Jan/Feb 2016 Newsletter

January-February 2016

Dear Friends...

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our months ago we left Inhaminga for Zimbabwe, Rodney needing a medical check up. “We’ll be gone only a week,” we told our Team. It’s been a very long week. We never imagined we’d be away for so long.

The doctor’s report sent us for further tests which showed cancer of the bladder. The bad kind, the aggressive, invasive, fast growing kind. Rod needed radical surgery. Within another week we found ourselves on the plane to Miami where appointments were set up for us by our Mississippi Partners. How can we ever thank you?

Needless to say, the shock and aftershocks were life shaking, faith shaking but by God’s grace, on Christ our solid Rock we stand; all other ground is sinking sand. We have some understanding of aftershocks now, they sometimes hit harder than the initial shock. Through it all we have learned to trust in Jesus as never before. He did not fail us. Here we are back in Mozambique. Rodney has been cut up, had parts removed, new parts made, is patched up and cancer free! All pathology tests show no further cancer in his body. How grateful we are; what a journey it has been.

Due to the depth of emotion involved, I have struggled to write our newsletter so this is long delayed.

Having received such a beautiful AWYesu magazine, I am sure newsletters have not been missed. (Be sure to let us know if you enjoyed our first ever Afrika wa Yesu magazine).

Rod received the best care possible. God has shown Himself so mighty, so great, so loving, such a Father, so much love. This love He demonstrated through His people also. All the provision, care, every detail, amazing doctors, wonderful people, more and

more than we can say. All financial needs were covered.

Our accommodation was of the beyond magnificent kind. We are humbled and lifted up at the same time. So many of you prayed for us, thank you! To not share about what God is to His people in the time of trouble, is to deny the Body of Christ the substance and result of faith and things hoped for. Faith is believing what we do not see, until we see it.

It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. It was a very rough journey, smoothed and stabilized by love. There are not enough words to fill the hole of physical and emotional pain. The courage and fortitude of my husband is incomparable. His smile in the midst of the pain, faith in the midst of seemingly hopeless days is a wonder to me. At the same time, our hearts could barely contain the joy unspeakable and full of glory that filled us to bursting point, spilling over in praise and thanksgiving. So much victory and joy in the midst of the darkness seemed almost irreverent…. but ah, this is the sacred secret; the darker the night the brighter shines His Light. The awesome holiness of God Almighty is not found only in silent awe of His Presence, but in receiving the oil of joy as He anoints us till our cup runs over in the presence of our enemies and we rejoice with exceeding great joy. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” ~ Psalm 34:18. Many are the enemies that surround us; demon voices that scream death while angels sing in triumph that Christ Jesus has prevailed and the devil shall not steal our life.

During this time, we partook of the bread and cup of communion daily. “Give us this day our daily bread.”

His mercies are new every morning, daily joy, daily

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Luke 4:18-19

strength. Courage. We found that in all things He is the God of the more than enough. Thus in the midst of the worst of times we experienced also the best of times. Only God can do that.

While we were gone, the work of the ministry more than continued. It grew. The incredible AWYesu Team stood together, pulled together. We found that when the cat’s away, the mice DO PRAY! We are so very proud of them.

There is much to share of their exploits. If you have not found our Afrika wa Yesu Facebook page,

please have a look and join us as we rejoice in big and small things God is doing.

Thank you dear friends for your continued love and support, for your patience during the time you did not hear much from us. We are ready, more than ready for the most incredible year of our life. We wish you the same.

Always in Jesus,

Rod & Ellie.

Our Amazing Endurance Race ~ Miami Major surgery, major courage, major recovery!

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his was a totally unplanned long leg of our Amazing Race, which we completed and won due to AmazinGrace!

Who would have thought we would land up in Miami? And for such a route set before us? There was only one way to do it… “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” - Hebrews 12:1 Multi-cultural Miami is more like South America than North America. We heard a lot more Spanish than English. Cubans, Haitians, Jamaicans and people from every South American nation fill the city. We felt very at home. Not being city people, we were surprised to find just how much we enjoyed this beautiful city. Lovely gardens and palm trees surround the skyscrapers creating a feeling of space. The ocean is all around, so amazing. We absolutely love Miami!

Bushbaby in the City

How was a total Bushbaby to survive in the city with Rod in hospital? How would I find my way around? Easy! Well, everything is made easy but sometimes it was hard ;o) Every morning I got on this friendly trolley just a block away from our apartment. Which took me to board the train that dropped me across the road from University of Miami hospital. Rod could see the trains coming and going from his window. After spending five to six hours with Rod I simply reversed the process home again. Even so, I still got lost a few times when I took the Northbound train instead of the Southbound, and when I decided to walk part the way and ended up in the wrong places.

Miami is Bicycleland!

Before Rod went to hospital he bought me a bicycle! I had the time of my life discovering Miami and taking long beachside routes. Very therapeutic, and an absolute lifesaver for me.

