New recruits joining in the work

Four young people are preparing themselves to join in the work of caring for orphans.
Orphan Hope is totally voluntary, and we do not at this time have a base of operations in Africa. So we operate at this time like a clearing house to help people get meaningfully involved in the work we are commonly passionate about.
Jordan Shamburg is a young woman from our congregation (just turned 21 a few days ago) who has been to South Africa three times with our Mandate mission team, and has decided that this is the place where her heart is. She had a good job at Starbucks, just got a good raise, a crazy/wonderful family, places she could go… But there seemed something missing or shallow after experiencing the stark realities of life and death in Africa. So she gave notice, raised a few thousand dollars from friends and family and is off to Africa with an open ticket – could be 3 months, 6 or 12! She will stay a few months in Maputo Mozambique with the Kutwanana church and ministry, then see where God leads her.

Kyle Showalter is a young guy who in the past few years has gotten serious about serving and living for God. So he works for his uncle’s pumpkin factory for a few months each fall, then has enough money to live for the rest of the year. So this year he wants to come and serve in Africa. He went with the Mandate School to their Missions Exposure school in Mexico for the month of Feb; then again with them to their mission trip to central Mexico for the month of March; then will join us in southern Africa for April and May, and will find another African opportunity when we leave to take him up to pumpkin harvest in Sept. (Kyle’s brother Caleb has been trying to find an opportunity to spend significant time working with African orphans as well – maybe next year).

Liana Bumstead, my daughter, had two ministry loves: making music and missions. So for two years she gave herself to music – made a CD, toured, grew a fan base, played gigs… She loved it and it just came to her. Then about Nov 2006 it seemed the concerts began slowing down, no new songs were coming, CD sales were not flowing. Then God began to reawaken her desire to serve Him in missions – particularly with the orphans and the poor. Now she is leading our Mandate trip to southern Africa and will stay on with us until the end of May. Then she wants to go home, earn some $ and come back for a year or more.

Donna Jager, my other daughter (almost), just heard the call, submitted it to God, asked if He wanted it to happen she would need the money for a ticket by such a date, and God amazingly provided even as she turned away people who were offering to help her. She will join us in Johannesburg in early April and seek with us the place of fruitful service. She and others may stay longer if God so chooses.

Many other young people have asked at different times about going to Africa to spend time with orphan work. Praise God for the call of the Spirit to his Bride – he is calling many to be his hands and feet of mercy to the poor. Is this not the way the church of the first few centuries grew to such an astounding extent? They were known as the rabble, the slaves, the outcasts, the poor of the earth. But they became great! Onesimus, who was the slave that Paul met in prison and sent back to his master Philemon, became the pastor of one of the largest churches in the Christian world! And so will these orphans become great! When I hear of the debacles of some of these African despots like Mugabe, I pray, “Dear Lord, may an orphan who is raised by loving Christian servants rise up and be the next leader of an African nation to restore the land once again to sanity and morality and godly character.”

3-16

The guys are working every day on the orphan home, the girls working at the school doing a skit of a bible story, then a craft and a game that matches the story. The home is 4 x 3 meters –about 12’x16’ with 2 rooms – one for sleeping and one for living space. They cook outside over a little fire with sticks the kids pick up around, so they don’t need a kitchen. You can see in the picture the granny and her little reed house – about 12’x12 or so. She is caring for 2 grandkids – a little boy of 8 and a girl of 11. The mother died of AIDS a while ago, and the kids never knew their dads. The other day a man came and took the girl saying that he was the dad. No one could confirm it, so he left with the girl. Supposedly she is coming back soon. This is the way life is here in the poor places – they almost don’t care because it is so costly to care. The granny has AIDS too but has a card that puts her in line to receive ARV’s (Anti-Retroviral drugs) – she calls it “the card of death”. I think she has TB as well, but if a person is faithful with their medicines it can be totally cured.

