For our ATL time, the squad headed back to Mozambique! Unfortunately, 2 of our leaders, Tiffany and Cori, caught Malaria the day before we needed to travel out. William stayed back with them at the hospital until they recovered. The rest of our group traveled to Beira where we lived with a widow named Mama Rita. Mama Rita is an AMAZING woman of God! Her husband was murdered 2 years ago for being a Christian. She was left to care for 8 children (one now grown and has a newborn) and the 20 orphans she and her husband adopted. No kidding! Mama Rita cares for up to 25 orphans in her tiny home. She relies on God to provide them all with food and clothing and love. How she takes care of all these children blows my mind away.
Our contact, Peter (sitting in the chair)
In the 2 weeks in Beira, Mozambique our teams were involved in ministries including construction on Mama Rita’s house, spending time with LOTS of children in the area, organizing and doing a day-long biblical leadership seminar for various pastors and their wives, one-on-one Bible studies with some of the local guys, and house visits to pray over the many widows and the orphans they care for. I reached out to a neighboring mother named Ana. Her two-year-old son, Antonio, was a huge source of entertainment! He ran around everywhere and was curious about everything he could put his hands in. Ana and I couldn’t understand each other very well, but God gave me such a heart of compassion for this lonely woman, Antonio, and her new baby on the way.
left pic: Ana carrying Antonio on her back
Warren headed up the construction project to replace the roof and major cement patchwork on Mama Rita’s house so that the children would live in a rat-free house. It broke our hearts to know that Mama Rita and her kids slept in a house infested with bugs and rats that loved to crawl all over the place at night. We hired local workers to come and give this family a safer home. The work took only 4 days and approximately $450 total for labor, materials and transportation!
