Dave and Ann's Blog

E Letter

2012-02-15T23:37:00.001+02:00

We've received a number of notes that seem to indicate that some of our friends did not receive our email newsletter that occurred time-wise between our last two blog postings. So, we are including the bulk of that text below, although updated a bit. Yes, it is true that we have left Mozambique and are presently state-side. This was a sudden change but we realize God is over all of our plans and steps, all are ordered by God May you be encouraged by realizing all that has been accomplished.

Milestones

March 2012 Village Pastors Graduate from the rural training centers. This is the first graduation at our extension seminary sites. Thirty students will graduate, thirty more will graduate in August 2012, and 10 will receive certificates of participation. Many of the student pastors have already started churches and some of those churches have planted other churches to the 4th generation. Over the last 4 years, these students have studied and received guidance and discipleship from their training pastor. Now the training pastors will start new training centers in other unreached areas, thus expanding the Village Church Planting (VCP) program. May God provide all that is needed to saturate these rural areas with churches.

February 7, 2012 classes began for the 3rd year at the Maputo Biblical and Theological Seminary. We are especially thankful that the VCP training and the foundation year of our Maputo seminary are essentially the same, bringing standardized theological instruction to all of Mozambique. Our Maputo seminary students planted 23 new churches this past year! All of the seminary educational focus, whether at the Maputo seminary or the village training centers is focused on pastoral training, church planting and multiplication. Xavier (professor at the seminary) told us that when the students received the training, they said "we have to do what we have been taught for the Glory of God" and the fruit was 23 new worshipping groups. Only God can receive the glory for this!

February 2012 marks our 5 year anniversary of service. During the last 5 years, we have labored to develop 14 rural training centers, each training men and women to plant and pastor churches in unreached village areas under the guidance of the OMS 'Into Africa' program. Simultaneously, we endeavored to develop a young denomination, Igreja Evangelica Palavra Viva, to have a 'Great Commission' heart. This has been a monumental effort and came with tremendous struggle and sacrifice and would have been impossible except for the Lord's provision. One of our long standing goals was to push into the Niassa province with VCP. A new training center will open in Niassa in mid 2012. Thanks be to God.

Reorganization, Redirection and Resting in God's Hands

We have spoken before of the OMS Mozambique reorganization. In times of war, changes in strategy, personnel and equipment are used to bring a fresh assault. In missionary work, we are in a full war. We have fought many battles and continued forward as God gave one victory after another. But, make no mistake, the battles have been costly. At this time, OMS has decided with an intentional strategy to reorganize our Mozambican team and work. Let us all support this plan with prayer.

We have been asked to move into the overall Village Pastoral Training for the Portuguese speaking African countries. We are praying about this expanded role now and will be speaking and meeting with our South Africa and US partners over the next few months to understand the logistics and specifics of such a change. This is not an obvious or easy decision for us and we need to know we have God's Call to move in this direction.

The Mozambique Village Church Planting (VCP) work will remain partnered with the OMS partner denomination, Igreja Evangelica Palavra Viva. After these years of modeling, assisting and discipling, we have released the management of our work to the Mozambicans we have trained. We think the evangelism and church planting work will continue to grow and thrive as it is God who has chosen this time for us to release the work. Cover this change of command with prayers of protection and provision. The Wesleyan Church has come along side to lend support during this transition with logistics related to the Jesus Film and coordination and selection of new areas for the training centers.

As our days in Mozambique have come to an end, we wish to thank you all for standing with us so faithfully. We are now praying for the green light to accept the expanded role with OMS South Africa or other roles within the world of OMS. Please pray with us. A change in country and work is not easily done lest the Lord direct the way. We hope to have something concrete to share with you very soon regarding future missionary assignment.

We remain thankful for our support team of individuals and churches.

Prayer Needs:

Pray for wisdom and vision to discern the next step to take in ministry. We have many decisions to make in the coming weeks. May all that we do bring honor to God.

Pray for protection and guidance for Igreja Evangelica Palavra Viva as they step out and step up to reach their country for Christ. They will now partner independently with the Into Africa project and move toward a ministry partnership with OMS. This is a big step for OMS and for PV.

Cover our field team with prayer during the months of February and March as many events and changes are occurring.

The first graduations of the Village Pastoral training will take place in the north of the country, the Maputo seminary began it's 3rd year on Feb 7th.

For now, we are resting in God's hands

Love,

Dave and Ann

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

Back in the States

2012-02-08T03:35:00.001+02:00

Our apologies for not writing. Much has been happening in our life and in response to some changes in Mozambique, a season of prayer, and an answer to prayer we could not deny, we have returned to the United States. We had five wonderful years associated with the Mozambique Church Multiplication work but our time in Mozambique has concluded. It is not what we had expected or planned for, but at the same time, we totally accept this change in direction.

As we noted in our recent email letter, we celebrate the 120 plus churches planted during the five years we were a part of the Village Church Planting (VCP) program in Mozambique. We rejoice in the 15,000 decisions for Christ coming through that ministry - it was amazing and it was an honor and a privilege to have had a small part in what He is doing in Mozambique. In March we have 30 village church pastors graduating from the VCP program with others graduating in August. Our VCP trainers will be moving into new areas under the auspices of the National Church as the cycle of Model, Assist, Watch, and Leave comes to a close for us.

Our national church leaders had a good-bye dinner for us at the seminary before we left, where we were able to share memories with each other. It was a tearful time for all of us as we have been a part of their lives the last five years; in their homes, praying over their struggles, participating in weddings, funerals, birthday parties, and life in general. We love them so and it was clear that they loved us. We have gone knowing full well that they have taught us so much more than we ever brought to them and we rejoice in how God has moved in their lives. We have learned so much, but the things we have learned were not always the things we expected to learn but rather those things God in His sovereignty knew we needed to learn. He is good all the time.

Ann teaching a couple how to monitor their blood pressure

What honored us the most was when the church leaders said that what made us different was that with us they experienced "freedom and liberty". We felt such joy at that statement - that the trials and tribulations were worth it. As with our own children - our desire was always to foster independence, not dependence. We didn't have all the answers but we all had the same Father, who did! We must seek God alone for the solutions to our difficulties.

Christianity is not a list of rules that you must follow to prove yourself worthy in some fashion. The Bible teaches us that all of us have fallen short of the glory of God, none of us is righteous, no not one….It is only through His Grace that we are saved, not of works, least any of us might boast. If it is anything except unmerited favor (Grace), then we would have no hope at all and what we believe would be little more than a clever system of rules that allow some to lord it over others, as the scribes and pharisees did in Jesus‘ time and were called out by him for it.

Yes, our precious church leaders walk with God and hear His voice and who are we to presume we have the answers for their lives? We can pray together and seek His face together but His counsel will always exceed ours, always. We firmly believe in the OMS stated vision - to train nationals to evanglize their own country; to equip and release leaders; to plant churches. We know we leave this vision in the capable hands of the national church leaders. We remain passionate about the Into-Africa project method for planting church throughout Africa - a model that has generated over 11,000 churches in 10 years.

We have been offered positions in a number of places including other missions, the Into-Africa project, and in our churches. We are praying over all of this, seeking to know what He would have us do next. We have targeted the end of the month as the date by which we hope to have clarity as to our ‘what next’. To that end, we head for OMS headquarters in the morning to review some of the opportunities in front of us.

Thank you for standing with us for this time - we will get back to you very soon on the ‘what next’. He is in control.

May God continue to bless the church and His work in Mozambique and all those who work to further the gospel in this beautiful country. May He also bless the seminary students and staff in their new term which began today.

We are currently in Knoxville, Tennessee where one of our daughters lives. Today we were investigating moving into an apartment - next door to the first apartment we lived in as husband and wife in 1975. It is a strange world and there is nothing new under the sun.

Blessings all.

“Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” Exodus 15:11

Tropical Storm Dando

2012-01-23T19:02:00.000+02:00

Mozambique is being challenged by tropical storm Dando. There has been quite a bit of flooding and the main north - south road (there is only one!) is washed out at the Gaza - Maputo province border. We have a team from the Wesleyan church trapped here because they were unable to get north to Xai Xai. The city of Xai Xai is already out of diesel fuel and basic things because the infrastructure of Mozambique is so very fragile.

When we were speaking during our furlough time, I used to say that I could count the times it rained over four years on my two hands. This year has been quite a bit different! The good side is the gardens are growing well and we see grass where there has never been grass before.

There is much damage as the sand washes out so easily and roads crumble and cave - disrupting traffic flow. But people take it in stride, where waiting in a line for hours is, well, just normal.

These photos are of the roads right outside of where we live after the water receded.

This storm is hanging out in the sea between Mozambique and Madagascar and moving so very slowly. The weather forecasts change hourly. It reach cyclone speeds for a while but has done lots of damage. It is a very slight taste of what it must have been like in those terrible floods of 2000 when a series of cyclones whacked Mozambique.

We take weather so much for granted. But, no matter what happens, we can be sure that God remains on the throne and that nothing happens of which He is not aware.

"You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it." Is 45:8

Into-Africa Year End Summary 2011

2012-01-01T13:15:00.000+02:00

The director of the Into-Africa Project, issued the following email summary of the work. I have a link to this project on the left of our blog. Mozambique is one of the Into-Africa countries using the Village Church Planting strategy.

I thought you might enjoy his celebratory note of what great things He has done!

"Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in the Blessed Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

A year ago, when we sent out the VCP Annual Statistics for 2010, we quoted from Psalm 66 and prayed that the Lord would bring us all to “a place of abundance”. Indeed, in terms of Village Church Planting, 2011 has seen unprecedented rapidity spring forth in several wildernesses. The Lord our Redeemer manifests His power, breaks the power of oppressors, and transforms wastelands into harvest fields!

Preliminary reports for the year ending 15^th December 2011 show our VCP Church Registry reporting 1,005,330 members in 16,718 churches across 29 African nations. The year on year growth in members was 397,503 (65%) while new churches initiated was 7,281 (77%). Hallelujah! Our Lord reigns! It is not by might or power that this disciple making movement occurs, it is the unstinting faithfulness of our God who brings new deliverance attended by an awesome display of His loving kindness.

Yet we must pay tribute to the army of harvesters across Africa who work diligently in these fields; their faith, focus, and faithfulness has made them effective harvesters in the hands of our Heavenly Father. These labourers have been tested: they know what it is to go hungry, be displaced by war, opposed by fanatics, have burdens laid on their backs, and men ride over their heads. Yet they can now claim ‘God is bringing them to a place of abundance’. (Ps 66:10-12)

We also pay tribute to our many partner denominations who embrace the VCP ministry philosophy; it is primarily the pastoral training component that is central to the church planting and disciple making movements that attracts them to join the VCP movement. They too help us keep record of the church plants and provide letters verifying our registry statistics. This verification process has enabled us to weed out errors, and now forms a vital part of our reporting.

To our donors and intercessors, you are vital cogs in these movements, heaven records your faithfulness. God has surely listened and heard your prayers! Please continue the race with us, you lift our arms up as the battle rages!

Pray with us that 2012 will continue to see an outpouring of God’s Spirit across Africa and indeed to the ends of the earth. May one million members become as one grain of sand beside God’s ocean of love.

We look forward in anticipation to what God will do in the year that lies ahead.

In the only cause that counts,

Bruce Bennett,

Executive Director,

OMS South Africa. "

Wow and wow!

Dave and Ann

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T13:06:00.001+02:00

Church at Sao Damasco

It is amazing that we have passed another New Year’s day in Mozambique. The years are clicking by way too fast, as I’m sure many of you can attest to in your own lives. Of course, it really is just an arbitrary day on a man-made calendar not unlike any other, but it provides wonderful opportunity to think about where you have been in the last year and where you might be going in the next! We are in the midst of such an analysis, proud to have had a small part in the planting of over 120 churches in the past five years and approximately 15,000 decisions for Christ. What a privilege it has been but there is a change in direction here taking place, and we are sensing that God may soon be moving us in new directions as well. We look forward to seeing what He will do in the coming year and we seek only to walk in His path for we, like sheep, are far too dense to see the divine picture and plan.

Purchasing Bibles at the Bible League in Maputo

Due to various scheduled times out of our team members, we spent Christmas here in Maputo with two missionaries on short term assignment here (Kyla and Phillip) and with our friends the Brains who are with the International Mission Board (IMB) and preparing to return to the states next week for their own furlough. Ann hosted Christmas dinner here and everyone pitched in for a traditional meal and my precious wife, who’s love language is ‘gift giving’ had small gifts for all.

The culture here pretty much closes down mid-December through mid-January, usually due to heat (not so much this year! PTL (so much for global warming)), and many take holiday time. It is a time of family and friends, but Christmas remains a bit sedate in the churches, where-as ‘all the stops’ are pulled out for Easter.

Chad, Ann, & Sergio with Solar Jesus Film Equipment

We have re-stocked our church planting supplies, including new Bibles in a newer easy to read Portuguese translation as well as local tribal dialects. These will eventually find their way to our church planting pastors along with new training materials for children. In addition, Ann has some translation work in progress translating the OMS human trafficing material into Portuguese for use in our training centers spread throughout the country. This remains a problem in Mozambique and a South African city right over the border is reported to be a central hub for this kind of activity. You feel a heaviness when you drive through this town, and it may be because of this horrible sin impacting so many. In addition, we hope to have the translation of new Village Church Planting Pastor materials underway in the coming weeks. (Six new manuals have been completed, which will replace the 23 booklets we are currently using and which are difficult for us to obtain and reproduce).

We are partnering with the Weslyan work in Xai Xai on setting up and using our solar powered Jesus Film equipment. Chad, shown in this picture with the hat, and his friend Sergio have a sound lab at the Bible College in Xai Xai and can do the requisite computer work to get the Jesus film moved onto the SD cards this equipment uses. They will make it look easy (the advantages of youth!) and be able to get it into use quickly. What a joy to partner with like-minded folks reaching Mozambique for Christ.

"Grandma Ann" with Tristen & Jocelyne Helm

While we were in Xai-Xai, we stayed with our missionary friends, Jason and Rachel and enjoyed just spending time with them and kids. Our lives have been enriched through friendship with this dynamic couple who serve with an organization called Unitas Inteternation. They have established a fish farm (among other things), where they are growing fish to provide food and funding for the Xai-Xai Bible college. They also oversee a farm where they have chickens, beef cattle, fruit trees, fruit, and vegatables for sale, with the funding all going to support the Bible College. Not without challenges, they perservere for the cause of Christ. I was able to help Jason install a water tank in his attic - a two hour job that took the better part of a day - like all plumbing work!! I’m not sure how much I really helped, since we had to ‘re-do’ it about three or four times before we got it right! Isn’t that also par for plumbing work.

The Helms in Xai Xai

Christmas at new "Pic n Pay" in Maputo

Kyla and Phillip, our short termers serving at CAM, have been here since last summer, serving in the Christian School operated by OMS. They were getting a little stir-crazy with the school down for the holidays, so we took them to South Africa with us to pick up things for the school, check the mission mail, do more eye exams (Ann) this time. We came back through Kruger Park, (I know, someone has to do it! ;-)). We had a delightful time with these precious young people, who have stepped out in faith to see what God might say to them as they serve here in Mozambique.

Some missionaries we knew here who are not coming back to Mozambique, left many things in storage here thinking they would be back by now. I’ve been spending a few days here and there getting their things ready to ship back to the States. The hard work is done, although now it is the detail stuff, getting it through customs and the like. We need to get their stuff shipped, to free up storage space needed by the OMS School. That has been a joy for this family served many years in Mozambique and partnered with OMS on many occasions.

We’re in the midst of Mango season and the cashew fruits are coming in, so there will be much preparation of cashews in the coming weeks. I was discussing these things with some Mozambican friends yesterday and there is much tradition associated with the cashew and preparation. There is the nut and the fruit. The fruit is used to produce a kind of wine (we saw it on the side of the road while we were traveling to Xai Xai) and there is a cultural memory of killing and eating elephants this time of year as the Cashews come in. I asked if they had ever eaten elephant, and they said ‘no’ but they have heard the stories and there is supposed to be great power in the eating of elephant and the cashew wine, but they stay away because there is also witchcraft involved in all of this. Oh Africa, oh Africa, there is such a spiritual darkness that is so much a part of culture…. That explains the stories I also heard in Tenga in 2007, where a lone elephant came through the area to be feasted on……

We wish you a happy new year. More importantly, we pray that God will reveal himself in new and powerful ways this year. There is much happening in the world and there is much ‘spin’ on everything you read or hear. It seems so much like the time of Israel in the time of the Kings, prior to going into captivity; the countries are different, but the stories are the same - rebellion against the Creator and a worshipping of men. There is nothing new under the sun.

So today, we leave with you what has become our favorite and maybe our life verse from Romans 15:13:

“May the God of Peace, fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in Him, so you might overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

It’s all about Him - it is not about us. Overflowing hope comes from trusting He who is always faithful.

Happy and blessed New Year.

Dave and Ann

Mr. Elephant in Kruger Park

Phillip & Kyla

Rya Brain re-arranging our Nativity Scene

James Brain enjoying Christmas in Mozambique

Ann opening presents from her Precious Pearls

Ann's (formally Mabel's!) Christmas Tree

World Race

2011-12-10T22:05:00.000+02:00

Our friends John Michael and Ashley

The days turn into weeks and the weeks into months, and suddenly you realize you haven't written for a while. My apologies!

As I started to write this, my dear wife was doing some medical consultation at the door and searching for medicine to help someone. She pretty much does this in her sleep anymore and has learned the common things here that cause people difficulty. We brought a fair amount of medical supplies back with us and are going right through them. She's been doing some on-line nursing things as well to do the requisite training to keep her license current and that has been something she has been enjoying. She does love the nursing field.

We just returned from a medical trip for a couple of days in South Africa where I got another eye work-up related to the problems last August and a scary high pressure reading a couple of weeks ago and ended up with a clean bill of health for both the eye doctor and our general doctor here, getting some of our prescription meds going again. On the way back, we got a call from a couple from our home church who were on their way to Mozambique from Cape Town on a bus, and could we host them, and oh by the way, there are 21 of them. They are participating in a ministry called World Race. They take a year of their life and travel to 11 countries, working in each one about a month on different ministry assignments. It actually put a bit of a lift in our step to know we were getting visitors from home! So, they came in for one afternoon and night and it was our joy to help them find transportation to the north of Mozambique where they were going to work in two different locations.

I took a picture of the license of the bus, just in case!

Ann whipped up a dinner for the 21 young people (something she loves to do) and we had a wonderful time getting to know them. They are a few months into their journey, having visited China, the Philippines, South Africa, and now Mozambique. And bright and early in the morning, the bus we arranged actually showed up and off they went with their back-packs to work. We texted with them on their journey, which took something like 24 hours on what they called "a real African bus".

They told stories of being shook down for money by the border people when they entered Mozambique - that was their first impression, and then while we were arranging for some sort of reasonable transport for them, I made a wrong turn and they got to witness first hand the police corruption, for they took my license and wanted a huge fine. I admitted fault and knew that the fine was 1000 mtn, but he was insisting on 5000 on the spot. I had a copy of the law but we were in a hurry and to work your way through this corruption can easily take an hour or two, so I ended up paying 2500 on the spot to get my license back - which of course he wouldn't receipt. It's the first time since returning I've had to deal with this but it got quite ugly and he was going to keep my license for three months and I wouldn't be able to drive; he kept making different kinds of threats and didn't let up until I finally say that I would just have to leave the country because I couldn't work if I couldn't drive and I would all our workers lose their jobs - is that what you want? I was willing to pay the fine but he was be corrupt and was damaging his country. At that, he came to 2500, which in my frustration I paid and went on my way - all right in front of the Mozambique capital building with the flag flying on top. Then one of the Racers said 'welcome to Mozambique'. First impressions - you get one chance to make them...... But, I have to admit, I was at fault.....

