Maria

Maria, one of the women our activistas see in
Project Life and Tessa Grace nutrition program.

Maria with some of her grandchildren. They
eat the masa right out of the pot.

Her name is Maria. She is a grandma just like me.  That is where the blessings we have in common stop.

 I have a nice house in a clean and quiet small town in Wyoming. Her mud house is barely able to stand on its own in Mafarinha, a place that beats the drums of the witch doctor above the noise of the hundreds that crowd the bairro. My husband has a pension that he receives from his former good job with UPS. She has no husband, no job, no income. I made homemade pizza last night; she eats pounded corn as a mush for her daily meal.  My guests sat at a long table with chairs in an adequate dining room.  She has only yellow buckets for hauling water to sit on.  I cooked my pizza in a gas oven (blessed to have gas because my electricity was out). She cooks her masa over an open fire from sticks scavenged from wherever she can find them. I have six children who have great jobs and live in security and peace. She had eight children. Only one is still alive.

Yet Maria cares for the grandchildren that her dead children left behind.  These are the blessings she has left and she fiercely holds on to them in her fight against poverty. And her poverty goes deeper.  Maria did not grow up knowing Jesus.  She never heard that there is more to life than poverty….physical or spiritual.

Dear Maria….you are the reason I am here.  God has asked me to share my wealth.  And my wealth starts in my heart.  Let me introduce you to Jesus…

(Maria is one of the women we help in Project Life and the Tessa Grace nutrition program. We are so thankful for those that give to these ministries and allow us to bring Jesus to the poor.)

Please pray for Alexandre.
He is a neighbor of one of
our activistas whose own
son had stomach cancer and
God healed him. This little
boy has an obstruction in his
digestive system and he is
now very sick.

Some of the women in our Mafarinha Bible study last week.

Of all of the work we do, nothing compares to the opportunity
to share God's plan of salvation.

After the Bible study the people had a surprise for me.
They had saved up their money and bought a present. A
glass bowl for me and a glass bowl for Phil! And of course
their way of wrapping the present is to dance and sing before
they offer their gift!

We had two dedications yesterday. This dedication started
as the sun was just waking up....so was I for that matter.

Alan and Melody Pieratt, our fearless leaders
(President of Children's Relief International) were
here for the week in Dondo and were able to join
us for these house dedications!  Alan is saying
a few words a the dedication for Jerimias.

Jerimias, the recipient of this Green Door
house had a few words of his own. He wrote
a poem.....I have translated it as he of course
wrote it in Portuguese. (Hope I translated it right!)
  Jerimias' story is that he used to be an alcoholic.
He moved to Dondo and found Jesus. He wanted to
stay in Dondo where he could be with his
Christian brothers and sisters but he needed
a home for his wife and family. A donor
read his story at http://www.childrensrelief.org/greendoor/
and now he and his family are together.

Born again is to have hope

And have joy

And have the peace to start over

and live a new walk.

It is being rescued

By a friend's hand

From someone who loves me

And is always with me

And full of happiness

To start over, like the prodigal son

who returned home.

Start over and have the heart to party

It is to be born again of emotion

And live as free as a bird in the air

Singing a new song.

It is to get rid of the heavy burden of sin and turbulence

Which makes us feel useless, despised,

And look at Calvary, the narrow path

Which makes us feel useful and loved.

Reborn and seek and receive

Support at the right time

And do as a child

Who keeps on the path

Safe in the hand of the father

Extended to him.

Born again is start all over again!

Born again is to live.

What is this mommy? I haven't seen one
of these before...is it edible?

Girls hanging out at the dedication waiting
for the cookies.

It is fun giving these kids a treat.
I worry a bit about the sugar and
their teeth....but only for a few
seconds. :-)

This grandma is so happy to receive her home.  Melody
is handing her the key. Baptista and his siblings and
grandma now have a safe place to live.

When our recipients receive the letter
from their donors, it touches my heart
too because I know the stories behind
the giving. This donor family is not rich in
this world's possessions but rich in the
love of Jesus....and I believe they are
storing up their treasures in heaven.

I love children...it doesn't matter where they
are...rich..poor...black or white. They are
God's reminder of His tender heart.

And when I am homesick for my family...I can look up
at the African moon and remember that my children and
grandchildren are looking up at the same moon and calling
it an American moon. We really aren't so far apart. :-)

Green Door Celebration of House 5 & 6

Meet Julia and her little daughter Luana. Julia received a Green Door home this week. Julia's story is a sad one. She was an orphan at age 8. She was eventually given to a grandfather to care for, but he wasn't interested in her welfare.  He sold her at age 12 to a man for $7.  After she became pregnant with Luana, he didn't want her. She was sold again for $1.50.  But when this man realized she was pregnant, he didn't want her. Another set of relatives took her in but wanted to use her on the streets as a prostitute.  She came to the church for help....sobbing so much that she struggled to tell her story. It wasn't by accident that God brought her to the Ray of Light project and the Dondo Baptist church.  Julia and Luana now have a home of their own and a church family that loves her. Thank you Jeronimo and Noemia for caring for Julia!  Thank you donors for giving Julia and Luana a chance to have their own home and a safe place for them to live...be merciful just as your Father is merciful...Luke 6: 36.

Julia receives her key to her house from Jeronimo.

Now that is an air conditioned shirt!

