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Monday 8/4/08 Well I’ve got to say that time has certainly flown these last weeks. This may possibly be the last blog until we get home. Mozambique team #2 has been staying very busy day and night. They have gone out during the day and preached on the streets of Maxixe and have gone out each night to show the film in various locations around the area. Some of the crowds have been very big (around 300 or more) and some have been smaller, but we have certainly spread the Word to many people. Each night we saw a varying number of people who came forward to accept Christ as their Savior. The groups have ranged from 2 to 50 with a total of over 300 people who have prayed aloud a prayer of acceptance. Praise God! One of the things we have prayed about with True Vineyard Ministries is that we find several churches in the area with whom we can work to plug people into after they see the Jesus Film and accept Him as their Savior. Our prayers have been answered this trip! Pastor Amorim has just recently planted a Reform Church in Especao (about 3 miles north of Maxixe) and Dionesio is the assistant pastor of the Baptist Church in Maxixe. They both speak English and have been helping translate for the team while preaching and when showing the film. They seem to have become friends over the last 1 ½ weeks and are working very well together. We pray they will continue to cooperate and may be the start of an interfaith team of churches in the area who can work together for God’s will. I’ve got to add something a little humorous here. Mozambique Team #1 was all female…I was the only guy. One of the things we have been able to do in some of the down time is to take the teams shopping for crafts, jewelry, capulanas (material the women here use for skirts), etc. I’m not much of a shopper and I’ll apologize to my family right now for not bringing home much, but those women shopped at every opportunity right up until they left…then one of them even left an order for Diana to go buy something else after they left. Team #2 is all male. I figured I would get a break from all of the pressure to shop so much…right? Wrong. Several of these guys have given those women a run for their money. I won’t give any names, but friends and family will know who comes home with a suitcase full of Mozambican stuff. We still haven’t been able to get to the internet very much lately. I’m writing this today (Monday) in the hopes I can post it tomorrow. A lot has happened and I could probably type a 5 page blog about it, but I just don’t have the time or the energy. I will admit that Diana and I are both very tired. She has been sick for the last few days with a stomach bug of some sort and I think I’ve got a cold. There have been several times when I just wanted to lie down and sleep for a week, but through His strength I was able to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Every time I feel I don’t have an ounce of energy left I have been lifted up and filled with the strength of Christ at just the right time. One thing happened the other day which really lifted me up again. We were showing the film at a place called Augusten Neto (about 12 miles south of Maxixe). I was exhausted and felt like I couldn’t finish playing the music before the film. I was on the 2nd or 3rd song when I saw someone walking towards me. It was a young man named James who had been selling us roasted cashews in Maxixe. There he was…12 miles from home (which means he had to pay for a chapa ride to get there) singing the praise songs with us. It really helped encourage me to carry on. After we were done singing and as the film was starting he came up to me and gave me a hug. I asked how he knew we were going to show the film there that night (we had only decided at the last minute that afternoon). He just smiled and said he just knew. He had taken a chapa to the film knowing he would have to walk home (12 miles) afterwards because the chapas usually stop running before the film would be over. Of course I told him we would take him home…and we did. James is a great kid. We met him on one of the first days we were here with team #1. James is 15 years old, has a great smile and speaks very good English. He sells cashews after he gets out of school and is a great salesman. He told me he goes to the Catholic church with his parents. The next night I saw him in town and invited him to the film again. He agreed and we gave him a ride to Namaxaxa (about 5 miles north of Chicuque). He helped set up the equipment, stood up front and sang with us and then sat to watch the film for the 2nd time in two nights. After the film Pastor Amorim spoke to the crowd. It was a bit of a rough crowd. There are several bars in the area and there were several drunk hecklers... When Pastor Amorim invited people to come forward and accept Christ only one person came forward. The man stood there in front of all the others and prayed aloud to accept Christ as his Savior while a drunk man continued his tirade. Then James came forward and said he wanted to accept Jesus also! He also stood there alone and prayed aloud a prayer of acceptance while the drunk man kept on just like the Energizer Bunny. I was so happy to see people who were willing to stand up in front of a difficult crowd and accept Christ into their hearts. It reminded me that no matter what happens over here if we were to help bring only one person to Christ it is worth every penny and every effort. On Saturday the team went to Tofo for a