One Bad Boat Ride

We are definitely back into the swing of things after returning from our training in Malawi. We have been very busy preparing for our church to come here for a mission trip. It has been a lot of work, but we are so excited and so it makes all of the work worth it! We can’t wait for them to come next month! Please pray for us as we plan for the things that we are going to do for that week they are here. Some of the things that we have planned to do are TLW, marriage seminar, sports ministry, orphan ministry, prayer walking, and evangelism in a local village. Please pray that God would glorify Himself during this time and that He would use us to show His mercy and goodness to the Makuwa people of Nampula.

We are still continuing our discipleship program with our TLW team. Although we are encouraged by their commitment to continue to come, the past couple of weeks have been a bit frustrating to us as we have struggled with our different learning styles. We come from a style where you actually have interaction and expression as you are teaching something. But here…we usually get nothing but blank stares and so it makes us think that nothing is getting through. We talked about this with one of our close Mozambican friends and he said that’s normal here and that they are actually listening and learning. We still have our doubts sometimes. We have to constantly remember that God’s Word does not return void and that it will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. Please pray that we would continue to be faithful in sharing God’s Word with them and that we would trust the Holy Spirit to teach them and give them understanding of His Word.

We had a day off last week so we decided to drive out to Nacala to visit some other missionaries. While we were there everyone decided that it would be really fun to rent one of these old Mozambican sailboats (see 1st pic) and go out for a ride on the sea. What seemed to be a good/fun idea actually turned out to be an awful one as we were completely nauseous from sea sickness. The boat ride was about 5 hours long, and 4 of those hours we were on the verge of sending our breakfast into the sea! Then it got even worse as we ate hotdogs for lunch and were burping it up for about 12 hours straight! Ummmmmmmmmm! Hungry anyone? What were we thinking? Especially the mystery meat called hot dogs? The next few days we suffered with “sea legs,” nausea, and vertigo. Anyways, to say the least it was a miserable experience and one we don’t ever plan on having again!!!


On a happier note, we had a great experience this week. We were able to visit the main hospital here and see a ministry some Brazilians have started. By the grace of God they have been able to obtain a small room in the pediatrics section of the hospital where parents can take their kids and let them play. The room is definitely a “light” in a “dark” place. The ministry is still in the beginning stages, but it is going to really reach the nations in a compassionate way! While we were there we were able to walk around the pediatric ward. We saw so many heart wrenching things. These kids are so sick with diseases that are just eating away their bodies. It was sad to see. It’s also frustrating. Nampula lacks good medical care and they lack medical staff. So many times people are either forgotten or there aren’t enough hospital personnel. There are beds on the floors, and usually 2-3 kids to one bed. People line the halls with crying children. No one washes their hands, so you can only imagine how many other illnesses are spread during a hospital stay. We are very excited to be able to visit this ministry from time to time and help out. We hope to be able to take our church team there as well; it would be a great experience for them. Please pray that the hospital director will approve them to minister there in September.

We had another “girl party” with some of the older girls from the orphanage. We always have so much fun with them! They are such a blessing to be around. We played “SPOONS” with them. It was hilarious watching them fight for a spoon. It was great time of presents, cookies, games, and celebrating life!

And last but not least, we have some wonderful news about a miracle God worked! God is bringing Jenni's dad back to Nampula to do some ministry with us! We are SO EXCITED for this and can't wait for him to come back! This is such a wonderful gift from God and we feel so blessed to have this second opportunity of having Jenni's dad come visit us in Mozambique.

We thank you for all of your prayers, support, and interest in the ministries God has given us. We love you all!

"THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL"

We are back in Nampula after a great time in Malawi! Thank you so much for your prayers as God was definitely merciful to us as we traveled to and from Malawi! After a long road trip in Africa, we are always so grateful to arrive at home safely. We also let out a sigh of relief that we have gone without car troubles. We literally drive through the middle of nowhere; sometimes it scary to think about what we would do if something bad happened like car trouble or health issues. Thanks be to God though that nothing has happened and that was our last big road trip for us!

