Sadness and Joy

It's 5.45 am and already another huge brick red sun is rising across the water on the other side of the bay, casting a footpath of flickering colour across the rippled water, to where I stand sipping my coffee. I love this time of day and never tire of seeing this amazing sight. This morning is a bit different. I focus on the razor wire surrounding the camp site, between me and the rising sun, and it reminds me of some of the horrors, that exist in this beautiful country. Our work here is a mix of great joy, and also quite a lot of sadness, something Christ was well accustomed to!
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A BABY DIES AT MALOVA
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MONDAY. Armindo and I received a phone call to say that a young baby that we had come to know, at one of the new churches in Malova had just died.... We bury the baby that afternoon amongst the coconut trees near the church, and try to bring some comfort to the family. It has been a blow after such a great start to this new church, the people are supporting one another and we are doing what we can to help.
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THE PRISON
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WEDNESDAY We are excited we have been invited into the local prison. 100 people are busy praying to get out, and we are excited about going in!
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Walking down the corridor towards the open courtyard I wondered what to expect. I knew there were around a hundred prisoners in here, but had no idea how we would be received. It's quite often fairly intimidating, being the only white person in and around so many black people. I was especially concious of that as I walked in to the centre of the courtyard with Armindo. Prisoners lined three of the walls around the outer parts of the yard, as I looked at them and they at us, I didn't feel like flavour of the month!!!
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I was surprised to see so many young guys in there, and also so many very sick men, maybe a dozen or so very thin. A lot of these would be hiv positive and a long way down the line with it too, their torn and tattered clothes hanging off their feeble frames. Some were crouched on the earth, their knees aound there heads, looking down at the ground. God had sent us in to bring a message of hope, where clearly there was very little at present!
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But we all soon relaxed, and even started to laugh, as I told them some of my experiences as I dodged the police in Australia several times, with no licence on my motor bike, before I came to faith in Christ. We then preached the gospel in a straightforward way, and many responded!
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We held a service on Sunday too, and brought Philimon in with his keyboard to lead us in a time of worship. Very quickly we made friends with the people, a bit hesitant at first, the odd one started to dance , and soon a lot of them were singing and clapping. As we offered them an invitation to pray, the presence of God filled the place. it was wonderfull... Armindo was surprised to see a number of his neighbours in there, and as we preached later a message of hope, again many were encouraged.
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Looking at these men, I saw the same spirit in them that must have been in the disciples that Jesus chose, uneducated, tough, strong men.
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The disciples needed to be tough to endure the floggings and beatings, the persecution that would follow their call. Armindo and I acted out our talk, we laughed, they laughed. One prisoner who made us laugh had tried to steal a cow, and put two pairs of boots on the animal, so people would not recognise the tracks, but it didn't work!
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We all loved our time together. Many people eagerly shook our hands and invited us back next week. I was given a crucifix which one of the prisioners hard carved from a piece of coconut. He asked me to remember to pray for him, I will too!
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Now we are putting a program together to bring in Armindo's trainee pastors on a regular basis. We have a nice secure building that we don't have to buy, guards are laid on for free, and we have a church of one hundred people. It was not exactly what we had in mind, for our next church plant , but what an opportunity!
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THURSDAY Eventually, after looking for several weeks, we have the place for our next church plant in a place called Matacalane. It is about 20 kilometres north of Maxixe. We have connected with a couple who are leading a small group of believers, from an Assemblies of God church, after their Pastor died some time ago.
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They have a piece of land to build the church on, and it's in a good area, where we can reach many people outside the town. We are visiting the local chief tomorrow, and hope to start building next Wednesday, and open the church for worship on the Sunday. Please pray for us, that our plans succeed! and that God will help us!!!
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SATURDAY
We had another of our leadership training sessions will potential Pastors and leaders joining us from our group of small churches. Again we all had a lot of fun, we were all challenged as we looked at how we can strengthen weaker areas of our character through prayer and accountability.

The day was finished off with a big plate of chicken and rice. That always goes down well, after the usual beans and cassava.

