Tenga

While we try to write on more positive subjects, perhaps it isn't completely fair to not mention some of the more difficult sides of serving here. Today was one of those days - while I enjoyed the day immensely, just being with my Mozambican brothers, it was a very difficult subject.

The church at Tenga was built through our church planting program somewhere around 2006. But, while there have been many blessings from the work there, there is also a very sad side. Ann and I actually participated on a prayer walk around the property with a prayer team in about 2004, while arrangements were being made to purchase the land. Evangelism efforts in the area were successful and a church was started and built by teams. A pastor funded by our ECC program moved to the area and began to build the work in the area. A well was put in, but the water was salty and it never worked right as the water recharge rate was too slow. The pastor left the work after a few months, and the denomination was never able to put someone else in that area. The denomination made a good effort to send people to the church on Sundays but it was expensive from a transportation standpoint and was not sustainable. After a while, the visits became less and less. Several evangelism campaigns were done by local churches at the church property with good responses, but no leader for this small church ever emerged.


Last Friday night, a terrible wind-storm passed through the area. On Saturday, we learned that the church was completely blown down. Two Pastors went there Saturday and confirmed that the church was not recoverable. Today, I went up to the area with two of our National pastors. We rented a truck at a local market and drove up to the church. The metal roofing material, which is highly valued here, had been gathered by a church member. The wonderful roof trusses had been broken apart to salvage the wood. The doors had disappeared and no one knows exactly what happened to them.

We talked with the government official in the area and some of the church families. The question was 'when are you going to rebuilt the church for us?' Of course, we have no answer and it is heart breaking. At the same time, the community never took responsibility for the structure either and we lacked the resources to put someone there to grow the work. A sad story all the way around. We fret greatly about situations like this, asking many very hard questions of ourselves.

We loaded up the materials on the truck and took them to the Khongolote ministry center where the materials would be guarded and kept until the denomination decides the next step. For me, I find it very difficult to look the people of Tenga in the eye, feeling like we have all let this community down.

Practically, the sturdy support posts were eaten by the voracious termites in the area, such that the posts were no longer solid at ground level. The extremely well-made but heavy trusses and roofing material caused instability when the posts began to fail, and add a heavy wind storm, and it crashed to the ground. The termite damage was truly awesome and what was especially interesting is that one post was made from what is called 'iron wood'. The termites didn't touch that post but all the rest were like powder.

I do want to emphasize that this was a very well-built church. It was designed to be expanded, to fill in with block walls someday, very well constructed, and located on a beautiful piece of property, albeit in an area know for its termites. The posts were treated and reasonable precautions taken. But, time has a way of marching on....

So, we all cried much about this work today. It is not a success story. It points to the great importance on training others to train others. It is a case study on what happens without leadership and to us screams out the importance of our seminary training program to provide new leaders and the importance of the training part of our church multiplication program. Planting churches is one thing, but building them up is quite another. We need both. If we plant them and five years later they are gone, physically and spiritually, what have we really accomplished? We need to ask the hard questions.

On the other hand, it was a blessed day for me to spend the entire day with two of our church leaders (Daniel and Abel), just talking, sharing, and talking about all kinds of things. I really enjoyed being with them and we cried together about this situation.

Abel called just a few minutes ago to advise me that his motorcycle stopped working on the way home. He pushed it about 10 miles to his home in the dark. This makes me sad as well. He takes very good care of it and uses it extensively, but after 10,000 km, it seems to be reaching the end of its usefulnes, which is very disappointing. It is a Chinese brand as they are affordable here, as compared to Honda's for example, which are over the top price-wise. This weighs heavy on me as well, as we have seen this simple tool really expand what he can accomplish in a given day - increase his effectiveness in ministry literally by factors. So, we will see what the repair shop says but it sounded serious from his description. He should have called, I pulled the loaded truck out of the deep sand twice today, we could have pulled the motorcycle home probably also although that is a scary thought on the streets of Maputo.

With much love.

Dave

"Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing." 1 Th 5:11

Translations

In Mozambique, there are forty plus tribal languages. As you move into rural Mozambique, you very quickly loose Portuguese as a proficient language for many of the people. This is rapidly changing as the children are learning Portuguese in school and within a generation, this will not be the problem it is today. It is good for the country, as the common language helps to unify these people groups. But today, there is much illiteracy in the rural areas and even translating to local language must be approached carefully because if you translate it, the next question is 'can anyone read it?'

