Thanksgiving and more



Larry & Susan with the Khongolote pre-school kids



December 11, 2010



December is a busy month for us in Mozambique and we always look forward to our break from school, but before we can take that break we have many things that are on our agenda.



Thanksgiving at Boa Nova



First of all, going back to November, we had a lovely Thanksgiving with several missionary families out at Boa Nova, a missionary compound. There were 37 people who enjoyed the delicious potluck dinner.



Pastor Glenn Fretz shares the Word



After Thanksgiving we had a visit from Pastor Glenn Fretz, retired pastor from Chilliwack Evangelical Missionary Church (in Canada).  It was great to be able to show him some of our ministries as well as he was able to preach and share a couple times.



Susan with students Joash and Silvio baking goodies



Moving into December I was busy baking goodies for the staff Christmas party. I had some help from a couple of the 10th grade boys this year. Here are Silvio from Nigeria and Joash from the Philippines helping me make Nanaimo bars. (A special cookie from Canada) We also pulled out the decorations and decorated the house to make it look more festive.



CAM Staff Party at our home



The CAM staff Christmas party was December 7th and even though it was rainy in the afternoon we had a group of 22 people. There was plenty of food and during our time together we shared memories of our favorite Christmas and Christmas traditions. It is always a special time and we are blessed to have such a great staff at CAM.

Baptism in the Indian Ocean

Saturday, December 11th was a special day for five people from our church and five people from a sister church. These ten people were baptized in the ocean this morning. It was a beautiful service on the beach and we celebrate with these believers as they took this step of faith. Pray for them as they live their lives day to day, that they will make godly choices and follow the Lord in all things.



 



Those baptized today, December. 11, 2010





CAM School starting its 15th year on the 10th

Dear friends and family,

Where has the months of June and July gone?  It has definitely been a busy two months for us.  It does seem a bit of a blurr, but we will try to give a brief update. 

CAM School has been a busy hub of activity all school break.  Our full time teachers, after their vacations, returned to tutor some of our students who needed extra help.  In all 12 students spent most of the break working on English skills (those who are English as a second language) and a couple worked on courses they needed repeat in order to meet graduation requirements.  The workers did a lot of painting and repairs and Larry added a commercial reverse-osmosis water filter system.  With more and more students attending, and tap water not safe to drink, we have had to purchase bottled water.  It was becoming too expensive and unreliable delivery of the water helped make the decision to purchase our own water purifying system.

We also were planning on a missionary couple to arrive by July to teach 2nd grade and High School math classes.  Unfortunately, they were not able to raise their support in time and their arrival has been delayed until January.  Pray for the Faxons as they raise up their prayer and financial partners.  So, the search was started to find replacement teachers.  The Lord answered our prayers with a husband and wife who are Mozambicans but were educated and trained as teachers in Zimbabwe.  As of the past week we are fully staffed and we have a record 71 students enrolled. 

Due to the steady increase in enrollment over the past few years, we have now maxed out our current building and are sadly having to turn students away for lack of space.  Our building has been a blessing the past 10 years but it is now time for CAM to search for a bigger facility and with more outdoor space for sports and PE.  During these past two months we have searched and looked at different alternatives, but to date only one place seems both affordable and has sufficient space and buildings.  Pray with us as we continue this process and we seek the Lord's direction and will for CAM's future.  We'll keep you posted as things progress, but in the meantime, just pray.  God knows!

One of the more interesting aspects of the summer (winter here) was the 4th of July celebration held at the US Ambassadors residence.  I was asked to sing the National Anthem.  At first, I thought it was to just a small group, but at the dress rehersal I was informed there would be up to 500 in attendance.  I was a bit nervous, but I think it went well and at least I didn't forget the words.  I was supposed to lead it with others joining in, but it was more of a solo.Here are pictures of our ambassador, Madam Rowe and some of the dignitaries at the event.

Another major occurance was the completion of the Dave and Ann Dedrick's first term on the field.  They have faithfully overseen all the ECC (Every Community for Christ) evangelism teams as well as the CMED (Micro Finance) program and many other responsibilities.  They left for a year of Home Ministry on July 22nd.  That leaves just Susan, myself and Aimee Howarth as the OMS team in Mozambique.  The reality of just the three of us to oversee all our ministires is overwhelming.  But we trust the Lord for his strength and wisdom as we direct the work here this year. 

