One of the things that has really tied up our time is resuming Language classes. Being in our 
third year and still struggling with language,we felt that it was essential for us to resume formal study. Originally, the plan was to spend our first year in language study but that was just impossible because of the situation we found ourselves in. So, we learned "street portuguese" on the fly and desire very much to improve our skills. We have a relatively large vocabulary but our pronounciation is poor and our sentence structure is close to terrible. We signed up at the Language Institute and the class is moving along quickly because we really have a decent base and we're filling in a lot of holes in our knowledge. However, it is every day and with the homework and transportation, it's a five to six hour commitment every day. Our instructor's name is "Junior" and we get along quite well although we do drive him crazy with our American accent. He knows English but is refusing to speak it to us, which is good but can be a bit frustrating when trying to learn the finer points of language! We feel we are making good progress and are committed to 100 hours of instruction between now and December. It's just the two of us in class and we are at the same level of knowledge, so it is working well. We just had our first test (which was a surprise test!) and we will get our grades next week.
third year and still struggling with language,we felt that it was essential for us to resume formal study. Originally, the plan was to spend our first year in language study but that was just impossible because of the situation we found ourselves in. So, we learned "street portuguese" on the fly and desire very much to improve our skills. We have a relatively large vocabulary but our pronounciation is poor and our sentence structure is close to terrible. We signed up at the Language Institute and the class is moving along quickly because we really have a decent base and we're filling in a lot of holes in our knowledge. However, it is every day and with the homework and transportation, it's a five to six hour commitment every day. Our instructor's name is "Junior" and we get along quite well although we do drive him crazy with our American accent. He knows English but is refusing to speak it to us, which is good but can be a bit frustrating when trying to learn the finer points of language! We feel we are making good progress and are committed to 100 hours of instruction between now and December. It's just the two of us in class and we are at the same level of knowledge, so it is working well. We just had our first test (which was a surprise test!) and we will get our grades next week.We had a wonderful seminary dedication as described in earlier posts, and have named a new seminary director, which we feel releases us from worrying about the seminary and was one of the things that we felt allowed us to resume language study. In this photograph, our OMS International 
Ministries Director (Randy Spacht - right (who visited with us earlier this week)) is standing with our new director, Don Hulsey (left). Don is our neighbor and has many many years of exprience in Africa and in Mozambique leading Bible Schools. He is steady, experienced, and fluent in Portuguese and the local dialect. We count him and his wife as close friends and are excited to have them partnering with us. He has already had a big impact as he knows the hard questions to ask but even better than just asking the questions, he can follow-up with reasonable solutions. We are absolutely thrilled at this. We've already had great discussions about the future of the seminary program and he brings to the table an incredible grasp of the reality of education and culture in Mozambique. Did I say how thrilled we are? Thank you Lord for this incredible answer to prayer - INCREDIBLE!
Ministries Director (Randy Spacht - right (who visited with us earlier this week)) is standing with our new director, Don Hulsey (left). Don is our neighbor and has many many years of exprience in Africa and in Mozambique leading Bible Schools. He is steady, experienced, and fluent in Portuguese and the local dialect. We count him and his wife as close friends and are excited to have them partnering with us. He has already had a big impact as he knows the hard questions to ask but even better than just asking the questions, he can follow-up with reasonable solutions. We are absolutely thrilled at this. We've already had great discussions about the future of the seminary program and he brings to the table an incredible grasp of the reality of education and culture in Mozambique. Did I say how thrilled we are? Thank you Lord for this incredible answer to prayer - INCREDIBLE!Last Saturday, we attended the wedding of one of our Mozambican Advisors' (to OMS) youngest daughter. It was a lovely wedding, probably the 
nicest of any we've attended here so far. This many, whom we are very fond of, and how has helped us so much since our arrival, is the National Superintendant for his denomination. As such, many people came to the wedding and the following dinner / celebration. We had great coversations and knew so many people at the wedding, which was also a great encouragement to us. We even ran into the "well installation" people and made arrangements for fixing the well at Intaka this November. There was much singing, dancing, and praising God as all celebrated the wedding of this young Pastor and his new wife. The first photo is at the wedding with the bride and groom in the middle with the God Mother and God Father on each side. The second photo is of us standing with our dear friends and parents of the bride.
