Fairly new still in Mozambique

 

Time has flown by since my last update. Andrew's visit went well. We managed to sort out how we will operate as a team as well as progressing our individual assignments. Andrew arrived after travelling for almost 20 hrs and immediately helped me load up the car to move the last of my things. A couple of days later we all went to Manica (west) to meet church leaders there. We heard how there are six churches with only three pastors in a province the size of Portugal. The church leaders are in need of training (most only went as far as P7). They seem to be doing the right things as far as evangelising and then discipling people but have been praying that more help would come. They also told us that the people in their rural congregations have many needs, with food security being one of them. BMS hopes to send personnel in the future to develop new work, teaching rural congregations how to share the gospel using Farming God's Way. This is a programme where the gospel is shared through talking about creation at the same time as teaching people how to grow produce to feed themselves. We are praying that God will confirm if it is right for us to work in the province of Manica. 

After Andrew crossed the border into Zimbabwe we returned to Beira and participated in the Baptist Convention's General Assembly where we were presented to the church during one of the sessions. We also attended a Mission Night where we heard about the mission of the national church. We felt very humbled to see the conditions that the Mozambican missionaries (sent out to church plant)  were living in. It feels right to be here working with a young church (45 years old) that has very little structure in place or funds to do things but has a real heart for the people of Mozambique. Please pray for wisdom as we seek to help this church through supporting and training workers. 

I've now got more of a weekly routine. On Mondays and Thursdays I meet Carlos to discuss our plans and review what we've done at home.  On Tuesday mornings I attend an English speaking bible study group which I value very much. The rest of the week is spent working from home on BMS admin work and things for my work with Carlos (when I'm not dealing with things that come up and need seen to!). Carlos and I hope to have our first Project Management Training Course here in Beira during the first week in October so we're busy working on that as well as gathering statistics about the area which we will use when it comes to puting our first project proposals together. Please pray that the right individuals will be selected by their churches. There are eight churches in Beira and each church will be asked to send two people.

Thank you for your support. I value it very much.

Here is a photo from the recent ladies conference







Fiona Welsh