Sunday

Today we attended our T-3 church. It is relatively close to our new rental house in Machava and we can be there in about 10 or 15 minutes traveling the narrow back-roads that we've become so used to. We stopped on the way at a local market and bought some rice and sugar for a widow we planned to visit with after church, a dear lady we have known for quite some time now.

We have known the young man in the photo since he was a baby and he is growing nicely and so well mannered.
Momma (a term of respect here, emphasis on second syllable) has a son who is dieing that she is taking care of. We don't know what it is as these things are not talked about, but we are almost certain it is advanced aids. He is to the point he is unable to get up off his grass mat and is totally skin and bones. Momma is taking extremely good care of him and at this point there is little to do but keep him comfortable. I think it is the love of family that keeps him going. In the past, he used to work in South Africa and return to Maputo but as this horrible disease ravaged him more and more, he had no where to go but home. As we held his hands and spoke with him, we could only offer him encouragement, that God knows his name, and in this case, he also has the peace of knowing the very Creator. As we prayed with him, I so wished that God would allow him to 'take up his mat' but this was not to be. A gaunt face of a young man, burned into my consciousness, laying on a grass mat on a concrete floor in a little block house on the outskirts of Maputo. But by the grace of God go any one of us....

In an oral culture, such as Mozambique, memories are much more developed than in the Western culture where we can look up a name, check the phone book, etc. Today she asked specifically about some dear friends of ours that visited with her back in 2006 - by name. She wanted to hear all the details of their lives, their children, what they were doing and emphasized the importance that we relay her greetings, which we have done. The Mozambican's are a very gracious people and we must seem so crude to them with our "walking with purpose" and our task orientation. But Momma has looked into my heart and into Ann's heart and we have that heart connection that cannot be explain - a bond that we are truly family.

We are reading a book called "African Friends and Money Matters" by David Maranz that should be required reading for anyone coming to African to visit for an extended time or to live. This book really drives home the differences in culture and really helps explain how differently we look at things - the incredible bias we bring into the situation because of where ever we come from. The longer I am here, the more I see the layers of the onion I must shed to truly be as effective for God as I seek to be here. In this culture, it is the relationship that matters, the network you develop, and the understanding that the broad network is literally how many people simply survive day to day as everyone helps everyone else. It is a different way of thinking but I feel like I'm beginning to see it a little better - not in judgement, not to evaluate, but seemly to see how the system truly works and the tiny ripples that move out from the relationships as people help each other. It has much basis in the Bible.

I was encouraged that I was able to follow Pastor Daniels' sermon fairly well but he kept using a word (verb) over and over again that was unfamiliar to me. Afterwards, I talked with him trying to understand what the word meant. It wasn't in our dictionary and so we got out our Bibles and used them as our dictionaries - and it worked. I learned a new verb that isn't in our little dictionary and now I just need to use it about 10 times to cement it in my brain. While we were having that discussion, I didn't realize that Ann snapped a picture - so here is truth. The sermon was on the "call of God" and it was something Daniel and I have discussed many times.
A great day - actually my birthday today - and Ann used one of the boxes of cake mix we brought back with cream cheese frosting she brought from the states. Five candles as we didn't want to burn the house completely down and we didn't want to catch the few hairs I have left on my head on fire!

Blessings to you.

Dave & Ann

"And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’" Matt 25:60

Grief

This afternoon we visited with a couple of families we know here. In the first case, we visited with the mother of one of our former seminary graduates who passed away at a very young age, leaving two young boys. Their mother was someone we always visited with at our T-3 church as she was used to poor missionary Portuguese and we could communicate quite well with her. She was lovely lady and we were sad to get the news while we were at OMS for the conference that our friend had passed away. She had been in declining health for some time. This is the unfortunate way of life here. Her mother now has these two boys to raise, in addition with the other family members who have found their way back to momma's house. We were able to share stories about our friend and cry together and pray together. Pastor Daniel (far right in picture) translated our Porteglais (Portuguese - English) into Tsonga for us. You can see the mother holding a prayer card for an OMS missionary (Aimee) who will be returning to Mozambique as soon as her funding is complete. Aimee stayed with this family part of a summer as she worked on her thesis and they had many stories to tell about Aimee learning to cook Mozambican style. But clearly, they know the love Aimee has for them, and they respond back in the same way, as love truly is a language that everyone understands. A family in grief, a family with incredible needs, and a family that trusts in a Holy God to meet those needs. We were privileged to carry a monetary gift to this family that will be used to continue the education of these young boys, something that we talked with them about as we asked them about their hopes and dreams. Pray for this family - it is not an uncommon story here where the needs are great and a little money makes a huge difference, but even more importantly, a family having the peace that surpasses all understanding.