Work on the house is interesting, and a bit boring. I paid $300 for the main house blocks, all the sand and gravel. Then I bought the blocks for the foundation, the cement and the rebar for another $450. We spent a long time measuring out, putting stakes and strings just like we would on a foundation at home (there was an engineer there who knew “a squared + b squared = c squared” and laid it out precisely. The problem was, he laid it out and left, so when the mason began to lay the brick he did not even try to follow the string. I was in and out so did not notice it till there was lots done, and then I did not want to come and tell him to do it all over again! But it was WAY out of square. I groaned and prayed about it all evening. The next morning the pastor came out to inspect the work and he saw it too and immediately told him to tear out 2 walls and correct them! Thank you Jesus – he is so good to know how to do that delicate kind of thing.) We dug out about 2 blocks deep and 2’ wide around the perimeter and under the middle wall. Then as the masons would carefully lay the blocks just right we would mix the cement on the ground and hand them blocks. There was not much for us to do – mostly sit under a tree and drink water. We had to fetch the water in 5 gal containers and one 40 gal barrel from the church every day. We did this for 4 days – each day blistering hot – I saw the temp gauge several times read 43 degrees Celsius – whatever that is! We are leaving without it complete, so I gave another $400 so the work would not lag when we are gone. They guys doing the work on it are all from the church and are doing it with no talk about wages. I said we should pay them, so the pastor is going to give the mason about $60 and the helpers $20 each for the complete job. I think it will cost around $1500 all told. They will pour a cement floor and a tin roof with 2 windows and 2 doors. There may be enough block left over to dig a good septic pit for her toilet.

3-18

It is sooo hot it is hard to keep going. Some of us have been a bit sick by it – just lazing around in the shade of a tree reading. We are at Iris Ministries now. Iris is a large compound in Maputo, Mozambique, with 500 orphans and a bunch of Bible students and a large staff of radical Christians moving around and doing ministry here, and all over Mozambique. People from all over the world come here and stay at the nice comfortable visitors compound here while they play and love the orphans here and go out to various outreaches that are planned. There is not much to do during the days unless you are one of the lucky ones to be able to go on an outreach. Titus, Evan, Lenna and Katie went with a few others from other teams overnight into the bush of Mozambique. We will see what adventures they have to share tomorrow night when they return. Lenna and Katie and Brandon also went to the dump where many people live. They can write about that adventure. I (Dan) signed up for an outreach that got canceled. There is a mobilizing of forces from Iris to travel up into northern Moz to help with the flood relief – Liana was curious and may look into doing some of that when the team leaves. I am just now believing that money has just come in for Donna for her trip to Africa. Db.

3-19

The team is back from the bush – had a great time. Liana and Jordan went to pray at a hospital this afternoon – quite a few accepted Christ after each one preached in a different ward. It is so nice and cool all day, and down-right cold this evening! I have on a sweatshirt! Amazing. It is threatening to rain the last couple nights. This team is doing wonderful. We had an opportunity to go to Kruger Park to see African wildlife, but most of them prefer to go back to Joburg instead so they can go to a church meeting at Petra. Brandon and Titus are so popular with the orphans here at Iris orphanage. They call Brandon Mr. Bean, and Titus it Tito. Most of the girls have their hair in little braids. Regina is spending her time at the baby house – we recognize some of the babies who were barely surviving 3 years ago when we were here – now they are thriving. One of the Iris Ministry leaders told us their vision of turning Africa from the prevalent spirit of an orphan (begging, depressed, unloved, thieving, violent, self-serving, promiscuous, etc) to the spirit of adoption – knowing that they are adopted into the Family of God : heirs, children of the King of Kings, victorious, privileged, able to do all things, secure, selfless, self-controlled, etc. The kids here at Iris reflect this – with 500 kids in one compound you are asking for trouble – especially when so many had terrible lives. But it is awesome to see these kids worship, pray, minister to one another, play and share things with each other, have good social skills and good self image, and looking fairly happy and secure. They are doing something right here. I wonder what happens to those who turn 18 and must be released into the community. Lord, watch them and care for them.

