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What I see

My wife

My wife

A Jon Post

I wish you could see my wife here.
I wish you could all see this incredible missionary you support as she goes.
I wish you could see how she smiles and laughs with a little child who has only months to live, how she leans in and kisses the cheek of a woman covered in sores and smelling of death, how she kneels and communes with a lonely grandmother who has lost whatever shred of hope she had long ago.
I wish you could see… the tears… the tears she cries… and I wish you could hear the compassion in her voice, as she hugs a woman who waits… on the verge of eternity. I wish you could see with me the wordless love passing from Layne’s arms into a dying soul… into God’s beloved child.
I know there are so many of you who are inspired and who seem to like what Layne and I do here. But I’m telling you… I’m telling you…
…if you could only see what I see.

Layne inspires me so much.

She holds fast to the hope she professes… because He who promised… is faithful. He’s so faithful. (Hebrews 10:23).

She holds fast…

Some times it seems like we’re losing this fight, like the grave swallows so dreadfully fast…

But she holds fast.

I wish you could see what I see. This incredibly beautiful woman… finding Christ in the sick and the dying of Maputo Central Hospital.

What a woman.

Many women do noble things… but Layne Heller… she surpasses them all.

August 1, 2010
Hospital Ministry, Mozambique
8 comments

This Week

A Layne Post

A big part of our week:

This past week a container from Portugal arrived for our partners Jorge and Alice. It was full of wonderful donations of clothes and shoes, both old a new, mattresses, bed frames, etc. for the hospital and local churches. While it is all such a blessing, I do not think anyone could have imagined just how much stuff was coming. After unloading the truck, we all stood amazed and a little speechless. Some has been taken to be stored in other locations, but for now, because we have extra room at our house, we are happy to be a holding place.

Some of the stuff... not all!

Where is Jon?

As for the rest of the week…

It was difficult weeks in the women’s ward this week, as three ladies died. I was not terribly close with any, however, it changes the mood and dynamic of each individual in the room. The fear lingers in the air like a dark ugly cloud, as they all wonder, “Am I next?” And quite possibly, one of them is… It is a hard place to live.

There was one woman named Adeleina. She was one that died this week. I had visited with her twice, this precious woman. The first time I chatted with her, I had no clue how sick she was. She had a beautiful blue headdress on and seemed so upbeat. I was thinking she would be one of my favorites.

The second visit was so different… only a couple days later. She was in so much pain. I held her a bucket for her as she vomited multiple times, little actually coming out. I poured water in her mouth as she would pound on her chest trying to make a little go down, spitting most out a minute later.  I helped her get her toothbrush and tooth paste, so she could ferociously scrub the nasty taste out of her mouth, only gagging the whole time. It was hard to watch.

After some time it seemed like the spell passed and peace came to her stomach. Maybe the Lord looked down, heard my prayers, and had compassion on her. She wanted to call someone, but we didn’t have enough credit for a call, only a text.  I tried to teach her how to write a text message. I smile now thinking about it. She was a trooper, but I ended up writing the short message for her.

I probably should have visited her more. She wanted juice. I had bought her some, but I never had the opportunity to give it to her. Schedules are hard sometimes. Laziness is ugly sometimes. Nausea is annoying sometimes.

Being pregnant, I am not always feeling good. You know what is funny though? Normally, once I get to the hospital and start visiting, I don’t notice it. The smells that I remember while at home and fear gagging in front of them, yeah, they don’t bother me. When I am there.

The Lord is so good.

He equips us to do His work.

Get up, and trust Him.

July 25, 2010
Hospital Ministry, Mozambique
6 comments

New Team Member

We have a partner coming here to join us in ministry. We’ve been pursuing this person for about 7 months now, trying to convince them to join us in what we’re doing here and we’ve finally got a confirmed “Yes” that this person is on the way. We will have to wait until February or March of next year (depending on a few things) but we have a tentative date set at February 25th for this person to get here.

We’re very excited to be joined in ministry and look forward to seeing how big of an impact this will make on our day-to-day lives. Actually, when we got married and were first pursuing missions we had thought about this person being a part of our team and we simply can hardly contain ourselves now that the fulfillment of that dream has come to be.

Ok, yes… we’re pregnant.

Welcome to the world Baby Heller. We’re so glad to have you in our family.

Baby Heller

Perfect... just perfect

July 17, 2010
Personal
22 comments

World Cup Ends

A Layne Post

The past couple of weeks Jon and I both had some pretty bad colds, first him, then me. Because the patients at the hospital are on Chemo, it is better for Jon and me not to risk passing on our little sickness. Jon missed a couple days, and then I missed all of last week. I realized that I really do miss the sweet people there, and my heart was warmed that they asked for and missed me as well!

