Celebrating Graduations in Mocuba

In previous postings, I have written about the evangelism and church planting program we were privileged to participate in during our time in Mozambique.  The program consists of a four-year structured program where church leaders were trained.  These young men and women start churches in their communities and at the conclusion of their training, can be ordained as pastors in their denomination, assuming they have a good testimony and meet the other requirements outlined in the New Testament.

Juka, our church planting program coordinator sent us the wonderful photos of the graduation ceremonies in Mocuba.  Denominational leaders made the long journey from Maputo to participate in the special event.

We received the photographs with joy at this milestone in the church planting program in Mozambique, but also with heavy sadness because we were not there to share in the joy of the event that culminates what we were working on the past years.  Yet at the same time, they are doing a great job and it remains clear that our time there has concluded.  What a privilege it has been - truly.

You will notice that the meeting is under a temporary structure built from the roofing material that was blown off of the training center in the recent cyclones that passed through Mozambique.

 As it is the tradition in Mozambique, the graduates received a special shirt / covering identifying them as the graduates and they also received Bibles and books to celebrate the day.

The graduates were honored by sitting at the front of the assembly.

One of our most prolific church trainer / planters, Dinis, is shown in the white shirt at the front of the assembly in a couple of the photos as he was a key participant in the event.  Dinis was one of the leaders ordained in a special service last fall in Maputo that we had the privilege of participating in.

In this photo, Juka Fernando is on the right and next to him is denominational leader Daniel Maduel, who also teaches in the seminary in Maputo, and who made the long journey to participate in the wonderful event.  Daniel was the keynote speaker.

In this photograph, Juka Fernando and his wife Elina are passing out the gifts and certificates.

As you can see, our precious church leaders did a marvelous job of hosting and setting up this event.  We are so very proud of them.

With much love,

Dave & Ann

 "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.  Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus."  2 Timothy 2:1-3

"...guard what has been entrusted to your care...."  1 Timothy 6:20


Father God, bless them, guard them, and keep them as they serve you in Mozambique.  Amen

Beautiful New Jersey

I'm a little behind in my blog entries. Last week we had the privilege of participating in a 4-day missions conference in Lafayette, N.J. This part of NJ is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and is quite a secret I think as few people think of incredible beauty when they think of New Jersey. Our hosts lived on a small far not far from the church and we were comfortable and spoiled with homemade rasbberry jam, pies to die for, and fresh things from the farm. We were so comfortable there we were ready to plant roots and stay. One of the Pastor's wives is fluent in Portuguese and a teacher of Portuguese, and we are praying about spending a bit more time in that area before we return to work on language some more. We think this will be time well spent before returning to Mozambique.

Our daughter (1 of 4) joined us for most of the weekend. We were greatly encouraged by the teaching, the speakers, the prayer time, the other missionaries, and the sincere interest in what God is doing in Mozambique. When we talked with people, they knew about Mozambique, about what we were doing, and the details that spoke volumes - they read our notes and letters, and were engaged with us - wow, what an encouragement! This church also supports an incredible work in Kenya at Tenwick hospital and just like four years ago, after hearing all that was happening at this hospital in rural Kenya, you want to jump up and say 'send me Lord!'. We knew some of the missionaries from the conference four years ago and it was very good to see them again and catch up! We left encouraged, invigorated, and truly blessed. God used this wonderful four days to remind us that it is His work and that His work extends across this world in more ways than we can even begin to comprehend.

One of the activities with the church was to go to a large corn maze. When I say 'large', whatever you are thinking is too small. We were given about two hours in this place with strict instructions to be out by 1430. At 1430, we were hopelessly lost but we thought moving in the right direction. Finally we were rescued - the rats in the maze found their way out. We turned in our forms (there were stations you had to find with questions to complete) and received our prizes - fresh apples. On the way out, we couldn't resist the photograph of being lost in the maize! (spelling intentional!).

As a final note, our hosts in Pennsylvania work with a program called Christian Service Brigade (CSB), which is a program designed to raise leaders through men working with boys. The church we were at uses this program and we talked with several young men, now in college, who were impressive young men seeking God's will for their futures. They were fruit of people investing in youth for a lifetime through discipleship, training, and their presence, which will take me to my next entry!

Blessings!

