My Mom is visiting, and she joined pastor Abel, Ana, and I on our ministry trip north to the provinces of Gaza and Inhambane!
On Saturday, we did our discipleship training for the local church planters/trainers. I taught a session on prayer, and pastor Abel taught a session on serving God.
The church trainers have now begun to practice teaching in our group sessions. Papa Tomas taught the lesson on church planting.
Then we visited the growing church group of Papa Tomas in Cala.
Kids from the church in Cala.
When we had some free time on one of the afternoons, Ana suggested we visit the beach we had discovered on a previous trip.
It turns out Pastor Abel is an expert crab hunter...
...ten crabs later, we were ready to leave the beach...with dinner in hand!
When we got back, Ana began cleaning the crabs.
I stirred the pot of critters with tomatoes, onion, garlic, and salt.
With some leftover beans and rice from lunch, we topped our plates with fresh Quissico crabs.
Pastor Abel thoroughly enjoyed his catch of the day...and so did we!
The next day we went to Bartolomeo's church group in Maciene, where 8 people wanted to be baptized. We drove down the dirt road, and stopped by a reed filled inlet. As we stood under the trees, I shared about the important African man who was reading the Scriptures when Philip approached his chariot.
Following Philip's example, I explained who Jesus was. Then I asked, like Philip, "Do you believe with all your heart, as this Ethiopian man did, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" They all responded in the native Txitxopi language, "Yes, we do."
So we climbed down to the water and each one was baptized!
As a side note - we were in a stagnant pond there, and I detached several fat leeches from my skin after getting out. I had heard that there was a fresh water river farther down that road, so I asked Pastor Abel why we didn't have the baptism there. He gave a one word answer that was very satisfactory - crocodiles. 
After the baptisms, we had a celebration lunch together at Bartolomeu's home.
The wonderful cooks.
At the smell of food, a hungry cat came crying to my feet.
After gorging himself on goat bones and chicken skins, he lay satisfied at my feet.
On the way back to Maputo, we stopped at Pastor Abel's wife's field. My mom was able to taste the newly harvested peanuts...
...and enjoy some fresh coconut water :)
It was great to have my mom join us on our ministry trip to see and participate in the work first-hand. We all praise God for the work He is doing, and the privilege of being a part of it.
