Differences Part Five: Daily Life

Every time I turn on a faucet and get clear running water, and it runs hot or cold, in the kitchen, the bathroom or outside in a hose, I say a thank you.

Every time I turn on an electric switch and a light comes or a machine works, I say a thank you.

When I can go to a refrigerator and get ice cubes, when it is hot, I say a thank you.

When it rains, and I have a roof over my head, that does not leak, I say a thank you.

When its hot, and i can turn on a fan, or if its cold, some kind of heat, I say thank you.

If i need warm water for a cup of tea, i turn a knob, and gas heats the stove immediately, or the microwave heats things in very little time, I say a thank you.

When I pull into a gas station, and they have gas available for purchase, I say thank you.

When I drive 100 miles, on a road, without a single pothole, I say thank you.

Not having these things as readily in Mozambique, as we have in other places, reminds me more and more to give ''thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.''

Differences Part Four: Prisons

I have yet to have any first hand experience with working in a prison of any kind in Mozambique, (trust but verify - do your own confirming research) but one of the ministries at Maforga, visits the local prison on a weekly basis, and I have had several discussions, and read several things about prison conditions in Mozambique. One of the most shocking things to Western thought, is how little care (food and health care) is given. Prisons tend to feed the prisoners very little, similar to the situation in hospitals where family members or friends are counted on to help. over the past few years one proposal was to have the prisoners grow their own food. Other organizations have documented the overcrowding and lack of facilities (no toilets, no beds) in some prison cells in Mozambique. Hebrews 13: 1-3 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

Differences Part Three: Hospitals

Mozambique is one of the poorest nations in the world, and this is reflected by the number of hospitals and doctors there. Most recent estimates say that there are about 600 doctors for the entire population, or one doctor for every 30,000 people. In the U.S. its about three doctors for every 1,000 people. Mozambique only has the capacity inside the country to train about 60 doctors per year, and many of those who go outside the country for training, do not return. Money for medicine is scarce, and many times, in order to get any care in a hospital, money must be paid up front, or a patient will not be given care at all. This all equates to very high infant and child mortality rates (about 76 out of every 1000 infants dies before the age of one, 180 out of 1000 children die before the age of five.) In the U.S. 6 infants out of every 1000 die before the age of one. Perhaps the largest difference is that hospitals in Mozambique (and many other places) do not have the responsibility or capacity to feed the patients that are staying in the hospital. That is a responsibility left to friends or relatives. If no one is available to provide food, or buy medicine, this makes medical situations that much more difficult to solve. This contributes to a life expectancy of 47 years currently. We knew of 11 people who died during the six months we were in Mozambique in 2011.

Differences Part Two: School

We experienced several differences related to schools in Mozambique. Children can walk up to several miles a day (without shoes) in order to get to school. sometimes very young, 5-6 year old children do this , without supervision. Class sizes in Mozambique now average right around 70 per class. The US Department of Education estimates that in the US, nationally, the average class size is twenty-five. Many times, driving along the Beira corridor, from Beira to Mutare, we will see classes meeting outside, for lack of classroom space. We have also seen classrooms that are simply bare rooms, no furniture, sometimes students carry small stools back and forth to school with them.

Another difference. Currently in order to be a become a teacher in Mozambique, (as it was explained to me) one can go to six-eight years of regular school, with one or two years of teaching education. Essentially nine years of schooling will get a teaching credential right now in Mozambique. With fewer teachers, schools also have fewer support staff, secretaries, counselors, nurses, etc are pretty much non-existent in the rural schools. finally, universities, It's difficult to count, but in trying to find information on Universities in Mozambique I think I found references to about ten entities that could call themselves Universities, for a population of 22 million people.

Differences Part One: Work

It's May Day! Every worker in the country gets a raise! (More on that later.)

We get asked questions all the time about the differences between Mozambique and the United States, and sometimes when we try and answer those questions, we are met with some of the most quizzical expressions.  I hope that doesn't reflect our powers of description as much as it reflects how vast the differences are between the two nations, and how difficult that is to grasp, if you haven't seen it and experienced it for yourself.

