Our mission is to DISCOVER Mozambicans who want to change their nation,
PARTNER with them in their vision, and
EMPOWER them to reach their full potential
It has been a busy few months here in Mozambique! We are continually blown away by God's goodness and faithfulness. Read on to see what He's been up to in our little corner of the world!
NEW Building - The Empowerment Center
When we rented a 3-bedroom apartment to be our first office location, we only had 2 full-time workers plus us 3 missionaries, and the space was more than sufficient. Then our team grew… and grew… and grew! Now we have 18 people plus the sewing school which had 10 students at a time, and we were quite squished! Jehovah-Jireh saw our need for some room to grow, and did He ever provide! In August we moved to a spacious building we are calling the Empowerment Center, with 4 large rooms and 5 smaller ones, perfect for both our current needs and future expansion. We were also able to move the library out of the private school (which proved to be a low-traffic location for it) and into our building which is much better suited for having more visits.
Before and After!
Crowded work spaces in the old place, plenty of room to grow in the new!
With the new building we are needing a little help with furnishing all that space with tables, chairs, shelves, and other things, so let us know if you’d like to partner with us financially to utilize the building to its greatest potential!
As we said, the Equip Mozambique team has grown again! We now have Felizardo in media, Isabel and Rosanna in administration, Marcos in tech support, and Alex and Malavriosa in app development! They are all a joy to have on the team. We also needed to hire 2 night guards when we got the new building, it’s great to be in a position to provide so many much-needed jobs.
NEW Bible App Expansion
Jon and his programming team have been hard at work cranking out new versions for the "Fonte da Vida" Bible app, we're up to v3.6.6! We’ve added many languages, partners, and resources and we’ve expanded beyond Portuguese-speaking countries into some of the surrounding English-speaking ones. We now have around 40,000 downloads, and nearly half of those are outside of Mozambique, so we’re gaining international momentum!
NEW Sewing Term
We held a joyous graduation ceremony for Sewing Term 2 at the end of July! The students proudly wore dresses they had made themselves, and here’s what some of them had to say on that day:
“Teachers, thank you very much for all that you taught us, you are a blessing, and you were able to restore our dreams that were already lost. And with your patience and wisdom we didn’t only learn sewing, but we also learned to love, to forgive, to teach others, to have hope, and to care for others in need.”
After moving into the new building, we started up Sewing Term 3 with nearly twice as many students as we had before, thanks to the increased space! We also hired Estrella, one of the students from Term 2, to be a new teacher’s assistant to Maria so that she won’t be too stretched. Three weeks after the term started up, Carla went on maternity leave because we have a...
NEW Baby!
A healthy baby girl, Alizah Faith, was born at home September 7! She weighed 7lbs 6oz, 20in long, for those who like to know. A wonderful and very experienced midwife from Florida and a doula friend from Missouri both came to assist with the birth. Now we have a little Mozambican citizen in the family! Carla’s parents and 2 younger sisters also came for a total of 5 weeks around the birth, which was a great help and blessing to have some family time.
Praise Reports:
That we were able to find and move into the Empowerment Center--and that the landlord gave us a good rate for the rent!
That we have found quality people to add to the team, all of whom are proving to be a blessing and an asset.
That the new sewing term is up and running and going well -- even in Carla’s absence!
That Alizah arrived safe and healthy, and that she generally sleeps well at night!
Prayer Requests:
That our increased expenses (new building, more salaries) will be met.
In spite of our best efforts, we are still not registered in Mozambique. Jon got to meet the mayor of our city and make some connections with other government officials, so hopefully that will help our process along!
Please pray for healthy communication between team members. Even with our rapid growth, we want to keep a healthy environment of trust and respect.
Thanks for reading, please remember us in your prayers!
In July, we received a visit from the Koenig family. Todd, Amy, and their two teenage sons, Andrew and J.L., stayed with us for two weeks to help teach and train and find out more of what Equip Mozambique is all about.
"Last year we prayed about doing a family mission trip and contacted different people we knew [doing mission work] throughout the world...Mozambique, with Jon and Carla, is where we felt God was leading us to spend some time."
