Insights & Information

Bringing street children home in Mozambique

Not that long ago, if you’d told Daryl and Leah Burnette that they’d be taking three small children more than 8,400 miles away to live in a city where people and kids scavenge daily in a massive trash heap for food, toys and valuables, they’d have thought you were crazy.

Little by little, however, and over several years, God used a host of experiences and ministries, including the Miles of Hope for Orphan Children, to reveal their mission: to minister to the street children of Maputo, Mozambique.

Daryl and Leah Burnette and family

Daryl and Leah Burnette and family. A pancake fundraiser to help defray one-time costs of moving to Mozambique begins 8 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, in the Youth Room.

“We’ve had such great support from our church,” Daryl said of their calling. “We know God has been answering our prayers all along the way and used Triad to prepare us for service.”

Added Leah, “It was through Miles of Hope and the founders (George and Deena Jackson) that God started to inform us about the need for orphans. Miles of Hope was an important steppingstone in the process of us becoming missionaries.”

Leah and Daryl first visited Mozambique this past summer and witnessed the vast need of the many children that fight for survival on Maputo’s streets each day with no place to call home. “When we visited, God confirmed for us that this is where we need to be and the children we need to serve,” Daryl said. “The main reason we’re going is found in Matthew 28:19-20, the Great Commission passage. We want to go and make disciples and show God’s love to these children.”

While their appointment by the Littleton, Colo.-based WorldVenture missions agency and Daryl’s ordination by Triad took place this past year, you might say their new life as missionaries really begins in earnest in 2014. That’s because Daryl will have quit his job working for a Winston-Salem company that administers large group insurance plans, and he and Leah will be spending all their time raising support and completing necessary training to get them to Mozambique in April 2015.

They’re the fourth missionaries to be sent out from Triad, and, in a trend that reflects church and economic trends, most of their support will come from individuals. They will join a team of four WorldVenture missionary families already serving in various ministries in Mozambique.

By God's provisions, Daryl and Leah have raised 22 percent of the monthly support they’ll need to serve in Mozambique—the third poorest country in the world. They will share their story at Triad Baptist on Sunday, Feb. 2, in all three morning services.

Ministry preparation

The precursor of the college and career ministry now known as Unite brought Daryl and Leah together in 2003. Leah previously joined Triad in 2001 and Daryl joined in November 2003. They later married in October 2006.

Both were no strangers to missions. Leah and her mother, Darlene, have been involved in local missions since Leah was young. Later in life, Leah herself made missions trips to Trinidad and Peru.

Daryl had the same kind of upbringing, including a short-term missions trip to Guyana at age 15 that he said was his first real glimpse of poverty. “God used that experience to break my heart for children at risk,” said Daryl, who attended N.C. State University for two years before transferring to Liberty University to grow spiritually and earn his business finance degree in 2006.

Leah, meanwhile, earned her teaching degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2007 and taught at Wallburg Elementary School and Piney Grove Elementary School for six years.

Both laugh at the memory of their first ministry experiences together at Triad: serving in the nursery, which included dealing with the aftereffects of one child’s very woozy stomach. Undeterred by that experience, they went on to represent Triad on a missions trip in Chile, and serve together in Awana, the Upward sports program and for Vacation Bible School. Many members also know Daryl from running Triad’s Awana Grand Prix; he is also currently serving on Triad's deacon board.

Turning point

What brought all those experiences together and prompted them to eventually sell their house and make such a major change in their life’s direction was what God did in their family through adoption.

“It wasn’t until God started forming our family that His plan for our life was revealed,” explained Leah. In February 2010 they adopted twins, Gabriel and Eden, and God began working in their hearts on a bigger plan for their lives.

In July of that same year, Leah was driving Gabriel and Eden to Vacation Bible School and listening to WBFJ-FM. “An ad came on talking about the plight of children overseas and I called Daryl and said, ‘Listen, I know this is crazy, but I think God is calling us to full-time missions.’ He said he would pray about it, and not long after, said, ‘You are right. God is calling us to full-time missions.’ ”

Committed to following God's call in their lives, they put their house on the market, praying it would sell soon. About a year and a half later the couple began to pray about adding a third child to their family. In no time, God answered their prayers when they got the call that a sibling to Gabriel and Eden was to be born and would be available for adoption. They brought Silas home in December 2011. Their house didn’t sell until the spring of 2013, right after they stepped out in faith and Leah put in her notice to quit her job in the public school system.

Where to serve

After identifying WorldVenture as their missions agency, the only thing left for Daryl and Leah to determine was where to serve. It was through WorldVenture that they learned about Mozambique and the children living on the streets. Through their time there they fell in love with the country and children.

Their ministry will involve opening day centers to help meet the physical, educational, and emotional needs of the children living on the streets in Maputo, Mozambique while sharing the Gospel and demonstrating God's love to these children.

Concluded Leah, “We’re excited about this new chapter in our lives and know it will be a big adjustment. But we know we'll have the prayers and financial support of so many people behind us as well as our WorldVenture team. Most of all, we know without a doubt that this is where God wants us to be so we know He'll be with us every day and provide whatever we need as we serve in His name.”

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