A Year to Harvest

As I anticipate all that is to come in this new year, it seems that 2013 will be a year of harvesting.  After years of planting, sowing, watering, and tending to, if all goes as planned, this will be a year of reaping in some areas of my life. Three big items come to mind when I think about the anticipated harvest in the year ahead.  Here's the list: 

1. Come hell or high water, I will finish this dissertation, defend it before a committee or professors with mile-long CVs, and graduate from this doctoral program this year. After 5 LONG YEARS, I'm ready to be finished.  I'm aiming for a late spring/early summer defense, and your prayers are appreciated. And your patience is also coveted as I somewhat humorously insist, for a good 6 months after completion at least, that everyone I come in contact with call me Dr. Bollinger. Ha! What a load off my back it will be to finish.  And what a humongous opportunity and accomplishment, for which I will be forever grateful!
2. Since dreams become realities sometimes, I will also record a full length album of original music this year!!! Woot!  Yes, you read that right!!  I've been working with a wonderful producer at Shock City Studios here in St. Louis who is helping to make dreams come true.  His name is Tony Esterly, and he scooped me up and basically paved the way to make this happen.  After years of writing songs and singing with bands, I will finally have a professional recording of the music that makes my heart come alive. We are hoping for a summer 2013 release.  I'm so flipping excited!
3. I will also travel back to Mozambique once for sure, and possibly twice.  During the first trip in April, I will have our Bishop and the rest of the Missouri Conference leadership in tow - and what a trip it will be!  We will be solidifying some plans as a leadership team and will be beginning a whole new chapter of ministry that has been in the making since I started this position. It will be a time of hard work and great celebration with our Mozambican brothers and sisters.  

So, the year ahead is a big one, and I'm looking forward to it with great anticipation and excitement, knowing too that it will be a year of hard work. Your prayers, support, and patience are all necessary as I keep my nose to the grindstone, but anticipate the celebration that is to come.

Uncomfortably Comfortable

We're back from Mozambique and I'm getting back into the swing of life, back into the regular routine, back into the common comforts.  These comforts include nothing short of hot, fresh coffee made every morning, daily warm showers for as long as I want, food from any restaurant that I desire at my fingertips, and the list goes on. I have it all here.  St. Louis is my oyster.  For these things, I am grateful.  Because of these things, I am comfortable.  But in light of this journey, it's hard to put these comforts into a larger global context when so many people around the world lack basic needs.  We met lots of hungry people for whom a meal at any restaurant would be an extreme luxury.  We met people who had no clean water to drink, much less hot coffee every morning.  I'm left asking what I do with this uncomfortable feeling that I have around being so damn comfortable all of the time.  Some of it has to do with giving, and serving, and choices, and living differently, and advocating.  It's a struggle that I have every day, and it's a struggle that I share with all of you who identify with how Christ modeled life on Earth.  Born in a stable, living without a home, loving unto death...it's a high and difficult call.  It all feels very uncomfortable if you ask me.

The Church in Mozambique (by Linda Harris)

Sunday, November 4

Arriving 45 minutes before worship at the Jerusalem UMC, a small group of people was still gathered to welcome us with songs and dance. It seems it is never to early, or too late in the day to extend radical hospitality to guests no matter how inconvenient our schedules might be.

Sitting under the shade of a tree we had the opportunity to visit with members of the sustainability project committee. As Missouri begins to reduce salary grants for pastors in Mozambique, sustainability projects will help the church to generate income to support the salary and ministries of their church.

The Jerusalem UMC is beginning a Simbile Pole project. Simbile poles are the main structural support in building many of the homes and roadside shops found here. It is the "Home Depot" of rural Mozambique. Missouri has funded a loan for the church to help this project begin. The shop will not only make poles available in a community that has to travel some distance to purchase them; it will also help the congregation generate income to support its ministries. This church community has limited cash resources. Their weekly offering averages about $10 U.S. Their Simbile Pole project will make a significant difference in the future of this church.

But the Simbile Pole project has not taken the place of extravagant generosity in this congregation. In worship our hearts were touched to witness even the smallest of infants being taught to give as mothers brought them forward with a coin in their tiny hands to place in the offering basket.

Traveling down a narrow rural path through a beautiful valley with newly planted field waiting for the rainy season to begin; Mango trees dense with ripening fruit and Coconut Palms ready for harvest we arrived at the Bethlehem UMC. More than 150 people poured out the front doors of the church to sing greetings in the name of Jesus. Even though we had come to meet with the Safe Water Committee and Sustainability Project Committee; most of the congregation waited for some hours after worship to greet us.

Clean water began to flow at this church just a few short weeks ago. It was a joy to celebrate and see this new well. The well means the church can offer clean water to their community and it gives their church a new opportunity to invite people to meet Christ.

The church has also received a sustainability loan to begin a pig project. There is no place nearby for people to purchase pigs so not only have they "cornered the market"; they are taking the initiative to support and grow their church into the future.

Driving on to Jogo UMC the safe water members of our team met with church committee members to look at a well situation that has been difficult. Currently there is a less than adequate well in the community that does not produce enough clean water to meet the needs. Thankfully the bore hole for a new well has been drilled. A new pump will be installed in the next weeks and once again the church will be able to offer living water to their neighbors in the name of Jesus Christ.