Ann has been coordinating several translation projects. We have some excellent training materials, in particular a manual on teaching the Bible in a chronological fashion in the form of oral stories. It is well received in this oral story-telling culture and especially in the rural areas where the stories can be heard and repeated with or without literacy. However, the local language becomes essential when you are doing oral story telling.

We just received two completed translations, one in Makua (or Makhuwa) and the other in Lomwe, which are significant language groups in the northern provinces where we work. She is also working on other languages that we hope will be done this year.

Ann is thrilled to have received these well-done translations, in the proper format, and electronic form, which she has forwarded to our missionary friends in South Africa who will add the pictures and do the first printing. Juka will be in Maputo and hopes to take some books back with him but that is probably a bit optimistic at this point!

It has been a process. The first time we tried this, we received hand-written, smudged copies that couldn't be read and that were poorly done. That didn't work, so we worked with our friends with Wycliff (SIL here), who connected us with people who were well versed in translating materials.

This is a substantial praise that we hope can get into the hands of our church multiplication pastor/trainers quickly. You would be amazed at how people here can remember and repeat oral stories with accuracy after only one or two hearings.

Thank you Lord for this wonderful answer to prayer.

"Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation." Joel 1:3

More on Language

Lately it seems I've been asked to preach on Sundays. I always squirm with this mainly because of my language. It seems the more I learn and understand Portuguese, the more aware I become of how badly I speak! Yet, somehow, God blesses it and I am able to say things that I wouldn't be able to in normal conversation which to me is a miracle every Sunday morning! It is quite a process as I generally need to type out what I feel God has put on my heart in English, and then after I'm relatively satisfied with that, I prepare the same text in Portuguese. Then, I study the Portuguese, practice pronounciation, and continue to refine it using words I think I'll remember on Sunday. And then there is always the shortening process, which is necessary because I always have someone translating into the local language as well, so any sermon takes twice as long. I'm also aware that the translator will wing it if he doesn't know what I said, and that can be a problem as sometimes what you meant to say gets all scrambled up, as has happened to me in the north a time or two. In the south, there are usually enough multi-language speakers that the translator has to stay on-track because there are enough checkers in the audience.

And then, you pray much, and when it is time to speak, you set the notes aside, and what comes out of your mouth is what comes out of your mouth! I still struggle with wanting to throw in English connecting words and conjunctions, but we've come a long ways. I always watch Ann as I can tell by her expressions how it is going and she always is there to encourage me along.

It was Pentecost Sunday and we had fun walking through the story in Acts and while talking to the children, we again played with matches and candles. I was surprised at the seemingly unfamiliarity with this special day in the history of the church. Some call it the birthday of the church because of the significance of the event. We continued the theme for the morning and I praise God for his graciousness covering my language limitations. This morning, we returned to the same church and a man approached me requesting a meeting with me and the Pastor to talk about what I had said, as he feels he needs to make some changes in his life. If one life is changed, it is all worth it!

But then, we met a young couple Saturday morning in their mid 20's. They were new missionaries here who spoke Portuguese fluently. We asked them where they learned to speak so well, and they said that it took them a long time (they were dead serious!) and had spent 3 months in Portugal taking language 3 hours a day, and that's where they learned. So, here we are at 4 years, not speaking nearly as well as this young couple. Oh to have the gift of language and be young again! How I wish I'd taken language learning more seriously in my 20's!

After church today, we spent the afternoon with a young couple who recently married. We had to miss their wedding and so enjoyed sitting with them and looking at their photographs. We ate together and they returned the wedding dress we had loaned them, thanks to dear supporters who have generously provided them. They are precious people who are making a difference in their community and at their places of employment. And, some friends stopped by while we were there and there was quite a spirited discussion of the upcoming world-cup soccer games in South Africa and which teams are the most favored. People love soccer here and true fans are wearing plastic bracelets in the color of their favorite team.

We also have some dear missionary friends who are leaving to return to the states and who will not be returning to Mozambique on their next term. We have been helping them pack and prepare some, with it bringing back our own memories of leaving the States. They have moved out to where we live, staying in our guest house, and they go in one week. We hate to see them go as they have been faithful friends here. But, that is the world we live in now - people come and people go...

My side project of renovating a guest house on the property where we live has been doing wonders for me. The one photo is of the outside - the left unit is renovated and use and we are working on the right side now. It is a simple block structure with an asbestos roof. I enjoy the physical labor and have been doing various repairs, installing a drop-ceiling, electrical work, fixing cracks in the cement, and generally trying to get it ready for use before we leave. It will provide more housing for teams and guests and needed some updating to make it more live-able. Ann took this photo of working in the space.

