03/26/2008
Hello all,
We are way behind in
writing our newsletters and so this time we are just going to give you a quick
update. We have been back in Mozambique for about 6
weeks now. It was wonderful to be in the States with friends and family for
Joshua’s birth. Everything went so well. We were glad that we were able to go
back for that. All three boys are healthy and doing great right now. Luke and
Andrew have enjoyed being back home and being able to play outside a lot with
their friends. Things are settling back into a routine for us now. We have
gotten back into our work schedule and have enjoyed it. We have made some much
needed changes to how we do things.
The Howells left a month after we
got back so we were sad to see them go. They’ll be gone for 4 months.
Thankfully, the other three families should all be here together the whole time
they’re gone. We appreciate our teammates beyond words. It would be really
tough to be here without them.
The Sunday before last
we worshipped with the Utivira church for the first time. Although Jeremy has
been going out there weekly on Tuesdays, they hadn’t started meeting on Sundays
yet. It was a joyful experience to be there for the opening of their church.
Please pray for this little church. We worshipped with both churches together at
Upaco this last Sunday for Easter. It was a neat time, although we didn’t get
home until 6:00 pm since they
had a special meal planned. That makes for a pretty long day for both us and
the kids. Please keep praying for Upaco. They need to grow spiritually. The
town of Upaco is a “party” town with
lots of drinking, dancing etc. It’s hard for members of the church there not to
get sucked back into these things. Satan has a foothold in that town. Please
pray that He will be bound there and that the light of Jesus would shine
instead.
Lately Jeremy has had to
make lots of hospital runs. On Tuesday he took a pregnant lady about to give
birth to the hospital. Today he took a dead man’s body back to his town.
Monday he attended a church funeral. Tomorrow he will help take the women who
came to the funeral back to their town. All of these transportation runs are an
important part of our ministry here. In times of sickness and death are when
people are the most vulnerable, needy, and therefore open. We hope to minister
to people by being kind and generous with them.
We covet your prayers daily. This
month please pray for the following things.
- Physical and spiritual health for
our family and team
- Spiritual maturity in all the
churches we are working with (especially Upaco and Utivira)
- People from other villages to
express a desire to hear the gospel
- The Train and Multiply sessions that
Jeremy is doing with the 4 churches in the Chiure area.
- Complete fluency in
Makua
We’ll write more later.
The Smith's September Newsletter is available for download.
October 26, 2007
Hello
all,
We wanted to touch base and let
everyone know how things are going here.
First of all, Amy Westerholm is back in Montepuez and is recovering very
well. Thanks for all the prayers for
her. Caleb Gardner has been released
from the hospital in South
Africa. We are still praying for complete recovery
for him since he is not yet functioning at his normal level. The Gardners are headed
to the U.S. for a few
months to get whatever help they need for Caleb and for a much needed
break. Please continue to keep that
family in your prayers.
Our family is doing pretty
well. We have 5 more weeks until we
leave for the U.S. Things will be busy until then, with
ministry, trying to finish our guesthouse, and wrapping everything up. We are getting excited about our trip and
getting to see family and friends in the
U.S. Our family talks and prays about our new
little baby daily. Luke wants a girl and
Andrew wants a boy. One of them will be
happy! J Pray that
all will go smoothly with the rest of the pregnancy, traveling, and
delivery. Also pray for our transition
to three kids, and therefore zone defense.
Luke has been coughing hard for over
a month now. We have been in contact
with Jeremy’s dad and uncle in the
U.S. to get
counsel on how we should deal with it.
He went through a whole round of antibiotics without much
improvement. He hasn’t had fevers and
plays normally during the day, but especially has trouble with coughing at
night. We are starting to wonder if he
has asthma or some kind of allergies.
Please keep him in your prayers.
He is starting to get discouraged with having to cough so much. Many times he coughs so hard that it makes
him throw up.
There’s not any other big news.
Please visit our website www.makuateam.org to see pictures and news
of our family and our whole team. We
appreciate you all and the support (emotionally, spiritually, and financially)
that you give us. Thanks for keeping us
in your prayers. We are convinced that
prayer is such an important part of the ministry here. Our team and the
Christians here really need your constant prayers. Thank you.
In Him,
Jeremy, Martha, Luke, Andrew, and
baby ?
