Links to some of my photos

Hey everyone,

Here are just a few of my pictures from my summer in Africa...it would take forever to post all 875 of them. Just clik on the links to the left hand side of this post under the title AFRICA PICTURES, or if you are on facebook, you can find the photo albums on my profile. Again I would love to share stories and my heart for Africa with you so let me know if you are interested.

Sharing My Stories

Hello everyone!

I am home and am so excited to share my stories and pictures with you. I will be posting pictures on an online website within the week...so stay tuned.

Also I would love to share stories from Africa with you in person, so please contact me if that interests you. I will be speaking at Mosaic church in Bellingham (dates to come) so you are welcome to join me there as well.

Amy McMurtrey
mcmura@spu.edu
360-961-2698

Home Again and Missing Mozambique

So I am home in Seattle again. I must admit that the transition into my life here has been much more difficult than expected. Not only was I bombarded by horrible jet leg, last night was my first night to sleep through, I am having a hard time expressing to others how much I have learned. I truely am a different person. All that matters now is that Chirst is Holy and I am trusting him to show me how to live here in America again. How to live here, but not in the materialistic, greedy, selfish, and self-satisfying way that we all do. I am excited about how the Lord is already giving me visions and dreams of how to help Africa, the families, children, and people I met from here, and the promise that the Lord has giving me...I will return to Africa next summer and many times over the course of my life.

Please pray for me as I continue to process all that I have seen and as I continue to learn from my time in Mozambique.

Also I encourage you to pray about how you might be apart of Aiding Africa. Please contact me for suggestions or contacts.

Mom for a week

Pieter and Rika are back! Yay! It was so fun to help run the orphanage while they were gone, but I must tell you that I am very tired. I get to go get my baby (Judah)home from the hospital tomorrow morning. Please pray for strength...I don't think that I will be sleeping for the next week, as I will have a new born in my room (that's right call me mom). I am really excited for Judah to come home, but I am worried that he will take time away from time with the other kids, who I LOVE oh so much, so pray for a good balance of time spent as I have only a week left at the house. One week! My time here has flown so quickly...as my mother told me it would. I will be leaving next Tuesday for South Africa and then leaving for home on Thursday. I am really emotional and don't want to leave. Everything in me is screaming for someone to pull the emergency brake! Slow time down! I can't imagine leaving my family here! I love them so much!

Walking with God through Life

Today we went to Iris ministries. They are big centers here in Mozambique for children...they provide housing, food, schooling, medicine etc for as many kids as they can fit into the center. This is also where my house brother Luis grew up once he was off the streets. They are amazing. The theme of my trip here in Africa seems to be meeting people that are sold out, and completely on fire for God! I met a girl at Iris from Seattle. God is so good to give me a little taste of home. She looked me straight in the eye and asked me if I was being called to Africa. I told her that I wanted to be, but that the Lord is teaching me to just walk with him... As we walked away from Iris I started to cry. I want so badly for the Lord to call me to this place. For him to say that it is ok to drop everything back home and jump into life here, but there has not been such a word from the Lord. It makes me wonder if it is just my lack of faith or me not making the decision to stay. I don't know how to leave this place...even as I type this in the internet cafe I am starting to cry. This is my home...my other home. I thought that when I came here the Lord would give me a dream or a purpose for time in Africa in the future, but he hasn't...its so hard for me to leave not knowing when I will be able to come back...I will die if I don't come back. Start praying now that the Lord will provide a way.

But GOD IS FAITHFUL!!!! What I am realizing is that God is taking me on a journey...there is no grand calling, no super purpose, its a journey. I will be traveling over mountains and rivers with Him....sometimes it will be hard, but I get to have an adventure with him...its called life!!! How lucky am I that my Lord and creator, lover and friend, has taken my hand, smiled at me, and walks with me just barely a step ahead...I get to do life with God! I don't know what all this means yet...and the words in this blog do not scratch the surface of what I am feeling in my heart and mind, but I have never felt so loved, so excited, so pursued, by God. I am just clinging to the hope that this feeling, this life that I know with the Lord here and now is not a mountain top experience, but it is something that lasts when I get home...I don't know what I would do without the Lord. I know that there are seasons...waiting for example...but what is amazing is somewhere a flip has been switched, a light has been turned on, and I realize the amazing gift to be able to wait with God...NOT FOR GOD...to wait with him. Basically I can't get enough of him right now.

