2005 in Review

As I look back over 2005, there are several highlights that I would like to share with you.

Home assignment: It was good to be in beautiful Oregon and visit with so many friends. Thank-you for your prayers and support over this past year.

Lori Jones: My roommate is getting married to Victor Sulemane, a Congolese man working with YWAM here in Lichinga. We are getting all geared up for a wedding here in Lichinga in April.


Diana Penisoara: While I was at home I visited with Nat and Silvia Thomas, who are part of the Bridgeport Chapel and serving in Romania. They teach at a bible school and the school wanted to give a one year scholarship to one of its students to be able to do ministry wherever they felt God was calling them to serve. Since Diana was interested in Africa, they asked if I would be willing to have her here in Lichinga with me for a year? Well there were details to work out. But as of the end of September Diana is living here in Lichinga with me. Her first job was to learn some Portuguese; she has done really well with this and is able to converse well already. She is participating in my TEE class (Theological Education by Extension) and working through the book with her language helper, Memoria. Diana has also already taught one children’s class at Memoria’s house.
TEE: I started a survey of the Old Testament book at the first of November. As always there have been many people interested, but fewer who have been faithful in attending. After studying about Jacob and his encounter with God, there was a question about if we had every had an encounter with God. Some of the students were about to give an account of how God had saved them. One student, Edwardo, had been sick and when he regained his health realized that he need to worship God. How was he going to do this, his family are nominal Moslems, so he asked them what he should do, they said it was up to him. Well he had never understood anything said in the mosque, and had one time read some of the bible and understood it so he wanted to pursue Christianity. He showed up one day at our office and said he wanted to study the bible, so joined our class. He was seeking. Then Memoria was asked about her encounter, she said she had never had an encounter with God but was ready to have one!!!! I gave a brief explanation of how to be saved and these two prayed to become Christians. Pray for them as Diana works daily with Memoria and as we have contact with Edwardo in the class, that God would help them to grow in their faith.
Waite: Waite, our day guard, has had some family problems and he and his wife came over to explain the issues. I prayed with them and tried to help them decide how they could work out things with their families. They have been to church two times but hadn’t made a stand yet. When Mark, our short termer with SIM, asked Waite if he was Moslem or Christian, Waite said Christian. This was a surprise to me. But after talking to Waite, it seems that he and his wife are moving away from their traditional religion and towards Christ. Pray for them that they will know Christ in a personal way. Waite attended the Christmas Day service on his own. Other times he came with Lori and me.

New church building: Matthias Hoffmeier has been working with a small group of believers in a village, called Meponda, about 60 kms from Lichinga over the last years. They have just finished their own church and so Steve and Liz Groves, Diana and I went down to celebrate with them in December.
Christmas: The last few years I have gone to Meponda to celebrate with the Christians there. This year Diana, Mark and Katie McGuire (short termers with SIM) and I went down to Lake Malawi the day before, camped out on the beach and sang carols around the camp fire. Then, on Christmas morning, went to the church and had a Christmas feast with the church people. We ate rice, sheep and duck. We then came back to Lichinga to have a more traditional Christmas dinner with other colleagues.
Traveling: In September, I attended a meeting in South Africa and took the opportunity to visit Gloria Cube in Cape Town. It was good to visit with her as we hadn’t seen each other since 1999 when we both lived in Tete.

Thank you so much for your part in helping to work here in Lichinga, I can’t thank you enough for your prayers and support.

Love, Janice Peters