Daniel's newsletter last
month proved to be tremendously popular. Many thanks to
those people who took the time to write and let him know how
much they had enjoyed reading his view of life with the 'old
man'. He somehow managed to survive the final couple of
weeks of bachelor living and has since been reunited with
his favourite cook not to mention his noisy brothers. I
won't bore you with all the details of our last month in
Tete. Suffice to say that we managed to pack up our
belongings, clear out our house, settle all the bills, find
a home for our dog, make our farewells, etc. We also
squeezed in a couple of evangelistic events, photos of which
can be found elsewhere on this website. Look out for the
photo of our Daniel narrating a Bible story while standing
on top of a much-abused loudspeaker - definite echoes of
like father, like son.
For our final weekend Dan and I returned to the bush for the
annual Elim conference. Our accommodation wasn't exactly
five-star: if you were lucky, it was a bamboo mat under a
lean-to grass roof; if not, then it was pick any patch of
sandy ground and hope for the best. Not that it really
mattered because no one intended to sleep that much anyway.
On the Saturday night I screened an excellent movie in the
local dialect that combined Bible teaching with expert
agricultural advice on how to get the most from one's
fields. Afterwards I decided rather naively to grab an early
night, only to discover that the 400 delegates were
determined to dance the night away to the accompaniment of a
dozen or so big wooden drums. Funnily enough, there were
quite a few suppressed yawns in church the following
morning.
Mozambique wasn't about to let us disappear without throwing
at least one spanner in the works. The day before our
scheduled departure, the national airline opted to cancel
our flight. Most of our fellow passengers only discovered
this when they arrived at the airport leading to a great
deal of agitation in the departures lounge. After three
hours of total chaos we were all squeezed on to another
flight. Some 27 hours and one missed connection later, Dan
and I finally staggered through the front door of our new
house in Gloucester, thoroughly exhausted but delighted to
be back together with our family.
Do you know that bit in the cinema when your movie suddenly
rewinds to some important scene in the distant past? Maybe
it's all shot in black and white or it's accompanied by the
squeaking sound of tape being wound at high speed. In your
mind's eye then travel back in time with us to July 2001.
Sharon and I had just returned to Zimbabwe after a seven
year absence. We were accompanied by three of our sons,
Samuel being at that stage but a twinkle in his father's
eye. Sharon was going to practise medicine in a mission
hospital, while I was to provide leadership and Sunday
School training for the Elim churches. Here then are some
excerpts from that first newsletter:
"Our final
days in Manchester had us desperately trying to balance
what remained of our possessions against an unforgiving
baggage allowance of 150kg. As we wheeled our three
trolleys (!!!) to the check in desk, we were greeted
with the news that we were some 80kg over our limit...
Baby Nathanael has probably been the most disturbed. He
caught a cold the first day and was quite unsettled at
night. He has also been unusually fussy about the
different foods that we have offered him. We have had a
few tears out of Josiah and Daniel, as they come to
terms with the fact that their friends are now thousands
of miles away...
The good news is that the house in Bonda is a large one
with five bedrooms and a good-sized lounge. The bad news
is that it is virtually a shell. The white walls and
bare cement floors are in urgent need of beds, curtains,
chairs, desks, cooker, fridge, cupboards, you name it.
The result of this is that we are still living with
friends in Harare and Mutare until the house has at
least a few of these essentials.
"
Many years have passed since and
we now find ourselves once more in the UK. Josiah and Daniel
are attending an excellent grammar school in Gloucester;
Samuel and Nathanael, after a lengthy delay, have been
admitted to a nearby primary school. All four lads are
enjoying being back in school although the older two are
quite perturbed by the lackadaisical attitude of so many of
their classmates. Five years of home school have
taught our boys to study and to enjoy learning more about
the world. We only hope that they won't pick up too many bad
habits from their peers!
