What we do....

Hi there, I realise its been a while since we have been able to show you any new pics from Mozambique, and I also know there are probably some new readers out there who would like to know what it is exactly we do when we we are not on furlough here in Canada. Here is a brief rundown of our responsibilities and ministries.

1. We have developed a Children's Ministry Training Seminar that we run in communities, mostly near the Zambezi river in northern mozambique. Our Seminar is designed to help Children's Ministry Leaders and Local Pastors learn the very basics of working with children, studying the Bible, and teaching like Jesus taught (using illustrations from the world around Him & culturally appropriate examples). The seminars, and the new "pre-seminar" that will review basic Bible stories and how to use them to teach basic values, are done over 2-3 days. We usually do two at a time, with several days in between, meaning we spend about 12 days up north, living in tents, cooking over an open fire, and building relationships with the many people who our mission works with.

Each Seminar has 25 participants and is for leaders from several churches. We provide food for several meals, and a very basic manual to help them remember what they have learned. Our goal is to see church leaders empowered to reach out to children in Mozambique, especially those in rural areas, where resources and activities are almost none existant.

2. Rick helps to teach at the Intensive Seminars for the mission's Faith Bible Seminary twice a year. He usually teaches between one and three course books over a week of classes. He also goes north during the year to run several mini seminars alongside Dwight and Francois (our coworkers). I sometimes help with the Intensive Seminars as well, helping to teach memorization skills, etc.

3. I (we) run the Amigo Orphan Program, where we find sponsors for orphaned children being cared for by their widowed mothers or grandmothers in our area. Families are usually recommended to us by community leaders or local pastors who see that they are struggling. We, alongside and with an enormous amount of help from our local staff, deliver food each month, help with school fees, basic medical care and some new clothes each year. I make sure sponsors receive updates several times a year, and we try to send out a drawing or craft to the sponsors yearly as well.

We also have bi-weekly meetings with the kids where we learn a bible lesson, play games as a group, sing songs , do a craft and catch up with the kids about whats going on with school, at home etc.
I also assist Lynn on home visits, etc (or rather I watch in awe as she does her thing and I hand her stuff). :)

4. We have been organizing and delivering the orphan care packs from the Unique Christmas Gift campaigns for the last several years. This is one BIG job, but we love doing it each year!

5. We help organize and run a weeklong vacation Bible school at Mucombedze Interior Primary School (the mission's school) each November. One of our favorite times each year- we love to work alongside and train the teachers in children's ministry, and see the kids having five days of FUN... juice, cookies, games, crafts and FUN! (and of course learning Bible Lessons, verses, and life lessons!)

6. Rick helps to oversee numerous construction projects on the farm. Once we get back to Mozambique, we will hopefully be starting to build our family home (we are currently renting a one bedroom cottage, which is needed by short term visitors and is too small for us!). We are trusting God that the needed funds will come in, so we can get started on it, and get Tendai a room to sleep in, instead of the curtained off "hallway" corner!  :)

7. We look after one very active 2 year old, and hope to add to our family thru another adoption! Between the two of us we also try to keep on top of paperwork, emails, videos for the churches back home, finance records, random farm necessities and the seemingly unending pile of paperwork that allows us to stay in Mozambique!

Each day is a "adventure" in Mozambique- not that we have something terribly exciting happen everyday, or run thru the bush on a regular basis, but we do wake up every morning wondering what the day will bring- will we follow our "plan" for the day? or be asked to use our truck as an ambulance? a hearse? a school bus?, will we have to make an emergency run to town to hand in a random paper that officials have decided is urgently needed?, will we help haul a heavy water tank to the top of a tall tower? or get the chance to take a picture of a dead snake? or maybe we will just do paperwork and make sure brick foundation walls are straight and level....whatever it is we do, we know God has called us to Mozambique, to train national pastors and leaders, and to Love God.... by Loving His People!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a sheepish "Im Sorry"

Hey All,

Just wanted to say I am so sorry for not having posted for nearly a month. Rick and I both came down with colds/flu's right at Christmas, and then by the time we got over them, we were on a plane to New Brunswick! Weve been busy visiting friends and family, and spent two days of rest at a small inn in St. John thanks to some generous friends. (And Grandma and Grandpa who babysat Tendai for us!) Weve been speaking at churches, and helping out with various jobs around the house. Its so good for us to have this time with family, and it is such an amazing blessing to see Tendai with her grandparents! 

It is hard to believe that we only have three more months here in Canada before we head back to Mozambique! We are so excited to get back to our home and work, and yet leaving family and friends behind will be very hard too! Please pray for us as we start to prepare for our return. Licenses, paperwork, doctor and dental appointments, the list goes on and on! 

Here are a few pictures from our time with Grandma and Grandpa-

we went to Jungle Jim's for lunch, where Tendai got this very scary mask!

