The Besfords in Mozambique
January, 2008
From Steve and Rebekah Besford
World Outreach Missionaries to Mozambique
The Clinic at Maforga
The clinic re-opened in October, 2007 and is being staffed by a nurse from England until May, 2008. For the people it was good to see it functioning again. We have taken on a new member of staff, Hilaria, on a short term contract. She has fitted in well and even though it is her first job is doing excellent work.
From a management perspective the clinic is a challenge. The cost of malaria medication has increased dramatically and it is getting harder to buy basic medicines that we need to treat the common complaints.
That aside Maforga has been able to serve many people over the last few months, for example Melita who suffers with epilepsy. Last August she had a fit and fell into a fire resulting in a 3rd degree burn to her left leg. The wound is huge and is slowly healing but not as quickly as we would like. She has come to stay at Maforga to receive daily treatment and nutritious food in the hope that this may speed the healing process. We have turned an unused shipping container into a temporary home for her and 2 of her children.
The rains came early this year which we
all thought was good but we are hearing from
the villages that some crops have been eaten by bugs
and that the rains have flattened others. This means that the
harvest will be poor and a tough year lies ahead for many people.
The inequality between the haves and the have nots just does not make sense. How did it come to be like this? I sit here typing this letter to you on my laptop with a bar of chocolate by my side while only a few hundred metres away there are people sitting in a leaky mud hut with nothing.
Maforga helps in many ways but we all know we are just scratching the surface. But what we do have to offer is the good news of Jesus and because of him there is hope.
Vision for the North
One of the main reasons that we left the north of Mozambique to come back to Maforga was because we saw that the church was young and needed support, training and encouragement but not from westerners. The young men who have grown up at Maforga are strong in their faith and many are coming towards the end of their education and questions are being asked as to their future. There is a plan to start a missions school to train these young men to become missionaries to their own people and perhaps to neighbouring countries. It is early days but it would be really exciting to see links built up between Maforga and Neherenque, the village where we lived.
Steve continues to go to the church at Nhambia once a week. He is teaching the Bible in chronological order to a group of 8 young people using materials prepared by the New Tribes Mission.
Family
Nyasha and Ruth are doing really well. Ruth
sat alone for the first time at the end of December and Nyasha
really enjoys the outdoor lifestyle that we have here.
We spent Christmas in South Africa. Rebekah’s mum flew out to join us which was a really special time for us all.
Thank you to all those who sent us Christmas cards and newsletters – it is always great to hear from you and even better to receive letters by post!
God Bless.
Lots of love,
Steve, Rebekah, Nyasha and Ruth
"And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with
your God." Micah 6v8
| Contact Address: | Steve and Rebekah Besford Caixa Postal 484 Chimoio Provincia de Manica Mozambique |
| Email Address: | beks_moz yahoo.com |
| Please do not send attachments
or photographs to this email address. Because our line is slow,
we cannot handle them. |
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| Mobile Telephone: | 00 258 82 5661717 |
| Please note: If you dial a special number before the mobile number, you can get cheap (at present 5p/min) calls to Mozambique. Dial 0844 566 4848 and then when you hear the recorded voice message, dial the mobile number: 00 258 825 661717, followed by the hash # key. | |
| Telephone: 01858 434 609 |
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