HOME

HOME. The food, the smells, the sounds, the people. All of these things make up the nostalgia of being in the most comfortable places we love and long for - that place we like to call HOME.

We have a lot of homes. We have several homes in Colorado, including my parents home. That house is our home. We have had a lot of memories in that house, but more than anything, the sights, sounds and smells are in that home. But the people - they make the house into a home.

The 4th of July is obviously one of those times when being at HOME is so important. Spending time celebrating the freedoms we have with those that we love, with tasty food and crazy activities & games that act as a catalyst for making memories we'll not soon forget.

We are celebrating our first 4th of July in Mozambique, and I'll be honest - today I miss HOME. Its a cool and drizzly day here, with temps in the low 70s, which is almost cold to us! We miss some of the comforts and the freedoms. Its not necessarily that I miss being able to get a cup of strong coffee while I lazily drive through in my car - although that was a nice convenience, or the washing machine that quickly & efficiently spews out clean clothes.

More than anything, we miss the relationships, the faces of the people who helped make this dream come true. Instead of sending a Facebook message that says, "Hey, thanks once again for giving us money to keep going," I'd love to hug the people who haven't stopped giving. I'd love to sit with friends and explain the insane ways that God has brought us out of many troubles, many issues, and how He is changing the lives of many people here. I'd love to tell you how our neighbors were enemies and now they have miraculously become our friends - maybe on another day!

But we can't have it all, can we? This is our dream and we're living it! When we are in the States visiting, we'll be able to get in the hugs, relate the stories more personally, and show the appreciation & love we have for helping us make this happen.

Hope you all have a fantastic, safe 4th of July! Thank you to all of our military families that have sacrificed so much so we can celebrate the freedoms that we often take for granted, the freedoms that allow us to go across the globe and know our country still has our back. Our family is forever grateful for those who have sacrificed so much for the good of our country.

Enjoy some good bbq and beer for us!

Hugs,

Phil & Laura and Jadon, too

Experts? Doubt it...

"We've been extremely busy working to get this house completed."

Delete.

"This has been an awesome month of progress!"

Delete again.

These are the only sentences my fingers have been able to type for the last month or so. My hands and my mind refuse to work together with my heart. Until now, I didn't really want to explain what has been on my heart for some time. But I think it's time.

My heart is so heavy with grief and I think we need to have some real conversations about what is going on in this world. Whether a first world, developing or 3rd world country, we can't move an inch without hearing about another tragedy and another and another. And after each one, these are the common themes I see coming to life: Shaming. Blaming. Lots of talking. Very little listening.

I can't blame these reactions on anything specific because then I would just be part of the problem. This type of behavior has been YEARS in the making. We've become a culture that is quick to judge, quick to speak, and slow to study, contemplate and listen. We, as a culture, have encouraged free expression without cautioning our society of the consequences of speaking without listening and considering the other side.

Social media has also become a means of expressing ourselves without considering the consequences of our harsh, judgmental, neatly-typed words that don't have to be spoken to anyone's face. We simply sit back and wait for people to respond on their tiny screens, using their tiny keyboards, and often replacing their conscience with their mouthy, know-it-all-13-year-old self.

Seriously. I've met so many experts recently: gun law experts, LGBTQI+ experts, zoo experts, gorilla advocates (for those in captivity, anyway), child abuse advocates, child welfare system experts & advocates, Islamic religious experts, rape experts, black history experts, criminal & anthropological experts, psychological and social experts, parental experts, moral and religious experts, alligator scientists, child behavior experts, Disney World lawyers, and the worst shaming and blaming experts of our time.


When I see people behaving this way my mind raises with questions, like: How can you hatefully comment on social media about something you know nothing about? If you're not a parent, how in the world do you know anything about parenting, much less how a child can disappear right before your eyes in an instant? How can you comment about rape and someone else's body when you have never been victimized? How can you say there is no such thing as white privilege when you haven't lived in the skin of a person of color? Do you even have any friends of color? How can you be infuriated by one religious group when you don't even know the violent history of your own religion? How can you constantly point out the speck in everyone else's eye and ignore the plank in your own?

The simple answer is this: social media has allowed all of us to be free of the consequences of what we speak behind our little devices, so we say things we would rarely, if ever, say to someone's face. We don't have to be accountable to anyone or anything, and we don't have to stop & listen before we respond.

So what do we do? I'm not sure what the correct answer is. All I knows is THIS has to STOP.

We can't grow and move our world forward toward peace when we are quick to point fingers, quick to get into arguments and quick to berate a person or group of people based on the actions of one or few.

