BEAN BASHING BRINGS BUNCHES TO BALAMA
Ask and you WILL receive! God opened the flood gates this week after our “bean prayer” for 100 tons to fill our barn. Our GOD is a GOD of MULTIPLICATION, and as we are learning, HE CAN MULTIPLY ANYTHING! How to activate His Blessings: ASK IN JESUS NAME (with right motive), BELIEVE, AND RECEIVE! On Monday, Capena spread the word to our 3 churches in the major bean growing area, and the “bush grapevine” was activated. The Leaders in these areas reported that their beans WERE NOT READY, and that the bean harvest would be small this year. Very discouraging since all children depend on beans to meet their daily protein needs. It also means prices will be higher than normal. GOD PROVIDES FROM A NEW SOURCE Our MECUTI PASTOR, Armando, was first to bring his beautiful beans to our barn (1.5 TONS) just 48 hours after the “bush grapevine” went into action. What’s amazing about this? FOR 3 YEARS, THIS AREA HAS HAD A WEAK BEAN HARVEST! Pastor Armando’s 40 church members say they can fill 300 sacks! (20 tons) With that news, we happily sent the Pastor back to his church with 100 sacks in hand. When they fill those, we will send more. GOD IS NOT LIMITED, as Moses stories would tell you. If God can provide food in abundance from heaven, NO PROBLEM to provide beans from a weak field! BABY DANIEL, STANDING AT 7 MONTHS ! ERNESTINA, FOSTER MOM, SAYS HE IS CRAWLING AND READY TO WALK. GOD’S PROVISION FOR TRUCK REPAIRS I was shock to find out from Linda, at our Texas office, that a gift had arrived which MATCHED the repair costs of our Land Cruiser’s transmission. This gift was sent BEFORE the amount of the repairs was known. We had prayed and ASKED JESUS to provide for the repairs, but no one was told the amount, as I didn’t know what it would be. Obvious that JESUS totally understands how essential that truck is to our orphan food program, since it is the main truck for hauling to all the remote sites. I LOVE IT WHEN JESUS PROVIDES THE NEED BEFORE THE AMOUNT IS EVEN KNOWN. YOUNG COOK AND HOT “POP”, A DANGEROUS COMBINATION
BRENDA ‚PUTTING SYLVADINE OINTMENT ON BAD 2ND DEGREE BURN. BRAVE GIRL, NO TEARS. Eight year old orphan girl, Vela, found out the hard way last Saturday that a firm grip is needed when moving hot liquid corn cereal called “pop”, from the fire. The pan slid from her grasp splashing over her forearm from elbow to wrist. Second degree burn blisters rose up immediately. Her Grandmother washed off the “pop”, but felt that no treatment was needed since no raw skin was exposed (only huge blisters)
VELA SHOWS US HER ARM EIGHT DAYS AFTER THE ACCIDENT. WE THANK GOD FOR HER RAPID HEALING. Little Vela is one tough little girl, and obviously has a HIGH pain tolerance, for her grandmother only brought the burn to my attention 36 hours later, on Sunday afternoon. Only mildly infected, I cleaned and covered this large burn with Sylvadene ointment before wrapping her arm in a sterile bandage. Hardly a wimper left her lips, which amazed everyone, as 4 adults stood by to help hold her if she tried to pull away. With much Prayer, Tylenol, and Amoxicillin for infection, Valatia returned to school on Wednesday with her bandaged arm, as it was healing nicely. On Saturday, the 8th day since the accident, VELA WAS COMPLETLEY HEALED with new skin covering the burn area. God is good, ALL THE TIME! We PTL for her rapid healing. DAWN RECOVERING FROM MALARIA Dawn Horger, our newest missionary, never experienced malaria when working in Southern Mozambique for over a year. She is in Balama only 3 weeks and a nasty mozzy must have found her quite tasty upon her arrival! She had a mild reaction compared to most “first timers”, but said she would rather not repeat the experience. Speaking from experience, IT IS A BUMMER! Keep your prayers coming! Next 3 months will be super busy as we bring in the harvest in order to feed hungry orphans. BLESSINGS, Bush Bunny Brenda Lange Dawn Horger |
Monthly Archives: April 2015
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG, APRIL 18, 2015
PORTUGUESE TRANSLATION MEANS THE SKY IS THE LIMIT FOR AWANA GAME CLUBS IN MOZAMBIQUE!
