Ladies project

The leader of a Church at "Mucheyoyo" (spelling?) The ladies at his Church have asked if we could start a sewing & knitting project with them so that they could make and sell things.

The box that Zacharias is picking up is full of donated wool and needles which he is going to carry on his bicycle back home from Bible school week. The trip is about 70km and will take him one & a half days to get back home.

Pray that the ladies will get their project going and will actually begin to get in a bit of money.

Prayer & Praise

We have planned a trip out to Siyabuzana for the weekend of 6-7th September. This is mainly in response to the ladies of that Church. This is a Church which we were able to plant last year together with the outreach team. The ladies have been to visit at other churches and have seen the sewing and knitting projects which are underway. These also provide much needed funds for the ladies. So Dawn and Emmie a local school teacher will be teaching the ladies and I will make use of the time to sit with the men and do some Bible study with them.

We also hope to be able to visit with Kiyfas again and pray with him. He is the fellow who has been chained to the ground/tree for more than 8 years.

Camping with a twist

Living out in a small little town has a few challenges of it's own. We or rather I had thought that we had at least one full gas bottle when I went off to Bible school week 11-15th Aug. Well I was greeted with a sort of I-Told-You-So glare. Dawn & Toni ran out of gas for cooking and for shower the day I left. Needless to say I wasn't winning any popularity contest. After searching around I found a small camp gas bottle "very very" empty, but it had a little.

Every so often Mozambique throws a curved ball. Monday 18th Aug we went on our merry little way 5 1/2 hours to Chimoio for monthly shopping & to redeem myself from the gas situation. There was no gas in town not from any of the suppliers. Oops! Then on the grocery shopping list, no milk, no margarine, no fruit or very yucky. But the shops a full of non essential items. Eeek!

The fruit of labour is so sweet.

Tuesday afternoon on our way back from our monthly shopping trip we met the Church leader from the Bunga Church. And he just was so happy and could not express his gratitude. At the teaching on multiple wives. We focused mainly on the young men on day one. While the ladies taught the woman that they do actually have a choice. Especially when it comes to marriage and that sort of thing. Then in the evening the women asked the men what thy had learned as the women had learned about one husband & one wife. The men claimed they had no such teaching and could they prove it from the Bible. As most out that way are illiterate they couldn't. But day two was a shocker for the young men. We brought both groups together and taught the whole group together. Now they had no excuse. Mateus the leader told us that there is no more talk of taking a second and third wife. Especially from the young men. And even the older men and leaders of other Churches are now convinced. (for the time being)

We had a number of the outreach team give a brief view of what is taught in their home Church on marriage. Praise the Lord Lets hope that we will start seeing a different attitude towards women.

Teaching is the way to go!

While the outreach team was here we went to one of the local Churches Bunga. While there we were asked to teach and to help explain about multiple wives. The local leaders are facing a massive task going against tradition. And the young guys especially are wanting to continue with the traditional ways. "wow to have 2-3 wives doting over you" But that also means that you have 2-3 times more jealousy and spitefulness and the husband normally runs away when the going gets tough. What a man!

This picture is of some outreach members doing a drama on culture and tradition, showing the local folks what they look like through the eyes of outsiders.

In preparing todays reading was.....

Isaiah 61:1-2
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,

I was just thinking how relevant the Word of God is in today's world. Talk about up-to-date. As I'm busy getting my thoughts together and looking at a number of publications on HIV/AIDS. The reading for today is spot on. Preaching the good news what a pleasure and privilege. The brokenhearted, boy oh boy are people ever brokenhearted as they deal with a "plague" like HIV/AIDS. Release from darkness, Satan has so clouded the minds of people that every which way they turn is just darkness & despair. But there is release in the Lord Jesus. And as people are constantly loosing the fight against HIV/AIDS, loosing family, friends & loved ones. They need to be comforted as they mourn almost constantly.

Our pastors are really under great pressure as they mourn their own looses but are also having to comfort, counsel and encourage their congregations. This all while ill equipped to deal with the whole HIV/AIDS issue. So this is what my aim is this week at the Bible school. To train and better equip our leaders as they face HIV/AIDS.
Please pray earnestly. It is not an easy subject to teach and will no doubt touch on a few sensitive issues.

FRUSTRATION

The lack of electricity really gets to a person after a while. It's been almost 3 weeks now that we have electricity only between 10pm and 6am. Slap bang in the middle of peak useless time.

I have been trying to prepare lessons for next week's Bible school teaching, from 11th to 15th Aug. I'm trying to put together lessons on HIV/AIDS. (without electricity for the computer). This is a huge subject and affects our leaders a great deal. As these people are called upon constantly to pray for, counsel, bury the dead and then as leaders of their communities and Churches take a stand. What point of view does a person take, especially one that brings glory to God. Is this God's judgment on sexual sin? Is it just reward for adultery? Should the local Church get involved at all?

The fact is that each and every family is affected in one or other way. So I'm aiming to teach on HIV/AIDS so that we can at least guide our leaders. Not only to be caring and compassionate but also to be informed leaders.

Please pray that we will be able to have a good week of lessons and discussions.

Prayer Request

Dawn's dad normally goes to the library on Thursdays in the center of Pietermaritzburg. Last Thursday he was robbed. His ID. document was taken and some money. It also seems that some of the wires in his car were cut. He has had a number of heart attacks since the house burn down almost a year ago. Please pray that his health would fine as he was quite shaken. Also that he would be able to replace or find his documents & that he would be able to get his car sorted out quickly.