So in the midst of the frustration and sadness of leaving this place, God has been faithful to love me, teach me, and grow me into more of the woman that he wants me to be.

Lion of Judah

A father came to our house this morning bagging us to take his baby. The baby is in the hospital in an inqubator. He is less than a month old and was born two months premature. The mom died in birth. We talked with the man and then he took us to see his house; it is a shack made out of reeds and there is no way that he has the money or the ability to take care of this tiny baby. We then went to the hospital to see if they would release the baby to us. They wouldn't, but i got to see him. I have never seen anything so small. His head is smaller than a tennis ball and he is skin and bones, probably no longer than 10 inches. When we do get him at the house, he will need constant care and he is going to be sleeping in my room with me. Basically i am going to be mom to a premature baby for my next three weeks of my time here. Pray for strength and for my heart....i want to name him Judah, but we'll see. Pray for this little one too...he has a big fight ahead of him...we don't know if he has aids or not yet, he is malnurished and so small. My heart is already attached.

Also pray for me because the week of the 13-19 I will be running the baby house while Pieter and Rika take their boys on a small holiday. It will be their first family vacation in 3 years! It is such a blessing to be able to watch the house for them to have this time, but I am going to need strength. Pray against loneliness too.

Oh Luis!

For some reason I couldn't fall asleep. My mind was racing at first and then I felt the Lord leading me to pray for everyone that I could think of. At about 10:45pm Luis (2yrs old) started screaming. He had struggled with a fever and not feeling well all day (we took him to get a malaria test in the morning, but it was negative), but this cry was different...piercing and full of fright. I got out of bed and something wasn't right. Luis was so hot and was crying, but didn't look awake. Suddenly his whole body started convulcing much like a seizure. Quickly Luis (our translator), Pieter, and I packed a bag and jumped in the car to drive to Central Hospital in Maputo. I don't think that I have ever gotten to the city that fast or ever been that scared. I was holding our convulcing Luis in my lap in the back seat praying harder than I have ever prayed in my life. About every 5-10 minutes Luis's whole body would convulce in the midst of deafening screams. I can't explain all the thoughts and emotions that I had while this was going on.

We got to the hospital and waited for three hours while they looked at Luis's blood. All the Dr.'s did was test him for Malaria again! That is the extent of African, or at least Mozambican Medicine. They didn't even take his temperature! I was holding a screaming, convulcing baby in my arms for 3hrs and they sent us away with medicine to help him sleep! In other words the Dr.'s canot even begin to know what is wrong with our little Aids baby. Africa is so frustrating! The doctors are hardly trained and seem useless. We brought little Luis home and the convultions stopped at about 3am and Luis slept for a few hours.

Today Luis has slept a lot and seems to be recovering. But we are fearful that this will happen again. Please be praying for our little Luis. And continue to pray for Pieter and Rika. I do not know how they continue to work in this hard country! They are so graceful and filled with the Love of the Lord. Pray for strength and continued blessings for thier ministry.

Acia and Fatima

Yesterday Britney, another volunteer, and took a chapa (taxi van) to the central market. While we were on the chapa we noticed two young girls sitting infront of us. They were talking, and tried to talk with us...but still my portuguese is not up to par. They laughed at us, Britney and I got off the bus and we went our seperate ways. About two hours later we walked from the market up the street in busy Maputo to try and catch a chapa home. There were sooooo many people waiting in line for a chapa; pushing to squeeze as many people as they could in the tiny taxis. While we were waiting we again encountered these girls. This time we tried to carry on a conversation. They shared some small cookies with us as we waited for what seemed like hours for the right chapa to come. In the end we invited them to come to our house for coffee and exchanged phone numbers.

