months of “survival mode”.  God must have seen we needed a little time to catch our breath, be a family again and get back on our feet before jumping into a new country, culture, work environment, school system, home, etc.  It feels good to finally have time to play on the floor with the boys, take walks just for the pleasure of the walk, attend a free organ concert in our university's 500 year old chapel and even visit the beach for an afternoon.  

Please pray for the details to come together on our visa applications in a timely manner.  We are eager to begin life there and be of assistance to our teammates but it will be hard to leave Portugal.  Thank you to each of you for helping us along this journey – your prayers, support, encouragement… they mean a lot!

Coimbra, across the street from the municipal market where we do a lot of our shopping. 

Continuing Our Education In Portuguese Healthcare

Tuesday marked six weeks from my back surgery (seven from the accident ), so I had my first checkup scheduled since the stiches were removed.  The appointment went well, but the day ended up more eventful than we had planned . . .

Last Saturday night two of our friends from Bible school flew in to spend a few days with us in Portugal.  We all had a great time Sunday and Monday, but Diego stayed home from school Monday complaining that he did not feel good.  He started coughing in the afternoon, began throwing up in the evening, and slept very poorly most of the night, waking up to vomit several times.  Diego has asthma, and as the night went on, his breathing got progressively worse.

Around 6:00 a.m. Diego woke up complaining of stomach pain and breathing with more difficulty, so we decided to take him into the children’s hospital.  We had no wait at all, and they immediately hooked Diego up to oxygen as his O2 saturation level was fairly low (80, with 95-100 being normal), and then gave him some medicine via the mask to help his asthma.

The oxygen made Diego feel better quickly, and we agreed that his mask made him look like a fighter pilot.  He then wanted an explanation of what his O2 saturation was, so I explained that his bloodstream has cells, kind of like ships, that deliver the oxygen to all the parts of his body that use it.  The ships, of course, get loaded in the cargo docks we call lungs, but the mean germs were blocking some of the ships from getting loaded, so out of 100 ships, only 80 were full - that is why he did not feel very good.  The oxygen mask was like sending extra trucks to the loading docks, and the medicine in the mask was like sending police to catch the bad guy germs messing up the loading.  This is not me oversimplifying things for children; this is how I prefer to view physiology.

Diego could not see his screen showing the O2 readings, so for the rest of the day he wanted fairly constant updates about how many of his ships were full.  He also concluded that while the good guys and bad guys might be fighting OVER the loading docks, it felt like they were fighting IN his tummy.

Anyhow, while he improved dramatically right away, he still did not feel good, and when they took him off oxygen his O2 levels would drop back below normal, so he ended up spending the night there with Holly and did not get out until about 3:30 p.m. the next day (yesterday).  He is doing fine now, and we got new inhalers for him, as well as better guidelines on how to use them than we had before.  We will have a follow up appointment in May.

It was against that backdrop that my six week broken back checkup rolled around.  We are very grateful our Bible school friends were here as:

A) They allowed both of us to go with Diego to ER without waking Lucas up (Holly is better at comforting Diego, and I’m better explaining germ battles at oxygen loading docks, so it’s nice to both be there)

B) They came to stay with Diego while Holly took me to my checkup, which conveniently was in the same massive healthcare complex as the pediatric hospital (although after I got X-rayed Holly went back to Diego to free our friends up to go pick Lucas up from daycare).

Anyway, my back looks good.  I will need to keep wearing the external brace until June fourth, but then I should be able to transition back to normal and get my pilot medical certificate about a week later.  It looks like we will be able to leave for Mozambique mid-June, which is more or less on schedule (about two weeks later than we’d planned).  We are very thankful for that!  And here are a couple of pictures of how they fixed my back.

I also got to see a couple of my favorite nurses who took care of me for twenty days.

Sometime between September of 2017 and March 2018 I will need another surgery to remove my titanium reinforcement (I’m basically Ironman right now, only with titanium), but the doctor said the removal was a simple procedure that could be done in South Africa or the US (although we might return to Portugal for it if the insurance of the car I hit pays here).

