PICKING UP VISITORS MEANS FLEXIBILITY IN RAINY SEASON
Went to Pem­ba on Wed. to fetch Lin­da Stan­ley, now return­ing for her 3rd year of ser­vice with us in Balama.
Two young ladies, Joy Blom and Mon­i­ca Lom­bard, from South Africa also joined us that day for a 90 day stay to help Eric with his Chris­t­ian Radio pro­grams and Lin­da with the children’s programs.
We planned to leave Thurs­day morn­ing to return, but Eric woke up to the heavy pound­ing of rain on his roof at 4a.m.
By 10 a.m. the sky had dumped 3+ inch­es (80 mm) of rain in Balama!
Need­less to say, we would not trav­el to Bala­ma that day, as the mud holes and mul­ti­ple low water cross­ings on the last 30 miles (60Km) of that road would be a haz­ard wait­ing to happen.
At 9a.m. our plans sud­den­ly changed, as the Admin­is­tra­tor of Melu­co Coun­ty need­ed to see me on impor­tant mat­ters before I left the coun­try on the 17th.
A 3 hour dri­ve into the bush, meant we ran to the gro­cery sto­ry, grab­bing sand­wich food and bot­tled water, and were on the road to Melu­co in 15 minutes.
By Noon, my tiny tour group had seen many miles of African bush sprin­kled with a few baboons and a lot of Ele­phant dung!
Ele­phants like to walk the roads at night, as it is their “side­walk” and much eas­i­er than weav­ing through the tight­ly knit trees.

Our meet­ing went well and then we were off for the 3 hour dri­ve to Mon­tepuez, arriv­ing at dark.
Due to all the mud holes, it is not safe to dri­ve the Balama/Montepuez road at night, so we found a “sleep house” and bed­ded down as anoth­er hard rain hit the area.
An ear­ly start the next morn­ing saw us safe­ly in Bala­ma by 6:30a.m.
ALL OF US were relieved to be home, and THE BEAR, Eric Dry, met us with hugs all around!

Joy and Mon­i­ca learned first-hand that day that mis­sions means FLEXIBILITY and ADAPTABILITY.
You do what it takes to get the job done.
To be pre­pared in the bush, means you not only need a plan B, but bet­ter have a plan C if you want to han­dle each day’s challenges.
Jesus was with us every step of the way, and we PRAISED THE LORD for 4 wheel dri­ve as we splashed through many a mud hole in that last 30 miles.

BUSH BUNNY DEPARTS MOZAMBIQUE, JAN. 18th

I will leave Bala­ma (and e‑mail) behind on Jan. 17th to make sure I can get through to Pem­ba for my flight on Jan. 18th.
I’ll be in South Africa for a week, arriv­ing in Hous­ton on Jan. 26th.
Email will be dif­fi­cult to obtain dur­ing that week in South Africa, so I doubt I’ll be able to answer any­one till the 27th.
If you have an urgent ques­tion, please con­tact our office at Linda@orphansunlimited.org

Below is my updat­ed speak­ing sched­ule with the addi­tions in red.

2012 SPEAKING TOUR SCHEDULE:

Jan­u­ary 29, 9a.m. UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, Gar­wood, TX
Jan­u­ary 29, 11a.m. ROCK ISLAND FULL GOSPEL CHURCH, Rock Island, TX

Feb. 2, 8a.m THE MASTER’S SCHOOL, Stu­dent Chapel, San Mar­cos, TX
Feb. 2, 11a.m., San Anto­nio pri­vate meeting
Feb. 2, 2:30pm Con­cor­dia Uni­ver­si­ty Nurs­ing Stu­dents, Austin, TX

Feb. 3, 7pm. PUBLIC MEETING, Mas­ters School, San Mar­cos, TX
Feb. 5, a.m. ser­vice, NORTHPOINT CHURCH, New Braun­fels, TX
Feb. 5. 7pm Seguin First Bap­tist Church, Seguin, TX

