missionary update

From: "Brenda Lange"
Date: October 30, 2011 6:27:05 AM CDT
Subject: Blog, Oct. 30, 2011

THE DUMB SHALL SPEAK!

Eric Dry, our Associate Director in Balama, went with me today to Pequaria. We noticed an older man and a teenage boy sitting in the back of the Sunday school class whom we didn’t know. The teenage boy sat curled up in a fetal position, with his face hidden the whole time. The old man explained that he is the father to this teenager, and asked us to rid him of evil spirits.
We ministered to the father first, but he refused to accept Jesus. However, this father knew the spirits would leave his son if we prayed in the name of Jesus.
Jacinto, his son, was mute! The villagers in our church testified that he doesn’t speak and that he is mentally retarded.

We laid hands on Jacinto, and when commanded “IN THE NAME OF JESUS”, THE DEMONDS FLED and his voice was released!
JACINTO IMMEDIATELY SPOKE THE NAME OF JESUS AS HIS FIRST WORD!
In a few seconds this young man was FREE.
All of us began to sing and Jacinto began to clap and sing along too!
He was in no way mentally retarded, as he answered every question we asked once his tongue was set free.
His father was AMAZED as Jacinto’s eyes which had been dull and lifeless, now “smiled” with new life.
His whole appearance immediately changed from sadness to joy!
Jesus is changing lives at a rapid rate in this little village, and I can’t wait to see what He does next!


TORNADO LEVELS 5 VILLAGES JUST SOUTH OF BALAMA

This week’s food distributions were delayed in Balama when a massive thunder storm caused tornados to sweep through 2 states, destroying concrete brick schools and 1000’s of mud huts.
The hardest hit in our area was the District of Namuno, just 20 miles south of us. Numbers of dead and injured are unknown.
Namuno is the county the Lord directed us to help next. We had hoped to expand our orphan program to this area this year, as it has only one church in the whole county, and no one caring for their orphans. Note: We were refused entry this year by Social Services due to all the “re-registering” process for our new foster care license.

On Tuesday, the State Governor’s office requested a meeting with us, officially asking for food assistance for 100’s of starving families who lost everything but the clothes on their backs. We delayed our scheduled trip to the Elephant Village on Friday, and took them 5 tons of corn and 1 ton of beans (maximum load for our truck).
It was the largest gift given that day as businesses and others brought what they could to help those in need.
The Governor himself supervised the unloading of the supplies into an old warehouse that withstood the storm . The supplies would be organized and distributed the next day to those in need. In Namuno town, every permanent building lost its tin roof (2 schools, Catholic and Protestant church) as well as other buildings.
A BUSH FIRE in the area was fanned by the winds, and burned out a whole village before the winds levelled the walls. The forest fire left only charred sticks standing in the area where beautiful cashew nut trees had stood. (This is the same storm that hit Kwe Kwe last Saturday.) Thanks to prayer, Kwe Kwe village was spared serious damage. Namuno lacks the gospel and therefore had no prayer protection.

When I came to Balama, the Lord showed me Joshua 1:5-9, emphasizing that NO MAN would be able to stand against me all the days of my life.
The door to Nampula was shut to us, and now God has opened it for both the gospel and food assistance.
Aguas Vivas (Living Waters of Mozambique) is our name in Mozambique. That name is now known in Namuno as YOUR generous gift of food made quite an impression on the huge hungry crowd that watched the unloading of the supplies.
We’ll keep you posted on how things progress there.


BUILD THE WALL PROJECT

I told you last week that we have to rebuild all 5 of our foster care homes by December, or we will lose our foster care license.
We were blessed this week to receive a gift that would buy the 356 bags of cement needed to make the 30,000 BRICKS that will build those 5 homes.
We prayed, and God met the need, giving us the head start we needed on this intense construction project for 2012.

Sam and Nate are only here through November, and brick making takes 2 strong young men to operate the machine. They jumped at the chance to serve the Lord by making 850 bricks a day with our Hydroform Brick Making Machine and its 12 man crew. Instead of counting sheep as they go to bed at night, they now count BRICKS!
This job requires much concentration and stamina as they work from 5a.m. to 11a.m. each day. (Sun-up is 4:30a.m. in October and the best time to work.)
It is 98-100 degrees F. (37-38 C) by noon each day, so we all try to limit our work to the morning hours.

We are very grateful for these 2 young men, and the service gift they are contributing to this project.
I PRAISE THE LORD for providing our needs, even before we knew we needed them.

The remaining building costs for these 5 houses are: (16 ft. X 26 ft.) or (5 m. X 8 m)
EACH WALL: needs 926 bricks/wall. Our bricks are BIG. (25cm X 22cm X 11cm high)
Cost of ONE wall: $737
Four walls for a whole brick house=$2,948
Concrete Floor: $400
Rock for House foundation: $200
Cement for Foundation: $210
Tin Roof: $750
Wooden Door with frame (each house needs 2) $75 each= $150
Wooden Shutter windows with mosquito screen $ 40 each X 4/house= $160
Rebar for reinforcement beams over the windows/doors $150

(cost of each item includes materials and labor to build it).

ONE HOUSE WILL NOW COST ONLY: $4,968
Each house sleeps 5 children.

Thanks for making it possible for us to help so many children.
Together, we ARE making a difference.

Blessings from Bush Bunny Brenda and the Balama staff