As I’ve said, day to day can be frustrating here, but at the same time it can be a blessing. You have a meeting with the District Commissioner at 8, the foreman at 9, and should be looking over the plans for the orphanage with the drafter at 9:30. Well, District Commissioner reschedules, so you have an extra hour to read your bible and pray. Foreman doesn’t show up at 9, nor does the drafter at 9:30, so there’s another hour to read the novel you’re working on. By 11 you can get an early start on lunch (because you had breakfast at 6 so you’re quite hungry by now), and when the foreman shows up with the drafter on the back of his moto at noon, you’ve already done your dishes, put away the stove, and are ready for the rest of the day. You still don’t get anything done because the foreman didn’t do any of the things he said he would before meeting with you, such as putting together a quote, but I still got extra time with God. It’s all about taking advantage of what you have when you have it out here.
With many days like that behind us, we’ve finally gotten the land scoped out and purchased, we’ve begun moving some of the materials to the work site, and the digging for the foundation has started. Things are done quite differently here from home. Instead of calling somebody to deliver a dumptruck of rocks for the foundation, we go into the field with 6 guys and load a tractor up with a ton of rocks the size of my head over and over again for 2 days. The cement bags are brought one by one across that big bridge everyday on the backs of bicycles to be stored in a pastor’s house, and then we cart them on our own bicycles to the work site (our bikes have not fared well under the weight, and often Brandon just carries a 50kg bag on his back the 1km distance instead).
And to get the first 4000 bricks to the site (we need 15000 for the whole thing) it took 3 days of loading and unloading them in and out of a truck by hand. I miss bobcats, paved roads, dumptrucks, and good old fashioned concrete work. My hands are sore and often blistered, I’m usually bleeding from somewhere, and even with SPF 40 on I get a new sunburn on my face every day that burns all through the night. But you know what?
We’re building a home for God’s children.
Pastor Valley (the pastor overseeing the children here), Pastor Ezekiel (the one that was killed in September), his wife Rita, Peter (our guide), and many others have been praying for ways to look after these orphans for years. For God’s provision. A few weeks ago we were given a list of possible ministry sites to pray over, and none of them quite fit what we were hearing from God as a team. We asked if we could keep our options open, and a few hours later happened to be put in touch with Lynn and Mike in Nelspruit, South Africa. This fit. We went to South Africa and were told by Lynn that there was a need for an orphanage in Mozambique. It might cost $5000 for a twenty children home. Out went the emails, and in 4 days we had over $8000. Delays kept us in South Africa long enough (and I mean JUST long enough, only 12 hours before we left) for several boxes of medical supplies to be donated by a pharmacy. We had a vehicle, a trailer, and if one of us rode in the back that meant just enough room for everything we had. And all of it, every moment, every piece of something we brought with us, all the skills and messages and teachings and even the delays that got us there at a specific time, all of it is the answer to years of prayer. All of it is God’s provision. 
The hands God created in my mother’s womb were always destined to be blistered in the building of a home for these children. It’s humbling. It’s awe inspiring. I mean, the number of things that happened for these children to finally have a home, just considering my own life and how I got here to be the small part of it I was…How great is our God, who takes all the mistakes and evil decisions made by man that have impoverished 60% of the world in this day of advancement and abundance, and turns all that around for His glory and says ‘I will still shelter my children.’
The building will house 30 children, with four of the widows in the area taking two-person shifts to live at the orphanage for a day or two at a time. It’s near a new school that’s being built and the police station is just up the hill, as well as being on fertile ground for growing food. It is far from the river and any potential flooding. We have given out bags of rice, beans, and other foods, and held clinics for two days in a row. Some children could not be treated with what we had, and so we took them to the hospital and covered the $2 cost for antibiotics they couldn’t afford. Thank you, everyone, who followed the calling God placed on you to help, to pray, and to donate. You really have saved lives, and impacted an entire community with your obedience and love. Thank you.
