Back in Africa
Sorry it has been like a month since I updated my blog!  Two weeks ago I flew home to Boise to see my sisters wedding.  It was great being home for a few days and awesome to see so many of you guys.  My sister was the most beautiful bride that there has ever been.  She looked gorgeous.  Her husband is one lucky dude!
I arrived back in Mozambique on Thursday.  It is so great to be back again.
Just a few updates on a few projects that I have been doing on the side.  First the Chaganuas (Amudi and Fatima) new latrine is now finished.  I have attached some before and after photos of what their bathroom looked like before and what it looks like now.  In Mozambique 1-5 children die before the age of five due to many health issues.  One of the main causes of their health issues is how unsanitary their bathrooms are.  The Chaganua family is extremely poor and goes several days at times without food do to the lack in income so building a latrine has not been a priority.  The dad is a great/ talented man but has been unemployed for several years now and does not have the money to bribe someone for a job.  They have three beautiful kids!  There little boy Felipe was named after me.  They are one of the greatest families I have ever met.  Building a quality latrine here is not very cheap but luckily I had great support in America and many people kicked in to helping this amazing family.  Today their bathroom is one of the best in the entire village because of your support.  They said to tell all of those who pitched in a very special thank you.  Amudi just got a job and things are really starting to look up as this family makes an effort to leave extreme poverty.
The other update is about Isaque.  He was the young man that I talked about in the first blog.  I invited him to hang out with me and some of my families on Friday night.  It was so fun to see his interaction with some of the families that I baptized.  Having been an orphan most of his life he just latches on to and loves any time of family atmosphere he can get ahold of.  It was pretty late by the time we were leaving so instead of taking him all the way home I just let him sleep at my house for the night.  It was his first night ever sleeping on a bed.  He is 17 years old and Friday night was his first time not sleeping on the ground.  To make things better I gave him a letter from Laurie Abraham (who heard his story) informing him that she would cover his school expenses so that he could go back to school again.  It will not be very expensive at all but for him it meant the entire world to have that chance to go back and study again.  He is a brilliant kid so he will do amazing in school.  It was one of the funnest nights of my life because it was so fun to watch him be so excited.  The only problem is the kid likes to talk!  We ended up talking till 3:30 in the morning.  He told me his entire life story.  His real parents died when he was five years old and then he went to live with his grandma who died when he was 7.  He lived on his own on the streets for a year but was able to stay in school.  His professor liked him so much and felt bad for him so he adopted him when he was 8.  He lived with his professor for four years until he was twelve.  The professor then took a job in the capital and couldn't take Isaque with him.  That is when he moved to the city where I am at now and he has been living on his own ever since.  If I was in his shoes I would be super depressed and hopeless but he is one of the happiest/most delightful people I have ever met in my life.  He gave me so many good insights on how to overcome major trails and still be happy.  Right before we fell asleep he said "Felipe, one more thing...Thank you! This has been the greatest night of my entire life!"  Something as simple as sleeping on a crappy bed and getting the chance to go back to school made this kids life.  It has been a special couple days back in this beautiful country.  Life here is so precious.  You never know how long some of these great people will be around for but I can only pray that they have a long life span so they can continue to touch peoples lives as they have mine.  I love you all!  Thanks for the support!
-Josh