Prayer Request for Gabriel

Our world has temporarily stopped here in Mozambique.

Mike and Sarah Thiessen joined our team the middle of last year and Mike, the director of our OMS seminary, has done absolutely amazing things getting our seminary program together and working with our National leaders. But the last two days have been dark days for all of us. Sarah knew that something wasn't quite right with their two-year-old son Gabriel - you know - that mother's instinct; and she insisted on taking him to a doctor we all use in South Africa. His symptoms were vague - but upon an ultrasound test, the doctor discovered a tumor on his liver. Subsequent tests confirmed a rare type of cancer seen in very young folks that has also spread to Gabriel's lungs. This is the kind of news that no parent should have to deal with and all of our hearts here are broken for this young one that is a part of our family here in Mozambique.

The photo is of of Gabriel (on the right) and his older brother Simon (on the left) at a Christmas dinner at our house one short month ago.

So pray with us for healing. Pray that God would help us answer the questions floating around in our minds. We have arranged for an emergency exit back to Canada where their home church is waiting to stand with them and where doctors from that church have broken through the red tape to get Gabriel to the immediate help he requires. Pray for this precious family and child. It is devastating to all of us. They leave Monday afternoon, to arrive in Canada Tuesday. Pray for a special measure of God's grace, mercy, compassion, and peace during this valley. Pray for their return to the field; pray for strength as they walk through this valley.

Sometimes there are just no words.

"For in You, O LORD, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God..." Psalm 38:15

Stories to Tell

From our recent trip north, there are so many stories to tell that I really don’t know where to begin. Some things are more frustrating experiences, others encouraging experiences, but often I think that they are oriented around pictures. So, let’s start that way tonight.

This first picture is of some young boys who live near a rural church in the Ilhe district of Mozambique. In October, I had visited with them and got to know them a little bit, but on our way back up, we stopped again and visited with them. Here, they are showing us their rather substantial garden that contains corn, beans, cassava, and a few fruit trees. I (Dave) felt a link to the boy in the red shirt and we were able to talk about a few things. He leads the singing in the small church that his dad (Raymundo) is currently leading. This is a very rural part of Mozambique with limited opportunities. His dad only has a third grade education, for example.
When we came back through with the Men for Missions International Team, I spoke at his church and was truly blessed by the singing at that church. This young man was a key leader of the church singing group, even at his very young age. The harmony and beat was something I had never heard before but it was absolutely beautiful. After the church, he grabbed by hand and wanted to walk back to his garden. We were on a tight schedule to get the group to the airport in Nampula, still a good four hours away on a good day and we were already cutting it close in a land where we are always moments away from another flat tire, detour, washed-out bridge or other opportunity. So, I had to excuse myself and load up and go, and he was clearly disappointed and it just dragged at my conscious for the next couple of days back in Nampula as we settled our bill with the conference center and visited with missionary friends in the Nampula area. As we headed back home, we stopped by to visit him and his family again, and this time stopped for a while to just sit and talk. But the high point was when I threw him a soccer ball we’d been using at the conference. There was an instant game going on and I wish you could have seen the boy’s faces when that soccer ball was headed their way. We left the ball in good hands (or should I say ‘feet’?)

He’s a bright young man with limited opportunities in rural Mozambique. He is a hard worker and helps his family with this tremendous garden he is tending with his brother. He is my brother in Christ, but I pray for opportunities for this young man with the big heart, the huge smile, a strong work ethic, and a desire to help others. We need to pray for this young man, Ricardo.

As we were talking the first time, a group of ladies who had been picking mushrooms nearby stopped and talked with us. We did some sharing with them and listened to their stories and encouraged them to come back in about a week when we would stop by again – they did. We had a great time laughing and talking about farming and rain.

