World Race

Our friends John Michael and Ashley

The days turn into weeks and the weeks into months, and suddenly you realize you haven't written for a while.  My apologies!

As I started to write this, my dear wife was doing some medical consultation at the door and searching for medicine to help someone.  She pretty much does this in her sleep anymore and has learned the common things here that cause people difficulty.  We brought a fair amount of medical supplies back with us and are going right through them.  She's been doing some on-line nursing things as well to do the requisite training to keep her license current and that has been something she has been enjoying.  She does love the nursing field.

We just returned from a medical trip for a couple of days in South Africa where I got another eye work-up related to the problems last August and a scary high pressure reading a couple of weeks ago and ended up with a clean bill of health for both the eye doctor and our general doctor here, getting some of our prescription meds going again.  On the way back, we got a call from a couple from our home church who were on their way to Mozambique from Cape Town on a bus, and could we host them, and oh by the way, there are 21 of them.  They are participating in a ministry called World Race.  They take a year of their life and travel to 11 countries, working in each one about a month on different ministry assignments.  It actually put a bit of a lift in our step to know we were getting visitors from home!  So, they came in for one afternoon and night and it was our joy to help them find transportation to the north of Mozambique where they were going to work in two different locations.

I took a picture of the license of the bus, just in case!

Ann whipped up a dinner for the 21 young people (something she loves to do) and we had a wonderful time getting to know them.  They are a few months into their journey, having visited China, the Philippines, South Africa, and now Mozambique.  And bright and early in the morning, the bus we arranged actually showed up and off they went with their back-packs to work.  We texted with them on their journey, which took something like 24 hours on what they called "a real African bus".

They told stories of being shook down for money by the border people when they entered Mozambique - that was their first impression, and then while we were arranging for some sort of reasonable transport for them, I made a wrong turn and they got to witness first hand the police corruption, for they took my license and wanted a huge fine.  I admitted fault and knew that the fine was 1000 mtn, but he was insisting on 5000 on the spot.  I had a copy of the law but we were in a hurry and to work your way through this corruption can easily take an hour or two, so I ended up paying 2500 on the spot to get my license back - which of course he wouldn't receipt.  It's the first time since returning I've had to deal with this but it got quite ugly and he was going to keep my license for three months and I wouldn't be able to drive; he kept making different kinds of threats and didn't let up until I finally say that I would just have to leave the country because I couldn't work if I couldn't drive and I would all our workers lose their jobs - is that what you want?  I was willing to pay the fine but he was be corrupt and was damaging his country.  At that, he came to 2500, which in my frustration I paid and went on my way - all right in front of the Mozambique capital building with the flag flying on top.  Then one of the Racers said 'welcome to Mozambique'.  First impressions - you get one chance to make them......  But, I have to admit, I was at fault.....

Anyway, it really was a bright spot to have the racers here and I was able to have some good conversations with several of them, and it is always good to hear how God is working in the lives of His people.

Today we had the joy to participate in a baptism service at one of our churches.  The entire area around the church has been without water for nearly a year and the estimate is the required infrastructure upgrades will be completed by May.  So, the ladies of the church carried water in buckets for nearly a mile to fill a rather large baptismal.  Quite a sacrifice as the people being baptized were from a remote church outside the city and were using the facilities of one of our larger city churches.

I don't think I will ever get used to the length of services (3 hours for this one), but that is one of the big cultural differences I've spoken of before - Americans have watches and Mozambicans have time.  They asked me to speak a word of encouragement at the end, which was my privilege, and a great homework assignment to work with my Portuguese teacher.  

That's probably enough for tonight.  I have many things on my mind to write but need to think them through a bit more before I write them up!

Thank you for standing with us.

We just issued our monthly and quarterly church planting reports and continued to be amazed at what God is doing throughout this beautiful country.  We have just received news that we have our first 4th Generation church planted!

Dave and Ann

May we all be able to say:

  "I have fought the good fight, I have completed the race.  I have kept the faith."  2 Timothy 4:7

The Fun Things We Get To Do

We have quite a list of Mozambican friends we wanted to reconnect with and haven't had the time to do so as of yet.  So today, we set aside the urgent and the foolish, for the important.