Anyway, it really was a bright spot to have the racers here and I was able to have some good conversations with several of them, and it is always good to hear how God is working in the lives of His people.

Today we had the joy to participate in a baptism service at one of our churches. The entire area around the church has been without water for nearly a year and the estimate is the required infrastructure upgrades will be completed by May. So, the ladies of the church carried water in buckets for nearly a mile to fill a rather large baptismal. Quite a sacrifice as the people being baptized were from a remote church outside the city and were using the facilities of one of our larger city churches.

I don't think I will ever get used to the length of services (3 hours for this one), but that is one of the big cultural differences I've spoken of before - Americans have watches and Mozambicans have time. They asked me to speak a word of encouragement at the end, which was my privilege, and a great homework assignment to work with my Portuguese teacher.

That's probably enough for tonight. I have many things on my mind to write but need to think them through a bit more before I write them up!

Thank you for standing with us.

We just issued our monthly and quarterly church planting reports and continued to be amazed at what God is doing throughout this beautiful country. We have just received news that we have our first 4th Generation church planted!

Dave and Ann

May we all be able to say:

"I have fought the good fight, I have completed the race. I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7

The Fun Things We Get To Do

2011-11-11T21:12:00.000+02:00

We have quite a list of Mozambican friends we wanted to reconnect with and haven't had the time to do so as of yet. So today, we set aside the urgent and the foolish, for the important.

We were able to spend some time with Reggie and Melita, a precious couple that just enter into your heart. Many missionaries have invested in this couple, including the Shacklefords, the Theissens, the Glancys, to mention a few. This couple married during our last term and they live far north of Maputo, but Reggie commutes by the dangerous mini-buses each day to work in administration at Central Hospital in town-down Maputo - a commute of about 2 hours each way. On the weekends, he is leading a church near his home; a church they started and that now has about 90 people attending on a given Sunday. He is a layman, leading a successful church.

We were able to visit with them in their home today and bring greetings and a gift from Mike and Sarah Theissen, which was such a blessing to them. We looked through their photograph album, and it was clear the importance that all of the above mentioned people were in their lives. We were greatly encouraged by our time with them and it is always a reminder to me of why we are here: to invest in the lives of Mozambicans who want to reach their nation for Christ. So often we get distracted by things that just don't matter in the time-line of eternity.

Melita has had some surgery that could impact her ability to have children, which is something they desire. Pray with us that God would do a miracle in their life. Also, they live in an area that is difficult, with much drug activity, drinking, and the like, and it makes it difficult for them to minister there. They asked for us to pray for a moving of God's Spirit across their Bairro (neighborhood). In addition, they are trying to get a small store going in front of their house as there is no nearby store for food and the like. It is a great dream, and thanks to Gene and Francis, they have this nice container to use as a store; they just need a bit more work on it. The cover provides protection from the heat and the rain - as the roof of the container isn't all that good.

It's a challenging thing - here is a case where strategic investing in a couple did not build dependency, but they have continued to be self-sufficient in the face of considerable challenges, to serve Christ where they live. There was great wisdom by those who came before us to invest in this wonderful couple.

We found some new roads today, and several times were very thankful for the 4-wheel drive - used it much today. Even went over to a small island today north of Maputo by ferry to check out some potential sites for the annual team retreat held each February. We prefer something close to Maputo if possible. We held our breath on the ferry, sure that we were way overloaded with six cars and 50 plus people on a boat designed for two cars, but it went well! The photo shows the one life jacket we could all share 'in-community'.

On the way back, we were able to connect with a young lady from our home church, Sam Peat, who has been working at Arco-Iris orphanage the entire time we were on furlough. We were so concerned we wouldn't connect with her before she left. It was great to spend a little time with a friend from home. She was friends with a couple of our daughters.

Blessings this day.

Dave and Ann

"But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain." Titus 3:9

Weddings

2011-11-06T19:40:00.002+02:00

For the last three weekends, we have had the privilege of participating in wedding services at our T-3 church and the parties that follow afterwards. It is a great honor to meet with and to pray with these young couples as they begin their covenant relationship together with the very Creator of the Universe. These events make our days fly by and for me, it takes quite a bit of preparation to have my Portuguese all lined up before the service. I utilize some of the guards at the place where we live, some of whom are pastors and church leaders, to help me with pronunciation and cadence as well as our language teacher who helps us on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Language, language, language - it can be so frustrating as it really limits your effectiveness, but sometimes I think that is also a part of God's plan. It keeps us humble.

It also provides a great time for fellowship, relationships, and learning about culture. As an example, today's wedding was a bit different - the actual wedding had been at another church on Saturday, and it was more of a blessing this day vice a wedding. But, we realized that it had a completely different feel than the other wedding celebrations we have attended, mostly associated with the OMS founded denomination we work with. Maybe we are starting to recognize the subtleties of culture a bit better. It is a long process.

Here are a few photos of some of the recent weddings.

This morning, we took our neighbor's three and 1/2 year old to church with us to give her mom a break. We love this little girl, and it took us back to our days so long ago of our own precious daughters whom we miss so very deeply. It was fun to have her with us; but she was running down a hallway and fell and skinned her knee - such drama that I hope doesn't keep us from being able to steal her away again some time in the future!

Much love.

Dave and Ann

"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and Have not charity (love), it profiteth me nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:3

Ordination Service

2011-11-06T18:58:00.001+02:00

Saturday marked an historic day; one in which 4 pastors of our Igreja Evangelica Palavra Viva (IEPV) or Evangelical church of the Living Word, were ordained and another four were licensed for a 3-year term as they work on fulfilling the denominational requirements to be ordained. I mentioned in my last blog that there had been a lengthy process for choosing these men.

Pastor Vaughn Telfer, OMS regional representative and former missionary to Mozambique came to participate in the proceedings.

It was a wonderful day with people traveling from all over Mozambique to participate in the proceedings. As each name was called, the people from their local churches cheered - there was an air of both reverence and great joy / celebration.

Missionary Aimee Howarth and IEPV church leader Raul Manhissa were joint MCs of the event. One of our Mozambican advisors also participated in the event.

It was a privilege to play a small part in this historic day, which is one more step in the growth of this Mozambican Christian denomination.

While Juka Fernando is down, along with Dinis Ramos, we will have a joint Church Multiplication Meeting this week, looking forward to this next budget year and the required planning documents that must e completed.

After the service, there were parties for the new pastors in various locations around the area. We only had time to make two of the events, which provided a wonderful time for more celebration and of course, wonderful food.

Thank you for standing with us. A day like today reminds of why we are here - and we pray that God will fill these church leaders in a way that leaves no doubt that it is Him who is leading this church forward; reaching Mozambique for Christ. We pray He will fill them with a passion for reaching their Nation for Christ.

Much love to all of you.

Dave and Ann

"For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; while it is said, today if he will hear his voice, harden not your hearts..." Hebrews 3: 14-15

Upcoming Service and a Shocking Story

2011-11-03T22:49:00.002+02:00

No pictures tonight, but I wanted to share a bit from my day. We are getting ready for a significant event in the life of the Mozambican church founded by the OMS missionaries who came before us. On Saturday, we will be ordaining the first pastors of this denomination. Today, I had the privilege of sitting on the review board with two other men, interviewing each of the eight candidates. It was a beautiful day and as I sat on this board and listened to the stories of these lovely men who have dedicated their lives to Christian service, it often brought tears to my eyes to hear of how God had 'come through' time and time again in their lives. I have to admit as I sat there, I wondered what qualification did I bring to this panel, other than perhaps my age. It was a daunting task and responsibility, but I knew each of the candidates well and have seen God at work in their lives and the lives of their families; I think the choices were good.

The three of us sat on plastic chairs, two chairs stacked together to give us a little more height behind a two narrow tables covered with Mozambican fabric. The interviewee, entered and sat in his own stacked chairs. We prayed together, talked some small talk, reviewed the five page application form, asked various questions, which would lead to more questions, followed by more prayer, at which time our board chairman (a Pastor from OMS), would ask us if we accepted the candidate. Very formal, but very pleasant.

It took me back to my days of sitting on Navy Qualification Boards - a passing thought I had today as I sat on the third floor of our seminary talking with each of these precious men.

The service is planned for Saturday morning, followed, of course, by food! I'll try to get some pictures on that day.

Thank you for standing with us. Today was a good day and we need a good one here and there amongst the chaos to remind us of why we are here.
The distractions of life here can sometimes be overwhelming. As an example, there was an electrical problem here last night and instead of 220 volts, we had something like 360 volts - blew out every lightbulb in my house, a few electronic items, our microwave, and we have more to discover. As I was trouble-shooting things with my electric meter, I actually blew it out - Maybe at that moment I had 220*3 phases; don't know - but it fried my meter. I haven't checked the piano yet, I'm afraid to! Fortunately, we had power conditioners on most of our things and we immediately unplugged anything that mattered - this situation went on for hours, and has cost us much in lost electronic things. The problem was traced to an underground cable that water entered, shorting out the three phase wires and causing all sorts of havoc.

An aside on the light bulbs - the very first bulbs to go - pop, pop, pop, pop, immediately, were those awful and expensive government-mandated (at least in the States) flourescent bulbs. The incadescent bulbs held on for a while longer but they also went one by one by one. So, today, I brought home from the city a sack full of lightbulbs so we'd have light tonight - but no more of those expensive flourescent things that will blow up the next power cycle that is bound to come.
Last night Ann was taking a shower and when she turned the handle, she got the 360 volts (maybe not all of it, but close) standing in water. I came in to check it out and tried to turn off the water with a dry cloth and I got shocked - not a little, not a buzz like we've had before, but a heart-stopping shock where you can't let go of the handle. Ann is still sore today from the shock. It's related to our well pump, the high ion content of our water, and the crazy electrical problems. Honestly, we are very lucky we weren't electrocuted last night. I got some insulated pliers and turned the water off. Water - electricity - don't go together well. I have the pipe on the other side of the wall heavily grounded, which is probably the only reason we weren't electrocuted. I suspect it is all related to some fence work done around the substation, but we will never know for sure. In any case, everyone here has lost equipment. This is just today's example.

Remember to pray for this weekend's service; and for Juka, Abel, Daniel, Dinis, Belarmino, Carlos, Francisco, and Nelio - that God's guiding hand would be upon them. Pray for us as well; we are in desperate need of prayer coverage right now as we wressle with some difficult decisions.

Blessings.

Dave

"Here is a trustworking saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer (Pastor), he desires a noble task...[he] must be above reproach." 1 Timothy 3:1,2

Our Shipment has arrived!

2011-10-28T19:45:00.000+02:00

On a hot day on June 9 we said goodbye to our shipment as Suddath International took our ministry supplies and personal effects away in a waxed cardboard box. We wondered if we would ever see it again for we had been told 'it can't be done!' (to ship things to Mozambique).

Today, October 28, it arrived! A little worse for wear but intact and praise God, nothing was damaged. Of great concern was our electric piano that we were the most worried about as it was on the top of the box. However, although the box was beaten a bit, it had been off loaded in Dubai, in Durban, and in Maputo - I can't complain! It has been like Christmas today as we had completely forgotten what we'd sent - wedding dresses, audio bibles, Jesus film equipment, music, books, clothes, blankets, baby dolls, kitchen things we can't get here.

Our receiver (Glenscare) got it out of the port without difficulty and there were no additional charges, which was how it was supposed to be, but one never knows! Great experience and for any of you shipping things overseas - you have our recommendation. We also extend our thanks to the International Missions Board (IMB) who connected us originally with Suddath. There you go - another shameless recommendation!

God is good to all of us, all the time.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

"O taste and see that the LORD is good.." Ps 34:8

This last photo shows that our little Boabab tree is starting to sprout new leaves. There are trees like this in the north that are huge beyond belief.

Books

2011-10-27T17:39:00.000+02:00

In an earlier post, I wrote about a recent visit from representatives of a church in Brazil, who has it origins 50-years ago from Japanese immigrants to Brazil, who were from the OMS-founded church in Japan. God's network is amazing and cannot be defeated.

The CONIM church in Brazil had purchased books for our seminary. We were in a bit of a quandary as to how to get the books to us from Brazil. Our shipment is still not delivered after four months and we cannot help but worry about how to get things here from overseas with any kind of surety. I still painfully remember an entire large book bag of our personal books that never made it to Mozambique.

So, the idea was to experiment, send some this way and some that way. Well, today, a box mailed to our address in Machava, arrived at the down-town post office in Maputo and somehow they linked the OMS address in Machava to our down-town post office box (that seems close to a miracle!), and dropped a note that we had a package. Melvin picked it up and took it to the seminary. One box has arrived - and we pray that the other 9 will as well.

In the photo, Dave, Jim Pickett, and Daniel Maduel are inspecting these new portuguese books that are a huge blessing to the seminary and its students. Thank you Lord! Thank you CONIM. May the other 9 boxes make it as well. These new and current books - what a wonderful wonderful gift from our brothers and sisters in Brazil. THANK YOU!

Ann is in this picture also - behind the camera!

We had a very encouraging meeting today with our Seminary Director and we had some really great break-throughs in thinking that left Ann and I very encouraged. Jim is a great addition to our Mozambique team and we praise God that Jim could join us to lead the seminary while Don is on furlough.

Blessings.

Dave and Ann

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." Is 26:3

Church Planting Conference

2011-10-23T19:27:00.001+02:00

This past week, we were in Johannesburg, South Africa to attend a church planter's conference at our OMS South African headquarters. It was a last minute thing that we were invited to by our OMS Regional Director, who is also the head of the OMS South Africa Office. We attended a similar conference in our first term and it was good to reconnect with church planters from all over Africa.

We each presented the work for our various countries and it was exciting to see how God is moving across Africa. This program partners with established church denominations in target countries, sharing the vision and strategy for church multiplication as supervised by Africans. I see great wisdom in the strategy, which functions with minimal missionary support - it's a departure from the standard missionary model, which challenges thinking of lots of people. However, when I consider the statistics of what has been accomplished with a minimal staff, it is with certainty that this church planting movement, which was birthed out of South Africa, will be remembered as one of the major movings of God's Spirit in our time. It is exciting to have a small part in such a program.

We heard stories of great and wondrous things in countries that I am not free to mention because of the opposition that might result. Suffice it to say that Into-Africa is working in approximately 1/2 of the countries in Africa and over 10,000 churches have been planted since the program began around 2003.

In addition, Into-Africa is beginning a pilot program to reach into these churches with training and assistance for the communities covering eight target subject areas, things like healthy living, conflict and crisis, family, HIV training, community mobilization, to mention a few. A dynamic young couple who were born in Africa but have lived all over the world, bring a energetic and dynamic enthusiasm to this new part of the Into-Africa project as they focus on orphans and the disadvantaged within our churches. It is the next step in a process of building the church.

I have something like 37 pages of notes from this conference that I need to boil down into things we can carry forth to our Trainers who are training and raising up new leaders throughout Mozambique. We can include this in our next conference.

This particular conference was in English with translation into French as we had a large number of attendees from French-speaking countries. Maybe my brain is changing, but I was following some of the French as my high school and college French tried to seep out of my hardened brain!

We stayed in a lovely guest house (bed & breakfast) for the first few days and then moved to the house of some friends of our Director, who also serve on the board of OMS South Africa. We were blessed to make new friends in South Africa.

We are back in Maputo - our shipment is here, but still not out of the Port. We hope this will conclude in the next couple of days.

Next to our house today, after a wind storm, a young owl fell to the ground. Interesting fellow and we are hoping the mother owl will keep him fed and protected in the coming days. He moved around the base of the tree with the shade - it was really hot today; a true scorcher.

We started our day by taking missionary friends to the airport and afterwards unloaded some books we'd make copies of for our trainers and attended church at the church that meets in our Seminary. It was the first time back at this lovely church since we've returned. Great sermon by a young man who attends our Saturday certificate-level classes at the seminary.

I'm writing from borrowed Internet - we were so spoiled in South Africa with wonderful access to Internet - still don't have our poor internet situation resolved. Would appreciate your prayers for this - it just seems so unnecessary (to have this poor service) and we need a reasonable solution.

Blessings to you this Sunday. Thank you for standing with us.

Dave and Ann

Four Questions to Ponder:
"Where are you?" Genesis 3:9 - God asks Adam after the fall for He wants relationship and we need relationship with our Creator.
"Where is your brother?" Genesis 4:9 - As God asks what happened to Abel for he cares about each of us and our relationships one with another.
"Who am I?" Exodus 3:11 as God asks us to recognize who He is.
"What is that in your hand?" Exodus 4:9 - as God shows us that he can use the simple things of life to accomplish great things, for if we understand who He truly is, if we are in relationship with him, and if we are open to what he would have us do, He can accomplish great things through frail people like us, so that only He can receive the glory. It is not about us, it is all about Him.
(From a devotion given at the church planter conference)

Heartbreak and Culture

2011-10-16T23:22:00.000+02:00

In my earlier blog, I mentioned the Brazilian team. While they were here and occupied with another activity, one evening we went by the main hospital in Maputo to visit the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). One of our Mozambican friends who has helped us very much over the years with translations and general assistance in circumnavigating the difficult bureaucracy here had married while we were on furlough and his wife had just had twins. However, one of them was quite small and in the NICU. The custom here is that the doctors don't tell you much unless you really insist and no one questions them or asks questions. So, we see things like people with high blood pressure taking arthritis medicine and no one is asking questions.

Anyway, we couldn't get information from the family and Ann (and our dear team-mate Sharon - who has twins) were concerned that perhaps there was something more we could be doing. So, Ann and I with one of the leaders of one of our churches went up to the unit before visiting hours and were to meet the father there. We arrived first and even though we weren't supposed to be there, we are those ugly Americans who will talk to anyone. Fortunately we had a Pastor with us to help us with the cultural things. The first clue was that the baby's name was not posted on the hand-written list on the window by the door into the unit. The second clue was that we kept getting the run-around (indirect culture) in the folks we talked to (no HIPA here). Finally we connected nurse (Ann) to nurse and learned that the baby had passed away around 1 in the morning (it was about 1630 when we climbed the four flights of worn stairs). The family hadn't been notified yet as the visiting hours didn't start until 1730.

In the culture, they won't tell the parents this information - you must go through an intermediary. Had the father come up first, they would have told him nothing until an intermediary came. This may seem odd but in a culture where conflict is resolved through intermediaries, it is consistent. In our time here, we have seen how intermediaries can often deflect and disarm conflict much better than the directly involve parties, so we can see merit in this as we learn a new normal. So, because we were there, we became the intermediary and it was our job to tell the parents. Very very difficult and certainly a glimpse of cultural differences. The parents had no clue. The Pastor helped us with the clues and cues, but felt it was culturally our job and we have long learned to trust him. We thank God for this precious man who loved us through this experience knowing our hearts were heavy yet full of love.

We were waiting in our car when our friend came up and we had to tell him this heart-breaking news. He entered our car for the privacy it provided in a busy place. The grief was consuming and after a time of crying and praying together, we went to his car where the mother was waiting with the other twin, who is healthy and beautiful. Ann sat with her and told her this news. Then we all cried and prayed together again. After a time, the Pastor took them home where the family was assembling as notifications were made through text messaging.

In the culture, the next decision is whether to have a funeral / memorial service or to let the hospital "take care of things". A memorial service was scheduled, but then canceled at the last minute, as the hospital did indeed take care of things. It is different but in a culture where infant mortality is very high, and baby's are often not named for some time, to be sure they are 'ok', it is not so unusual and we've seen this before. It is different, it is hard, but can it be anything but hard? I pray our words were enough for that horrible moment in time, but more importantly that God's peace and comfort reigned in this deepest valley.

