From Ashes to Glory.

Wilson with his new mother and father.

The graveyard is quiet during the night; a path way winds through it. People use it during the day and night to reach their village from a local taxi stop. One night a couple coming home from work, walked through the graveyard to their home, when they heard a baby crying. They went to see where this crying is coming from, they found a newborn baby abandoned on the grave. We will never know why her mother left this newborn girl on this particular grave.

The local taxi stop is a very busy place, with many people waiting for taxis to take them to work or home. Sitting waiting for her taxi a woman noticed a heap of old clothes and trash. She was not sure what attracted her attention, but the next moment she saw a small hand reaching out from beneath the trash. She went to look and found a newborn baby. This little baby boy was left to die under a heap of trash, again we will never know why.

Two newborn babies abandoned, thrown away and never will we know why and never will we understand. They arrived at our home at the same time last year. Holding them in our arms, trying to understand what makes a mother throw them away. Our volunteer workers opened their arms and hearts for these two babies. They held them in their arms, loving them and caring for them during the nights. Many nights they only had a few hours sleep, but this is why we are here. To love each abandoned child with the love of Jesus. Today both these babies are in loving families, adopted. 

Triplets

Valerio

One phone call can change the way we live dramatically, last week Monday we received a phone call from Social Welfare. They asked us to take in and care for triplets. When they asked us, I knew in my heart that we have to say yes. Jesus reminded me, the reason we are in Mozambique and that is to rescue babies. Their mother died of AIDS two weeks ago, their father is in his sixties and is extremely poor. The two little girls, Assucena and Hermina weighed just over three kilograms. Their little brother Valerio weighed less then two kilogram. He had a terrible cough and sores all over his bum. All three of them are on anti retroviral and we did an HIV test on them last week. 

They completely changed our lives, I find myself sitting with little Valerio in my arms on our couch in the living room, having so many thoughts. This four month old baby, fighting for his life, he is extremely malnourished and he only drinks a little bit at a time. He crawled his way into our hearts and we trust with him for a miracle. Please pray with us that their HIV tests come back negative. Our staff has been awesome in caring for them, arriving early at work, to bath, feed and hold them. 

It has been an overwhelming experience to suddenly have three four month old babies in our home. After they arrived at our home we realized that we have no diapers, milk formula, bottles and beds for them. Jesus did a huge miracle in providing the things we need to care for them. I realized, that Jesus only wants us to say “ Yes “, so that He can do the miracles. Three little lives, changed our lives and all Jesus asks of us is to say yes. Like Peter, He calls us out of the comfort of the boat, so that He can perform a miracle.

Thank you to everyone, who has supported us. Rika and I are overwhelmed by your love and support. Please pray with us for these three little ones, pray for healing and that the will come to know the One that saved them.

The Living God within us. Part one.

The last few years I have been dreaming about church and how Jesus moves through and in His church. I feel challenged in the way I think about church and how we express church today. I do not write this as a criticism towards church, but as a journey in understanding how Jesus wants His body to live. Early in my life I realized that church is not the Sunday morning meetings we attend, I wanted church to be more than listening to a sermon. Many times I sat frustrated, not sure what my role was in the church, the living Body of Christ. Was, I a mere spectator on a Sunday morning, cheering and never being part of the game.

We had many programs, family camps, conferences, Bible studies, but somehow I never felt that I had a role to play. Like many others, church were something you attended on a Sunday and the main role player was the pastor. The success of a Sunday morning depended on how good his sermon was. I felt that church needed to entertain us and the messages were made to make us feel comfortable. Later I joined a more charismatic church, I loved the time of worship and the flowing of the Holy Spirit during worship. I realized the importance of baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I realized how much were missing without the Holy Spirit present in my life. God gave His Holy Spirit to empower us, to fill our lives with His presence, the Living God living within us. Imagine the Creator of heaven and earth by speaking everything into existence, living within us.

Acts 1 verse 8, Jesus says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to His followers, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit they will receive power to share the good news to the ends of the earth. We read in Acts 2 that tongues of fire came to settle on them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues. Peter then addressed the crowd who heard them speak in other languages and told them to repent and to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We read then that almost three thousand accepted His message and were baptized. Peter, the apostle that denied Jesus, had a new found boldness to share the gospel of Jesus, this boldness came from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within Him. The words he spoke carried the power of the Living God, that spoke everything into existence. The same Holy Spirit lives in us today, with all the gifts that were available for the apostles. I believe every gift that were available in the early church is still available for believers today. We need every gift today, to be church and to live out the commandment Jesus gave to us.

I believe that we need the gifts of the Spirit in our church today, we need every member to know their gift and how to use it. Many times I have experienced that a senior pastor is a great teacher, but not a Shepard. I know God has placed many shepherds in the body, but their gifting is not used. How do we as a church move forward, make decisions without a prophetic word? We need every gift of the Holy Spirit, other wise we will do it in our own strength. The role of the church is to equip every believer, so that every believer can live out their gift within the Body of Christ, for the glory of God.