Let's do something different. Let's do the opposite of what social-media-land (and regular media - don't even get me started!) tells us to do. Let's stop having online arguments and get back to in-person, one on one time. Let's stop plastering every opinion we have all over every outlet we can find, and start having discussions with one another. Let's start learning something new and let go of our desire to constantly be right. Let's remember that some people have experienced AWFUL hurt at the hands of people who claimed to stand for something good, and their experiences have shaped the person they have become. We should be quick to offer grace and not judgment, to offer a listening ear and an open heart.

Let me put it this way: Jesus hung out with just about anyone - the low life's of the world, the arrogant religious leaders, prostitutes, tax collectors and everything in between. There was no one too big or too small to be in the presence of our humble Savior. He never demanded they change, but Jesus' personal influence in their lives was a major contributing factor for many of them to make changes. And the RELATIONSHIP with Jesus started it all.



For example, my best friend, Jessie, has always been an amazing athlete. Anytime I hang out with her, even now, I always go home feeling more inspired and motivated to eat better, exercise more and take better care of myself as a whole. My relationship with her is so real that she can tell me like it is and it's not a problem. We can be real with each other because we have built a trusting relationship and I know she has my best interests at heart and vice versa. We relate on a trust level that I don't have with many people - and because of that trust, we can call each other out when we're wrong and we can advise each other out of love and not selfish motives.


So I'm taking a note from Jesus on this one: it's about relationships. Our electronic lives have taken a lot of personal face to face time away from us, and it's more important than ever that we use this as a turning point and get back to making relationships a priority.

I'm committing to this - to get back to creating connections the old-fashioned way - in person. We can spread a whole lot more love and truth through relationships than by fueling a destructive fire online that seeks to kill and destroy the hearts of those who have been unfairly judged by people who don't have their best interests at heart.

Or, maybe this is just a lot of rambling. Either way, my heart feels lighter.

Peace be with you All,

Phil, Laura and Jadon, too

Made Whole Again

Saturday morning, as Phil & I walked to the orphanage sight to check on construction and spend some time with our workers, my heart was tugging at me to go visit one of our neighbors. (Read more about our neighbor here.)

We've mentioned her before. She is suffering from complications of HIV, and she has tried to get better. She has had malaria and other illnesses the last few months, and she was extremely ill in March. On Easter Sunday, she accepted Jesus and her health started to get better. For a few weeks, we would go visit her and we would find her getting better & better. She started eating more and more, and she began to gain strength.

Suddenly, about two weeks ago, she took a turn for the worst. When she was feeling better, she would sit outside and she had the strength to chat for a few minutes. But as she became very ill, she would stay in one place in the house, vomiting and using the bathroom wherever she was laying. Her mother did her best to clean up after her, bathe her and care for her, but it wasn't enough.

When we finished up our work Saturday afternoon, we were walking home. We decided NOT to stop and visit with her, as we needed to be at church to go visit another family who had just lost their father. For some reason, my mind kept going back to her yesterday, and even this morning.

Then yesterday morning, Phil went to drop off cement around 7am to our workers. I decided to stay back at home & get ready for church. Phil had forgotten his phone and he had been gone for some time. When he finally came into the house, I saw there was something wrong just by the look in his eyes. He told me that our neighbor passed away, around 8-9am on Sunday morning.

I couldn't believe what he was saying. She was getting better! However, I knew in the back of my mind the last few weeks she had been very ill, but I don't think I was willing to accept it. I couldn't help myself - I was so disappointed that she lost the fight. I cried for a few minutes, remembering her frail figure, wishing I had more time to get to know her. I have to be honest - I had big plans for that girl! I wanted her to come work with us when she was well, and educate others about HIV/AIDS. I was so heart broken.

BUT God reminded me of the truth - she is whole again. She isn't suffering, trying to keep down a few sips of water and trying to get up enough strength to talk or cry. She is whole - the way God made her. She is dancing in heaven, celebrating a beautiful, short life.

While my tears are full of a mix of sadness & joy, they are also full of relief for her family. I know how difficult the financial and emotional burden had been, let alone the physical stress of caring for her. She was only 21 years old, and on Mother's Day, we spent a lot of time standing in prayer for her mother.

I can't imagine burying a child. I pray that I never have to, but we are praying for comfort for those mother's who have lost their children. I am praying for the children who have never known a mother's love, and I'm pulling all our little loves a little closer today, telling them how much I love each of them.

This life is short, friends. Don't hold back - chase those dreams, forgive more, love fiercely, and never settle. Don't look back on yesterday like I am now, wishing I had sat with my friend once more. I'm holding my family close today, and praying for peace for our community here.