Fast Forward to today.....

Today Acia (A-sha) and Fatola came over for coffee. They are 18 years old and attend a boarding school here in Matola. They came over for coffee, taught us Mozambican games, and played withthe kids. When it was time for them to leave I went with them to there school and they gave me a small tour. I started talking with them and invited them to our house church. They are muslim and invited me to come to church with them as well. So this Friday I am going to a Muslim mosk and on Sunday the girls are coming here for church. Please keep them in your prayers. And also pray for me as I atempt to love them as Christ would and as the language barrier is frustrating.

Camp 2000

A couple of days ago I had the chance of a life time. In 2000 floods covered Mozambique. Many peoples homes were destroyed. A refugee camp called camp 2000 was started for them and I got to visit the area this past week. The boys (Justin, Pedro, and Luis) and I left as the sun was rising to take one of our little boys Idrussi to his village in camp 2000 to visit his grandmother. We took a Chapa for three hours to find the pastor and his wife who had found and helped Idrussi. I loved the long ride though. I loved seeing the country...I got to see the Africa that I dreamed about; the red sand and the flat landscape spotted with reed shacks and brush.

Once we found them we were led by another woman in the village on a one and a half hour walk to Idrussi's home village. His grandmother started wailing when we got there. Tears of happiness. She had not seen Idrussi since she had given him up over a year ago and he had been dying then. It was so hard for her to believe that chubbie Idrussi was the HIV infected, malnourished, bone of a dying baby that she let go. It was such an incredible moment...I'll never forget it. The whole village then came to see him, talk to him, hold him, and sing to him. They speak Shagaan in this village, so I didn't understand a word that they were saying...luckily Luis, the ever amazing translator, was with us! I also did my first hitch-hiking ever! We hitch-hiked back into Benefica from the village! I love these kind of adventures.

Traveling in Africa is insane. There is no time in Africa. Everything is always late and uncertain. After a crazy few days of travel I am now safe in Cape Town, South Africa for a short Holiday. I am staying with some people that I met in Mozambique! They are amazing Zurk and Charne. So I am taking a little bit of rest before my last month in Africa. It is wonderful to take a warm shower from a shower head and to drink water from a tap...things that we take for granted in America every day.

I am so sorry that I have not been able to do pictures...I promise to create a page for them when I get home....the Internet is just too slow here. BUT click on the MY HOME IN AFRICA link at the top of my page. It has pictures of all of our kids at the orphanage and stories as well.

I love you all.

Time to Play

In the new Vanity Fair AFRICA edition Madonna was qouted saying, "I asked one of the children in Malawi If you've got the world listening to you, if there's one thing that you would say to them, what would you say?" The child responded, "'Please just help us forget that we are orphans.'" This seems to be the theme of my time here in Africa. Just to love on the kids here and help them forget...

I love the sound of the kids laughter. Their entire faces light up...and in that moment you see the purest form of hope, and joy. If Jesus were alive to day I am sure that He would spend his free time here in this baby house. I know that He is alreay here...he does spend time here. I see him laughing with them, dancing with Aninha and Jessica as they shake their hips, He says chao with Dudu, and runs and skips with Luis. The Lord takes such joy in these little ones.

I am learning that play is universal...all kids everywhere play. They might not have PlaySchool toys, but they play anyway. Yesturday I saw two girls playing some jumping game with a warn piece of string, there were boys tossing a plastic bag full of sand as their ball, and five kids running down the street after kites of plastic and sticks. I love that the Lord created us to play and I plan to do more of it.

