Baptism Service 'Near' Mocuba

I have promised a bit more about our most recent trip north. It was a good trip in that we learned much, spent precious time with our church trainers and church planters, and came back with a little bit more understanding of culture and challenges in this rapidly growing work.

On Sunday, we were asked to attend a special baptism service in a 'nearby' church. It was a church that we had tried to visit with a Men for Missions Team back in January but we had to turn back because it had been raining and the road was too treacherous, even though the church was "just a little bit further" which we found was another good hour on very poor roads that would be impassable in the rain.

We picked up Juka (our church multiplication Country coordinator) and his family early Sunday morning, passing by to get Antonio and his wife, and headed out towards the church. An hour later we picked up Jorge Manuel, the responsible Trainer, and a couple of other fellows - and the car is absolutely packed. Two hours after we left Mocuba, we're at the point where we had turned around in January. I haven't seen a single vehicle since leaving Mocuba. Soon the road is little more than a walking path that I stradle to keep the grass seeds from clogging the radiator. One hour later, we finally arrive at the church. We are welcomed with much singing and celebration and after greetings, the service begins and people begin appearing and soon the church is filled with 10 people deep all around the grass covered open structure.


Eleven people are presented for baptism, having attended training classes and who publically testify to their faith in Christ. We're presented as visitors and requested to bring a message of encouragement to the people. We are past Portuguese and deep into Lomwe only and there is no one with English, so no crutch to lean on today. We had expected this and have a message we have prayed about that Antonio translates to Lomwe for us. We enjoy a time of singing, praise and worship and soon the crowd begins the 'short walk' to the river.

Half-way to the river, I remember that we have Ann's medical kit and supplies, car parts, and a few other things on the top rack. Too late - if this were the city, those things would already have disappeared so no point in going back now. However, this is not the city and different morals apply - there was no problem at all. As I have said before, we feel much safer deep in rural Mozambique than we do in the cities or areas around the cities on any given day.

At the river, the singing begins afresh and the Trainer works with the Church Planter to train and help him through his first baptism process. It starts with prayer and many people align the bank to watch and encourage the new believers. Afterwards we return on the 30 minute walk back to the church through beautiful land full of bananas, casava, corn, and sugar cane - individual plots but it is clear it has been a good year for rain and crops. The grass, dry now, is high.

When we return to the church, almost three hours have passed and a second service begins to have communion for the newly baptised. There are a ton of kids around and I enjoy a time of teaching them a couple of songs in Portuguese but our language barrier is huge but a fellow steps out of the crowd and helps me as he has my accent figured out and the Lomwe begins to flow again. Elina takes over the kids as we are called back into the church and the second service begins and the crowd has really grown, with several of the people saying we are the first 'Brancas" they have seen. I pray that we can simply represent Christ.

Communion is served, again something new for the student Pastor/Church planter and so it is bumpy but precious. The service goes on and on and on as if they just don't know how to end it. We are asked to speak again, and so we do a very short lesson. There is more singing and dancing and then afterwards, there is a meal of Shema, rice, and a little chicken to put over the rice. Delicious but we are starting to sweat getting back into Mocuba before it is way dark.

Ann does some health work with a few of the ladies and we visit with many, and then head back to Mocuba. Three hours later, having again not seen a single vehicle, we find ourselves back in Mocuba, exhausted but thankful for the opportunity to participate, encouarge, teach, and present the Gospel. But, at the same time, we wonder if it would have been better if we had not been there - as the National Church is well equipped to do this although the travel would have been quite difficult. Sometimes we worry that our presence with our car can build false expectations. Several pulled us aside to present their story on how they needed us to give them money. We know of one case where a Trainer gathered his students by promising material gain from us (OMS) if they would attend training and we spent some energy this trip working on trying to fix that expectation. If people come to training and church only because they are expecting money, a new house, or whatever, it can only lead to problems. We must look to our God as our provider, not the man with the car.

