Sunday, July 29, 2007
Sunday in Pemba
It's hot. Today was just one of those days where I could not get comfortable. Our fan is broken in my bedroom so I am not looking forward to sleep tonight. I am spending more time with the children in the center. They are amazing. These kids are all orphaned, and have stories that would blow you away. Many of them Heidi brought from the garbage dump in Maputo and places she has found them. A lot of the girls have been raped and molested. I wish you could see them now. They carry such joy and are so happy and they know that they are not abandoned any longer. These children have huge smiles on their faces and they just crawl up in your lap and loved to be loved on and give love in return. The older girls love to get dressed up and braid their hair. They are beautiful. They all just know that Jesus loves them and they get it. They are true examples of child-like faith. If only we could get it so settled in our spirits that we are not alone, we are not abandoned in this world and if we could just carry the love they carry. I've especially fallen in love with Paulina. She wants me to spend the night with her. She is 8. I took her for ice cream this week. I may take her up on staying with her in the center, I think their fan is working. But I noticed they have mice. There are 6 of us here from Georgia or who have Georgia connections. We all met today for lunch. I went to an amazing beach yesterday, Merreube. It was so primitive and pristine, untouched and so beautiful. Bright clear water and white sand beaches that others pay top dollar to enjoy with hundreds of other people, was all mine and the overpriced, watered down drinks were not included. However, there was a herd of cattle walking along the north end. Wish you could have seen it...sorry for the sporaticness of the message...space bar sticks on this keyboard and I am in hot room with only 10 minutes to write, dial-up slow service and an oscillating fan.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The small things
I got a real treat while on Ibo. I went to the hotel on Ibo with a friend to have a cup of coffee and see the hotel to see if I would ever want to come back. I used their restroom before I left and while washing my hands discovered HOT WATER!!! It was amazing. I am completely forgotten about the concept of hot water coming out of the faucet. I lathered my hands, then my elbows, shoulders, neck and face. It was wonderful.
Graduation/Departure
Graduation is scheduled for August 8th. I will then have until the 15th to spend some time in Pemba and enjoy the beach. There are also some nearby beaches that I would like to see other than Wimbe. I have befriended Zelinha, a girl who lives at the center and I am hoping to pack a picnic with her and visit the beaches that week. I will be arriving in Atlanta August 16th around 4:30. My flight leaves Pemba around noon on the 15th and I will fly to Maputo and not get off the plane, then to J'burg, then London- make the aiport change via shuttle and then fly to Atlanta! I hope to update again soon. I love hearing from you.
Questions and Cannibals
I know I have been somewhat vague in describing what is going on here and I apologize. The days are often filled with activities and there is always something pressing going on. Classes often last until 4 or later and it gets dark at 5:30 and we are not allowed to go out of the base in the evenings without a taxi and an entourage. So, that makes it difficult to get into town and limits my evenings. I have had very little time at the beach or any down time to play. Also, I am very frustrated because I am having a hard time running here. The banditos are infamous here in Pemba and running is simply not safe, they will knife you. So I really miss my long runs and feel sluggish without it. I look forward to my long runs in downtown East Point.
I have been processing a lot since my weekend outreach. I wanted to determine in my head how God can change a village and what a changed village looks like. It doesn’t make sense to me. Yes, I am in missions school and here I am questioning everything, doubting everything and wondering how in the world people can go to a village, preach the gospel and make a difference of any sort. So my questions become, what is poverty? Is this village really poor? They seem happy, as long as they have food are they okay? What else do they need? Clean water and a latrine…okay, if we give them that and get them to pray the sinner’s prayer and baptize them, is that enough? How do you start a church? We have no curriculum? No one can even READ!! It cannot be done. The Makonde people are cannibals and eat each other, how can I even relate to them? My questions are endless. Then Dr. Heidi shows up for weekly teaching and I can’t think of all those questions anymore.
She starts by saying, as she has so many times before, “I have no idea what I am doing.” Iris Ministries is huge, with over 7,000 churches and they feed 50,000 a day. Every day they face constant, severe need. She begins with questions too, “How do we carry love, grace and mercy in the midst of constant need”? Her answer. Focus your eyes on Jesus and the beauty of who He is because He is perfect. He never gave up and He loved the ones crucifying Him. He is the example of divine love and shows us how to do missions. He knows how to change a nation, even a nation of people who are cannibals, don’t read, living in extreme poverty. We need to pray for incarnational love to so take hold of us that no one can resist. John 1:14 says, the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one of a kind glory, like Father, like Son. (The Message) Jesus knows precisely how to bring His love to a culture that is so incredibly different from our own. We are simply to be laid down lovers, carrying His love. Mozambicans have a very oral oriented culture. They learn through listening and looking, some stemming from the fact that most do not read. They way you act is even more important than what you say. So, you must have Christ so fully in you that they want to know Him. It cannot be a strategic plan (as is my idea with my degree) and it is not turning them into Westerners! The plan is simply to learn from them and work together. Our job is to love, if you love well eventually other things fall into place.