nicest of any we've attended here so far. This many, whom we are very fond of, and how has helped us so much since our arrival, is the National Superintendant for his denomination. As such, many people came to the wedding and the following dinner / celebration. We had great coversations and knew so many people at the wedding, which was also a great encouragement to us. We even ran into the "well installation" people and made arrangements for fixing the well at Intaka this November. There was much singing, dancing, and praising God as all celebrated the wedding of this young Pastor and his new wife. The first photo is at the wedding with the bride and groom in the middle with the God Mother and God Father on each side. The second photo is of us standing with our dear friends and parents of the bride.
One of the things that was a little different in the church service was how each of the God Parents spoke for the groom and the bride. So, are you thinking four people? Nope, lots more. There were those who stood with them when they were presented as babies and committed to helping them as they grew to young adults; there we those who stood with them during their baptism and committed to spiritual support; there were those standing with them as married people. (that's 12 people). And, then the God Parents for the God Parents of the bride and groom spoke as they saw this as a great thing that this couple had matured and grown to the point they were helping other couples. Then the grandparents spoke, the parents spoke, and other interested people involved in the lives of the bride and groom. They were eloquent; they were loving; they cared for this new couple and it was clear to me that this young couple had a tremendous support network, all desiring that they succeed as a married couple and as Christians. It was quite touching and a far cry from the fierce independence of my Western US heritage. The culture here brings with it great support, but relational responsibilities that boggle my mind. But, with it comes tremendous hospitality for one another, patience with one another, and a tremendous ability for tolerance as the culture works in the lives of its members. And, weddings that go for hours, if not days as all the relationships unfold and work. It is easy to see how Christianity, the concept of a loving father, and the command to love one another reverberate so quickly within the Mozambican culture. All week long in the evenings the houses behind us have been full of music and celebration as they prepare for a wedding this weekend. The singing and dancing groups have been practicing. The tarps have been installed in the yards to make shade. It will be a noisy weekend and all day we've been listening to the Eagles, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and other western music - LOUD. It will go all night I'm sure for the next three days as wedding celebration continues.
We're working with two more young couples we are trying to encourage through the cultural 
barriers so they can be married instead of simply living together. This photograph is of a young man with his sister-in-law, wife, and baby. He is in church leadership and very interested in helping us with the church multiplication program but we need to work through this marriage issue first. We have begun routine meetings to counsel with them as they take this new step in their life together. The young man is a hard charger who is always busy, working at the pre-school in T-3, doing construction work, and has been a great worker on nearly all of our OMS-related construction projects. It is such a pleasure to stand with him as he works hard to provide for his family, attends seminary on Saturdays, and serves in the local church. We are very encouraged to see how God is blessing his faithfulness. This couple has been together nearly three years.
barriers so they can be married instead of simply living together. This photograph is of a young man with his sister-in-law, wife, and baby. He is in church leadership and very interested in helping us with the church multiplication program but we need to work through this marriage issue first. We have begun routine meetings to counsel with them as they take this new step in their life together. The young man is a hard charger who is always busy, working at the pre-school in T-3, doing construction work, and has been a great worker on nearly all of our OMS-related construction projects. It is such a pleasure to stand with him as he works hard to provide for his family, attends seminary on Saturdays, and serves in the local church. We are very encouraged to see how God is blessing his faithfulness. This couple has been together nearly three years.In another case, we have a couple wanting our help to get married, but the fellow just isn't willing to help himself but rather is content and almost seems to be desiring some sort of a dependency relationship, which isn't good for anyone. He has actually almost been blackmailing us to help him finance his wedding - demanding in a sense, which is quite sad and heartbreaking for us. We have given him many leads on employment, but he doesn't act on them. So, we try to teach about God's design for marriage, but our experience in life says that this marriage is a train wreck waiting to happen. However, we tend to second-guess ourselves because we bring so much cultural bias / baggage - but we don't think so in this case. We want to encourage this couple but at the same time, we have so many reservations that they just aren't even close to ready for marriage. Pray with us.
Blessings to you!
Dave & Ann
"Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon Your people." Psalm 3:8
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