Book Recommendation

I don't recommend a lot of books on the blog, even though I tend to read quite a number of different ones.  One of the better ones recently that I recommend is "Bad Religion" by Ross Douthat.  It is more or less a history of 'religion' in the United States since about World War II, although it reaches back quite a bit.  It is current and ties a lot of things together in a thoughtful way.

Personally, to me, it reads a lot like my life....yup, did that, and that, went to those, attended those, yup - watched that, as I would kind of shake my head at some of my foolishness.

The subtitle is 'a nation of heretics' or something like that so if you are easily offended or so entrenched in what you think, maybe you won't like it - because not too many come off unscathed.  But if you wonder about Penn State, you wonder about the increasing division in the country, you wonder about the decline of America, or maybe you are one of those who sees the parallels between America and pre-exhilic Israel - this book will give you some things to think about.

Fundamentally it is a call back to orthodoxy - or at least that is what I got out of it and that has been kind of in our hearts through this 'dark night of the soul' we have been going through.

Maybe I could start a line of jokes:  "If you think that you have all the answers - then you might be a heretic" - Sounds like the old 'you might be a red neck' jokes.

Anyways, it's a great read that emphasizes the mysteries of the faith:

"What defines orthodoxy from heresy....is a commitment to mystery and paradox...."  Maybe that will 'wet your whistle' along with the quote below that I was surprised to see in a church bulletin last Sunday.

It's available on your ibook / kindle, etc. for a very reasonable price.

Blessings.

Dave

"Thus orthodox Christians insist that Jesus was divine and human all at once, that the Absolute is somehow Three as well as One, that God is omnipotent and omniscient and yet nonetheless leaves us free to choose between good and evil.  They propose that the world is corrupted by original sin and yet somehow also essentially good, with the stamp of its Creator visible on every start and sinew.  They assert that the God of the Old Testament, jealous and punitive, is somehow identical to the New Testament's God of love and mercy.  They claim that this same God sets impossible moral standards and yet forgives every sin.  They insist that faith alone will save us, yet faith without works is dead.  And they propose a vision of holiness that finds room in God's kingdom for all the extremes of human life - fecund families and single-minded celibates, politicians and monastics, queens as well as beggars, soldiers and pacifists alike."  Ross Douthat, Bad Religion

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

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

New Year Covenant

What a winter it has been - we've been snowed-in in South Carolina for the past two days - how can that be? This is South Carolina for heaven's sake! The ice age has returned - wooly mammoths are around the corner chased by sabertooth tigers. I'd better get my spear sharpened and my traps set.

Our hosts have told us that we have to leave - we bring bad weather with us where-ever we go!

This past Sunday evening we attended a special covenant renewal service. We've had the fortune to attend this special service two different years. The teaching by Sinclair Ferguson came from Lamentations 3:22-27 with the following points:

1. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

2. God's mercies are unending and they are new every morning

3. His faithfulness is so very great.

This was after contextualizing this book, which was written after Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians, and the world as they knew it had completely ended. The unthinkable had happened; the judgement of God had come.

The message focus was on God's faithfulness, and with that we renewed the following covenant that I would like to challenge our readers with as well:

THE COVENANT

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will,

Place me with whom you will.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering;

Let me be employed for your or laid aside for you,

Exalted for you or brought low for you.

Let me be full, let me be empty;

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things

To your pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

You are mine and I am yours. May it be so!

And may the covenant which I have made

here on earth

Be confirmed in heaven.

Amen.

May this be your covenant and prayer for this new year.

Dave & Ann

"Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see:

All I have needed thy hand has provided

Great is they faithfulness, Lord, unto me."

from the hymn we all know.....

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

Attached are some pictures of the Mocuba Training Center project as of last Friday. We are still waiting on Afrodrill to advise us on the next step. They have put us off week after week, which is easy I suppose since they have 1/2 the cost of the well in their account. Quite fustrating and at this point and they would not get a good recommendation from me as someone to do business with.

The photos show making/getting stone for foundation work, fencing work around the property and the current status of the first structure. We are quite pleased with the project and continue to pray that the work will be completed within our three to four month period we planned. Keep praying about the water situation. The workers are very dedicated and have 'a mind to work' and we continue to pray for their protection, safety, and wisedom for Belarmino as he heads the work.

