Enjoying SA

Dear Friends and Family,

 

My time here in Durban has been very good.  I have been able to relax a little.  I have also had sometime to get some pictures put together into a bit of a presentation for when I return home.  I am hoping to set a couple dates for those of you who would like to see pictures and hear a little about my trip, for you to come to our house, or if you would like me to come to your place let me know when and we can make arrangements.

 

I am staying in Tongaat with Jean and Jackie which is kind of a suburb of Durban.  This whole area around here is where most of the Indians settled when they came in the 1800's.  I have been enjoying the Indian hospitality and the awesome Indian food.  Nothing quite like chicken curry, their food tends to be on the spicy side but that is ok with me.

 

On Wednesday evening I went with Jackie to some new believer's home in his neighbourhood.  There were several people from their church that were coming for a time of worship and to encourage these new believers. I said that this is an Indian neighbourhood and when the Indians came they brought Hinduism with them and so there are many temples around here with altars to many different gods.  This family was devote Hindus and they had an altar on their own property and sacrificed cats to this god.  The parents would be in their 60's and they have two sons probably in their 30's.  Their sons were really messed up in drugs and they were going to different gods and paying lots of money that they didn't have to try to get their sons lives straightened out. Nothing was working till finally some people came to their house and started sharing about Jesus. They accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and have been fellowshipping with the same Christians as Jean and Jackie for the last few weeks.  While we were at their house each of them gave testimony to the difference that Jesus has been making in their lives.  The sons were saying they have been totally set free from their drug addictions and they know that it is only because of Jesus. It was such an encouragement to here these new believers testifying about what Jesus has done.

 

 On Friday evening I had the opportunity to speak to the youth at Jean and Jackie's church.  We had a great time together and then afterwards they had a supper for us.  In several of the countries I have been to I have seen chicken feet for sale in the markets and I have heard people say that they are good, but I had never had a chance to try them.  Last night for the supper there were some chicken feet cooked with the chicken curry and I decided I was going to try one.  It was funny one of the ladies started whispering to some of the other ladies and saying "Andrew eats chicken feet."  I had to tell her that it was my first time.  I wasn't quite sure how much of it I was supposed to eat but you bite of the toes and eat the skin of them and then spit out the bones and then eat the skin off of the rest of the leg.  Not too much to eat on them.  The Indians eat most of their meals with their hands so I have been getting practiced up on this as well.

 

For those of you who know you are going to find what I am about to tell you very hard to believe. No I am not getting married it is ok Joia. (Joia is my sister if you are wondering)  I drank three cups of coffee last night.  I think that I have probably only tried coffee about three times in my life and I have never liked it.  Last night it was just handed to me and I was going to be polite and just drink it and I did and I really liked it.  This coffee was made with milk instead of water and it had lots of sugar tasted more like cappuccino, but I still don't like regular coffee.

 

This morning Jeans youngest brother Richard came by and he took me out for a few hours this morning to show me around the area.  In many ways it is much like Canada.  South Africa is much different then the rest of the countries on this continent. It is much more westernized then the other countries.   This afternoon I went out with Jackie and we ordered some wood he wants me to make some dog houses for his two dogs.  When he heard that I do some work with wood he right away wondered if I could make some dog houses.  Hopefully next week I can get these made for him.

 

Lord willing one week from today I will be back in Ontario.                              

 

In Christ,

 

Andrew

In Durban

Hi Everyone,

 

This is going to be short.  I will write more later just letting you all know that I arrived safely in Durban last night.  Jean and Jackie are spoiling me and treating me like their own son.  It was a fresh 10 C or 50 F a little cooler then I was expecting but it was just after 10 pm when I landed.  It is pretty warm during the day which is nice. 

 

JUst letting you know I made it.  Have a great day.  God Bless.

 

Andrew

Last Update from Lichinga

Hi Friends and Family,

It is with joy and sadness that I write my last update from Lichinga for now. It really feels like home here and the people feel like family, I will miss this place and the people. I am looking forward to returning to Canada. It will certainly be warmer there then here. I am wearing pants and a sweat shirt most days now, with the temperatures in the low 70's F during the day and dipping to the low 60's at night. It has been very nice temperatures for working in and I am sure I will wish for it to be a little cooler sometimes when I am working back in Canada.