For the glory of His Father.

The day we packed our car and moved to Mozambique, I realized that the calling of Jesus came with a cost. It is a call that moved us from our zone of comfort. It meant sacrificing, friendships, family, culture, time and our privacy. Suddenly we shared our home with children, staff and volunteers that came and serve with us. We had to do things that were not comfortable, our family were exposed to everyone that lived with us. Any time of the day and night people had access to Rika and I, our family meals are almost always interrupted. Weekends are the same as the rest of the week, we are busy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Jesus brings abandoned, hurt children to our homes to bring love and healing to them. He asks of us, not to do this when it is comfortable for us to do it. He asks us our lives, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He doesn't want us to serve Him on our terms. He calls us to leave everything behind and to follow Him. Jesus do not want to fit in our schedule, when it is comfortable for us to serve Him. He want to turn our life up side down, He wants to be first in our lives, He wants us to serve Him with everything we have to give. Jesus transforms our passion for Him into compassion for the homeless, the fatherless, the people in jail, the widow and the lost. Jesus have a mission and we are part of His mission. As He calls us to join Him in His mission are we willing to leave everything behind and follow Him regardless of the cost. The mission of Jesus is to see His Father glorified to the ends of the earth. Let's live our lives for the glory of God, The Father and let us not take any of the glory for us. It is time for the church to lay down our lives and to take God's glory to the end of the world, with out touching His glory. 

Little Heroes

Hero definition: a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities:

The tiny body is crawled up in bed, weeks without eating left her week and extremely malnourished. I look at her and I feel completely helpless. She is eight years old and for eight years she has been fighting AIDS. She can not get out of bed, she has to be carried everywhere and shows no reaction when we talk to her.

Leonor our co - director took her for a house visit, because she has being crying out at night to visit her family. Her grandmother told Leonor after seeing Hawa that she can not bring Hawa on the property, because Hawa is sick. Her mother never visits her and she so wants to see her.

On her last doctors visit Hawa was also diagnosed with TB and the doctor asked us not to isolate her or have her stay in hospital, because she will not survive isolation or the hospital. Our prayer partners started praying for Hawa and we started a new diet and treatment for TB. She started gaining strength and it brought me so much joy to see her standing and playing on the swing. She gained over a kilogram this last week, she walks around and plays with the other children. We serve a God of miracles and He loves Hawa so much, a child abandoned by her family, because she has AIDS. She has AIDS, because her mother passed it onto her, nothing of her own doing and every day she has to fight this terrible disease.

She is my hero, please pray for her, she needs so much more strength so that she can return to school. Please pray for so many that fight the same fight is she is fighting. AIDS is not the punishment for the sin of man and please never call it that until you held a child with AIDS in your arms.

The world we live in.

Every child that lives with us have their own story, every story is different. Many of them have suffered more that they should have in a life time. The story of little Rika breaks my heart and leaves me awake at night as I try and process the events she experienced. She is probably two years old and were found by the body of her murdered mother. Her mother was sexually abused and a stake were found in her, and must have been used to abuse her sexually. She was beaten and must have died of her wounds. Little Rika spend the night next to the body of her mother. I can not understand how one human being can do this to another human being, the suffering and the pain that Rika's mother went through must have been unbearable. She must be a witness to all these events, I can not even try and understand what goes through her mind. Her whole world changed in one moment and it was in the most horrific way. Social welfare brought her to us and it is our prayers that Jesus will bring healing to her. Please pray with us, that she will experience the love of Jesus and His healing power.

To be or not to be adopted.

Lola

Adoptions is one of the most beautiful acts of unconditional love for me. Yesterday little Lola went to live with her new family. It is always such a miracle to experience the love between the new parents and child. We could see the joy in the eyes of Lola, finally she has someone she can call Mom or Dad. She felt secure and she felt loved. The once abandoned child, the child that no one wanted and were left on the streets to care for her self, have a new family. It is hard for us to see her go, she became part of our family and although we know this is the best for her, it is very hard for us to say good bye. Also for the children staying behind, she was a sister for them and now she has a new family. Aly cried the whole day, they were close to one another, playing together, we could see he is going to miss her. Quiteria wanted to know what is Lola going to eat, because her plate of food is waiting for her. She also wanted to know if they will ever see Lola again? Quiteria wanted to know if she was adopted will she see Rika and I again? She said she will not be able to live if she never sees us again, she rather not be adopted. We love each of these children so much, but we know how much each child longs to have there own mom and dad. The longer we spend with each child the more we realize nothing can be an substitute for a loving and caring family, to belong, to be secure. We miss you Lola, but we rejoice with you, we know you are loved.