Mocuba Training Center Update

We thought you might enjoy seeing the most recent photos of the Training Center in Mocuba. We still don't have the windows installed but they are very very close. The center will be used for a 10-day conference starting the first week of August, so the pressure is on to finish everything.

In this first photo, you see the training center on the right, with the small temporary structure used to house tools

and materials during construction, and the house in the back where people will be able to stay. The other photos are from different views.

W

e are very pleased to have this work completed. It gives us a great focal point for the church and we look forward to continuing the vision to eventually move on to the second phase as we build our residential seminary extension site. In this photo, you see Pastor Antonio walking across the ground. The major north - south road in Mozambique is just this side of the trees you see in the distance.

God has blessed this work and answered your

prayers - no injuries, no major problems. We still don't have water and need to resolve that before expanding further. We do have a good well within walking distance so the water can be hauled to the facility for use, which is consistent with the local culture. You can see some of the nearby house roofs (grass) in the distance.

In this last photo, you see my close Mozambican friend and colleague, Juka, fixing the fence with a nice shot of the center behind him before adding doors and finishing the outside with a skim coat of cement. What is so

cool is that we can continue to communicate by text messaging and email while we are stateside! It is a far cry from the days of sailing ships and letters!

The formatting of this post is a bit off for some reason and I can't seem to fix it. Sorry about that!

We are stateside as of last Friday. Our plans for vehicle and temporary storage of our shipment fell through, forcing us to purchase a used vehicle. It is a story itself of God's provision as I was praying about what can we do and I picked up the paper, randomly opened it and an ad caught my eye, which led to a dealer, and some wonderful men who helped us work through the details. You should try it sometime - buy a car with an out-of-state drivers license, no permanent address, working overseas with an 'employer' in another state, and what stateside address we have (our daughter) had been changed a month ago to an even different state from an even different state. Ok, now, think about getting a loan for this same couple, who by the way, had no insurance and one of them has an expired driver's license (of course from another state). So, then go get car insurance, then car tags.....you get the picture. It is less stressful in Mozambique!

But, God was merciful and it all worked out although I have until early September to figure out about that first payment! What a life we are living as compared - no Lord, I'm not asking to go back to Egypt - anyway, I don't like leeks! (you'll have to look up the verses!)

So then, we had to quickly move our shipment from Mozambique (that came in with out any problems and we are hats off to the US customs people who were tremendously helpful to us and helped us get everything squared away on this end. A great office in Huntsville. So, we rented a u-haul truck and took it to knoxville where we can share a storage unit with daughter three before eventually getting some of it back up to Pittsburgh. If it sounds crazy, you are right. We did squeeze in a day trip to Nashville to see our pregnant daughter Sarah and her husband David. I don't think that baby can stay in very much longer! The way back to Huntsville was interesting because we got into this massive back-up from an accident where the Interstate was closed. But that worked out also with some alternate routing and driving skills I learned in Mozambique!

So, goes the report on our first 4 days!

We are in South Carolina now for a time of transition, de-briefing, and wedding!

Much love,

Dave & Ann

Chronological Bible Story Telling in Heart Languages

Yesterday we made a quick drive over to South Africa and back to pick up our Chronological Bible Story Telling materials from our missionary friends with African Outreach. This marvelous material is used throughout the church multiplication work OMS is doing in Africa and is the kind of material that really effective in the local languages as it is something you can study at home, in small groups, in Sunday Schools, and it presents the Bible as one story, which it is actually. We use it in our Village Church Planting program and in our seminary program as well, teaching people how to 'tell the story'.

Ann had coordinated the translation of this material into two of the 42 tribal dialects spoken in Mozambique (we have three total now for the larger tribal language groups). We had a couple of starts and stops because some of our 'translators' really weren't and receiving notebooks full of hand-written text that no one could read, complete with running ink from rain drops and the like, just wasn't what would work! So, she finally found folks who were fluent in Portugues and the tribal language, or English and the language, or all three in one case, and they were able to do the translation and email them to us and an independent verification of the translation. In one case, the fellow had attended the training we gave one year on the material and was using it in his churches in Nampula.

This material will be going to Mocuba for the conference next month and we are excited to see what God will do with this material. It is most exciting.

We met with Franz Benz, our friend with Africa Outreach who we have partnered with in several training sessions here in Mozambique and it was exciting to see how his ministry is expanding as God blesses this program that he and his wife Brenda have adapted. He had just returned from Egypt where he was training people how to use the material and has been all over Africa, plus Vietnam, India, Indonesia, to mention areas where this material is being used. It is always so very exciting to see how God works - you won't read about this in the newspaper, but under the surface, this program is transforming lives because it helps people study the Bible and understand clearly God's redemptive plan.