During their time here, the Koenig family taught a variety of workshops for members of our partner churches. Amy taught a crochet class, and showed her students how to make yarn out of old t-shirts (which are readily available in the market and very cheap; about $0.25 each). Todd, J.L., and Andrew offered math tutoring in the mornings, and Andrew taught a piano class in the afternoon, while J.L. also helped with programming on the Fonte da Vida app.
Amy says...
"I feel like we are learning so much more about 'helping' people. Equip Mozambique isn't an evangelistic ministry or a relief ministry. They want to disciple followers of Jesus.
For my class, an interpreter was 'hired' to assist me. Helena, 19, an former orphan was hired to come to my classes with me. She was in an orphanage run by a woman who moved back to the United States. Mama Lee happened to be in the country this week and suggested Helena.
She has such an infectious smile! She also knew how to crochet which was a huge help. (I'm pretty much self taught in crochet and just make it up as I go.)
I loved that Helena asked to teach, herself, and not just translate! The culture here is to not share knowledge, so this is a great step.
She was paid for her time with me and she also was given a crochet hook. I gave her a pair of scissors too...Wow! a 19 year old was very excited to be given scissors!"
Helena with one of the crochet A finished project
students
Andrew says...
"Jon sent us an email of things that we could potentially help with, [and] I was very happy to find that piano lessons and math tutoring were on that list. I had some experience working as a tutor... so I was very confident going into that. The piano lessons were a different matter. I have played piano for five years and had a rough idea that I could teach. Teaching does not come naturally to me. I find explaining things in a different way exceedingly difficult, a problem that is only magnified when you are trying to teach in another language through a translator who may not understand what [you are] saying. Thankfully, I was paired with a translator, named Domingos, whom Carla had already taught guitar, so he was already familiar with the terminology I was using and was able to teach me just enough Portuguese that I could help people while he was occupied with something else. The speed with which the piano students learned was extremely encouraging, as was the depth of understanding Domingos acquired, enabling him to teach new arrivals after the first day everything that had already been taught [in the preceding classes] in a matter of minutes."
"The math tutoring was also very encouraging, the first day we had six people walk in the door less than half-an-hour after we started. Punctuality is not an African value, so to have people that quickly was a massive boost to our confidence..."
In addition to math tutoring, J.L. used some of his programming skills to teach the Equip Mozambique staff and help develop version 3.5 of the Fonte da Vida app.
Todd also provided some great ideas during conversations about our future plans and strategies. It was helpful to have him as a sounding board for our thoughts, and, coming as a visitor, he had a fresh perspective and could give different input on some of the things that have become commonplace for us.
Relaxing & programming after a morning at the math tutoring class
J.L. says...
"This trip really changed my perspective. It was my first trip to Africa and a 3rd world/majority world country and it was an eye opening experience. I feel like at home I sometimes live in my own little bubble that I don’t want anyone to change or mess with, but in Mozambique you kinda just had to go with the flow. Nothing was ever boring or dull and everyday was something new and different and something that I had never experienced before. It made you trust God more when you knew that your expectations could change at any time."
Amy says...
"One of the big take aways that I am formulating in my brain is that all people are in fact people. They are not a statistic, they are not a side show, they are real people with feelings and desires. I need to constantly be aware of respecting people who are different than me as a real person. I tried really hard to only take pictures of people doing things that I would not mind people taking a picture of me doing and sharing it with their friends. Yes, I was a tourist, but the people of Mozambique where not my 'entertainment'."
"I would encourage every family to do a trip like this together."
Praise Reports:
That the Koenig family had a safe & productive trip.
That we were given the opportunity to share about the Fonte da Vida app at a recent evangelism event, and that a lot of people were interested, even downloading the app during the event!
That God continues to send new ideas and new partnerships our way.
Prayer Requests:
Health for everyone on the team.
Carla is in her 8th month of pregnancy now, so please pray for a safe delivery in (probably) early September!
Unity among the churches in Beira.
For continued direction and guidance for all of us.
Thanks for reading, please remember us in your prayers!
