A Life Remembered - Maynard Good

Steve's father, Maynard Good, passed away a couple of days after suffering a stroke. We quickly packed our bags and went to Indiana for a little over a week. It was a quick trip between the two worlds we inhabit and made our heads spin (and our bodies wonder whether we were coming or going). But it was a wonderful privilege to be able to spend time with the family and some of our friends to honor Maynard and say good-bye.  Below is a bio written by Steve's brother, Tom, and then a piece that Steve shared at the memorial service.

Maynard L. Good, 85, of Elkhart , died Mon., Aug. 19, 2013 at Elkhart General Hospital .  He was born March 6, 1928 in Elkhart to Jacob H. and Ada (Christophel) Good. He married Anna Ruth Nafziger on Aug. 17, 1952. She survives along with children, Stephen (Rachel) Good of Mozambique, Africa; Marilee (Ron) Diener, Deborah Good, Thomas (Annetta Borntrager) Good all of Goshen, John (Lori) Good of Fayetteville GA; brothers, Willard (Rose) Good of Ft. Scott. KS, Truman (Beverly) Good of Spencer,  TN; sisters, Doris (Kenneth) Shoemaker of Danvers, IL, Melba Miller of Denver, CO; 12 grandchildren; and 1 great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by a son, James Good.

Maynard was a memorable, musical and missional man. He knew a lot of people.  Having grown up in the area and having many early sales and delivery jobs, he was often a point of reference for the rest of the family when meeting new people.  His gift for salesmanship continued after he settled down at Spring Valley Ranch to grow and sell fruit, cider, sweet corn, potatoes and other produce.  He also had a mechanical bent and founded a business fabricating silage bag stuffers and grader boxes.  Most recently, he spent summers at the Blueberry Park selling organic blueberries to the community along with information about their health benefits.

Maynard was born into a family that loved to sing and make music.  One of his first purchases was a guitar that he taught himself to play.  He sang in quartets and choirs when he was younger and was chorister for Prairie Street for many years.  He also led his family in giving programs to area churches.  Table grace was almost always sung at family meals. 

Maynard was deeply involved in the life of the church as a Torch Bearer sponsor and Sunday School teacher,  He also had a deep concern for the unchurched and community.  He was a founder and the first president of Church Community Services. He supported MCC through service time in Puerto Rico in his 20’s and hosted trainees from other countries to live and work on the farm. He promoted the CROP walk for Church World Services.  He initiated a Saturday evening program for area children who often passed the church but never came in.

Maynard was a visionary man of simple faith.  He suffered a major stroke while resting the afternoon the blueberry patch closed for the season and passed peacefully two days later.  He is now with Jesus and we will miss him.  His family thanks you for your support and prayers.

 

 

A Life Remembered - By Steve

 

There is a lot to remember from 58 years of having a dad like Maynard Good.  He was “part chip off the old block” and part “they broke the mould after they were done” kind of guy.  Stepping into his crocs the morning after getting back to Elkhart reminded me that as “dad,” he was always sort of a half size larger than life and no one could ever quite fill his shoes.

Throughout my younger years and even more recently, I was always told, “You look just like your dad.”  While I could see and sense the resemblance, it always struck me with a mixture of pride, wonder and anxiety.  Was I really, “just like” him?  Well, not exactly, God has created each of us uniquely. 

 One of the things I learned late in life about myself is that I am a “learner and communicator.”  I doubt that Dad ever took the “strength finders” test to analyze his personal strengths.  However, as I reflected on what he was like as a person and father, I can now see those two strengths in his life too.  You did not have to know him for long to have him start telling you about something he learned about recently. 

 

Although he grew up in the city, he bolted from its shadow as soon as possible to work on the Ed Miller farm east of town.   He was a product of the “war years” educational system that was low on resources and let its students stay in school only half days as long as they could maintain at least a B average.  His motto would have been like Mark Twain’s who said, “I never let my schooling get in the way of my education.”  As a self employed dad, he taught me most of what I knew about farming and hard work.

He had a love for the land, the soil and the woods.  He loved to work it and feel it become productive under his hand.  To him, farming was not a job, it was a way of life and a lifestyle.  When he first started farming on his own, he once told me that he would wake up before sunrise and just wait for the sun to come up so he could go out and work.  Opportunity energized him and that is how he lived his life. 

