Sowing Seed in Jesus Name

Our home church in Nampula, Cassore Baptist Church, has a mission church, or church plant, about 45 minutes out of Nampula in the village of Nacuia. They are a small body of believers that we wish we could visit more often. When we learned of an opportunity we had to receive funds through Baptist Global Response for a community development project, we knew exactly what we should do. We were led to distribute corn/maize seed to the believers and others in need in the community.

So, earlier in the week our deacon Jamal, who is the liaison for the mission, went out to Nacuia to get everything organized. Jamal met with the head of the village, or régulo, and the leadership of the church. He asked the régulo to identify 75 families in the community that could benefit the most from this project. 

The goals of the project were to improve the yield of maize harvested per hectare, provide more for the people to eat and improving their overall health, strengthen the relationship between the church and the community, and open doors and hearts to hearing and accepting the Gospel.

On Friday of this past week, we loaded up lots of corn seed and some brothers in Christ from our Church and headed to Nacuia.

Heading out of town.

And further out….

And we kept going.

It was the most beautiful morning and the mountains were amazing.

Arriving in the village of Nacuia.

The little church building.

Here are Lee, our Pastor, some of our deacons, the leaders from the mission church, the village official and two guys we brought with us to do some farming training.
They were organizing the program for the morning.

Inside the church building the people have gathered.
The church members sang song after song as we waited to get started.

Finally we are getting going.

Pastor sharing the Gospel

Part of what we wanted to do to help these families was to maximize their harvest by teaching them better farming technics. (For those of you who don't know, Lee has a strong agricultural background. So this is very important to him and something he really enjoys.) 

In Nampula there is a agricultural college, Ebenezer College, run by Australian missionaries who intertwine theology with "Farming God's Way" teaching. We asked the leaders of the school to let us borrow two of their students, Lázaro and Nito, for the morning to lead our farming training. They did a great job and the teaching was well received by those who were there.  Many in Mozambique still use farming principles dating back 50-60 years.  They are open to new farming practices, but do not often have opportunities to learn about them.

Hear they are getting started with their teaching demonstration. 

We used a space next to the church 
in a church leader's yard to plant a demonstration plot.

The women watching as the men were teaching.

It was a warm summer day. The girls were watching, but wishing for shade :)

We were so glad that God provided some clouds to give us a little reprieve from the sun. 

Here they are demonstrating how to measure for proper row spacing.
They had pieces of wire which had been cut into 70cm sections and then twisted together to form a 6 meter "chain".  They used this "chain" not only  to space the rows, but also to allow for proper spacing between the plants in each row. After they showed how to do this the ladies all started searching the yard for sticks that they could break into a 70cm length and take home with them.

The farmers do not use commercially available fertilizer because of price and availability. However, there are many people who raise chickens in this area so chicken litter is readily available. Our teachers taught on the benefits of using this great fertilizer. They put a handful of chicken littler in the bottom of every hole. 

Lee enjoying a conversation with Lázaro who was one of our teachers.

Putting 3 seeds in every hole.  Once they germinate the weakest of the three plants will be culled to allow the other two to thrive.

Covering up all the seeds 

After the demonstration was over, we all went back into the church to organize the seed distribution.

Here is one of several list that the church leaders were using to call individuals to receive their seed.

People waiting for their name to be called. 
One by one they each received 10kg of corn seed.

Here is a lady receiving her seed.

Then she put the seed into the center of
her capulana…the wrap-skirt with a thousand uses.

Then, she took the opposing corners and tie the capalana around her seed.

Next her friend helped her get it up on her head.

Then she started her journey home. 

Lee relaxing in the truck in between people.

People trying to get some shade.

We had some people on the list that did not show up. Then, of course, there were some who came that weren't on the list. So here Pastor and the leaders are deciding what to.

A little one looking on.

Here the girls are looking as if they are enjoying themselves. See their blog post for a different prospective.
Missionary life is not what it seems. 

In the coming weeks the church members will be going to visit the homes of those who received seed. They will be using this seed as an outreach tool and we pray that God will use this to call the people of Nacuia to Himself.

Blessings,

Lee and Tracy

What's Up? -- By Meg

Since the team left we have been so busy trying to get back into the swing into things. 

We also got approved to have some (actually quite a bit) of work done on our house. 

Then there is school.  We need to finish this school year before we go back to the states next year. Even in the midst of everything going on right now, we are making good progress.

All three of our "guards" are working on the outside of our house. We also have two pastors from Quelimane (where we lived for language) helping inside the house. 

Here are some of the things that have to/are getting done. 

We have to replace the roof. Half of it is already done, they just have to finish the other half. 

We are scraping the paint off of the whole house…then painting it. 

Us three girls are moving down stairs so that we can make the

 whole upstairs a guest house for when we have visitors. 

We will be enclosing a porch to make a bedroom since there are only two small bedrooms downstairs. So the three guards have been working on that small project. 

It might sound like not very much. But it is so a lot of work. Boy howdy, they are working all day long, sun up to sun down, to get this house done by a certain time. 

Please pray that everyone will be safe while working and that they will be able to do everything in a timely manner. 

Church is still the same. Some of the youth saved up their money and bought a keyboard. 

We are very impressed by their talent in playing different instruments!

Mom is still singing with the women. She loves to do this every Sunday. 

We still love our youth. They are so talented!

The kids that come to church love to watch Emma draw things. 

She starts drawing anything and they will be mesmerized. 

Here are some random things that I took a picture of when mom, dad, and 

I went out to buy some things one day.

This man had on real live TOMS!
We were so surprised! They have those nock-off Toms here.
But to see that someone has real TOMS! Crazy!

People sell lots of old used tires here. 

This women had been selling food at lunch time in a market.
She came out of the market with things on her head and in both hands! I could never do this!

Here is a picture of a part of our city. 

Here is a market that is close to our house. 

I hope to update the blog more regularly,  but because school is taking up lots of my time…I might have to give my sisters and mom a turn! How does that sound?!?

Hugs,

Meg

Time with the Team -- By Meg

After the meeting ended on Friday morning we headed to our 

house and the women started preparing to teach at our church. 

They planed to wash the women's feet and also paint their nails. 

They had 27 women at their teaching. 

The normal number is around 10-12 women that come each week. 

Wow! Praise God!

Then, on Saturday morning all of us went to the church to teach the kids.

There were over 100 kids there. 

We did not even well publicize that we were going to be there. 

Another amazing act of our God!

Singing some songs!

Na na, na na na na na!

Teaching Creation to Christ, kid version. 

Coloring a picture that helps us remember the stories that we learned.

On Saturday afternoon we had the youth from our church come over 

for some teaching, games, and lots of fun! 

We began with a Bible teaching.

This girl comes to church every week, but did not have a Bible.
So, because of some friends in the states who donated some Bibles,
we were able to give her a Bible.
She is very proud of it! 

Marcilino

Painting nails!

Playing the guitar and drums. 

The cupid shuffle! They loved it!

We wanted to have traditional Mozambique food of rice, beans, and chicken!

We were able to feed all of the youth, the team, three amazing 

cooks, and our family for under $100. 

On Sunday morning we got up and headed to church. 

Stan, Lee, Al (he works with the IMB and came to visit our
 church while spending some time in Mozambique), and John

The American women performing a dance with the Mozambican women.

Shaking hands on the way out of church.

Thank you so much for coming to visit the missionaries in Mozambique! 

We had so much fun with you!!

Hugs,

Meg