Safely Here

Sorry for the long delay on updates but our Internet access is very intermittent. I'm writing from my daughter's apartment in Knoxville - we are here for a couple of days and it is always a joy to be right next to the University where Ann and I met. We had a bit of a challenging time getting here because of a rock-slide that has completely closed Interstate 40 between Knoxville and Ashville. That caused us to use an alternate road through beautiful rural Tennessee and it was a wonderful diversion.

We arrived safely back in the US although we did get a big shock in Atlanta when our accepted our luggage from Mozambique. Because of the well-known pilfering of luggage that occurs in Johannesburg, we had our suitcases encased in plastic wrap in Maputo. It doesn't prevent it but it is supposed to help. One of the larger bags got the customs agents attention because it had some cans of a type of tomato / onion mix that our girls love and you can't get in the States, and Ann planned as a surprise for a meal. We had to do a lot of explaining about these cans, but it went well and they were loaded onto the plane.

When the bags came down the ramp in Atlanta in the International Terminal (you pick them up and shift them to domestic), the two larger bags were not only unwrapped, but were opened with stuff flying out onto the conveyor belt. Dratts, what did we lose?

The interesting part is that we had no tape, no scissors, nothing to really repair them with - They were strapped, which I think was the saving grace.

So, we gathered up all of the loose items we could find, wondering how much was in the back room. It appeared the zippers had been forced open and we were able to repair one but the other was completely gone. We found some large plastic bags and jury rigged the straps and plastic around the un-repairable suitcase, and turned it in to domestic, wondering what all we had lost.

In Huntsville, all the bags arrived and when we finally unpacked we were fortunate to have lost only a few gift items. Of course none of it is truly expensive as we are very aware of the risk in Africa and luggage, but it is still disappointing. But, it could have been much worse so we are thankful everything more or less arrived. So that completes our luggage story....

It has been quite an adjustment culturally. The day we arrived in Huntsville, we went to both a Target and a Walmart. One of my jobs was to get tea and coffee. Now, what I'm used to is arriving at the store and being thankful that they even have coffee and tea; but what I found was an entire aisle of coffee and tea - with more choices and prices than I could even possibly process mentally. I just stood there for a while and looked at it all. In the end I narrowed down by price and took what seemed reasonable but it was truly a culture-shock kind of thing.

The other thing that has amazed me is the number of big black Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) with darkened windows. The drive from Huntsville to Columbia through Atlanta seemed like every other vehicle was one of these things. HUGE and moving fast. I wondered if this is the influence of the TV show "24" or other shows and movies where the heros seem to all drive these big things. My daughters say they are status symbols but it was remarkable how many we have seen - inconsistent with a difficult economy. I'm not passing judgement; I drive a big white SUV in Africa (and am daily thankful for it because of the roads we travel). It's just an observation. Or, maybe government agents are very busy in the Southeast US 'saving the world as we know it!' In any case, after our time in Mozambique, the affluence is breathtaking even in a time of economic uncertainty.

And the roads - oh my I had forgotten how wonderful the roads are in America. So wonderful. And, people actually follow the rules - wow. However, what is all of this driving on the wrong side? That continues to be a challenge to us, especially at Intersections. Stay right!

Some dear people are allowing us to use a house near Columbia that is comfortable and we are very much enjoying. We are almost through the jet-lag adjustment and no longer waking up at three in the morning. It has been very much a time of recovery for us and we are gaining some rest that we didn't recognize that we needed. And the joyous time with your dear daughters - there are no words.

We have sat under some amazing teaching since arriving and I'm working through a wonderful book by Dr. Ferguson called "In Christ Alone" that is paralleling our reading through the Bible in a year program that we do for devotions. I highly recommend this simple yet profound book.

This morning, I noticed something interesting in Romans I had not seen before. In the church multiplication program we are working with in Mozambique, our focus is to go into those areas where there are no evangelical churches and where people have not heard the Gospel story. Paul speaks to this as his priority also in Romans, Chapter 16. We have endured significant amounts of criticism about this program for all sorts of various reasons (we humans love to criticize others - we fall into that mode without even thinking about it) - and yet we have seen amazing fruit - growth from 10 or so churches to over 100 country wide - how can this be criticized? Paul says in verse 20:

"It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation..." He goes on to explain that he hasn't visited some of his older church plants because this is his call and he has even been hindered from coming because of this call. So, he goes on to explain he will stop for a while in Rome on his way to Spain, where they have not heard the Gospel. His mission and call remains certain.

May all of our various Calls remain as certain....