"... but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Php 4:6-7

Jesus Film Showing

On most any given day here, I could write about any 10 items that happened. The last few days have been an unusual whirlwind of events - isn't that a laugh? I have probably said that a lot of times as that is truly our normal, which is similar to each of your normals, I'm sure. I think it is the human condition!

Our quick trip to South Africa to deliver the car for the Irish team to pick up was good and we were successful in picking up the Tsonga literature and hymnals we had ordered, as well as delivering the car. It rained part of the way and when we parked the car at the designated pick-up point (a friend of one of the team members), I noticed a screw embedded in the rear tire of the car and little bubbles coming out around it. Thank you Lord that it didn't blow on the way.

Ann and I call this particular car "the Demon car" because of all its peculuarities. It has an alarm system with a mind of its own, an engine imobilizer as a part of that system that also has a mind of its own, and a small electrical short somewhere that no one can find that drains the battery. It has broken down on us, stopped in the middle of intersections, gotten stuck, and other challenging things. The car belongs to our school, but we often will rent it out for teams and the like and we use it from time to time, such as when our vehicle is in the shop.

So at 'zero-dark-thirty' we're loaded up into the two cars for the run to South Africa and the demon car won't start - battery is dead. It won't jump off so we decide to try and push it off - eventually we get it going but an hour later. I noticed the tire seemed a wee-bit low at that point, but didn't see anything obvious! The rest of the trip is non-eventful and even the border crossing, where my heart rate usually increases a bit because of the potential for chaos and delay. After dropping the car off, getting the mission mail, and picking up needed supplies, we return via Kruger Park where we have a time of reflection, devotion, and debriefing with the young couple who has been with us the last three weeks. This photo is of this precious couple in Kruger Park. God's hand is clearly on their lives and we fully expect to see them here again. Fran has quite a few dental patients to check up on!

We return to Maputo and basically take our new dear friends to the airport as we receive the team from Ireland. The next couple of days are spent preparing the Irish team although they are pretty much 'on auto' because they are lead by Melvin Kelly, a former missionary here. We had them over for dinner and orientation to Mozambique, also catching Melvin up with the status of the work in the north. Early the next morning, we picked up Juka and a translator, who will be accompanying the Kelly team as they go north to visit our churches in the Gurue/Ilhe/Macuba areas, and took them to the airport. When we picked up Juka, his daughter Milka (see photo of Juka and family) was not happy with us as she has learned that when the suitcase goes into our car, her dad is going to be gone for a little bit - she was not happy with us although we did stop by the next day and make up with her a little bit!

We received confirmation that the Irish team arrived safely in the north and that they had nearly 200 people show up for their first training session, so we know they are off to a good start. We are excited to see what God will accomplish through them and to hear their stories when they return. We were quite jealous as we would like to have gone also, but that is something we will do in a couple of months as we plan to make a general trip through all of our works in the North in preparation of this year's ECC conference, which we hope to hold in the northern part of Mozambique.

One of the tasks Pastor Juka will be accomplishing in the North is the wedding of one of our trainers. So, we are sending the wedding dress north again, where it will be adjusted and used for probably about the 10th time. It still looks beautiful as the sewing skills here are quite extraordinary and although we aren't sure how the dress is cleaned each time, it always comes back spotless. On the way to the airport, we had to make a minor stop to pick up the wedding rings at the jewler. This photo is at the jeweler's house (if you look carefully you may see Ann waving from the car) where the two rings were picked up. A common symbol for marriage in many countries...

