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FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA”DATE: August 5, 2016
ANGELICA, A 2ND CHANCE CHILD
Eight year old Angelica came to us as an infant, barely a month old.Her grandmother threw the baby into a field to die, for her daughter was dead. Grandma felt hopeless for there was no milk for the crying infant. The grandmother later told us that she felt it more merciful for the baby to die that day versus suffer a slow death from starvation because she had no way to buy milk.But Angelica’s 10 years old sister didn’t agree. She snatched the baby out of the field after the grandmother walked away.
Taking the baby to a nearby neighbor who had an infant of her own, she begged her friend to suckle the baby.
The neighbor agreed and also got several other women to suckle the baby over the next few days. But 3 days later, they realized they could not give the baby all it needed.
Note: These women did this without their husbands knowledge, for it is against their culture to suckle a baby who is not a family member.
But a neighboring man DID FIND OUT. Gratefully, his reaction was one of kindness. He told the desperate 10 year old, that if she truly wanted to save her sister, that she should take the baby to Mama Brenda in Balama town 27 km (16 miles) away. It was a long walk, but this kind neighbor man escorted the Sister and baby the entire distance to our house. A bottle of formula later, and Angelica was a happy camper.
Social Services investigated, and agreed the baby should remain with us, for the grandmother was not interested in raising the baby.
We offered the orphaned Sister a place to stay with us, but she felt she should stay and help her grandmother.YOUR LOVE GIFTS PROVIDE 2ND CHANCES TO 100’S OF CHILDREN JUST LIKE ANGELICA
Their stories would fill a book, but many of these “miracle rescues” are unknown even to me.
Saying thank you for your love gifts seems hardly adequate, but know that Jesus sees your heart and your reward awaits you in heaven.KIDS FLOCKING TO JESUS!
Seeing a vision become a reality is truly amazing! Since my arrival in Balama, I envisioned strong evangelistic teams doing just what our Youth Pastors are doing now. WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG? We had to wait for the “boys” to become men! For God literally raised these teams up from the local children.
BAWANA MOTORBIKE TEAM A: (L‑R) Daniel, Carlitos Jorge, Ambrosio, and Estevan.
BAWANA MOTORBIKE TEAM B: Gildo, Rufino, Armando, and Salimo.6,500+/week attend the games with Carlitos Jorge’s Friday, Saturday, Sunday motorbike team. (2 teams of 4 men travel on 4 motorbikes)
Bertino and Daude have opened Bawana games and girls soccer competitions in 2 small villages just outside Balama. (340+ kids each Friday and Saturday)The 6 man BBC bicycle team are touching 22 villages each Monday through Friday, reaching another 1,100 children/week with the gospel for Jesus.Current total: 7,940+ children hearing the gospel weekly.BAWANA GAMES STAFF TO OPEN 5 NEW VILLAGES THIS WEEK!Our AWANA GAMES program, now loving called BAWANA Games (Balama+Awana) by the local children.This coming Thursday (it’s school holidays for the next 3 weeks), Carlitos Jorge’s 8 man team now has the needed credentials to open Bawana games in 5 very, very remote villages. These villages are spread across the foot of a small mountain range, 12 km (7.2 miles) behind my house. Only ONE of these villages has a small church. The rest are considered “unreached”. The whole team is very, very excited to be “pioneering” this area for Jesus.Note: When school restarts, we will coordinate with the local teachers so our Thursday games program coincides with their “recess” time.I’ll keep you posted as events unfold.
7 TON TRUCK REPAIRED, SO LET THE FOOD FLOW!While picking up the very last load of July corn from our Pastors, the 7 ton truck broke down about 3 miles out of Balama. The left rear brake chamber for the air brakes cracked, causing a major air leak that disabled the truck due to its heavy load of corn. Our 6 ton truck team quickly unloaded their last load, and returned to pick up this load. After some very good road side engineering by Manuel, he was able to plug the leak enough to slowly bring the empty truck home.And there it sat for over 3 weeks while Eric Dry, our invaluable helper in South Africa, ordered the part and had it shipped to us. (This chamber is not even available in Moz.)Thanks to our Professional mechanic Carlos in Montepuez, 30 miles/60km away (who does house calls), the truck is now “back on the road”.Capena will spend this week setting up our first food distribution to over 600 orphans in the 7 villages near the Mango Tree Church of Mavala.MUCH THANKS AND GOD’S BLESSINGS AS YOU ALL CONTINUE TO HELP THE INNOCENT CHILDREN IN OUR AREA.
