FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA” DATE:AUGUST 2, 2014
BUNNY AND THE BLAZERS FORGING AHEAD
HAPPY doesn’t come close to describing how our team felt when we completed the corn buying on Wed.! Our warehouse is “full, full” as our Moz. workers put it (one of the few English words they know). When you walk through the double doors of our corn warehouse, you are totally surrounded on 3 sides by 300+ TONS of corn stacked 13 sacks high, as they “pillars of corn” now touch the 12 foot rafters. The 72 men who made this possible went home with a smile on their faces and cash in their pockets, as 50 of them don’t have regular work. The corn chutes and all the processing equipment is packed away until next year. Thanks to many generous donors, the 3 woman Balama Blazer team, and our 72 man crew, another successful food buying season is behind us.
“DIAL A MECHANIC” SAVES THE DAY!
On Tuesday, Manuel was to haul in corn, and then have his truck loaded with 4 tons of beans for the orphan warehouse in Meluco. As he pulled into the Balama weighing station with his load of corn, his face told me something was wrong. He had lost air pressure in the front air brake tank (meaning braking was VERY sluggish). OH NO! The truck must have an air leak. My heart sank, as I knew the Meluco trip was in dire jeopardy. The men unloaded the 5 tons of corn as Manuel and I went over the air-lines with listening ears, looking for the leak. Found it! One of the air cylinders on the rear axle was hissing air in a high pitched squeal from a pin hole around it’s connecting nipple. Whipping out my trusty cell phone, I had Eric Dry, our South African “DIAL A MECHANIC” partner on the phone in seconds. Eric confirmed that the pin hole should be repairable, and told me where to find the “STEEL EPOXY” in our work shop. This stuff makes super glue look like silly putty, as it literally becomes LIQUID STEEL when the contents of the 2 tubes are mixed together. (When mixed, you better hop fast, cause you have only 3 minutes before it hardens!) If this didn’t stop the leak, then 50 orphans were going to go hungry in the game reserve as they eagerly waiting for our food drop on Thursday. Too much rain at the wrong time and hungry baboons had done a number on the food they planted in their fields this year. The alternative was to take the truck into Pemba, 4 hours away, in hopes of finding the needed part and getting it replaced. (Could take days or even weeks if the part wasn’t available!) The glue was mixed, the hole fixed, and after a 2 hour wait, the glue was dry. Manuel fired up the truck and the air pressure began to build. It was a sweet sound when the tank filled, and no HISS was heard from the repaired cylinder. The truck was ready to be loaded for the food drop!!!! PTL!!!! 
Thanks to Eric and Manuel, the food was delivered.
Manuel made the food drop without complications on Thursday, and a bunch of children waved good bye with big smiles on their faces. Those children’s needs are met now for the next 8 weeks. PRAISE THE LORD, AND THANK YOU ERIC, and our truck team for making this a success story instead of a heart break.
NACALA ORHANS WITH BROKEN WATER WELL
Clean water from the repaired water well brings smiles all around.
Manuel, the only man who has been with me for the full 15 years I’ve been in Balama, is now our main mechanic and water well repairman. Thanks to Eric’s training, Manuel and his mechanical skills has now become the local hero to the 27 orphans and widows we now support in the village of Nacala. Early this a.m. I received a call from Pastor Salazar, who heads up the 4 foster mother homes in Nacala which hosts 24 orphans (including the 7 children that were surviving on their own before we gave them a helping hand). The village water well had broken, and they desperately needed it repaired as the local “hand dug wells” are all going dry. Cholera season is just around the corner, and dysentery is starting to attack many of those who get their water from hand dug wells. Saturday is Manuel’s day off, and he was trying to find parts to repair his motorbike so he could attend the wedding of a local Pastor about 14 miles away. I offered to loan him our motorbike, if he’d come fix the well instead. He gladly did so, and upon his return, he told me that the whole village turned out to watch his team repair that well. When the water started flowing, the villagers broke out in loud cheers with dancing in celebration of clean water! They wasted no time, as eager hands began pumping as fast as possible to fill everyone’s containers. Such are the rewards of serving the Lord, for He blesses those who put others first. JESUS’ LIGHT NOW SHINING BRIGHT IN NAMUNO COUNTY I’ll tell you more as the story unfolds, but our 2 sister churches in the county to the south of us, are having a revival! The 2 Pastors that guide these flocks are supported by Hineston Tabernacle, in Hineston, LA. This week both Pastors pedalled over 25 MILES through the bush to ask us for Bibles and teaching tracts, as those hungry for Jesus were eager to know more! Jesus said that in the last days, many people in “out of the way (rural) areas” would experience HIS LOVE and seek the truth about HIM. Looks to me like that “time” has begun.
God’s saving grace reaches into the remote area of Namuno county, Mozambique
KATIE FLIES TO SOUTH AFRICA ON MONDAY… For she has committed to stay a year to help the orphans and all that raising children entails. The first step in getting a 1 year residency permit is to fly out of the country to obtain a residency visa. Eric will host her and help her shop so she can return with a suitcase full of much needed items we can’t get here. She’ll be in RSA from Monday to Friday, so we warned her to not eat too much ice cream while down there! That’s the news from Bunny and the Blazers this week, so know that we love and appreciate all of you for making it possible for us to show Jesus’ love to these children in a very real way.
LET THE FOOD DISTRIBUTIONS BEGIN!
Blessings from: Bush Bunny Brenda Lange Katie Polcyn Hanna Gilman Ashlynn Grabill