Message from our Link Missionaries

 

Dear friends,

We hope that you are well in this difficult time, and knowing that God is with you and loves you.

We are all doing fine healthwise. Joshua started reception class, or kindergarden as they say here, and he appears to be enjoying himself. He is happier when he is home and plays nicer with Chloe as now they have time apart from each other, it's even better to be together! We are glad the school isn't closed at the moment but aware of the care to be taken regarding Covid. Chloe is continuing to do school at home and she goes to a Brazilian friend's house for some lessons in Portuguese. Sergio is continuing to distribute food parcels and finish some projects, and we are praying that this year he will be able to restart the training he was doing with the Mozambican missionaries around the country. Liz is busy with Chloe as well as her plans for the year to train and equip CBM (Mozambican Baptist Convention) Churches in safeguarding. So far her focus has been on the PEPEs but she now has an open door to the Churches to which we are grateful to God. Also on a happy note, we were able to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary last week,... how time flies!!

We would like to ask for some quite urgent prayer requests:

1. Another severe tropical storm, that could turn to a cyclone, is on its way to us on Fri night/Saturday. Storm Eloise looked like it would hit Mozambique further down but it has since gone northward. It has already rained a lot this last week and many houses are already suffering. Please pray that the same will happen as the last storm Chalane, that it will dissipate and won't have the affect on here that we think it could. Everyone was so surprised with such little rain and not too much wind, and we gave thanks to God. May we be able to do the same with this storm. Last night it rained hard and even with the windows shut, some let water in so we will be preparing as best we can. It is cyclone season and as Beira is below sea level, it causes us some trouble.
2. Even before this storm approached, I (Liz) have been given the opportunity to speak at a Pastors and leaders CBM meeting to be able to speak about safeguarding and its importance within Churches. It depends on the storm if it will go ahead on Saturday, but either way it will happen some time soon. So I ask for prayers for wisdom on what to say, for understanding and that their hearts are open to what I will say, and maybe that God will raise up some people there that will be advocates for this area.
3. It is a little strange to ask for prayer for this as everyone is suffering in some way from it, but we are starting to feel how you have felt over the last 9 months regarding covid-19. Even though we were in semi-quarantine since last March, we didn't see too many cases here until now, probably due to people holidaying here in December. The daily cases have quadrupled in January and even though we have a low number of 'official' cases (those numbers don't represent the real numbers), the private and public hospitals in the capital city, (the epicentre for the virus) are already packed. We have Brazilian friends in Maputo who are really suffering the effects of Covid-19, and with no space in the hospitals, they stayed home with difficulty breathing. Thanks to God a solution has been found and they are able to pay for a nurse to visit with oxygen for 15 days. We just think of all those who don't have the money for this sort of service! Cases are also rising here in Beira and hardly anywhere to get treatment. We are doing what we can to protect ourselves but please pray for the people here, that more will understand what this virus is like and take more precautions to prevent its spread.

We appreciate your prayers when right now there is so much to pray for.  We will update you with news on these issues when we can. Also thank you to those of you who respond to our emails. Please know that even though we might not reply, we read them and are so thankful for your encouragement and support and to know about your own situations. 

Many thanks, God bless

Liz and Sergio Vilela
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