Today we attended church in our Maputo City church and a guest pastor from the Ivory Coast spoke. He preached in English and his wife translated into Portuguese. I especially enjoyed the sermon today, first because it was easy to understand but also because he used the exact same verses I had used for a sermon I had done in the North and he challenged me from another angle. I just love how God's word is so alive that way! It was a great time but the most exhillarating thing was how at the end of the service, seven new people stepped forward to profess with their mouth and believe in their heart that Jesus is Lord.

This evening, a couple we are working with who are preparing for a June wedding dropped by for dinner and to just talk. We asked alot of questions and got to know this couple a little better. We did a short Bible study, had a great dinner, visited, and I ran them home. I had to go through four police roadblocks in the process and there was an awful lot of action tonight out on the streets. I wouldn't have dreamed of driving through those areas a couple of years ago at night but now it seems like normal. Funny how your sense of normal shifts over time. Is this like the lobster in the pot???? Anyway, we had a great evening with them and we gave them some homework to do before we meet with them again.

I'm beside myself on what to do with our car. We have a couple headed here from Ireland and I have this car that sometimes starts, sometime doesn't, and there is no rhyme or reason. It has let us down in some not very nice places and that is getting a bit old. I priced a new starter and we're talking $1000 US just for the starter. I'm negotiating with a Toyota dealership in South Africa on a rebuild kit for the starter switch (like a solenoid) on the motor itself as a next step although technically, we've had this done a number of times now without success although I think the rebuild was really just taking it apart and cleaning it and putting it back together.

We've been chasing this problem for over a year now - tried to get it fixed numerous times but it is one of those intermittent problems that drive mechanics insane. I have had success pounding the starter with a metal rod and a hammer to reset the switch when it won't start, but even that doesn't work any more. If I stay on the bumpy roads, I do better because we jar the thing to death, but when we are driving in the city, the roads are so good now, that we aren't constantly jarring it, so it doesn't start when we turn it off.

In my old life, I'd be at the time where you trade it in on something more reliable. But, it doesn't quite work that way in the missionary enterprise. I think we will have to raise additional funding for another vehicle for when we return on furlough. At the rate we're going, we'll be pouring the same amount of money into what we have!

I'm sure I haven't been praying for patience......!!!!

Thanks for reading. Hope you had a great Sunday. Thank's for standing with us so faithfully. It is the gifts and prayers of our dear support base that make it possible. We are so humbled by everyone's faithfulness to us.

Dave & Ann

"So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work." Ne 4:6

Sunday at Sao Damaso

This morning we attended church in Sao Damasco, probably the closest OMS-related church from where we live - it's about a 10-minute drive through on sand roads. It is a strictly Shanghanna speaking church but when we come, they do some translation into Portuguese for us. When Pastor Alfredo speaks, like today, I (Dave) have to be right on top of the message because he loves to ask me questions in the middle of the sermon and then stop to wait for my response. Talk about a pregnant silence - I'm processing the question and thinking about where he might be going with the question while everyone turns and looks to see what the missionary is going to say. And, if I'm lucky, Ann is whispering next to me confirmation of what she thought the question was - two heads are better than one, or as I say to many here, with me you get 1/2 a mind, with Ann you get 1/2 a mind, but together, we equal one mind. It's a part of the marriage covenant, correct?

He did that today a couple of times, but at least I didn't give a goofy answer like I have in the past when I was doing good just to recognize he was asking me a question! Progress.... He asked if I wanted to preach as is what normally happens but we try to take a back-seat roll on Sunday's. He has prayed about and prepared for his message; he should give it. But, we try to always be flexible because there is no telling how God will move on Sunday mornings!

We were pleased to see that the church had combined resources and poured a small concrete 'stage' area in the front of the church as it shows they are taking responsibility for the church and not waiting for the mission to provide something. That speaks huge progress in this society of handouts and I praise God for this. You can see to the right of the picture of Pastor Thomas before the service that they were about one sack short of cement as there is a little bit of dirt left on the right side. During the service, they put a reed matt over the dirt and used it as the place to lay the sleeping children.