Subsequently at the church service, one of the ladies brought a blind old man to us for prayer and healing and also asked for prayer for her 15-year old daughter at home who could not walk. In my Western mind, I looked at the man’s eyes to try and discern what might be the problem. Early in our married life, we worked for two ophthalmologists and so I am especially interested in eye problems. It looked like severe cataracts to me and from this bright sun, it is no surprise. We prayed earnestly for these two people, but healing was not to be but I pray that inner healing was begun in the heart. This is always a challenge; you hear the stories; there is a Biblical basis; but there is no magic formula or process for divine healing. God is sovereign and the healing may or may not come, but it is not to stop us from asking and praising God for who He is, regardless of outcome. We are here to serve Him; He is not there to serve us. But the command is clear – we are to ask in faith; and praise Him regardless.

Driving

Driving in Mozambique is always a tremendous challenge. Getting stopped and generally harassed by the police is fairly routine, but we’ve been fairly successful in dealing with them and this trip no exception except for one occasion I’ll mention in a bit.

The photos here are to give you a picture of how driving works here. There are lots of obstacles. You round a corner where people are walking on both sides of the road and then in your lane is a man with a hand cart – in this case carrying an old refrigerator. In other cases you have to stop for a bus that might have live animals stacked on top of it, cruising down the road at 70 mph. And just today, we saw where a woman had been hit by a bus on one of these crowded streets – a constant worry as we drive. But sometimes, it is just drop dead gorgeous as we see this beautiful rainbow, attesting to God’s promise in the book of Genesis. This rainbow was so beautiful – full from one end to the other, but we didn’t find the pot of gold!

With regard to the police – I always slow way down when the speed limit drops in the small towns as there are often policemen hanging around, looking for any excuse to pull you over and explore what you’re carrying, ask lots of questions as they figure out how much money they can pull out of you for whatever offense they can come up with. Our vehicle is a standard style used by many embassy personnel here, so sometimes that helps me out but on one stop, it was not to be.

I was pulled over at a radar stop. We chatted a little bit and then finally I asked what was the problem? The police said I’d been speeding. I said, ‘no, that couldn’t be because I knew the limit was low and had slowed way down’. He then took me over to a lady with the radar gun and showed me the ‘74’ in a ‘60’ km/hr zone. I seriously doubted this was true and argued some more but then the other police with the darthvader helmets, riot gear, and AK-47’s started to get interested, so I said ‘ok’ – what is the fine and I would want a receipt. It’s never a good idea to argue with mean looking guys with guns.

I was taken into a reed hut where two policemen did a ‘court’ kind of thing and then I paid my 1000 mtn fine (about $50 US dollars) and received my receipt, and even better yet, my license, passport, car forms, and other documents. (Sometimes it takes more money to get back your documents).

The whole time this is going on, Ann is watching the process. The lady with the radar gun was standing right next to her door - radaring the cars coming the other direction and then when she gets a high number (over 60), she holds the reading. If the car is driven by a Mozambican, they let them pass by, but if the car contains a foreigner (white), they are pulled over and shown the radar reading (from someone else’s car), and the foreigner pays the ticket. By the time I got back to the car, Ann was fit to be tied – corruption at its finest, and there isn’t much you can do.

Missionaries often use an expression “TIA” for “this is Africa” to help deal with things like this. I thought to myself, TIA, and was glad they didn’t do something worse. I gave the policemen some OMS trinkets (a flashlight key chain) for their trouble and tried to be nice, but they were playing the ‘tough role’ and there was no room to wiggle. With the darthvader guys hanging around with AK-47’s watching my every move, I really just wanted to put distance between us and them, so I said a prayer of thanksgiving that we got away with only $50 in fines. We’ve heard stories where people rent police uniforms for the weekend to hassle people and make a little money – but this was a little more blatant.

TIA.

Older men

The average life expectancy in Mozambique is something like 35 and dropping due to Malaria, HIV, and sanitation-driven diseases like Cholera. So, when we run into old people, it is especially a treat and we always enjoy talking with them. One of the men on the Men for Missions team that came with us into rural Mozambique was a little older than me and developed a ministry of sorts talking with these old men at each church we visited. I thought this was a precious picture and wanted to share it as Berry poses with some of his new friends. These men are respected in the community for there are not many older people, and they truly do have wisdom and experience that many lack. Often our age (Ann and I – not being young chickees any longer) allows us a bit more freedom and acceptance because of the cultural respect for older folks, which is really different than the culture where we come from. These older men knew very little Portuguese, which also is typical of the older folks in the rural setting. But there are normally enough bi-lingual people around that communication can be worked out. They listened intently to the messages we shared and I look forward to seeing them again in the future. They are tough old birds to survive into old age in such a tough environment. Often the older men and women in the villages are key to our evangelism teams gaining acceptance in the community. They can set the tone but they demand a certain level of respect and I have heard old men refer to the younger western people as ‘brash’ or ‘arrogant ’ because of this expectation with the society to be humble before the elders. This is a different cultural norm that typically seen in the West.

