Smuggling Bibles in the 21st century! (Chapter 3)

My history, when it comes to Bibles in Mozambique is not a very happy one. I am constantly reminded of more than one occasion where pastors pleaded for Bibles and where I was not able to provide any due to a lack of scarce Bibles or money. Many times pastors would see me from afar ...... go on their knees in anticipation of Bibles. They would crawl in the dust ......... calling for a Bible. My reaction is pretty much the same everything .......... I just cry.





It seems absurd that in the 21st century people deep in Africa are still crying to own a Bible in their mother tongue. But it is a fact that tens of thousands in Mozambique do not have a Bible of their own in their mother tongue. As westerners we own not only many printed versions but they are freely available on our i-pods, Internet e-sword downloads and other formats. We don't even think that others are still desperate to read a Bible and to perhaps find the Saviour they have heard so much about.




On my recent outreach to Sena I was confronted again with a lack of Bibles. I heard word like - "Preacher my family are dying without these transforming words - help us." We could find no Sena or Shona Bibles - not even in South Africa with its printed media. We constantly were given the answer that Zimbabwe who has the printing rights did not want to release their printing plates for the Bibles. It left me pretty much without hope for the last 3 years ....... but ...... things were about to change.




After leaving Sena with a few words of encouragement to the pastors that I would return with some Bibles, I arrived in South Africa. Still looking for Bibles and making phone calls I received a phone call from Cape Town, RSA. A friend, Raymond Lombaard (Word on Wheels) told me as only he could that a batch scarce Shona Bibles somewhere "hidden" was found. A wrong order via the USA was made and the Bibles belonged to no one. I made a few calls and there it was ............. 30 000 of them. Although we could only afford 223 Bibles it was like gold. God surely makes a way where there seems to be no way! I didn't even need any printer, printing rights or Zim plates after all! Awesome!




SMUGGLING IN THE 21st CENTURY? POSSIBLE?

After receiving the Bibles I knew my problems were only starting. I still had to smuggle the expensive Bibles over the border through 2 countries. Why smuggle? The import duties on Bibles are so expensive that it would be impossible to pay the amount required. I am sure God could rain dollars for import duties ...... but today ..... it didn't. The borders I cross are extremely difficult with custom officials worse than hungry rottweilers. (For those who don't know - they are dogs with vicious jaws and sharp teeth - with probably a nasty rabies disease!) I stop with my vehicle at the checkpoint. I give my biggest smile. The customs officer looked at me ...... "get out" he barked. He looked at my overloaded vehicle. Then he said: "Do you have a Bible for me?" I said ..... "hey believe it or not I do ..... Shona ..... your mother tongue!" His face changed. "That is not possible ... they are not available anymore." I took out the Bible - he looks bewildered. "God bless you - don't worry - go through." The gate opens - and I still have another 222 Bibles available. A sight of relief escapes through my dry lips.

One more to go! I do not mention any countries in this mail - although its quite obvious. Not sure what custom official is reading my blog - but hey ..... if you are reading ...... God bless bro - I need to bring in another 29 000 Bibles! Thank you for being gracious.

The last border crossing is not that easy. After some harassment I still had to open my vehicle and unpack my goods. When I reached the Bibles he said something about 25 % import duties.
I nearly cried when he refused our entry ...... but somehow he turned around -looked at the boxes of Bibles and said: "Ok .... this time .....!" "Go!" I looked towards the sky and thought I saw a cloud hovering. Oh well ..... must have been my imagination! We left the border singing ...... another day survived. I could almost hear the pastors calling from afar, "preacher do you have a Bible?" This time I could say "Yes, my friend, yes".

I seriously need to thank all who helped me to get these scarce Bibles and those who supported us to pay for these. You are serious transformational agents - may God bless ya all:

Raymond Lombaard
Johan (Wheels for God)
Bellville Congregation
Nuwe Hoogte, Robertson
Tielman Marais

Missional transformation

Ok .... just a quick breather from all that is happening around us. I have been thinking lately after attending an Amahoro (peace) gathering with African leaders from over the whole African continent. It was great meeting old friends and being introduced to new ones. I listened to their stories on transformation and how communities are changed. Thinking? Thinking on how to bring Jesus closer to people in our culture.


