Meet Salva. She is three months old and is the daughter of our translator Anton from month one in Mozambique.
One day as I was on a walk with Anton, I began asking about his family. “Are you married?” “Do you have kids?” I wanted to get to know more about him. He shared with me that he was married, and that he had one daughter. Somewhere along the line, I asked him if he wanted to have more children. He responded that he wanted to have more but was blessed with baby Salva because he previously had two little boys that passed away. One died at three days old, while the other died at eight months. Salva is short for salvation. Salvation means to be saved. I can tell that there was so much thought put into this child’s name. Salvation means “to be saved.”
During our walk, my heart broke for Anton. He had endured so much loss, and I can’t imagine how difficult that was for him. When he talked about baby Salva his eyes lit up with so much love. I could sense how deep his love was for his daughter.
During our walk, a couple of my teammates and I asked if we could meet his daughter and pray for his family.
One hot and humid afternoon, Anton brought us to his home to meet his beautiful daughter & wife. My teams’ heart was overjoyed by this precious little girl. Her chubby cheeks, and inquisitive eyes made it easy.
Anton greeted us into his home with cookies, coke and juice. To my amazement, he also had frozen water! I am grateful for the hospitality Anton showed us. Being a team of 12 girls who love babies, we all took turns holding & passing around this precious little girl. After we each got a turn loving on Salva, we asked Anton if we could pray over Salva’s life and for his family.
We prayed for life for Salva. We prayed that she would have the opportunity to live a long life. We prayed that she would know the Lord’s love for her, and that she would be a light for the Lord. We spent time thanking God that she had parents that sought after the Lords heart that would raise her to know the love of the Lord.
As we were standing there in prayer, I opened my eyes to see tears streaming down Anton’s face. There are moments on the World Race where you don’t have words to describe the experience you just had. We prayed for so many families this month, but praying for Anton’s daughter was one of the most impactful and momentous moments on the race during month one. I could see how much Anton loved his daughter through the look in his eyes. Looking back at this moment, I’m reminded of the Lord’s love for baby Salva. Anton loves his daughter, but God loves Salva far more than any human could ever love her. This experience was a beautiful reminder of how deep the fathers love for us truly is. His love is everlasting.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness”- Jeremiah 31:3
Kara Kirtley, our Squad Content Major is posting this blog on my behalf.