"For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed..." Ro 15:18 (what a challenge this verse is!)

"...but no human being can tame the tongue - a restless evil,m full of deadly poison" James 3:8

"For he that would live life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile..." 1 Pe 3:10

Mocuba Update

We haven’t written in a while I realized today but not because not much has been happening. The Mocuba project is in the final stages and we think it will be completed in the next two weeks, or at least phase 1 will be completed. We are so thankful to have Belarmino on the job! His last report included photographs inserted in a WORD document and you can't copy them out and post them in a blog, unfortunately, or at least I can't figure out how to to it!

The roof trusses are complete and Belarmino fabricated them from scratch. We are using metal, because it works so much better than wood in this environment. Belarmino had to make these trusses at Juka’s house and transport them to the construction site because our generator wouldn’t drive the welder. I don’t quite understand that because on paper, the generator was more than adequate, but then we’ve also learned that it isn’t uncommon for things to perform significantly below what their specification sheets would say.

We continue to wait on the well-drilling people. We had a very good meeting with the headquarters people here in Maputo, but there is a disconnect between what their people are telling them from Mocuba and what “our” people are telling us from Mocuba. I think the bottom line is that there is a little water in one of the holes, but not enough to support a pump. Afrodrill does not want to put in a pump if the water infiltration is too little – and I am glad. We’ve been through that already and have a pump that doesn’t work because of this and has been a real sore-spot with the community. No pump is actually far better than a pump that doesn’t work! So we wait.

I'll try to post photos soon but Juka is on his way here for some meetings and he has the camera and his computer, which we be updating for him.

As an aside, we learned today that the church at Tenga blew down Friday night in a wind-storm. We'll be going up tomorrow to see what can be salvaged. Tenga is a very sad story and could be its own case study, but I'll save that for another time. If we don't try to recover the materials (metal roofing sheet and the like), it will disappear within days. This small church is located about an hour outside of the City in an area difficult to get to without a good vehicle. It was started before we arrived here and there have been many attempts to resurrect the work after the original leader left the area but without success. It is heartbreaking.

“Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him…!” Ps 37:7

Machava

On Saturday night, Pastor Abel called me asking if I would go to our new church in Machava with him and bring the message. We had not been to that particular church for a while and so we agreed and fortunately, I had something rolling around in my head that I could work on - so much for sleep that night!

We were a few minutes late, because we had to wait on a train that had parked on the track blocking the road as people loaded on. We were a ways out of the city and the train was headed to the South African border, where people will exit, walk across the border control station, and get on another train in South Africa. Then the train comes back to Maputo. In the mornings, the train is filled to overflowing as it heads into the city.

We arrived about 0845 and the service had just started. The church is in a small reed structure and it was filled to overflowing. The worship time went for quite some time, which we have gotten used to, and the time for a message came about 2 hours later. I did get another opportunity to give a lesson to the kids, which was fun. It involved candles, matches, and fire in a reed church with two four-year olds holding lighted candles, but I never said I wasn't willing to take risks! Pastor Abel helped translate my Portuguese to Shanghanna, which is always a great help - most of our churches are in at least two languages, which means the Pastor's sermon takes at least twice as long!

We were very pleased to see the order that has come to this church as God works in the lives of the people there. One lady did not come this morning and after the service, we all headed to her house for a time of praise, song, and prayer, which is something I like about the culture here.

After I spoke, they decided to have a time where people could comment on the sermon, and so there was this discussion time that followed. This doesn't happen all the time, but we do see it in some of our churches. Members will stand up and talk about what they understood about the sermon and how God is challenging them with it. People here can always stand up and give a small talk with no bashfulness at all. It also is a reflection of the culture, where if church goes one hour or four hours, everyone has time.

We were very encouraged to see the growth through the leadership training Nelio is doing with the leaders in this small church and the constant mentoring by Pastor Abel. We are hoping to put some small benches in the church before we go, to help with the seating. Some people bring their own plastic chair, others a matt, so there is a mix of chairs/matts, standing. The singing was a special blessing and we are going to miss the Shanghanna hymns while we are back in the States.

In the one photo, what looks like a hole in the ceiling is actually a clear fiberglass sheet that makes a great skylight and helps out greatly for those of us who don't see as good as we used to!

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

" For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth)...." Eph 5:8,9

Mocuba Center Update

I thought you might enjoy the most recent photos we received on our Mocuba Training Center project progress. Actually the photos are from last week, but they are the most recent I have. The roofs trusses are being welded back at Juka's house and transported to the site because the generator isn't able to provide the current needed for the generator (they must have a big welder!).