LARRY FRIEND, INTERNATIONAL TRAINER FOR AWANA GAMES taught a 2 day seminar that expanded into 3 days at the Pastor’s request. Participants included: 32 Pastors from ALL 3 DISTRICTS (counties) where our church, Igreja Aguas Vivas exists (Living Waters in Mozambique). The Youth Pastor from the Balama Assembly of God, also attended. Loads of fun for all, as Larry is a great teacher. The Pastors were so, so surprised when they saw the 66 lessons printed in Portuguese! FIVE PASTORS were first timers, and will be starting new AWANA GAME CLUBS in 3 Districts!
Jill, Dawn and Dave made a super painting team while Larry was busy teaching the pastors. The swings are looking “bluer than new”. We send a BIG THANK YOU TO LARRY FRIEND for helping us expand and upgrade our AWANA GAME CLUBS. DAVE VANDERGRIEND, we thank YOU for making the Portuguese curriculum possible, (he financed it). AGUAS VIVAS is the first to have the Portuguese curriculum in all of Mozambique! This gift now allows us to EXPAND our vision so that ALL CHILDREN MAY HEAR OF JESUS CHRIST. We plan to offer training opportunities for other churches in all 17 Districts of Cabo Delgado Province (state). THE HARVEST IS RIPE, AND WE EXPECT A “SEA OF MOZAMBICAN CHILDREN” TO FILL HEAVEN BECAUSE THEY FOUND JESUS AT AN AWANA GAMES CLUB! LET THE GAMES BEGIN! LAND CRUISER NOW IN PEMBA
THURSDAY started early with a 3 a.m. wake up for Manuel and his team who transported the Land Cruiser to Pemba on the back of our 7 ton truck. The truck was given a 3 hour head start, with all the visitors leaving at 6:30 a.m. with me in our King Cab. The unloading of the Land Cruiser was much easier than expected, as the mechanic allowed us to use his oil changing platform together with our home made ramp. The photos tell it all, and the process was safely done in 15 minutes with the help of 6 strong men (pushing), along with Ivan (the mechanic), Dave, and Larry who set up the “bridge” in front of the wheels. Once the bridge was aligned, the truck crossed over to the cement platform without incident.
The broken transmission will be removed on Monday and we will know what repairs are needed. MUCH WORK AHEAD AS BALAMA BEAN WAR HAS BEGUN! Shocking news hit me as reports rolled in early this morning. Our visitors left on Friday, and I no more got out of bed on Saturday when the bean reports started flowing in from our remote Pastors. We already knew the bean harvest would be smaller than usual due to either not enough rain at the right time, or too much at the wrong time. But I didn’t expect this! ILLEGAL BUYERS ARE POSTING SIGNS in the bush saying they will pay the UNHEARD of price of 25 mets/kg! (US 68 cents/2.2lbs or ZAR 7/kg) Normal price in 2014 was 15 mets/kg! (US 45 cents/2.2lb. or about ZAR 5.50/kg). That is 23 cents MORE than normal/kg and we will have to beat that price or no one will sell to us! CAPENA WILL BASH THE BUSH FOR BEANS EARLY MONDAY Capena is our expert organizer of the village coops. He will be ON THE ROAD early Monday morning to speak to all the leaders of the co-ops in the 3 areas that grow the majority of the beans in our district (county). We expected the price to be higher than last year, but NO ONE expected the illegal buyers to push it to a record high. 100 TONS NEEDED TO FEED 2,500+ ORPHANS FOR 2015 Until the harvest is brought into the villages, NO ONE KNOWS how many tons are available for sale this year. NO BEANS EQUALS MALNUTRITION IN 1000’S OF CHILDREN! It is the only protein that is available to most village children. Meat is scarce, fish unavailable, so beans is everyone’s protein source. PRAY for a supernatural BLOCKADE to the illegal buyers so they are not able to buy in Balama this year. We will be making sure the proper authorities are notified this week about the “signs in the bush”. Supernatural intervention very much needed, as it is almost impossible to control these buyers who come at night and on Sundays when few people are around.
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Baby Edna says,“hello, and thanks for her toy giraffe, it tastes great.….” GOD’S BLESSINGS TO ALL OF YOU! THE BALAMA MISSIONARIES, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE DAWN HORGER |
AWANA CONTEST A BIG SUCCESS — APRIL 11, 2015
4 VILLAGE AWANA CONTEST A BIG SUCCESS!
FAMOUS AWANA 4 TEAM TUG O WAR! AWANA leader Carlitos Jorge (orange shirt) and Dave VanderGriend (blue shirt) in background.
Over 100 children, teens, and adults attended, hearing the story of Jesus’ Ascension after the games were over. Every team managed to win a few rounds, but the Balama team were the champions by far.