A very hard day and the parents will be expected to suck it up and not speak of it again. Very difficult, very different, but it speaks of cultural difference. It is important we don't judge - it is not wrong nor is another culture right, it is just different. The grief is real, it is huge, it is oppressing, and we must put our trust in the God of Hope, for there can sometimes be no words, no answers, and just our love for one another that overflows over a grief that is so strong.

Give them your presence and strength precious Lord. Accept this child into your arms and shower your peace, love and presence on this precious couple and their surviving baby. For it is only in you can we place our trust, even in the darkest of places. Amen.

Dave and Ann

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:11

"Finally brothers,...comfort one another, agree with one another....and the God of love and peace will be with you." 2 Corinthians 13:11

Partnerships

2011-10-16T17:32:00.001+02:00

I am writing today from Johannesburg, South Africa, where Ann and I will be attending training with our Into-Africa church planting OMS colleagues. We attended training here a few years ago but this year it is at the OMS South Africa headquarters, our first time to visit there. We were invited by our regional director, who lives in Johannesburg and we were intrigued by the subjects which covered literacy training, mentoring, adult learning, along with the normal church planting strategy training. So, here we are. At the time we agreed to come, our shipment was supposedly "in the port" and delivery was to have completed by now, but oops, wrong data and the shipment should have arrived yesterday or today. With unloading of the ship, the container, and the customs inspections, we may or may not receive our goods this week and our team has graciously agreed to receive them in our absence.

We have always loved OMS for the consistent strategy applied throughout the 100 year history: establish an indigenous evangelical denomination in a country and over a period of years, mentor and grow that denomination into a self-sufficient and growing denomination with a passion to follow the job Jesus gave to the church in Matthew 28: Go and make disciples, locally and in all the world. About 50 years ago, an OMS work was started in Brazil that is now as the CONIM denomination in Brazil. God has put the desire into the leaders of CONIM to engage into overseas missions and Mozambique is a logical connection because of the common language (Portuguese - although I struggle to understand Brazilians who make their 'd's' into 'g's', make their 'r's' silent and speak faster than Einstein can think!) We have details to work out in how we meld OMS with CONIM with OMS-Mozambique but we serve a God of details - from the DNA strands that become a child or the plants who give us oxygen through photosynthesis - no detail is forgotten.

For several years now we have been writing back and forth with the OMS church in Brazil and this last week we were privileged to have two Brazilian pastors and one of our OMS missionaries from Brazil visit for about a week to explore first-hand the work in Mozambique. Our regional director joined us and it was clear that to make this work, we must think a bit out-side-of-the-box and that always excites me. There is that old saying that 'if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting'. We must continue to shift and change, staying relevant in the shifting culture around us. It is not our nature as humans but we must be willing to embrace change. While our message doesn't change, how we relate to different cultures truly does and should change. It has taken me a few years living in another culture to really wrap my mind around that. (PS - Can you tell who is going to be preaching in our T-3 church in this picture? In Mozambique, if you wear a tie to church, you're preaching!)

And, as the church sadly diminishes in influence in the northern hemisphere, God is doing great things to raise his church in the southern hemisphere - His work will not be stopped. Perhaps the craziness in the world right now is that 'one more chance' for people to turn their hearts back to the One who is above all others. We place our faith in governments and leaders, only to be disappointed? How easily mankind loses his way in this transient and short thing we call life.

Anyway, we had a great series of meetings with our Brazilian friends and we have laid some ideas on the table on how they can engage in missions in Mozambique, from sending seminary professors, to portuguese training materials, to work teams, to financial assistance from their church to our church, to on-field full-time missionaries. Really, how cool is this; the circle coming around? I get really excited because it is my hearts desire that eventually our dear Mozambican church will be able to do the same thing some day! What an encouragement and vision casting for our Mozambican church leaders here - what a glimpse into the future of their denomination. The passion and energy of our Brazilian friends was inspiring.

The assignment from our Brazilian friends at this point is for the Mozambique National Church to assign their own priority to the common list of potential partnership areas and we will see what God does with this. There will be much to work out, as it is one thing to cast vision but an entirely different thing to get the details worked out - but pray with us that we will seek ways to break any barriers down and find out ways we can make it work; thus the 'thinking outside the box'.

Jesus film showing in North Mozambique.
Computer/generator/projector hauled in on Motorcycles.

One idea that we kicked around (thank you Bruce) is establishing a ministry partners board in Mozambique where the National Church, OMS, and other stakeholders (such as CONIM if they have people on the field) meet together with equal voice to deal with joint issues that move the overall ministry forward. To date, we have been too divided - OMS on one side, the National Church on the other, and we walk separately sometimes. For example, we didn't even engage our National Church about CONIM until late in the process - that isn't right and you could even use the word 'disrespectful' and we have asked forgiveness. We aren't in a parental-child relationship; we are equal partners seeking to fulfill the assignment of our same High King. One is not over the other, or we are nothing more than a different kind of colonialist. We must never be....or as Pastor Jacó so eloquently said, 'we all serve and listen to the same God. He will direct us together to achieve His ultimate will." Amen.

But we must do this in humility, for God shows no partiality.

Church in Naritete, Mozambique

Exciting stuff.

Thanks for standing with us.

Dave & Ann

"So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." Acts 10:34

"For God shows no partiality." Romans 2:11

Church Planting by our Seminary Students

2011-10-06T22:27:00.001+02:00

A few blogs ago, I mentioned that our seminary students were actively planting churches around the Maputo area. Exciting to see and one of our professors, Xavier, is doing a great job heading this up.

The students went out into an area on the outskirts of the Maputo area where we have a small village church. Based there, they held the normal church planting class and then canvased the neighborhood in groups, visiting nearly 60 houses to share their faith through the use of a survey and see if the people in the house had a Bible or would like one. To get the Bible, they will need to attend some classes by the students, the end of which, they will receive a new Bible.

Of course, food was involved - important in any culture, as the local church partnered with the visiting seminary students.

It is a great thing to see and exciting to watch the seminary develop tomorrow's leaders!

Thanks Xavier! Thank you students!

We have no steady income stream for this seminary program. Is God speaking to you? See charge number to the right for the Seminary Students. We're contributing to this personally ourselves as well, ever month because we believe in it and can see God's hand at work! Join us.

Blessings.

Dave and Ann

I really think God is constantly searching the world, looking for a few people willing to set their pride aside and submit to Him, so He can transform them and through them change the world!

Our Shipment

2011-10-06T21:14:00.001+02:00

Back in July, we shipped a 53 inch square waxed cardboard crate to Mozambique by sea because air cargo shipments are virtually impossible for individuals to or from the States right now due to Homeland security requirements. It is full of ministry related things as well as an electronic piano. We received a call from our clearing agent in Mozambique today saying that our shipment was at the port and he hoped to have it cleared through customs by next Tuesday. Pray with us this will go well; you can rapidly accrue very high storage and port costs if there are delays. Pray for favor with regard to any duty we will have to pay.

In addition, we have a team from Brazil arriving tomorrow. It's an exciting thing - the National Church founded by OMS so many years ago is now to the point of desiring to send their own missionaries overseas. This is a great opportunity and of course, they come already fluent in the language. We will be getting them at the airport in the morning for this survey trip. This is why we love OMS - we pray that someday our church here in Mozambique will be self-sufficient and passionate about the job of the church as give by Jesus in Matthew 28: Go and make disciples, locally and in all the world (my paraphrase).

They have already sent some books from Brazil to help with the seminary program. Wonderful partnering together for the cause of Christ.

As an aside; we lost a great innovator in Steven Jobs yesterday. Thank you Steve for this wonderful Apple computer I'm using, the touch-screen phone we use every day, and the ability to talk and see our Grandson grow via "Face Time," which is to Skype what a Mazda Miata is to a Model T. May God open his arms to you and cover you with His grace and mercy.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

We will all someday...

"fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives for ever and ever. [We will] lay our crowns before the throne and say:

You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for You created all things

and by Your will, they were created

and have their being."

Rev. 4:10-11

The Pickup

2011-10-04T18:32:00.001+02:00

Thanks to the generous assistance from our dear support base, we were able to purchase a new four-wheel drive truck. It is a basic truck - stick-shift, 2.5 four-cylinder turbo-charged diesel (guys want to know that stuff!). It was quite a process but we feel good about it. We need to get the required safety inspection in the next couple of days as well. It is one step above the basic level of truck because we wanted air bags for the type of driving we do to the north as well as the ABS brakes. Can you believe they sell cars throughout the world without these things? Or, maybe you are thinking 'oh ye of little faith" Well, possibly, but I know people who have rolled cars and had major accidents on our crazy north-south "highway" and so I also don't want to tempt fate.

This particular truck is not available in the US - but we have confidence in the brand (Mazda) and the dealer was the only one willing to work with us on the price. It is my second silver Mazda as some of you well know from my pre-missionary days so maybe there is a psychological thing involved - but again, I digress.

We had the side lights riveted to car with metal strips, along with headlights, tail-lights, padlocking the spare tire under the back, acid etching the license number on the lights and mirrors. Stuff you do to try to make them less desireable to those who love to pry them out with a crowbar and sell them back to you on the streets. The locked cap also allows us to carry things in the back that are less likely to 'run away' and the next stop light! A continuing sad commentary on life here but a true commentary on the natural slant and predisposition of man.

Our next challenge is a new law just passed which requires us to surrender our US driver's license and obtain a Mozambican driver's license. We spent much of Friday running from office to office trying to figure this new law out. We even ended up in the head office for the country (those crazy Americans who will talk to anyone) trying to figure this thing out. Everyone gave us a different story - but it is clear that it is a long bureaucratic process involving tests, money, and lots of time. We are trying to figure it out for all of us here. They "promise" that we can have our stateside driver's licenses back when we return to the States; pardon my skepticism. I guess that means all of us will have to report 'lost' licenses to our state-side license agencies. Thank you God for this opportunity to learn more about humility, patience, and Your grace that covers me. May I use the time in the lines to talk with people who live in a lost and dying world of the incredible peace and hope that you bring, for You are the God of Peace and Hope, which surpasses the understanding of both those who do not know you and those of us who do.

Blessings and thank you so very much. We hit our support account very hard to purchase this car and appreciate very very much for your faithfulness to us. During our last term we paid a fortune for a 1998 vehicle and poured thousands and thousands into it in repairs. We really believe this is a better way for us to go to be good stewards of our time and resources in this term, and in the end, as those of you who own cars know, 'you will pay now or you will pay later, but you most certainly will pay!'

Our last term, our car was known for the kid stickers we had on the windows - the kids enjoyed them. Ann brought some disney and other static stickers with her this term and decorated the windows today. The box in the back contains wedding dresses for our trip tomorrow.

Ann says I should go drive it through a sticker bush hedge and sideswipe something and just get it over with! There was the Darlington strip (for you NASCAR fans) when the cars would slide up the bank on turn four and brush the wall, and here there is the Chappa (mini-bus) strip where you get side swiped because 1/4 of an inch clearance is, well, too much. I love this picture of her and just include it here 'just because!'

And as life would have it, the young saleslady we bought the truck from actually lives across the street from our seminary and remembered us from a trip way back when she was learning English as a second language at our our small rooms at the back of the property when we met with the class with a team from our home church. She only spoke a little English and so we kind of found our way through Portuglais (part of each language!). Her name was Ana also and as the process is long, we had the privilege to spend much time with her and we really do sense God's hand on her life. We thought she looked familiar and it took a long time of discussion to finally put all that together.

Relationships - those we meet along life's way - they tend to come around - it makes you ponder what kind of blessing or curse we leave behind us as we walk life's highways. May we be children of the blessing.....

Blessings.

Dave and Ann

"I urge your to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:1,2

Wedding Celebration

2011-10-04T17:35:00.000+02:00

This past Sunday, we participated in a 10-year wedding celebration at our T-3 church. We have been attending this church regularly since we arrived as we didn't want to take our borrowed car (from a missionary friend) into the places we tend to go! We have enjoyed that and enjoyed getting reconnected there.

Culturally, as in most cultures, Mozambicans celebrate weddings in a big way. They also do rather significant recognition of wedding anniversary dates, 5 years, 10 years, and 50 years. So, our 37 years - that will have to wait a few for a big celebration!

Last Sunday, Isabel and Celso celebrated 10 years. They are leaders at the T-3 church and we were privileged to participate in the ceremony which was very similar in all aspects to an actual wedding except that the vows were recommitments, which is a good thing that all of us married folks should consider from time to time. I prepared my part of the ceremony, went over it with my Portuguese teacher, and then practiced it with whoever would listen! Saturday I spent with the two guards who watch over the school and the property where we are living. They had lots of good ideas and it allowed us to move into even more conversation about spiritual things. I enjoyed that time under the cashew tree, just talking with these dear men.

The church started at 0900 and I think we left for the party a little after noon. The celebration at their house lasted the rest of the day and we enjoyed singing, presenting gifts, and eating the standard party food, including rice, beef, chicken, cucumber salad with tons of mayonnaise, bread, a carrot salad, soft drinks, and of course cake. There was also Shema, which I love, which is a corn-based meal much like grits. And beans, always wonderful Mozambican beans.

I find myself much more relaxed at these affairs as we have enough language (with a long ways still to go) to converse and understand. Such a far cry from when we first arrived over five years ago. God is truly gracious and we thank Him for that wonderful provision.

A standard fair is for the singers / dancers to enter into a dance competition where one dancer challenges another and they dance to the song and clapping sung by all of us. The challenged dancer attempts to keep up with the same fancy foot work as the sand flies and the sweat builds - it is truly amazing to watch and although to me they are both clearly outstanding, it to everyone else, there is always a recognized winner, who then challenges someone else. Both men and women participate and I could only dream of moving that way. There was a time that all the wedding participants danced with their wives within the circle of the singers and clappers, and we enjoyed that.

It was a great day and I did get to talk with one man at length about his life, his church history, and the reality of drawing close to God, which is different from attending church, and which is the key to a transformed life, which leads to the desire to be with God's people. Leading lives of simple humility and casting away our foolish pride.

Speaking of pride, it is something God is always challenging me with. Pastor Daniel invited me to dance with him (compete) and I declined - foolish pride. I really need to get rid of that 'what will people think' thing - it would have been fun even though I would have been left in the dust - literally!

Tomorrow we deliver a wedding dress to one of our rural churches for an upcoming wedding. What a blessing these donated wedding dress are to the people here. Thank you!

Wishing you God's blessing this day.

"Search me o God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." Ps 139:23

This young man is the son of one of the couples we have worked with and who was born while we were gone. Say "Boa Tarde!" to Claudio, son of Marcos Zito and Anita. Precious little fellow with wonderful parents.

Church Planting

2011-09-26T22:38:00.003+02:00

Our passion here continues to be church planting but in a general sense, the fruit has been sparse during our absence. But, there is something exciting happening as well.

Our desire has always been to keep the seminary and the church planting work here aligned - tracking together. The first year of the seminary (bible college) program is very similar to what we teach in the villages over three years. With that is an emphasis on evangelism and church planting.

One of our seminary professors (Xavier) is an experienced church planter who has excited some of the students and they are going out on the weekends and applying what they have learned in school. With that passion and excitement, the seminary students have themselves started 13 church plants around the Maputo area, something we haven't been able to do successfully in the Maputo area. These plants cover a variety of evangelical denominations, as our seminary represents more than just our OMS-founded denomination. This is quite exciting to us and we look forward to seeing what God will do in the lives of these students through the works they have started. It's a vision coming to fruition. Very exciting.

We have bought a vehicle - but today is a Mozambican holiday related to the signing of the peace accords ending the war. We hope to get the insurance worked out in the next couple of days and we should take delivery in the next couple of days. It's not fancy by a long stretch but it should serve us well over this next term. I'll see about a picture in the coming days if we can get the Internet speed thing squared away.

Today we finished spraying the school and remaining houses here for mosquitos and did some heavy-duty rat baiting. We were a bit over confident and had a small get-together this evening outside and ended up with a few mosquito bites. Drat and double drat.... Got to be more careful with repellents and the like. Two of our Mozambican friends came to us this morning with sick wives that could be malaria, flu, or maybe morning sickness or some combination of all of those things! The answer is testing at the clinic, which we were privileged to help them with, but not medicines they thought we might have.

Blessings this holiday in Mozambique - from Mozambique.

Our colleagues, the Weils, have left for their well-deserved furlough and have safely arrived in Canada, for which we are thankful. I lost track today of how many things we wished we could have asked them about!!

Dave and Ann

"Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days...Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children...." Psalm 90:15-17

September update - Zaccheaus was a wee little man....

2011-09-18T18:12:00.001+02:00

We haven't done an update because our Internet, that we continue to pay for, (ooh, I'm detecting some frustration here) has not worked since we arrived except at random times for maybe an hour here or there - I would estimate 10% of the time. We keep trying to sort it out, but frankly it is very frustrating as we can't SKYPE, can't email, can't do basic business, such as banking. We have even talked to the owner of the company trying to get some sort of assistance but as the saying goes, TIA (This is Africa). So - that is the primary reason we have not written for a while.

We have returned to language study and are focusing mainly on pronunciation and better use of what we know already for starters. While we were in the States, I really think our brains re-wired for our understanding and reading has improved quite a bit, but our speaking; well, there is this disconnect between my brain to a tongue that isn't used to moving that way! It will be something I imagine we will always need to devote time to as long as we serve here.

Our time thus far has been mostly focused on getting settled back into life here and getting all the details taken care of. Car shopping has also been interesting. We have visited many places and the used market is a bit too scary for me. The horror stories abound with people buying old vehicles for big dollars that breakdown a few days later, requiring thousands in repair. We have narrowed our search down to either a Nissan Hardbody pickup or a Mazda BT-50 pickup. They are roughly equivalent and similar in price and should do us fine here. We hope to make that decision next week as we wait on their final 'best price'. The Mazda people seem a little more ready to deal and the vehicle is much more comfortable - so we lean that way, but ultimately it comes down to price. We've pretty much ruled out the Mahindra. They don't have any right now and anything I can find on reliability and longevity is spotty or poor, so it is probably a case of "you get what you pay for..." It seemed reasonably made, but the fit wasn't great and they used lower quality metal on things I thought needed to be stronger, for example. I wanted to drive one, but they didn't have one available.

We are trying to minimize driving the vehicle loaned to us by close friends and so we've been attending the same church in T-3 since we arrived (for that reason) and have enjoyed that as opposed to our traveling around like we did our first term. We need to get around more soon, but want our own vehicle to go the places we need to go, which typically require 4-wheel drive.

Our shipment is still somewhere on the ocean between the US and here - the shipper calls us from time to time but basically to say 'it's not here yet.' We'll be glad when it arrives. All of our needed paperwork is in place, including our resident visas - so we don't expect any problems bringing the shipment into the country once it arrives. We brought a couple of wedding dresses with us and shipped the others - we will be distributing the ones we have with us next week to support several weddings coming up in the next few weeks. That is such a blessing to the people here and we are so thankful for the wonderful support from our friends in the States who donated their dresses.

Our Christian School that is now on the property where we have lived the last few years, and the grand opening ceremony was yesterday with speeches and performances by the children; and of course - eating cake. Everyone had a good time. Our part was to pick up one of our OMS advisors who participated in the ceremonies and who we count as a dear friend. He lives quite distant but it gave us an opportunity to sit and visit with him and his family. We know one of his sons and wife (and children) quite well and were pleased to find out that the son had entered our seminary program this year. He is a young man with tremendous potential who went through a time of rebellion that God has miraculously brought him through. We must remember to pray (and never give up!) for those who may seem to be on the wrong path, for the God of Peace can turn the hearts towards Him.

In the early days, we lived in an apartment in the city with Wally the dog; we've written about him in the past. Our interim seminary director this year and his family are living in the same place and we visited there this past week and poor Wally. The big scary black dog (with a sweet heart) has aged tremendously and could barely walk, see and all those things. They are considering putting him down, which was sad for me. I was always so fond of him, even though he did chew the mud flaps off our car when we lived there - until I coated them with Mozambican hot sauce.

