22+ Reasons To Thank God For 2022

God is good! Together with you, the Lord has brought us to the end of the year 2022 and into the year 2023. I started writing this report, thinking that I could summarize what the Lord did in 2022 in 22 summary statements. I discovered that it is much more. So, here are 22-plus reasons for which we thank the Lord for the ministry year 2022.

1. We praise God for the gift of life and good health from the 1st of January to the 31st of December 2022, in spite of serving under very intensive pressures. The Lord added six children to our Nampula team. No one was hospitalized throughout the year. Praise God.

2. Much later in the year, in December 2022 while on a ministry assignment in Ntaja, Malawi, Bilhah and I were almost knocked dead in a motorbike accident, but our faithful God defended us and we came through with only minor bruises.

3. In 2022, we saw many new souls won into the Kingdom of God. I think of Alzira, Fazbem, Laura and hundreds of others. A New Church plant started in our Mission Compound where we live grew to 50+ adults.

4. In 2022, we had the privilege of being used by God through personal and corporate ministry to see latent believers transformed into passionate disciples. I think of Adelaide, Adelino, Chaulito, Antônio, Hélio, and hundreds of others.

5. We thank the Lord for successful leadership transition of the Mozambique work. Our son, disciple and mentee - Sarifo and his wife are growing and providing effective leadership to the Mozambique work and team. In fact, we are presently serving under them!

6. We thank the Lord for the CAPRO Mozambique National Executive Committee of seven. The workload that used to be carried by Bilhah and Ademola alone is now shared by others - creating room for huge expansion and deeper growth.

7. We thank the Lord for the growth in the number of personnel and the depth of growth. At the last count, CAPROMOZ has 26 full-time staff (15 fully trained) and 30 children of ranging ages!

8. We thank the Lord for the expansion of the outreach. We now have footholds in all four provinces of the north where the unreached peoples are found. We are beginning to dream of Mozambicans going out as missionaries to other Portuguese Speaking African Countries.

9. We thank God for the reach of the work. We are now actively working in and engaging eight unreached tribes (unreached People groups). The newest entrants - Macua Nahara - happened in December and the couple are moving this January.

10. We thank the Lord for multiplication of operational bases. From a humble start in the city of Nampula, we now have teams operating from eight locations. Also, four of our eight bases are presently working hard to construct physical structures to mitigate rentals and rejections by opposing landlords. We have building projects in Monte Puez, Niassa and lands awaiting development in Nampula, Pebane & Muecate.

11. We thank the Lord for New Church Plants in Muecate district. In 2020, we sent Brother Leonel to survey the district. He was falsely accused and locked up. We raised a prayer cry and Gods people prayed. We did not give in. This year, Leonel and his family moved fully into the area. We have six churches planted in the area already. We had opportunity to buy a large piece of land this year. Leonel wants to turn the place to a training base for the multiplication of disciples and churches.

12. We thank the Lord for MoMA District work. In MoMA we do not have a resident missionary, but the faithful disciples we have in the district are working very hard. At the last count we have nineteen churches - of different sizes and strengths in the district.

13. We thank the Lord for our work among the Macua Meetto. Nelito and his wife moved into the area at the beginning of 2020. In a short time God raised many disciples. The devil hated our work. Early this year our missionary - training dozens of young people to be disciples of Christ - was falsely accused by jealous neighbours, of training terrorists! The government has ordered the work to stop since May this year. Nelito was locked up for a brief time. While praying for the reopening of the work, Nelito is building a base for future expansion, the disciples are growing in depth and boldness.

14. We thank the Lord for provision of motorbikes for Church Planters. Through the consistent and sacrificial giving of a partnering family, six of our church planters have mobility which is seriously enhancing their ministry and reach.

15. In January and February, we sent out three Church Planting Teams (including Muecate above). We have churches planted in each of them today.

16. Miscellaneous Ministries: In February, Bilhah & I had the privilege to be part of a Globe-serve Team that trained 120+ Malawian leaders in DMM. We have had opportunity to return and do training in Malawi three times this year.