Does anyone want to go help with refugees from the floods in central Moz? We will be looking into this more in the coming weeks and send info if we do in fact go. Or maybe some of us will go and others stay. Look on the internet news about flooding in Moz and about relief work. Then look at Iris Ministries website to see what is required to come and help. We are here, but finding it hard to get info from onsite here. But rumor has it that there is no formal application process, and anyone who shows up at the Maputo Iris base (that we are at now) will be transported to the emergency zone and put to work. Db.


3-21

Iris has regular outreaches into the city to minister to various elements. I went on one tonight not knowing what I was going to. The Iris team was about 6 15-18 year olds and there were 3 whites. First we went to the city jail. The police took one cell of 12 men and hauled them from their urine stinking cell to a nearby corridor and commanded them to squat while the young folks shared that we wanted to sing and pray and share the word with them. Most were very respectful – desperate might be the right word. All but two of them prayed with us and seemed to be receiving what was being imparted. It was glorious! Why don’t we do that more? Are there desperate people in our society that would be eager for someone to come and share with them? Then we handed out bread – about 2 loves per person.

Next we went to a little meeting hall. No one was there so we went on the street and tried to round up people. It was dark, and the streets are full of litter, poor people digging in garbage, prostitutes, desperate people. By the time we got back to the hall there were about 20 so we were ready to start when suddenly a whole troop of rowdy young people came crashing in, laughing, making a scene, etc. It was ok while we were singing – we could stay as loud as they. But when we tried to pray or preach it was impossible. Unfortunately the young ones came and asked me to preach! Jesus, take over! And he did. He inspired me to wash their feet, which I did randomly thru the crowd, speaking to them personally thru and interpreter as I went. I told them how much Jesus loves them, created them for his glory and family, and wants them to be his kids. There was not a lot I could say. I tried to impress on them that soon some of them will be sick with AIDS, and could meet Jesus sooner than expected – the time is now to find him. Probably about 15-20 came and knelt down at the front and said a prayer to invite Jesus as Lord. Then they brought out the bread and there was about a riot as they were all crowding and hogging as much as they could get. What a pity. There are so few opportunities to make a living here – most will be beggers and live from hand to mouth. A free loaf of bread is a real bonus. Pray for these homeless youth of Maputo. My heart, and our Lord’s, go out to them. Db.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Today was a good day; such a simple statement, but the truth. The guys (Dan, Titus, Brandon, Evan and Chris) left at 7:00 a.m. to go work on the house for orphan Antonino and his sick grandmother. Us girls (Lenna, Liana, Regina, Jordan and I) left for work with the kids at the church at 8:30ish (African time, they say be ready at 8, but it could be 9). When we got to the church we left shortly to visit a family. This family consists of a mom and 5 kids. Four of them are mentally challenged and/or handicapped. All of the kids have a different dad and the mom is not married. How do I describe our visit…? It was heartbreaking. The neediest of the kids is Oswaldo (spelling??). He is 14 years old, but he looks like he is 6, and he weighs about 45 pounds. He has a gaping sore on his neck that constantly oozes puss; flies never leave that sore alone. He cannot walk so he crawls in the sand to get around. The oldest girl Dulce is 19. She is mentally not with it. The mother leaves a lot to take the baby to the hospital, so when the mom leaves a man comes around the house and rapes the oldest daughter. Because of this abuse Dulce receives, she in turn molests her younger sister, Arminda who is 16. They don’t know any better and both have great disabilities and a huge lack of understanding. The 6 or 7 year old Bentu, is the only one without disabilities. The baby is 1 ½ and all he can do is cry, his limbs are limp.
So we went to see them and we brought toys. As soon as we got there we felt ridiculous. Toys??? Toys cannot make their hunger pains go away. Toys cannot cure their illnesses. These kids only get one meal a day, only IF someone remembers to brings them food. We soon left, with the promise that we would return later with food.
After the kids program in the morning we brought them some food. It was so sad to see them eat it so fast, not pausing to swallow or chew, but just cramming it in. All 5 of the kids and the mom sleep in a tiny, one room stick house, with sand floors. I really don’t know what else to say about them… except pray as God leads. Pray the mom can find some work so her kids can eat. Pray the man will stop coming around for Dulce. Pray God heals those kids.
Tonight we got the chance to go to a home group at one of the church members homes. It was awesome to worship, pray and fellowship with our Mozambican brothers and sisters. They would pray in Portuguese and we would pray in English. They would sing a song in Portuguese and then sing a verse in English. We got the chance to pray for the family with the 5 kids that we visited today. One of the main things prayed for was protection over those kids. They are fatherless and we asked God to be the Father for them and to send angels to protect them from harm. There is definitely some spiritual warfare happening with that family.
I could say more, but I am tired and maybe you are tired of reading this… if you made it this far. : )
So goodnight, whatever time it is back at home (it’s probably morning there). Oh, a few minutes ago I was super-gluing an earring back together and I got some glue on my finger, so I got the earring stuck to my finger. Why do things like that only happen to me?? : )