We are excited that in just six weeks we are anticipating the arrival of missionaries Melvin and Sharon Kelly.  They are from Ireland and will be joining us with their twins (9 months) Joshua and Abigail.  Melvin has spent three years as a missionary in Mozambique but this time he will be returning with a wife and children.  We are so happy to have them join us.  Pray for Melvin and Sharon as they make their adjustment to Mozambique and for their future ministries.  They will be working in Compassionate Ministries within our national churches and seminary.  Pray for Sharon as she studies Portuguese and for Melvin as he refreshes his. 

Another exciting milestone is the near completion of the Mocuba Training Center in Northern Mozambique.  Just this past week it was innaugurated and the first pastoral training seminar conducted by our ECC workers, Juka and Abel was held.  I am anxious to see pictures and hear results soon.  Pray for water for this property as several bore holes were dug but no success in finding water enough to put a hand pump or submersable pump. 

We are also pleased to announce that the National Church has finished the Church Discipline, or as they call it the Manuel de Disciplina.  It has taken over three years to get this far and it is now being presented to the churches.  This document will be so important for the church and its leaders as they grow and mature giving them tools to deal with difficulties, as well as defining pastoral and church leadership roles. 

Anaother exciting opportunity is that we have visitors from Korea with us now for the next three weeks.  This couple, Ilbong and Seung Yeon, are about to finish up a seven month missionary internship in Korea and the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church is sending them to Mozambique as missionaries.  We are helping them with housing, meals, transportation and arranging meetings so they can get a good picture of life in Mozambique and ministry opportunities.  This is a great opportunity for partnership with the Korean Evangelical Holiness Church and OMS Mozambique.  Pray many doors will open for future ministry together.

Personally, we are both doing well and are healthy.  We were able to take five days off recently and go to South Africa for some R & R as well as take care of routine doctor and dentist visits. 

Looking back over the past two months we want to give praise to the Lord as we see His hand in so many things that have taken place.  We also look forward to this next school year knowing that it will be challenging, but also encouraging.  Pray with us for continued good health and strength as we continue to seek the Lord daily for spiritual direction and growth.

God Bless,
Larry & Susan

CAM school Picnic

May 23, 2010

Dear Friends and family,
 
These are very busy days for Susan and myself at CAM school and for the mission.  The past month has been busy with programs, potlucks and yesterday we capped the year with the annual CAM picnic.  We had a very good day of fun and activities for the students and families, but we also had a tragedy.

Would you please pray for John Jeong, a 5th grader at CAM.  We are not sure what happened, but at the picnic area there was a fire pit outside the fence that we think a ball had gone into.  John jumped in to get it (we think) and he didn't know the ash was still hot.  He burned his feet quite badly, so we washed the ash off the burned areas and notified his parents who met us back at CAM.  John was treated at the trauma center and is home recovering.  90% is superficial, but 10% of the burn is serious.  He'll recover, but it will be very painful the next few weeks.  Your prayers would be very much appreciated.

At the picnic we had four bbq's cooking and a large amount of salads and deserts.  Afterwards, our Sixth grade teacher, Ms Davidge, organized many games for the kids to play.  This was the longest picnic we can remember with families not wanting to leave until almost 5pm.  Although there was tragedy, we believe the picnic as a whole was a good ending to the CAM school year.

This coming week will be the final week for our two seniors, Orlando and Miriã.  Graduation is on the 31st and the final day of school is on the 2nd. 

The CAM Yearbook is coming along nicely and we have 2/3 printed and we should be able to finish the remaining seven pages by the end of the week so we can punch, collate and bind the 85 books.  We give out the Yearbook the final day and have a signing party.  We'll end the day with bbq hotdogs, chips and soft drinks for all.

Another item for prayer is the Sunday Night Fellowship.  It is an English service we have been attending for over a year.  We still mentor and attend our Portuguese church service each Sunday morning.

The Sunday Night Fellowship has had some changes as all the former leadership have left the country and now Larry and two others are leading this fellowship.  Larry is also the treaurer/finance person for the church.  We recently moved the service to our seminary.  This is exciting and the service really ministers to Expats and missionaries needing to worship in English.  Pray for us as we seek the Lord's will for this fellowship. 

