Harts for Africa

Year 8

2012-01-13T15:50:00.001+10:00

We had planned to open a high school in 2012. Two classrooms are built and ready. The Government has been unable to return our paperwork with the required signatures in time for us to open. This has caused quite a stir amongst the people around us with many of them visiting local government offices asking for an explanation.

I was called along with the School Principal to meet with our local government leader to explain why we have not opened the doors for year 8 in 2012, when we explained all we have done to help the process along, we were assured he will investigate the delay and meet with the community to explain the situation. We trust that the papers will be signed now assuring that we can open a high school for 2013.

Ag projects.

2012-01-13T15:23:00.001+10:00

Our agriculture projects are going well. We have 900 chickens ready to sell next week and are currently building 2 additional sheds that will contain 3000 chickens each. We also have 30 goats and this month 2 new kids were born with another 3 goats close to giving birth. These guys are proving to be great lawn mowers with the added bonus of teaching the primary school students how to care for and raise livestock.

We have planted a hectare of maize and hope to harvest more this year than last year.

2012 New Opportunities.

2012-01-13T15:17:00.000+10:00

As we enter a new year it’s a great chance to reflect on the achievements of 2011 and set goals for 2012. 2011 was a good year of ministry in Africa, we trained over 200 church leaders, with more than 180 passing the course. They in turn planted 117 new churches from a position of strength. These leaders also saw 330 first time salvations, baptised 750 people in water, and baptised 500 people in the Holy Spirit. This is what ministry is about, the disciples doing the work of the ministry.

In 2012 we are training in 8 locations but expect more leaders as our course is gaining recognition. At every location we held our bible training last year, the leaders want us to continue with them in 2012 promising more students but we have a commitment to strengthen churches in new locations. This is significant as we do not assist any church leaders financially, if God has called them He will provide for them. We help by investing in discipleship, bringing training to the church at a zero cost.

We are hoping to welcome a new member onto the team this month to assist with the training and to help us prepare new subjects to take back in future years to the locations where we have already held the course.

Readings

2012-01-02T16:59:00.000+10:00

· Gabi has been inspired, she has found my reading plan and has started daily readings....she is 9 how are you doing?

Harley for Chistmas

2011-12-27T15:55:00.000+10:00

I got a Harley for Christmas must be the luckiest guy ever.

Catindica Graduation

2011-12-03T20:11:00.000+10:00

We are celebrating with the pastors and leaders who have graduated from our course in Catindica.
We are joined today by the regional government leader and his wife. This is a great honor as it shows that the government respects the role of the church.
The Administrator told us that the course is helping to change his area for the better. The pastors have more God in them and are helping to grow the people. He asked the gradients not to stop now but do the work they have been trained to do. This is a church planting and discipleship course. Therefore the government is asking them to plant churches and make disciples, great news for Mozambique.

Guro Graduation.

2011-12-01T21:40:00.000+10:00

We are at Guro graduation. We have seen good fruit come out of our training in this district. Great testimonies have been shared and we are sure that many more are to come.
We even got to enjoy warm coke, a specialty in the African bush.

Storm

2011-11-27T13:52:00.000+10:00

We had a wild storm here the other night. In a village of 250 homes 30 have been damaged. One employee lost his roof, his mother lost her roof and 2 other members of the family lost walls and roofs. This makes it hard as family members pool money to repair homes. These homes are made of mud bricks and either grass or tin roofs.
None of our property was damaged. We have been without power for several days but this is normal at this time of year.
Ps Danito is taking up an offering today to raise $150 to help some people who don't have family living in this area to repair their homes. This is a lot of money for a Mozambican church.
Please pray that Ps Danito can reach his goal and that other local churches rise to the meet the need of the people in their community. It brings God glory when the local church helps local people.

Greg

Graduation

2011-11-19T19:16:00.000+10:00

Today we are at our fourth graduation for 2011. We have 19 pastors and leaders in this location receiving their certificates after completing the 12 month course.
This pastor is telling us how the course had helped him this year. He told us that he didn't understand the spiritual battle that exists. Now he understands that he needs to filled with the Holy Spirit to do the work of God and to win this spiritual battle.
Another pastor told us that he learnt about water baptism. Many people have been baptized without understanding the doctrine. He has taught the congregation about baptism which will help the church.

Good testimony

2011-11-17T17:48:00.000+10:00

The Government of Mozambique takes an interest in what we are doing in the churches.
In one place we are training the local Government leaders called our trainer to meet with them. They complemented him on our training in their area this year. Asking for a copy of every book they were very impressed by the content.
One comment made to us by these leaders was that we are releasing pastors to do their work in the community. They are seeing pastors becoming confident in the work. This is important because the true church brings peace and blessing to the people.
A testimony given in a meeting is powerful, a testimony given by an observer is even more powerful.
We are being asked to return with more training in every district we have visited. This is a great blessing in a country that is wary of the motives of strangers.

Graduation

2011-11-13T18:39:00.001+10:00

It's a great day for our training programme. Today one of our 9 training centers is holding a graduation. To bring this 12 month bible training to the churches comes at a cost both personally and financially. We are repaid as we hear how the training has brought understanding on the role of the church and the pastors of the church.

We have heard testimony after testimony of pastors who have learnt to pastor the church. Many churches have been planted because the people have confidence in their roles in the church.

One pastor told us he taught Mark 7:7 for years because that's all he understood. Now this pastor understands how to prepare a sermon from the bible to feed his people.

We have heard of many people baptized in water and the Spirit because the pastor understands the importance of doing this.

We have heard how pastors in the training have taken the manuals and trained other churches. This expands our effectiveness beyond our capacity.

Jesus will build His church but we have a role to do. We have seen our role adding value to many churches. I thank everyone involved in our ministry, you are having a great effect.

Greg

2011-11-12T20:12:00.000+10:00

The teachers become the students

2011-11-02T22:05:00.001+10:00

This is the first graduation this year with 12 pastors and leaders here graduating in our bible college course. The graduation was held in a local school with the principle and local political leader attending.
Ps Chris shared a great word and we got to hear some testimonies of how the course has helped grow the church in Mozambique.

Greg

Dean's devotion

2011-11-02T21:59:00.001+10:00

Each day a member of the team led a time of bible study with the teachers. By starting each day with the Word of God we hope that the staff's relationship with God is strengthened and they are encouraged to keep Jesus first in their role in the school.

When we don't have visiting teams, the teachers take turns to lead the morning devotional time.

Tim sharing with the school

2011-11-02T21:54:00.000+10:00

Each day the Team shared with the students their occupation and how they got to where they are today. This encouraged the school.
Without vision the people perish. We are hoping that exposure to different occupations will cause the students to think about their futures and to plan how to achieve their dreams.

