“Life is good”

The first thing that caught my eye about the Portuguese statement in this photo is that it contains a fairly obvious grammatical flaw. The “bom” should be “boa” because it has to agree with the noun “vida”, which is feminine.

What gets me about this photo is the irony. Besides the poor grammar, the t-shirt is dirty and belongs to someone who likely barely eeks out a living. And yet it boldly states “Life is good”. There is an important truth at work here: amid all the dirt and flaws in life, life is good.

I love seeing good things happen in the lives of people who have endured hardship. Let me give you a few examples. This is Swero.

He is a kind-hearted gentleman who has had leprosy for many years which has left him with mere stumps for hands and feet, as well as dependent on others to help provide for his basic needs. He was evicted from his home and ostracized by his family due to fear of the disease.

(We went to visit him in August when Steve and Karen were here. It was a LONG walk into his remote region of the bush.)

When we learned about him, the mission partnered with one of its church plants to provide food and to help him with his activities of daily living. Last year, Swero received some goats as a December 2007 Unique Christmas Gift, and was he happy! This year, he gets a new home that is situated close to the mission where help and medical attention are readily available.

Here, one of the mission staff receives a new plow, also a December 2007 Unique Christmas Gift, on behalf of his father. A few months ago, this family lost a home and a granary that contained their year’s food supply. What a welcome tool this plow will be.


Other news:

This week I celebrated the completion of the first draft of the Health Manual for Church and Small Group Leaders that I have been working on for quite awhile. The first 15 or so chapters will be translated from Portuguese into Chitewe this month so Alta can include the information, along with what she has also prepared, in the next women’s groups study booklet. I hope to have the entire manual ready for printing in the next few months.

(My work station. I need  bigger one!)

I’m closing this post with some Christmas colours though they’re not on a wreath or Poinsettias. This is a pineapple plant, photographed from above. 

I posted this on facebook and got enough positive feedback about it that I decided to post it on JPGmag too. One lady on there listed it as one of her favourites and left me a comment which ended with “Water your pineapple Brenda” It took me a few takes to figure out that she was giving me some advice, then signing off with her name. Obviously, my pineapple looks like it’s calling for water! That’s not news. Everything here needs water these days what with all our dry weather. 

We may not have received much in the way of rain this past week, but we have been showered with some substantial gifts toward the purchase of grain for the hungry. And that is good. God is good. A vida é bom ☺

P.S. I did not take the “A vida é bom” pictures and merely made an assumption as to the shirt’s ownership, but I believe the message remains the same since I have witnessed people in difficult situations enjoying life every bit as much as people who “have it all”. And sometimes, if I’m not mistaken, they even seem to enjoy it just a little bit more.