Yesterday our youth band here was invited to another church to lead worship. Here’s a quick clip of our band and a few scenes from worship here. It gets a lot crazier. We were all soaked with sweat by the end- I’ve never actually seen myself sweat so much there was puddles on my skin and the bass and guitar had sweat all over them. The sound quality here isn’t great because this was shot on a little point-and-shoot still cam but you’ll get the idea. Life is fun!

I’ve been pretty busy lately hence the lack of writing but it’s raining and I have a free afternoon so I thought I’d let you know what’s new and what you can be praying for. First off I moved a little over a week ago. I’m still on base but in student housing that used for Harvest Missions School when it’s in session. I have 3 rooms and two bathrooms, a shower a kitchen, running water (sometimes),

and electricity (also sometimes). I have an entire house to myself and it feels quite excessive. The beach is so close that I hear the waves rolling in an out whenever I’m home. My bed is huge a family of 5 could sleep on it. I stack my old water boxes for shelves- it’s quite nice.

My village school has been going well I gave them a test last friday and they did well albeit with a little help. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last week trying to get my kids into schools but it’s not all that easy. Of 18 kids in my class only four are planning to join school. In addition to those I’ve managed to get 3 more matriculated by walking to homes talking to parents, filling out forms and trying various area schools. Some of the kids have a reputation and aren’t accepted anywhere. One of the boys I’ve been trying to get into school isn’t allowed to sign up for two years because of problems last year. Please pray that God provides opportunities for these kids. Above all else, pray that they know Him.

I’ve been playing worship once or twice a week. Occasionally I lead but mostly I play bass and do sound. For those of you familiar with names, my friend Chico who was leading worship and doing youth ministries left to live in Beira and basically study microbiology- possibly medicine. Chico is my African prototype and we’ll all miss him greatly. Elder is taking over his role although Armando leads worship most of the time. I love working with all of them. Frankie is a phenomenal drummer. Our other vocalists Salina, Fatima and Teresa are amazing. Things are done differently here- for one we don’t really practice. Second there’s no printed music so everything is played by ear or memory. And if you’re accompanying you just figure it out as you go. Mostly we play Portuguese or Makua worship but Armando likes Newsboys, the girls and Chico love anything Hillsong or related and Frankie likes P.O.D. This morning we loaded up all our gear and lead a worship service at another church which was a lot of fun.

So there’s a few more parts of life here. I’ve learned a lot- not the least of which is how to salvage the good bits of a worm infested mango. We lost water for 3 days- I was so excited when it came back on because I could…do dishes. Really. We exalt God and give him the glory for everything He continues to do in our midst. I hope you’re enjoying winter- I can hardly wait!

If you don’t know who Nchamo is, have a look at his first article here. He’s my brother in Christ- and he is from a village called “Palma” heh heh.

Think, who knows you very well in all the world. When leave your country and go somewhere else who knows you? If it is your first time coming to Mozambique no one here will know you except God. Think, when you are sleeping and you can’t see anything, who protects you? If you want to trust God you can look at Luke 12:

“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; Yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”

If go anywhere in the world you can trust that God will give you what you need even if it is a poor country or a rich country. God has a plan for you where ever you go. One time I met a man who came to Mozambique and banditos stole from

him and he didn’t have anything, not even money to go home. He didn’t know Jesus but I told him about God and he said let’s go pray. So we started to pray. After 3 months the man found me and told me “God is good and I want to trust him forever. It’s amazing, God provided for me.”

Before you are born, when you are in you mothers tummy God has a plan for you. Sometimes, as you get older you forget the plan. Just like a child, when he is three years old he remembers something but when he is 16 he doesn’t remember what he was doing when he was three years old. If you are rich or if you are poor sometimes it distracts you from what the plan was.

If you are rich maybe sometimes you think you are god and everything is zero and you are a VIP and everything is about you. You might always think about cars, computers, airplanes, boats, clothes, houses, jewelry, girls, everything and you forget who was rich first. Who was rich before you and who is the most rich in all the world?

If you are poor you might think you are all alone. You might think people don’t like you and that you are cursed. But someone gave you a big present for your whole life. The present is the heart for life. You can live but not have life. God is with you everywhere you go and he has a plan for you. Keep praying, keep asking- if you don’t know Him, you need to know Him. It’s very important for your life.