In this remote area, it had been a good year and people had sufficient food through hard work on their small farm plots. But there remain tremendous opportunities for clean water and health related training and assistance. Educational needs are huge and the opportunities for ministry to children and women almost endless. God, give us wisdom to represent you well in these remote areas where both the spiritual and the physical needs are so great.

It was a great opportunity; 11 baptisms and the opportunity to share the gospel with several hundred people. And we have a church where training and Bible Study is taking place. Thank you Lord.

"Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." 1 Co 4:1

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

Timing is Everything

Not a very spiritual entry today! This is mainly for my guy friends!

A few days ago we wrote about all the theft problems this week. Just went from one thing to the next to the next. One of those items was our car jack and tools, removed from a compartment in back of our car. So, we had a one flat, discovering the loss but fortunately it was right in front of the house. So, when we headed to South Africa, we had this discussion about driving to South Africa to get our car worked on (or finish some old work because the parts were in!) without a way to change a flat. In the end, we decided to just go and try to get a good jack in South Africa.

We left our car at the Toyota dealer, picking up a car that belongs to our school which was also in for some body work and service. We then used that car (rented it) to drive to Nelspruit to check the mail (we had some!) and do a couple of needed medical appointments (nothing serious). We went to a couple of places trying to find a replacement jack but didn't have alot of luck. Toyota needed to order one from Japan, and I didn't want to wait for the slow boat, so I bought a scissor jack and tire wrench and we headed back.

We picked up our car in Mavalane and then headed back across the border with Ann following me. Everything is working good and we're about 45 minutes outside of Maputo running about 70 mph and BOOM - the right rear tire literally explodes (see photos). Really impressive blow-out. I didn't hit anything, it was a good road, air pressure was good - but BOOM. I don't know if any of you have experienced this kind of failure but it is the kind that makes your car go instantly squirrelly. There is nothing to do but try to keep it straight and immediately pull over. BUT, we had the new jack and so, changed it and headed on our way.

The failed tire is our one with the best tred but was the one hit in our accident (earlier blog) and we drove to Mocuba and back on it over terrible roads - no problems with it (another tire went flat, not this one!). Thank you Lord, that it failed after we replaced the jack and that we discovered it was even stolen rather than finding out on the road! So, timing is everthing....

I think the tire just absolutely failed - never have I seen anything like it. All that rusty metal is the metal cords from the tire.

So today, because I've used up all my 'old set' tires with the other flats and blow-outs and all the other tires are pretty well shot, we purchased four new tires and tomorrow's task is to arrange a place to install them on the rims - hopefully tomorrow. It was a big gulp on top of our run north, an accident, rebuilding the 4-wheel drive, etc. What a month it has been and I will look forward to the note from headquarters telling me that we are on the financial black list again. We are praying for a couple of months where things are a bit calmer!

Today, a guy approached us on the street and pointed to the stolen side indicator lights and tried to sell us replacements. I laughed and said "do you know how many times we've replaced them in the past - we don't bother anymore as they will just get stolen." He was puzzled at that - and then said, "but, I'll just rivet metal strips over everything and it will only cost you....." Yes, can't wait - drill holes all over the car and put metal strips that can be cut with metal snips. What a place! Driving a beater definitely has its advantages!

The environment is hard on these vehicles we depend on so heavily. The literal environment (sand, salt, and potholes) as well as the cultural environment (the car is stripped on the street or the good parts are replaced with bad parts in the shop), etc.

Anyway, I thought my guy friends might enjoy the photographs! (Yes, that is a Michelin - bought Goodyear Wranglers today). We're so thankful for the prayer coverage and protection that it provides!

It's all good!

Blessings!

"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:....a time to pluck...a time to laugh.....a time to lose....a time to love..." Ec 3:1 - 3.8

Women's Ministry

While in Mocuba, Ann was asked to teach at a women's meeting. These meetings are something Juka's wife started when they moved to Mocuba. She is sitting on the mat next to Ann, who was put in a chair because she was the teacher.

