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The Mozambique Evangel – Update July 30, 2006

By Devin Smith with Charles Woodrow

Thank you for your prayers. I, Charles, and all the men involved were in agreement: The conference went very well. The speakers were very powerful and effective. The men seemed very receptive and appreciative. The accomodations and details came together fine. Of course, there were a few glitches (this is Mozambique), but in all the conference went better than could be hoped for.

Adaltou Lorenzo spoke on numerous aspects of creationism. He had a computer presentation which was spectacular. Many of these men have probably never had physical science or biology. He showed them galaxies and bacterial flagella–there were ohs and ahs–it was great. He finished every presentation with an appeal to the men to trust their Bibles and to minister the word of God with conviction and confidence. One would think that such a technical presentation would go above the heads of these men, most of whom do not have more than an 6th to 8th grade education. Only a few have gone beyond that. Yet Adaltou’s DVD was by far the best seller in the bookshop, which says a lot. For myself, I was able to spend about three nights in a row talking with Adaltou about Creation science until 1 AM. As a biology teacher, I found his counsel immensely helpful. Charles joined us too, when he was able. It was a precious gift of God to get to know this dear man.

Conrad Mbewe spoke on the sufficiency of scripture. Despite using a translator, he spoke with power and clarity. Charles noted that he was especially effective in speaking to these men as an African. He spoke of the ways of the village and the pressures especially upon Africans to abandon the sufficiency of Scripture. He gave a biography of John Calvin, which is very important because so many are told that Calvinists don’t care about the lost, and also that Calvin burned Servetus for heresy. It seemed as though the message was helpful.

One new thing that was added this year was that the men split up into small groups to consider how they might use the Bible in different difficult situations. They gave their answers to the whole group, and then Conrad added how he would speak to the situation from the scriptures. All agree that this was a very helpful time.

Conrad and Adaltou are travelling together through Angola to do another conference. Please pray for them. Pray also that the effects of their ministry in Mozambique would trickle down to their congregations. I know there will be many pastors giving “Creation seminars” in their home towns using Adaltou’s DVD, which is an exciting thought.

The bookstore ministry saw decent results. Many of these men are on a book reading program, and are getting the Fiel literature. Whereas in the past perhaps a thousand volumes would be sold, this year there were around 300 sold. If for no other reason to come to Mozambique, I am thrilled that 8 pastors bought J.C. Ryle’s Holiness at my recommendation. “Mission Accomplished!”

Servants for Christ,
Devin and Charles

July 12, 2006 – Update from Devin Smith, in Mozambique with Charles Woodrow

Friends and Family,

I have not asked Charles if he has sent an update to the church, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to send one myself. We’ve been here for almost three weeks, but we’re only coming on our first full week in Nampula itself. Most of you probably know that we were delayed again and again on our way to Nampula. Charles was not discouraged, but anticipated it to some degree. He hoped, of course, that this trip would go exceptionally well, and we’d get there in the anticipated 36 hours. Well, the Lord promised we would have trouble in this world, and I think the roads of Mozambique were designed to this end. Nevertheless, we were all thankful and relieved to arrive safely in Nampula. And the Lord maintained our countenances throughout.

This past week has been consumed with putting things in order on the compound here. Beginning today, we are beginning to set up for the Fiel Conference. I will spend a good portion of the coming week taking inventory at the bookstore and preparing the books for transport to the conference. Charles has told me of the countless preparations he needs to make in the coming week–they are too many to list here. Please pray that all would come together for the conference.

I have already arranged a translator to accompany me for some evenings at the conference. I plan to conduct several interviews with attending pastors. I want to have a fuller picture of what ministry is like for them, and also what the Fiel ministries have meant to them. I don’t believe the translator is a Christian. He speaks English very well, and I’m hoping it will be an opportunity to minister to him as well.

The speaker will be coming in a week or so and will lead some evangelistic meetings in the town. We have arrangements to make for that as well. Pray that God will open the hearts of some Mozambiquans to respond to the gospel of his grace.

