zambian morgues and needles in haystacks

One week ago we found out that Bupe had died.   Days after the fact we got details.   He actually died on Thursday.  He was hit by a car and died on the scene.  He was brought to the morgue at the hospital and was left there.   

Joe was left with the grim task of looking for and identifying his body.   Take everything that you think you know about sterilized morgues in America and flush it.  Needless to say it was a hard day for Joe.   Because of the nature of the accident, the time which it happened and the fact that there was a major bus accident that happened around the same time, Bupes case was lost.   No papers were signed, no documentation was made, no accident reports were filed, no nothing.  So, Joe literally had to look through bodies until he found Bupe.  

Where does that leave us?  We have been given the monumentally impossible task of looking for his family.   Talk about finding a needle in a stack of needles.   As we were not legal guardians of Bupe, we have to rights to take his body and bury him.  Yes, that means he is still in the morgue.  And yes, it is ripping my heart out.  Ten days after he has died he still hasn’t been given a proper burial.  

There hasn’t been much else I have been able to think about this week.  (That and what sweet sweet Joe has had to endure.) 

Today, while in the worship service at church, God gave me a beautiful gift.  We were singing songs of God’s triumphant power, how God is God and we are not and that his love never fails and never gives up.  In tears and complete surrender to the presence of God,  I saw something in my minds eye.  I saw Bupe at the throne of Jesus.  I saw him burden free.  I saw him happy, truly happy.  I saw him dancing and singing.  He was wearing a beautiful white robe, and he was smiling.  The burden that I saw in his eyes while he was here on earth was gone.  He was free!  And then I heard this in my heart….“Don’t worry for him anymore!  He is with Me and he is safe!”

Some would say that my mind has made that vision up to make my self feel better, but I do truly and sincerely believe that God allowed me a brief glimpse into what was going so that I would know truly know that Bupe is with Jesus.   All the questions that have been raging in my mind this week “Did we fail him?  Did we do enough to make sure he know about Jesus?  Did we love him enough?” were answered in that moment.     

Pray that we can find Bupe’s family.  We think they might be located in a village somewhere along the border of Zambia and the Congo.  Please pray that they will see Jesus in how we are treating Bupe’s death.  I am believing God that through this process their family will begin to know the freedom of Jesus.  

Please pray for Joe.  This has been very difficult on him.  Pray that we have the wisdom to know how to guide him through this.  Pray that he will be able to talk through all he experienced and that he won’t be plagued in him mind with what he had to see in the morgue.  

Let me leave you with this……If you are reading this and you don’t know Jesus as your savior, I plead with you…..GIVE UP THE FIGHT!  You don’t have to walk around burdened any longer.  Lay your heavy burden down and let Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of EVERYTHING carry you!  He can and will give your life hope, meaning, purpose and love.  All you have to do is surrender your heart.  Give up the sin that burdens and weighs you down and walk free in Jesus bathed in the peace that passes all understanding.  You will never regret it.  I haven’t.  

bupe's eulogy

We have just received terrible news!  Bupe, one of the boys that we have known since we have lived in lusaka was killed over the weekend.  He was hit by a car and died in the hospital due to his injuries.  That is all the detail we have for now.  

Let me tell you a little bit about Bupe.  When we met him 8 years ago he was an angry soul!  Angry like I haven’t seen.  He would walk into the middle of an outreach and start causing trouble for no apparent reason, be loud and difficult and start picking on the littler kids.  In the past year we have seen a shift in him.  He was becoming soft and pliable.  He was smiling and showing kindness.  He was even singing!  He would sing praises to Jesus as loud as he could….and boy could Bupe make a joyful noise!  I remember the first time I saw a genuine smile on Bupe.  It was a beautiful sight to behold!  However, when you looked into his eyes there was a deep deep sadness there.  You could see barely masked pain.   

I am not sure of the details of Bupe’s life, where his family is, if he has one and where he came from.  It is always hard to find out about the kids lives as they are pretty guarded on their personal details.  I will find out though! 

What I am sure of is this…..The word of God says that Bupe was created fearfully and wonderfully…..The Bible is also clear on the fact that Bupe’s life had value, meaning and purpose to Jesus.  (Jeremiah 29:11) ….also that God loved him so much that every hair on his head was numbered….also that God had not forgotten him!  