Anyhow, after my appointment I took a shift with Diego in the hospital so Holly could get food and see Lucas a little, then we switched and I went home to help put Lucas to bed and sleep.

When I got home I found our friends from Bible school had used their vacation day to clean our house, do our laundry, and wash our dishes (when they weren’t picking up Lucas from daycare, babysitting him, or watching Diego for us).  This was a huge blessing as we had been getting a bit behind in housework even since I started pulling slightly less than zero percent of my weight in late February.  

Since I was stuck in bed and Holly was at the hospital, our friends even got up with Lucas during the middle of the night! (I normally need help to put the brace back on, but sleep without it.)

Obviously it was a less than fun experience, especially for Holly, who was already stretched pretty thin, (and who had to try and sleep in the hospital’s semi-broken recliner), but we are very thankful that Diego is OK, that my back is recovering well, that it looks like we are still within a couple weeks of the schedule for Mozambique, and that God arranged friends with servant’s hearts to be visiting when it all happened.

Thank you so much for your prayers, we really appreciate them!

 Grady

New Link for Following Caravan

Hello Everyone! We hear there has been difficulty following the Caravan... here is a new link that should be working! She has reached the Azores already. 

https://share.delorme.com/DennisLyons

Follow the Caravan Across the Atlantic to Mozambique

That's right everyone! The Cessna Caravan, N624MF, is beginning it's journey to Mozambique!  A couple, who are very experienced in traveling the world with small aircraft, have volunteered their time to fly this beautiful bird to her new home in Nampula.  We are excited to have this fleet addition and for all the work she will enable MAF to accomplish! 

Now here is some fun news: we can follow along on the Fasts' adventure across the Atlantic.  

They have a blog started detailing the trip: https://dylanvalgmailcom.wordpress.com/

as well as satellite tracking of the flight: https://share.delorme.com/N624MF

They have a stop planned in the Azores... the Azores are Portuguese... so far and yet so close! N624MF, the Naces are looking forward to meeting you at the beginning of June.

Below are some of my parents' pictures from the aircraft dedication ceremony in Wichita, KS a few weeks ago.  They were able to attend along with my Uncle Terry, Aunt Jennifer and cousin Andrea (former MAF staff and MK).  

Merry Christmas

Hello Everyone,

Merry Christmas from Portugal!  We hope this finds you well, celebrating Christmas with joy. 

2015 has been a whirlwind of transitions for us.  One year ago we were just finishing up fundraising with MAF in Washington.  It seems like a lot longer than that!  In March we “moved” to Idaho for a couple of months to do our final stateside training with MAF, and that is when things started getting exciting.

Our first week of classes Diego broke his arm riding his bicycle (with training wheels, and the bike did not crash – not really sure how this happened, but my mom thinks it is payback).  Anyway, Diego turned five in a cast past his elbow and learned to build Legos mostly one handed.

As for Holly and I, we were very busy learning MAF procedures for flying and maintenance, which included flying into the most difficult airstrips of our careers.  This culminated in a four day backcountry trip landing on mountain airstrips as short as 900 feet and as steep as 20% (for reference, you get “steep grade” warning sign on roads with a slope of more than 5%).  It was very challenging and extremely fun.

We both passed – I will not say who was evaluated higher (and that is probably all you need to know).  After flight training was maintenance training for me – then we did a few weeks of cross cultural and outreach training, which was really good, and has helped us even in Portugal.  Holly’s brother Cody and my sister Roberta (and nephew Sammy) all got to come see us in Idaho as well – so it was great to get to tell them goodbye in person.

When our training finished, we had less than a month to sell, give away or pack everything we have accumulated in our combined 67 years on Earth AND board a plane to Portugal for language school.  It was a very hectic process, but with a LOT of help, we were able to get it done.  We even made time for Lucas’ first camping trip with my mom and brother Jody, and several days to say goodbye to Holly’s parents in Texas.  For a variety of visa reasons we did not know when we were leaving for Portugal until two days prior, but it all worked out in the end.

