Mama Jo

I wanted to let you all know that our dear, dear friend Jo Bewley (around the Micah Project, everyone knows her as Mama Jo) passed away this afternoon after a long battle with cancer.  Jo has been coming to Honduras with her husband Bob every year since we founded the project.  Her favorite topic of conversation was missions...she loved to be a part of what God's people are doing around the world.  Specifically though, she loved the Micah Project!  She seemed perfectly at home here, whether she was under the bridge ministering to the street kids, out in Villa Linda Miller chatting with the families or at the Micah House surrounded by the boys.

A few years ago, Jo Bewley founded a program called The Micah Moms.  The idea stemmed from a group of Jos' friends in Houston called the Crafty Ladies.  Jo decided that if she and her friends could meet together and sew, make crafts, and fellowship, then that model would work in Honduras too!  She had a much bigger vision though:  she would teach the Micah Moms sewing skills so that they could earn some income for their families.  Our boys' moms are some of the poorest women in Tegucigalpa, and most have never had the opportunity to get an education.  On several subsequent trips after founding the Micah Moms, Jo brought down sewing "yo-yos"...and taught the moms how to make pillows, table runners and other things!

Thanks to Jo's inspiration, the Micah Moms group has taken off!  Six to eight ladies gather in the Micah House every afternoon.  A sewing teacher comes in twice a week to teach them various sewing skills.  There is a plan in place to make needlepoints belts to sell in various university bookstores around the country.  Even more important than the microenterprise development, the moms also meet every Thursday for a Bible study.  They have suffered much, and their lives as single moms in very poor neighborhoods are never easy.  The time of fellowship, prayer and support that they have each week has been transformative for each one of them.  One of the moms told us recently that she never felt that her life had any worth at all until she joined the Micah moms group.  Now, she looks forward to one o'clock in the afternoon every day so that she can come to the Micah Project for the Micah Moms time!

A couple of months ago, the moms even decided to rename their group "Grupo Mama Jo" in honor of their dear friend.  When they found out that she passed away today, they all came rushing into my office in the Micah House.  They spent some time talking about HOW MUCH they love Mama Jo and how much she meant to their lives.

Jo will be missed, terribly missed, by all the lives she touched.  But she will also be celebrated, because she poured out to others all the blessings God that gave to her ...and in the process, she blessed many, many lives.  We know that there is a celebration in heaven as this daughter of God receives her crown tonight!

We love you, Mama Jo!

Michael, (for the boys, the staff and Grupo Mama Jo)