These are some of my beautiful rides!

The Homeless in Miami

I discovered through my early morning bicycle rides that many homeless people sleep in the same place every night, literally making a particular patch their home.

I started talking to some of them and they spoke of how they were caught in alcohol and drug addiction. They have chosen or accepted this way of life. Sometimes they asked for money or simply a cup of coffee and something to eat, the latter I was happy to give. I never felt threatened by them, even when I inadvertently ended up in a very rough area where they were peddling drugs. I was lost and two huge peddlers kindly directed me safely out of there.

Underneath the rough exterior I found people who were in need of kind words. I spoke to them about Jesus, they mostly professed they had accepted Him into their lives at some point and yes, they often talked with Him. I could see sincerity in some of them but there is no prison as securely locked as the one we choose to live and remain in. It made me very sad to see valuable lives wasting away while each one of them is full of potential and possibility. It was a lesson for me, to find people homeless by choice while so many in Africa are homeless without any choice.

Puppy Gloves - Amazing American Dogs

We stayed in the upscale part of the city where highrise apartments are surrounded by beautiful walks and gardens. It seems almost every apartment is inhabited by upscale canines of every description. The male dogs could have jumped off the pages of Man Magazine.

Lean dogs, bull dogs, tough dogs and keen. The female dogs surely stepped straight out of Vogue. They were so trimmed and styled, curly or sleek, with buttons and bows. I thought one dog was a teddy bear, the fur of the ears having been cut fluffy round. These status symbols proudly strutted their owners around on a leash.

That which is normal to an American is sometimes the funniest thing to an African. Referring now to puppy gloves….. (Which is actually a great idea). Of course all dogs have to “go”, and better outside than in the apartment. Stationed every 50 metres or so, is something that looks like a mail box, painted dark green to blend in with the environment. ‘Puppy glove’ envelopes are provided to slip the hand into. The trick is to pick up the ‘dog do’, drop it along with the glove into a plastic bag

also provided, tie it up and mail it for collection. What a masterful way to keep the parks and paths clean.

Mozambican Tick Taxis

By contrast, Mozambique is riddled with sad, emaciated, flea ridden dogs full of ticks. They have never been washed in their life, least of all brushed and permed and tinted. With food shortages this year and hungry people, you can be sure the dogs are hungrier than ever. They are a constant fighting and yelping menace on campus.

There is no such thing as vaccination against rabies.

A rabid dog on one occasion tried to bite one of our missionary children who was saved by a brave and loyal worker. The worker took the bite and ended up having to go to the city for rabies injections. With over 100 people on campus, the dogs come looking for scraps. SPCA? What is that? Mail box and puppy gloves? Never heard of them. Such are the contrasts between Mozambique and America.

Friends Indeed!

I could write an entire book just on these our friends the White and Eaton Family (Wheaton Foundation) Thank you precious friends for your amazing kindness and generosity to this ministry and for your personal help and love in the time of our great need. All of Afrika Wa Yesu thank you!

Ellie, Rick & Robin, Rodney, David & Lynn

Serious Talk, David & Rod “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” Proverbs 27:17

Backto Africa

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e landed back home in a devastatingly dry Zimbabwe. This beautiful former breadbasket of Africa has been declared an empty disaster. Drought and land mismanagement led to severe famine and poverty, death of livestock, devastation and despair. In Inhaminga we are experiencing a miracle in motion. While people are hungry as the harvest is not yet in, and many have lost their harvest, intermittent miracle rain has fallen to save the failing crops of others. Pray with us as we nurture the crops in prayer through to harvest time. It is sad to see so many hungry people and already we have started distributing food. Yet there is hope and in the midst of it we are seeing the hand of God touch lives.

Bible School

Preaching my heart out in our much loved home church, Inhaminga wa Yesu.

Our reason for being in Mozambique is to win souls, disciple and train others to plant churches and send more students to Bible School from the new churches.

In spite of continued political unrest and military skirmishes, we have full house at all our schools. Some of the students on the way to Inhaminga were harassed by police who were suspicious as to why so many young men were on their way to Inhaminga. They were afraid that they might be moving in for training as soldiers. Wrong because we are not training soldiers for physical battle, but right as we are training them as soldiers in the army of God. We had some resistance to the opening of Bible School from local government, but it was soon resolved and campus is resounding with shouts of joy.

We have more than 60 students. Today we baptized 26 students, the others have all been baptized in their home churches.

We realized that we have been doing this for 35 years, and Jesus never told us to stop, so we shall continue ‘making disciples and baptizing in His Name’, as He commissioned us.

Rod surprised Pastor Mariano with a new base guitar for the worship group.

OH! IT’S GOOD TO BE HOME!

Our days have been full of fellowship and eating house to house. Here we enjoy traditional African food in the traditional way, eating with our hands.

Come and join us!