Merry Christmas

Life in Maputo is quickly slowing down as many foreigners head home for the holidays. The end of December and January is like August in Europe. Even the restaurants close! I guess you can't blame them for wanting some time off too. We will be around and are looking forward to some extended beach time with friends.

We have written a December newsletter which you will find on the sidebar at the right of the webpage.

I've been enjoying these pictures taken by my talented brother, Galen.

Have a blessed Christmas and New Year 2014!

Trekking in Chitipa

Last month I traveled to Malawi to visit a World Relief agriculture pilot project.  Rachel and I had been there a couple of times in the past to work with the WR team and look at the agriculture programs with small farmers, but this is a new project with daisy flowers to produce pyrethrum.  This is a natural pesticide that is used in many insect sprays.

I flew into Lilongwe, the capital, but then we had an 8 hour drive north to the district of Chitipa.  Malawi is not a big country comparatively speaking for Africa, but it is long, north to south.  Fortunately, the Chinese have been working on a new road that covers the last 90 kilometers to the provincial capital.  The road used to be so bad, it took 3-4 hours just to travel this distance.  Chitipa is at the end of the road, so for years it seems that nobody cared enough to keep the road repaired.

Day 2 - Our assignment was to look at the seedling nurseries for the daisies being grown by local farmers.  Well, to grow daisies and get good pyrethrum you need altitude and cooler weather which means, up the mountain we went.  We left early enough to beat the heat, or so I thought.

It was a good 30 minutes driving just to the first site.  We took the office manager Joseph with us as he had never been to the ag project sites.  He was in office clothes and street shoes, and so were the other three guys.  We picked up an overweight government agriculture extension agent along the way. 

Our first two sites were near a village so there was easy access.  At the third site, we parked along the edge of a road and hiked over the hill.  “You see the nursery over there?” one of the guys asked.  Hmm, quite a hike and the hillside was pretty steep.  Glad I had my tennis shoes on for that one.  It was challenging. 

(The field where we were headed is circled above.)

To get to the fifth site we drove through some remote territory and parked under a tree.  When we got out, one of the guys asked if I wanted to carry some water with me (it was a hint).  Nah, I thought I was ok.  We started walking and the trails were pretty level, but went on and on.  Then it got steep, going up and then way down.  Where is that nursery?  We have been walking 30 minutes.  It took another 10 minutes to arrive and inspect the nursery.  Our government friend was still with us. 

 

It is mid-day and the sun is hot, now to get back to the vehicle.  Another 40 minutes, climbing and walking on the baked trail, the insoles of my feet could really feel the heat!  I was surprised they were not blistered.  I was surprised the government guy made it.  We had to wait for him, but he survived.  Back at the hotel, there was no power and only a dribble of water, enough to rinse off and cool down a little.

Day 3 - The next morning there is no running water.  It seems that Chitipa is still the end of the road and when power cuts have to be made, those farthest away get cut first.  The development workers can scarcely do reports as there is not enough power to keep the computer batteries charged.  At least there is a bucket of water, but taking a bucket bath in the tiny shower stall is a new challenge. 

Looking at plant nurseries is still the main agenda, but not necessarily the most exciting thing in the world.  After all, they are all growing the same thing! 


Still there is the beauty of the mountains, seeing the unexpected, like a steep road, rough as a staircase and in the distance, the mountains of Tanzania.  Some people are surprised to see us too.  Some give gifts like tomatoes and onions, a bunch of bananas.  Ah, we enjoyed a salad for dinner, where rice and meat are what they normally serve.  Still no running water.

 

 Day 4 – Buckets baths again, but the promise of a shower tonight in Lilongwe.   We say goodbye to the team and hit the road for another 8 hours.  Some beautiful sights along the way, but it is still a long drive.  Back in the capital, the shower is wonderful!

Life in Moz

Instead of writing a lot, I'll post some pictures that will tell the story.

In September I went with a church partner team to a village for a week. One of the things they do is meet with a group of women for Bible studies. These women love to sing and dance. Here they are doing a circle dance. This short clip of Sunday morning singing at a church I visited once will give you a taste of their beautiful singing and dancing.