Peace to you and yours,

Phil, Laura and Jadon, too

30 to 10

Cement, bad roads, several thousand 20cm blocks, 6mm, 10mm & 12mm iron rods, truck loads of rocks and truck loads of sand later, we are running towards the finish line of completing the first children's home!

The frustrations, challenges, and emotional days have been many, with easy days mixed in between. We wouldn't have it any other way. The amount of encouragement and support and love from people near & far has rekindled a place in my faith that I had no idea needed to be rekindled. 

These 2 are always laughing & smiling!

 This project is meant to change the lives of the children & families we will be ministering to, but I think it will end up changing us more than we ever imagined. I have been challenged on a daily basis to trust God, lean on His understanding and not my own. I have been knocked off my feet a few times by some of the most unbelievable miracles, and this is only 8 months in! I can't even begin to think about what we will see God do in a year, two or ten!

We can't wait to open our doors. We are bursting at the seems everyday, just praying that we can take a deep breath and hang on a few more months while the house is completed. But obviously, we MUST finish the house first before we can get started, so clearly we are going to have to cool our jets and give this patience-thing a try. 

Speaking of finishing - this building is going to cost us about $10,000 more, of which we have yet to raise. So, we're launching our "30 in 10" campaign, starting on May 9th. We are going to raise $10,000 in just 30 days. That is only $333.33 a day. TOTALLY doable! Especially with your help. Dig up a little extra cash and jump in with us. I promise you will not regret partnering with us.

They love to play with the camera & see the photos

There were so many times in my life that I mindlessly spent at least $50-$100 on eBay or Amazon, in just a few clicks! Instead of mindlessly browsing, send us your extra cash. This is a meaningful, life giving, world changing thing that we are getting to do. We can't do it alone. Help "30 in 10" get this building finished so we can be fully operational. 

We'll be posting some fun videos, interviews and personal stories about the people who have made this project possible, and the people who God has used to move mountains here in this community. We'll be sharing photos & videos about some of the families & children we are working with, and you'll hear first hand from the little ones themselves! Watch for daily emails and links starting on the day we kick off - May 9th! 

Let's get this thing done once and for all - it will only take 30 days to secure a future for children who have been severely mistreated or abandoned. YOU can change the future for that small, precious child. Together, we can do far more than we ever imagined! Like Nike says - JUST DO IT!

Here we go - 30 to 10!

Peace,

Phil and Laura, & Jadon, too

What Vacation?!

I had BIG plans for this week off from school. Like sleeping past 5am, reading a new book, and possibly taking a few hours to relax at the beach. Well, my week of vacation is over, and I can honestly say I only did one of those things! I did get to sleep past 5am every day, which was a blessing in itself. But between lesson planning for my next term at school, hauling cement, running to the EDM - electric office every day, and coordinating with the companies that deliver trucks of sand & rocks to our job site, I feel like I need a mini-vacation from this "vacation."

It was a great week with a lot of great obstacles but God saw us through each one. We've had 20 ton trucks stuck in the creek leading up to our land, which delayed sand & rocks for a few days. The truck also did a fabulous job of destroying our already delicate road. Ugh. We worked a little bit on the road today and it looks better. The trucks have been able to pass again and it doesn't seem to be giving us too much trouble. Praise the Lord!

Our road, if you can call it that...

We now have a concrete slab to work with and our bricklayer will be starting on the walls on Monday! Only a few weeks and we'll see something that looks like a house. Everyday it looks more and more real, more and more like the drawings we've been staring at for so long. Watching it come to life is beautiful. 

Celebratory sugar cane eating!

We've also been waiting for the final electrical install to take place. We've waited & waited & waited some more, in typical Moz style! Everything takes an act of God to get people to move to action. It is not easy but today we saw the fruit of our semi-patience. There is now LIGHT inside our storage area and guard's house. It was a beautiful sight to see those light bulbs come on! We clapped and shouted with joy, and then we prayed with all our little groupies to thank God for being so faithful, even when we weren't so patient. We should have a pump next week for water!

And then, there was light!

These are the groupies. I call them groupies because they follow Phil around (they call him Uncle Phil - Tio File) and won't leave his side whenever he is working at the construction site. He loves them each and we've finally learned everyone's name! That is a big deal for us. We don't learn names easily. I constantly forget so seeing them everyday has made a big difference, too. 

The groupies with Tio File

They are great kids with big personalities. They are smart and sweet and sassy and loud and fun. I love spending time with them. The groupies make the hard days easier, and the easy days feel like the best days of our ministry. They make all the stress worth it. I pray they will be our game changers in this country - that they will each have a sense of confidence like no generation before. Like a new generation that has not been oppressed and taken advantage of. I pray for these sweet faces daily & I know our mighty God hears. 

