Bush Telegraph
Jinx & Dawn Reyneke
Serving with AIM among the Ndau
Working to see Christ Centered Churches,
among all African people.
AIM
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance and give you peace.”
Numbers 6: 24-26
2014! Already? We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Over the years we have had more and more people partnering with us along the way who have missed the start of our journey.
Past: We initially went to Namibia to work alongside Pat & Geoff Hartley but were evacuated in 2000 and we returned to SA. We did not know where the Lord was sending us to next until someone suggested Mozambique. AIM Mozambique and our home church had a vision to reach the Ndau, a minimally reached people group in the Mossurize district. After praying we felt that this was where the Lord was calling us to and spent the next year learning Portuguese in South Africa.
In 2002 we moved to Espungabera, the district ‘capital’ with a population of about 15000 however, the outer lying rural population is estimated to be in the 100’s of thousands. Initially our mandate was Church Planting and developing/mentoring the Church leaders alongside a local Church– Igreja de Cristo Unida em Moรงambique. From an original three churches, 11 additional churches were planted. The rural churches are between 20 and 135 km from Espungabera. With the Churches stretching over such a large area the work quickly became a mobile ministry. We then decided to begin a small informal Bible School and invited the leaders to participate for one week each month.
While trying to fulfil the “Great Commission” to go and make disciples, we came to the point where the logistics of effectively discipling the leaders and new converts became overwhelming. An urgent need became apparent to bring together a team of likeminded missionaries to grow a mature Church. The first team members arrived in 2010 and continued until 2013. At present we are 4 couples, 3 singles and 5 children from all over the world– our own little ‘rainbow’ nation. Jinx and I are blessed to be leading this team.
The areas that we are working in are spiritually dark with African Traditional Churches and cults found throughout the district. There are many false prophets, witchdoctors and ancestral worship which continues to lead people astray.
Our vision is to disciple national believers with the goal that they become leaders and are able to disciple their own new converts and to plant new effective churches without outsider influence.
Present: This past Friday afternoon Jenn, Michael, Jinx & myself did a prayer walk around the property and found several items that had been ‘planted’. We prayed over them and burnt them in a fire. This is something that we continually have to do around all our properties.
Although the elections have passed there are still incidents happening mainly in the Gorongosa and Save area. The media block still is in place but of late some news has been filtering through on the local TV– not much though. In one area people have been seeking refuge at a local school. However, all is calm in our area with no incidents and we continue to keep our ears and eyes open. The mission has travel restrictions in place.
Future: Jinx and I will be making a flying trip to SA on the 15th of this month. I have a dentist appointment on the 17th to fix a broken tooth and we pay the bank a visit to apply for another Student Loan for Toni. We hope to be back the 23rd/24th.
Ladies ministries, Literacy classes, Bible Studies and Bible School will start again next month. They all close down for the planting and harvesting season.
This year there will be 3 Outreach teams coming. In May/June, Jenn will have a team here from the States, July- we will be receiving the SA team and in September-the Brazilian team arrives.
In October Jinx and I will be taking our Home Assignment of 6 months where we go round to visit folks and Churches. This is always a great time for us catching up everybody and sharing on a more personal level.
Praise:
Praise:
We give thanks for:
· the priviledge of working here among the Ndau
· Our good health
· The Lord’s provision and protection
· Our faithful prayer/financial supporters
· Our wonderful team
· The ‘Godly’ leaders that we have
· The monies we have received in our Motor Vehicle Fund to date.
Prayer:
Pray with us for:
· our protection working in this dark area
· Peace in Mozambique
· The travel to SA and back
· Toni’s student loan– that it will be hassle free
· The various teams coming up
· The church leaders and their daily struggles
· Continued unity within our team
· Wisdom to lead the team
· Our vehicle fund raising.
We thank the Lord for your faithful support over the years. Without you, we would not be here doing what the Lord called us to do and we are only as strong as the driving force behind us. We truly value your partnership. Until next month…..
Jinx & Dawn