It was a birthday for two people and so they had cake and juice after the service with delicious chocolate frosting. It was a part on Sunday in the church, which something I always enjoy about church here - spontaneous and you never know what to expect. ALTHOUGH, somedays we cry for a little more routine, when we leave the church four or five hours after it started!

Today, one of the special older ladies of the church was sick and not attending, which is very unusual. After the cake and part, we were to walk to the house of the sick lady to pray. But, everyone wanted me to drive them. So, a ton of kids piled into the back of our vehicle and a bunch of ladies in the back-seat, and a couple of more kids and Ann in the front and we tried to back out but sinking with the weight into the deep sand. It took four-wheel low and we slowly backed out and headed down the road. The Pastor had walked on to the house with the rest of the church and one of the elder ladies who spoke no Portuguese was assigned to provide directions to the house. The directions consistent of a hand pointed in one direction or the other and a grunt. Finally the kids started translating 'go right' or "straight-ahead" and so one and soon we were at the house at what amounted to an alleyway.

I looked at the alleyway and at the front of the car, thinking there is no way this wide car will go through the narrow space or that tree-stump. But the grunting had gotten more emphatic and the pointing more direct and now the kids were cheering - go go go. So, back to four-wheel low and slowly through the space, sticker bushes slidding along the side of the car, chickens running for their lives, and branches from fruit trees banging the rack on top of the car. We emerged in a courtyard of two houses where everyone piled out (we could have parked on the road!).

We entered the house as we have done so many times in the past and prayed for this dear lady, singing songs for her, praying, and laying hands. Ann laid hands also, but I suspect there was a bit more diagnostic touching going on as well as afterwards she gave me the medical assessment that she thought this dear lady would be fine! We were all reminded that a short year ago, we had done the same thing for dear Pastor Alfredo's wife who we thought might not survive her bout with malaria - she was actually on death's door, but God answered our prayers and she has since had a lovely baby. God hears the prayers of his people.

We gave rides on the way home, with a few kids hanging on the back, but all in all a great day to worship and the extreme heat seeming to not bother us as much as in the past. And, it afforded some special time to talk to and encourage the church leadership. There are two leaders in this church, both who work and work as a team to lead this small village church. God is growing this church; there are always visitors when we visit. Changing Mozambique, one-life at a time.

This last photo is one the way back when we got behind a small truck moving a household. The guys in the back were taking pictures of us with their cell phones, waving, and hooting at us, so Ann whipped out her camera and took their picture. They all started laughing and waving from that point on until we turned off down another little sand road.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

"Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. yo'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to is leel of immaturity. God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." Romans 12:2 - The Message version

Heart Break

We've had a problem brewing for a while now and it recently reached a head when one of our trainer's wife showed up all battered at the house of a friend. The charge was that the husband returned in the wee hours of the morning drunk and in the ensuing argument, he beat her. The police got involved and the entire neighborhood knows about it. Our church leaders sprung into action and the couple received counseling and warnings and after a week in the home of one of our other leaders, they returned to their assigned home (to our chagrin) and it lasted two nights before the same scenario happened again. Drama that maligns the cause of Christ. It is heart-breaking and beyond understanding for someone who teaches others.

The culture here is unbelievably tolerant of things like this. I was discussing it with church leadership here in Maputo, and was basically told that this has been a problem in the past with this individual even before we got here and they thought it had been resolved. And I'm screaming inside "and you thought it was ok to send him with minimal supervision to a new province??? What were you thinking????" Somehow we 'missed that memo' and it is another picture of the tension of being a missionary. Hard as we try to be in the culture, we remain at a certain distance not because we want to but because - we are. I think it would take a lifetime. When leadership falls here, it is not only tolerated but almost expected.