However, in some parts of Mozambique, we have learned that the society is very matriarchal. In those areas, it is the elderly women who are the power structure. We have been in some of those areas but the expectation is the same, humility before and respect before the elders.

Precious family

I just want to share this photograph of one of our church planter-trainers named Dinis with his lovely wife Matilde and son Jori. It’s a lovely photo and Dinis has been training others for several years now, having a big impact in the Zambezia province for Christ.

“Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 4:14-16

Home Again

Just a note to let you know we are back in Maputo. Our plans to spend a couple of days of down-time didn't materialize for different reasons and so we ended up home a couple of days early. I have quite a bit of reporting due over the next days, plus lots of car repairs from this grueling trip. We are so thankful for the prayer coverage as we traveled to the conference and back. We stayed at one rather primitive place with our Men for Missions International Team for two nights while we visited various churches and training centers around Mocuba. We drove them back to Nampula to catch their flight and then back to Mocuba. We learned that the very next day, people broke into the guest house where we stayed and cleaned it out while peopel slept. I am so glad it wasn't while the team was there! Thank you Lord for sparing us!

Dave & Ann

Nampula Conference

I'm sitting at the SIL center (a part of Wycliffe Bible Translators) in Nampula reflecting on the last several weeks here in Mozambique. As I look out the window, I can see children playing around the missionary school and it appears that our daily afternoon rain shower is headed this way. Things in this area are green and lush from this rainy season, a remarkable difference from the south of Mozambique where I can count the number of times it has rained in the last two years on my two hands. It is good to be able to simply rest a couple of days before heading back to Maputo.

We had a number of objectives on this, our second, church-planting conference. In this conference, all of our church planter-trainers assembled for a time of review, encouragement, challenge, and fellowship as we talked about the last year and looked to the coming year. As we started our conference, we began with an emphasis on the since of urgency – that one person dies in this world every second without Christ, that “today is the day of salvation”. We spent two days teaching the bible as one story, a method of teaching the Bible in a chronological manner that ties it all together through the use of pictures, stories, and even drama. These sessions were especially powerful and the questions alone were very revealing and allowed adjustment of our emphasis in future sessions.

We tackled difficult topics such as multiple wives, female ‘rites of passage’ in the north that are deeply disturbing, morality, marriage, and honesty. We reviewed our church planting manual and as the week progressed, we all sensed a shifting of the message as God tied all the sessions and speakers together with a message that this is “His work”. It is our job to tell the story, to share the Gospel, to offer the opportunities, to encourage new believers, but it is only God who can move the heart to the point of repentance; it is God who draws people to him. And with this, He needs people who have hearts clearly turned towards him – hearts that seek Him and His direction. We talked about who we are ‘positionally’ in Christ – we can add nothing to what was accomplished already on the cross - yet as leaders and church planters, we have a great responsibility to live holy lives before God, so that we might ‘save some’.

It was affirming, encouraging, and we saw hearts broken for God. A number of others at the SIL complex attended portions of the conference and have taken away our church planting materials, our chronological bible story telling materials, and our devotional materials to share in their churches. Just today, one man came to me asking for materials so he can go back to his home in I’m sitting in the conference room at the SIL complex Cabo Delgado – where there are no churches – and start a church and begin to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is awesome to see God work in this way and humbling to have even a small part in it. It truly is His work, a work that begins inside us, that fills us, and that then overflows to the world around us. It is nothing we can do ourselves that is certain.
Our conference days began with a simple breakfast at 0700 of fresh bread and jam and ended about 9 pm each evening after a worship service. We worked hard to cover all the material, trying to show different teaching techniques through incorporation of class exercises, group activities, discussions, lectures, and the like. At the end of the week, their work was taped on all the walls and we spent the last session reviewing all that we had covered and it was substantial. Juka and Xavier did most of the teaching, but everyone had a part.