Lord willing, I will speak twice in church and twice at a missionary fellowship meeting. There are many missionaries here who have come within the last year. Very few of them attend a local church regularly. Those that do attend a local church are finding the ministry is often poor, even apostate in some cases. Pray that my messages would be an encouragement to them, and even more that we would be able to encourage them face to face when we get to meet. We have such an opportunity tonight. It’s the 8th, but all of the American missionaries (and a few Canadians) are having a 4th of July get-together. I don’t know if there will be fireworks. I think we’ll have trouble in the town if we do.

I’m amazed at how many Reformed Baptist missionaries there are being drawn to this place. I can think of two that I’ve met, three that are here that I’ve heard a lot about, and many more that are very interested in coming. One of them, Henri Van Der Walt, and his wife, Melani, have become especially dear to me. They are with New Tribes, and they seem to me to be of a very excellent spirit. They have four kids, similar in age to my own. You don’t get to see many missionary kids, because most of them are farmed out to boarding schools or family. I understand why they do this, but I don’t sympathize. Henri and Melani are an excellent example to me of a couple that is making it work for the whole family. Their kids are doing very well. I get the sense, more and more, that they are very interested in working more closely with Charles.

Finally, please pray for our dear families. Pray that Amy and Julie would have the strength and spiritual resources to do “double duty” with the kids. We miss them very much.

Sorry this is so long. Probably only a few will actually read it. I hope the prayer requests will at least be conveyed to all, and my thankfulness for the prayer and support.

Our love and prayers go to you as well. May God greatly bless you all this summer in Jesus.

For the King,
Devin and Charles

Dear Friends:

Grace Missions Newsletter – July 2006 – by Charles Woodrow

Hello from Nampula, Mozambique. We have interrupted our visitation time in the States so I could return to Nampula to host the seventh annual FIEL conference in Mozambique. These are nationwide conferences sponsored by Editora Fiel (“Faithful Publishers” in Portuguese), a Brazilian-based publishing house that translates excellent Banner of Truth style books into Portuguese, publishes them, and then distributes them throughout the Portuguese-speaking world, which includes Mozambique.

In addition to the publishing ministry, Editora Fiel distributes these books free of charge to select pastors. If a pastor can show that he reads, understands, and benefits from the literature through correspondence with the publishers, he will receive one free book a month for 36 months, at the end of which time he has the nucleus of an excellent theological library. This is a real boon to the pastors here, where until a few years ago there were no Christian bookstores at all and Christian literature was almost impossible to obtain. Even today, we know of only two Christian bookstores in the entire country, one of which is ours in downtown Nampula. The next nearest one is 1500 miles away.

Editora Fiel has had at times over 400 pastors from around the world on their free book program, and presently there are 55 pastors from Mozambique benefiting from this ministry. We can never express the extent of our gratitude to Richard and Pearl Denham, Reformed Baptist missionaries to Brazil for over 50 years and the founders of this exceptional faith ministry.

Besides the book ministry, Editora Fiel also hosts annual pastors’ conferences in Brazil, Mozambique, Portugal, and Angola. Karl Peterson organizes the Mozambique conference from South Africa. I have the privilege of being the host missionary as the conferences are held here in Nampula where I have been promoting this literature since the beginning of our ministry 16 years ago.
The purpose of the four day conference is to refresh the spirits of God’s servants, to better equip them for ministry, and especially to acquaint them with the doctrines of grace and the rich legacy left us by the Reformation fathers. Our speakers this year are Conrad Mbewe, gifted African pastor from Zambia, and Adauto Lourenço, creation scientist and Bible scholar from Brazil.

Please pray for these meetings which will get underway on 25 July. Pray that God will grant unction to the speakers as they preach and that He will open the eyes and hearts of the listeners to behold the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Usually we have 150-160 pastors, church workers, and wives at the conference. They come from 30-40 different denominations and from eight of Mozambique’s ten provinces. Last year we had over 180 participants register for the conference. Registrations this year are running ahead of last year, with 155 received already.