Peace,
katie

KUTWANANA – Maputo, Mozambique.

What a day or two here! On the ride from the bus, sitting next to Pastor Patrick ___ we were just chit chatting away the ride, when I asked him what brought him to Moz (he is from Zambia). It startled him and it took him a while to really divulge it all. In fact he said that no one had ever asked him before (this amazed me). But he is one of those people whom God calls and gives a vision and passion when he is too young to be taken seriously. His passion was Mozambique and India. One day God spoke to him in a vision that he must go. He told no one, but he quietly prayed and prepared for the open door. When that day came he and his young family (wife and 3 kids) sold all they had and moved to Mozambique. They knew one other missionary from their Brethren Church who lived in Mozambique, but no one else. They did not speak the language at all, so to even get groceries they had to do sign language or read from a dictionary. They were constantly in prayer, hearing the Father’s affirmation that they were on the right track. The first time Patrick felt inclined to preach to some people he still knew so little Portuguese – but he started speaking out, things that he could not even understand, but they did understand. “From then on” he said, “I could speak it freely”. They suffered greatly – without finances, all their brethren from home seemed to disengage from them (they have never yet in 17 years had one visitor from their home place), and falsely accused.

But God has blessed them in their faithful service.
Today they have a growing church of 150 or so (in the 3 hour service today I am sure there were 250 crammed in, but it was inflated because of our presence and it was a special school program that possibly grannies and parents who don’t normally attend were there). The buildings are nice, but unfinished. The people I have seen a bit of seem to have been well discipled. He told me stories of people who came from utter sinfulness who are now holy. He pointed out a woman whose husband and daughter died of AIDS, she then came to Christ. Since then two more daughters died the same way. She has one remaining daughter, a beautiful, godly 13 year old.
They operate a home health organization with numerous care givers trained to minister to AIDS patients (as well as other diseases for the poor), take care of burial arrangements, and care for orphans. We heard numerous stories of people who they met who were at the point of death and thru prayer, care, and ARV’s have recovered, found Christ, and are now living normal transformed lives. One lady gave an emotional testimony today of her recovery and then held up a beautiful 2 year old who is a child of grace – given after her new lease on life. Another man who came for help, nearly dead with AIDS, is now a deacon in their church, and the one he trusts to care for the money of the church.
Part of this home health organization is caring for the orphans. They oversee 250 orphans in theory, but practically only about 80. I’m sure we saw all 250 today! This is one of the most impressive parts of their story. We saw so many orphans and poor kids of the community who after years of involvement with the church, are bright and disciplined and full of life with hope of a future. One is now in college and the church hopes to raise enough to get him thru 3 more years ($1000 per year!). And there are more that have a hope that perhaps they could go to college too! That is a hope that a few years ago would not have even been dreamed of.
They have a Christian school of 50 orphans and 20 community kids that seems to be well run if understaffed.
They have a community water project. A church had a well dug and a pump installed for them, and another church donated a generator and a large tank for the roof. They have several spigots on the side of the church building and every day they sell water to the community. This is a service to them, as they do not need to walk so far; and the money goes to the orphans; and the very sick and orphan homes get it free. The community knows they care.
They had a project of making cement blocks, then installing them as well built outhouses for a minimum cost to home owners in the area. This would be a great service for the community because the normal poorly constructed toilets are a health problem. The project would employ a few workers and some profit given to the orphan work.
They are training foster parents for the orphans. Since the ministry provides food for the orphans it is incentive for people to take a few in. But they must also learn to be good parents to them.
They have a “wood shop” and a “sewing industry” of sorts to try to train a few in trades. This is only helping a few now, but could grow.
OH is talking with them about funding a chicken industry – again employment for a few and some of the proceeds going to orphans.

