This week, a three-man team arrived from OMS International to review our Every Community for Christ (ECC) work and talk with our ECC teams. It has been our joy to take them around and introduce them. Their first day here was interesting as the morning we were to go to the airport, the well-drilling people called and said 'we're passing through Maputo and need to see the locations where you want to drill water wells'. We're to go to the airport late morning for our team and wondering how we will do this. But God already had a plan and one of our national Pastors was in down and available to help us, taking the well-drillers to one location while we got the ECC folks at the airport. We later met up with them at Intaka and we have plans to drill two wells the week of the 22nd, one at Picoco and the other at Intaka. The Picoco one is a bit of a challenge because the soil is a bit rock and they took some sames to analyze at their lab to see if they think they can drill there. The rig they are using is simply a big auger and if there is much rock in the soil, you need a type of drill rig that both drills and hammers, which they don't have. So, we are praying that this is going to work out as to hire the special rig is much much more expensive.
The ECC folks who are here are OMS people who have direct responsibilities for oversight of ECC and we have enjoyed taking them around. Ann and I have reviewed all the details with them and will be discussing more with Juka and Xavier and the team tomorrow. That is also when we will receive a full report on Juka's recent trip north.
The ECC program uses a trainer, who gathers around him 12 to 15 people interested in learning more about the Bible and about planting churches. This begins a three-year discipleship program. Our goal is to have teams in all 10 provinces in Mozambique. When Juka went north, last time, he gathered all the trainers and their students and trained them on how to use the training material, and then turned them loose, thinking the trainers would work with their students. When he returned this time, many of the "church planters" (students) thought because they had been trained, they were also to gather 12 to 15 people around them and start training their students and planting churches and they did. So, what has happened in a few short months is that the trainer is now training 12 to 15 people, who are also on their own training another 12 to 15 more. Of course it isn't 100%, but the number of groups that are studying the Bible and church planting materials has grown beyond our wildest imagination. So, we will be talking more about his tomorrow. So instead of five guys with 12 to 15 people, we have potential for something like 5 times 12 times 12 kind of numbers - it is staggering - and only possible because it is God who is doing this and it is a kind of revival sweeping the land in the north. At the same time, it truly emphasizes the need for more of a teaching presence in the north to work with all these new believers and churches. The harvest is ripe but the workers are few.
We're working on improvements to the administration to get our arms better around the numbers of people involved in our ECC program, which would sound easy but in a land where the communication is all by cell phone, computers are rare, gathering the information can be a challenge. We're on it, however!We went back out to Picoco this morning and one of our visiting Pastors brought the message, which is always appreciated here. We used our friend Timoteo as a translator and he did his normal great job. Afterwards, the church was dividing up some badly needed clothing that we had brought up to the church last week, clothing gathered from a Youth for Christ drive. The church had many new visitors and it is clearly growing. The Pastor has nearly 25 people he is disciplining right now using our church planting materials. Exciting times every day.
On a much sadder note, we receive word that one of our National Adviser's wife died today from Malaria. Of our four advisers, he is probably the one we have seen the most of outside of quarterly meetings, having been to his house a number of times and having seen him in other settings as well. In fact, we feel quite close to him in a way that is hard to explain - a kind of heart to heart link that happens with some of the people in your life. In our meeting a few days ago he advised us that his wife was sick but she was taking medicine so you kind of assume that everything is well and she will recover - but Malaria is a serious disease and sometimes it doesn't go that way, as in this case. A bright, faithful, and vibrant lady taken to be with the Lord.....So we are grieving today and tomorrow we will visit with the family and are seeking advise from other friends on what our roll should be culturally. We are also very good friends with one of his sons and his wife, who helped us when we first arrived in Mozambique and who we have remained close to. Very tough and a wake up call - take precautions, spray the house regularly, use repellents. Malaria is a horrible, insidious, diabolical, and deadly disease that is the number one killer here.
"And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted...."" Mark 5:1-3
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