The Harrell Family Story

Men traveling by boat, sharing the gospel. Paul used the Mediterranean; IMB missionary Brian Harrell skims the coastal waters off Mozambique. Brian steers his dhow, accompanied by a national partner, along the coast where the Makhuwa Nahara people live. This people group has followed Islam since Arab traders arrived 1,000 years ago. And the name of his boat?

“Oromela, which in the local dialect means ‘hope,’” explains Brian. He and his wife, Becky, and four children live on the water’s edge solely to reach the approximately 300,000 Makhuwa Nahara people with the gospel, whether it means Brian venturing to unreached villages accessed best by water, or Becky working with village women, making rugs and sharing gospel stories while they work together in a group.

He and his wife, Becky, and four children live on the water’s edge solely to reach the approximately 300,000 Makhuwa Nahara people with the gospel.

The boat has been a game changer, Brian says. “Once you own a dhow, you just become a part of that community. They appreciate it. You’re getting to meet mariners and captains and fishermen and dhow masters. …It just opens up an opportunity for us to share the gospel and become even more a part of their community.”

1. PRAY the gospel would spread into the more than 100 villages up and down the Harrells’ section of coastline where there is no gospel witness whatsoever and the lostness is overwhelming.
2. PRAY for new believers and leaders among the Makhuwa Nahara, that their faith would grow deep and strong in the midst of persecution and that they would be bold witnesses and good disciplers.