Blessed!

Hello Dear Friends,

Our written training resources are continuing to bear fruit in Mozambique, praise the Lord.  Two missionaries wrote the following since we left...


S.I.L./Wycliffe Center Missionary:
We miss you guys. I showed some new missionaries your materials.  They loved them and say they will most certainly use them and said that I must greet you and they that they love the materials. I agree. They cried when they looked at the one video clip. Your materials will be a blessing to many. Be encouraged, your work here was not in vain.

Colin & Jenny Ayling:
I also wanted to just say I had a great women’s meeting last Thursday.  We had decided we’d work through your manual [the 16 keys for new life in Jesus]. The first one went great!! The team leading it first acted out the Zacchaeus story and then the ladies went into groups to act it out too ... for us it works better than just telling the story ... Good revelation...and LOTS of fun too!!

If you didn't see these resources before, click on the following link:
http://www.beatoday.org/Novos_Caminhos_Makuas.htm

It's taken a long time to get our house repaired after damage from the renter, who finally agreed to move out when we offered more money, but praise God we're in and no longer living out of suitcases as of today!  We are grateful for all those helped us with housing, repairs, and cleanup, food...!!!

We also were very blessed at the Colorado Sonscape Retreat for missionaries and pastors the first week of November.  In addition to the group teaching times, we benefited from three (1 & 1/2 hour) counseling sessions with Mike and Sandy Shafer.  They said that, having helped many over the years, we had been through more stress than anyone else they knew.  They said that after getting settled into the house we needed to get some real downtime to recuperate.  So, please pray with us as we take the next few weeks to get out of town and to seek the Lord for new direction in either missions or software engineering...  We hope to be in touch with you again by late January.

We have sure enjoyed time with our family!  Hannah is doing better.  Please pray that her kidney function will raise above the current 37%. Elijah and Esther are VERY happy to be back in our house, and we've done much to fix up their rooms.  Elijah shot a deer this year, so we're enjoying his meat!

Thanks for your generous support and prayers!

Have a MERRY Christmas remembering Christ's Birth,

Daniel & Melissa and family

October 30th Update From Contacts Available on our Phone

Hi Dear Friends,

We sooo appreciate you remembering us in your prayers. The renter in our house did move out. After some fix-up, we hope to be in by Thanksgiving. We have a wonderful brother helping us with unexpected repairs.

Today we began our marriage conference week. Please pray for God's healing and strengthening for continued ministry as God leads.

We love you,
Daniel and Melissa

Hello Dear Friends,

Hallelujah!  What a Savior!  Jesus has been working in your lives and has certainly been here with us. 

Recently Melissa and I made our last trip to train rural church leaders and their wives. About 60 were able to attend.  The brothers and sisters there were very overwhelmed with gratitude for the teaching.  Check out some of the videos of this time at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4uga2zUjKrDZmfWuoQ6_Xw?feature=guide.  We spent the first day covering essential elements of God’s Good News.  They were excited to hold their own copy of the Makua  Bible materials that I wrote and had translated.  The second day we covered several key marriage topics.   There was a lot of giggling and joy as we led them in a practice round of the couples looking into each other’s eyes and asking one another for forgiveness.  To our astonishment, none of them had ever before said that they were wrong or said to their spouse that they were sorry.  Many expressed great sorrow when we told them about our need to leave Mozambique.  We felt like Paul leaving the Ephesian elders in Acts 19.  We shared many tears together, knowing we may never see each other again until heaven.  The parting hugs were sweet!

The thrilling memory of Martin Luther, busy at his press, came to our minds as we spent several weeks printing the over 400 pages of Portuguese materials developed during these last five years along with the translation into Makua.  The Lord blessed us to distribute this to many church leaders/missionaries and to several key missions with training centers for pastors so that the teaching is available to study, copy, and distribute freely.  Makua resources are as rare as hen’s teeth, so we received many heartfelt thanks to pass on to you who have sustained us during this labor of love.  See all the resources you were a part of creating at www.beatoday.org/Novos_Caminhos_Makuas.htm

We fly out of Nampula tomorrow, Tuesday morning, to arrive in KC late Thursday, Lord willing.  Please pray for us as we still have a busy schedule when we arrive back.

·         October 1^st -  8^th: Purchasing a vehicle.  

·         Oct 8^th - 15:  Traveling to a missionary debriefing and resting in Indiana.

·         Oct 15^th…:  Finding a place to rent until next August (unless the man renting our Leavenworth home changes his mind and exits the lease early so that we could live there:)

·         Oct 22^nd – Nov 8^th: Traveling to Arizona for a big reunion of Melissa’s family then traveling to Colorado for a marriage renewal week for missionaries and pastors.

·         Getting Elijah and Esther settled.  Elijah is still not sleeping at night after the attempted robbery.

·         Enjoying  our family and grandchildren…

We praise God for the many wonderful friends we have made and will continue to keep, both in the U.S. and in Mozambique.