In the one picture, we show Nelson, Dinis, and Paito with their "Pastor-licenses" which we renewed at the conference.

After the conference, many came to me and said that the highlight of the week was a teaching that Ann did on comparing the “young apostle John” with the “old apostle John”, using this teaching to show how living the Christian life is a process. That God will take you ‘where you are’ and over your lifetime mold you into who He meant for you to be. This was a very encouraging message.

She also spoke on who we are positionally in Christ, that the Bible even uses the term that we are ‘friends’ of God and ‘beloved’ of God. This is incredibly powerful and wonderful news and marks us ask the question, “why is it so hard for us to live that way!”

In my Western way, I divided the class into three teams for two sessions of “games” outside as a part of team building and just a diversion in the middle of the week. I had devised four “stations” with unique games, including horseshoes, using a golf club to hit a plastic ball over a net, an a game using balls, ending with an exercise to go over a rope as a team. The objective was to start people on each station – rotate people through, and then do the scores at the end of the week. Bad idea! We started the first game of horseshoes, and it was such a hit, that I couldn’t get anyone to move to the next station. After much trying, Juka came to me and said that the entire group wanted to stay together - they already were a team! So that is what we did. The Mozambicans love to be together and work and play together – and we had great fun with this new game. As the weak progressed, more than one American was humbled by a Mozambican lady with a baby on their back, tossing horseshoes and absolutely annihilating the Americans who have played horseshoes all their lives. We gave up on the scoring, but we did get through the stations!

We have spoken a lot of Portuguese this trip – I wish so much I could speak better, but we did ok. I was translating to English for the team, and then preached one day five times in Portuguese (with subsequent translation to Makua or Lomwe) and we made it through. My vocabulary is not as great as I wished, but then again, the gospel is not tricky or complex, the story is not tricky or complex. Sometimes I think it is just the pride of men that tries to complicate the stories in the bible or layer over “this is what it really means”. It is simple, God demands a penalty for sin and that penalty involves death. It starts in Genesis as God teaches a people this. But, he also shows us that we are incapable of approaching Him because of our sin – but He had a plan all along because He loves us so much. So, he sends a son, Jesus, the “God-man” who is wholly God and wholly man, with the expressed purpose of offering the final sacrifice for our sins; past, present, and future. And sinful man, to return to his intended place of fellowship with the Creator who loves him, need only accept this sacrifice, by faith, and God will accept him, and guide him, and be with him. What an awesome story, a story that millions of people can say without doubt is true, because ‘it happened to me’. And we saw it in the faces of many hundreds of Mozambicans in the last few days. Thank you Lord.

We are exhausted beyond measure, but it a good kind of tired. We’ll rest here and look forward to the ride back with Juka and Elina as we discuss the conference and share the stories, and as Elina pounds the back of my head when I mispronounce a word she has already taught me more than once! They have been such a blessing to us and it has been a privilege to watch them lead this work, this conference, and to just stand with them as this wonderful group of Mozambicans works to reach their nation for Christ.

Thank you for standing with us and being a part of God’s work here in Mozambique.

Dave & Ann

Brief Update

We have Internet today! We're back in Nampula - the conference is over and was a great success. We took a Men for Missions Team to the Mocuba area and got them back safely and they are now in Maputo and were a great blessing to us and the work here. The drive from Nampula to Mocuba was nearly six hours and from Mocuba we went deep into the nearby country side to visit both training centers and churches. The accommodations were a bit on the primitive side but the team were great sports and we certainly sent them home with lots of stories. In one day alone, we visited with five rural churches, two training centers, and came back with two live chickens - but that is a story for another time.

We had 100% attendence at the conference for which we are thankful and a great time of teaching, sharing, worshipping and food. A team from the US joined us at the end of the conference, plus Mike Thiessen, our seminary director from Maputo.