The World Cup is over. Congratulations Spain! Now that it has ended, our lives and schedules are about to shift. Due to visiting hours and coordinating with other volunteers, Jon and I can only be visiting in the Oncology Ward on our usual Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays for 2-3 hours at a time. At this point, we are not positive what we are going to do with the rest of our time.

There are some options, and Jon and I are in prayer about these. We do not want to “do” just to “do”, but we want to be passionate and obedient to the Lord. We also want to be faithful stewards of our time and your support. We desire to fill our days with service and love for the community. At this point, finding the best ways to do that may take some time. Please feel free to ask us any questions or raise any concerns.

We still want to get our house ready to have people stay, however, there are many steps to take before we can do that, which you guys can pray with us about. I’ll list them to make it a bit easier:

  • We need to obtain permission from our landlord. Due to the nature of what we are asking, essentially to allow people to come and die here, we feel it is best to speak with him in person. Because he lives in South Africa, the next time we can do that will be the beginning of September. We want to be smart and not rush things because of our passion, and we believe that waiting will better our chances of success.
  • We need a partnership with the hospital staff. We want to work hand-in-hand as a support and help to them.
  • We need some legal backing and possibly some permits. If people die here, we need to be above board and not run the risk of being ‘blamed’.
  • There are certain cultural ‘rules’ we have to take into consideration. (Paying for funerals and whatnot.)

So that is where we are at. Tuesday we are heading to South Africa, again, to try and obtain our resident visa. The resident visa allows us to apply for our resident permit here in Mozambique. If all goes well, we will apply later this week.

We put a new video in our “Some of Our Stories” tab. Click here to watch it or click on the “Gas and Visa in Africa” in the column on the right.

We love you guys!

The set-up

Jon and Jorge finding 'north' for the satellite

United States national anthem

Watchin' the game

July 12, 2010
JonandLayne.com, Mozambique, Visas
1 comment

In Loving Memory

A Jon Post

Yes, we remember him well.

I remember when I played my violin for him and he smiled and clapped along. His eyes lit up as he sang, his little hands keeping rhythm to “Joy to the World”.

I remember when Layne hopped out of our car and he ran up and hugged her tight and called her “Tia Elayna” (Aunt Layne) and held her hand for the next hour.

I remember when he sat with me and slowly rubbed my arm hair, mystified by the strange quantity of hair that grew on my arms.

I remember him smiling often.

I remember returning from Angola and sitting with him on his bed reading a Children’s Bible to him. Showing him all the animals climbing into Noah’s Ark and roaring, tweeting, trumpeting, barking as we pointed at each different animal. Explaining that Zacchaeus was so short so he had to climb a tree to see Jesus pass. Telling him the glorious news that Jesus didn’t stay in that grave he was buried in. Rejoicing with him that Jesus waits for us in heaven.

I remember praying through tears that God would redeem the suffering.

I remember holding his quivering foot as he heaved his little shoulders back for one last tremendous effort to breathe.

I remember feeling him relax and stop fighting.

I remember little José Manuel.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
(I Cor 13:3)

See I believe that the reason that love is the greatest of those is that love is all that remains after this life.

Faith – Little José and his faith. He spoke of his faith, that he believed by faith that Jesus truly is waiting for him and that Jesus’ death was what paid the price of his sins.

Hope – Hope is born of suffering and José suffered. He suffered. The tumor that started so small, grew and eventually squeezed his airway shut. The cancer didn’t actually kill him. He suffocated. In suffering, we hope… we hope that there is something greater than this, something beyond this life, something we wait for. In Portuguese the word for hope is the same word for wait. José waited… and he hoped… and he suffered.

Now, José has no more need for Faith or Hope. His Faith in Christ redeemed him from his sins and has made real the salvation of his soul. His Hope for a life beyond this, a life of no suffering, a life of deep breaths, strong legs, big smiles, and immense hugs, has been made real. He doesn’t hope anymore. He doesn’t have faith anymore. He is where he hoped to be and where his faith led him.

Now… he is simply surrounded by love.

He lives… in an endless love.

And though we miss him, though we love him, though we honor him and weep.

We rejoice.

His faith is fulfilled, his hope is real.

And love is all that’s left.

Weep with us dear friends.

Now rejoice.

July 4, 2010
Hospital Ministry
8 comments
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