Training Center

I've been trading email with Juka Fernando, our church multiplication coordinator in Mozambique. I wanted to share these current photographs from the recent church planting conference / seminar he did at our Mocuba Training Center. The training included couples the first day and then they branched off into Church Multiplication training with the leaders and the wives went off with Juka's wife for their own special training program. Juka has received alot of good feedback about the training that he tried to focus on common problems and their solutions. Yes, it is true, the same relationship issues within the church occur in Mozambique and Juka is very gifted at helping people work through these issues.

He has rigged up a system to pipe water to the center from a nearby well so they have water right now. They have also hand-dug a well that is providing water for them as well. He promised me photographs of this also so I can understand better what he has done to provide water.

In the above photographs, you can see Pastor Abel with Pastor Nelio and his baby, Doce. You can see some of the neighboring houses in the background with the grass roofs. Next is a photo of one of the training session, using one of our African Text training books - from the cover and the color, I suspect it is the book titled "Talking with God" (a focus on prayer). However, there are other yellow ones as well. Juka's goal was to finish the theological training by extension (TTE) books with all the leadership during this conference. I need to ask him that question - he didn't say he did, which means he probably ran out of time! I know his primary focus was completing more of our OMEGA series, which is focused on church planting techniques. He was also trying to help our trainers with training to do a better job with intentional discipleship and baptism of new believers.

The Trainer's wives are in the next photograph, with Elina (Juka's wife) sitting on the right. The chairs you see are a wicker type chair made locally in Gurue and sold along the side of the road, made by church members for the center in this instance.

You can see the men who attended the conference standing together in the next picture at the door to the training center.

Lastly, we have some of the men fixing temporary window coverings over the center. We ran out of money and were unable to add the glass and the window guards (to prevent break-ins) at the present time. We will do that work as we receive funding for the Mocuba Ministry Center. We went over budget a bit because of the higher cost of materials in central Mozambique and the transportation costs for getting materials from the city to the training center. However, this will all happen in God's timing as we still have a vision to turn this center into a seminary extension site eventually, with dormatories, a church building, more classrooms, etc. It is all planned out - it just takes money! However, we need to walk slowly as in a project like this in Mozambique, too much too fast isn't necessarily a good thing.

It has been such an incredible privilege to have a small part in all of this. To walk the land, pray for God's provision, see His hand move, to plan and execute the construction, and then to see the facility in use. It is truly a God-thing and we are so very thankful to our wonderful team that stands with us so faithfully. God was moved through the hands of so many people to make this training center a reality!

Pray for this work; that it would continue to flourish and expand as our dear church leaders evangelize their own country for Christ. It is a awesome thing to see God's hand at work through so many.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

"...being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ..." 1 Philippians 1:6

It is His work!

Life events

Today we became Grandparents. Our daughter Sarah and her husband David, had a baby boy this afternoon. David Caleb Henderson was born at 3:03 on 8/13/2010, weighing 8.4 pounds and being 19.5 inches long. (Lots of people ask these kinds of questions). Ann and I were lucky enough to be here in Nashville to participate in this wonderful life event.

Everything went well and mom and baby are doing well. This is exciting stuff for us! I became quite enamored with him just holding him and

thanking God for this wonderful gift

of life to Sarah and David. He looks very

much like his dad right now and all I can say is "what a

beautiful baby!"

The birth of a baby is nothing short of a miracle. It is an amazing process.

We also were successful today in moving our residency to Tennessee and we now have Tennessee driver's licenses. It seemed like the smart thing to do since all our mail comes to our daughter's house anyway. Still need to retag the car but we can do that next week. Ann's license had expired and mine expires the end of the month, so we went ahead and did it. One of the questions on the form was 'did you ever have a Tennessee driver's license?' and actually we did some 30 plus years ago but that was before computers so they couldn't find us. I think back then, we were considered lucky if we had a calculator!

Thanks for standing with us!

Dave & Ann

"Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" Ps 106:1

Air Conditioning and Airplanes

Transition - having someone come and pick up your trash - wow; I moved my daughter Allison's trash cans and recycle bins to the curb today - it has been a long time since I did that. I'm used to dumping it all in a hole and burning it after everyone goes through it and recycles the trash by take empty plastic bottles and whatever things in there might have some use.