The topics, which had been pre-selected by Elina were community health topics. They (Ann and Elina) worked together and did training on HIV, Malaria, cholera, flu, and sexually transmitted diseases. Because they had a guest speaker, the men joined initially for the devotional time but were thrown out when they got to the sexually transmitted disease part. The topics were of great interest here as everyone knows someone impacted by these diseases.

The ladies meeting lasted about three hours and during this time, Juka, Antonio, and I were preparing a lunch meal for the ladies. It consisted of a local squash plant that had a very very hard skin. After removing the skin, quartering, and removing seeds, the squash was cut into small squares. We then boiled the squash in a little water and a fair amount of salt, and then pounded some peanuts up into a powder and mixed that in, along with two small packets of chicken flavoring. It was scooped out as a gruel and it was very tasty! We have seen this squash along the road for sale but hadn't tried it before - now we know the trick and I just loved it.

We all ate together and had a wonderful time of fellowship working together.

I really see the tremendous value of life in community here where everyone works together to accomplish something. Everyone brought a little today and everyone was satisfied. There was good bible teaching, good health teachings, ending with a good meal. Ann took alot of notes as well as she is picking up quite a bit of knowledge about local remedies for malaria, intestinal upset, parasites, and other things that truly work in the absence of doctors and pharmacies.

Antonio is doing a tremendous work in Mocuba, drawing the churches together in unity, encouraging both men and women to study God's word and encouraging the church as a family.

I especially enjoyed spending time with some of the older men. They related to me because here I am old also (well my kids would probably say, 'Dad your old here too!'). They were giving me pointers all along the way although it was in Lowme and we did quite a bit of pointing, grunting, demonstrating, laughing, and smiling.

The process pretty much used most of the day, although afterwards we did spend some time in meetings with both Antonio and Juka, reviewing the health of the church multiplication work in Zambezia province.

I did hear a couple of the older men scolding Antonio later in the day about why they don't have men meetings like the ladies with the same good teachings the ladies get. That made me smile.

Little by little for the Kingdom.

"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25

Hazards of Fire

One of the things we see frequently here are people who have been badly burned. We live in a society where much of the cooking is done on charcoal fires or small wood fires and often inside the home. In the Mocuba area, most of the houses have grass thatch roofs. They are inexpensive, provide wonderful insulation to the heat, provide shade, and keep the rain out in the worst of storms. However, sometimes things can get out of control. You can see the houses in the background in this first picture but the house to the right, which is right next to one of our churches, is absent a roof. You guessed it, it burned down with a total loss of everything inside the house. It was accidentally caused by the kids, but fortunately in this case, no one was injured. The family is still living in the house, cleaning the smoke off the walls and eventually will rebuilt the roof. The second picture more clearly shows the state of the house after the fire and much cleaning out. The church has been helping out and the family sleeps in the church when it is raining.

To further illustrate, you can see Ann inside another house cooking dinner over two charcoal fires. It was a great dinner and we spent alot of time with this family. They were hacking and coughing much of the time and I wonder if some of the lung problems we see here are related to living in houses all the time that are full of smoke. A wood fire will clearly smoke but the charcoal fires are a bit less obvious and I would note after several hours, I would start to have a headache that I thought was due to smoke or maybe even carbon monoxide - not sure. But, like all things you get used to it.

But, when the fire is ready, you cook the dinner and when it is ready, you stop, because there is no keeping it warm if the fire has gone out. Mmmmmm, I think there is a spiritual analogy there to the fire within us!

PS, the dinner Ann prepared was excellent - Rice and chicken and our friends laughed at us because she did bring some food in a can. (One of the cultural assumptions about Americans is that they eat food from cans, which is seen as very strange here!).

Blessings.

"Be pleased to save me O Lord, come quickly to help me." Ps 40:13