But is that really so different than any other culture? The newspapers the world over are repleat with stories of corruption and moral failure of leadership. People in leadership start thinking they are somehow "different" or "better" than someone else when we know well that the Bible says that all are under sin, 'that no one is righteous, not even one...' (Romans 3:10)

Things like this are so difficult because you expect things to be different in the church, but in reality the church will mirror society to a certain degree because the church is made up of all of us flawed individuals. We've had four other moral failures with people in leadership over the past year. We've also had two cases of gonorrhea recently with married church members who look us in the eye (seeking medical advise) and say "I didn't fool around with anyone in the past two weeks". Well, someone did! God grant me the wisdom to speak the truth in love. And in these cases, it grieves us as if you have gonorrhea, the odds that you also contracted HIV is problably close to certain. It is heart-breaking and it is also simply bewildering.

People are drawn to those transformed through the life-changing power of Christ. It is something people desire, but it also requires a commitment to live holy lives, making those choices that are not always popular in the culture. God gives you the power but it is not something you can fake - though we can try it will only last so long. We must take up our cross daily, pray daily, seek His face daily, for our enemy roams around seeking whom he can devour. It's also probably no accident the verse below starts with the words "be sober, be vigilant."

Father in Heaven, strengthen our dear Mozambican church to seek your face daily for You and You alone are our source of strength as we face the challenges of life in any culture. Strengthen us in Your Calling and help us stand strong in these difficult times. Use us oh Lord for your name's sake. Amen.

Dave & Ann

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8

Back to Language School

While our Portuguese has been improving all the time and we can function in the culture, our speaking is still crude and basic. Our comprehension is decent both reading and listening, but we really speak poorly with regard to accent and sentence structure. As an example, I sat next to an English-speaker in church this morning and was able to translate the sermon into English for her, but in the midst of all that, the preacher decided to ask me point blank a question and in the midst of the translating, I realized he was asking me a question directly. Now somewhere in all of it, I missed a vital piece of information and pretty much missed the question and then he used a little different bit of language. The question was basically, can you work for two masters? But what I heard was can you do two different jobs at the same time. So I missed the intent of the question and didn't help him too much in his technique of seeking audience participation! It all worked out, but it is an example; I knew enough to translate the gist of the sermon, but got pinned on the matt with a question that was worded just a bit differently than I expected, and I missed the meaning.

In addition, there are a couple of tenses that Portuguese uses that we don't even have in English, so that kind of stretches the mind a little also. In the end, there is also just alot of plan memorization - no way around it.

We have been able to move things around sufficiently with our work here, that we think we can make time to once again enter into language school. Because of the unusual situations we found ourselves since arriving here, we have not been able to give language the time it truly deserves. So, last week, Ann set up an appointment with the Language Institute in Maputo. We went on Friday and were evaluated as to our proficiency (tested!). We talked the entire time in Portuguese but they were asking tricky questions and we didn't do as well as we would have liked - a lesson in humility! We signed a contract with the Institute and start classes on Tuesday. We will have to juggle some things around and it will limit our availability for other things, but it is really important to do this. We will go four days a week for the next three months - kind of intense, but so very important.

We also think this will be better than meeting in our home as those lessons in the past have drifted off point and became more of a time of fellowship as opposed to structure language learning - both approaches have their place and value, but we're ready for some disciplined study outside our home.

The sermon in church this morning was from Acts Chapter 2 - about Pentecost and where people were gathered from all over and as the disciples preached, everyone heard the message in their own language. In addition, it says the disciples were filled with the Spirit and speaking in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. It would have been great to have been just blessed with the inate ability to speak another language, like magic!, but in our case, it is going to take disciplined study, practice, and more study. That's perfectly ok but wouldn't that be nice!

We're looking forward to the class with a new instructor (his name is Junior) and pray that we can move quickly through the material we know and that our tired old brains will assimulate the new information quickly! I think I've forgotten enough other stuff I knew that their should be room in my brain now for new langauge words!! ;-) We're especially hoping that we'll get lots of help with our pronounciation; we speak with a horrible accent!

