Hello all!

We don't have much new news to relate। We're still going through the training process before taking on full responsibilities. It's given us time to readjust to the clock and the heat (which we have done quite well, thank you for the prayers and praise God!), and have some good quiet time with God and resting before being thrown into the busyness that all the other missionaries live with.

We have learned a little more of what our duties will be। We thought originally that our main work, broadly called "hospitality," would be mostly with short-term individuals and teams visiting from other countries. That will be part of it, but we learned that we will be doing much more than that. Because this base is the Iris Ministries hub for all of central Mozambique, there are many meetings and conferences with the native pastors, and we will be taking care of them as well. It's an honor to serve those who are truly giving their all for Christ here in our country. We will also be running the kitchen, overseeing the workers and discipling them in their walks with Christ. I have started visiting the kitchen every day, trying to get to know the workers as a friend before being placed over them as an authority.

Jon has been spending a lot of time with the pastors, trying to understand the culture at a deeper level। There are so many needs - everywhere we turn, people are asking us for stuff, but if we help, there is no real change in the culture. Jon has been looking into micro-financing (the latest buzzword for cures for African poverty) and other ways to help the people on a permanent basis. However, most of the people we work with are Pastors who have taken in 6-12 kids - they can't work another job in addition to the pastorate. We're looking into building chicken coups (incredibly low-maintainance and reproducing), buying goats, or purchasing farmland for the pastors... Jon is also trying to find a way to record and sell local gospel music, as there is not local Christian retail music and many people would buy it at the drop of a hat. All the Christian music around here is from Malawi or Zambia.

That's about all we have this time by way of update! Instead of getting a lot of text this time, we've got pictures for you instead: www.jonandcarla.com/Pictures.html - Jon has frantically been trying to finish the website before our missionary work really gets in gear. We've also posted a bit of Mozambican worship music for those of you who are interested, and started a new blog about life in Africa; not really news or testimonies, so it doesn't really fit in the updates, but if you want to see what our day-to-day life is like, check it out: http://life-in-moz.blogspot.com.

Thanks for all your prayers, and do please keep them coming!
~Carla Reinagel