Dave & Ann

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

"....fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4

Translations

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you Lord for this wonderful answer to prayer.

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

More on Language

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Simple Things that aren't Simple

We have been buried with a crisis that caught us completely by surprise. A simple thing really.

I've written previously about our mission changing its name to One Mission Society (still OMS) to update the image, modernize, and better present the long-standing purpose of OMS. We just sent our prayer letter in for publishing (to arrive at your box soon!) and it is with the new logo.

In our minds a simple change....so we mentioned it to some of our Mozambican friends and they said, oh my Gosh, you need to let the Department of Religious Affairs know as soon as possible so they don't hear it from someone else. Name changes here are a BIG DEAL. So, we wrote a simple letter, attached our president's letter (translated) and went down to tell them about it but "no worries" we are still OMS.

Well,,,,,,,not so fast. After we were all done explaining, they put their hands on the table and said, that's all well and good, but what is the REAL reason you are changing your name? Very unsettling. We thought we settled it all and went one our way, only to be called back in a few days later to go through it again, what is the REAL reasons you are changing your name? Financial problems, going out of business, merging with someone else, major change of personnel, bankruptcy is looming, what is the REAL reason. And, if we want to change our name, we have to go back and to all the things again that two of our colleges spent 15 years doing to get us registered. The hint was very very clear: Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? Plus, we got homework to write a paper about how we inside the country decided to change the name - explaining that the direction did not indeed come from outside the country. In the government's eye here, we are separate and independent and they do no want outside folks telling us how to do business in Mozambique. I have to admit that I like that but it was certainly a surprise. After researching some of the older legal documents here, we are indeed independent and responsible to the government here more than we realized. It was a very valuable thing to review and reconsider.

After lots of talk and research, we really don't have to change our name here (thank you Lord). It is amazing how such a little thing can actually jeapordize the entire work. Wow, but that is the legal reality and we want to walk carefully and not make unnecessary waves.

So, tomorrow we go back to try and retract our letter and say 'never mind' and be extremely thankful, recognizing they were trying to help and guide us in the indirect way of the culture that we learn to appreciate more every day.

That has delayed our trip north - we hope to go in a few days and are mostly prepared.

Pray for us for this meeting tomorrow and our subsequent travel. We will be out-of-touch for a few weeks but are looking forward with great anticipation to being with our church planting workers in the north of Mozambique.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann
OMS International - Mozambique!

"Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name." Ps 86:11

Project Update and a Little on Thanksgiving

We're literally hours away from a quick trip home to visit our daughters in the States. We look forward to seeing our girls but at the same time, there are so many thinigs happening here - there is never a convenient time. We will be centered in South Carolina and don't expect to travel very much beyond arriving in Alabama (Dave's mom and sister), South Carolina (Sarah / Allison), Tennessee (Ann's brother and Lynsey) and then back to Alabama for the return. We need some time away and with our precious family and are looking forward to the break, hoping I remember how to drive on the other side of the road.

With this said, I am not sure how our Internet access will be in the coming weeks so if it seems that we have dropped off the face of the earth, we haven't really. Thank you so very much for standing so faithfully with us.

We have a couple of things coming together here in Mozambique in our absence:

1. Next Tuesday, the fellows are coming to fix the water well at Intaka and Belarmino is tasked with ensuring that the well bolts are welded in place and that there is very good security for the well. We will begin digging a new well in Mocuba next year (Project 407670 - Water for Life)

2. We are doing an upgrade to the church at Mavalene, which has out-grown its current space. The church meets in a lean-two next to Pastor Abel's house. We will extend to metal roof to provide more space out of the rain / sun and extend the wall up against the roof. They have an all-night prayer service on 12/31 and normally people in the area throw things over the wall, such as bottles, which can be dangerous to those in the church. (Project 405770 - Mavalane)

3. Marcos Zito's wedding on December 19. (Project 403960 - Moz. Benevolence)

4. OMS Advisor's meeting on December 4.

5. Juka is doing a training session with the Trainers next week in the Mocuba area before they gravel back to Maputo later in the month (to arrive in time for the wedding). He has some business to settle in Nampula relative to our church planting work there and they will leave from Nampula because they can be assured of a seat on the bus if they start there, rather than catching it in Mocuba. So - an extra days travel to assure yourself of a seat.

