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

March Update

Springtime greetings from Nampula land,

Gito, Henriques, and Daniel translating Gospel presentation.

REJOICING IN HIS WORK       When we returned last month I began meeting  with Henriques daily to study through the Gospel presentation I’d written during our first term.   My desire was for him to assist in translation work.  He is the younger brother of Antonio, our main evangelist.  His teachable heart was apparent from the beginning although he was stuck in his thinking that he was a pretty good person and that he could somehow keep enough commandments in order for God to overlook his sins.   After several days of reading together God’s direction in the Bible, he still did not grasp the gravity of his sin nor the highest payment Jesus made on his behalf.  I asked him to read chapters on Jesus’ death and Isaiah 53.   He came back to me a few days later with a new realization, “that I am no better than the men in prison who’ve murdered because I too have murdered in my heart with my anger” (as well as lustful thoughts, wanting others’ things,…).    With conviction of his sinful condition before our Holy God he cried out to Him and received Jesus’ payment of death in his place.  What joy shone in Henriques' eyes and he soon testified before the church of his deadness in sin but now new life through Jesus, the only way to the Father.   This dear new brother of yours is especially grateful for God’s mercy on him as he was diagnosed with AIDS a few years ago and almost died then.  Now,  Praise Jesus!,  he is assisting Gito in translating our gospel presentation from Portuguese into Makua so many more may receive this saving message.

MISSIONARY GET AWAY    A few weeks ago we helped host an annual conference for Good News For Africa, the agency that makes our presence here legal.  It was an important time to renew friendships, worship together and discuss goals.  For Melissa it was a break from lizards and ants inside our lodging and no cooking for several days.  She prepared desserts for an added treat to the evening adult game time.   The children seemed intrigued by my “multiplying coin” and card tricks that I demonstrated for the talent show.  We’re very grateful for this time of refreshment though several of us came away with a stubborn intestinal bug that is now “mostly dead”.

HANNAH GRACE UPDATE    So many of you are praying and asking and we are thrilled to tell you our daughter’s  latest  blood test results were VERY good and her bone biopsy looked normal.  She is now pursuing a natural doctor, Vaughn Lawrence, in the KC area that has treated several lupus patients with promising results focusing at the beginning on nutrition.    

GOD IS GOOD & DOES GOOD     

4 foot spitting cobra at our door!

* HE protects us even when we are not aware of the dangers.   Bella, our guard dog, caught a 4 foot spitting cobra just a few feet from our front door.     We are now being more careful to carry a flashlight in the yard at night.    
* HE provided us air conditioning (for 2 rooms!) and a few other house preps with a special gift from Wallula Christian Church.    Sweet!


PRAYER REQUESTS
* God  has called two incredible servants Home into His Presence this month.  Jr Bryan long-time lead the mission team at Crocker Christian Church & Kyle Degge lead us on the path to grace and out of the ICCC over 20 years ago.  We'll miss these brothers who've loved much.  May their families be comforted and many inspired by their example to follow in Jesus' steps.   
* Clarity of mind and heart for Gito, Henriques & I working together on the teaching resources translation.   It is a slow process with many concepts requiring thorough attention.  For example, the Makua do not have a word for “guilt” or “debt” so we have to discuss at length how to express the idea so they can understand.
* A Christian Portuguese tutor for Melissa.
* God’s Spirit to open the eyes of Agusto & Gracinda to His love and grace.  He is a leader in the church that meets on our property.  Our prayer is that God will strengthen the church here through weekly Bible studies with the leaders, one couple at a time (a WONDERFUL vision of our sending Hope Family Fellowship).
* Development of the marriage seminar.   We are continuing to learn about the ungodly practices here.  A wife, for example, builds on her own family ties out of a fear that if her husband dies his family will take all and leave the widow & children with nothing.  Profound lack of trust/security in the marriage.

What an incredible privilege we each have of being able to pray and help make preparations for His Wedding Feast!  Thank you for your part in blessing us to be here among the Makua.

Love and Resurrection blessings,
Daniel & Melissa
www.beatoday.org:  e-mail mission@beatoday or call us at 913-871-6490.

