Happenings!

It's not for lack of news that our last blog post was September 16th!  It's for lack of time!  There is so much to share, we often don't know where to begin!  Here are the highlights:

Rodger made a month long trip to the States, while Stephen and Lynne stayed in Mozambique.  The purpose of the trip was to raise partners and funds for the next phase of our ministry: the expansion of MozOvos, our egg farm.  He met with many, many people, sharing the vision and the need.  He was also able to squeeze in a few days to visit his family in Kansas.  Here he is with his sister and brother.

Here he is with mom and brother.

On September 8, we welcomed our two American interns, David and Lee.  Both grew up in Brazil and speak Portuguese.  They are integrating into life here and will be with us until late July.

We also welcomed our new colleagues, Rob and Heather Blanks and their 4 children.  Marian, Hayden, Judah and Josiah.  They will be going to language school and working directly with us in the Internship program for their first term in Mozambique.  Here they are, enjoying their new life!

In addition to all of these happenings, the churches in 25 de Junho and Agostinho Neto are doing well!  We have 6 people in process to be baptized.  We have completed our first discipleship class and are beginning another.

The $77,000 needed for the expansion of  MozOvos was raised and we are beginning that process now.  Cages and birds have been ordered.  Soon, we will be better able to meet the demands for eggs that we have each day and be further along in our goal to make the ministry of the International Internship in Missions a truly self-sustaining ministry!

God, Our Father

I've been contemplating God as our father for many weeks now. Every time I turn around, I hear a song, read something or hear a sermon that directs my thinking back to God, as my father, my parent.


In fact, parenting has been uppermost in my thinking lately as we are in the thick of it with two teenagers.


One of my favorite things about parenting them is when Rodger and I can take each of them out for a meal, just mom and dad and one son, and see the floodgates open up as they realize they have our undivided attention and can talk about anything they want. It's at these times we discover a little more of their uniqueness and their hopes and dreams for their futures.


Andrew: "I don't really have any idea what I want to be yet. I kinda get worried about that and a little scared when you start talking about visiting colleges." and "School rocks!"


Stephen: "Mom, I think "A" is a really sad boy. He's negative about everything" and "I think I'd like to be a professional soccer player and then, when I'm too old to do that, I'll work with animals."


I love most when they are enthusiastic about something, anything! I love hearing their views on life and their dreams!


So, I wonder why I treat God, my heavenly Father, as if bringing my hopes and dreams to Him is an inconvenient thing that He might rather not listen to? Why do I act like asking Him to bring about our "BHAG's"(our Worldventure President uses this expression for "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals") is something that's of us instead of something that He put in us? Why do I "tone it down" instead of approaching Him, jumping up and down with excitement, over our hopes and dreams for our work in Mozambique? Didn't He already teach us to pray, "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven"?


And are we grasping the truth of I John 5:14,15 that says "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask ANYTHING according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of Him."?


I love to hear whatever is on the minds of Andrew and Stephen, listen to the things they dream of, enjoy the things that are enjoyable to them, bask in their words that show me their thoughtfulness, tenderness, even their silliness. When they are sharing their hearts with me, do I thump them on the head and say, 'Stupid child, that will never work. Stop dreaming those dreams!' No, I smile and listen with great delight that they trust me enough to not keep it to themselves, but share it with their mom.


Today, I choose to believe that God, our heavenly Father, loves to hear our dreams and hopes for the people of Mozambique. That He is also working on our behalf to provide the means that seem so far out of our realm of possibility. I will choose to boldly ask Him for changed hearts and a changed Mozambique, for HIS glory.


"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20,21

Life on Life

"A painter estimates a job-for example, eight hours and two gallons for four walls.  He starts at sunup, but when the days over and the paint's gone, the job's done.  Ministry is like painting a wall that never ends, with an undetermined amount of paint(apparent resources), no time clock(24/7), and unknowns on the horizon."    From the book "Challenged:  Mission Trip Devotions and Journal"

Sometimes we long for "wall painting" type work.  Something with measurable results that looks really pretty, neat and clean at the end.  The truth is, most weeks we are asking ourselves "is what we are doing making ANY difference at all?" Believing that evaluation is necessary, how are we supposed to evaluate our work?

Maybe it's just in the small things.

This week during soul care time with the guys, the topic turned to ministry and marriage. One of our guys really struggles to communicate but his comment on the subject was very telling.  He said, "I want the kind of relationship like Pastor Rodger has.  He calls his wife many times when he's not home with her."  In that simple statement, he communicated to us that we are being "watched" and they are looking to us as models.  