Sunset in Balama. The work never ends, but for today, we have run out of daylight.
Blessings,Bush Bunny Brenda Lange
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This message was sent to l1nda@mac.com from:
Linda Ferguson | linda@orphansunlimited.org | Orphans Unlimited, Inc. | 307 East State Street | Eagle Lake, Texas 77434 |
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FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA”
DATE: June 26, 2016 |
WHY GOD CALLED A COWGIRL
When God calls anyone to missions, the first question that crosses most minds is “WHY ME, LORD?” In 1987, I was an unequipped, new baby Christian, who hardly knew any of God’s Word. Those who know me well realize that I am a very practical person who appreciates practical answers in bullet format. So God hit me between the eyes with exactly what He knew I needed to hear. I clearly heard His voice (in my spirit) say: “I will use your Agriculture, your Nursing, and your ability to rough it!” I remember thinking, “That makes sense. OK Lord, I’ll go!” (And the matter was settled.) For the Lord knew that when I give my word, I kept it. I loved Jesus with everything in my being for He saving me from Hell. To me, that meant I would do ANYTHING and GO ANYWHERE He asked me too. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that God dropped the “rest of the story” into my lap. I was watching a DVD from Animal Planet called “The Last American Cowboy”. It suddenly dawned on me that Cowboys and missionaries share much in common. The traits that make a lifetime cowboy are the same as those that make a career missionary. I was blown away by this revelation, and wondered to myself why I never saw it before. DUH???? Making this connection brought great JOY to my heart. For I have always been a Texas Cowgirl at heart, and now I know why He sent me to manage a ranch for kids instead of horses. On that DVD, they went to great lengths to film the reality of 3 modern American ranches, and the cowboys that work them. Each ranch was run in a very different manner, yet all 3 families portrayed the same necessary traits that brought success to their ranches. MAIN TRAITS OF A SUCCESSFUL COWBOY FAMILY: 1. Working long, hard hours to protect “their herd”, no matter what it took. (Persistence and perseverance taken to the max.) 2. Working in all kinds of weather, at great risk, to make sure “the herd” is safe. (Sacrifice) 3. Freely helping other ranchers when disaster struck with both emotional and financial support. (Empathy, generosity, and helps.) 4. Each family stuck together through the toughest of times. ( SHOWING FAITH in God, and never letting QUIT be an option). 5. Made many tough decisions on a daily basis. (Decisive) Able to make a decision and form a plan of action to make it happen. 6. Using tough love to help their family and team members learn so they could reach their potential. (Showing LOVE and respect through their actions as well as words.) 7. Dealing with life and death of members of “the herd” on a daily basis. (Empathy mixed with the emotional toughness needed to move on in order to help the survivors.) 8. Giving “their word” to complete an assigned task. That was better than a signed contract, for it was from the heart, and never broken if humanly possible. (Honesty, Transparency, and Integrity) 9. And last but not least, CHOOSING THAT LIFE, because they loved doing it. (Choosing the tougher lifestyle, enjoying the challenges, even though many easier options for making a living were available to them.) 10. God was evident in each ranch family’s life, even though it was obvious that not all knew the Lord. Some did, and their love and patience with the others was very evident. The “dedicated cowboy’s” actions to save “his herd” is a great example of how God wants all of us to persist in seeking out the lost and leading them to HIM. These traits and many more were evident in Jesus’ life, and thus are a part of each believer. You must choose to use them to follow HIS PLAN for your life if you truly want to find happiness. Speaking from many years of experience living a life of “roughing it”, I can tell you that God’s plan for you will not be your easiest “life option”. But it WILL BE YOUR GREATEST REWARD. IT ALLOWS YOU TO LEAVE BEHIND A LEGACY OF JESUS FOLLOWERS THAT IS WORTH MUCH MORE THAN ANYTHING THIS WORLD CAN IMAGINE. Are we expected to be perfect? Always doing or saying the right thing? Hardly. That is why He gave us REPENTANCE, which literally means to turn AWAY (from sin) and go in the opposite direction. These lyrics from a great song sum up what I believe Jesus wants from all of us. “For when it is all said and done, did you give your best for Jesus?” For doing our best to follow HIS PLAN for each of us is all He asks. A MESSAGE STRAIGHT TO YOU FROM THE HEART OF BUSH BUNNY BRENDA |
