PANDA ~ MAWELIA ~ JORGE

The Team
Green Mamba
Witchdoctor (X)





Thank you for your prayers for the ministry in Inhambane Province. God used our short time there in a mighty way. We did work in 3 villages, Panda, Mawelia and Jorge. The district of Panda was a killing field during the civil war here in Mozambique. We heard many stories of children taken from their homes and never seen again, older men being slaughtered, and families being divided. This area of Mozambique has seen very little development since the end of the war, nearly 14 years ago. The land is beautiful and good for farming. Pastor Guilherme's father was murdered in the district of Panda during the war, adding to the incredible honor it was to be serving our Lord there.

The team was made up of 8 people, Lowell and Jim, pastors from North Carolina, Glenn, OMS missionary here in Mozambique, Juka and Raul, ECC Coordinators, Ricardo, ECC worker and Pastor Guilherme, President of Ministry of Christ here in Mozambique and Me, Nathan, Director of ECC. Each day involved training, evangelism and showing of the Jesus film. We arrived on the 22nd of February and met with the host church. We got settled into our host families house and joined them for dinner that night.

On the 23rd we held training in Panda. There was approximately 40 pastors/church leaders in attendance, with only a few being evangelical. The gospel message was preached and many accepted Christ and the rest of the ministry training for the day was based on communicating the gospel clearly. After lunch we arranged for an agricultural worker from an aid agency to do some training. After the training we headed back to the host families house, where we found a very powerful local witch doctor waiting for us. We took him back to his families village where we presented the gospel to him and he accepted Christ. Then after we prayed with him, we again presented the gospel to 64 of his family members and most accepted Christ. He was known as one of the most powerful witch doctors in the area, having 6 wives, 37 children and close to 200 grandchildren. He and his family made up his village. This was one of the highlights from this trip. After leaving their family we went back into Panda to show the Jesus film. 100's of more people prayed to accept Christ that night.

The day of the 24th we traveled to Jorge, about 80 kilometers outside of Panda, taking more then 2 hours to travel that distance. Upon arrival at Jorge, we found out we are still in Mozambique. The man that was to talk with the local President, had never arrived so there was no training prepared for that day. So we divided into 4 groups and spent the day evangelising. The highlight of the day was seeing about 100 children at school accept Christ. After talking with the professor of school, he allowed us to speak to all the kids. The village of Jorge is extremely open to the gospel, most had never heard the gospel. There are no evangelical churches in the area.

The 25th was spent in Mawelia, 120 kilometers outside of Panda. We were warmly welcomed by about 50 pastors/church leaders. The day was spent much like the first day, with some of the leaders accepting Christ for the first time. After training we divided into groups and spent the afternoon evangelising. At night we showed the Jesus film, with over 600 people in attendance. With many responding to the call.

On the 26th we attended services at the Methodist church in Panda. All the churches that had attended training were invited. Many people showed up to worship together. Many of them being from non evangelical/syncretistic sects. The service went about 3 1/2 hours and again many responded to the invitation. Then we returned to our host family for lunch and then headed back to Maputo.

Seeing God move through these communities was incredible. The fields are truly ripe for harvest. Please be praying for a national leader to answer the call to full time ministry in this province. We pray that we can continue to work in these areas to help a forgotten part of Mozambique.

For the only cause that matters,
Nathan