We got here mid-June, one day before Lucas turned 7 months.  With the money Diego had from selling a lot of his Thomas the Train sets, we had ordered this Lego crane to be waiting for him in Portugal.  It worked really well keeping him excited for the move!

Our classes started the end of June, but the boys’ kindergarten and daycare did not start until September, so my sister Jenna flew over and played nanny for us.  We all really enjoyed it, and during the break between summer and fall classes, Jenna’s husband Carl flew over and we travelled around Portugal together.  Short jaunts are relatively easy here because Portugal is only slightly larger than Maine.  Holly’s parents also come over for a quick trip, and plans are in the works for another visit this spring.

In September the boys started school.  Diego was very excited to begin, but being the only English speaker and adjusting to Portuguese lunches has proven difficult.  On the bright side he has made a lot of friends, learned a lot of phrases (and a few songs), and is almost always happy when we pick him up.  He has also mastered riding around on his scooter, even the brake, and averages several miles a week on it.

Diego’s school split into groups to complete projects based off interest, and Diego picked an aviation group.  Holly and I gave a presentation on flying last month which was a good test of our Portuguese.  Diego also helped build a model cockpit, and was excited to go to school on the days they were working on it.  Lucas got to try it out after going to the school Christmas program.

Lucas, on the other hand, does not seem to mind getting dropped off at daycare at all.  He is coming up on half his life in Portugal, and he is more likely to quit doing something if told in Portuguese “não!” than in English “no!”  (Although chances are he’ll continue climbing to the top of those stairs either way).  He also eats soup at least once a day, and has generally morphed into a fairly respectable Portuguese baby.  He learned to crawl in August, walked in October, and turned one in November.  He is definitely an extrovert and will cry if someone leaves the room, but if you put him down, he’ll walk out of sight without ever looking back, even in a new location – he is one after all, so he can just about take care of things on his own.

Holly and I have been very impressed with our language classes, and our University feels like it is out of a fairytale.  The old section was a Moorish building which the King of Portugal renovated into his palace, before a later king gave it to the University. 

I can now speak Portuguese almost as well as I could speak Spanish (after taking it for four years in college and living in Costa Rica), and Holly is only one course behind me.  I say “as I could speak Spanish” because when I try to speak Spanish now I generally get laughed at (although people here generally guess I am a Spaniard if I am speaking Portuguese).  We still have six more months here before Mozambique, so hopefully I’ll sound less Spanish by then.  Our classes are made up of people from twenty countries on five continents (and we have Australian friends here too), so multicultural would be an understatement.

Tomorrow we are eating a traditional Christmas lunch with our landlords, who live above us and have been amazing.  They have turned into an extra set of grandparents to the boys, help all of us with our Portuguese, and continue to provide us with a never ending stream of fresh food from their garden.  We can pick the oranges from our window!

We have delighted in finding Christmas concerts in 900 year old Cathedrals (each with an elaborate manger scene), and can follow the smoke to the chestnuts actually roasting on open fires in the city squares.  The downtown is illuminated with lights and last week Holly heard a Portuguese bagpiper! There are even Christmas choirs singing carols in the mall sometimes.  

Both our families traditionally took Christmas light appreciation drives, but we had found only a handful of houses with single strands up here, so we headed an hour north to Aveiro.  Called “Portugal’s Venice,” their downtown lights decorate the canals and traditional seaweed-harvesting-turned-tourism-gondola-boats.  It was “food for the soul” and, of course, Diego’s scooter made an appearance as well.

We wish you could come enjoy it all with us, and thank you so much for all of your prayers and support this year.  
Feliz Natal and Bom Ano Novo!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  ~ Isaiah 9:6

With much love from Portugal,

Grady, Holly, Diego (5) and Lucas (1) Nace 

(with a surprise appearance by our stockings this morning)