After the singing and dancing they sit on reed mats on the floor. I cannot sit like this but they do it for long periods of time.

When we walked in the village the kids were like magnets, running to play with the visitors. Scott, pictured here, loved to play, even making angels in the sand.

This is one of the cooks, Odete, in the kitchen. What they deliver from this simple kitchen, cooking over charcoal and wood is yummy!

These three amazing women, Imeldina, Angelica and Isabel work in the village full time. Imeldina and Angelica work with kids' clubs and Isabel works with discipleship groups. Angelica and Isabel leave their families from Monday to Friday to minister in Chaimite.


I also had a great getting to know Amy and Jenn, the only women on this team. As you can see, they enjoy life and we had good times together.

Back on the home front we did some home improvement projects. If you know us, you know we've done plenty of that in our lives. The back porch of this house was turned into a small kitchen but still had the top of one wall with chicken wire which was letting in lots of mosquitoes and other bugs. We decided to sew a tarp on to the wire. So Steve made a needle out of wire and found some string and we were in business. The only problem was that it was 10 ft off the floor in the kitchen and much higher on the other side! I stepped on the top rung of a high ladder and lifted my hands way up to sew the top. Steve was on the other side and ended up sitting on top of the door. We were both glad to be done about an hour later.

We are in the planning stages of building some cupboards, counters and moving the sink to the room that was originally the kitchen but then turned into a bedroom. We'll keep you posted.

This past weekend we had a great time at an AP Seminar. Many people were deeply touched by God and it was exciting to be part of the process. Saturday the temperature was 109 F and wouldn't you know, the power was out most of the day. Thankfully a generator kept the fans and the video going and it was cooler inside than out which was like an oven. God's grace is sufficient for every situation.

A Life Remembered - Maynard Good

Steve's father, Maynard Good, passed away a couple of days after suffering a stroke. We quickly packed our bags and went to Indiana for a little over a week. It was a quick trip between the two worlds we inhabit and made our heads spin (and our bodies wonder whether we were coming or going). But it was a wonderful privilege to be able to spend time with the family and some of our friends to honor Maynard and say good-bye.  Below is a bio written by Steve's brother, Tom, and then a piece that Steve shared at the memorial service.

Maynard L. Good, 85, of Elkhart , died Mon., Aug. 19, 2013 at Elkhart General Hospital .  He was born March 6, 1928 in Elkhart to Jacob H. and Ada (Christophel) Good. He married Anna Ruth Nafziger on Aug. 17, 1952. She survives along with children, Stephen (Rachel) Good of Mozambique, Africa; Marilee (Ron) Diener, Deborah Good, Thomas (Annetta Borntrager) Good all of Goshen, John (Lori) Good of Fayetteville GA; brothers, Willard (Rose) Good of Ft. Scott. KS, Truman (Beverly) Good of Spencer,  TN; sisters, Doris (Kenneth) Shoemaker of Danvers, IL, Melba Miller of Denver, CO; 12 grandchildren; and 1 great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by a son, James Good.

Maynard was a memorable, musical and missional man. He knew a lot of people.  Having grown up in the area and having many early sales and delivery jobs, he was often a point of reference for the rest of the family when meeting new people.  His gift for salesmanship continued after he settled down at Spring Valley Ranch to grow and sell fruit, cider, sweet corn, potatoes and other produce.  He also had a mechanical bent and founded a business fabricating silage bag stuffers and grader boxes.  Most recently, he spent summers at the Blueberry Park selling organic blueberries to the community along with information about their health benefits.

Maynard was born into a family that loved to sing and make music.  One of his first purchases was a guitar that he taught himself to play.  He sang in quartets and choirs when he was younger and was chorister for Prairie Street for many years.  He also led his family in giving programs to area churches.  Table grace was almost always sung at family meals. 

Maynard was deeply involved in the life of the church as a Torch Bearer sponsor and Sunday School teacher,  He also had a deep concern for the unchurched and community.  He was a founder and the first president of Church Community Services. He supported MCC through service time in Puerto Rico in his 20’s and hosted trainees from other countries to live and work on the farm. He promoted the CROP walk for Church World Services.  He initiated a Saturday evening program for area children who often passed the church but never came in.

