...the last shall be first..

Julia is first now. Julia is the little year old baby girl I wrote about last week. This  fragile little girl weighed less than 8 pounds, and was close to death. We arranged to have her seen at the clinic and also got her signed up at the Nutrition center.

But our efforts were not enough to keep her here, where she was among the last.

Today Julia is first sitting with Our Heavenly Father, and so we Praise God!

Please keep the people of Mozambique in your prayers. 

They face death and hunger and extreme poverty every single day.

Proverb 22:2 The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.

Francisco

Francisco is one of our part time workers. He used to be one of our night guards, but he’s older and had a hard time staying awake.

We knew we needed to replace him, but we also didn’t want him to be without work and money.

So we decided to offer him part time work, mornings only, sweeping up the grounds, watering the garden, and keeping the cars clean.

He was so grateful for the work, even with the cut in pay.

 He is just such a dear sweet man, for the longest time I couldn’t understand a single word he said. He talks like he’s got a mouth full of food, and I think he mixes his Portuguese with Sena.

Anyway, bit by bit I have come to understand him and now we even ‘talk’ with each other, more than just the…. good morning- how are you- how’s your family- kind of talk.

No mater what you might be talking about with him, he never fails to say “Deus e’ grande”! (God is great!)

He says it with such enthusiasm,  with both hands clenched in fists and held up beside his head.  Here it comes….his weathered face turns into a huge smile and then he says it…Deus e’ grande!

The other day he was cleaning the inside of one of the cars and he came to me and gave me a  coin, 10 metacais.  This is like about 3 cents to us, but it here it would buy 3 large rolls, or a big bunch of bananas. Then finally I understood  the word for ‘carpet’ and ‘inside’ as I realized what he was telling me, tears were in my eyes.

He found the coin while cleaning the car and wanted to give it to me.

Praise the Lord!  The man could have easily put the coin in his pocket and no one would have ever known. Well, that’s exactly what I told him as I thanked him and praised God for his honesty!  Then of course I gave him the coinJ ….I just love living life here!

Centro Emissor~ mobile clinic day 2

Wednesday we took some team members to our church plant at Centro Emissor.
Once again the plan was two fold, share about the love of Christ and provide some medical care.
Unlike our trip to Savane, this time the word of God came first.

So after some singing and praising our Lord, Dan and his wife Becky shared a moving testimony of God's faithfulness in their lives.
It was very powerful and generated quite a response from the congregation, then, of course, there was more singing:)

The people were aware that we would be providing some medical care and it wasn't long before we had more people than we could count.
The team members all helped with organizing the crowd, each one was given a number and they waited their turn.
Tony ( the EMT from Minn) and I decided to split up so we could double the number of people we treated as it was getting late. This worked out well.

 Most of the people need to drink more water, especially clean water. So most of their complaints were related to their lack of sufficient nutrition and limited fluid intake.
Fernando, one of the 3 amigos was my translator. He is a young man, only 17 years old, and this is his first year translating for us.There were many situations that were sensitive and personal and he did a marvelous job!! I have certainly come to appreciate just how difficult it is to be a translator, and just how important their work is.
One day I pray and trust that God is going to allow me to communicate without the use of a translator!

We saw one little girl who is a year old and weighs only 4 kg. Her name is Julia, she is precious. She has AIDS and it would appear that her life will be brief.
Arrangements were made for her to be seen by Dr Neve's later in the week and she received some medications that will help.

While I was at the clinic, I actually saw the young boy ( Fernando Joao) that we cared for in Savane. He and his dad had made their way to the clinic as well, to be seen by the doctor. I was so grateful and pleased to see them!

I had opportunity to speak and pray with both Fernando's dad, and Julia's mom and explained that God had arranged for us to meet. That He had a plan for each of our lives.

The needs are just so great here, absolutely everywhere you look.
I have found myself thinking about Matthew 20:16
"So the last shall be first and the first shall be last"

Praise God that one day all things will be made right.