I am so happy that the plastering of the walls was finally finished on Wednesday. That was a job that for a while I wasn't sure if I was going to finish it or if it was going to finish me. I was hoping to get the floor done before I left but I didn't have any help as my helpers left for the week to go do an outreach in another province, so Peter said they would do it after I left.

Mixing a little mountain of plaster.

Here are some of the finished rooms. This is looking at the future site of the kitchen.

Looking into two of the bedrooms on the other side of the building.

The bathroom in the corner.

The last few days of this week I spent finishing up odds and ends in the girls house. Unfortunately all the tiles I put up a little over a month ago came off because I tried to stick them to a painted wall. We had to rough up the wall and stick them all back on. At least they hadn't been grouted yet at that time, but now they are all grouted as well. I put together the last three bunk beds, in total there are 10 bunk beds, 9 for the orphans and one for the two ladies that will take care of them. They had hoped to have 24 girls but the rooms are to small to fit four bunk beds in each, so they are just having three bunk beds in each room.

This week the ladies have been organizing and cleaning the girls house getting it ready for all the different departments that have to come out and inspect it before they can have the girls come. It is exciting to see it start to really look ready to have the girls come live there. They have been looking forward to having these girls come for several years now. Lord willing they will be here by the time I return. Please continue to pray that the Lord will provide another lady to help take care of the girls with Annelisa. We know the Lord is preparing someone but just that they would know who she is.

Friday evening I went to one of the other missionaries houses in Lichinga with Elias and Miriam. They have a youth get together at their house once a month for all the missionaries kids and they are all home schooled, so I have a little in common with them The ages of kids that were there were 6 to 14, so I was a little older then they were. I had a good time and I look forward to getting together with them more in the future to hopefully be able to mentor them. There is a bit of a camping trip planned in October with the young boys and I have been asked to go along kind of like a counselor and maybe teach them a few thinks like survival skills, rock climbing and basic first aid.

I hadn't met the missionary couple that were having all the youth over to their house. Their names are Johno SP? and Heather Crain and I was sharing with them a bit of what God is calling me here to do. Johno was saying that so often people that are into construction or business jobs don't see their skills being valuable in missions. He was saying that there is so much need for all of these skills as so much of the missionaries time is taken up in building and maintaining things and if they had people that had training in all of these areas they would be such a huge blessing. Making Jesus known and seeing the Kingdom of God advanced is the goal but it takes many members of the Body in Christ with there specific abilities to see this great commission accomplished. I just encourage you to be willing to whatever the Lord would be asking you to do. I am not saying He is calling everyone to overseas missions but I think His is calling many and they are not willing. Please be people who's lives are surrendered to the Lord. If you are called to a different place don't think of it as God wanting to torture you. He wants us to serve Him out love and joy and He knows where we will fit the best with the abilities He has given us and will give us. It isn't always easy but it brings satisfaction and peace to know that you are in the center of His will. I am sure that many of you are in the center of His will for you and maybe all of you are, I don't want you to feel like you should be some where else if that is where God has called you to serve. but make sure it is.

I have two days left here and Lord willing I fly down to Maputo on Monday at 3pm and I spend a day there and Tuesday afternoon I fly to Johannesburg and then to Durban. I am so thankful for all of your prayers and encouraging emails during my time here. If any of you have spent time overseas you know how much of a blessing this really is. Thank You Thank You Thank You.

Following Jesus,

Andrew

Here are a few random pictures from this past week.

A picture of the Church last Sunday.

Last Sunday Afternoon some of use took a little drive down to a river that is not to far away. It is a nice spot and I never knew it was there.

Some bees hard at work building their nest at the river.

We Praise the Lord for providing the finances for the first drilled well on the property. This one is Tyren and Tiffany's property.

Mom reminded me the other day that I had never put a picture of the finished wash tub that I made for Tyren and Tiffany so here it is.

Just in case some of you are wondering how much work there really is to do here, here is a picture of the property here from google. The red square and the large blue boundary around the buildings are areas that need fences and brick walls about 2km worth. The filled in circles and squares are the buildings that are already built or almost built. The small open squares and circles are buildings still needed to be built. The three larger blue squares are a soccer field, basket ball quart and tennis quart. The green square is agricultural area and they are looking for any farmers who would be willing to come and work that land and provide food for the orphans. The brown line will be a new road. Well there you have it there is lots to be done so if anyone would like to come back with me you are more then welcome to come for how ever long you would like.