I don’t know why God choose to take Bupe now.  I am flustered and heart sick.  I began to panic that he was alone in the hospital when he died.  But God immediately calmed my heart and let me know that He was with Bupe.  He was speaking to Bupe and that never once was he alone.  

But what I am sure of is that Bupe is in the arms of Jesus now.  He is safe, he is happy, he is comforted.  He is no longer cold, he is no longer hungry and he is no longer scared.   

I believe that if he could tell you anything right now it would be this…..”Jesus loves you!!!  He changed me!  He gave me hope, He gave me love, He gave me peace!  He can change you to!  The blood of Jesus will set you free from sin, pain, heart ache, longing,fear and rejection!  Look to Jesus because he truly is the author and finisher of your faith!  He is the answer!”  

Luis and I are determined that his death won’t be another voiceless nameless death of one more of the numerous homeless kids roaming the streets of Lusaka.  I am praying that his death will spark a burden in folks hearts for these precious babies who are lost and alone and so very very broken!   

How can you get involved with Streetwise?  How can you help us build relationships with these guys?  God’s mandate to us from the start has been “One child at a time”…..meaning this, relationships!  How can you help us put purpose and meaning behind Bupe’s death? 

life as we know it.....nuts

Phew…..where has this month gone!?  WHAT ON EARTH!!??  Have I really just completed September 7, 2015!!??  

What have we been up to??

Well…….In the middle of re-adjusting to life in Zambia…..14 hour a day power cuts and all that entails…….getting our kids prepped for school, adjusted to Zambia and engaged with life here, we hosted our first ever Streetwise Outreach SHORT TERM TEAM!!!  

Colleen was hanging with Mathews and having a good time 

 singing songs with the boys

Autumn and Titus

Zambia is facing some dire days ahead.  To keep a long story short and readers digest…..basically there is not enough electricity to power the country.  Due to this it is having ripple effects on the economy and peoples frayed nerves.  Business is suffering and the already grinding poverty is getting worse.  

You guys, when we landed back in Zambia on August 4th, all I could think about was a hot shower and my bed.  WELL, we came home to a dark house and dry pipes.  We couldn’t shower for two days…..eeeewwww

SO, as you can imagine it was a rough re-adjustment for our family, but God’s grace is very very sufficient!  The TSC Zambia team was the perfect breath of fresh air for us.   

They came bright and ready and excited for the adventure ahead and boy howdy did we have fun!  

I watched Jacob experience for the first time in his life what a loving gentle touch is like through the hands of a nurse who was on the team.  She ministered to his wounded feet in a way that makes me cry from the beauty of it every time I think about it.  

Jacob was sitting with Charlene and Jane singing songs

I watched Fabian, who has been with us since April, come out of his shell and blossom.  Who knew Fabian was funny!?  Who knew that he was good with little kids?  Who knew that Fabian can tell a story that keeps you enthralled?  

Fabian was showing us how to do a cartwheel on our day off

I watched as Joe, who has been with us since 2012, laugh!  He saw that there are other crazy Christians out there besides me and Luis and that it is ok to laugh at yourself and be silly sometimes.  

I call this one "Joe and his Ladies"

I watched my own children; Amira, Hannah and Brooklyn, come out of their funks.  They were having a hard time adjusting to life in Zambia in a way that was worrisome to us.  The team just loved on them and played with them and talked with them.  I could see the shackles of heaviness leave their shoulders.  PHEW!  Thank you Jesus!!!!!  (the internet slowed down, I couldn't load photos of them)

When they left Luis and I were left with a feeling of the miraculous.  It was good for us to have fresh eyes on Streetwise.  It was refreshing to see the teams passion and excitement for the work and the love they showed the kids (all of them, on the streets and my brood).  It renewed in us the passion and desire that God placed in us 8 years ago when we came here.   I could go on and on about that, but its for another blog.  

If you would like to contribute to the Streetwise Outreach go to tscnyc.org and click on give and follow the prompts to MORALES FAMILY / ZAMBIA.  

If you would like to purchase a Streetwise Craft Company product email us at streetwisezambia@gmail.com or inbox me on Facebook.  We accept payments via PayPal using streetwisezambia@gmail.com.  

five loaves and two fishes

He was washing his jeans in the gutter right next to where we held outreach.

Colleen was getting a language lesson 

Today was the first day of outreaches for the Times Square Church team.  It was an amazing day full of so many miracles and plain ol’ rock your face off awesomeness!  These ladies have proven themselves to be so committed, so sweet and so available to what ever the Lord would have for them!

