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Monthly Archives: June 2023

BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: JUNE 3, 2023

FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“
DATE: JUNE 3, 2023
 
NATIONAL CHILDREN’S DAY PARTY (JUNE 1ST ) WAS LOADS OF FUN!
 
Nation­al Children’s Day is a day set aside to hon­or and cel­e­brate the chil­dren of Mozam­bique.  Every­one except the High School has a school hol­i­day.  June 1 is a day of recog­ni­tion, par­ties, gift giv­ing and enjoy­ing a spe­cial meal. Before sit­ting down to our feast, the chil­dren want­ed to share with you the praise songs they sing to Jesus.
 

Singing  “I LOVE YOU JESUS” to a catchy beat!
https://youtu.be/YleUrUce3xo
 

The whole group singing “I LOVE JESUS AND JESUS LOVES ME” in Makua, Por­tuguese, and Eng­lish!
https://youtu.be/mBtjrCPRpqM
 
The preschool class­es gave a spe­cial pre­sen­ta­tion to hon­or me. The hand­made signs around their necks and the song from their hearts was pre­cious to me. I thank our preschool teacher, Fati­ma, for orga­niz­ing this demon­stra­tion of love.  It is an HONOR to be here serv­ing the Lord. 
 

Preschool class signs say “We love you Mama Bren­da.  Viva June 1st!”
https://youtu.be/HW0zxdyq5Rc
 
After the enter­tain­ment, it was time for the feast.
 

The whole fam­i­ly is ready to receive the feast!
 
This year’s meal con­sist­ed of rice with a top­ping of pin­to beans and chick­en chunks in a deli­cious sauce.  Kool-Aid was the drink of the day.  Note that every­one has their cups ready! Dessert was cook­ies and can­dy, always a BIG HIT! The fol­low­ing pho­tos show­case the youngest in our fam­i­ly plus the first-time tod­dlers.
 

Our 2‑year-olds enjoy­ing this feast, espe­cial­ly since they were too young to remem­ber last year’s par­ty.
 

2 years and under from House #6.  First time at a feast for all of these chil­dren.  They were keen to eat!
 

Our youngest from House #7.  Their first feast had them wide-eyed for sure!
 
I pur­pose­ly delayed the begin­ning of our bean buy­ing until Mon­day, June 5th, so we could have the time to enjoy being with the chil­dren on Nation­al Chil­dren’s Day, June 1st.
Am keep­ing this blog short, as there is still much to do to kick off the bean weighing/processing next Mon­day.  Thanks for under­stand­ing.  No beans, means over 1,500 orphans and wid­ows (our fam­i­ly plus those in the food pro­gram) would go hun­gry.  God sent us here to save His chil­dren, so off we go to the barns to do just that.  Our plan is to move over 108 TONS OF BEANS next week. Please keep us in your prayers.
 
Hugs and Bless­ing to you all for mak­ing this pos­si­ble!
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA
AND THE BALAMA STAFF

BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: MAY 27, 2023

FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“
DATE: MAY 27, 2023
 
BUSH BUNNY BIRTHDAY BASH!
 
It was an hour of great fel­low­ship and deli­cious food on Fri­day, the 26th, with the 3 Catholic Sis­ters who live down the road from me. These ladies love to cel­e­brate birth­days, and since I’m the only mis­sion­ary at our base, they always include me in their Birth­day Cal­en­dar events.  
 

Birth­day girl Bren­da, with Sis­ter Tere­sa who made a fab­u­lous meal and cake from scratch! Deli­cious indeed!
 
Any excuse for a fun meal with friends, is good enough for them! We had great fun with plen­ty of sto­ries to make us all laugh.  They pro­vid­ed me with lunch for the next day as well, for they always send me home with plen­ty of left­overs. It’s nice to have friends who enjoy bring­ing a smile to my face.
 

CANDID CAMERA ON THE PROWL
 
I snuck up on some of the tod­dlers on Thurs­day. They are a fun group, always full of ener­gy and laugh­ter.  Enjoy the pho­tos I man­aged to snap.
 