As a theme for May, I'll try and describe with words and pictures, some of the differences in the following areas (as I currently understand them, reserving the right to update that knowledge and I gather more facts as we continue to learn about the area where we are at.) 



Work
Church
School
Transport
Medicine
Banks /ATMs
Grocery stores / Markets
Prisons
Cooking
Water
Animals
Trash Cleanup
Toilets
Showers
Clothing

I'll start with this difference.  Work. Today is May Day. May 1st.  A big deal globally for the International Workers of the World set.

One could set down a very lengthy treatise on differences in Labor Law between Mozambique and the United States,  but here is one difference.  The Labor Consultative Commission (the National government, the trade unions and the employers' associations) has decided, to give raises to all of the workers in every industry across Mozambique for the last several years.

Minimum and maximum wages are set in twelve different categories of industry. (Ranging from about 80 to 220 dollars per month.)

Even given the mandatory minimum wage, unemployment in Mozambique is around 40%. Of those working, about 70 % earn the minimum wage in their sector of labor, and the average minimum wage only pays about 50% of the poverty line in Mozambique.

A very different scenario from that in the United States.
  

Usable or Not?

There was a great event in Gainesville over the weekend in which several local churches banded together to help clean up a building that had been sitting vacant for some time, in order to prepare it for some new groups and ministries.

Throughout the day, the dumpster grew more and more full of items that were not considered to be of any more use at that facility. So the items were thrown in the trash. Some of us struggle with the Reduce - Reuse- Recycle theme, and some of us don't.

One example of throwaway items were books. I kept thinking of how difficult it is to get books in Africa, specifically Mozambigue, but other countries as well, and how easy it is to throw them away in America. Just one of thousands of items that we throw away here in America as having no further use to us, and that are invaluable in other places where resources are more scarce.

Take water bottles for instance. Easy to get and everywhere in the USA right? I've seen children, in churches, in Mozambique, sipping out of liquor bottles, with the labels still on them, and you share your head, and then realize, that is what this child is using for a water bottle.

Is the solution then to just recycle everything, or donate these things to African countries? For a variety of reasons, it isn't that simple, nor is it actually that easy, or cost effective. It can certainly be done, but not in every situation. So the reality, and the perspective, is still there.

We have so much surplus in this country, that we throw away perfectly good and usable items simply because it is more cost effective for us to do that, while some other places lack those same items, but it is difficult to make the match sometimes between surplus and need (in terms of physical items) and justify the cost of sending those items to the people who may need them.

A while back, I found this ball, a beat up old volleyball, abandoned in a gutter.

It wasn't pretty, but I saved it as an example of one of those thing that has run out of useful life in the US, but would still have use in Africa. Probably 100 million African kids would clamor to play with this ball if they had the chance. I doubt if one single American child would claim it as their own. I think the very same thing can happen in our lives, with one important difference.

Many of us have been tossed aside, thrown away, deemed to be of no more use because of our past history or sin. But as long as we have breath and life, and we turn our lives and hearts to Jesus, not only can what was deemed unusable become usable in God's hands, He will make us new!

Colossians 3:5-10

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Chuck Colson

It’s somewhat fascinating to see the news coverage following the death of Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson yesterday.

Colson was criticized during his lifetime from various quarters, and while some of that criticism was very deserved, he did have one of the most well-know Born Again conversions of modern times, and spent the majority of his adult working life, speaking, writing and broadcasting what he understood the Christian faith to be, and how it is to be lived out in the real world.

I find it curious however, how some of the obituaries blur the line between Colson’s activities while working in the White House and his involvement with Watergate, and the fact that he then became a born-again evangelical Christian. The obituaries instead portray Colson as an Evangelical Christian Watergate Felon rather than a person who was convicted (both of his crimes and his sins), was presented with a message of redemption and salvation, accepted that message, repented of his ways, and went on to found a ministry in prisons that ministered to hundreds of thousands, if not more, prisoners from 1976 to the present.

I find parallels between the life of Saul/Paul (who by his own admission was an evil man) and Chuck Colson. Both were (emphasis on were) zealots, and attacked their fellow man, Paul even murdering Christians in order to protect the faith he grew up in. Both became pillars of the faith in their respective generations.

Paul reminds us of his own sins and shortcomings, to emphasize the fact that all of us, no matter what we have done can be redeemed and changed by the love of Christ.

I Timothy 1:12-17

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Firm Foundations

Matthew 7:25-27

‘’The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”


This happens frequently in Mozambique. Building materials and methods are not as advanced as in some other places and many times there are storms that blow away thatch roofs and sweep away mud brick houses.

This was a pit toilet at the school that met an earlier than intended demise.

An Example of Success from Kenya

Baraka Farm and Lewa Children's Home in Eldoret, Kenya have long been a tremendous success story. They have added another chapter to this success over the last year and a half, by adding a very large water reservoir, storage tanks and a sand filter to their farm.

The Lewa Children's Home Facebook page notes that there were five months with no rain, but they were able to grow plenty of vegetables the entire time, due to the rainwater that they were able to harvest over the past year. Phyllis Keino and Jos Creemers, and their many helpers continue to do a tremendous job. Look for Lewa Children's home, and Jos Creemers ''In search of more water'' alum for photos of construction of the dam and reservoir.

Their success is a tremendous inspiration, and something that groups all over Africa should look at as an example, and try to repeat.

Progress at Maforga and Home

No word or update on the previous post on the sawmill at Maforga, but other workers there, Greg and Kim Hart have made great progress on a new chicken shed, have been learning a lot about raising healthy goats, and making progress in pastor training! Read more here... http://hartsforafrica.blogspot.com/

Kees and Sarah Tanis have lots of progress to report at http://www.keesandsarah.com/updates/

Pray also for Carlos, Manuel and their Rubitano ministry at Maforga and the surrounding villages, that cares for AIDS patients, and orphans and widows.

Sarah and I (and Hannah) took a trip to ECHO this week in North Fort Myers. http://www.echonet.org/ . ECHO collects and disseminates information on agriculture and on appropriate technologies to use in third world contexts, and is in contact with and serves over 3,800 other organizations. We learned a number of valuable things and were introduced to several ideas and concepts that we want to try to practice here in Florida before we head back to Mozambique.

We are meeting people and sharing our vision for the children at Maforga, and also becoming more aware of so many people working on the ministries that God has given them to do. Pray for all of the people and ministries that we have met or corresponded with this month.

Barrett Keene is walking across America to raise money for orphans. http://gowalkamerica.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/gowalkamerica

Many retired missionaries at Penney Farms http://www.penneyretirementcommunity.org/ are sharing their experience and expertise with us and others.

Pastor Ed Leanza at Trenton Community Nazarene Church.

The Orphan care ministry at The Family Church in Gainesville. (Pray for Wayland, a preemie born four weeks early that was placed in foster care this week.)

All of our friends at Faith Community Church in Leesburg. http://www.faithccleesburg.org

Jim Louwsma at http://www.africaworks.org/mission.php

Ken Corley at Wells of Hope International http://www.wellsofhopeinternational.org/Wells_of_Hope_international.php

The World Race - Katie Lossner getting ready for a ministry trip that will go to eleven nations in eleven months. http://katielossner.theworldrace.org/

The Change this World project at Stetson University http://www.changethisworld.com/stetson/

Sarah and I continue to speak to as many people we can about the children in Mozambique, and their needs and our team of encouragers, supporters and people who pray is growing each week. Thanks to everyone who has been so encouraging to us this past month.

Pray for Maforga

Today Sarah and I received a short note from Maforga, which can be summed up this way.

*

The mission in part supports itself with a sawmill. One of the main sawmill contracts is ending, and this will mean a substantial reduction in the workforce that cares for the children.

*

This is difficult news to hear, as the need is currently for more, not less help. Please pray for all of the people at Maforga, the children, the workers, and the directors, that God would provide a way for their needs to be met.

Baby Dedication and Adoption Celebration

A few weeks ago The Family Church in Gainesville, had a simple baby dedication. An opportunity for parents to stand before the church, and have the pastors and church pray for them, and for the parents to express their desire to raise their children as God would have them be raised.