We had a meeting with our OMS advisors today. It went well although only two of the four were able to meet with us. We (the OMS Field Team) updated them on our seminary program, CAM school, and denomination's efforts to write a governance manual, and the church planting work. We came away a bit discouraged personally after the meeting because of some of the comments made during the meeting, but tomorrow is a new day. We did gain valuable counsel from our advisory board members.

"And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation,...." Romans 15:20

Evangelism in Ilhe

Our church multiplication pastor/trainer in Ilhe just finished a two-week intensive showing of the Jesus film in rural areas around Ilhe as an evangelism tool. It was a part of our church multiplication program and part of the training for his students. They showed the film at night in 9 different locations using a generator. We received a report today that over 3500 people attended these events and that they had at least 800 decisions to accept Christ during these meetings. We pray that this successful event will spill into the many churches springing up in this area. Please pray for Dinis as he faithfully models, trains, and assists future church leaders.

At the same time, we are having some disappointing struggles in Mocuba. We are building a small training center there, which we hope to eventually turn into a seminary extension site and ministry center for the Evanglical Church of the Living Word (our Mozambican denomination). We see this as a good thing but some of the leadership there sees this as an opportunity to push for money and material gain, as the construction would say we can do more than we are doing from their perspective. So, there is a tension building about money and why aren't we providing all these material things. It is such a difficult tension that we constantly struggle with, dependency, expectation for handouts, and people going along with church as long as they think they can get something out of it. Well, of course they can, a relationship with the very creator of the universe, a peace that surpasses understanding, and a promise of eternal life. But here, as I imagine in many impoverished places, the needs of the people are so huge, and we are so few... It is a constant tension and this expectation that we shower people with money/gifts/things never seems to let up....This week alot, we lost count of the numbers of people who came to our door or called wanting money. Don't missunderstand, we do alot but we have learned to be very careful; but it is emotionally draining beyond my ability to explain.

Today, we attended church at Picoco. The pastor gave a rousing sermon but not in Portuguese, so I hope it was a good one! They asked me to speak also, so I just sat with all the kids and did a little children's sermon - figured the congregation had already been preached to! I find this works well as the children are always shocked when I go and sit in the middle with them and I usually get a good response from the adults as well. I have such a burden for the young children who receive so little spiritual training here. We would like to spend more time in this area as the young people are the future of this country and they receive so very little spiritual training, even in the churches. Today, we prayed with a bunch of these children and enjoyed being with them. This church at Picoco is doing well and we are so thankful for what God has done in this remote place outside of Maputo. The well continues to function well. (great play on words, well is well!)

Once of the couples we meet with who want to marry, asked to go with us as they have heard alot about this church in Picoco. So, we picked them up in T-3 and took them with us. The fellow, Luis, helped me with translation from Portuguese to Shanghanna this morning, which is always a great help. We really enjoyed their company for the hour ride out to Picoco. The photo is of them with Ann during one of our meetings with them. They are working on a fast-track option to get married before we leave for furlough even though we are ok with them marrying while we are gone - but they really want us to participate. It's important - they have lived together a long time, but culturally, the wife does not receive honor in the culture until the marriage is complete - to the point they often do not travel together in public - so we were very glad to have both of them go with us today. They are a precious couple.

I have been spending a few days each week trying to re-furbish an old block house here on the property where we live that has been unused since about 2000. It has the great potential to be a small duplex-type of apartment that we could use as another guest house for tearms or even rent out. We continue to have a vision to eventually procure this property where we live as a ministry center. We have a stready stream of missionaries passing through using the small guest house and having another available would be a good thing or even alternate housing for us in the future. Ann pretty much coordinates the use of the guest house and the little bit of money collected is used for doing small improvements.

Yesterday, we ran out of water after dark set in and I went down to our well and was able to find an electrical problem in the motor control center for the well. I found it by nearly electrocuting myself but that is another story - when sparks fly in the dark by flashlight, you can generally find what is going on! Turns out that some wires had been installed poorly and over time had started arching, eventually burning through the insulation and breaking the wire. I love it when it is something simple and I can actually fix it! That isn't always the case with the 240 volt three-phase system I have had to figure out!