Feb. 7–9, Wichi­ta Kansas—meetings to be announced
Feb. 12, a.m. ser­vice New Life Fel­low­ship, Waco, TX
Feb. 13 to 19, TULSA, OK area

Feb. 14, LIVE BROADCAST, Noon to 1p.m. on Oasis Radio Net­work, Bro­ken Arrow, OK

Feb. 17, APOSTOLIC FAITH BIBLE SCHOOL, Bax­ter Springs, Kansas
Feb. 19, a.m. ser­vice, TULSA CHRISTIAN CENTER, Owas­so, OK

Feb. 20–24 Mis­souri, meet­ings to be announced
Feb. 26, HINESTON TABERNACLE, Hine­ston, LA
Feb. 29, 7pm, EVANS BAPTIST CHURCH, Evans, LA

March 4, FAITH COMMUNITY CHAPEL, Leesville, Ohio
March 7–11, FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, But­ler, PA
March 17th, Recep­tion, 7pm, Laporte, TX (con­tact our office for details)
March 22nd, Dal­las, TX, pri­vate meeting
March 25, 11a.m. GRACE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH, Flint, TX (near Tyler)

2012 will be a busy and excit­ing year, and I look for­ward to vis­it­ing all of you on the above schedule!

Bless­ings, and keep me in your prayers as I will trav­el over 10,000 miles just to get from Bala­ma to Houston.

Bush Bun­ny Brenda

From: “Bren­da Lange” 
Date: Jan­u­ary 8, 2012 4:31:14 AM CST
Sub­ject: Blog, Jan. 8, 2012

RAINY SEASON AT FULL STRENGTH
 
The last 4 days, the sun nev­er peaked through the black clouds, as it rained from 12–16 hours each day.
I trad­ed my bun­ny ears for webbed feet and now quack like a duck!
 
With only 10 days left before I leave Mozam­bique for South Africa, my work teams are busy plant­i­ng our fields and “wrap­ping up” the con­struc­tion.  The rainy sea­son will con­tin­ue till the end of March.
 
It’s time for our team to stay near the house, and watch our fields grow, as our dirt roads (most­ly clay based) have turned to a mud­dy mess that chal­lenges even 4 wheel dri­ve.  The “new nation­al high­way”, that runs between Bala­ma and civ­i­liza­tion, is far from fin­ished, but at least most of it has crushed rock on top of the dirt which great­ly improves traction.
Trav­el to our remote church­es is no longer pos­si­ble by pick-up due to the mud.
Pas­tor Alber­to, our Evan­ge­list, and Nel­son, my 14 year old Sun­day School Teacher, trav­elled by bicy­cle to Nac­ca­ca today to help them with that fast grow­ing church.  Walk­ing in or bicy­cle are the only “safe” modes of trav­el in this mud.
 
ESTIFON MEETS JESUS
Last week I told you how Esti­fon, a severe­ly ane­mic and mal­nour­ished young man who was near death, used the last of his ener­gy to walk to our Rovu­ma church to find out about Jesus.  He respond­ed very well to our nutri­tion­al pro­gram for the first 6 days, but then devel­oped diar­rhea Wednes­day night, most like­ly from eat­ing some­thing with dirty fin­gers.   His sys­tem couldn’t han­dle even a few hours of sick­ness, and Jesus wel­comed him into his arms at 5a.m. the next morning.
We tell all our orphans and work­ers that there is NO GUARANTEE of tomorrow.
Keep your heart right with God, and no mat­ter when this earth­ly body gives out, you know your des­ti­na­tion will be heaven.
 