We filled the back of our vehicle with these books, in Lomwe and Macua, and where wondering how the border crossing would be. Large quanities of these kinds of things can be difficult from a customs standpoint, as it would appear that we are going to resell them (we aren't!) and thus, there is a duty to pay. And, on Friday afternoon, the border is always insane (well it is nearly always chaos on the Mozambique side - just worse on Fridays).

We talked to the customs agent, showed him the books, opening and example one. I explained the program and how we had paid Mozambican pastors to translate the materials and were returning the completed books to them in Zambezia and Nampula provinces. I used the time to talk about what we do in Mozambique and after a few minutes he graciously said 'ok'. So, we said 'thank you Lord' and headed to the gate; he left with an ice-cold coke. However, at the gate, another agent stopped us and looked in the back and shook his head and made us pull over. He comes to the window and says that we have a big problem (why is it always a 'big' problem?). So, we go through it again and have a nice conversation, and he then he sees a car with a trailer full of stuff that is clearly for resale, and lets us go. Thank you Lord.

It isn't that we did anything wrong - we aren't selling the material or profiting from it. But these kinds of things can go any which way in Mozambique. There isn't a lot of consistently in how things are done or regulations are applied and it is often up to the individual official who is often paid for his assistance. That inconsistency causes alot of subtle stress in your life, for example, when you approach the border your heart rate increases a little as you begin to anticipate what the chaos will be like today. But it is getting better (or we understand the chaos a little better or have the language to negotiate the process) and I can forsee a day coming when it will not be so unpredictable. It is an order of magnitude better than when we first arrived.

As another example, when we left today, there is a form they give you to 'export' your car from Mozambique and you turn it back in when you bring your car back. They give me a different form and it says that it is for importing the car - what a minute, I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. I explained that I wasn't importing the car, I was exporting it. The explanation? We're out of the other forms, so just use this one. The good news? I understood everything and when we were done, I thought, "gee, I didn't even have to think about that Portuguese interaction - it just happened." So, how do I keep this up while we are in the States?

But once again as I have done so many other times, I digress!

"Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me." 1 Corin 14:11

Cheedee & Nauhnee

I can't remember if I've shared this photograph or not. It rates in the top 10 of my favorite photographs here. Meet Milca Mabel. She is all dressed up for her uncle's wedding in a place called Xipamanine. She is being held by a family friend (Amelia) in the small pathway that leads to her Uncle's house and the place where the wedding party was held. If you go sideways, two people can pass in this little passage way.

Milca was born just before we arrived in Mozambique and we have had the great fortune to be a part of her and her parents lives. She comes running to us when we see her and she has given us nick-names that have filtered all through the church, so we are often called these names by others. It is because she couldn't say our names when she was first learning to talk and so 'Duhvee' (David in portuguese) became Cheedee and 'Ana' became Nauhnee. We love her like she was our very own and sometimes I think she is the one who draws us up to Mocuba (where she lives) as much as anything else!

In this picture, you can see the little bit of mischief in her eyes! I took it after we had been kidding each other.

Precious precious girl and my eyes tear to think about not seeing her over furlough!

Cheedee

"Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren,..." De 4:9

Shipping Things

We passed quite a milestone today. We took our boxes for shipping back to the states to the air cargo terminal and got them through the process. It took all morning but we had no real problems. They will head our for the states on Monday via a cargo plane. It was a very straight-forward process and not so different than what we would have done Stateside for such a thing. Of course, if you were to see the boxes when they arrive, you would think we were being a bit over-the-top. We are using a variety of containers but most are plastic bins. They are strapped by us, have TSA locks, wire-ties through the lids in multiple places, nylon cinch straps in all directions and to finish it off they are all shrink-wrapped. My design specification was to need the 'jaws of life' to open it! Well, if you had lost as much stuff as we have transiting through the Johannesburg airport, you'd probably not think this as overkill. We think it is a better way than checking extra luggage. I should have taken a picture and am kicking myself with my good toe for it.

Mocuba project - the company has definitely decided to not continue with the well efforts. Juka is going to meet with the government and hopefully work a deal out on some nearby land where we could possibly get water and then pipe it to our place. This has been an ordeal but we must have water to someday expand the area into a seminary extension site. That may be where we go next term as well, you never know.

