“We welcome you and embrace the message of hope you proclaim.”    - Traditional Authority Chief in Mozambique

African rain does not usually fall gently, caressing the earth and nurturing the tender shoots.  No, like everything else in this stark land, rain pounds the hard earth, pushing anything weak before its driving fury.  Dry river beds are suddenly raging torrents.  Tentative shoots are harshly crushed.  Even knee high stalks bow to the ground under the rushing waters.  The fertile lands close to the River Shire, where crops were almost ready for harvest, are under water.  Only those who planted at just the right time and in just the right place will harvest this crop.

Children’s Homes:  Our two Children’s Homes are full.  There is one bed left in the girls’ home that is reserved for the little sister of two of our girls.  Our dream is to see the children healed of all that has hurt them, and set free to worship God with all their lives.  The day to day is full of cuts and bruises, ringworm, dirty clothes, discipline, and laughter.  Currently, the next boys’ and girls’ homes are under construction.  They will be finished in October or November, and then we can fill them with lost and abandoned children.

You are entering Spring while we enter Winter, with a great sigh of relief for the cooler nights, and gentler days.  I cannot really say ‘cooler’ days, as you might get the wrong idea…we are still in the upper 30s most days!  I have been thinking about how much of my Easter thought has been tied to the seasons.  Spring and Easter seem to go together so well, with tulips and daffodils poking through the last of the snow, and new life beginning all around you!  However, perhaps the marriage of Spring and Easter can lead to deception, when easter bunnies and chocolate feasts steal the glory that belongs to Jesus alone.

How do we gain the right perspective in the midst of such hopelessness, fear, hunger and devastation?  In the same way as the prophets before us, who, confused by the devastation around them, withdrew into the ‘presence of the Lord.’  There they would begin to see with eyes of faith the hearts longing for love, the church being transformed into a perfect bride, the individuals God had brought into their lives for a touch of His great love.

‘With unflagging zeal, aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.’  Romans 12:11
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Unflagging zeal is what we need in these days of hunger.  Pastor Ali, responsible for food distribution, had to turn people away the afternoon of January 16th.  They had waited 24 hours, hoping that we would unlock some hidden supply.  The maize was gone!  Hundreds of unregistered families had turned up.  All were thin and hungry, so hungry that they built a fire upon receiving their food, and cooked a meal.  In addition to the local Malawian families, some had walked from Mozambique with news of heavy rains flooding fields and destryoing homes.