A recent iPad photo from my wife tells me there’s snow in our backyard back in Canada, but when you’re in the Baja surrounded by dust and heat, it’s hard to take that seriously. I’m sure I’ll view it differently once I’m home next week…

It’s been 2 ½ weeks since I returned from southern Africa, and a whole month since my last blog update. Where do the

days go? It was a profitable trip in so many ways, but I have to say it is nice to be back home, even if it’s only for a break

between trips!

I’m sitting in a friend’s garden filled with beautiful South African flowers and a bunch of somewhat noisy birds. If you know my writing habits you’ll know I need absolute silence in order to concentrate. But that’s not going to happen, so count yourself lucky – it means this update will have more photos than words!

It’s important to finish what you start. Deep down we all know the truth that every project needs a start date and a completion date if it’s going to be successful. If you don’t have them, then it’s not really a project; it’s just life.

When it comes to taking a journey, the only predictable step is the first one. Once you’re moving, all bets are off.

Memorable firsts – there’s always a first time for everything.

Some of those “firsts” we recall vividly and some we don’t remember at all. Maybe we were too young or maybe we were just distracted by something else. But those first time exposures can impact us for a lifetime.

It has been humbling to look back over just a few short years (since 2011) and see how the work and influence of Mercy Tech Mission has grown. I hope you have enjoyed hearing directly from Prosper in the previous blogs. In case you missed them, you can check them out at these links: Point of View Part 1 and Point of View Part 2.

In our last post, we shared an article written by Prospa Fernando, the 23-year-old shop manager at the maintenance shop located on the ASAM mission base in Mozambique. It was written just after he was hired for the position, and gives a good idea of his sense of calling to his work. If you missed it, you can read it here.

Mercy Tech Mission has been co-sponsoring Prosper at this position over the past two years, and part of his duties include sending us monthly reports and updates on the work he’s been doing. We thought you’d find it interesting to read about his “daily grind.”

When life happens, we tend to think it only happens one way – the way that we see it.

But in reality life happens differently for each of us. Over the next few blog posts, I want to share with you how the work of Mercy Tech Mission has “happened” to someone who has been on the receiving end – in particular, to Prosper Fernando, who is one of our original students. And I want you to hear it in his own words.