Long trip

2011-11-02T21:47:00.000+10:00

It must have been a long trip, the Gateway team started to measure the length of each trip by the number of cokes it took to complete. A 3 Coker was about 1000km. It's rumored that I don't stop much.
Africa runs on coke. You can buy it anywhere and everywhere. I suggest to visitors to drink one a day to keep the stomach happy. It seems to work.

Using the truck to buy bricks.

2011-10-10T19:25:00.000+10:00

Sunday church

2011-10-02T18:50:00.000+10:00

Nurse Gabi

2011-09-23T15:09:00.001+10:00

I was so proud of Gabi yesterday - she worked tirelessly in a health clinic escorting patients from triage to the appropriate waiting areas for 3 different doctors, sitting with kids that were a bit unsure of the whole doctor process and translating into Portuguese when needed. She loved it so much she has insisted we front up for day 2 today!

Dinner

2011-09-18T03:14:00.000+10:00

Kim is very impressed by her puff pastry pie.
We all think its great, just like mum makes.

Police check point.

2011-09-02T19:08:00.001+10:00

Yesterday we had training in Guro but at the same time I also needed
to pick up day old chicks from the hatchery. Marcos took a mini bus to
the training whilst I took someone to pick up the day old chicks. One
the way home Marcos got delayed and couldn't get a bus the last 40km,
he sent me an SMS to say he was staying in another town for the night.
I was in a prayer meeting and thought it was important for me to
quickly run into town and pick up Macos. On the way I realized I
didn't have my identification or documents for the car as we had paid
the insurance yesterday and had left them on the bench at home.
This was not a problem until I was stopped at a police check point.
All I had was my drivers licence which might not have proven to be
enough. The punishment is usally time in jail until someone brings
your documents to the police station, not a big deal but not something
I wanted to do at 8.30pm.
The police and I chatted about life then he waved me on without asking
to see any of my papers, what a relief!

Mount Xiluvo training

2011-09-01T12:51:00.000+10:00

We are at Mount Xiluvo for training on Tuesday. The training is on preaching effectively.

Many pastors have not had structure or preparation with their preaching in the past. Most did not understand the purpose of preaching. We are showing them the importance to prepare and know what they are going to say before The day they preach.

It is safe to say many Pastors will be more effective in their future preaching. The wives of some of the pastors are at the training. It's good to see a family discovering the word of God together.

Now they can prepare a topical sermon as well. It's great to hear the questions relating to improving who they are instead of the type of questions we get at the beginning of the year where one person is trying to fix their neighbour.

Catandica leader training

2011-08-25T17:57:00.000+10:00

Today we are in Catandica. The leaders have studied the material on winning the lost. One pastor said that he got understanding on where to fish. That we should not just cast our nets in the church but we also have to go out into the community to fish.

This is good feed back as we now know that the training is going to build the church here in Africa.

Another leader commented that the language we have used in our material is very current and is helpful to them. We can thank Camica for her work in proof reading every word in our material.

Challenging day

2011-08-17T04:45:00.000+10:00

Back to Africa

2011-08-04T14:32:00.001+10:00

It has been a very busy and fast Furlough which has come to an end. We will be back in our home in Africa by the 12th of August.

We have enjoyed our time catching up with friends and family. Some highlights were the ACC National Conference, visiting the snow, staying with family, and riding motor bikes.

Whilst visiting many churches over the past month we have been able to encourage people to step out and do the things they have in their hearts to do.

Some people are interested in visiting us in Africa and we look forward to hosting them and teams as they come. If you would like to visit Mozambique send us an email so we can organise the accommodation and itinerary. The best time to come is between March and November. You can fly from Australia to Johannesburg South Africa then onto Beria Mozambique where we can pick you up from the airport.

prayer

2011-08-01T11:41:00.001+10:00

I m sick yesterday until today, i want to Mt Xiluvo today but I'm not feeling well, all my head and my body hurt. When I arrived in Mt.xiluvo I was fine, I found many leaders in class they pleased me so much.

Pastors training and what happened

2011-08-01T11:25:00.001+10:00

where God reveals himself, people start to speak in tongues, the Holy Spirit starts a work in each one. There was many miracles, because God was with us.
Every things we need do to please God our father in Jesus name the Bibles said, therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
I was think and prayed for you because is a last days for you my brother with family, your all brothers ,sister and friend, but God told me so and I want give you this answer from God ,he said: I say to you there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God , Who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life. Lc18:29-30.

Every time we need pray for knowledge, wisdom, miracles , faith to work in believer for our needs I know God will provied.
BE BLESSED.

Car inspections

2011-07-01T15:34:00.001+10:00

In Mozambique car inspection have just become compulsory below is an email I received from Daniel who along with his wife are staying in our home in Africa whilst we are on home leave. They are helping look after things until we return.

"The second car inspection was completed on Tuesday am. Manuel and I drove in at 3 am, and got in line and talked in the car for four hours. Several cars and trucks went in the back gate, but Manuel led a mini protest and got all of the cars that were lined up early ahead of those cars. He said it was a victory for justice in Moz."

This is what we miss out on by being away from Africa for 6 months. Its odd how quickly these long waits become normal part of life.

Greg

Banking to become available to more Mozambicans.

2011-06-15T07:44:00.000+10:00

(2011-06-10) The publicly owned company Correios de Moçambique (Mozambique Post Offices) is set to introduce a new postal bank by the end of this year. It will target rural areas to boost financial services in remote parts of the country.

This was disclosed in Maputo on Thursday by the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Jose Luis Rego, during a press conference to mark the company's 30th anniversary.

Established in 1981, Correios de Moçambique was transformed into a publicly owned company in 1992 in a move to separate postal services from telecommunications.

"We are planning to establish a postal bank for the expansion of formal financial services, primarily in rural and low income urban areas", said Rego.

He believes that there is enough room in the financial market to accommodate a postal bank. Recent estimates suggest that the formal banking system only covers just over 40 per cent of the population.

Rego also stated that his company intends to build its distribution capacity to ensure reliability and to speed up the delivery of parcels and mail, particularly in the business sector segment.

Rego stressed the need for his company to increase its number of clients by establishing an express mail delivery service capable of competing with the small private companies operating in that sector.

In recent years Correios de Moçambique has been through serious difficulties, including the inability to pay salaries, and has had to make use of bank loans.

The company employs 621 workers, of which over half work in Maputo.