Africa is Hungry

Well it is only noon here and already there is much to write about. Justin, Britney, Luis, and I went into the comunidad to help hook up the water at the grandparents house. And it will be hooked up in 1 week! Praise the Lord! They are so precious...it breaks my heart. While we were there we visited another Tiki's family. Tiki is a 16 year old boy who looks like he is four...he is soooooo malnourished. Because of malnourishment he also has mental disabilities; he acts like he is four as well. Tiki's skin is peeling off because of the malnourishment. It is crazy how many lives could be saved and changed here with clean water and food...and it is sooooo inexpensive. It seems like everyone in Africa is hungry. We took food in with us, but there is never enough for everyone that we encounter.

Pray for Africa and think deeply about how you can help its people!

This Is Africa

I am falling in love with one of our boys here...his name is Marcelino and he is three years old. He is my boy. I lvoe everything about him. His little eyes, his hands, his smiles. He has the most amazing spirit about him; very playful. If I were older I would be trying to adopt him so quickly.

I brought out bubbles for the kids today! I wish you could have seen the delight on their faces and heard their happy voices. I wish I could upload pictures but the internet is too slow...I promise to post pictures soon.

Today I also went to a TB hospital in a nearby town. Please pray for Moazambique and Africa. The men that we saw looked like holocost victoms....they are so skinny and suffering so much. They were so excited that we were there just to pray for them.

The most interesting thing that happened today was that a neighbor boy that I think is about 18 brought me a gift (a beautiful mozambiquan bag) and asked me out on a date. His name is Samosa and he is pretty persisent. It was hard and I think will continue to be hard to turn him down. I wonder how many cows I am worth?

A bit Rocky

Well I have been at the orphanage about 5 days now and things are a bit rocky for me. I spend most of my time in the orphanage working with the kids and hanging out with Pieter, Rika, and the other volunteers. I am longing to spend time in the community, but it is not something that happens very often. I went out with some of the guys today to dig a trench. We are attempting to get water to one of the grandparents houses (some of the money you gave went to pay for this water project thank you sooo much), but I left after we had gotten the supplies. I should have stayed and played with the kids or something, but instead I went into Maputo with the girls and ran errands. But I will get to go out into the community again on wednesday to deliver food to the families and spend time there. I will also be using some of the money that you all donated to build a kitchen for one of the grandparents in the community

I also got to give the kids all of the toys and clothes that you at the church donated today. They loved them! And Pieter and Rika are soooo thankful for all of the supplies. Their shelves are full!

So another day in Mozambique is finished and I am filled with thankfulness for this opportunity. I don't know what the Lord will teach me here, but I cannot wait to find out. I am already feeling broken and am waiting for the Father to grow me up, to refine me and make me more like himself.

Keep praying for my as I try to do life here, to serve here, and be content here.

I am Home

I am in Africa! I arrived yesterday night and have almost completed my first full day at the orphanage. The babies are beautiful and so much fun! Already the Lord is giving me direction here and opening doors.

I awoke this morning to the pitter patter of little feet and hands on the tiled floor. It was like they were all making thier own music. Everything is very chill here. The babies have a schedule and everyone chips in to et the job done. There are two people my age from Texas and another three volunteers from Kansass, needless to say I am finding great campanionship and I do not feel lonely. All four of us girl volunteers sleep in a room together and try to ward off the killer mosquitos....I have never seen them this big in the states. I am very comfotable and already feel like my room is my room.

Today we took four of the Babies to the village clinic to be weighed. The babies have to be weighed officially so that the orphanage can get funding from the govt. I cannot explain the brokenness that I saw at the clinic. I would have loved to spend an entire afternoon there hearing the peoples stories and loving on them, but we were in and out soooooo quickly. Three of our two year old boys have AIDs so pray for them (ricardo, luesch, and edrusee). Today we also went to a hospital in the city where a little one year old named Thelma is being treeted for malnurishment. She is so beautyful! but you can see every bone in her body. Thelma will be coming home to the orphanage with us as soon as she is released...we are hoping within the next week or so.