You think maybe if you have a lot of stuff you will feel good, but it’s nothing. Share what you have. Even if you are poor you can give to people by volunteering and giving your time. Sometimes the only thing the children here need is time. It’s not just the children sometimes if you just sit with your friend then he is happy. If you only give him money but don’t spend time with him or show him love then you don’t know his problems and every time he goes away he is sad. Even if you are rich when you don’t have friends or people to stay and talk with you then you are sad.

Rich people have a responsibility to give. Some rich people here don’t know Jesus but then because of their giving they find out about Him. One time Jesus was talking to a man who was very rich:

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sad because he had great wealth.

When you have, try to find those those who don’t have and give him a little of what you have to give. God will bless you more and people in the world will see you are good. When you are rich and have many things but you don’t give, you will be sad. Do you know why? Because God wants you to give. If you want to keep your life you need to work with God forever. When you give and you don’t know God nothing happens with blessing because you don’t know Him- how can He bless the gift? Try to trust Him when you give people things. When you know God you give according to His plan.

When you speak the truth more trust comes, more truth and more vision from God. To be responsible with giving you need to know Jesus and you need to have peace. If you don’t know Jesus how can you be responsible with giving? How? A man from England was visiting Mozambique and he gave someone a lot of money to go help the people in the village. The man who took the money didn’t help the people in the village,

instead he used it all for himself. The man who gave the money didn’t have peace or faith and didn’t know Jesus. He could not discern if the man who took the money was telling the truth or lying. It is important to know if someone is telling the truth about their difficulties because because you really want to help.

Remember, God, He knew you before you were born, and he has a plan for you. Don’t worry if you are rich or poor you still have to give. Don’t forget to look for people who want help- remember who is the most rich all the world. Do you know what to do to avoid being sad? Try to remember. When you give, you need to know God. Pray when you give and He will bless it. Remember who knows you the best in the whole world. I hope are blessed and that you give and pray about giving and that you will always remember this message. This message is not just from me, God is using me to tell you this message.

-Nchamo Muedine

Feliz Ano Nuvo! It’s actually 7am here as I’m writing this. New Years night went very well- the city around the base was pretty quiet. We had a prayer walk around the perimeter in the morning and people prayed and exalted God all night- especially as we ate an awesome New Years dinner! Lots of the kids stayed up in the biblioteca watching episodes of Tom and Jerry on our new projector. It reminded me of new years at David’s…Hope you all had fun!!

At midnight there was a 5 minute proper fireworks display on the beach at the hotel just across the street from us. Everyone cheered. And everyone who was asleep woke up (it was close enough that it shook the rooms) and came out for the celebration! Right now I’m off to play for a New Years worship service. Happy New Year friends!

Happy New Years Eve! Today is also the half way point of my time in Mozambique. My bottle of doxycycline reminds me every morning that I don’t get to stay here forever.

I’ve been here long enough that I catch myself speaking portuguese to my cat. In fact I did our village school without a translator for about an hour and a half yesterday…although my grammar is atrocious, really.

In the past New Years here has been rough. Staff tell of witch doctors coming out all over the city in their full garb. Perhaps something that US-ians can relate to more is rampant drunkenness. Fatherhood isn’t valued much in this culture and an excuse to drink loads of EtOH doesn’t help the situation.

Please pray for families here. For a new spirit of real love and for protection from temptation and evil of every kind.

I have a funny story for you…when white people walk through the village they’re bound the hear children yelling “akunya, akunya” which means white-person, white person. Adults chuckle. Visitors are advised to avoid walking through the village in case a situation escalates. I had to go get some “matopi” for our pottery class so I went into the village with two Mozambican friends. Sure enough within the first minute a child piped up “akunya, akunya, akunya” to which another child replied (in Portuguese) he’s not an akunya, look at him. The two began fighting between themselves over whether or not I was white enough. Good times.

Now when a village kid calls me akunya I just look around really fast and say “where??!?” and everyone seems to think that’s pretty funny. There’s one place in the village where, when I turn the corner, they just yell “Eduardu, Eduardu!” and come running. These are my students and their brothers and sisters.

