Dear friends,
The last month or so have been filled with a lot of activity. I think this is probably my most satisfying time of ministry in Africa. I’ve been able to help the Chuwabu project get funding for Bible translation, train Mozambicans to record Scripture and song, network online to get an electronic version of the Portuguese Bible, and lecture on New Testament and Biblical Interpretation at the Bible college. God has blessed our family with good health, good neighbors, and a beautiful place to live.
Starting today we’re setting all that aside for a special trip. We have two objectives. First, we are going to Tete to sell some property we purchased in 2003. This property, known as The Croc Farm is a beautiful riverside property where we hoped to build a house and settle in as translators in Tete. As you know, things didn’t quite work out like that. So we feel it’s best to sell the property since it is costing us money for upkeep and security. I have known the man who is buying the property for many years. He is a Mozambican Christian who works at a building supply store in Tete.
- Pray for getting all the paperwork filled out.
- Pray for the money transfer.
Here’s a classic photo of the kids playing at the farm in 2004. Click the photo for more photos of the Croc Farm.
On Wednesday, we plan to go to Dinthi, the village where we have visited on and off since late 2000. It’s been more than a year since we’ve visited there and that time it was only for the day. So now we’re going with the Land Rover fully loaded with cooking supplies, lots of flashlights as well as some gifts for Hilary’s lady friends.
Visiting Dinthi is always “good and hard.” It’s good because we get to see very special people whom we have grown to love over the years. It’s hard because living in an African village is just plain hard. When we optimistically built our house there several years ago we thought we would be able to spend more time there because of a comfortable house. But it was still really exhausting and we discovered that rather than form relationships with Mozambicans we were spending most of our time keeping water in the tank, and food on the table, and snakes out of the house, etc.
Another thing that is hard about visiting Dinthi right now is that this is the hottest time of the year. Day time temperatures will be close to 100F. Also, it is the hungry time of the year. The corn harvest from early in the year is running out and nothing much is growing in the gardens. We’ll be bringing 100 pounds of rice but that’s not much when hundreds of people are literally hungry.
Image: Ellie and friends in Dinthi in 2001.
Click here to see more photos of Dinthi
- Pray for safety in our travels.
- Pray for positive encounters with old friends.
- Pray for Hilary and the kids who will be playing the Gospel Recordings audio to children and ladies.
- Pray for David who hopes to record audio of stories, narrative and music.
Thank you for your love, prayers and support that make it possible to serve the wonderful people of Mozambique. God bless you!
David (for the whole Ker clan)
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