Tomorrow at zero dark thirty we are running over to South Africa to pick up many boxes of training materials we had translated into two common dialects spoken in northern Mozambique. We are trying to squeeze as much out of every day before we leave and want to send those north before we leave. I really don't like to cross the border on Friday because there is substantially more chaos / risk but God always carries us through. We will check our mail box also one last time.

Had a very special time with our team yesterday as we turn things over to other. It was very special to both of us.

One week left - where has the time gone?

Blessings!

Dave & Ann

"Show us your unfailing love, O LORD and grant us your salvation." Ps 85:7

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go.....we want to cry.

The journey continues. We are zooming end but had a rather crushing event today. We were planning on someone subletting our house in our absence, but this has fallen through one week before we leave. ARGHHHHHHH! Not enough time to have a big sale and vacate the house completely, what do we do? Not enough time to get another sub-renter - big complication for us but such is the life of a missionary.

With boxes all over the place, I heard something in the middle of the night I wanted to investigate, so without light (well, I walk that path all the time!) I rushed into the next room, right into a big plastic container, went down into another box full of things, and then into the floor. I just laid on the floor crying not knowing which part of my body to hold - my toe, my shins, my shoulder, my elbow, my head. I went back to bed throbbing all over but when I rolled over, my sheet was stuck to my throbbing toe - oh no. Blood....ripped my big toe nail right off - no wonder it hurt so bad.

We moved the boxes out of the path the next day.

Chaos.

One foot in one place, one foot in the other.

We are trying to visit each of the dear Mozambicans that we care about so much before we go, but even that is an impossible task. The days click by with great speed. One more week. We need to make a fast run to South Africa to pick up some church multiplication training materials we had translated into local dialects spoke in the north - we will try to do that Friday, maybe into Saturday, depending.

We submit to your plan dear Lord; please extend our days.

Dave & Ann

Fabio

I think the important part of the work we do is the work that people don’t see and don't have numbers associated with it. I think this is the same in your life as well. We have a relationship with a young man named Fabio who is a ‘grass cutter’ for a living. By a grass cutter, I mean that he takes a hand scythe and swings it back and forth and back and forth all day long. He does a few other things, like trim the incredible thorn hedges that people have here and are constantly puncturing our tire sidewalls, but in general he cuts grass. At the end of the month, he will make something on the order of 2200 mtn, which is equivalent to about $60 dollars US. With this income, he has a small house, a family, and somehow he makes it all work. He is a precious man who is active in his church and has a real love for the Lord.

He came to us the other day needing to go north because the police had summoned him. His sister’s daughter had had a baby in a town north of here and abandoned the baby. His sister is dead, and he is the next of kin. So, the police somehow figured out who went with the baby even though the mother had vanished. The communities here are very strong (see my entry on umbunto) and there really are very few secrets.

So he and his wife go north to get this baby, but wait, there are legal issues involved and his wife must stay in jail (for the family) until this is all worked out. Can you imagine being in jail by proxy!

So, we end up trying to help him think this all through and helping a little with some of the finances involved for travel and the like. After the process grinds through the system, he now has this beautiful baby girl (weeks old) that he is now responsible for. Many here like to say there are no true orphans in Mozambique, and this would be an example of why. The other confusing thing is that if a child has only one parent, they are also considered and called orphans. But of course the reality is that there are a lot of orphans, street kids, and the like, but for the most part, the community has a pretty good handle on who goes with who. I know of one lady who has six or seven ‘orphans’ in her house but in reality they are all children of her children or grandchildren or her brothers and sisters and their extended families. Orphans in a sense, but not in another.

So, here he is with this new baby, making $60 / month, and a can of formula costs about $8 and lasts less than a week. But the community steps in and people help and he is considered actually quite well off because at least he has a job. Other mothers will help nurse the baby, help care for the baby – it all becomes a part of community. So, we pray for God’s provision for this family. We pick up formula when we go to the store to try and help out where we can but not to enslave in some sort of dependent creating post colonial way. Ann helps with health issues, medicines where indicated, and general counsel. We supply some mosquito nets and when we can think of a small job around that he can do for a few extra dollars, we hire him. But we can’t just roll in with physical and financial aid. The system he lives in works well and he is one precious soul of so many who’s lives touch ours. He stood with me this morning praising God for how He is answering his prayers and provision. What a better picture when someone looks to God as their answer, and not the mission, the missionary, the aid agency, or the man with the money. God is able to use all of us to live in community, but what a delicate balance it all is.

