So you may be wondering where we've been and why we haven't given an update in a while. We apologize, but the internet connection is at a different house than what we are staying at and we have minimal time on it when we get there.
Anyways, as we had expected, our plans have changed. The maintenance work that Jamison was supposed to do was on a house that Jason and Rachel (the missionaries we are living with) are in the process of purchasing on behalf of their organization, Unitas International. It is intended to be a permanent residence for them, as well as a temporary housing facility for the numerous work teams that come into Xai-Xai. When we were in Kruger, they got word that there are some issues with contracts and legal disputes about the purchasing of this facility.
Since there are issues, they decided it was best to halt the construction until things smooth out. So, this left Jamison with other tasks. One of them, believe it or not, was babysitting Tristan, the 2 year old son of Jason and Rachel. He is having so much fun with him! They love playing dinosaur; basically, they just run around the house acting like a t-rex and hunting one another, it's pretty entertaining to watch! For a while, Tristan was only referring to Jamison as Mr. Dinosaur.
We have also been working on developing a curriculum for an Intro to Christian Education class for Rachel. She is teaching a 3 week module on this topic in a few weeks. Also, it is customary here in Africa that whenever you get invited to go to a church, they expect you to preach at the service. Not just give a testimony, but actually give the message! So, Jamison had some experience preaching today at chapel. :o) He did great! On Sunday, we gave the childrens message. Rachel thinks she's going to turn us into pastors before we leave. Not so sure about that. :o)
Jamison also planted about 1,000 pepper plants with Jason yesterday. He also helped till and weed a large section of the garden in preparation for planting.
We worked in the audio scripture studio with our friend, Sergio. We took some players along with us to Mozambique that we were able to purchase from the extra money we raised. We loaded the whole Bible in Portuguese onto them for distribution. We were able to load 22 in one afternoon- and I think he said he needed 100 done total for a distribution trip he is going on right after Easter. It is a very time consuming process! It was great to catch up with him again as well.
Kristen has also been doing a bunch of different activities. She has been assisting Rachel in cleaning and selling chickens, peppers, and narchies (tangerines) from their garden project to a bunch of resorts along the beach. There has been a large influx of South African tourism into this area in the past few years. A bunch of families are coming from SA and trying to start up beach resorts and other businesses, so Rachel has extended her outreach to these families...especially the women. We have been visiting with them, praying with them over particular struggles in their lives, and just befriending them. The devil is certainly trying to break this group apart through gossip and other issues, so we really have been interceding with prayer over the whole situation.
Kristen has also been going to the Bible College each day with Rachel. Last week she helped her grade some projects that her students were working on and got a feel for how the children's ministry was run. This week she led the children's worship time on Monday and Tuesday (Jamison joined in on Monday). The kids are so precious!
Today she took photos of the whole Bible college- staff and students, then some photos of each individual student and their families. Hopefully she'll be able to make up some thank you cards to send to the donors who support each student's tuition.
We have done special music a few times...the students in the chapel today loved that we both played guitars! We had so many cell phone cameras on us it was ridiculous! :o)
We cannot finish this post without saying a word about the food. We are eating good! We have had a few South African braais (barbeques), a Russian cookout, an Indian restaurant experience, and a traditional Mozambican meal with a family that Kristen got close to on her last trip. Mmmmm. Oh, and the weather has been sunny and in the 80s. Today it feels more like 90's. :o)
We are seeing a lot and having a GREAT time. We can see God at work in this place, but we are also really seeing how the devil is trying to ruin the good things that are happening. But we know that the enemy has been defeated and that the Word of the Lord prevails! And the people here are hungry for it!
Thank you so much for your continued prayers!
Prayer requests:
-Thank God that we have stayed healthy so far
-Thank God for all of the blessings that he has given us
-Pray that the issues with the house Jason and Rachel want to purchase will be resolved and that, if it is God's will, they are able to raise adequate funds/get loans soon
-Pray for the Bible College- that the students stay healthy and are open to learning about spreading the Word
-Pray for the staff as they empower the students in their learning
-Pray for Sergio as he prepares for a distribution trip with players
-Pray for healing for all the Mozambicans and South Africans who are struggling with malaria
-Pray for blessing over the garden and the plants that were planted
-Pray for the South African group and the tension between them
-Pray that the hunger for the Word will continue to grow and that people will continue to be called up to meet this need
-Pray that racial tension would cease both in South Africa and Mozambique. There is huge tension between South African whites and blacks, as well as some between South African whites and Mozambicans.
Thank you for sticking with us for the longest post of time, but it was past due that we let you all know what's been going on. God bless!
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