(photo of Turkeys with Turkeys!)

Thanksgiving (photo above is Jason, Tristen, and Rachel - our adopted kids.)

In the past, we have had Thanksgiving celebrations where we invited various friends to eat Turkey and cranberry sauce, something not eaten much here. It is a great holiday for cross-cultural sharing and participation but this year was a bit different. We decided with the time-pressures in preparation of departing, we would have a smaller celebration here where we live with the two other missionary families near us. Then, other missionary friends found out about it the next thing we knew we had a ton of people coming. Ann decorated the house with Thanksgiving things and we especially noticed that all the children seemed to especially enjoy seeing (and eating!) all the food. Our open grounds allowed them to run and there were all sorts of games in progress all over the place. It made our hearts sing to see all these children running and laughing all around the house. Just before everyone arrived, we managed to change the oil and serviced Aimee's car and then devote the afternoon and evening to eating the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Three turkey's 'gave their all' and some other turkeys did the carving! ;-)

We ate outside in the shade and generally enjoyed a general break from the routine chaos. We had missionaries from seven different agencies, all joined together for a common cause, to spread the gospel. Especially special was Jason and Rachel (and Tristen) coming down from Xai-Xai to spend two nights with us. We love this couple as if they were our own kids and Ann especially enjoyed cooking with Rachel in preparation for Thanksgiving. Tristen calls us Grandpa and Grandma, and who can resist that? They brought this amazing ham (hard to find in with Moslems owning most of the shops!) that disappeared in nothing flat and was clearly the favorite item on the table!

After a few games, we moved over to the Hulsey's house to enjoy a buffet of deserts and look at Don Hulsey's photographs of his dive trip last weekend swimming with sharks big enough to swallow him in a single gulp. Beautiful photographs and I am always so engaged by his enthusiasm for diving. He says he cannot help but worship God when he sees the beauty and wonder of the life that is teaming underneath the waves of the ocean. The photos are remarkable.

It was such a blessed day and I could not help but give thanks in my mind over and over again. It was a great time of ministry to a wonderful missionary community, all who have dedicated their lives to the cause of Christ. The people in this photograph below represent seven different mission agencies doing work in Mozambique.

"Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth....Enter His gates wth thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name...." Psalm 100

Week's Summary

I have suddenly realized I haven’t written in the past week. I’ve started a couple of times but struggled with the topics, wrestling with what I want to write but you’ll have to wait for the book! I have a lot of topics I want to write about but need to understand so much more to provide any kind of realistic perspective or suggested solution, so I just ponder and try to gain experience. As the story goes, the young pup asked the aged man how did he get so good at making good decisions? The old man pondered the question a while and answered “from making bad decisions.” So, we’re still in the ‘making bad decisions mode’ so any book at this point would have little use to anyone! However, at 56, there’s not a lot of time left to become experienced so maybe that book will have to be written by a young pup who perseveres for 30 or so years. I think my friends Jason and Rachel may be the ones to write the book about 25 years from now except they already seem to be in the 'good decision' phase.

But I ramble. Much of our time the past week has been about administration. It was a week of reporting and we still aren’t done. Normal stuff that seems to take a lot more of our time than we would like (I’m sure many of you can relate to this!). In addition, we are entering our busy time of visitors and that always takes quite a bit of preparation and we have a Seminary dedication this Saturday and it seems that we’ll think of ‘something else we need to do’ right up to the moment of the service. So, it’s hard to write something spiritual about ‘do we have enough table cloths for the food,’ or ‘are the speakers all lined up,’ or ‘ooh, we didn’t know they were coming and where will we house them’ kind of things.

Wednesday our short-term computer wizard, Mike Gaunt, went with me to Khongolote and he checked out some problems they have been having with the computer we are using to manage the finances of the pre-school. He did some testing and some ‘tweaking’ and basically gave the computer a ‘thumbs up’ except for one small problem. There is no fan inside the casing. In addition, mice or rats had gotten in the casing and eaten a few wires before they blocked the hole! Anyway, Mike did his magic and everything is working well again except that we need to get a fan in the casing. When the guys at Khongolote did their upgrades to the computer, they removed the fan for some reason and so it was running slow because of heat buildup. Good thing it is winter here! He didn’t have a fan but it is an easy addition later on. It does make me wonder what happened to the fan. When I originally brought the computer out and put the second hard-drive in it and got it going, I know there was a fan in it. So, where did it go? Maybe the mice are more clever than I thought….