Maynard was a visionary man of simple faith.  He suffered a major stroke while resting the afternoon the blueberry patch closed for the season and passed peacefully two days later.  He is now with Jesus and we will miss him.  His family thanks you for your support and prayers.

 

 

A Life Remembered - By Steve

 

There is a lot to remember from 58 years of having a dad like Maynard Good.  He was “part chip off the old block” and part “they broke the mould after they were done” kind of guy.  Stepping into his crocs the morning after getting back to Elkhart reminded me that as “dad,” he was always sort of a half size larger than life and no one could ever quite fill his shoes.

Throughout my younger years and even more recently, I was always told, “You look just like your dad.”  While I could see and sense the resemblance, it always struck me with a mixture of pride, wonder and anxiety.  Was I really, “just like” him?  Well, not exactly, God has created each of us uniquely. 

 One of the things I learned late in life about myself is that I am a “learner and communicator.”  I doubt that Dad ever took the “strength finders” test to analyze his personal strengths.  However, as I reflected on what he was like as a person and father, I can now see those two strengths in his life too.  You did not have to know him for long to have him start telling you about something he learned about recently. 

 

Although he grew up in the city, he bolted from its shadow as soon as possible to work on the Ed Miller farm east of town.   He was a product of the “war years” educational system that was low on resources and let its students stay in school only half days as long as they could maintain at least a B average.  His motto would have been like Mark Twain’s who said, “I never let my schooling get in the way of my education.”  As a self employed dad, he taught me most of what I knew about farming and hard work.

He had a love for the land, the soil and the woods.  He loved to work it and feel it become productive under his hand.  To him, farming was not a job, it was a way of life and a lifestyle.  When he first started farming on his own, he once told me that he would wake up before sunrise and just wait for the sun to come up so he could go out and work.  Opportunity energized him and that is how he lived his life. 

He loved trying new things and meeting new people.  There were never any strangers in the room, just people he hadn’t met yet.  Those strengths served him well on his early bread and apple routes and farm markets; selling everything from stocks to specialty farm equipment, even blueberries.  

He was an optimist, visionary and pioneer.  Seldom discouraged, he was always thinking about new ideas and ways of doing things.  If it seemed remotely possible and piqued his interest, he was ready and willing to try it out.  If it didn’t work out, it was not hard for him to find the next thing to start thinking about. 

His love for the Lord, the church and music, coupled with his leadership gifts made him a natural worship leader and encourager of others to sing along.  He taught us kids to sing at the same time we learned to talk and attempted to mold us into a singing Von Trapp family.  He even risked bringing the first guitar into Prairie Street Mennonite, when it was still considered an instrument of the world.

 

Needless to say, he taught and instilled many of these same attributes into all of us as his sons and daughters, each in a different way.  Our lives will always be part of this godly legacy, product of his life and how he lived it.   

 

Masala Jam

One of the good things that happened when we went to the village was that we picked up some masala (or green monkey fruit in English)!  This is a fruit that grows on a low tree. The shell is very hard and is used for making maracas. The fruit grows around many seeds and is quite sour so people don't think too highly of masala. But we have discovered how to make it into a jam and it is Steve's favorite.

Here he is opening the hard shells with a machete. Throwing them on a concrete floor will also do the trick!

 

Next I scooped the insides out, added a bit of water and heated it all.

 

After that, the arduous task begins of removing the fruit from the seeds. Fingers seems to work best, at least we haven't figured out another way.

Then boil for 20 min., add a bunch of sugar (1.5 cups per 2 cups fruit) and boil 20 min. more.

 

Finally, Ta-Dah! it is done and ready for pancakes or bread.

Accidents Happen (Unfortunately)

Two pastors from a church in Ohio came to visit the WR programs that they have helped with in Gaza Province. Since we needed a driver anyhow, I convinced Steve to go with us and spend time with them as well.

We picked them up from the airport mid-afternoon and took off for the village. Traffic wasn't too bad in Maputo (a relative statement) and we made good time. As we got closer to the village we saw places where the flood had damaged the road and at one point we needed to make a detour because the road was gone.