On the journey, so far, I have had one flat on my car, which we fixed (a bolt) and the car we rented for the team (with driver!) had another flat (a large drill bit!) but our in-field repairs (plug the tire on the side of the road) worked!

Great things are happening in the area around Mocuba and I look forward to sharing more with you when we get back. There are lots of stories to tell.

One of the highlights of the Mocuba trip was being a part of licensing Antonio as a Pastor. God has used Antonio to start over 50 churches in rural Mozambique this past year and he truly has a gift for administration and encouraging others. His church trainers and church planters are sharing the Gospel with great enthusiasm and the work is expanding rapidly as many accept Christ. In this photograph, we are standing with Pastor Antonio near his church. It was a packed service and the people enthusiastically affirmed this action by our Mozambican denomination, Evangelical Church of the Living Word. This licensing authorizes Antonio to perform weddings and funerals, along with the numerous other responsibilities of a church Pastor and leader.

Ann was doing the "Dukes of Hazard" entry into the car (through the window) because on one road, which was really a path, we had a close encounter with a tree stump that did a number on the front panel of our truck. We pounded it out here at the conference center and so the door opens now although it pops like crazy! The stump was deep in some grass and was quite a surprise and we are thankful it was only cosmetic damage.
The first picture is of our conference attendees on the last day of the conference.

We will start back to Maputo soon. We were going to spend a couple of days with some dear friends of ours here in Nampula with to rest up from this incredible time the last weeks, but one of their sons contracted a severe case of Malaria and was just life-flighted to South Africa. His name is Ian and please pray for him - he has been in a coma and was beginning to rally this morning and we are praying that there was no damage to his brain from this diabolical disease. This is heavy on our hearts for these dear missionary friends of ours. The father, Ken, spoke at our conference last week.

The journey back should start Saturday - pray for safe travel for us.

Blessings to you!

Dave & Ann

Out of Contact

Dear readers - we leave early in the morning (1/7) for northern Mozambique for our annual church planting conference. We have prepared as best we can, the car is mostly packed, and we start the 3-day drive first thing in the morning, accompanyed by Juka and his wife Elina. A little different than in the States - we have extra gas cans, extra tires, pumps, tools, spare parts, tow straps and the like. Can't count on AAA here like we did in our old life! We don't expect to be back until the end of the month and internet connections on this trip are not very probable. It's a big country, that is for sure. We would appreciate prayer this month as travel is always challenging here. We look forward with great anticipation to what will come out of this conference. We will also visiting many of our church plants in the north, teaching, and encouraging. So, if the blog is static a while - no we haven't dropped off the face of the earth!

We started anti-malaria meds today as we will be 'out of routine' and it seems prudent in this rainy season. We can't stay on them all the time because of the long-term complications but for special things like this, Nurse Ann says "take them". So we do!

To our four precious pearls - we'll drop a few text messages along the way! We love you dearly!

Dave & Ann

Blood Bank

On New Year's Eve, we were invited to a neighbor's house for a late dinner and a time of prayer to bring in the new year. This was the same day that we had the battery problem, so after the battery was fixed, we stopped at the local supermarket to get some food to take to the dinner. We had two things working against us: it was the last day of the month (pay day here) and it was the day before a holiday. The store, one of two larger groceries in the city, was packed beyond packed. There was a line to enter the store, and the check-out lines went all the way to the end of each isle - so you couldn't get down any of the isles. Ann parked me in one of the lines and ran around the store gathering things and coming back to the cart. A great strategy as she finished by the time we hit the register - and out the door. It was wall to wall people and the pushing and shoving quite aggressive at times.

Right at the front of the store, outside with hundreds of people all around, was a local blood bank doing a drive. You almost tripped over the beds going out to the parking lot. Ann snapped a few pictures. It was good to see the blood drive, but my what a different paradigm from the one I participated in my old life - with the private little interview rooms, calm surroundings. I'll have to try it (give blood) in this environment sometime. In the past, I gave blood about four times a year, year after year, until they didn't want it anymore because I had visited Africa. I'm sure they can use it here! If you are a anxious blood donor - this wouldn't be the place!

