Sharing Snapshots

Can you see the snake? I almost stepped on one
of these little green guys the other day.  They
are rather camouflaged in the green background of Africa.

Sometimes the beauty of Africa is breathtaking.  God loves
to paint pictures showing His glory.

What a cutie.  A little neighbor girl of Fatima's at her house
dedication.  We love to serve them treats.

Fatima, one of our activistas is now blessed with this home.
We tore down her falling apart - mud home and constructed
this cement block home.  She told me today that she slept
so well last night because she could finally lock the door.

Women at the dedication.  You can see part of our "Green
Door" in the background - how funny!

Fatima, to the right, is singing with the children and Jeronimo.
Everyone loves a party!

Praying a blessing and dedicating Fatima's house in the
name of Jesus.

Eva, a patient in Project Life was blessed with a Green Door
 home too. The donor was blessed with her first home
 the same time Eva was moving into her's. I am always
so moved by the sacrifice of our donors who care about
the poor and hurting in Africa. Now Eva and her son
Manuel have a safe place to live.

The bairro leader of Bairro 25 addresses the crowd at Eva's.

Praying again for Eva's house.  These dedication prayers
are important to this culture (see story below) and represent
our desire that God gets all the glory.

Jeronimo handing Eva and Manuel the key. 

Phil is taking pictures of the children. Chris, a
friend and missionary from Germany couldn't believe
how quickly these children can pose for a picture.
It is one of their favorite things to do - and
they insist on seeing themselves in the photo,
even if it is for a brief moment.  

The days go by so quickly here that sometimes it all seems a blur.  Each day is its own day with a life of its own. I make plans, but loosely because any minute plans can change.  I was driving home today from Beira calculating how much time I had between arriving home, rushing off to pay our rent, gobbling down a meal, and getting to a meeting that I was teaching at in the space of an hour.  I noticed at the Lusalite gate a woman lying in the street.  Sometimes people drop and sleep in the strangest places here but a nudge in my heart told me she was not in the middle of a siesta.  She was dangerously in the way of vehicles but no one seemed to care or notice.  I dropped my passengers off and sent Xadraque, a patient in PL and one of our CRI gardeners to go quickly and see what was wrong.  He came right back and reported that she was quite ill and not even talking.  I was cautioned not to get involved because if she died in my car, I would be liable.  They don't have Samaritan laws protecting people in Mozambique.  There was a myriad of possibilities as to why she was there; my reasons for not responding to her aid were legion. It was another interruption on my busy schedule. Nevertheless, I grabbed my translator and went out to help her...isn't that what we teach in our Bible studies?  This was just as real, and my choice was now.

She was indeed very ill.  That morning she had been to the Lusalite hospital which in reality is more of a small clinic. They are very limited on their equipment for diagnosing and hadn't even had the capability of checking for malaria.  Given some medicine for high blood pressure, she was sent home. She had collapsed on the way.  It turned out she was a neighbor of my translator and a Christian from the Good News church!  We took her home and informed her family and made arrangements for her to go to the Dondo hospital.  I can't believe that we almost ignored her plight. I am thankful for these divine interruptions in my busy life here in Dondo.

* * * * * * * * 

"Did you hear the story about the banca?" Noemia asked me on Saturday. The banca is a little kiosk that we have been building for the basket ministry.  It is quite small, and in front of the ROL bakery. Its purpose it to be able to sell the baskets that our Project Life patients are learning to make.  Some of them have become quite good at making baskets and this is a means to earn some money. We had just completed building the banca and were making plans to use it. 

"No," I replied with curiosity. "What happened?"

She explained that someone had approached one of our workers at the bakery telling him that we needed to perform a ceremony of dedication to the spirits.  He wisely explained to this person that we were Christians, and we did not need to do that.  The person left, but apparently with the intention of returning.

Noemia went on to explain that they returned that night performing the ceremony over our banca without our permission!  I couldn't believe my ears. So after our activista meeting this afternoon, we all walked to the banca, surrounded it completely while singing and praying God's blessing over it.  It hurts my heart that worshiping dead spirits is so entrenched in this culture. I hope this person returns and sees how God is going to bless this little kiosk.