Opportunities to Share

This entry is especially for my sister in Alabama, who attended the University of Alabama!

We were visiting with one of our trainers in a small village in the Gaza province and this young lady came to talk with us. She attends a bible study that our trainer (Jose Carlos on the left) teaches. I had great fun talking with her about her shirt - it was an opportunity for relationship. She had no idea what the shirt said or signified - now she does - not that it is really all that important!

The shirt probably came here through an aid organization - we see all sorts of T-shirts with various US organization logos on them. For those of you who don't know - I essentially grew up in Alabama and Auburn and Alabama are long rivals. Of course I always laugh and say that I looked around when I was a senior in high school in Huntsville, Alabama and tried to pick - Auburn or Alabama. But I decided I wanted to go to college, so I went to the University of Tennessee!! ;-). (another great football rivalry!)

The box you see the man on the right holding is a box of bibles in the local dialect that we brought up for Jose Carlos to help with his bible study. The study is already talking about being a church!

Thank you Lord for this young lady you have drawn to you!

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;" 1Pe 3:15

Wells

While we were traveling in the north, World Hope put in a well at our Intaka church (seen in the background with the sewing center). Right now all you see is a pipe in the ground but they hit good water and we are waiting for the top pieces. The company they get the hand pump apparatus from is currently out of stock. So, we wait aggressively! You kind of get used to that here....

But it is great progress and we look forward to seeing the change this well will have on the church and this small community.

As we traveled in the north, the need for good clean water struck us over and over again. In the more rural areas, people gather water from streams where people bath, streams where the water is dirty, full of debris, and we know a source of disease. Diarrahea is a common ailment, as are stomach ailments - it is no wonder. Good health starts with clean water....

Thanks to all of you who have made this possible. We will keep you informed.

Thank you for standing with us.

Dave & Ann

"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols." Exe 36:25

Back Home

You've heard the expression about not burning any bridges?

This photo is of a bridge we encountered driving in the north. This is the main road going to Gurue. There is no easy way around this bridge. We think a large truck had hit the bridge on one side, completely pushing it over and the supporting concrete pillar holding up the bridge on one side.

So the question is - do you cross the bridge or not?

As we sat there debating this, I watched a small truck full of people pull up. They built the little ramp you see with rocks and sticks. The 30 or so people in the back of the truck walked across the bridge. The small truck then went over the bridge while I carefully examined the understructure as it went across. I knew that we weighed more than the truck by quite a bit. Mmmmmm..... So time to pray.

I'm happy to report that this photo is looking back at the bridge after I crossed it (making everyone else in the car walk across). The four wheel drive came in quite handy as there was quite an angle in the bridge - it is buckled in the middle with quite a climb up.

We've seen this before - and I imagine the fix will be to simply put another metal bridge over the top of it - with us driving up a steep ramp and then across single file over the bridge on a bridge. We crossed several of those on this trip.

I thought all my engineer friends would enjoy the photo!

My guess is that the bridge has collapsed now - several days later. There is certainly no need to fix it until it collapses!

I'll write more about the trip in the coming days as we digest everything that happened. Mozambique is an amazing country and the distances are vast. We drove dawn to dusk (about 12 hours) for three days to reach the northern provinces. Most of the roads were fairly decent but the ones that were bad were really really bad. The car took a beating and we had one blow-out - badly shredding the tire and we cut another one crossing the bridge above. I had carried an extra spare tire (no rim) and got it mounted at the ferry. You can see them working on it in this photo. They pounded the old tire off with a sledge hammer and a metal wedge - mounted the other one I was carrying - in about 15 minutes. Quicker than at NTW.

It's good to be home (4998 kilometers later) but we really wished we could have spent more time in the Gurue area and we will take more time when we are back in Nampula for the January ECC retreat. The needs we encountered were tremendous but I need to save that for another entry. I have much to write about and may put it in the form of an article for the OMS magazine. God is doing amazing things throughout this country but the needs are just astounding.

"He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot. There we will rejoice in Him." Ps 66:6

Wells

We just received word that the well-drilling is on again for Monday morning. This is the same morning we leave for the long drive to northern Mozambique. We have delegated the following of the drilling of our two wells to Pastor Ricardo and I'm sure he will do a great job for us while we are gone. I hate to miss the opportunity to show you the 'in-process' photographs but look forward to providing you with the finished product photographs!

We've spent today trying to prepare for the trip north. I have a small box of spare filters, fan belts, radiator stop-leak, tire repair kits, etc. for the simple things that could happen and we'll carry four Jerry-cans of fuel on top as diesel stations can be few and far between!

In a way it is reminiscent of our previous life where we took the kids camping every year. We are taking tents and camping supplies for this trip, it is not a hotel-type trip! We are starting malaria medication tomorrow as we will be out of routine and out at night. Our tent also provides a great protection from mosquitoes. Ann and I are wondering if we are 'too old for this' staying in the bush. We will tell you in a couple of weeks!

Truly we look forward to sharing with the churches in the north and spending time with the leadership there. We pray that God will use us in a way that is honoring to Him.

Dave & Ann

"We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness ...." Exodus 8:27

In this verse, Moses was taking his people on a three-day journey to offer sacrifices and the next thing you know the trip lasts 40 years. mmmm, is this trip we are leaving on like Gilligan's three-hour tour??? ;-)

What Goes Up

What is this picture? Today Juka and I rode the seminary elevator for the first time. One of the prime design criterion of the seminary was that it be handicap-accessible. With a four-story structure, you need an elevator to do this. For our first year here, we called, urged, pleaded, and otherwise begged to get the elevator company to work on it and finish it. Well, finally it is done and Mike Thiessen, our seminary director, is applying for the license to operate it. It worked great - we went to the top and stopped at each floor, and lived to tell. When the permit is granted, we will be making our last payment on the elevator - one more piece of the construction completed. We are so thankful to have this completed. The last remaining thing is purchasing a small piece of adjacent land-locked land that we want to use for parking. This is presently with the government for approval and we continue to pray that this will proceed.

Also, we are delayed on the wells - one of the team drilling members passed away and they are delayed until after the funeral. It is a tragic part of life here.

Monday we leave for a car trip to the north to visit our ECC teams. Today we went around getting supplies together and have a bit more to do tomorrow. It's over 1000 miles one way so it isn't a light trip and the roads aren't the best. We picked up a few spare filters and maintenance parts for the car, just in case. I'm sure we'll have much to report when we return. It is a bit of a survey trip as well as we feel that missionary presence is needed to stand with our churches in the northern provinces. Pray for us as we go and return. It is three-days journey one-way as we don't want to travel after dark.

Dave & Ann