But maybe not - I was bitten on my arm in four places by something while we were visiting in a home in Khongolote last week. I have these four big welts - we've tried all sorts of things, but they won't go away. Not mosquitos - something else - possibly a spider although friends think it might have been a certain kind of millipede. It looks horrible but doesn't hurt - no better - no worse - the only side affect is that I wake up some nights holding on to the ceiling or half-way up the wall (heh heh!). So - maybe they wouldn't take spider blood. ;-)

"He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit." Pr 17:27

Preparing for the Conference

As we get closer and closer to the time for our annual conference with our church planters, the calendar seems to move more quickly. We met with our country coordinator this week to finalilze more of the agenda and a subsequent trip to Mocuba with a visiting team from the US. But, we've had several days of intense rain, which is always intersting with mud and sand roads. These pictures are just for fun - we were traveling a road we know well and I was pretty certain I knew the depth of all the water in the dips in the road - but in this series of pictures, I was tricked (and this happened a couple of other times due to washing away of sand).

I carefully entered the water but with enough speed to carry through - and the next thing water is pouring over the top of the hood, splashing on the windshield - now that is deep! I missed the air intake by inches I'm sure. Now I know why people use snorkles on their vehicles! We made it to our destination fine but came back a different way - longer, but not so much water! The sad thing is that within three days, there will be quite a bit of mosquito activity because of all this water! There is very little good drainage here.

The rain also washed out a bridge on the single road running north/south in Mozambique, stranding many for a number of days. I understand the bridge is now open and traffic has resumed north and south - a part of the challenge for us driving north to the conference in a week or so from now. Pray for safety in our travel.

When we got up to go out yesterday, the car wouldn't start - dead battery. I was able to jump it off and take it to a nearby battery shop and get it replaced. I always thought the battery was marginal because the amp rating was lower than what the manual recommended - so we wore it out in about 15 months. Everything else checked out fine (alternator) and we replaced the battery with the proper amperage (my language was a lot better today than when I bought the last one 15 months ago so I could ask the right questions!) . However, the small shop didn't have any of the correct connector pieces and so there was much improvising with small pieces of sheet metal, drills, and the like. In the end - it is solidly in place with an interesting assortment of connections that work well but would cause a mechanic in the States to scratch his head and say "what in the world is this?" Next trip to South Africa, I'll pick up the right connector pieces.

Today, we headed to our weekly prayer meeting with our team, and the air conditioner is out of gas - not good for a trip that we have to make in less than a week to a very hot place! This will be the fourth trip to a shop for gas - it is lasting about six weeks but no one is able to find the leak. That will be a priority for Monday - traveling three days without air conditioning when it is over 100 degrees is a bit crazy, not to mention the safety issue of traveling with open windows in crowded places. Just part of the challenge!

We have a challenging agenda prepared for our conference; guest speakers are arranged; lodging is arranged; a few details remain. Our theme is two-fold - the urgency of the task where across this world one person dies every second without Christ; the second theme is emphasizing who we are in Christ. We to approach the Great Commission with urgency, but yet we must also make sure that we aren't getting ahead of God and doing things on our own strength. There is a wonderful verse that speaks to this and I'll quote it below.

We are wishing you a wonderful new year - the last one has certainly been "different" for lack of a better word but we can rest assured that God is in control - but we must make good choices. In this morning's reading, I noticed that God told Adam and Eve that they had the 'freedom to eat anything in the garden". That was the first statement (and this concept of "freedom" stands out much more in the Portuguese translation) - but the second one was "but don't eat from the tree of good and evil". That is how God works - we have freedom to make many choices and he will guide us on the good verses the bad choices, but in the end, it is us who must make the choices. We pray that this next year for you will be one full of good choices that please our God who loves us so.

Blessings for 2009

Dave & Ann

"Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, "Come, let us go over.....; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few." 1 Sam 14:6

"And the Lord God commanded the man, sayng, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Gen 2:16

"Make good choices to live a life worthy of being reproduced through those that you teach and disciple!" Adaptation of a quote from Village Church Planting Manual training materials