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

Why Do You Need a Mask?

Just a short entry. On the way back from church this morning, we stopped at a bakery where we get bread. When you come to visit us, you will enjoy the fresh bread that you have to get nearly every day because there are no preservatives and it won't last any longer! This particular bakery is a simple store-front in a run-down building near our house with a red-framed glass case on the side-walk with hand-rolled loaves on one side and smaller rolls on the other - fresh made daily. Like most of the businesses here, the owners are of Arabic descent and Muslim. We chat a little and they know us and like to practice their English on us. But today was a bit different....

There were a couple of cars out front with guys with camouflage clothing on, kind of a tougher-looking group. When Ann went in the store to see if someone could help at the case outside, several men were inspecting brand-new black knit hoods - you know the kind - holes for your mouth and eyes that you wear when you're snow skiing or when it is 15 below zero (not much chance here!). They pushed it all aside when she entered and sent a helper to sell the bread.

A bit disconcerting. Why the masks; why on earth would you want them here in hot hot Mozambique? Can there be a logical reason that makes sense? Or is mischief afoot? Or is it some base fear deep inside that makes you think bad thoughts? Innate prejudice influenced by world events, a manipulative media, or some sort of deep fear? Probably we should have just asked but it didn't look like one of those cases where noticing would be a good thing!

We are in what is commonly called the "tension zone" where Christianity meets with Islam. Normally we find the Muslim folks quite cordial and willing to talk, but then you run into this kind of thing, it flashes horrible thoughts in your mind and reminds you that the fallen world can be a tough place. We know there are extreme groups operating in the area and this was a simple reminder, even if there might be a logical explaination.

You would think that there should never be a time we need to hide our faces but rather we should be shining lights in a dark world - the thing we should all fear is God hiding His face from us...

Dave

"And I [God speaking to Moses about the future] will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods." Deut. 31:18

"No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light." Luke 8:16

Into-Africa

The OMS village church planting program is administered in over 18 African countries through the Into-Africa project in South African. Because Mozambique is a country where OMS has a primary field (missionaries on the ground), we have been closely associated with but not actually a detailed part of that program. After attending a conference last year with our "Into-Africa" brothers and sisters in Johannesburg, we throught it would be good to become very closely aligned with that project as we have a common goal. We have been working towards that end for a while now and communicate regularly with church planters around the continent.

Into-Africa has a wonderful web-site and we just added some information on Mozambique to that web-site. So, we encourage our readers to cruise that web-site and we've provided the link on the left of the page - click on "Into-Africa". It explains the OMS church multiplication program quite well. If you click on "Partnerships / Denominations / Mozambique", you will get linked into what we've added for the Mozambique field. It was fun to put the information together and Erich did an amazing job of putting it all together!

Happy reading!

As an aside, we took our car to South Africa to check the 4-wheel drive. They have to keep the car a couple of weeks, parts are on order, and we're gulping at the upcoming bill; double or triple gulp is more like it. I knew it was close to going out and they confirmed it, when we stopped to check on it on our way back to Mozambique from checking our South African mail drop, they had the front end out from under the car - rebuilding the drive train. The age-old challenge, new or used cars - they get your money one way or the other! Ours is a 1999 with way over 200,000 km on it with a lot of very heavy use. We love it and baby it, but mileage is mileage! It has interfered with our plans as we need to go north again to resolve some difficulties with a training center and assist some of our trainers. We have a small window we can go and the car isn't cooperating with our window of opportunity! Maybe there is a reason yet to be revealed! Another lesson in living by faith.

Fortunately, our school has a vehicle we can rent until ours is ready, but it isn't up the the trip we need to make but does a great job for us around town.

We're short on pictures because our little kodak camera bit the dust. We bought it the last time we were in the States - a little thin camera that isn't flashy and that Ann could easily carry in her purse or me in my pocket. That is two of those little ones that haven't held for us. So, we're going to be a little short on photographs until we get this resolved. The problem seems to be in the electronics so there isn't much we can do about it. I'll have to write more flowery descriptions!

It was a dark and stormy night......

Blessings to you!

Dave & Ann

A New Baby

Our close friend Belarmino just had a baby boy. It is his wife's first child in over 19 years and they are so very excited. We had the priviledge of running them to the hospital and then again taking them home. His wife was way over-due and we had been told she delivered by C-section, but at the last minute, was able to deliver normally. The baby is beautiful and Belarmino is absolutely giddy about this new baby, named Belarmino Junior. They have suffered many miscarriages through the years including a couple since we've been here - God has truly blessed them with this child.

Some of our readers have visited here and know this wonderful couple. So, thought you'd enjoy the picture!

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

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