Joys and Sorrows

It is Friday, and in spite of the searing sun it has been a good week. Dondo days are always laced with joys and sorrows.

---I went with Adelina and Laurinha to visit Louisa in Project Life. They were unusually quiet but I contributed it to the steamy heat that has all of us living in sluggish animation. Four years ago, Luisa was the first woman I had met in Project Life. Her story of loss - a woman with AIDS who had everything stolen from her one night and then her baby son died - touched my heart deeply. She accepted Christ that day and her life began a new journey. We had come alongside her and helped restore some lost possessions and later the Green Door ministry remodeled her mud home. God blessed Luisa and her husband two years ago with a new baby son named Tiago (James). Today Luisa offered us the customary mats and small bench to sit on for our visit. I had an aberrant feeling that some cultural consequence had slipped by me (not again!) or I had missed a conversational cue as all three women were smiling at me in great expectation. I awkwardly probed for some helpful hint as to their obvious mirth. All three women started laughing at the secret they could no longer keep. Luisa took me into her small mud home. She placed in my arms a beautiful curly-haired baby girl that had entered Luisa's world just three days prior. I am so blessed to see God unfold His amazing story in this young woman's life and am looking forward to the baby dedication on Sunday!

---We left the joy of Luisa's home to visit Maria F. Maria has been one of our most successful microloan recipients. She started a business as a hairdresser outside her cement block home. Encouraged by her enterprising skills, she built a small shelter by her existing business to vend a variety of products. When I would visit her last year in PL it was always with a sense of satisfaction that our program for microloan recipients was flourishing. Then her husband became deathly ill. She used her money from her profits to buy needed medicine instead of investing in more commodities. Her shelves grew empty and her husband passed away three days ago. Today we sat on the mat beside her in silence. Before we left I quietly prayed with her and reminded her that God had not left her. Perhaps she will find solace in the skills she has learned and not give up.

---Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you. in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Stories form the Bible seem more real here. The scene of a dry and weary land for Hagar when she hid from her son because she didn't want to watch him die without water vividly casts an image in my African setting. Our activistas went out this week to share Hagar's story. Some of them can't read so it took a great effort on their part to learn the story in Portuguese and retell it in their tribal language. Africans have a cultural heritage of rich story telling so once they gained their confidence, they inspired me with their natural artistry. Even more endearing, is their ability to relate to the suffering of their listeners. Rejection. Loneliness. Unmet needs. AIDS has an abundance of accessories. But ultimately, their greatest need is really no different from mine - to be loved unconditionally. Hagar found it in the desert thousands of year ago. Today it was gratifying to watch as the activistas shared the same Living Water with those in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

---I see every day here the poorest of the poor going without basic needs. Mozambique still is one of the poorest countries in the world. I watch as their corn stalks turn yellow from lack of rain and hear that their rice has turned hard and dry in their fields. Yet, they hear of the earthquake in Haiti and each week they earnestly pray in the church and want to give to those that are hurting and suffering in Haiti. It is humbling.