Lastly, as the end of the school year approaches, we are busy making plans for the next two months.  Several items to pray for:

 1.  CAM textbook order ships from the USA on the 26th and is due to arrive in port July 14th.  Pray it arrives on time and that the paperwork we need to process and clear customs will proceed quickly.

2.  We are losing a few teachers and we need to find qualified replacements for August.  This is very difficult as Mozambican teachers generally are not well trained or speak English well enough to teach the American curriculum we have.  We also have limited finances to be able to offer salaries that are sufficient to interest teachers from the U.S., thus we need missionaries willing to raise their own support but have a heart for teaching missionary children.  3.  Pray for the construction license we are seeking from the govt. to allow us to build on an office and three classrooms during the school break.  The plans are almost finished, but need to be reviewed and agreed upon before we can submit to the government for approval.  This will take a lot of prayer to be able to get the paperwork done soon enough and accepted by the govt. to start and finish this project sufficiently by August 1st so we can have school begin the next week.  We trust the Lord but it will take a miracle for it to happen.  Please pray.

God Bless each and every one. 

Larry & Susan

CAM happenings and more...

April 5, 2010

Dear friends and family,

The last month has been a hectic but exciting time for us in Mozambique. The seminary started on February 15th with 30 students and is doing very well. Director Don Hulsey is doing a great job as well as Daniel Maduel and Xavier Massingue who are all teaching the classes, which last each morning from 8 to 12:30. The next part of the curriculum consists of hiring tutors who are teaching the students who don't have a 10th or 12th grade education. These are big milestones for Mozambicans and because of the civil war which lasted 17 years and ended in 1992, we are just now realizing the devistation of the educational system which is now just recovering. I remember talking back in 1996 when we first arrived and seen the poor education standards, if any, and that we realized that it would take an entire generation for the country to improve...and it has. We are finally seeing young people graduating and going to college. A new merging middle class is developing. Mozambique is moving forward, and we have felt it a privilege to have been here and seen it happen first hand.

Each year we take the CAM students on a field trip. Many times we go to South Africa or Swaziland for two or three days. But we have wanted to find something here in Mozambique and this year we were able to go to Maputo Bay Adventures which is a survival camp just a little over an hour from Maputo, or 2.5 hrs by catamaran boat.

The first trip in February was for the 7-9th grade boys. There were seven of them and I (Larry) went as one of the chaparones. The camp is run by missionary friends, Jim and Stacie Bowers, who are using the camp to reach a more educated class of young people in the Maputo area. The camp is quite primative as we stay in tents and rough it a bit in the bush. The food is always great and the activities are full of challenges for the students to stretch themselves as well as develop key teamwork skills.

There were physical challenges and mental challenges associated with learning to use compasses and GPSes to find clues and locations on long hikes. One hike I was on was to be 7.5km but ended up being 15km due to lots of wrong pathes taken. But it was exciting to see the kids work through problems and learn to overcome them. On one long hike they had to find a village, barter their hats and machetes for two chickens, fire wood and manioca (tuber root). They didn't realize at the time that what they got was dinner and they had to kill, clean and cook the chickens and manioca. I have just one picture of "dinner" for the squeemish at heart....:)

A few of the favorite challenges were archery, team work to get everyone over the "Berlin Wall" and climbing the rock wall.

In the late evening all the students had to take turns with "guard" duty for two hours. A staff person was on duty as well and gave opportunity to just talk freely around the campfire about anything, including solving all the worlds problems and great discussions about Christ and what He means to each of us.

The last of the feld trips was taking 22 3rd-6th graders to Swaziland.  Susan  and four adults went along and the kids had a great time and experience.  They left at 6am on Friday and returned Saturday evening.  Their first stop was to a factory that makes specialty soaps out of marula fruit oils.  It was quite interesting as the kids were given a tour and also were able to tun the machine to crush the nuts to extract the oil.  They then drove to Nisela Safaris where they stayed the night in traditional Swaziland bee-hive huts.  The kids loved hem and the challenge was to get in and out of the litle door which was about two feet tall.  The day cntinued with a drive through safari where the students saw man variets of animals and were able to get out of the vehciles and see some close-up.  Fortunately there were no carnivores at this game park.  In the evening the students cooked over an open fire and made up skits to entertain everyone.  It was a very long day and extremely hot so everyone was tired but the kids didn't want to go to bed as the beehives were so hot and had no fans.  Eventually all were told to go to bed as the next day was to be a long one as well.

