Miracle

One week before the end.

A miracle happened in Macia, Mozambique last week.  On Aug 30, Ed wrote in his journal that he was sure we would not finish even if we gave it our best try.
The roof is now finished, most of the block work completed and the windows and doors have all been install, glazed and varnished.  The floors are done and the stairs which we said we were going to leave for the church members have been completed.  Yes, we did work from sunrise to sunset each day of the week, but that would not have been enough without the miricle which brought things together just as they were needed.  We did contract some of the work, to local tradesmen.  As we ran out of sand and gravel, trucks appeared with more just as we needed it.  The local congregation sent teams of their members to help each day of the week.  Even the children helped wheel concrete and carry the frames of the windows and doors.  The Police Commandant of the province  (who is a Christian elder) sent the men to install all of the glass in the windows.

Just days before the dedication

One of the most amazing things to watch was a young man by the name of Flugancio.  We were spending a great deal of time building scaffolding to finish securing the truss system.  After he learned what was needed, he started climbing the trusses without ropes or scaffolding.  There never was a better circus act.  He would climb with the drill in one hand, balance on the 2-inch wide truss, line the pieces up and run the screws in with the drill to secure them.  His strength and balance were unbelievable.

Friday before the dedication

Hours before the end of the work day Saturday

The church was completed because God sent a great team of volunteers to do the job.  We praise God for those who prayed and gave financially for the work team.

The Church receiving the keys

The dedication service on Sunday, Sept. 9 was festive and full of praise and dancing with lots of singing.  It began at 9:00 and lasted for almost 4 hours.  There were special guests and Pastor Tovela preached.(He is the head of the Presbyterian Church in Mozambique ) There were more than 450 in attendance. The keys to the new church were presented to Pastor Salimo.  The women from our team were presented with a capalana and the men received neck scarves.  Some of the local women gave us vegetables from their gardens. 

The ladies cooking after the dedication

The church after we finished it.

We have all been blessed by being part of the Miracle in Macia, may the church in Macia reach out to those around them with the love of God.

Macia church picture taken on September 10.  Finishing our part of the
church on time was a miracle look on the blog in the next few days to hear
all about it.

More from week five

 As we draw closer to the end of our time here in Macia, we continue to need prayer.

We will not be able to finish everything but we would like to finish all that we have promised the church community.

One week to go

Kitchen at the camp

 The end of week five, we have all the trusses made and seven more to put up
out of 22.  The ring beams are all finished. The window frames are being
varnished.  Things are happening but we still have so much more to do.
Please continue to pray.

We will dedicate the new church on September 9th which is only a week away.

Sunday School

John at work

Ed working on the trusses.

Dave working on the trusses from the ground.

Penny on her way to something

Nathan and Leah

Nathan and the man on the roof that he worked with

The outside of the church

Ezra 3:11

This week we finished the top ring beam, placed 5 trusses, we now have 38 squares of floor done and the doors and windows have been delivered.Two weeks to go and still so much to do.  Please continue to pray as we head toward the dedication on September 9^th.

The ring beams are up are up time to start with the trusses

Nathan is here to help put things in place.

Scaffolding to help the trusses go up.

I saw this verse and thought, this is what these women are doing in Macia 

"With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:

“He is good; his love toward Israel (Macia) endures forever.”

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid." Ezra 3:11

Every hand is working for this project, great and small

Putting the trusses together, good thing Nathan came along to help

  Pastor Tavela who is the pastor of the church we built in Beira four years ago
came by today to help build the church in Macia.  What a blessing that he
came to help build another church as a thank you for the one we built for
his church.

Trusses are going up

Life's not all fun and games, but when it is you should enjoy it.

Insights to the past three weeks

We have completed 3 weeks of work on the new church building.  The days are long as we begin with prayer between 7:15 and 7:30 and work until 5:00 and some days part of our team stays until dark. 

The local church began the foundation in 2005 so they have waited  for 7 years for a team to come and work with them to complete the church. The church  assigns a different congregational team leader to work with us each day and this team leader coordinates the work of the day with our mission workers. Sometimes it is a real challenge to understand each other because  we are trying to communicate in four different languages.

Last Wednesday we had approximately 50 women and 6 men show up to work. It was a task to try and keep all of them busy and working efficiently.

They make their work day into a social gathering and they bring a lunch to share with each other. Some days it is only manioc root. They were asked,

“Are you modern day women building a church? ”. “No – they replied we are Old Testament women”. Again they were asked. “Can women build a church?”.

“Yes – see there are 50 women and 6 men working today”, they replied.

Mannie, a representative from the truss company, drove for two hours to  come and show our team how to assemble the trusses. Each truss has approximately 27 pieces and 130 screws. There are over 10,000 screws required to completely assemble the total roof structure and it is a challenge to keep our battery powered drills charged.

The spirit of the Mozambique people is wonderful. They sing when we sit down each morning for prayers to start the work day, they sing while they work and some days when they are leaving to go home. They are a happy team and they raise our spirits. Even women with babies strapped to their backs come out to work a full day, pushing wheelbarrows full of sand, cement, gravel, concrete and mortar.  

Thanks for all you prayers for us and the people of Mozambique.

Penny and John

Week 3 look back

Showing how to assemble the trusses

 

This week we have had less American volunteers, but our Mozambique brothers and sisters have been very helpful this week. There have even been days where we had more people than we had work for.

The supplies for the trusses

Sand delivered everyday 

A lady helping out on her way to a woman's meeting

Loading tools back into to "tool box"

The ladies singing at church

At the market buying produce

Trusses getting ready to go up

John and Penny pouring the ring-beams

The wonderful work crew