December 2001

Dear Loved Ones,

We are about to spend our second Christmas on the mission field. Our first year-and-a-half of service in Mozambique has been packed with many challenges, obstacles, victories, and surprises. Our children have braved several dislocations in this short time, from the United States to Maputo to Chimoio (Micah—to Germany to Mozambique and back to the U.S.) through different schools, American system/home schooling/British system; leaving and making and leaving and making new friends; surviving malaria (Anna
Lena wins the award with three bouts!) We have shared tears over losses; the fathers of both Charles and Diane passed away within a year after we began our mission term. We have been awed by African game, as when we rounded a wooded curve in Kruger Park and encountered a huge bull elephant giving himself a mud bath. We have even made enduring friendships with Muslims of Pakistani heritage.

Our efforts at language study and enculturation were rewarded last month when we presented a three-hour workshop on evangelism in Portuguese to the leadership of the Igreja Presbiteriana de Mocambique (Presbyterian Church of Mozambique) and everyone laughed in the right places! We have visited both rural and urban churches in six of Mozambique’s ten provinces, and have facilitated the development of an agriculture project in Chimoio. Meetings with pastors, evangelists, administrators, and women’s groups in our partner churches have given us opportunities to listen and learn. Invitations for preaching, teaching, and praying with our sisters and brothers have permitted us to bless in return. We thank God for clarifying our call—as
ambassadors for Christ and evangelism facilitators we are here to bless!

After centuries of colonial oppression, Mozambique won a costly war for independence only a quarter of a century ago. Independence was followed by a horrific civil war, which gutted the infrastructure of the fledgling nation. Economic mismanagement kept Mozambique in the world’s "top ten" (better, bottom ten!) of poorest nations for many years. The signing of a peace accord less than a decade ago brought the promise of prosperity. But natural disasters struck in extremes of drought and flood. The world marveled at the courage and resilience of the Mozambiquan people, personified in the mother who, stranded in a tree for four days amidst churning floodwaters, delivered a healthy baby without assistance. So, too, Mozambique has survived. The church in Mozambique is humbled by its history, courageous despite its circumstances, faithful to pursue a vision of a better future.

The humility, courage, and faith of the holy family of two millennia ago would find a home here. This Christmas we pray that these virtues would manifest in our family as well, as we proclaim "good news of great joy that will be for all people. . .a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10,11).

May God dwell in your hearts and homes this Christmas season.

Glory to his Name!

Charles and Diane Wonnenberg, Micah, Jonah, Anna Lena & Isaiah

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 44