As we close out our 8th month here, yes - it has been almost 8 months - we are amazed at what God has done for us. Speechless, really. There are no words. We can't wait to see how He finishes this building. 

Foundation - solid & strong! Finished!

Speaking of finishing - we are lacking about $10,000 for the 2nd floor of the building. We have raised enough to complete the first floor, but we'll have to stop when we get to the second floor & roof. We need YOU. Yes, YOU!! It would only take 100 people to give $100 and boom - we'd be done! Or, 10 people to donate $1,000! Help us meet this goal so we don't have to stop. 

We serve a faithful God. If you don't know God, message me. Let's talk. He has been so faithful to me that I can't wait to tell you about Him. His love will transform your life. 

Blessings,

Phil, Laura and Jadon, too

The End of a Messy, Beautiful Month

The month of March was a month full of steep, steep inclines that felt never ending. Some days I felt like we were sliding back more than we were gaining by trying to go forward. I have never seen these kinds of lows and lowers in a month. H.O.N.E.S.T.L.Y.

By the 3^rd week of the month, I was ready to get to April. I was ready to move on. I was ready to let go of March and start over with a new, shiny, better month that wasn’t going to try and kill us. But yesterday, the 31^st of March, changed how I see this entire year.

The 31^st of March is typically the day we enjoy a delicious meal and some kind of amazing chocolate dessert, as it’s my dad’s birthday. Along with getting to celebrate with him from the other side of the world, we celebrated major miracles that we now see God has been working on, just for us.

There were so many things that came together yesterday that I am still having a difficult time trying to wrap my head around everything. First off, we’ve been trying to send some money to China to purchase some much-needed construction supplies that we are unable to get here.  The process to send money out of the country has been a nightmare and we’ve been trying since Monday to do so. Finally, Thursday came, and we were able to send the money, no problem.

Despite the challenges, the building continues!

Then, the only vehicle we have, our van, suddenly healed itself! The van is used as not only our work truck (since our truck was stolen in January – more on that later) but as our only means of transportation. We noticed a few weeks ago the van was idling when in park, and we started to worry a little bit. We consulted with a mechanic friend, we did the suggested repair, and it still didn’t stop. We changed filters, and did a few other small things, but nothing. Suddenly, it stopped this weird idling yesterday, on the 31^st. I was so thrilled! We sent money that needed to go, and then the car fixed itself. But the day kept getting better and better.

We’ve been feeling overwhelmed by how much we have on our plate, and we’ve been trying to figure out a way to cut out the unnecessary. As of yesterday, a long, stressful drive each morning (on a terrible road) has been cut down to a short and sweet drive, just taking minutes for me to get to school each day. Then, a student I’ve been tutoring decided to stop lessons after yesterday, so I definitely took this as a sign that God is lightening our load for us – we didn’t even have to make any hard decisions!

Another miracle is that we’ve been waiting on a check from a previous employer, and we were starting to think it wasn’t ever coming. But miraculously, on the 31^st of March, we received news that the check arrived and was deposited for us. Seriously, after all the wonderful news and the miracles, I was starting to think that the last day of March is the best day EVER. And then God just blew us out of the water with more…

We purchased a small truck back in November, and when it arrived in Nampula, we decided it wasn’t something we really needed, so we decided to sell it. To make a long story short, it was stolen during the process of selling it. Ouch. It was heart breaking. This happened the middle of January, so by now, we had just accepted the truck was gone, and we gave it over to God.

We had kept in touch with the detective helping us with the case, and they had given us hopeful news last week that they knew where the guy was that stole the truck. So, yesterday, March 31^st, we received a phone call that the thief had been caught. We went today to the police station to confirm it was him, and sure enough, it was the guy.

I promise there is an electric post back there!

 And lastly, God topped March off with one more huge miracle. Many of you know we have been waiting and waiting and waiting for electricity to be installed for the orphanage. We have gone to the electric company and asked for help, begged for assistance, gone from the top to the bottom and back up again, and then had to ask for more help!

God amazingly helped us to raise the necessary $1,000 needed to do the installation in less than one week. Seriously?! How amazing is that!!! God is so good. And after we had been waiting to hear from the engineer for over a WEEK on when it would be installed, the workers suddenly showed up, YES – MARCH 31^st – and made it happen. We now have power!

After all of the amazing things that came together yesterday, I was thinking back on all the crazy, frustrating battles from the other 30 days. And the truth is this: God never left us. When everything felt like it was falling apart, and we were asking God to gives us strength to keep going & not give up, He was sustaining us. BUT – He was also working on our behalf, breathing life into the dark places, and setting fire to the things that He wanted to use to show us that He is God.

