Tenga Outreach

Greetings,

We had a great night in Tenga. Upon arriving with some of the ECC workers we begun visiting house to house to invite them to the Jesus film. We had been given the approval by the local government to show the film and they also helped promote it by posting a sign in the center of their village, were they hold there community meetings. There are 410 families in this village, approximately 2000 people in total. There are no evangelical churches in this community. There are two traditional churches and two cults.
Like usual the evening started with singing, and a little dance. The film went well and around 50 people came forward to accept Christ after word, but only 12 came to our first Bible study today. Please be praying for these people. The traditional worship is very powerful in this village and hard to break away from. Thank you for your prayers; we will not know how much they helped until we’re in heaven. You should find some photos below, I’m sorry but they are all from earlier in the day before nightfall (therefore there are not many people in them). There are also some photos of the first Bible study. We will be holding two Bible studies there per week until its time to start a church.

In Christ,
Nathan



OUTREACH
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FIRST BIBLE STUDY
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2-18 Prayer Request

Greetings All,

Denis's father died yesterday in Gurue. Denis is the ECC worker that is working in his home province of Zambezia. We had taken him back in November and there has been some trying times for him. His mother was also in the hospital, but she was released yesterday. She is still very sick and needs a touch. Please be holding him and his family up in prayer. Below is a photo of his family, Denis is wearing the blue shirt and tie. His mother is in white and father is in blue.




We are having a outreach in a village called Tenga this Saturday (19-2). This is a new church plant, and we will be holding our first "church", more like a Bible study on Sunday. Paeto and his wife Maria-Nelsa are the two ECC workers that will be leading this new work. The only churches in this village would fall in the traditional category. We have had two people there accept Christ, and are praying for many more. We have been visiting this village for a few months now, and can see God working in their community. Here is a photo of Tenga (it's hid in the trees).




Thank you all for your prayers. We are all doing fine.

In Christ,
Nathan

YOUNG AND OLD

A LOT HAPPENS HERE IN A WEEK..........

First - Sunday we went out to Xipaminine for church and Nate had the privilege of dedicating a baby. In the churches here when you dedicate a child the first part is much like at home, the pastor dedicates the baby by reading some verses and urging the congregation to be involved and help the parents and praying for the child and parents then you go and sit down. Well here is where it gets different. A lady takes the baby and starts throwing him up in the air and dancing with it, then goes into the congregation and gives it to another lady and they do the same, some throwing it higher then others. This goes on until all have had a chance to touch and "play with the baby" as they say. Well I was very surprised when they came to me and I had to dance my way up to the front, I wasn’t about to throw him up in the air, but I danced and showed him to the people. Luckily someone took him from me obviously noticing I was uncomfortable but then they decided to give him to Chelsea, I thought I felt weird, she came up and stood absolutely still even as the ladies were telling her to dance. She looked at me and said, "you dance, I don’t want to drop him". Nate got his turn too and that was funny too, but for some reason he enjoys dancing so he came up with the blanket dragging behind and everyone laughing. They laughed more when the men took the babies then the ladies, especially the single men who have never had kids. It was a great day. Nate did a wonderful job at the dedication and he even started with a greeting in Portuguese. The Lord is really working through him.

Second - Yesterday (Feb. 8) we went to Tenga after our ECC meeting. We are working on getting property to build a church. Every time you go to talk to someone they treat you like queens and kings and give you the best. They brought the chairs out of the house and let us sit on them and then brought us some fruit. We all tried it and it wasn’t too bad but I have a cold and my throat is sore so when it went down the wrong pipe I started coughing and Raul looks at me and laughs thinking I don’t like it and he wouldn’t stop laughing and I couldn’t stop coughing. So they are all looking at me and I am trying to explain it went down the wrong pipe. Well we went on from there to see the city official about some property. On our way out we stopped to see the old lady of the town. They go to visit her each time they go to Tenga. Well the first time they were there she told Nate that she wanted him to be her husband and work in the fields. So when I went out she told me I came to check out the competition. And this time we walk up to say hello and she says " My rival", She has a wonderful sense of humor and she loves to joke with us. She asks how HER children are and she wont let us leave without taking something, mostly fruit. It is offensive if we don’t take it. I had some bread in the car that I gave her. She loved it.

Third - We started Portuguese lessons this week after almost two months without. It was so needed as we were struggling to use the words we knew. Our teacher forgot his book (I know the Lord worked that out), so we reviewed and it was so good. We felt like we were understanding some things that we never understood before.

Fourth- We had a great time in Xipaminine with an outreach event. We had a band and a great preacher. The preacher (Lucas) has been at the OMS seminary for three years and is a good evangelist. This church is located in Maputo greater. I’m not sure how many people attended, but I would guess around 300. The photos show more kids, but there were a fair amount of adults also. A bar is located at the end of the street so we had a good amount of intoxicated guests stop in, but the speakers are loud, so everyone at the bar heard the message also. There were two adults that accepted Christ before the preaching even started, and many came to the church afterward. You can be praying for the people that responded over the next days and weeks. There are a few photos attached just below here....




There have been many changes here these last few weeks, some hard and some not so hard. The Lord is teaching us so much and growing us in so many ways. Please continue to pray for us, as Satan loves to get in the way of what we need to be doing. We have a field retreat this weekend, which we are looking forward to. I know it will be a great time for our OMS team here.

Thank you all for your prayers, we love you all and think of you often.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY! Great things HE hath done!
Love Deanna

Here are a couple pictures from Tenga


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