Keepin it UP!

This Lenten season has been such an amazing time for reflection and deep breathing. I have been able to focus on the incredible work each of you have made possible. With just a few months of time remaining to keep working, there have been great things to keep the optimism on high.

Papa Sebastiao and I still at it.

This month Project Rx has made some incredible connections with local businesses, (JHI and Mozal, as mentioned in the previous email) who have an overwhelming interest in helping us out! With greater participation with individuals and companies here long term, we can make an lasting connection with locals that want to get involved.

In the conversations I have with so many different people of all walks of life, I realize how difficult it is to see how much need there is here. Even for me, I become detached from the extremities of what I experience each day. Shrugging my shoulders on the days we go without running water, or having to wash with dirty water. I still put my head down when I see babies soaked in their own urine, feces caked to their bottoms, walking around wondering why they are uncomfortable. Just last week when the wiring for the electricity was stolen from the church, we all just shook our heads and wondered what robbers could be so bold.

This brings me to a very important conversation I had this past month. I was speaking to a successful young man who told me what a huge sacrifice it had been having to be relocated to Mozambique, removed from his home and his family. He explained how he couldn't live without his internet, TV, video games, car, clean clothes and clean shower. In frustration he exclaimed, "I know you're trying to help the people here, but they're happy!"

I completely understood his position. I don't know what I would do if I could not find a refuge in these things from time to time. They are the comforts we know so well. However, it was then that I tried to explain to him that poverty does not equal unhappiness. We assume that because people go without, that they are suffering to the point of no return. However, by living here, I have learned that there is so much more to life than the material things we define ourselves by. Even what we deem as essential--clean toilets, indoor plumbing, hot water, three square meals, etc, etc.--it is not the be all, end all of what we are.

There is such a familial and communal richness that we can learn from Mozambicans. The resilience and resourcefulness of the people here is endless. Life goes on where there is no water, no doctor, no food. They will always be searching for a better way of living (as all of us are), but they do it together, with such a great joy and lightness about them. The Mozambican people are happy, but it does not mean that we do not continue to get to work to help them obtain what we deem as the essentials. In fact, their happy position encourages what we are here to do because they are so grateful and loving for what is provided them.

As Easter approaches, I encourage everyone to take as step back and look at all of the wonderful things they have and wonder what it would be like without it. What is most important? What is most meaningful?

Here's a preview of the manual for organic farming preparing to be translated into Portuguese. :)

To recap, here's a few highlights from this month:

* Incredible meeting with Mozal and JHI about their potential involvement in Project Rx and the children's Sunday School program. If you have time, please meditate upon our blossoming friendship and ask what blessings may come our continued interactions.
* I am now looking to stay in Mozambique longer term. I have a flight back home in June and would like to return to continue Project Rx for an extended period of time. I'd like to be back by August to continue work with Project Rx. I just pray that this is God's intention. I will know with more certainty in the coming months if I can balance a new job (with JHI) and Project Rx, and make enough money to return and live here.
* The garden is looking beautiful and the teaching manual is approaching completion. Please meditate over my continued motivation in these endeavors, because working alone is sometimes a challenge.
* As I prepare for what comes next, (ideas, i have many), please pray that blessings be bestowed upon what comes next.
* Please pray for Mozambique in general. Violent and petty crime has been on the rise and many from the ex-patriot community have been affected by criminal events. The police interrogations and road blocks are becoming more and more common. Just last week I was stopped by the police eight times, once three times in one day.

Thank you all for remaining so faithful to Project Rx and for the incredible work you have been a part of. I thank you all and hope you enjoy the video you inspired. :)