The truth is, ministry is life and life is ministry.  These guys live with us.  They just don't see us at church on Sunday or in the classroom.  It's all out there for them to see and hear.  Is that humbling or what? It keeps us on our toes!  More importantly, on our knees.  

Father/Son Cape Town Trip

A few weeks after Stephen's 13th birthday, father and son enjoyed a week of study and adventure in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa.  They studied Family Life's "Passport to Purity" course each day as well as experienced lots of fun stuff!  It was an unforgettable and relationship deepening trip for them both.
They visited Robben Island where former South African president Nelson Mandela was held for many years of his 27 year political imprisonment.
The courtyard.
Mr. Mandela's cell

Both were brave enough to go great white shark cage diving.


They went to the top of Table Mountain.

They got to see Cape Town from the air as they went ultralight flying early one morning.

Funeral

This week has been one of those weeks when we had the privilege of seeing the fruit of our labor. Upon my arrival from a short trip,  our interns informed me that a family member of one of our church families had passed away. They were looking to me to take the reins and prepare for the funeral. Can you imagine their surprise when I reminded them that I was scheduled to participate in two days of meetings and would not be available to officiate the funeral? I also dropped a bomb when I shared with them that they as a team were more than capable of leading the proceedings and I would help them prepare.

If i can put into words their response, sheer terror and surprise as none of them had ever spoken at a funeral let alone been in charge of the whole process. Here in Mozambique there are normally three services that need to be prepared. First, there is a chapel service where family and friends see the body and say their good-bye's. This is usually quite emotional as each person walks by the body and sprays from a perfume bottle a little fragrance to anoint the body. Later at the grave site, there is more singing, and a longer service as the body is buried. As in times past each person has the opportunity to toss in a bit of dirt. The workers at the cemetary then cover the body followed by each person planting a flower in the freshly placed dirt.

We sat together and divided responsibilities and I helped them to prepare for a very important ministry opportunity. I encouraged them to remember that at the end of the day, regardless of what happened, they would have buried the gentleman and everything was going to be just fine. The most important thing to rembember regardless of what happens is that funerals are for the living. To show the love of Jesus and share the truth of scripture,  giving hope, would be the most important thing they could possibly do.

Oh they were so nervous! One young man, Adérito, stayed up until 2:00 in the morning preparing for his sermon at the grave site. In the end the guys were exhausted and full of wonderful stories to tell of God's mercy and love. They were so encouraged as the family admitted that they were so afraid that these young boys would not be capable of leading the funeral service as these things are normally left for "adults" and/or the local bishop. The family and local community admired the guy's ability and maturity to handle everything with such love and skill.

Sometimes we wonder if our work really is making a difference in the lives of our interns and the community. In a moments notice, our guys rose to the challenge, pushed through their lack of confidence, and saw the Lord work through them, making a lasting impression of truth and practicality of the gospel message.

These guys are learning that what we do is less important than who we are and how we show love and engage people intentionally for the work of the gospel in the lives of people. We are already seeing new doors open in the lives of people since the funeral just a few days ago. Without a doubt the ministry will grow as a result of the funeral this past week. more importantly our interns have grown and seen one more time the power of relationship that impacts the important moments of peoples lives.

Please continue to pray for each one of our guys as they continue to mature in faith, leadership, ministry skills and a future that is sustainable. Each day is another opportunity to take one more step toward the goal; trained, mature, missional young men. Passionate about Jesus and being Jesus in the lives of people they interact with every day.

4th of July

It's happening again! About 1 year out from our next home assignment, we're missing family, hot dogs, big macs and American holidays!   Sometimes we get to spend holidays with other Americans, but this year, God chose to give us a different kind of July 4th celebration.  We celebrated with people who had no idea what day it was for us.    It was "Family Day" for our interns.  They invited their families and pastors or church reps to celebrate what God is doing in their life through International Internship in Mission and MozOvos.  It was a great day!

We had a special celebration service with music and special dance numbers by our interns!

Family members were given the opportunity to express their love for their interns and joy of what God is doing in their lives.
We could feel the love!
The young girls of the church (along with Lynne) worked hard to provide good food for approximately 150 people.

Our Girls?

You hear alot from us about "our boys"!  As the parents of sons and parents/mentors/cheerleaders of our nine interns, our lives are full of "all things male."   Male voices singing, bouncing basketballs, broken windows from overzealous soccer players in our yard, boys dorm type pranks,  advice giving on girls and relationships and choosing a mate.   Our interns are not permitted to date while participating with us in the program, but that doesn't stop them from thinking ahead! :)

We've noticed, however, that BECAUSE we have 9 handsome, gifted, EMPLOYED young men at our house, the "stop bys" to our house for any reason under the sun by young ladies is increasing.  In our 25 de Junho ministry, the number of young ladies who attend on Sunday FAR outnumbers the young men.  Some of these young ladies are quite forward, verbally expressing their interest in one or other of the boys.

  Even just a little farther outside of the city of Maputo, in our Agostinho Neto location which is very rural, the ministry is almost entirely young men.  Young women are busy working at home.  They often tend to be less forward and much more timid around young men.  Still, we need to reach them.

The question is always in our thinking, what do we do to reach and teach these young women, even if their intentions for coming are only focused on the young men in our midst?

At this point, Lynne and Mary are the only women, grounded in their faith, here to work with these young women and Mary's effectiveness is somewhat limited by the fact that her language skills are still very basic, she works another full time job and has small children at home.  

Well, we pray ALOT, especially Lynne, for wisdom and a keen intuition and look for opportunities to "go deeper" with the young women the Holy Spirit points out to us.  To give us a heart for those we are to pour our lives into.

This is Martinha, 20 years old, she is a student at the Institute of Technology, studying to be an accountant.  We met Martinha through her mother who works at a local store Lynne discovered while exploring the neighborhood two years ago.  Lynne and Martinha's mother quickly struck up a friendship when they discovered they are both followers of Jesus!  Martinha's mother is a single mom who works seven days a week and worries about her young adult children.  The church they were trying to attend was very far away from their house and she was eager for Martinha to get involved with our ministry.  Martinha is also a believer in Jesus.

Katia is another young lady who just recently came to faith, though she has been attending church regularly for the past 9 months or so.  She is just about to complete the first discipleship course.  She is a high school graduate and preparing to take the entrance exam for university.

In the last two weeks, God has given Lynne some great opportunities to get to know these girls better.  

Will you pray for them to go deeper in their faith and become passionate followers of Jesus?  Will you pray for more of the girls in our ministry to come to faith in Jesus?

Will you also pray with us for another young woman(American, Brazilian, Mozambican, Portuguese) to work alongside us, helping and mentoring these young women, maybe even starting up an internship program for them as well?   As a "icing on the cake" kind of request,  will you also pray with us that this young woman would already have a basic understanding and ability to converse in Portuguese?  We believe nothing is too hard for God and He DESIRES to give us "icing on our cake" when we come to Him in faith, deeply desiring for these young ladies to bring glory to Him with their lives.

These young people are the future of Mozambique!

25 de Junho

I spoke to my neighbor on Thursday, "Feliz Dia de Independencia, Joana"("happy independence day, Joana"), to which she replied "Estamos livres!"  ("We are free!") 

25 de Junho is both the name of our town and the date of Mozambique's Independence from Portuguese colonial rule in 1975 after a decade long war for their freedom.  Below are some photos of our town.  

Men wheel these pushcarts around all day, laden with a variety of things.
25 de Junho Market area
A view from in front of our house
The flag of Mozambique
Neighbor boys
Hot, fresh bread daily...carried and sold from a plastic tub on top of the head.
All that and carry a baby too?

A random sweet old man!

Six Years!

June 4th marked 6 years in Mozambique!  We thought we would celebrate by sharing some of our "firsts" photos!

Our first week in Mozambique, staying at Oasis guesthouse.  All the boys did for the first week is catch lizards and get filthy every day!  They were 6 and 9 years old.

Our first trip to the beach!

Our first pets, Jack Russell Terriers, Max and Fudge.

Our first house and chance to do yard work.  As seminary students, up to this point, we had only lived in apartments.

Our first Thanksgiving.  We celebrated with our British, Brazilian and Mozambican friends.

Our first church family, in front of our first meeting site, the primary school in Djuba.

Our first Christmas program.  Can you find the "branca"(white girl)?

The first church owned land in Djuba.  Clearing it by hand.

After the land was cleared, our first church "building", a giant blue and white tent.

First signs of falling in love with a beautiful people.

Answered prayers!

Thank you for praying for Felix and Mary, the Rwandese couple who have come to work with us.  they have both completed the residency process and are now free to settle and work with us in Mozambique!  God is so good!