Nasty virus hit me hard!

Title: "Lord ... do I have to be at work today?"

I was just hit by an enormous virus via blogspot. It fried my PC and I am on backup power now. Hard drive has left the planet - RIP! Botttomline: Never open any comment from a stranger in Blogspot - comments. As I am struggling to make things work and rescue my pictures I will update this blog soon.

By the way had a great Easter program with so many people in the bush. Following highlights will follow soon:

• Jesus film - 50 000'th person sees film
• 35 000 plates of food served at bush school
• Ladies produces their own unique gift cards for export!
• New school enters into its last phase of building
• Church needs 15 more zink sheets to finish building!

Ok - bless ya all for now!

Influx of visitors to mission brings hope to others!

2008 Kicked off in the fast lane! We have had so many visitors from all over the world it seems. Had Mercy Air visiting from Nelspruit, many others from the USA and recently 6 nurses from Canada.

We are expecting a few more this year from:

• Canada - 10 nurses to help in our clinics
• Stellenbosch University (with Stellenbosch Congregation)
• Bellville Congregation
• Polokwane Congregation
• Canada - Jortosh Ministries
• and some private visits from all over the globe!

See some of our pics as visitors enjoy themselves on the mission:

The team of nurses visit the Manica Government hospital. They have been actively involved with the Health Department in assisting immunisation programs.

Our bush schools also benefited much from the 6 friendly nurses. Grades 1 to 5 participated in Health education programs. Games and other tools were used to make the learning experience fun for all the kids.

Mercy Air with their USA partners visited us and helped in the woodwork shop making window frames and doors and training Gabriel our Mozambiquean carpenter.

And offcourse the ladies ..... painting our abulution blocks and upgrading our camp site. They were all a huge blessing and we had a great time with all of them. Thanks for caring!

HAPPY EASTER!

Life can sometimes be tiresome and overwhelming -- but God wants to give you peace like you’ve never experienced before.

He wants to release the POWER OF JESUS’ BLOOD into your life!

Whatever you are experiencing -- emotional turmoil, confusion, depression or even financial struggle, the blood that Jesus shed for you brings eternal redemption and freedom!

This Easter season, remember that:

The blood covers all
Every sin or transgression in your life can be washed away by Jesus' blood!

The blood has already paid your price
It doesn't matter what is in your past -- God has loved you every moment of your life!

The blood has unlimited power
The blood that Christ shed on the Cross releases all the power of Heaven into the lives of God's children!

Bless ya .... have a great Easter. In Africa we are celebrating Easter this weekend and will post the photos of the different services .... and believe me there is a lot. Have a great family time too!

So many things so little time!

A woman was sitting in the waiting room for her first appointment with a new dentist. She noticed his DDS diploma, which bore his full name. Suddenly, she remembered that a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in her high school class so many years ago. Could this be the same guy I had a crush on way back then? she wondered.

She quickly discarded any such thought when she met the balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face.

He's way too old to have been my classmate, she thought to herself.

Still, after he examined her teeth, she asked, "Did you happen to attend Morgan Park High School?"

"Yes! I'm a Mustang," he gleamed with pride.

"When did you graduate?" she asked.

"1959," he replied. "Why do you ask?"

"You were in my class!" she exclaimed.

"Really?" he said, looking at her closely. "What did you teach?"

Ok enough .... I can hear you laughing where I am! I have been quiet for a few days. Were away and organizing our latest field trip to Rwanda. I just passed through Zimbabwe and keep them in your prayers. Just had a cup of tea for Z$ 30 000 000 (yip you read correctly - Thirty million Zim dollars). My total bill added up to Z$ 189 000 000 Zim dollars - about R85 or US$10. Absolutely outrageous. Hope you all are doing well - wherever in the world you are.

Nat if you are reading this - where are you brother?

All back to normal!

Weather patterns stabilized and are back to normal. All bridges washed away to our schools have been repaired and we are totally ready to head back into the bush. The Manica Province was not hit that hard (although our rivers reached there 50 year flood level). It is the northern part of Mozambique that is still suffering with more that 2 000 people homeless and without food for this season.

As life continues and the flooding in Mozambique becomes old news we still have thousands living in desperate conditions. It is after the flooding that diseases like bilharzia, malaria and other tropical diseases claim many more victims. Wherever you are - please don't forget to pray.

God's call waiting!

Written by John Orgberg

I have been a pastor for a long time now. When I was ordained in the Baptist church, one of the questions I knew was coming was, "Tell us about your 'call.'" In our tradition, if you became a pastor, you had to have a "call": a mystical, vivid, (but non-charismatic) experience in which you have an inner sense/compulsion/Voice (but never quite audible) that tells you to become a preacher.

"Only become a preacher if you cannot do anything else," the old-timers would say knowingly. And many people followed that advice, which may be why the competency bar for preachers got set pretty low.

I come from a long line of pastors. My great-grandfather, Robert Bennet Hall, got his call working in a small grocery store more than a century ago. He had run away from the orphanage where he grew up and married a grocer's daughter. He was sweeping out the storeroom when he got the call. My brother-in-law got the call when he was working in a grocery store in our old hometown of Rockford, Illinois. Possibly my problem was that I never worked at a grocery store.

Because I never got that kind of call, I could have done other things besides be a pastor. Probably not too well, but I could have done them. I was open to a call. I asked for one. But Heaven was silent. I had to figure out what to do myself. Being a pastor seemed like a good fit for what I understood of my gifts, and it seemed worth the effort.

But I never got marching orders. Partly, I think, it may have been because God knows that I will grow much more as a person if I have to figure things out and exercise judgment and make a decision and accept responsibility than if I just got a postcard and followed directions. Another reason may be that I don't think God separates people into "pastor" groups that have to get calls and "non-pastor" groups that are call-free.

Finish this article

http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/newsletter/2008/cln80303b.html

Never too old to learn ......

There is a well-known book titled, Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Let me suggest another: Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Noah:

1. Don't miss the boat.
   
2. We are all in the same boat.
   
3. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
   
4. Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something big.
   
5. Don't listen to critics; just do the job that needs to be done.
   
6. Build your future on high ground.
   
7. For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
   
8. Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
   
9. When you're stressed, float a while.
   
10. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
    
11. No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

Have a beautiful day and know I am praying specially for you today!

To help is our passion!

And so .... we are in March! Can you even remember what your new year's resolutions were? I though that maybe more exercise would be a priority. Well .... I still feel I walk enough around here so why exercise when you have wheels? Anyway .... hope you are all well spiritually, emotionally and physically.

Wish we could have all of you here to experience the wonderful things that are happening out here. We just had a group from the US of A with Mercy Air and they were huge fun. Watch the next posting for a great slide show with some action photos too! We are currently helping more than 3 000 people per month all over Mozambique. This includes:

• Literacy programs
• Poverty alleviation
• Education
• Medical services
• Theological training
• Sustainable agriculture
• Social upliftment
• Outreaches

One of the people we are currently helping is a boy with a huge defect. His name is Beru and he is 16 years of age. He cannot use any of his arms or fingers as they are misformed. We are currently sponsoring Beru and he is in school - grade 6. With the help of friends and doctors we are currently trying to arrange an operation for Beru. If you feel you could help or add value to this effort please contact us on this blog or at - lovemoz.sg.org.za

Have a great day!