After driving for 14 hours straight, we stopped for some relaxation. We were able to rest for a couple of days at the tea estates (where we stayed last year) and just soak in the tranquility of this beautiful place. We traveled with some fellow missionaries and just enjoyed taking it easy. We even learned how to play croquet! It was really fun!While we were at the tea estates we were blessed with the opportunity to share the gospel with one of the workers who was a Jehovah’s Witness. This was very exciting (and frustrating at the same time) as we were able to share many truths from the Bible to him. A huge part of our discussion revolved around heaven. He believes that there will only be 144,000 people in heaven. How sad is that?! He gets this idea from the book of Revelation in chapters 7 and 14 where it talks about God sealing 144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel. We stressed to him the importance of looking at Scripture as a whole and in context. So we showed him the very next verse in chapter 7 that describes exactly what John sees: the 144,000 from the twelve tribes AND a multitude beyond number from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people (this verse takes on a whole new meaning when you live in Africa; Mozambique itself has around 40 different tribes and tongues). We discussed these verses thoroughly, but he continually changed the subject and stuck to his doctrine regarding the 144,000. We ended our conversation agreeing to disagree and we pray that God will open his eyes to see the beauty of Christ’s free gift. It made us so sad to see the bondage that he is in, not being able to see the freedom in Christ’s salvation.
We were able to meet his sweet family and we are grateful that God gave us time to spend with him! Please pray for him and that the truth would penetrate his heart!

As for our training time that we had, it went really well. We learned an evangelizing method called “Creation to Christ” and a training method called “Training for Trainers”. These methods are used quite frequently in the oral cultures of Africa where there is a lot of illiteracy and where the gospel is shared through Bible Storying. After learning these methods we had the opportunity to put into practice what we had learned. So we went out and shared the gospel through these methods in some of the local villages that were nearby to where we were staying. Corey went out with a missionary couple who serve in Malawi where they were able to share with 6 people on separate occasions, 4 of whom prayed to receive Christ!!! Praise the Lord!! Please pray for these 4 new believers and that God would lead them to a solid church that is founded on the word of God. Pray also that the local pastors would follow up with those who prayed to receive Christ.

As for our True Love Waits Team, things have been going really well. We are continuing in our discipleship program with the youth who have committed to coming. We wanted to share something that was really exciting to us that happened in our meeting before we left for Malawi. We had asked the team to write out their personal testimony about how they came to know the Lord and then to have them share with the rest of the team. One of the girls who had shared talked about how she started going to the Baptist Church, which is something very common here as well as America. So after our meeting Jenni talked with her about this and was able to share the gospel with her and how going to church doesn’t make you a Christian nor does all the “good things” that you do. She shared how we can only be made right with God and become Christians through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus and that by receiving this free gift are we made right with God. This was very exciting as it was the first time for Jenni to share the gospel in Portuguese. It was neat as God really blessed the limited Portuguese she knows and made this girl understand her. We are really looking forward to continue to work with this team and are excited about the commitment they have made thus far to this program.

Other exciting news, our church from Salt Lake City has officially bought their airline tickets and will be coming next month for a week long mission trip! We are so excited for them to come! It is neat to see how God is providing for their needs and paving the way for them to come!

If you look closely, this picture shows the tea plantation workers harvesting the tea. As we looked at miles and miles of tea, we saw a great parallel in our lives... "the harvest is PLENTIFUL!" It is such a privelge to be workers of God's harvest.

Please pray for 1) Our group from HBC will be here in 6 week! Pray that God would prepare them to minister here and that He would provide all their needs for the trip. Pray that He would help us with all of the planning and details this trip involves. 2) Pray for our TLW team and that God Himself would teach these youth the truths of His Word. 3) Praise for the opportunities to share the gospel and for the professions of faith in Malawi! 4) Praise for the mercy God gave to us in our travels!