We also visited with Ricardo and Olga for a little while, the first time since they left the denomination a few months back. I just showed up with Mike, who knew them, and it provided a great opportunity to catch up and extend the hand of friendship. I still have my list of questions but that will wait for another more private time. They are pastoring a small church near one of our churches and actually we’re losing a few people to them. I suppose it should bother me, but it doesn’t at all. I know R&O very well; he is a good Pastor; and the people are in church and he is a dynamic leader so whether it be in one of our churches or another, it’s ok as long as the Word is being preached and lives are being transformed. My issue is more of wanting to fully understand what really happened and learning from it (see paragraph one above!).

Our short termer wanted to travel a bit in Mozambique and so we agreed to take him north to the city of Xai-Xai. I thought it would be good for him to experience the Bible School there as well as the agricultural project they have going to support the Bible School. In addition, we wanted him to meet the young couple running it as we thought he might enjoy a ‘younger’ perspective. So that was a quick two-day trip north. The photo is one we took of the beautiful undeveloped coastline near the Bible College. Breath-takingly beautiful. Mozambique has miles and miles and miles of rugged undeveloped coast line.

For me, one of the highlights was Jason and Rachel's ‘new’ second car. A fellow near them rebuilds VW beetles. They had bought a 1956 rebuilt Beetle. What many of you may not know is that my first car was a ½ 1962 other half 1963 VW beetle (two wrecked cars welded together but that is another story) that I did just about everything to. I was in heaven and couldn't wait to tinker! Jason had lots of questions and as we tinkered on the engine, it all started coming back to me about the carburetor rebuilding, adjusting valves, and all the tinkering those old models required. So, we started in to it and lost all sense of time. It wasn’t running exactly right and through our tinkering, it was running like a champ after a couple of hours and I don’t think I’ve smiled like that in a long time. But, things have changed, we got on the Internet and were able to look up part numbers and the like and I think their car is more like the Johnny Cash Cadillac from the song (It’s a 1962, 63, 64, 65, etc…..) The carburetor was a 1970, the engine a 1956, the rear deck 1975 plus, the rear fenders 1968, bumpers – who knows but certainly not 1956, I’ll guess 69. What a hoot it was. I got to drive it and I felt like I was 16 again for just a brief moment the memories flashed back - oh my. And everyone just loves it and waves and smiles as you drive by or was it my grin from ear to ear?! It was only $1500 and voila, a second car for when the other is in the shop – problem solved for few dollars. And they are great in the sand and mud (is why people make them into dune buggies!). So, that was probably a highlight of my week although it isn’t very spiritual!

We did start a fire in the engine while we were working on it; I only mention it here because if I didn’t, Ann would have to make mention of it. We did the manly thing and tried to blame it on two-year old Tristen who had climbed in and fiddled with the ignition while we were working on it – but the second fire when he wasn’t in the car ruined that idea! Just a wee problem with a wire that had no insulation on it and was grounding – we fixed it, but it was a bit exciting at the time....causing Jason to rightfully question my prowess as a 1956 VW mechanic. We came up with a list of the basic tools he needs to tinker with it and I just may have to make routine trips to Xai-Xai to satisfy my desire to make/tinker/fix cars (and see my surrogate grandson!).

Sunday, we went back to Intaka for church and to assist with communion as they had requested during our last visit. We arrived early but no leaders were there, in fact, they didn’t show at all. We asked about it but no one was sure. One of the ladies took charge and we worked with her to prepare for a communion service. We had a wonderful time of worship, prayer, and song followed by communion. The service is in the tribal language as many do not know Portuguese. I recruited one lady from the congregation to assist me with translating, but she had a difficult time understanding me. So, she became the Bible reader. A second lady whom we knew a little better and who understood my terrible accent volunteered to help me and so the three of us did the talking. Afterwards, I invited the preacher to come speak, only to find out that he didn’t show. I learned long ago to always be prepared with a message and this week had especially done some preparing in case. God knew and helped us through the language and although I did struggle with words, God was gracious and helped me with words I didn’t know I knew. I had gotten up quite early Sunday to study and pray, and had spent quite a bit of time reviewing Portuguese and some of the words I commonly mix up and wouldn’t you know that I needed each of those words. God doesn’t 'call the equipped, He equips the called'. Thank you Lord.