As our wedding guests have come and gone, we have made many trips to the Greenville / Spartenburg airport. It is a small but nice airport but they keep it so cold, you need a winter parka inside. In-fact, we feel like we need one in our car so when we go into a store or the airport, we can wear a parka, complete with hat and gloves. Another option is to take a blanket so if you are sitting somewhere you can wrap it around you. We are not used to all this air conditioning and are freezing most of the time. I have to go outside every few minutes to warm up! I think it may snow in the airport later today even though it is 95 outside. Energy shortage - I don't think so....

We took our oldest to the airport this morning and her flight was canceled and so her morning is being spent arranging alternate flights. Of course, there is no customer service - you check yourself in (Good luck if you don't have a credit card!) and put the tag on your luggage. They charged my daughter for the privilege of checking a bag - what is the deal with that? So, I predict soon that you will hear the announcement "Today's stewards will be the passengers in seats 3A and 12B. Please report to the front where the pilot will give you instructions on how to pass out drinks and today's popcorn snack. There will be a 25 dollar charge for the training."

So my oldest goes through the security gauntlet to the gate and they say "oh, your flight is canceled, why aren't you at the ticket counter (remember - there is no one there!), getting another flight? Didn't you hear the announcement?" Well, duh.....I'm here to board the plane and....I'm so very sorry that I am here as a customer, having done it all myself to this point, and to have inconvenienced you by getting all the way to the gate....So she goes back to the ticket office, waits in line an hour, and finally arranges new travel and now back through security. Now my dear, why on earth did you cause all those problems for Delta airlines? Don't you know any better than that? Why did you allow that flight to be canceled like that? Why didn't you just drive?

Then this morning, I see on the Internet news that a steward got so frustrated with a frustrated passenger that when the plane landed at the Pittsburgh airport, he blessed out the passengers, then he pulled the emergency exit door and slide, said "I'm out of here" and slid down the shut. Quite a way to resign. It didn't say if the passengers went down after him saying the same thing! (Actually I feel bad for this person, clearly a victim of burn-out in this age of decreasing service and civility - something snapped - it could happen to any one of us).

But the one I'm looking forward to is when they make the passengers fly the plane. What a great cost saving measure. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, today's special pilot will be the passenger in seat 5B. Please report to the cabin where our airline representative will give you your instructions." Sign me up, I'll give it a try! Don't worry, these modern airplanes practically fly themselves!

There were long lines for security - that gets more and more difficult - I'm sure we will have to strip to our birthday suits before too long to pass through. Takes twenty TSA people to get the security thing done but maybe we will get to do that also. The note on your ticket will say "report to the TSA office five hours before your flight so you can do your three hour shift at security before your flight. There will be a 100 dollar charge for the one-hour training." That could have been a problem for Krista this morning - she had to go through twice, so that would have been a six hour tour and 200 dollars!

My my things are seeming so different. I wonder if America is like the lobster in the pot and when you are in the pot you don't recognize what is happening.....

Or as I saw on a church bill board outside of Vegas one time...."You think it is hot here......"

I hope we as a people are not a bunch of lobsters.

Love to you this day.

Dave & Ann

"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, THEN will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

Wedding

I have written a couple of things, but then never quite got to posting them and now they are on the other computer in another town in this transient life we are living. We've only been in the states for two weeks and haven't stopped moving yet.

We just finished the wedding weekend and my youngest daughter is now a Smith. It was a beautiful Christ-centered affair and we had dear friends from all over the country come to celebrate this wedding with us. We had people from Pittsburgh, Mozambique via Colorado, Mozambique via Chicago, [former missionaries to Mozambique] Alabama, Idaho, Tennessee, Georgia, all sorts of places. The wedding was outside at a nearby farm and absolutely lovely. The rains came in the day before and cooled things down a bit and the wedding day was beautiful and much cooler although still a bit toasty.

Tomorrow at zero dark thirty I take my oldest to the airport so she can return home. We have especially enjoyed

some 'alone time' with her today - it has been a long time. I really miss spending time with my precious girls. She is on the right in the above picture.

In the above, precious daughter Lynsey on left, me, Allison (bride), Byron, beautiful Ann, and precious Krista. Daughter 3 of 4 (Sarah) is in Nashville and we just got the call - a baby is coming this week, so we are on our way to Nashville right after our next transitional workshop session on Wednesday. So, the first grand baby will be here very soon (she is being induced on Thursday).