(Source: AIM NEWS)

Dia de muitas preguntas e respostas Deus e maravilhoso

2011-05-27T16:20:00.000+10:00

Today was very wonderful for me, was with the shepherds of Nharichonga Nharichonga, The came with many questions about the subjects for May "the true shepherd and successful leadership". The leaders said it was some of the training that they listened to the most, provoking many questions.

One pastor got up and testified about leadership, he could not pay the cost of leadership and is leading because the top leaders chose me. Sometimes I run away from responsibility. In this course I have learned that as a leader is chosen by God there is a cost to pay, and I need to understand that cost.

One thing I found God reveals his truth to His children, please pray for me, I always want to be on the anvil for his questions, we need to please God our Lord

God bless

Marcos

Chicken Agriculture project.

2011-05-08T17:21:00.000+10:00

We have started a chicken project for the school. We hope to give the school an element of self funding which we can use to help with the secondary school, another benefit will be educating the students in caring and raising chickens to help them have a future source of income at home. The first chicks were purchased as day old chick and have now matured to be sold. The next lot of day old chicks are in the second house getting fat ready to be sold.
We are selling the chickens at a whole sale price to allow people in our community to buy and sell chickens creating an income for them. It is exiting to see the way this project has been embraced by everyone involved in our school, it is giving people a hope for the future.

One of the problems we have encountered is the difficulty of purchasing enough day old chickens. We are planning on our return to overcome this problem by hatching our own day old chicks.

ACC National Conference.

2011-05-08T08:38:00.001+10:00

We have just spent the last week at our national conference. It was one big family reunion with close friends and people we haven't seen for many years everywhere. The speakers were truly inspirational! Ps Wayne Alcorn our National President spoke to each of us personally every session he was involved in, Rev Reinhardt Bonnke was at his best, Ps Steve Murrell the "accidental missionary" was on the mark and Ps Alun Davies launched our movement into a new day of international missions.

Friday was a chance for all involved in international work to be together and to be further inspired. Ps Wayne blessed us with a message before Ps Alun imparted vision, direction and unity.

As a result Kim and I have been inspired to work harder and happier in Africa. We have a great team with us and together we will see Mozambique discipled.

2011 Training

2011-05-05T07:01:00.000+10:00

We are currently in Australia on home leave. The training of rural church leaders is continuing with Marcos training, with the aid of the MP3 recordings. This year we are training 200 church leaders in 9 locations.

We visit each group every month for a time of questions followed by an exam. We leave the next subject with the students to study in small groups, weekly, before our next visit.

It is impossible for us to mentor 200 leaders who live more than 300km apart. The mentoring is done by a number of strong local leaders who live close to each training group. By having the students meet together once a month it helps them to build relationships with other church leaders living close by and with the regional leader. This is helping to bring unity into the local churches and at the same time the training is clearing up many doctrinal disputes.

As many of the church leaders are unable to read, the audio bible and training material we supply is the only means they have to study the bible.

Included among the students are denominational leaders, new church planters, pastors and their spouses.

2 minute video of our work in Africa

2011-04-11T10:56:00.000+10:00

I am in the office

2011-03-31T15:38:00.001+10:00

Today I fixed some of the mp3 players. Some of them needed to have the batteries changed and radio works fine. I had 20 mp3 players not working but now we have only 8 not working, please lets pray for some more batteries to fix these remaining players.

If we had more solar panels this would also help. If we have a cloudy day we are hindered from charging enough mp3 players for the following training session. The computer stopped working and so has the printer, but God knows all of our needs we can ask Him together and have the power to be a winner. Blessings in Jesus name Marcos

PS, I have been able to fix Marcos computer from Australia but have to find out more in regards to the printer problem.

Flexible children

2011-03-18T11:38:00.001+10:00

We are now in Brisbane staying with friends. Gabi and Thomas have continued the school programme whilst we are travelling. There are days when they have school at a park, other days its in the car, or at the local library, people's kitchen tables or lounge rooms. They seem to not even notice the changes. Why? Because this is routine for them we are often in different locations and have been most of their lives.

We have two happy and adaptable children. Thomas is a year ahead in school and Gabi gets good results. They are not suffering because we work in Africa, they are thriving. We don't have tears when its time to leave because they understand that we will be back, and we will be reunited with friends at the other end of the journey.

Some years ago when Thomas was 3 years old we walked into someone's place for dinner and Thomas asked where do I sleep? This sums up his attitude and Gabi is the same, our home is truly where our hat is.

Saturday Training

2011-03-07T19:22:00.002+10:00

These are the pictures for Saturday. The first one is of a pastor who was saying the study is good a study for us and now I am growing to another position (level), and the second photo is all the class in the pastors training at Chigueda with Kees.

This post was posted by Marcos

Good work, good to see you have a handle on the internet.

Greg

Back in Australia

2011-03-07T10:52:00.000+10:00

The Hart's set foot back in Australia on Monday in Perth in 35 degree heat, 6 hours later we were shivering in Melbourne where we were welcomed with 12 degrees. We stayed in Melbourne for 2 cold days before traveling to Adelaide where the temperature got back to a cool but "normal" level.
We have been blessed with a car to use whilst in Adelaide which has given us the freedom to get around, and catch up with friends.
Yesterday we shared at two meetings and were encouraged by the response. Aussies are good people and we are looking forward to next Sunday's meetings.

Return to Oz

2011-02-16T04:02:00.001+10:00

It is time for us to visit friends, family and partners in Australia. Yes it's been 3 years already. We will be spending 6 months traveling before returning to Africa. What did we miss the most...for me it is people, Gabi's first thought was Maccas, Thomas can't wait to ride a quad runner on his grandparent's farm. Kim wants the luxury of choice in the shops. Where we live you get what you can when you see it. One of our friends went home to Europe and bought 1 months supply of frozen fish, why? Because here we may not see it for another 2 months so you grab what you can, when you can. Her sister thought she was mad and asked why she couldn't go to the shops tomorrow? The sad thing was we related to the story.

We land in Melbourne on the 28th of February, then off to Adelaide on the 2nd of March. Then South East Queensland on the 16th of March after that N.S.W. before returning to Queensland and back to Africa in August, tired? I am sure we will be! Might be safer not to ask how we are enjoying the "break". We plan to visit as many churches as possible to encourage people to change the world one life at a time. If you would like us to visit please contact us so we can arrange a time.

We haven't had the internet at home for 12 months, that was hard to live with as our computer is our link to the rest of the world. We at least know that we will have internet when we return as a system exists to allow us to have radio broadband. When I left Oz in 2008 I was up with the latest gadgets now I think I may be a tad behind. Kim tells me school students use laptops and apple is no longer for nerds...what????

The photo is of an African market tailor.

