Pennsylvania and Headquarters

I have been negligent in writing since we entered Pennsylvania. We have found ourselves very busy, trying to reconnect with folks we haven't seen for some time. It was an emotional event when we drove over the Pennsylvania line and the tears flowed for both of us. Some dear friends have put us up in their spare bedroom and we share a bathroom with their precious daughter, who visited us in Mozambique a couple of years ago. We feel very comfortable here and it is a tremendous help and blessing to us. The only trouble is that they are feeding us way too well and the pounds are going on. Self-discipline is so difficult when everything tastes so good!

Our time at OMS headquarters was very beneficial and we were thankful to be updated on what is happening in the world of OMS and for the wonderful help to prepare us for our home-assignment travel and speaking engagements. Recent renovations at the headquarters building gave a professional feel to the facility and Ann liked the colors very much (red is involved! and they match the new One Mission Society Logo).

When you first enter the facility, you see this wall (photo) and the picture on the far right is of Dinis Ramos, one of our church multiplication trainers - that made us smile and be a little homesick. In addition, on the other side of the door on the left of the picture was another group of pictures, including one old picture of a Khongolote church service, and we knew the kids in the picture and knew how much they have grown since the picture was taken!

We were updated on a new computer program that will help us manage our mailing list and keep up with folks, and found out in the process that we have a few people who have helped us but unbeknownst to us

were not on our mail list - not good! So, we're fixing that. We also resolved some income tax questions (boring!) and other new administrative requirements that we're working on (even more boring from a blog standpoint!). Bureaucracy, what would we do without it!

The only thing that troubled us and even discouraged us was that there is no credible funding plan for the operation of our seminary and since our seminary isn't in as much financial trouble as other seminaries, we fall to the bottom of the stack. So, we are praying for new and innovative ideas for how we as a field can fund the seminary and are making this the center of our fund raising work over the coming months. It goes against our business sense to just spend into deficit until it becomes a crisis!

We hope to raise some scholarship money for individual students that can help us defray the real costs of our school. We feel a great responsibility for this as we recognize that the seminary is key to the continuing growth, stability, and self-sustainability of the OMS work in Mozambique. But doing the same old tired things over and over expecting a different result is not the answer - so we are praying that God would help us with some fresh ideas. We've been corresponding with our colleagues in Mozambique about all of this.

We left Indianapolis feeling privileged to be a part of the One Mission Society, having had a bit of a glimpse into the many different OMS ministries across the world.

While there, we received our official medical checkup by a doctor quite known for his knowledge of tropical medicine. I lost count of all the tubes of blood they took out of us to test for various exotic things. We left with a good bill of health but strong admonition to get more exercise and not let the food of America put pounds on us as our weight was good. We are not doing well on the food and exercise as of this point. We are still waiting on our final

blood results and we did get de-wormed again because we did have the problem a number of times in Mozambique (didn't you just want to know this little bit of information - euuuuuuh).

We visited many friends and supporters in and around Greenwood, Indiana, including a former colleague who had served in Mozambique. All of these visits were an encouragement to us and we found that the more we talked about our time in Mozambique, the more excited we became for God really did amazing things during our time there.

This last photo is of some of the people who manage the Every Community for Christ (ECC) program that funds our church multiplication work in Mozambique. They are special dedicated people with a passion for church planting and it continues to be our joy to work with them.

Thanks for standing with us!

Dave & Ann

"Do not let your hearts be troubled, Trust in God; trust also in me" John 14:1