Welcome to Jubilee Christian Fellowship  

Missions

In 2007 Jubilee joined with Iris Ministries in building an orphanage in Pemba Mozambique.

Bellow we have included several stories and pictures from the goings on in Pemba.

We will try to regularly update what's happening and your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Click to enlarge

A New Year Miracle

Pemba, Mozambique

March 2, 2008

Dear Friends and Partners in Ministry,

We returned from Canada a month ago to the rainiest rainy season we have experienced in our years in Mozambique. In addition to humidity continuously approaching 100% and almost daily torrential downpours, we had a cyclone two weeks ago that brought strong winds and horizontal rain for a couple of days. This is also the growing season, of course. Everything is lush and green and maize seeds have been sown everywhere there’s a patch of soil. We don’t suffer here from the flooding that’s endemic from the rivers of Central Mozambique and it looks like this year’s rainy season will yield more food than usual for the ensuing year in the north. (Attached picture shows Mieze church building on right, with playground behind and pastor’s house on left, and water and mud everywhere!)

Our orphan village at Mieze is a source of great joy. The nearly 40 resident children ranging from 2-15 years in age are like a big, happy family and the 15 staff are like parents to them all. In spite of all the rain and mud, they keep their new homes spotlessly clean, their beds are neatly made every morning, and they head off to school in clean white shirts and blouses. The children are eating well, receive medical attention when needed, and most have small chores and jobs that contribute to the well-being of all.

And they love the Lord and often spontaneously begin singing African worship songs together in Portuguese and Makua. I recently had a few visitors at Mieze and two had serious medical problems. We joined hands and worshipped together for awhile and then the children prayed fervently for the two ailing visitors for a long time. I spoke to one of the men later. With tears in his eyes he said he was overwhelmed and speechless from what he had just experienced from these precious children.

Here are a few brief highlights from the past month.

• We’re making school uniforms for our resident kids—plus another 40 or more extremely poor children in the Mieze church—and paying school fees and providing required footwear and school supplies.
• We’ve begun raising the first 400 chicks in our chicken farm. They’ll be ready for market in four more weeks and we’ll be able to add a weekly meal of chicken to the children’s diet from then on. We’ll gradually increase to over a thousand meat chickens every six weeks—plus keeping about 30 laying hens—and the children will learn about caring for animals and running a small business in the process.
• We built fencing and a shelter and bought 26 young goats this past week to establish a goat herd at Mieze. We’ll double their number this week, and the goats will soon be providing milk, meat and some income for the orphan village.
• We have received funding to build a new “community centre” at Mieze to replace the present tiny church building. The Mieze church has tripled in numbers over the 16 months of our involvement there, so the new structure is designed to accommodate 450-500 and will include an office area and perhaps a pre-school.
• We’ve also received funding to purchase a hydraulic block-making machine. This eco-friendly machine mixes local soil with a reduced amount of cement to produce a stronger interlocking building block. Concrete blocks are the major cost in our building projects here and the cost of cement has escalated significantly over the past year. This new system will cut the cost per block in half and reduce labour costs as well. We’ll use it for the new community/church building at Mieze and in construction of new orphan villages this year.
• Enough funding is in hand to begin what is hoped will be the first of three new orphan villages patterned after the Mieze model in 2008. Construction will begin as soon as the rains end in another couple of weeks.

And here are a few quick stories from the past weeks.

• The parents of a grade 9 boy from a rural village recently went to Social Services in Pemba for financial help for their son to continue in school. The government said they had no money to help but wrote out a “Certificate of Poverty” describing their need and told them to take it to Iris Ministries either in Pemba or in Mieze because they knew we were helping children go to school. They came to us in Mieze; we were able to help; and the whole family is now attending the Iris church in their village.
• Several days ago I had taken off my sandals in Mieze because it was so muddy, and I was walking around the orphan village barefoot in the mud. When it was time to leave, I had my arms full and was about to try to clean my feet and put my sandals back on when several of the kids quickly brought some water, washed my feet with their hands and put my sandals on my feet. I was completely overwhelmed by this spontaneous gesture of love, and I realized that we are often privileged to be living out the New Testament in this setting.
• I spoke at several churches while in Canada in December and January. One Sunday brought the kind of snowstorm that often results in church being cancelled, so the congregation was significantly reduced in numbers. Unbeknownst to me however, the pastor posted the audio track of my presentation on the internet and it was picked up by “Google Alert-Mozambique,” a daily list of news headlines and links to stories posted by Google. These headlines normally change every day, but for three days Google Alert-Mozambique included a headline reading, “Does God Still Multiply Food? Check out this story from Don Kantel, missionary in Mozambique.” The link went directly to the full audio track, and only God knows who listened to these modern miracle accounts!

We continue to be so grateful to all who pray for our ministry here and, by your financial support, enable us to be part of the Lord’s wonderful work in Northern Mozambique in these days. Gifts for our personal support or in support of projects we’re involved in can be sent to Iris Ministries Canada. Please see www.irismin.ca (We are up-dating our Personal Ministry website with new pictures and will soon send you a new website link.)

All love and blessing,
Don and Elizabeth

Jubilee Christian Fellowship - 707 Downie St.-  Stratford, ON, N5A 1S4  -  (519) 273-4441

email - jcfellowship@wightman.ca