Saturday we spent in preparation getting ready for showing the Jesus Film at Intaka. We were especially excited for this showing, because we had some new equipment (DVD instead of very well-worn VCR tapes) that we'd purchased in the States and brought back with us. The DVD's were a little bit updated from the VCR tapes and the color and clarity clearly about 10 steps above what we used at Picoco just before we left. We followed the same model as before, a time of prayer in the afternoon, sending of evangelism teams out, music to attract attention, and then we showed the film followed by preaching. We were beyond the reaches of electricity again and the clear African sky was clearly a wonder as we could see the milky way cast through the sky and the Southern Cross was clearly visible. Breath-taking.

In the series of pictures below, we show the film set-up, the sunset as we waited for dark, and then the screen with Christian music videos (in Zulu!) we were playing prior to the movie. At first we had a small crowd, but it grew to several hundred by the time the movie started. We had the sound up to nearly maximum, which seemed mighty loud to me, but Pastor Ricardo said he was a bit dissappointed as the sound didn't cover near as much of the area as he had hoped. After it was all over and we were packing up our equipment, we had several people show up who had heard us and walked over - so I think the sound covered more area than he thought!

One young man, named Sergio, came up and talked with me for a very long time. He had a long story about working as a chef in a Chinese restaurant and how he had lost that job with a long explanation about what a 'good person' he was and how he needed work and the trouble his family was in. I listened a very long time, but fundamentally he was looking for money and the liquor on his breath pointed more strongly to what any money would likely go for - part of the challenges of being here. He stayed for the film and spoke more with me afterwards and promised to think about the things we talked about. He promised that he would return to the church in the morning. We will see - and I pray that God's spirit will move in his heart and life.


So, a rather long entry of what has been happening. Another snapshot of life here. The well drillers have delayed us until September now as we get fit into their work back-log, but we are on the list and we continue to make progress!

Thank you for standing with us!

"The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him." Na 1:7

Field Council

For the last three days, we have been meeting together as a field to review plans and objectives for the next fiscal year and to make assignments for preparing our Mozambique Field Plan. Ann and I did this plan last year ourselves because we were the team! and it is so nice to be able to work with a team on it this year. We have only met a few times as a team at this point and are still learning how to work with each other. Our regional director came up from South Africa and helped us with planning and vision casting and we have set an aggressive schedule for completing the field plan over the coming weeks.

This photograph shows our current Mozambique team. The little puppy is a new guard dog for our Christian School. The other dog is getting quite old and so they have started training a new one - I suppose you could say the old dog will mentor the puppy?

We ended our weekend of meetings with a special church service in our home and a cook-out afterwards and a time of relaxation. The service was especially meaningful as we ended our meetings and bonded together through the process. The young couple in the back row of the photo are our short-term missionaries who have been helping us the last several weeks and we really hate to see them go as they have been such an amazing addition to our team. They attended all our meetings and were able to bring really good comments and observations.

Tomorrow at "zero dark thirty" we will be making a quick run to South Africa to deliver a car to a team from Ireland who will be joining us from South Africa later this week. We will also be checking our mail box and look forward to seeing what surprises are there. We will also be picking up a guitar that was being repaired for one of our churches plus several boxes of books we will be using in our ECC program. Juka will be accompanying the Irish team which will be led by a former OMS missionary to Mozambique. They plan to travel to our northern-most work later this week and assist the church pastors and trainers.

Thank you for standing with us. So much is happening here as we see God's hand in so many places and the answers to prayer have been especially encouraging the last couple of weeks. Thank you for praying - it has truly made a difference. Big impacts for the kingdom the last few weeks, great leadership training sessions, new teams that are being sent out, and amazing community health outreaches - but it is nothing we have done but rather a very tangible movement of God's hand - amazing things we have seen.

A prayer request we have is for our family. We have both been dealing in different ways with a deep sense of loss as we miss our daughters so very much. The young couple who is staying with us reminds us so much of our own wonderful children and sons-in-law - while it is unbelievably wonderful to spend time with this lovely couple, it also drives home the deep loss we often feel for our dear daughters. We pray that God will richly bless our girls and their husbands in incredible ways for their perserverence, patience, and faith that allows us to serve Christ in this way. We know with certainty that this is where God wants us, and with that we find peace, but our sense of loss relative to our children remains the most difficult thing we face as missionaries on a daily basis. In just the past few weeks, we have had a number of people who have stepped in and filled gaps in our children's lives because we are here, and we are so incredibly thankful for those acts of love and kindness.