News from Lichinga

Greetings,

 

It has been another great week.  I am so thankful for the wonderful news I wrote about it my last email but I am also so thankful for the strength the Lord has given me this past week. It has been a hard week as I have been plastering the walls in the admin building.  Most of the days I have had someone working with me and helping to mix the plaster, we have used over 100 wheelbarrow loads of plaster.  We are getting close to having the inside done maybe two or three days left to finish.  By then I will be ready to do a different kind of work.  God has really blessed whatever I have put my hand to.  I was not looking forward to the plastering and was hoping that someone else would do it but God wanted me to and so I was willing. 

 

I was just sharing with a few of the Mozambiquian brothers the other night about what it means to be in Christ and for Him to live in us. Once we are in Christ then He wants to live His life out through us, but He can only do it as we allow Him. It has been a joy to see what God can do when I surrender to Him.  God is a really good plasterer but He just wanted a pair of willing hands to work through.  

 

I know He has no problem speaking Portuguese either so I am going to offer my lips to Him and allow Him to speak through me.  Lord willing I will return here and continue to work on many construction projects but I want to be involved in other types of ministry, like working in the prison and hospital so I need to learn to speak Portuguese. Please pray for me that I will be able to take sufficient time to study Portuguese and that I would be speaking fluently as soon as possibly.  I feel so bad when I go to the market and can't communicate properly, I meet people and can't speak there language and work with some of the Mozambiquian brothers and can't really explain myself I need to learn this language.  It seems like a very daunting task for some who only speaks one language, but Lord I am willing.

 

I have one week and two days left here in Mozambique.  It is hard to believe that my time here is almost up for now. It will be hard to leave in one way but a great joy to get to come back to Canada and see friends and family again.

Blessings  Andrew

God Answers Prayer

Dear Friends and Family,

I write this email with great joy in my heart.  I have just received my flight itinerary that I have been waiting for for almost a month with my changed flight information.  May 18 I was told my flight were all confirmed then a week later I found out my first two flights had been cancel because of a mistake of Virgin Atlantic Airline, because of this mistake they wanted me to pay $600.00 US "What a good deal, not."  I spent many hours on the phone and I know many people around the world were praying.  I knew God was teaching me through this and I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss His will in all of what seemed to be confusion. 

Just this pass Monday Peter found out that I can not renew my three month visa that expires on June 23 so I have to leave the country then.  I could go to Malawi but by the time I go and come back and pay a lot of Money I would only have about five days left in Moz.  While in Beira in April I met an Indian couple from South Africa Jean and Jackie.  About half an hour after meeting Jackie he invited me to come and spend sometime with them on my way home. I thought it would be nice if I could but I didn't know how it would work out.  On Tuesday Virgin Atlantic called me in Moz on my cell phone this is a big deal folks they told me several times they would do this and they never did.  This time it was a supervisor.  He said "Mr. Woodford I have all your flight confirmed and I just need to confirm them with you before I book them.  They were alright except that I now needed to leave Moz on June 23 so I asked if he could change my Maptuo, Moz to Johannesburg South Africa flight to June 23 and I would then spend about nine days in South Africa.  He said "Yes I think I can do that for you let me check and call you back." He called back and made the change for me and he also told me that I didn't have to pay the $600.00 they first talked about.  PRAISE THE LORD.  Thanks so much for your prayers.  Now I am just getting my flights from Johannesburg, to Derbin South Africa worked out.

Thanks so much for your prayers and your many email I am going to try to reply to each of you thanks so much.  Andrew

We're missing Albert

Dear Friends and Family,

On Monday we all had breakfast together at the Wilcox and said good bye to Albert. We miss you Albert come back soon. He made it home safely Wednesday evening. It has been a little bit strange this week I have worked all by myself, without Albert or the Mozambiquians that were working with use. I don’t seem to get nearly as much done when it is just me.

Last good byes at the airport.

Albert waves as he enters the front door of the plane.

I had thought that they were maybe going to find someone else to plaster the walls in the admin building but they haven’t so that is what I have been working on mostly this week. I have the walls in one bedroom done and the first coat of plaster on in the other two bedrooms and bathroom. This is another job I have never done before but I have received a few pointers from a Mozambiquian who went to school to learn how to plaster and it has been very helpful.

This is what the Admin Building looked like when Albert arrived.

Praise be to God this is what it looks like now.

This week I have also put together 6 bunk beds for the orphanage. They were made in Malawi and mostly assembled I just had to do some minor assembly of them. I also finished the drain plumbing in the bathrooms and kitchen in the admin.

I have continued to work on trying to get my return flights sorted out. I have been to the internet several times this week and calling via internet. God has been using this whole situation to teach me patience and trust in Him. I have spent over 12 hours calling airlines and trying to make the changes. I have four flights from Mozambique to get to Buffalo, NY. My last two flights from London, England are all good but my first two were cancelled for some reason and they have been the ones that have been giving me the most trouble. Finally last night they got me my first two flights and they will be calling me on Monday to let me know how much they will be. I am just praying that it will be a nominal amount. Had I known ahead of time it would be this much trouble to change my flights I probably wouldn’t have but God definitely has me here right now for a reason. In the future I think I will just by a one way ticket so that I don’t have to go through all of this.

It is four months ago yesterday I arrived here in Lichinga. It really only feels like it was about two months ago. I have been having such a good time here I am truly blessed to be able to be here. Thanks so much for each of you that are praying for me. Some of you have given me things I can pray for you and if anyone else has let me know I would like to lift them up in pray for you.

Till next week. Andrew

We are missing Albert

Dear Friends and Family,

On Monday we all had breakfast together at the Wilcox and said good bye to Albert. We miss you Albert come back soon. He made it home safely Wednesday evening.  It has been a little bit strange this week I have worked all by myself, without Albert or the Mozambiquians that were working with use. I don't seem to get nearly as much done when it is just me.

 

I had thought that they were maybe going to find someone else to plaster the walls in the admin building but they haven't so that is what I have been working on mostly this week.  I have the walls in one bedroom done and the first coat of plaster on in the other two bedrooms and bathroom.  This is another job I have never done before but I have received a few pointers from a Mozambiquian who went to school to learn how to plaster and it has been very helpful. 

 

This week I have also put together 6 bunk beds for the orphanage.  They were made in Malawi and mostly assembled I just had to do some minor assembly of them.  I also finished the drain plumbing in the bathrooms and kitchen in the admin.

 

I have continued to work on trying to get my return flights sorted out.  I have been to the internet several times this week and calling via internet.  God has been using this whole situation to teach me patience and trust in Him. I have spent over 12 hours calling airlines and trying to make the changes.  I have four flights from Mozambique to get to Buffalo, NY.  My last two flights from London, England are all good but my first two were cancelled for some reason and they have been the ones that have been giving me the most trouble.  Finally last night they got me my first two flights and they will be calling me on Monday to let me know how much they will be.  I am just praying that it will be a nominal amount.  Had I known ahead of time it would be this much trouble to change my flights I probably wouldn't have but God definitely has me here right now for a reason.  In the future I think I will just by a one way ticket so that I don't have to go through all of this.

It is four months ago yesterday I arrived here in Lichinga.  It really only feels like it was about two months ago.  I have been having such a good time here I am truly blessed to be able to be here.  Thanks so much for each of you that are praying for me.  Some of you have given me things I can pray for you and if anyone else has let me know I would like to lift them up in pray for you.

Till next week.  Andrew

Hello Friends

It is time once again to let you know what’s happening here in Lichinga. We have been blessed this week. We have been able to get a lot of work done and also take sometime off from working to go to two villages and the hospital. Monday late afternoon Albetrt, Tyren, Gazani, Victor, Rachel Annelisa and I went to the hospital for the two visitation hours and spent time with the patients there and praying for them. There are about four different wards and we divided up into groups and went to all of them. Victor and I went to the children’s ward. In the first room we went to there was a mother with her five month old daughter who had a very curved spine which made her tip her head way back and she also did not have use of her right arm. We talked with the mother for quite a while then asked if we could pray for her daughter and she said we could. Victor noticed that there were beads around the baby’s neck and waist from the witch doctor. He asked the mother if she would take them off which she did immediately. Victor asked if he could have the beads to take them and burn them but the mother would not give them to him. We spent some time praying over the baby and Tyren joined us as well. Then the father of the boy in the next bed came in with his son and we were able to minister to him as well. We all enjoyed our time in the hospital. This coming Monday is children’s day so Tyren wants to do something special in the children’s ward then. Tyren and Victor have been going to the hospital every week since February. It is such a great place to minister.

