A Jon Post
***Warning*** This is a pretty long post. Get comfy.
Ok… so… Casa Ahavá, right? You guys all remember that? Remember how we have posted wanting to welcome people here into our house and offer a place of peace, safety, comfort and rest to those friends of ours who have so little of those things?
Well, here’s a few posts about it in case you don’t remember.
1: Back in June of 2010 we wrote about it when we moved into our first house here in Mozambique. Let’s Get to Work.
2: We wrote about it again in September later that year. A Broad Smile.
3: We moved again in July last year and wrote about it for our new house. We’re In.
4: We even wrote about it and kind of detailed it with some pictures in November last year. Casa Ahavá.
Here’s the thing: No one ever asks any questions on here. I know it may seem weird to call us out in a comment and be all public about it but we never even get emails asking “What ever happened to Casa Ahavá?” “When is that supposed to happen?”
Well I’m going to answer the questions no one asked! I know how silly a practice that can be but I’m going for it anyway. I’m in a good mood this week and so I don’t mind employing silly practices when I’m in good moods (just ask my wife about that one).
Q: What (if anything) have you guys been doing to see Casa Ahavá become a reality?
A: We spoke with the director of oncology at the hospital more than a year ago. That director changed without giving us a green light to do it so we spoke with the new director. That director seemed to think it wasn’t a great idea and thought that, if we did anything, we should do it on a completely unofficial basis, not involving the hospital at all (a local lawyer we spoke with advised us that this was a decidedly bad idea from a liability point of view but we decided that we were willing to take that chance and so moved ahead with that in mind). THAT director changed and so we spoke with the newest director about wanting to unofficially invite people from the hospital to stay with us between treatments. THAT director decided that this was such a great idea that we need to involve all levels of the hospital and that I should speak with the director of medicine for the entire hospital about it. Unfortunately he is notoriously hard to sit down in person with so I submitted a letter detailing what we wanted to do and why. After submitting that letter to his secretary, I was told I would be contacted about it when he had a chance to read it over and give an opinion (whew, that took a while to remember all the steps we’ve taken). I never got a call so I began following up with his secretary trying to get a response and get a sit-down with him. Finally, some development started happening when I was referred to the Social Services section of the hospital. After some back and forth (Social Services and director’s office not really being clear about who I should speak to), I was told I needed the head doctor at Social Services to respond to me (there’s more reason to tell you all this than simply boring you with mundane details I promise). More on this in a moment.
Q: How hard have you been working trying to get all this stuff pushed through offices and approvals?
A: Not very.
Q: Why so little effort?
A: Great question. We’ve thought a lot about it and we’ve come to realize a couple things.
1. After living here for almost 3 years we’ve noticed that there are times when the only way to get things done (especially when dealing with government related issues) is to violently and forcefully advance them and push the Kingdom of God ahead.
2. This was not one of those times.
We weren’t sure why we felt so sure it wasn’t one of those times, we just felt a tremendous peace from God that we were to wait for Him and for His hand to move instead of forcing things to move. This perplexed and, at times, grieved us because we’ve watched so many people over the last 3 years with an acute need for a home to stay, and at times, die in. However… we waited. And hoped.
Q: What is that “More on this in a moment” sentence about up there?
A: Ha, so I’ve hooked my imaginary conversation partner! Actually, I’m just conversing with myself, but it’s a good sign when I’m able to get myself on the edge of my own seat waiting to see what I’ll say next right?
So, I was at the hospital last Tuesday visiting and a man approached me. He mentioned he was from the Social Services department of the hospital and wanted to sit down with me some time and chat about what I do and about how we could work together to best serve the patients in oncology. I told him I’d be happy to get together with him and go over those things. He gave no indication he was talking about Casa Ahavá and, in fact, merely mentioned that he saw me visiting and so wanted to chat about that specifically.
We agreed to meet the next day and so I arrived at the hospital on Wednesday with an extra copy of the letter I’d written to the Social Services doctor about Casa Ahavá ready to introduce him to the idea. As we were walking together to a bench where we could sit down he asked me where I stayed, and I told him the area of town my house is in. He responded with, “Are you at all connected to that guy with the house out there who wants to house patients from oncology?”
Taken aback for a second, I replied, “I AM that guy! That’s my house!”
He seemed equally surprised and, with a smile, responded, “Well you need to come meet the head doctor at Social Services with me then!”
Then followed a couple hours of sitting with the whole Social Services department, including the doctor I had not been able to meet with before.
I was able to express our heart in both practical and emotional terms and even share scriptures that move us to act the way we do and offer what we have.
This is what we have been waiting for.
This is God’s hand moving things we had no way of moving on our own.
At the end of the meeting we set up a time when 4 people from Social Services could come see our house and inspect it for it’s readiness to host patients.
Tuesday morning, if all goes well, we’ll host them here and move a large step closer to welcoming the sick and lonely into our home.
Q: Why did it take so long to get to that?
A: It was supposed to be interesting enough to plough through it all to get to the end where you find out we’ve actually got real things happening with Casa Ahavá!
So please pray with us on Tuesday that things go well, that God is glorified, that we love well, and that favor is given.
We’re celebrating. Our God comes through when He tells us to wait. He has made our spirits bright.
Thanks.
Doorway to Casa Ahavá
