Mozambique
(MNN) — Explosive ministry growth in Mozambique for Audio Scripture Ministries brought both excitement and
extensive planning.
ASM
missionaries Chad and Sergio made plans this month to do a
distribution of digital audio Bibles to the Sena people in the city of Beira,
in central Mozambique. They were also
planning on a distribution to the Kimwani people of Northern Mozambique, an unreached
people group.
That's where the best laid plans of
men went awry. The distribution was
supposed to start on July 7, but the shipment of audio Bibles got held up in
customs at the Mozambique border.
After a lot of negotiations, the team was finally
able to get all of the correct stamps and paperwork processed correctly, but
because of the nature of the paperwork and how it was processed, they now find themselves staring at a $6,000 tax bill.
Writes Chad Vanden Bosch, "The unfortunate
options are to pay or have customs impound them. On the bright side, this is
better than the $13,000 bill we were presented with (earlier). We are still
really hoping that we can pull the money together to get them released on
Monday."
However, Monday came and went. As of Wednesday, the shipment still hadn't
been released, but ASM director Tom Dudenhofer says they're expecting the Mega
Voice players to be released sometime this week. The delay means the distribution will have to
be rescheduled.
Although there will be a lot of disappointed people–many of whom walked miles for a player, "God has something else planned," says Dudenhofer.
Pray for wisdom in choosing dates to reschedule the distribution. Pray also for safe travels for the distribution team.