As we were getting close to our destination Steve slowed down behind a mini-van that was stopping to let off passengers. We could see a car speeding toward us and it seemed he was too close to the middle of the narrow road (no centerlines there). We didn't have enough momentum to get out of the way quickly and sure enough, he sideswiped our WR vehicle. As always, we were a bit shocked that we had been hit but quickly verified that no one was seriously hurt. The pastors in the back had bumped into each other and had some sore ribs but that was it.

Both tires were sheared off, the hub was bent and the rear axle was completely dislocated and bent.

 

It was not a pretty sight. Immediately after the crash the bars close to the road emptied out and we were surrounded by very excited people. I decided that a good place for me to stay was right in my seat, making some phone calls and praying. Steve and the pastors got out to investigate.

 

What they saw was the other car (picture taken the next day). The driver was unhurt and ran away a few minutes later as he had no license and seemed to be under the influence of something. His mother who was with him bumped into the windshield and had a bump on her head.

 

 

 

We were very thankful that Dr. Pieter was close by and he came to help us sort out the situation. Our Bible study was meeting that night so I had called them. They prayed that someone would help us move the vehicle. Pieter had tried to call some people to do that but had no luck and thought we would need to get someone from Maputo - 3.5 hrs away to come. But as we were sitting there waiting for the police, a truck went by. The driver knows Pieter and he offered to come back later and move the truck to his house and later to Maputo. We were grateful for this and so thankful that no one was seriously hurt. A few inches could have made a big difference. Angels were watching over us!

Dondo Bible School

This past week Steve and I traveled to Dondo in the center of Mozambique. Tanneken Fros, a friend from our home church in Indiana had invited us to teach at their Bible school. They started with 28 students (mostly bush pastors) but then because of political unrest in the area and some violence, 18 of them went home. Members from the local church were invited to the 4-day seminar that we did and we had around 45 people most days.

 

                                                                     Tanneken

We taught material from the Ancient Paths seminar. Because it needed to be translated to Sena and contextualized we did not use the video seminar. It was a lot of work but it was well worth it. We felt that God took the concepts and planted His Word in hearts. We taught on the importance of honoring  others, the power of the tongue to bless and not curse each other, choosing life by going God's way, the importance of building our lives on a strong foundation, iniquities and how to be freed from them, transparency in our lives, breaking free from shame and more.

 

 

At the end we demonstrated how to pray a blessing over a person and then they prayed for each other.

 

 

It seemed they enjoyed this part and it was a good way to close.

 

The tradition is to give capulanas to guests.

 

Lots of singing, dancing, hugs and kisses.

They were excited to receive the outlines of the lessons.

 

It was a great week and we pray that God will use the teachings to transform lives and make a tangible difference in their homes, church and community.  It was also great to spend time with Tanneken and another guest, Charleeda who had taught previously.  Tanneken is the one who introduced us to Mozambique and encouraged us to come. When we visited her in 2002 we stopped in Maputo and that is when we learned about World Relief. God moves in mysterious ways!

Running the Race

I had the privilege of joining a group of six people from Akron, Ohio who traveled to the villages of Chaimite, Koka Misava and Macalawane the end of May. We were joined by a group of six from Young Life.  They were a wonderful asset to the team as they are experts in working with youth. Their skits, games, and stories with the kids and youth were excellent and they kept us moving in the evenings as well. No board games were needed to entertain us this time!

We were also joined by the people who are always working on the ground - trainers of discipleship groups, agriculture managers, cooks, a construction guy, drivers, interpreters, kids' clubs leaders coordinators. They are wonderful people and we had a good time getting to know them better - they are the unsung heroes.

The group's theme for the week was "running the race" from Hebrews 11 and 12. For one of their skits they acted out a race. Four volunteers came forward. Three of them were "hindered" as it talks about in Heb 12:1-2. One had a blindfold, one had hands and feet tied, one had to carry a bucket of water on her head. The last one had no weights or hindrances.

Here they are at the lineup.

The "unhindered" woman won but the lady

with the water came in a close second! She was
wet and laughing.

 Mozambique - where the
women are strong ...

I was very excited to see the multiplication of the discipleship groups. That has been the goal since they started three years ago and it is happening now.  I spoke to Rabeca (below) and asked her why she wanted to start a group. She said she is like the Samaritan woman at the well who went to tell her neighbors and family about Jesus. She wants them to learn the truths she has learned.

 

Isabel, the leader of the original groups for the last three years is on the right. She now leads new groups and is supervising 26 people who are starting their own groups. Please pray for these people as some are new in the faith.

I also met another Isabel. She is so excited about what God has done in her life. She has started a discipleship group in the agriculture field that is supported by The Chapel and World Relief plus another group at her home. Isabel spends a lot of time in the fields and is one of the top five producers. Even though they lost a lot of their crop with the floods in January, they are very hopeful about the beautiful crop of tomatoes that are ready for harvest. She used to sell tomatoes by the road with other women and now she produces the tomatoes and sells to her friends as well as to the wholesale market in Maputo.

I met Regina in the neighboring village of Mukhotwene. She shared with me that being in the discipleship group has saved her money because she no longer pays the witchdoctor to find out who put a curse on her. Now when something bad happens, she prays and leaves it in God's hands.

These are just a few of the stories we heard and I was very encouraged. There is still a lot of work to do, but it is wonderful to see how God has been working in people's lives. You can read more about the discipleship groups here.

When I returned home I found out the riot police had been to the Central Hospital just across the way from our house to arrest the leader of the medical association. The doctors, nurses, and other workers have been on strike for the last three weeks, wanting 100% increase in their wages.  Now there are rumors that the teachers will strike. Everyone wants a piece of the pie from the big new industries that are producing gas and coal in the center of the country. Unfortunately it is not trickling down and you can read more about that here if you are interested.  There is plenty to pray about - intercessions and thanksgivings.


Photo credits - Julie Davis (I forgot to take my camera!)

Kenya Training and Anniversary Celebration

In April Steve and I had the privilege to travel to Kenya to do a microenterprise training of trainers. We also celebrated our 35th Anniversary by traveling for the weekend to Nakuru in the Rift Valley.

We had fun checking out the market and found some different grains and things that we don't see in Mozambique.

 

This is a huge volcanic crater that has many geothermal sites.

 

 

We heard a lot about the flamingoes at Lake Nakuru, but when we arrived we found out most of them had left because of the flooding in the area. This is rainy season and it has been raining more than usual.  On the way back to Nairobi we passed Lake Elementaita and found a community that grants access to the lake. Here we are starting out on our walk with our guide who said it was about 1 km to the lake. Actually, it was about 3 km one way and a good workout.

 

 

We did see some flamingoes, pelicans, terns, etc. They say sometimes there are a million!

 

 

To get to the retreat center where the training was held we had to travel this "road" for awhile. Apparently the road people removed the asphalt to re-do the road and then it started raining. Poor timing. It was a real challenge for many of the participants to arrive. Thankfully most stayed for the week so we didn't have to do this every day.

 

 

Here are some shots from the training. The participants caught on fast as they are well educated and they will be great trainers.

 

 

This group liked to laugh and have a good time.

 

Here's a sampling of the beautiful flowers and landscaping in Nairobi.
 

   

And you think SHE talks a lot?

In my culture, it is generally agreed that women have a stronger gift of gab than men (of course with many exceptions).  It is also debated that men are said to use an average of 7,000-14,000 words per day and women use from 15,000 to 25,000.  Perhaps you know someone who talks virtually non-stop, well here is my story about a guy (yep, a guy) who can probably out talk them all.

I was in an African country (and I won’t name names or tribes either) in a fairly remote location with two people from our national team.  Someone asked for a ride to the town where we were going about 4.5 hours away and the team agreed.  Personally, I don’t mind providing this type of assistance to someone, especially if we know him, which we did.

However, we were about 20 minutes into the drive when I realized that this guy had not stopped talking since he got into the vehicle.  Now I was in a meeting with him earlier that day and he was the one who complained that he felt excluded as the meeting was being held in English for my benefit.  Not only did he complain, but went on and on to the extent that I thought it was probably a mercy that the meeting was in English or the talk would be never ending.

