THE BEECK BRIEF – 22ND FEBRUARY 2015

2015! Welcome to the Beeck Brief for another year! We’ve had a busy few months already this year and I don’t think it’s going to slow down anytime soon! Tilly was very unwell – wiped out with gastro for a week in January then Cam got malaria and he and I have both spent this last week sick in bed with a respiratory infection and (for Cam) a recurrence of malaria. We’re on the mend now and looking forward to getting back to full energy levels soon. We’ve had a bunch of visitors here already this year. Sally (our newest team mate to be) visited for a couple of months and at the moment we have not one, but two volunteer teachers, Laura and Jo, helping with the kids! God must have known we’d need the help this last week – we would have been lost without them. Our pastor Mike is coming out to visit in a couple of weeks and we have Jonny coming back in April to help us out yet again! It’s really not long now until we head back to Australia for our Home Assignment (133 days – but who’s counting) so we have a lot to do to finish off this first term as well as possible. And just to make life even more adventure filled – we’ve decided that when we come back to Mozambique after HA, we’ll move out of the city and join our team mates in a village called Massangulo. That’s going to involve building a new house and we’re hoping to get that started before we go! We finished off 2014 celebrating Christmas lunch with our entire team and then headed off to the lake for a week of relaxation over New Years. We camped in tents at our friends’ house by Lake Malawi, surviving quite a few nights of terrifying thunderstorms, the kids had a ball, I learned how to waterski and nobody got eaten by the resident crocodile!

MOVING TO THE COUNTRY Last year in July, our teammates the Falconers moved out to a town called Massangulo, about 90km away from where we currently live in the state capital of Lichinga. It’s a beautiful spot, surrounded by gorgeous mountains – perfect for adventurous explorer kids like ours. It’s also smack bang in the middle of thousands of rural Yawo people – those who we are most keen to spend time with and share the good news of Jesus. We’ve been thinking about moving out there as well for a little while now and at a recent meeting, our team all agreed that we should go. In order to do this, we’ll need to build a new house out there. We have the go ahead from the head office, we’re just waiting to finalise some financial details and then the plan is to start building in the next couple of months. We’ll let you know more about it next time we write. There will definitely be some opportunities to help out if you’re able whether you’re able to contribute some funds or perhaps would even like to come and help build! Let us know if you’re interested. So – exciting times ahead as we look to another stage in our lives here in Mozambique! We’re also feeling a bit sad knowing that packing up to leave here will mean saying a bit more of a permanent goodbye to our wonderful friends we’ve made here in the city. It’s not too far away really but a bit too far to just drop in on a whim.

JONNY LAWRENCE We’re a little less daunted by the building project knowing that Jonny is coming back to help us out. He knows Mozambique and Massangulo well and has already established great relationships with some local guys who we hope will help him out with the building. Jonny is volunteering for us and hoping to raise some funds to help with some of his expenses while he’s here. If you’re interested in joining his support team or would like to donate a one off amount or you’d like to keep up with his latest news and pray for him – click on this link http://eepurl.com/ben2Kj. It will take you to Jonny’s newsletter where you can sign up to receive it regularly and find his bank details.

SALLY PIM It was a joy to have Sally visit us again! She’s now officially a candidate with Global Interaction and plans to join our team here in Mozambique in 2017. Sally and I were invited to a traditional initiation ceremony where we had some strange but fun times. We also went out and stayed together in the village for a night with my Mozambican mum. Sally is such a wonderfully encouraging person to have around – it was a real blessing. If you’re keen to join Sally’s support team or find out a bit more click here - http://www.globalinteraction.org.au/who-we-are/people-groups/yawo/mozambique/sally

JO & LAURA! We are so grateful to have Laura and Jo with us at the moment volunteering. Laura arrived two weeks ago and will stay until early in July to teach Jack and Tilly while I do language lessons. Jo is here for a couple of weeks and then will come and run the kids program at our conference in Malawi next week. They have both been so helpful this last week making us dinners and taking care of so many more things than just school. Thank you to everyone who helped support Laura to get here – we really appreciate it. The kids love having some extra people around and school is all going really well!

JOINING THE THAILAND TEAM! My sister and brother in law – Liz and Glenn have been accepted as Global Interaction candidates to join the team in Thailand. It’s a little bit strange – to all be working for the same organisation! But it’s also pretty special. Check out their website: https://blackthaitalk.wordpress.com

A TRIP TO THE DENTIST It used to take me approximately 5 minutes to drive to my dentist in Perth. Sometimes longer if I had to drop off the kids at my Mum’s place at the end of the street before I went. Nowadays… it’s a little bit more complicated. So the day after we sent our last newsletter, this is how the trip to the dentist for Cam’s root canal went down. 5am Friday morning – get up, throw kids in the car, and drive for 1 ½ hrs. Stop off in Massangulo, leave Sydney with the Falconers, back in the car, drive another 1hr. Stop off in Mandimba, leave Matilda with the Cowleys, back in the car, drive to the border. Stop to do the paperwork to leave Mozambique, back in the car, drive to the Malawi border. Stop to do the paperwork to enter Malawi, back in the car, drive another 1hr. Stop off in Mangochi, and leave Jack with the Downes. Back in the car, drive another 4 hours. Arrive at the dentist at 13:55 – 5 minutes early for the appointment! It’s very different but it’s not all bad. The kids had a wonderful time hanging out with their mates. We had 8 hours of driving without kids – so peaceful. We went out for dinner alone (not quite as fun as it sounds after a root canal, but it was still good). We even got Christmas presents for the kids without their “help.” And then less than 24 hrs later, we hopped back in the car to do it all in reverse (with an added quick stop to chat to some very friendly Malawian police).

TO PRAY ABOUT… - Sickness & missing out on exciting family events had me missing home so

much last week. My baby sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl – Charlotte Olivia Smith – on my birthday! I so wish I could cuddle them both! So praise God for Charlotte!

- It really was a miracle that Sally got another visa for Mozambique so we’re thankful for that and that we had such a wonderful time with her here!

- We are so thankful for Jo and Laura! Please pray for Laura especially as she teaches the kids over the next few months.

- Pray for our team as we all work together to get this new building underway. - Keep praying for our wonderful teammates the Goods as they settle in. It is

brilliant having them here! They’re such great fun to have around and the girls love doing Kindy together – so cute!

- We’re heading off to Malawi on Saturday for a weeklong conference. Pray that it all goes well and we’ll be kept safe as we travel on these crazy roads!

With much love from Kath and Cam

Contact: Cam & Kath Beeck Address: CP 222, Lichinga, Mozambique Email: ckbeeck@gmail.com Web: beeckbrief.wordpress.com