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

"Rather it is written: "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."" Romans 16:21

Project Update and a Little on Thanksgiving

We're literally hours away from a quick trip home to visit our daughters in the States. We look forward to seeing our girls but at the same time, there are so many thinigs happening here - there is never a convenient time. We will be centered in South Carolina and don't expect to travel very much beyond arriving in Alabama (Dave's mom and sister), South Carolina (Sarah / Allison), Tennessee (Ann's brother and Lynsey) and then back to Alabama for the return. We need some time away and with our precious family and are looking forward to the break, hoping I remember how to drive on the other side of the road.

With this said, I am not sure how our Internet access will be in the coming weeks so if it seems that we have dropped off the face of the earth, we haven't really. Thank you so very much for standing so faithfully with us.

We have a couple of things coming together here in Mozambique in our absence:

1. Next Tuesday, the fellows are coming to fix the water well at Intaka and Belarmino is tasked with ensuring that the well bolts are welded in place and that there is very good security for the well. We will begin digging a new well in Mocuba next year (Project 407670 - Water for Life)

2. We are doing an upgrade to the church at Mavalene, which has out-grown its current space. The church meets in a lean-two next to Pastor Abel's house. We will extend to metal roof to provide more space out of the rain / sun and extend the wall up against the roof. They have an all-night prayer service on 12/31 and normally people in the area throw things over the wall, such as bottles, which can be dangerous to those in the church. (Project 405770 - Mavalane)

3. Marcos Zito's wedding on December 19. (Project 403960 - Moz. Benevolence)

4. OMS Advisor's meeting on December 4.

5. Juka is doing a training session with the Trainers next week in the Mocuba area before they gravel back to Maputo later in the month (to arrive in time for the wedding). He has some business to settle in Nampula relative to our church planting work there and they will leave from Nampula because they can be assured of a seat on the bus if they start there, rather than catching it in Mocuba. So - an extra days travel to assure yourself of a seat.

(photo of Turkeys with Turkeys!)

Thanksgiving (photo above is Jason, Tristen, and Rachel - our adopted kids.)

In the past, we have had Thanksgiving celebrations where we invited various friends to eat Turkey and cranberry sauce, something not eaten much here. It is a great holiday for cross-cultural sharing and participation but this year was a bit different. We decided with the time-pressures in preparation of departing, we would have a smaller celebration here where we live with the two other missionary families near us. Then, other missionary friends found out about it the next thing we knew we had a ton of people coming. Ann decorated the house with Thanksgiving things and we especially noticed that all the children seemed to especially enjoy seeing (and eating!) all the food. Our open grounds allowed them to run and there were all sorts of games in progress all over the place. It made our hearts sing to see all these children running and laughing all around the house. Just before everyone arrived, we managed to change the oil and serviced Aimee's car and then devote the afternoon and evening to eating the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Three turkey's 'gave their all' and some other turkeys did the carving! ;-)

We ate outside in the shade and generally enjoyed a general break from the routine chaos. We had missionaries from seven different agencies, all joined together for a common cause, to spread the gospel. Especially special was Jason and Rachel (and Tristen) coming down from Xai-Xai to spend two nights with us. We love this couple as if they were our own kids and Ann especially enjoyed cooking with Rachel in preparation for Thanksgiving. Tristen calls us Grandpa and Grandma, and who can resist that? They brought this amazing ham (hard to find in with Moslems owning most of the shops!) that disappeared in nothing flat and was clearly the favorite item on the table!

After a few games, we moved over to the Hulsey's house to enjoy a buffet of deserts and look at Don Hulsey's photographs of his dive trip last weekend swimming with sharks big enough to swallow him in a single gulp. Beautiful photographs and I am always so engaged by his enthusiasm for diving. He says he cannot help but worship God when he sees the beauty and wonder of the life that is teaming underneath the waves of the ocean. The photos are remarkable.

It was such a blessed day and I could not help but give thanks in my mind over and over again. It was a great time of ministry to a wonderful missionary community, all who have dedicated their lives to the cause of Christ. The people in this photograph below represent seven different mission agencies doing work in Mozambique.

"Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth....Enter His gates wth thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name...." Psalm 100

Language Update

This week, we took a series of tests at the Language Institute and our instructor has 'graduated us' to the next level of instruction. We will get our certificates in January when we resume classes at the next level. On Monday and Tuesday, we took our written exam that went on and on and on. On Wednesday, we both had to do oral presentations on a subject of our choosing. Next we each listened to a Portuguese 'story' and were quizzed on our comprehension. We next read different texts and were again quizzed orally on our comprehension.

In the final analysis - we did well on written and comprehension, but our speaking was not so great, although 'passing'. We both have this tendancy to throw in English connective words because we aren't sure which of Portuguese connective words to use - so we use English words (unintentionally) like "to" and "so" more in the sense of "uhhh" that some do in English.