Saturday morning they left the camp and drove to Manzini where they toured the Swazi Candle Factory and craft shops.  They were given demonstrations by a master candle maker where he was able to make an elephant from a block of wax.  Many of the students were also given wax for them to experiment with. 

All in all, the trip was a great experience for the kids and adults.  They arrived home Saturday evening full of stories and tired from their long days.  We are so thankful for having such amazing students.  Many commented on how well behaved (really?) was the group and we too think they are special in deed.

Thank you for your prayers and continue them as we need the Lord's wisdom and vision to meet the challenges of running CAM school. 

in Christ,

Larry & Susan Weil

Seminary Program Launching 15 Feb 2010

13 February 2010

Dear friends and family,

Tomorrow is Valentines Day. And even in Mozambique there are lots of flowers on the streets and lots of pink Valentine gifts being sold up and down the street. It is one of the few foreign holidays that is really remembered here. And I think that is special...just like Susan is special to me after 28 years of marriage.

So much has happened since I last gave an update, so I am sure I will forget some important things, but what is exciting is that on Monday, February 15th, the seminary will launch its first year program with 30 students. The applicants come not only from our own national church "Living Word Evangelical Church" but from 14 other recognized churches in Mozambique. This will give a great mix of students. Ages range from 21 (minimum required) to 65.

Of course we have had Bible teaching going on since 2001, but only on a part-time basis. Now, these will be all-day students and this is a big change. We are so privileged to have Pastor Don Hulsey as our new seminary director and he has been working closely with our Dean of Students, Daniel Maduel and Xavier Massingue, our Registrar. Between the three of them they will share the teaching load for this first year.

We covet your prayers as we step out in faith to begin the program knowing we don't have the necessary scholarships and sponsorships to even run the program more than a few months, but God knows all this. I have been working hard on a funding letter which is now at OMS USA for editing, and once that is approved, we will be able to mail out to our supporters and interested friends and churches who have a special interest in seminary students knowing that it will be helping our graduates who will soon be pastoring, training and equipping the growing national church in Mozambique for the Gospel.

At CAM school, we are well into our second semester now and in January we added three new students bringing us to a record number of 61 students from 19 different countries. The challenge is that they are Portuguese first-language students and all are needing special tutoring to learn English to integrate into their classes.

We also are enjoying the return of Dr. Claude and Marilynn Meyers (former CAM director/founders from 1996-2006.) The Meyers are with us for five weeks and are helping out with tutoring, swimming and a drama to be performed in early March. The Meyers are staying with us making our home full.

CAM also is benefiting from a security upgrade grant from the US Embassy. Over the past two years many improvements have been made around CAM school and we had about used up the money we received, but about six months ago the plan to add a generator to run the school when power cuts happen was contemplated and submitted for approval. It was finally granted in late November and an extension received to install the generator by the end of February 2010. Well, the generator is resting at CAM and just needs it to be wired to the building. This will be such a huge blessing so that school can run as usual even if the power goes out. Computers and air-conditioners will continue to run and that is important on these very hot days.

Another exciting thing that happened over Christmas. We met a young man from the US who distributes solar-powered hand-held electronic Bibles. He has the ability to put eight Mozambican languages on the units. Well, we have a guard at our home who can't read and I was able to buy an electronic Bible in Portuguese and his HEART language. You should have seen his face when I turned it on for the first time and he heard the Gospels in his own language. He faithfully listens to it and others are asking if they can get one. Looks like I might need to raise some funds for this new need.

Lastly, for the past seven years we have been sharing a small water tank (750 liters) at our home with a home behind us. Almost every day when we would return home from CAM the tank would be empty and we would have no water until the following morning when the local water supply would start to fill up the tank again. Last November a supporting church informed us of some money we could use for a project. We shared the difficulties we had with our water system, and it was agreed. We added a second tank (one tank for each home) new water pumps, new piping and finished cement work around the tanks. Now we are enjoying water every day and that has just made life a bit easier for us. PTL!!!