We have been quite busy with administrative duties as it is that time of year but most of that is now behind us and we have started meeting with our National church leaders, one-by-one, to hear their hearts and understand the changes over the past year. There remains much to do but the direction here has changed and we are quietly observing and trying to understand where God is taking the work here.

Mosquitos are unusually bad right now and we are spraying much (better living through chemistry). Tomorrow, me and a worker are taking off the eve of our roof to install new screening as I think our mosquitos are coming in through the eve where heat excapes. With malaria an ever present worry, one must take these kinds of things seriously.

Our health remains good. The doctors in South Africa concurred with the doctor here in Maputo that I had experienced a vitreous detachment and my retina is good although we will need to return in a few months for a follow-up. The visual disturbance from this in my peripheral vision is wearing but I'm getting used to it. Our lives full as we engage into life here in Mozambique.

Our hearts are quite heavy for our family in the States. That has been especially hard this time and compounded by the poor Internet - we feel like we are in a time of testing for this and other reasons, which is what the experts say is normal at the start of a second term.

This morning's sermon focused on a well known story - Zaccheaus was a wee-little man and a wee-little man was he.....(you know the children's song!) from Luke 19:1-10. But as God so often does, he brought out something new in this very well-known story. When Jesus told him to come down out of the tree (he had climbed up to see Jesus for he was a short man) and when he told Zaccheaus he was staying at his house that day, the Bible records how Zaccheaus responded in some detail. Pastor Daniel emphasized this with great drama and action - the Bible says he came down AT ONCE and welcomed him GLADLY. That was his response to the very King of Kings. That should be our response as well, for we are daily distracted by the things of life, as was Zaccheaus, but we can respond, for Jesus is always there with His hand extended to us.

May you walk with joy this week. May our response to Jesus this week be "com alegria" (with joy/gladness) as we respond to His leading this week. He knows your comings and your goings, He knows your heart, but more importantly, as in the case of Zaccheaus, He knows your very name.

"For He's going to your house today, for He's going to your house to stay!" (from the song).

Thank you for standing with us.

Blessings this Sunday. (No pictures - not enough Internet!)

Dave and Ann

"When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly." Luke 19:1-10

"Teach us to number our days aright; that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

Chaveiro

2011-08-23T19:21:00.000+02:00

Sign for business up the alley - The World of Keys
(50 km/hr speed limit sign)

I think one of my very first blogs when we first came to Mozambique was about all the keys. So could it not be any more appropriate that I start this term talking also about keys?

Our life here can often revolve around keys. Cars have to have alarm systems, often with a special key, tire lugs are keyed, there are multiple locks to get into your house, there are one or more gates, if you can pad-lock something you do, or it will “grow legs and run away”. I have a bag of keys for the seminary and my colleagues have bags of keys for the school. The problem is you have to keep up with all those keys!

When you need a key, you go to a Chaveiro, which is basically a locksmith, just a key cutter. The problem is, they often cut them by hand with files or if they have electricity, they might have the equivalent of a Drimmel tool or just a grinder with a sharply pointed stone.

But usually, you take a master key, and they cut you one from it, which I did the other day near our seminary. But in reality, I had gone to a couple of other small shops outside the city first, none of who had a good blank for a Yale lock. The Chaveiro near the seminary cut two keys for me and when I compared them to the original - I questioned him as I didn’t think they were good enough but he was sure they were. When I got them home, they didn’t even begin to open the lock, which I suppose isn’t so unusual. I only waited about 20 minutes for these first first two keys.

Because the keys are for the common lock that controls the front gate to the property where we live, we needed the key for entry after dark, so I was beginning to feel a little pressure about getting a key.

The Office is on the left - see the key?

A couple of days later, I went back, with the lock this time, to see if he could get the copies to work, and if possible get a couple more keys. The fellow took them to the back little room of the little shop and for an hour, I heard grinding, hammering, polishing, Portuguese words I didn't know (or want to know!) and more. I chatted with the people coming and going from the little shop while Ann made calls from the car. After a while Ann (who couldn’t see me from the car) began texting, ‘are you ok?’ as the time passed.

Finally, he came out with one key, the original and the lock. He had no more blanks, broke one of them trying to fix it, and refunded the money for the one key. I thanked him for his efforts, thinking how much time it can take here to do the simplest thing - but it isn’t the thing as much as how we react to that thing!

So, what is the point of this? - that I miss Lowes or the Ace-hardware where a local teenager can cut you a nice key in about three minutes on a beautiful grinder? Not really; but how should we respond in these situations? Who are the people around us when we find ourselves in these situations? How is it that we respond when things don’t go exactly the way we think they should? Can we move from frustration to joy in the moment? I hope that we’ve made a bit more progress in this area as God grows us in our journey towards Him. It was an hour to have relationship time with people who need to know there is more than this moment.

All the action is behind the board with the key!

Where we live, we lock down basically from dark to daylight. We are changing the lock to our outer gate because we have lost a set of keys and for security reasons, we will put on a new lock, which will require 12 keys for those authorized to come and go here at night. So, I think I’ll need to find a better Chaveiro rather than spend six hours waiting for keys that might, or might not work! (I know, you are saying come back later - but if you aren’t waiting, you must not need it….so you will wait regardless!)

The lesson may simply be to take your lock with you!

My other purpose is to provide a small glimpse of how the simplest thing, can take quite a bit of time. Our visa’s are another example but it is a story for another day. They are to be ready on 9 September.

Blessings to you. Thank you for standing with us.

Dave & Ann

“They would spend the night stationed around the house of God, because they had to guard it; and they had charge of the key for opening it each morning.” 1 Chronicles 9:27

Field Council

2011-08-21T17:21:00.001+02:00

One of the things we do each year, required by both our home organization as well as our statutes on file with Mozambique, is to have an annual meeting of all the missionaries in the field to lay out the plans for the next year and beyond, elect new 'officers' for the coming year and jiggle around assignments as appropriate. The main deliverable from this meeiting is our annual field plan, which is delivered to OMS each year. I'll be putting that plan together this year based on input I get from my colleages as discussed in the meeting. It's a tool that helps guide our work here in Mozambique.

(photo left to right, Larry, Phillip, Susan, Diane, Abigail, Gary, Sharon, Melvin, Ann, Joshua, David, Kyla, Aimee)

It also provides a good forum to problem solve. A big part of this year's meetings were to give reports of what happened over the last 12 months. That was very useful for us to hear and there has been an amazing amount of work happening here. Our missionary children's school successfully moved and started classes at the new location, where we are living now, and the renovations needed to make a school here are finished for the most part. We have some payments to make on this property in the coming months and years but we are confident that will all work out also.

The photograph is of our team as it exists now. It's great to have such a tremendous group of dedicated people here.

Tomorrow we will turn in our immigration paperwork and hopefully the doctor's report and recommendation on my eye. We will also be trying to get the requisite paperwork for an emergency exit from the country w/o a passport (which is included in our immigration paperwork), should we have to do that over this eye thing. It seems to be settling down, so we're not too worried.

It's a privilege to be here. As a team, we had our own church service together as a part of our team meetings and it was a special time. We listened to one of the CDs we brought with us from the OMS 110th anniversary celebration we attended in Indiana a few short months ago. I know it was my second time, but it was as if God had a different message this time around - I love how that can happen. Very challenging - it was a message from Beth Coppedge (http://www.tituswomensministry.org) who is a very challenging speaker and one of those folks that is, well, for lack of other words - the real deal.

A number of things really spoke to me here from this message: the importance of prayer, that our calling is first to love Jesus - He wants relationship with us - He is not impressed by what we do, but rather wants relationship with us so we can be transformed from the inside out.

We need to carry the presence of Jesus into a lost and dying world. We need to divest of ourselves, spend time in His presence, so we can take that presence out. Put another way, it isn't what we do, or who we are, our desire should be that when people see us, they see Jesus. What a challenge - like the donkey who carried the eternal God-man Jesus into Jerusalem with triumph all those years ago. The people came and worshipped because they were in His presence - it wasn't the donkey, it was Jesus. I just love that analogy - perhaps because I've been accused of being so mule-headed?

Blessings this day.

Dave and Ann

"Never be so focused on what you're looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find." State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Transition Update

2011-08-18T13:43:00.000+02:00

We continue to adjust to life here. We have been in and out of various government offices and now have the package nearly together that has to be submitted to Immigration to get our visas squared away. We are still praying about when to submit the paperwork as we may need to make a trip to South Africa first - we are praying about that. Things that play into this:

1. We met with our shipping agent on this end yesterday about the shipment headed this way. The shipping people in Charleston, South Carolina put Durban, South Africa as the final destination for our things instead of Maputo so they are scrambling between here and the States to figure out how to get the shipment from Durban to here. I was impressed by the agent here and think they will be able to work it out. However, we need to have our resident visas in hand before the shipment arrives, so we really should submit the paperwork this week.

2. Within a couple of days of arrival, at a distinct moment in time, I experienced what is called a vitreal detachment in my right eye, which in itself is not so uncommon in people over 50 years of age, but mine was accompanied by arcs of light in the periphery of my vision that continued for a few hours afterwards but have stopped. It also resulted in a significant floater. Through our embassy, I located one of the two Opthalmologist in Maputo and was able to see her last night. That was an experience in and of itself but I received a very good examination although she felt a bit limited based upon what equipment she had to work with.

The concern is that my symptoms are consistent with a retinal tear although she could not see one and my vision is not impacted other than this floater, which is a large area of blurriness that floats around in my peripheral vision. It's quite irritating actually but the doctors seem to think it will settle over time. Kind of like a soft contact lens that doesn't fit quite right or that has something under it so you keep moving it around to try until it is better - except in this case it doesn't get better.

So, I'm to take it easy for a few days, she has me on Prednisone for a week with restricted duty - no lifting - resting, that kind of thing. She is referring me to an Opthalmologist in South Africa for review in about six weeks. She is writing a report for me to take with me, which will be ready tomorrow. So our delimna is whether or not to go to South Africa sooner than later. If I am understanding correctly, I am at risk of a retinal detachment in the coming weeks; which would require immediate surgery.

My eldest daughter works in eye research and so I got some expert ophthalmic opinions right away, for which I am thankful. For the most part, they like the idea of getting another opinion in South Africa but normal protocol is another check in six weeks assuming I received a good exam here - which I think I did. So, we're thinking that makes sense, although our visa's are a problem. We can get an emergency exit visa, but here those things aren't necessarily 'quick'. We have to give up our passports in order to get our visas. Once we have submitted our paperwork to Immigration, there is a way to get an emergency exit visa, but it takes a day or so to get that - so we will probably wait until Monday to submit the paperwork, so we can have our 30-day emergency leave document in our hands by Tuesday.

If we leave with our existing passports, we would not be able to get back into the country without getting new entrance visas, with intent to obtain a resident visa, from the Mozambican Embassy in South Africa, and we would be starting all over again to get our 'package' together to submit, not an inconsequential amount of work. We'd also be stuck in South Africa for a while, which we aren't wild about as we feel much much safer in Mozambique than in South Africa. So, life can get a bit complicated!

So, we are praying about our next step.

Life is full of challenges but God remains in control. Our trust remains in Him.

This weekend we are having an annual meeting with our team, called "Field Council". It is a time to review the last year and set the plan for the coming year. It's required by our Statutes on file with the Mozambican government and is when we elect officers and write our field plan for the next five years. There have been so many changes in the year we have been gone, that we really plan to do more listening than talking. I wish we had a few more weeks so we could sit with our national church leaders a bit first and understand their vision for the next five years. We have already met with one of our OMS advisors and need to make those rounds as well and hear their perspective on things.

So, we continue to seek God's presence and to "listen" so we can follow His plan vice our own.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

"Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he who keeps the law--blessed is he." Proverbs 29:18

Yes we are here

2011-08-11T21:59:00.004+02:00

Tonight I figured out how to get our internet working on one computer. It took several phone calls on a borrowed phone and I am not doing something exactly right with the wireless, but we'll figure it out.

We arrived without difficulty in Maputo and the Kelly's were there to receive us. It was great to see them and their precious twins. All our luggage made it and customs pulled the same container that homeland security did - but after an inspection, everything was ok. We think Ann's four-year supply of hair spray (2 cans) may have been the culprit.

The jet lag has been a bit more of a challenge than we remembered - we still aren't in to the swing of things and our days and nights continue to be mixed up.

Things we noticed:

1. The entire Mozambique field is completely consumed with getting the OMS school started by Monday. They have done so very much and worked so hard and everyone is sprinting to the finish point. The new school will be very nice and there will be much room to grow in this new location.
2. There are a lot more cars on the roads, with the resultant traffic.
3. There seems to have been a marked increase in crime while we've been away, just what we've put together hearing the various stories.

Our weekly prayer meeting was really nice - 11 people were present - we haven't had that many people on the field for many years now. The lesson was wonderful, from 1 Kings 19, and tracked along exactly with what we feel God has been telling us all year, that we need to listen.

That said, we still don't have a working phone, our internet access just happened today, although there are details to work out on that still and we haven't quite figured out how to deal with money under the new banking rules. We bought a new phone in the airport in Johannesburg, planning to put a mozambique chip in it (the phones are cheaper in South Africa), but haven't quite got to that step. You'll understand in a minute.

The banking rules in Mozambique have also changed and we're not quite sure how we will deal with the resultant issues, but we'll figure something out. Because of a purchase in South Africa, the bank froze our account, so we borrowed a friends skype connection to try and deal with that - wondering if things are going to be more difficult that way this term. We haven't bought groceries yet - because we don't have confidence our credit card will work to get cash - so I guess we just haven't relaxed into the chaos and difficulty of life here.

Some missionary friends of ours here left for furlough in the states just before we came back - they are letting us use their car - which is a great blessing to us and a savings for us operationally also while we look for something. The car had only sat for two months before we got here.

It wouldn't start and when I opened the door it smelled really bad - rats / mice - I know that smell well from the cabin! I mean REALLY REALLY bad. It wouldn't start, so I looked under the hood and the vacuum hoses and electrical wires had been eaten by hungry mice - little holes everywhere, rat droppings everywhere and smell smell smell. It was overwhelming, so I wrote a quick note to my friend who assured me there was no secret button or step to start the car.

The next day, used electrical tape and connectors, fixing the wires and temporarily patching the vacuum hoses - no problem. Eventually, I got it started and it seemed to be running fine except for the smell. SO I drove it over to our house to continue working on it - and tried the air conditioner - the fan caught and I immediately shut it off and dust and little black rice pellets shot our of the ducts. Oooooh. I could taste that smell for the next 24 hours.

So, I'm on day two - took out the air conditioner fan and uncovered the condenser and cleaned out the little nests in the fan and the condenser housing, learning a lesson I had never thought about before - NEVER STORE YOUR CAR WITH THE AIR CONDITIONING CONTROL ON "OUTSIDE AIR". That's how they came, in, dragging a sleeve from someone's shirt into the fan (I'm not making this up). I cleaned up all that mess - end of day 1. No trips to town yet....

Day 2 - the mice came back - lots of evidence in the engine compartment, but not in the car - their door was closed. The smell is still overpowering, but I found the second nest, up under the hood liner - Took that down and began the second day of hard cleaning. By the end of the day the smell was much reduced, the air conditioner working great, and the engine running like the well-oiled machine it is.

Do I sound like I'm complaining - no - I've actually enjoyed resolving the problem and I enjoy working on cars - so it has been a nice time to work and talk to my heavenly father about this term before us. In between, I've been able to visit with some of the folks coming and going - re-engaging in Portuguese, and it has been good. We're working to get our house in order - it was actually in very good shape, we just needed to open our storage closet and unpacked the suitcases. Aimee did us quite a favor staying here while we were gone and everything was in wonderful shape.

So, tomorrow, we'll try our hand at driving back to town on the other side of the road, buying a chip for our phone, hopefully getting a little money, and getting some groceries. We also need to get our immigration paperwork started. We are trying to re-enter slowly and deliberately - there is so much to be done just to prepare for life here.

I would appreciate prayer tonight - I have been immersed in rat dust / droppings and cleaners - but something funny is happening to my right eye. Years ago, I worked for two ophthalmologists and I know just enough to be be concerned. Our visa's don't allow us to exit the country until we receive our resident visas and I can't imagine finding an eye doctor here I would be comfortable with - but we can ask at the Embassy which is one of the stops we have to make in the next day or two.

Ann says it might be hysterical blindness; welcome to Africa! It's more of a fog that comes and goes on the right eye - to me more like something floating in the vitreous that cross the field of vision from time to time. Peripheral vision is good, and the cloudiness seems to move a little bit. So, I'm thinking it is something in the fluid - like a floater but more fuzzy.

Claude and Marilynn Meyers are staying at the house next to us for a few days - what a treat to be able to spend some time with them today. What an example they are to us of consistent service for the Lord. We are very fond of them.

We have enjoyed getting reacquainted with many of our national friends, from Berto, Alzira, Aaron, Luis, Alberto, the guards who watch over our compound, Belarmino, Adelino, and the list goes on. There are so many we need to reconnect with, but first things first: we need to get set up and our legal status squared away before we get too involved. Our shipment is scheduled to arrive September 26 and we must have our resident visas in hand by then.

Oh, and our water heater is out (and it is winter here, 60 degree weather) - so that is on the list as well, as well as the leaky shut-off valve - no shortage of the things of life.

So, I leave you with this short update - thank you for standing with us.

Blessings

Dave and Ann

"Elijah was afraid and ran for his life....The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by,...but the Lord was not in the wind,....was not in the earthquake,....was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it (listening!!), he pulled his cloak over his face (humility!!) and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. THEN (my emphasis) the LORD said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (for he had run in fear away from what God had intended for him)" 1Kings 19 (a good read!)

And after Elijah listened, God gave his the instruction and assurance that he needed - in the gentle whisper....

God is so good to us....

Back in Africa

2011-08-07T19:48:00.002+02:00

We have safely arrived in Joburg, South Africa and tomorrow we fly up to Maputo to begin our second term. No significant issues so far for which we are thankful. Very tearful goodbyes in Knoxville. Continue to pray our luggage makes it through tomorrow.

Blessings,

Dave and Ann

Being Still

2011-07-22T23:51:00.001+02:00

Much has happened since our last entry and I’m not even sure where to start.

A good place is to note that we have received our temporary Mozambique visas and that was our last detail that could have stopped us. Our shipment leaves the US on August 9 and we leave on August 6. Our furlough has passed so very quickly and it is difficult to believe it is almost over. We’re into the final details of determining what we will take in suitcases and what we will leave. We also have a few things we will ship to OMS to hold for future teams to bring with them when they come.

Our recent trip to the western US went very well and provided many opportunities to share the good news of what God is doing in Mozambique.

Some highlights in pictures.

We visited some close friends in Hot Sulfur Springs, Colorado, which provided a wonderful opportunity to drive into the gorgeous mountains of Colorado. Snow was still on top of the mountains. We also were able to speak at their church and participate in the mid-week service; a very special time for us.

Then, it was on to Denver to visit our friends who served in Mozambique at the same time we did. We love them and it was a joy to be with them. They attend the biggest church I have ever seen - so big I can’t begin to wrap my mind around it. We had the privilege of going to church with them and I hung out at the Starbucks at the church waiting for my flight time up to Idaho - looking from the porch at the incredible Colorado Mountains; a great place to do devotions.

We squeezed in a short trip to Fort Collins where we visited our daughter Sarah and her hubby and our grandson, who were attending Campus Crusade for Christ training. It seemed so normal to stop in for a little bit. He is a cutie!

