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Gregory's Turn to write
How long does it take you to get to church on a Sunday
morning? Maybe half an hour? I don't think there are too
many people who would relish taking nine hours to drive to
church. Yet that's more or less what we had to do this
month. Most of our churches lie within two hours of Tete,
but we also have a congregation in the port city of Beira on
the eastern coastline of Mozambique. With the journey being
such an ordeal (we're talking miles and miles of pot holes!)
we arranged to spend a week with the church, to run some
evangelistic events, and to provide loads of training and
encouragement.
While we were all down on the coast, we took ourselves off
for a week and relocated to a quiet fishing village a few
hours south of Beira. If we weren't being beaten at
Monopoly, then we were lazing on the sandy beach or scaring
the local crows with our acrobatic penguin kite. We had no
access to email and our mobile phones stayed switched off.
But the break gave us a well-needed chance to recharge our
physical and emotional batteries. We also got to sample a
load of seafood that isn't normally available in hot, arid
Tete, including crab, prawns, squid, lobster and mussels.
And let me assure you that none of the above came pre-packed
in a plastic bag from the supermarket! You can find a
selection of our holiday snapshots on the Photo page of this
website under August 2009.
A lot of people emailed to say how much they enjoyed reading
Josiah and Daniel perspectives on life and ministry in
Mozambique. A number also commented with some amusement at
Dan referring to me as a bear with a sore head. The chief
reason for my grizzly temperament is that for the past month
I have had to contend with a messy issue in one of our
churches. Without going into all the details, suffice to say
that our executive council has had to dismiss one of our
most senior pastors for blatant immorality. I needed to step
in to look after the man's church and at one point I
literally had a riot on my hands. But thank God we have
weathered the storm, the man has stepped aside, and the
congregation has elected to remain within the Elim movement.
Some of you may recall that prior to our coming out to
Mozambique, we spent a total of five years working with our
Elim churches in neighbouring Zimbabwe. I believe
passionately that the call to missionary service should be
the responsibility of the church in every nation. There is
no compelling reason why Christians in Europe and the US
should be the only ones to send out missionaries. To this
end I have been keen to build on the relationships we have
with church leaders in Zimbabwe, imploring them to reach out
into Mozambique and to send in their own evangelists,
teachers and church planters. Over the past few years Sharon
and I have received a number of short-term teams from our
sister churches in Zimbabwe. We have been thrilled to see
the growing excitement of our Zimbabwean visitors as their
eyes are opened to the opportunities that exist within this
gospel-starved nation of Mozambique. So it was with great
joy that we recently hosted a visit from Devaris Mutukumira,
an evangelist and church leader from Elim in Zimbabwe, who
is keen to spearhead a missionary outreach into Mozambique.
Devaris came to Tete on a fact-finding mission, spending a
long weekend with us, before reporting back to the national
leadership in Zimbabwe. We have since heard that they are
ready to put all this talk into practice and start a church
plant sometime in October. The town chosen is called Manica.
It's a six hour drive from where we are but it lies
conveniently near to the Zimbabwean border. We look forward
with great excitement to hearing how events unfold over the
coming months.
There's so much more than we could write about, stuff that
is the bread and butter of ministry, the training and the
gospel work, the visitation of churches and the mentoring of
leaders. But let me make one quick reference to our mosquito
net distribution project. Sharon has been busy laying the
groundwork for this latest round of net distribution,
targeting two of the rural communities where we have an Elim
presence. Over the coming month Sharon will give health
talks on the danger of malaria and will distribute hundreds
of nets to the most vulnerable in these areas. Please
remember Sharon in this practical and life-saving work as
last year she was nearly mobbed at the one of the
distribution points.
And of course our big news is that in just a couple of days
our fifteen-year-old son, Josiah, will leave us to go to
boarding school in nearby Malawi. It has been a joy as well
as a challenge taking him thus far in his education through
the home school process. Yet we recognise that in order to
achieve good grades in his GCSEs, he needs a more formal
learning environment. In saying that, Josiah sat two
external GCSEs back in May, a year earlier than would be
normal, and he has been awarded an A* for Mathematics and an
A grade for Religious Studies. So if that isn't a
recommendation for home school, then I don't know what is!
Did you know that we're hoping to host a team of young
people next year starting in January for a period of between
3 and 6 months? The reason I mention this is that up to now
we have only had one proper application as well as one other
enquiry. So if you know any young people who might be
interested in coming out to Africa on a sort of Gap
experience, please ask them to get in touch with Elim
Missions at
mandy.campbell@elimhq.net or as appropriate through the
Irish missions office. We guarantee an experience that they
will never forget.
And before we go, don't miss the brand new section below in
which we showcase some of our Mozambican leaders. This month
we feature Samuel Mitivo who co-pastors our Tete city church
with us and who heads up our national youth programmes.
We've even included a photo so that as you pray for him you
can feel that you know this godly man just that little bit
more.
Grace to you
Gregory and Sharon
Kane
Elim International Missions
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Prayer Requests |
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- Keep on praying for our
health, protection and safety as a family. We never take
this for granted. Our vehicle was involved in two minor
collisions this month. Thankfully no one was hurt and
these have been repaired, but they serve as a poignant
reminder of our need for prayer in this area
- Pray for the new
mosquito net distribution programme that's due to start
in September
- Thank God for Josiah's
excellent exam results and pray for him as adjusts to
boarding school in Malawi. Pray also for Daniel,
Nathanael and Samuel as they continue to learn at home
- Pray for the church
plant in Manica that is scheduled for October and which
will be initiated and overseen by the Elim churches of
Zimbabwe
- Don't forget to read the
feature on Samuel Mitivo below and use the description
as a basis for further prayer
- Thank God for the eleven
individuals who have taken out monthly standing orders
to support us in our ministry on an ongoing basis. Pray
that they would know the favour the God as they release
us through their giving
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Meet
some of our leaders |
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Meet Samuel Lazaro Mitivo.
He grew up in a village in the area near Samoa where most of
our Elim churches are to be found. Two years ago Samuel
planted a church in the village of Chikwawa, nurturing and
inspiring the believers so that they went on to construct
their own church building out of brick. Samuel was later
appointed to the national executive with special
responsibility for the youth department, a duty that sees
him travelling constantly between our districts, providing
ongoing training and encouragement for youth leaders.
Earlier this year I invited Samuel to move into the city and
co-pastor our International church so that I could mentor
him more closely and grant him a valuable experience of
urban ministry. Come the end of October, we will release
Samuel to plant a brand new church in one of the suburbs of
Tete and I have every confidence that he will do a great
job.
Samuel is married to Ruth and they have two young children. |
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Sharon's Joke of
the Month |
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Three Little Pigs
One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of the
Three Little Pigs to her class. She came to the part of the
story where the first pig was trying to accumulate the
building materials for his home.
She read, "And so the pig went up to the man with the
wheelbarrow full of straw and said, 'Pardon me sir, but may
I have some of that straw to build my house?'"
The teacher paused then asked the class, "And what do you
think that man said?"
One little boy raised his hand and said, "I think he said,
'Holy Toledo, a talking pig!'"
The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes. |
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Gregory's Quote of
the Month |
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"The ultimate measure of a man is not
where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he
stands at times of challenge and controversy."
- Martin Luther King |
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