The church presented us a wonderful gift of the fruits of the community; Papaya, Garlic, Sugar Cane and new to us all, Monkey Oranges. Cutting one open revealed a fruit that was a strangely colored jelly like mass. Not all of us were brave enough to try a sample!

Bumping and jostling our way along what wasn't much more than two tire ruts in the sand we arrived at that Magumbane UMC. The pastor and lay members had just returned from a two-day district conference. Their bags were still piled up by the door. With no time to unpack - they took time to greet and meet with us.

Baby piglets ran squealing through our feet as we toured the churches pig project. This sustainability project began in June and in just a few short months now the first pigs will be ready for the market.

Walking the dirt path down into a beautiful valley the team pumped water at the well that provides clean water to this community.

After a long day our team along with our colleagues from Mozambique stopped for something cold to drink and a wonderful time of laughter and fellowship.

What a joy it has been today to see and share in the amazing ways God is at work in the people and churches in these communities.

In Christ,
Linda

Jerusalem UMC:



Belem UMC:



Magumbane UMC:




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Location:Avenida 24 de Julho,Maputo,Mozambique

The Glory of God (by Tim Rosenbury)

God's Glory is in full evidence in the world -- sometimes you have to look for it. And other times God's Glory looks at you, face to face.

The faces of those whom we've encountered today are clear marks of the Glory of God. Certainly we see it in the faces of children. But we've seen God at work in a rural hospital in Chicuque, a remote church near the Indian Ocean, and in -- of all places, one might say -- a United Methodist District Conference.

Hundreds crowded into the church at Arnaldo Guibunda UMC for a District Conference. Roughly two dozen pastors are attending the three-day conference. Business was suspended for our arrival, and we were welcomed in a jubilant song accompanied by hand clapping, drums, wood blocks, sticks and even a referee's whistle. Our team was introduced to much applause, and afterward, the District Superintendent dismissed us to a congregational song equally jubilant as the one we came in with.

The church at Sahane is a model of what the Mozambique Initiative is about. We went to observe their new well and to learn what the church is doing in their community. And what a vital congregation! They have a herd of work cattle, are starting an egg-producing chicken coop, and are considering applying for a micro-loan to purchase a plow and wagon that the bulls can pull. Laypeople serve in various teams to oversee these operations, and in the past few months, the congregation has grown by four families.

The hospital, founded by Methodist missionaries a century ago, may appear to Westerners as a shabby, antiquated compound of simple shed-style buildings in the middle of nowhere. But to a population of a half a million Mozambicans it represents hope and health where both seem to be in short supply for many. The 11 physicians on staff clear 4,000 cases a month, with treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and hernias the most frequent. 300 babies are delivered each month in the two delivery rooms.

In this part of the world the Wesleyan system is very much alive, providing a strucutre for doing good Gospel work for the Glory of God!

Written by Tim Rosenbury

District meeting and children at Arnaldo Guibunda UMC:



Sahane UMC:

Location:Mozambique

Micro-finance in Mozambique

One of the major issues that we are exploring while here in Mozambique is the idea of micro-finance projects, aka sustainability projects. It is the goal of the Mozambican United Methodist Church to help communities become self sufficient and strengthen local economies in the areas where our churches are represented. Our visits to these churches up north were intended to show us some of these projects and find out how the success of these projects might continue to grow.

What is so difficult about many of these is that these churches literally have no economies. There is no money to be spent. There are no banks. They are so remote, so removed, so impoverished that transactions using currency often just don't happen. So, how do we help pastors and their communities become self sustainable in this scenario? Our meetings with the conference leadership today and tomorrow are to help us think about these issues and come up with ways for churches to be able to support themselves. In the meantime, these churches are working diligently to come up with ways to be productive. They are raising chickens, and selling kerosene, and making bricks. It's amazing to see these communities at work and it's a blessing to come alongside them and assist them in finding ways to feed their families and grow their churches.

Baking bricks in the North:


A chicken project at Maratane Refugee Camp:

Location:Rua Paiva Couceiro,Maputo,Mozambique

Around the table (from Yvi Martin)

Sitting at the dinner table tonight on the Ilha de Mocambique, with four talented, passionate, faithful colleagues, I was reminded again of the sacramental experience at every table. After 3 full (full would be a gross understatement) days on the road visiting churches and sharing worship and meals with Mozambican congregations in the northern districts of the country, the five of us reflected on all that filled our minds.

Around the table, Americans and Mozambicans see one another face to face (and a Skype connection isn't necessary). At the table, we can pose questions that invite honesty and vulnerability. Over a shared meal, big thoughts have room to rise and imaginations spark possibilities for a new way forward.

The blessing of this partnership between Methodists in Missouri and Mozambique is so complex and full of possibility that it threatens to overwhelm any individual mind. But as Ezequiel shared with us tonight, when we come together at the table, it is not so overwhelming. The impossible becomes possible.

This may just be a table on a porch at a hotel on an island in Mozambique, but it is a holy table. The table is where the Spirit of Christ does great work. It is humbling to sit here together tonight.

Yvi Martin (MI team chair)




Sarah and Yvi, adorned with Mozambican gifts!



Children at Nampula UMC welcoming our team.


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Location:Mozambique