Baaaa Baaaa!!!! (loosely translated... we need rain and grass NOW!)

 BAAA!!! BBBBBAAAAAAAA!

 This is what the area around the sheep looks like. dry. barren. wasteland. we need rain.

In Africa (and much of the world I suppose), Water = Life. Our area of Mozambique has not had rain for many months. There is no food for the animals. Our borehole cannot keep up with demands. If the rains do not come soon there will many problems.

 This small hand pump has been set up on a borehole near our farm's garden. It will be used to water the plants etc, and as a model to show others how it can be done.

 Fresh, clean, cool, lifegiving water.

Local people are building dangerously deep wells BY HAND- this one dug by neighbors of one of the orphan homes is over ten metres deep!

Because of the lack of water and rain, combined with large fires burning all over the farm this year our sheep and cows have NOTHING to eat. To give them just a little bit of green food we went to a local business, the Vanduzi Company which owns LARGE farms, where they have irrigation. They can grow all year long. One of their major exports is baby corn, which of course has to be taken out of the husks before it is packaged to go.

 They sell the husks for one met a kilo (thats cheap).

 and will even help you load it into your vehicle. The first day I went and got 300 Kilos.

 it was not nearly enough to satisfy the appetites of the cows and sheep for longer than a few hours.

 Cows nearly ready to stampede with the sight of food soooo close, yet out of reach.

 Sheep running towards the food.

 The next day I went back and got more. Two Tons more.

 Thats a lot of corn husks. But it will still only satisfy them for a few days.

 MMMMMMMM!!!

MMMMM YUMMMM MMMMMMM

Please pray for rain!!!!!

VBS- 2012!!! A whole lot of FUN!!!

This year at VBS we again focused on how each of us is uniquely created, special and part of Gods plan. He has a plan for each of us.

We had great prizes for those who memorized the selected memory verses- T-shirts, Portuguese books, toys, hair pretties, and for one special young man who managed to memorize all three verses & references AND the actions to accompany them- a brand new Solar New Testament of his very own!

 choosing a prize!

 The Big Winner!!!

Rick told the stories of Moses, Esther, Jonah and Creation to teach the kids the truth that every one of us is special and has a role to play in God’s plan. The kids loved to get involved in the storytelling, and listened very closely so they could get sweets during the quiz time afterwards! We were blessed this year to have two wonderful women who have been volunteering at the farm, assist us with VBS. They were an incredible  blessing and we appreciated their servant hearts immensely!

 Telling the creation story

 Quizzing time!

 Janette (one of our volunteers) and Rick

 Rick prepping for showing a Bible story movie to the kids

The rest of the mornings were split between games , crafts and a whole lot of singing and dancing! We made ID tags, with each child choosing a picture to go on the front, representing a profession they would like to do in the future. We colored animal masks on creation day (each one created uniquely!), and made fabric headbands to wear as well.  Crafts are one of my favorite parts of VBS since we really get to see the kids demonstrate their creative side. Even the teachers want to participate!

 Working hard on headbands

 animal masks...such beautiful lions!

 smiles all around!

 our other volunteer Karoline fingerprinting the kids for their special id cards

Every time we do DVBS most of our games revolve around water- since it is the hottest time of year! This year was no different, with nearly a thousand water balloons, and huge basins filled with water and sponges! Duck Duck Goose is just so much more fun and entertaining when the goose gets to chase down the “chooser” with a water balloon! Even the game “In/Out” can be made infinitely more entertaining with a few well thrown wet sponges! We had giant sponge water fights, and some more organized relays with sponges, or juice and cookies.

 even Tendai joins in the fun

 three legged race with your baby brother on your back... wow.

 duck duck goose with water balloons!!

 juice and cookies... MMMMM

water games are a BIG favourite... of everyone!!!

My other favorite part of VBS is the “opening time” where the kids sing and dance as we get organized. Often we have competitions between the boys and girls, or older and younger students, or teachers and students…. Sometimes we just all dance and sing for as long as we can!  It would start with a core group of about 40 kids, but by the time we finished the opening time every day, there would be 150 smiling and dancing kids in the circle.

 they kick up a lot of dust!!!!

 a casualty of to much energetic dancing... a stubbed toe in need of attention

I can hardly describe to you how tiring it is to be in the sun, the heat (it was at least 40 degrees every day but one!), speaking a language that is not your own, and trying to corral kids with more energy than I have ever possessed, for an entire week- but I find it equally hard to describe to you the joy, and amazing smiles we got to witness on the faces of 150 kids from the Mozambican Bush! I can hardly put into words how proud/humbled (I know, weird to have those feelings at the same time) I was when a young boy stood up on day one and recited the memory verse from last year, word for word, with the actions! I actually cried- because I knew that VBS is making a difference in their lives. Sure it is fun, and some only come for the food offered, but there are so many young lives who are being impacted for eternity by the ministry at the school and thru VBS- and that makes every drop of sweat, every sunburned shoulder, every papercut from cutting ridiculous amounts of papercrafts, every dusty, dirty mud stained piece of clothing oh so worth it!!! Thank you for joining us in prayer, and for continuing to pray for the lives of these kids!

 after a busy morning of playing, everyone appreciates a good lunch

 volunteers willing to lend a hand or two... and an arm and a leg

 cool refreshing water!!!

