http://www.beatoday.org/

A few days ago we were abruptly awakened around four a.m. with the bellowing call from loud speakers for prayeres to Allah.  Melissa and I were both moved to pray silently for the "lost sheep" in our neighborhood who hear these calls as well.  And we marveled at GOD.  Even this attempt the enemy made to spew his lies, produced glory to GOD through our prayeres.  Beyond that, we know WHO wins.  What a debt of gratitude we owe HIM!

Thank you again and again for your prayers and the Father's work here.  We had an exciting and safe trip to the bush over the weekend along with  the evangelist Antonio and his wife, Rabia, and Gito, a pastor & translator.  How we wish each of you could have been there to see their excitement of GOD's Story and witness an early morning baptism of new believers.  The good news is that you'll be able to hear a few of their testimonies for yourself when we visit you there soon, GOD willing.

Please pray for our safe passage back to K.C.  And if you're wondering about what excitement awaits us, click on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/user/thesqueegeboy#p/u/16/86Mbs2gu7b0

Hugs,
Daniel & Melissa & Esther

Yippee Caiyeah!       (Makua cowboy language for, "I'm really excited")
www.beatoday.org and photos at: www.beatoday.org/photos/2010/index.htm

Dear brothers and sisters,

A FIBER CUT in the Indian Ocean affected ALL of northern Mozambique for over TWO WEEKS!  It put us out of internet usage, phone usage, and even ATM usage for international withdrawals for most of that time!  Yesterday, for the first time in over a month, we had almost normal internet speed!

"The head of corn is full!"  The farmers on the property who put God's farming wisdom into practice, harvested this month.  They exclaimed that the corn is much better than most farmers around them.   Praise God with us!

Elijah Graduated from High School May 15th!  We missed being there with him.  Thank you for remembering to pray for us while we are apart from our children during these special times of their life.  God gives us the grace to pass through it but it is still difficult.  Someone has said that our will is surrendered to God through our tears and that "God doesn't waste pain", so we wholeheartedly give ourselves to this incomprehensible LOVING God.  He is GOOD!

Gito, who spends two afternoons a week here on  our porch translating from Portuguese to Makua the materials Daniel is working on, recently told us,
      "When I am reading through the Bible stories, questions & application while translating, my thoughts and my heart are changing.  I've wondered, 'What am I going to preach about?  then I go back to what I'm learning here and share that.  My sermons are awesome!  I can see it in people's eyes.  These are not just stories to us.  They are life."      
     "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness". (Mt. 5:6)


We Rejoice that:
* We've had encouraging marriage instruction through two seminars from missionaries here in Africa.  We'll be celebrating our 25 years of our covenant relationship on July 20th.  God is Faithful!
* The temps have dropped to "normal" and 82 feels a bit chilly to us.  Yeah!
* I have begun discussing working with our wonderful brother from Brazil, Luis, who is training rural pastors.
* The "Foundations for Farming" training manual final revisions are being completed in Makua!

Things to pray about:
* Completion of training resources covering:
      - the rest of Bible story dialogue questions
      - Gospel presentation/summary
      - First steps with Christ
      - Marriage and Family
      - Youth preparations for adulthood
      - Leadership & Church Life
* Direction and opening of doors to train evangelist/pastor/farmers.

"May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ."  
2 Thes 3:5
Daniel & Melissa & Esther

We enjoyed, here on our farm, our 1st HARVEST PARTY in celebration to the Lord, and ate some yummy first fruits.

Hi Special Friends and Family,

Wow! Thank you for praying for my health. God blessed every word of encouragement you gave us via e-mail as Melissa read them for me. Melissa awesomely served. After 10 days of fever and vomiting, now on the 11th day I am finally fever free! A little weak, but doing great! God used this as a time of laying my sins before Him and being renewed. CD's like Fernando Ortega, and some church hymns (given to us by our friend Lane Scott), and a few others were wonderful in transporting me to see the glories of Jesus... our sweet Savior and King.

We're also very grateful for the new Monopoly card game we got to play, given by Stephen, Lissa, and Kaleigh Ryan in Sedalia. What a fun game!

We're also so grateful that God continually goes before us to provide for our ministry needs, as at one time or another each of you has been God-led to send a large gift. Wallula Christian Church gave a Love gift of $1000! This will go to two places. One to pay for a MUCH NEEDED motorcycle so an evangelist can not arrive late or miss trips out of town because of the regular public transportation (vans, trucks) not showing up. The churches being planted will now receive consistent visits and teaching. Praise God with us for this BIG change. The rest will go toward helping us fly back to the U.S.. Yes!

