An Unforgettable Year

This past Saturday May 26, marked the completion of one year of us being in Mozambique. It’s so crazy to think we have already been here for a year! It has gone by so quickly for us….the days just seem to run together. May 26th was also Corey’s 29th birthday! Can you believe he’s almost 30? Yeah neither can he. We had a fun day celebrating and eating American goodies. All Corey wanted was a Pepperoni Pizza and Betty Crocker fudge brownies! Our friend Choveque also gave him some homemade African cookies (biscottis).This Friday on June 1, Jenni will turn 26. She will be closer to 30 than to 20:). We will probably be spending her birthday at the beach! A big blessing for Corey this past week has been to watch the Utah JAZZ games at another missionary's house. Even though we can’t see the games live, we pretend that it is live and cheer them on regardless! It has been fun to stay connected in this way, as Corey really misses watching US sports.

We have less than 10 months left here in Mozambique (since our organization counts our 2 month training as part of our 2 years of service.) Our plan is to return to the States on March 21, 2008. In our first year here, we have experienced so much and we have been so blessed to see and experience what we have thus far. However, we have definitely been through some trying times as well. We have had to deal with a lot of disappointment, much more than we could have ever expected. However through these trials we still know by God’s Word that all things work together for good for those who love him (Romans 8:28) and that the work of the Lord is never in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). Even though there has been a lot of disappointment and struggles, God has still blessed us in many ways which we could have never expected. He has given us some wonderful friendships which we believe will continue even when we return to the USA. He has blessed us with many “little things” that can make a big difference in the life of another person. He has allowed us to experience some things where we could see His mighty power (i.e. our near death experience on the airplane). We have grown spiritually and have learned to lean only on God and His Word. He has taught us things that can only be learned through hardships and so we are THANKFUL for this first year in Mozambique. To sum this up we have been living out Romans 5:3-5 “…we exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” It has been a time that we will never forget and a time when we can look back and see the faithfulness of God in our lives and see first hand that His hope doesn’t disappoint; instead this hope helps us to keep our eyes on Him and to continually grow to be more like Christ!

The past couple of Sundays we have been visiting different churches recruiting those who would be interested in being a part of our True Love Waits team. So far we have been getting a lot of interest, but we’re still a little unsure as to how many of those who showed interest will actually come to our meetings. We will start having meetings next month where we will do some discipleship studies so that we can all be grounded in the Word and exhibit a commitment to the program. After a few months of Bible studies, we hope to start teaching the team the True Love Waits program to them so they can start teaching it to their fellow church members. We are really excited about this!

This past week we were able to help out one of our night guards, Elicio, as he went through a very sad and difficult time. His wife had a miscarriage after being 7 months pregnant and had to have an emergency c-section to take out the dead baby. This was so sad to see because he had been praying that God would give him a baby girl for a long time (he has 2 boys). To see him go through this was very sad. After his wife stayed 2 nights in the hospital, we went to pick her up and take her home. It was sad to see her in so much pain. The roads here are not exactly smooth so as we hit every little bump/pothole (which there are a lot of here in Mozambique) it caused her much pain. When we finally got to their house, Jenni was able to teach them some medical things about how to care for someone who has just gone through this type of surgery. Although it was a sad time, it was neat to see God give Jenni an opportunity to care for her and teach Elicio the nursing things he needed to know to properly care for her. Although this was a sad time, we felt blessed to be able to help this family out in their time of need and to pray for them.

We love every opportunity that God gives us to love on the people here…especially at the orphanage. Corey is still teaching drum classes, while Jenni plays with the children. There are some new kiddos at the orphanage that are just adorable. They love to play and smile. They have all started to call Jenni “Mama Jenni” and if they aren’t careful we will make that come true! We want to take them all home with us! The orphanage has definitely been a little haven for us!

Prayer Requests: 1) For God to give us the grace to get a better grasp of the language as we prepare to teach True Love Waits Team. 2) For God to help us make the most of every opportunity that we have here. 3) For God to raise up leaders who will want to continue the TLW program when we return to the States. 4) For God to give us witnessing opportunities to a Muslim family we have become friends with.