He loved trying new things and meeting new people.  There were never any strangers in the room, just people he hadn’t met yet.  Those strengths served him well on his early bread and apple routes and farm markets; selling everything from stocks to specialty farm equipment, even blueberries.  

He was an optimist, visionary and pioneer.  Seldom discouraged, he was always thinking about new ideas and ways of doing things.  If it seemed remotely possible and piqued his interest, he was ready and willing to try it out.  If it didn’t work out, it was not hard for him to find the next thing to start thinking about. 

His love for the Lord, the church and music, coupled with his leadership gifts made him a natural worship leader and encourager of others to sing along.  He taught us kids to sing at the same time we learned to talk and attempted to mold us into a singing Von Trapp family.  He even risked bringing the first guitar into Prairie Street Mennonite, when it was still considered an instrument of the world.

 

Needless to say, he taught and instilled many of these same attributes into all of us as his sons and daughters, each in a different way.  Our lives will always be part of this godly legacy, product of his life and how he lived it.   

 

Masala Jam

One of the good things that happened when we went to the village was that we picked up some masala (or green monkey fruit in English)!  This is a fruit that grows on a low tree. The shell is very hard and is used for making maracas. The fruit grows around many seeds and is quite sour so people don't think too highly of masala. But we have discovered how to make it into a jam and it is Steve's favorite.

Here he is opening the hard shells with a machete. Throwing them on a concrete floor will also do the trick!

 

Next I scooped the insides out, added a bit of water and heated it all.

 

After that, the arduous task begins of removing the fruit from the seeds. Fingers seems to work best, at least we haven't figured out another way.

Then boil for 20 min., add a bunch of sugar (1.5 cups per 2 cups fruit) and boil 20 min. more.

 

Finally, Ta-Dah! it is done and ready for pancakes or bread.

Accidents Happen (Unfortunately)

Two pastors from a church in Ohio came to visit the WR programs that they have helped with in Gaza Province. Since we needed a driver anyhow, I convinced Steve to go with us and spend time with them as well.

We picked them up from the airport mid-afternoon and took off for the village. Traffic wasn't too bad in Maputo (a relative statement) and we made good time. As we got closer to the village we saw places where the flood had damaged the road and at one point we needed to make a detour because the road was gone.

As we were getting close to our destination Steve slowed down behind a mini-van that was stopping to let off passengers. We could see a car speeding toward us and it seemed he was too close to the middle of the narrow road (no centerlines there). We didn't have enough momentum to get out of the way quickly and sure enough, he sideswiped our WR vehicle. As always, we were a bit shocked that we had been hit but quickly verified that no one was seriously hurt. The pastors in the back had bumped into each other and had some sore ribs but that was it.

Both tires were sheared off, the hub was bent and the rear axle was completely dislocated and bent.

 

It was not a pretty sight. Immediately after the crash the bars close to the road emptied out and we were surrounded by very excited people. I decided that a good place for me to stay was right in my seat, making some phone calls and praying. Steve and the pastors got out to investigate.

 

What they saw was the other car (picture taken the next day). The driver was unhurt and ran away a few minutes later as he had no license and seemed to be under the influence of something. His mother who was with him bumped into the windshield and had a bump on her head.

 

 

 

We were very thankful that Dr. Pieter was close by and he came to help us sort out the situation. Our Bible study was meeting that night so I had called them. They prayed that someone would help us move the vehicle. Pieter had tried to call some people to do that but had no luck and thought we would need to get someone from Maputo - 3.5 hrs away to come. But as we were sitting there waiting for the police, a truck went by. The driver knows Pieter and he offered to come back later and move the truck to his house and later to Maputo. We were grateful for this and so thankful that no one was seriously hurt. A few inches could have made a big difference. Angels were watching over us!

Dondo Bible School

This past week Steve and I traveled to Dondo in the center of Mozambique. Tanneken Fros, a friend from our home church in Indiana had invited us to teach at their Bible school. They started with 28 students (mostly bush pastors) but then because of political unrest in the area and some violence, 18 of them went home. Members from the local church were invited to the 4-day seminar that we did and we had around 45 people most days.

 

                                                                     Tanneken

We taught material from the Ancient Paths seminar. Because it needed to be translated to Sena and contextualized we did not use the video seminar. It was a lot of work but it was well worth it. We felt that God took the concepts and planted His Word in hearts. We taught on the importance of honoring  others, the power of the tongue to bless and not curse each other, choosing life by going God's way, the importance of building our lives on a strong foundation, iniquities and how to be freed from them, transparency in our lives, breaking free from shame and more.