And you might wonder who we're missing? If you have a chance, check out our hyper granddaughter talking on the phone to her Dad at work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Mbs2gu7b0

Our Mom (Pat) just left Mozambique to Brazil to be with her daughter Angela. Angela will be going into surgery (biopsy) for some small lumps on her breast and remove something from her c-section scar area. Then mid-summer she hopes to go on furlough & accompany Davi (Brazilian husband), Angela, and Gracielle, as they move to the U.S..

We have the great privilege of attending our 1st yearly missionary conference of Good News for Africa and will be gone the 1st two weeks of April. What a refreshment that is certain to be!

So, we plan to be in touch with we you again at the end of April.

Until then, God bless you all!

Daniel & Melissa and Esther

www.beatoday.org

God's mercies are new every morning, so we certainly have good things to report here from Mozambique. First of all, thank you so much for praying for us.

Furlough or "Home Assignment" - Schedule your church: Lord willing, we'll be in the U.S. from mid September (2010) to mid June (2011). CAN'T WAIT! We are available to speak at your church Sunday morning or evening, October 3 - November 7 and January 9 - May 8. Crocker Christian Church has already scheduled October 24th.

Ozark's Maddux Get-away: It will have been almost 3 years since we left for Brazil and so are wanting a retreat with our kids. If you are aware of a place of lodging for the weekend of September 24th - 27th, that would be available to us for a minimal cost, please let us know. Thanks!

Crops - God blessed Antonio and Agusto to have their corn and peanut crops planted in the back fields on time during December and January. We've had sufficient rains, and by them following 'Farming God's Way' composting and planting principles, it's looking green, Green, GREEN back there. God's wisdom is truly marvelous! Isaiah 28:23-29

The trainer's flip chart for farming is 99% completed in Portuguese and English! It's also now being translated into Makua.

As I continue to dialogue with Antonio, the Evangelist, he's very excited about this message of grace. He told me, "When I'm out there teaching, now I make sure they hear this clearly so they don't remain in dead religious works."

A very unusual situation occurred, only by God's Spirit, when a church leader came under great conviction of sin and stepped out of his role. This culture highly values position and recognition. No one else in the church could understand why he would give that up. God showed me what needed to be exposed and the scriptures to bring healing. In the end it became clear to himself and others that he is not biblically qualified at this time for leadership and needs to focus on caring for and discipling his family.

We have been quite healthy during this flu and malaria season!

Please pray that God would give me an undistracted environment in which to finish a Gospel & Growth presentation that targets many areas of deception among the Makua.

Daniel, Melissa, & Esther Maddux - Nampula, Mozambique, Africa

E-mail: mission@beatoday.org

Print for church bulletin: http://www.beatoday.org/Newsletters/2010/March2010.PDF

View newest photos at: http://photos.beatoday.org/2010/index.htm

View recent video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4pqtOTHYMo

Can you imagine stepping out of your church into the church at Corinth before Paul wrote his letters...???

We're in a culture that has had...

Domination, Abuse, Slavery, Killing, Hate by the Portuguese

Civil War, Marxism, and mass starvation & killings 1975 - 1992

Centuries of Satan's lies,

Now years later they are scarred by their past, traumatized, trying to survive, prisoners of Satan, destroyed by the sin they live in - Romans 1:22-32.

Missionaries with experience here all say, "This is a country where things do not happen fast. Change... well... Transformation... comes slowly and only with a long term commitment over the long haul."

Pray for us. We're in over our heads. We have nothing of ourselves to offer. We need the grace of Christ in a most desperate measure to reach those dead and trapped in deceptions. They need Truth. They need Grace. They need the love of the crucified Savior and the power and wisdom of the Resurrected Christ.

Pray....

(This went out via e-mail on December 5th.)

Dearest Family,

Surprise!

A couple weeks ago, Wallula Christian Church in Leavenworth (Kansas), asked if we could make a 3 – 4 minute video about the ministry here. As people come in this Sunday morning, they will show their missionaries’ videos. After returning from our latest trip to the bush churches, we threw things into high gear and … walaah!!! The Lord blessed us with a video. After the first minute of introductions we head out to the bush. Join us! This should give you a little taste of life and ministry here in Africa.

You can see it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4pqtOTHYMo

You may also download one of the following versions from our website. It’s only 4 minutes.