The cool thing was that there were six families, six children, from four different continents. Two babies born in the US, one being adopted, another child from a family from western Africa, one baby adopted from China, a baby adopted from Bulgaria, and our baby born in Mozambique. It was amazing to see those stories all woven together to be on that stage in that one moment, on that day.

A week later, some of us met again at the Orphan Care group at the church. It was a small gathering, but the group there has accounted for eight international adoptions, and more on the way. The evening was a great chance to celebrate the enormous success of this group this past year. Three families (four children) had adoptions finalized in the past several months.

Sarah and I are encouraged as we build our team for going back to Mozambique, to have been able to meet so many people who have accomplished so much, and who do care for the children that the world does not care for.

Psalm 82: 3

‘’Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

I Samuel 1:21-28

When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”

“Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

Everything up to this point

A few weeks ago, I was skimming through a book entitled, From Bad Beginnings to Happy Endings, by Ed Young, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publ., 1994), and came upon this passage, somewhat paraphrased here…

…I could bore you with the story of my life, selling newspapers, painting house numbers on curbs, selling men’s clothing, working in a coal mine, surveying land, setting of dynamite for tunneling, and wiring houses for electricity.

‘’I could tell you countless stories about my mother and father, brothers, aunts, uncles and old friends.

But I am convinced, as boring as those details seem to you, strung together they would reflect the supernatural work of God in my life and his preparation for what he has called me to do today. God has used every success, every failure in my life to this point to equip me for his service.‘’

I could substitute some of the tasks and activities, in the first paragraph, but other than that, this expresses what I have felt for some time now.

Isaiah 43:18

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.’’

Job 11:13-18

“Yet if you devote your heart to him
and stretch out your hands to him,
if you put away the sin that is in your hand
and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
then, free of fault, you will lift up your face;
you will stand firm and without fear.
You will surely forget your trouble,
recalling it only as waters gone by.
Life will be brighter than noonday,
and darkness will become like morning.
You will be secure, because there is hope;
you will look about you and take your rest in safety.’’

Philippians 4:8 '.....whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.''

Galatians 5:22-23 '...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ''

Ephesian 4:2 ''Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.''

Ephesians 4:32 ''Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.''

I am Thankful for the ‘’small’’ things

Most any person raised initially and primarily in a western or ‘first-world’ nation, who then lives in a ‘’third-world’’ area for an appreciable amount of time, will end up changed.

For me, when I spend time in the United States, I often find that I have a deep appreciation for some of the ‘’smallest’’ and most basic things.

Every night, I truly appreciate having a roof over my head that does not leak, and a bed to sleep in and warm blankets.

I appreciate clean water that comes in pipes, directly into the house, including hot water in a shower. I appreciate a toilet that I don’t have to flush with a bucket of water, hauled up four flights of stairs. (40% of the people on earth have never used a toilet.)

I* appreciate having a freezer, and something cold. I appreciate having a stove, that doesn’t run out of gas, and that I don’t have to cook over a fire, unless it is my choice.

I appreciate a gas station, that has gas available, and the electricity to pump it.

I appreciate, that though there have been times when I was hungry, or cold, or tired, or felt that I lacked resources for certain needs of wants, that I still grew up in an environment, that provided me with more than the majority of the world.

Proverbs 30: 7-9

“Two things I ask of you, LORD;

do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God. ''

I am thankful for forgiveness and second chances

Daniel 9 :3-9

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:

“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, LORD, because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.

“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

“Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

I Timothy 1:12-17

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

How do we keep people from dying?

I’ll try and steer away from the dying in Mozambique topic, by looking at the question, ‘’How do we keep people from dying?”

Given proper resources, we can do the basics of health education, better information about AIDS prevention, much better nutrition, and better information about health during pregnancy, birth, and raising newborns and infants.

But one of the biggest needs at Maforga, is to get the medical clinic staffed, stocked, and up and running again.

There is a beautiful building, that for a number of years, was home to a thriving medical clinic which was watched over by Joan Goodman “Nana” who looked after patients, sometimes up to 100 per day, even into her early 80s. Nana is still at Maforga, but retired now, and so far, no one has come to take her place.

The building is still there, still beautiful, but the clinic could serve an incredibly vital role again both for the orphanage, and the surrounding villages if it were once again in operation.