Chebany and Sal­vador as they fin­ished their spaghet­ti lunch. Chebany still has spaghet­ti in his mouth.
 
 

Head Fos­ter Moth­er Gil­da for the 2 infant hous­es is hold­ing 2‑month-old Orlen­cia.
 
 

Baby Madeli­na doing her Hi Mom pose! She is not one for sit­ting still.
 
BUSH BUNNY AND STAFF…
 
Are hop­ping hard in order to buy 108+ tons of beans come June 5th. The Blogs will be short but sweet for the next 3 weeks, and in July as well.  Food buy­ing each year takes everyone’s con­cen­tra­tion and hard work. Our major food buy­ing, 300 TONS, will be in JULY. That is when we must fill our barns with super dry corn and rice still in it’s hull (keeps it fresh­er).
 
BLESSINGS FROM ALL OF US,
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE
AND THE BALAMA STAFF

BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: MAY 20, 2023

FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“
DATE: MAY 20, 2023
 
BABIES ANCHA AND ELSA:
 
On Thurs­day this week I vis­it­ed House # 7 to find baby ANCHA start­ing to walk! The video shows Ancha in the act along with baby Elsa who has been walk­ing for sev­er­al weeks now. Baby Elsa is 1 day YOUNGER than Baby Ancha. Read on and you will real­ize why all of us are so excit­ed that Ancha is walk­ing.
 

Baby Ancha, Elsa in the red jack­et
https://youtube.com/shorts/IT5uOFgKfSk
 
ANCHA’S STORY: BABY ANCHA, born March 6, 2022, had a real­ly rough start in life. Hos­pi­tal­ized in August 2022 with 4 dis­eases that would kill most babies, and weigh­ing only 3.6kg/8 lbs., 5‑month-old Ancha was in crit­i­cal con­di­tion. WE WEREN’T SURE SHE WOULD LIVE, AND NOW WE PRAISE THE LORD THAT SHE IS WALKING AT 14.5 MONTHS! With such a rough start, Ancha showed all of us how impor­tant prayer, tons of love and care, and a high pro­tein diet opens the door so the Lord’s heal­ing touch can work over­time!
 
TO CLARIFY, HERE’S THE FACTS:
Ancha is 1 day old­er than Elsa. Ancha was still at her birth weight when she was 5 months old, and had to over­come 4 dis­eases to sur­vive. TODAY’S WEIGHT: 7.7kg/17 lbs.! Elsa was orphaned at 12 days, but was nev­er mal­nour­ished. She was born at 3.3kg/7.2 lbs. and TODAY’S WEIGHT:  7.4 kg/16.24 lbs. ANCHA IS AN OVERCOMER!
 

FIRST SWEET POTATOES FOR THE TODDLERS!
 
Chebany and Jul­ho, both 3 years old, came over to show me their boiled sweet pota­toes! 
 

Chebany (L) and Jul­ho, in the green shirt, show off their sweet pota­to break­fast
 
The 2023 sweet pota­to har­vest was just com­plet­ed, which excites all the chil­dren who knows what they taste like. Sweet pota­toes are eat­en here as a break­fast food, for it is pow­er packed with ener­gy that stays with you for sev­er­al hours. Great for those chil­dren who have to eat and run off to school at 6 a.m.! 
 
Fran­ciano, who is 18 months old, doesn’t under­stand what all the excite­ment is about, as he has nev­er tast­ed sweet pota­toes.
 

Fran­ciano won­der­ing what all the fuss is about!
 
I couldn’t hang around today, but am sure his fos­ter moth­er gave him a taste when their pota­toes came off the fire. 

It is a priv­i­lege to get to open the eyes of a child to the bless­ings the Lord pro­vides!
 
YOUR LOVE GIFTS ARE LIFE TO THESE CHILDREN.
OUR STAFF CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR ALLOWING US TO BE THE HANDS AND FEET OF JESUS EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR.
IT IS AN HONOR THAT BLESSES ALL OF US, FOR WE GET TO SHARE THE LOVE OF JESUS WITH HIS LITTLE ONES AS THEY GROW.
 
BLESSINGS,
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF