November 2018 – Our Last Newsletter from Mozambique…

Greetings one last time from Montepuez!  Our hearts are very full these days, but heavy as well – we leave in less than one week, ending this season of ministry as residents in Mozambique.  We have appreciated so much the encouragement and affirmation from so many as we try to wrap up 15 years of ministry here in this part of Africa which has been our home.

I am writing this newsletter at a card table in our empty, echoing house.  Earlier this month we loaded a shipping container with our belongings to be sent to the US, which made the (previously) surreal experience of moving much more tangible and concrete.  We are grateful to our teammates, to missionary friends Jon and Marijane Beutler, and to Mozambican friends who helped pack and load all our things in the midst of their own busy lives.

Over the last few months we’ve been experiencing lots of lasts. I taught my final classes at the Theological Institute – the week-long courses on Preaching and the “Giants” (equipping the church to address the five big challenges we are facing in this context) as well as using the recordings from a previous class to offer an independent study for a church leader.

Rachel finished up teaching the Sermon on the Mount with women from two areas: the Nekwaya cluster and in the village of Mpuhu.  We were also so happy that to receive one last set of visitors from the States – Darrin and Cheryl Ruddy were able to come and it was so great for them to see life here in Mozambique and to have them here in our home.  Jessica, Goncalves Inacio and I also finished up the last seed distributions and final visits with the farming associations – please keep praying for them, that this year’s rains will be good and that God will provide an abundant harvest. 

God’s work continues to bear fruit, sometimes in new and surprising ways.  One graduation requirement for students in the Theology Institute is completing a capstone project that puts what they are learning to use in service to the church.  Two weeks ago, two local students started a Sunday School program for children before worship service for the church that meets here on the team’s property, and the kids have been crazy excited!  Early Sunday morning we could hear them singing loud and clear even inside our home, and afterwards, when I told one of the leaders of this program how much I enjoyed hearing the kids, he expressed a bit of sadness that they had waited so long to get started, but I encouraged him that now the time is ripe.  Please pray for their energy and enthusiasm to continue to open their hearts wide. 

Four months ago, Rachel and I sat down and mapped out our last Sundays and last visits to different places and individuals to make sure that we were saying goodbye well.  Our team works with a network of 84 Churches of Christ and also enjoys deep connections with other local denominations as well, so we knew it would be impossible to visit all of them one last time on a Sunday.  In these last weeks we’ve made dozens of goodbye visits with different churches and families who we love, and we’ve been showered with gifts –  dried cassava from the church in Milamba, sacks of peanuts in Chipembe, corn flour, bananas, chickens, and so much more.  On our last Sunday in Balama, the church dressed our family in African fabric and said that since we have done battle with Satan here and have been victorious, that they wanted to send us “home” dressed as warriors.

Village leaders have come and expressed their gratitude and sadness that we are leaving; our friend, the local traditional king, even gave me a carved scepter, and another friend bought a shirt for me and had the outline of Mozambique sewn onto it as a reminder of where my heart is. This last Sunday, our teammates and the church here in Montepuez invited our friends and gave us a goodbye blessing and meal together, and later that afternoon our team gathered for a ceremony to celebrate God’s faithfulness through the hardest times. Rachel and I have been part of this team since December 1999 – before we were married – so this is a major transition point for us all.  It has been so good to be able to both celebrate and mourn everything that is changing.

Over the last few weeks I have been talking a lot about Paul’s last words to Timothy.  I’ve been preaching from 2 Timothy 4 where Paul charges his young apprentice to keep preaching God’s words.  It is interesting and ironic to me that his final word is an encouragement to not let that be the last word – instead he wants Timothy and others to keep spreading the Word.

Traditional singers/storytellers among the Makua-Metto will pause often to sing a song that ends with the call “Saminiya” (Makua-Metto for open flame kerosene lamp).   This final word, sung like a chorus by all the participants present, is a way to say, “bring the lamp/light… don’t stop… keep going… keep telling the story.”  These traditional singer/storyteller performances often go late into the night and singing “Saminiya” is a way to encourage everyone involved to continue - even though it is getting dark, the song needs to continue.  As we leave to take the light to other places, we are calling our Makua-Metto friends to keep telling the story and to keep bringing the light into dark places in Mozambique. 

In the next few days we will finish packing our bags and celebrate Thanksgiving with our team and other expats and friends in the area; we will then go to Pemba for two days with our team before our departure.  We are taking the advice of missionary-care counselors and stretching our travel over a couple of weeks so that the family transition of moving continents isn’t too abrupt.  We will land in the US just before Christmas, and in early 2019 we will have a final furlough to see family, friends, our Donelson church family in Nashville, and others who have supported us over the years.  And then… our hope is to settle in to wherever God is leading us next during the summer of 2019.

Please pray that the churches here would be hungry for God, captivated by a vision of Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit.  Pray that God would continue this work in new and surprising ways – raising up disciple-makers, defeating the Giants, and saving the Makua people in every way.

Please pray for our family – that God would provide a place for us to flourish and serve and that God would be gentle and gracious with us in the midst of all these transitions.

Grace and Peace,

Alan, Rachel, Abby, Ellie and Katie Howell

P.S. Mark your calendars - On June 21-22, 2019, Pleasant Valley Church of Christ in Little Rock, AR will host a gathering of supporters of the work among the Makua-Metto people. Details to come!