Greetings,
Thank you for your patience in getting this trip update written. For those that don’t know the same day I arrived home, I came down with malaria. This was Gods timing and He is awesome. We arrived home on the 13th, two days ahead of schedule. If we had been traveling when coming down with malaria it would not have been good. So I give praise to God for his timing. I am feeling better now. I finished my last of the med’s yesterday, and I’m left with fatigue, and dizziness. Thank you for your prayers….
As for the trip, it was good. We had the awesome privilege to baptize in all the churches that had been established and I wrote about on our last trip to upper-Zambezia. There were six people in Makuba, six in Inlope, and four in Parie. After each of the baptisms we had the first communion in each church. The baptisms in Inlope and Parie were held on the same day. These days were a true blessing to me as we were able to hear the life stories of those being baptized. There were many stories of Gods great grace and love that each one shared.
The next church we visited was Sururua. It is always a good time for me to travel there, as this was the village where God started the work in Zambezia with OMS. I had the pleasure of spending time with Mama (Dinis’s mom). She is not doing well and last time I left here I was not sure if it was the last time Id see her. The Sururua church is doing well. They have grown a little in numbers, but the body has grown in depth. This is a true blessing to see. From my first trip there a little over two years ago, to today, God is working in Sururua.
Our time in Gurue was full of training pastors/leaders. First was the training for our own churches. This went very well. You could see God working in each one of their lives. They have matured as spiritual-leaders since last time we were together. The time spent one-on-one was great. Each one shared of their personal struggles and we had time to give advice and pray with them. We also completed two training books with them and trained them in a participative Bible study method. There was much time of open discussion and small groups where you could see the growth in each of our leaders. Praise be to God.
The open training time for all denominations was well attended. We averaged 34 in attendance the majority being pastors from other churches. We also trained them in two books, Christian ethics and the Good News. There were times of sharing and time spent in small groups working. The Spirit was certainly at work and much was accomplished for eternity in those few days spent together.
Nampula Province is much different then upper-Zambezia. Our purpose in Nampula was to perform survey work for the possibility of further OMS work in this province. Please be praying for God’s leading in this. In our time there we visited a few villages about 250km from Nampula city (population about 600,000), and we also visited Nacala. Nacala is the second largest city in Nampula. Nampula has had trade from the Middle East for over 700 years. It was the first place in Mozambique that this trade was started. This continues up to today with Nampula being the economic hub of MZ. There is a Mosque on every corner and would be the predominant religion. Speaking with some of the pastors in the cities, they say that the Christian churches would be centralized in one area of town with little outreach to the Muslims. Please pray for Nacala and Nampula and our involvement in training in these areas.
The travels back went well. We had huge storms for the two days leading up to our departure. With most of the road under construction from Nampula to 120km outside of Macuba (about 500 or so km) it made for fun travels. I’m not sure ☺ but when earthmoving equipment and cars are using the same mud road, I think this leads to a lot of stuck vehicles. There were sections of roads were you felt as if you were in some kind of obstacle course to weave around all the vehicles. God is always good and we arrived home safely without to many heart pounding road moments. Thank you all for your prayers. I know they traveled with us and sometime over coffee we can talk about it more. God bless you as you serve Him.
You can visit my Flickr to view 50 photos from this trip.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mozambique44/sets/72157594428663549/
Your Brother in Christ,
Nathan
Prayer Requests:
- There are the above mentioned for Nampula Province
- Vision casting seminar/training in January for the ECC Trainers
- Trip to Panda district in Feb for further training, pray specifically for two trainers to live in this area and minister full-time.
- Our support account
- The Field Leadership Team, as we direct the field
