HAITI

ORPHANS
PATIENCE
SAD

FAMILIAR
FORGIVENESS
DESPERATION

COMPASSION

DEVASTATION
CHILDLESS

MIRACLES

GRIEVING

WIDOWS
REUNIONS

TRADGEDY

INJURIES

DEDICATION
HUNGER

HUMANITY

LOVE

ALONE
FEAR

GENEROSITY
PAIN
THIRST
SALVATION
HOPE

Please Pray for Rain!

We are weeks into the supposed rainy season and the land is still dry horribly parched. Our guards have started bringing their water containers on their bicycles from home to be filled with our well water. Their wives get in line at the community pump that is shared with hundreds of others in their villages at 3 am every morning. Even though they wait their turn for hours lately the water has been finished because of the low water table and they return home empty handed. How is a wife to cook, wash clothes, bath the children with water if she can not find any??  Water truly is the source of life here in Mozambique.

There is lots of talk of failed crops and hunger for the coming year. In the last two months we have only had odd days of very light momentary rain. It is not enough! We are asking that you would join us and the people of Mozambique in praying for abundant rain. It is difficult to explain the necessity or the desperation people feel. If the rain does not come it will be a VERY difficult year with most suffering from hunger and malnutrition. I have witnessed children suffering because they are starving. It is heartbreaking! I have had a child die because she was too malnourished to survive. It makes me furious and sad! It invades every portion of daily life and society here. Not only will many suffer and some even die but the costs of the food we do have will rise dramatically making it near to impossible for those that do have money to purchase what they need. It's a horrible cycle of poverty. May it be broken in Jesus Name!

We trust God and know His plan is bigger than anything we fathom. We look to Him for wisdom in how to best help those in need. We are considering the idea of buying a large quantity of farinha (maize flour), the main staple diet, to keep on hand so our guards and those we minsiter to will have access to food in the coming months. We realize we can not "save" the world but we can not stand by and do nothing either. We have the financial means (which they do not) to be able to "prepare" for such a time as this and must do what we are called to do. Thank you for joining us as we pray for rain and for us to make wise, faith filled decisions.
Andrea

Sweet Relief in the Heat

The boys were so excited yesterday because this is how we stayed cool when it was 98 degrees.

Micah enjoying his treat of an icecream cone.....

Nate (and Jonathan) playing for the camera.

Jonathan and Daniel (other missionary kids) join the fun!

Daniel REALLY enjoyed his treat!

Nate pretending to be the Statue of Liberty.

Staggering Statistics

Today I was doing some online research and came across some staggering statistics about Mozambique from the CIA Factbook website (2007).

• 12.5 % of Mozambicans are infected with HIV

• 18% of the population is Muslim

• Life Expectancy is average of 40 years old

• 23% of children under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition

• 101 out of every 1,000 children die at birth

Sobering to think of the difficulties that Mozambicans face on a daily basis!

The Grandma's (Vovo's)

Our hearts desire, here in Mozambique, is to reach out to orphans that are living in poverty and see them healthy and whole. To do this we have come to understand we must also reach out to the orphans main caregivers, their Grandma's. Many, many children have lost both parents to death or abandonment and remain with their Grandma's as the only relative willing or able to care for them. These are often very old ladies struggling for daily survival. Their needs are many and overwhelming; food, clothing, emotional support, clean water to drink, basic healthcare, medication, and school fees. We often wonder where do you begin? We want to see them encouraged, fed, healthy, clothed, supported and blessed, and sensing the love of God. 

Today we made a visit to some Vovo's. This is Esquita. She is alone with no living relative to help her raise her 9 year old grandson. She is very old, judging by her white hair as she does not know her age. She lives in a rustic, dark, dusty, two room house with a tin roof. She has no furniture other than a grass mat for her and her grandson to sleep on. She struggles to find them food. She can not grow a garden since she has no land and is too feeble to walk a long distance for a plot of land outside the city. She struggles to get her grandson to go to school or obey. It is a very hard life. She prays often and attends church. She tells us how she dreams of flying to heaven with her grandson. I can't fathom her struggles. I will never truly comprehend. I admire her strength. I long to help her. I struggle with having so much when she has so very little. I need to help.

It is overwhelming when you see such desititue living situations. Your heart aches. Your senses can hardly take it in. Your mind races. Your spirit longs for heaven where there is no suffering.

It is difficult to explain in mere words.

We need GOD in all His fullness! We need His wisdom to only do what He desires. We need His strength  to meet the challenges before us. We need his courage so our hearts are not overwhelmed with the needs. We need His resources to meet their practical needs. We need emotional resilience so we don't give up.

And we must say we need YOUR prayers!

We know with confidence that God has His hand on Esquita and Antonio and He alone is their Provider.

We are simply called to pour into their lives in the ways He shows us.

We help meet practical needs. We speak words of encouragement to them. We pray for them.

We LOVE them.

Church in the Village

I did not take my camera to church in the village this week yet some things are captured in my mind regardless of a photo to prove it.

A little girl, barely able to stand up and walk, dancing her little heart out to the beat of the drums and singing.

The elderly widow lady that removed her wrap (capulana) to brush the youth singers as her sign that she was blessing them.

The deep, loud, quick beat of the drum.

The sweat rolling down my back because of the heat of the day as well as having 50 people crammed into a very small building.

The ladies dancing, incredible footwork and loud, sharp clapping that didn't miss a beat.

The children huddled in the opposite corner of the small church giggling and pointing at our boys since they don't often see white children if they have ever before.

The heat beating on the tin roof causing it to crackle and pop.

The pastor preaching in Portuguese that was then translated into the local dialect, Shona.

The trees, drooping to the ground outside, filled with avocados .

The smell of dust stirred up by the dancing feet of the congregation.

The uncomfortable wooden bench that my bottom protests against.

The amazing greeting by all the women in the church as the Pastor explained that I don't yet speak Portuguese.

THIS CULTURE AWAKENS MY SENSES!

Behold, I Make All Things NEW

I for one am grateful that God promises to make all things new. All things includes me with all my faults and failings. How wonderful a promise that we are a new creation in HIM and created in HIS image and being made NEW into HIS likeness. It is exciting to know God is working to bring about His purposes.

I believe 2010 will be a year of NEW.

Speaking of new, I have done a new thing. I have always wanted to grow a Sunflower and this New Year that has happened. Like most things the planting and preparing were done beforehand (2009) but I had to wait patiently for the "fruit" and it has come.

May you have a "NEW" Year as well!