What draws these men from such diverse church and geographical backgrounds is the opportunity to buy excellent Christian literature. We bring in thousands of dollars worth of books sold to us by Editora Fiel at only 20-50% of their usual cost, which we then put on sale at one third of our cost. This year we spent $10,000 on our book order, which means it will cost us nearly $7000 by the time all are sold. The conference is provided free by Editora Fiel to the 55 pastors on the reading program, the rest pay $10.00 each, though total cost for the conference historically has been about $100 per pastor.

Editora Fiel, Karl Peterson, and myself rejoice to bear this cost; we see it as a rich opportunity. Because there is no money to be made selling books to impoverished Mozambicans, we have a corner on Christian literature here. If Mozambicans want Christian books, they must get them from us! Therefore they have no opportunity to acquire a taste for froth, man-centered teaching, watered-down doctrine, Christian psychology, or other emanations from western pop Christian culture. We thank God for this opportunity to influence the church in Mozambique for good and to have the ear of all serious-minded pastors seeking to study their Bibles, to consult Christian literature, and to teach His truth to others.

To sponsor a pastor in the free literature distribution program, you can contact the Denhams at Christian Literature Advance, PO Box 4645, Greenville SC 29608. To help me with our expenses in this ministry, which come to $22,000 per year for the FIEL conference and seminar, the bookstore, and book subsidies, please designate your contributions to Grace Missions for “FIEL ministries.”

As I write we are nine days away from the conference and much remains to be done. I am thankful Devin Smith from our home church is here with me. He is helping with many of the details and will be running the book room during the conference. My conference work is complicated by the fact that immediately afterward I will be leading a 60 hour, one week seminar on systematic theology for 20 select pastors from the program. That material had to be organized before turning attention to the conference work.

In addition, Adauto Lorenço, our creation scientist, has agreed to come five days early to lead four city-wide meetings open to believers and unbelievers on science and the Bible. Even in underdeveloped Mozambique, evolution, life arising from non-life, and the self- creation of the universe are taught in all the schools as scientific dogma not to be questioned, even though each of these things are contradicted by science. Church-going students are assured that the Bible is merely a collection of myths not to be taken seriously. It is doubtful that any of the students have ever heard a scientist challenge these unfounded assertions, or have any idea this can be done on scientific grounds. Please pray for these meetings, the preparations for which are proving much more time consuming than I anticipated.

We are further hindered by the fact that we are running nearly two weeks behind schedule. I returned to Mozambique alone, leaving the family in California. To keep our separation as brief as possible I planned my timetable to allow the minimum number of days necessary to get all the work done. However, Devin and I were held up five days in South Africa as preparations there took twice as long as expected. We had our own supplies to get back to Nampula as well as a truckload of personal belongings from a fellow missionary who had just recently moved from Johannesburg to Nampula and needed the use of our truck. It had been waiting in Johannesburg since last October when we used it to haul our wrecked Land Rover and baggage the 1700 miles we had to travel to catch our flight out of Africa.

This trip we lost an additional four days from delays en route related to breakdowns in the bush and the inevitable customs gauntlet at the border. Those trials are almost to be expected, but being the eternal optimist I had not planned for them. The result is that we have been nearly two weeks behind schedule from the time we got started here in Nampula.

For those interested in African travelogues, the report of our trip and the status of our 17 year old Land Rover are attached at the end of this narrative.
We were grateful to find everything and everyone well on our arrival home in Nampula and are looking forward to the conferences and seminars coming up during the next few weeks.

Eventually I must give an update on our States-side visitation since my last letter written in April. Our hearts are filled with praise to God for the work He is doing in the many sound church ministries we have been exposed to, and we thank Him for the privilege we have of knowing so many choice saints, some of whom were familiar, even legendary names to us before, but now have become personal friends. What a blessing our visitation time has been!