Pray for us. Tomorrow we start building the orphan home. I bought 500 block, rock and sand yesterday for $300. We will see if $1000 will finish it.

I already found another family I want to build a house for – single mom with 5 kids in a bamboo stick shack 10x15 or so. All but one of the kids are mentally and physically handicapped – one severely. Can a church raise $1500 to build for them? What about a Crispy Kreme sale? We will do it when we get back perhaps.

Love you all. It is getting hot! – 95 and very humid.
Bye. In Him. Dan.

We have arrived in Africa and God is with us! One bag got lost in the airport, but God did not. That is good news. Actually, we even retrieved the bag.

We miss our two little girls soooo much! Hello McKenna and Charis - I hope you can both see this. And Jake and Dawna too! And Andy and Norma! And so many others.

Here is a small miracle we can thank God for: We were sitting in the Mozambique embassy applying for visas. We have bus tickets reserved for 10pm tonight, so we must get these visas today if we are to get on the bus to Maputo. Suddenly the lady at the desk tells us we must have a letter of invitation from the ministry in Maputo that is inviting us - "no problem, we have it!" - but it must be signed by the representative of the ministry - "well I guess we don't have it!" Perhaps we can get it faxed, but it must be there by noon - "no way - they are in a prayer meeting at that ministry till noon on Thursdays". So, when all else is failing, we all bow our heads, right there in the lobby of the embassy, and start praying. "God, if you want us to go to this place and help your little ones, will you open a door for us?" Not two minutes later another lady comes charging into the room and wonders what is taking us so long. We tell her and she explains that no, they do not need that letter signed for the double entry visa that we want! Now tell me - who sent that lady in there? Yes, God is with us.

Pray for Lenna. Her feet are all swollen up. I will send pictures later, but she looks like she has a young body on grandma legs! And some others of us are having the same problem, but not so bad. God spoke to us that perhaps our feet, that were prophesied over just Sunday - beautiful feet bringing good news on the mountains, feet shod with the preperation of the gospel of peace - these feet were lame because perhaps our hearts were not ready to share the gospel. Were we ready, in season and out of season to give an answer for the hope that is in us? We determined to give our lives to God and be ready for any opportunity to share the gospel. Then we would see how our feet look tonight.

We all are well. Had a fun few hours in Frankfurt Germany strolling the streets. The weather is beautiful here today, after months of intense heat and zero rain, they got a couple cool days and a bit of rain last night - God is with us!

Pray for our coming days - an all night bus trip to Mozambique. Pray for saftey for us and our luggage. Then tomorrow we start building the orphan house. It has been very hot in Maputo - 90+ and humid. This is a picture of the family who we will serve with on our first week in Maputo.

We have been having a great time with Merna and her family and wonderful church in Johannesburg.