No Record of Wrongs

“Love is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Corinthians 13:5

This week one my boys stole a large amount of money out of my wallet.  It happened while I had my HIV+ boys over for snack.  We were all sitting at the table out in the common area of the building I live in.  One of them asked to use the bathroom in my house.  While in my house, he went into my bedroom and took about 3,000 metaci out of my wallet, which is equivalent to $120.  I didn’t discover that the money was gone until later that night when I went to pay for my dinner at the Chinese restaurant in the city.

I immediately phoned my friend Brooke, another missionary at the center.  I told her the two boys that I suspected.  One of them lives in the dorm that she oversees and the other one in mine.  In the back of my head I totally knew it had to have been the boy from her dorm because I thought for sure I could trust my boys!  After all, these are the boys that I have over to my house for snacks three times a week.  They love to help me bake or to carry my groceries into the house.  These are the boys that I had just taken out to dinner in the city a week ago.  We spend tons of time together.  They would never steal from me. 

Brooke confronted both of the boys and they both denied it.  When I returned to the center, I spoke to Manuel, one of the older youth who works in my garden, about the money because he had been working in the garden at the time the money would have been stolen. Manuel immediately knew which of the two boys I suspected had done it because he had seen that boy at a little shop outside the center buying cokes and snacks for his friends in the dorm.  Sure enough it was the one I thought for sure was innocent . . . one of my boys.

Twenty minutes later, Manuel and some of the older youth showed up at my house with the boy.  I opened his school bag and found 2,200 mets ($88).  At first he claimed he didn’t know how the money got there but after a bit of badgering from the older youth he confessed to having stole it. 

Love is not easily angered.  It keeps no record of wrongs.  I’ve had to remind myself of this truth as I’ve gone through the emotions of being angry at the injustice done against me, disappointed in this boy, sad that he had broken my trust.  Yet I choose to love.  And love is not easily angered.  It keeps no record of wrong. 

In the end, this boy was sent home for two weeks as his punishment.  Maybe you’re confused.  If he has a home why is he living at the center?  Because his home consists of a mother dying of AIDS.  Just before he left, I saw him on the playground and his one question was, “Mana Sarah, can I still come to your house when I return in two weeks?” 

Love keeps no record of wrongs.   

 

  

Dinner in the City

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have 7 of the HIV+ boys here at the center over to my house for snacks.  They have become "my boys!"  

A couple of weeks ago, after I bought my car, my boys started asking me when they could go somewhere with me . . . and before I knew it they had me roped into taking them all to Memo's, a restaurant in the city they had all heard of but none had ever eaten at.  Ever since I agreed to take them, over a week ago, the excitement of today built!  Over and over again they told me what they were going to order - CHICKEN!  Here at the center, they rarely if ever use forks and knives so they started practicing using them a couple of Mondays ago while eating hard boiled eggs at my house!  Soon word had spread all around the center that I was taking them out and I had tons of boys asking if they could go too!  Even the educator (adult Mozambican who works in my dorm) asked if he could go with us!  I wish I could take them all!!!!

Tonight was the long-awaited for dinner at Memo's.  We had so much fun!  All of the boys ordered half chicken with fries and rice.  They all tried eating with their fork and knives but soon abandoned them for their fingers!  After dinner we went to Jardin de Namorado, a park in the city, for ice cream.  

As we left the park and started back to the center, I got pulled over by the police for turning around after missing my turn and realizing I was headed for a deadend.  Police in Mozambique are notorious for bribing drivers.  He claimed I wasn't allowed to turn around there because I was near the president's house.  My fine was 2000 mets which is equal to $80!!!  My friend Vovote was with us so he told the police that one of them could get in the car too and we would go to the police station and pay the fine.  The police immediately said he'd cut it in half and we could just pay him.  At this point I understood enough of his portuguese to know that he was trying to bribe me and told him I was not giving him any money and the he needed to give me a ticket if he wanted me to pay a fine.  To which he responded "Go."  My first of many run in's with the police I'm sure!!!

And hopefully the first of many adventures with my boys!!!!

Me and my boys - Felis, Anecete, Paulo, Iva Nelson, Inacio, Frantza, and Augustino

Baby Update

I'm so sorry it's been so long since i've updates on the sickness with the babies!  They are doing much much much better!!! The sickness that was going around among the littlest babies has ended.   Neimias, who was in the hospital with doctors thinking he wouldn't survive, is back at the center!  I saw him today out on the playground sitting with my friend Brooke and I didn't even recognize him from the time I had visited him in the hospital!!!  We truly believe that Neimias is a miracle!!!

We do still have a baby names Tino who is not doing well.  A couple of months ago, we had a bad scare with him and didn't think he would make it.  Amazingly he did but has not really been responsive since then.  He is now back in the hospital and heavily sedated.  We really want to hospital to release him so that he can come back to the center.  Our desire is that, even if he isn't going to live much longer, he would be here at the center surrounded by people who love him.  

Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray for Tino!

Selso (again)

Not even 2 weeks after I wrote the blog about Selso and the transformation I've seen in him the past month or so, he has run away again.  He left last Saturday and has not retuned yet.  Again, I just don't understand what it is about life on the streets that draws him away.  Please pray for him.  Pray that the Father would watch over him and keep him safe -- the streets are so dangerous and he is so young.  Please pray that he would willingly come back to the center and that he would know that he is loved and cared for in this place.  

Pray for our Babies!

Niamias

We have had a lot of sickness here at the center this week and your prayers are needed! Our baby house has been hit the hardest.  Last night a little baby named Irene died.  She had malaria and was being treated but it worsened very quickly.  Tracie, the director of the baby house and Jannie, the nurse over the baby house, were rushing her to the hospital but she died on the way.  Today, that same nurse has had to take another baby, Niamias, to the hospital.  He has also been battling malaria and is not doing well.  On top of the malaria, a large number of the babies have had diarrhea for the last few days and they can not figure out the cause.  They decided this morning to shut the doors to the baby house this morning for 48 hours to limit the number of people coming in and out until the babies are healthy again.

Please pray for the health of our babies and for the missionaries (Tracie, Neil and Hilda), nurses (Jannie) and Mozambican workers who are pouring themselves into these babies right now.  Pray specifically for Niamias who is battling malaria.

Thank you!

update:  Neimias was treated for dehydration and sent back to the center.  This morning (Saturday), his temperature rose to 106 degrees and his breathing slowed to the point that oxygen was required.  He was rushed back to the hospital and is in icu.

monday update:  Neimias has gotten worse.  He is now in a coma and in the highest priority icu.  Please continue to cover him in prayer!!!!  There are still 5 or 6 other babies that are sick.  Tomorrow morning, they will be isolated in the clinic until all symptoms are gone.  2 more babies were diagnosed with malaria today.  Keep praying for all of the babies!!!!

friday update:  Today Neimias was moved to a normal room in the hospital!  He has come out of the coma and is even able to drink milk without a feeding tube!!!!  Please keep praying...we want to see COMPLETE RESTORATION of his little body!!!!!  Please also pray for Thabo, who I've written about before.  He has fluid around his heart and is in a great deal of pain. 

New Boys!

This past Wednesday we welcomed 2 new boys into my dorm!  There names are Alberto and Enrique.  They are 12 and 10.  Their mom passed away back in December or January and they were living in the house alone with neighbors giving them food.  Somehow the social agency became aware of them and brought the boys to us.  They have different fathers.  We've been in touch with Alberto's father and he wants nothing to do with his son.  We've yet to locate Enrique's father.  Neighbors told us there was an older sister who was married but no one knows where she lives.  

The boys  were so excited this past Thursday as i let them go through our dorm clothes boxes and pick out some shorts and tee shirts.  On Friday I took them to our clinic and had them all checked out and started on vitamins and iron tablets.  

Sadly, we hear stories like that of these boys all the time.  Sometimes I find myself not even thinking twice about them.  But then yesterday, I seemed to hear heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story and became a little overwhelmed by how hard life is for the people of Mozambique.  2 new boys whose mother passed away and the fathers don't want them, a 17 year old girl at the garbage dump grieving the loss of her baby, another woman at the dump worried about the health of her infant after having her 10 month old die of malnutrition last year, another children's center down the road where children are not well cared for yet social agencies continue to give them more children . . . the stories are never ending.  I pray my heart never becomes numb to the stories of these people because I know they break the heart of our Father.

And somehow I know that their is hope for these people . . . that our Father will bring redemption to this nation.  Seeing the joy on the faces of Alberto and Enrique reminds me of that.  

My Garden

Outside of my house I have this great yard for my boys to play in.  Since I arrived in December I’ve wanted to plant new trees and shrubbery and really make it a beautiful place.  That has finally begun to happen!!!  Nelson and Manuel are two of the older youth who live here at the center and I pay them $8 each a month to work in my garden.  They have really taken ownership over the garden and are so excited about seeing it improve.  Manuel has all these ideas about putting plants everywhere and I have to continually remind him that the younger boys will trample all over them!!!  But it’s so wonderful to see them taking care of the things entrusted to them. 

Isaiah 35 has always been one of my favorite chapters in the Bible and even more so here in Africa where it is so hot and the ground is so dry.  “The desert and parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy . . . water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.  In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow . . . They will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away!”

I believe that the things happening around us in the physical world are a sign of things going on in the Spirit. Replacing the dry dead ground with plants and grass and encouraging Manuel and Nelson in caring for them, is my little way of declaring that sorrow and sighing will flee from the fatherless children here at the center and that gladness and joy will overtake them!!!!