Well Update

No snazzy picture today but we do have news.  This was a crazy crazy day - we met with one of our church-planter trainers today who is trying to resolve his marriage situation - he has a common-law wife and he is trying to complete the church wedding.  We have been counseling with them and encouraging them to resolve this promptly and they were very successful in getting the bride's family to not require a 'bride-price' which is a big problem here that prevents many people from getting married - so they just live together instead.  So the barrier is removed and they can get married in the church now - great!

Well, we thought so until our meeting today (they called us) when they presented us with a list of things they needed to get married - and wanted our help.  It amounted to $900 worth of food and supplies for the party after the wedding which is a tremendous cultural pressure here (sound familiar?).  The bride's family is pushing for this big party (which amounts to feeding about 300 people in exchange for a lot of presents).  Now in this culture, we should feel great honor that they would present this need to us personally, and we are learning to be gracious in these requests, but in a country where a typical wage is on the order of less than $100 / month, this is a little extravagant.  Without the family blessing, the marriage will probably not happen.  In addition, there was a request for help buying land for the house that is so very important (they are renting a nice house by Mozambican standards right now).    We had planned to contribute a little to the wedding (mainly the documents and things for the wedding itself) but of course not paying for the party!

Cultural and family pressures here are tremendous and put real barriers in front of couples, which probably contributes the the problem with promiscuity here and tremendous HIV problem.  Pray with us as we seek God's wisdom in how to counsel this young couple.   We really do seek to understand the culture better so we can operate within it in a Christian paradigm that is not full of all the western bias that is so deeply imbedded in us.  It takes such discernment and as we continue our daily "read through the bible in a year" devotion that we do year after year, we are seeing God's word in a entirely different light as we understand things better here.  But, oh, we have so much to learn.....

But, I started off this entry thinking about the well at Picoco!  We met with a Portuguese man today who one month ago shipped in some well drilling equipment from Portugal and is trying to start a well-drilling business here.   His name is Jose and we quite enjoyed meeting with him and inspecting his equipment.

In Mozambique, the World Health Organization has the initials "OMS" in portuguese so we are confused with these folks all the time.  It actually works to our advantage quite a bit and has unintentionally given us some 'free passes' to things because we said we were "with OMS" and various assumptions are made.  In this case, the man had gotten very very excited to think he would be quoting a well for the World Health Organization - he thought he'd jumped into the big time and when we gave him our card for OMS International - reaching the nations for Christ, he couldn't help his momentary disappointment. 

Anyway, he has given us a partial quote for the hole (about $4500) through the rock and is obtaining a second quote for the pump assembly.  So, we are encouraged that we are moving forward again and it is no coincidence because we know of several groups in America who have been specifically praying for this well for the last couple of days - and to find this guy trying to start up - it's not coincidence!  

We quite hit it off and talked for quite a while and he helped us with our Portuguese and we learned about some tragedy in his life and were able pray with him.  We see some great potential opportunities here and look forward to what the next couple of days will bring as we finalize our arrangement.    

So progress in response to the prayers of God's people.  Thank you Lord, thank you friends.

Dave & Ann

Ricardo's House

Ricardo and his wife Olga pastor the church at Intaka. They have done a wonderful job of growing and pastoring that small reed church and it is my prayer that someday we will be able to build a more substantial structure there. They have a wonderful vision for the church and what they want to see for the future - I get excited everytime I talk with Ricardo about it and sense his passion.

Ricardo and his family lived in a very small reed house that had all but fallen down. It was leaning over so far that you were never sure if you should enter it. He had saved money, accumulated some block, and with the help of a team visitor, was able to start on his house. We are happy to report that he is out of the reed for this rainy season and in a block house. He has plans someday to put another room out from this view but not now. Yes, that is a well in the front. The small structure to the front of the house is a small store-front where they operate a small sewing business. Ricardo can make a pair of trousers that you would think came from the finest department store in the States. They set an example that we believe so firmly in here - bivocational pastors. Lives changed, one step at a time.

The second photo is of these dear friends of ours with their two precious boys.

The well parts are finally in and we expect to finish the well at Intaka in the next couple of weeks!

Dave & Ann

Differences & Change

The other evening I was watching the evening news to work on my Portuguese and there was this story about a man falling out of the back of a truck and being killed on the highway. Now it was a quick story and not much reaction to it. The next day Ann snapped this picture - that is how someone falls out of a truck onto the highway. The police are very strict - you must wear your seatbelt inside the car, but if you are in the back - no worries, you are CARGO! People pay a small amount to ride in the vehicle like this and the above is a very normal thing here.

We've had a series of meetings to discuss our upcoming ECC conference in Nampula this coming January. Every year, we try to get all our church planter-trainers together to share stories, encourage one-another, do some training, and spend time in bible study and prayer. We decided to do the conference in northern Mozambique some time ago as about 1/2 of the people are in the north and 1/2 in the south - so alternating the site seemed to make sense. That was BEFORE we did the crueling 3-day drive ourselves! So, we are preparing to go back in mid-January and are doing the preparations now; getting lesson plans together; making arrangements; gathering supplies. This second photo is at our planning meeting as we put together the agenda for the conference.

We have a guest speaker coming who does Chronological Bible Story telling all over Africa. In addition, later in the week, we have people from OMS Men for Missions International coming to check out the work in the north. So after the conference, we plan to make a trip down to Mocuba with the OMS folks for a couple of days and then return to Nampula. It will be HOT then - our summer and we're headed towards the equator! I hope our air conditioner keeps working on this trip (if stopped working on the last one!).