During Hospital Visitation

So cute.

Tuesday was a busy days as well. We worked for three hours in the morning and got all the rebar tided for the ring beam around the rest of the building. Then we Rachel, Annelisa, Elias, Albert and I went to Mitava, which is the village just out side of Lichinga where Elias Becca is working. You might remember I mentioned him in one of my updates about two weeks ago. He is a Mozambiquian that is working with YWAM(Youth With A Mission). God has called him to work with the seniors there. The seniors are often forgotten and not taken care of by there families, but God has placed a burden on Elias’s heart to reach out to them. He is working with 12 of them right now. Almost all of them have accepted the Lord as Saviour. It is a very strong Muslim village and they are often cut off from their families when they chose to follow Christ. Elias showed us around part of the village and it was nice to get to meet the seniors he is working with. We just had a really good time there. Albert had a great time playing soccer and taking lots of photos. This was the first village he had been to and village life is much different than the way we normally live.

In Mitava

Enjoying some soccer.

Albert trying his hand out on the pump.

Meeting some of the Seniors Elias works with.

Tuesday afternoon we went to another village called Luica. We went to show the Jesus film there. About eight people camped in the village that night and the next day went through the village visiting the people and seeing what they thought of the film. Seven people gave their lives to the Lord as they went through the village visiting the people in their huts.

Setting up for the Jesus Film

Wednesday we formed up the remaining 28 meters of ring beam around the rest of the admin building and poured it as well. We are so thankful for the help of some of our Mozambiquian brothers who have been helping us. We have either one or two working with us every day. We appreciate their love for the lord and their desire to serve Him in whatever needs to be done. They have mixed so much concrete and mortar for us and there is no way the admin building would we this far if it weren’t for them.

We have been held up a lot on the block laying because our block supplier has not been able to supply blocks as fast as we can lay them. We have all the exterior walls almost finished and we are working on the interior walls of the addition to the admin building. It was the original part of the building they wanted us to focus on but it has come along faster than expected so we have had time to work on the other part. We have had to find other things to do when we do not have blocks. We had to put about one foot of fill in all over the building to bring it up to floor level. This has taken many hours and hundreds of wheelbarrow loads of dirt from all over the property, but thankfully we just finished this morning after having been working at it for over a week off and on. We have all the doors in windows installed in the original part we were working on and we have put ion the plumbing for the toilets in the bathrooms and dug have of the septic tank. We thank the Lord for all he has helped us get done while Albert has been here. I didn’t think we would have gotten as much as we have done.

Topping off the exterior walls before the ring beam.

Forming upp the ring beam

Laying the interior walls

Gazani mixing the mountain of concrete.

On Thursday we had another lady come that is here for long term. Her name is Tanya; yes this is the third Tanya we have had here in the last couple of months. She is from Australia. It is amazing how many missionaries from Australia are here in Mozambique. It seems like wherever I go I am meeting people from Australia.

Albert only has three more days till he leaves. I am going to miss having him here to work with, he has been a blessing. Please keep him in your prayers as he travels home, he should be home Lord willing on Wednesday evening.

I would appreciate your prayers, I was able to change my flights and I am supposed to be confirmed on those flights. It has been almost two weeks since I had them make the changes but they have not sent me my new itinerary and I need it before I can book my internal flight here.

I am staying a little longer.

We thank the Lord we have had an excellent week. It has gone by so fast but we have been kept safe as we worked and we have had good health. It has been a productive week. We got all the block laying finished on the first part of the building finally after having to wait several days for the last few hundred blocks to come. We also have all the timbers up to support the roof and we finished putting on all the roof sheeting that we have this morning. We need more sheets to cover the veranda but the building itself is covered. All the windows are in and a couple of the doors. It has been exciting for us to see the building coming along. Neither Albert nor I have done this kind of construction before but the Lord has blessed us with a lot of wisdom to make it look like we know what we are doing.


