Joel & Joanie Troester prayer letter 9-2013

The African sun has set in Maputo for perhaps the 80th time since we last sent an update. Joel just left for church to meet with Nelson, a man he met last week. Helio , Miguel and Araujo will also participate in sharing the gospel with Nelson. But the past three months have not been mainly this kind of ministry. Please allow me to push PAUSE…. REWIND…. PLAY….

In late June God led us to the house we are renting for our church activities in a location that is VISIBLE and ACCESSIBLE. Hundreds of people pass in front of our doors every day. The house was in “abandoned” condition, so the repairs began. Our teens and young adults were ready to do the labor so Joel led them as they worked nearly fulltime for these three months and: replaced rotten wood in the roof, replaced roof tiles (once they found old ones of
the right size), replaced broken windows and made new screens, broke apart the old concrete water box in the roof and replaced it with a plastic one, scrubbed grease and grime everywhere, repaired broken walls, windows, doors, door framing and door jams, replaced pipes and plumbing fixtures … searched for broken pipes to replace them; flushed out clogged pipes and drains and broke open the walls to fix water leaks COUNTLESS times, and sanded and then painted EVERYTHING at least twice, to name a few of the tasks. Our teens and young adults donated hundreds of hours, and finally….
LAST SATURDAY WAS OUR INAUGURATION! Our sign is up… HOPE BAPTIST CHURCH OF LIBERDADE – and our doors are open!Now that building repairs are behind us, we can use our time and facilities to reach and train people! We had a full house already on Sunday morning and Sunday night and have had visitors at every service… some of them because of the sign.

Other adventures have included one night in the hospital for Joel, and two crashed computers, one of which was still under warranty. Dell sent a tech from Johannesburg to Nelspruit, SA to fix it! The other computer is history but we are grateful that we could salvage the hard drive.
At the same time, we press forward in our pursuit of land to build a permanent building. We have made another dozen visits to see government officials since June to continue the process of securing land for the church. We have been told to put a sign up on the property that says, ”Future home of HOPE BAPTIST CHURCH”. However, a lady has set up land markers and put blocks on the land promised to us. She was given a warning of encroachment and had to appear TODAY at a government office with documents that give her permission to do this. We have not heard the outcome of this meeting, but we continue to wait on God to open the door that no man can shut. What a joy to know that God’s timing is perfect as we press forward.
This week, Joanie began a reading and math club for children who are attending our children’s activities. What a joy to work with children while their hearts are tender!

Thanks so much for partnering with us!    Rejoice with us that Nelson has put his faith in Christ as his Savior! Please pray that we’d use our time wisely as we seek to faithfully invest in the people God is allowing us to meet and that we’d be able to visit each person who pays us a visit.
Grateful to be serving in Mozambique,
Joel and Joanie Troester