Children's Bibles arrives!

A great applause sounded as we carried the long awaited first batch of Children's Bibles into our school!  The aim and dream was always to make sure we would be able to give every kid a Bible with all the Bible stories the day they leave our Bush School in Grade 5.

Although we have currently only received a handful of the Bibles the next batch is on its way!  It is a well known fact that there is a lot of churches and church leaders in our great country, Mozambique who has been led astray due to a lack of good solid Bible education.  Many pastors don't have or have little knowledge when it comes to  Bible stories.  We decided to start with our pre-school kids and share all the Bible stories in a relevant way which they really could relate to.  Thanks to good and dedicated teachers it is amazing to see kids react with every Bible story .... which they have heard for the first time ever!!!  All the "ooooh's" and "aaaagh's", I think made God laugh! 

Each kid will receive a Bible in Grade 1 (which will be taken back after every Bible Education period).  They will use these Bibles year after year until they reach Grade 5.  Their graduation gift will be their own Children's Bible.  We have really been looking forward at making this possible for all our bush kids.  A miracle was needed though ........

I was preaching in Stellenbosch Congregation on our dream giving each kid a Bible.  I received an e-mail shortly after the event from Johan Lotz.  Their baby was just born and God spoke to him and his wife to help us to obtain Bibles for kids and for our Bible leaders.  Others came on board and as quick as you could say ...... miracle ...... we got the first batch.  Special thank you's to Johan Lotz and family, Niel and Helane Keyser, Sjon and Linda Smet and Michelle Groenewald.


We are still in need of about 100 of these Bibles.  Please pray that we would be able to get them soon.

A lonely path in the dusty North!

I left early to Guru and Mandie in central Mozambique to attend their annual certificate ceremony.  Hot and dusty as it usually is this time of the year.  I can hardly wait to finish the first 200 km to meet up with the leaders - many of which I haven't seen for a long time.   More than 450 church leaders follow an extensive Bible study program with more than 26 books.  It takes the students about 6 years to complete the course.  We have had our first 12 students receiving their diplomas as early as 2007.  My arrival is greeted with several joyous pastors waving and running to the vehicle.  We sing, dance, teach and eat together.  And so it is at every school we visit in the bush - an experience never to be forgotten - doesn't matter how many times we visit!

To keep leaders and students motivated they receive a certificate after the successful completion and exam of every book.  Local Mozambican leaders have many obstacles to overcome to study.  With language issues, geographical difficulties, various levels of education and other personal problems completing six years seems like an impossibility.  But we have seen year after year how miracles unfolds in front of our eyes.  Men who could never read or write miraculously prayed and they have completed their six years successfully.  These 450 leaders go back into their churches to teach their knowledge to their own local spiritual leaders.

What makes the program even more amazing is that we cover students from every church out here in the bush.  Catholics, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Independent churches - all united to achieve what seems to be nearly impossible - studying in a rural setting which would otherwise not be possible.  Wish you could be at some of the seminars when leaders receive their first certificate .... oh the joy and praises!

The spiritual leaders studying with us are pretty much ..... very amazing people.  They have great influence in their communities and run several orphan and other community projects in their rural areas.  The church has truly become a beacon of hope in these harsh hit communities.  Some of the new projects that are currently run, is sustainable food procurement projects that will help areas crippled by hunger during flooding or severe droughts.

Photo:  Always a lot to eat at the seminars ..... but this interesting fish was quite an offering.  I did survive though!

Photo:  The heat of the day even got to Past. Ricardo Oliveira - our national co-ordinator for our Bible program!

Photo:  Our SBF school students in Mandie - a town many people don't even know exist as it is hidden ....wel between somewhere and nowhere!

Photo:  And what is the day without a little fun!


Please pray for these men as they continue to study under difficult circumstances.  I dedicate this posting to Pastor Pedro Rede who suddenly died after a short sickbed at the age of 30.  An amazing leader which was getting ready to visit the US of A and preach at various places.  Also to others who have died - some finishing their course .... while others never tasted that privilege.

Meet the team!

Long time .... no photo of the team here on the base.  Well ... here they are all our permanent staff. They really are doing an amazing job with all the various projects and ministries with the community.  Currently running in the northern parts of Mozambique busy with seminars and reaching out in great Muslim communities.  Time in front of the PC thus limited for now. Still not doing to well health wise but ..... recovering slowly.

Really do have a lot of postings on the way so keep reading and thanks for the support, prayers and the great responses all around.  