Trucks

2011-02-02T23:46:00.000+10:00

Every week on our way to training we see a truck accident along the road. Today it was a minor problem with a trailer wanting to be in front of the cab.

Pastor training with Marcos

2011-01-25T18:31:00.000+10:00

This year I have Marcos helping with the training. Here is a photo of our training session at Teca in Mozambique. We have 27 church leaders taking the exam today.
This year we have 9 locations where we are running our course. Marcos will continue with the training whilst we are spending time in Australia from March until August. He is praying for a Honda XL 125 motor bike to help him do this work please pray with us for this it will help him save traveling time.
Greg

Blown transformer

2011-01-25T13:36:00.000+10:00

We have many electrical storms this time of year. The rain is very welcome, our maize crops are looking fantastic and it should be a good harvest. Every farmer knows you don't have a crop until its in the silo, we can be optomistic though.
On the 8th of January we had an electrical storm that killed 6 people in our local area. We could see lightning striking the ground close to our house. The storm came quickly and was amazingly fierce. The lightning and thunder were similtaneous and stayed close for a long time. Our power lines were struck, taking out our transformer and when the power supply company came 3 days later to restore our electricity the transformer caught fire and blew up leaving us without power until now. We share the transformer with 5 family homes, a boy's home, a school and a shop. A friend of ours lent us a small generator to help us through. So we have been able to charge phones, use a computer as well as having had a light. We were unable to keep the fridge cold so it's been interesting living without a fridge. Kim is a champion, she has been able to not just cope but make it seem like it is not too much of a problem. Try not going to the fridge for a day....normally I can't walk past it without opening to see what is inside. There are many types of fasts, hope this counts.
Good news is that a new transformer was donated to us from friends of the boy's home in South Africa and arrived yesterday. Today we may have normal power back.
We are grateful that none of our friends were hurt but are saddened to hear of so many killed close by.

Floods

2011-01-14T17:13:00.001+10:00

We have had many electrical storms over the past month knocking out our power transformer leaving us with out power until “we” can replace it with a new one. We borrowed a small generator and saw on the news the devastation that floods are causing in Australia. Our hearts and prayers go out to those affected.

Pool

2010-12-12T02:48:00.001+10:00

We spent Saturday morning with some of the boys from the boys centre and the family that takes care of them. All the children had a great time.

Great rain,

2010-12-07T18:36:00.001+10:00

The wet season in our part of Africa has arrived on time and in ernist. I am on the way to train Pastors and have broken down. The bolt that tightens the alternator belt broke, very odd thing to happen. I bought a new bolt (right one first time) now the battery is so dead we can't jump start the car. I am soaked and 80km from home. Kim had borrowed a friends car and is bringing me a battery. I still love the work we are doing.
The last three times I have visited this group of pastors I have had trouble. Please pray that Gods will is done.
Greg (please forgive the spelling my phone is without a spell check)

2010-12-02T18:43:00.000+10:00

We have planted moringa trees in the school. I was disappointed to see a fire burn though the trees seeming to destroy them all. But more than half the trees have new leaves so we are hoping to add the leave to the maze porridge the students get for breakfast, adding much needed vitamins and minerals to their diet.

Remote Training

2010-11-24T19:55:00.000+10:00

I travelled to train this group of pastors who are members of the Encontra Fraternal. The morning we set out it was raining lightly, yet the road was a mess in places. At one stage I had to reverse to line the road back up as we were facing 90 degrees from the direction we wanted to go. We were quite late to arrive to the training. When we arrived the pastors were waiting for us and ready to start. This shows their hunger for the training as they would have doubted that we could make it due to the rain but they took the time to come in case we could.

These churches are so hungry for the word of God, very few have ever had the chance to sit under regular teaching.

Load of Bananas

2010-11-20T19:14:00.000+10:00

Another load of bananas off to market. These trucks are constantly being overloaded by the drivers. We see many banana trucks with broken axles and blown tyres on the side of the road. Yet they continue to use bamboo hungry boards to help get more bunches into the load.

Greg’s dictionary “Hungry Board” - method used by zealous truck drivers to extend the load capacity of a truck.

Bibles for rural churches.

2010-11-19T15:16:00.000+10:00

An Australian church felt challenged to raise funds to put the bible into the hands of the African church. With their help we have been able to provide both audio and printed bibles in the local language to the churches that are in our training programme.

This will make a big difference to the church as they read and listen to the truth of God’s word. We have taken this opportunity to provide our training in audio format to allow the students to gather together and learn between our visits. When we visit, the students ask questions that the training raises before sitting the exam. Some churches have several people in the training, other churches have one person. All the students are able to share the training with their churches and with neighboring Christians.

School Breakfast

2010-10-15T17:02:00.000+10:00

We have entered the hunger season here in Africa. Many families are eating just one meal a day as that is all they can afford. Some don’t eat every day. This has resulted in an increase of theft and women doing all they can to get money.

We had 4 children visit looking for help, the time of day they arrived there was nobody home so they set off for home without having their needs met. On the way home one of the children died. We decided it was up to us to help our community. This resulted in us starting a feeding programme in the school for 465 children. Before school the children can have a plate of food each school day. The community is very grateful for this programme and we hear many positive comments. The attendance at school has risen by 20% with the students behaving better in class. This is a win all-round as we know the students have a chance of better grades as a direct result.

Children playing

2010-09-20T20:54:00.000+10:00

This photo of the children playing 'cat and rat' was taken next door.

Greg teaching

2010-09-13T17:16:00.000+10:00

In this photo I am teaching church members the importance of the church body
to function well and the need to discover God's gifts and plans for your
life.

Young rider

2010-09-09T16:49:00.001+10:00

While on a church visit we saw this young girl waiting for her father on the
motor bike. She has a very cheeky look in her eye.

Church under construction

2010-09-08T17:12:00.002+10:00

This is a church we taught in for 2 days. You can see the bundles of thatching on the roof and the walls are nearly completed. This church did a lot of work to prepare for our visit, they cleared a road, built new toilets and repaired the church. I know our visit blessed them as much as it did us.

On the way to training

2010-09-06T14:41:00.001+10:00

One of the key leaders involved with our training programme is Ps Domingo. He has a home for children, pastors a church and is the district leader for the Encontra Fraternal, a national organisation that every Christian Church registered in Mozambique is a member.

I travel weekly with Ps Domingo to train churches in a number of locations. In this photo we are about to cross the river just north of Nhamatunda. Ps Domingo challenges me to expand our programme to include other locations and has said if we can’t travel to these places regularly maybe we can use the mp3 players to help them train themselves. I like the way he thinks.

