Milange

Milange is a small village in the province of Zambézia, in Moçambique.

Located 1500 miles from Maputo, is not easy to get there - 2 hours flight to Quelimane + 2 hours in a paved road + 3 horas offroad to Milange!

You can imagine the joy when we see Milange lights and finally able to get out of the car and realize it is over.

In Milange we work with a local partner (ESPANOR) a christian organization involved in educational programs, skills trainings and community development/transformation through the church. We serve the later area, delivering a training to 30 youth and children leaders coming from the many rural communities around.

Proclaiming the Gospel, Making Disciples, Obeying the Bible and the Role of the Church were the main topics we addressed, along with creative tools and their implementation within youth and children ministries, using experiential learning.

In the last day, the leaders organized a kids program in one of the near communities, where over 2500 kids showed up.

Take a look:

Vilankulos

Vilankulos is a small fishing community 500 miles north of Maputo, where we had the privilege to train 15 local leaders about children ministries using sports, games and the Bible. After the training the participants were able to practice 3 days with children from a community school in the area.

The outcome is for the leaders to be able to implement these tools in a attractive way to children helping them integrate the bible narrative with their own life experiences and find what God wants for them.

Devastating Floods in Mozambique

Floods that have been raging in Mozambique for 10 days have killed 71 people, authorities said on Monday.

The floods sparked by heavy rains have affected the north and centre of the southern African country.

Forty-nine of the victims died in the central Zambezia province, where the river Licungo burst its banks, said Rita Almeida from the National Disaster Management Institute.

Nearly 30 000 people have been rescued and placed in 34 accommodation centres.

Read more on the floods:

www.usatoday.com

www.news.yahoo.com

www.news24.com

www.allafrica.com

Mozambique New President

Mozambique's new president, Filipe Nyusi, left, and outgoing president Armando Guebuza

during his inauguration ceremony at the Praca da Independencia in Maputo.

 Picture: EPA/MANUEL DE ALMEIDA

Mr Nyusi took the oath of office and pledged "to open constructive dialogue with all political forces and civil society organisations to promote peace" in a country ravaged by a brutal 16-year civil war that ended in 1992. "I represent a new generation, a generation that inherits huge success and exciting challenges," he said.

Read more:

BDLive.com

Yahoo.com

Christmas Play

We are still not sure about the future career of Mariana, but it looks like drama may be an option! ;)

She was selected to be "Mary" at "Maputo International Christian Fellowship" church.

Maputo

Maputo (time lapse) from CS on Vimeo.

Serving Milange

During this week a group of 18 community leaders were part of a training hosted by our partner Espanor, in Milange.

The leaders came from the different rural communities in this district of Zambézia Province, in the North of Mozambique.

Experiential Learning, Bible Discovery, Explaining the Gospel and Community Transformation were some of the subjects, with lots of practical team building experiences and strategic planning.

Check the pictures:

Solution Finding Exercise

Resistance to Adversity

Bible Discovery

The main transportation in the village

Planning the Outreach in the community

Team Building - Creativity

Two by two into the community

Family photo

15 years old...

15 years ago, I went to the Hospital and hold Mariana for the first time!

I knew this day would come, 15 years later, as a friend recently advised me, that I should carry a baseball stick with me to protect her...

We love you Mariana, you are such a great gift from God!

Love always

One of the most important things for our children admitted at the Oncology Ward is to see new faces, making them feel important and loved.

That's what happened when Lindsay and Nancy visited us, bringing new ideas and teaching them a song in english.