WORK AMONG THE YAO PEOPLE:
I had the opportunity today to video chat with my dear friend, Victo
Castelo, who Jesse Gellatly and I ministered with in the Niassa province
of Mozambique among the Yao people group fifteen years ago. I have
stayed in touch with Victo over the years, but the Lord has recently
stirred my heart to help finish the work that we begun among the
unreached Yao villages from Lichinga to the border of Tanzania.
Victo and I prayed together and discussed their dreams and visions to start a couple of sustainable projects in Lichinga, which would help fund the work of continued evangelism, discipleship and church planting in the hundreds of Yao villages in the Niassa province. Victo, his brother Solomao and Chanito are all indigenous Mozambicans who Jesse and I discipled, and who now are solely responsible for running the Iris base in Lichinga, with no foreign missionaries living there any longer.
Victo and I discussed and prioritized the following projects that will enable them with resources to continue the amazing work that Jesus is doing there:
SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS:
(1) A maize (corn flour) grinding machine. The Yao people of Niassa will
bring corn from their machambas (gardens) to the team, who will charge a
fee to grind their corn into a fine flour (xima) which is their main
starch-food staple.
(2) A three ton (chappa) truck. The team will charge Mozambicans to use this truck in order to transport materials such as cinder blocks and other building materials. This vehicle will also be used to help with the construction of local churches, as well as transport the evangelism team and Jesus film projector and generator to the Yao villages of the Niassa province.
OTHER PROJECTS:
(1) The building materials needed to finish the walls, posts, rafters
and roof of the church of Assumane that we begun construction on fifteen
years ago. I am including progress pictures of the church building and
children's center in Assumane. Victo will send me some more recent
pictures of the construction progress of the church in Assumane, and I
will post them once he sends them. I actually own the title to this land
in the village of Assumane where these construction projects are
happening, and had to spend hours and hours speaking in the Portuguese
language to officials at the department of land and filing a ton of
paperwork back then. I am planning to have a plaque made in honor of
Jesse Gellatly, which we will mount on the church building in Assumane.
(2) A fortified shed on the Iris base. Unfortunately, thieves (banditos) will break in and steal motorbikes and sound equipment if they are not completely secured in a fortified shed.
(3) Three 50cc motorbikes for evangelism. The road to Tanzania is only accessible by motorbike and 4x4 vehicle, and almost completely inaccessible during the rainy season because of the mud (matope). This will enable the team to make trips to the Yao villages in order to continue the work of evangelism and discipleship.
(4) A new generator, video projector and sound system. The equipment that we once used to show the Jesus film translated into the Yao language in the villages there is broken and no longer works.
I will keep you posted as these projects develope. Please pray for me, that I will be able to get more work doing flooring and construction here in the U.S. so that I can help fund these projects. I would also love to take teams to Mozambique and develope a network of other Christ-followers who would want to sow into this ministry over the next year. Those faithful Mozambicans who are carrying on the work among the Yao people miss me, as I miss them, and we are all thrilled with the thought that I may be able to travel to Lichinga on short-term missions trips in the future. I will be praying for the Lord to guide and direct me, and to open doors that would make this possible.
Please feel free to check out the short film that we put together fifteen years ago documenting our work among the Yao people in the Niassa province of Mozambique. If you feel led to, please pray for us, as we long to see Christ's Yao bride brought into the wedding feast; to hear and respond to the gospel of Christ's love, and to see miracles, signs and wonders done through the power of the Holy Spirit among the Yao who are unreached and are predominantly Muslim-animists.
Much love and many blessings!
Jesse, Victo and I traveling by motorbike to Yao villages.
Chanito, Victo and I leading worship at the Church of Assumane.
Victoto translating a teaching for me into Yao at the Bible School.
Jesse, Victo and I bringing an audio New Testament to a Yao chief.
Victo removing a "matekenya" foot worm from my son's foot.
Solomao and his family with me on a visit to Itipela.
The specs that I drafted for the Assumane church sign.
Hand carving the Assumane church sign.
Hand carved Iris logo for the Assumane church sign.
Painting the hand carved Assumane church sign.
Condeila and I laying the first row of cinder blocks for the Assumane church sign.
My son carrying cinder blocks for the Assumane church sign.
My oldest daughter playing with the children from Assumane village.
My youngest daughter playing with the children from Assumane village.
Condeila, Luciano and I with the completed Assumane church sign.
The specs that I drafted for the church land and building layout in Assumane.
The specs that I drafted for the church of Assumane.
Laying cinder blocks for the foundation of the church in Assumane.
Solomao and his crew laying the cinder block foundation of the church in Assumane.
Overseeing the construction of the church of Assumane.
Progress photo of the foundation, pillars and rebar at the church in Assumane.
Jesse and our team making large mud bricks for the walls of the church in Assumane.
Victo's progress photo of the construction of the church of Assumane.
Victo's progress photo of the construction of the church of Assumane.
Victo's progress photo of the construction of the church of Assumane.
The specs that I drafted of the children's center in Assumane.
Digging the foundation for the children's center in Assumane.
The cinder block foundation with rebar on the children's center in Assumane.
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