 

 

At the end we demonstrated how to pray a blessing over a person and then they prayed for each other.

 

 

It seemed they enjoyed this part and it was a good way to close.

 

The tradition is to give capulanas to guests.

 

Lots of singing, dancing, hugs and kisses.

They were excited to receive the outlines of the lessons.

 

It was a great week and we pray that God will use the teachings to transform lives and make a tangible difference in their homes, church and community.  It was also great to spend time with Tanneken and another guest, Charleeda who had taught previously.  Tanneken is the one who introduced us to Mozambique and encouraged us to come. When we visited her in 2002 we stopped in Maputo and that is when we learned about World Relief. God moves in mysterious ways!

Running the Race

I had the privilege of joining a group of six people from Akron, Ohio who traveled to the villages of Chaimite, Koka Misava and Macalawane the end of May. We were joined by a group of six from Young Life.  They were a wonderful asset to the team as they are experts in working with youth. Their skits, games, and stories with the kids and youth were excellent and they kept us moving in the evenings as well. No board games were needed to entertain us this time!

We were also joined by the people who are always working on the ground - trainers of discipleship groups, agriculture managers, cooks, a construction guy, drivers, interpreters, kids' clubs leaders coordinators. They are wonderful people and we had a good time getting to know them better - they are the unsung heroes.

The group's theme for the week was "running the race" from Hebrews 11 and 12. For one of their skits they acted out a race. Four volunteers came forward. Three of them were "hindered" as it talks about in Heb 12:1-2. One had a blindfold, one had hands and feet tied, one had to carry a bucket of water on her head. The last one had no weights or hindrances.

Here they are at the lineup.

The "unhindered" woman won but the lady

with the water came in a close second! She was
wet and laughing.

 Mozambique - where the
women are strong ...

I was very excited to see the multiplication of the discipleship groups. That has been the goal since they started three years ago and it is happening now.  I spoke to Rabeca (below) and asked her why she wanted to start a group. She said she is like the Samaritan woman at the well who went to tell her neighbors and family about Jesus. She wants them to learn the truths she has learned.

 

Isabel, the leader of the original groups for the last three years is on the right. She now leads new groups and is supervising 26 people who are starting their own groups. Please pray for these people as some are new in the faith.

I also met another Isabel. She is so excited about what God has done in her life. She has started a discipleship group in the agriculture field that is supported by The Chapel and World Relief plus another group at her home. Isabel spends a lot of time in the fields and is one of the top five producers. Even though they lost a lot of their crop with the floods in January, they are very hopeful about the beautiful crop of tomatoes that are ready for harvest. She used to sell tomatoes by the road with other women and now she produces the tomatoes and sells to her friends as well as to the wholesale market in Maputo.

I met Regina in the neighboring village of Mukhotwene. She shared with me that being in the discipleship group has saved her money because she no longer pays the witchdoctor to find out who put a curse on her. Now when something bad happens, she prays and leaves it in God's hands.

These are just a few of the stories we heard and I was very encouraged. There is still a lot of work to do, but it is wonderful to see how God has been working in people's lives. You can read more about the discipleship groups here.

When I returned home I found out the riot police had been to the Central Hospital just across the way from our house to arrest the leader of the medical association. The doctors, nurses, and other workers have been on strike for the last three weeks, wanting 100% increase in their wages.  Now there are rumors that the teachers will strike. Everyone wants a piece of the pie from the big new industries that are producing gas and coal in the center of the country. Unfortunately it is not trickling down and you can read more about that here if you are interested.  There is plenty to pray about - intercessions and thanksgivings.


Photo credits - Julie Davis (I forgot to take my camera!)

Kenya Training and Anniversary Celebration

In April Steve and I had the privilege to travel to Kenya to do a microenterprise training of trainers. We also celebrated our 35th Anniversary by traveling for the weekend to Nakuru in the Rift Valley.

We had fun checking out the market and found some different grains and things that we don't see in Mozambique.

 

This is a huge volcanic crater that has many geothermal sites.

 

 

We heard a lot about the flamingoes at Lake Nakuru, but when we arrived we found out most of them had left because of the flooding in the area. This is rainy season and it has been raining more than usual.  On the way back to Nairobi we passed Lake Elementaita and found a community that grants access to the lake. Here we are starting out on our walk with our guide who said it was about 1 km to the lake. Actually, it was about 3 km one way and a good workout.

