The Mozam' Beacon  (Fine Reading)
E-mail Edition - December 29, 2003
JUST LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF...A YEAR AGO

Here on the GNA compound, the months of December and
January are known for a couple of things.

First there's the heat of summer, being that we live in the
southern hemisphere. Our thermometer registered 105
degrees on Christmas day and 112 the day after. Since we
knew a white Christmas was out of the question, we dreamed
of a wet one instead. But with no rain in sight, we decided on
a nice swim in an outdoor pool at a Maputo hotel. We'll likely
celebrate our January 1 wedding anniversary (our fifth) by
cooling off the same way.

These two months are also a time in which our Bible training
center is out of session, and we plan and prepare for a fresh
batch of spiritually hungry students to arrive in February.
There's so much we'd like to teach them that it's difficult to
pare it all down to what essentials we can squeeze into our
one-year program.

But the most important advantage of these two months of
down time is the opportunity to focus on some things for which
there's not as much time when our classes are in full swing. A
particular emphasis for Kevin has been working with youth,
something he was doing part-time in the US only a year ago
as we were preparing for the move to Mozambique.

Kevin was approached by a young man recently, who asked
on behalf of a group of youth for the establishment of a regular
Bible study. Since then they've been having weekly studies
from the Gospel of John. Attendance has been generally
good, ranging anywhere between 7 and 40 (sometimes the
numbers will be depleted by a local wedding or a soccer game
involving Mozambique's national team in the stadium a few
miles away). This group includes some in their early twenties,
who are still considered youths as long as they remain
unmarried.

We also recently helped sponsor a one-day youth seminar
here with four different speakers talking about the fruits of the
Spirit. There were about 80 kids in attendance, most of whom
came to our house afterward to play volleyball.

This country is overflowing with kids and teenagers, and we
desire wisdom in how to reach out to them evangelistically.
Kevin continues his study of this area's prominent tribal
language (as most children are not yet fluent in Portuguese),
and Mindy is coming along well in her study of Portuguese.
Please pray that God would embolden and equip us to fruitfully
minister to the unsaved here.


READY OR NOT, HERE WE COME

As many of you know, we are planning to spend the summer
of 2004 (Northern Hemisphere) in the US. During this time we
will report to individuals and churches who are already
supporting us, and try to bring more supporters on board (in
hopes of vanquishing the giant scraping sound that regularly
emanates from our bank account).

Mindy will spend much of her time stateside working for a
medical practice in Louisville, where she worked before our
departure to Mozambique. Kevin hopes to do a good bit of
traveling and speaking, the itinerary for which is still mostly
open. We would love to receive an invitation to your church,
week of church camp, or VBS.

Please help us pray about the decisions we'll be making soon
with regard to our flights, where we'll be staying while in the
US, and what we'll be driving.


MOZAMBIQUE ECONOMIC INDEX (as of 12/29/03)

1 US dollar = 22,950 Mozambican meticais
Gallon of milk: $4.45
Gallon of gas (leaded): $2.53
Gallon of orange juice: $4.61
Can of regular Pringles: $3.44
1 kg of bananas: $0.44
10 tomatoes: $0.26

Thank you for your prayers and support,
Kevin and Mindy Beck