A Church Without Walls.....Let's Meet Under the Cashew Nut Tree!

Visit the Mozambique Initiative website to view the MI calendar to find dates for MI-related events:  www.moumethodist.org/mi/calendar

The Mozambique Initiative representative, Ezequiel Nhantumbo, in Maputo has a new email address.  It is enhantumbo@tvcabo.co.mz. 

Armindo Mapoissa, Youth leader for UMC in Mozambique, will be visiting Missouri in February, 2009.  He will be hosted by Chris Sams of the Platte Woods UMC.  Chris' email address for more info:  csams@tevisarchitects.com.

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The Rev. Daniel Notico Cossa remains pastor of our partner church, Macunhe UMC, after appointments announced at Annual Conference in December, 2008.

The following is a letter dated December, 2008, from Baltazar Nassone Machoco, delegate, and Daniel Notico Cossa, Pastor in Charge from Macunhe UMC, Inhambane North District, Mozambique:

"Dear covenant partner in Missouri, brothers and sisters of Mt. Olive andf St. Andrew's UMC's,

Greetings in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ from your brothers and sisters of Machunhe UMC.  Hope and pray that you are doing fine.

From this church come warm compliments as we write this letter attending the annual conference session here in Chicuque UMC Mission. This is one of the rare opportunities to be able to connect you through letter.  Time has gone by as we have not had a chance to write back and forth and exchange ministry activities.

We are a church with close to 383 members with an average participation of 100 on normal Sunday services.  This year we have managed to convert 31 people and confirm 41 people.  There are 4 local churches and 11 class meetings.

About 120 people attend to the Sunday school every Special Sunday.  Otherwise, because our members are far away from the main church, we have given an opportunity to each local church to meet in their respective local church.  We are struggling to get Christian education materials including bibles and hymnals for our congregation.

We are a church with people relying on agriculture and fishing.  In our church farm we are growing tomato, beans, corn, and cassava.  Our men and youth do a lot of fishing and hunting.  We also raise goats for the church.

We received some rains after a long period of draught.  The problems with this rain, it is bringing floods in some areas.

We hope to continue in communication with  you as we are able.  We would like to  hear more about your pastor and your congregation.  We are glad to be in covenant with you.  Please know that we are praying for you.

Wishing you all the best in the year 2009.

Blessings---Baltazar Nassone Machoco and Daniel Notico Cossa

October 19, 2008, is BFW Sunday."   What is BFW?  It is "Bread for the World. To learn more, go to www.bread.org and see how churches may help to overcome hunger and poverty in God's world.

Cambine and Ricatia seminaries in Mozambvique will graduate 11 United Methodist students in December, thanks to covenant partnerships from Missouri Conference.  The new school year begins in February.  If you would like to engage in these prsonal seminary student covenants, visit www.moumethodist.org/mi/leaderdev.  You commit to praying for your student daily, corerspondence annually, $600/year support, and a photo exchange.  This is an opportunity for either individuals or small church groups  to make a difference in a life and in the church.  Carol Kreamer at cpkreamer@hughes.net or 636-271-4455 can give you more info.

A major problem in Mozambique and all of sub-Saharan Africa is a disease not encountered here in Missouri.  The deadly disease is carried by mosquitos and does not discriminate between rich or poor, old or young.  The "Nothing but Nets" campaign aims to provide free insecticide-treated bed nets to protect people from the disease-carrying mosquitos.  $10 buys a net, trains the user, and gets the net to where it is needed.  The church can send it to the Missouri Conference treasurer's office if you wish to donate to this cause.  Our coordinator of The Mozambique Initiative is Carol Kreamer.

THE FIRST SUNDAY IN AUGUST IS THANKSGIVING SUNDAY IN MOZAMBIQUE.  It is like a "harvest Sunday" and a "Dedication Sunday" all rolled up into one.  This is when people bring their biggest offering of the year to the church.  Sometimes it is money but often it is the fruit of the harvest--oranges, tangerines, bananas, goats, ducks, or anything that can be sold to help support the church.  Groups of people bring their offering singing and dancing to the altar of the church, whether that altar is in a building or under the cashew nut tree.  If you would like to send a Thanksgiving message to our covenant partner in Mozambique, you can email them through our MI representative, Ezequiel Nhantumbo, at mozinitiative@teledata.mz. 

St. Andrews has become familiar with some of the history, geography, and needs of Mozambique as we covenant with our partner church in that country.  However, some of that information remains at the end of this article for those that are interested.

Mozambique has experienced some devastating tragedies recently.  First there was serious flooding along the Zambezi valley in the north.  Then there was terrible destruction caused by a cyclone in the Vilanculos-Inhassoro area of the mid-south.  And then on Thursday, March 22, 2007, an explosion rocked the ammunition depot at Maputo.  This was a storehouse of old munitions left from their civil war in the early 1990's.  Munitions were send flying in every direction, killing over 70 people and injuring many more.  This explosion of munitions continued for hours; no place was safe.     Maputo is the town where Ezequiel Nhantumbo, our Methodist Mozambique Initiative representative resides.   His family is safe but their home was damaged and the children have been taken out of the area for the time being.  Ezequiel described it like being in a war zone--like what you see on television of Iraq.  The extreme heat contributed to the explosions--and at last report, the heat had not subsided.