I find it hard not to get angry about the way the medical
authorities in Mozambique messed my wife around. Back in
2001 the equivalent agency in Zimbabwe took only six weeks
to approve her to work as a doctor. But the bureaucrats in
Maputo lost her papers twice and then found one fault after
another with her application. My heart goes out to the tens
of thousands of men and women who were denied the services
of an able and compassionate doctor because of the
intransigence of their leaders. Moreover as Sharon hasn't
been able to work as a doctor for the past five years, she
now needs to get revalidated with the medical authorities in
England. To achieve this, she has to sit a couple of exams
in December and January followed by working for some time
under supervision.
For the next couple of months I hope to be on the road
visiting a number of churches and talking about Mozambique.
If you would like to book us, please email Christina Barron
at Elim International Missions on
christina.barron@elimhq.net or telephone her on 01684
588940. For a taster of these presentations, click on the
following picture that will play our latest YouTube
production, a compilation of our ten favourite video clips
from our time in Mozambique. It's a great video and a good
summary of our life and ministry over the past five years.
The Elim work in Mozambique has moved on to a new phase.
Please remember Mario Chataica as he faces the challenge of
pastoring our city church and Joao Cafuliza as he heads up
the national work.
Our plan is to continue to help our churches there complete
the transition to becoming thoroughly independent.
We recognise that Elim in Mozambique has reached the point
where our continued presence could easily become a handicap
rather than a help. Although no one wanted us to leave and
indeed many begged us to extend our stay, we honestly
believe that it's far better at this stage that the national
leadership assume complete responsibility for the work of
God.
We will continue to help them to talk through
their experiences, both good and bad. We would love to see
people visiting, getting involved in projects, and
partnering in practical ways with their brothers and sisters
in Mozambique.
Let me end with a quick word about money. Elim Missions will
continue to pay me a salary until the end of January. But in
order for them to do so, we still need individuals and
churches to support us financially. Details of how to do
this can be found in the Downloads section
of this website. We would love to hear
from people and hopefully we'll manage to see a good number
of folks during our forthcoming church visits.
In closing thank you once again for standing alongside us
during our ministry first in Zimbabwe and later on in
Mozambique. The missionary life can be tough but we thank
God for the many who have partnered with us in prayer, in
visits, in letters of encouragement, and in financial
contributions.
Pray for us. Pray also for Mozambique.
Gregory and Sharon Kane
Elim International Missions
Prayer Requests
Pray for a number of our
Mozambican leaders as they take the work of God forward:
for Joao as he heads up the national work; for Mario as
he pastors our international church; for Araujo as he
takes on responsibility for our distance learning
programmes; for Jaime as he oversees the use of the
Saber MP3 Bible teaching programme; for Edinah as she
heads up the women's work
We haven't yet managed
to sell our car back in Mozambique. Please pray for
Charles Nwoke as he does this for us. Selling a car is
that bit more difficult in Tete as there aren't any
local newspapers or noticeboards or even websites on
which to advertise
Pray for our boys as
they settle into life in England. Pray that they would
excel in school and that they would make friends. Daniel
in particular has the challenge of learning German and
Spanish, neither of which he has previously studied
Pray for Sharon as she
prepares for her revalidation exams. Pray also that she
would locate a suitable medical practice willing to
supervise her
And pray for Gregory as
he travels round various churches talking about
Mozambique
Finally pray for us as a
family as we settle into Gloucester, that we would make
friends and that God would make clear the plans that he
has for us
Sharon's Joke of
the Month
Out of the Home
While I was dining out with my children, a man came over to our
table, and we started talking.
He asked where my kids go to school. I told him we home-schooled
them.
With a raised eyebrow, he asked if my husband is the sole
breadwinner for our family. I said, "No, I also work ... out of our
home."
Then, noticing our two-month-old son, he mentioned that his daughter
had just had a baby, and he wondered what hospital our son was born
in. "He was born at home," I answered.
The man looked at me, then said, "Wow, you don't get out much, do
you?"
Gregory's Quote of
the Month
"I believe in Christianity as I
believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but
because by it I see everything else."