After visitation ended and we had given up nearly all hope, we had some breakthroughs toward meeting two of our financial needs which I must share as well in a future letter. Only a few hours after those developments I was contacted by an officer in an organization that provides funds for hospitals and orphanages in Africa. He heard of us through a friend who attended one of our presentations last November. Our literature was forwarded to him and he contacted me in May. After interviewing me over the phone he said he would like his organization to help us get well along on our construction program. The entire board will meet in another month or two at which time they will consider our project. Please join us in praying that this might be the financial breakthrough we have been praying for.  It is time to get this hospital built!
More news will come in a later letter. In closing, I ask you to pray for God’s blessing upon the upcoming city-wide evangelistic meetings on science, creation, and the Bible; for His undertaking in the pastors’ conference; for His enabling in the follow-on seminar in systematic theology; for His provision of finances for the many expenses associated with these ministries; and especially for those board members who will soon be considering a contribution toward construction of the hospital.

By His grace: Charles Woodrow
Land Rover Update: I was amazed at the good job Dirk Van den Brink, our mechanic and Christian brother in South Africa did getting our aging Land Rover rebuilt. It made the trip back to Nampula ok, though we had two breakdowns with seized up wheel bearings that cost us two days of travel time. Both cases may have been caused by tightening the wheel bearings too much in an effort to reduce wobble in the wheels which I presume resulted from damage in its crash landing when the suspension broke last October and we went out of control, sailing over an embankment on a curve in the road. However, the Land Rover runs fine around town and we are glad we can still count on it for local service.

We trust the 17 year old vehicle will get us by until we have raised all the funds needed for a new Land Rover. We now have $15,000 toward the $35,000 a new one will cost.

African Travelogue: We left Johannesburg about 10:00 p.m. Monday night, expecting to drive all night and reach the Mozambique border at 5:00 a.m. This was necessary as we knew it would take all the next day to cross the border due to customs hassles getting the rebuilt Land Rover back into Mozambique together with the truckload of household goods we were carrying in the Bedford for our missionary friend.

However, about midnight one of the Land Rover’s front wheels seized up suddenly, destroying the tire and causing the vehicle to swerve out of control. Devin, who was driving at the time, was able to avoid an accident in part due to the fact that the heavy trailer the Land Rover was pulling kept the car from going broadside and flipping over. We had to get towed back to Johannesburg, finally arriving at 4:30 in the morning. We were just thankful to God everything was still relatively intact and we were alive to fight another day!

We slept for about six hours while the Land Rover was being repaired and then started out again at 10:00 p.m. that night, Tuesday. As planned, we got to the Mozambique border at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday and took 12 hours just crossing it because of all our goods and equipment. We got to the capital, Maputo, that night, where we were delayed 24 hours while the load in the Bedford truck was processed through customs.

We finally departed for Nampula, still 1500 miles away, at 5:00 pm on Thursday. At about 2:00 a.m., a rear wheel bearing on the Land Rover packed up and we were stranded again, this time in the wilderness. At 5:00 a.m. I drove the truck into the nearest town, about two hours away, and got a new set of bearings which our mechanic/motorist put on there beside the road. Around 1:00 pm Friday afternoon we were underway again.

At 11:00 pm the truck trailer tire went flat and our truck driver didn’t know it. We knew it because we were driving behind him in the Land Rover, but the single lane, one-way dirt road we were traveling on at the time was so narrow for six miles that we could not move over far enough to even flash him with our lights and he could not hear our horn over the din of the truck engine. By the time we were able to alert our motorist the tire was smoking, completely destroyed, and he was driving on the rim. We spent three hours in the darkness getting the tire changed – it is a big job changing a truck tire in the middle of the night on a dirt track in the wilderness. Our truck driver/mechanic was no use to us at this point, having succumbed to malaria. African immune systems are continuously fighting off malaria, but when fatigue or secondary illness sets in, the malaria gains the upper hand. We started treatment and put him to bed for the rest of the trip.

We were finally underway again at 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Then another one of the truck tires began flying apart. At this point we had no spares and were only half way to Nampula, so we had to detour to a town 55 miles off our course where we spent an unplanned $750 buying two new tires for the truck and trailer. We had to scour all our pockets and bank books to come up with that much cash. Then we had to mount the tires ourselves as they don’t do that for you here, though precisely because of that fact we had our own mechanic with us and all the tools for mounting a truck tire on the rim. However, that was another delay of seven hours, so by the time we got to the Zambezi River it was evening and the ferry was not running. We had to spend the night there, then crossed about noon on Sunday. The rest of the trip was uneventful though arduous. We covered the remaining 400 miles in about 15 hours and got home to Nampula at 3:30 a.m. on Monday, one week after leaving Johannesburg.
When all goes well, the 1700 mile journey takes 48 hours of non-stop driving, with the motorist and me taking shifts behind the wheel. We much prefer that to prolonging the experience finding places to bed down every night! There are no Holiday Inns, no roadside restaurants, no bathrooms, and for one 500 mile stretch there are not even fuel stations.

This time the trip took an entire week, stopping only for breakdowns, customs hassles, and the ferry crossing. The record for us is two weeks. That time we had three vehicles and two trailers, every one of which had a major breakdown in the wilderness, and we spent a week just crossing the border and clearing our goods through customs.

It is a standing joke in our family that the longest part of our trip home each furlough is the ride to the airport! We could fly directly from Nampula, but the cost of getting the whole family from Nampula to Johannesburg almost doubles the air fare we would have to pay for getting to the States. On the other hand, that might be cheaper than the repairs we have had to make to our aging Land Rover the past two trips!

Dear Friends:

Quick update from Charles Woodrow – June 20, 2006

The family has finished visitation, at least for a while, and I am en route to Nampula to host this year’s annual FIEL conference for pastors and church workers. You should receive a report soon written about two months ago updating you on our visitation experiences up to that point.

At present, Julie and the kids are in Nevada with her parents, then they will spend about five weeks with our home church, Faith Community Church in Oxnard, California. We will join up again in mid August to resume church visitation which will end for good 17 October.

I am in Johannesburg buying supplies for the Nampula conference and then will be traveling on to Mozambique later this week. Please pray for an uneventful journey this time! We have to get both our truck and Land Rover across the border, the former loaded with some household belongings of a fellow missionary in Nampula. Please pray that we get across the border without undue trouble. We will be pleased if we can successfully step from South Africa into Mozambique consuming only 8 hours in the process!
The wrecked Land Rover and trailer have been made operational again, though they are not the hardy specimens they were before the accident. All three axels were either replaced or straightened and rebuilt. The frame was cut in many places, straightened, and then welded together again, along with corresponding work to make the crumpled body fit the corrected skeleton. Please pray that the weakened vehicles will stand up to the 1700 mile trek through Mozambique’s wilderness.

We are still hoping to buy a new Land Rover to replace our 17 year old model. The last two trips to South Africa have each cost over $3000 in repairs due to breakdowns from fatigue that then resulted in major damage, the first time to the engine, the second time to the frame and body when the car went out of control and crashed. So far we have received $10,000 toward the $37,000 a new Land Rover will cost. Please pray that we may soon be able to get a reliable replacement for our present car.

The main reason for this notice, however, is to solicit your prayers for the upcoming conference. Karl Peterson has been working for some time arranging a good program for the participants, and now I must get all the local preparations done by 19 July. The conference runs 25-28 July, with a follow-on training seminar from 31 July to 5 August.

