Our fine young men!

Best friends since 1st grade, we couldn't separate these two when we introduce them to you!

David Lamp and Lee Peffer(2nd photo below) are our two newest interns. Americans raised in Brazil, David and Lee have been a very welcome addition to the internship. They have and still are struggling with culture and nuances of "a different kind" of Portuguese, but they are doing well and showing true missionary spirit!

Please pray for David and Lee over the next month(December 21 to January 21), as they spend a month living with Mozambican families in the bush. Please pray for their health and safety. Pray that they will be a blessing to their host families. Pray for God to speak to them in a very real way. Pray that their hearts will be open to receive all they will learn. Pray for them as they spend Christmas away from their families.

For the long term, pray for their continued time here and their return to college in the States in August. David is attending Cornell University and Lee is attending Huntington College.

Aderito Nhavoto is one of our second year interns.  Proof that great things come in small packages, he is a short little dynamo with an amazing smile!  Aderito is a very gifted preacher and very passionate about God's word. He to tell people about Jesus.  

Aderito graduated from high school last year.  He is the only believer in his family and is under constant pressure from his family to participate in ancestor worship and all kinds of traditional practices.  This is very heavy on his heart at all times.  Despite this, he is a hard worker and sends money home to his mother every month.  

We look forward to seeing great things from Aderito!

Our fine young men!

Beside our own incredible boys, we are privileged to live with 11 of the finest young men we have ever known. Over the next few weeks, we'd like to tell you a little of their stories and ask you to pray for them.

Americo is one of our two youngest interns and is 18 years old. He is a very talented musician, singer and dancer.

Americo's mother died when he was very young and he and his younger sister were abandoned by their father. He and his sister were moved from place to place among family members where they suffered abuse and neglect. For the most part, Americo raised himself while caring for his younger sister.

As our relationship has grown with these young men, as we have become a family to each other, we've often noticed a real distance with Americo. We could never quite put our finger on it until one day he shared his story with Rodger and explained the huge trust issues he struggles with. He also shared that, for the first time in his life, he has a place to belong and a place where he really wants to be.

Please pray for Americo. God so evidently has His hand on this young man and has brought him so far! God truly has a future and a hope for Americo! Pray that the emotional and self-protective walls will be broken down and he will develop a true understanding of what it means to be part of a family while in the internship.

Thanksgiving Week Happenings

This week, we expanded the egg farm by 4,000 additional birds.  In the pouring rain and some of our crew working long, long hours to be ready, we installed the cages and got the watering systems up and running.  This left us with another problem though.  The part of the building where there were no chickens has been serving as our meeting place for church on Sunday.

Previously, Rodger had talked to the Mayor of the community about using an old abandoned clinic for our Sunday services.  At that time, he didn't see fit to grant that request.  At the 11th hour, though, he came through!  We now have a place to meet on Sundays.  Praise God for this!  We worked hard to clean it up and get it ready to use on Sunday.

While preparing for our new chickens, it's been necessary to lay some pipe for drainage when we clean the floors of the coop.  The workers started to dig the ditch and lay the pipe.  Then, the heavy rain started and last 5 days.  The ground underneath the structure started to erode and one wall of our building is starting to collapse.  It's another headache, but God has been faithful to us, and we know that in this too, He will provide all we need.

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!

Our fine young men!

Beside our own incredible boys, we are privileged to live with 11 of the finest young men we have ever known. Over the next few weeks, we'd like to tell you a little of their stories and ask you to pray for them.

Americo is one of our two youngest interns and is 18 years old. He is a very talented musician, singer and dancer.

Americo's mother died when he was very young and he and his younger sister were abandoned by their father. He and his sister were moved from place to place among family members where they suffered abuse and neglect. For the most part, Americo raised himself while caring for his younger sister.

As our relationship has grown with these young men, as we have become a family to each other, we've often noticed a real distance with Americo. We could never quite put our finger on it until one day he shared his story with Rodger and explained the huge trust issues he struggles with. He also shared that, for the first time in his life, he has a place to belong and a place where he really wants to be.

Please pray for Americo. God so evidently has His hand on this young man and has brought him so far! God truly has a future and a hope for Americo! Pray that the emotional and self-protective walls will be broken down and he will develop a true understanding of what it means to be part of a family while in the internship.

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.