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| Sheri Graham |
Friday 8/15
- Went w/Carlos (Rubatano Homebased
Care) & one of his workers, Lazo, to minister to AIDS patients all day
today. 1st visit was an Islamic couple. Today was 1st
time they allowed us to pray over them, and Carlos said they asked to be baptized!
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Mr. & Mrs. Mouros, the Islamic couple with AIDS,
allowed us to pray over them & talk about Jesus.
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29yo Maria is very weak from AIDS, and is trying to also care for her 3
orphaned nephews – her sister & bro-law and both her parents died of AIDS.
She has no family to help her. She must carry water several hundred yards up
the hill that she lives on from the river. When Rubatano visits 3xwk, they get
the water for her. There’s no one to care for her as she gets more ill, and no
one will marry her since it will be expensive to care for her, as well as the 3
orphans she is responsible for. My heart cries for her, and I know Jesus
grieves as well, as He was also a man of sorrows, rejected, and ultimately
alone. I prayed (Carlos translated) that she would know our High Priest
empathizes with human suffering because He has experienced it. Rubatano built
the small 5x6’mud hut where she and the 3 toddlers dwell. Rubatano also brings
them food, since she’s too sick to tend a garden or work.
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Maria 29 yr w/AIDS caring for her 3 orphaned nephews.
Her
entire family has died of AIDS.
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Lena is a
widow, caring for her 2 grandchildren since her daughter & son-law died of
AIDS, and she is also dying of AIDS. Isabelle is a young widow with 6 of her
own children & 2 of her sister’s children (her sister & bro-law died of
AIDS); she is currently not ill, but has not yet been tested. She works as much
as she can in the corn fields while watching the 8 kids. Another widow w/3
children is HIV+ but is so far responding well to the AIDS meds. Another
gentleman is very depressed; he was a very strong, large man but in 2 months he
has been reduced to a frail frame; he is also suffering Malaria, and he also
has s/s TB; his church family was present; Carlos says he is spiritually
slipping and they are desperately ministering to him.
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| Carlos' Giua - Rubatano AIDS Ministry in Gondola, Mozambique |
Rubatano provides not only food, medications, &
crude housing, but most importantly Hope and Love by our Lord Jesus Christ. The
whole cultural problem is complicated and far-reaching, and would be
overwhelming and completely hopeless if our God wasn’t for us and with us. Med
compliance is a problem since some of the meds make them hungry, and food is
scarce, so they’d rather skip the meds and not feel the hunger pangs. Workers
assess pts’ symptoms, secondary infections, med compliance, med side-effects,
physical (food, housing, etc) & emotional needs, spiritual needs, short
& long-term security. Other family members and friends/neighbors try to
steal the land away from the children once they’re orphaned, so Rubatano tries
to secure the property before the parents die. The communities years ago used
to contribute to help the widows & orphans, but a couple years ago the
funerals averaged 5 per week per village. The contributions for wood &
nails for coffins, and food for the feast, depleted any other contributions.
The funerals now average 1-2/month, but since many of the dead are men, there’s
no one working to be able to restore the contributions of money or food.
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These are the some of the children
that accompanied me thru
the village on the way to a patient, holding my hands
& singing.
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The poverty is unbelievable. Thank God for His work
at Rubatano – these workers are frequently the only people that take the time
to acknowledge, love and care for them. Workers are awesome to glorify God in
making sure people understand that the provision, protection and love is from
God, not from man. Walking thru a village to visit 1 patient, 10 young children
took turns holding my hands to walk to the home, and sat staring quietly at me
during the entire 45 minute visit. Walking back to the truck I sang the old
blues gospel song Glory Glory while they clapped, and they sang each time they
recognized the verse Glory Glory, Halleluiah (Gloria & Halleluiah are
evidently universal words). Then they sang a song while I clapped & hummed.
