Today we returned from our trip north. There is much to report but I need to get the photos off the computer first! We came back very encouraged at our church multiplication work in northern Mozambique. Stay tuned in the coming few days! On one of the days, my dear wife said at the end of that long day that she thought it had been the most wonderful day of her life.
I just uploaded our Spring newsletter. Most of you should have received a snail-mail copy by now - but if not - click on the link to the left that says "newsletter" and you can access the letter from Google Docs.
Blessings. More tomorrow!
Dave & Ann
"As cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a far country." Proverbs 25:25
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Trip North
Just a quick entry. We leave in the morning with missionary Aimee Howarth for a trip north to check on our ECC work in Northern Mozambique. The agenda is loose but an important part of the trip is agreeing on the foundation location of our new training center in Mocuba, the location of the well, and reviewing the building plans with our resident supervisor we sent up from Maputo. We have our needs and plans but I pray that we will be submissive to His needs and plans! Us 'Type A's' are always dealing with that issue!
So, I have been spending hours on trying to get various reports and business things done before we go and am still coming up short, but we must leave at zero dark thirty in the morning to make the first leg by dark. We will not have Internet access and phone access is always a bit iffy on these trips. So, - no blog entries for a few weeks. We are planning to be back in time to hopefully connect with a young lady from our home church who will be here in Maputo working at the orphanage that sponsored OMS' original entry into the country (Arco-Iris).
The meeting with the Department of Religious Affairs went very well and they accepted our new letter with what appeared to be some relief and we were profusely happy for their counsel and assistance. It was as if God had gone there before us for which we are so very thankful. So, we will remain OMS International in Mozambique, not One Mission Society. So, I need to figure out how to get all the old shirts, letterhead, pads, pencils, and the like that is left over from the name change in the States sent to Mozambique!
Thank you for standing with us.
Remember us in prayer over the next few weeks. Travel here is always a great challenge, not without danger, and our car is no young thing. May we serve Him well.
Blessings,
Dave & Ann
"The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy." Ps 103.8
So, I have been spending hours on trying to get various reports and business things done before we go and am still coming up short, but we must leave at zero dark thirty in the morning to make the first leg by dark. We will not have Internet access and phone access is always a bit iffy on these trips. So, - no blog entries for a few weeks. We are planning to be back in time to hopefully connect with a young lady from our home church who will be here in Maputo working at the orphanage that sponsored OMS' original entry into the country (Arco-Iris).
The meeting with the Department of Religious Affairs went very well and they accepted our new letter with what appeared to be some relief and we were profusely happy for their counsel and assistance. It was as if God had gone there before us for which we are so very thankful. So, we will remain OMS International in Mozambique, not One Mission Society. So, I need to figure out how to get all the old shirts, letterhead, pads, pencils, and the like that is left over from the name change in the States sent to Mozambique!
Thank you for standing with us.
Remember us in prayer over the next few weeks. Travel here is always a great challenge, not without danger, and our car is no young thing. May we serve Him well.
Blessings,
Dave & Ann
"The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy." Ps 103.8
Monday, March 8, 2010
Passports and Staples
Our passports expire before long and we needed new resident visas - so we updated our passports through the embassy. That went well, except the pictures look alot older than 10 years ago! However, these are the new 'electronic' passports. We had to turn them in to Immigration here with our old passports that have all our visa stamps, and they processed it in a timely fashion, no problems - except when we picked them up, they had stapled our old passports and the paperwork to our passports. Well, there are huge warnings on the new passport, DO NOT STAPLE to the covers of the passport or you will render the electronic part inoperable. I guess there are computer chips or whatever in there. Well, we can be covert now, because ours is chocked full of staple holes I'm sure rendering this newfangled electronics inoperable. We looked on line and this is a common problem for those of us living in developing countries. So much for being state of the art.....kind of like our Internet that is the speed of a turtle looking over his shoulder (don't send me large attachments!)
But, you don't understand the process....the process is to staple........the process, the process is to staple.......staple the process, process the staple, stacess the prable........
So, maybe they will let us back in the states when we show up.....But we do have our resident visa stamps so we can at least stay here for another year!
Blessings!
Dave & Ann
"By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country,....." Hebrews 11:9
But, you don't understand the process....the process is to staple........the process, the process is to staple.......staple the process, process the staple, stacess the prable........
So, maybe they will let us back in the states when we show up.....But we do have our resident visa stamps so we can at least stay here for another year!
Blessings!
Dave & Ann
"By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country,....." Hebrews 11:9
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
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
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Answers to Prayer
At the risk of trivalizing prayer a bit - we have been fighting a problem with our air conditioner for a very long time. It worked great our first year here but then started to lose gas every 3 months until now every 7 days. (Allison - 7 days; 7 days! (inside joke to my youngest daughter)).