You can thank Albert for the pictures in this post. His camera wasn't working when he got here so he has been using mine.

Playing the drum Sunday morning

We have been very busy this week with the work on the Admin building, but we hope to take some time off next week so that we can go and see some villages, so Albert with get to see a little more of Mozambique then just the construction site. Because we have been rather busy I have not had time to type up my update before coming to the internet cafe, so sorry they are a little shorter then normally. I am going to have to get Albert to stop working me so hard. It is such a blessing to have him here to work a long side with. I wish he could stay longer, but anyways I will enjoy him while he is here and miss him when he is gone.

Laying up the gable end.

Gazani and Albert in their cool shades.

Timbers all in place.

Roof on.

Back veranda waiting roof sheeting still to be ordered.

Installing a window.

Me at the local laundry mat.

The market in Lichinga.

Can't forget the eggs.

Thanks so much for your prayers for my flight changes. Finally after trying about five times to change my flights, last Monday I was able to use the internet at some other missionaries’ house here in Lichinga and I was finally able to make the changes. Lord willing I will leave Lichinga on July 2 and arrive in Canada on July 4th. I have about five weeks left here in Moz. I am really enjoying my time here and I feel God still has Mozambique in his plans for me. I am not sure when but Lord willing I will be returning here to Mozambique maybe around September or October. I would appreciate your prayers for this as well. I do not know how long I will be returning for. I just know I am to come back and stay until the Lord shows me I am to be somewhere else. The Lord has been using the time here to gain a lot of things in my life and my will. He is leading me and I have no other desire but to follow Him wherever that may take me. I have not always felt that I could do and I know that he is the one doing it through me but I thank the Lord for the changes He is making in me.
I am looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible while I am “home” (They say home is where the heart is and God is pulling my heart to Mozambique), but I will still enjoy being back, because I am not sure when I will be able to get together with you next. You know you are always welcome to come and visit here in Moz whenever you feel you would like to though.

Warm Greetings,

I am so sorry I haven't done well at keeping in touch with you the last while. The internet has not been working for about a week. We are so thankful that it is working again. It has been a very busy two weeks since I last wrote.

Last week I was working on finishing up a few odds and ends in the girls house so that when Albert arrived we could get to work on the Administration building. We are all so excited to have Albert here and I am especially thankful to have another person to work with it has been such a blessing. It has been a good week since he arrived last Saturday. Albert hasn't really had a chance to get us to being here hardly because we have been working very long days. The building is coming along very well. We have lain almost 500 blocks and tied and bent 200 meters of rebar for the concrete ring beam around the top of the walls. The last three days have been tiring because we have been mixing all the concrete by hand. We are starting to look like tomatoes because of all the sun we are getting.

This is how we cut blocks here.

Victor and I tying rebar

Gazani and I bending rebar

Rebar on top of the wall before we poured the concrete.

Albert and Gazani

This is what we are working on.

We are trying to get the left side of the building done and the other side will be done at a later time.

We poured three of these columns

We have another 250 blocks to lay before we can put the roof on. There are seven windows and six doors to be installed, 12" of fill to be brought in before we can pour the floor. We really have our work cut out for us but Lord willing be can have a good amount of it done by the time Albert leaves.

We are entering winter here, we haven't seen any snow yet, nor will we, but it is getting quite cool at night I had to add an extra blanket on my bed. Many people think that Africa is hot all the time but many parts are not. In about a month they will be getting frost on the ground. Those of you in Canada say "Oh what's a little frost." You're right it is not much when you have insulated houses and furnaces, but for people here this is not the case. I like to sleep when it is cold and that part is nice. It is still getting nice and warm during the day but you can really feel a temperature drop when the sun goes down.

We got up early and started work at 6 this morning so that we could be done early so that we could have some time to come into town. This is just about Albert's first time out other than a quick trip into town last Sunday to try to use the internet and found out it wasn't working. We will hopefully be able to show him around a little before he leaves.

I am sorry this is short but I hope to write more next time. I would appreciate your prayers as I am still trying to change my flight. Thanks so much for your prayers and your emails they are very encouraging.