Seun was teaching the kids how to sing a song. 

Some kids we saw this afternoon.

Autumn and Titus....friends for life

One miracle that deserves mentioning happened tonight.  We went out to feed 30 kids hot food tonight and up walked 65!!!!!!  SIXTY FIVE KIDS SHOWED UP!!!!!!!!!!!  I quickly ran around to everyone and said PRAY FOR A FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISHES MIRACLE!!!!!  You  must understand something…..just this past Wednesday, at the regularly scheduled outreach we went prepared to feed 30 to 40 kids.  We feed 35 and there was not a drop of food left. 

Tonight, we brought the same exact amount of food.  AND THERE WAS SOME LEFT AFTER FEEDING 65 KIDS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOOD EACH!!!!!!!!!  My camera battery was dead and we were in the middle of our customary power cuts at the moment, or I would have taken a photo of the event.  

IT WAS ROCK YOUR FACE OFF AWESOME!!!!!!!!!  

After everyone had eaten one of the ladies on the team who is a nurse took Jacob into the van and cleaned his feet and bandaged him up.  Jacob has a terrible fungal infection that is causing horrible pain.  So, Jackie took what she knows to do and poured into the boys life.  To me, it was such a beautiful example of the love and tenderness Jesus has for us.  She was so sweet, so gentle and so loving.  It was beautiful to watch.   Jacobs needs were ministered to, not only on a physical level, but also on a spiritual and emotional level as well.  

Please pray for these ladies as they continue to pour out and serve these precious kids.  Please pray that God would continue to direct our steps and guide us while they are here.  Pray for divine protection, wisdom and unity.  Pray that they enjoy themselves, enjoy one another and that they walk away from their time here carrying the burden for these precious kids on the streets back to their homes.

ROCK ON!!!! 

If you are interested in giving to us here in Zambia you can go to tscnyc.org and click on GIVE and follow the menu prompts to MORALES FAMILY / ZAMBIA 

musings on being a missionary

My head is spinning from the events of June and July.  It has been a whirlwind of goodbyes and hellos. 

Many of our friends and our kids friends have left Zambia.  The community here is very transient.  So, most likely you are going to have someone in your life for around 2 to 3 years and then they move onto a different job in a different country.  Much of June, being that it was the end of the school year, was spent in saying bye to those folks.  

Then in July we went to America.  That was a whirlwind in itself.  Loads of HELLOS!!!  Which was really great.  It is always good to go back and see our families and friends that we have known for so long!  My girls built some pretty special memories with their Nana and Papa and aunts, uncles and cousins.  That was pretty groovy.  Then just a few short weeks later it was a whirl wind again of goodbyes and tears and sadness. 

Now we are back in Zambia and trying to catch our breath.   I have spent my first week staring at the wall and drooling on myself simply attempting to process it all.  

I don’t think before now I have felt split between two worlds as I do now.  Being home was great, but where do we fit now?  Kids grow, friends have life experiences that have had nothing to do with you that have changed them.  I have had life experiences that have had nothing to do with them and have changed me.  How do we make those two perspective mesh?  Being here is great but where do we fit with all the goings and comings that seem to happen on a week to week basis.   It is hard to gain a sense of consistency and stability living in a world like this one.  It is part of it though and we have chosen to accept it.  Does it make it easier?  No, it is hard, but it is the life God has called us to and we trust Him daily for the ability to walk with joy in our hearts. 

On top of feeling like a wandering Jew in the desert, Zambia is experiencing crippling power shortages.  The water levels at the Kariba Dam where the power is generated is now at dangerously low levels due to the fact the rainy seasons for the past few years have been relatively dry.   Everyones power gets cut off for about 10 hours daily.  The ripple effect this is causing has the potential to be catastrophic to the entire country.  Small businesses are being badly effected, especially those in the food industry and hair salons.  Our friends had to shut down their small chicken farm, diary farmers are suffering as well.  How do they keep the milk cool?  The availability of propane gas to use for camp stoves and the like is either unavailable or the quantities are being brought in such small amounts, there isn’t enough to go around to meet the demand.  More and more folks have to resort to using charcoal that is locally made using the countries forests.   The hot season is coming quickly.  It September and October and parts of November the temperature reaches record breaking highs.  It is not unusual to have days where it is 115 to 125 degrees.  Our concern for that time is that tempers will start to rise when folks can’t cool themselves down and we might see some real issues then.  Rumor has it that by November the entire country will be in a total black out.  