Pastors Training

2010-09-03T01:58:00.000+10:00

This group of church leaders recently started our training programme. The
group will grow as they have told us how much they enjoyed the training and
will invite others to come. They are standing outside a church that we use.

Dealing with African bees

2010-08-31T19:57:00.000+10:00

When we see the odd bee flying around we are grateful for the work they do.
When we have a hive in the roof of our house we attempt to live with them.
When the bees start entering the house on mass it is time to deal with them.
Take one bamboo pole, some cloth, green and dry grass and add diesel. This
is a photo of us preparing to burn them out as relocation attempts have
proved worthless. PS the chickens love fried bees.

BPI warns of possibility of double digit inflation for Mozambique

2010-08-20T17:22:00.000+10:00

The Portuguese Investment Bank (BPI) has warned that Mozambique could see double digit inflation by the end of 2010, Aim News has reported. Double digit inflation would exceed the government’s target of 9.5 percent inflation for this year. BPI has attributed the possible leap in inflation to the termination of across the board fuel subsidies and to the rising price of oil, amongst other variables. In the first half of 2010, inflation stood at 5.2 percent, up from 3.3 percent in 2009.

We are seeing this happen. Our electricity bill is up by 350% fuel is up from 23mtn to 42mtn. ouch!!!!

Church visit in Gorongosa

2010-08-17T04:41:00.000+10:00

We recently visited a church in the Gorongosa area. One of the African
pastors I work with regularly spends time with this church. The Gorongosa
Mountain is used by witchdoctors to give them power. Many African people in
neighbouring countries visit this area to receive magic from the mediums.
Whilst visiting this church we could sense a spiritual heaviness. The first
night we taught on hearing from God and baptism in the Holy Spirit. That
night Ps Danito sat up talking though the church's leadership problems. The
next day the atmosphere was remarkably lighter. It was great for me to do
ministry with a solid team. I arrived home invigorated and ready to go
again. The car did not miss a beat, all went well. We are victorious.

Pastor Training

2010-08-14T16:23:00.001+10:00

I have commenced training a new group of pastors in Sofala Provence. These men are from different church denominations but are all part of fellowship group that shares resources. The first training session was full of enthusiasm and participation. The group is open for other pastors to join in further training. I was able to give the group 2 mp3 players to share with the teaching I covered and the 4 gospels with the book of acts in their language. There was over 32 churches represented as one pastors has 17 churches he covers and another has 11. I am praying that God will provide one mp3 player for each of these churches, please stand in prayer with us.

The leader of this group is a great man of God who runs a children’s home and is a church pastor. He was so impressed by our material that he will train the orphans, his church and a youth group with the resources we have given him. Thank you for being part of this.

Trip to Zambezi

2010-08-12T16:10:00.000+10:00

During a recent visit to a church in the Zambezi Province we were able to give a lot in the way of encouragement and healing. The church was hurting due to:

• a cancelled visit by a group last year.

• a time of famine due to the failure of last season’s crops

• and the roof of their church destroyed during a storm.

The pastor of this church is elderly and is concerned that he is unable to ride the 12km to collect grass to fix the church roof. Please stand with us in prayer for the younger men in the church to take on the responsibility to collect grass and fix the church roof..

I was caught on camera shaking hands with one of the young people when we arrived, I thought I would share that with you.

The church was very embarrassed because they had no food to share with us. God had prompted me to pack a sack of rice which was not normal, and we bought a goat for the whole meeting to share. God turned their lack into a chance for us to bless them. As guests of honour we were given the liver, heart, intestine, etc.. to eat whilst the others ate the meat. I won’t share the photo of the plate of food. I have said that I don’t like to be treated as a visitor in future just treat me as family and I will put up with meat like the others.

Meeting the need

2010-07-31T21:29:00.001+10:00

I have been challenged to understand the problems our neigbours face. This week we helped a single mother who has 4 children the youngest being a new born. This mother has no door on her house and no way of buying one. People will come a steal her only blanket. She has no income to buy salt, oil or soap for her family. She is a church member and a lovely person. To help her children I dread to think what she might be forced to do. We are able to give hope to her through $3 a week and some clothes. We could pray and ask God to answer this need but we chose to be God's answer. Be blessed Greg.

Thieves steal fibre optic cable.

2010-07-23T18:07:00.001+10:00

I am really confused as to what theives would do with a length of fibre optic cable, but for the second time in 3 months half the country had lost internet, fixed phone and most cell phone access. We are wondering if it sabotage, or thieves looking for copper in a cable that contains no copper. We may never know but are praying that it will stop. Greg

Trouble

2010-05-25T16:00:00.000+10:00

We have had our share of sickness and trouble since our last update. Thank you for your prayers - our family is now in good health and back to full steam.

We had a day on Friday that should never be repeated. Greg, Kim, Gabi, Thomas and Miranda were traveling together. We were in the bush 120km from nowhere when we blew a tyre. I changed it for the spare (while everyone stood on guard looking for lions!). Ten kilometres later we blew the second tyre. Fortunately it held air long enough to travel 10km before using our pump to pump it up again. This was repeated every 10 kms. At the time this tyre blew I was checking to see what the noise was at the rear of the car, it turns out a shock absorber came loose and was out of action. No phones were working and our prayer increased to new levels. 40km into the trip home I noticed another tire was down and found a nail in it. Whilst this was happing in the bush at home the toilet cistern fell off the wall breaking the toilet bowl. The next day a fan belt broke 140km from our destination. I guess you are thinking we should maintain our car a little better, interestingly we had only got it back from the mechanic 3 weeks ago after he did a host of work including changing the shocks on the front.

The good news is that we got home safely, fitted a new loo and all is well, although I’m guessing the mechanic will not be glad to see me.

New opportunity

2010-05-21T19:01:00.000+10:00

We are currently praying where to send a group of Bible College graduates in our local area. We pray that they will strengthen existing churches or plant a healthy church to be a testimony in the area. We have a very strategic area close by, but it will be hard ground for them to break open. Please stand with us in prayer as we make the decision on how to approach this task.

ACCWM Exchange 2010

2010-05-21T01:19:00.000+10:00

I had a great experience at the African - Australian Exchange in Kenya last month. We had leaders from 9 African nations meeting together with Australians from a range of ministries including the Director of Australian Christian Churches World Missions, Australian and African church leaders, African missionaries, the Dean of a Bible College, a missioligist (a word for a clever missionary with a gift for strategic thinking) and many more.

In this company it is impossible not to be challenged to do more using smarter methods. I was challenged to be part of uniting the local African church which would enable us to provide training to more pastors at a reduced cost. I was well pleased that our focus on training was also the most pressing need felt by the African church.