After Ann finished all her community health consults, we headed home, passing by two of the missing leader’s homes – one was traveling according to his children, probably a funeral although they wouldn’t say. The second was home and we talked for a while and listened to a long story of how one of his children (11 year old girl) didn’t return from school on Friday and he had spent day and night looking for her – finally found her. Because of this, he didn’t return home until 3 in the morning Saturday and so he decided to not go to the church. Certainly understandable, but I still don’t quite understand the story because he has young children at his house and this daughter lives at another house and ……well, after traveling in circular discussion for a while, I decided we might pursue it a bit more later when we weren’t all so tired! Thankfully the daughter was safe at home although there is some sort of Tribunal (judge) review this week about it all because the police were involved with the search. So, you probably think I’m some sort of crazy, but honestly, I understood all the words he was saying, but the conversation traveled in a circle as it often does when they don’t quite want you to know everything, and you have to just let it lay for the time being. He certainly didn’t have to tell me anything and we are thankful that everyone is ok. The rest of the story will probably come later, as is usually the case. But there seem to be some red flags flying…..

Today we spent precious time with our wonderful seminary guys; getting reports on the classes in progress; meeting and planning this weekend’s events and doing quite a bit of phone work. The days go by so quickly. In the morning we hope to finalize our review and comment on the church discipline draft before going to our team business meeting. Juka should be arriving tomorrow or the next day from the north also – somehow we must squeeze in significant time with him about our church planting program. He will also want our comments on the discipline!

Blessings,

Dave & Ann

“Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.” Romans 14:5 (The Message)

New Missionary Arrives

We are pleased to announce that Aimee Howarth has arrived as a new missionary joining our team here in Mozambique. She is coming to do women's ministry and has a real heart to move to northern Mozambique. We joined the Weils to meet her at the airport and unfortunately another Kodak camera has crashed and burned so I have no pictures! No more of that brand....We were all set to get a welcome picture but - no luck.

[late entry - However, I did get a picture when we took her around the next day! (late addition). Aimee is on the left next to Ann and our dear friend Kimberly is on the right in the snoopy shirt. Kimberly is staying with us a week while her parents, who work for another mission and are very close friends, minister in northern Mozambique at a conference.]

Aimee arrived for her two-year assignment with only two duffle bags and a carry on. Oh to be young again!

We had a wonderful time getting reacquainted at the Weils and will take her around with us some tomorrow. She is already asking about how soon she can do a survey trip to the north - as she feels strongly that is where she is to go. It is our hope that we can take her north and introduce her to the work and hopefully enable her move into what God has called her to do as quickly as possible. We are so glad she is here.

She has served here as a teacher at our school in the past, knows Portuguese, and has advanced training relative to missionary work. She has worked hard to prepare for her term here and we are excited to see what God has in store for her. Thank you Lord for this answer to prayer.

"It is good to praise the Lord..." Psalm 92:1

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

Cultural Limitations

Today was a long and fustrating day as underlying it all was the clash of Mozambique culture with Western culture - and it's all about the subject of money.

We had a series of meetings at our seminary today that started early and ended late. Without exception, the topic of every meeting ended up with us being asked for money with the expectation that we should give or loan money to each person. These are people we know well and who we've worked with a long time and today, it just all hit at once. In the first case, a young man wants money for a his wedding in November so he can start preparing. He has no idea of how much he needs, has no job and isn't motivated to find one and yet wants to get married. The second case (same man) has a scheme that right away (it's urgent we should act - TODAY!) we should buy a small house in Xipamanine for a church (so he can use it for his November wedding and not the one adjacent to his house). Ahhhh, but the catch is that we don't buy the house but rather build a house, drill a well, and build a bathroom for the owner of the house on some other land in Intaka as a trade. AND, to clench the deal, the land in Intaka is some land that his Mother owns that she wants to be part of the trade. All of this is going on at a time when he needs to build a house in Intaka also for his bride. Is this a scheme to get materials for his house too? And, of course, then we will have land in Xipamanine for a church, which he knows is a desire of us as a mission.....and money, well we don't want to tell the government because that involves taxes so it is just a trade. Give me a break.....It's a crazy scheme, nothing more.

