Spring Growth

An update from Equip Mozambique! View this email in your browser It's been an exciting month for Equip Mozambique! We are thrilled to have Janie back home with us after her unexpected visit to the States for her grandfather's funeral. She had a great time reconnecting with her family, as well as sharing her love for Mozambique with friends and church family, but now it's good to have the team back together again.  We have our Janie! New Team Member Speaking of the team, we're excited to announce that it's growing again! We hired a young lady named Flavia to start working with us in the areas of admin, projects, and promoting and advertising our ministries. She has been working with us for a little over a week now, and she seems to be a great fit so far. She is very passionate and outgoing, which will greatly help get word out locally about what we do.   Flavia is learning computer skills to help us with administrative tasks, including translating the Equip Moz website into Portuguese. Janie has been helping out the Peniel media team in the area of photography. She recently did photos for the church's 7 days of prayer that led up to Easter. It's amazing to be part of a church that is so fervent in pursuing the Lord.  Janie made a cake to celebrate Dino's birthday this month. He is such a blessing to us and a great member of the Equip Mozambique team. The first term of the sewing school is wrapping up and we're looking forward to starting the new term soon! Facebook Website YouTube Email Donate Equip Mozambique is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so all donations are eligible for tax-exemption. Welcoming New Board Members We're also excited to announce the addition of two Mozambican friends to our board of directors! Bernardo Magira is the administrator at Peniel, and has been instrumental in helping us get established here in Beira. He walked us through the process of getting our Mozambican residency status and continues to help us with paperwork and admin. Nora Binda is the leader of Peniel's compassion ministry, which cares for widows and orphans, and is where the idea for the sewing school ministry was born. Nora is full of ideas, vision, wisdom, and practical advice that have been a valuable addition to the team. We have so much to learn from their wisdom and experience of Mozambican culture, and we are excited to help them fulfill their visions for transforming Mozambique. LEFT: Bernardo Magira & his wife, Delfina RIGHT: Nora Binda & Carla. Nora's husband, Gabriel, is also a valued friend.  Bible App Jon is expanding the audio Bible website into an app for Android, Windows, and Apple phones. While the website is currently being used, we've found that the amount of interest in an app over a website has been overwhelming. Most cell phone users here understand how to use apps even if they don't understand websites, so the app will make preaching and audio Bible resources readily accessible to more people. We are also trying to partner with other churches to upload a greater variety of materials in local languages. Sewing Project Expansion The sewing project has been going SEW well! The widows who are in the class now will be graduating at the end of March, and Carla is training Maria, one of the graduates, to be a teacher for the next course. We will soon be able to take in a new group of ladies, and we plan to start including single mothers in addition to widows. The progress is exciting! LEFT: Amelia, a pastor's wife, with her new Bible cover! RIGHT: Maria, with a new dress that she and the ladies of sewing class made. She will be helping to teach the next group of students. New Work Space! We found and rented a second apartment to become our work space! We've had to work out of our bedrooms and living room for as long as we've been here, and there are times when broken electronics or other projects are strewn over every flat surface in the house. It will be nice to separate work and home a little better. We plan to use two bedrooms of the new place as office space and the other bedroom for guest housing or future missionaries. The apartment is only a couple blocks from our house, so walking back and forth will be easy. It was in need of a few renovations, which we are working on now, but the place should be usable very soon. We hired our friend, Brian, to paint the new apartment. He is doing a great job! Thank you for your prayers! Praise Reports God's guidance in finding a space where we can accommodate more projects and visitors. For more Mozambican partners. This prayer is definitely being answered as Flavia, Nora, and Bernardo have all joined our team! That Janie was able to have a good visit in the States and safe travels back to Mozambique. Prayer Requests Wisdom for Carla and Nora as they begin enrolling the next group of women for sewing classes; that they would be able to find the women with the greatest need, where the classes will have maximum impact. Pray for favor for our documents, as we are trying to register as a non-profit organization here in Mozambique. Protection for our health: there is a lot of malaria and other diseases going around right now. Please pray that we would manage our time well and be able to take times of rest. Baptisms at the beach on the day before Easter. Despite chilly temperatures and rough waves, more than 800 people made this public profession of their new life in Jesus. Thanks for reading, please remember us in your prayers!