News from Mozambique

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope this letter finds you all well.  We have been extremely blessed this last month as we’ve traveled 40 hours up to Pemba and back to teach at the Harvest School, starting 4 leadership training seminars along the way!  Pictured above right are some of the graduates from a seminar we did in the province of Zambezia. Each of these believers wants to start their own discipleship centers with the resources they’ve now received – booklets and Bibles.  

All the people we gather for our seminars are leaders and teachers.  Most of them go out from us to start their own discipleship centers, which is why we now have about 120 centers going!  On this last trip we are especially excited about a whole new province called Nampula opening up, as the top leaders gathered for our seminar.  Some of them were so excited, they started up their groups the week after they graduated!

Women’s ministry continues going strong as well.  Lorena and a couple of other missionaries just did a women’s conference last weekend in a town called Buzi – two days after we got back (picture top center and top left).

Brian is busy writing another discipleship book, and visiting various districts on the weekends as they gather the many discipleship centers for graduations.  These graduates are believers in the discipleship centers taught by teachers that have attended our training seminars.  The Harvest is so ripe!!!

Have you ever been curious how to make a mud hut?  Check out this one- minute video of me helping with a mud hut we’re making for one of our 160 ladies in widows ministry: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRx_sRvzhF4&feature=g-upl

Thank you again for your support in prayer and financially.  We are in this together and appreciate you so much!

Blessings,

Brian and Lorena

News Continued...

Pictures - top left: Children’s ministry continues with evangelism in the “Bush” top right: 

Learning and playing at an outreach children’s program bottom left: 

Discipleship Center Graduation in Mafambisi bottom right: praying for graduates

During the week we’ve been busy conducting more training seminars for our third booklet, Obedient Disciples.  The response has been incredible.  As we met with the district pastors from Sofala last week, one reported, “Our minds are opening up!   We’ve been doing many things wrong because we just didn’t know the truth.  But now we are learning and the churches are starting to grow and change spiritually.” Many pastors are discovering for the first time the power and beauty of Scripture.  Why is this?  To most people here, the Bible is a mystery.  Most have not read much of it.  Manny cannot read anything at all.  So these Discipleship Centers offer a teacher who can read and explain the scriptures, and give out simple discipleship books to those who can read.  For the illiterate, they can still attend and listen.  We now have over 80 Centers running.  Please keep these leaders in your prayers.  

What Happened to George and his village?  (last newsletter)

If you can remember back to our last newsletter, we told you an amazing story of when we took our language learning class in Pemba from the Harvest School out into the village on their “practical” day. Our goal was to have the students put into practice what they had been learning for the week in language application.  The story ended by reporting all the healings God did in our language helper’s (George) village.  (More than an ordinary language learning day!) Well I am happy to tell you that a few days later, George’s two Muslim cousins and mother all got saved!  His neighbors have since begged George to come back and tell them more about Jesus and pray for them.  I know he did go back, but don’t know any more details yet.  I’ll find out when we go back to Pemba in October.  (George has no phone.)  Stay posted! 

Latest News

Dear Friends,

We have some exciting news! We will be flying into LAX on April 7th. We plan to be in Southern California from April 6th – May 6th. After that we will be going up the West Coast. We would love to see as many of you as possible, but need to plan carefully so we don’t miss you. As usual, we are happy to speak at any home groups or churches during this time. We hope to encourage you by bringing good news of what God is doing on this side of the world, and we look forward to hearing your news as well! We are all one big family – it will be great to reconnect and see you again. If any of you have dates that would work to get together, please let us know so we can start making a calendar. We will be speaking at Calvary Chapel Foothill Ranch on Sunday, April 15th and at Calvary Chapel of Mission Viejo on Sunday April 28th.

These next two months before we leave will be busy with seminars – training pastors, district pastors, and Discipleship group leaders from the provinces of Sofala (where we are now), Manica (west of us), and Zambezia (where we were). We've already begun and will continue till we leave. Three new discipleship books have just be completed and are being passed out.

Another three books are almost done. Two of these include instructions and examples of how to understand and teach the Bible. Lorena has begun a 6 week series about Children’s Ministry - how to start and run a simple outdoor program anywhere. The response was more than she expected. After being trained, this large group should be able to split up and start about four children's programs throughout the area. She's using the book she recently wrote, with instructions and lessons from the New Testament. Things are starting to spread and multiply quickly. We've found a Christian missionary couple who print books at cost! So now we are able to reproduce our books by the hundreds. We are excited to be here and thankful for God’s provision in workers and needed resources. We also thank you for your prayers and praise God for His answer to our request for a dependable vehicle - a Toyoya Hilux! Now we can safely travel and train the pastors in the three provinces now put in our care.

At our new center, we have ample space for visitors. If anyone wants to participate in teaching the pastors, women’s groups, children’s groups, visiting the hospital, the prison, or going to the bush for outreaches, you’re more than welcome! Many still have never heard the gospel. Many others have heard, but don't understand it well. They mix Christianity with their traditional beliefs (witchcraft and ancestral worship), and thus don't experience true freedom and victory in Christ. We go out on weekends to show the Jesus film, visit house to house, and pray for the sick. Last Saturday we took a visitor with us on outreach. He was excited to see Jesus heal people for the first time. We love it too. Many chose to follow Jesus that night as well. We hope some of you will visit us some day and a few of you maybe choose to stay a while!

Kid's Outreach

Lorena with a small team teaching the children on outreach last week.

The return of our new friend

New Friend

New Inroads

Two of our pastors who will be starting new Discipleship Training Centers :). The first one will be in the province of Sofala and the second will be our first ever Training Center in the province of Inhambane!