Life in Africa

Post from Mindy: A few weeks ago there was a change in our living situation.  The family from Germany that we have been living with moved into a new living quarter that was recently constructed.  We miss their company on a daily basis, but Josh and I are enjoying the relocation of the kids in their own bedroom because it has given us much needed space and privacy.  Josiah continued to sleep in his travel tent with us for about 1 more week, but then we decided to have him sleep in the crib and move Gracie onto the bottom bunk with Christian because the travel tent was becoming a bit claustrophobic for him.  The first night we put Josiah in the crib, he layed down, looked at me with a smile and then said, “Bye, bye.”  It was like he was telling me, “I’m going to be okay in my new sleeping quarters, Mom.  Go ahead and leave me for the night.”  Josh and I can actually talk about our day without concern for waking up one of the kids now.  Our house parents from the UK still live with us in the same house.  The kids’ room is literally big enough to fit the bunk bed and cot (aka crib) in and that’s about it.  God continues to show us how blessed we are and that less really is better in many ways!  It is a daily occurrence to see children walk around with holey clothes, broken flip flops or no shoes at all, dirty or miss-matched clothes, and I am quite humbled by the way in which some Mozambicans here view life.  They are grateful for the clothes they do have on their back, no matter what condition.  The IRIS children – they aren’t in love with their possessions because they know everything comes from God and they simply love their Jesus!!  During my quiet time one morning I was listening to some music and the lyrics to one of the songs was, “What would the world be like if we let Jesus live through you and me?”  Some great words to ponder and take to the Lord…  How is He living through you?

On Father’s Day we spent some time at the beach and some of Josh’s students from the outside village came to spend time with us.  One of them, a boy named Caita, had this bead bracelet on.  I pointed to it and asked if he made it.  He told me no, that someone else had made it.  I told him it was cool.  He then proceeded to take it off and hand it to me.  At first I thought maybe he was just showing it to me, giving me a closer look, but then I realized that he was actually giving it to me as a token of friendship.  I was quite honored and humbled by his generosity – and yet such an act came so naturally to him.  He wanted to give me his best, with no hesitation, even though he didn’t have much to give.  A part of me wanted him to keep it for himself, but I knew that it would be honoring to him if I received the gift he wanted to give me.  His motives were so pure and righteous.  He simply wanted to bless me.

There is a family of 10 here and almost daily we find Christian over on their front porch hanging out with his new buddy, Ethan.  I think it’s pretty cool that God has blessed Christian with a friend named Ethan during the summer while he is away from his older brother, Ethan, back in Idaho.  Christian is growing up fast.  We celebrated his 5^th birthday on June 22^nd.  Mid-morning he began fighting a fever, but for the most part he got to enjoy his special day.  The night prior we celebrated with a home-made chocolate airplane cake and home-made banana/coconut ice cream.  Many of the kids made birthday cards for him, and one friend gave him one of his very own books.  He was definitely showered with the love of Jesus.  One of the Harvest students gave Christian this little lego knight at the time of his eye injury, and it wasn’t until a week or so later that we found out the special meaning to it.  This student, Shawna, is from Canada, and she told us how the Holy Spirit had prompted her to buy this lego knight before leaving for Africa.  When she arrived to Africa she would give it to someone very special.  That someone special turned out to be Christian!  We call it his warrior.  Christian is a prayer warrior for the Lord and loves to pray for people, so we see this gift as prophetic for ways in which God is going to use Christian to pray for and heal the sick.  God simply looks for a heart that is willing to do His work here on earth, and it is a common occurrence for children to heal the sick here in Africa.  As Jesus says, “Unless you become like a child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  The children’s faith here is so innocent and they expect only the best from their Heavenly Daddy!

We have our own personal greeter at the house – Josiah.  He says “hi” and “bye” to everyone that crosses our way.  Often times he will continue to say “bye” until he can’t see the person anymore.  He is beginning to talk more and more and even tries to say a few words in Portuguese or Makuwa like “obragada – thank you” and “salama – hello”.  He even says 3-word sentences now.  He had a recent breakthrough where he will now go to our house parent, Mama Bev.  He was looking at a frog that was sitting on our front porch when all of a sudden the frog hopped toward him.  He screamed and squealed and then ran into the arms of Mama Bev, who up until this point couldn’t get Josiah to come to her.  It was a wonderful moment.  Papa Alan then came to the house and was playing peek-a-boo with him.  While in the other room getting Christian ready for bed, I could hear Josiah continue to giggle.  He is so full of God’s joy and I’m excited for what God has in store for His life.

A couple of Sundays ago, as Gracie was asleep in my arms, I went towards the front to worship.  Many visitors were being prayed for, and God highlighted one in particular to me.  I don’t know her name or where she was from, but she was soaking in the presence of the Lord.  While doing so, one young Mozambican girl was gently brushing her head/hair and fanning her off with a paper.  Another young girl was sitting at her feet praying for her while also wearing a sling with an infant wrapped inside.  She was caring for this infant while blessing this visitor, whom she didn’t even know personally.  God spoke to me during this time and told me that I don’t need to use my kids as an excuse for not being able to do the things He’s asked me to do.  As I am obedient to Him, He will take care of all hurdles.

There was a conference this past weekend with over 1,000 additional pastors/visitors here from all over the world.  Due to the increase in numbers, they shut off the water supply until late at night.  To wash dishes we would have to fill our wash bowl from a large tub of water, but as soon as the water would turn back on we’d scramble to refill our tubs, water bottles and take quick showers.  You can imagine the excitement in the house and how quickly we moved to replenish our water supply before it shut off again! J  The other night we boiled macaroni noodles for dinner, and as we were about to rinse them off we discovered black things floating to the top.  We thought maybe it was just burnt flakes from the bottom of the pan, but as we looked more closely we discovered that they were BUGS!!  Somehow either a bug was present when they were packaged or there was a hole in the bag and one got in.  We tossed the noodles and went to get a fresh bag of spaghetti noodles, but to our amazement that bag was full of bugs as well.  Uck!!  Our house parents were gracious enough to bless us with one of their bags of noodles, which I will gladly say was BUG FREE!  We got to enjoy a nice meal after all.  Although, from now on I will be more cautious about checking our food before cooking/eating it!

We were scheduled to attend our weekend outreach to the bush-bush on Thursday, July 5^th (Jade’s 10^th birthday), but it has been postponed for a later date.  Many prayers will be needed during that time so we will keep you posted as best as we can once we receive our new departure date.  It is such a joy to be a vessel for the One and Only, and we are ecstatic to see God move more and more in the next 5 weeks.  Maybe He will send us to a village with witchdoctors so the power of God can move and set them free!!  We celebrated Jade’s birthday with french toast and bananas for dinner, and then a chocolate “beach” cake for dessert.  She had a sleepover with one of her friends from Canada, although, the Imam woke them up at 4am in the morning so they didn’t sleep well after that.  Nonetheless, it will be a very memorable birthday celebration for her as she turned double-digits while in Africa.  Thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes to the kids.  My next blog will reveal more of my heart and the things God has been showing me while here.  We love you all and can’t wait to see/talk with you again!