We think the car starter problem is behind us - thank you Lord! The car repair shop ripped out the alarm system and we think that some sporatic error in that system was ultimately causing the starting problem. So, we have started the car over 15 times now without problems! So finally, after a year, we have that problem sorted out! We had the work done in South Africa and had to leave the car a few days, so we did a couple of border crossings last week. There is a massive upgrade being done at the border between Mozambique and South Africa, I'm sure that was intended to be done before the world cup games next month, but it clearly won't be done by then. Once done, it should make that awful process a bit smoother as things gradually improve here, bit by bit.

Happy Mother's day. Ann received precious calls / notes from her precious pearls. There is a women's day here, but not a mother's day.

Blessings. Thank you for standing with us.

Dave & Ann

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber." Ps 121:1-3

Fiber Optics and Communication

About a week ago, a fiber optic cable in the ocean off the coast of Inhambane Province in Mozambique was severed. That minor news thing is causing quite a bit of disruption here. The cable is linked to cell phone service and banking services in the northern parts of Mozambique and has even impacted us down in Maputo. Hard to imagine that a single cable can disrupt and entire country, but it has. The cable is in 30 meters of water and beyond the ability of Mozambique to repair, so with International help, they are estimating at least 30 more days before it can be repaired. That is 30 Mozambican days, so.......

Finally we were able to get through on the phone today and talk for a few minutes to Juka and Belarmino in the north. The training center construction project is going well but we need to transfer some funds and there is some concern that the banking is going to work with the cable problems. We will see what tomorrow brings. He is ready to put the roof on the training center and they are putting up the walls on the small house. We still have not received our returned money on the deposit for the well and the company (Afrodril) is blaming the fiber optic cable problem, but that problem occurred AFTER they were to return the money, but we will test that theory when we send money to the construction account tomorrow. Please continue to pray about the water situation at our land and that we are treated fairly.

Juka reported that he took his driver license test Friday, and passed, but then didn't pass because the director (this is a government official), told him he didn't pay a fee to him (a bribe) and that is why he didn't pass the test. That's quite brazen and is so disappointing and we keep thinking the government is really trying to straighten up the corruption in their midst, we see signs of it, but then we face into things like this. Very disappointing - the director has to be making many times his salary in these bribes - and the culture accepts it as normal, so the cycle continues. So, the lesson learned is to not try to get a driver's license in Mocuba. We had the same problem here in Maputo with people trying to get licenses but that seems to have improved finally. He has a meeting with the director again before he takes the test in mid-May - probably with the expectation of money passing hands. It was the same thing in the schools here until they went to standardized testing, which has helped greatly.

Our embassy has issued a travel warning because of the communication issues in the north. They are expecting additional problems because of this in the coming days and recommend not traveling until the problem has been resolved. That comes on the heels of some unsolved violent crimes at vacation areas in the Inhambane Province that is unusual for Mozambique. And then, someone was recently picked up driving towards Maputo with $400,000 USD (or at least that is the amount that was reported) in some sort of investigation and after the lead investigator's second press conference about it, he was shot and killed. That raises more questions that will likely never be answered. So, danger always is lurking and we thank God for His protection. It is also why we try to always carry very little money - never carry more than you are willing to lose!

The car starter problems continue - the car is in South Africa with Toyota, who sub-ed it out to another shop, who didn't finish it, and we will have to make another border crossing this week to get the car. They are tearing out the alarm system which they think is causing the problem as they inspected the starter internals (and I watched) and it appeared to be in pretty good shape. It is a mystery. We knew we had an alarm system but thought it had been disconnected by a previous owner because we didn't have the gizmos to turn it on and off - but it was still there lurking in the background! I've not had very good luck with these alarm systems here in the cars that I've been around - they seem to cause all sorts of problems and there are few who can work on them when they act up. But, if they stopped the theft of your vehicle one time, it would be work it, wouldn't it!

We were hearing all this pitter pattering of little feet in the ceiling over our kitchen. I lifted the ceiling and was relieved to find it was a blue-head lizard instead of a rat or mouse. I found where he got in and repaired that and the mosquito netting around the roof vent, but I couldn't get the fellow out - so we have left a ceiling tile up, hoping he will come down to live with us and eventually find his way out. These little fellows are in and out of the house all the time (he is a rather large male), and they are voracious mosquito-eaters so we don't mind so much. They grow on you and I guess are like pets......we have slid so far!

Sad news - Pastor Abel's brother in Xai-Xai was killed last night in an automobile accident. Abel was close to him and is quite devastated. He left early this morning for Xai Xai and the responsibility for this funeral and possibly for his brother's affairs could fall to him. Pray for Abel.

Dave & Ann

" Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your word to Your servant." Ps 119:76