Thank you Lord for your strength, your peace, and your presence. May our faces and our hearts always be turned towards You, may we always hear your voice, may we follow your leading, not ours, and may we always be in the shadow of your wings. Thank you for the absolute priviledge of serving you in this way and for the incredible group of people and churches that make it possible. Bless them for their faithfulness; may they feel your presence and see your hand at work just as we have been so blessed to see here. Amen.

Dave & Ann

"Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice." Psalm 63:7

Chronological Bible Story Telling

Today we held our first training class on Chronological Bible Story Telling. We utilized a friend from South Africa for the training, who is known all over the African continent for this training. It works very well in oral tradition cultures, cultures with low literacy rates, and is generally just a great way to share the story of the Bible. So often we treat the Bible like a book of all these individual passages and stories instead of the overall story that is the Bible.

The instructor (shown here with one of our National Pastors) has many years of experience and runs a Bible school in South African and is also a construction engineer. He helped OMS-Mozambique with some construction and engineering challenges at our seminary and that is where we first met him, immediately 'hitting it off' because of some of the similar life experiences in our backgrounds. His training method was highly recommended to us by our OMS African Regional Director, was talked about at the OMS conference, and it is really something. The questions and interaction were good and all of us had our thinking challenged and expanded today as we learned how to present the bible in a story-telling way. Our instructor was not bashful in hitting some of our cultural issues head-on as compared to God's instruction and no-one's culture was spared for "all have fallen short....."!

We included a nice meal of rice with a chicken topping, some fruit, and water. That provided a great time of fellowship between the nearly 30 participants as we talked about the class and got used to each other.

We left excited and enthusiastic and are looking forward to tomorrow's session followed by practical application on Wednesday. Many of our new evangelists are in the class and they are excited to see this method as the promise of a redeemer starts early in Genesis after man is separated from God, and the entire bible points to that redeemer in the person of Jesus Christ. Many people here have heard the various Biblical stories at one time or the other but this story telling method ties them all together into "the story".

Each participant will receive a nice book to use in discipling others with this method. It was a great day and it is truly a priviledge to participate in this training. We also have enough materials to continue our own training on this method.

It was a wonderful day and a great reminder of who God is and the power of His word.

"I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love....I love to tell the story, for some have never heard, the message of salvation from God's own holy Word."

"I love to tell the story! 'Twill be my theme in glory; To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love"

Hymn by Katherine Hankey and William Fisher

Completed OMEGA Training

This last Friday, we completed the OMEGA church planting training program with our new group of potential church planters. This photo shows the class with the two instructors (Juka and Xavier) and the two ladies who helped prepare the lunch-time meals. From this group, we are sending out three young men on September 1 to begin new church planting work in Gaza, Inhambane, and the Maputo province. We distributed their training manuals and we honored them at the Khongolote church service, which is the sending church for these first three young men. It is exciting to see the impact this church has had on the work here in Mozambique. Many of the new churches can trace their roots back to this church at Khongolote, which was founded out of the massive floods of 2000 when large numbers of people from all over the country were re-settled in Khongolote.

After church, we went back up to Intaka to checked on several of the dental patients from the other day as follow-up and saw those who we'd been unable to see previously. Afterwards, Dentist Fran did two more tooth extractions at a house in Khongolote. So many people are suffering so badly here because of poor dental care. Today's extraction was on a 25 year old who had four molars completely decayed with huge holes and massive infections, and she was just living with it with great pain, headaches, and general malaise. It is very possible that her entire health situation will improve as a result of this work and we praise God for this opportunity to make a difference. This week we plan to spend time with the Khongolote pre-school as teaching the kids good dental care is a much better strategy so they can avoid these kinds of problems that Fran has seen so much of these last weeks. Fran and her husband have been such a blessing to this field and to the people of Mozambique. Mike is a computer wiz and has got the CAM school computers working well, not to mention our own here at the house. He's a bit quiet but doesn't miss a thing and he has been very helpful to me personally as he is a clear thinker and ponders things - and when he speaks it is always most useful and insightful.