You get the picture…..It is BAD!  

Please pray for Zambia.  We are in a situation where we have no choice but to trust God for EVERYTHING!   Pray that our faith doesn’t waver and that we can be the light of Jesus in a very trying and testing time for everyone.  

Would you also pray for our family?   Pray that the joy of the Lord is our strength.  Pray that we grow closer together as a family through this and that our girls will learn to call on Jesus in their heartache and pain.  I want them to learn about the beauty of Jesus in the valley.  

Would you pray for Streetwise?  I will write more on that at a later time,  But please pray that we right behind the cross of Jesus in everything that we set our hands to.  

If you are interesting in giving you can to to tscnyc.org, click on GIVE and follow the prompts to MORALES FAMILY / ZAMBIA .  Thank you SO much!!!  

Morales Family Update: June 2015

reclaimed "wood"

We take old yucky wood that is meant to be thrown away and we  turn it into something awesome.   Sometimes I find wood in a  discarded pile on the side of a construction site.  Much to my husbands consternation at times I climb said work pile and I pick through it until I find a piece of wood that may speak to me… “You  shall be a giraffe!” or “Thou shalt become a WELCOME SIGN!!!”     And then it makes its way back to our work space and we create something awesome with it…….  

THEN IT STRUCK ME AS I WAS WALKING TO WORK TODAY!!!!!!!!!  

This is EXACTLY what God is doing through Streetwise with the homeless children of Lusaka.  I honestly never saw the parallel before!!!!!!  

When you talk to these guys you learn that there is a thread through each of their stories.  No one wants them!  They have been rejected by their families, abused and neglected in ways that will make your head hurt and your heart bleed.   Because they live little better than animals, society treats them as such.  They are berated, beaten, and cast aside by those who are capable to provide some help.   I myself have witnessed this happening.  These precious children KNOW rejection.  They feel it deeply.  It is a tangible experience for them.  Imagine being told by your own mother “If you weren’t born your father wouldn’t have left, it is all your fault”  And then having that same woman trying to kill you for that reason. 

These precious girls and boys, in societies eyes, are the discarded pieces of wood no ones wants.  God has called us to go pick them out of the heap and help them to understand that they are precious and beautiful in God’s eyes.  That they aren’t forgotten, that they aren’t mistakes and that their lives have value, meaning and purpose.  

The word of God is very very clear on this point! 

Psalm 139 states this:

For you created my inmost being!  You knit me together in my  mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made!  Your works are wonderful I know that full well!  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  How precious to me are your thoughts O God!  How vast is the sum of them. Were I to count them they would outnumber the grains of the sand.en I am wake I  When I am wake I am still with you!    

Many of you have come around this whole project and have given time and resources to help reach these guys.  THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We have been able to take kids like Fabian to the hospital to receive serious medical attention.  We are able to house and feed Fabian and Joe now.  Because of Streetwise Fabian has decided to come off the streets and live under Joe’s authority and work with Streetwise getting rehab and skills training.  YOU GUYS ARE PART OF THAT MIRACLE!!!!!   Everyday I see a bit of an improvement with him.  Right now I am teaching him how to read and Luis is teaching him the finer points of sanding and painting.  He is simply enjoying feeling safe and cared for.   

How can you pray for Streetwise? 

1.  Pray for Fabian!!!  Pray that he stays the course and allows God to do all He needs to do!  Pray that Fabians mind is healed from all he has experienced on the streets and that we can find his family and help in the reconciliation process.

2.  Pray for unity, wisdom and direction for Luis, myself and Joe (our full time worker).   I will write again about all that God is doing with Joe.  IT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!  But as of now, our full time staff consists of the three of us.  

3.  Pray for the resources………specifically…..a work vehicle!  And the rent money to cover costs on the center and Joe’s rent and salary.  (if you wants specifics on that let me know and I can send you information)

4.  Pray for our family!!!  Pray for my children!  Amira, Hannah and Brooklyn.  

BTW!!!!!!!!!!  We will be in NJ and NYC for the month of July!  WHO WANTS TO HANG OUT!? 

If you would like to give financially to Streetwise please go to tscnyc.org, click GIVE and follow the prompts to MISSIONS / MORALES FAMILY