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FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA”
DATE: May 21, 2016 |
CORN BUYING–HIGHEST PRIORITY With only 10 days to go, Capena, my office manager and head of food organization, is busy contacting village leaders to find out which Village Co-ops have corn to sell. Price agreements are the major point of the negotiations. MY PART: Getting the processing chutes and other equipment, (including the paper that pays for it all) ready as well as marking and counting out the 3,000 feed sacks that must be ready for distribution to the different groups. Dave Debour has a servant’s heart and is my saving grace as he is doing all he can to reduce my work load. Tackling this job with out missionary help can quickly steal one’s joy. I’m very grateful to Dave for his top notch help. 2 HELPERS FLY IN ON 27TH WITH FILM MAKING AS MAIN AGENDA May 27, I will be in Pemba fetching long time ministry supporters, Andy and Ashlee Gonzalez from the USA. (This is Andy’s 3rdtrip.) They raised their own support, and are giving 3 months to help with food buying, and making a updated film FOR ALL OF YOU! The new DVD will be a few months in coming but it will give all of you a better idea of the great job our bush evangelism teams are doing with the 7,000+ village children they are teaching about Jesus. I have seen some rough footage of the programs that Carletos Jorge took with his phone, and what they are accomplishing is equal to a mini crusade for Christ with each gathering! OOPS! MELUCO RAN OUT OF CORN ON THURSDAY Problem was resolved in 48 hours thanks to Manuel, our head driver, who willing made an emergency run on Friday. The Meluco orphanage manager told me 2 weeks ago that the corn should be enough, but his count was wrong. Since most of our staff grew up in the great civil war that lasted 25 years, one thing they never learned was to “think ahead”. They live in the NOW, and seldom think to replenish anything until it is GONE. This is one of the BIGGEST challenges/frustrations many Moz. organizations have with their management staff. Yes, we have worked hard to drill “inventory taking” and “thinking ahead” into their routines. Some learn it, and others don’t. Keeps us all on our toes for sure! NEW CHURCH GROUP IN MAURURA VILLAGE BUYS LAND Carlitos Jorge began this church just before Christmas. They met under a tree this rainy season, and have now been able to buy a 1 acre (half hectare) piece of land that is big enough for a church and a place for AWANA games during the rainy season. During the rainy season, many AWANA teams are very limited on where they can meet because every available spot, including all soccer fields, are planted in food crops. The villagers will now organize an “open air” building which consists of a grass roof with log benches inside. This will serve as the first phase of the church building until they can organize a mud brick structure. BLAST FROM THE PAST THE BUSH BUNNY ON “OLD FAITHFUL”. This felt poster was made by Anne Kunze, the great woman of God who discipled me during Bible School back in 1989/90. Anne used one of the first photos I ever had taken when I came to Mozambique 25+ years ago. I’m riding OLD FAITHFUL, my donkey, who was my first mode of transportation when I worked at the Vilanculous orphanage during the Mozambican Civil war. It is one of the few things that survived all the moves during these many years. It still hangs in my bedroom as a reminder of how far I’ve come since 1991. FYI: BUSH BUNNY turns 61 on MAY 26TH AND STILL HOPPING DOWN THE BUSH TRAILS! A box cake mix (chocolate) will be my treat for it was thoughtfully sent over by LINDA FERGUSON from our TEXAS office with Dave Deboer. Been a while since we had a cake baking, so I plan to enjoy it! BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE DAVE DEBOER, MICHIGAN Sent from Samsung tablet. |