No kidding, this guy talked 2.5 hours non-stop, until he ran out of water.  When he slowed down enough to ask for some, our team obliged.  (Big mistake.)  This did lead to about a 1 hour interlude where some questions went back and forth, with the other two team members involved.  Maybe he was just building another head of steam. 

Sure enough, finding ourselves still about 1 hour from our destination, he seemed to take note that he would soon be losing his captive audience and launched into another half hour interlude, where he not only asked and answered his own question, like du, du, du, 2008. Eh? Uhu, 2008,  blah, blah, blah.  He laughed at his own jokes and the rest of the team sat generally mute with the occasional grunt to indicate they were not comatose.  One finally asked for the radio to be turned on which temporarily quieted the output, but alas, we were still too far out of range to get a good station. 

When we parted he said, “Good travels, it was nice traveling with you.”  What can you say to that?  The phrase that had earlier come to mind was, “Thank you for coming and thank you for leaving.”  Of course that went unsaid.  :-)

Vision Trip

When we started working with World Relief eight years ago in the area of microenterprise development (MED), we were pretty well aware that we were doing something that almost no one else in WR was doing. When we focused our efforts on the chicken project and then agriculture, the people within microfinance were not sure at all about working with us.  Thus began the story that has an exciting new beginning today. 

 After reasonable and moderate success in Mozambique, I was asked to oversee an agricultural program in Western Province, Zambia, now called ZambiaWorks.  Since 2007, we have been trying (and at times erring) to find innovative ways for small farmers to use what they know plus new ways of doing things, to earn income, where before their hard work only fed the family part of the time.  Today, that  organization works with more than 1,000 farmers and 4,000 borrowers, with plans for expansion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treadle pump. One pumps and another waters.

 

 

 

 

 

One group of farmers is giving back to the community by constructing this school.

 

As some of my work load reduced in Mozambique, I was asked to start working with other WR countries in Africa.  After two years of visiting potential program sites, sitting on microfinance boards, and telling people about Zambia, five of the countries were ready to move from where they were to something new.  But still when I only told them about a new way of doing things, I got a lot of questions or puzzled looks.  Time for a vision trip.

 Going through the process of getting a trip like this approved, we identified 20 people or more people who might attend.  Potentially overwhelming.  In the end we had 12, plus myself and that nearly did in the restaurants and hotels we frequented.  More than once, it took in excess of two hours to prepare a meal for this crowd.  And what a lively crowd it was.

 We looked at more than 12 different projects in three days, drove more than 1,500 kilometers, with some individuals spending two overnights on an airplane.  In the end, we sat and talked first as small groups, then as a whole on what we had learned and how we might apply it in the various countries represented. 

Now for the first dividends.  One of my first E. Africa assignments was to visit an agriculture project that had loaned $30,000 in a pilot for agriculture.  More than 1/3 was eventually written off and much more expense was incurred managing the process.  Needless to say, there were a lot of  “lessons learned.”

 After the vision trip, I sat down with three of the trip participants, plus one more and asked the country director, “since we want to try and do an agriculture loan pilot again, what did you learn on the trip and let’s see how that can help us build a successful agriculture loan product.”  The result was amazing. 

 Suddenly I began to hear what I had been trying to communicate for two years coming out of the mouths of others.  In 2.5 hours of discussion, we had a guideline, a schedule of activities, a timeline of events and retroactive resolution from the board to run a pilot agriculture project as soon as possible.  One participant, who had never seen an ag loan product he liked, (to be fair, none of the group had), was nearly running circles around me with practical ideas as to how this could be done.  What a difference a trip and a team make.  There was a clear feeling in the room that this should work, what are we waiting for?

 It is not that the work will be without challenges.  After all, this is Africa.  But being Africa, there are also millions of small farmers who need the opportunity to do more than barely survive doing the only thing they know, agriculture.  They need a chance to feed their families, their communities. the continent and make a profit.  What a vision and what a blessing to be a part of it!

 

               Teaching WR Rwanda volunteers how to do a kitchen garden with the Farming God's Way method.