Pain. Loneliness. Hopelessness. Covered in the gloom of despair. These were the daily realities Roda faced, with no end in sight. When Dara Vanden Bosch, ASM Compassionate Care Coordinator, and her team first visited her, Roda was grateful for the blanket they provided, “so there will be something nice to...
What real difference can one hand-knitted hat make in someone’s life, you might wonder. The 3 or 4 hours you invested in knitting each hat, choosing just the right yarn and pattern, praying for the person who will wear it, is making a difference in Mozambique. “People here in rural...
“Not a day goes by that we don’t use something that came in the last container,” is a statement often said by Chad and Dara Vanden Bosch. Only God knew how crucial the 2019 Container would be for the Vanden Bosch’s continued ministry in Mozambique, as the pandemic shut down...
For the average family in central Mozambique, it has been a painful start to 2021. Two back-to-back cyclones in January brought 10-15 inches of sudden rain. Because 90% of the community are subsistence farmers, living off whatever they can grow in an acre or so, this was devastating. As Chad...
It’s about people. Stepping into the midst of heart-wrenching stories of extreme poverty, abuse, alcoholism, and spiritual bondage—with the hope of Jesus Christ. Serving, learning, training, equipping and investing in people. This model of evangelism and discipleship isn’t always the easiest way to do mission, but Chad and Dara Vanden...
Mozambique is considered one of the poorest countries in the world (usatoday.com), a situation compounded by social and political upheavel. “Wars and rumors of war” (Matthew 24) can be a daily reality for many Mozambicans. Our Compassionate Care (CC) Team is on the front lines of serving the critically ill and...
As ASM Africa Director Chad Vanden Bosch stood waiting along a hot, dusty stretch of road in central Mozambique, a well-used bus slowed to a crawl, as its brakes loudly protested. A hand holding a small bubble-wrapped package was thrust out the door. This little package, which had been hand-carried...
“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act” (Psalm 37:5, ESV) is one of Estêvão (Steve) Macambaco’s favorite Bible verses. Steve says this verse is an important reminder that God is our Provider: “We need to give everything to God and have confidence that He...
“God is in heaven and you are His angels,” a patient told ASM’s Mozambique Compassionate Care Team. As hospitals in the region prepared for the spread of COVID-19 earlier this year, unfortunately, some basic health care needs were not met. Fernando, a young teacher, had called the Compassionate Care Team...
Above the noise of the busy roadside market a voice cut through—causing people to stop and listen. What was this voice? What was it saying? Both shoppers and merchants gathered around and marveled as they heard God’s Word in their heart language coming from a little box. What is this? ...
Rabeca J. co-founded the Mvura Ya Upenhu Palliative Care (what we call the “Compassionate Care”) program in Mozambique with Dara Vanden Bosch. Rabeca has always had a heart to care for the less fortunate in her community. Even in her free time you’ll often find Rabeca visiting widows, the sick,...
(Interview with Chad Vanden Bosch begins at 1:32) Article by Lindsay Koh at Mission Network News Mozambique (MNN) — It has been four months since Cyclone Idai ravaged Mozambique and killed hundreds of people. Audio Scripture Ministries’ base in central Mozambique took a direct hit from Cyclone Idai, suffering heavy...
Cyclone Idai was one of the worst-ever cyclones to hit the Southern Hemisphere. In March 2019, it roared on shore at Beira, Mozambique, with 120 mph winds and torrential rain, leaving a path of death and destruction. More than 2 million people were impacted by the storm, losing family members,...
Article by R.B. Klama at Mission Network News Mozambique (MNN) — Mozambique is on high alert as Tropical Cyclone Idai roars towards the country’s central coast, potentially putting thousands of lives in danger. As the storm intensifies this week, forecasters now warn that this could be one of the strongest...
Sergio Muianga has served as a pastor since 2002. As a pastor, Sergio saw how people responded enthusiastically to audio Bible materials in their own language. After completing his degree at Wesleyan Bible College (Xai-Xai, Mozambique), Sergio felt the Lord calling him to help fellow Mozambicans hear God’s Word by...