Your Brother in Christ,

Andrew

Back in Lichinga

Hello from Cuamba,

 

We thank the Lord for the safety He has given us so far, in traveling here to Cuamba.  We left Beira Thursday morning.  We drove 7 or 8 hours.  The Wilcox's minus Annelisa stayed at Africa Wa Jesus again.  Rachel, Annelisa and myself rode with Pastor Mario and one other man in his car.  Mario is the pastor of the church in Beira where we were.  The five of us were supposed to have a place to stay in the small town of Caia.  That fell through and it was a good thing we had brought tents just in case because we needed them. 

 

Before we found out that our accommodations fell through we were filling up at the gas station and I saw really nice grass there at the station which we don't see very often.  I said I hope if we stay in tents we can set our tents up on nice grass like that.  Once we found we had no place to stay we drove back to the gas station because that was the only place around and asked if we could pitch our tents behind the station.  There was a place that was all dirt and quite flat that we were going to use.  Then the Portuguese manager of the station came out and called us over to the little house were some of them stay and there was a chain link fence around it and there was a very nice grass yard all around for us to pitch our tents on.  I was so excited I was thanking the Lord for this blessing, because it made it so much more comfortable sleeping.  They also found us some plastic tables and chairs.  We sat down in our nice little camp site and had supper and then had a good time of share about the things of the Lord for an hour and a half before we went to bed. Just before I went to bed I found I had a little worm in the heel of my foot.  I have taken them out of other people's feet before but this was the first time that I have had one.  They aren't too bad if you get them out before they grow too much.

 

Friday morning we left shortly after 7 and we drove just a short distance and had to wait for the ferry to start running that would take us across a rather large river.  There we about fifty trucks waiting and eight cars.  They normally put two transport trucks and two or three cars.  This time though only one truck with out a trailer went on then they let all the cars go.  We were once again thanking the Lord otherwise we would have been waiting for another hour there and as it was we ended up having a 15 hour journey.  We only covered about 700km in that time.  The last 150km took us almost 5 hours because the roads we so rough.  At one place not too far outside of Cuamba the Wilcox's drove by a group of kids at the side of the road in the dark and one of them throw a rock at their car.  It broke the passenger side window of the car and the glass went all over Debbie.  Praise God no one was hurt.

 

We arrived here in Cuamba at 10:30 in the evening.  They had a wonderful supper waiting for us that had been ready for hours because they had expected us to be there much sooner.  All the SIM missionaries here in Cuamba opened there homes up to us to give us places to sleep for the three nights we will be here.

 

Saturday morning they had a meeting with all the pastors and leaders of the church in Cuamba.  Then Saturday night we had a good meeting with about 50 or 60 people out.  It was a good night. It wasn't really a gospel outreach but getting the Christians from different churches together and teaching them.

 

While in Cuamba I stayed with the Pipers a missionary family with SIM.  The also had another young man staying with them.  His name is Lee he is from England and he has come to help SIM out with construction projects much the same as I do.  We hit t off very well.  We are both excited to see if God would maybe have us serve together somewhere sometime.

 

Sunday morning we were all sitting around the breakfast table at the Piper's and Mrs. Piper asks Lee and I so which one of you wants to preach at church this morning.  It was one hour before the service was supposed to start.  Lee nominated that I would do it.  We went with the Piper's to their Assemblies of God Church.  I spoke for a short time from John 15 on abiding in the mango tree.  Most people here don't know what a grape vine is so I had to use the mango tree so that it was something they could relate to.

 

Sunday evening we had another meeting with all the churches and Pastor Mario spoke on three major issues that the church needs to deal with in this country, polygamy, adultery and divorce. These are big problems and he was talking about how the sins are past down to the third and fourth generation.  These things are common in many peoples families and Pastor Mario was encouraging them to cut these things of in the spirit and not let them continue to be passed on to their children.

 

Most of this email was written in Cuamba but I have just arrived in Lichinga here this morning at about 11:30.  We had enough places for us all coming from Beira to Cuamba because we had Pastor Mario's car but he was heading back to Beira and not coming to Lichinga so I had to catch a mini bus this morning at 5. 

 

Please keep my friend Albert in your prayers as he will be leaving Canada Tuesday evening and Lord willing will arrive in Lichinga on Saturday for about one month.  Others are always welcome if they would like to come and help with the work here. Hint hint.