We love you,

Daniel & Melissa Maddux

With Elijah and Esther

www.beatoday.org

Greetings from Nampula,

   Thank you so much for all your prayers during these extremely stressful recent events!  God is Faithful and has continued to take care of His little ones.  We hired an armed guard for nights and have met with two individuals here to help us process Monday night's happenings with the robbers attempting to enter our home, among other components of our lives here.  It is still quite difficult to sleep at night, so we ask for you to remember us in prayer in this regard, especially in this first week or so.

   One of the missionaries we met with stated that we have taken some healthy steps in response, and that was very encouraging to hear.    There are many factors we have been considering about our ministry here, family needs, and increasing violent crimes in this country.   After a lot of prayer, advice, and processing, we believe that God is leading us to make a permanent shift from Mozambique back to the United States by the end of September.  We will be spending these next two months here focused on final trainings and distribution of the materials we have written in Portuguese and translated into Makua.  Would you graciously consider holding us up with prayer and financial support for 6 months beyond our return as we transition and search for employment from October through March.  

   I was talking today with our dear brother Antonio, the evangelist, about our decision to return to the U.S..  Through his tearful response, he told me that his commander in the civil war here used to say to his troops, "To retreat is not to give up, but simply to take up a new position."  He also encouraged us with his certainty that God's fire is burning in our hearts and that God is simply changing our field of ministry.

   Aren't these verses really cool from Isaiah?  (35:2b-4)
     They will see the glory of the Lord,
     The Majesty of our God.
     Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
     Say to those with anxious heart,
     "Take courage, fear not,
     Behold, your God will come with vengeance;
     The recompense of God will come,
     But He will save you."

Blessings in the Name of the Most High,
Daniel & Melissa Maddux

Hi!

“How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!”  Ps 133:1.  The leaders of the church who meet on our property felt they needed to get together once a month as couples because of the lack of trust between them.  For their second encounter, we’ve invited them for popcorn and the movie, “Grace Card”, which has been translated into Portuguese.


Training at rural church

Friday, July 20th, marked the beginning of the Muslim month of Ramadan fasting and prayers for world domination.  Missionaries throughout Africa and the Middle East sense the intensified spiritual conflict during this time.  In addition to that, a colleague here who has lived in multiple open African countries over the years said, “The demonic pressures on missionaries in Mozambique are more intense.”  The enemy is well aware of the powerful Gospel message that God has blessed us to complete and to be translated into Makua.  His attempts to discourage us with attacks to our most vulnerable areas have caused us to re-evaluate our strategy for dealing with stress here. 
For example, I spent a full week investigating our mission property’s constant power failures.  We had a few sporadic hours to run the refrigerator and check e-mail.  The hired “expert” told me that because of my trouble-shooting abilities, I could teach at the tech school in town. It’s astounding how we take for granted basic life skills that most Mozambicans don’t have.



On orphanage property.

Our dear brother, Antonio, came to me recently for advice on reaching out to a leper colony near the orphanage property he recently purchased.  The desire and initiative he has shown in ministering to his own people is very profound and extremely rare.  Please remember him and his wife, Rabia, in your prayers as they continue to grow as leaders here.  Also remember our trips to the rural churches.


Building a chin-up bar for Hercules...

God is providing for our needs in allowing Elijah to be with us and for Esther to return to Mozambique in a few weeks.  Please pray for us as we balance the needs for ministry and family.


We are SOOO grateful for you remembering us before our Father.  An excellent book that is fortifying our faith is Philip Yancey’s ‘Disappointment with God’.

Hugs,
Daniel and Melissa Maddux
with Elijah and Esther

One of Africa's beautiful creations of God

Hi Dear Friends,   Greetings in the Precious Name of Jesus!

Esther's Grad from High School - Way to God Mom (teacher)!

We have wonderful news.  Our son, Elijah, is going to spend some months with us in Mozambique.  He really desires this.  May the Lord strengthen our family bond and give him spiritual encouragement!

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.

Joy in the Lord among newly saved!

Jesus movie - standing room only!

We praise God for our recent trip to work with rural church leaders and young ones coming to Christ!  God blessed us so much.  The children were a delight.  14 adults were added to the Lord in an already established church in Capernaum.  We also saw the land that will house the future orphanage that Antonio and Rabia bought and where future leadership trainings will be held.  What a blessing!  When they requested to purchase the land, the owner asked for $2000, but because it is for an orphanage and Antonio grew up as a king in the area, the Lord moved the heart of the owner to only ask for $200 for this incredible 7+ acre prime land.

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

Dear ones,

We desperately need your prayers!  Because of incredible heart changes occurring here in Mozambique and the potential for more (more on that later), demonic forces are not happy and we ARE under attack.  We praise our Lord for protection and we need your earnest prayers!