We were able to spend some time with Reggie and Melita, a precious couple that just enter into your heart.  Many missionaries have invested in this couple, including the Shacklefords, the Theissens, the Glancys, to mention a few.  This couple married during our last term and they live far north of Maputo, but Reggie commutes by the dangerous mini-buses each day to work in administration at Central Hospital in town-down Maputo - a commute of about 2 hours each way.  On the weekends, he is leading a church near his home; a church they started and that now has about 90 people attending on a given Sunday.   He is a layman, leading a successful church.

We were able to visit with them in their home today and bring greetings and a gift from Mike and Sarah Theissen, which was such a blessing to them.   We looked through their photograph album, and it was clear the importance that all of the above mentioned people were in their lives.  We were greatly encouraged by our time with them and it is always a reminder to me of why we are here: to invest in the lives of Mozambicans who want to reach their nation for Christ.  So often we get distracted by things that just don't matter in the time-line of eternity.

Melita has had some surgery that could impact her ability to have children, which is something they desire. Pray with us that God would do a miracle in their life.  Also, they live in an area that is difficult, with much drug activity, drinking, and the like, and it makes it difficult for them to minister there.  They asked for us to pray for a moving of God's Spirit across their Bairro (neighborhood).  In addition, they are trying to get a small store going in front of their house as there is no nearby store for food and the like.  It is a great dream, and thanks to Gene and Francis, they have this nice container to use as a store; they just need a bit more work on it.  The cover provides protection from the heat and the rain - as the roof of the container isn't all that good.

It's a challenging thing - here is a case where strategic investing in a couple did not build dependency, but they have continued to be self-sufficient in the face of considerable challenges, to serve Christ where they live.  There was great wisdom by those who came before us to invest in this wonderful couple.

We found some new roads today, and several times were very thankful for the 4-wheel drive - used it much today.  Even went over to a small island today north of Maputo by ferry to check out some potential sites for the annual team retreat held each February.  We prefer something close to Maputo if possible.  We held our breath on the ferry, sure that we were way overloaded with six cars and 50 plus people on a boat designed for two cars, but it went well!  The photo shows the one life jacket we could all share 'in-community'.


On the way back, we were able to connect with a young lady from our home church, Sam Peat, who has been working at Arco-Iris orphanage the entire time we were on furlough.  We were so concerned we wouldn't connect with her before she left.  It was  great to spend a little time with a friend from home.  She was friends with a couple of our daughters.

Blessings this day.

Dave and Ann


"But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain."  Titus 3:9

Weddings

For the last three weekends, we have had the privilege of participating in wedding services at our T-3 church and the parties that follow afterwards.  It is a great honor to meet with and to pray with these young couples as they begin their covenant relationship together with the very Creator of the Universe.  These events make our days fly by and for me, it takes quite a bit of preparation to have my Portuguese all lined up before the service.  I utilize some of the guards at the place where we live, some of whom are pastors and church leaders, to help me with pronunciation and cadence as well as our language teacher who helps us on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  Language, language, language - it can be so frustrating as it really limits your effectiveness, but sometimes I think that is also a part of God's plan.  It keeps us humble.

It also provides a great time for fellowship, relationships, and learning about culture.  As an example, today's wedding was a bit different - the actual wedding had been at another church on Saturday, and it was more of a blessing this day vice a wedding.  But, we realized that it had a completely different feel than the other wedding celebrations we have attended, mostly associated with the OMS founded denomination we work with.  Maybe we are starting to recognize the subtleties of culture a bit better.  It is a long process.

Here are a few photos of some of the recent weddings.

This morning, we took our neighbor's three and 1/2 year old to church with us to give her mom a break.  We love this little girl, and it took us back to our days so long ago of our own precious daughters whom we miss so very deeply.  It was fun to have her with us; but she was running down a hallway and fell and skinned her knee - such drama that I hope doesn't keep us from being able to steal her away again some time in the future!

Much love.

Dave and Ann

"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and Have not charity (love), it profiteth me nothing."  1 Corinthians 13:3

 

Ordination Service

Saturday marked an historic day; one in which 4 pastors of our Igreja Evangelica Palavra Viva (IEPV) or Evangelical church of the Living Word, were ordained and another four were licensed for a 3-year term as they work on fulfilling the denominational requirements to be ordained.  I mentioned in my last blog that there had been a lengthy process for choosing these men.

