Grief!

We have passed through the valley of the shadow of death. The Lord has been with us, but the loss still tears us up inside. The little baby whose birth we celebrated last week, little Leonel, entered the local hospital at 2am Wednesday morning because he was having a hard time breathing. At one point, his breathing even stopped. He was diagnosed with pneumonia. We all prayed fervently. But the Lord took him home Thursday morning at 2am. How the young parents are grieving! Last year they lost their first son just after he had learned to walk. He died from malaria. Now, once again, they are childless. We are all heartbroken. The mother sing songs her grief, telling the story of what happened, recounting every detail that reminds her of her lost son and the grief she feels. Our face grow wet with tears too.

Yesterday was the funeral. We face death directly here. Our Ywam leader arranged for a local carpenter to build the tiny casket, a wooden box with a black cloth nailed to it, with a white cross on top. Our Ywam leader's wife helped dress the body in the morgue. Then as the father and relatives watch, they placed the body in the coffin.

I drove our car the 2 hours down the mountains to the village on the lake where the burial was held. For the most part, it was a silent ride. The father and mother and close family were in my car, as was the tiny casket holding the little body.

Once we arrived at the village, we had to wait 2 hours while the men dug the hole. We women, probably around 20 of us, sat outside of the grandparents' home and sang....for 2 hours. We would run out of songs, but then others would prod us on: "Sing! It is your job."

Then we had to wait another 1/2 hour as an uncle had gone to the local mosque for the 1pm prayers. Finally, all was ready. They opened the casket in the grandparents' home and people could file by to say goodbye. Then the casket was carried outside, and the family and friends gathered around. It was a mixed group of Christians and Muslims. One of our YWAM friends gave a powerful message, challenging everyone to be ready for their day of meeting the Lord. To be ready, is to be covered by the blood of Jesus.

Then I drove the car with the family members inside slowly down the road, the 1/2 mile to the cemetery. Behind me followed the crowd of villagers and friends, children running alongside the car. Then there was another message and prayers at the grave site and then the family threw clods of dirt into the hole. Then the men line up to take turns filling the hole while we all watch. The last job is to push the wooden cross into the fresh mound and put little flowers on the grace. I dissolved into tears when I went to place the wilted pink wild rose on the dirt pile on the grave. How can a mother watch her beloved child be buried? As our YWAM leader's wife led out in song, "Hallelujah, there will be a New Jerusalem." And then we could go home.

Some of the heaviness was gone now. We ate some food prepared for us.....fresh little fish the size of your fingers....you eat it head and all.....and rice. We met the family of both the father and mother of the deceased. Then by 4:15, we had to head to the car to make the climb back up to Lichinga before dark. The family stayed behind to complete the three days of mourning with their family. Traditionally, there would be more ceremonies to do, but since this young family are new Christians, they have announced that these ceremonies will not be necessary.

My children were well cared for during the day by special friends in Lichinga.

Well, I didn't plan to write so much, but maybe it is therapeutic for me to process in this way. We appreciate you prayers.

FESTA! PARTY!

Friday, August 19, was declared by our DTS leader (my husband :-) to be a day of feasting and rejoicing in the faithfulness of God during the last three months of the lecture phase of the DTS. Our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had commanded his people in the Bible to have feasts and celebrations throughout the year to commemorate different things.

We had many reasons to celebrate. While finances are always a big challenge here, this DTS we had not gone hungry one day. In fact, due to God's abundant provision and the careful frugal planning of our staff, Rachel, in charge of the kitchen, we had left over finances. (She was feeding us, a team of 42 people, on just over a dollar a day per person.) We had enjoyed good health! Our hearts were made glad by the baptism and testimonies of 5 of our friends who had been baptized last week! Lives had been changed. Marriages and families had been strengthened. All of our guest speakers had been able to come and had blessed us with godly teaching. We had every reason to celebrate!

So while the students cooked almost all day, we staff decorated the lecture hall. Using tablecloths, fresh flowers, balloons, sea shells, and candles we prepared the room for the feast.
Happy faces lit up the room as staff and students gathered for the meal. The couple pictured is our YWAM leader and his wife who also staffed the school with us, pouring out their time and energy to disciple the students.