Then, I went on to Idaho while Ann attended a Women of the Harvest conference in Colorado Springs. She says that it was life-changing for her and a continuation of the theme we’ve been hearing the last couple of months - that we must stop and listen to what God is trying to say to us. With the routine panic of life that seems to overwhelm us and crowd out our time with God, we need to create those those times we simply present our problem to God, and then just sit and quietly wait on Him to answer. She met many wonderful ladies, including one missionary supported by our home church that she’d never met - but they both recognized each other from the pictures posted on the missionary board! Another God-incidence?

Then, Ann tried to fly up and join me in Idaho Falls; BUT every afternoon these incredible storms were developing over Denver and moving east, messing with the air traffic. A hail storm came through and damaged planes, stranding over 1000 people at the Denver airport. She ended up staying an extra night and day in Denver before arriving after mid-night in Idaho Falls. It’s all in His timing....

Idaho Falls; what can I say? We lived there for over 7 years and it is my (Dave’s) home state, so it is always a treat to go there, even though the climate can best be described as 10 months of winter and two weeks of bad skiing. BUT, it is so beautiful. We spent precious time with family and friends - precious precious time - a type of home-coming.

One of the Idaho highlights was visiting the Bodies exhibit at the Idaho Falls Museum. If this traveling exhibit from China comes your way, I recommend it. It is not without controversy, but it is an incredible exhibit. They have taken human specimens (I guess that is a politically correct way to say human beings) who have passed, and processed them so that you can see specific systems of the body; nervous system, alimentary system, muscles, bones, reproductive systems, circulatory, along with examples of abnormal things, such as tumors and disease processes. I came away absolutely overwhelmed at the complexity of design of the human body and understanding in a new way what the Bible says, “we are marvelously and wonderfully made”. The second thing I came away with was a realization of how crude our attempts to repair this marvelous machine are and how incredibly skilled surgeons need to be! I recommend it but if you have a tendency for squeamish, well, you’ll have to decide.

As an aside, the museum was largely funded by the Carr Foundation, the same foundation that is investing heavily in Mozambique to rebuilt Gorangoso National Park, once one of the premier game parks in the world.

Sunday provided the opportunity to go to church with some friends who have visited us in Mozambique. By making the early service, we were able to also speak at a home church that one of our long-time friends attends. It was an incredible Sunday and as I think about the variety of churches we have had the privilege to attend this year, we serve an amazing God who is working in a variety of ways in a variety of contexts, because He has made us so uniquely different from one another. He must find great pleasure in the variety of His creation. From the Gigantic church of this trip to the small home church of the same trip, to everything in between, it has been a true privilege to share our story with His people. It is humbling. God is working and I have found our journey to be a great encouragement. Despite the media reporting bias, America is filled with good salt-of-the-earth people who love God and who are living out their Christianity in quiet and real ways, making a difference in their homes, their neighborhoods, their jobs, their communities, and in the world. Our politicians and media talking-heads seem to want to operate in the extremes, which is where a very small minority of the population really lives. What a world we live in, where truth has been replaced by the shouting from the extremes. Come quickly Lord Jesus....

While in Idaho, I got to do a little farm work. My Grandfather was a farmer and I enjoyed working with him on it. In this photo, the blue tractor is the same age that I am, you could say it’s two old-timers working together.

God is good. Thank you for standing with us. Please pray for healing for our friend Jim who is battling cancer. We visited with him at Duke University a few months back and again at his home in Idaho Falls. We love him and his wife and they are facing into a difficult situation with the strength and confidence that only comes from knowing Christ. Should I ever face such a journey, they have set the example I would want to follow. He trusts God unashamedly and his vision is clearly set on eternity. But he is not alone; we have other friends engaged in this same battle for which we ask for His healing. This life is but a vapor in light of the eternity that lies before us, which gives us great hope.

Blessings to you this wonderful day. May the God of Peace grant you His presence and extend His mercy and peace into your life in a real and tangible way. He is near, we simply need to listen.

Dave & Ann

“Be still, and know that I am God;” Psalm 46:10

OMS Conference / Meetings & Ann's Birthday

2011-06-30T07:23:00.000+02:00

We’ve been quiet with regard to the blog the last few weeks. We recently returned to our idillic cabin in the woods after meetings at our mission headquarters. I feel that I owe some sort of synopsis. But before that, some updates:

We continue to be on-track for leaving the States on August 6. This was a bit later than we wanted but at the same time, it is largely a function of full planes this time of year.
We have sent our passports to the Mozambique Embassy to obtain the requisite visas we need to enter the country.
Our International Driver’s licenses just came in the mail with a three-year expiration date instead of the one-year you get with Triple A. This links to our driver’s license expiration date, which makes more sense.
We have been diligently packing up the few belongings we have in preparation of leaving the cabin.
Ann is looking forward to attending the Women of the Harvest conference with her dear friend Jeannie in Denver.
We are both looking forward to the ‘short’ airplane ride to Denver and Idaho to visit friends and family before departing. It is all happening too fast!

Today is Ann’s birthday and yesterday was our anniversary - I’m not saying how many years, but it passes quickly. Ann’s brother drove over yesterday to be with her on her birthday and was rather amazed at our place. He wasn’t so sure about our five mile gravel driveway as he has had back surgery recently and is unable to turn his head to back up and wondered what he’d do if he met someone on the road! But we didn’t. We enjoyed talking and he had brought an article about Rob Bell’s recent book and wondered what we thought about it. Ann’s brother is very well read and always interesting to talk to about most any subject.

The meetings at OMS. Well, not a lot to say actually. The business part was a continuation, more or less, of the last couple of year’s meetings as the organization struggles with how to best function with a number of sending countries (Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, US, South Africa, Columbia, Philippines, South Korea) being empowered and independent yet all linked to an International organization. (By sending countries, I am referring to countries that are currently sending missionaries under the OMS banner or OMS-related churches - OMS uses a slightly different definition that deals with the number of missionaries being send out) Adding to the challenges are the self-sufficient OMS started churches that are now wanting their “place at the table” so-to-speak and wanting to send missionaries across the globe, either as their own missionaries or as a part of OMS. Exciting problems and challenges to have, but also not easily addressed in such a strongly cross-cultural environment. And then, in any given field, you may have missionaries from a number of dramatically different cultures serving in an even different culture; and additionally each sending country has different money accountability requirements, life-style expectations, medical expectations, and even worship expectations. It gets very interesting and we must be full of grace, humility, acceptance, and peace to deal with the very fluid dynamics - almost chaos theory! So, we voted on some things, worked as a group on some recommendations for the board, and will see what comes of it all. It is my prayer that God will move in wisdom in the hearts of leadership and the various board members as they lead OMS into the future in these uncertain times (but then again, aren’t all times really ‘uncertain times’?) We truly need His presence in our lives, as individuals, as missionaries, as a mission organization, and as a nation truly. We need to pray more and seek His face more.

When we weren’t in the business meetings, we received training on working cross-culturally. The training was based on a great book I’ve written about previously and the training was done very well. They call the teaching style “adult interactive learning” or some such nomenclature. I’m not a big fan of the style as it takes a veeeeerrrrrryyyyyyyy loooooonnnnngggggg time to deliver a wee bit of information, but it is the current teaching rage I understand. (Yup, just give me dat der slate and piece of chalk and a one-room school-house with a school-marm, now that’s teaching the way it was meant to be! I’m sure that’s in the Bible somewhere....;-)) The interactive adult learning may be effective statistically, because it is certainly easy to remember a wee bit of information that is given over days and days in a various numbers of ways, but efficient? - don’t think so. The bruises on my head from banging it on the table are nearly healed..... However, I have to admit that we have used the technique with success in Mozambique, where group learning is highly valued, group dynamics are important and oral learning is key. But for me as the Western student, I’d rather read the book, look at the chart, write a paper, take a written test, talk about how we apply the material in a practical way. Do I sound like a visual learner to you? Is that why I write too many words on the blog? Is my cultural bias showing? How about your own cultural bias? This cross cultural stuff is hard, isn’t it?!

After the meetings, we moved into a several day conference which included more training on what is commonly called the doctrine of ‘holiness’. I’d like to use a different term perhaps, because the word seems to invoke in people a whole host of preconceptions or misconceptions (more cross-cultural bias!) but we enjoyed the study and were privileged to sit under the well-known and respected Asbury Seminary professor, Dr. John Oswalt. He gave us much to ponder as we weave our way through the deep truths of the Bible. While the gospel message itself is really quite simple, the Bible can also be as deep as the intellect desires to search and Dr. Oswalt’s teaching was deep, thought-provoking, and I thought quite strong. I see such similarity in this doctrine with other teachings we've sat under; it just seems people use different terms and different experiences to try and explain an infinite and loving God's presence in our wee-little lives. It is a journey, walking in the presence of Jesus, in the good times, in the bad times, but always with the peace that only He can bring.

The highlight for both of us was a session with Beth Coppedge, who is the daughter of Dennis Kinlaw, is the founder of Titus Women, and is a renowned and gifted speaker with a sweet spirit. She took the teaching of Dr. Oswald and put a practical and real face to what he was teaching. Ann has met her in times past and was overjoyed to get reacquainted with her.

We also enjoyed a time of fellowship with former missionaries to Mozambique and a couple serving in Africa with the Every Community for Christ church planting program. We shared what was happening in Mozambique (although our information is becoming somewhat dated!), and enjoyed hearing about what is happening in other countries in Africa.

Some fun statistics put together by fellow OMS missionary Valetta Crumley, that I thought I’d share with you:

By our Lord’s grace many of the OMS goals for 2010 were exceeded and the OMS goals for 2011 are amazing. We believe the Lord wants to do great things. Please join us as we encourage many to pray more, give more and do more. The harvest is truly ready.

Pray for:

403,000 to make a decision to follow Jesus in 2011

130,000 to be enrolled in follow-up programs

125,000 to be baptized

21,000 worshipping groups to be established

12,000 new churches to be established

27,000 LEADERS IN TRAINING

1,750,000 attending services

You may ask, how can such a small missionary staff (OMS) propose such amazing goals? It is because the Lord called OMS to disciple and train multiplying disciple-makers. Today OMS joins with 13,736 cross-culture co-workers in 53 nations. Every day 275 people are baptized. Last year 4,116 new churches were established.

Well put Valetta. Teaching National’s to evangelize their own countries - 2 Timothy 2:2

God Bless. God with us - Immanuel.

Dave & Ann

Jesus-style greatness: “... Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man (Jesus) did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:43-45

Shipment is off, more or less

2011-06-09T22:11:00.001+02:00

The thunderstorm waited for us to finish. The shipment is on its way to the warehouse awaiting us to release it for shipment to Mozambique. Timing is very important.

The moving company showed up and inspected our shipment; made us remove a clump of dried Eculyptus leaves (dried plants) but other than that, we passed inspection. The photos show the general progression. The crew was wonderful and they knew their business. The big cardboard container will be banded and wrapped at the warehouse and placed in storage until we release it. We want it to arrive after we have arrived and after we have our resident visas in hand.

I have visions of it going into the big warehouse from the Indiana Jones movie, where it is parked next to the crate containing the Ark of the Covenant, lost forever to be revealed at a later time. (If you don't know the movie, then ignore this paragraph!).

One highlight of the day was meeting a nice young lady at the storage unit named Serenity, who is on her way to Medical School in Oklahoma. It was easy to see God's hand on this precious young lady, who has a sense of God's call on her life to serve in a developing country, perhaps in Africa, after she completes her training. Maybe God will call her to Mozambique to work with our friends the Meyers in Beira, Mozambique, training doctors for Mozambique. It is exciting to see young people like her with a strong sense of God's call on their lives and strongly resisting the lures of our culture.

We have a friend in Idaho who sends us daily thoughts relative to what scripture says and what God's perspective might be...we love to get them and this morning's musing talked about how Satan sets traps for us, luring us with little pieces of bait he puts out and we nibble and WHAM, the trap springs....Why do we take the bait? Our culture is just chock-full of those little traps.

Was it a random meeting - her storage unit was in the same area as our daughter's - what are the chances? Coincidence or godincidence; time will tell! As our dear momma Meyers says, in the mission business, you are always on duty!

Our airline tickets back are on hold and we're negotiating the final arrangements; expecting to leave the States around August 6 it would appear. Should know in the next day or two.

Blessings,

Dave and Ann

“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted." Job 42:2

Communications

2011-06-08T02:39:00.000+02:00

A short post - by now you should have received our first mass email letter which we are doing to communicate better and reduce the costs associated with printing and mailing snail mail. If you didn't, that means we don't have your email, you've changed your email, or we simply made us a mistake. Let us know and we'll get that fixed right away! Kudos again to Ann who figured this out also. We were not successful making mass email updates from Mozambique and hope this new service we are using will work better for us.

In addition, we still think snail mail updates are important and we plan to still do a couple a year. You will be receiving that update in the mail very soon. An electronic copy is now posted on the link on the left side of the page under "newsletters". Just click on the link and look for the "Summer 2011" file. You'll need Adobe acrobat reader to read it.

Blessings!

Dave & Ann

"What made the pony express obsolete? The telegraph....." So what does that mean about snail mail newsletters?......
Quote source unknown...probably one of my elementary school teachers.

New Technology for Evangelism

2011-06-08T01:20:00.000+02:00

In Mozambique, we use the Jesus film in our evangelism outreaches. As I've written previously, this film has been translated into hundreds of languages included the more predominant tribal dialects in Mozambique. It is based on the book of Luke and people are moved and respond to the message of this film. But, this requires that we haul a generator, gasoline, a big screen, speakers, amplifiers, microphones, wires, repair parts, tools, stands, - you get the picture. You need a big 4-wheel drive truck to show the movie in a remote location....

But things are changing and we've always been interested in doing new things, taking advantage of new technology so that outreaches can be more cost effective and practical. There is this on-going battle with mankind always willing to assert with vigor, "but that's the way we've always done it!" regardless of whether it makes sense or similarly being resistant to change, any kind of change, or just immediately assuming it's just too hard and 'can't be done.' It's programmed in our nature for some reason. What do you mean try something different? Are you crazy or something? We're simply excited at the potential this may represent for our work this next term.

In this picture, instead of a pick-up truck, Ann can carry the same equipment in a small pack and run it off of a battery that is charged by a solar panel. The solar panel is in her left hand and folds up into a small flat package. The equipment will run for several hours on a charge and there is certainly lots of day-time sun to recharge in Mozambique. It has the amplifier, speakers, screen, and LCD projector, all in that little pack. Our church planter/pastors can hop on their 50 cc motor scooter, their bicycle, or their two feet and take what they need with them and still show the movie. It should work great in the remote areas where we work in the northern provinces.

A few of our supporters have gotten behind us on this effort and encouraged us to give it a try. If it works for us, we can get more in the future, and we also have the equipment for loading different language-versions of the film onto the SD cards that are used by the equipment. Modern, small, and efficient. Can't wait to try it out! It's really much cheaper also than all the other stuff you need. We'll let you know in future updates how it goes! We can also load messages and other things on the SD cards as well - exciting stuff!

Great project and kudos to Ann who really grabbed hold of this and made it happen. It goes in the shipment we are sending hopefully in two more days.

Plus, no moving parts!

Blessings,

Dave

"Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." Habakkuk 1:5

Impossible made Possible

2011-05-15T04:00:00.002+02:00

Something of late I’ve been most uncomfortable with are the celebrations of the earthly justice finally brought by our government recently. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful that justice has been served on someone who publicly confessed to such a horrific crime. However, all of the celebration was very disconcerting to me, considering the high cost to so many, especially on the heals of my previous blog where I see such hate and division in the news stories of today and the comments that follow. This should not be. My every sense said that this should be a somber thing that where we nod our heads in sorrow of the whole affair and all those affected from beginning to end as a sign of this fallen world and the ghastly evil men are capable of.

In preparing for the sunday school lesson tomorrow, the text asks the question: “In what circumstances are victory celebrations appropriate and inappropriate for Christians? Explain your reasoning.”

No answers, just scripture references but this one jumped out at me:

“Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him.” Proverbs 24:17

I guess that is why it is uncomfortable. It is not what what God intends for us who seek to follow Him in all our human frailty. How natural for us to wish God's fury on those who are enemies against us, on a huge scale, or even a small scale. I think another term that comes to mind here is humility.

And next in today’s news is a story of a Nazi war criminal who was just convicted and reported to be responsible for over 28,000 deaths. His defense was that it was just his job; it was what he had to do when he went to work at the ‘corpse factory’; never mind that these people being killed were the race of very people God chose to bring the savior of the world and the Bible (OT) through. That alone makes you realize that this dark dark time was about evil rising up in rebellion against God as it does over and over again. The article goes on to talk about how men can do terrible atrocities in a detached manner as ‘normal’ people. My goodness, someone who participated in the relentless murders in the Nazi death camps is ‘normal’. Wrap your mind around that, but recognize that these kind of things still go on today for the nature of man has not changed.

Well, maybe we should all take note of these things. Mankind is inherently evil and without the restraining power of God’s Spirit, there is no end to the evil mankind is capable of. Normal people are capable of great evil absent of God’s presence in their lives. The news makes that clear nearly every day.

To bridge the great divide between a holy God and men fascinated with evil, God in His grace and mercy had no choice but to provide a perfect sacrifice (Jesus) as payment for the incredible evil man is capable of and that he perpetrates on other men even though all are made ‘in the image of God’. I think it is only His long-suffering and enduring love for mankind that preserves the beauty and wonder of His creation and keeps His children in the palm of His hand. It makes sense; it provides a hope we cannot have otherwise for no one (ever notice how ‘no one’ can be compressed into ‘none’?) can be ‘good enough’ in his own power this side of heaven. There is just too much evil in us.

There is a saying, if God doesn’t do something about the rising evil in the world, He is going to have to raise Sodom and Gomorrah and apologize. Maybe as His people we have become too complacent and too comfortable.

When Jesus had just finished talking to the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16) who had asked ‘what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ The answer was seen as absolutely impossible to the disciples and challenged them to their very core as they asked, “who then can be saved?” The answer is quoted in my summary verse below. It says, basically, that no one (none) can....because it has to be through God and His mercy, that is the only way. And when we stand before the Throne, as we all will whether we believe in Christ - or not, we will all be very surprised because “...many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” We are not to be judge and jury, we are not capable of it for only God sees the heart. I simply want to be there because I have relinquished my selfishness and my weakness into His hands. It is an ongoing process that is, well, impossible made possible....What about you?

Your homework - Read and study Matthew 19:16 - 30.

Blessings,

Dave

“When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, Who then can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:25 & 26

More Praise

2011-05-12T02:38:00.000+02:00

One of the things that we and many of our friends have been praying about for a very log time is a 'real job' for our third daughter. She graduated from the University of Tennessee and worked in her field for one month before being laid off in the economic collapse. So, after three years of surviving on whatever, she just started what we call a 'real job' that includes benefits. And, she gets to move out of her college apartment! We have been so encouraged by Lynsey's strength and forbearance in these difficult times. We were blessed to swing through Knoxville for mother's day and celebrate this good news with her. She has always been a special joy in our lives and we often refer to her as our 'neat kid' because she is, well...really a neat kid, well, young lady now. More nicknames in future blogs!

Thank you for praying. Thank you for this answer to prayer that relieves us so as we make our final preparations to return to Mozambique.

Please continue to pray about our shipment. We still are baffled by the apparent inability to ship personal effects over to Mozambique because of Homeland Security requirements. So many people tell us, oh yes, we can do that, only to say latter, 'no, we can't because of homeland security requirements.' Crazy crazy times. We are continuing to pack, trusting God in even this mundane but necessary task. We are baffled. How can any small business even survive in the face of something as simple as this? We may be going back a whole lot lighter than we thought!

Photo is of us on mother's day with our 'neat kid' as we left her apartment to walk to church. What a wonderful day it was.

