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BUSH BEAT: May 2008ILLEGAL BUYERS TAKING ORPHAN'S BEANS With the worldwide food crunch, Balama County is being targeted by food exporters. Several buyers sneaked into remote villages in May (June 1st is legal buying date), & bought up 2-3 tons of beans that had been promised to our orphan program (money talks, so the locals sold). We notified the government, but control is difficult. To "guard" the beans that remain, we have set up locals in several villages to buy up & store the beans promised to us until we can move them to our warehouse. Our program needs 76 TONS of beans to feed the 1,900 widows & orphans currently in our care. A bean shortage, our ONLY PROTEIN SOURCE, would mean less nutrition for our growing kids. We've asked the Lord Jesus to show us how to overcome this shortage. As of May 16th, we have 28 TONS secured in our warehouse. Another 14 TONS is being "secured" by village chiefs. Leaving us hunting for 34 TONS! Bean prices have DOUBLED since last year, & corn prices are already up 30% more than last year. Please join with us in asking the Lord to provide the difference. Only HE KNOWS how much that will be as no one is sure how high the food prices may go! A PRECIOUS MOMENT: While in a remote village picking up beans last week, a 6 year old boy got in line with the men who were waiting to weigh their beans. He & his 8 year old sister (with a baby on her back) had harvested their beans, bringing 2 Kg (4.5 lbs) to sell, tied up in a piece of clothing. You could see the pride in his face when he placed his little bundle on the scale. Words can't describe the JOY on his face when he received his 16 Metacars (64 cents). I watched them walk away eagerly counting their precious coins. To me, that's brings "a ray of pure joy in hard day's work".
LAND FOR MAVALA DISTRIBUTION CENTER AND CHURCH The Moz. government gave us 7.5 acres of land so we can build a proper distribution center in Mavala, where 685 widows & orphans are being served. A prayer walk, to ask the Lord's blessing on this land, took placed May 16th. The new center will contain a church (which will double as a pre-school & pastoral training center), distribution warehouse, & pastor's home. The house now serving as the temporary distribution center is owned by the Dept. of Agriculture, & we must vacate it in 2009. We are very grateful to Butler United Methodist Church, Butler, PA for pledging the funds to build the church building. Land clearing will begin in July when the food buying is finished. First step will be a water well, as there is little water in Mavala. STILL NEEDED: $3,000 for the rat proof warehouse $1,500 for a tin roofed distribution area $5,000 for the pastor's house to sleep his wife & 5 kids (cement brick with tin roof & concrete floor with solar system).
LIGHT CAN CHANGE A VILLAGE The solar system in the Mavala house will charge car batteries that will run LIGHTS for evening meetings in the church as well as provide lights for the local kids to study by. We saw a REMARKABLE improvement in our boy's grades after placing solar lights in their dorm room, which allowed them to study in the evenings. The ONLY LIGHT in Mavala comes from candles or kerosene lanterns. Our church brought THE LIGHT (Jesus Christ) to them. Now it's time to bring the physical light that will allow them evening church meetings & study time. MAVALA MANGO TREE CHURCH now boasts a weekly attendance of 60 adults & about 100 children. Five days a week, women & children come for activities & Bible lessons at Pastor Antonio's house. FIFTEEN new converts will be baptized on May 30th.
IMPIRE CHURCH/DISTRIBUTION CENTER TO OPEN IN JULY It has been our dream to provide a food distribution center in the remote area of Impire (im-peer-y) where approximately 200 orphans & widows live. With much joy, we welcomed the return of Pastor Agusto to our staff in April. Family responsibilities had forced him to leave us 2 years ago. While he was gone, the Lord told him to return to us, & plant a church in a remote area. May 2, Capena, our Project Director, sold us his large mud hut in Impire that is the right size for Agusto's family. Located in the center of town, just behind the elementary school, makes it perfect for evangelism & Bible studies.
MAXGXL FUND RAISING TEAM SPONSORING 60 ORPHANS AT THE NEW IMPIRE CENTER! My sincere thanks to those who responded to my praise report telling how MAXGXL improved my life. Our "MAX TEAM" has reaped the health benefits, & is now sponsoring 60 ORPHANS at the same time! In March, we received $1,416.37 from (32 preferred customers & 14 distributors). In April we received $1,804. As this gift grows, we hope to sponsor the estimated 200 orphans in this area who are needing help. (If you want to know how you can improve your health, & sponsor an orphan at the same time, please contact Linda Ferguson at our office & browse the MAXGXL website listed below.)