God Bless,

Larry & Susan

6 February 2010

Dear friends and family,

These are exciting days in the world of OMS. After much prayer and discussion, some of which I had the privilege to be a part of last June 2009 at Missionary Council in the USA, this past month OMS officially changed its name to One Mission Society. Below is the text version of the offical announcement made by OMS president, David Long.

It is wonderful to see that the vision of our founders over 100 years ago is still that same vision today of reaching the world for Jesus.

In Him, who matters most,

Larry & Susan Weil

One Mission Society, Mozambique

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FROM David Long, OMS President:

Dear Friend of OMS,

We have some exciting news to share:

OMS International becomes One Mission Society

One Lord. One Life. One Calling.

Today, we launch a new name, tagline, logo and mission statement. These changes were designed to help One Mission Society better communicate what we have stood for since our inception in 1901 as The Oriental Missionary Society.

But it is important to note, One Mission Society’s sole reason for existence as a mission organization remains steadfast―to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread throughout the world and to see God glorified in all that we say and do. This is the command of the Great Commission. This is our “One Mission.”

God has blessed OMS by using us as a tool in His hands for more than 100 years. Today, One Mission Society is seeing, on average, one person come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ every two minutes. In recent years, thousands of new churches have been planted and tens of thousands of people are actively participating in discipleship programs.

These are historic times to be involved in missions. As never before in the history of the Church, One Mission Society is poised to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Make no mistake: the task is huge. OMS recognizes that we are only a small part of the body of Christ and that we join with many other individuals, churches and like-minded Great Commission organizations called and equipped together for One Mission, God’s mission. This is the unity in mission to which all Christians are called in Ephesians 4 by our one God and Father of all.

One Mission Society currently works in 50 countries. We were founded on the principle that the most effective way to share Christ is by training a nation’s people to lead and multiply their churches. That principle still fully applies today and is the basis of our dynamic four-fold focus: intentional evangelism, church planting, training leaders and strategic partnerships.

OMS currently has six international offices from which missionaries are recruited and sent out: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Today, One Mission Society has 430 missionaries and is a member in good standing with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

Here is One Mission Society’s new mission statement: By God’s grace, One Mission Society unites, inspires and equips Christians to make disciples of Jesus Christ, multiplying dynamic communities of believers around the world.

David Long

President, One Mission Society

Christmas just around the corner

December 13, 2009

Dear Friends and family,

This past week has been hectic and exciting for us as Christmas draws closer. We have had several Christmas programs and a wedding to attend. Here are a couple pictures from the wedding of Golden and Olivia on Dec. 4th. Golden is Mozambican and teaches 3rd grade at CAM.

On December 11th CAM presented its annual Christmas Program. It was held at the new seminary chapel and we had the largest turnout in CAM history, packing the chapel full of students, parents and friends. We kept having to add more chairs.

All grades presented something special, from verses to musical talent. The main program was a musical and drama presented by the 3rd-6th grade students, with Susan directing. It was called "Legacy of Love" and the kids did a super job. The 7th - 10th grades helped with the behind the scenes planning and set-up. After the program, there was food for all and good time of fellowship.

With a big sigh of relief that the main Christmas program is over for CAM, we now focus on the Sunday Night Fellowship program tonight (Dec. 13th) in which we both will be participating with music. On Tuesday, Susan and I will be hosting the annual CAM Staff Party at our home. We anticipate about 25 teachers and staff to attend. The week ends with school finishing for the students on Thursday and on Friday for the teachers to allow them to get all their grades turned in before the Christmas break.

December 20th we will be celebrating the Igreja Evangelica Palavra Viva national church's 4th anniversary with lunch and program at the seminary. Christmas for us this year will be in Xai Xai, which is about four hours North of Maputo. We will be with friends, Jason and Rachel Helm. They have invited a few others to join them for Christmas, so there should be at least 13 for the holidays.

We have much to Praise the Lord for this past year, and HE has blessed CAM and our ministries in Mozambique. We do have one major prayer request, which involves our association with the Department of Labor. We hope to find some way to work with the government with its strict new rules regarding foreigners working at the school. This affects who and what CAM really is, and we need much prayer and wisdom to know how to find favor with the government hoping that we will be able to continue to offer a Christian American education to the students who choose to attend.

We wish you all a blessed Christmas and a joyful and Spirit Filled New Year!

God Bless,

Larry & Susan Weil

OMS Mozambique