You blew us away, God, with your goodness and careful attention to each detail yesterday! The fact that God’s very character, LOVE, can be seen in each miracle, the big and the small, in the mundane and the miraculous, makes me appreciate the mess that was the month of March. We walked through some hard stuff, but God never took a break. If anything, our faith and trust has been refreshed, renewed, and built up, because God never fails.

Death Has Lost its Sting

This Easter was a true day of celebrating all that Jesus has done for us on the cross. But all the circumstances were so wrong today for a day of celebrating our Savior. I don't think I slept more than 3 hours last night, J woke up with a cough & fever, and we were super late to church. Not a great start to any Sunday, let alone this special day that brings LIFE to our faith! However, the day turned out to be a beautiful reminder of what it means to follow Jesus.

How this day turned out to be so beautiful has a lot do with what we've been going through on a daily basis with the construction. We have been getting to know some of our neighbors near our soon-to-be-home and orphanage. At first, whenever we passed by, even when we would say hello, no one in the family would respond. They would look right passed us as though we didn't even exist. This went on for a few weeks. Later, our van got stuck in the sand right outside of their house. We asked for help and a shovel and the whole family refused and sat back to watch me and Phil struggle to push the van out until we finally were successful.

A few months later, we were walking past the house when we noticed the family's friend had a car. His car, like our own many times before, was buried in the sand. We didn't wait for them to ask - we shoved and pushed the car out, and reminded the family that it's always good to help each other, after all we are neighbors!

Since that day, the family would say hello and help push our van out anytime we are stuck in the sand. (We seriously need to invest in a 4x4 vehicle!!) We occasionally bring gifts for the family - like vegetables they don't grow or a bag of rice or juice - and they occasionally invite us to eat beans & rice with them at lunch time. Our relationship is developing and we are slowly planting seeds about Jesus.

About 6 weeks ago, we learned that one of the children of the house is extremely ill. She isn't really a child - she's 21 - but if you saw how emaciated and weak she is, you may think she's no more than 10 or 11.

The family explained that she first became sick about 4 months ago with malaria and she never got better. This is the story we believed until we saw her today and took her to church. The moment my eyes met her weak body this morning, I had to bite my cheek to hold back the tears. Her breathing was extremely labored and she had no energy. She couldn't walk at all. She looked much worse this morning than the very first time we met her.

I carried her into church after watching her mom struggle to get her out of the van, and I don't think she weighed as much as Jadon. We prayed and prayed for her, and concluded that she is now our daughter. We must help her. After all, Jesus said to love God first, and then love your NEIGHBOR as yourself.

At church, both mother and daughter decided to follow Jesus. Our pastoral staff talked with them and prayed with them, and both agreed to come to church whenever possible. It was so beautiful to watch a mother, desperate for hope, jump right into knowing more about Jesus and committing her life to follow him! Even though the daughter was so weak she had to lay on the floor of the church, she said yes, she wants to know Jesus more. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing hope in the eyes of the hopeless, life in the eyes of the lifeless.

After church, we begged both mother and daughter to let us go to the hospital, possibly to test her for TB, but the mother said no. It's not TB. The daughter said, "I'm positive." We asked if that meant she has HIV. With the last bit of strength in her body, she moaned and shook her head yes. The mother explained that she has to have medications everyday at the hospital for 2 1/2 months, but they haven't been able to do so consistently because of the transport money - 50 meticais per day, approximately $0.88 - less than a dollar. The cost is too great for the family to bear.

This girl literally can not walk from the car into the house. I carried her 3 times today and it was like carrying Jadon. I could feel every bone in her body. I can't help but cry and cry over this beautiful girl. She is ours to care for, and we'll do anything we can to help. We've already arranged reliable transport for her daily so she can get her medications, and we're committed to praying for a future for this new daughter of ours. We see her daily, and we will continue to do so until she begins to get her strength back.

Please pray with us that God will give her back her strength and that the medications will work on her weak body, to give it life again. With people, there are so many things that are impossible, but with God, ALL THINGS are possible! After all, is this not the very reason Jesus laid down his life? He died so we can live!

On this resurrection day, Jesus showed us to have no fear, because he is ALIVE. We have no fear for the future of this new daughter because Jesus has already overcome death and death has FOREVER lost its sting.

***********Note: As you can see, I didn't post a picture of our neighbor here. I don't think she needs anyone to gawk at her, we just need to pray. God will do the rest. When she is in a better state, I'll ask her permission to use her photo so I can introduce you to her properly.