jon and layne heller | Casa Ahavá and our Family

Missed a week

A Jon Post

On Vacation

Sorry it’s been two weeks since our last post. We were in Cape Town, South Africa last week enjoying a 2nd year anniversary/babymoon vacation, generously paid for by an anonymous donor. We were able to step back as a couple, spend time together, talk and pray about our future family, relax, eat a lot of good food, and enjoy God’s presence and bounty. We hiked to the top of Table Mountain (an iconic landmark in Cape Town) and videoed ourselves doing a video log but unfortunately the wind covered up the sound and rendered the video useless.
Sorry!

Gasher

On our way back from South Africa to our home here in Maputo we made an addition to our family. We’d like to formally introduce:
Sir Gasherbrum Walter Bonati Heller IV
We just call him Gasher. I won’t give you the whole story to his name but he’s named for an incredible mountain in Northern Pakistan. Gasherbrum is actually part of the Balti language (spoken in Northern Pakistan) meaning “Beautiful Mountain”. Believe me he is beautiful and he will be a mountain of a dog (at only 3 months old he’s already more than 50 pounds. His sire looks like a small horse). Every time we call him “Gasher” we are calling him “beautiful”.

After arriving back home our time back at the hospital has been sweet. It was hard to go away for the time we were in Cape Town without knowing if dear friends we left at the hospital would be alive by the time we got back. One of the men I’ve gotten to know and prayed with often was very sick when we left and left the hospital while we were away to be at home when he dies. It’s hard when we’re not able to say goodbye. With the abundance we’ve seen in our lives and the pain and death we daily see in others lives it forces us to come humbly before our God. So many times people ask “Why me God?” As Layne and I see death’s triumph so often, we find ourselves asking “Why not us God?” We are so sheltered by His mercy and we realize we deserve none of it. It’s not our goodness or our faithfulness to Him that keeps us healthy, fed, safe. In His wisdom and goodness and faithfulness we are provided for. And we know that when we do suffer it’s still in His wisdom, goodness and faithfulness.
“For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Cor 1:5).

From Table Mountain

August 22, 2010

Jon

Hospital Ministry, Travel

2 comments

A Light-hearted Look Into Our Lives

A Layne Post

I decided this week to give you guys a little look at some of our favorite ‘spots’ near the house.

: At the end of our street

At the end of our street there is this little striped trailer. I love it. Without it, we would have missed our street a hundred times. I told Jon, “They can never move it!” In the mornings, when we can, we like to walk along the beach, admire God’s creation, observe some of the Mozambican life, hold hands, and talk about life and the future. There is a grocery store with a great bakery down the beach where they make fabulous cheap bread. We grab some fresh bread and walk along the beach back to the house.

: Waiting for a hot dog

At ‘Game’, a store a few minutes from our house that is like a Wal-mart, they have a hot dog stand outside. We were here a couple months, and every time we went there we would see and smell the hot dogs cooking and Jon would say, “Someday I want to try one of those!” One day we did, and they are good! Now it is a nice cheap little treat.

: Jon and Hot-dog man

Go ahead… you can laugh. I felt like a tourist taking this pic, but we love Hot-dog man!

: Take Out Pizza

This is a restaurant a couple minutes down the road, which has changed names a couple of times, but the food has remained the same. I noticed a sign across the street that advertised ‘take away pizza’. Turns out they have decent little pizzas! I especially like the Hawaiian. These days I can eat a whole one by myself! Ha!

: Date Night

And I thought I’d leave you with a recent picture of us.

We went on a date a week or so ago to a little restaurant called ‘Spicy Thai’. Yum! It was probably the fanciest we’ve dressed up since we’ve been in Africa, which was fun! We were definitely the nicest dressed at the restaurant, but I didn’t mind. It was a special night just for us.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed a little light-hearted look into our lives and our town.

We love you!

August 8, 2010

Layne

Mozambique, Personal

6 comments

What I see

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

Jon

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

Layne

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 25^th 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.