Door thieves tried to bust

Just a few hours ago, at 2 a.m., Melissa and I were awakened when we heard the young missionary couple living in the house right next to ours screaming to us for help. I ran out the door when the wife said thieves were breaking in so I quickly retreated back again behind my locked door, looking through the external metal door's screen.  Eight (8!) men with machetes and a crowbar were beating down their door and demanding money from them. Through the metal re-bar door, one thief had managed to put a minor cut in the husband's hand while he was trying to protect his family.  The dogs just stood at a distance and barked, while our single night guard with his machete could do nothing.  I immediately shouted out that we were calling the police and then called another missionary friend who drove like Jehu into the police station and showed up with police 40 minutes later.  The thieves, who were probably waiting to see if our threat was real, scattered back through the hole they cut in the fences and out into the darkness of the neighborhood.  Needless to say, that family packed up their 4 young children and finished the night at the larger walled in missionary compound next door.  

One missionary just informed me that last year, gun-armed thugs were making their rounds in our city among foreigners to steal and devastate.  In the early 90's , our own Good News for Africa missionary colleague in the capitol, Maputo, was shot to death in his home in front of his family by thugswho supposedly heard he'd withdrawn money that day.  It seems that now in Nampula things are escalating for those who do not have armed guards.  I'll be making trips to the bush and cannot leave Melissa here alone with a simple guard.  Dan & Robin Been, our colleagues who will be moving onto the property in June to the house that was just attacked, have five children, and are super concerned.  They said they will now be writing their supporters asking for funds to hire armed guards.  Though we don't know at this moment what that will cost, my guestimate from previous info is $1000 to $1500 per month.  Splitting that cost of armed guards between us would mean we need $500 to $750 extra per month per family to handle this.  Could you bring this need before your churches and pray about how you might help? 

Evangelist Antonio with his relative's kids in his care.

So, before I mention the spiritual attacks on our family, I want to talk a little about the great victories we are experiencing that are angering the enemy.  Can you imagine giving up 1/2 of your income to start an orphanage and Christian Training Center?  When we got back, our main evangelist, Antonio told us the following...  In 2005 he spent months chasing all the paperwork to give the gov't so that he could receive monthly military pay for having fought in the civil-war (1975-1992) here.  He has friends to this day whose paper-work is buried in some heap in the capitol and have received no funds!  Yet, in 2005 after two months, he heard that the person sitting at the desk processing his papers just happened to have someone from Nampula here show up who knew Antonio to be a respectable guy and so, right then, his application was approved.  He makes $100 a month working for us here and lives off that (unbelievable isn't it!) and he receives another $100 a month for his military pay.  He now is starting to use all his military pay to enlist the help of the churches he helped to plant in order to start an orphanage and training center (youth, marriage, church leadership...)  Wow! His wife is one with him in this.  And this is the fellow that during our first term came to me a number of times with a poor person's mindset of, "I'm a nobody and have nothing, so others need to give me money to do ministry" thinking like everyone else I know in Mozambique.  So many times, by God's grace, I've poured into him God's greatness, His promises, ... and he came away with a new perspective.  This weekend he and his wife are buying the property out in the bush near those churches.

Meal with church leader from the bush visiting us.

There is sooo much more I could tell you!!!  Heart changes even this last month in people we're working with!  God is going to move more and more.  With the trips to the rural church networks and trainings in the grace, freedom, and power our Lord purchased for us (Col 2:12-15), we couldn't be more bug-eyed than we already are!  Pray that the enemy will not be able to sabotage the ministry and that the Lord will move on in power on these trips out.

Now, with all that going on, we believe the enemy is seeing the fruit!  And more fruit to come.  Beginning last week, it seems that each person in our family came under some kind of spiritual attack.  My previous Saturday and Sunday were very discouraging.  I could not figure it out.  Prayer was difficult.  Monday, woke up, prayerful, and pressed on in faith and received victory. It's been one of the most blessed weeks in my life. (We're also very thankful that Hannah's health has been much better.)  But, each one in our family had some similar experience or something that greatly agitated their life, even bringing great doubts of faith in God in one quite vulnerable who is careening on the precipice. We are quite concerned.  When we were there, we could easily spend an hour talking with our children through whatever came up and they'd leave built up and encouraged in the Lord.  Now!? When we're on the front line here, what do we do dear brothers and sisters except pray with tears and faith!?  The 7 hours later difference makes it very difficult to talk via skype at the best times for them when they're off work etc.  We're sleeping when they're home from work and available in the evening.  Because of these things, we feel we must empty our only personal CD at our bank and bring both Elijah and Esther here for at least two months to pour into them, and strengthen them, probably as never before.  I would make the trips to the bush still and they would go with us, but would cancel the ongoing fun but time-intensive translation work while they're here.  So, yet again, we present another need to you, if you feel a desire to help cover some of the airfare to get Elijah and Esther here, we'd continue to be forever grateful.

"Sovereign Lord, hear the threats of the enemy and do what you have pre-determined and now give us courage to tell others about Jesus and may You stretch out your hand through Jesus to do marvelous things!"  (the gist from Acts 4:23-31)

Thank you for joining us in prayer,

Daniel and Melissa Maddux