Carlos reminded me of Matt 19:14 But
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them;
for of such is the kingdom of heaven." When I returned to the truck, I noticed my
hands were black, and I mean black (and greasy) from all their hands. Ps
103:13-14 came to mind: As a father
pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our
frame; He remembers that we are dust. We are all dust, and I was taking
some of their dust w/me, dust that Jesus likened to the kingdom of heaven. From
this interaction with these poverty-stricken children, filthy and clothed in
torn rags barely resembling clothing, unable to speak each other’s language, I
pondered 1 Sam 2:8 (Ps 113:7) He raises
the poor from the dust, And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them
among princes, And make them inherit the throne of glory.
Steph was in town most of the day, and she found
that hopefully immigration will allow me to get a stamp in Chimoio so I don’t
have to stay in Zimbabwe overnight to get my 30-day exit stamp. Enrique &
Cecil helped Roy re-do the old pump (again…Roy keeps coming up with new ideas
to attempt) to try to get more water. The team of 15 that arrived last night
has further strained the already short water supply. We gave them a few gallons
out of the 20-gallon can we have managed to fill 2/3 full over the past 2
nights by filling around 4am when no one else is trying to get water. Cecil
& Enrique have left for the boys’ orphanage for worship & fellowship.
Stephanie is having a girls’ movie night so I’m headed there in ½ hr.
As we have been reading, the need in Maforga and surrounding areas
in Mozambique is great, while the workers are few. Let's lift up the CCM Team, the long-term missionaries, the ministries, the poor, the afflicted, the
oppressed and the lost - in fervent prayer. How comforting it is that we have a God who empathizes with us
and those we minister to. His Love fills in the holes that sin leaves in
our hearts. His Grace is abundant and sufficient! Our team needs to be covered in prayer. Please
join in!
Africa Prayer Calendar: Week 6
Excerpts are taken
from Neal Pirolo’s book “Serving As Senders Today.”
“…and increasing in the knowledge of
God.”
Colossians
1:10
The personal
devotional life of your worker is at stake here. On the field there are many factors
that can lead to spiritual drought:
1) Your worker may become so busy
“working for the Lord” that there is no time for personal intake. He does not
take the time to be still and hear from the Lord. His head can still nod at the
appropriate times; his public prayers can still sound holy; his teaching can
still be most proper! Unfortunately, though, he knows the life of the Spirit is
gone.
2) Loneliness haunts many cross-cultural
workers. More susceptible, of course, are single adults. This can lead to seeking
inappropriate relationships, which can lead to spiritual dryness.
One single woman was continually being harassed by the married people
about “getting married.” Unfortunately, she found relief from this pressure in
a local bar! A kind, married couple became her confidants.
3) Expectations of the people back home
are not met. Some think, “We are paying the bill. We want to see some results!”
And generally those “results” are in the number of conversions.
One friend wrote from a very difficult field. He knew that his major work
would be “breaking up fallow ground” and had communicated that to his support
team members. But, after six months the people back home were wanting “statistics”!
He had none. He was discouraged.
4) Failure in task takes its toll on
some. Discouragement debilitates. This downward spiral of morale is slippery.
At the bottom of the slide are many spiritually depleted field workers. Often
these burned-out workers do not realize they should go home. They become an
embarrassment to the mission endeavor, a drain on the energies of others who
are trying to help them and a dismal blot on the testimony of God’s Church in
the world!
5) Disillusionment can bring awful
frustration, which in turn may lead to spiritual drought. In the mission
process there are many tasks that aren’t very glamorous – cleaning the grease
trap outside the kitchen door, keeping inventory on radio parts, or being
reviled by a drunken street-sleeper.
6) One may become discontented with
other workers. “Discontent” is putting it mildly! “Radical interpersonal
relationship problems” might be more accurate. This is the number one cause of
missionary failure. Why? Because Jesus said, “They [the ones your worker has
gone out to seek and to save] will know we are His disciples by our love for
one another” (John 13:35). So here is a major area of attack by the enemy: If
he can destroy our unity he will destroy our testimony!
Your prayers
and the united intercession of the prayer support team for your cross-cultural
worker will put a hedge of protection around him (Ezekiel 22:30), will guard
his thoughts (Philippians 4:4-7) and will give him the wisdom of a peacemaker
in those tough interpersonal situations (James 3:13-18).
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