We continue to travel to MOZAMBIQUE each month for the monthly teachings. February looked a little different for us. The Lord brought much needed to rain to parts of southern Africa, including Mozambique. This caused the Limpopo River to rise and therefore, we were not able to drive across to Dumela. We had planned for the training to be Mbuzi, which meant the pastors would then travel across by boat. Well, a few days before we were scheduled to leave, we decided to make the call to cancel training for the Dumela/Mbuzi hub. They had received so much rain and the forecast showed more rain was expected. There are several factors we had to consider such as, Mbuzi does not have a building to be protected from the rain so teaching would be difficult, safely of the pastors traveling and crossing the river and the risk of the river rising once they crossed which would delay their return home.
The Vaughan’s were still planning to go to Xikumbane in February for the teaching with that hub as they have a church building and most of the pastors in that hub do not have to cross the river to attend the teaching. It was decided the night before they left that it would be better if we traveled with them in case they needed a second vehicle because of the muddy Mozambique roads. So, we quickly packed our bags and prepared to leave the next morning. It was a good time with the church in the Xikumbane hub as well as good fellowship with The Vaughan’s, Stanford and Caswell. The pastors took turns teaching a section from the lesson they had been working on. Some are still struggling working with the material but we can see growth and determination to understand which is very exciting.
Thankfully we had no problems traveling, just a lot of fun in the mud coming and going.
In March, we were able to go to Mbuzi for the training. The river was still only crossable by boat but several managed to make the teachings. We even had two men from Zimbabwe, who traveled 80 km by bicycle (with some walking) to attend the teachings. Masango taught a lesson on Prayer and The Believer. Mark taught on the importance of having a “Timothy” in your life as well as the importance of discipleship. We are seeing a few of the pastors starting to bring someone younger with them to the trainings. Mark was trying to get them to see the importance of raising someone up to work alongside them in their churches so that if they were to be gone or even pass away the ministry would continue. It was exciting to hear the pastors talking as the training ended about finding a Timothy. Stanford taught a session on scripture observation. Caswell preached a challenging message during the Wednesday night service from James 1:19-27 (hearing and doing the Word).
Alicia continued working through the attributes of God focusing on God’s Sovereignty, Eternality, and Immutability (unchanging) with the ladies that came. At the end of the each session the ladies were divided into groups to practice teaching by recapping the lesson they just went through. The ladies are being challenged to “go and teach/tell” others. Alicia is reminding them about the responsibility they have to teach the children and women in their churches what they are learning. Proclaim the Good News!!!!
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