|
In the Piper Line |
CP 169 |
SIM Australia |
|
September 2003 |
|
I’ve left the computer on for the past few nights, hoping that this newsletter would automatically appear like the last one did. Sadly, nothing has happened, so it looks like we’re going to have to write this one ourselves. Well, the strategy used last time sounds fairly reasonable: read through my journal, look at the photos, scan the emails. Yes, looks like these are enough to give a good update on what’s been happening. But first, an important news flash.
Two is not quite a quiver full
We’re not sure whether this has anything to do with the frequent blackouts in Cuamba but we’re expecting a new baby! All being well, the latest (and, Nicola assures me, the last) addition to our family will arrive in January 2004.
We were intending to have the baby in Malawi, but our parents conspired and very generously offered to fly us home for Christmas and the birth. So we’re going to spend Christmas at home for the first time in three years! We’re looking forward to seeing Ozzie shores and to eating all the goodies we’ve been missing, like cheese, sour cream, bacon, mushrooms, pizza … ok, ok, that’s enough. Our current plans are to arrive at the beginning of December and leave early in February next year.
Of nerves and chalk-boards
I spent some very nerve-wracked evenings teaching in the local bible college in the past few months. In July, I taught the Pentateuch in the advanced level course. I was worried that no one would understand a word I said. But, they must have understood at least some of it because they invited me back to teach The Gospels in September. Both courses were intensive in nature (5 weeks, 4 nights a week, 1.5 hours each night). The first course was a kick-start to my language ability: speaking off the cuff and leading the discussions forced my language to improve dramatically. It was a classic medicinal pattern: very uncomfortable initially, but worthwhile in the long run.
As well as her taxing role as live-in teacher, Nicola has been running a ladies’ Bible study in our church. This has been challenging because the educational level of the ladies varies so greatly that it’s tricky to prepare a study that’s both understandable and relevant. She’s also part of a team that teaches life skills to the girls at the local secondary school hostel. Although a little terrifying at first, they’ve enjoyed the opportunity to cover such topics as AIDS, women’s health and marriage. The girls have really enjoyed these talks.
Building houses on the rock
SIM purchased two houses last year to serve as the on-going base of our work here. One of our missionaries warned that Satan would oppose these houses, because he didn’t want us to have any permanent presence here. This has been an accurate prediction. These houses have been the object of continual opposition and frustration.
One house has a public well in the middle of its property. We have reached two written and signed agreement with the local council about this well, but they have reneged on both. They then took our team leader to court, charging him with destroying council property! We are still waiting for the case to be heard, but we are praying that God will use the court case to finally settle the issue.
The other house is almost finished – and has been ever since we bought it. Despite many, many assurances from the contractor involved, it does not seem any closer to completion. Steven, our team leader, has laid down some strict new guidelines to this contractor, and hopefully this house will be finished real soon now.
The young and the peaceful
One of the major ministries we wanted to do when we came here was to disciple young leaders. I’ve been running discipleship classes each week for several months now with two young church leaders, Sergio and Ofélio. Each Monday afternoon, we meet together to pray and study the Bible. These young men are enthusiastic and capable. They have organised a youth group, independent of any church, and have held and lead meetings of this group for more than two years. They organised the distribution of Gideon’s bibles in all the small hostels in Cuamba. And they are still in secondary school! (It is quite normal for 20 year olds to be in the later years of secondary school)
Please pray for them as they consider what God wants them to be doing after they leave school (Ofélio finishes this year). Also praise God for these young men who have been such an encouragement to us.
What more can we say, but…
Thank you so much for your prayers and support.
With much love,
Phillip, Nicola, Joshua, Drew and TBA J
|
For further information You can get a nicely formatted version of this newsletter, complete with pictures, either here (in Word document format) or here (in Adobe PDF format). Both are about 300KB in size. Our web site (www.bigfoot.com/~phillip_piper) always has the latest photos, journal entries and news about us. The journal section and the photo section were brought up to date at the end of August. Click here to see some maps showing where Cuamba and Niassa province are. Click here or here to see news stories about Mozambique (updated daily). Click here to see lots of technical articles about Mozambique.
|