Boa Nova Work Day



29 January 2011

What an amazing amount of work we were able to complete today! Saturday was our first work day at the new CAM campus. We recruited a group of eight students from CAM and arrived at the work site before 9 a.m. These students gave up their Saturday to work the entire day to earn money to go on the school trip which is scheduled for February 24th – 26th



Cleaning the book room



First on the agenda was to tidy up an old book room on the campus. Then we moved a room full of things in storage to the book room. It took six loads in the pick-up truck. There was lots of muscle and cleaning involved.



Salisa & Canan



Joash with the amazing hair





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Future Classrooms being cleaned up



After a short break for lunch, the group went to one of the “pods.” This is a group of four rooms with a covered area in the middle that will be used for either elementary or high school classrooms.



Joash & Ude mopping up



The rooms were very dirty (thus the need for masks) and three of the four had bunk beds and wicker shelves in them. While some of the students were sweeping and mopping the rooms, the others were dismantling the beds and moving them to another storage area. It doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but it was and we got all four rooms emptied and cleaned up. The students were amazing. They worked so hard. I think our bodies will be sore tomorrow.



Our Mighy Crew: front: Joash & Ude, top left: Larry, Charlene, Salisa, Canan, Oko, Domingos & Zac.

We are going to continue to have these work days involving the students to give them the opportunity to earn money for their trip. The next project in a couple of weeks will be painting the rooms and cleaning up another set of classrooms. There is going to be a lot of work for a long time. We are so proud of the kids and it is a blessing to see them willing to work so hard for their future school.











Purchase of missionary compound and future CAM School location

26 January 2011


Larry signing the contract to purchase Boa Nova



Dear friends and family,

Today is a very monumentous day for our OMS Mozambique team.  I haven't been able to share about this until now as we didn't know if or when it would actually occur.  But today during our weekly prayer meeting held at the home of Melvin and Sharon Kelly on the Boa Nova property, we officially signed the contract to purchase a 10-acre parcel of land about 7 miles from Maputo.  The Boa Nova Para Africa mission compound was founded about 1991 and over the first 10 years their mission built several homes as well as a large church building, men's housing for Bible School and other classrooms.  Over the years the missionaries have either left or relocated into Northern Mozambique, leaving just one couple, Don and Aleta Hulsey, on the compound.  It is a huge responsibility to maintain and manage such a large property by just them. 

About seven or more months ago several circumstances happened that began to confirm that now might be the right time to pursue the purchase of this property.  1, missionary housing rental costs continue to escalate in and around Maputo making it more difficult to find affordable and safe housing for our missionaries. 2, CAM School's current building is now too small to meet the need and demand.  It has a capacity of about 70 students and we are exactly at 70 students.  Our current site has very little playground space, and what we do have is all cement.  For the first time in our 15 year history as a school, we have had to turn down students or put them on waiting lists due to not having enough space.  3, until about seven months ago, the roads to Boa Nova were primative (sand) and the property couldn't be justified as adequate for a school location.  The government has begun paving the 2.2 km road that was all sand, and is currently over 50% finished.  The unfinished portion was covered with hard packed clay and is very adequate for vehicles. 4, Don Hulsey is our OMS Seminary Director, and his wife, Aleta, teaches at CAM school.  We already have a partnership with Boa Nova and the Hulseys and they are all dear friends. 5, We currently have three OMS missionaries living in housing on the Boa Nova property.  ....and the list continues.  

L2R: Melvin & Sharon Kelly, Susan Weil. seated Don and Larry



For the past many months, we have been praying, researching, praying some more, negotiating costs, possibilities, etc. to make this a reality.  One of the last steps in this process was to sort out how to pay for the property and have One Mission Society (OMS) give their stamp of approval.  That was granted last week.

Now the "real" work begins.  The existing classrooms have not been used for the past 10 years so major renovations will need to be done, as well as construct bathrooms and add administration offices, computer lab and library.  We hope and pray it can be accomplished by August 2011 to move CAM School to this new location. 