From left to right:  Keren Massey, Andy Kurret, Lynn Lagore, Dwight Lagore, Barbara Wayner, Ron Wayner, Francois Rauch, Alta Rauch, Short term visitors, Rick Neufeld with Tendai, Heather Neufeld.


ooops


sorry forgot about Mushu - the dog!  According to Lynn he still suffers from the Y2K bug ..... an extreme case of Altzheimers!

Mozambique = Texas

Just before we get back to business - they say everything is bigger in Texas.  And it really is!  I mean .... I have never been there but I have met a lot of people from Texas.  Thus far I have learned the following from Texans:

• They can eat a mean chili without a drop of sweat or even a hint that it is too strong for them.  "All ya all must see our chillies in Texas", they would usually say.
• They are very friendly people!
• They have no problem if you hug them - very different from those in New York, I think!
• It's easy to start a conversation with them - and those in Arizona!
• I just love the way they talk and walk.  Real cowboys!
• Genuine people
• Great songs like:  "Yellow rose from Texas" or "All my exes live in Texas"!

Anyway ..... I got sidetracked there for a moment.  Sorry about that.  What I actually wanted to show you is our recent visitor to our household.  NOW - when I say we have huge chameleons I mean ... they are Texan big.  And I betcha that no Texan will argue with me.  My paths crossed this gentleman (I call him "The Texas Ranger").  A few photos to show you that I am dead serious.

Ground Zero: Health issues

Oh my goodness - I think sometimes it takes a disease or two to make you realize how important health really is.  I just received a message from England (YES, it's the Queen!) and the message read:  "we have reached that milestone of being "shock free" for 6 months ....." and it made me realize how we just take our health for granted!  I am barely recovering from a few scary attacks on my health .... but at least recovering.  I wondered in the process:  Would it be better being sick and close to God .... or healthy and far from God!  Mmmmm .... we all want to go to heaven .... just not NOW!

Anyway ..... we are celebrating through many hardships ... but we are CELEBRATING.  Keren Massey, a nurse from Canada has just left the mission base after spending more than 10 months in a tent in the bush.  Her aim:  Empowering women and writing health manuals for our school and the wider community.  Working frantically to get the syllabus and teaching finished in time ..... she DID it working until the last hour before she left.

Keren is a dedicated and strong willed lady who is very persistent in her work.  And that is why she finished her task leaving a great legacy for our bush schools.  The health manual will be taught from pre-schoolers to grade 7 students.  It teaches basic hygiene and preventative health.  We have learned that our kids are our greatest instruments when it comes to getting out information to the parents ..... who are sometimes unwilling to attend health meetings.  The syllabus focuses on all the major preventative diseases but uses all 5 senses ... and games to get the message across.  We are currently busy with a pilot project and our students all passed with flying colours. 

Our current plan is to introduce the health manual to surrounding government schools for free.  With Keren leaving it left a huge void space but she has just been accepted as student at the famous London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 


GOOD LUCK Keren - you deserve the best.  Africa salutes ya!

When there is no doctor ......!

You wake up in sweat!  Short breathed ...... calling for help.  Your mom has been worried for a few days now and anxiously try to carry the only thing to you available in the house .... a cup of dirty river water.  There is no light to see how you are doing -  maybe a candle.  Other sleeping family members are coughing heavily but they try to hide themselves under a thin blanket.  The cramps are worse than ever.  It's 02:00 in the morning.  The cup of water doesn't help to sooth the pain and the chills. 

The unlucky ones ...... die a few hours later. 

There is no help.  There is no medicine.  The few Hospitals and clinics available are far out in town if you are lucky you might find an overworked doctor who is usually travelling around to help other clinics - and they are expensive..  Anti-biotics .... not available.  Malaria medication .... not available.

What you are reading is really what is happening on a daily basis in Mozambique.  There really is NO doctor available.  I am the lucky one.  I am typing this as I am trying to recover from an illness - I tried to hold out for as long as I could in the bush ..... only to find out my symptoms are deteriorating.  I had a car!  I had enough money to make my way back to the RSA to get help - a hospital, a doctor, medication!  I feel I am recovering, but lying in my bed I could barely close my eyes .... thinking of the millions here in Mozambique who are not so privileged?

So what do we do?  Do we just say .... that's the way it is?  What can we do?  Well .... we can do what so few are doing unnoticed:

• Join a group somewhere and reach out via a medical outreach;
• Pray
• Care for someone not so fortunate close to you first!
• Just do it!

Sounds too simple?  But it will help and will make us more thankful for what we have.  Thanks for caring!  There is some amazing news though ....... what has happened on the base and how teaching health to young primary school kids could change everthing ....!