Deep in the bush where I live sharing Jesus is not as easy as it looks. I am here to help and assist communities to be transformed and in the process find the ultimate Saviour, Jesus Christ. Here life and submerging into culture is so much different. It takes a lot of creative ideas to get people to sit around a fire and share. But I realize ............... for all of us ................. if we make time to listen to THEIR STORIES you will find common ground .............. and eventually that will end up to be the higher ground you are looking for. I have just seen a great transformation of a family who changed. In fact we have just had a bunch of nurses from Canada and it was so great to see the transformation in their lives ............ because they served ................. they listened .............. and they too found common ground.


BOTTOM LINE:


The Word needs to become flesh and blood again ................ and miracles are awaiting!

"Wheels keep turning" (Chapter 2)

Photo: The friendly boy from Sena who took it on his shoulders to show us around - free of charge.

Sena, Mozambique town, central Mozambique, on the Zambezi River is a river port and railway junction, it has an economy based on sugarcane cultivation and processing. Sena Sugar Estates Ltd., a formerly British-owned company that was granted a large land sub concession from the Zambezia Company, had estates at Luabo and Marromeu in the Zambezi River delta and also operated a copra plantation near Chinde, a forestry concession, and a cattle ranch near Luabo. In the mid-1960s it was the largest firm in Mozambique, with more than 10,000 employees. The company was centred in Sena and built sugar refineries nearby on the lower Zambezi River. Sugarcane is still processed there, although the company was nationalized in 1978 after Mozambique’s Independence, and its operation was turned over to Cuban experts. A rail spur connects the sugar refineries to the Beira Railway. Pop. (latest est.) city, 102,000.

Photo: Francois and Mathew on the Donna Anna bridge on the way to Mutarara - 5 km down the way.

Currently nothing much is happening in Sena as the war destroyed mostly all the infrastructure. The railroad line has been re-build only to open late 2008. Construction on the Donna Anna bridge is still continuing.

It is in this town with its dirt roads and friendly Sena people where we continued our outreach. By this time everyone knew we were in town and greeted very friendly. Even Muslim kids couldn't get enough. Off course we played with them and taught them many songs - to the frustration of the Imam.

Photo: One of our muslim friends showing us how he is learning the Koran.

Our pastors attending our HEART OF MAN seminar came from everywhere. Some crossed the Donna Anna bridge (close to 5 km long) daily with one of the pastors traveling 100 km on his bicycle. The hunger for Bibles and Theological training are immense. Wheels for God partnered with us for this "caring visit" and sponsored 40 bicycles for pastors.

As Raymond Lombaard, president - Wheels for God states: "Wheels for God’s Word is an interdenominational evangelical missionary organization. We seek to supply bicycles and Heart of Man charts, as well as other Christian literature, to preachers, pastors, evangelists and missionaries working in African countries with a generally poor transport infrastructure. Travelling by bicycle on gravel roads and footpaths through the bush and forest has been found to cut walking time by at least a tenth. In some instances pastors travel up to 500 km per week!
Bicycles are easily repaired and maintained, making them the ideal means of transportation to reach some of the most remote areas which have previously been unreached.

Wheels are everything in Mozambique, I guess it's the same everywhere else - but here it is not in the form of vehicles but bicycles. To own a bicycle makes you a rich man. A mountain bike ..... well would make you much like owning a BMW. A motorbike ..... well - Ferrari to say the least. Our idea was to train our pastors in evangelism and give all 40 attending an evangelism kit, including a free bicycle for all the pastors to spread the Gospel quicker.

The eyes of the 40 heroes lit up when we exhibited the bicycles. Between the whistling, dancing and smiles every single pastor got their bicycles. Brand spanking new. After receiving their bicycle everyone quickly assembled the bikes and made sure it was roadworthy so they could spread the Gospel - today if necessary. We still could not find any Bibles in Senna or Mutarara and had to leave our brothers without a single Bible. I never knew a miracle was about to unfold in a few days ........................

After our seminar it was time to explore the great Zambezi!

Photo: Johan (Word of God helper) and Raymond Lombaard exploring the Zambezi and its hippos.

To be continued ........

40 > 120 = 1 183 (Chapter 1)

Sorry if our blog postings stood still for a while. Difficult sat connections made it nearly impossible to post for the last week or so from out the jungle base. But here we go again .......

