June 29th.. a Day to Remember

June 29th 2010

I like to quote Pastor Jeronimo now and then when it seem appropriate. Today he said, "Every man or woman's dream is to own his own house." This became a reality today for a woman by the name of Domingas.

Domingas is a sweet soul. She is the quiet type in your church that does all of behind the scenes work. She never complains about what she is asked to do, and many times she will go ahead of you and get things done without you asking. She takes crying children and holds them until they have been comforted or she will take a baby from the arms of a young mother so she can dance and sing for worship or at celebrations. Domingas is a gem a one of a kind.

But Domingas has a part of her life that not many know about. Her husband was abusive and divorced her several years ago leaving her with 6 children. He did allow her to rent the home she was living in because she had no where else to go. And while she lived there he would come and taunt her when he was drunk yelling at her to "get out! This is my house!" Life has not always been easy for Domingas but you wouldn't know it. She is always the first to start a song of praise to God for His goodness. She walked in faith that one day things would change.

A few months ago during the rainy season half of the house she was living in literally melted to the ground. The house had to be evacuated, and this left she and her children homeless. I don't know where she has been living since that time, until today.

Word got back to the states to Val and I that her home was destroyed and she was homeless. It is hard to for me to imagine living in a mud house to begin with but now, without a home? Domingas has always had a special place in my heart. I love her character, I love who she is. I put the word out and along with Domingas we prayed for an answer.

I let people know she was needing assistance. I told her story to others. I spoke the truth about the situation. And as only God would have it. The Holy Spirit spoke to a family to help her. God spoke and they obeyed. Isn't this what God asks of us? To obey Him? When we obey He is glorified.

A mud house costs $900. A small price to pay for someone to have a safe place, a dream come true, a refuge from life and a place to glorify the Lord for His goodness.

Please consider obedience at all costs. You will never be the same.

If you love Me, keep My commandments —John 14:15

He Gives and He Takes Away

Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Blessed be His Name.

Last weekend we were privileged to attend and participate in the baby dedication of one of our dear workers, Maria. If you have followed my blogs in the past, my description of a baby dedication is a time full of singing and dancing, gift giving, a short message to the mother's and then for food and drink. A typical food and drink would be a fried doughnut like bread in a
criss-cross fashion and a drink called "Maheou."

I remember the first time I was offered Maheou at the first dedication I attended. I asked one of the other Brazilian missionaries if this was safe to drink. She just made this awful face and said, "God knows. He will protect us." I was thinking, "well, am I going to die here from drinking this stuff?" It smelled really really bad, and if you know me personally you know I can't smell anything unless it is really really bad! So when it came for my drink to be poured, at that time I only knew a couple of words and thankfully one of them was, "pouco pouco" which means a little bit. So I drank a teeny tiny bit and was able to not offend the mother and her family for not refusing. That was 4 years ago. Today at any given baby dedication you can now find, Orange or Strawberry Fanta, thank you Lord!

Maria's dedication had even more of an endearment for Val and I. Maria asked us to name the baby! Val and I wrestled for a couple of minutes and then Maria said, "she must have the name of a woman from the bible." Well, that made it easier and almost unanimously we said, "Esther" It is pronounced so beautifully here. (Essteir) I love the language here, I pray I can one day speak it fluently.

The "dedication" of the baby process, is that women's ministry leaders and closest friends go into the house to pray and dedicate the child to God. After the prayer of dedication, then the child is brought outside into the sunlight to show for the first time. Someone gives a short message of encouragement and then the dancing begins with a loud shout for joy to the Lord. Not only was I privileged to come, but I dedicated the baby and then gave a short message of encouragement. Prov. 22:6
I wanted to speak to the ladies that we as Mother's have a tremendous responsibility in raising our children. They watch what we do, they follow what we do. We will make many mistakes and that is why all of us must help each other. We need to help keep each other accountable before the Lord and walk along side of each other to fill in the gap. We must take our children to church and teach them about Jesus and never take them to the witchdoctor. It doesn't matter what the traditions are, we must keep our eyes on Jesus because He is the only way. The blessings of our families come from Him. This is a day I will never forget and a child which I will always hold dear to my heart.

While I was speaking to the women and children, there was a stir amongst some of the ladies. So many people were crowded around me I couldn't see what was going on but a few of the ladies left. Afterwards we got word that a new baby had died during the dedication of life. This baby was the child of a boy whose father is the chief of witchdoctors in the Dondo area where we live. The mother was a niece to one of our other workers. The young mother had been living with the boy's family and they wanted the baby to be in line to be a dedicated witchdoctor. Since the baby died, the girl was put out. There was a ritual service for the dead baby the next day.

