Well, we are behind on updates ... AGAIN. At least this time we can say that in the last two months we have only had 13 days at home. We would love to share some highlights with you over the last two months. We hope you like pictures because we will have several to share with you.
The heart of Samaria Mission is the Church Development/Discipleship ministry. (This is our monthly leadership training you often see us posting about.) This ministry focuses on teaching and discipling the pastors and leaders of village churches with the goal of establishing a “God-glorifying church” that can minister to the community. This includes developing and training church members to be able to adequately share the gospel and lead men’s, women’s and children’s ministry. Currently Samaria Mission has two teams that travel to two different villages in Mozambique each month for leadership training. During this time we are able to come alongside church leaders, both men and women, to teach them the truths of God’s word and encourage them to remain steadfast in their service to the Lord.
During the middle of each year we host teams from America and South Africa for two weeks at a time. These outreaches are a very important tool in teaching short-term teams about the context in which we are ministering and to experience cross-culture ministry firsthand. Teams participate in teaching, hut-to-hut visitation where they have opportunities to share the gospel and pray with those who are visited, they also get to share their testimony of God’s work in their lives at the nightly church services.
We also have opportunities during this time for a few people to join us for three months as "Outreach Missionaries" where they come along our staff and help serve the teams that come on outreach.
Our outreach season started on May 21st when our three Outreach Missionaries (OMs) arrived. Mark and I oversee this ministry within Samaria Mission. We love to serve alongside those He calls to join us for three months. Connor Hixon and Ryan Tovias are from our sending church, PaulAnn Church, in San Angelo, Texas and Dietre Stols Jr. is from our local church, Christ Baptist Church, here in in Polokwane. Noah Hixon, Brad's son, also served alongside them.
These guys hit the ground running from the time their feet hit our driveway. Brad, Mark and Member were going for our monthly leader training on Monday, May 23rd in Mozambique. They were planning on taking some of the equipment in for a few projects that would take place during the outreach season and the OMs got to go help prepare the new ground for the Mbuzi church and also where our CBC team would camp while on outreach. These guys worked hard and with a smile all the time. What a joy to have them around.
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| Day 1 ... arrival |
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| straight to work from the airport |
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| cutting steel for a project in Matsilele |
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| loading equipment |
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| 4:30 am on Monday, May 23rd -heading to Moz |
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| headed to training and church site prep in Mbuzi, Mozambique |
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| preparing the new church site - digging a toilet |
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| trimming trees in preparation for the CBC team to stay at the new church site |
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| Pastor John Bayloi helping |
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| getting water for camp |
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| training with the leaders |
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| the guys after a week in the bush |
These guys took some time to go help our friend, Debs, do a little work at her flat. She had recently moved back on her own after living with us for a few months during her recovery of a broken arm. They helped her with some adjustments that needed to be made to help her live independently again. You can read her story here.
May 31st was the day to work on the big vehicles and take them through the road worthy test. This meant that all the big vehicles needed a wash and a quick check on things to make sure they were ready for the test. The major work had been done previously.
June 1st an unexpected meeting was called to discuss the new plan since the Journey/Bryan team was unable to get their Mozambique Visas in time. The decision was made to have their team come alongside Derrick Chauke and hold an outreach in the village of Makumeke. This is a church plant from Mchipisi Baptist Church in the Malamulele area. There have been teams there in the past and it was great to be able to join Derrick in the work he is involved in. (More updates on that outreach in the next post).
The guys also went shopping with Alicia to buy some food for the Samaritan Center and the Ngwana Baby House. As a mission we were able to take some much needed donated food to both places of ministry here in Polokwane.
During the OMs time in Polokwane we arranged for them to have a few classes to help equip and grow them during their time here.
Member did an introduction to the Xitonga language and taught the pronunciation and some basic phrases.
After class they headed over to help one of the Pastors at CBC assist his neighbor in moving a car that had been parked for years. They had to air up the tires and push the car up a small incline to the garage next door. These guys had a great attitude no matter what job they were asked to help with.
Their next class they had was with William. He taught over chronological teaching. What it is, why we use this method and how to use this method.
Pastor Andrew (who is a lecturer with Christ Seminary) taught on Missions. He did a basic overview of missions. He covered what missions is and why we do missions.
After a week of hard work and class time we decided that it was time to take a break and go fishing. It was a nice break and good fellowship.
I am telling you these guys worked hard helping us with all the things that had to be done before teams arrived. One of those jobs was helping finish the new vehicle files that all our guys in the mission have to have with them when crossing the border. Did I tell you ... they never complained about any job and they always found a way to have fun while doing it!
Another class was ...
African Tradition Religion by Pastor Charlie (another Christ Seminary Lecturer). He spent some time going through what African Tradition Religion is... what they believe, etc.
After class they helped to sort the Bibles for each outreach.
The last class they had was Evangelism and Testimony which was taught by Brad and Mark. This was day that turned out to be very special. The Lord was at work and we are grateful that we were able to be apart of it. Brad went through scripture and taught on the importance of evangelism with the why and how to share. Mark then spent some time in the Word with them talking about a testimony and the importance of sharing your testimony. They spent time studying Paul's testimony in scripture. Afterwards, Mark had them take time to write out their testimonies. About 45 minutes later he asked if they were finished and then surprised them with the news they were now going to share their testimonies! What a day. (Jay and Noah joined us for this class)
Then the shopping had to happen. We had two days to shop for three teams (all non perishables). It had to be packed in action packers so they could all be loaded the next week. Jaylynn and I headed to the shops and the guys continued working on other projects until we were checking out. Then they came and helped pack and load the trailer at the shop.
Day one we shopped for two teams ...
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| my new shopping buddy since Brit is in the States |
Day two did it all over again for the third team ...
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| taking a quick break from all the shopping |
They spent a few days doing some woodworking projects. They built a few boxes to help protect some of our equipment.
They also built a stand for our new camp hot water heaters.
Then there was the final prep day ...
AND THEN THERE WAS LOADING DAY ...
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| Bentley and Allie were proud of their hard work loading that trailer |
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| this was a great way to end a long day |
We loved hosting these three guys while they were in Polokwane. We have enjoyed watching them grow in the Lord! One of our favorite parts of the day were the evenings. Most nights after dinner we would watch a session from the latest Secret Church by David Platt. The topic was perfect for heading into our outreach season. Each session was packed full of scripture, information and all very challenging. It made for some great discussions. It was called A Global Gospel in a World of Religions. If you haven't gone through this it is well worth the time!
June 16th ... the set up team headed to Makumeke to set up camp for the first team arriving on the 19th.
We will post another blog soon highlighting the three teams we were apart of. Thank you for praying for our family, fellow staff members and the teams as well as the villages we took the Gospel to this outreach season.
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