Tomorrow will be quite a day - we have another ECC planning meeting in the morning to finalize the details for our upcoming conference, assemble the information for the monthly report we owe OMS, and talk about next year's strategy. I just sent in the budget request for our ECC Church Multiplication Strategy as we work towards next year in this interesting economic time. We are feeling the impact of the crisis and taking steps to further cut back and simplify. We proposed a year of stability so we could focus on strengthening our trainers, establishing distance learning centers that are tied to our Maputo seminary, and strengthening the rapidly increasing number of churches. One of the lines we heard in the recent ECC conference we attended in South Africa is "the resources are in the harvest". What that means is that as people's lives are changed by the gospel, that is where the people come from that are the leaders of tomorrow, the church pastors of tomorrow, the business leaders of tomorrow, the seminary students of tomorrow. The harvest is so white.....

We also have one of our quarterly meetings tomorrow with our board of Mozambican advisors. All of us on our Field Leadership Team will be summarizing the last year here and bringing a few items to their attention but it should be a fairly light meeting for a change and will end with a time of fellowship and celebration as we thank them for their service this past year.

A final small story tonight. Shortly after we arrived in Mozambique, the government began installing new traffic lights all throughout the city. At the more major intersections, the lights included a green turn arrow. Well, no one explained to anyone what they were for, so in the beginning the green turn arrow would come on, people would stare at it, but no one would go. After a while, enough of us familiar with the arrow would go, and people slowly began to get the hang of it. So, for quite some time, traffic has flowed a little bit better in those intersections with the lights - less 'playing chicken' which is quite common on the roads here.

Well, we've progressed to something new now. If you have a leading green, now people read that as a green (everybody goes). So, if you get the green arrow - you'd better be moving before it changes to green and shoot through immediately. EXCEPT, you still have to wait after the green comes on for the six cars that run the red light. So, we are almost back to where we started - intersections where the cars are all jammed in, no one can move, the police walk around with their whistles blowing frantically but not doing anything - but eventually, it seems to sort out and the traffic starts moving again. Order in the chaos.....

It has been a blessed year here - so many things have happened in spite of our bumbling. God always finds a way to accomplish his purposes using flawed vessels like you and like me. One thing I keep learning is that it is less about what I want to do, or what I think, or implementing the plan I think is the right plan, but to simply trust that God will accomplish His purposes. Is 'trying too hard' kind of like kicking against the Goads? It can very well be just that...as we learn more about resting in Him - to do the 'right things - right'.

It's His plan and His work - we are all very priviledged to have a small role in it. He can accomplish His tasks with or without us and I don't know about you, but I'd rather be on the "with" team than the "without" team!

"And he [Saul] said,' Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest; it is hard for thee to kick against the goads." (a goad is a sharp stick on a cart used to drive oxen). Acts 9:5

Hot

Today was the hottest day yet and the hottest one we remember here. Perhaps it is more noticeable where we live now because we are more inland. However, the 'in-the-shade' temperatures were really something today. We went to our Mavalene church this morning, which is an out-side church adjacent to a home and the temperature really escalated through the service. The chickens and ducks joined us this morning because it was cooler in the shade of the cover. We returned home at mid-day and there was just no getting away from the heat.

Of course, this is Africa (TIA) and you expect it to be hot, so that's ok, but we're thinking this stretch of hot will bring some rain to cool things off a bit - or at least that is what we experienced in the past. However, one thing I have learned is that the past is certainly not a good predictor of the future, although many talk as if it is!

In the midst of this heat, a friend called who lives near here speaking in rapid Portuguese. I grasp the meaning that his baby is really sick and he needs a ride to the hospital or a ride from the hospital, I'm not really sure which. From the tone, I think it must be bad and he knows we're very attached to his baby (Carol is her name). So, we jump in our oven of a car and quickly drive to his house where everyone is sitting under the trees with baby Carol in a small bucket of water, mom splashing her with water to cool her off. Ok, so Ernesto comes to the car wondering why we raced to his house, and so now in face-to-face conversation I learn that he tried to come see us this morning to help him take Carol to the hospital because she was very sick. But, we were at church and they took her anyway and brought her home. She has malaria (the second time in this 13-month old's little life) and had been given re-hydration solution to drink and the malaria medication. Ok, I got most of the words, but not in the right order and I certainly missed the difference between past tense and present tense.

Remember yesterday when I was thankful for a small victory in language. Drat, I knew I shouldn't have said that!

We visited a while and returned to our little oven, I mean our home. There was no one out and about today - it was just too hot. As we drove through the narrow dirt streets to our house, we could see the people laying on their grass matts in the shade of the trees. That is how you deal with this heat and what a great idea for a Sunday afternoon. Nap-time.....

Blessings,

Dave & Ann

"And you think it's hot here!......"

(A sign we saw on a church as we drove into Las Vegas when we were in our 20's.)

Baptisms

This photograph is the 10 people who were baptized at our T-3 church today along with their family and friends. If nothing else, this photo shows the numbers of people one person can influence!

It was a wonderful service and we were thrilled to be a part of it. It was a big celebration that started at 0900 and we left at 1230. There was much dancing, preaching, celebration, and prayer. I was asked to close the service and was able to stumble through in Portuguese and I praise God for that small victory today in language. The service was amplified today, which causes quite an echo in the church and that makes understanding doubly difficult for us but we were able to follow. It wasn't that long ago that we'd completely miss the cues when we were asked to participate in some fashion so maybe we are making a little progress after all!

Afterwards, we agreed to take the sound equipment back to our Khongolote church, getting home a few minutes ago. It is unbelievably hot today. Whew! Yesterday I got so hot doing a little outside with the car that I started to have heat stroke and my nurse had to take action. That was a first for me - nauseated from the heat! This 'in the shade' thermometer is only about 95 degrees today - it was over a hundred yesterday.

What a great celebration today was!

I'll try to load a small video to help give you a small flavor.

Blessings to you!

Dave & Ann

"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters." Psalm 18:16