Pastor Vaughn Telfer, OMS regional representative and former missionary to Mozambique came to participate in the proceedings.

It was a wonderful day with people traveling from all over Mozambique to participate in the proceedings.  As each name was called, the people from their local churches cheered - there was an air of both reverence and great joy / celebration.

Missionary Aimee Howarth and IEPV church leader Raul Manhissa were joint MCs of the event.   One of our Mozambican advisors also participated in the event.

It was a privilege to play a small part in this historic day, which is one more step in the growth of this Mozambican Christian denomination.

While Juka Fernando is down, along with Dinis Ramos, we will have a joint Church Multiplication Meeting this week, looking forward to this next budget year and the required planning documents that must e completed.

After the service, there were parties for the new pastors in various locations around the area.  We only had time to make two of the events, which provided a wonderful time for more celebration and of course, wonderful food.

Thank you for standing with us.  A day like today reminds of why we are here - and we pray that God will fill these church leaders in a way that leaves no doubt that it is Him who is leading this church forward; reaching Mozambique for Christ.  We pray He will fill them with a passion for reaching their Nation for Christ.

Much love to all of you.

Dave and Ann

"For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; while it is said, today if he will hear his voice, harden not your hearts..."  Hebrews 3: 14-15

Upcoming Service and a Shocking Story

No pictures tonight, but I wanted to share a bit from my day.  We are getting ready for a significant event in the life of the Mozambican church founded by the OMS missionaries who came before us.  On Saturday, we will be ordaining the first pastors of this denomination.  Today, I had the privilege of sitting on the review board with two other men, interviewing each of the eight candidates.  It was a beautiful day and as I sat on this board and listened to the stories of these lovely men who have dedicated their lives to Christian service, it often brought tears to my eyes to hear of how God had 'come through' time and time again in their lives.  I have to admit as I sat there, I wondered what qualification did I bring to this panel, other than perhaps my age.  It was a daunting task and responsibility, but I knew each of the candidates well and have seen God at work in their lives and the lives of their families; I think the choices were good. 

The three of us sat on plastic chairs, two chairs stacked together to give us a little more height behind a two narrow tables covered with Mozambican fabric.  The interviewee, entered and sat in his own stacked chairs.  We prayed together, talked some small talk, reviewed the five page application form, asked various questions, which would lead to more questions, followed by more prayer, at which time our board chairman (a Pastor from OMS), would ask us if we accepted the candidate.  Very formal, but very pleasant.

It took me back to my days of sitting on Navy Qualification Boards - a passing thought I had today as I sat on the third floor of our seminary talking with each of these precious men. 

The service is planned for Saturday morning, followed, of course, by food!  I'll try to get some pictures on that day.

Thank you for standing with us.  Today was a good day and we need a good one here and there amongst the chaos to remind us of why we are here. 
The distractions of life here can sometimes be overwhelming.  As an example, there was an electrical problem here last night and instead of 220 volts, we had something like 360 volts - blew out every lightbulb in my house, a few electronic items, our microwave, and we have more to discover.  As I was trouble-shooting things with my electric meter, I actually blew it out - Maybe at that moment I had 220*3 phases; don't know - but it fried my meter.  I haven't checked the piano yet, I'm afraid to!  Fortunately, we had power conditioners on most of our things and we immediately unplugged anything that mattered - this situation went on for hours, and has cost us much in lost electronic things.  The problem was traced to an underground cable that water entered, shorting out the three phase wires and causing all sorts of havoc. 

An aside on the light bulbs - the very first bulbs to go - pop, pop, pop, pop, immediately, were those awful and expensive government-mandated (at least in the States) flourescent bulbs.  The incadescent bulbs held on for a while longer but they also went one by one by one.  So, today, I brought home from the city a sack full of lightbulbs so we'd have light tonight - but no more of those expensive flourescent things that will blow up the next power cycle that is bound to come.
Last night Ann was taking a shower and when she turned the handle, she got the 360 volts (maybe not all of it, but close) standing in water.  I came in to check it out and tried to turn off the water with a dry cloth and I got shocked - not a little, not a buzz like we've had before, but a heart-stopping shock where you can't let go of the handle.  Ann is still sore today from the shock.  It's related to our well pump, the high ion content of our water, and the crazy electrical problems.  Honestly, we are very lucky we weren't electrocuted last night.  I got some insulated pliers and turned the water off.  Water - electricity - don't go together well.  I have the pipe on the other side of the wall heavily grounded, which is probably the only reason we weren't electrocuted.  I suspect it is all related to some fence work done around the substation, but we will never know for sure.  In any case, everyone here has lost equipment.  This is just today's example.

