September 2010
Dear Friends and Family,
Expanding Frontiers
Sitting in a small clay room with a dirt floor and no electricity, we are honored to be introduced to the newly chosen commission of Zambezia. These six men represent hundreds of churches in the 18 districts of Zabezia Province with Comunioa Na Coleta, the Mozambican Church we work with. The churches in this province have grown to well over a thousand, but corruption has left them weak and without top leadership for the past two years. We came to this province a year ago, conducting a pastoral training seminar as well as a children’s ministry workshop. They begged us to come back, since leaders from Pemba rarely make it out to their little villages. We loved our time with them, but realistically didn’t think we’d ever see them again. Over this past year, however, God has stirred our hearts towards these many pastors who need more training and guidance in Zambezia. This past month the Holy Spirit has confirmed to us in many ways that this is our next frontier. September 15th, we pack our bags and move to our newly rented home in Macuba, a small town in the center of Zambezia Province. We will keep a small portion of our house in Pemba as well, as we will be coming back each quarter for three weeks to teach in the Bible school, Mission School, and continue with the children’s ministry training. (It’s a 1,000 kilometer drive between Macuba and Pemba.)
Building a
Training Center
Our plan initially is to purchase land and build a simple pastoral training
center in Macuba. Most of Zambezia consists of little villages, reachable only
by worn dirt roads. Ideally located on the National Highway (the only paved
road), which expands across the province, our training center can hopefully
service many of these districts with relative ease. In time, we hope to build
three more training centers on this same National Highway. Besides training
pastors, we also desire to cast vision and provide training for children’s
programs in each of these churches. Presently, none of these churches have a
children’s program, even though over 50% of the population is under age 14!
Upon seeing our old pastor friends from our seminar a year ago, however, we were
happy to hear that our host church started a children’s program when we left and
continues to this day. Seeing fruit like this and the pastors’ eagerness to
learn more, we remain encouraged to keep going and expanding.
The 10 provinces of Mozambique are shown above. We work with the four Northern
provinces, Cabo Del Gado, Niassa, Nampula, and Zambezia. Zambezia is the
largest of the provinces with almost 4 million people. We will live in Macuba,
Zambezia about 9 months of the year and Pemba, Cabo Del Gado about 3 months of
the year. We usually drive one day from Pemba to Nampula and the next day from
Nampula to Macuba (see locations above). Mozambique has a coastline of about
2500 kilometers.
Outreach plans for the next month in
Cabo Del Gado
Please pray for our outreaches and seminars over the next three weeks.
August 25-28 Brian will be conducting a seminar in Namuno in the south, and
September 8th – 11th another seminar in Mueda, near the
border of Tanzania. The pastoral training seminars take place during the
day, while in the evenings we show the surrounding villages the Jesus film,
present the Gospel, and pray for the sick. For the week in between the two
seminars, Brian will be conducting teacher training for our Bible school
teachers here in Pemba. Then… the big move to Zambezia!
Family News
The boys are doing fine. Caleb just turned 9 two days ago.
We were in the “bush”, but he didn’t seem to mind his simple birthday celebrated
with a few chocolate bars. Believe it or not, Cadburys have made it into
heart of Africa!
Only one other missionary family lives in Macuba, and they plan to
leave in June next year. They are from Holland and have one 14 year-old
daughter with them. So we covet your prayers as life will definitely be a
bit lonely with less missionary fellowship. But God continues to give us
grace. The boys are up for a new adventure and willing to move. A
new kitten brightens their life and we hope to get another puppy soon!
Thank you again for all your prayers and
support. Our financial needs will increase when we move, so please keep that in
prayer as well. We miss you and love you.
Again, we thank you for your prayers, encouragement, support, hospitality, and keeping in touch! We serve Him together as you continue helping us in all these areas.
Much love,
Brian, Lorena, Matthew, Caleb, and Nate
Leadership Training of Africa
1908 S. El Camino Real
San Clemente, CA 92672
Our mailing address for letters or packages will stay the same:
Brian and Lorena Wood
CP 275 Pemba, Cabo Del Gado, Mozambique
We now have a blog spot. Our first
posting is called, "Ramadan"
http://brianandlorena.blogspot.com/