Thanks for praying for us, please continue to do so. It is much needed, and very much appreciated.
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Reflecting on the last two weeks

The Orphanage

I have just returned to Maxixe, having spent the last two weeks at the orphanage. Martha and I have been busy planning our building projects for next year. Our two main projects will be the building of our medical centre, and the home for girls caught up in prostitution.
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This month we have just put a new pitched roof on our storage/workshop before the rains arrive, and this is now in really good order. Next month we will be converting two of the smaller existing buildings at the orphanage into a kitchen and a laundry. The kids are doing great and are just back from another exciting trip to see the doctor!
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Leadership training

Before I left for South Africa, Armindo and I held our monthly leadership traning day at his church in Maxixe.
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With 60 up and coming leaders from our small group of churches that we have now established, we had a great time together and felt very encouraged.
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Next year the thrust of our work out here in Maxixe, will be to bring in teams from the UK, to assist in training up these new leaders, and other potential pastors and leaders from our group of churches out here.
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Our vision is to train up as many leaders as we can, and then send them out to plant new churches throughout the province. Bringing together a balance of vision to reach the community, and good character to maintain it, we have an awesome opportunity in front of us, to make a massive difference here in Mozambique.

In the last four years, to December 2008, we will have planted seven new churches in Inhambane. If each of these new churches manage to train up another seven pastors each, and plant another seven churches, then by 2012 we will have 49 new churches. By 2016 we will have 343 churches and by 2020 we will have 2401 churches and so on.
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It all starts to get a bit exciting after that.....!
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Getting involved
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Whereas a person on their own may not be able to achieve much by themselves, together with a team of like minded people and a mighty God who specialises in the impossible, is there any thing we cannot do together?

If you feel inspired to come out and help next year, whether it's to the orphanage for a week, or to come up and help with leadership training, or to experience a new church plant, then watch out for our dates, and the infomation we will be posting on our web site. At present we are planning three trips in 2009, in May, July, and September.
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We would love you to get involved!
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The Twins a month on

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As I drove back down the road to Malavela from Maxixe, I was excited about seeing the twins again! Would they have put on weight by now? Would I notice a difference? I had heard they were both eating and sleeping well. I Pulled into Martha`s, said a quick hello and nipped across to the orphanage nearby.

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As I entered the gate into the grounds of the orphanage I was met with squeals of delight! Mr Peter....! Mr Peter.....! and they all come running down the winding pathway to meet me, the largest running first, with the smaller ones bringing up the rear, doing their best to keep up. It´s always a huge joy to see the kids, and you could already see a difference in the twins. Both have already put on weight, even though they still look fragile, and both of them are now fairly stable on their feet. Alfredo was reported to have been seen chasing the cat around with a stick !! I felt sorry for the cat but took that as a good sign!

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Prayer points

Please pray for us if you can!!!

• The children are all doing well, we took two more children in last Friday, and are due to visit the doctor with them on Thursday. Please pray for them, and our carers who do such a fantastic job.


• We are still pushing to register the orphanage as an NGO ( non governmental organisation).


• We are still trying to permanently import our Land Rover, that we bought a year ago in South Africa.
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• We are now looking for the next two pieces of land to build our churches on, one in Maxixe Vela and the other in Jocane.
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• We need plans passed, to build Armindo`s house.
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• More than anything please pray as Martha, Armindo and I continue to plan and run things out here, that God will continue to lead us, and give us wisdom in all that we do.
• Please pray that more and more people will come on board, to help support our work. We are continually stretching ourselves financially, as we bring more needy children into the orphanage. Food prices are rocketing, and the exchange rate is down.

It's very frustrating trying to do anything in a righteous way out here. Most authorities choose to sit on the paperwork for months, doing nothing about it until they receive a bribe, which makes our work so much harder. Please pray that God would help us to move forward with each of these projects, in a way that is righteous and honouring to Him!

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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR

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SUPPORTING US ALL OUT HERE,

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IN THE MANY WAYS YOU DO!

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Pete, Armindo, Martha and team.