Death by Language

Mozambique - a country of many languages.  I often feel suffocated by the amount of  languages around me.  Take me for example:  I feel like a chameleon.   I am Afrikaans, I think half Afrikaans, half English.  I communicate in my second language, English.  I write in English (Shakespeare would turn in his grave if he read my blog postings), my friends are more English than Afrikaans and I try to understand a mix of Portuguese, Shona, Sena and even French.


I am sometimes confronted by Swahili, Xhosa and Zulu comes to mind.  Not even mentioning Tswana.  I am surrounded by languages .... strangled by them.


And then Mozambique with its more official statement on what we should speak around here:

• Emakhuwa 26.1%,
• Xichangana 11.3%,
• Portuguese 8.8% (official; spoken by 27% of population as a second language),
• Elomwe 7.6%
• Cisena 6.8%,
• Echuwabo 5.8%, 
• other Mozambican languages 32%, 
• other foreign languages 0.3%,
• unspecified 1.3% (1997 census)

Death by language!  Thus .... thank you for accepting my "English postings".  The focus on the blog is not to create a theological masterpiece or even create a space for literary communion .... just to be a voice to the 16 million who do not have access in Mozambique to tell their story.  And thanks for reading, listening and praying.  We love you.

Jesus and a Yuppie!

I am pretty sure Jesus would have had a great time dealing with Yuppies (Young and Upcoming Mozambican teenagers) and their questions.  I have noticed a very interesting phenomenon while reaching out to communities in the bush via the Jesus film.

Let me say from the offset ..... as I have had several frowns using the Jesus film as a friendship tool to deal with local communities, that we use the film only on invitation after evangelical outreaches has been held in the area.  We are not a hit-and-run entity and follow-up after the film is done by local pastors in the area after training.    These gatherings are usually far out in the bush and are attended by many hundreds at a time.  We usually carry a projector, a screen using a white sheet, the generator and some speakers with us.  A good tree usually does the trick and ... wola .... ready to show the Jesus film.  The narrative is based on Luke's gospel and relates some of the major events in the life of Jesus Christ.  Although originally filmed in Israel, The Jesus Film sound track has been skilfully dubbed over in the Shona, Portuguese, Senna and whatever language we use in the area.  And virtually every word is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke.

I have noticed in the last year or so how many young people attended the Jesus film.  You will always find kids - many of them enjoying and seeing the Jesus film for the first time.  But finding young people between the ages of 16 and 30 would be scarce.  However .... after the film many young people would come for prayer .... BUT not before they had a few questions about Jesus answered.  To be authentic and culturally relevant has become increasingly important not just to me but to many young people in Mozambique.

My last outreach in Gorongoza a young man was catching my eye the whole night.  It was the way he looked at the Jesus Film and how he interacted with other young people that caught my attention.  He was the leader of the group, no doubt.  At the end of the movie he waited until we were finished praying for the struggling community and to those who where interested in "finding this Jesus".

They peppered me with many questions and quoting many Scriptures that didn't make sense to them within their paradigm.  And the young yuppie looked at me with tears and said:  "I don't understand much .... but someone who would die for me and not ask anything in return .... just because he LOVES .... it's too much.  Do you think he loves a sceptic like me?"  The rest is history.

God is pretty awesome and to see young people who wants to clarify issues before they choose LIFE was pretty cool, I thought.

Snake Season

It's officially snake season ..... and to prove it we had to kill our first visitor.  I believe in the saying:  "Live and let live" but only if it is not in your "living space".  The Puff adder is one of those snakes you don't want too close to you (I guess like any snake for that matter!).  Nevertheless .... the puff adder is responsible for more than 70 % off all our snake bites in the area.  They usually bake in the sun in footpaths and are so well camouflaged that you by the time you realize there is a snake it is too late.

So ... let me share a few more snakes that are very common in our area.  It will help you to understand how our local communities in the bush survives.  They stay in mud and grass huts usually constructed out of branches and grass only.  It is thus easy for any snake to enter these huts and usually surprise their victims in the night.  Snake bites are common.  I remember coming to Mozambique and we had to stay in an army tent for more than 9 months - sharing a puff adder that made his house in our tent.  Army tents are big and is an invitation for any creepy crawly to explore a new home.  When we moved out of the tent we found a puff adder relaxing not to far from where we slept.  Luckily ..... or so they say .... snakes are afraid of human beings.  We found out later that that is not true in every circumstance.  It depends on the snake.  Take the Mozambican Spitting cobra for example.  Very aggressive and it has been recorded to bite its victim while it is sleeping - alas human beings.


