Tommy Bates Ministries (TBM) just received this letter and beautiful, candid photos (see bottom of page) from our missionaries to Mozambique and we are thrilled to share it you! Enjoy the personal message from Mareshah, thanking you for your support and providing you an up close and intimate look at how God is moving in Mozambique.
Greetings in the name of Jesus!
What a wonderful God we serve.
Thank you for your prayers. God is so very faithful.
We hosted Dr. Tobe and Rita Momah from First Assembly West Monroe for three action packed days.
Lars and I gathered advance support of a private clinic doctor (Dr. Augustin) that has a large evangelical church in Xai-Xai (A town about an hour away) and an assembly of God church (Also in Xai-Xai) that we have been working with. We gathered together in prayer, fasting and intercession to prepare for what God wanted to do in Chibuto. We hurriedly prepared stages, signs, outreach teams, medical supplies, food gathering and more. Saturday Afternoon, Dr. Tobe and Rita Momah landed in Maputo, and a quick 4 hour drive later, they stepped right onto the platform and began ministering to a crowd about the redemptive love of Jesus Christ. Afterward, they were fed a nice hearty meal of beans and rice. The weather was cloudy, rainy and cold.
The next day we held a morning church service followed by a 5 hour clinic outreach where the two doctors saw and treated 125 people. These local community members were blessed to be attended to by real medical doctors and ministered to through a tangible love of Jesus. Clinic followed by another crusade of a fresh evangelical message by Dr. Tobe and a nice hearty meal. Monday morning clinic and ended promptly at 5 PM in time for a Praise and Worship session and evangelical outreach message by Dr. Tobe and then a wonderful fish meal. A few hours of sleep and then a quick trip back to Maputo for their flight.
Hundreds of people were touched by the medical clinic, hundreds of people were fed and over a hundred came to Jesus.
I have attached some pictures here.
Since then, we have been working on follow-up in the village. The three well pumps on the back half of the village are broken. We have been travelling into the village to work on fixing them. It has proven to be a much more difficult task then we realized. However, in spending several days at a time with many of the locals to work on bringing them water, we have been able to talk with them about the light of Jesus and the Living water. I look forward to giving an update of success on this in just a few short days!
We have had several successful meetings with local government, provincial government and even some mandatory meetings on a national level. They have been favorable and we seem to be walking in God’s good favor.
Thank you for your continued prayers of support, your timely words of encouragement and your financial support. This is no small thing.
We plan to have the wall complete this year. Hallelujah! Can you believe it is finally coming to completion? My own personal miracle! just shy of 3 full miles of wall! God is so faithful!!!
As we come to an end of this portion, we are preparing and planning for what comes next.
Our desire is to build the church, as it has been growing over the weeks and the children are coming back, it would be nice to have a building for them to come to. This church building will serve several functions as we grow the rest of the center. It will be a beacon of the community. The estimated cost for this building is $160,000
We also have several groups that have expressed a desire to come and visit and help with our ministry needs, medical outreach and more. We do have kinesu quarters and that makes it difficult to host all of the groups that are interested in coming. We would like to build the visitor building this next year to accommodate visiting teams. The estimated cost for this is $87,500
We are coming to a place where we need a new cement mixer. $4,200
To clear and prepare the property for building and plantation, etc – a tractor with specific implements. The estimated cost for this is $42,000 (We have $14,000 raised)
Agriculture project has been in the development stages for the last two years for trial and error and we are now to a place where we are ready to advance to the large scale 26 hectare plantation. This will develop the trade school for agriculture and animal husbandry.This will utilize the tractor, irrigation, seed purchasing, etc. The estimated cost for this development is $27,000
Lars and I are also believing for a block house sometime 🙂 $60,000
Of course we plan to continue with the Carpentry trade school and Masonry trade school this coming year. In addition, I have received a commitment for a sewing instructor to come mid 2016 to teach the sewing trade school. Every year, we add a new one. This will be a fun addition to the curriculum this year.
These are the projects we are looking at going forward this coming year. Please keep this vision in your prayers as we wait upon the Lord for wisdom and knowledge for direction and guidance. We are expanding the kingdom and meeting physical needs in the process.
Thank you for prayers and support.
May the Lord continue to bless you with His peace and presence,
Mareshah