So next we move to discovery of how our CMED project in T-3 has gone belly-up for the second time. The group includes church leaders who took loans but didn't pay them back and the entire group had to cover the cost and so all lost money, and now they want to start a third group - it's a good deal - borrow money from your friends in the church and never pay it back. An somehow they have suckered new people into a new group. Our CMED guys have said "NO" and this group is completely without our blessing and we will have to take it up with denominational leadership, which will be tough because one of them is involved. Sigh.......But, we have many many groups operating quite succesfully - just this one that has been dodging and hiding for months and months - no wonder. It is a great program, make no mistake and we stand strongly behind it - this is one bad example among many many successes - many have been blessed by CMED but it must be monitored and accountability is very important.

From there, one of our seminary workers is upset because one of the other workers is pressing and pressing him for money and in the culture, they feel obligated to not say 'no'. So, he asks us for help as the story (there is always a story) is that it is for medical expenses, which our work contract covers so we're confused. Where are your receipts (tomorrow, always tomorrow!)?

Next, another worker comes to us with a desperate need for a loan to secure his house because of robbery problems. He wants to borrow a mere 10,000 mtn, which is about 360 dollars USD, which would take a very long time to pay back. Now this particular person probably is good for the money based unlike the other examples, but still... OMS has a policy to not loan money, which we have made clear previously, so he said that he wants a personal loan, not from OMS. Sigh.......

Plus, waiting in the wings is another person wanting to talk about his upcoming wedding, another who is about to lose his job, plus the hands out at every street corner, everytime you get out of the car.

One of the challenges in building the church here is to sort out when people are simply using the church, the mission, the charity of missionaries, visitors, etc., to advance themselves. It is a constant tension in this culture where entitlement thinking and not telling the truth is a cultural norm. And yet, to be too far the other way to the point of hedonism, materialism, and the self-focus of Western culture is the other extreme. Oh that I could have the wisdom to walk this road! I desire so intensely that people would look to God for provision and allow Him to work. I desire intensely to be a conduit of God's compassion and love but not at the expense of building dependancy and a false Christianity built on material expectation or gain (I'll try to write more about this in a few days relative to our recent trip). I have learned that it makes you feel really good to give away food, clothing, medical care, water - to have lots of people dependent upon you - what an ego trip (and we've seen people all puffed up about it). But, creating dependency will not make Mozambique successful for the future. Without cultural change through transforming power of Christ, the dependency or entitlement-thinking seems like it will just continue. May we become truly unified as brothers and sisters through Him, who loves all of us from all cultures...And who of us can really cast the first stone at any other culture?... (John 8:7)

In Christ there is no east or west.....

Reminds me of a great old hymn:

In Christ there is no East or West,
in him no South or North,
but one great fellowship of love
throughout the whole wide earth.

In him shall true hearts everywhere
their high communion find,
his service is the golden cord
close-binding all mankind.

Join hands, disciples of the faith,
whate'er your race may be!
Who serves my Father as a son
is surely kin to me.

In Christ now meet both East and West,
in him meet South and North,
all Christly souls are one in him,
throughout the whole wide earth.

Written by John Oxenham, 1908

Women's Meeting

Our church is Evangelical Church of the Living Word right now (IEPV). Every Sunday we look forward to participating in one of our IEPV churches in whatever capacity that might develop into. Sometimes we preach, sometimes we teach, sometimes we simply participate, but it is our church.

One of the exciting things happening is how the ladies are organizing together. Every month there is a denomination-wide meeting of all the ladies. It is held at different churches and of course always involves a meal! Ann attends as many of these meetings as she can. The most recent meeting was at our Khongolote church. I was doing some other things in the area and snapped a few pictures of the meeting. You'll see Ann's translator sitting next to her - translating from Shanganna to Portuguese. The meetings are in the tribal dialect and many of the older ladies don't understand a lick of Portuguese - the reality of life here when you get out of the cities. It is a challenge with over 40 different language groups in the country so that language translation is a normal part of life.