Tendai noticed that Grandpa dropped some porridge off his spoon. So she very helpfully went and got her bib for him and put it on him. He said she even got a wet wipe and wiped it off for him first! What a considerate kid we have!! :)

Thanks for you prayers, I hope to be doing an update soon on some of our current needs and prayer requests, as well as some awesome praises!

God Bless, Rick, Heather & Tendai

From Tendai's point of view.

Hi All.. recently for her 2nd Birthday, Tendai was given a kid friendly camera. Nothing fancy, it doesnt have a flash, nor special settings, and according to the box it has a whopping .3 megapixels. (yes.. POINT three). Its the cutest thing though, and takes decent enough pictures in good light.  Tendai loves it, and managed to take quite a few shots before she got fascinated with the beeping power button and completed ran the batteries down making it beep on and off ( i should have known something was up when it was quite in her bedroom!). Anyhew.. its a great little camera, and it got me thinking. Im gonna do a blog post every once and awhile from Tendai's point of view. With HER pictures. This could be fun i think!

So heres a smattering of the first batch of pictures I managed to get off the camera before she ran the batteries completly dead.

"daddy is hard at work on his computer... 

mommy is too. here is her keyboard that I smash every day at least once (even though i know im not supposed to.. its just so much fun!!!)

this is a christmas tree. its much bigger than the mozambiquan one we have back home. it has tons of pretty lights and I love it. do you think it will fit in my suitcase?

this is me. mommy took this one because when i tried myself it did not work at all. not even close.

this is one of my favorite dollys. my aunty gave her to me. she smells like strawberries. Here in Canada there are TONS of dollys. Everybody has at least one or two!

another fun toy that i got for my birthday. it makes all sort of noises. They say that animal is a sheep but they obviously have not seen "REAL" sheep before. the sheep back at our farm look nothing like that cotton ball!

Thats all the good pictures i have for now. I tried to take some of the snow but they all just turned out very blurry white. Its hard for me to sit still long enough! When mommy buys me new batteries i will take lots more pictures! I cant wait to take pictures of my friends back home in Africa and of my house and yard. I will even try to remember to take a picture of a real sheep so you all know what they look like. Mommy says it is almost Christmas time so I should also say Merry Christmas."

Now.. you all know Tendai cant talk, much less type, but i think the whole idea will be fun.. and since she really is taking the pictures it will be a bit of a challenge for me to come up with things to say that base around her pictures! 

We had our first Christmas Family Gathering today and enjoyed it so much. We are blessed to have such an amazing extended family who support us in so many ways. I hope your Christmas season will also be filled with friends and family, memories and laughter.

God Bless,

Rick, Heather & Tendai Neufeld

....the most wonderful time of the year.....

One of the kids gets the drums warmed up at last years Christmas party!

Its that time of year.... Christmas.... I love Christmas time.. here in Canada and in Mozambique! (though i dont enjoy the HOT weather at this time of year at all! in mozambique that is) . This past week we were able to spend time with Chris and Corissa Mohan (you may remember they visited us in Moz in the spring for the month of march). We spoke at their church and had a wonderful time of fellowship with them. The church was amazing, and we were blessed by the community of believers. Its funny how I never tire of hearing Rick preach (and its the same message too!).

Chris and Corissa treated our family to a Brandon Wheat Kings hockey game... so much fun to be at a hockey game again!

Being Silly with Aunty Corissa!

In other news, back home at the farm everyone is gearing up for both the staff Christmas party, and of course, one of my favorite days of the year- The Amigo Orphan Program Christmas Party! This year the party will be held at the farm in the brand new Lapa (outdoor covered meeting area with a traditional thatched roof), complete with a decorated Christmas tree and presents! I am sad to be missing the party this year, especially since they will be seeing all those twinkling lights for the very first time!! (Lynn promises that she will take pictures for me!) Can you imagine what it will be like for them???

The orphan kids and grannys at last year's orphan party.

VERY excited kids!

Little Nailene ate a whole big plate all by himself!

Rick and I have the next few weeks "off" meaning we dont have any planned speaking engagements at churches or youth groups, but will instead be enjoying a few weeks of fellowship with our home church here in Grunthal. We look forward to worshipping with our church family and being refreshed.  Although we are not actually speaking anywhere, we are booked EVERY SINGLE evening for this entire week, and most of them for next week, as we visit with supporters, friends and family, sharing what God is doing in Mozambique, and our passion for ministry there. And then of course, it will be Christmas, which we look forward to spending with family.

One of our busy nights from the past week was hosting Tendai's 2nd Birthday party, complete with an awesome cake made by our friend Jen Klassen. Ive been dreaming of this safari cake for over a year (literally)!!!

Jen even made Tendai a lovely little smash cake just for her!

Our 500 PPD Campaign (Pray-ers Per Day) has been going well. At this point we have just over 200 signed up... if you are willing to join us in our challenge, by signing up to pray for us every day, please let us know. We are aiming to find 500 people by the end of our furlough. Once you sign up by giving us your name and email, you will recieve an email update once a month. That update will let you know praise reports and prayer requests, and give you a rundown of what we have been doing and are looking forward too. Please consider signing up to be one of our Pray-ers. You can contact us at the email address listed on the right hand side of the blog.