After years of seeing friends and neighbors in the fertile land of Mozambique be stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of poverty and food crisis, ASM Africa Director Chad Vanden Bosch felt God leading him to expand their ministry. Building on the well-received audio Bible recording and distribution process, and...
The boy approached Pastor Costa, his eyes wet with tears. Pastor Costa asked the boy what was wrong. Joshua Harrison with Audio Scripture Ministries tells the rest of the story: “The young boy replied, ‘I stole someone’s audio Bible
At the end of October, ASM’s Compassionate Care Team in Mozambique celebrated the milestone of accepting their 100th patient into the program. Dara Vanden Bosch started this work in 2015, after seeing the palliative needs of her community in rural Mozambique. She and her team of three Mozambican women make...
(Interview with Joshua Harrison begins at 2:56) Article by Lyndsey Koh at Mission Network News Mozambique (MNN) — Deep in the bush of Mozambique, medical resources are hard to come by. For those living with chronic pain, even aspirin is a luxury. If a man or woman or child is...
Article by Lyndsey Koh at Mission Network News Mozambique (MNN) — If you only had one Bible in your family, would it be hard to share? Audio Scripture Ministries knows families in Mozambique who face this conundrum. ASM has served for nearly a decade in Mozambique, recording and distributing audio Bibles. Since...
The ASM Mozambique Team braved terrible road conditions and unseasonably rainy weather in order to distribute nearly 500 audio Bibles in early July. Their ten-day-long journey led them to nine different locations throughout rural Mozambique. During one particularly wet audio Bible distribution, three men arrived—soaking wet—on their bicycles. These men...
Article by Lyndsey Koh at Mission Network News Mozambique (MNN) — The Tewe people in central Mozambique have had missionaries come to them for years. Today, about 40 percent of the Tewe people are Christian, according to the Joshua Project. However, the Tewe people have no Bible and less than one...
(Interview with ASM begins at 1:34) Article by Lyndsey Koh at Mission Network News Mozambique (MNN) — Like dry and parched earth immediately soaking up the gift of rain, the people of Mozambique are thirsty for God’s Word. And every time Audio Scripture Ministries goes to do an audio Bible distribution...
My parents modeled a deep love and respect for God’s Word that transferred to their three children. Some of my earliest memories are of listening to my dad read the Bible each night at family devotions, and seeing my mom and dad reading and praying over their Bibles early in...
Recently, while visiting a patient with end-stage AIDS, my team had the opportunity to spend the majority of the visit sharing the Gospel with a very ill young woman. From previous experience we know well the urgency for someone to understand the Gospel when in such a state. On this...
Communication among our world partners can be difficult to maintain sometimes, so we are especially excited when we get to share news from audio Bible distributions in remote locations. Check out this update from Sergio and our most recent distribution of 370 audio Bibles in Mozambique: “We arrived on Friday in Nicuadala and...
When the Swedish Fish are gone, I begin to panic, slightly. You see, there are few things that we bring from the US that I save for a bad day (or week). I had one bag of Swedish Fish from April. In July, Chad asked how long I was going...
Article by Lindsay Steele at Mission Network News In rural areas of Mozambique, terminally ill people are pushed away. They’re isolated and alienated. Often times, they’re even put in mud or grass huts and don’t see anyone. Why? “Because of fear of death, fear of the spirits after death; people...
Sergio in Mozambique recently did some direct distributions. He remembers one story in particular; “When we were evangelizing some homes I came to one where a lady said she likes to hear the Word of God but she is dying spiritually. Her knees cause her lots of pain, and she...
En route to Pindandanga -a Mozambican bush village off the dirt path- sat a man, ill for years. Some locals that knew of this man’s ill health led the Compassionate Care team to him hoping that they could help him improve his quality of life. Despite not having access to...