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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