 

 

We did see some flamingoes, pelicans, terns, etc. They say sometimes there are a million!

 

 

To get to the retreat center where the training was held we had to travel this "road" for awhile. Apparently the road people removed the asphalt to re-do the road and then it started raining. Poor timing. It was a real challenge for many of the participants to arrive. Thankfully most stayed for the week so we didn't have to do this every day.

 

 

Here are some shots from the training. The participants caught on fast as they are well educated and they will be great trainers.

 

 

This group liked to laugh and have a good time.

 

Here's a sampling of the beautiful flowers and landscaping in Nairobi.
 

   

And you think SHE talks a lot?

In my culture, it is generally agreed that women have a stronger gift of gab than men (of course with many exceptions).  It is also debated that men are said to use an average of 7,000-14,000 words per day and women use from 15,000 to 25,000.  Perhaps you know someone who talks virtually non-stop, well here is my story about a guy (yep, a guy) who can probably out talk them all.

I was in an African country (and I won’t name names or tribes either) in a fairly remote location with two people from our national team.  Someone asked for a ride to the town where we were going about 4.5 hours away and the team agreed.  Personally, I don’t mind providing this type of assistance to someone, especially if we know him, which we did.

However, we were about 20 minutes into the drive when I realized that this guy had not stopped talking since he got into the vehicle.  Now I was in a meeting with him earlier that day and he was the one who complained that he felt excluded as the meeting was being held in English for my benefit.  Not only did he complain, but went on and on to the extent that I thought it was probably a mercy that the meeting was in English or the talk would be never ending.

No kidding, this guy talked 2.5 hours non-stop, until he ran out of water.  When he slowed down enough to ask for some, our team obliged.  (Big mistake.)  This did lead to about a 1 hour interlude where some questions went back and forth, with the other two team members involved.  Maybe he was just building another head of steam. 

Sure enough, finding ourselves still about 1 hour from our destination, he seemed to take note that he would soon be losing his captive audience and launched into another half hour interlude, where he not only asked and answered his own question, like du, du, du, 2008. Eh? Uhu, 2008,  blah, blah, blah.  He laughed at his own jokes and the rest of the team sat generally mute with the occasional grunt to indicate they were not comatose.  One finally asked for the radio to be turned on which temporarily quieted the output, but alas, we were still too far out of range to get a good station. 

When we parted he said, “Good travels, it was nice traveling with you.”  What can you say to that?  The phrase that had earlier come to mind was, “Thank you for coming and thank you for leaving.”  Of course that went unsaid.  :-)

Vision Trip

When we started working with World Relief eight years ago in the area of microenterprise development (MED), we were pretty well aware that we were doing something that almost no one else in WR was doing. When we focused our efforts on the chicken project and then agriculture, the people within microfinance were not sure at all about working with us.  Thus began the story that has an exciting new beginning today. 

 After reasonable and moderate success in Mozambique, I was asked to oversee an agricultural program in Western Province, Zambia, now called ZambiaWorks.  Since 2007, we have been trying (and at times erring) to find innovative ways for small farmers to use what they know plus new ways of doing things, to earn income, where before their hard work only fed the family part of the time.  Today, that  organization works with more than 1,000 farmers and 4,000 borrowers, with plans for expansion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treadle pump. One pumps and another waters.

 

 

 

 

 

One group of farmers is giving back to the community by constructing this school.

 

As some of my work load reduced in Mozambique, I was asked to start working with other WR countries in Africa.  After two years of visiting potential program sites, sitting on microfinance boards, and telling people about Zambia, five of the countries were ready to move from where they were to something new.  But still when I only told them about a new way of doing things, I got a lot of questions or puzzled looks.  Time for a vision trip.

 Going through the process of getting a trip like this approved, we identified 20 people or more people who might attend.  Potentially overwhelming.  In the end we had 12, plus myself and that nearly did in the restaurants and hotels we frequented.  More than once, it took in excess of two hours to prepare a meal for this crowd.  And what a lively crowd it was.

 We looked at more than 12 different projects in three days, drove more than 1,500 kilometers, with some individuals spending two overnights on an airplane.  In the end, we sat and talked first as small groups, then as a whole on what we had learned and how we might apply it in the various countries represented. 

