Two Weeks in Africa

Wow! It’s already November! The time that we had with my dad went way too fast! It was such a neat time, and as promised…though a little late…here are more pictures of the time that we had together. The last week he was here we had the opportunity to spend time with our kiddos at the orphanage that we love! The last time my parents visited they had brought the kids some fun little card games like Go Fish and Old Maid. Well, before my dad came back, or even thought of coming back, a little girl (Cocas) asked if I could write home and tell my mom and dad how much she loved the card games and that she would love it if every kid could have their very own set, since the cards that they had weren’t being shared with all of the kids. So I sent along her request, and when my dad arrived with a whole backpack full of fun games for each kid, she got the biggest smile on her face! This was the same little girl that I had shared with that my dad was considering to come back, and she said that she would pray that God would help my dad make the decision to come and visit her. She not only got a fulfilled request for Old Maid cards, but also an answered prayer. She was so happy and that happiness was contagious! The kids loved having my dad back again. We all played the games together and the room was filled with laughter and joy filled voices of the kids! It was such a fun time. The second time was a little different: my dad had a meeting with Victor about the future plans of the orphanage and then later spent time with the kids. He handed out Blow-Pops, coloring books, and crayons. Coloring is a very serious project here. Everyone got really quiet and started coloring like their lives depended on it. It’s pretty funny how particular they are with coloring! They are all little perfectionists! The room was silent…only an occasional noise coming from licking their lolli-pops! However, despite the silence, the atmosphere was very cheerful!


We also continued our work @ Choveque’s house. Every morning it was harder and harder for us to wake up and crawl out of bed! Building a house is hard labor and the heat sure did a number on us. However, God gave us the grace and strength to persevere and keep serving Him and Choveque’s family. It was awesome to see the progress each day of the house. Even though it was strange at first for Choveque’s family to let us work, they grew on the idea when they saw that was our true desire to HELP and not watch. If they told us we needed to rest and didn’t give us a task, we would come up with things that we could do. They laughed a lot at our “unskilled” labor, but it made an impression on them. Finally, during the last week, they asked Choveque, “Who are these people and why are they here…WORKING?” “Shouldn’t they be sitting in the shade and watching us work? Why would they want to come and work?” Choveque then had the perfect opportunity to share with his family that we were his brothers and sister in Christ, and that we had come to show God’s love to his family, because God had put this on our hearts. They just shook their heads in disbelief! Why would “rich” Americans want to do such a thing as come and help a poor African that works for them, with hard labor in the hot sun?


I think the best way to explain it is the words from a song from the latest “Caedmon’s Call” cd. The song is ironically called “Two Weeks in Africa,” and it has lyrics that just rang in our heads the whole time we worked with them… “We put the walls up, but Jesus keeps them standing. He doesn’t need us, but He let’s us put our hands, so we can see that His love is bigger than you and me.” We know that this message on our hearts and was sent to Choveque and his family. We are glad that we can experience in our lives that God’s love is bigger than any of us. He doesn’t need us…we need Him and He allows us to be apart of His service to share this LOVE with His people.


The day that my dad left, Choveque came to say goodbye to him. Choveque was very sad, but had a heart full of gratitude and joy for what God had done in the past couple of months. So he told his gratitude from the very beginning, like a story, of how God has worked in his life through us coming to Mozambique, through God leading my parents here, then my dad coming a second time, all the way to the present day. It was awesome to reflect upon the ways God has provided, blessed, and ordained everything to happen as it did. Choveque had shared with us how he prayed for help with building a new home before rainy season….unbeknownst to him, God had been putting this same burden on my dad’s heart in America. How great is our God!! The way Choveque recounted the events reminded us of a couple of verses: Psalm 77:11-12 “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.” Psalm 105:2-4 “Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and judgments He pronounced.” It was a very special time of remembering and a perfect way of ending our time together with dad. To say the least...we were all a bit teary eyed. Choveque kept saying that his heart was weeping inside because my dad was leaving and that he needed to take the day and just meditate on God and persistently pray for God's protection on my dad’s journey home (he now called my dad…his dad). This day made us realize how hard it is going to be for us to say goodbye to our special friend and brother Choveque.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for safety, health, and for God’s blessings upon this project. My dad safely returned to America. The house is not totally finished, but our hopes is to get it done in the next week or so. The rains have already started, so we ask that you pray for the “constructing” to go a bit faster, and that the rains will not damage any of the work that has already been done. Also pray that we would continue to share God’s love with Choveque’s family and that God would stir their hearts to see this love is from Jesus and not from ourselves.

Throughout all of this time, we continued in our TLW ministry. We ask that you would pray for continual guidance for the discipleship program. We are unsure of what the next steps need to be with our team. Please pray for clarity for us to make these decisions. We have 4 ½ months to go and we want to make the most out of every opportunity that we have here. Please pray that we would do this!

Dad…we already miss you greatly! Thanks for stepping out in faith and serving God with us in Mozambique. We built more than a house….we built some incredible memories and we will always treasure the time we had together! We love you and thank God for you!