African missionary update

From: "Brenda Lange"
Date: June 11, 2011 10:20:30 PM CDT

Subject: Blog June 12, 2011

BUSH BUNNY AND HER FRIENDS IN HOME STRETCH OF CORN RACE
Our team moved 163 TONS of corn into our 2 corn barns this week, averaging 30+ tons a day.
With our old record being 20 tons/day, I have to attribute this increase in speed to the hard work put in by our “speedy six” missionaries who made it happen. Never in the history of this mission have I had such great help. The girls have stuck with it, and have shown how tough they really are. It’s a dusty, dirty job and they all come home with a smile on their faces and covered in dirt. They know that this food is the life line for our 1,711 orphans, and they are making a difference in those lives by helping to secure the needed food for the next 12 months.
With only 700 bags (53 TONS) of corn left to bring in, our barns will be full by June 17th if all goes as planned this week.
All of us are ready to move on to other ministry projects and begin preparing for our first food distributions to remote villages.
Our 6 ton truck will stay very busy as, Manuel, my friend and only employee to be with me the whole 12 years in Moz., will begin hauling 40-50 tons of this corn to Meluco District, where we have 511 orphans (includes the 111 at the Elephant village).
Most of the corn planted in Meluco was destroyed by the strong African sun when short droughts destroyed 2 different plantings of corn in Dec. and January.

ELEPHANT VILLAGE CHILDREN ON THE MEND
I was pleasantly surprised when my office notified me of the many unexpected love gifts given at the end of May designated for the Elephant Village Orphans. Many THANKS to all of you who gave to provide the remaining blankets, grass mats, and beds for these children. All the children are showing improvement in energy and weight gain, as 27 of them were severely malnourished and 2 are physically unable to walk. I plan to visit these children in July and will keep you posted on their progress. It will take prayer, time, food, and lots of love. With Jesus ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE to those who believe.
In my 21 years of service in Moz., I’ve noticed that children are very resilient, no matter how badly they have been neglected, and respond rapidly to food and love. THANK YOU for making it possible for us to rescue and provide for these precious “Gems of Jesus”.

4 WATER WELLS TO BE DRILLED IN MELUCO COUNTY IN JULY
Our Meluco mission station and the Elephant Village will each receive a water well in early July, thanks to those who gave so generously into our water well project this year. Water is so precious near our Meluco mission station, that we employ a man to go to the ONLY local well (1 mile away) every morning at 2a.m. to pump water for our mission’s needs. That’s when the line is the shortest since the well is pumped 24 hours a day. This well serves over 5,000 people.
Eric tried last year to drill in this area, but was stopped by solid granite bedrock. The machine that will be drilling our Meluco wells proved last year that granite is no barrier when they successfully completed the Nsewe B village well. We were all amazed to watch it drill through 30 feet of solid bedrock in 90 minutes to get to beautiful water. That well has never gone dry and provides over 2,500 gallons of water/day to those villagers.
Two other villages in Meluco, also desperate for clean water, will receive the final 2 wells.

MUCH LOVE AND BLESSINGS TO ALL OF YOU FOR HELPING US SHOW THE LOVE OF JESUS TO THE ORPHANS OF MOZAMBIQUE.
Bush Bunny Brenda and the Balama team