Dear Friends and Family,
I get so shocked when I look back to when I last wrote an update to you all…time just flies by. 2017 began with a major change for Helen and I. We officially passed the torch of lead pastor of Logos Comunhão Cristã to our son and daughter-in-law, Seth and Silvia. We have been preparing for this for some time, but as of January 8, it has become a reality. You may think we have “retired”, but really, we have just shifted gears. Since the first of the year our home has been full of visitors from all over the world. Some needed counsel and direction, others here for a time of restoration and then there has been Syrian refugees and prisoners on a weekend pass in preparation for returning home. For just a few days, we have been alone.
Now we have two days to clean the house and take a deep breath before heading to Germany for three weeks of ministry. We are looking forward to be with our dear friends, (in three cities), in this wonderful country. My “German-ness” comes out when I am there, (love that würst), and I am stretched to remember the German language I learned when I was young. We will be in Munich, Augsburg and Konstanz, from the 22nd of March to the 10th of April.
On the 12th of April, I will go to Angola, for three weeks, and then on to Mozambique for two weeks. Helen will stay home this time, because I will be ministering in more rural provinces and am not sure of the conditions I will face. The first week, I will be teaching at a pastor’s camp in Luanda and then in local churches around the country. I am really excited about going to Mozambique. I have had invitations to go there for several years, but only now have I felt the release from God to go there. We have many contacts there, and some of them in high government offices. I will be helping a local church, (in Maputo), establish a training school for indigenous missionaries and leaders. This trip will be establishing a foundation for future involvement. There is a church in Beira, which is more central-north of the country, that has wanted to be connected to us for years, and as the Lord provides, I will try to get up there to see them as well. The next time there, Helen will go with me. Mozambique is so close to Swaziland; the place of her birth and childhood.
I return home on the 18th of May, we are home for a month, and then off to Belgium and then to the States for the summer. You can follow our schedule on the calendar we publish on our site: www.simissions.org I will try to keep it updated for you all. With the changes and increased ministry opportunities around the world, we are in need of raising more monthly support. We are pioneers, in that we thrive on opening up news doors for the Gospel, and we are also dedicated to training and disciplining the indigenous church to fulfill the Great Commission. We live in exciting times, as we see revival coming to so many formally closed parts of the world. The scattering of people groups among the nations have created many opportunities and openness that previously was not there. There is no time to retire…just refire.
Pray for us.
Jim and Helen