Day out.

Today I was immensely blessed by a day out of the center. Sometimes it gets hard to be here amongst 350 kids, 30 missionaries, 150 mozambican workers, and 40 some visitors all living in community together on 13 acres. It's loud. Pretty much all the time. It doesn't matter what day or time it is. We all need some quiet occasionally and while I am very much a people person, i love to be outside in the stillness with absolute quiet, just breathing in God's beauty. It does wonders to restore your perspective, your brokeness, your focus, your heart. I have a Mozambican visa that only allows me a 30 day stay at a time so I have to technically leave the country every 30 days. Today is my 24th day, but without the ability to drive my self, one has to go when you can. Celia volunteered to drive me to the closest border....Swasiland...and take a side trip to Cascadas (waterfalls litterally in Portuguese), lunch in the quiet, and just simply a beautiful drive with very few people or noise. God is good all the time and He knows just what we need. I needed this today:

On the way down to the Cascadas...a beautiful view of the Mozambican countryside.

Me on a rock at the bottom of the Cascadas (where's the waterfall you ask?...well, it's not the rainy season so it's just a trickle...sorry to disappoint and mislead)

looking out and admiring the handiwork of our Lord.

On the way back to Maputo outside Matola...at the damn. This water supplies all of Maputo. It couldn't be any stiller.

My heart's prayers at the moment:

"The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever-Do not abandon the works of your hands." -Psalm 138:8

"If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." -Psalm 37: 23-24

"Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me, [O LORD.]" -Psalm 31:3

"Blessed is the man who trust in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a treee planted by the water that send out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; it leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drough and never fails to bear fruit." -Jeremiah 17:7-8

"...My grace is sufficeint for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." -2 Corninthians 12:9

"The Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted...to comfort all who mourn...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. That they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified." -Isaiah 61:1-3