A Secret World

today i had the privilege of entering into the secret world of the street kids i work with. ian, alexis, and i were invited to visit the area of the city where they have construed houses for themselves. i parked my car by a new fancy office building and then we began the uphill climb into one of the few green spaces in the city of Maputo. parts of the hill were so steep that we had to use roots and vines to pull ourselves up. other parts we just had to climb on all fours. we passed a broken pipe peaking out of the ground with water leaking out. the boys informed us that that is where they wash their clothes and bathe when masana is closed. finally we arrived into this little village of houses made of sticks, cardboard boxes, sheets of plastic, and other random scraps found in the garbage.

there are at least 20 boys sleeping in this area. the oldest boys are around 20 years old and the youngest are 11. they are a community...protecting and helping one another. one by one the boys took us to their houses and showed us their individual rooms. some of the boys, especially the younger, sleep 2 or 3 to a house. the older boys had taken much care in building beds with scraps of wood. some had small boxes that served as a bedside table. their little tables were covered with treasures found around the city...almost empty bottles of perfume, broken toys, empty boxes baring the logo of their favorite brands such as nike or coca cola.

i was filled with all sorts of emotions as i spent a couple of hours in this secret world:

PROUD of how resourceful my boys are.

HAPPY to see the older boys inviting the younger boys to live among them.

OVERWHELMED by the care each one took of his home...even running ahead of us to clean up before we arrived.

SAD at the thought of them sleeping on that hill overlooking the city tonight.

BROKEN at the sense of hopelessness that these boys live in when a glorified cardboard box serves as a substitute for a home filled with family.

BLESSED to know that i am trusted enough to be invited into their world.

Making Learning Fun!

A few weeks ago, we started a special class for 4 of the boys who are regulars at Masana. Ian, one of guys living in Kunhymela House, is now Professor Ian and he has the fun job of teaching reading, writing, and mathematics to Felix, Dombo, Issac, and Fabiao. These 4 boys range in age from 12 to 19 and none of them know how to read or write much more than their own name. For the past year or so, they've been in the normal school lessons we offer but were just not progressing. So I decided we needed to work with these boys more one-on-one and Ian was up for the task! He is doing a great job of coming up with fun ways to help the boys recognize letters and do math problems. It's so wonderful to see these 4 boys actually excited about the school lessons each day as they get their notebooks out and ask me where Professor Ian is.

Professor Ian and his students.

Another Son Back With His Family Tonight

Today we took 11 year old Pai back to his family. We were greeted by his grandmother, who overjoyed at seeing Pai, could only say "Thank you God! Thank you God!" over and over again. A neighbor quickly ran in search of Pai's mother. They had been looking for him since he disappeared 4 months ago. Just a few days ago, they gave up hope of finding Pai and sent word to the extended family that he was gone. But now, in answer to the prayers of this family, God had returned their lost son.

Tonight

Tonight, there is one less boy sleeping on the streets of Maputo, Mozambique.

Tonight, a family is able to celebrate the return of their lost son.

Tonight, Marcus is at home.

A New Car!!!

A little over 3 weeks ago, i had the frustrating experience of my car breaking down while on a sand road only accessible with 4x4 and about 3 hours from the city where i live. 9 hours later we finally made it home with my car in tow.

Since then, i have been amazed as i've watched God provide! My family and friends in the States and other parts of the world began praying and giving. God also put me in contact with an amazing family involved with the U.S. government here in Mozambique who was preparing to leave the country. They had a beautiful car that was perfect for my ministry needs. So i began praying for it. With the car, we discovered there were some taxes involved in switching it from diplomatic status to normal registration. the owner of the car was expecting it to be around $1000 in taxes and had told me he and his wife would pay up to $1000 if i could make up the balance. the family was also amazing in working out a payment plan with me in which i have til jan. 1 to pay the total amount.

friday he called me with the shocking and sad news that the taxes would be $8000! i was so disappointed. he and his wife really wanted me to have the car so they had talked and prayed and agreed to pay $4000 of the taxes if i could cover the rest. i told him i couldn't do it as it would put the cost of the car out of my budget. so i gave up on getting their car and started looking at classifieds again.

sunday, the owner of the car texted me and asked me to come by their house. they had prayed about it more and still felt like i was suppose to have the car. they decided that i could "borrow" the car til september when the taxes owed would drop to $5000 then they will pay that amount as a gift to me. then he gave me all the documents and the keys! and the car is mine!!!

thank you all so much for helping me raise the money for this car! i still need a few thousand dollars more by january 1st so please keep praying and give if you are able (go to www.theunveiledfaces.org to give).

i pray this blog is a reminder of God's faithfulness. He loves to give good gifts to His children!

Lena

if you've followed my blog for long or heard me share stories about life in mozambique, you've probably heard me mention gaspar and zacarius. they are brothers and were teh first 2 street kids i ever met. they became a huge part of my testimony and calling to work with street kids. sadly, i write this blog with bad news. their mother, lena, passed away friday. she was 6 months pregnant and died of complications related to the pregnancy.

this afternoon when i got home, gaspar and zacarius were at my house. they had tears in their eyes and told me their mother had died. i thought they had to be confused. manuel and nelson, 2 of my friends, had just spoken to her the day before. thankfully, manuel and nelson were with me so they talked to the boys and then we jumped in the car with my housemmate, ian, and went to matola to speak to the family.

gaspar, zacarius, and matilda (their 13 year old sister) ended up coming home with me to stay at my house a night or two while the family figures out what to do about the funeral. sadly, it did not seem to be anyone's priority to look after these kids. a friend of mine is going to let me use her car tomorrow so that i can take the kids to get some clothes and then back to matola to check in with the family. lena's parents are living and so are some brothers and sisters so i'm really praying they will take in these 3 kids.

the boys and matilda seem to be doing okay. i think them staying here with me is a good distraction. they've just enjoyed watching tom and jerry cartoons and have laughed a lot. please keep them in your prayers these next few days. . . and me. life in Africa is so harsh.

Lena and her 4 precious children.

Soccer With the Street Kids

Every Thursday, me and the housemates head down to a soccer field in the city to play with the boys. We have anywhere from 20 to 35 boys join us. A few of our Mozambican friends go to help get the games organized. The boys found out that I use to play goalie back in the day so that is now my permanent position. For a few of the boys, their goal each week is simply to score a goal while I'm playing keeper.....as if that's really a big feat!!! It is so much fun though to connect with the boys through soccer. Each week, we play til the sun goes down and then we wrap up with a quick devotional and prayer.

Towards the end of July, we will be holding a week long soccer clinic. We'll promote the clinic among street kids and also open it up to kids that live in the city. The whole point of this clinic is evangelism. The different components of soccer will be used to share Christ. Please be praying for this clinic as we prepare!!

Soccer is such a part of life here and such an incredible tool to share the Gospel!!!

Daniel, the director of Ambassador in Sport Mozambique, visited Masana and played some games using soccer skills.

Me and the housemates with some of the boys at the soccer field.

Devotion time after our soccer game.