Remember to pray for this weekend's service; and for Juka, Abel, Daniel, Dinis, Belarmino, Carlos, Francisco, and Nelio - that God's guiding hand would be upon them.   Pray for us as well; we are in desperate need of prayer coverage right now as we wressle with some difficult decisions.

Blessings.

Dave

"Here is a trustworking saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer (Pastor), he desires a noble task...[he] must be above reproach."  1 Timothy 3:1,2

Our Shipment has arrived!

On a hot day on June 9 we said goodbye to our shipment as Suddath International took our ministry supplies and personal effects away in a waxed cardboard box.  We wondered if we would ever see it again for we had been told 'it can't be done!' (to ship things to Mozambique).

Today, October 28, it arrived!  A little worse for wear but intact and praise God, nothing was damaged.  Of great concern was our electric piano that we were the most worried about as it was on the top of the box.  However, although the box was beaten a bit, it had been off loaded in Dubai, in Durban, and in Maputo - I can't complain!  It has been like Christmas today as we had completely forgotten what we'd sent - wedding dresses, audio bibles, Jesus film equipment, music, books, clothes, blankets, baby dolls, kitchen things we can't get here.

Our receiver (Glenscare) got it out of the port without difficulty and there were no additional charges, which was how it was supposed to be, but one never knows!  Great experience and for any of you shipping things overseas - you have our recommendation.  We also extend our thanks to the International Missions Board (IMB) who connected us originally with Suddath.  There you go - another shameless recommendation!

God is good to all of us, all the time.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann


"O taste and see that the LORD is good.."  Ps 34:8








This last photo shows that our little Boabab tree is starting to sprout new leaves.  There are trees like this in the north that are huge beyond belief.

Books

In an earlier post, I wrote about a recent visit from representatives of a church in Brazil, who has it origins 50-years ago from Japanese immigrants to Brazil, who were from the OMS-founded church in Japan.  God's network is amazing and cannot be defeated.

The CONIM church in Brazil had purchased books for our seminary.  We were in a bit of a quandary as to how to get the books to us from Brazil.  Our shipment is still not delivered after four months and we cannot help but worry about how to get things here from overseas with any kind of surety. I still painfully remember an entire large book bag of our personal books that never made it to Mozambique.

So, the idea was to experiment, send some this way and some that way.  Well, today, a box mailed to our address in Machava, arrived at the down-town post office in Maputo and somehow they linked the OMS address in Machava to our down-town post office box (that seems close to a miracle!), and dropped a note that we had a package.  Melvin picked it up and took it to the seminary.  One box has arrived - and we pray that the other 9 will as well.

In the photo, Dave, Jim Pickett, and Daniel Maduel are inspecting these new portuguese books that are a huge blessing to the seminary and its students.  Thank you Lord!  Thank you CONIM.  May the other 9 boxes make it as well.  These new and current books - what a wonderful wonderful gift from our brothers and sisters in Brazil.  THANK YOU!

Ann is in this picture also - behind the camera!

We had a very encouraging meeting today with our Seminary Director and we had some really great break-throughs in thinking that left Ann and I very encouraged.  Jim is a great addition to our Mozambique team and we praise God that Jim could join us to lead the seminary while Don is on furlough.  

Blessings.

Dave and Ann

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."  Is 26:3

Church Planting Conference

This past week, we were in Johannesburg, South Africa to attend a church planter's conference at our OMS South African headquarters.  It was a last minute thing that we were invited to by our OMS Regional Director, who is also the head of the OMS South Africa Office.   We attended a similar conference in our first term and it was good to reconnect with church planters from all over Africa.

