He will be visiting many of the churches in the United States such as ours which have the privilege of helping to support him as a commissioned missionary of the United Methodist Church through a Covenant Relationship. He actually is flying into Burlington from Germany where he has been visiting supporting churches there.

Our church is in a Covenant Relationship to help support him as a missionary of the United Methodist Church so the free will offering that will be taken when he is here will go toward that.  The General Board of Global ministries covers his travel expenses.

There will be a pot-luck dinner sponsored by Outreach Ministries at the Middlebury UMC after worship on the 12th for all in East Middlebury/Ripton and Middlebury who wish to meet and hear more from Jeremias about this amazing ministry of  Mozambique United Methodists.  It provides a 200 bed hospital and the Center of Hope for community health, working with HIV Aids prevention and treatment and eliminating malaria.

The following letter was received from Jeremias Franca thanking those who are in a “Covenant Relationship” with him to support him as a United Methodist Missionary. He serves as Chief Executive Manager of both the Chicuque Rural Hospital and the new Center of Hope which specializes in prevention medicine, especially HIV Aids, anti-malaria programs, clinical psychology, etc. The letter was featured in The Mozambique UMC Health Services Newsletter and came on April 9th – just in time for the new Vermont District Mission Fair in Rutland on April 10th. Anyone interested in helping in this support may contact Lee or Bonnie Totten Adkins.

I would like to take this moment and thank all our friends for a great partnership we have had, particularly last year. Because of your prayer support, material, and all sorts of gifts I was blessed with, I was able to stay focused in my mission and continue to look for better ways to coordinate the work at the Hospital and to find innovative approaches in reaching out to the communities for health education. I have enjoyed receiving birthday cards and I thank all those who individually and collectively sent them to me. OBRIGADO or thank you!

My missionary work gave me some opportunities for advancement in some areas of life and work. For my personal spiritual growth, I continued to receive blessings at work with our local church and serving in a variety of ways whenever possible.

My ministry with the local youth is more spiritually enriching to me than I thought it would be to them. I have enjoyed being their counselor and to take an active role in their development. The development of our health choir was one of the greatest moments we had as we brought together Christians of different denominations to sing together. In the history of our Annual Conference, it was the first time that a health choir led the worship services on the last day of the Conference Session. We look forward to doing it again, God willing.
The international financial crisis affected the flow of dollar support to our mission on both the government and church channels, making it very depressing to run the Healthcare Services under those circumstances. Nevertheless, I do feel that I have been given a very high opportunity and responsibility to stand for the health mission of the church in Mozambique. In the capacity of Chief Executive Manager, I have continued to pave the road for good working relationships between the Government, the Church, and all partners. We continue to bring up projects and services that respond to the AIDS epidemic, malaria, general health education and the development of new staff for our services.
As we struggle to bring hope in our communities through educational programs, better interaction between communities and health facilities, I do recognize that our communication with partners has been feeble. It is our commitment to improve, and improve very highly our communication at all levels of partnerships, and assure that all our partners are receiving our newsletters and reports. That is a high priority for us and we will do it. We do request to all our advance special and project supporters to send us the email contact so we can speed up the sending of reports. But, regardless of all the difficulties and gaps here and there, our services are making the difference, and we owe our gratitude to you.
I thank all the partners with whom I have covenant relationships, the advance special supporters for both the Center of Hope and Chicuque Rural Hospital, individual friends and all. With all of us together in mission, we can continue to lift, very high, the flags of hope for the people you help me to serve.

May God Bless
Jeremias Franca

Jeremias França was commissioned a missionary in the United Methodist Church on March 11 and returned to Chicuque Hospital three days after. As part of the presentation of his credentials for that honor, this statement was shared with the General Board of Global Ministries:Jeremias A. França is serving as Director of Health Services of Chicuque Rural Hospital in Chicuque, Mozambique, through the Global Health Program of The United Methodist Church.

Growing up in the Methodist Church, Mr. França feels he has grown over the years to become a productive and action-oriented member. He has realized that God is commanding him to serve the church in Mozambique using his imagination, talents, and creativity to bring health services to undeserved communities.

“Thus, in my faith journey, I increasingly believe and find joy in
serving people by preaching the gospel through actions and words.”

Mr. França was born and raised in Mozambique. He attended Southwest Texas State University in Texas and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration. He worked as business director for the Inhambane provincial governor’s office and as deputy district administrator of Homoine before joining Chicuque Rural Hospital as administrator in 2000.

Mr. França and his wife Ilda are the parents of three adult sons and one teenage son.