Dear Friends and Family,
It has almost been a year since many of you have heard from me. What a year 2018 has been! It has been a time of much pain and growth for me personally, but the Lord has been faithful through it all.
The last blog post I had written was on the death of my best friend Michiah Lancaster, who went to be with the Lord on the 14th of January. It was the first time that I lost someone so close to me, and it was a very hard blow. I managed to keep myself together through February, but in March I started falling apart.
My physical health started declining severely as I suffered from chronic malaria (In 3 months I had it 5 times), and I had a complete breakdown mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I was so severely depressed and sick constantly that I could not face anyone or do any work, so our doctor recommended that I take a sabbatical away from mission work and away from a malaria area. We agreed this was best, just so I could recover my health, both physically and mentally. My aunt in Bloemfontein, South Africa, very graciously opened up her home to me and I was blessed to stay with her for 5 months. She is in the photo on the left with me, and as you might tell I went in the middle of winter and it was very cold there!
In this time I focused mainly on resting, eating healthy, becoming more physically fit, and recovering spiritually and emotionally. I spent a lot of time sleeping, reading, praying, hiking, going to the gym, and visiting with my extended family. 
It was a blessing to get to know my Aunt, cousins, grandma, and other family better. I especially spent quite a lot of time with my grandmother (dad’s mom) who had advanced alzheimers. She sadly passed away a week before I came home, but I am grateful that I was able to spend time with her and be at her side when she slipped away. The picture on the right was from one of my visits with her.
In Bloemfontein I joined a wonderful small church which was such a big blessing to me. I had gotten used to always being the teacher or leader, so being able to just soak in the teaching of others, to be spiritually fed and to just fellowship with other believers without the pressure of ‘being the missionary’ was so nice! I am so grateful for that group of believers and for the blessing they were to me. I also traveled down to Cape Town for 3 weeks where I visited Frontline Fellowship and everyone I had gotten to know there after Michiah’s passing. I visited Michiah’s grave with some friends there, and although it was very emotional, it was very good and helpful. It was good to work through some of the emotions and truly wonderful to fellowship with everyone there.
I have been back home in Mozambique now for 3 weeks, and although there have been challenges (a bad ear infection, extreme heat wave, etc.) it has been great to be home! I have enjoyed catching up with friends and family, and am slowly stepping back into ministry. I am so grateful for my parents and brother who did all the ministry work in my absence, their own and mine! I really want to say thank you to them and my Aunt Bets who made my 5 month sabbatical possible; thank you, I don’t know what I would have done without you!
My parents are both well, although they have had a very busy year with me being out of ministry. My mom (in the picture on the left, taken soon after we saw each other again after 5 months!) continues to disciple the young Christian girls, mostly teens, while she and my dad also work with our youth leaders. They have been wonderful counselors and teachers to them, and I am so grateful for the input they have in these young Christians’ lives. My dad’s main work continues to be construction which supports our ministries, and although it keeps him very busy, we are grateful for all the work the Lord has blessed us with. 
We are continuing to build our school and have begun the long and arduous process of registering it with the government. You can see some of the work in the picture on the right. This Christian school is being built in the memory of Michiah Lancaster and the roof of the first main building was put on using donations from a fundraiser in his memory. We thank all who contributed. We are excited for this new area of ministry the Lord has been leading us into, which is Christian education. The Lord has been leading us for several years towards starting this school and our desire is that it will be a shining light to this community and that Christ will be glorified in and through it. Already we have begun training a few staff members and are teaching a few expat children. Please pray for the Lord’s continued guidance, provision and wisdom for this school!
My brother Juan is doing very well and continues to teach English to young adults. He is such a servant and is always busy in the background, helping out wherever needed and doing things we tend to forget about! To prevent being bitten by mosquitoes and getting malaria, I no longer go out in the evenings, so Juan has also taken to leading the prayer meetings on Monday nights.
I was very encouraged to hear upon my return from our Sunday school teachers that the Lord has been blessing our Bible classes with the children, as they have had good attendance and many inquisitive questions from the children. On the left is a photo I took a week or two ago, and although it’s not the best quality, I thought I would share it with you. We are very proud of our teachers who were once students in these same classes! What a blessing it is to see them grow in the Lord and now teach other children. Our youth also seem to be doing well, although I have not spent as much time with them since my return as I would have liked to, but Lord willing I hope to catch up with them over the next few weeks. Some of our programs are shutting down for a couple of weeks as many travel over the holidays, but we are excited for 2019 and can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for us and the work here in Xai-Xai, Mozambique!
This year of 2018 has certainly been a very difficult and traumatic one for me with the loss of my best friend, my grandmother, being very sick, having a breakdown, and suddenly being away from home for 5 months, but the amazing thing is that in the midst of it all, the Lord has taught me, comforted me, and grown me in ways that would never have happened otherwise. Although I would not like to repeat this year, I would not want to change it. The Lord truly is good always, and we can only praise Him for His constant love and mercy that He shows towards us. As we enter this holiday season and as many families gather together, we hope and pray that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified in our midst as we fellowship, encourage each other, and witness to our family members who do not know Christ yet. May the Lord Jesus be the center of our lives not just Christmas Day, but every day of our lives. How we need Him constantly! Help us, Lord!
Thank you all so very much for your prayers and support towards us for this year of 2018, we are truly grateful. We hope and trust you have a very blessed holiday season and enter 2019 with new strength and deeper faith in Christ as we all seek to glorify our mighty Savior!
~ Isak Westraad
Mozambique Missions 