AWANA RELAY (balancing a bean bag on your head while running with a baton). We hope it served as a encourager to practice more for the July contest that is coming up. Dave and Larry showing their true colors as they make AWANA Tug O War ropes. INTERNATIONAL AWANA LEADER, LARRY FRIEND was extremely pleased, as none of us have ever attempted an “area contest”. Larry encouraged all the children to come back each Saturday, by giving those on the side lines a taste of the games. Setting up 4 teams of young teens and 4 teams of little children, they played bean bag toss, to see who was the best. Loads of fun for all! TEAM PHOTO: LARRY FRIEND, DAWN HORGER, JILL MITCHELL AND DAVE VANDERGRIEND. MORE AFRICAN ADVENTURES/CHALLENGES COMING UP! MONDAY will find 24 Pastors from 3 Districts (counties) coming together for a huge AWANA conference/training session with AWANA LEADER LARRY FRIEND. The new President of Mozambique will be passing through at some point Monday for Tuesday, so our sessions will be very flexible since everyone is expected to attend the Presidential welcoming parade. MONDAY AND TUESDAY, Friend and sponsor, Dave VanderGriend together with our truck team will dig a hole for the 7 ton truck to sit in, making it lower to the ground. They will then pray, push and pull with a team of men, and possibly other trucks, in order to load the Land Cruiser up on top of that truck for the ride to Pemba on Thursday. Easy enough if the Land Cruiser could be driven up the ramp, but that is not the case here. Our carpenters have already built a very sturdy wooden ramp that will be carried to Pemba for unloading the truck at the repair shop. (Yeap, we will get photos, for next week’s blog.) Can’t wait to see how many men it takes to push the truck up there! THURSDAY, we will all head to Pemba for the great unloading of the truck. Nothing boring about this week! Blessings from Bush Bunny Brenda Lange Dawn Horger And our 1 week visitors, Dave VanderGriend Jill Mitchill Larry Friend |
HAPPY EASTER, APRIL 4,2015
HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY TO ALL!
Praying safe travels and a BLESSED EASTER WEEKEND for all of you, for you are all family in my heart!
Having the 3rd BLOOD MOON on the eve of this Easter morning makes one truly “look up” for the Lord’s return is very near.
Our family in the bush will have a wonderful Sunday of Praise and Worship, followed by our Youth Team putting on a drama depicting the sacrifice Jesus’ made for all of us over 2,000 years ago. Hoping for good photos, that I can share next week.
A WEEK FULL OF SOLUTIONS, PTL!
The New Corn Mill was finally up and running on Thursday, after many adjustments. I take my hat off to Manuel, for it is the first time he has ever mounted a mill. Quite an undertaking, but it milled beautiful corn flour today, so all is back on track.
Manuel ( in the blue shirt) and his crew who helped him set up the new corn mill
The Land Cruiser’s transmission solution is still a “work in progress”. We’ve found a mechanic in Pemba who will unmount it and send it to RSA for repairs, BUT, he will only accept the job if we bring the truck to him. This mechanic is the same one who worked on my car, so he knows the ropes. Hopefully, it will go faster and smoother, since transportation is much better now than it was 6 years ago.
Foster mother, Fatima, was hospitalized this week with resistant malaria. She cares for Toddler Jorgina, who is now walking around like she owns the world). Fatima received treatment last Friday, but was carried on a bicycle to my home on Monday, unable stand.
She was admitted for IV treatments over 4 days, and was released yesterday. I fetched her on the road, as she was trying her best to walk home. She is very weak. Needless to say, Fatima’s children and Jorgina were all thrilled to see her.
BBB DANCING TO “AIRPORT SHUFFLE” THIS WEEK
PTL, help is on the way!
DAWN HORGER, experienced missionary who’s worked in Beira (middle area of Mozambique), is applying for permanent missionary staff and has committed for at least a year, maybe longer. She arrives on Wed., April 8th.
DAVE VANDER GRIEND and adult daughter, JILL, arrive along with LARRY FRIEND on Friday.
Dave and Jill are here to play with the children, check out the new playground, and review our program. Dave was here 2 years ago during food buying time, and seriously believes in our program.
LARRY FRIEND, is the International Director of the AWANA GAMES and is BRINGING THE FIRST PORTUGUESE TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE LESSONS TO US IN PERSON!!!!!
Having these 66 Bible lessons in their own language will greatly enhance our program, and certainly make it more effective.
HAPPY EASTER!
Bush Bunny Brenda Lange in Mozambique