I think we are walking in this balance a little better than when we first arrived. Our prayer is that we can turn people’s eyes towards God as their provider and nowhere else. He owns it all anyway no matter how hard we try to hold on to the material things that choke the very life out of us,\; it is all his.

Yesterday as I was in the city, I saw a different young man I know driving a three-wheel cart (small taxi) with a couple in the back and he waved vigorously at me when I passed. We have had a tough relationship with this particular young man because he always wanted handouts but not to work. We have gone around and around with him about how he needs to work to provide for his family, especially considering he had some reasonable qualifications for getting work! Wow, He is actually working – maybe he is really starting to look to God as his provider. Maybe all the counsel, prayer, and in a certain sense, pain that he caused us is paying off. Thank you Lord!

Last week, Fabio twisted his ankle quite badly. He limped to our door in great pain convinced that he had broken his foot. Ann examined him, in conjunction with our friends who serve with the International Mission Board (IMB). Ann determined that it wasn’t broken and we rounded up some crutches we had, gave out the magic ibuprofen tablets for the pain and swelling, wrapped him up, iced it, and our friends drove him to his nearby home. It’s not good when a grass-cutter can’t cut grass.

Of course his ankle swelled up and despite Ann’s instruction, he went to the clinic, where they told him the same thing. He came back today much better and again praising God for how well he was recovering. We had a great theological discussion and we always enjoy his visits. He sells small plants on the side and we have his plants all around the outside of our house.

So, another lesson on our small amount of faith that God grows into a mighty work. This baby is lucky to be in Fabio’s house. She will receive love, care, and careful nurturing by a family who is not distant from their creator. She will learn of Fabio’s humility and trust in God, and see first hand how God truly does provide; because He cares for us.

I will miss Fabio over the next year, along with all the other dear Mozambican friends we have made. The grief cycle is incredible. We grieve our family and friends in the States when we leave there, and we grieve our family and friends when we leave here. This is a crazy way to live and maybe that is part of why statistics say 70% of missionaries returning from Africa are suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress. Maybe it is just never-ending grief!

With much love this beautiful day.

Dave & Ann

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5: 6-7

Mavalane, Seeds, and Roses

The days are passing so very quickly. We are very heavy with sadness because we know we will be gone for some time - we have less than two weeks left. We really like our current living situation so very much and really like living in Mozambique, but our housing when we return is uncertain and we aren't confident of storage, so we are bringing things back with us so we can return 'mean and lean' next term and be freer to move into a more rural setting in the north. The translation of that is don't bring anything with you that you aren't willing to lose! We also need a better car, so we are selling ours - we have loved it but it has been expensive to keep up because of its age and we've heard all the horror stories from others who have left cars for a year - better to sell it and use the money to buy something a little newer when we return. It is worth more today than it will be in a year. Plus, rats eat out the seats and wiring, the salt air rusts it, the maintenance stops, the tires go flat, the air conditioner leaks out, you get the picture. You return after a long absence and pour a wheel-barrow of money into the thing to get it going again, and when you're done, you still have an old unreliable car! So we are praying that we can fund for something a bit newer with less miles that can still take the rough off-road work that we do. The buyer of our car is a friend, so that helps also. It's a decent car, just old and tired and if I had confidence it could be stored well, I'd probably try to hold on to it - but it seems wise to let it go.

Today, we attended Mavalene church. Last night, Pastor Abel (pastor of this church) called to say his wife (Victoria) had been in an accident near a town between us and Xai-Xai. He didn't really know her condition, but he wanted to drive up and get her and bring her back to Maputo for care. Ann and I were trying to understand well the situation, weighing it against our driving at night - we both have great difficulty driving at night now because of the glare of the headlights - add cars without lights, push carts on the road, pedestrians, and then an inability to see, we really don't like to drive at night. A couple of close calls on our trips north really convinced us of this. Fortunately, our dear colleague, Larry Weil, was able to make the run and take Victoria to the hospital in Maputo - by the time they got to the scene of the accident, the people on the minibus had been moved to a local hospital. The hospital loaded her into Larry's car and he became an ambulance driver!

Basically she has a broken collarbone and after being treated overnight in Maputo, we took her home this morning, arriving at church only a little late. I was slated to preach and with much prayer, it went pretty well. I wish my language was better, but the people are always willing to help you when you get stuck and we had a nice time of back and forth. Afterwards, we all gathered around Victoria as a church and prayed for her. This church meets in a lean-to adjacent to Able and Victoria's home.