Pray for people to be available and open and willing to come and help to work and perhaps train others so that the clinic can be re-opened again. That is one way that we can keep people from dying.

The clinic building, is steps away from the church building at Maforga, and in the end, they serve the same purpose. The clinic, healing from physical disease and death, and the church, healing from spiritual disease and death.

Outside waiting area (this will need some repair, and cleanup.)

Inside, with a large central area, and several private examination and treatment rooms, electricity, running water, showers and toilets.

Mozambican Sunrise

My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty.

On being a mom...

Someone asked me how I enjoy being a mom... truth is... I love it. I've always been a little mom... ask my sisters! :-) I have always wanted to be a mother... more than any other thing, any job on earth... a mommy. Thats what I wanted... I think that God has given me this desire, from such a young age, to prepare me for what HE has in store for me now! I was at our church's orphan care group meeting last week, and the leaders showed the video by Eric Ludy "Depraved Indifference." I had seen the video several times before, if you haven't seen it... definitely check it out. It is worth the 8 minutes of your time. Each time I watched it, I was moved to tears... This time was no different. One of the points struck me extra hard this time, it was talking about US being the body of Christ, the actual physical body of Christ to the world. "I work through my body, I am a father to the fatherless through my body, I rescue the week and the vulnerable through you! And if you're not doing it no one is!" God has been preparing MY heart to be HIS body, and move to care for HIS children. He said "I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you" (John 14:18). He wants to use me... to be His body, His hands and feet... you know, I say that all the time... and it means something to me, it really does... but, I don't think I grasped how much it should mean to me until just lately... I want to show Jesus to these kids, I want to show Jesus to Mozambique, I want to show them God's love... but, man... thats heavy. Kind of overwhelmed with the magnitude of that. "[God] is longing for an advocate to stand up and say I'm willing God, to fight for what is yours. I'm willing God, burden me." I'm willing God, and I am burdened...

Examples from Daily Life

Daily life in some (or most) places in Mozambique is not ‘’modern’’ Limited access to electricity and running water, the things considered ‘’essential’’ to life by many in the western world.

In many ways, life in Mozambique can be far more similar to life 2000 years ago, during the time of Jesus. Scenes from the Bible seem to come to life and it is easy when doing every day work, to be reminded of these stories.

For instance, one day several boys arrived at our house, and saw these markings on the door and asked what they were.

These are notations that the census takers in use to mark their work. The boys still weren’t quite sure, so I reminded them of the account in the bible, when Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem, after Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

Some of those same boys helped with some trees that were badly in need of trimming. We talked about John chapter 15, where Jesus says ‘’I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.’

We even had scapegoats, similar in concept to the scapegoats in Leviticus 16.

Whether it is weeds (Matthew 13:24-30) or wells, or seeds (John 12:24) or snakes, there is something every day that can be used as a lesson to remind us of what the Bible says about life.

Feet that proclaim peace, good tidings, and salvation

In the last post, I made mention of what Kees, who has been in Mozambique some seventeen years now, said to me. ‘’This is Africa. Every day, you must be ready to preach, to pray, and to die.’’

The last point was driven home to me nearly every week that we were there in 2011.

The moment we arrived, in March, our drivers were receiving text messages, that one of the under-two week-old babies needed to go to the hospital. That baby died a few days later, and Sarah went to the funeral on the fourth day that we were in Mozambique.

On another occasion, someone brought a very sick baby from a town 25 miles away, walking from the road to get to the clinic, which has not been operating for about four years. The baby was sick and ashen, and was driven to another clinic, but died on the way there.

One ministry of the Bible School run by Kees, is to visit the prison on Friday of each week. The entire class, 25-30 people visit, and minister to the prisoners. On one occasion, due to illness, or perhaps weakness from hunger (prisoners are not fed by the prison system, but by family or outside help) one of the prisoners died in a meeting there.

On another day, we received news that one of the workers at an orphanage down the road, someone we had visited with and worked with, had taken ill suddenly, and died of a heart condition that evening, because his normal medicine, had not been available. He left a wife, and two small lovely children.