I didn't cry too much at the wedding - As with my other Son's-in-law, when you just really like them, you don't have a problem with the wedding. We're very fond of Byron and they are a good match for each other. I did fine until I walked Allison to the altar to pass her to Byron and have to admit that I shed a few tears at that point. Allison was so beautiful and your life passes by your eyes in a moment as you see your baby daughter now a beautiful bride - it is quite moving.

Our sessions with Godspeed Ministries have been very helpful to us as we re-enter this culture. It is hard to explain to someone how 'shocking' it is to re-enter our home culture after being in a developing country for four years. I really should try and write more about it and after we finish with our debriefing sessions - I will try to do that a little later.

The wedding provided a wonderful opportunity to spend some time with dear friends from Pittsburgh and with distant family that we haven't seen for quite some time. But, it is also a time when we are spread pretty thin so we never get to spend the one-on-one time we would like to have with our friends in the wedding environment. It really made us look forward to being with our friends again in a few more weeks.

Thank you for standing with us so faithfully!

Dave (& Ann)

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united (some versions use the word "cleave" which I like a lot better) to his wife and they will become one flesh." Gen 2:24

Weddings are a wonderful celebration in any culture!

Mocuba Training Center Update

We thought you might enjoy seeing the most recent photos of the Training Center in Mocuba. We still don't have the windows installed but they are very very close. The center will be used for a 10-day conference starting the first week of August, so the pressure is on to finish everything.

In this first photo, you see the training center on the right, with the small temporary structure used to house tools

and materials during construction, and the house in the back where people will be able to stay. The other photos are from different views.

W

e are very pleased to have this work completed. It gives us a great focal point for the church and we look forward to continuing the vision to eventually move on to the second phase as we build our residential seminary extension site. In this photo, you see Pastor Antonio walking across the ground. The major north - south road in Mozambique is just this side of the trees you see in the distance.

God has blessed this work and answered your

prayers - no injuries, no major problems. We still don't have water and need to resolve that before expanding further. We do have a good well within walking distance so the water can be hauled to the facility for use, which is consistent with the local culture. You can see some of the nearby house roofs (grass) in the distance.

In this last photo, you see my close Mozambican friend and colleague, Juka, fixing the fence with a nice shot of the center behind him before adding doors and finishing the outside with a skim coat of cement. What is so

cool is that we can continue to communicate by text messaging and email while we are stateside! It is a far cry from the days of sailing ships and letters!

The formatting of this post is a bit off for some reason and I can't seem to fix it. Sorry about that!

We are stateside as of last Friday. Our plans for vehicle and temporary storage of our shipment fell through, forcing us to purchase a used vehicle. It is a story itself of God's provision as I was praying about what can we do and I picked up the paper, randomly opened it and an ad caught my eye, which led to a dealer, and some wonderful men who helped us work through the details. You should try it sometime - buy a car with an out-of-state drivers license, no permanent address, working overseas with an 'employer' in another state, and what stateside address we have (our daughter) had been changed a month ago to an even different state from an even different state. Ok, now, think about getting a loan for this same couple, who by the way, had no insurance and one of them has an expired driver's license (of course from another state). So, then go get car insurance, then car tags.....you get the picture. It is less stressful in Mozambique!

But, God was merciful and it all worked out although I have until early September to figure out about that first payment! What a life we are living as compared - no Lord, I'm not asking to go back to Egypt - anyway, I don't like leeks! (you'll have to look up the verses!)

So then, we had to quickly move our shipment from Mozambique (that came in with out any problems and we are hats off to the US customs people who were tremendously helpful to us and helped us get everything squared away on this end. A great office in Huntsville. So, we rented a u-haul truck and took it to knoxville where we can share a storage unit with daughter three before eventually getting some of it back up to Pittsburgh. If it sounds crazy, you are right. We did squeeze in a day trip to Nashville to see our pregnant daughter Sarah and her husband David. I don't think that baby can stay in very much longer! The way back to Huntsville was interesting because we got into this massive back-up from an accident where the Interstate was closed. But that worked out also with some alternate routing and driving skills I learned in Mozambique!

So, goes the report on our first 4 days!

We are in South Carolina now for a time of transition, de-briefing, and wedding!

Much love,

Dave & Ann