Dave and Ann

"I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. Show the wonder of your great love..." Psalm 17:7

Baby Praise

2011-05-12T02:09:00.000+02:00

We have had the privilege to do a little babysitting for the Grandson. When he gets a little fussy, which is rare, we just plop him in his Boppy (don't ask) and turn on this DVD called "Baby Praise". It is a DVD that I think is prepared in Nashville, that has Christian praise music with videos of animals, other babies, geometric shapes, that go with the music. Our little eight-month old, just stops and coo's and waves his hands to the music and the fussing goes away. It is the most amazing thing. In fact, it helps grumpy old grandpa to not be fussy too!

Praise cureth much!

I wish we'd had baby praise back when our kids were that age (back when we walked to school in the snow up hill both ways....).

Dave and Ann

"Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!" Psalm 147:1

Graduation

2011-05-12T01:24:00.000+02:00

As our furlough time comes to a close, we we feel like we are racing to a rapidly approaching finish line, or as the saying goes, 'so much to do and so little time.' It was our joy to be with our youngest daughter and her husband on Monday for Allison's graduation from nursing school. Upon completion of her state boards in a few weeks, she will be a registered nurse (RN) like her mom. When they get together now, they speak a different language of NICUs, ICUs, BPs, CPs, CBCs, and I&Os. It was a lovely ceremony and we are so thankful for this significant accomplishment by daughter 4 of 4. We are so proud of her!

This is our youngest who spent nearly half a year in Mozambique working at a school before we ever got there. She reminds us that she was there before we were. She also has a good understanding of what we do and some of the challenges we face because she's 'been there, done that' so there is an unsaid understanding that only those who have walked the same path can sometimes understand.

Isn't that in a way what God did for us? - the infinite creator, who walked along side of man, experiencing what we experience including the unfairness of life like we do - for what could be more unfair from the human perspective, that the very son of God would come to earth to do such good, to heal many, to feed many, to teach many, and yet, be treated with such contempt, to be unfairly tried, beaten, and crucified; He knows how bad it can be first hand. We are blessed to have a mediator who understands on loves us so radically.

Congratulations to our precious Allison. What a joy to be there for this important life event.

The following pledge was taken by the nursing students. It would be a good pledge for all of us who are in ministry, teachers, counselors, and for all those who seek to serve others in our human frailty:

I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly,
to live my life with integrity and to practice my profession faithfully.

I will maintain confidentiality and continue to elevate the standard of care.
I will do what I can to alleviate suffering, prevent illness, promote healing, and will do no harm.

With dedication I will endeavor to uphold the ethical, scientific, and legal standards of my profession,
and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.

The Nurses' Pledge - Author unknown

Dave and Ann

Some Sad News

2011-04-28T05:30:00.001+02:00

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been writing and texting back and forth to our village church planting coordinator in Mozambique. A scheduled pastor training conference didn’t go so well with one of our key trainers rallying others around him against others at the conference and he has apparently been an instigator of some of the unrest going on in our established churches. To top it all off, it is alleged that he attempted to have the final paperwork for our training center land registered in his personal name rather than the name of the church denomination. The conference ended in disarray and two of the national leaders took the problem to the National Assembly who took disciplinary action against the leader. It is tragic; it is heart breaking; it is shocking; it is simply sad. We had put so much faith and trust in this individual and were looking to him for leadership into the future. From what I am hearing however, I am not certain that the fallen leader has truly been given ‘his say’ and perhaps that is a cultural thing where with me I like to think the accused needs to be able to face his accusers. There are always two sides to a story and we need both sides to learn how to improve in times of relational failure, with a goal of reconciliation. We have prayed; we have shed tears; we have tried to provide counsel but in the end we are all subject to the choices that we make and the consequences that they bring.

So, while we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called by him, sometimes the path can be rocky and painful as we are shaped and molded into His image. But in the end we can have peace for He is in control and He will certainly accomplish His plans, with us or without us.

The church planting work is progressing and a new work is developing between Gurué and Milange and we are thankful for the continuing moving of God’s Spirit in Mozambique and look forward to returning in what is not so very far off now.

As I read the news and sometimes peruse the comments on various stories in the news, I cannot help but be taken aback by the raw hate and ill-will voiced in the comments. In our own country, it seems we are becoming entirely polarized into hate groups as people strive to justify their own views; we are incapable of extending grace to those who walk a different path. It is as if a great evil is again arising across the world and the world is hungry for someone, for anyone, to come and provide some assurance that personal peace and affluence can be retained or gained, however that looks in whatever culture. It seems that times of great darkness come before times of great blessing. But, the Bible teaches us that we cannot find peace when our focus is on ourselves - it just doesn’t happen.

Maybe that is why Jesus said “I am the light of the world” for he knew that times of great darkness would fall upon man as he fell into the wisdom of his own madness. What other hope is there absent of relationship with the One who loves us so much? Where else can we find the light of hope?

As I write, there is a great darkness coming over the mountain with tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in the forecast. We have had wave after wave of such storms over the past few months. A precursor to the darkness of the times. This day has brought so much pain and suffering to so many and our hearts grieve.

There is an urgency in the air. Come quickly Lord Jesus.

Dave & Ann

“The city (the new Jerusalem) does not need the sun or the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God gives it light...Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me and will give to everyone according to what he has done...Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life...” Rev. 21:23 and 22:12,17

A Great Sermon

2011-04-27T21:34:00.000+02:00

Last weekend we were blessed to celebrate Easter with daughter Allison and Son Byron in Greenville, SC. Byron is on staff with Summit Church and we always enjoy attending this outreach church in Greenville. I was particularly moved by Sunday morning's sermon as it brought a perspective that I'd not heard before. It was built around when Jesus exited the tomb those years ago and the stone was rolled away, there was no one there waiting. He had promised he would arise, people had heard it, but they just didn't 'get it'. We struggle in that same vein today in that in our finite understanding, we often just don't 'get it' as the finite meets the infinite. But by the Grace of God, go I.....May we all 'get it' this day.

Anyway, I was really moved by the teaching and thought some of you might enjoy it if you have 30 minutes or so and want to stream it. I wish there was video included so you could see the passion in Pastor Jason's eyes and his style. Here is the link:

http://www.summitupstate.org/sermons/outsiders-a-study-through-luke/luke-241-12-easter-outsiders-pt12

We had a great day celebrating Christ's resurrection, spending time walking around the lake at Furman University with Al and Bryon and just continuing to enjoy spring. And of course, Allison is a cook beyond belief and we had a fantabulous Easter meal. God is good to us.....all the time.....

Blessings.

Dave

"Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, 'Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.' But he answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.'" (Matthew 28:38-40, NKJV)

Statistics

2011-04-27T19:40:00.001+02:00

We are back at the cabin after spending Easter with our daughter Allison and her husband Byron. We are in a bit of a shambles as we begin the packing process. We are shipping by sea as it is impossible for us to ship by air, which being unfortunate, is just the way things go sometimes and we will look forward to seeing the blessings which will result. We have found some folks in Atlanta willing to help us get this shipment out and have begun the process.

Our formal travel schedule is now over although we are still trying to put a trip to Idaho together and have a few things left to do, but we were wondering about this past year. Sometimes it helps put some sort of perspective on things. Since last September, we have traveled nearly 30,000 miles, stayed in 38 different places, spoke 123 times in a variety of venues in 87 different places as we shared the Good News of what God is doing in Mozambique. We have been in 28 different churches during this time and we have experienced the overwhelming abundance of God's grace through His precious people. We are so very appreciative of what God has done in this time of furlough and we look forward to returning to see what He will do in the next years in Mozambique. He is truly faithful and we pray God will richly bless all those who stand so faithfully with us as together, we reach the nations for Christ. What a privilege it has been.

The tulips are from the Duke University gardens in Durham, North Carolina where we were visiting some dear friends from Idaho who were there for medical consultation. We simply can't get enough of spring this year, having missed it so very much during our time in Mozambique. We serve an amazing God who dresses even the flowers in such splendor.

Blessings all.

Dave & Ann

"I could sing of His love forever....." a song written by Martin Smith of Delirious

On the lighter-side

2011-04-16T20:19:00.002+02:00

Near a place called Hazard, Kentucky (no, we did not see Bo and Luke Duke, Daisy, or Uncle Jessie although we did see the Pole-eese), we got behind this truck and just laughed and laughed. Ann’s mom worked for ‘meals on wheels’ for many years and all of our daughters helped her do this at one time or the other. In addition, we have some dear friends in Parkersburg, WV who do meals for the homeless and indigent in their area out of a couple of trucks. This is a whole new twist!

I'd hire this guy if nothing else for his creativity!

The other picture is just a quick out the window shot to try and catch some of the beautiful colors of spring! Pictures just don't do it justice.

Dave and Ann

"Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” Psalm 126.2

Mount Carmel High School

2011-04-16T19:57:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we had the privilege of speaking at Mount Carmel School in Vancleve, Kentucky, a short stone’s-throw from Kentucky Mountain Bible College. We left on Thursday, traveling through rural Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky. We had met the headmaster during our time at Avon Park camp in Florida and just hit it off with him.

This school was founded in 1925 and is a faith-based school that accepts kids from all over the US and the world. It is what I would call at nitch-school, in that it fills a particular need for quality and affordable education in a boarding school environment. It is a peaceful respite in a beautiful setting and it was our privilege to spend a couple of days there. We were quite impressed with the students we talked with.

In addition, the school has an elementary day-school and the staff are some of the most dedicated you could ever meet, answering God’s call on their lives in this unique and important work.

I was especially impressed by a young man from Thailand, who was graduating this year and had been accepted by Asbury College where he will study education as his dream is to return to Thailand and teach physics, math, and science in his home country. His home country is helping him with his education in return for a 10-year teaching commitment. Seems like a good deal to me, especially considering the extremely high cost of tuition at private schools like Asbury. We know well, for our youngest daughter attended Asbury for a year and a half. Opps, side-tracking again.

This young man is strong in his faith and will return to his home country with more than just an education - but as a missionary for Christ. You cannot put God in a box - He accomplishes His plans in more ways and methods than we can imagine.

And then there were the girls from Papua New Guinea that were just a joy to talk to and hear their hearts and dreams. And a young man from Korea who wants to study Engineering and wanted my opinion on the best engineering universities in my opinion - I could answer that one right off the top of my head from my days in my old Job.

It was a joy to serve in this way - I enjoy all the energy that young people bring, with their hopes and dreams, and especially those who are working hard to achieve those dreams that God has put on their hearts. We challenged them to seek God’s plan and call on their lives, for he has given each of us unique skills and talents for a reason. We need to cast our dreams before Him and then work towards them, asking for His divine direction and help - for that clear Call that comes from turning it all over to Him.

Kentucky Mountain Bible College is just down the road and the two schools cooperate with some of the college students being resident assistants at the high school while others practice preaching on Sunday at the chapel, and some of the high school students participating in college level courses at the Bible College - a great partnership with world-wide impact.

The drive over was amazing - one day the purple and white blossoms bursting out in their radiance and magnificence, and the next day the trees, as if competing for their turn, bursting out in that rich yellow-green of spring. Spring came on April 14 and 15 in the Appalachian mountains and we enjoyed every sound, fragrance and sight, for we have sorely missed springtime in the States.

Thank you Lord and guide these precious students and guide them into the future you have in store for them. May they not be distracted by the clutter of the world, but remain focused on fulfilling that Call that you have for their lives. Give the staff great wisdom as they teach and guide those precious ones you have placed in their care. Amen.

Dave & Ann

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed......In his heart, a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.....Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD." Proverbs 16: 3, 9, 20

Donations for this school via:

Mount Carmel High School

PO Box 2

Vancleve, KY 41385

God's Arms and Baby Blankets

2011-04-13T21:55:00.001+02:00

While we were in Pittsburgh, we spent an evening with a group of ladies who call themselves "God's Arms". These precious ladies from a variety of churches get together regularly and crochet baby blankets, hats, socks, etc. and distribute them free of charge to hospitals, the crisis-pregnancy center, and other organizations who assist families. It is a labor of love and they have a great time doing it. They provided us with a large number of beautiful baby blankets to take back to Mozambique. Each blanket is covered by prayer for those destined to receive it.

Blankets are expensive and difficult to obtain in Mozambique. In their winter, the temperatures can drop into the 50's which is very cold when you have no source of heat. We had the privilege of providing blankets to new mothers during our first term and they were greatly appreciated. We are very thankful for the opportunity to continue this ministry, demonstrating God's love in a unique way from a group in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania to the dear ladies of Mozambique.

Blessings.

Dave & Ann

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Matthew 25:45-46

God's world is simple in a magnificent way

2011-04-13T20:40:00.000+02:00

After several months of travel, we arrived yesterday back at the cabin where we are beginning our preparations to return to Mozambique. (My plan is to do a blog on statistics in the coming weeks). As we drove south from Pittsburgh, the world became greener as we moved into spring. The brown has turned to green and the Ornamental Pear trees, probably my most favorite tree, were moving from the white blossoms into their beautiful green; I had worried I would miss this favorite part of spring but God blessed us with this wonder of his creation as we drove south.

Ann said something as we traveled back to the cabin that was quite profound:

“God’s world is simple in a magnificent way”.

It just rang true with me. The Gospel is simple; God’s requirement for us to simply believe in Jesus is quite simple; our reliance on Him totally is quite simple; and the concept that He loves us beyond measure - well, it is quite simple. And yet, he can take us through the toughest and complex trial, by simply trusting Him. And the beauty of the spring, the consistency of the spring flowers, the summer skies, the fall colors, and the purity of the snow. Simply beautiful and a testimony of His love for us.

Life can be extremely difficult and there are no promises that things will be easy - it is a lie that we want to buy into but it just isn’t scriptural. But armed with simple child-like faith, we see his mighty hand move in the most difficult situations as to the One who spoke things into existence, our most complex problem is, well, simple. As Jesus says, “Trust in God, trust also in Me...” It’s that simple!

We were greeted at the cabin by a beautiful patch of daffodils, attesting that spring is truly here. I remain so thankful that we have this beautiful place of respite and once again, we are able to do devotions sitting on the porch viewing a world that cries out to the existence of a Holy God. This one picture is of the sun burning through the cloud.

I have begun to study the Book of Acts again as we prepare to return to Mozambique. This precious book is rich with the history of the early church and God’s working to protect and establish His church. I cannot study this book without feeling a sense of awe and even though I’ve taught through this book many times, it never gets old and I see new truths each time.

Tomorrow, we hit the road again to speak to the students at Mount Carmel School in Kentucky. When I look at the map, it appears to me you can’t get there from here, so we are assured of a beautiful drive through the Appalachian Mountains. We will then return for a couple of days before heading over to the Raleigh-Durham region to meet some friends from Idaho who will be consulting at Duke University hospital.

We are praying earnestly for God’s direction on our preparations for returning to Mozambique. We have quite a bit things we need to take back to Mozambique, more than we can check as baggage. Even if we could, the theft problems in Jo-burgh are severe and we have learned from experience that one should minimize luggage going through that airport. More times than not, our bags have been broken into and things removed at that airport. Air cargo eliminates that problem and while it was exceedingly easy to ship from Mozambique to here, we have found it virtually impossible to ship air cargo from here to Mozambique because of Homeland Security regulations. We have called numerous Freight Forwarders who initially say “sure” and then call us back later to say it is impossible. The requirements are intense and while maybe a business can eventually get approved to air ship, the individual can’t. South African Air told us they would receive a $25,000 fine if they accepted a shipment from us since we are ‘unknown shippers’. So, our deadly audio bibles, wedding dresses, baby blankets, medical supplies, and keyboard can’t go! Incredible to me but then again, when has government involvement in anything ever made it better? Opps, is that a political comment?; I don’t think so - has nothing to do with politics - just government. It all seems horribly anti-business to me.

Pray with us; we may just send some things by boat, but then we have to deal with long time frames and getting things through the port in Maputo can be very problematic and expensive. We need to resolve this quickly as it is time to purchase our airline tickets but we are stalling until we know where we ship from.

A seemingly complex problem that is, well, simple to Him!

Make it so, dear Lord! This is our prayer today; may we follow your leading - not our ways, but Yours!

Dave & Ann

“Did not our hearts glow within us while He was talking to us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32 (Berkeley Version)

Mozambique for Kids

2011-04-01T17:00:00.000+02:00

Our mission released today a web link for kids that highlights Mozambique. From the web-site there are games, factoids, photos, activities, and stories that children will enjoy. We're excited about this! Thanks to Jason Campbell at OMS headquarters who prepared this. Jason is a great resource for churches interested in youth-oriented programs relating to missions!

You can access this new web-site at:

http://www.onemissionsociety.org/g-a-m-e-site

Check it out!

Dave & Ann

"My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways." Proverbs 23:26

Cross Cultural Ministry

2011-03-19T20:02:00.000+02:00

While at OMS, we received a book that we are finding absolutely incredible. The title is "Cross Cultural Partnerships, Navigating the Complexities of Money and Mission" by Mary T. Lederleitner. It takes up where "African Friends and Money Matters" left off. It is new (2010), it is current, and it is relevant to how we live as well as how we relate cross culturally, whether it be here (for there are many sub-cultures we operate in wherever you live) as well as for those in other countries.

At the risk of being a little vulnerable, Ann and I went through tremendous culture shock and continue to wrestle with this phenomena of working in what we call Majority World cultures. We have done some things well and some things very badly and we continue to learn every day. However, we find the book to also be a challenge as to how we see the world around us and even better yet, how we respond to it.

The last 10 years or so we have been learning, and today's events in Japan really bring home the fact that the American culture is not the predominate culture in the world. We Americans come from a very individualistic culture where it is about the individual. There are other countries like this, but I'll leave that for others to debate. The majority of the world is more collectivistic. That is why we don't see looting in Japan when people are in great crisis, for example. In the collective / community cultures, the community is more important than the individual.

Thus the great tension.

Ann and I have gone through great culture shock just going from middle-class America and work cultures that were very precise with clearly defined lines of authority and responsibility to a missionary culture where things are very undefined and imprecise. I have always associated responsibility with authority - for how can you be responsible for something if you have no authority to do anything about it? The mission world doesn't work that way and honestly, that culture shock has been greater than the shock of moving from America's individualistic culture to Mozambique's collectivistic culture. I really think this is a significant subject that deserves a book that can help Finishers (second career people who go into missionary work later in life) understand and navigate this dramatic change. Maybe I need to do that, but I'm still working through it and that last chapter isn't yet clear in my mind. But this book on Cross-Cultural partnerships to me is a big part of working out that last chapter.

When I read this book and reflect upon our first term in Mozambique, it is sobering. It helps to explain why we felt the way we did, react the way we did, and personalize things the way we did. By the end of the term, we felt like we'd come full circle and as we read this thought-provoking book, I think it will help us in the coming term.

I believe with all my heart that each of these cultures (recognizing that we are broad-brushing things in a major way here to only 'two' general cultures) are biblically neutral. The Bible speaks to both, warns both about the issues each has to deal with, and points us to relationship with Christ. No one should ever say one way (culture) is better than the other for both have tremendous virtue as well as tremendous opportunities for sin.

At the root of this is something that really spoke to us, called "negative attribution". We all have a lifetime of experiences that dictate how we will respond to things we experience. However, our response may or may not be logical actually based upon our experiences, although we are most certainly sure that they are! (Where is Dr. Spock (Star Trek) when you need him?). So, when we experience something "new", we have three choices as to how we respond:

1. You think it is right.
2. You think it is wrong.
3. You think it is different (neutral).

The bad news is that generally, we don't take a neutral position and we often will ascribe some negative attribute to whatever it is, and over time we subconsciously build cases against (you pick the topic) that may or may not make any sense at all. (Thus the need for people you can talk to openly and help process these kinds of things without judgement!). This results in great conflict over time and people entrenching into their "I'm right" kind of thinking regardless of whether it makes any sense or not.

This can be applied in individual relationships, business relationships, family relationships, and cross cultural relationships.