 

Well the internet has been down in Lichinga for the last few days so that is why I am just getting around to sending this.  I have been in Africa for three since yesterday.  Time has gone by so fast.

 

Your Brother in Christ,

 

Andrew

What is Really Happening in Beira

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

I thought I would fill you in on what I have been experiencing here in Beira.  I haven't really shared any of this with you and I have been waiting till the Lord gave me freedom to do so and the words to share it.

 

The church meetings here are usually 3-4 hours long but it feels like it is only one hour.  Honestly I have been in church meetings in other places that were only one hour long but they seemed like they were four hours long, but the meetings here go by so fast and we don't want to leave because the strong Presence of the Lord. It is not like we are not in the presence of the Lord when we leave because we are but the presence is felt much stronger in some corporate setting. About two hours of those meetings are worship, God enjoys His people worshipping Him and He loves to show up in places where His people are worshipping and praising Him. His presence is there and things happen.  The blind are seeing, the lame start to walk, the deaf hear and sicknesses are healed and I am privileged to be here to see it, thank be to God. 

 

I cannot really explain in words what this is all like.  Some of you might be thinking this is a Pentecostal Church, but it is not.  It is a group of Christians who are seeking to know the Lord more, make Him know to others and they love to praise and worship their Lord.  For many years I have been closed to these things but God has been teaching me things and He has given me a deep desire to know Him more intimately. He has been fulfilling this desire and I know nothing else could. Seeing the Holy Spirit working in these ways is very different for me then what I have experienced in my walk with the Lord so far.  I have been in places before where they wanted this and there was a lot of hype but it did not feel right in my spirit and the Lord let me know it was not of Him.  In these meetings though I am at perfect peace that this is truly God at work and not just hype.

 

God is doing an awesome work among His church here in Beira, all across this nation and in many others nations around the world.  In these places the people of God come together and start to pray, call out and intercede for there nation. 2 Ch 7:14, 15  "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place."  Like I said earlier this is happening in many places around the world, this is not an isolated thing. The people of God in these places are realizing that God is the only one that can bring the change that is needed and they get together in some of these places by the thousands and pray for hours and intercede and their prayers are heard and the nations are transformed.

 

As I read Acts I understand a little more of what some of there meetings must have been like.  How some people were filled with the Holy Spirit and others looking on thought they were drunk.  I have seen some people when the Holy Spirit came on them that after they could hardly walk and couldn't walk start they looked drunk and it is not a show, I know some of these people very well.  If it happened in Acts I shouldn't be surprised if it happens now I guess.  I am not surprised when a person gets saved liked they did in acts, but it sure brings a lot of joy to my hearts.  In the same way it brings great joy when I see the Holy Spirit come on someone in such away.  I believe and so do the Christians here that every born again believer has the Holy Spirit within them from the point of salvation, please do not miss understand this.  The Lord gives more of an anointing to some and we see this in scripture.  Think of Moses who spoke face to face with God.  That was under the old covenant and the New Covenant is said to be a better covenant.  Moses had the glory of the Lord shinning on him and the people asked him to cover his face because it was to much to look at.  Think of Peter his shadow fell on people and they were healed.  The Christians here want to know the Lord more and in turn He is more evident in their lives.

 

I am not trying to change what any of you think about these things but I felt I have been very vague with you as to what was going on here.  I am just trying to tell you what is happening and what the Lord is doing.  Please don't think I am saying that you all have to accept this.  I know if I got a letter like this about four years ago I would not have received it in my spirit.  I am not saying you are less of a Christian or anything if you don't receive this.  I am truly thankful for this time in my life.  I know this is just a little of what the Lord is wanting to do in my life and He has much more.  I also know that God is teaching each of you things and has many things instore for you, we are all on different journeys, so lets keep our eyes on Jesus and we won´t go wrong.

 

I would appreciate your prayers that I would be continuing to seek after the Lord and not signs or anything else.  I think some of you maybe worried that I am falling into error and I would really appreciate your prayers that I wouldn't and that I will stay well grounded in the Word to not let anything sway me from the TRUTH(JESUS).

 

This is what has been happening I am so thankful I came to Beira.  We are all very tired and all looking forward to about three days to rest before we head back to Lichinga. 

 

Your Brother in Christ,

 

Andrew