In other news, obviously, Tendai and I made it safely back home to the farm- thank you for your prayers for our safety as we travelled! Our flights went very well- Tendai slept for ELEVEN hours straight on the 16 hour flight- cant complain about that!!!

Our house is slowly but surely trucking along. We hope to be pouring the floor in the first room on Monday- it will be our test room, and if it goes well we will start with other rooms soon after. Then comes painting/plumbing/kitchen cabinet building (all at once). Please continue to pray for funds and supplies to be available, and that we will be able to continue with the work. Our ministry account is VERY low, with all the recent expenses and house needs. We are definetly in need of funds to come in.

Another prayer request is for Rain.  We expect the Rains to start soon, and the sooner the better! We pray they will start on time- or even early as it has been an extraordinarily dry winter/spring and our area is desperately in need of water. Without it, boreholes will dry up, the river stops flowing, crops cannot grow, and the threat of starvation becomes VERY real for the local people.

Thank you again for your continued prayers for our safety and health- they are much appreciated!

God Bless, -Rick, Heather & Tendai Neufeld

Of this and that... and a Flat Tendai update!

random picture of Tendai from the Ag fair that was just too cute NOT to share!

It is such a blessing for our family to have an awesome base of prayer supporters who lift us up in prayer on a daily basis. We know that those prayers make a difference in our lives, and we are so grateful for them. Again, yesterday we were reminded why those prayers are so important to us. Rick was working on our house, standing at the top of our wooden ladder, with a power grinder in hand, about to turn it on to do some work when the ladder literally broke to pieces underneath him, sending him on a rather quick trip towards the cement floor. The ladder had been damaged by termites, unknown to Rick, and simply broke into pieces once it had weight on it.  Praise the Lord he wasnt hurt more than the bruises and scrapes he recieved, and that He had NOT turned the grinder on already when it broke, as that surely would have resulted in much more injury. Thank you to all of you who pray for us, it is our greatest resource to have so many people who bring us before our Heaveny Father on a regular basis!

 not so sure what to make of the visitors from Canada!

Balloons always make everyone happy!

While Tendai and I are still in Canada for another 9 days, Rick has been busy at the farm, both working on our house, but also preparing for our annual DVBS which will be happening in a few weeks, and helping to host volunteers on the farm. He has also been getting started on clearing the land for a house for our colleague Joao!

 Rick using the backhoe to clear land for the Campsite manager's (Joao's) residence.

 Volunteers from Canada painting the house that the team from Grunthal helped to finish and put the roof on! 

 the orphan boys once again hard at work. 

Tada!

Tendai and I visited our church's AWANA group on Wednesday and were able to share with the kids there about what Rick and I do in Mozambique, show some videos and pictures, and have a question and answer time, which led to a long discussion on deadly snakes and how many we have seen. 

 Me speaking to the Sparks group at our church.

 Lots of questions, most of which were about snakes.

 Flat Tendai in goal. she even stopped the ball once!

Flat Tendai made her appearance at AWANA as well, with her host family of the week, and has had three weeks of fun with her host families so far! Its amazing how fast the project is spreading- weve had people in stores say- is your daughter the one that the kids are taking around with them? Guess the news is getting out! We are praying this will be a way of letting even more people know about our ministry and the work we do! Here are a few pics of her adventures!

 Playing on the hay bales!

 photobombing her friends.

 In art class at school.

 Class picture!

 Riding horse!

 just chillin!

 Swinging at the playground!

 On her way to school.

 Getting ready to play in the snow.

 BBRRRR!

Getting attacked hugged by very loving family members!

Tendai and I will be attending the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies Of Canada conference next week in Winnipeg, to help man the booth for SAM Ministries. It will be good to share with folks about our work, talk about the unique Christmas gifts, and also to see the staff from our home office here in Canada. We fly out of winnipeg on our way to South Africa on October 22, so your prayers for our safe travel and health are appreciated!

On an another note, can I ask our amazing prayer partners to pray for a person dear to our hearts? This is our friend Dara, and her little girl Nede. Nede is one of Tendai's closest buds, and Dara is one of my closest friends. Dara has been fighting for over two years to legally adopt Nede, and although pretty much everyone that matters is in favour of this happening, due to the glacially slow and oft times corrupt legal system in Mozambique, it has not happened yet.  Dara is Nede's legal guardian so they can travel as long as they have court aproval. They are hoping to go visit family in the States in mid November, just in time for American Thanksgiving. Of course, the best thing would be if God would work it so that their court case is heard and the decision made before the 3rd of November when they intend to start their journey. If that does not happen they still need a official document from the court allowing Dara and Nede to travel for several months. Would you join with us in praying for these requests? Both of them are desperately in need of the refreshing and encouragement that comes from visiting family, church, and friends back home. Tendai and I have been blessed to visit our family, friends and church for the past several months, and we know the incredible rejuvenating power that it can have and know that God is able to provide this for Dara and Nede as well. Can you also pray for patience and peace for Dara? I know from experience how hard it is to sit and wait, but even I did not have to wait as long as Dara has. My heart breaks for this special friend who has sacrificed so much for her daughter. Thank you in advance for praying with us! We know our God is Able to work miracles- even in the Mozambican judicial system!!!!

Again, thank you for your prayers, thank you for your support. We appreciate them so much. Please pray for work to continue on our house, for safety and health as we travel and work. That our time at the conference next week would be a good time of networking and fellowship and that our last week in Canada will go well!

God Bless, Rick, Heather & Tendai