Tomorrow we begin our training classes on Bible story telling, which will involve drama and is designed to help spread the gospel in areas where literacy levels are poor and in a manner that draws interest. We have over 30 people from a number of our churches signed up for this training and we look forward to seeing what will result. More to come on this!

"And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’" Mt 10:7

Community Health Day

This has been a long but amazing day. We have an amazing short-term (3 week) missionary couple with us from the UK and one of them (Fran) is a dentist. Today, we ran two dental clinics where Fran and Ann did basic community health teaching and Fran did alot of dental exams and quite a bit of tooth pulling. We finally had to stop out in one village area as we were exhausted and the sun was going down (no electricity) and there were still people lined up to see her. The needs are tremendous but the workers few....

In the morning while they were doing the dental clinic in T-3, I spent time in class with our new group of church planters (picture above). They have been in class this week at T-3 learning about church planting. Today they were each doing a practical on how to teach a class and do inductive Bible Study. We discussed many things and I have a couple of classes to reach in the morning. Three of them start with our ECC program on September 1, moving into Gaza province, Inhambane province, and one in Maputo province. The remaining four will start with ECC on January 1, covering Machava, Massinga in Inhambane, Nampula, and Maputo. The training is quite extensive and we will be following up closely with them over the coming months. We really look forward to seeing what God will do with the lovely young men (and woman) as they take the Gospel out to their country.

The dental clinic was a group effort. A daughter of a missionary friends of ours helped us with translation and recording of dental information while Ann assisted the dentist. I held babies and entertained kids so their parents could be examined, talked with those waiting, and did alot of praying. We prayed with each patient before each examination and during each procedure, where procedures were required. Fran did an amazing job and her love for the Mozambican people was readily apparent and she was extremely well received. Fran taught one of our Pastors (Ricardo) how to teach about proper brushing and he took over that assignment and we all had great fun with the big teeth and brush that you see on the bench. We handed out lots of tooth brushes, tooth paste, and other dental supplies to help out.

Because of the extreme demand, we will do another clinic this weekend, but that will be about all. Fran will have pretty much exhausted her supplies by then and she brought quite a bit. It has been a great first experience at doing some clinic work. We will also work with our one operating pre-school next week as one of the best things Fran is doing is teaching good basic tooth care - brushing twice a day, for example. The expectation here is that your teeth go bad and you get them pulled. The expectation that if you take care of them, they can last a life-time, is something new to challenge people with.

Thank you for standing with us as we work together to reach the nations for Christ.

"But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" 1 John 3:17

Picoco

Today we drove out to Picoco to participate in this new church's first baptism service. We spoke about this new church plant much when we were back in the States as it had just started the very weekend before we left for our short trip back. I'm not sure I can express the absolutely overwhelming joy that this day has brought.

We left at daybreak to travel to Khongolote where we picked up Juka and Nelio to make the long trip to Picoco. We stopped on the way to check out the selected river, which was a tidal river from the sea, with a nice trail to the river although it was relatively low tide and the access to the water was through some pretty thick mud. We were happy with the location and then proceeded to the church. We passed another rather picturesque river on the way and I asked about that location as it looked cleaner and with easier access and was told - no, too many crocodiles. That's enough reason for me!

At Boane, we turned off the road, working our way through a market, and down a narrow road that eventually lead to the church. We had hired a small bus to help transport the church to the Baptism site and after a short service, we loaded up and headed back to the river. The picture above is at the river with the people being baptised. We spent time singing and praising God, and then proceeded with the Baptism. The singing as we had approached the area attracted many people, and much opportunity was provided for sharing and getting to know new people.

In one case, a lady who had been remarkably deep in prayer in the time leading up to the baptism, began to be quite agitated as she approached the water. When her feet hit the water, she began shrieking and crying out in a different voice. We continued to pray and I felt like I was re-living the book of Acts as we sensed demonic activity. The two pastors performing the baptism had seen this before and firmly prayed and the lady immediately calmed down and emerged a transformed lady, remarkable change, not only in demeanor but also in appearance. It was truly remarkable and a testimony to the reality of spiritual forces in this world. This lady's life was forever changed today and she emerged from the water a new person. It was remarkable and at the same time sobering as we witness the constant battle for the souls of men.