BUSH BUNNY LEAVES MOZAMBIQUE JAN. 17TH
I’ll trav­el on Jan. 17th to Pem­ba to make sure I can catch my flight on the 18th to Johannesburg.
A big rain the same day as the flight, would mean a mud­dy road, and pos­si­bly a missed flight!
I’ll relax and recharge a few days in South Africa, and then be on my way to the USA, Jan. 25th.
NOTE:  I WILL NOT HAVE EMAIL FROM JAN. 17TH TO 26TH, so please con­tact LINDA at our TEXAS OFFICE if you have any ques­tions that need urgent answers.  linda@orphansunlimited.org
 
BALAMA RAINY SEASON TEAM
Eric Dry is back from hol­i­day in South Africa and will man­age the orphan pro­grams till my return in ear­ly April.
Lin­da Stan­ley from North Car­oli­na, and 2 young ladies from South Africa are fly­ing in this Wednesday.
I’ll test my 4 wheel dri­ve King Cab in the mud to go fetch them in Pemba.
  They’ll han­dle the orphan and wid­ows pro­grams for the rainy sea­son, and help Eric to record and edit his Chris­t­ian Radio programs.
 
BLESSINGS IN THE NEW YEAR!
“Web Foot­ed” Bush Bun­ny Bren­da and her Bala­ma staff
 
 
 
 
 
 

From: “Bren­da Lange” 
Date: Jan­u­ary 8, 2012 4:31:14 AM CST
Sub­ject: Blog, Jan. 8, 2012

RAINY SEASON AT FULL STRENGTH
 
The last 4 days, the sun nev­er peaked through the black clouds, as it rained from 12–16 hours each day.
I trad­ed my bun­ny ears for webbed feet and now quack like a duck!
 
With only 10 days left before I leave Mozam­bique for South Africa, my work teams are busy plant­i­ng our fields and “wrap­ping up” the con­struc­tion.  The rainy sea­son will con­tin­ue till the end of March.
 
It’s time for our team to stay near the house, and watch our fields grow, as our dirt roads (most­ly clay based) have turned to a mud­dy mess that chal­lenges even 4 wheel dri­ve.  The “new nation­al high­way”, that runs between Bala­ma and civ­i­liza­tion, is far from fin­ished, but at least most of it has crushed rock on top of the dirt which great­ly improves traction.
Trav­el to our remote church­es is no longer pos­si­ble by pick-up due to the mud.
Pas­tor Alber­to, our Evan­ge­list, and Nel­son, my 14 year old Sun­day School Teacher, trav­elled by bicy­cle to Nac­ca­ca today to help them with that fast grow­ing church.  Walk­ing in or bicy­cle are the only “safe” modes of trav­el in this mud.
 
ESTIFON MEETS JESUS
Last week I told you how Esti­fon, a severe­ly ane­mic and mal­nour­ished young man who was near death, used the last of his ener­gy to walk to our Rovu­ma church to find out about Jesus.  He respond­ed very well to our nutri­tion­al pro­gram for the first 6 days, but then devel­oped diar­rhea Wednes­day night, most like­ly from eat­ing some­thing with dirty fin­gers.   His sys­tem couldn’t han­dle even a few hours of sick­ness, and Jesus wel­comed him into his arms at 5a.m. the next morning.
We tell all our orphans and work­ers that there is NO GUARANTEE of tomorrow.
Keep your heart right with God, and no mat­ter when this earth­ly body gives out, you know your des­ti­na­tion will be heaven.
 
BUSH BUNNY LEAVES MOZAMBIQUE JAN. 17TH
I’ll trav­el on Jan. 17th to Pem­ba to make sure I can catch my flight on the 18th to Johannesburg.
A big rain the same day as the flight, would mean a mud­dy road, and pos­si­bly a missed flight!
I’ll relax and recharge a few days in South Africa, and then be on my way to the USA, Jan. 25th.
NOTE:  I WILL NOT HAVE EMAIL FROM JAN. 17TH TO 26TH, so please con­tact LINDA at our TEXAS OFFICE if you have any ques­tions that need urgent answers.  linda@orphansunlimited.org
 
BALAMA RAINY SEASON TEAM
Eric Dry is back from hol­i­day in South Africa and will man­age the orphan pro­grams till my return in ear­ly April.
Lin­da Stan­ley from North Car­oli­na, and 2 young ladies from South Africa are fly­ing in this Wednesday.
I’ll test my 4 wheel dri­ve King Cab in the mud to go fetch them in Pemba.
  They’ll han­dle the orphan and wid­ows pro­grams for the rainy sea­son, and help Eric to record and edit his Chris­t­ian Radio programs.
 