day of rest and relaxation. I never seem to be able to get enough of seeing God’s beautiful creation. We had pizza at Dino’s, I caught some good waves and the guys did some serious shopping at the market with a little help from Diana. The team split up on Sunday for church. The guys went to Dionesio’s church while Diana and I went to the Chicuque Methodist Church for their Thanksgiving Celebration. The guys had a great service and were blessed to witness two young girls and a man getting baptized. The girls had seen the film on Thursday night and had gone to Pastor Nash to receive Christ even before the film was over. The man had seen the film on Wednesday night when we showed the film on the fence outside the Baptist Church. Apparently he got out of his seat, ran to the baptistery and jumped right in. He didn’t plan it and therefore didn’t have any extra clothes. He was just led to do it right then and there! Amen! I’ve got to tell you about another great story that has happened here. Last week the guys were able to set up a visit to the local jail…which as many of you know is right up Charlie’s alley with his prison ministry. They went in to preach to the men in the jail and over 100 came forward to accept Christ. While they were there Charlie asked the Director of the jail if he knew Christ. The man said he knew Christ but hadn’t been living a proper Christian life. He was ready to start living right and wanted to learn how. They invited him to come watch the film at the Baptist Church on Wednesday. When he was at the film they had more discussion with him and he really wants to open up the jail for ministry. What many of you don’t realize is that he is in quite a dangerous position by doing this. He may be in actual physical danger by allowing people to go into the jails to preach the Gospel. He said he knows this, but he also now knows that it is the right thing and he is willing to face the consequences. Sunday afternoon we all went to the jail to worship with the prisoners. We sang a little and then Pastor Dionesio preached to the men. It was awesome to watch and listen to him! I understand enough Portuguese to catch the gist of what he was saying…and he did a great job! After the service we handed out wooden crosses to all of the inmates along with a bar of soap (they don’t get much access to soap in the jail.) Orlando went with us and said he was very nervous going into the jail. After we left he was very happy and said he actually enjoyed being there in worship with the prisoners. Tonight we will show the film at Amorim’s house so he can promote his new church (which currently meets in his living room.) It will be our last chance to show the film on this trip. Tuesday we will pack up our equipment and get it into storage until our next trip. We fly out on Wednesday around noon. The guys will get home on Thursday evening, but Diana and I won’t be there until Friday afternoon because we have to stay an extra day in Johannesburg and then fly out through Ethiopia. As I sit on the front porch of my hut looking across the bay to Inhambane and out to the Indian Ocean I am enjoying the cool temperature (about 70 right now with a bit of a breeze making it feel about 68…) and not really looking forward to meeting the hot Texas sun waiting for me back home. I’ve heard it has been over 100 for much of the time. It has been a long, great, wonderful, long, awesome, joyful, long, incredible, amazing, LONG, spiritually filled, LONG, glorious, miraculous, and LONG summer here in Africa. We will indeed miss our friends in Rwanda and Mozambique. From Thomas, Baraka, Phil, Becca, Bwende, Fabrice, Ernest, Everiste, Faina, Velonica, Adera, Catherine, Alphosina, Alivera, Virginie, Domina, Odetta, Simon, Eliazar, and Jeremiah….in Rwanda to Orlando, Bessie, Luis, Nelly, Nelsa, Nika, Janette, Tony, Alfonsino, Nelson, Jacob, Amorim, Dionesio, Jeremias, and many others in Mozambique we have a huge African family we will miss very much. They have taken such good care of us that we could never possibly repay their kindness. I ask for continued prayers for their wellbeing until we are blessed someday to return and fellowship with them again. Please pray for the safe return of Mozambique team #2 as well as Diana and I. In His Service, Mike and Diana Wednesday 8/6/08 – still unable to post… P.S. Well…here we are sitting in the Inhambane airport. LAM (Mozambique Airlines) is late yet again. Our flight was originally scheduled for 10:45am today (Wednesday), but was changed last week or so to noon. Then when we got here today we found it had been changed to 3:30pm. As I type it is almost 4:15pm and there is no sign of our flight. This means the guys may miss (read that…”will probably miss”) their flight from Johannesburg to New York. I don’t even know if will be able to post this blog before you families out there find out the team may get home late… I should try to figure out just how many hours we have spent in this little airport over the last few years. I should have a seat with my name on it by now! Thursday 8/7/08 - finally... And the saga continues… Our flight was indeed late yesterday. The guys missed their connection to get home and were stuck in Johannesburg last night. They are confirmed on a flight out tonight at 7:10pm. It will put them home a day late. Diana and I fly out at 2:35pm this afternoon. We go to Ethiopia and then change flights to get to D.C. before getting on a final flight into Austin. See you all soon!!! Mike
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