Now for the first dividends.  One of my first E. Africa assignments was to visit an agriculture project that had loaned $30,000 in a pilot for agriculture.  More than 1/3 was eventually written off and much more expense was incurred managing the process.  Needless to say, there were a lot of  “lessons learned.”

 After the vision trip, I sat down with three of the trip participants, plus one more and asked the country director, “since we want to try and do an agriculture loan pilot again, what did you learn on the trip and let’s see how that can help us build a successful agriculture loan product.”  The result was amazing. 

 Suddenly I began to hear what I had been trying to communicate for two years coming out of the mouths of others.  In 2.5 hours of discussion, we had a guideline, a schedule of activities, a timeline of events and retroactive resolution from the board to run a pilot agriculture project as soon as possible.  One participant, who had never seen an ag loan product he liked, (to be fair, none of the group had), was nearly running circles around me with practical ideas as to how this could be done.  What a difference a trip and a team make.  There was a clear feeling in the room that this should work, what are we waiting for?

 It is not that the work will be without challenges.  After all, this is Africa.  But being Africa, there are also millions of small farmers who need the opportunity to do more than barely survive doing the only thing they know, agriculture.  They need a chance to feed their families, their communities. the continent and make a profit.  What a vision and what a blessing to be a part of it!

 

               Teaching WR Rwanda volunteers how to do a kitchen garden with the Farming God's Way method.

Kenya February 2013

Our WR agriculture program in Kenya is like a toddler taking its first steps on real earth.  Certainly not the first steps on manicured lawn or a sandy beach, but real, hot, windswept, rocky soil. 

We started in an area stricken by drought and famine, in September of 2012 after the long rains failed to come to Turkana in April and May.  People were truly desperate and malnutrition in children was double the normal rates.  Our goal was to keep people alive until we could begin teaching them to raise food for themselves.  We knew this would prove to be quite a challenge as these peoples have survived off the land as pastoralists, not farmers, for as long as anyone can remember.

When flying from Nairobi to Turkana, the all encompassing fertile fields of the Kenya highlands shift from continuous fields, to green mountains, to brown mountains to grey desert sands with little to no color variation, except for the green tree-lined traces of dry stream beds.  Evidence of people is hard to find except along the one river in the region.  Welcome to Turkana, we are here to do agriculture. 

This trip came about as part of a conservation agriculture conference in Arusha, Tanzania, put on by ECHO, out of Ft. Myers Florida.  They are a great organization, founded to help educate people like me on different options for helping people grow nutritious food in the places where they live.  That part was educational with great networking and new friendships established. 

On arrival back to Nairobi, I spent a day with our director J.P., driving out to Molo-Kurisol, where much of the violence and death occurred following the disputed presidential election in 2007.  WR is planning an agricultural and youth intervention to address the idleness and discontent among young men working on their parent’s farms.  My sense is that they are great young men, but frustrated by a lack of purpose and progress in their lives.  This land is rich and productive where minor improvements can make a big impact.

By the time I got home that night, my stomach was roaring and kept me up half the night, emptying itself with great energy.  No fun indeed and the thought of food was banished for 36 hours.  What a way to lose those extra Christmas pounds.  To top it off, after a series of miscues, I missed my flight to Turkana and was “forced” to rest for the entire 24 hours before catching the next one by the skin of my teeth.  I was literally the last person permitted on the plane.  (Actually, it was pure mercy that I was able to rest.)

Upon arriving in Turkana, we took off on a 5-hour, grueling trip through uncountable riverbeds, up the mountain and over paths that have never once in their existence seen anything you could call a road grader.  After 2.5 hours I called for a stretch break.  The mechanical stress points on my backside were burning, neck and shoulder aching and it felt like my head was on a swivel.   We arrived at 10:30 p.m. after meeting no cars after dark, ate supper and fell into a hot, restless sleep.  When the sun came up, I was not ready to get out of bed!  However, this being the third meal in 2.5 days, I needed to get something in my system for energy.

We spent the day visiting agricultural project locations.  Most were pretty sad and stressed by the lack of water, high heat, high wind and no mulch.  Caretaking of crops is difficult.  There is little natural ground cover, (except for the stones) and most of the greenery is thorn trees with tiny little leaves.  There were a few bright spots.  One was Pastor Peter whom I had met the year before.  He greeted me by first name like a long lost friend and enthusiastically showed me his “kitchen” garden.  The tomatoes were doing so well, they were selling more than $12 of produce per picking and were the talk of the town. 
 