Please pray for:

1. The border crossing later this week (23 June) to be accomplished smoothly.
2. The vehicles to make it safely to Nampula.
3. Funds to be provided to obtain a new Land Rover.
4. God to draw the right pastors and chuch leaders to the conference.
5. Messages to stir hearts, strengthen hands, and sharpen minds for increasingly effective church work in Mozambique.
6. My preparations to make the conference a welcome period of spiritual enjoyment and physical refreshment rather than a time to “endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

By His grace: Charles Woodrow

From: Henry J. Heijermans, Interim Director Grace Missions Ministries
Date: January 15, 2006

Life in Mozambique presents enormous challenges the likes of which most of us only read about. In fact, that’s exactly what we all did a few weeks ago when we received Kent Woodrow’s splendid account of the family’s hair-raising experiences as they drove from Nampula to South Africa to catch a flight to the States. What a story!

Although all the Woodrows remained unhurt and all is well, we can’t say this for their means of transportation.

A new Landrover is a must. This sturdy vehicle has served its purpose since 1989, probably even beyond expectations. But now it must be replaced.
We have investigated the various options before us in this respect. It appears that once again the best arrangement is to order a new Landrover in Great Britain and have it shipped to Mozambique. Currently the basic cost of this automobile is about $37,000 plus shipping.

On behalf of our Grace Missions team, I request that you prayerfully consider what part you may be able to play in meeting this vital need. We shall be most thankful for your participation in this project. Please designate the respective contribution accordingly: Mozambique Landrover Project and as usual send it to Grace Missions, PO Box 34531 San Antonio, TX 78265.

Thank you very much for your gracious generosity. Gratefully yours in Christ, Henry J. Heijermans, Interim Director

(Because of Charles’ busy visitation schedule, Kent has been asked to prepare this month’s newsletter.)

Dear friends,

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)

“But You, O Lord, are a shield about me…I lay down and slept; I awoke for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid…” (Psalm 3: 3, 5-6a)

These verses captured my attention during personal devotions this morning, and there are none better to describe our predicament the dawn of October 11.

It was 4:30 am on yet another jaunt across Mozambique in our trusted Landrover. We were only on the first leg, about eight hours from Nampula, driving across a stretch of the Mozambican “highway” infamous for innumerable and sometimes gargantuan potholes. As one native pastor put it, on this stretch it was no longer a matter of how to avoid potholes but rather of choosing the ones you preferred to crash into. However, as we were accustomed to the constant jolts, everyone was asleep except for Marques, our driver, until suddenly with a deafening bang the Landrover’s entire frame began to violently buck and heave. Several heads met the vehicle’s roof, and everyone was thrown into alarmed wakefulness as the vehicle shuddered to a stop. After the initial confusion of ensuring in the darkness that no one was hurt, it finally dawned on us that we had survived a serious accident!

We stepped outside to survey the damage, and our fears were confirmed. Our trusty Landrover was clearly down for the count. At a curve in the road it had careened straight ahead, sailing over a six foot drop off the built-up shoulder, crashing into the bush, and finally coming to rest in a freshly tilled field. As the front end hit the earth, the chasse folded into a flattened V shape, the front axle broke, and the front differential cracked open. In flight our one-ton trailer struck a termite hill and spun one and half times about its rotary tongue. When the car suddenly decelerated on impact, the trailer pitched upward and forward against the back of the truck, puncturing a hole in the accessory fuel tank mounted on the roof, drenching everything in diesel fuel. The trailer axle also had broken.

After questioning the driver as to the cause of the accident, we learned that the car had struck a pothole, probably the billionth our sixteen-year-old Landrover had acquainted over the years, and thereafter could not be steered. The crater was strategically located at a bend in the road such that the forward momentum of the car propelled us straight ahead, off the road and into the bush.

