BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG
DATE: MARCH 9, 2019
BUILDING THE FUTURE CHURCH OF BALAMA
Children are the center of Jesus’ eye, and He wants ALL children everywhere to know how much he loves Him. I know these numbers must seem too good to be true, but believe me, these are TRUE HEAD COUNTS.
The largest population in Balama is UNDER 15 years age. So it makes sense that the largest group in the churches will be the children. This month’s staggering report even caught me off guard!
BAWANA GAMES: 30,825 CHILDREN/WEEK HEARD GOD’S WORD COUNTY WIDE!!!
SALVATIONS: 22 adults, 19 teenagers, and 24 children
Note: Most of the children in the Bawana Games groups have already prayed to receive Christ into their hearts.
Crowds of kids gather to hear God’s word
Tug-of-war in the village takes on new meaning!
All our kids lined up on the soccer field for Bawana games.
SCHOOL DAYS ROCK!
In Balama, children are in their classroom only half days. You either enter at 7 a.m. and exit 11:30a.m. or attend the afternoon session from 12:15pm to 5pm. Children in grades 5 and up are assigned a Physical Education day which occurs during the time frame they are not in the classroom. Example: If a child is in the morning class, then they will have P.E. one afternoon during each week LEAVING FOUR DAYS for sports and Bawana Games at our mission station.
Kids need to be active to stimulate brain growth, thus enhancing their learning capacity. So we provide plenty of activities each morning and afternoon at our basketball court or soccer field.
Our pre-teens learning basketball.
All the younger children have a 1 hour homework/study time with Pastor Jose each day. Jose has completed 12th grade, so he tutors the younger children in Portuguese and the more difficult school assignments.
Our High School teenagers have study time at our dorm with Pastor Armando each day. We have a COMPLETE LIBRARY of school books for them to read and take notes from. This study program worked very well last year, and ALL our high school students improved their grades.
BUSH BUNNY TIDBITS:
With the children all settled into school, our lives can concentrate on many chores that keep this mission ticking.
1. Rains are still coming nightly, which has caused us to halt all construction at that site due to super muddy conditions. We will raise the roof, literally, as soon as the rain stops falling. It’s a patience game, as the rains should be diminishing, but this year weather patterns have been different than in the past.
2. Brick making (cinder blocks) is moving forward at maximum capacity. Our team makes 256 large (28 lb/14kg) bricks daily for house #6 and all its support buildings.
Brick making for house #6.
3. Our 6 ton truck, so vital to food buying, now has a new set of front springs. This truck sat idle for FOUR due to the lack of parts. But thanks to Eric Dry in RSA and friends in the transport business, the parts finally arrived last week. Patience is something everyone learns here whether you want too or not.
4. Carpenters are hard at work making doors, windows, and kitchen cabinets. Our goal is to have everything ready to be mounted in House #6 as soon as the roof is on.
BECAUSE YOU CARE, OVER 2,000 ORPHANS AND THE WIDOWS WHO CARE FOR THEM, ARE EATING HEALTHY AND THE CHILDREN ARE ABLE TO GO TO SCHOOL.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR JESUS HEART TOWARDS OUR CHILDREN.
BLESSINGS,
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE
AND THE BALAMA STAFF