Ready for more details? The menu: Grilled chicken (the 10 chickens were purchased alive....so they had to be slaughtered, plucked, and then grilled), French fries (again...all the work of peeling, cutting and frying done by hand), rice cooked in coconut milk (coconuts bought, then cracked and the meat/pulp manually scraped out and soaked in hot water to capture the flavor), one or two prawns per plate, cooked greens (leaves of the mandioca plant), and orange Fanta (the city was out of Coca Cola or other flavors).

We ate by candlelight with classical piano music playing (that may have been a first for students from the villages!). After the meal, we put on African praise music and the students danced wholeheartedly! During the meal, we had rolling a power point of 500 photos taken during the school, reminding us of the events of the last 3 months. We had also invited the 3 volunteers who had watched the children during the classes so that the mothers could also participate in the classes. We thanked them for their labor of love. The picture below, I was handing them a thank you card.
And it was just like our God to put the icing on the cake. One of our students was expecting a baby any day and had been with labor pains for the past 24 hours. She had been having contractions on and off for the past week. We had prayed often with her for the baby to come at the right time! Friday morning around 8:30am I took her to the local clinic/birthing center. The clinic was being renovated so we were told to go to another clinic further down the road. We waited a bit more at home first and around 11:30am she wanted to go as the pain was increasing. So I went with her and stayed with her for the next three hours as she labored painfully. Meanwhile another woman arrived breathless at the clinic, having walked the whole way to the clinic (between 1 to 2 miles), and half an hour later gave birth to a little girl....right there in the bed next to where Rosa lay. The newborn struggled as it had inhaled some fluid and for several minutes I was scared that she was going to die right there. She stopped breathing a couple times and the nurse midwife was bagging it and tapping its chest. I was praying! Anyways, the baby lived.

Another staff, Rachel, came around 2:30pm to relieve me and stay with Rosa. Rachel is a midwife so I was more comfortable to have her there, although I didn't want to leave my friend. But I had my own children I needed to look after as well as decorate for the party. I went throughout the rest of the afternoon with Rosa heavy on my heart. The nurse/midwives here often verbally abuse the women, showing no compassion and shouting such things as "You stopping screaming or your baby will die!" Any Christian midwives reading this.....there is a huge mission field here for training Christian compassionate midwives! The workload here is heavy!

Anyways, like I said....the icing on the cake. At 5:40pm, about 1/2 an hour before we were ready to sit down and eat, we got the message: A little baby boy had been born! Mom and baby were well! A huge sigh of relief...... running to give the message to the father..... happy shouts, hugs of congratulations, impromptu dancing, hearts beating! Let the party begin!!! Only our God could have orchestrated the birth of this special baby to be right before our "festa" to multiply our joy!
The next day we brought Rosa and her little one home to the YWAM base. Thank you Lord that all is well!

This morning Victor left with a car load of students, bringing them to the village first on their list for their 2 months of practical outreach time. Pray with us for them as they transition into serving and ministering to the people in the villages. Pray with the DTS staff who are leading these outreach teams.

Baptism!

We wove our way through the tall grass down to the lake, with singing and happy hearts, the Son shining brightly down on us! Half of us were DTS students and staff and half were women and children from the nearby village who came to see what this happy crowd was going to do!

Five of our students had come to us at different times expressing a great desire to be baptized! One had grown up in the Jehovah's witness church but has now met Jesus personally. Another grew up in a Muslim home but married a "Christian" but now both the wife and her husband now understand who Jesus is and want to follow Him the rest of their lives, leaving their old lives behind.

So this Saturday we went to a dam nearby for the baptism. One other couple, a young Yao couple from the nearby village, also joined to be baptized. They came to know Jesus through the witness and discipleship of their brother, a YWAMer church planting in his home village!
Each baptism candidate gave such a clear beautiful testimony of God's work in their lives and their desire to leave the old life and follow Jesus! So it was with great joy that we sang as they went down into the waters! Praise God with us!
Time is short once again. Another time I will try to post a link to a short video of the celebration. For now we appreciate your prayers on this last week of class and preparation for the DTS practical outreach phase. We will move back to our house in town on Saturday, which will be a transition for our family! One team will leave on Monday the 22nd for their outreach, another team will leave on the 23rd. Please pray for wisdom for the team leaders and all the responsibilities that they have.

Until next time.....