Between the twin storms, the nation’s farming and food supplies are staggering.

According to UNICEF, October is the start of Mozambique’s lean season and two million people will face food insecurity. Over 66,000 people are still displaced and need humanitarian aid in cyclone-affected regions.

Beira following Cyclone Idai. (Photo courtesy of UN Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs)

Naomi Frizzell, executive director with Audio Scripture Ministries recently visited Mozambique and says the land still bears scars. “As I was flying into Beira, I had an opportunity to view the landscape and noticed some differences in water patterns, but also a lot of routes are still missing.

“Even as we were talking to some of the folks, they were still reeling from how ferocious the storm was.”

Just in time for the lean season, ASM is about to ship a container to Mozambique filled with aid during the first week of September. The ministry received so many donations that they had to double the size of the container!

“We’ve moved from a 20-foot container to 40-foot container because of the generosity of people in West Michigan and around the United States — donations-in-kind as well as cash donations, donations of medical supplies, [and] donations of agricultural equipment.

ASM volunteer Lee repairing a donated farming implement that will go in the 40-foot container for the Farming With God program at New Harvest Farm in Mozambique. (Photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries)

“We are just truly humbled by the generosity of God’s people. They have seen the need and they have responded.”

ASM is also providing support to the people of Mozambique through New Harvest Farm. The farm is run by ASM in partnership with local farmers who learn about improved agricultural techniques and the Creator God.

“I think that’s what’s important about the New Harvest Farm,” Frizzell says. “It gives us an opportunity to work with the people in Mozambique to help them have new hope — new hope in new procedures, new hope in things that they’re going to be able to learn and then to apply in the way that they interact with their fields, but also new hope in Jesus Christ.”

On this latest trip, Frizzell joined the first community meeting for New Harvest Farm led by ASM’s Africa director Chad Vanden Bosch. Approximately 50 other people were at the gathering. They looked at new ways to meet the physical and spiritual needs of people in their region, especially in light of recent devastation.

“One man said, ‘If we are able to have access to this technology for our own fields, it could transform our farms.’

“But then the community leader…piped up and he said, ‘This could transform our entire community.’”

An ASM shipment of audio Bibles in Mozambique. (Photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries)

Alongside aid and agricultural programs, ASM distributes audio Bibles to people in need. The holistic transformation that comes from physical and spiritual encouragement is what the ministry is all about.

As Frizzell puts it, “It’s offering us [an] opportunity to really seek out ways to meet physical needs. And as we know, people who have their physical needs met become much more open to hearing about a God that loves them and cares for every aspect of their lives.”

It’s not too late to donate towards ASM’s Mozambique aid container. Click here to give!

Also, please keep praying for the people of Mozambique. “Prayer is essential as we lift up our brothers and sisters in Mozambique who have gone through a very, very difficult time.”

Frizzell says, “What’s exciting is that the people of Mozambique are resilient. They are committed to ministering to one another, to lifting up one another, [and] to helping family, friends, and their neighbors. So we need to continue to pray for them, that the resources will become available for them to continue to not just rebuild, but to build into the future.”

Header photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries.

“Cyclone Idai really took a huge toll on the country,” says ASM’s Africa Director Chad Vanden Bosch. “I think it’s changed pretty much every aspect of life around here, which has definitely impacted our ministry. Even though several months have passed now, things are still not quite back to normal and they won’t be for quite some time.”

(Photo courtesy of UN Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs)

After Cyclone Idai broke, Vanden Bosch and a local man went to inspect ASM’s farm. They expected to find the land pillaged by the storm, but what they saw was far more surprising.

“The crops around us were heavily damaged. Yet on our farm, we suffered very little damage.”

Vanden Bosch’s surveying partner works in ASM’s agriculture program, Farming With God, but he is ingrained in local witchcraft practices. However, he has heard the Gospel through their ministry.

“As we were surveying it and looking at the damage that was there compared to around us, he turned to me and he said, ‘God is with us,’ which absolutely shocked me to hear those words come from his mouth.”

Vanden Bosch says, “It was such a beautiful thing to see that he had made that connection to the Bible studies that we had done…and this whole idea of farming with God.”

In the months following the cyclone, Mozambique is struggling to restore lost land and crops. Over one million acres of land were flooded, and just as many people still survive on food aid.

(Image courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries)

ASM sees this need and is expanding their agriculture project. They have launched an agricultural institute where people can come learn about improved farming techniques. Along the way, they also share the Good News of Christ.

This week, ASM also announced an official name for their agricultural land in Mozambique — New Harvest Farm. It’s a fitting moniker for a setting where physical and spiritual hope is cultivated.

“Besides the agriculture too, audio Bibles have been a huge need, especially in the outreach since Cyclone Idai,” Vanden Bosch says. “We have seen incredible opportunities to bring audio Bibles into places where we’ve never been able to really get into before because people are really searching for something…after the storm. That something is hope.”

ASM needs more audio Bibles as well as supplies for their agriculture program and compassionate care project in Mozambique.

(Photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries)

To address these needs post-cyclone, the ministry will ship a container from the US to Mozambique with audio Bibles, agricultural tools, and medical supplies. But they need your help.

“We’ve had tons of people come forward and provide prayers and funding and equipment. But there’s still a lot more that needs to be done. We have a lot of things that are still needed to come over,” Vanden Bosch says.

“We would love to have more people partner with us in prayer and donate used agricultural equipment and medical supplies. There [are] lots of opportunities to be involved in a hands-on way in this project to bless the people of Mozambique and to continue to expand the ministry here.”

Click here to donate to ASM’s Mozambique container to help send agricultural, medical, and spiritual aid!

Finally, please commit to pray for Mozambique. Ask the Lord to bless the ministry of ASM’s New Harvest Farm — that their agriculture program would lead to flourishing crops and repentant hearts. Pray for the Mozambican people to find refuge and hope in Jesus.

Header photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries.