Blogging wasnt as easy as I thought is was going to be

Well, I am sitting here in the South African airport with a four to five hour holdover and thought I could finish up blogging. My intentions for this trip were to  blogg and update daily, but the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. I was less then thrilled when the internet service I purchased for the trip went out after about one week. The trip as a whole was a great experience that I will treasure for a lifetime. I cant help but feel incredibly blessed to be born in America, where a kid from a dysfunctional working class family can own his own little piece of the American dream, with a loving wife, 2 amazing boys and house we call home. Those oppurtunties are not abundant in Mozambique.  During this trip we helped and healed a lot of people, but the staunch reality is I will board an airplane (or 3) and fly thousands of miles away and go back to that "piece of the American Dream" and the people of Mozambique will still be suffering with poverty, AIDs, malaria, tuberculosis and an overwheming amount of orphans (roughly 350,000). Please pray for Mozambique and its people, who have such joy despite their circumstances. I saw a lot of smiling, kindness and joy in the people of Mozambique.

Shipwrecks, soccer and swimming

Today we took the kids from the orphanage to the beach. We played soccer, swam and found a ship wreck. It was a nice break from the previous days work.

Medical Assesment

Lisa, Connie, Alex and myself did medical screening of all the orphans at the Melanie center. We purchased medications for them such as antibiotics. Surprisingly to me the kids looked fairly healthy. I attribute that to the love and care Jon and Maria (orphanage administrators) have given these kids. A couple did have some pretty bad scalp infections. The children also commonly suffer from a parasitic worm locally know as the "moticainia". I cleaned and dressed wounds on quite a few folks. Another day "medical clinic" day was held at the Melanie Center for anyone and everyone from the community. It was a long day, but oddly comforting because helping people medically is what I do for a living and I felt right at home going to work. I was very heartbroken one day to discover several children from the village had intestinal parasites because they were eating dirt in hopes of keeping their bellies full.

Sunday Worship Mozambique Style

This past Sunday we had the pleasure of worshiping with our Life Covenant Mozambique family. The library of the Melanie Center was also opened and our team brought a collection of books to donate. Alex blessed all with his sermon. It was an amazing day.

Gracious Welcome!

After a very long flight and one transfer we finally landed in Mozambique Africa. We were welcomed with beautiful singing and dancing by our hosts!

Just landed in NYC

Just landed in New York city @ 330 er I mean 630. Got here safe! Now on to the next flight

LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN

Well its finally here. Today is the day I kiss my beautiful wife goodbye, hug my kids as tight as I can, knowing its the last hug I get from them for 2 weeks and travel thousands of miles away to the country of Mozambique Africa.  I want to take this time to thank all of the generous people who have made this mission trip possible by their financial donations, prayer and/ or encouragement. I am truly humbled by so many offers of money, prayer and offers to help Rebecca with any thing while I gone. I plan on updating this blog frequently , but I am uncertain about the internet connectivity I will have over there. As always continue to prayer for the teams' safety, the blessing of the Mozambique people, the health of the orphans ( most of whom have HIV) and Gods will be done.

Matthew 28:19

Tchua
dave reeves