In the next 48 hours 4 people died within our project. Life is so fragile here. Have you thanked God for another day of life today?

Please Read These Words......
Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

Without Clothes and Daily Food

Every morning at 7am we start our work day with a staff meeting. We have 12-14 workers each day come into our gathering room to pray, sing and receive their instruction for the day. Many of our ladies are very shy and do not say much when asked a question but when it is time to pray and sing, they can really belt it out! I love this about them, their relationship with the Lord and honoring Him in worship.

We have been going through the book of James and this morning we looked at james 2:14-24 about Faith and Deeds. We focused on later part of verse 22, "and his faith was made complete by what he did." Pastor Todd challenged each one of us to do something for someone else today and to bless some one with either clothes or food. When our workers were asked if they had someone in mind who they were going to bless, this was hard for them. Their thinking for some, was "I already have so little, what do I have to give?" But the challenged remain and they all came up with a name of their next person to bless. We didn't want to know, God already knew.

Val and I have already many on our list to help, it is just finding the time to meet privately with each family. Last year I visited a woman and gave her a bag of clothing and that night she was robbed. We have a chance of putting people at risk when we give so we have to be so discreet about our helping.

As we sat in the car in the village next to us some children walked by all smiles, dirty, their clothing falling off of them because they are so worn and torn, I said to Val, "it is not even clothes what they need here even with the condition of their clothes that we see but it is food that is the matter of importance." So many die here each year, month and even week due to malnutrition. It is the food, and yet food is so temporary. Yes we will give food, and we will even give clothes but more importantly we will give them a hope. And with that hope there can come change.

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength." Isa 40:31

The Devil Lost Again!

The sound of singing could be heard from the gate walking into the courtyard of the church today. The Texas team offered a gift to the Food Pantry so it was distribution day today. 100 families in the project received 10kg of farhina, 1 liter of oil, 1kg of sugar and 3 kg. of beans. This should keep a family of 4-6 supplemented for about a month. Have you ever thought about how much food you eat in a month? There are so many times I can't even remember what I ate from one meal to the next or if I ate all day non-stop. Eating is so much different here in Africa, it is so much less, sometimes it is not at all.

I sat near the back watching the dancing and singing along with the tunes in 2 different languages. When the announcement had been made that the donors of the gift were sitting in the back, the Texans stood up and there was a loud roar of clapping and yelling. It made the tears well up in my eyes as they again started singing praises to the Lord for sending the Texas team to help them survive another month.

The women and men who received the food all have AIDS. They are victims of this disease. They are all without work and many times rejected because of their sickness. Many of them will not live until next year because of malaria or typhoid or pneumonia.
I have been told about 7 out of 10 people here have AIDS. I saw more men, women and children with AIDS today than you will see in a life time in America.

The last song of the morning before the food was hand delivered by the Texas team was, "The devil has lost again!"

Keep praying for us here in Mozambique. If you would like to help feed the poor, widows and orphans donate to our Food Pantry through Children's Relief International.

"If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." Isaiah 58:10

Val gets to have all of the fun! For the last week I have been sick with malaria and she got to go out to the bush, drive on really the most craziest roads ever and got to put the truck into 4 wheel drive and splash through mud and drive fast to beat the clock. She gets to do all of the fun stuff when I am sick. But I am on my feet again and we are on the run once again.

We are part of the privileged people who find our work to be fulfilling, rewarding and worthy of our time. God has been so good to us both to bring us to work together here in Mozambique. Even though she did try to kill me 2 years ago when I was sick with malaria then since that time she has proven to really be a great friend and nurse on the field. My work would be impossible without her here. We enjoy the work, we love our people here and it has been a blast walking in this season with Valerie.

I am thankful that God saw fit for us to meet here and together journey the sandy soil of Mozambique searching for the hand of God by being the hands and feet of Jesus.

No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends. John 15: 13

Springs of Living Water

Our first team has arrived and they are off to drill wells of clean water for our friends here in Mozambique. This team is not an ordinary team but a team of rough and tough Texans with a focus of getting clean water into a place where not only will they provide a water that is healthy but they are also providing the word of the Gospel.

This is the second time this team has come into the area to drill water wells. The vision of this team is to train and build a team here in Mozambique to eventually take over this business so that it can become a self sustaining business. There are many NGO organizations in this area that are willing to pay to have wells drilled for their sights as well as the government having an interest in clean water.

Kudo's to the Texan's for their hard work, tough backs and spirit of delivering more than just water.