SUKANEWSAfrika Wa Yesu

APRIL And MAy • 2011sukawalker@gmail.com • caixa Postal 176 • Nacala Porto • NamPula • moZambique

SUKA NEWS / 01SUKA NEWS / 01

Nacala, May 24th, 2011

Dear friends,

Writing about what happened in the past weeks is both a pri-vilege and a challenge. It is a privilege because for a few moments

I can share with precious friends from far away lands a bit of God’s work in this part of the World. Challenge because it is hard to choose, amongst many different events, thoughts, feelings, struggles and victories, the most relevant ones, those that will truly edify the readers and at the same time be a true picture of what goes on in my life and all around me!

As most of you know, I have been living alone since January, when my dear and faithful friend Dora went back to Brazil. I am very happy for her, for in May 01st she got married to Jansen in a beautiful ceremony in Rio de Janeiro! My parents participated (and represented me)!

Her absence left me with a feeling of a great empty space, though, hard to be filled. I praise God for dear team mates and friends who have been a great comfort during this time, but I have to confess that personally I was really stre-tched, in total dependency on God, His strength, His companionship! It is a wonderful place to be: In His dependency! Even so, I am happy that the plans for the next months don’t include too much time living alone!

pASSover (A.K.A. eASTer)I was raised knowing that for God there isn’t a day more special than another.

There isn’t a season in the year, a day in the week, or an hour in the day holier than the rest. Each second of our lives have eternal value and becomes holy, divine the moment we totally surrender our lives to God. It is impossible to deny, though, that we can make good use of special biblical celebrations both to emphasize a certain truth in our Christian life as well as to teach eternal truths to others.

This year God put in my heart the vision to use the Passover time, known in the Western World as Easter, to impact the students and the communities around us in a special way. We don’t hear much about bunnies and chocolate eggs during this time here as we do in the West, but many people use this time to separa-te Christians from Muslims, create division, or celebrate something they really don’t know what it means.

So in the week before Passover, we started to teach the students about the meaning of Passover in the Old Covenant, the reason why it started, its fulfill-ment in Jesus and the attitude in which we should remember it, not only during this season of the year, but every day of our lives. The African culture is very graphic, depending many times on stories, parables, and practical examples. So besides teaching with words, verses and theory, we taught through actions and it was a week none of the students or teachers will forget, I’m sure!

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Exodo 12.3, 6 - We chose the lamb 4 days before Pas-sover, like it was done in the Old Covenant. God’s lamb was also chosen before the foundation of the world, 4 days (if 1 day is like a 1000 years) before his historical crucifixion!

onTUpAiAOntupaia is a neighborhood where we started a project with street kids, helping them go to school. We also have weekly meetings with

the moms of several of the kids, many of them Muslims. We teach them basic health care, have a time of fellowship and we are also starting to alphabetize them. Each time I go there, I come back with a burden, crying out to God: HOW CAN WE DO A GREATER DIFFERENCE?

I know that it is not by chance that God has been opening the doors in that neighborhood and He has a perfect plan. I want to be sensi-tive to His perfect will!

It has been a big struggle to keep the kids out of the street and when I find them begging in town again, especially when it is during the time they should be in class, I get really sad. There are good news though! Some of the kids that have been studying under a cashew tree, with the “extra-official” teacher we hired, already know how to read and write enough to be in the 2nd or 3rd grade in the “official school”. The school’s director (a Brazilian nun) has been a great help to us and any time there is a place in the “official classes” she fits one of the kids who already knows enough.

As you can see, space and words are not enough to capture everything that happens. But I hope you were able to feel a bit of what God’s been up to here! Thank you for being a part of this, whether by praying, writing encouraging words, contributing financially or simply reading these news and rejoicing with us!

At His service, with much Joy and Gratitude,

SUKA NEWS / 02

Celebration at the School: João 19.33-37 - The Passover lamb was grilled whole, without any bones being broken. None of Jesus’ bones were broken to fulfill the prophecies!

The Unleavened Bread re-minded us that our salva-tion is without human efforts or merit (yeast).

We also taught about the First Fruits Feast, as a symbol of Jesus’ resurrection and the guarantee of our resurrection in the last day! Today we don’t need to wait for a specific season of the year to remember our personal Passover. Instead, we can participa-te on the Lord’s Table in remembrance of HIM, the Passover’s fulfillment!

Celebration with the Community:

In a village close to the school, the students presented a drama about Jesus’ death and resurrection and many Muslims understood for the first time the true meaning of this “Christian Feast”! Many accepted Jesus and until this day we are harvesting fruits from that day!

A secular Teachers’ College opened their doors for us to speak to their 120 boarding students. It was a time of great joy, presenting the Gospel in different ways. The doors of that school have been opened to us since and they even invited us a few weeks later to a debate with the theme: “Evolution x Creation”!

Besides these Passover outreaches, the students visited the city’s jail, full of young men (mostly thieves). It was a time of great learning for the students, about how to care and reach for this lost generation. We also went a Saturday to the hospital and visited each sick person, praying for them in the name of Jesus, presenting the Gospel and offering them a piece of bread!