Another area I felt challenged by was the lack of outreach activities displayed by the church in my area of Africa. Pastors in other parts of Africa have some wonderful projects that are helping the church reach their community. I suspect that at the heart of our lack lies financial restraints.

It is my prayer that the African church can be united with a focus on sharing biblical wisdom. Also that the local churches will have a vision that reaches out from within their walls into the community with the gospel and that these God given ideas will attract the funding required to becoming reality.

Communication blackout

2010-05-17T21:59:00.001+10:00

A fiber optic cable has been cut in Mozambique, as a result we have lost phone and internet. Word is all will be restored by the end of the month. We are all well. Greg and Kim

Sunday is coming

2010-04-01T18:07:00.001+10:00

Resurrection Sunday must be the most important day on the Christian calendar. It is the day that God chose to raise Jesus from the grave. This act gave us a way to restore our broken relationship with our father God.

On Friday Satan thought that he had defeated Jesus and he could not bring God’s Kingdom to earth. On resurrection Sunday Satan was shown the power of the kingdom of God. As Jesus was raised from the dead the full plan of God was revealed, Jesus died and took all of OUR punishment for the wrong things we do in our lives. We can now accept Jesus into our hearts and be assured of spending eternity with Him.

At times people try to destroy our work for God and think they have succeeded. In all ways it looks like we are beaten. When it looks as if the vision God has given you has been destroyed, remember that Sunday is coming.

Be blessed

Greg & Kim

Building Bridges

2010-04-01T18:04:00.000+10:00

During the last heavy rain, our bridge connecting both sides of the farm was washed out. Many workers spent days piling the rocks back into place and then covered it with loads of dirt. The water flows through the large rocks. Kim would like the road to be a little wider at the top as she thinks it is a little scary to drive over the top. I am happy just not having to take the long road around. We are grateful that there has been no more destructive rain since this bridge was repaired.

Greg & Kim

Power pole cut

2010-03-19T14:15:00.000+10:00

We had a sudden power cut after dinner, no surprise this is quite a regular occurrence.

The difference this time was that a truck had backed into a pole. Ok call the power supply company I hear you say, not so fast it was a pole on the farm so up to us to fix. One of the leaders called me to ask if I knew anything about fixing power poles. My reply was “we will make a plan”. Fortunately the wires got caught in a tree and held the pole up right. In the photo was our solution. We are now hoping nobody steals our rope one night.

Greg

Hospital

2010-03-17T15:44:00.000+10:00

Attached is a photo of the district hospital.

Each day this week I have been taking one of the team 10km to the hospital to get an injection. While I wait outside for him, many people recognize me and ask for a lift back to the village. You can’t waste a spare seat especially if it saves someone the bus fare back home.

Greg

Training the Trainers

2010-03-11T16:42:00.001+10:00

The wet season gave us a chance to catch up in the preparation of material for the leadership training. We are currently preparing the subject of effective preaching. We hope this will bless the leaders in the training with insights on how to effectively express the word of God each week.

Currently many of our mp3 players are in need of repairs. The upside of this is that they are being used so much that we need to maintain them. I hope to have solar panels for them this month which will take away most of the problems caused by constantly winding them to recharge the batteries.

I am so impressed by the enthusiasm of the trainers. Rand, who is with us this year to help school the children allowing Kim to help more in ministry, visited a church with me where the Pastor is part of our training programme. Her comment was that they were really glad to see us, she could tell we were friends not visitors.

Agriculture Assistance

2010-03-11T16:32:00.001+10:00

There is much land in Mozambique, and much of it is underused. 85% of people are living on small plots where they use hoes to prepare the ground to provide the entire food for the family. When they have surplus they are able to sell it to grain traders but then find they are short on food later in the same year.

We are situated on farmland 140km inland, where we are providing traction animal training to teach the local people to use oxen in helping them make better use of the land. This in turn will give people the opportunity to grow more crops providing food security in our location.

Traction animals

2010-03-05T17:44:00.001+10:00

We are now situated on a farm. One of our Agriculture projects is training people in the use of traction animals in agriculture. If people use oxen they can prepare more ground to plant crops in, increasing their food production and helping to raise the level of food security, meaning that food will remain in good supply all year round. At the moment food is in plentiful supply straight after harvest but soon runs dry, if the next crop fails we have instant famine. Its time to change this situation! Please pray for successful implementation as we help the people in this way.

Greg & Kim

Today

2009-12-27T16:15:00.001+10:00

What a great day, get to go to church shortly then having roast lamb for lunch with friends. I haven’t had lamb for a long time. I am looking forward to catching up with Kim and the kids on Skype before its bed time in Australia.

I read a nice email from Gabi this morning they are having fun on Nan and Pops farm, Thomas is riding the quad bike all by himself, bit of a worry it you’ve seen him on a push bike, brakes what brakes?

Had a very nice Christmas day with friends but missed the family, look forward to them coming home.

Greg

What's special about Christmas in Africa

2009-12-23T18:31:00.002+10:00

I asked a Mozambican what makes Christmas special for him.

The response “It’s good for our family to be together on this day to celebrate.”

I asked about traditions in his family on Christmas day.

“It is the one time of year my family has meat. We do not give each other gifts like other countries, but we have a big feast there is lots of food in my father's house.”

This is true there is lots of food in our Father's house yet this Christmas will come and go for some Africans who don’t get to enjoy the big feast. There are many children here without parents and many families without incomes. Some people will have a big feast yet go hungry in January because they spent all they have on the food for Christmas day.

I am blessed to be able to help many enjoy their day whilst celebrating the birth of the Saviour, yet I can’t help them all. Please pray for the people Africa, may they get to understand the real meaning of Christmas whilst getting to enjoy the festivities.

Greg

Coffee

2009-12-14T15:49:00.004+10:00

I was having a coffee with a friend and noticed with every sip he screwed up his face. I asked him what was wrong?

His reply, “I don’t like the taste.”

I asked “why do you drink coffee if you don’t like it?”

His reply, “It’s good for you.”

I asked, “why is it good for you?”

“Well” he said, “you white skins all drink it and it tastes so bad the only reason you would drink it is for its health benefits.”

This is a true story and points out a communication problem. My African friend was floored when I explained that I drink coffee because I like the taste and in fact coffee is not healthy at all. He had made an observation and come to a reasonable conclusion.

In the big scheme of things this misunderstanding had little negative effect but highlighted a bigger problem. When being a light we have to be conscious of where our light is pointing. People tend to hold more value in what they observe you doing than in what they hear you say.

Are you a doer of the word or a hearer only? How’s your impact?