Thank you to those who have been and continue to pray for us. Your continued prayers for our health and safety, finances and ministry needs are so appreciated. We hope each of you has an amazing time visiting with family and friends and celebrating our saviors birth.

God Bless,

Rick, Heather & Tendai Neufeld

Unique Christmas Gifts.... and more!

orphan girls in Mutarara open their care packs with MUCH anticipation

Hey Friends... its almost December.. which means most of us are neck deep in Christmas trees, cards, baking, and of course Shopping! Rick and I are enjoying the ability to actually go Christmas shopping this year- last year we scoured the small foreigner owned shops in chimoio to find some small gifts we could give each other. We usually end up making our own gift certificates for each other, and enjoying each others company, sometimes if a trip to South Africa coincides with this time of year we purchase a family gift for ourselves. This year we have the option to go Christmas Shopping in all of our favorite stores- exciting!- and a bit overwhelming too... to go from few options to zillions is a bit to wrap your head around. We try to keep our Christmas spending within limits, no going crazy for us, and to focus on the real meaning of Christmas- The best gift of all, Jesus.

orphan children with their care packs!

     

Im sure many of you are also struggling to balance the joy of giving, with the wonder of remembering our Saviour's birth. Some may even be desperate to find that perfect gift for those who seemingly already have "everything!" Or perhaps you are searching for a way to teach your children that real joy is found in the giving, not the getting.  If any of those apply to you... then "have I got a deal for you" (not to sound cliche or anything)!

 this little guy just couldnt wait.. he dove right in!

For the past few years SAM Ministries (our mission) has put out a "Unique Christmas Gift" brochure, full of ideas and "gifts" that people here in Canada and around the world can purchase which will then be given to needy children, families and pastors in Mozambique, in the New Year. Rick and I have the privilege of sourcing, purchasing, packaging and delivering the orphan care packs purchased thru this campaign each year. It is such a blessing to be able to share, the Love of Christ with each orphan who receives and to tell them how an individual in Canada prays for them and sponsored their pack.

Some of this years gifts include:

Complete Orphan Care Pack: 50$

Water Carrying Jug: 4$

Blanket: 25$

Childrens Ministry Training Kit: 300$ (includes Bibles, and seminar resource manuals and supplies for 25 Childrens Ministry leaders)

Sponsor a Pastor in our Training Program, Faith Bible Seminary for:

-one course 30$

-full year (four courses) 120$

A cow for an area farmer: 375$

Plough and supplies: 220$

a granny and the orphan she cares for pose for a picture- so thankful!

pastors and church leaders participate in a seminar to learn methods of teaching bible memory skills.

These are just some of the options available to purchase as a Gift. You can see the full listing and brochure by clicking here and then follow the link to see the full size brochure. Options are listed on the brochure for how to give. (you can send a cheque or you can give securely online as well) Please note there are also gift options listed for our sister mission in Brazil (where Rick and I lived for four months while learning portuguese).

This week we were blessed to speak at the CMC Youth Group here in Grunthal, as they prepare for TWO upcoming mission trips with Samaritans Purse! They played "dentre/fora" (in/out) a deceptively simple game we were taught by our school kids at Mucombedze Interior Primary School (our school). They also ate Litchees for the first time.. reactions varied from.. "awesome" to"im going to vomit"- i guess its one of those you either like it or hate it kind of fruits!

Tendai joins the youth group in prayer from her perch on the pew behind us

Rick spends a couple of days each week working alongside his brothers in the family construction business. This week I got a call saying I had to come down to the jobsite and get a picture of the giant cement crane! Its funny how the things that never even phased us before are now amazing to us. Rick wanted a pic of the large crane and cement truck so that we could show the guys back home how they do it here:

even with the big cement crane and all the technology available here.. the guys still level it out with a shovel and a 2x4... i guess some things stay the same no matter where you live!

 -opposed to our new "normal" method of cement mixing back home (and by the way this is the NICE way of mixing.. sometimes they just have to do it by hand):

Its been awesome to spend time with family and friends! We are taking advantage of every opportunity to visit and fellowship with friends here. Thank you all again for your prayers and support. We appreciate them so much.

Some of our current prayer needs include:

- health and safety as we travel, Tendai has had a nasty cold lately, and both Rick and I are adjusting to driving on winter roads again.

- that our support will continue to increase, allowing us to do more Children's Ministry Training Seminars each year.

-that we will be able to raise the needed funds for our family home

-that Mozambique will receive the rains needed to have a good growing season this year

Praise Items-

-safe travel thus far!

- we have had many people sign up to be part of our 500 Pray-ers Per Day challenge

-good times of fellowship and visiting with friends.

-that the airstrip back at the farm is nearing completion! PTL!

another one of mommy's photo shoots!

Thanks again! God Bless,

Rick, Heather & Tendai Neufeld