As an aside, we've become quite attached to our instructor but his contract runs out at the end of the year and he is not planning to return. He says it is because his income is inconsistent and completely dependent on student contact hours. No students, then no money. For example, we are not there in December, so he will not receive any pay related to our fees. It makes sense to me, for without students, the institute has no income - but it doesn't to him. And, as we've seen other do, they will 'quit' and put themselves in a worse situation (no job) for what seems to us as crazy reasons. We argued with him that he should continue until he finds another job, not just 'quit' with nothing to do, but that is Western culture talking. We have been starting to talk a little bit more about the things of God, and it would be my prayer we could spend more time with him.

I am convinced language learning will take the rest of our lives and we will never be truly 'fluent' although we will be more or less 'proficient'. The people we work with say they can tell a difference; we hope that is true!

Blessings!

"....Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel - because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world...." Genesis 11:7 - 9

Security Issues

One of the things we need to keep in mind is basic security for living here. There are very real safety concerns for us living here that we cannot be flippant about. Some recent events within the last week that accentuate this:

1. A friend of ours was at a stop light near the airport talking to her husband on the phone with her window down. Before she knew what happened, someone hit her arm, took her phone, and ran. Her husband heard the scream and the pitter-patter of the robber running with the phone before the call was disconnected.

2. Another couple we know and their daughter experienced an attempted hi-jacking at gun point and only their clear thinking allowed them to escape unharmed. This was in South Africa where armed attacks are common and the government response is to post signs that say "high hi-jack area". As they sped away, their daughter, who is also our "adopted" daughter, shouted "isn't our God awesome"! - We are overwhelmed at God's protection of these dear friends of ours.

3. We had a South African missionary visit with us who, against our recommendations, enlisted one of the 'nare-do-wells' at the border to help him through the process of entering Mozambique with a car. We were traveling together from our team retreat and this hired man demanded that he do ours as well and we had a significant confrontation at the border over this. It made us realize how easily things can escalate in South Africa. I wasn't about to give my passport or car documents to this hoodlum. It was clear that he was used to intimidating people to get what he wanted. The fear that this South African expressed was sobering and he commented on how much safer he felt with us in Mozambique than in his native country of South Africa. (photo is taken at the border approaching 'no-man's land' - it is always chaotic at the border - always).

4. In a recent Embassy news note, they provided a link to a world-report was just issued on 180 countries citing a 'corruption index'. New Zealand was the 'least corrupt' country coming in at number 1. The US was around 19 if I remember right, and Mozambique had fallen to somewhere around 160. The bottom of the list was Iraq, Afganistan and the like. So, when you deal with police, government officials, and the like, you have to keep this in mind.

5. The embassy just issued an advisory about the increase in crime over the next month. It states that there has been and will continue to be an increase in crime as people seek to obtain money and goods as here, like in the States, there is much cultural pressure about presents, gifts, and celebration around Christmas and New Years. People receive what is called a 13th month salary here in December and that bonus money means there is more money floating around and thus, more robberies.

6. On a recent 'dark and stormy night', the Generator for the well at Khongolote was stolen with a 'guard' on duty (probably sleeping somewhere). This is common here, when it rains, there are more break-in's and robberies because guards are down (pun not intended - maybe ;-))

7. I've written recently about things disappearing out of our car when it is parked and "guarded" in down. Somehow, they get it opened even when we're all locked-up.

We've become very comfortable living here and we do not go around in fear, feeling comfortable nearly anywhere in and around the city during the day. At night, we are more careful and deliverate in our routes and activities but not foolish. In the rural areas, we feel much safer and it is those places like the border where you must be very very careful. We try to be wise but at the same time if you allow yourself to become fearful, it can become imprisioning. We drive the same backroads all the time, we give rides to people (mostly older folks) and know the people and the children we see on the roads. Over time, you become a part of the landscape and a part of the communty through your presence and this greatly increases your level of comfort and I think your safety. It is when you get off in those areas where you aren't 'known' or recognized that I think your risk factor starts to increase. But in any case, I praise God for his provision and protection of us here; I am sure that when we graduate to heaven, we will be amazed at how time and time again, through the prayers of His people, we (we in the sense of all believers) were spared time and time again. We truly have to trust Him in a very deep and certain way to function cross-culturally where your mere presence can invite trouble because of your perceived affluence.

May our security and confidence rest in Him and Him alone.

"...I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:6-7

Newsletter

Our Christmas newsletter is now available through our newsletter link to the left!

Blessings!

Dave & Ann