He said, “I remember what you told me last year, that it was possible to grow vegetables here and look, we are doing it.”  (I was glad he reminded me because I didn’t remember saying it myself.)  He went on to say that he was using the money to send a young promising, but vulnerable young man to high school.  This boy was helping to carry water to the garden and helping to earn the money that would send him to school.  Joseph says he wants to become a doctor.  I encouraged him to study his sciences well and he would have many options to use what he will learn. 

In several areas we have put in deep wells or boreholes to provide the communities with water for the household, livestock and gardening.  They are just getting started and do not understand many things.  For example, they wanted another big water tank so the pump would produce more water.  It was a pleasure to meet with them and find them drinking clean water that was no longer available in the deep holes they used to dig in the river bed, due to the lack of the short season rains.  Without this water resource, they would be forced to move out of their community in search of enough water to survive until the next rains come. 

It is a long way to Turkana from anywhere and Turkana has a long way to go, but we have a foothold and intend to use it for the good of its unique people.  Pray for our small team as they work to bring great change and new things to an old culture.  May the ancient paths of agriculture be reestablished in this region. 

Chokwe Visits

WR chaplain John Gichinga, his wife, Noel and an Anglican minister, Elizabeth Kamau, visited WR Mozambique this week. We traveled to Chokwe last Thursday and yesterday. It was good to go see what is happening and also hard to see the conditions that many people still live with.

John Gichinga, Carol Nel of VAB, Elizabeth Kamau, Noel Gichinga, Sybil

The first day we stopped at Volta a Biblia and heard about the Bible school and what it has been like to have many people move onto their grounds for several weeks. Carol Nel told us that 105 people returned home yesterday and they have 40-45 people left. Their staff has done a wonderful job of cooking extra food and serving others. Sybil Baloyi is still there for a few days as she waits for the mud to dry in her house so she can clean it out. She hopes to open her preschool at the beginning of March.

From there we went to visit the WR driver, Sr. Calanga’s brother Eusebio and his family. Calanga had not had any news about them for a long time  and did not know where they were or if they had survived the floods. But he recently got news that they were back home. He purchased some supplies and we visited and shared with them. They ran from the floods in the middle of the night to a small hill not too far from their house. Then they waited at least one week until the waters receded enough to return home. I asked what they ate and Eusebio said they didn’t have regular meals but ate enough to survive. It was good to see someone who is almost back to normal. Their mud house wasn’t damaged too much although some things inside were ruined. They lost some crops and animals and are busy replanting and trying to survive on their small farm.
 

 

Along the road we saw these people trying to scrounge some edible food from bags that had been dumped by the stores because they had been in the flood water. This was very disturbing.
 

 

 

 

We also traveled closer to one of the dams where the roads were impassable and looked like this:



 

The asphalt looked it had been picked up and moved over to the side and the road foundation crumbled. There were some strong currents going through here!

 

Monday we visited the WR staff on their first day back to work. They were busy cleaning the training center and the kitchen. The rest of the office will be cleaned this week.


    John surveying the damage and mess in the office.

 

           

 

 

                      You can see how muddy the first water is!

The WR staff were subdued and discouraged as they have had so many losses. It was good to meet with the Spiritual Transformation leaders. Their prayer requests include to pray for their children and failies who have gone through a very rough time, to pray for the people in their groups so that they do not lose tehir faith, that God will give them the strength and means to return to their villages to begin a new year with their groups and that new people will also join.
 

Still smiling in spite of it all.

 

We had an excellent time of sharing with the larger WR Chokwe staff and prayed for each other. After a good meal for all we distributed some clothing and shoes that the WR Maputo staff and others donated. 

 

On the way home we went past the large accommodation camp that still has around 50,000 people. Some of them do not have homes to go back to, some go back to clean during the day but still spend nights here. Water, food and shelter is still a challenge.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. There is a long way to go before life gets back to normal for these folks but God is faithful and He is helping them one step at a time. World Relief has given 10,000 water purification bottles for the camp and would now like to provide seeds for farmers to replant while the soil is still wet. Even though it is the rainy season, the rain can be very sporadic and planting now is their best hope. We don't normally ask for funds on this blog, but if you would like to help, see the link in the previous entry or go the www.worldrelief.org and Mozambique floods.  Thank you.