Be blessed

Greg

Saturday

2009-12-12T17:06:00.001+10:00

Is it ok to cancel a day off because it's raining and I have work to do?
Ok - I wont cancel it, I will postpone it until the sun shines once again. I have 6 pages of editing on our latest MP3 recording then I can give it to the rural churches to use. Should get it done today. This time next week they will be using it, along with new books of the bible.
Isn't it great that for $35 we can give a church a bible, bible study course, worship music and sermons.
Join me as I pray for 100 of these mp3 players to use in Africa.
Greg

quote

2009-12-08T16:27:00.001+10:00

This quote is much like the previous one, only it is much older yet just as moden.

James 1:¹³And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, "God is tempting me." God is never tempted to do wrong,^* and he never tempts anyone else. ¹⁴Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. ¹⁵These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

(NLT Bible)

^*Or God should not be put to a test by evil people.

Thought for the day

2009-11-29T01:58:00.002+10:00

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.

~ Tryon Edwards

November News

2009-11-27T11:43:00.002+10:00

Church Planting—Plantando de Igreja

Our Bible College programme includes church planting subjects and because of a low level of literacy we have introduced mp3 players as a training aid. We have recently seen 8 churches planted by the 9 trainers. They are using the mp3 players to disciple believers in the new churches, as well as their own. This is very encouraging as they have taken hold of the need to disciple but continue to love to evanglise. What a winning combination.

We have seen our first cross cultural church plant, where Sena speakers have planted a church in a different language group. Using the Portuguese trade language they are able to disciple them effectively. Praise God for the mp3 players! One hiccup - would you believe I can't find an audio bible in African Portuguese. If you know where I can download one, please let me know as I would love to include it in our material.

The people love hearing the message in their own language. This month they are listening to the gospel of Matthew, as well as other teaching and preaching.

Church Visit—Visite a Igreja

A few weeks ago we visited a church of one of our trainers. Instead of reading from the bible during the sermon, I used a mp3 player to play Matthew 5:1-10 in the local language and with the help of an interpreter I expanded the verses. Then we sat under a mango tree and ate lunch as a group. In fact the mango tree also acted as the church. We were shown the new church building that the church members were working hard to build, the roof will be on and the building in use for our next visit. This is local people building churches in action.

The week after we visited this church I was returning from a journey and saw that a wind storm had passed by so we dropped in to see how our friends had fared, I was confronted by a missing house roof and a collapsed wall in the new church. I was able to assist by providing materials to quickly repair the damage.

Praise points:

We are very thankful for the recording equipment we are now using.
The rain we are having.
The opportunity for Gabi and Thomas to see family after 18 months.
The leaders being trained.

Please pray for:

Kim, Gabi and Thomas as they travel to Australia for Christmas to visit family.
Greg as he stays home alone.
The recording and translating work and the people involved in this project.
The trainers as they travel during the wet season.

Thanks for being a part of our work, may you be truly blessed

Rains

2009-11-22T17:03:00.000+10:00

This year our part of Africa is starting to receive good seasonal rain. We are hopeful that the main crop of maize can be planted in time for a great harvest.

Last year many people had to plant their maize 3 times due to a long dry spell followed by very heavy rains that washed the seed away. This year so far so good.

Elections

2009-11-18T22:21:00.001+10:00

Just a quick note to say the elections are over in Mozambique. The incumbent president is retaining power.

We had a very peaceful election, thank you for your prayers.

Elections

2009-10-28T22:42:00.001+10:00

Today is Election Day to decide the president of Mozambique. The current president is from the political party who has ruled the country from the time of Independence of colonial rule.

Incumbent President Armando Guebuza is running for re-election as the FRELIMO candidate; he is being challenged by opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama, who has stood as the RENAMO candidate in every presidential election since 1994. Also standing is Daviz Simango, the Mayor of Beira, who was a RENAMO member before founding his own party, the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), earlier in 2009.^[1]

Campaigning for the election began on 13 September 2009. There are 17 parties and two coalitions competing in the parliamentary election. Provincial assemblies are also at stake in the election.^[2]

Prior to the election, Guebuza was heavily favored to win another term, and RENAMO, mired in a bitter feud with Simango and the MDM, was thought to have been seriously weakened since the previous election, held in 2004. (Source: Wikipedia)

Please pray that the country remains peaceful and stable.

Prayer.

2009-10-13T21:44:00.000+10:00

We have just completed a 21 day fruit and vegetable fast. Why? We believe that prayer will change things and fasting helps prayer. We found that it has been an important time for us to have strong prayer and are thankful for fasting.

The church here really needs a touch from the Holy Spirit, we will continue to raise this as a prayer request Please, if you feel you would like to join us in prayer for Mozambique we would be grateful. For many of the people we work with our prayer is all they receive.

Points

● Christians to be discipled

● Churches to be planted in remote areas

● Communities to love their neighbour as themselves.

Pastor Training

2009-10-01T18:33:00.000+10:00

A group of church leaders in the training programme

In the past, churches reaching Africa with the Good News have been very salvation focused. The need for evangelism is great on this dark continent, where people live in fear of evil and ancestral spirits. The problem with focused evangelism without deep discipleship is that a weak church forms where people don't know what it really means to follow Christ. Many church leaders we meet have had very little discipleship training. Some may have participated in a weekend church planting course as their only biblical training. Then off they go with a certificate of participation to plant a church or some even start a new denomination.

Our ministry focus is to disciple and train these church leaders and we find that rural communities lack training the most. Many of these leaders are illiterate so the use of written material is of no help.

We are using mp3 players to assist teach a bible college course for rural leaders. We are currently preparing material in a small home recording studio and adding this to material already in use. Each mp3 player has portions of the bible, worship music, bible training and preaching. A player is given to a trained church leader to use with the goal of including neighboring church leaders in the programme.

Training Rural pastors

2009-09-30T20:40:00.000+10:00

This photo shows members of a remote local church where the leader is undertaking a bible course sponsored though our project. The insert is Pastor Micheque Vale who has poor reading and writing skills. Ps Micheque is well respected as a key leader in his church movement. Due to the nature of our project he is able to use a MP3 player to help him teach other local pastors. Ps Micheque has planted 3 new churches in the past few months and is training the leaders in a bible college course and giving them sermons to preach. They also are able to study the bible together in their local language, all using the MP3 player and material we have taught him.

September 2009 - Setembro 2009

2009-09-23T16:44:00.001+10:00

Train the Trainers—Formação de formadors
We are excited to have been given funds to introduce mp3 players into our training. We are training many leaders who are unable to read or write, so recording our training in mp3 format will help many more churches receive bible training. We are also able to add music, preaching and the bible in the local language. I am excited to know that leaders of churches in remote locations are listening to these machines over and over, getting filled with the word of God. At the moment we are recording material in a make shift studio, we hope this month to set up our own studio to enable us to record more efficiently. We now have 9 mp3 players in use helping groups of people to hear and learn the word of God.

