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| Esther's Grad from High School - Way to God Mom (teacher)! |
God has filled our hearts with extreme gratitude for Esther and her being able to be a part of the MPE high-school graduation. Even though we could not attend, we were there in spirit, and she heard a 30 second recorded blessing from us to her. Yeah!
A Makua woman confided in our missionary friend that the Makua people never give unless they will get something in return. Their dependency/poverty mindset is, “if you have something and I don’t, then you OWE it to me!” Recently Antonio went out to the rural churches to talk about starting the orphanage with his salary money. They were ASTOUNDED! “Antonio, you earned this money! Why would you give away your hard earned pay to someone who could never repay you!?” they questioned. Gov't leaders also questioned. He read to them Deuteronomy 8:17-18 which I’d shared with him. “Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is HE who gives you power to get wealth…” This really challenged their whole worldview. It is God’s Word which transforms lives! They are now giving of themselves to prepare the property for children, farming, and trainings.
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| Joy in the Lord among newly saved! |
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| Jesus movie - standing room only! |
Our translator watched the Christian movie “Courageous” last week, and said it called him to a whole new level of personal holiness. You may remember in “Courageous” that one Christian police man exposes the corruption of another police friend. In Mozambique, everyone knows that all police are compromised and corrupt; demonstrated in the following.
1. Our neighbor’s little store was ransacked and all goods stolen. He went to report it to the police when he saw his goods being distributed among the police at their headquarters.
2. Thieves are known to pay police to be in a different area while the thieves rob their intended target.
3. One of our workers once considered becoming a police, and his non-Christian relative said that if he did, he would never be the same – i.e. become corrupt.
4. A medical missionary here, was teaching students at the university here in Nampula. She just quit suddenly, and you’ll see why. The students practice on a long line of people that come each day to be treated. Each patient pays a small fee for treatment and the government subsidizes the rest. The policy is that if any student requires the patient to pay them for services, they will be expelled from school. Well the teacher KNOWS that each student is requiring additional money from the patients, thus only treating them if they receive the “bribe” money. Knowing the school policy, the missionary teacher requested a Mozambican Christian friend and lawyer to come give a lecture to the students on the subject of integrity and the laws. Upon requesting permission from the Director of the program to allow the lecture, the Director totally rejected the idea, saying it was not needed at all (thus the teacher's reason for resigning her position there).
Where is GODLY COURAGE? INTEGRITY? SIMPLE HONESTY? TRANSPARENCY? Few see it or even believe it is possible!
The Makua have a huge vocabulary, being an oral culture. But is it any wonder that the Makua language does not have the word “honesty”? Their only parallel word is “trustworthy”, but in a culture rife with bribes and corruption, if a person won’t betray the evil the other does, then they also are trustworthy. So what meaning does the word really have? Lord help us!
We praise God for the sweet incense of prayers arising from your hearts to His Throne,
Daniel and Melissa
