Children's Day 2013

June 1 is Children's Day in Mozambique.  It's a day to celebrate the children of our country.  The responsibility of helping out at home with chores, cooking, and caring for younger siblings is forgotten for a day and the city is full of laughter as children attend parties at local schools and roam around the streets proudly knowing that it is their day.  

This year at Masana, we took 40 street boys to the local water park.  It was such a blast to watch the boys running up the stairs, sliding down the slides with screams of joy, splashing into the pool, jumping out and running right back up the stairs!  For a few hours, these boys were able to forget that the reality of their lives on the street and simply enjoy being children.

Enjoy a few photos!

The Maputo Water Park...not quite White Water but unlike anything the Masana boys had ever experienced!

Me and my Felix....love this boy so much :-)

Roberto was able to join us for a couple of hours when he got off work

And at the end of the day all of the boys were exhausted!

Mondlane Small Car Fund

The cost of gas in Mozambique is $1.36 per liter.  That is $5.10 per gallon for us Americans who don't understand the metric system :-)

We drive a Toyota SUV with a gas tank that holds 87 liters.

That means we spend $118 to fill up our gas tank.

On average, we fill the gas tank once a week for ministry related home visits as well as our personal use around the city.  Once a month, I make a trip to South Africa for baby related doctor appointments.  As I get closer to my due date, these trips will be more often.  Each trip to South Africa is 1 extra tank of gas on top of our normal, day-to-day use.

All this means, that on average, we are spending almost $600 a month on gas and that number will increase in August when my doctor's appointments become more frequent.

WE NEED A SMALL CAR!

In 2010, many of you chipped in and helped me buy the SUV that we currently drive.  This SUV was a life saver to Masana as the one and only reliable car for our home visits.  There is no way that we could have taken over 30 street boys back to their families and remained connected to these families without this car.

But, as so many of y'all know, my life changed drastically in 2012 when I married the love of my life in July and then in December found out I am pregnant with our first child.  Now our growing family is in need of a small car for personal use so that we do not have to use the large SUV for normal errands around the city or the frequent trips to South Africa for doctor's appointments.

The SUV will remain the Masana reintegration car and will continue to be used 3 or 4 days a week for home visits.  A small car would allow Roberto and I to cut down on the amount of money we are spending monthly for gas.  I have spoken with our local mechanic who can help us find a small, reliable car for about $6,000.

Would you consider giving towards this need?  All donations are tax-deductable and can be sent to Abba's Ambassadors who oversees all of our personal finances.  Please indicate "Mondlane Car" on your check so that the money gets directed towards this specific need.  The address for Abba's Ambassadors is PO Box 523, North Myrtle Beach, SC, 29597.  Donations can also be made online by going to www.abbasambassadors.org and clicking on the "Donate" tab.

We appreciate all of you so much and look forward to seeing how God responds to this need.