Car and truck wrecks are common in Mozambique. On one occasion a truck missed a curve and hit a house, destroying the half nearest the road. Miraculously no one in the house was injured, but a woman passenger in the truck was killed.

One evening, two men in a village less than a mile from Maforga were feuding, and one was pushed, or made to run into traffic, and was killed.

We heard of at least three relatives of people that we worked with, that died while we were there.

Life expectancy is still about 47 years in Mozambique, and infant mortality, is quite high (about 180 of every 1000 children die before the age of five.)

However, the one death that hit closest to home for us, and others at Maforga, was that of Martha. Martha, was a lovely woman, competent, and hard working, who loved God. She would come early in the morning each Wednesday, to clean our home. She loved to hold and hug Jacinta, and little Hannah when she was born. Martha cleaned several houses at the mission, and was working hard to save her money after losing her husband to illness the year before.

Martha’s hard work wore her down. She had anemia, and had Malaria three times in the first half of the year. She had not been feeling well, and pneumonia was suspected. She had also accidently stepped on a nail, and tetanus was a worry, but she slowly had recovered from that. After a frustrating several weeks with no real answers from the local hospital, she continued to weaken. Finally it was determined that she had tuberculosis. She did not respond well to the treatments, and just a week or two before we left, Martha died, somewhere around the age of 35.

In our area it was generally considered to be polite to remove ones shoes before entering a house, to leave the dirt and dust outside. Martha would leave her sandals outside our door, and one day I took this picture.

It reminds me of Isaiah 52:7

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”

We are there in Mozambique to help with both physical needs and spiritual needs. Though Martha died a physical death, she is one of the success stories, as she died knowing that her sins were forgiven by Jesus Christ, and that because of his death and Resurrection, she has conquered death.

We never know when our time will come

We never know when our time will come

Luke 12:16-21

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

The first week that we arrived in Mozambique, in March of 2011, one of the missionaries there said, ‘’This is Africa, every day, you must be ready to preach, to pray and to die.

I think that sentence sums up three biblical thoughts, we need to be ready to preach (I Peter 3:15 ‘’ Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”) to pray always (I Thessalonians 5:17) and to be ready to die. Luke 12:16-21 above.

Late last fall, in one weekend, there was a rash of headlines related to American sports, in which people were dying, some young, some old, and all unexpectedly.

On Friday, five people from Oklahoma State University on business for the women’s basketball team, were killed in a plane crash.

That same day, a young student and ski champion from Scotland, studying in Oregon, was riding his bicycle and was hit by a car, and died the following day.

On Saturday, a young woman was hit and killed by a truck while tailgating before the Harvard – Yale football game at Yale University.

That same day, a band major in Florida died, after a hazing incident by fellow band members.

The following day, Sunday, a University of Arkansas football player, was found collapsed in his dorm room, and died of a previously undiagnosed heart ailment.

The next day, on Monday, a young baseball player for the Seattle Mariners, Greg Halman, died, after being stabbed to death by a family member.

Over this same weekend, hikers, hunters, fishermen, died of accidents or natural causes, all over the US and Canada. In all of the above examples, ranging from 18 to 80 years of age, one can guess that not a single one of these people woke up that morning, knowing that it would be their last day on earth, or how it would happen.

Statisticians calculate that on average, about 155,000 people die, every day, around the world. It’s the normal and inevitable conclusion for all of us in the physical world, but the question is, are we ready for what will be required of us after death?

Romans 14:10-12

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

Do you know Christmas?

Do you know Christmas?

It’s Easter week, but bear with me for a moment. I always remember, that we can’t have the resurrection, without first having the birth of Christ.

During one of our last visits to the Missiao par Juventude, just outside Gondola, in September 2010, we were talking of plans to return to Mozambique, when one of the adults asked us if we planned to return before Christmas.

Katie’s (or Catarina’s - one of the small children) face quickly brightened into a large and excited smile, and she said ‘’Do you know Christmas?” I was laughing inside. A very small little Mozambican girl, asking an American, if they knew about Christmas….. If she only knew. I’ve not yet experienced a Christmas Celebration in Mozambique, but I have in the United States and other places, and I am assuming the two experiences to be very different.