17. At the family level, we thank the Lord for the steady progress of our four boys. We ask for prayers for them, that they’ll continue to walk with God and those whose faith is being shaken will receive grace to regain their stand.

18. We thank the Lord for the School of Church Planting 2022. We had 35 students and some fifteen children for almost three months. We spent $3,500 to run the school this year. We had no specific commitment for the school, but launched by faith using the gifts as they come. We never begged nor wrote an appeal. There was never a lack and the Lord saw us through. The Lord used some of you reading this (without your knowing)! Those trainees right now are serving God in more than twenty localities.

19. We thank the Lord for the Church Planting & Training Centre. One of our long term plans is to have a physical facility that trains workers and serves the mission. We bought a large piece of land in 2017 and after a season of praying and fasting, began development in 2018 as usual by faith. By His grace, today we have four of nine structures standing. We have five to go. This year we, by faith laid the foundation of The Classroom Block, the development has been slow but at least we have a firm foundation in place.

20. In 2022, we were able to construct a small 2-bedroom Guest House and a multipurpose kitchen on our property, we were also able to acquire ten double bunk beds and twenty mattresses through gifts received specifically from UK partners.

21. We thank the Lord for how He is helping us with our marriage life in spite of pressures on every side. We continue to uphold and serve each other.

22. Our responsibility in the Southern Africa and Islands Region (SATI) continue to grow. Though based in Nampula Mozambique, we supervise the work in six countries namely: Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana, South Africa, Madagascar and the Comoros Island. My desire is to visit each country to encourage, help, develop strategies and evaluate the work did not happen. I was only able to do that for Malawi, Mozambique & South Africa. I trust the Lord for resources to do these in 2023.

Others:

1. It is much joy serving with the country leaders in the six countries. Through online engagements and very few physical interactions, we have grown in love and connectedness to one another and these hold huge potential for future growth in the work in each country. We successfully hosted the CAPRO Regional Church Planting Workshop & Regional Staff Conference in 2022 among many other activities.

2. We added five trained workers to the Mozambique team this year. They are now serving in various positions. We have three couples prepared for Missions’ Training at the CAPRO’s East Africa School of Missions, Nairobi, Kenya. In 2023, we shall be preparing others for year 2024 School of Missions.

Year 2023 Ministry & Family Needs:

1. We are trusting the Lord for Resources both for the three couples going from CAPRO Mozambique to the School of Missions in Kenya, as well as provisions for the school itself. We, as CAPRO are developing a permanent place for the CAPRO East Africa School of Missions in Kenya – it’s a major financial undertaking for which we are trusting the Lord.

2. Ademola & Bilhah are on furlough to Nigeria from the field in Mozambique from January until May 2023. We do this after each four years. On this furlough, we are trusting the Lord for rest, reconnection with family and partners and serving in some ways with our International Office team. We hope also to initiate some work on a piece of land we are trusting God to help us develop into our post foreign mission residence/home.

3. School of Church Planting 2023 – When we return to the Field in May, we would be there early enough to join the local team to run the Year 2023 School of Church Planting. We will need resources to run that school. We have discovered that one key to Church Planting multiplication is the multiplication of competent church planters. Though Bilhah & I would not lead this year’s school, we’ll be on the ground to coach the local staff on the job. This way, they would be able to run it all by themselves in the future.

4. SATI Regional Office Take-Off: We are launching the CAPRO SATI Regional Office in the second quarter of the year 2023. Apart from Bilhah and I who would continue to be based in Mozambique, the Lord has blessed the office with a South African Couple – Thabang & Tshenolo. We are trusting the Lord for good office location, simple car for mobility and related equipment for a simple functional office. We are also trusting the Lord for partners specifically for our Regional Operations and funds to travel to Botswana, Madagascar, Comoros and South Africa to visit, review work, encourage, chart strategy paths, etc.

Appreciation:

One of the things that keeps us motivated and going is the knowledge that we have a big team of intercessors, encouragers and partners who pray for us, encourage us, give to our many personal, family and ministry needs and some who even visit and or maintain physical contact. We appreciate you all. Let us continue to labour for the Lord, soon and very soon, we are going to sing the Lamb’s Song! (Revelation 15:3-4)

Thank you.