We have replaced parts, been to garages in South Africa, Mozambique, dealers, privates, backyard mechanics - you name it. Even this week, I went to Toyota here trying to see what air conditioner parts they had in stock thinking about how to start replacing things. Of course, they looked at me and said, you can't get any of those parts here - you will have to go to South Africa. Sigh.....You may think we're soft - but at 110 degrees, driving around in a metal box in the blazing sun with a big windshield - it gets to 130 or more in the car and we have both suffered from symptoms of heat exhaustion / heat stress going about our business here - coming home flushed, dehydrated, ill at the end of the day plus all the security issues of driving around with the windows down. I have begged everyone that PLEASE, put some dye in so we can find the leak. (You can buy it at any auto-parts store in the states!) They all smile and say 'we can't do that here - it's not available'. Well - NOT TRUE!
We have replaced parts, been to garages in South Africa, Mozambique, dealers, privates, backyard mechanics - you name it. Even this week, I went to Toyota here trying to see what air conditioner parts they had in stock thinking about how to start replacing things. Of course, they looked at me and said, you can't get any of those parts here - you will have to go to South Africa. Sigh.....You may think we're soft - but at 110 degrees, driving around in a metal box in the blazing sun with a big windshield - it gets to 130 or more in the car and we have both suffered from symptoms of heat exhaustion / heat stress going about our business here - coming home flushed, dehydrated, ill at the end of the day plus all the security issues of driving around with the windows down. I have begged everyone that PLEASE, put some dye in so we can find the leak. (You can buy it at any auto-parts store in the states!) They all smile and say 'we can't do that here - it's not available'. Well - NOT TRUE!Wednesday at our team prayer meeting, I offered this up for prayer - I was at the end of my rope and didn't know what to do. I had personally spent hours trying to find the leak, plus all the repairs, fixes and we have a trip north ahead of us and I honestly didn't know what to do. So, I asked the group to pray for 'the air conditioner' feeling a bit guilty of the triviality - but I was truly at the end of my rope.
The next day, I passed by the last place that has been helping me to see if I could buy a gage assembly somewhere in Maputo and where to fill the freon tank I have (that's another story related to a refridgerator), and I figured I'd just take a tank with me and fill it from time to time on the side of the road until the leak got big enough to detect. My mechanic friend (Christos) didn't like that idea and said that he had a friend who might be able to help me. So, Christos sets up a time for me and we go to this new place - a little hole in the wall near Immigration but he has all the equipment. A nice German fellow who has been here since the late 1980's working on 
cars, and specializing in Land Cruisers and Land Rovers.
cars, and specializing in Land Cruisers and Land Rovers.We start talking and he looks over the car and says "oh, you have one of those fake Land Cruisers - the ones the United Nations made a deal with Toyota to make a whole bunch of them and Toyota cut all sorts of corners to make them cheaper to meet the UN specification. Arggggg.....I didn't need to hear that! I know it's old as the hills, with lots of miles, but now I learn that it is a fake!
Well, he says that the first problem is that during a repair somewhere along the line, someone removed the air dryer from the system - that is problem one. I am confident this would have had to have happened before we owned it as early on I wondered why it didn't have a dryer - figured it was just a foreign car deal! That is a common risk here with less reputable (and even reputable garages). You take your car in and it comes back with missing parts removed to fix other cars.
Problem two is that the car was designed for non-tropical climates and the compressor is too small but we can compensate with an additional electric fan on the front. Problem 3 is that I have a leak BUT he has the dye. So, together we look up the specifications for the system, remove and clean the system, and install new freon with flourescent dye. FINALLY!! I take it back Monday or Tuesday so he can find the leak and begin the necessary repairs.
I grew up in Huntsville, Alabama where there were many Germans who worked on the Space Program. I even worked for a German man who had a body shop and I learned to appreciate their attention to specifications and exactness. We had a saying in Huntsville that if you could find you a German mechanic, you would be set for life with your cars. I am thrilled to find what appears to be a competent mechanic in Maputo! After talking with him, I was reminded of another person I knew here (who has since gone back to the States) who chased a 4-wheel drive problem for ever and he said this guy was able to fix it. I had forgot about that until I got there and began speaking with the guy. And, like so many here, he speaks Portuguese, German, French, English, Italian....how I wish!
AND, there was another man there who has been in Mozambique for many many years who used to be working on a big agricultural project in Mocuba, right across the road from where our training center will be built. He gave me some pointers on water wells and things in Mocuba, which was an amazing contact as well. Thank you Lord!
So, it is an answer to prayer - one I made somewhat reluctantly because I felt it was so trival as compared to our seminary financial shortfalls, ministry issues, our pending trip, the unplanned team that is coming today, the mountain of work we are facing between now and leaving in July - I didn't know I could offer up an air conditioner! Why do we do that? He is a God of details who loves us. Just as I would want to try and help my own children with any problem they might bring to me...why would I think God is any different? How easy it is to drift off-target...
And, once more confirming, that you can get anything you need right here in Maputo, if you can just figure out "where!"
Blessings,
Dave & Ann
"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." Matthew 6:7-8
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)