We each presented the work for our various countries and it was exciting to see how God is moving across Africa.  This program partners with established church denominations in target countries, sharing the vision and strategy for church multiplication as supervised by Africans.  I see great wisdom in the strategy, which functions with minimal missionary support - it's a departure from the standard missionary model, which challenges thinking of lots of people.  However, when I consider the statistics of what has been accomplished with a minimal staff, it is with certainty that this church planting movement, which was birthed out of South Africa, will be remembered as one of the major movings of God's Spirit in our time.  It is exciting to have a small part in such a program.

We heard stories of great and wondrous things in countries that I am not free to mention because of the opposition that might result.  Suffice it to say that Into-Africa is working in approximately 1/2 of the countries in Africa and over 10,000 churches have been planted since the program began around 2003.

In addition, Into-Africa is beginning a pilot program to reach into these churches with training and assistance for the communities covering eight target subject areas, things like healthy living, conflict and crisis, family, HIV training, community mobilization, to mention a few.  A dynamic young couple who were born in Africa but have lived all over the world, bring a energetic and dynamic enthusiasm to this new part of the Into-Africa project as they focus on orphans and the disadvantaged within our churches.  It is the next step in a process of building the church.

I have something like 37 pages of notes from this conference that I need to boil down into things we can carry forth to our Trainers who are training and raising up new leaders throughout Mozambique.  We can include this in our next conference.

This particular conference was in English with translation into French as we had a large number of attendees from French-speaking countries.  Maybe my brain is changing, but I was following some of the French as my high school and college French tried to seep out of my hardened brain!

We stayed in a lovely guest house (bed & breakfast) for the first few days and then moved to the house of some friends of our Director, who also serve on the board of OMS South Africa.  We were blessed to make new friends in South Africa.

We are back in Maputo - our shipment is here, but still not out of the Port.  We hope this will conclude in the next couple of days.

Next to our house today, after a wind storm, a young owl fell to the ground. Interesting fellow and we are hoping the mother owl will keep him fed and protected in the coming days.  He moved around the base of the tree with the shade - it was really hot today; a true scorcher.

We started our day by taking missionary friends to the airport and afterwards unloaded some books we'd make copies of for our trainers and attended church at the church that meets in our Seminary.  It was the first time back at this lovely church since we've returned.  Great sermon by a young man who attends our Saturday certificate-level classes at the seminary.

I'm writing from borrowed Internet - we were so spoiled in South Africa with wonderful access to Internet - still don't have our poor internet situation resolved.  Would appreciate your prayers for this - it just seems so unnecessary (to have this poor service) and we need a reasonable solution.

Blessings to you this Sunday.  Thank you for standing with us.

Dave and Ann

Four Questions to Ponder:
"Where are you?"  Genesis 3:9 - God asks Adam after the fall for He wants relationship and we need relationship with our Creator.
"Where is your brother?" Genesis 4:9 - As God asks what happened to Abel for he cares about each of us and our relationships one with another.
"Who am I?"  Exodus 3:11 as God asks us to recognize who He is.
"What is that in your hand?" Exodus 4:9 - as God shows us that he can use the simple things of life to accomplish great things, for if we understand who He truly is, if we are in relationship with him, and if we are open to what he would have us do, He can accomplish great things through frail people like us, so that only He can receive the glory.  It is not about us, it is all about Him.
(From a devotion given at the church planter conference)

Heartbreak and Culture

In my earlier blog, I mentioned the Brazilian team.  While they were here and occupied with another activity, one evening we went by the main hospital in Maputo to visit the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).   One of our Mozambican friends who has helped us very much over the years with translations and general assistance in circumnavigating the difficult bureaucracy here had married while we were on furlough and his wife had just had twins.  However, one of them was quite small and in the NICU.  The custom here is that the doctors don't tell you much unless you really insist and no one questions them or asks questions.  So, we see things like people with high blood pressure taking arthritis medicine and no one is asking questions.

Anyway, we couldn't get information from the family and Ann (and our dear team-mate Sharon - who has twins) were concerned that perhaps there was something more we could be doing.  So, Ann and I with one of the leaders of one of our churches went up to the unit before visiting hours and were to meet the father there.  We arrived first and even though we weren't supposed to be there, we are those ugly Americans who will talk to anyone.  Fortunately we had a Pastor with us to help us with the cultural things.  The first clue was that the baby's name was not posted on the hand-written list on the window by the door into the unit.  The second clue was that we kept getting the run-around (indirect culture) in the folks we talked to (no HIPA here).  Finally we connected nurse (Ann) to nurse and learned that the baby had passed away around 1 in the morning (it was about 1630 when we climbed the four flights of worn stairs).  The family hadn't been notified yet as the visiting hours didn't start until 1730.