Blessings is the Name of Jesus         We (Daniel and Melissa) will soon be hurdling through space at 40,000 feet high!  We fly back to Mozambique this Monday, January 30th. Who is where? We'll greatly miss our children and grandkids here. Elijah will stay here and continue working at Vetter's Collision Repair - Great Job! Esther will stay here continuing her music training with Phil Rogers Foundation for music (par excellance and Christian!), working part-time 4-6 days a week with Brown Button Estate Sales, and primarily helping Hannah with home and young ones (1 & 3yrs). How is Hannah? We praise the Lord that Hannah's Lupus is being contained and that she is off of kidney dialysis with 25% kidney function. Thank you so much for being behind us here during Hannah's health crisis. There is almost no way she could have made it through without all the extra support given in the home while she was down. It's been rough. It's been stressful many times. Thanks for holding us up with your prayers. She has made great progress, but still has a long ways to go - at least another year or more of Cell-Cept... Due to the immuno-suppressant drugs, she gets every cold and flu that comes along, with the ensuing sinus infections and fevers, and so has been in bed much of the time. She's better and up more today. Please pray she can come into a sick-free time and be able to get the consistent nutritional support to heal completely and to maintain good health. Ready for Mozambique Also while here, we've been able to continue language practice (Melissa-Portuguese & Daniel-Makua). Amazingly, the following resources were also completed: 1) The rest of the dialogue questions for the Bible storying from Exodus on through the life of Christ with the accompanying Makua Bible text for all verses! 2) Sixteen Bible Narrative lessons for new church plants and young Christians with beautiful Gospel pictures in an African context, and 3) several other smaller pieces. These are all in Portuguese. In the next months, pray we find all the help necessary to translate them into Makua and for more "laborers for the harvest" to spread the Word of Jesus. We've been greatly encouraged by the book, "In Heaven! Experiencing the Throne of God" by Dean Braxton. As with any book, eat the meat and spit out the bones. After reading it, we see even more of God's grandeur in John's Revelation. While @#!*% is a reality, Jesus is actively sowing the 'Good News' of forgiveness of sins and a forever relationship of love with Him. He is AWESOME! What Now? Well, we're back to the land of heat, rats, spitting cobras, corruption, bribes, high inflation, thefts, harrasments, fewer resources, time in lines again and again, fears, confusion, hate, greed, much sickness, grinding poverty, demonic activity... BUT where there are also beautiful sunsets, where _everyone_ is a beautiful creation of God... AND the LOVE and GRACE of JESUS is covering us and bringing HIS PEOPLE through to streams of living water flowing from His throne. (John 4:10-11; 7:38; Revelation 7:17) Love you, Daniel and Melissa Maddux www.beatoday.org 913-871-6490 - You can call this Kansas phone number to ring on our computer in Mozambique and speak with us. P.S. Melissa had a GREAT birthday Jan. 15th with her Dad and Mom and sisters from Iowa.

Makua Update Hello Dear Friends, Here and HEAVEN:  What a great God we have to gives us what we could never deserve - the breath of life, family and friends, and an eternal friendship with Him through Christ!  I just read through '90 Minutes in Heaven' and am again amazed at how indescribable the simplest things in heaven are - pure radiant self-less love from everyone, bodily beautiful perfection, warm intense light - everywhere!, music from the heart by myriads of angels, humans, and heavenly beings, the heavenly city.... and then there is the ..... triune God!   What a HOPE we have! HANNAH'S Health: In light of that great hope, these "light and momentary afflictions" of accompanying Hannah through Lupus recovery are minor.  She still has a VERY low immune system. (She caught shingles twice & has had several bacterial lung infections in the last couple months.) Besides her current extensive regimen of meds and dialysis, a doctor is going to look into her hormone levels.  We also are trying some alternative things - low-dose naltrexone...    Please pray we see much recovery before we head back Mozambique.  Airfare has just been re-booked for January 30th. SURPRISE Eye-wear:  Before we left Mozambique in August, Antonio's (evangelist) wife, Rabia, came to visit Melissa and pray for her return to care for Hannah.  Before Rabia left we shared a favorite verse with her and asked if she would like to read it in Makua.  She tried but said it was much more difficult at night with indoor lighting.  So, as an experiment, we pulled out a pair of +1.25 reading glasses.  She couldn't believe the improvement! She read!  Praise the Lord!  Now she uses them all the time.  On our return, we will be taking more reading glasses to share with the Makua believers as a gift from our dear brother optometrist, Tom Hobbs, and the Warrensburg Christian Church. Blessings and have a happy day of Thanksgiving and also soon a wonderful time remembering Christ's Birth!!! Daniel and Melissa Maddux www.beatoday.org  -  Daniel and Melissa Maddux c/o Thomas and Linda Ledford  31625 Summit Ridge Dr. Crystal Lakes, MO  64024       816-630-0918  Daniel and Melissa Maddux 616 Walnut St., Leavenworth, KS 66048 Email: mission@beatoday.org   -  Ph: 913-240-1887