The 4 snakes we fear the most around us must be:

THE GREEN MAMBA

Length:  1,45 m
Poisonous:  Extremely and neurotoxic.


THE BLACK MAMBA

Lenght:  Between 2,5 and 4,3 m
Poisonous:  Extremely and our most feared snake here and in Africa.  Neurotoxic and  cardiotoxic poison and about 10-15mg of poison will send you to your Creator quicker than you thought.  Did I mention this is one of the fastest snakes in the world!

TWIG SNAKES

Lenght:  1 m
Poisonous:  Very dangerous.  Death from hemorrhage and prevents blood clotting in humans.  A lot around our house due to the amount of trees.

MOZAMBIQUE SPITTING COBRA

Lenght:  1,2 m
Poisonous:  200 - 350mg fatal in  humans.  Sprays poison into the intruder's eyes, causing agonizing and instant pain.

GHABOON ADDER

Lenght:  1,3m
Poisonous:  Strike is very fast and has massive fangs up to 40mm.  Venom is cytotoxic and 90-100mg is fatal in humans.  Beautiful snake though .... with evil eyes when you look at him (or her!).


Ok .... I think you get the idea!  And these are but a few creatures out here in the bush which our locals must overcome ..... and yes it is the least of their problems.  People often ask me what to pray for .... well these are one of my requests .... but lower down on the list.

Gardens "overflowing"!

Feeding more than 300 kids, including orphans daily is no small task.  Everyone needs to be involved.  And may I add we have 2 gardens and they are B - I - G!  Producing enough food in a sustainable way needs a lot of planning and produce.

Our school kids are very much involved in making sure these gardens are in tip-top condition.  All our sponsored   students give up their free time and holiday time to work in the gardens to make sure they are well watered.  Our bigger garden on the base are being looked after by our mission staff on the base.  Fresh cabbage, carrots, onions, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, bananas, pineapples, lemons, beetroot, peas, lettuce, pumpkin, squash and many other products are picked early in the morning to be distributed to our schools and orphans.

Due to the fact that our base is situated next to a river, the Mucombeze river, droughts do not effect us much.  During our rainy season we are totally flooded but new wonderful soil washed down the river ends up in our garden which in return makes good crops possible.

The 2010 veggie gardens are currently overflowing and it really looks like God passed their in the morning to inspect the crop.  It is plentiful .... which means we can feed many.  The many widows we take care off also enjoys some of the crop.

It made me think of Jubilee - you know .... that time in the history of Israel where after every 50 years every slave could go free, widows received their land back and so on.  A sight to behold.


Special thanks to all our school kids who gave up yet another holiday to help us to sustain the garden and to Polokwane's A-team who provided all our seed for the last 5 years.  Be blessed ya all!

Training a Leader in Africa

We are currently training about 600 leaders in Mozambique, Africa.  We have just had our bi-annual training session with 34 of our top leaders visiting us for an extensive training seminar.  As I stood in front of them I realized a few things ..... yet again.  I an actually unworthy to teach these great men - they should teach me!

The reason why I say this is that you really have to understand who these men really are.  Let me give a short insight on where they come from and what they do:

• Serving their different forgotten communities they work for FREE.  Yes, they never receive any type of salary or stipend ..... ever!
• They believe in what they do even if it means living without food for days.
• They are humble and loved by many.
• They make plans in areas where there is no running water, electricity, phones, hospitals, medicine or any of the things we take for granted.
• They are men of great character, credibility and conviction.
• They live in totally poverty but has the ability not just to connect and magnetically draw people to themselves - they carry themselves like kings.

And this is just a short observation.  Whatever sphere of life you come from - you would sincerely love these men.  They study a 6-year theological course which aims to bring practical theology and leadership to them.  Although they have the ability to study further degrees we emphasis the importance of serving rather than obtaining doctorates which in  many cases doesn't lead to serving.  (My viewpoint only!)

Thus .... to train these main makes me look tiny in comparison.  And yes ..... leaves me with tears as I type this.  We've send them off this morning back to their rural areas (of which many is not even shown on a map!)  Please pray for these men who continue to serve God in difficult situations.  They have been transforming communities in many ways by:

• Setting up huge food gardens for orphan projects.  These pastors take care of about 870 orphans in central and northern Mozambique;
• They play in key role in food security for starving communities;
• They solve problems daily;
• Take care of the weak, sick, dying and the desperate without money;
• They have started literate projects in their churches and communities;
• and then ..... they lead churches trying to feed their own families.

Thank you for your prayers!

Photo:  New pastors to the program receiving their first Study Bibles.