This meeting had ladies attending from nearly every IEPV church in the Maputo province. Similar meetings are now happening in our northern churches as well. It's important. The meetings are long as everyone gets their say. There is much singing, much praying, much dancing, and much listening and considering. They are a part of the life-blood and fabric of the church here, changing the culture, changing the community, embracing the truth of a God who loves them and is interested in all the details of each life. What an amazing God we serve! This group is truly a family and they are bonded together in a common faith that crosses every boundary.

As an aside, we were able to procure more training books today for our church multiplication and seminary program. We loaded nearly 500 books in the back of our car and took them to the seminary - restocking our dwindling supply with some key titles. We are still struggling to get a few titles we need but the publisher in Kenya has been quite helpful and we may be able to purchase licenses and simply make our own copies legally. That's good news but we have details to continue to work out. The publisher wants 10% of our profit! I laughed out loud - what profit? Does that mean when we go in the red, they will help us with that also? Shouldn't it go both ways? Now that would be a really good negotiation don't you think?

"Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.....a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." Proverbs 31 29-30

The Gospel on Film

Saturday night, we showed the Jesus Film out doors in Machava, about 12 km from where we live and where we have a new church plant. One of our church leaders had tried to show the film at Easter while we were showing the film at T-3 (earlier blog) but had technical difficulties and wanted to try again with our other set of equipment.

In this case, we showed the Tsonga version of the film (southern language dialect) and again used DVDs vice the old grainy VCR tapes. About 100 people showed up in this rural area to watch the film. We did an evangelistic outreach afterwards, there were many people who accepted Christ, and all were invited back in the morning for church at the same location, under a tree right now! There are about 20 faithful followers meeting at this house under the tree each Sunday, including several times during the week as well.

I’ve seen this movie so many times now that I tend to watch the crowd more, wander around more talking and listening. This film has been shown many, many times around Maputo and many have seen it multiple times. It is the Gospel story, based on the book of Luke, shot in the 1970’s. This time, I was surprised to see many people saying the lines a little in advance of the actors at certain places. That surprised me and demonstrated to me how many times this film has been viewed.

Things have gotten a lot more sophisticated around Maputo in the last couple of years. There are more and more TVs and DVD players around and hi-jacked movies can be purchased on the street for a couple of dollars all over the city. (Yes, the grainy movies with poor sound that at the end, you can see the people get out of their seats to leave! – As an aside, that is how people get their view of America and the West – movies. Gulp!). I think the medium is very accepted and enjoyed here, but perhaps we need to move to the next level. The Jesus film works tremendously in areas where people have not seen it or heard the gospel – it’s incredible; but last night as I wandered through the crowd I was wondering how much of it in this case was simply entertainment, something to do. “We’ve seen it 10 times, but there is nothing else to do tonight……” But, I stand on the promise that God’s Word does not return void…(Isaiah 55:11) for if only one person accepted Christ as a result of the movie, it was absolutely worth doing!

There is a wonderful kid’s version that we are starting to use (from a kid’s perspective) and it is always enjoyed because it is new.

People love stories, oral, visual, written, drama. Wouldn’t some sort of follow-up or just some true stories of lives changed – some good movies that touch the heart with the truth…what an opportunity it could be. Not for simply entertainment, but with a heart-felt message that relays that there is no other answer. It’s a great opportunity for someone with a flair for that sort of thing, but probably not a money-maker, but rather a gold-in-heaven maker! The beauty of the Jesus film is all the heart languages it is available in. I wish we had some other things in the heart languages in addition – what a great tool it could be.

I rejoice at how this film has changed lives the world over and for those just last night who accepted Christ as their Savior. I pray our leaders do a good job following up; there is so much more to the Christian life. It begins with accepting Him but the time-line extends into eternity, one step at a time. It isn’t so much how we share the story but simply the fact that we but ourselves out there and share the story. As Ann says all the time, ours is the easy job – “we just tell the story.” God is the one who moves the hearts of people to see the truth.

Tomorrow we make a quick run to South Africa to get our car’s four-wheel-drive repaired in advance of another trip north. It’s making lots of ugly noises and we depended on the 4-wheel drive nearly daily. In addition, the windshield is leaking all around the top – will probably require some body repair to fix. At zero dark thirty in the morning, we’re caravanning with some friends, one who has a truck with no brakes (or nearly no brakes) that needs repair and another friend and her daughter who feel safer not traveling alone. Head em up, move em out!

Dave & Ann

“Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven...” Luke 6:23