Well lets try blogging once again. As you can see I have not posted since 2014. I hope you understand that each day brings unexpected turns and being the only missionary here and the founder, I ware many hats and lots of thins seem to go undone as time seems to disappear. I love sharing about BOHA and all God is doing and seems I am getting things a bit more organized. 
Currently our youth are on school break, but will return August 20th to start our third and last semester of school for the year. So right now the staff and I are taking a little time off to rest and make a plan for the next few months.

Keep praying for us and God bless you all!

Last month (June), we had the privilege of hosting 2 World Race teams.  We had 16 additional sets of hands around the property doing everything from preparing curriculum to teaching to painting.  They did an amazing job and filled the ministry with joy, love, and FUN!! Fun would be the word used to describe that month.  The boys had fun, we had fun, the teams had fun.  It was such a blessing to have their help, and they got so much accomplished!  

Now this is the hard part.  Transitioning from an action-packed month full of help and fun back to the daily grind.  It's a little too quiet, and there's just a little too much space around here.   We're taking a couple of weeks to recover (sometimes you just have to rest after all that fun!) and to get things organized in the office.  Then we will be picking up where they left off with teaching, fixing up the Hope House, and some community outreach.   We will always be excited to host other teams, but teams Lionheart and Reckless Pursuit will always have a special place in the hearts of the staff, youth, and us.  No one can ever replace you guys.  Thank you for all your hard work, loving spirits, and joyful attitudes!

This morning we had church with the staff and boys where we talked about tithes and offerings.  We really wanted to emphasize that it doesn't how much money you have; God desires all of us to give back to Him.  He wants us to tithe for the church to function, but He also wants us to give sacrificially to those in need.  He doesn't care the amount of money that is given; He only cares about your heart while you’re giving.  He desires and blesses sacrificial giving.  We talked about even though we meet to worship at the ministry it is still our church, and we are responsible for taking care of it.  We are going to start taking up offering every Monday morning during church so they have a chance to give their tithes and offerings back to God.  This not only lets them practice the Biblical principles of giving, but it also gives them a sense of pride and ownership of the ministry.  Everything they give will directly go back into the ministry.

Angie shared at the end about the two children she sponsors in an orphanage in Nicaragua through Globe Hope.  She said how her family supports a little girl, while she uses funds from Beacon of Hope to support a little boy.  One of the staff seemed really interested in how she did this.  She asked a bunch of questions about it.  Then after church, she came up to Angie and asked her to take out 100 Mets from her salary every month before she even receives it.  She wants 50 Mets to go to the little girl and 50 Mets to go to the little boy.  Obviously something stuck in what we were saying, and she was drawn to give to these angels half way across the world.

This stood out to me as a perfect example of how God desires us to give sacrificially.  A housekeeper in Mozambique helping take care of some orphans in Nicaragua is exactly what God intended.  It doesn't matter the size of the gift, it’s the heart behind it that makes it beautiful, pure, and holy in the eyes of the Lord.

After over two years of blog silence, we are back at the blogging game!  Now that there are an extra set of hands around here (intern Cathy), we are going to try to get this blog back up and running!  Because of the unseasonable flooding, we have been dealing with water all around our property and our community.  This not only causes delays in getting work done around here but also many other places.  Because of this water we've had delays getting all of our new youth here.  We have been waiting for the water to finally dry so that people can work and travel again as well as not get sick from the standing water.  During this waiting period, we have really been spending time getting stuff fixed up around the property and focusing on the staff.  We've really been praying that the Lord would come and fill the staff with a hunger for more of Him.  This will be a transformation not only in their lives but the ministry's life and the lives of the youth.  It will change the way they work and live out everyday.  We are praying that Beacon of Hope will be just that - a Beacon of Hope to the staff, community, youth, and other Mozambicans.  That it will be a place of healing, hope, restoration, peace, and rest.  That the Lord will dwell here and people will experience Him.  

Cathy has started a girls group with Enia and her friends.  So far there have been two meetings with the girls, and there are 4 girls coming.  It has gone well so far!  The first week, it was just an introduction time.  The girls loved asking Cathy questions, and we could hardly get them to leave.  Last week, the girls talked about Easter traditions, Mozambican and American, and learned the Easter story.  Some of the girls were really interested and asked tons of questions.  It is great to see their interest in learning more about Jesus and His life!  We are praying the group would grow, God-willing, and that the girls would start having real, personal relationships with Jesus.  Cathy is going to start a study on beauty this week that will hopefully last a couple of weeks.

Overall, things are going great!  We are praying for a lot of things and expecting God to provide for us in His unique way.  Check out our current prayer and financial needs!  Thank you for your interest in Beacon of Hope!  We'll try to keep the blogs coming so keep reading :)