Trainer with a mp3 player

Pastors seminar—Pastors seminãrio
An Australian friend, Ps Tosh Sturgess recently visited Africa to speak at a local seminar over 3 days. His visit was a huge blessing! Ps Tosh has been seeing a great number of miracles when he speaks so along with him we waited with expectation. On Sunday morning the seminar was over yet God had not moved the way we had hoped. Sunday afternoon we visited a small church with about 40 people in attendance, the atmosphere was wonderful! Tosh shared a good word and started to pray for all who were sick or suffering. Many were healed instantly. People with vision and hearing impairments saw immediate improvement. Headaches, breathing and stomach problems disappeared and I have also seen improvement in the health of a lady with AIDS and hope she is healed.
One gentleman who asked for prayer to cure TB did not receive the miracle of healing as he died a few days later, but he did receive the miracle of accepting Jesus. This means he was healed after death and will never suffer again. God’s plan is always better than our plan. Ps Tosh has a wonderful way of involving the church members as he prays for the sick so the next Sunday the church again saw people healed.
The following week I travelled into the bush and during a mid-week church meeting we prayed for 6 people who also received healing. God is fantastic when we put our trust in Him!

Seminar participants

Sunday afternoon church

Position Vacant—Oportunidade de Trabalho

We are encouraged by missionaries who are improving the training for doctors here. As a trained medical laboratory scientist Kim has been asked if she could volunteer in the pathology laboratory as the doctors undergoing training are wanting to raise the bar. We feel that this would be a great way to further assist the people.
As Kim is currently schooling Gabi and Thomas, a volunteer teacher is required. If you or someone you know has the skills and would like to visit us for 6-12 months as a volunteer teacher in 2010, using an Australian correspondence programme, please contact us via email.
Maybe this would suit someone having a gap year!!!

Prayer Focus-Foco de Oração

Please pray for:
For our recording studio to be completed and the correct people to help us record.
For ministry finances
For our health and safety.
For a volunteer teacher to help Gabi and Thomas, allowing Kim time to use her skills in a diagnostic laboratory.
For the people we are working with to have a God encounter, we are not wanting to tell people of God we are wanting them to meet Him.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We pray you are blessed without measure.

Greg & Kim

Shadow

2009-09-21T19:06:00.003+10:00

We have an additional member to our household. His name is Shadow a 10 week old pure bred mutt. He is one part Village mutt and one part Alsatian.

He gets the job description already and barks at anyone who enters the yard and has attempted to bite one visitor. A little bit of etiquette training is in order, he is good natured and I think he will receive training well.

The chicken seems a bit put out as she gets chased around the house first thing in the morning but Shadow is learning he needs to socialise with others, to get along.

Greg & Kim

In the garden - Machamba

2009-09-20T20:59:00.003+10:00

To Contact us

2009-08-23T19:40:00.003+10:00

To contact us: hartsforafrica@gmail.com
or
+61467 54 9977 whilst we are in Austrlia in 2011

To Partner with us please contact ACC World Missions

2009-08-22T18:07:00.002+10:00

E: field.services@wm.acc.org.au
Toll Free: 1800 555 301

About us

2009-08-22T18:05:00.001+10:00

Greg and Kim Hart have two children Gabi aged 7 and Thomas aged 5. We have been touched by the needs in South East Africa and have returned to fulfill God's work with the spreading of the Gospel to all people and to be a light to the world.

We believe discipleship is the way to help the world and that church planting should be done by locals.

Our role is to help equip them for the task. We enjoy seeing Africans building churches from local resources providing the example that can be repeated time and time again.

We are committed to seeing the African church demonstrating the love of Christ through community development. We see Agriculture and education projects as vital to helping the poor in Africa

Thank you for helping us to help others.

Please double click on the newletter to read

2009-08-06T15:34:00.005+10:00

Gabi and Thomas

2009-06-22T20:55:00.002+10:00

Gabi and Thomas love animals of all shapes and sizes. Some how they have managed to collect 3 tortoises and 2 chickens. The kids play with the chickens everyday, picking them up and patting them. The tortoises hide but it creates great excitement when one or more are found.

The road in and out

2009-06-22T20:53:00.003+10:00

With the constant coming and going the road got very dicey, even making a new track trough the swamp couldn't stop our friends from getting stuck.

Is this extreme evangelism?

Inhassoro

2009-06-22T20:50:00.003+10:00

A welcome hut at a lovely location in Inhassoro. The road was waterlogged in sections but well worth the journey.

This made a great place to stay when visiting the surrounding villages.

Small puddle

2009-06-22T20:41:00.004+10:00

It's nice to finally see the water dry up in our street. For the majority of this year we have driven through this puddle on our way to and from the house. The local streets around our house are mainly dirt (sand) with the exception of the main road. During the wet season the main road was chewed up in several places bad enough that each vehicle would search for a way through at a snail's pace. When you see the way people drive it is not so bad when we have to go slow.

We have seen an improvement in the road conditions over the last few years, most of the manhole covers are in place (great advantage to the average driver) and the street lights work more often than not. The amount of trafic on the street has also increased, with many of the drivers never travelling by car before they trained for their licence. The greatest influence on their driving skills would have been picked up from the local mini bus drivers, hey that explains a lot!

I definitely need more patience when indicators are not used, or the car in front of us decides to use the lane we are travelling in to park.

Easter Summit

2009-04-10T01:18:00.001+10:00

We are about to start our Easter summit. It is sure to be an encouragement to pastors and believers, attending a summit perhaps for the first time since becoming a Christian. For the people who have received Jesus into their life over the past 2 weeks they will be able to receive good teaching early in their Christian walk. Who knows they might even bring someone along to share this great news with. Now that would be an Easter gift!

Easter is so important to believers worldwide, this is the time we celibrate Jesus and his dealing with our separation from God, once and for all. His death on the cross opened a path that allows anyone who chooses to accept His forgiveness to have eternal life.

In Africa many people choose this time of year to be water baptised to coincide with the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. As a Christian to be baptised in water it is a sign that you are wanting to change from your old, sinful ways and to start again with a clean slate, ready to follow Jesus Christ with all you have.

Washing the dishes

2009-04-07T01:26:00.000+10:00

How would you like to have this type of kitchen "attached" to your house? This is common among Mozambican houses. People prefer to cook and clean outdoors as the houses are small and dark. Even many people with larger homes cook outside, maybe its a way to avoid the heat or it could be out of habit.