Happy Days!

The last couple of weeks have been amazing! We have been really busy since the last time we posted so we have lots to update you on! On our last post, we referenced the verse 2 Corinthians 2:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Last week this verse came to life! Here’s how: Victor, the leader of the orphanage asked us to come over for dinner. We accepted the invitation and when we arrived he told us that he needed to give us some sad news. One of the girls had become pregnant and aborted her baby in the dorm room and all the little girls saw what had happened. It had traumatized them that their friend had fallen into sin and handled it the way that she did. Our hearts were broken when we heard what had happened. The girl had been asked to leave the orphanage and the other girls were very upset. I (Jenni) knew that I needed to talk to these girls about what they saw and how to deal with something so burdensome. The biggest thing I knew needed to be addressed was the cultural aspect of casting out a person that becomes pregnant before marriage.

I went to the orphanage to talk with the little girls, and once I got there I realized I didn’t have my Portuguese/English dictionary. I knew I was in a bind, so I immediately tried a rescue attempt with a translator that lives at the orphanage, but much to my dismay…she had moved! So I took a deep breath and asked God to help my tongue speak the right words to teach and encourage these girls. From my perspective, let’s just say I SLAUGHTERED the language. The message that I tried to get out was that even though people do wrong and sin, we need to love them through it, pray for them, and learn from their mistakes. We can choose for ourselves to wait for the man God has for us and we can choose to love people even when other people tell us to cast them out. After I was done, I just wanted to cry because I knew that the message in my heart wasn’t coming out the way that I had hoped. Then, I was so encouraged. One of the little girls, Coca(girl wearing orange shirt in pic), stood up and said, “Mama Jenni, let’s pray for her right now. We can all take turns and pray for her!” I listened to these little girls praying to God for their friend and asking the Lord to help them love her, wait for their husband, and they thanked God for the words that Mama Jenni had shared with them. I was in awe…they got the message! God somehow transformed my bad tongue and allowed them to understand the things God had put on my heart! I truly felt that “His strength was made perfect in my weakness.”

After this special time, the girls asked if they could look inside our truck. So I let them get in. None of them had been inside a truck before, so they were just as giggly as ever! I drove them around the orphanage like 25 times and they were screaming/singing worship songs in Makuwa (their heart language). I will never forget the smiles on their faces!
Before it ended, I had about 35 kids in the truck; even Corey’s drumming students ditched class and hopped in for the ride! It was hilarious. Who knew that just riding in a truck could be a highlight in a child’s life! Afterwards, the girls wanted to take me to their school. On our way there I mentioned to them that I would like to have them over to our house and bake some cookies…the reaction was the same as if I told a child in America that we would go to Disneyland! They were so excited! Once we got to the school, Coca was so sweet and bought me a piece of bubblegum. It meant a lot to me that she would choose to share her money, since I know that she probably doesn’t have much.

Before we had come to Mozambique I kept envisioning walking down a dirt road, lined with big trees, holding little girls’ hands. As we walked back to the orphanage that day, I realized that I am walking down a dirt road, lined with big trees and holding these sweet girls’ hands. It was really neat. I felt like God was saying that He had prepared this place, time, and precious children for me to work with for His glory! God really touched my heart by allowing me to experience this!

As for our True Love Waits meeting, it went really well! We had no idea how many youth to expect, but we prayed and asked that God would give us at least 4 people to work with…2 girls and 2 boys so that we could train them to be leaders of boys groups and girls groups. Well, we had 4 people show up….2 boys and 2 girls! God is so good! God blessed Corey’s words and he did an amazing job with the language. Corey shared the story of Josiah (in 2 Kings 22). God used Josiah in great ways. He became king when he was 8 years old. The main part of the story that we focused on was that despite that wicked genealogy of Josiah, Josiah put to death the evil things of his father and grandfather, and chose to live for God. Corey really felt this was where our program needed to start. The Makuwa culture is rooted in witchcraft and whether or not people are Christians, people will practice witchcraft because that is what they’ve been taught to do. We also used this story to help them to know that we can start fresh, end our sinful patterns, and choose to live for God, even if our family and friends are doing culturally appropriate evil things! The meeting was great! Thank you everyone for praying for this day!

Prayer Requests: 1) This week we will be sharing the gospel with our team. We have found that many people want a relationship with Christ, and go to church, but in fact have never made the decision to follow Jesus. Pray that God would lead our words and Portuguese and He would open the hearts of our team to receive His Word. 2) Pray for God to give us witnessing opportunities to a Muslim family we have become friends with. 3) Pray for the planning details for our HBC mission team that comes in September. Pray that they will be able to raise the funds that will allow them to come. 4) Pray that God will give us discerning hearts in the areas to give here…it’s so hard to know when to say yes and no!

Thank you so much for being faithful in praying for us! It is fun to be able to share how God is answering your prayers and working in Mozambique! We love you!