So I can add a picture today!, we did ship seven boxes of Bibles in various tribal dialects north today to our church planter / teachers in the north. Included in one of the boxes is the wedding dress that we loan out from time to time. The first place we stopped and have used in the past didn't have a bus going where we needed the boxes taken until Friday. That won't work because the wedding is Saturday. So, we went down the the crazy "Junta" where there is the chaos of busses parked in a dirt parking lot where you wander around trying to find your bus. It went well and they weighed and stuck our boxes on top of the bus; they should arrive on Tuesday. The system is that they load the bus and sell the tickets the day before it leaves - so this bus, headed to Nampula, will leave about four in the morning tomorrow, stopping to unload (we hope!) in Mocuba. It's almost become 'old hand' going into that place that scared us to death the first couple of times we would go there. So that is progress! The crazy Junta seems quite orderly to me now, now that I understand the way it works and that I can communicate now! After we visited with Mike Thiessen at the airport (he left today), we drove back by the Junta and saw our boxes still on top of the big bus - and the stack of cargo on top of the bus was easily about 12 feet high so far; I really should have taken a picture of that!

Blessings to you!

Dave & Ann

"Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language." Acts 2:5-6

Water Projects

I don't think we would ever be able to describe a 'normal' day here as each one is so different and generally so unpredictable. We try to schedule some relatively routine things as we both need some structure in our lives, but even those things seem to be elusive much of the time. One thing I really look forward to is Wednesdays when we work with our Khongolote pre-school leadership. We're getting a good handle on the finances of the pre-school and I hope we are making a little bit of a difference. It is also alot of fun to be with all the kids there. Today while I was working with Carlos, Ann and Kimberly sat under the trees with the ladies talking and making plans for the next church-wide women's meeting. We squeeze all this in during the kid's naptime and it is always fun to sneak a peek at all this stored energy as they sleep! When we leave, that energy is starting to be released!

On the way we stopped at our church at Sao Damasco and we were happy to see the water line finally going in. We have been planning for this for some time and now there is a water tap on the church property that can be used by church members and the community to get water. The church still has some details to work out on managing the water as there is a counter and there will be a bill. In the first photograph we are talking about the job, in the second we see the two water company fellows working on the counter, and in the last photo, you see the small group of children watching our every move. They got some balloons out of the deal.

This good water source will well serve the church and as we've said so many times - it is the fundamental thing needed for good health - clean water. At the end of the day we passed back by and the job was complete and the water in use. Thank you Lord!

Blessings!

Dave & Ann

"...while three-quarters of the Earth's surface is covered with water, less than one percent (0.37% to be exact) of that water is drinkable. Furthermore groundwater, where we place pumps for wells, only accounts for 0.28% of freshwater across the globe. " Global Water Cycle and Supplies - University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire web page

Sermons

Sometimes we just get lonely for a good sermon or church service in English. One of the blessings we receive are sermon CDs from supporting churches. On our last trip north for example, we listened to a series on "Building Strong Foundations" - 8 weeks worth. We would listen to one after the other, singing along, watching the Mozambique country side pass by, and enjoying and talking about each message. Often we would go back and play the songs two or three times, recognizing the voices of our friends, singing along often with tears streaming down our faces. We did 5 services in a row at one point, thoroughly enjoying each one and being challenged in our work here with accountable relationships, radical generousity, worship, leadership - so any topics with such direct applicability to any church in any place. And just the predicable order of the service was comforting as compared to the chaos we experience here. It was just plain encouraging and we felt recharged as a result.

Today, we were still hungry for some English teaching and listened to the first four of a series on marriage and relationships that was a special blessing as the key to successful ministry often comes down to relationships. The series was based on the "Fireproof" movie that we've seen. We took notes and after each CD we took turns talking about our own marriage and relationships. Some of the points we would say "no problem with that one" but then on others we'd have to admit that after 30 plus years of marriage, we still struggle with "that one". Or, in relationships - we do ok on "that point" but boy we really need to work on "this point". Before we knew it, six hours had passed and darkness had come, two pots of coffee had passed (oops - sorry), and we'd had a special time of prayer and lots of good conversation. Thank you Lord for your presence and help this day.

It made for a good and special Sabbath day. Thank you Lord for all those wonderful individuals, families, and churches who make it possible for us to serve you here; may we be always proven faithful.

One church we know always ends their services with the words "now let's go be the church". I just love that and can only say:

Amen.

Blessings all - lets go be the church this week.

Dave & Ann

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ...." Ephesians 5:21