For me, it was another reminder of how different things are in Africa (the want), and in the United States (the Excess - more on that later.)

I do wonder, how a small African child, who is familiar with an African style celebration of Christmas, would respond to what they see in an American style celebration of Christmas.

I thought the much more interesting question however was another way of asking the question ‘’Do you know Christmas” is “do you know Jesus?” Because ultimately, in knowing about Christmas, or ‘’knowing Christmas” we are talking about the story of Jesus, His birth, who He is, and why He came, and how that story fits into the story of God’s love for thousands of years before and after the history of what we have come to call ‘’Christmas.”

One Year Ago

April 1, 2012

One year ago today was one of those days that one is able to look back and say ‘’that was the day. That was the day everything changed.’’

April 1, 2011, Sarah and I had been in Mozambique for three weeks. It was a Friday afternoon, and I was helping some school children on the football (soccer) field at the Maforga school in Mozambique. One child ran up and said that the director wanted to see me right away.

I walked less than 100 yards, to where Trish Perkins was painting a sign on the wall of the school. She asked me, if Sarah and I would go over to the farm, about a mile away, and check on one of the new babies that had arrived about 90 minutes beforehand. I said certainly, and walked home, to let Sarah know that there was a new baby, news that is always strangely sad, yet exciting at the same time. Sad, simply because when the babies arrive there is the realization that poor circumstances have brought them there, and yet exciting, because there is hope that things will get better for these babies.

We drove the car up the bumpy road, parked and walked into the small buildings that are used to house the babies. I don’t know what my very first impressions were, but we were told the baby was four months old. She looked tired, scared and upset, but physically looked healthy and had been taken care of to that point in her life.

The baby was being fed, some sudza, a corn meal mush (not the best food for a four month old.) Sarah decided that we would take the baby home for one day, maybe the weekend, and make sure she didn’t have a cold or other sickness, that she could pass on to other babies, or that any of the other children didn’t have anything to pass on to this little baby.

We took her very small parcel of belongings, one drippy bottle, a small dirty ‘capulana’ wrap, and what she was wearing, a torn towel being used as a diaper. She was scared and uncertain, but we put her in the car, and drove her home.

I’m sure she cried a bit, but I don’t remember. I do remember that she was exhausted, and scared. We gave her a nice warm bath, and some formula, and then the exhausted little bundle fell asleep in my arms as I sat in a living room chair…..

It was then that I began to think. I’d already seen dozens of children in this context, and seen their smiling faces, and played with them and watched them in school and at work, but this one was so little, and so small and vulnerable. She had lost both of her parents in one day (perhaps in the previous 24 hours) through some very tragic circumstances.

I just sat there wondering ‘’what happened? ‘’who are you?’ ‘’What does God have planned for your life now?”

She was sound asleep, so I moved her to the bedroom so she could lay on the bed. I sat next to her, saying a little prayer, when Sarah walked in the room, looked at me and said ‘’don’t do it. Don’t fall for her’’ then she looked at me and said ‘’ It’s too late, isn’t it?’’

I don’t think I really understood the question at the time, so I don’t think I replied. But I understand the question and I know the answer now.

Early the next morning, Sarah woke up, and with another person, took this little baby into town, bought her some clothes to wear, new bottles, diapers, and some formula.

If you haven’t guessed by now, little Jacinta stayed with us longer than the weekend. She was younger by far than any of the other babies that were currently at the orphanage (none of the others required feedings at night) so it was better for her and for the other babies, if we kept her at our house, fed her and took care of her.

She was still scared and confused for several days, but by the end of the first week, Sarah had coaxed a small laugh and smile out of her. Over the next five months, this little girl brought so much joy, smiles and laughter to our little home.

In September, we returned to the U.S. and began working towards returning to Mozambique, to once again be part of Jacinta’s daily life, and a whole number of other children, from 0-7 years old, that have for now been left without the benefit of a mother and father to take care of them.

Some Milestones

If you are familiar with Sarah, and Sarah’s blog, then perhaps you have already heard, that she got married. Sarah and I met in January 2010, when I was visiting Florida for the first time. Our first connection was Africa, I was intrigued by her time spent in Malawi and Mozambique, and while I had a background of study about Africa, had never had the opportunity to go there.