To find out more, Google "Mozambique explosion." 

Several months ago St. Andrews heard from Carol Kreamer, Coordinator for Missouri Conference Mozambique Initiative about our Covenant Partner church in that African country.   What an interesting presentation!  What beautiful artifacts from Mozambique!

St. Andrews is a part of the Mozambique Initiative by agreeing to be a covenant partner with Macunhe United Methodist Church in the Zvilanculos District of Mozambique.  Pastor there is Daniel Notico Cossa.   St. Andrews' responsibility is to send  $495 a year ($45 of which helps pay the coordinator's salary) to our covenant partner.  That goal has been accomplished for 2006.

Mozambique

A little history:  Portuguese explorers reached Mozambique in 1498 and found that Arab trading settlements had existed along the coast for several centuries.  The area became a Portuguese colony and even after World War II when many European nations granted independence to their colonies, Portugal still adhered to the concept that their possessions were provinces of the mother country.  Eventually there was a drive for Mozambican independence and after ten years of sporadic warfare and political changes in Portugal, Moazambique became independent on June 25, 1975.

Mozambique is one of the poorest countries on earth with less than a dollar a day per capita income.  The Methodist Church, known for its compassion and caring, is growing and central to the lives of many of the people in that country's villages.   UMC in Mozambique has tripled in size in the last ten years.  There are now more than 170 congregations.  By making a covenant with the Machunhe UMC, we agree to keep them in our prayers, to support them financially, to write to them at least once a year, and to encourage them all that we can. 

A dire need in much of the country of Mozambique is safe drinking water.  As explained at the 2006 Annual Conference by Rev. DS Sue Watson, the MIAC Chair, every 8 seconds someone somewhere in the world dies of disease due to unsafe water.  The LWS (Living Water Society) of the Methodist Church with $100,000 could buy two trucks, two compressors and equipment to support a second crew so that they could work in the northern area as well as the southern.  With that information in hand, Tim Rost of Midway/Locust Grove UMC said, "If every church in Missouri gave at least $100 we could get this done!"  And people came forward with pledges to give that amount or more from all corners of those assembled.  St. Andrews was represented when Rev. Marilyn and Richard Smith gave $100 to meet that Living Water Challenge in the name of our church.   St. Andrews thanks them so much!  ST. ANDREWS  COLLECTED PENNIES FOR WELLS IN MOZAMBIQUE TO HELP OUR AFRICAN FRIENDS  HAVE SAFE WATER TO DRINK.   A JAR IN THE BACK OF THE CHURCH WAS AVAILABLE FOR COLLECTING PENNIES.  WE RECEIVED $52.42 ON OUR FIRST SUNDAY OF COLLECTION BUT SUBSEQUENT SUNDAYS HAVE YIELDED A MUCH LARGER TOTAL.  WE HOPE TO COLLECT A MILE OF PENNIES.  SIGNS ON THE SANCTUARY WALLS INDICATE OUR PROGRESS AS WE WORK TOWARD OUR GOAL.  REPORT ON FIRST SUNDAY IN NOVEMBER SHOWED THAT WE HAD COLLECTED OVER $715 FOR THIS PROJECT!!!  THE NOV. 19 REPORT ON "THANKSGIVING SUNDAY" SHOWED THAT WE HAD MORE THAN MET OUR GOAL.

Sunday, August 13, 2006, was "Thanksgiving Day" in Mozambique.  To commemorate that special day with our sister church, we chose hymns with an African connection.   Margie Roedel sang the "leader" response to "Wa Wa Wa Emimimo" (Come, O Holy Spirit Come).  We also sang "Jesu, Jesu" and "I've Got Peace Like a River."   The prelude was the Afro-American spiritual, "Soon-a Will be Done With the Troubles of the World" and the postlude was another spiritual, "Every Time I Feel the Spirit."   The offering was done in the Mozambique tradition of singing "Tino Tenda, Jesu" (Thank You, Jesus) as offerings and tithes were brought forward and put in a basket at the front of the church.  Each and every day is a proper time for thanksgiving, but we wanted to join with our Mozambique fellowship to offer special thanks on their special day.

From the August 17, 2006,  issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, page A12:  The presidents of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe officially opened a new border crossing that will allow animals to roam free.  This was a step toward setting up the "world's largest animal kingdom" -- a 14,000-square-mile park spanning those three countries.  Officials have begun taking down fences on the Mozambique-South Africa border but will need years to remove all the barriers which block free movement of the animals.  South African President Mbeki said, "Nature has triumphed and shown us that we can transcend national boundaries....Today our wild animals--the elephants, rhino, antelope and many others--are once again beginning to roam freely."  This area will be known as the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park.  Mozambique's wildlife is just beginning to recover from the country's long civil war.  There have been some problems with villagers in Mozambique objecting to this park due to the increase in wild animals, but these have eased.  Some, whose crops were being destroyed by elephants, were being relocated.  And some 20,000 villagers on the Limpopo River are being trained in the development of tourism and handcraft skills.    [This is a much-edited summary of the 3-column article, but it gives another glimpse into life in Mozambique.]