Rodger's surgery update

Thanks, everyone, for all your prayers, e-mails, phone calls and sms's on the day of Rodger's surgery and following.

The surgery, to repair the badly broken bridge of his nose and deviated septum(recent basketball injuries) was on Friday in South Africa. Though the doctor said it took longer than he had expected because of the extent of the injury, the surgery was a success.

Rodger had not been under anesthetic(that we can remember) since the age of 5, so we were both a little bit curious and nervous to see what his extremely colorful personality would produce when coming out from under the effects of anesthetic! :)

Most colorful! He spoke nothing but Portuguese to all the nurses and doctors and to me, though we were speaking English to him! He was joking with the nurses and doctor almost immediately but he only said one embarrassing thing! He doesn't remember any of it.

Please continue to pray for him. He is having alot of pain still and is really, really swollen.

Unexpected blessings!

This little lady is the "grandmother" that lives next to the property we are preparing to start our business on. This is her house, a little reed hut that is so old, it's leaning to one side. She doesn't speak a word of Portuguese, but the secretary of the neighborhood told us that she had been abandoned by her only adult child and was homeless. He gave her a tiny piece of property and had the house built for her. Well, when the surveyor came for our land, the place where we need to make an entrance into our property is very near her house, though on our land. As an act of good faith, we agreed to build a cement block house with a tin roof for her(that's just the way it works here!) We are DELIGHTED, however, with the opportunity to minister to this sweet little lady in this way! One of the unexpected blessings of the job!

Job Hazards

This is Daudi holding 2 of the beheaded snakes found at the job site yesterday. There have been 4 so far. One Mamba and these 2 that we think are puff adders. YIKES!! Please pray for the safety of our guys as they clear the land.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Okay, so that was just an "attention grabber" that was meant to make you think, "what are they talking about?" and keep you reading. Although, we may have answers to all your burning questions about chickens and eggs very soon! Why?

Because we are doing what no seminary class could have every prepared us for. Preparing to start an egg business. We now have the land and, with help from our interns, are clearing it. Soon, construction will begin on the hen houses. In 4 months, Mozovos(ovos means eggs) will be the proud owner of 5,000 hens, ready to lay eggs. The above photo is of Rodger and the interns at the new land. The tall, distinguished looking man in the back, second from the right, is Senhor Bule. He is the man God brought into our lives to manage the project.

The interns have already been hard at work. They have learned the egg business while interning at another business. They are ready to go!

The business is being created to help provide a sustainable future for these young men who have been sent by their church to participate with us and receive hands on training in ministry.

In addition, they are studying diligently the life of Christ and applying it to their lives and ministry. They are building redemptive relationships with people in the community through English language helps class with us and through inviting their friends to play basketball at our house.

Easter 2008

The weather was cool and rainy on Easter in Mozambique, but the weather did not dampen our spirits as we worshipped together on our 7th week of services in 25 de Junho, our community!

Americo, one of our interns, spoke from the passage John 13 about the last supper. As he spoke, we demonstrated Jesus love and service by kneeling to wash the feet of the person next to us. We shared the Lord's supper together and talked about the death, burial and resurrection.

After church, we ate lunch together and afterwards, watched "The Passion of the Christ."

Oh, and you may notice that their are 9 young Mozambican men in the photo when we only have 8 interns. We also had our first visitor from the community that day. He came back the following week!

These guys are amazing and are working so very hard! Please pray for them.

17 Years!

17 years ago...2 crazy kids were married! Didn't we look like babies?