FIRST FOOD DISTRIBUTION IN IMPIRE AREA OPENED 2 CHURCHES! FOURTEEN widows caring for orphans live in a village called Namara, located on the road from Balama to Impire. We had dropped their sacks of food at the village chief's house early that morning for safekeeping. When we arrived later that day to distribute it, the 14 widows were waiting, & SURPRISED US BY DEMANDING A CHURCH! It was an awesome sight since this type of BOLDNESS is rare in the local women. Pastor Luis & one of the pastors from Bush Biker for Christ (BBC) will be organizing a program for their village next week. We hope to build simple churches from local materials in BOTH these villages.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPONSOR ONE OF THESE CHURCHES? Each building will cost $800 in labor & local materials (mud bricks & grass roof). If a tin roof (instead of grass) could be added, the members could stay dry during the 4 months of the rainy season services & it could double as a pre-school during the week. TIN ROOF COST: $1000 (A cement brick building can then be built under this roof at a later date).
CELL PHONES NOW ACTIVE IN BALAMA Having cell phones (but no internet) in Balama was a pleasant surprise upon my return in April. It saves us diesel, time, & makes our program more efficient. No more waiting till next month's trip to town (8 hr. drive) if I forgot something on the shopping list! In case anyone wants to call, my # is (258) 82-835-6480 (but don't faint when you get the phone bill). USA to Moz. is about $1.50/minute. With skype (your computer to my phone) it is about 20 cents/minute. OUR NEW MAVALA MISSION SITE is the ONLY PLACE in Mavala (10 miles away) where cell phones work! God showed us what land to chose last year. Just proves that He considers ALL THINGS when picking out a spot for HIS HOUSE!
MELUCO WATER SHORTAGE It hit in May this year instead of August. Long lines at the few wells has forced our Meluco team to send a man to pump their water in the middle of the night! The 9 children would have nowhere to go if it were not for the LOVE OF JESUS that our staff brings. It's YOUR LOVE GIFTS making this possible.
TEAM NEWS: 1. Sara Nelson & Sylvia Freires are busy training preschool teachers & working with the mother's, babies, & orphans. 2. Alejandro is building relationships with the teenage boys through sports evangelism & a weekly Bible study. 3. Callum is being the "jack of all trades" that keeps the orphan's food distributions operating smoothly. All 4 of these people are a BIG HELP to Eric & I as they are learning fast & taking on more responsibilities weekly.
MASSIVE FOOD BUYING BEGINS JUNE 1ST: Please keep us in your prayers as all of us will be stretched "to the max" in June, working 6 days a week from dawn to dusk. It is no easy task to buy & transport the 400+ TONS of corn & beans needed to feed our 1,900 orphans & widows for a year.
BBC TEAM ADDS MEMBERS Our BBC Team (Bush Bikers for Christ) is now traveling to 30 villages a week! Thanks to new sponsors, we were able to add 10 new members forming 6 teams in 2 counties. Each team of 4 rides their bicycles to a different village 5 days a week to teach the children & widows about Jesus.
LAND CLEARED FOR MEDICINAL PLANT PROJECT Seven of our orphans volunteered to clear 1 acre needed to get our first medicinal plant project started. First step is to drill a water well for the irrigation system (we thank those who's donations are making this life saving project possible). Planting begins in August because winter is here. (May to early Aug.)
GOD'S BLESSINGS TO ALL OF YOU! Bush Bunny Brenda Eric Dry & our Mozambican staff Send LOVE GIFTS to: Or donate online now. *Brenda in Balama: BB01 (at) bushmail (dot) net. SHORT, SIMPLE TEXT MESSAGES ONLY due to HAM RADIO e-mail. NO FORWARDS, ATTACHMENTS, OR PHOTOS AS BUSHMAIL CANNOT ACCEPT THEM. |
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This year's ESTIMATED HARVEST of beans is only 50 TONS. 
Limited study time is one of the main reasons the village students have poor grades. During daylight hours, the kids are required to help their families SURVIVE by gathering firewood, food & water (standing in long lines, waiting your turn to bucket it up from a traditional hand dug water well). 
May 14th, we distributed 5 tons of corn & beans to 86 of the estimated 200 orphans in the Impire area. Pastor Luis preached the gospel & 40 people accepted Jesus. A new church is now planted, & awaits Pastor Agusto's arrival. 
In Jan. 2008, we opened 2 houses at our Meluco mission station for orphans who have lost ALL family members.