ZAMBEZI - THE 'FORGOTTEN' RIVER PEOPLE

Mathematics is not really my forte. But when God works deep in the hearts of the river people of Mozambique heavenly mathematics makes sense in a weird way. I am on my way to the north to a small town, Sena. Accompanying me is Past. Raymond Lombaard from Wheels for God and his friend - a very chirpy guy I came to know as Johan. Usually only helicopters fly over Sena to rescue people drowning in the mighty Zambezi.

Photo: We rested on the way ....maybe that's why it took 7 hours to reach Sena. Raymond Lombaard with Francois sharing the African drink - Coke.

It's warm when we entered Sena after 7 hours on the road - just enough light in my rear view mirror to follow the dust trial I left behind. Everyone is silently wondering what type of visit this will be. We have been invited for a few years now but it was only now that the outreach became a reality. Raymond Lombaard, president of Wheels for God, donated 40 bicycles and are leading the training part of the outreach which made the reaching out to the river people possible.

Bibles, which is such a necessity in the north, was so scarce in the local language that we could not lay our hand on a single Bible. With our arrival we were greeted with spirited songs of welcome. A dream was coming true after so many years. And pastor after pastor came and shared the same story: "We had a missionary here many many years ago ..... but he died. We have been praying for so many years - you are our answer." In in the same sentence: "Did you bring any Bibles with you preacher." I quickly looked away and without answering showed towards their new bicycles.

Photo: Meeting with the local leaders of Sena.

Raymond started with his teaching on the Heart of Man - a visual presentation to present the Gospel in an easy and uncomplicated way so that all could understand it. We had 40 pastors anxiously awaiting their 2 day training. They participated like hungry children - taking in every word. Every now and then you would see someone wiping away a tear that came from nowhere.

Everyone had a chance to present the material before we sent them into the dirt streets of Sena to share the Good News they have just heard.

It was amazing to see the preachers scatter in different direction. We gave them all the material they would need after they studied it vigorously. We asked the 40 pastors to come back after 2 hours to tell us what happened.

120 minutes later the pastors returned back to church. Many people were now following them with laughter, singing and loud voices. We sat down to hear what happened. Everyone wanted to talk simultaneously. We organized the groups and asked them what was so special that they all wanted to talk. "We shared the words and many said they have never heard those words. It touched all we talked to." "We prayed for the sick!" one out-of-breath pastor shouted. "Witchdoctors lives were changed forever after sharing the Heart of Man chart", another pastor exclaimed.

Photo: While walking on the Sena market square we saw these villagers talking about the Heart of God booklet. We tried to sneak in a photo without them noticing. (I don't think I succeeded!)

We counted all the people reached with the Heart of Man chart. 40 Pastors reached 1 183people within 120 minutes. All around us amazing transformation started within the population. Walking by some house prostitutes were sitting with books reading about their hearts condition. On the market square people were standing in groups discussing the Good News. Many asked us: "Why have we never heart this Good news?"

Photo: Pastors praying before they headed out into the village to share the Good news.

The people danced ..... and we looked at each other .... pleased to understand God's mathematics. As we were looking at the people around us ..... one pastor came closer and whispered in my ear: "Bibles, did you bring any ......?" He drove 100km with a broken bicycle hoping ........... My mouth went dry as I saw the tears in his eyes.

To be continued ............

Oh my goodness ..... !

No I have not run away. Forgive the absolute silence the last few weeks. I have been in Sena on the banks of the Zambezi and immediately ran to Johannesburg for Amahora Africa for conversations with emerging African leaders. What a blessed time.

So much to report on. My wife had malaria and signs of cholera and is re-cooperating in Johannesburg. We are currently travelling and will be in Mozambique next week. Watch this space for the following headlines:

1. Zambezi river report: Codeword 120 = 1 186 (Amazing times with great rewards!)

2. Amahora gathering in Johannesburg with emerging African leaders. WOW!

3. Spread the Light - just received my first lights from "Million lights" (This promises to be an

amazing sustainable program which will change 1 000's of lives in Mozambique!)

Thank you to everyone out there who is seriously supporting us to make all these programs work. As I am speaking we have about 10 Canadian nurses on the base serving our population. We also loosed a great friend - old Fred (nobody knows his age - we guess about 70) who died this week when he broke his hip. Bless you Fred - happy times have started!