We need to take a deep breath and NOT seek to quickly to ascribe value to things that are different. It is not something humans do easily and but for the grace of God, go I.

And what is underneath all of this? The books says, "Control." We all want to control our lives, our situation, and others. I have experienced it and am guilty of that as well. If the ongoing catastrophe in Japan has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that we have very little control and we need to release that control to the God who cares for us each individually and collectively. He is the God of all cultures and situations and it seems to me we need more than one life-time to figure it out, which is probably why He offers us eternity through faith in Jesus!

There is so much more in this book that speaks so strongly to what we have experienced in our first term and that I pray we can apply in our second. I think it even challenges the fundamental basis of some of the programs we execute across the world with good intention but flawed process. I personally think it should be required reading for every missionary, every homeland support person, and everyone with even a passing interest in missions, because as in all of these things, it comes down to how we respond personally. Not just read it, but maybe even write a book report on what it means to me and how I need to improve the way I live before a holy God! It just rings true.

Have a great day! He is full of Grace and Mercy!

Dave & Ann

"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" Luke 6:41

Japan - opportunity to help through OMS

2011-03-16T19:50:00.009+02:00

In my last blog, I mentioned our friends Donn and Daisy who are OMS missionaries to Japan. We, like you, have watched with horror the incredible events happening in Japan. This old world that we live on is a dynamic and changing place and the more we think we (as humans) are in control, the more it seems life demonstrates that we really aren't.

And of course, because of my 'before missions' life, I have watched with fascination the nuclear problems, never believing that with all the safeguards and design redundancies, that such a thing could happen. Again, we think we humans can control every eventuality - we can't. We do the very best that we can to plan but in the end, we depend upon faith, whether it be in our government, our leaders (be nice if we had some), our technology, and our desire that nothing should change (it does!). There is only one place you can put your faith and trust with confidence. Our time here on earth is but a vapor and their are no guarantees. Tomorrow a comet could crash through the atmosphere changing everything we consider as normal. Peace only comes through trusting in a God who loves us and who is not limited by time, knowing the beginning and the end all at the same time. We have the promise of eternal life and the peace that surpasses all understanding as we work together to do what we can to make this world a better place.

The following is from our friends living outside of Tokyo as of today:

Donn and I went to bed early last night and were sleeping when we were
jolted awake by a strong aftershock that we heard later was centered in
Yamanashi prefecture, near Mt. Fuji. The shaking was so severe that we
scrambled out of bed to throw on some clothes and go outside, but the
shaking stopped before we got that far. We continue to speak, "Peace
be still" to the shifting foundations of this nation in crisis, as
Jesus did to the winds and the waves in the midst of a storm, and to pray
against fear which is contributing to the crisis here. The following was
posted on one website:

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE INFORMATION
"Please refrain from over-stocking supplies
"Food and supplies are selling out from the stores in the Tokyo
Metropolitan area, however this may cause in running short of supplies for
the worst stricken areas. Japanese government has announced that there are
enough supplies in stock. Please act calmly with patience."
Panic buying continues to be a big problem. One of the other missionaries
said she saw one woman buying four or five loaves of bread (Japanese-style
loaves, of course), and some of my students said the stores were out of
toilet paper. Some shelves at the grocery store we visited yesterday were
completely bare.
Although totals are changing constantly, here are some figures recently
posted:
"About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity
in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the
government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens
of thousands of people were missing.
"Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for placecountry-regionJapan at
Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will
likely be around 14-15 trillion yen ($171-183 billion) just to the region
hit by the quake and tsunami."
Please continue to pray with us for power/water/gas to be restored to
these homes soon and for the missing to be found.

People have been asking, "How can we help?" The following is
part of an email from Joel Silverman at OMS Greenwood:

"We are getting a lot of inquiries and questions with regard to the
OMS response to the Tsunami in placecountry-regionJapan. We have set up
project account #404180 for all donations. These donations will be used
for relief of those affected by the disaster. The exact use of these funds
will be forthcoming as we assess how we can best help the victims and
effectively witness for Christ among those suffering. As usual we want to
coordinate through our church partners in country-regionplaceJapan."

The Nuclear crisis continues to be a huge cause for concern as all workers
were removed briefly from the building today because of escalating amounts
of radiation being released. However, they have since returned. Please
continue to pray for this crisis to be brought under control, as well as
praying for peace for the families of Japan missionaries who are in the
States and very concerned about their loved ones.

Lord, in our limited capacities, we have a hard time understanding the tragedies that occur across this world. We see this tremendous problem in Japan and it overwhelms our understanding, yet every day in the cities within our own borders, as well as across the world, great tragedies continue to happen where man, without God, and in his own self-centeredness, perpetrates great harm to others. A world without Christ is actually a hopeless place. Come soon Lord Jesus.

Please guide the relief workers and thank you for the resources good people are bringing to bear on this horrific event. We need Your help, the organizations responding need Your help, and the people of Japan need You and Your help. Help us oh Lord. Amen.

Help to Japan through OMS:

One Mission Society
Japan Relief - #404180
PO Box 1648
Monument, Co 80132-1648

Dave and Ann

The disciples asked Jesus in the crisis of their own age: "...what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

Jesus answered: '...for many will come in my name, claiming, "I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginnings of birth pains.... for there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again....

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come...."

Matthew 24

Travels

2011-03-16T18:41:00.001+02:00

The first half of March has been a busy but blessed time for us. We left the cabin for an appointment in Trenton, Missouri, stopping for the night in Nashville, where we enjoyed our Grandson Caleb - it is going to be extremely hard to leave the States with this precious little guy being here.

Watching the incredible changes from birth to now, we know what we will miss over the next few years. Plus, his parents are pretty special also!

From Nashville, we traveled to Trenton Missouri where we had the privilege to speak and worship at the First Baptist Church. The Pastor of this church had visited us in Mozambique with a team and we had stayed in touch with him after the visit. We stayed at Pastor Chestnut's house and had a wonderful time of catching up. The only clitch was that my power point presentation didn't work for some reason - something to do with switching from their system to my computer - it worked in 'practice' before the service but wouldn't cooperate at the time. But, in all the times we've spoken, this was the first 'glitch' and it really didn't affect much of anything! We were cared for very well and enjoyed an incredible lunch after the service. We gave a mini-talk to the kitchen staff who worked hard to prepare the church-wide lunch but missed the service! We are putting on weight because we are fed so well everywhere we go!

The drive through Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri was relaxing; beautiful farms. We know that if God ever allows us to retire, it will be in a small town somewhere in a rural setting. That is where we are the most comfortable. Beautiful states.

On Sunday, we did a 'two-fer', being in Trenton, Mo, which is in the northwest corner of the state, high-tailing it to Belleville, Illinois for an evening service with Men for Missions International (MFMI) Director Warren Hardig. As you know, our first trips to Mozambique were through MFMI and we initiated the MFMI world-wide prayer ministry for Mozambique, now so wonderfully administered by our dear friend Karlene.

Ann working at Our Lady of the Snows

Our time at Saint Matthews United Methodist Church was wonderful, meeting up with Warren and his wife Velma, and speaking to one of the several services Sunday night. This church is a very mission oriented church and we had many wonderful conversations with people after the service. We also ran in to some people we had met at Avon Park, Florida, once again demonstrating how small this world of ours really is! The church put us up at a nearby Catholic retreat center (Our Lady of the Snows Shrine) which was beautiful and peaceful. Monday, we just stayed there most of the day doing office work and reports and taking advantage of their fast Internet and the beautiful surroundings. That night, we went to a supporter's house in St. Louis, Missouri, some friends from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who relocated to St. Louis many years ago. Again, a wonderful time to reconnect and catch up.

From there, we traveled to Evansville, Indiana where we reconnected with David and Faith Clark. David is a childhood friend of mine (we played Cowboys and Indians when we lived in Idaho at the age of 5 or 6) who God brought back together in our early 20's in Idaho through a church. David introduced us to OMS when he went to Haiti for a year to work on the radio station. That is when we began supporting OMS missionaries all those years ago. Again, a wonderful time to reconnect.

Next, back to OMS headquarters for meetings and an inexpensive place to stay before going back to Olney, Illinois, where we participated in a MFMI weekend at Grace Evangelical Church. Olney is know as the home of the white squirrel. We heard people talking about it, but then discovered that in-deed, the sign says and people talked about the white (albino) squirrels that are seen throughout the city!

The Olney white squirrel!

We spoke Saturday night at the MFMI banquet (lots of amazing food!) and I preached at the Sunday service. This church is solidly behind OMS missionaries and it was a privilege to be there. We were hosted so very well by Pastor Boostrom's parents and through their little duplex house was exactly the floor-plan we'd like to retire to some day, God willing. After church, we went to an incredible local restaurant with an incredible buffet with lots of my favorite - fried okra!

A highlight of this trip was meeting Millie. When I put a picture of Juka on the wall in the banquet, I could see that she was visibly moved by the photograph, with tears running down her face. Afterwards, she talked with me and explained how she had been a part of the Prayer Initiative for Mozambique for many years and had been praying daily for Juka and his family for many years but she had never seen his face. She asked many questions, clearly involved through prayer and totally knowledgeable of all the work that is going on in Mozambique. A real prayer warrior, making a difference in Mozambique, living in the central US with a heart for a precious family on the other side of the world. Only God can do this!

Ann with Millie

So, we find ourselves back at OMS before heading back to the Pittsburgh area for this coming weekend. This weekend, we will be at a church near Grove City - one of the first ones we ever visited and one we have always felt especially connected to. When there last time, we stayed with our friends the Townsends, who are now in Japan with OMS. That's another story for another blog....

Today they are running tornado drills all around the area and we have this constant sound of emergency vehicle sirens and tornado sirens. With the world events today, one can understand the value of emergency drills.

Tomorrow we are headed back to the Pittsburgh area. We should receive approval from OMS within the next couple of days to purchase our return tickets to Mozambique. We have delayed our return to represent the field at Headquarters for the June meetings that happen every year. Pray for us as we make our plans for return to Mozambique.

Sorry for the long post - my intention is more frequent smaller posts but this month got away from us!

30,000 miles by auto and continuing!

Dave & Ann

"...each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches...." 1 Corinthians 7:17

A Good Meeting

2011-03-05T05:34:00.000+02:00

We passed back by the cabin near Boone for a few days to do our wash, work on taxes, and prepare for the next travel tour. The weather was beautiful and the flowers are starting to pop up here and there around the cabin. But a highlight of this time was meeting with former missionary Nathan Glancy in Boone. Nathan is returning to Mozambique to be the country director for Samaritans Purse and was in Boone for training (where their headquarters is located). You might remember that Nathan left the field with his family due to health issues right after we first arrived in 2007. He has fully recovered, praise God, has completed advanced education, and is a perfect fit for this job in Mozambique although it is sad that OMS has lost him. He already knows the culture, the language, and the lay-out of the land so to speak. We sat in a small diner in Boone for dinner and talked and talked, closing down the place as we caught up on what God has been doing. It was a special time that passed way too quickly. We had the privilege of carrying on the work that Nathan had started in Mozambique, benefiting from his hard work and dedication. I don't know how to explain it, we could just sit down and speak the same language. I think the waiter got a little frustrated because we were too busy talking to look at the menu.

God always has a plan and can be trusted.

Dave & Ann

"Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…" – Isaiah 43:1-3

Sunday

2011-02-21T07:49:00.000+02:00

Today I am writing from Destin, Florida, where we are staying with a dear couple that we count as good friends. Berry had visited us in Mozambique and we drug him and a team around northern Mozambique and this team actually started a church along the side of a road that is still meeting - I wrote about that some time ago. But I digress yet again...

They invited us to their church where we had the privilege to speak this morning in their Sunday School class. We were so blessed to be with this group of people - And then the service - it reminded us so much of our dear home church in Pittsburgh that we miss so much - from the music to the preaching style to the facility and we found ourselves singing with tears streaming down our face as God's spirit moved through the song, the scripture, and the message. It never ceases to amaze me how God can reach down from eternity into time and reach you right where you are at the time. We serve an amazing God.

This afternoon, we were able to hook up with another couple who also visited us in Mozambique with a team and have started a ministry of missionary care; reaching out to missionaries serving overseas. (They are counselors by profession). They had some scary statistics: 47% of missionaries don't survive their first term (either leave before that term is over or don't return for a second term) and that over 70% leave for reasons that could have been prevented through good missionary care, including counseling. It was good to see them again and to hear the amazing stories of what God has been doing in their lives since we last saw them. More of seeing how God 'connects the dots' as he moves His work forward.

Berry and Lois have many years of experience working overseas - in fact Lois returned today from a 10-day trip to Guatemala. They have links to Mozambique going back into the 1990s and listening to their stories today helped us fill some gaps in our understanding of the history of our mission's work in Mozambique. They are a great inspiration and encouragement to us along with being wonderful hosts for the past couple of days!

Blessings this day. May the God of peace fill you with His presence!

Dave & Ann

Radical Thinking

2011-02-21T07:18:00.002+02:00

Two things I’ve been pondering the last few weeks. First, while we were at Avon Park, I heard a story about a new missionary couple who had spent the time and expense to visit 20 churches in the Eastern US to explain their call to missionary service and invite the churches and people to partner with them. They spent the time and expenses in these 20 churches and no one responded, no one... This just grieved my Spirit so deeply and I have 10’s of questions I wish I could ask; but I find it simply incredible that this could happen. There is a tendency to want to blame the missionary for not doing something right, but on the other hand, if you speak with conviction about the love God has placed in your heart for that field He has called you to, how can this be even possible? My heart just grieves for we know the needs overseas are so great and the workers so very few and the urgency so.....well.....URGENT. Eternity hangs in the balance. So I just ponder this and give such incredible thanksgiving for all the dear people who make it possible for us to serve Christ in Mozambique. It is humbling.

This then brings me to the next thing as we get so incredibly distracted in our hedonistic society. While we were in Avon Park, we heard about a book called “Radical” by a fellow named David Platt. It was one of those books that was guaranteed to ‘rock our world’. I downloaded it on my Kindel and have almost finished it; and indeed it is one of those books that has the potential to ‘rock your world’.

It is written by a Pastor of a church in Birmingham who pretty much ‘calls it like it is’. He is strong on the mission of the church as assigned by Jesus in Matthew 28: Go and make disciples. If we really are transformed by the power of Christ and really believe, then why don’t our lives reflect it? The author challenges us to do the following things for one year, guaranteeing it will change your life. Those things are:

Pray - truly, diligently, faithfully
Read through the Bible in one year (we’ve been be proponents of this for years!)
Commit your life to a specific community of believers (i.e. a local church)
Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose
Spend your time in another context

You will have to read the book to get the details and although the first item is not specifically called out, it is included and I believe it has to start there. We should certainly be more about doing and a lot less about the talking....

But, then again, the most radical book that I know will rock your world, is to read God’s word from cover to cover (we recommend reading it chronologically over the course of a year), allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you as you fill your life with the wisdom and beauty of the Bible; by far the truly radical book that so many know about, but don’t really know...It will change you - guaranteed.

And then tonight, in the house where we are staying, they have this small little book called “The Greatest Thing in the Whole World” by Henry Drummond. There is no copy right but this little pocket book is clearly worn, tattered, and very old yet so profound. I would like to memorize this little book and its wisdom. The greatest thing is Love - but the explanation is so wonderful. Jesus said he would show us a simpler way, that if we do one thing (love), then we will fulfill the law without even thinking. For example, if you take any of the 10 commandments, at its base is Love. For example, the commandment “thou shalt have no other gods before me”....if we truly love God, we wouldn’t even consider such a thing. Or, if we truly loved our neighbor, why would we covet whatever he might have, and so on.

Then it takes the gifts of the spirit (Patience, kindness, generosity, humility, etc.) and compares them to what the Bible says about love (love suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not) using those beautiful words from Corinthians so often read at weddings. It calls these spiritual gifts the “Spectrum of Love”. So beautiful.....Every couple should read this little book together!

As we watch the hate playing across the world’s stages today - why are we surprised? It is what we get when there is not love.

And then the little book, ends with: “And who are Christ’s? Everyone that loveth is born of God.”

May it be so. May we reflect the love of our Creator to the world around us. May we examine our lives daily to see if we are loving as we should if we truly believe what we say we believe.... Our love most flow outwardly as it is received inwardly from on high!

As a prayer request this night; we have learned that our Mozambican friends Carlos Jango and his wife Tina, have lost their first baby. We counseled this couple before they got married and they actually spent their wedding night in our house in Mozambique. The baby apparently had jaundice from what we understand and this is something that pulls hard at Ann,...had we just been there.... She worked in labor and delivery for many years. They are a dear couple and we love them dearly - May God give them peace in this time of tragedy. Infant mortality is so high in Mozambique and this makes our hearts so heavy. But we can trust God with everything, the good and the terribly bad. He will sustain us. Sustain Carlos and Tina dear Lord. (Photo is from their wedding).

Dave and Ann

“On Christ the solid rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand,

All other ground is sinking sand....”

“And in the end, the love we take [receive] is equal to the love we make [give to others].” Beatles song

Avon Park Camp

2011-02-12T05:52:00.000+02:00

For the last week, we have been at the Avon Park Holiness camp in Avon Park, Florida. Our colleagues in Mozambique had attended here a couple of years ago and said it was the highlight of their furlough and had encouraged us to go if we had the opportunity. Now I understand why and we are so thankful to have been invited to attend.

The camp has many houses that people own and numerous trailer sites for RVs and the like. They also have a wonderful dining facility and multiple dormitories and apartments. Most of the people we talked to are retired folks from northern states who winter here and they run numerous camp programs, this missionary emphasis week being their largest. Ann and I are some of the youngest folks here and it has been an amazing time for us. We have had the opportunity to speak numerous times and have received so much good teaching. We have made so many new friends.

There are three amazing, or what I would call “world class” evangelists/teachers speaking at the services and a in-depth Bible study each morning by a Bible teacher (Dr. Ron Smith) we know through our OMS channels, and lots of wonderful music. But what is the best part of all are the wonderful and gentle people who live here and are sold out for Jesus. Many of the people here are retired missionaries and pastors. As we talked, there were all sorts of links within this community to the work we do or people whose paths we have crossed the last few years. The world is a small place.

One of the highlights of the week was “Missionary Day” when all four missionary couples presented their work covering Ecuador, Uganda, Honduras, and Mozambique. It started with a beautiful flag ceremony, which Ann lead (after the American Flag) with the Mozambique flag as the ‘flags of the nations’ were presented.

During this day, everyone who had served as a missionary came forward and was introduced and they gave their name, their years of service, and their fields of service. Our four years seemed so small compared to numbers like 50 plus years. After all the introductions, one of the camp leaders gave us the total and it was nearly 2000 years of missionary service coming out of this small community in Avon Park. Our 4 years seemed so small in comparison and it made me wonder, what could I tell these 800 people assembled for this special day? But, it was our joy, to share the good news of what God has done and is doing in the country where we serve.

Each day goes something like this:

0700 - Prayer service and devotional time in the Tabernacle (church building).
0800 - Breakfast, where we sit with different people each day
0915 - Bible study by Dr. Ron Smith
1030 - Morning service and teaching
1200 - Lunch
1300 - Special presentations (Seminaries, Christian Colleges, etc.)
1430 - Afternoon service and teaching
1700 - Dinner
1830 - Missionary presentations
1930 - Evening Service followed by fellowship times in various people’s homes, usually including food.

We know we have put on weight this week!

Of note are the lovely murals painted for this day. The artist, Myrna Wright, is show with us in front of the Mozambique mural.

The Evangelists / teachers are outstanding and we’ve crossed paths with some of them over the years. We have had outstanding discussions with new friends, enjoyed hearing the other missionaries and what God is doing in their countries, and have been challenged deeply. We are getting tired because the days are so filled and long; we can’t keep up with these retired Florida people and are wondering if there is a fountain of youth here they aren’t telling us about. Plus, there is so much experience here and we have enjoyed the stories of those who have served so faithfully.

