Encouragement

The work here is a huge blessing, but sometimes little things stand out to me and I am encouraged by them. Saturday was youth service. We had a great time together. We did four weeks of games, bible trivia, verse search, etc. Yesterday was the last day and the day to give out the prizes. One of the things that encouraged me was a young lady that memorized 30 verses. She quoted all the verses in front of everyone. She also memorized all the books of the Bible. Simple task but a huge accomplishment. There were others that memorized verses and the books of the Bible, which just put the cherry on top for me.

The other awesome moment for me was this morning in service. A man in the church brought his offering in a peculiar way. He grows vegetables so an offering he brought a bag full of vegetables and placed it on stage. He was giving the first fruits of his labor.

We all have something to give. We just need to make it available for God.

Church

I was in the picture taking mood the other day and wanted to share some moments with you. Sometimes i need to take a step back and see the great things that God is doing. Here are some random pictures of different things in the church.

Two year anniversary

Two years ago our lives changed. We became one and began this great journey together. It has been an adventure that I could have never imagined; full of new experiences, joy, and happiness. Sure there are it's ups and downs, but life together with my wonderful wife has been a huge gift from God to me. I always hear people say that their wives are their better halves. Well, now I know what they mean. My wife is definitely my better half and don't know how she puts up with me.

We also received some wonderful news the other day. We found out that she is pregnant. Talk about an anniversary gift.

It has been an amazing two years. God has blessed us beyond measure and I'm excited to see what else He has for us.

Jesus is our greatest gift

I'm a few days late in posting this but I need to show this awesome day we had at church. June 1st was Children's Day. I don't know the story behind it but it's a day they celebrate here in Mozambique and I know they do it in Brazil but on October 12th. We had over 300 kids at service that morning. The kids know we always do something special for them whenever we can so they once again figured us out and invited everybody they knew. Carol taught them about the greatest gift they could ever receive, Jesus. The thing that encourages me so much is that all the hard work that goes into working with kids is worth it, because God is planting in them an eternal seed that will one day grow and produce fruit that will fill this nation with the Gospel of Jesus.

Children's Cup School / Escolinha

One of the parts of a Children's Cup program is to offer pre-school to the young children. We have had a rough time trying to get it started, but we have finally done it. We have been going for about a month now. It is so exciting to see the little kids coloring, and learning the letters. Most kids don't have the opportunity to attend a pre-school so they go into first grade without knowing anything. We are grateful for the opportunity to offer at least a few kids the a good pre-school education. Who knows, maybe in the future God will let us build and start a K - 12 school. We currently have 60 kids in school.

One Year of Blessings/Um ano de bênçãos

This past week we celebrated the one year anniversary of the church. It's been a year full of blessings. God has done great things in the one year we have been worshiping together. Part of the HPSM students came to celebrate this time with us. They did an awesome job in everything. Our Sunday service was packed with over 5oo people. The team did a great job serving and loving the people. Then throughout the week, we had leadership training, water station, and mural painting. We also gave away shirts and flip-flops. I want to thank HPC for training such great leaders and a huge thank you to the team the poured their hearts out into the work here. You guys are awesome.
Na semana passada, nós celebramos o aniversário de um ano da igreja. Foi um ano repleto de bênçãos. Deus fez grandes coisas neste um ano em que temos adorado juntos. Parte dos estudantes do HPSM vieram participar da celebração conosco. Eles fizeram um ótimo trabalho em tudo. Nosso culto de domingo estava lotado, mais de 500 pessoas. A equipe foi tremenda em servindo e amando as pessoas. E durante a semana, tivemos treinamento de líderes, construção de bebedouros, e pintura da salinha das crianças. Também demos camisas e chinelos. Quero agradecer HPC (Igreja Healing Place) por treinar grandes líderes e também a equipe por derramarem dos seus corações no trabalho aqui. Vocês são D +

The men that made the water station.

Painting their shirts.

Kids in line for food after service.

An awesome team.

The smile and excitement on their faces as they received their new pair of flip-flops.