Larger Best DVD Quality at http://www.beatoday.org/videos/2009_Mozambique_Mission.mpg

Smaller MPEG-4 at http://www.beatoday.org/videos/2009_Mozambique_Mission_640x480.mp4

All Glory and Honor to our Blessed Savior!

Daniel, Melissa, Esther & Pat (Gramma) Maddux

Isaiah 9:6-7

www.beatoday.org

Hello to you all who long for Jesus' coming!

Photos: You may remember our internet had been worse than dial-up. Now we have a faster connection so we've uploaded our pictures from July on out. Click here or on the link in the right margin of the site to see the pics. Hurray!

Discouragement and Prayer: Whew! It has been dry and hot. Many missionaries leave the HOT northern area during December to retreat to cooler climates. The combination of everything can be discouraging. Last week, Melissa and I especially felt a dark cloud hanging over us. It seemed so thick I began to wonder if part of it was of demonic origin. After asking our sons and daughters in the U.S. for prayer, the very next morning we were breathing fresh air again! Thank you Jesus! In addition, the Lord also blessed us with an unexpected rain and a few cooler days! Thank you for your continued prayers!

Health Seminar: This month I (Daniel) attended a two day ANAMED training for how Mozambicans without access to clinics or hospitals can treat various common illnesses here with medicines they can make from tree leaves, roots, etc... Some are very effective. It opened my eyes to what kind of training we want to provide the people here via the church planters. Pat Maddux (my Mom) is working primarily in the area of growing the key plants they'll need to treat themselves.

Melissa's work at home: Speaking of health, our daugther Chloe has encouraged us to have more veggies and fruit in our diet so Melissa has been making regular visits to the outdoor market where they are much cheaper than at the "supermarket" in town. Also, yogurt is expensive here but needed for a good digestive system since there are so many stomach infecting microbes around. Melissa and Esther just made their first home-made batch today so I can't wait to try it out. Melissa is hostessing a large gathering here for Thanksgiving and coordinating a Christmas service for the international English speaking Sunday night church. Esther and I will be joining in the fun and learning our parts to the Christmas hymns.

Trainer's Flip Chart: Our Amazing God has blessed me to have completed the translation of a 46 page Farming God's Way trainer's flip chart. It's full of excellently drawn pictures contrasting typical African practices to God's wisdom in farming along with several other pages that I added on worm banks and Bible verses on stewardship. Mike, the main trainer here from Zimbabwe with 30 years farming experience, and I are reviewing it and adding other necessary subject material such as how to do vegetable gardening for better nutrition. Lord willing it will be ready to print by the end of January or sooner.

Wonderful Truth: I discovered some incredible verses on this subject while reading the Bible the other morning. Isaiah 28:23-29, shows that _everything_ done in agriculture (or any other field for that matter) that is actually working, is so only because GOD has taught man the best way - "For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him... This also comes from the LORD of hosts; He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom."

Touching People: We also hope to translate it into Makua. Gito, our translator, after correcting the Portuguese, wrote me a special note thanking me for this work and expressing the dire need for these things to be taught. He is SOOO excited to see God's ways touching this people, casting out the spiritual darkness, and relieving the poverty.

Antonio, the faithful evangelist: While attending a city-wide meeting of Church of Christ pastors, Antonio had a conversation with a fellow church planter. The fellow lamented that all the people in the church he helped start still went to the grave-sites to perform rituals to the ancestors - offering prayers, food, clothing, ect. Antonio showed him the dialogue questions we've written to accompany the Bible stories, especially the one dealing with this topic that goes to the heart of their culture. The man asked Antonio where in the world did he get those!? Antonio explained the vision God is giving us. The fellow then pleaded with Antonio to go back there and straighten things out for him. Antonio said, "No, you started it, so you're the one that needs to do this. I have other places God is calling me to."

UPCOMING TRIP TO CHURCHES IN THE BUSH!

Please especially be in prayer for this. Thanksgiving weekend we are headed to an area where several years ago God lit a spark with the stories of the Bible. The fifth church is now being planted and they'll be have a large baptism of new believers. We plan on showing them the Makua version of the video 'God's Story', review how their farming is going, and launch the 1st phase of a discipleship for the young churches using the dialogue questions that have been translated in MAKUA! for each key story. Praise God with us for this. Also be praying for the young convert's growth in the grace of the Lord and abundant rains for their crops.

Grace and peace,

Daniel and Melissa & Esther

Isaiah 46:10 - God's purpose will stand and He will do all that He pleases.