Specifically pray for the legal processes that need to be done: 1, transferring the title to OMS and registering the property.  This is a multi-step process here, and will probably take months to complete.  2, pray we can sort out the building licenses so we can begin construction on the new additions.  We do have a current building license to remodel the existing buildings which will keep us busy for a while, but we do need the new license soon enough to allow time to build the bathrooms and administration wing and have them done by July to make the move.  As you can see, we are dreaming big and trusting the Lord to help us through.  Your prayers will be much appreciated. 

Ultimately, to make the complete school remodeling and additions needed over the next few years we will need to sell our current CAM School building.  It is a valuable asset and we pray the right buyer will come with a good offer. 

These are exciting days for our team.  If all goes well and we are able to move the school by August, we will most likely move ourselves to one of the apartments at Boa Nova  in June for the few remaining months we would have until our furlough would begin in late September. 

We'll keep you posted as things progress. 

God Bless,

Larry & Susan

CAM Christmas Program 2010

20 December 2010

Dear family and friends,

The Dead Shepherds band

Mary, Joseph and the youth

The musical was chosen in September, practices started the first part of October and the final production was last Friday, December 17th. There is always so much work and energy put into getting the Christmas program ready for the performance. The musical was one that we had presented five years ago. It was called “A Band of Shepherds” and it was about a group of shepherds who were a rock band and had been hired to entertain the people in Bethlehem during the census. While they were out in the fields they encountered an angel band that rapped and danced and told them the message of a Messiah born in Bethlehem. It changed their lives. They now had hope and something to live for. It was great.

We had a full house in the seminary chapel and the students did an incredible job of the musical. The fourth through sixth grade students were the angel band while the seventh through twelfth grade students were the choir and cast.

Silvio doing a rap with the angel band

a happy angel

The Kindergarten and first grade class presented a number and the second and third grade classes presented two numbers and a short skit. I don’t think that we have any shy kids at CAM, and if they come shy, they don’t stay shy for long.

 
The most rewarding part of being a part of CAM is hearing the parents say how much they appreciate having a Christian school for their kids and that they like the family atmosphere.

The program is over and now we have two more days of school, exams for the high school students, and then school will be out until January 17th. Larry and I look forward to having some R & R at a friend’s guest apartment near the beach. We look forward to sleeping in (if that is possible for us), reading, watching DVDs and getting some sun on the beach.

National Assembly Meeting presents new Church Discipline



Raul showing the Discipline



National Assembly in T3 Church

 19 December 2010


Dear friends and family,  

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Juka Fernando praying over Discipline



Yesterday we were able to partcipate in the National Assembly meeting of our national church Igreja Evangelica Palavra Viva.  In typical Mozambican style, it was to start at 9 AM but it finally got under way by 9:45.  The objective of the meeting was 1, celebrate the 5th aniversary of the National Church registration.  2.  To adopt the newly created church discipline.  Seems pretty simple.  Four hours later the meeting was coming to an end.  Between the beginning and ending was filled with reports and encouraging words from some of our church leaders and the reading of the Discipline.  This is such a big milestone for the church.  Since 2005 when the church was officially registered with the Department of Religious Affairs, the church has slowly been working on developing the discipline to help guide it in its decision making.  It has definitely been a long and tedius process.  Many versions of the discipline have been written, reviewed, rewritten.  Even the present version adopted is just the beginning and we know will need revision and additions.  For me, the Discipline is a "living" document that will grow with the church and will need revision regularly as times and circumstances change.  But it is a great beginning.  Something that gives the church and the leadership guidance to make the tough decisions and to help and encourage the church to spiritaul maturity. 



 

Church leaders and wives



With over 100 churches throughout the country now, the Discipline is essential and now the church can move forward with the development of local, disctrict, regiional and provincial leadership.  Susan and I believe the church is moving forward and we feel privileged to have been here when the very first church was planted in 1997 when it met under

Pastor Daniel cutting 5th Anniv cake



a tree in the township of T3.  We have watched that church struggle and grow and seen other churches planted over the years.  We are excited that the National Church is recognizing its role in reaching its own people for Christ.  Please remember to pray for the National Church and its leadership.  Specifically remember to pray for Juka, Daniel, Raul and Abel. 



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