jon and layne heller | Casa Ahavá and our Family

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A Jon Post

Another inter-continental voyage, many hours in airplanes, airports, and airtrains later… and we’re home. I apologize for three weeks of blog silence. While we were in the USA it was, honestly, a little tough to know what to share with you and how to use this blog to help people know and feel involved in what is going on in our ministry.

We did our best to sit down with as many of you as possible while we were in town. To those of you who took time out to see us we are so grateful and we are so blessed by your friendship and partnership. To those of you who we missed, we’re sorry and we don’t take for granted that you are there.

Since leaving back in November much has changed at the hospital. Though we expected it and tried to prepare our hearts for it, many dear friends died while we were gone. It’s hard to be able to tell someone “goodbye, I’ll see you soon”.

But, it is good to visit again and hug necks, kiss cheeks and shake hands of friends still there. I sat with three old friends and laughed, hugged, and talked together on Wednesday. It was so familiar and so missed to sit in that hospital room and smile with each other. Praying over a sick boy with his father was moving and honoring. When a young body is stricken with cancer and malaria at the same time there is much pain.

Our hearts are full and our lips smile often.

We are home.

My Favorite Girls

January 30, 2012

Jon

Hospital Ministry, Mozambique, Travel

3 comments

A Grateful Heart

A Layne Post

Well here we are, ready to begin packing our bags once more. On Friday we head to Colorado to a have a big joint family vacation before heading back to Mozambique. How blessed are we that we get this precious opportunity?! We are grateful.

We have soaked in dear moments with family and friends filled with laughter, tears, and comfortable silence. We have wept in our bed alone for news painfully received from Mozambique. We have watched in awe as our daughter has grown. We have collapsed exhausted into comfy beds in cool houses. I’ve been treated with pedicures, girls’ brunches, and more shopping than was necessary. Jon has been treated with fly fishing, golfing, soccer, football, and paintballing. We’ve had too much good food to even recall it all, and me, a few pound to show for it. (Thanks 2nd trimester!) We’ve gone on lots of walks with our daughter. Taken her to parks, the aquarium, a pumpkin patch, play places, bouncy places, etc. We are grateful.

We have heard testimony of prayer warriors and intercessors, those we consider teammates, who have faithfully stood in the gap on our behalf and on behalf of those to whom we minister. Our ministry is not possible without the Holy Spirit and His presence. These teammates are crucial to our effectiveness. We are grateful.

We have sat with many of our financial supporters and reported back about their ministry in Maputo, Mozambique. They, too, are dear teammates of ours. We have been humbled by their generous gifts. Our lives there would not be possible without them. We are grateful.

So we wrap up this furlough with grateful hearts, absolutely in awe of the Lord and His care for us.

January 8, 2012

Layne

Personal

1 comment

Sleep Well Tonight

A Jon Post

I’m on a couch, thinking about this year, this Christmas, my home and my family. My daughter had been crying in her bed for 15 minutes, hoping that her voice would outlast the time I could resist my compassion getting the better of my parenting technique. It did and I spent the following 15 minutes snuggling with her in my bed, calming her breathing, rubbing her back and kissing her head.

Meh… it’s Christmas. She can have this one.

So I held her and put off writing this because I’d rather she know her daddy loves her than know that she needs to go to bed on time.

She cried, I whispered.

She whimpered, I kissed.

She squirmed, I hugged.

And so we found ourselves lying next to each other. She curled up into my arms and rested her head against my chest. I laid my hand on her back and breathed deep and slow, encouraging her to do the same.

She fell asleep.

My daughter lay there asleep in my arms and I couldn’t think of a better Christmas present.

To those who read this blog and have children, hug and kiss your kids to bed tonight. To those who don’t, remember your daddy loves you.

Sleep well tonight.

My Christmas Presents

December 25, 2011

Jon

JonandLayne.com

4 comments

That God would be Relentless

A Layne Post

We thought they wouldn’t have to; they said there would be 6 more months of treatment instead of amputation. Our hopes rose. I stopped praying so hard, so consistently with Anaya. We rejoiced there would be no new trauma while we were out of the country, unable to help in any way. It seemed as though the Lord had chosen mercy. Perhaps this was the one for healing, the one we’d see. This 13 year old boy would potentially have years of soccer ahead of him.

But then the email arrived… the news. Amputated. So permanent. His leg is gone.

I laid in bed crying, for what would not be the last time. It still comes in waves. If only we could get there. Jon would play chess with him. Maybe I’d bake something special. Anaya would do something to bring about his smile. I’d hug his Mama, and beg to help, though there would be little to actually do.

They are fine without us. His Mama is strong and loving. Our dear friend Alice is helping, likely better than we could imagine for ourselves. They may not feel our absence as much as we feel theirs. I think that is a little miracle the Lord does in us; He puts His heart in us, His heart of longing.

The other night we sat around with Jon’s family worshiping the Lord by the fire. We sang about the relentless love of God that pursues us. I wondered if we could ever communicate that love to this boy, if ever he would know how deeply the Father desires and loves him. I wondered if he would struggle to forgive, or be able to understand a love from a Father who has allowed cancer to take all it has. He’s only 13.

Pray with me. Pray the Lord would be relentless in His love, relentless in His pursuit for this boy.

And physically, pray that the boy’s body would be strong and healthy to recover, something we rarely see.

December 11, 2011

Layne

Hospital Ministry, Mozambique

3 comments

Casa Ahava

A Jon Post

So we’re still here in Arizona. Sorry I’m a week late on this post. It feels like we’ve been busy but we’ve had an amazing time catching up with so many Godly men and women.

In sitting down with many of you, we’ve spoken about our future plans and what we would like to do in our ministry. We’ve tried to answer your many questions about what we do and what we hope to do.

As I listened to the questions that have been asked, I realized that I’ve not done a good job in communicating our heart and plans for Casa Ahava, what that means, where we are in the idea and what it holds. I hope this post makes that clear to those of you we haven’t had the chance to sit down with yet.

In our work in the hospital in Maputo, we focus on spending extended one-on-one time with people who have no one else. We try to give hope, life, a smile, and Christ in a place where pain, loneliness and death so often have victory. Our home has an extension behind it where there are two humble bedrooms joined by a bathroom in the middle with a storage/laundry area behind them. When we moved in to this home in June of this year we dreamed of renovating them, painting and furnishing them and offering them to friends at the hospital who would otherwise live in a single bed in a cold crowded room. The rooms began as water-damaged, surrounded by peeling paint, and covered in dirt. Just before we moved in a small team came to visit us. They caught the vision we had to create something beautiful. They worked tirelessly and where they left off I continued the job. At the end of October, two days before we left for America, we finished the renovations/painting/furnishing. I was even able to convert the small laundry/storage area into a kitchenette where guests can make their favorite food.

We are ready.

When we arrive back in Maputo in January we are eager to begin offering the space we have to people who need it much more than we do, pending hospital approval.

Below are some pictures of the work that was done. Just click on the pictures to advance inside the gallery. If you have any questions about this project, it’s funding, or really anything we do or hope to do I’d love it if you would leave that question in the comments. I will answer them the next time I post.