BLESSINGS IN THE NEW YEAR!
“Web Foot­ed” Bush Bun­ny Bren­da and her Bala­ma staff
 
 
 
 
 
 

From: “Bren­da Lange” 
Date: Jan­u­ary 1, 2012 9:16:30 AM CST
Sub­ject: Blog, Jan. 1, 2012

First, I want to say that ALL OF YOU are very pre­cious to me, or staff, and to our children.
We pray for all of you to have a blessed and pros­per­ous 2012.
Your love gifts this year allowed our pas­tors to lead over 252 peo­ple to Christ and to res­cue over 175 mal­nour­ished orphans.
 
Tes­ti­mo­ny of what your Love Gifts did this week:
   Last week a young man, Esti­fon, used the last of his strength to walk to our Rovu­ma Church.
He told Car­l­i­tos, the Youth Pas­tor, that he heard peo­ple talk­ing about a man named “Jesus” who healed sick people.
He knew he was near death, and want­ed to know if Jesus would heal him.
  Car­l­i­tos explained who Jesus is, and prayed with him to receive Jesus as his Sav­ior and then for healing.
Car­l­i­tos then called to say he was bring­ing a young man to me who had no blood.
Esti­fon was bad­ly mal­nour­ished and so weak from ane­mia that Car­l­i­tos had to tie the young man to him on the motor­bike to keep him from falling off!
I explained to Car­l­i­tos the dan­ger this was to both of them, but his heart was in the right place and the angels kept them safe, as his only con­cern was for this man’s safe­ty over his own.
We fixed him up with prayer, vit­a­mins, a high pro­tein diet of beans and canned fish, as well as treat­ment for intesti­nal worms.
Yes­ter­day, this young man’s moth­er told Car­l­i­tos that after 5 days her son is like a “new man”.
There is no way our earth­ly food caused such a fast recov­ery.  (nor­mal­ly takes 30 days for reverse ane­mia with diet)
This young man’s faith in Jesus sparked the release of Jesus’ heal­ing pow­er giv­ing him NEW LIFE.
2000 years ago a woman with an issue of blood received her heal­ing when she reached and touched Jesus’ robe.
This young man “reached out in faith” and found out Jesus still heals the same today as He did then.
 
God gave me the heart of a res­cuer when I was born.
Then God gave me the desire of my heart, by allow­ing me to res­cue and evan­ge­lize orphans in Mozambique.
It’s my favorite thing to do!
The Lord Jesus and I thank you for your faith­ful­ness as many of you have walked with me through the entire Twen­ty one years I’ve been in Africa.
 
Bil­ly Gra­ham once said exact­ly what I’m feel­ing now:
 
“There is no bet­ter place to be, than in the “WILL OF GOD”, unless it is “IN HIS PRESENCE”.
 
Many of you know what God has called you to do, and you are doing it.
For those who are uncer­tain, you just need to ask, and then lis­ten for His instructions.
He’ll show you His plan for your life, and if you chose to fol­low it, you’ll find true happiness.
 
Each of you is a “res­cuer” when you bless our chil­dren with your prayers and love gifts.
THANK YOU to all of you who helped us save lives in 2011!
FYI: For those who gave specif­i­cal­ly to our Wish List :
1.       5 goats and 12 ducks will join our fam­i­ly in 2012 and
2.      $14,410 has been donat­ed towards the $25,000 need­ed for the 5 children’s hous­es.  (con­struc­tion starts in April)
 
TOGETHER, WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN 1000’S OF LIVES IN NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE.
THANK YOU for shar­ing your love with our chil­dren in 2011.
 
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
BBB AND THE BALAMA STAFF