In the culture, they won't tell the parents this information - you must go through an intermediary.  Had the father come up first, they would have told him nothing until an intermediary came.  This may seem odd but in a culture where conflict is resolved through intermediaries, it is consistent.  In our time here, we have seen how intermediaries can often deflect and disarm conflict much better than the directly involve parties, so we can see merit in this as we learn a new normal.  So, because we were there, we became the intermediary and it was our job to tell the parents.  Very very difficult and certainly a glimpse of cultural differences.  The parents had no clue.  The Pastor helped us with the clues and cues, but felt it was culturally our job and we have long learned to trust him.  We thank God for this precious man who loved us through this experience knowing our hearts were heavy yet full of love.

We were waiting in our car when our friend came up and we had to tell him this heart-breaking news.  He entered our car for the privacy it provided in a busy place.  The grief was consuming and after a time of crying and praying together, we went to his car where the mother was waiting with the other twin, who is healthy and beautiful.  Ann sat with her and told her this news.  Then we all cried and prayed together again.  After a time, the Pastor took them home where the family was assembling as notifications were made through text messaging.

In the culture, the next decision is whether to have a funeral / memorial service or to let the hospital "take care of things".   A memorial service was scheduled, but then canceled at the last minute, as the hospital did indeed take care of things.  It is different but in a culture where infant mortality is very high, and baby's are often not named for some time, to be sure they are 'ok', it is not so unusual and we've seen this before.  It is different, it is hard, but can it be anything but hard?  I pray our words were enough for that horrible moment in time, but more importantly that God's peace and comfort reigned in this deepest valley.

A very hard day and the parents will be expected to suck it up and not speak of it again.  Very difficult, very different, but it speaks of cultural difference.  It is important we don't judge - it is not wrong nor is another culture right, it is just different.  The grief is real, it is huge, it is oppressing, and we must put our trust in the God of Hope, for there can sometimes be no words, no answers, and just our love for one another that overflows over a grief that is so strong.

Give them your presence and strength precious Lord.  Accept this child into your arms and shower your peace, love and presence on this precious couple and their surviving baby.   For it is only in you can we place our trust, even in the darkest of places.  Amen.

Dave and Ann

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:11


"Finally brothers,...comfort one another, agree with one another....and the God of love and peace will be with you." 2 Corinthians 13:11

Partnerships

 I am writing today from Johannesburg, South Africa, where Ann and I will be attending training with our Into-Africa church planting OMS colleagues.  We attended training here a few years ago but this year it is at the OMS South Africa headquarters, our first time to visit there.  We were invited by our regional director, who lives in Johannesburg and we were intrigued by the subjects which covered literacy training, mentoring, adult learning, along with the normal church planting strategy training.  So, here we are.  At the time we agreed to come, our shipment was supposedly "in the port" and delivery was to have completed by now, but oops, wrong data and the shipment should have arrived yesterday or today.  With unloading of the ship, the container, and the customs inspections, we may or may not receive our goods this week and our team has graciously agreed to receive them in our absence.

We have always loved OMS for the consistent strategy applied throughout the 100 year history: establish an indigenous evangelical denomination in a country and over a period of years, mentor and grow that denomination into a self-sufficient and growing denomination with a passion to follow the job Jesus gave to the church in Matthew 28: Go and make disciples, locally and in all the world.  About 50 years ago, an OMS work was started in Brazil that is now as the CONIM denomination in Brazil.  God has put the desire into the leaders of CONIM to engage into overseas missions and Mozambique is a logical connection because of the common language (Portuguese - although I struggle to understand Brazilians who make their 'd's' into 'g's', make their 'r's' silent and speak faster than Einstein can think!)   We have details to work out in how we meld OMS with CONIM with OMS-Mozambique but we serve a God of details - from the DNA strands that become a child or the plants who give us oxygen through photosynthesis - no detail is forgotten.