I tend to get a bit discouraged with language but I have this wonderful wife who reminds and encourages me that we haven't been here that long and while we have a long ways to go, I didn't have to have my Portuguese translated to Portuguese (that is not a misprint!) today, so it is progress. We continue to pray for improved language and think that moving north will help us there as well as there is quite a bit of English around here, but not so much in the north! If that's all there is, that's what you speak!

Ann did her medical thing and was quite impressed with the cast that they put on Victoria to immobilize her - a very clever design that Ann thought was much better than the slings used in the states. Still, as we drove the bumpy roads from the hospital, Victoria would wince with pain at every bump. She has a long road to recovery but the prognosis is very good, for which we are thankful. God really protected her in this bad accident.

The Mocuba training center construction project continues. I have gone through Belarmino's receipts and nearly have my report ready on the financial part of the project. I need a little more input from Juka in the north to close this out. The photograph is of Belarmino greeting his church on his first day back (last Sunday). His wife, Abertina, and their son Junior are on his left. Everyone was so glad to have them back from their four-months in Mocuba.

Our coming missionaries from Ireland, Melvin and Sharon Kelly, sent a sea-land container full of used desks, chairs, and other things that can be used by the seminary, our training center in Mocuba, and CAM school. It was packed so tight, it was like a giant jigsaw puzzle unloading. It was a 20-foot container but we filled our chapel in the seminary and an adjacent room with the incredible amount of stuff that we received. What a blessing and well done Melvin and Sharon! Another missionary myth busted (who says you can't ship something to Mozambique?)! Over 20 seminary students helped, so the unloading went quickly but there is a ton of work remaining to re-assemble the desks, shelves, and other things. But, what a blessing.

Another myth busted - you can't get long-stem red roses in Mozambique. I have always gotten red roses for my wife on her anniversary, one for each year we have been married. But, the first year here, I gave up trying to find red roses - found some white ones, yellow ones, but no red ones. Well, this year, our dear friends and neighbors surprised us with red roses on Ann's birthday, knowing she missed them, and so another myth busted! Here is the proof!

Today, in our time at Mavalane, we talked about faith, mustard seeds, tree seeds, trees, forest fires, pine cones, airplanes, chappas and Elevators. It all gets tied together with faith, faith in a Creator who loves us and assures us that we can move mountains if we have just a little bit of faith. But, that faith needs to be in God, not ourselves. That is something that the disciples had to learn and something we fight with daily. We all have this tendency to want to 'do it ourselves' but that really doesn't work and it certainly doesn't give us peace. Grow our faith dear Lord.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see!" Hebrews 11:1

PS - As I'm writing this, Spain won the World Cup. It has been crazy here - when they scored, I could hear the people cheering all around us - a literal roar across the village we live in. Soccer is a big deal here - a really big deal. Every little kid can do amazing things with a soccer ball and his feet. When we came into the property where we live yesterday, there were six games of neighborhood soccer happening all around the property. We weed our car around the various games to get to our house, enjoying every minute of it.

More on Motorcycles

We have been having significant difficulties with our Internet service here and have not been able to post things lately – speeds are just too slow and we’re on then off then on then off – it just gets too frustrating so we’ll do an entry without photos.

Yesterday was Fourth of July – not a holiday here but after church, we did go to the American School where the US Embassy put on a sort of ‘fair’ with activities for the kids and you could buy some food (no hamburgers or hot dogs however!) and there were lots of flags and red/white/blue things. We saw a few people we hadn’t seen for a while and enjoyed catching up with them. The school is beautiful with lots of wonderful facilities and they are in the midst of a big building program. We stayed a while but wimped out for staying for fireworks as we wanted to be home before dark. We try to minimize our travel after dark here.

We are getting closer to being ready to return to the states but the chaos is getting to both of us. We have boxes all over with stacks of “ship back” and “stays here” and “for renters” and “give away” and “burn” and so on. We have decided to send a lot of things back to the states as we are heavier with personal things than we want to be. Next term we want to be ‘mean and lean’ so we can move north or to another location in Mozambique with minimal difficulty. The less personal stuff we have the better for that type of life. You don’t want anything with you wouldn’t want to lose, because you probably will. And, to store for a year with uncertain housing when we return, it just doesn’t make any sense. But that is lots of work on this end between now and leave day.