May God give you exactly what you need in the year ahead, lots of love, Ed

…and here’s a picture my friend Sam took, just cause I like you:

My friend and translator for school, Nchamo “Nasimo” wants to be a journalist who speaks the truth to help his country. I told him we should start doing some writing and that I’d publish it on the internet for him. This is his first article. We started in Portuguese but then he wanted to write especially for people in the US and Canada so we switched to english.

Christmas in Mozambique
26 December 2008

Christian brothers and sisters, the love of God spreads to all the world. Many people in Africa are Christians, they love Jesus but they need someone to come explain.

Many people do things to commemorate Christmas but it is difficult for these people because they don’t have anything. It is important for these people that you pray, asking God to bless the country and give more power to the people for everything that they need. Nothing is impossible with God! We need your help but prayer is so important because it touches everybody in Africa. If you send money then sometimes the people don’t get it. If you send money here in the mail, sometimes people open the mail and they take the money out but if you pray and God hears your prayer he provides for everybody. Come see Mozambique, now it is different because many people are trusting in God. God brings more power for the country. Some children lose their families to be christians. That is like me, I lost my family when I was 6 years old to be a christian.

If you get this message tell another person to pray for our country so it will spread the love of God. You have a lot of money, but it is not possible for all people because there are so many people. Try visiting the countries and pray over the countries and look at what Jesus wants to change. You need to think about you, how God changed your life, then come and tell your testimony. Maybe if you tell your story then somebody else will know Jesus. Even me, I have a dream to go to other countries and tell people about God. Even if you don’t have anything you need to continue to share that message because the message is for everybody.

Jesus wants to give you more- more responsibility for teaching other people about God. This message is from me, a young boy, sixteen years old. I am working with missionaries wherever I go, they are like my family.

Please pray for Africa and the world, for peace and love and faith. Please christian brothers and sisters don’t fear when you want to visit the world because Jesus is with you everywhere you go. Me too, I pray for you. When God calls you anywhere, you need to just go.

When you are finished reading this message please keep it in your heart,

-Nchamo Muedine

Nchamo would be really blessed to hear what you think of his writing. I’ll give him a copy of all your comments so he can read them!

Well I’m on my fourth christmas. We woke up had bread and tea and gave presents to all 200 kids here on base.

After that they all came to the church building where we put on a nativity play. Let me sum up the awesomeness with this still from a video:
After the nativity we had lunch with our kids- chicken, rice, salad and fanta. Then we served lunch to 2000 people from the village. Two-thousand is a lot. Here’s a few pictures of how we did it:
Everyone ate and everyone got a gift. We went through more than 2300 fantas and cokes at one per person. Many were blessed and we were blessed bless them.

For more christmas pictures from today have a look at my friend Nikki-the-sound-engineer’s Africa blog.

Love Ya, Hope your Christmas is awesome too!

Merry Christmas from Africa!!!! I miss you and love you all – no snow here yet but our God is God so who knows??!

We had a candle light service Christmas Eve and it was roughly like you would imagine it would be like if David Rice was in charge. It started out quiet and somber enough but quickly transmogrified into a candle blowing-out and re-lighting service and then dancing and then a firey dance party. The building is still up although some kids left with flames in hand. No burns reported.

Today I’m in a nativity play and I’m the star. No really, I’m the star, that and a Roman guard. After that it’s a lovely lunch and then presents and then presents for the village kids. Christmas is pretty magical feeling here too- it’s raining lightly and it’s abnormally cold out The dinning room, the church and the dorms are decorated. Christmas eve was fantastically peaceful and full of smiles. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for loving us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! Today we had Christmas III in Mieze. Mieze is a prototype village with just two houses, one for boys and one for girls. In addition to the church on site the village raises chickens and takes care of an orchard. After the kids greeted us with several songs they handed out candy to the village kids in the area “Feliz Natal!” It’s so great to watch them enjoying giving. Here’s a few quick shots of Mieze. Happy Christmas Eve!! My friend Chico is in charge of decorating our base for what I’ll call “Christmas IV.”

[caption id="attachment_515" align="aligncenter" width="458" caption="Kid Danced for 20 Minutes Before Presents"][/caption]