For several years now we have been writing back and forth with the OMS church in Brazil and this last week we were privileged to have two Brazilian pastors and one of our OMS missionaries from Brazil visit for about a week to explore first-hand the work in Mozambique.  Our regional director joined us and it was clear that to make this work, we must think a bit out-side-of-the-box and that always excites me.  There is that old saying that 'if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting'.  We must continue to shift and change, staying relevant in the shifting culture around us.  It is not our nature as humans but we must be willing to embrace change.  While our message doesn't change, how we relate to different cultures truly does and should change.  It has taken me a few years living in another culture to really wrap my mind around that.  (PS - Can you tell who is going to be preaching in our T-3 church in this picture?  In Mozambique, if you wear a tie to church, you're preaching!)

And, as the church sadly diminishes in influence in the northern hemisphere, God is doing great things to raise his church in the southern hemisphere - His work will not be stopped.  Perhaps the craziness in the world right now is that 'one more chance' for people to turn their hearts back to the One who is above all others.  We place our faith in governments and leaders, only to be disappointed?  How easily mankind loses his way in this transient and short thing we call life.

Anyway, we had a great series of meetings with our Brazilian friends and we have laid some ideas on the table on how they can engage in missions in Mozambique, from sending seminary professors, to portuguese training materials, to work teams, to financial assistance from their church to our church, to on-field full-time missionaries.  Really, how cool is this; the circle coming around?  I get really excited because it is my hearts desire that eventually our dear Mozambican church will be able to do the same thing some day!  What an encouragement and vision casting for our Mozambican church leaders here - what a glimpse into the future of their denomination.  The passion and energy of our Brazilian friends was inspiring.

The assignment from our Brazilian friends at this point is for the Mozambique National Church to assign their own priority to the common list of potential partnership areas and we will see what God does with this.  There will be much to work out, as it is one thing to cast vision but an entirely different thing to get the details worked out  -  but pray with us that we will seek ways to break any barriers down and find out ways we can make it work; thus the 'thinking outside the box'.

Jesus film showing in North Mozambique.
Computer/generator/projector hauled in on Motorcycles.

One idea that we kicked around (thank you Bruce) is establishing a ministry partners board in Mozambique where the National Church, OMS, and other stakeholders (such as CONIM if they have people on the field) meet together with equal voice to deal with joint issues that move the overall ministry forward.  To date, we have been too divided - OMS on one side, the National Church on the other, and we walk separately sometimes.  For example, we didn't even engage our National Church about CONIM until late in the process - that isn't right and you could even use the word 'disrespectful' and we have asked forgiveness.  We aren't in a parental-child relationship; we are equal partners seeking to fulfill the assignment of our same High King.  One is not over the other, or we are nothing more than a different kind of colonialist.  We must never be....or as Pastor Jacó so eloquently said, 'we all serve and listen to the same God.  He will direct us together to achieve His ultimate will."  Amen.

But we must do this in humility, for God shows no partiality.

Church in Naritete, Mozambique

Exciting stuff.

Thanks for standing with us.

Dave & Ann


"So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." Acts 10:34


"For God shows no partiality."  Romans 2:11

Church Planting by our Seminary Students

A few blogs ago, I mentioned that our seminary students were actively planting churches around the Maputo area.  Exciting to see and one of our professors, Xavier, is doing a great job heading this up.

The students went out into an area on the outskirts of the Maputo area where we have a small village church.  Based there, they held the normal church planting class and then canvased the neighborhood in groups, visiting nearly 60 houses to share their faith through the use of a survey and see if the people in the house had a Bible or would like one.   To get the Bible, they will need to attend some classes by the students, the end of which, they will receive a new Bible.

Of course, food was involved - important in any culture, as the local church partnered with the visiting seminary students.

It is a great thing to see and exciting to watch the seminary develop tomorrow's leaders!

Thanks Xavier!  Thank you students!

We have no steady income stream for this seminary program.  Is God speaking to you?  See charge number to the right for the Seminary Students.  We're contributing to this personally ourselves as well, ever month because we believe in it and can see God's hand at work!  Join us.

Blessings.

Dave and Ann


I really think God is constantly searching the world, looking for a few people willing to set their pride aside and submit to Him, so He can transform them and through them change the world!