Today we met with Pastor Abel for a 0900 meeting at our house to catch up on our church multiplication work and a trip he had just returned from. We also talked about what will happen while we are gone to the States with the church multiplication program - we had quite an agenda, and that included time for lunch. And then, we did some maintenance on the little motorcycle he drives. I have been working with him on regular maintenance, a foreign concept here (figuratively and literally). Together, we changed the oil and checked the air filter – opps – no air filter and the store he bought it from didn’t have any, so they just removed the filter and wrapped a cloth around the air intake. The store has no idea if they will get more filters in…such is the way here. The sad part for me is that in this dusty environment, it will likely accelerate wear in the engine because the air needs to be clean. And, then, we changed the oil. I have warned him and warned him about over-tightening things. (Here I have watched so many tighten things until they break) – and I went to the house to look for something that might work better as an air filter and came back to “the oil plug screw won’t tighten”. Well, I check it out and it was over-tightened to the point it actually stripped the threads, warped the washer, and broke a chunk out of the engine casing. He looks at me kind of sheepishly and says he forgot and tightened it hard. I guess so…

We found a washer that might work to seal the broken part, cleaned out the little metal parts from the over tightening, but I was not very hopeful it would hold.

It didn’t – I got a call later that the oil all leaked out near the seminary and that’s where the motorcycle is now. We’ll have to take it to the shop again, but I shutter at how it will probably get fixed – In the states I’d just cut a new thread and put an oversized bold in it with a good washer, but in this case, with the chunk of the casing gone, we may have to weld it in place or something crazy like that. (I’d love to take a car from here into a minute-lube place in the States and say, “Yes, you’re right, you have to grind that drain plug off and weld a new one on before you add the new oil!”) Sigh……. This motorcycle makes such a huge difference in his ministry, it truly does, but it has not held up (Chinese-bike) nearly like I wish it did. Plus, it is hard to relate the mind-set to you my readers. Most of you have grown up with basic understandings of motors, screws, electronics, and the like. Guys have fixed bicycles, wagons, and watched dads and brothers fix things with parts bought at the local hardware store from the time they were little. It doesn’t work that way here. Many haven’t a clue about things like this and are doing their first learning on complex things like cars and motorcycles. Change the oil – why would you do that? There is still oil in the crankcase – yeah it is like molasses but what does that matter, it is still running today? This part doesn’t really fit – that’s ok, just pound it in with a sledge hammer, that should work – if not, Sam has a welder and we could grind a piece off of that thing over there (and you probably think I’m kidding!).

But everyday it is getting better and I have been pleased to see how Abel so faithfully works to maintain this motorcycle as he knows what a blessing it has been to him. Maybe someday he will get that second one and have it all figured out by then, having learned on this first one. He just returned from a trip to Mavila the Inhambane province where he and Aimee Howarth used the Jesus film as an evangelism tool. The reports we have received are very good but he does want me to look at the generator – for some reason it has be propped at an angle to work – can’t imagine what that is about!

A Honda motorcycle about the same size as this Chinese bike costs nearly 3 times more (and twice what it would be in the States), so it puts us in a bit of a pickle. Name brand quality things here are very very expensive. However, Mozambicans are very clever at getting broken things to work a while longer, so we will see what happens in the coming days. The bike has about 14,000 km on it at this point and is ready for a set of tires as well.

Pastor Abel left our house at 4 PM – it all took a lot longer than we thought….how many more days until our plane leaves? We need our youngest daughter here desperately! She was always around when we did packing like this and made it happen! Every day we get calls about people wanting a piece of us before we leave – it’s going to be a sprint to the finish line.

We just got word that a church planter in Zambezia province – two weeks after giving birth to a baby. Very very difficult – life is hard here for the dear people in rural Mozambique, very difficult. Likewise, Abel’s sister Raquel is in the hospital having nearly died from Toxemia and losing a baby. She effectively had a stroke affecting her right side but is fortunate to have survived. She was young (mid 30’s). Fortunately, she was relatively near decent medical care.

Belarmino is back in Maputo. Juka has the responsibility for the final things on the training center in Mocuba. I talked with him a little Sunday after church but we need to really sit down and work through the details of the project before we leave – hopefully later this week. I’m hoping for some updated photographs shortly!

Today I was reading in 2 Kings about a lady whose son Elisha had restored to life. In God’s provision, Elisha told her and her son to avoid the famine that was coming by moving away. So, she leaves Israel for the seven years and returns and her house and land are gone. Not a surprise….but God works it out so that ‘by chance’ she gets her land back but NOT just the land, but all the profit for the seven years. I love those kind of stories of God’s faithfulness to His children.

May He show you His faithfulness today!

Blessings!

Dave & Ann

“Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, ‘Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.’” 2 Kings 8:6

Wow….