Afterwards, we returned to the church, although we did have to push the bus out of the deep sand at one point. The singing and dancing on the bus was full of joy as they celebrated the baptisms and people waved and waved as our singing bus went down the road. After the church service, in which Ann and I were both invited to speak, we celebrated with a meal together of fish and rice and just enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship. We finally returned home just before dark - a wonderful day of joy and celebration; transformed lives.

Tomorrow we start a new training class for a group of potential trainers and church planters. We will be using our T-3 church because it is more centrally located for this particular group than our seminary. We are very excited at the potential that could result from this new group.

We have been blessed by having a young couple from England staying with us the last several days. They have truly been a joy and we have become very fond of them - it was almost instantaneous and we have really enjoyed seeing how God is opening their eyes in new ways as they work with us. Their love for the people of Mozambique is evident in their every action and the people readily respond to that love. Tomorrow they will begin working at our Christian School, helping get it ready for the next school year.

"...And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing." Acts 8: 36 - 39

Back on Line

We're happy to report that we are finally back on line and can resume working on our blog!! We've been back about a month now and I owe quite a bit of update.

First, the move into a new house was completed quickly and with our daughter Lynsey here to help us, we put the house into order and are finally able to find most things. The bad news is that most of our furniture was broken in some fashion during the move, but we've even managed to repair most of that as well - is a part of how you move here - toss the stuff on a big truck and then drive on really bumpy roads! However, it has taken a very long time to get Internet service installed here and we have a different set up that uses some sort of wireless antenna/transmitter to a distant router, so we have one computer working but our wireless router seems to conflict with this new set up. We have a short-term visitor here that is very good with computers so I'm hoping we can get this minor inconvenience fixed soon.

The re-entry into the work and culture here was much more difficult than we ever expected - and in fact we were quite surprised by it. I could write a book about it at this point - all the emotion that we went through as we re-engaged into life here. But that has all passed and we're starting to get into more of a routine again and are quite encouraged at everything that is going on. We are glad to be here and it really feels like home.

Tomorrow we have a special baptism service at the church in Picoco, that was started shortly before we left for the states. We will be using a river and the day starts very early tomorrow so this entry needs to be a bit short. We have a young couple from England visiting with us and they have been a real blessing and encouragement to us. They are seeking God's direction for their lives and we are absolutely thrilled to have them here helping us and the field with the work although I am thinking about losing their passports so they have to stay a little longer! The young lady is a dentist and we have some clinics scheduled and have had some small sessions in our churches already. It's a great medical outreach and we are blessed to have her here. The young man is a math teacher and he was quite impressed with our missionary children school and is looking foward to helping out with the start-up of the school this next week.

Today we had our routine meeting with the church leadership (picture above) and it was nice to spend time with them again and get caught up on the various things in progress. After the meeting, we drove out to Khongolote and met with our ECC coordinator. A new training session begins next week with a new group of potential ECC trainers and we are looking forward to seeing how this develops. Also, we have some OMS friends coming over from South Africa next week to help us start a Bible story telling ministry within our churches where the Bible is taught through drama. We have 30 people signed up.

We have been blessed by vacation bible schools and supporters in the United States who have raised funds for water wells in our churches and we are making the arrangements now to start drilling wells. We really look forward to sharing pictures and stories about the impact of these wells in the communities. Thank you so very much!

Our new home is about 16 kilometers out of the city. It is close to our work in T-3 and Khongolote and not that far if we need to go into the city. The house is smaller and one-story, which we like but we still have room for people who may come to visit and see the work. It is "in the country" in a sense and much quieter in the evenings. We think we are going to really enjoy this new location.

I'll start trying to be a bit more regular now that we have Internet service and we appreciate your patience with us. It has been surprising what an inconvenience not having the Internet has been!

The ECC work in the north continues to grow rapidly and I am in awe at how God is moving across Mozambique. Like Ann says, our's is the easy job, just go and tell, God has the big job of moving the hearts of men. I will need to write more about our ECC challenges and programs in future blogs! We are preparing for a team from Ireland who plan to do some ministry with our ECC country coordinator in the northern part of Mozambique.

Thank you for standing with us so faithfully!