Greetings from Montepuez!
The rains seem to have finally stopped and the weather is
starting to get a bit cooler. That’s
been a nice change as we’ve started wearing long sleeves and light jackets in
the mornings and evenings this week.
We’ve also experienced a big change in our ministry recently
with the inauguration of the Theological School (“Instituto Teológico de Cabo
Delgado” in Portuguese) facilities on April 13th. Church leaders and government officials and
friends all gathered (around 140 people or so) to cut the ribbon and celebrate
this new stage in the life of the school and our team. It was a beautiful day and went amazingly
smooth. We are so thankful for all the hard work that went into that day –
especially on the part of the Smiths who spearheaded the construction and the
inauguration itself.
Our first semester of classes kicked off a few days later as
I taught the “Introduction to Theology” week-long intensive course with a great
group of 31 students. It was a mixture
of new and returning students – made up of people from different districts of
Cabo Delgado and a few from Nampula and Zambezia provinces. It was such a blessing to use the classroom
after meeting in an open-air pavilion for classes in 2016 and 2017. Our ministry has shifted to spending more
time giving formal training to church leaders with teammates teaching different
week-long classes. This week, I am
teaching a class on “Evangelism, Disciple-Making, and Church Planting” then a
few weeks later a New Testament Survey class and then a couple weeks after that,
Rachel will teach Church History (a class she taught last year). We recently realized that in a 10-week span,
Rachel or I will be teaching week-long classes 6 times! So please pray for us to have stamina and
that God will use this time to bless these students and the churches they
serve.
We had a chance to use these new facilities back in March even
before they were finished in order to host the bi-monthly meeting of deacons of
communication and collaboration from all over Cabo Delgado. They were scheduled to meet in a more remote
area but some washed out bridges meant that the location was changed to
Montepuez. These meetings are important
times where representatives of the 70+ churches gather together to plan and
give counsel to each other. At that
point the kitchen was still being run out of our family’s yard, but we were
able to use the dining area and classroom to meet in. Later that night I realized that the two main
topics they had spent time addressing were deciding on what issue we all would
choose to pray and fast about for the churches in Cabo Delgado and making a
plan for supporting the upcoming women’s conference – Wow - how far things have
come! It is encouraging to see us shift from
all the issues with the rogue church leader and dealing with the ramifications
of his divisiveness in the past to meeting about more constructive topics
regarding the future.
During that first week of classes in the Theological School,
Rachel left for Kenya to participate in a women’s retreat there. She really enjoyed getting to fellowship with
other women in ministry in this region of Africa. She also left the girls in charge of our
kitchen while she was gone! Abby (14),
Ellie (12) and Katie (8) did an awesome job making sure we all were fed and
taken care of. It is so amazing how much
these girls have grown – we are so proud of them!
In just a few weeks our interns from Harding University will
be here. The eight of them will be
spending six weeks with us learning language and culture and job-shadowing
us. At the beginning of June, while they
are still here, the churches will host a women’s conference on our team’s
land. It has been a few years since they’ve
had on a women’s conference – please pray that God would empower women to shine
the love of Jesus in their homes and communities!
Another thing we would like for you to continue praying
about is our team’s residency documents.
This issue has been prolonged and complicated and has dragged out for a
couple of years now. Please continue to
pray with us as we are still working towards the resolution of this
issue.
The rainy season started early and went later than normal,
but unfortunately
crops have not done well this year. Please be in prayer about that as well, our
friends are not in crisis mode, but as so many of them live on the edge, having
an off-year of production makes things more difficult. Please pray that God would provide more than
enough so people can share. Back in
January, Rachel went with some of her friends to work with them in their farms –
it was a fun time to be together in our last rainy season here.
We mentioned back in January that after a two-year process
involving prayer and input from American and Mozambican colleagues, we’ve
decided to leave Mozambique at the end of 2018 and return to the United States
following a calling to do ministry there.
It will be a big transition for the work here and our mission team –
there is still much to be done among the Makua-Metto people. Please keep this whole process in your
prayers. Our family wants to “leave
well,” not underestimating the impact of stepping away from Mozambique after
completing a commitment to serve 15 years here.
We plan to make return visits to remain connected to the work.
That upcoming transition is affecting our lives more and
more. Our team has begun to shift some
responsibilities off our plates and to others -which has been good, but also a
strange experience. We recently bought
plane tickets and will arrive in the United States in December – so the reality
is sinking in more and more! We’re
talking about it often as a family and are having a complicated mix of emotions
as we finish out our final year in Mozambique. Please keep this process
in your prayers, both our leaving Mozambique and our moving to the States. Thanks so much for supporting us and this
ministry!
Please join us in prayer:
- For a good internship, women’s conference and classes in the
Theological Institute
- For resolution of our document issues
- For wisdom about wrapping up our work in Mozambique well and
trust about what God has for our family in the future
Grace and Peace,
Alan and Rachel Howell