So we were stranded thirty minutes to an hour from the nearest town, and yet the faithful, protecting hand of God was clearly evident in all that took place.
Just a few weeks prior to our leaving, my dad devised and had our welder construct a new seating arrangement which included six upholstered back seats with seatbelts. Previously on trips we traveled with the six passengers in the cargo area lying or sitting on a cushioned board the size of a double bed. For sixteen years, despite the numerous dangers of the African roads, the Lord preserved us from any major collisions and now, before our first large-scale accident, He in His sovereign grace ordained that for the first time ever we should each be fully protected with seatbelts, shoulder harnesses, and proper seats which no doubt kept us from serious injury. Instead of crashing into dense trees, God appointed that we should depart the road at one of the rare stretches of tilled farmland. Also, the car had not rolled, which the driver informed me might well have occurred had he forced the damaged vehicle to follow the curve in the road. Looking back at the wake of destruct
ion caused by the car as we hurtled through the bush, I marveled that we had not received or inflicted even more damage. Much could have happened to make the situation far worse, and we cannot help but see the Lord’s shielding hand. The Lord is good; a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him. Nahum 1:7. How comforting this promise is to His children in distress.

When things go wrong in the bush of Africa, there are no AAA clubs, no cell phone networks, no tow services, no auto dealerships, and no ambulances or hospitals. You are on your own to provide all those services as best you can, and how much you need God’s help! Since we were only thirty minutes from a small town, Dad was able to hail a passing bus to Nampula, hoping to return with our Bedford truck and load the wrecked vehicles onto its bed, then continue the trip to South Africa. The rest of us stayed with the Landrover and trailer. As usual, within minutes of the accident, a crowd of Mozambicans gathered; and even as the sun rose to high noon and the summer heat was at its highest, they did not lose interest in us. They were very hospitable offering their manioc root as food and lending us bamboo mats to sit on under the shade of a tree.

Meanwhile, once Dad reached Nampula, word of our misfortune began spreading through the missionary community. Our friends bought tickets for the entire family to complete the journey using the local MAF plane, and a missionary with Wycliffe translators drove sixteen hours to bring us passengers back to Nampula. After 24 hours without sleep, my dad finally reached the accident scene again, this time in the Bedford. With hired help from the natives, he was able to load the Landrover and trailer onto the truck. The road was six feet above the surrounding land, and the bed of the truck was five feet high; so the motorist was able to back the truck almost flush against the roadbed taking advantage of a concrete culvert strategically carved out right at the accident site. Wounded as it was with bent frame, broken axle, cracked differential, and splayed front wheels, the Landrover still climbed the steep incline onto the road, wheels and axle groaning and squealing the whole way, and then descended onto the bed of the truck. The trailer was emptied and ten strong Africans hoisted it onto the truck. The fully loaded four-wheel-drive military troop carrier then lumbered up the bank, and after 36 hours all our equipment was back on the road.

Rather than return home, Dad opted to continue the trip with our driver despite the foreboding specter of hassles at the border. Taking the damaged Landrover with us was the only way we could reasonably hope to get the it repaired. In answer to fervent prayer, the customs officials on both sides of the border allowed the equipment to pass without the usual formalities that would have required a week to accomplish and which would have forced us to miss our flight to the States. After five arduous days driving over land, Dad was reunited with the rest of the family in Johannesburg, South Africa, one day before our scheduled flight to the States.

Oh, what a blessing it is to have brothers and sisters in Christ in a place so far removed as Mozambique! Yet greater by far is the Blessing that makes those from every tribe and nation one, binding us together in Him.

We are now in our second month of visitation and have been richly blessed by the people and fellowship of the many churches God has led us to. Our only regret is that we haven’t more time to spend with all the believers we have come to know and appreciate in each church. Many have shown an interest in Mozambique and the Lord’s work there. Please pray that in these eight months of travel the Lord will raise up the personnel needed to further His kingdom in Africa and especially that His name would be glorified through the proclamation of what He has already done in Nampula.

The Landrover that has served so faithfully the past decade and a half is now useless for making the strenuous trips down to Johannesburg. We will need another vehicle before visitation is over, so please remember this need in prayer as well.

Thank you for your continual prayers and support.

In His name,
Kent Woodrow