Back in Dondo

Psalm 56:8 (New Living Translation)

You keep track of all my sorrows.

You have collected all my tears in your bottle.

You have recorded each one in your book.

We are convenience-challenged when we live in a third world country. It all comes back as we settle in our daily routine. The rules are simple: Don't sit barefoot at the computer or get shocked when you touch metal. Be detail oriented. Remember to bring your phone with you or sift through endless keys and doors getting back into your bedroom to find it. If you see an item in the store and think you might need it - buy several, you won't see it again for weeks. Need a bath? Don't hesitate. You may not have electricity by morning. Making plans for the day? Don't set them in concrete or you will wear out your hammer. Life here continues to shift like the sand we walk on. Thankfully God's mercy and goodness will always remain the same.

The spiritual battle for men's hearts continues to rage. Activista Emelia asked me to meet her at her home after the Bible study. I found her cradling a frail two-month-old baby in her arms. A sweet, toothless grin and wide eyes looked up at me in innocence. She explained he was the grandson of her dead brother. Emelia needed my help to move his dying daughter and her belongings to another home where another relative might have time to offer some care. We gathered her belongings: a bucket, a mat, two capalanas filled with a few worn clothes and....her baby boy and his sister. Too ill to walk on her own, Tomás and I gingerly placed the mother in the car. At the other house she joined her mother, lying on a mat too sick to care for herself. I watched as the older sister played outside with sand in a broken dish, intimating some kind of normalcy in this calamitous drama. This family's history of witchcraft was coming to fruition; a continuous and repetitious history in Mozambique. In faith we shared the gospel in the few moments afforded and then we prayed. Emelia quietly sobbed.

No inconvenience rivels the opportunity to reach out to one soul. We are happy to be back in Dondo.