Answer to prayer: I am going to be starting an ART program at the orphanage! I will be working out all the details...writting curiculum by sunday and presenting it to Pieter and Rika. I will also be training two Mozambiqan women once I have a program formed. I can't believe that I get to do this! God is sooo good! Please pray for this project. I also am hoping to spend at least one day a week outside of the orphanage working with the village grandmothers...so pray for that as well.

Africa here I come!

I leave tomorrow for Mozambique! I am sooooo excited and cannot wait to meet everyone in Africa; to be sharing life with them and serving them. I'll write all of you as soon as I can once I arrive. I love you all!

One week to Go!

I leave in a week! I can not believe it! I am so excited to be there and to do life in Africa. I can't wait to love on people, see, taste, and smell the smells. I am so excited to see what the Lord has for me there, and how He will use me to love on the people of Mozambique! Check out my prayer requests and the link to the orphanage (aka: My Home in Africa). I leave on Tuesday night, so I'll see you all in two months! I love you guys! Thank you for all of your support and prayers!

The countdown has begun! 2 WEEKS!

This is it People! Two weeks from today I will be heading to Mozambique for the summer! I can't believe it is finally here! I thought I would share with you something that I wrote in my journal today concerning the trip. This little passage might give you insight as of how to pray for me or just an idea of where my heart is and what I hope this trip will be about.

Here's what I wrote:

From my journal June 19th, 2007

I leave for Africa in exactly two weeks and I have no idea what I am doing. I feel numb and frustrated with my inability to prepare my heart for this trip, or perhaps my lack of dicipline to do so. I am trying hard to not have expectations for this trip, and I think that in doing this, I have become afriad to pray for what I hope my time in Africa will look like. I am afriad of being disapointed if the trip is not what I hope it will be; if it isn't what I have dreamt it would be.

God I give you this trip to Africa! I pray above all that you would be glorified by it and by my serivce. Prepare my heart Lord as I feel unable to do so. Give me a servants heart; allow me to do whatever is needed at the orphanage and in the community. God walk before me and make the path clear. I pray for safe travel and ask that miraculously all of the bags and the contents of the bags would get to the orpahange with me safely; help them to be over-looked. God I pray for companions on the planes and the ability to sleep on the long flights too. God I long to meet the people of Mozambique; to love on them, to spend time with them, and to learn their culture. I want to LIVE in mozambique.

This is my heart Lord...to experience all that you have for me there. I pray for times in a market, I ask for invitations to enter thier homes, I ask for devine conversations, and pray for relationships to be developed. Bless my relationship with Pieter, Rika, and the rest of the staff at the orphanage; that we would have a holy friendship. I pray for relationships to be built with the teams that will also be coming to work in the orphanage.

Above all Lord, make my heart soft to your voice, to your prompting, and to the needs of your people in Mozambique. Prepare my heart to learn whatever you have for me and grow me into more of the woman that you have created me to be. I pray that you would use my gifts to reach out to the community surrounding the orphanage in particular. Give me visions for the future; for my future involvement in Africa. My heart. life, dreams, and desires for this trip are yours Lord! I need you.

The Purpose of My Blog:

God is so good! I am going to AFRICA this summer! It is a dream come true for me and I am so excited to work with the communities in Mozambique. I would like to share my trip and experiences with you through this blog. So sit back, enjoy the funny stories, the serious ponderings, the photographs, and come to Africa with me. Check the blog often, as I am going to try to update it as much as possible. Write me back too! I am going to be missing all of you and home, so please post on my site or email me; I want to know whats going on in your life.

I hope that this blog will also be a reminder to pray for me and the people in Mozambique. I will try to post specific prayer requests throughout the trip. Please pray for me! I know that this is going to be a life changing experience, a good one, but also very hard and stretching. I am extremely aware of my need for God and my need for your prayers.

I love you all and am so thankful for you, your involvement in my life, and your support as I go on this adventure!!

p.s. I am still in need of some financial support so if you are wanting/able to help let me know.