Boys at the Green Door house dedication.

Congratulating Pascoa's daughter on her new house!

A neighbor boy at Pascoa's watching
the dedication. I am so thankful the
children come and hear the Word of God.

And eat cookies too!

More children eating American cookies!

I like to see the boys caring for the babies.

After we dedicate the house, everyone
goes inside to see it and pray again.

Pascoa's son.

Hands waiting for a cookie.

The women dancing and singing!  Watch the video below.

A father and his son in the Macharote
Bible study.  It warms my heart to see
men seeking God so they can teach
their sons about God's plan for their lives
for this is the key to change in Mozambique.  

The Bible study in Macharote.  We have several bairros
that the activistas go to during the week to disciple the
people in Project Life. There are two American interns
in this picture - Morgan and Ashley. Ashley is just getting
over malaria.

The people in the Macharote bairro surprised us with a party
to say "thank you" to those involved in Project Life. Carlitos,
Noemia, Simone, myself and the activistas were invited!

Two of our activistas in uniform - Anapaula and Maria de Fatima.
Eating cake of course!

Lately we have seen and heard a wild animal outside of our
house but we can't figure out exactly what it is.  This is the forest
we live by here in Eco Cimento so animals can come visit us
on occasion.  We think it is a cat-type of animal but we aren't
sure exactly what as there are different species.

This is a tree close to our house. Some
of the beauty here is so different from
where we live in Wyoming!

One BUSY week!

This has been one very busy week!
You will see in the pictures just how busy...
We started out with a food distribution.

The women are always dancing - the activistas (in their purple
uniforms) are joining the people in Project Life at the food
distribution as they sing and dance praises to God!  Note
Em is in the middle of it dancing right along!

I can't say enough thanks to our supporters who
send money to us so we can use it for
food distributions. 

Everything goes up in a capalana on their heads!

This has to hurt their necks.

My daughters use to get mad at me
for braiding THEIR hair tight. Wow.

All of these women are so thankful. The majority of them
have a chronic illness and they are widows.

Standing in the oil line.

I love the colorful clothes they always choose to wear.

 They laugh a lot because I am constantly taking their
pictures. Lately, they have a standing joke that they are
going to pretend to pose like models and movie stars because I
pretend to be the paparazzi. 

It was our 41st anniversary and Phil's 63rd
birthday this week (among the busyness) so
we took Wednesday off and went to Rio
Savane.  On the way, we met some monkeys
and baboons in the road. This baby started
to jump in my window and scared me. Not because
he was heading for the window but because
his mama was right there behind him!

Mama.  And she meant business.

So much to appreciate in Mozambique. If it weren't for the
extreme poverty - this could be a paradise.

We dedicated 4 houses today!  This is Celestino, an orphan
and his grandparents.  What a blessing to bless an
orphan with his own house.

The builders show up first at the celebrations and hang with
us all day - they get to eat a TON of pop and American
cookies.

So many children hang out at our
celebrations. Everyone with a story.
Everyone with a need.

Celestino listens very carefully to Pastor Jeronimo preach
at his house celebration. The bairro leader and family in
the background.

She is eating some fruit off of a tree.
Often times the children don't wait until
the fruit is ripe because they are too
hungry to wait.  I was hoping to pay for
some passion fruit from a man in PL who
had a beautiful tree. He told me this
week that the children ate all his fruit.

I am checking them out while they are checking me out.

Jeronimo preaching - we always share God's
Word at each celebration of a house dedication.

Regina was blessed to have a home of her own. Noemia
is handing her the key.

What is exciting is that an entire Sunday
School class from Cody, WY donated
four houses to be built with the GD this
year. Regina has a letter from them and
their picture.

Maria de Fatima is an activista and one of her sponsors
chose to build her a home. She is so excited
that we dedicated it today. What is really a
great story is that her sponsors couldn't sell
their home in another state that they had moved from
for several years. After they sent the money for
Maria de Fatima's home, their house sold!
God is good to both the giver and receiver. :-)

Candida - Maria de Fatima's daughter. She is
a beauty.  Maria de Fatima is a widow. Her
husband lost his life trying to save their
son from an electric wire in a puddle during
the rainy season.

The widows are singing and rejoicing that
Catarina is getting a home. Catarina has
five children but no husband.

Noemia is giving Catarina key to her new
house in the Macharote bairro.

Nhale, a widow in Macharote, called me over to come see
her Green Door house we built a year or two before. She
was so proud of how she has been taking care of it. She
planted some grass, a plant, and put seashells in front of the
porch for both decoration and to keep the mud down.
Pride of ownership.....nice Nhale!

After the house dedications I went to El Shaddai. It is
children's day there today and they are having a party!

How healthy these children are looking. What a blessing
it is to see how the Ray of Light and Children's Relief
International have made a difference in the lives of these
beautiful children. Child sponsorships make a difference.

They pose naturally - I never ask them to
pose but they just naturally want to show
off for the camera!

How funny.  This boy came up with a
very clever hat.  I had to take his pic.

Today was a day of celebrations. Maria de Fatima decorated
her new house to match the celebrational spirit of the day.
It isn't that these houses will last forever...
but the love of one Christian to another will.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God;

believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms;

if that were not so, would I have told you that

I am going there to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back and take you to be with me

that you also may be where I am. John 14: 1-3