Saturday: The Team Heads in Two Different Directions

Today we split into two teams after another good night's rest in Tete City, a relatively progressive mining city (so much so that we had AC last night!). One team stayed to meet the leadership at Tete City Church, a church that is quite modern by Mozambique standards.  They also visited the Chimadzi Church, the very first Presbyterian church in Tete Province.  There the members greeted the team with love and joy.  The choirs there were fabulous, some having walked miles from another church to be there.  The head elder gave a very thoughtful greeting in English! After a rousing worship service, the church members served a delicious meal to our team.  The team felt so welcomed and so loved.

The second team left early in the morning for the drive down the long, bumpy, dusty, pothole-ridden road to Chazia.  The Outreach Foundation has been trying for four years to drill a well in this area.  Here women get their water from a river until it dries up each year.  Then, they dig holes in the dry river bottom and catch the muddy water that seeps out.  Can you imagine if that was your sole source of water?

The new well at Chazia, improving the lives of the villagers.

After two failed attempts, some folks who had visited the Chazia church on a prior Outreach trip funded bringing in an expert.  As a result, the good people of the church and the surrounding village now have two wells.  They are so happy for our partnership with them and are praying that we will be able to bring water to other villages like theirs.

On our way back on the long, long road, we knew our friends and family were praying for us when we began to have car troubles.  There was no help anywhere near and the car kept cutting off until finally we couldn't move at all going forward.  Realizing that we could put it in reverse, we pushed the car around and drove miles backwards!  You should have seen the look on the locals' faces when we passed them on the road--  those crazy Americans!

The takeaway for both teams was the wonderful sense of community we felt when walking and worshipping with our Christian friends here in Tete Province.  "Blest be the tie that binds."

Our prayers to you, The Tete Outreach Team

A typical Tete "road"