We were married in July, 2010, and travelled together to Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique (along with Sarah’s mid-wifery partner Holly Findley) in September and October 2010. Our goal was very specifically to find a place to serve in a long term missions environment, be it school, orphanage, clinic or other environment.

Several doors seemed promising, but not exactly open, until we arrived at Maforga for a visit. Maforga is in the center of Mozambique, and has a long history of serving the people of the region, during times of war, drought, sickness, and everyday life for the past 25 years. The mission has seen good days, and some lean times, but consists of care for children (orphans), a school, a bible school, a church, a pastor training program.

We were invited to return to Maforga to fill in for Greg and Kim Hart, a family returning to Australia from March to September 2011. We did, and spent six months learning a host of things about the region, the mission, the people, the languages, and especially the needs. In addition, our baby daughter Hannah was born there at Maforga, in a beautiful home-birth.

We saw our time at Maforga as temporary, while keeping our eyes and hearts open to the possibility that we might be called to return to Maforga on a permanent basis.

For me, it wasn’t a difficult choice at all, even in light of some very obvious difficulties. The needs are so great in Mozambique, and the doors are open, and the opportunities are there to minister in a number of ways that are compatible with the gifts and experience that Sarah and I have.

By the end of our stay, we had arranged with the mission directors, Roy and Trish Perkins, to return, as soon as we are able, to provide leadership for the babies at Maforga (from 0-4 years old) and a group of younger boys, ages 5-7.

In addition to our daughter, we had the great pleasure of fostering another baby there, From April 1^st (I will never forget that day) until the time we left. Jacinta was a lovely little four month old baby when she arrived, that we were able to foster and care for and love, and feed and clothe and take care of her and watch her grow healthy, happy and strong. She brought an incredible amount of joy to our time there, and we are hoping to go back and be able to care for her again, as well as the dozen or so other little babies that are also currently at the mission.

A time to remember, a time to forget, part two

January 2, 2012

Another way of expressing the thought from yesterday:

Philippians 3: 7-14

‘’But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’’

I have not been good, in my past, at letting go of hurts, wounds, attacks, and losses. In fact, I’ve more often kept the documentation that proves those hurts and losses, holding on to many things that I should have let go of long ago.

So whether it is related to forgiveness, and the fact that God has forgiven me so I need to forgive others, or, that sense of giving up to God, things that I do not need to hold on to any more, or one step further, even letting go of whatever things I once considered to be gains, I need to let it all go. All of it.

This has been a back and forth process for me, for a number of years. The past few weeks, while working through some backlogs of past work, I realized again, that I have been holding on to things I should not be holding on to, for reasons that are not positive. I am working my way through several of those situations, and am systematically working to eliminate the evidence that serves only as negative reminders for me of those situations.

I know for certain that as I get rid of these reminders, my natural forgetfulness will take over, and eventually my heart and soul will also forget, and I will not be hurt by these memories, because the reminders are gone.

This is what God does for us: Psalm 103:12 says ‘’ as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.’’

That is where I am at today. My hope is to write more about Maforga, and the children there, and our mission to be a part of the team there in Mozambique to help these children.

A time to remember, and a time to forget

January 1, 2012

Isaiah 43:18

‘’Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.’’

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Though the second passage above does not mention a time to remember, or a time to forget, other places in the Bible do mention those themes.

I am working on understanding the larger context of the verse in Isaiah above, and joining that together with verses such as the many times that Abraham built memorials, that were intended to be reminders of significant spiritual events in his life.

In this context I am bumbling through trying to understand the Old Testament concept of Herem or Cherem (in Isaiah 43:28) and trying to understand the dedication of certain things to God, without any possibility of return, and the destruction of those things, in the context of where I am today, New Year’s Day, 2012.

That will be the starting point for me, as Sarah and I work together to return to Mozambique this year to help the children and babies at the Maforga mission.

We will try and post some of our history of how we have arrived at where we are today, and some of what we understand of our future plans.

A time to remember, and a time to forget.