In the same way that all property is theft, we can say that all history is deception. Both statements are pithy, arresting, usefully provocative though ultimately false. No one can own something without taking it from someone else. Similarly, no one can relate something without being deceptive. To tell the "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" is ridiculous. There is not enough time. History involves selecting some facets to report and ignoring others. In the process of selection, the truth is distorted.

For us, this is painfully obvious when we try to tell others about what we do here. When I write about what we have been doing, which of the ten thousand things that have happened will I relate? And how will I express them?

When I record what has happened, which events will I include? Which of the following stories will I choose to write in my journal:

• the help we gave to a widow to help rebuild her house destroyed by the floods
• the Sunday lunch we had with Dave Mansfield at a little "restaurant" at the edge of town
• cramming 3 men, 13 ladies, 4 babies, 2 sacks of food and various luggage into our car
• my excitement at being able to buy vegetables, chocolate, and cheap fillet steak when shopping in Blantyre

[Even in choosing this list of possibilities, my vanity has prevented me from including things are too embarrassing, shallow, or ungodly]

All of these events occurred, but which will I relate to others? Which event I choose to report is determined by what I want to say, what impression I want to give. Recording the first event leaves a very different impression than recording the last one.

Even more important than the selection of events is the manner of reporting it.

If I write, "I prayed last night and God spoke with me", that gives a wonderful impression of godliness. But if I write, "God convicted me last night that I have been wrong in X and I have to change" my godliness is much more in doubt. If I say, "I haven't prayed for two week so I spent some time praying last night," the impression is completely different from the first report.

The trouble is that all these reports could be true for the same event. The only difference is in my manner of reporting it. How do I want to portray the event? All stories are told from a point of view. The question is how much does my point of view distort the truth.

Ultimately the question is one of integrity. The reader cannot verify the truth of what I relate. They can only rely on my integrity, that my process of selection and manner of telling the story have not distorted the truth too much.

This is important for us, and something that is obvious. It is not so obvious (and therefore even more important) in the West. Who chooses what events are reported in the news or newspapers? Who says how those events are reported? Is the person making these decisions a person of integrity, who can be trusted?

Think about that next time you are watching the evening news or reading the front page story of your newspaper.

Understanding Mozambican culture is a key process for our work. Our central tasks – communicating the Gospel and bringing about growth in godliness – require deep insight into people’s lives. So, “understand the culture” is a critical piece of advice. But it’s also a frustrating piece of advice, on par with “expect the unexpected.” Culture is a shared web of understandings, many of which are deep, mysterious, and completely unguessable. The superficial aspects of culture are easy, but it’s the deep aspects that jump up and bite you unexpectedly. We think we understand what is going on, and then “clang” something happens that shows we haven’t understood at all.

For example, the relationship between Nicola and I. Our relationship is very different from most Mozambican husbands and wives. It’s based on Christian ideals and on our own cultural background of chivalry. So, we help each other; I cook dinner and (sometimes) look after the kids; I carry the heavy bags. We’re consciously trying to set a counter-example to the more common “economic-model” of marriage: the man gives food and security and, in exchange, the woman gives marital privileges and takes care of the house and children. We assume that when people see us, they see that counter-example. To us, it seems obvious. But, as we’ve discovered, what is “obvious” is cultural determined too.

Recently, someone explained to us that he understood how our (Nicola’s and mine) relationship worked. Nicola regularly gives me drugs (from the curandeiros) to make me hopelessly in love with her. Because of those drugs, I am a pateta (“fool”) for her, doing whatever she wants me to do. And Nicola does this so she can sit around and be lazy. To him, this was the obvious explanation.

We were completely surprised and a little amused: how could someone think that? Apart from not matching reality (Nicola is never lazy), his explanation simply made no sense to us. We would never have imagined that someone could look at us and come up with that explanation. Yet, for this person, that explanation made sense – more than that, it was obvious. It made more sense to him that a wife would bewitch her husband than that the husband would serve his wife. A husband voluntarily helping his wife was just as unexpected to him as a wife drugging her husband was unthought of to us.

Once we had digested this revelation, other questions naturally followed: what do people see in other aspects of our life? What do people really hear when we preach about grace, or forgiveness, or holiness? And most profoundly, how will we know? How will we know when people have misunderstood? We think we are being understood; they think they understand. But, because of some deep cultural differences, we have actually completely miscommunicated. With our relationship, we thought we were showing God’s plan for marriage, but he saw an advertisement for the power of the curandeiro. It’s daunting and a little discouraging to think that everything we do could be misinterpreted, and misinterpreted in a way that dishonours God.

So, in the face of such potential miscommunication, what are we to do? Clearly, we’re not going to curl up into a ball and do nothing!

• We have to work to form trust relationships with people. It is only when someone trusts us will they risk telling us what they really think. That is the chance we have to find out where our understanding is faulty. In that regard, please thank God for the gift of friendship between us and Pastor Marcelino’s family. In them, we have friends whose advice and opinions we can trust.
• We have to also pray and ask God to cover over our mistakes and misunderstandings (as well as our outright sins) so that, somehow, people really see and hear the Gospel through us. We are limited by our faulty understand, but God is not. He can advance his Kingdom even through our mistakes.

While we were on home assignment last year, the church we were working with split. We have been to both of the "half" churches, and something is very different. There is a broke-ness, an out-of-sync-ness that has changed the character of both sides of the split. We're not comfortable with giving support to either half of the split. So, we have decided to put a year of space between ourselves and the split church. This has not been an easy decision, but we are praying that it will be a wise decision.

This has turned our previously fairly well-defined ministry into turmoil. The plans that we had made in Australia for our ministry here revolved around that church and its outlying satellite churches. Almost all my visits, teaching, preaching had been associated with that church — without it, I have found myself at a loose-end. There have been days when I just haven't known what to do.

But God has been good, and has brought us in contact with another church where we are quickly settling into ministry.

Our house was finished on Friday, and we moved in yesterday. Praise God! Both the house and the dependencia look quite different than when we first bought them, as you can see below.

before	after

Our big news is that Nicola is pregnant! All being well, the newest Piper-zinho will arrive in January next year. Our second big news is that we'll be coming home for Nicola to have the baby in Australia (a huge thanks to our folks!). And we'll be home for our first Christmas in almost 4 years!

It's been a couple of months since the page was updated and lots of things have happened:

• What happens when trust relationships break down?
• One more case of how do we know who to trust
• Should compassion overrule integrity?
• Phillip goes to prison

• Our annual church conference was held under an enormous mango tree
• Two little girls peeking nervously at the strange white man
• The smallest gecko you've ever seen
• Our car becomes air conditioned

Wouldn't you like to be sitting enjoying this view of an African sunset? Probably -- but not if you're sitting next to a car without fuel, stuck miles from anywhere, waiting for someone to come back with a full jerry can, fending off mosquitoes intent on using you as a local blood bank! Actually, it was quite fun/relaxing/peaceful for the first few hours. Only after nightfall did it become a little aggravating. At least, I got a nice shot of a sunset :-) [Read the whole story]