Life in Pemba: Part 2!!

Making New Connections!!

After class it was rice and beans for lunch. Sometimes lunch didn’t happen because the presence of God left you plastered to the floor for hours. Afternoons were relaxed but full of options. Sometimes speakers would share on different things. Other days seemed like an endless stream of meetings. Outreach prep, project meetings, kitchen duty, setting up for youth group, buying boxes of water, reapply the sunscreen, ask Jesus what the heck I am doing, teaching guitar lessons to kids, and then there is the weekly town run. No simple task. 

Because of flexibility there was also time to spend with our new families and our Mozambican brothers and sisters. You could spend time with the Iris kids, go into the villages, spend time in God’s presence, go to the ocean, play sport, go do ministry in hospitals or jail ministry and heaps of other things. Nights were spent together or with our families. It is an outside culture and so we lived in our student village, covered in red dirt, doing life together in all its forms. We were not clean, we were not always thrilled about our circumstances, but nothing compared to the glory of God. 

 

Dark Blue Outreach team, the best team ever!!

Local Friends!

I realized in this time how broken the church can really be and how God uses broken people to see His Kingdom come. We all were there for God, but we all had come from different journeys and carried the wounds of a fallen world. But, haha, Jesus is King. People were delivered from depression and suicide. People who had been abused found forgiveness and healing. We had powerful times of reconciliation. One morning we were worshiping in the student village because there was a lot of attack and people having nightmares. The worship time turned into a time of forgiveness and blessing between the Mozambicans and the foreigners for any hurt and judgment or oppression. It was amazing. Another time of worship lead to the Germans and the people from Israel with Jewish descendants coming together and washing each other’s feet and blessing each other’s nations. This stuff is real man, and so powerful. I cannot even begin to express the breakthrough in these times. It is tangible and it is changing the nations. Other times were personally powerful for individuals in our big Harvest school family. Speakers prophesying over us and God revealing His heart and purposes for our small lives. Always sharing visions bigger then what we thought possible and exactly what we never thought we always wanted. God is good. 

During the school we would go in groups on weekend outreaches to the bush bush. You can add additional bushes depending on how far you have to drive to get there. We would load up camions with our hiking back packs, tents, boxes of water, food, and our teams. We would drive out on Thursday, setup camp and show the Jesus film in Makua, the language of most villages. Then we would pray for people. Hundreds were saves. People were healed of diseases and injuries. Jesus is King. After a short sleep we would wake up to children everywhere. A quick breaky of instant coffee and Peanut butter sandwiches lead to a kids program. These times, though the most joyful, were also heartbreaking. Bloated bellies from hunger, open sores and tired eyes. Little kids carrying babies on their backs and being responsible for their siblings. Ripped and dirty clothes. One little girl really made my heart hurt and realize more that truly the world needs Jesus. She was small and wouldn’t smile. She was clingy and limp. Her face and head had open soars and she smelled. The flies were merciless. Swarming around her and landing on her open flesh. She sat so still and when I first was holding her I tried to bat away the flies. It wasn’t working, I couldn’t do anything. So I prayed and prayed and held her tight. I buried her open soars into my dress because then the flies couldn’t get to them. I thanked Jesus when she finally fell asleep. She was so sick. The other kids would just stare at her. Where was her mama? Eventually a sister came and carried her off. Poverty is so real. And in the west I see the same thing. Spiritual poverty. When someone doesn’t know Jesus, and even many who do know Him, they look like this little girl. Covered in open soars of rejection, unforgivness, judgment, abuse, self hatred, pride, shame, guilt and loneliness. The reeking smell of sin is thick and consuming. Some carry it like a metal of accomplishment because the are so of the world that it becomes their identity. Others cover it up well, looking good on the outside, but if only people saw what was underneath, they would hate you as much as you hate yourself. But Jesus, sweet Jesus, He died that we would be healed, cleaned, redeemed. 

On Our Way to the Bush Bush!!

In the afternoons we would walk through the village and pray for people. God would move powerfully. Again we were faced with some crazy situations, but we would go before the King and He would lead us. More healings, more salvations!!!! One older woman was sitting outside and we asked if we could pray for her, we prayed and asked if she felt anything in her body change. She said she felt heat in her body and that she was a Muslim. Haha! We told her Jesus was touching her today and that He loved her and was healing her. We lead others into repentance and saw them take steps of faith through burning up any witchcraft they had in their homes. Say what you want, but these beautiful people are hurting and desperate and so sometimes they use what little money they have to try and get help. Sadly in many places, this means buying into witchcraft. So to see people respond the gospel and burn up these things and receiving Christ is a miracle!!!

In fact, seeing people receive Jesus is one of the greatest miracles of all. Greater than seeing legs grow out, blind eyes open, stuttering speech be fixed, people being healed from aids, getting new backs, metal plates in people disappearing and new body parts growing in, gold dust, manifestations, people screaming and crying, rolling and laughing. All are beautiful and amazing, but to meet Jesus for the first time, wow. 

 

Heidi and Pastor Suprise teaching

So, being in Africa, being in Mozambique, being in God’s presence has forever changed me once again. The kingdom of heaven is upside-down. You want to go high, you better get low. Low and slow is one of the Bakers messages. Humility, being poor in spirit and hungry for God. He took me to Pemba so I could learn to be hungry. So I could be filled and so I could fall more in love with my Jesus. He is so faithful. What I have shared here is just scratching the surface and many things I will never share. However, as I look back on this year and over my time in Australia and then Africa, I am blessed to be on this journey. I have gone from the gold coast of Australia to the bush bush of Mozambique. God is in both places!! Only He knows what the next years will bring. I am still unpacking. Physical from traveling and in my heart as I adjust to being in a cold western culture like Michigan. However, even though the seasons change, God’s love remains and I will cling to Him. I don’t tell pieces of my story to say you have to move to Africa. Obedience to God is what matters. Some of you will face sacrifices I can’t even imagine. Some of you inspire me to keep going. But no matter what it may look like, saying yes to God is the biggest adventure and will bring you through the fire. But He is so worthy. He is worthy of it all.