This precious group is taking up a missionary offering all this week. To date, they have raised over $60,000 dollars to be split among the missionaries. We expect to see many monthly faith-promise pledges which will go along ways to helping us be ready to return to the field this June. It is humbling and precious; they are serious here about taking the Good News to all the nations; the commitment is certain, serious, and done with great joy. They understand without explanation what faith-promising giving is and what it takes to get a missionary to the field.

We shared the week with some amazing missionary folks: (left to right) Doug and Cindy Tankersley (Ecuador with OMS); Bill and Beth Ryan (Honduras with WGM); us; Jon and Lisa Mayo (Uganda with WGM). They all had amazing things to report of what God is doing in their fields and we learned much from each of them. Wonderful and dedicated people.....

What a privilege to have been here. You can’t imagine the peaceful presence of God that we feel in this place. I can see why people would choose to retire in such a wonderful setting.

If you want to check it out: http://www.avonparkcamp.org/

(and there is no snow here!!!)

Much love.

Dave & Ann

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

Seminary Video

2011-01-27T05:25:00.001+02:00

Our colleagues in Mozambique prepared this nice video of the seminary in Maputo.

Hope you enjoy it! If all goes well, you should be able to click on the link below and see the video in U-tube.

It is only 3 minutes and 39 seconds long.

Dave and Ann

Maputo Biblical and Theological Seminary Video

Reporting In

2011-01-21T21:21:00.000+02:00

Last weekend, we were privileged to speak at Jonesboro UMC church in Sanford, NC. It had been something like 5 years since visiting this church and as before we were warmly welcomed. It is the only church we have visited with two concurrent services, a contemporary service and a traditional service. So, how can you be two places at the same time? - you preach early in one and late in the other, but it really does focus you on your times - got to finish on time to not keep the other services waiting. This would never work in Mozambique where time is, well, relative (I think Einstein established that also!)

In addition a spanish speaking church meets concurrent with the third service and we were able to speak in all four services! Pastor Preston really has his work cut out for him on Sundays! We were so comfortable in our host's home, we had to pry ourselves out of there to continue on travels. We always leave so encouraged as we try to challenge people in their own Christian walk and encourage them through what amazing things God is doing across the world.

Sunday night we were in Clinton, NC, where we stayed with a couple who served in Brazil for many years with OMS. We call them Uncle Bill and Aunt Dorothy and Bill traveled with us on our very first trip to Mozambique back in 2004. We are very attached to them and enjoyed getting reacquainted and practicing a bit of Portuguese as well. Dorothy pastors a nearby church. I especially enjoyed listening to Bill's reminiscing about the exploits in the mission field; trying to learn from his experiences.

On the way up, we visited with Ann's cousin Stephanie in Florence, South Carolina. We enjoyed spending most of a day with them and I thought you might enjoy the photograph to see the strong family resemblance. It turns our that one of her sons is in school at the University of South Carolina an attends the church in Columbia where our daughter Sarah was married and where we've been attending while in South Carolina. It is a small world.

With a break in the weather, we made a quick run to the cabin to get things we need for our travel schedule. Calls to our neighbor revealed that indeed the road was pass-able. We still had a good foot of snow on the driveway and dug a path to the cabin, calling someone with a plow to get us cleared out! But the weather break was short, so we sceedadled (is there such a word?), getting up and down with our trusty snow-chains. The fuel oil tank is getting low, which is a concern. We're on the list to get refilled, but by the time we come back to the top of the list, the roads may not be clear! We pray that all works out because I'd hate to see the water-lines freeze from lack of heat!

This coming weekend will find us in Nashville for the dedication / baptism of our grandson and then a quick visit to Dave's mother's house in Alabama where he will arrange transport of a player piano back to Idaho. Dave's mom is moving into an assisted living situation and the contents of her house are being liquidated. The piano has been in the family for a few generations, works well, and will go back to our Idaho family for passing along. It's not like we can take it to Mozambique!

We've updated the blog a bit - learning new things. We've added our schedule on the right and also a listing of the various ministry project numbers that support what we do in Mozambique. People ask us about these from time to time, and it provides a convenient place to list them.

Our colleague, Larry Weil, has developed a nice video of our seminary in Maputo that I hope to provide a link to in the coming days!

This morning, I was studying Psalms 1 and pondering what it means to have 'delight in the law of the Lord' and how we might 'meditate on it day and night'. We are blessed if we do so and the Psalm ends with a promise that he will watch over us as a result. What a great thing to know that the Creator of the Universe actually will watch over us! But also, we are declared righteous in this last verse, apparently a function of walking in the right path, delighting in the Lord, and the scriptures themselves. I don't know about you, but I find it very difficult to meditate on something day and night and if I have to 'do something' do be righteous, I find would find that very discouraging. But, praise God, we have Jesus! We know that no one is righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10), but yet righteousness comes through faith in Christ (Romans 3:22). It is through Him and our love for Him that we continue moving towards the prize or as Paul puts it ""I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14). But he clarifies in verse 16 that our hearts desire would be to "only let us live up to what we have already attained!" Through faith in Christ, we attain righteousness. We already have it and that is the peace we can have, the work is finished, and even in our short-comings, we are declared righteous and our Creator, full of mercy and grace, actually watches over us in a personal and loving way.

I don't know about you, but I find great comfort in that. We are declared righteous by faith in Christ - we simply ARE, despite our weaknesses and human frailties, and we can know that God watches over us and guides us as we submit to Him. What peace, what joy that brings in the endless uncertainties of life.

Blessings this day.

Dave & Ann

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.....For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous....." Psalm 1

New Year Covenant

2011-01-12T00:28:00.003+02:00

What a winter it has been - we've been snowed-in in South Carolina for the past two days - how can that be? This is South Carolina for heaven's sake! The ice age has returned - wooly mammoths are around the corner chased by sabertooth tigers. I'd better get my spear sharpened and my traps set.

Our hosts have told us that we have to leave - we bring bad weather with us where-ever we go!

This past Sunday evening we attended a special covenant renewal service. We've had the fortune to attend this special service two different years. The teaching by Sinclair Ferguson came from Lamentations 3:22-27 with the following points:

1. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

2. God's mercies are unending and they are new every morning

3. His faithfulness is so very great.

This was after contextualizing this book, which was written after Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians, and the world as they knew it had completely ended. The unthinkable had happened; the judgement of God had come.

The message focus was on God's faithfulness, and with that we renewed the following covenant that I would like to challenge our readers with as well:

THE COVENANT

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will,

Place me with whom you will.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering;

Let me be employed for your or laid aside for you,

Exalted for you or brought low for you.

Let me be full, let me be empty;

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things

To your pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

You are mine and I am yours. May it be so!

And may the covenant which I have made

here on earth

Be confirmed in heaven.

Amen.

May this be your covenant and prayer for this new year.

Dave & Ann

"Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see:

All I have needed thy hand has provided

Great is they faithfulness, Lord, unto me."

from the hymn we all know.....

Meanwhile Back at the Cabin

2011-01-09T16:43:00.003+02:00

We checked with our neighbors at the cabin in North Carolina. We have things there we need to get within the next two weeks. Our neighbors on the mountain have basically been snowed in since Christmas and there are no plans to plow out until next Tuesday or Wednesday. The drifts are over waist high and the temperature is below zero.

I had insulated the water pipes under the cabin and we left the heat up a little but I worry about the water filter freezing under the house which isn't insulated. My plan was to put heat tape around it but the weather has not been cooperating!

If they plow Tuesday, we might be able to make a quick run before next weekend, when we will be speaking at a church in Sanford, North Carolina. The following weekend is Nashville, and the next weekend we have a week-long conference in Florida and somewhere in there we need to pass through Huntsville Alabama to arrange the shipment of a old player piano (has great sentimental value within the family) from Dave's mother's house to family in Idaho as she is moving to an assisted living center and liquidating the house. We also want to pass through Knoxville, TN.

Sounds like it would be a several day process to dig out the path to the cabin once we get there! Wow!

What a blessing it has been to have somewhere in South Carolina we could 'winter' for a few weeks!

This morning I was reading in Romans (my favorite book in the Bible) and was particularly touched by Paul's words in Chapter 15 and thinking much about the lost world. As we drive through this great and blessed country of ours (America), there are churches on every other corner - people for the most part have many chances to hear and respond to the Gospel and have made their choice (of course, the great commission (Matt 28) is clear that we are to reach and to disciple those close to us and in our communities, as well as in the world). There are many opportunities to be discipled through conferences, Sunday Schools, Christian Radio, Bible studies, church services, youth groups, youth conferences and we praise God for these important and wonderful ministries. But in so many parts of the world, like where we serve, so many have not even had the chance to hear the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. May our ambition be like Paul's (see the verse below).

Much love on this Sunday. We're off to church, thanking God for his wondrous provision.

Dave & Ann

"It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written: 'Those who were not told about him will see and those who have not heard will understand.'" Romans 15:20-21

A New Year

2011-01-09T04:58:00.002+02:00

We are one week into the new year, rejoicing in what God has done in this past year. We are currently in South Carolina, traveling and sharing what God is doing in Mozambique. This past week we had the privilege to share in a church outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The pastor of this church and his family are dear friends to us, dating back to when we lived in Charleston with our young family all those years ago. We are very thankful for this spontaneous opportunity and it is the first time ever we ran out of prayer cards! More will go in the mail today! This was a very special time for us and a wonderful encouragement to us.

We continue to travel much, making the most of every opportunity to share what God is doing in our lives and in Mozambique. We just issued our year-end report for the church planting / multiplication program we work in and to encourage you, I’ll provide some basic statistics from that report for Calendar year 2010:

15 new churches planted

3379 decisions for Christ

At the current time there are over 890 people in structured discipleship training and 260 leaders being groomed in the Village Church Planting Program. These are statistics in the rural areas of Mozambique and do not include the seminary and larger established churches in the Maputo (capital city) area. We praise God for each of these decisions, for each of these new churches, and pray he will grow the leadership and the congregations as they learn to walk with Christ. What a privilege it is to have a small part in this work.

It is our prayer that the existing church base will grow in spiritual maturity and understanding and that there will be a renewed passion for evangelism and church planting with a concurrent emphasis to disciple those who are new in their faith.

As we think about this next year, we see that we have much that must be done before we return to Mozambique. Some specific prayer requests:

We have an intense travel schedule over the coming months and need travel mercies and His presence as we go from place to place.
We are a bit overwhelmed thinking about the logistics of returning to Mozambique. We need to move out of the cabin, prepare a small shipment to send back to Mozambique, decide what city it is best to fly out of (driven by the shipment), and what to do with this car we bought when we returned to the States. We are scattered between four states and would like to centralize our things back in Pittsburgh, where we have a few things in storage. We need to get this all clear in our minds so we can purchase our return tickets.
We are beginning to sense a different direction when we return as we have prayed about this next term. We still would be doing church planting / multiplication, but we are sensing a bit different personal focus this next term. This may involve moving into a more rural environment but we are waiting on Him.
The thought of leaving our children again weighs heavily on us. This has been a higher cost than we ever anticipated and grips us deep in our souls.
We simply want to be obedient to the Call on our lives and walk confidently in that Call. It is such a privilege to be a part of the church planting movement in Mozambique.
We pray that we would be used of God to make a difference. We have learned that this comes by being obedient day-by-day, where-ever God has us at the moment.
Our National church leadership is key to the continued spread of the Gospel in Mozambique. Pray that they would remain faithful and obedient to God's call on their lives.

Blessings in this New Year!

The photo is Dave with precious grandson Caleb.

Dave & Ann

Christmas Greetings

2010-12-29T05:18:00.006+02:00

We just submitted the church registry, or listing of all the churches, their leadership, the numbers associated with each church (attendence, members, baptisms, etc.) and as always these reports are quite exciting. Even in the relative slow hot months in Mozambique, we saw additional churches planted, for which we praise God.

This photograph is outside our Mocuba Training Center, where Juka, our country church-multiplication coordinator conducted a week-long training seminar with our trainers and church planters. The women also got together for their own time of study, prayer and training, as hosted by Juka's dear wife. The reports we have received about the training have been very good although the Trainers are a bit discourage as attendence has been down laterly because of the demands on the subsistence farms - there has been quite a bit of rain and the crops have needed tending. It is an important part of community life in rural Mozambique. We are so thankful for this commited team of people reaching their country for Christ.

We will be receiving our year end reports in the coming few weeks and I look forward to summarizing them for you.

We enjoyed our time with family for the holiday and pray you did as well. This photo was taken on Christmas Day at Allison's and Byron's house.

Blessings to you.

Dave & Ann

"Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground." Ps 142:10

Christmas Newsletter

2010-12-19T01:20:00.002+02:00

By now, all of those on our mailing list should have received our Christmas letter. Just in case, we have also posted it in our 'newsletter' folder on goggle documents. You can access the newsletter by clicking the "newsletters" link to the left. It is in Adobe Acrobat format so you will need the free Adobe Acrobat reader to read it. To reduce the file size, we did some compression of format, so the clarity may not be as sharp as the copy you received in the mail.

If you are not on our mailing list and want to be, just drop us an email.

Blessings,

Dave & Ann

Stuck

2010-12-17T00:23:00.007+02:00

We survived our first 7-day stretch of being snowed in. Then came the four-day stretch. We had a bunch of correspondence to mail and so ventured out after the road had been plowed. The only problem is that when Jimmy plows the road with his tractor, he doesn't go very deep, figuring that four-wheel drives will get through fine, which they do. Problem is, our Honda Odyssey is low to the ground and definitely not 4WD!

We ventured out, taking two snow shovels and since we were going down-hill, gravity helped alot, even though we bottomed out in the snow a time or two. (photo of road as we decended to left) When we got to the 'root canal' (photos in previous posts), there was only a narrow pathway and I hit it hard, snow flying everywhere and both sides of the car hitting & rubbing in the small snow channel. I knew we were bottoming out, but it was powder so no problem as we cleared the path with the force of the car going down-hill. However, now we have to get back up!

We ran to the post office and the drug store for some things we needed and headed back up the mountain, wanting to be back up before the temperatures dropped and knowing shoveling might be involved.

We leave the pavement and continuing up the state-maintained road without problem and I make the mistake of saying "I really like these snow tires, they do pretty well and the van does pretty well also." Wrong thing to say....

I turn into the root canal and wonder if we can make it, back up the hill to get a good running start and ZOOM. We go about 100 feet and the car stops - buried in to the snow. Guess we needed the chains, but the car is wedged into the channel - so out through the windows we go and we start digging the car out. We have to dig out both sides of the four-foot snow banks to access the doors and tires. Then, under the car. we take off the center part of the snow-track on the road and throw it up on the bank - shovel for about an hour and soon a car comes wanting down the mountain - well, they aren't going anywhere for a while.

Eventually, we dig it out enough that we can back the car back down to the state road, and head back in to the root canal with our shovels. As the other car comes down the path (4WD), they stop and tell us that they called Jimmy and he is on the way with the tractor. It's a beautiful day but the temperature is dropping. We continue to shovel a path, confident we can eventually get through, although it is clear it will be hours if we have to do it all by hand.

Jimmy shows up, clearly put out. He blesses me out for not having a 4WD and trying to live on the mountain. "It's not cutsey to live on this mountain and you don't have the vehicle you need. Bad things happen to people up here; you shouldn't be here." We'll that sure hurts my heart because I really like this guy. I messed it up by telling him it looked like it could be a bit of fun to have such a nice tractor and being able to keep things clear - wrong thing to say. My alterior motive is that I have experience on such a tractor and could help with it but we never got there!

He starts digging out the root canal but still not going down to the gravel, which I just don't understand. Ann and I dig out the chains and chain-up the front wheels. Ann is an expert on putting on chains from her high school days in the mountains just a little north of here, and directs my efforts after I fumbled with it a while. She makes it easy and we're ready.

After a point, Jimmy makes me do a run for it - we get 1/2 way the first time through the root canal before we are stuck and spinning. It's just too narrow - we're rubbing on both sides again. I back out and he fusses at me that I need to stay more in the tracks - like there is somewhere to go, I'm rubbing the snow banks on both sides of the car.....

He digs some more and we make another run for it - 3/4 of the way this time and we bog in the powdery snow. I ask him to widen it a bit and go deeper. He shakes his head, clearly put-out and clears some more and tells me to go again. But, for encouragement and perhaps additional motivation, he says that he's done and if I don't make it this time, we will have to figure something else out. So, we check the chains for tightness, get a big running start, and fly through the channel, snow and debris flying. We get to the 3/4 point and start to bog, but I just keep the pressure on and we grind our way out onto the hard packed surface on the other side; we can make the 4 more miles just fine.

I wait for Jimmy and thank him with all the graciousness I can. He fusses at me some more and I tell him not to worry, we will be headed south in a few days when the weather clears again and he looks relieved. We part ways and I head on up the road. After we park at the top of our drive, and I clear the snow again, he drives by and waves. I say 'thank you' again, but he is still not happy with us. It really bothers me to be perceived as such a pain in someone's side. Lord, help me to minister to this dear man whom you love. It is clear he is a good man, perhaps a little grumpy, but he certainly ministered to us in our trouble and I thank you for him. He needs you like we all do, and by the way, if it's not too much trouble, can you help me with this 4WD thing? For Jimmy is really right if we are going to winter here.

Today the snow turned to rain and what a mess we have. But, it is above freezing and we should be able to get down in a day or two if this continues and the slush clears a little. I left the chains on for the trip down. We still had some driveway clearing to do, which gave me the opportunity for these beautiful photos as the sun was going down and the colors we so unusal - although the photos don't do it justice. We both crashed when we got into the warm cabin, our quick trip took most of the day and we shoveled a ton of snow.

In devotions this morning, as I read Paul's prayer in Colossians (Ch 1), I felt like Paul was praying for me and was encouraged:

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. "

Thank you for rescuing us yesterday, but not just yesterday, but everyday. Thank you for Jimmy and his willingness to help us out. I pray we will not weary of doing good. There is much joy that comes from walking with you. May we live worthy of Your name.

Dave & Ann

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you...." Ephesians 1:18

And on the Seventh Day....

2010-12-10T02:31:00.005+02:00

The weather has cleared and the road was cleared and we were able to dig out and make it down the mountain. We visited the local post office, picked up mail, and re-stocked for the next storm that is due this weekend. The official snow accumulation in the mountains was said to be 21 inches. I don't think we got quite that much, but it is possible - there was alot of settling and wind blowing it all around.

On the way down, we ran into Jimmy on the tractor as he worked to clear the snow. It was good to meet him - he has lived up here many years. He looked at our mini-van and just shook his head. "That city car got all wheel drive?" Well, no, but it has front wheel drive. I think he envisions pulling us out a time or two! He said that to stay in the plowed part of the road or the van would stay where it lands until spring and to not be afraid to walk the four miles from the state-maintained road.

We wore out a snow shovel already...bought a more heavy duty (and heavy!) one that will help build my muscles and get me the exercise the doctor says I must get. I certainly prefer to get it doing something!

I did stop to get a photo of the 'root canal'. we scrapped the sides of the snow bank when we came through on the way home. In anticipation of the winter, I picked up a set of snow chains today also - it has been a really long time since I've had tire chains! Still doesn't solve the low clearance issue, but it is a start. I was nervous we'd get back up the mountain but we did, without the chains. We slide around some and Ann only closed her eyes a couple of times.

It is so incredibly beautiful - amazing but it was crazy in town - everyone was buying salt, shovels, chains, and of course, bread and milk!

We have enough food for the next round that starts this weekend!

Dave & Ann

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? .....Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its

own trouble." Matt 6:25 - 34