So, I am learning from them. In a recent teaching along with the pastors, Heidi had pastors who had lost a child stand up. Probably as much as one third of the group of 150 plus pastors stood up. Most children died of Malaria and dysentery. These men are all so poor and they depend on God like a child on its mother. If you tell them God will heal you, they believe in a heartbeat. They have no where else to go and no doctor’s to turn to. They have no Western world to seek or escape to. Their faith of these poor in spirit is beautiful to witness. We doubt so much and convince ourselves that we are fine without God. These men aren’t fine without God. They depend on Him for everything. I want their faith! They prayed for us to receive and believe like they do. They have been in desperate situations that most of us will never experience. They show me why we need God to begin with. When we are stripped of all our comforts and we are faced with a life where we truly need a Savior, then I see that life is impossible without faith.
So these are the kinds of things that are daily a part of my prayer and meditation. This is all coupled with living with 9 other people, someone is always sick, it’s hot, the water is not always running, I miss my blackberry, computer and communication with the outside world. I have no idea what is going on. Thank you for the cards, Christine and Gran McCarley!! They were a big surprise!! I turn the big 3-O next week! I look forward to celebrating with my family here and can’t wait to come home and celebrate some more with all of you!
I did take an unexpected trip to Ibo Island this past weekend. It was a long drive and then a boat ride in a dhow with 20 people. We camped the night before we took the ferry over and then camped again on Ibo. You will have to do some research Dad and let me know more about the history there. Portuguese traded there and it was a huge area for slave trade, the Portuguese left there in the 1970’s. It was basically an abandoned trade village now inhabited by 5,000 Mocambicans. The area is beautiful and there is a five star hotel there. I opted to stay in the 10 million star hotel underneath the Mozambican sky.
Love,
Me
I have been processing a lot since my weekend outreach. I wanted to determine in my head how God can change a village and what a changed village looks like. It doesn’t make sense to me. Yes, I am in missions school and here I am questioning everything, doubting everything and wondering how in the world people can go to a village, preach the gospel and make a difference of any sort. So my questions become, what is poverty? Is this village really poor? They seem happy, as long as they have food are they okay? What else do they need? Clean water and a latrine…okay, if we give them that and get them to pray the sinner’s prayer and baptize them, is that enough? How do you start a church? We have no curriculum? No one can even READ!! It cannot be done. The Makonde people are cannibals and eat each other, how can I even relate to them? My questions are endless. Then Dr. Heidi shows up for weekly teaching and I can’t think of all those questions anymore.
She starts by saying, as she has so many times before, “I have no idea what I am doing.” Iris Ministries is huge, with over 7,000 churches and they feed 50,000 a day. Every day they face constant, severe need. She begins with questions too, “How do we carry love, grace and mercy in the midst of constant need”? Her answer. Focus your eyes on Jesus and the beauty of who He is because He is perfect. He never gave up and He loved the ones crucifying Him. He is the example of divine love and shows us how to do missions. He knows how to change a nation, even a nation of people who are cannibals, don’t read, living in extreme poverty. We need to pray for incarnational love to so take hold of us that no one can resist. John 1:14 says, the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one of a kind glory, like Father, like Son. (The Message) Jesus knows precisely how to bring His love to a culture that is so incredibly different from our own. We are simply to be laid down lovers, carrying His love. Mozambicans have a very oral oriented culture. They learn through listening and looking, some stemming from the fact that most do not read. They way you act is even more important than what you say. So, you must have Christ so fully in you that they want to know Him. It cannot be a strategic plan (as is my idea with my degree) and it is not turning them into Westerners! The plan is simply to learn from them and work together. Our job is to love, if you love well eventually other things fall into place.
So, I am learning from them. In a recent teaching along with the pastors, Heidi had pastors who had lost a child stand up. Probably as much as one third of the group of 150 plus pastors stood up. Most children died of Malaria and dysentery. These men are all so poor and they depend on God like a child on its mother. If you tell them God will heal you, they believe in a heartbeat. They have no where else to go and no doctor’s to turn to. They have no Western world to seek or escape to. Their faith of these poor in spirit is beautiful to witness. We doubt so much and convince ourselves that we are fine without God. These men aren’t fine without God. They depend on Him for everything. I want their faith! They prayed for us to receive and believe like they do. They have been in desperate situations that most of us will never experience. They show me why we need God to begin with. When we are stripped of all our comforts and we are faced with a life where we truly need a Savior, then I see that life is impossible without faith.
So these are the kinds of things that are daily a part of my prayer and meditation. This is all coupled with living with 9 other people, someone is always sick, it’s hot, the water is not always running, I miss my blackberry, computer and communication with the outside world. I have no idea what is going on. Thank you for the cards, Christine and Gran McCarley!! They were a big surprise!! I turn the big 3-O next week! I look forward to celebrating with my family here and can’t wait to come home and celebrate some more with all of you!
I did take an unexpected trip to Ibo Island this past weekend. It was a long drive and then a boat ride in a dhow with 20 people. We camped the night before we took the ferry over and then camped again on Ibo. You will have to do some research Dad and let me know more about the history there. Portuguese traded there and it was a huge area for slave trade, the Portuguese left there in the 1970’s. It was basically an abandoned trade village now inhabited by 5,000 Mocambicans. The area is beautiful and there is a five star hotel there. I opted to stay in the 10 million star hotel underneath the Mozambican sky.
Love,
Me
Stacy Campbell Teaching
How to Pray the Bible- from my sporadic notes
1. Learn to Pray- it does not come naturally, you learn in the secret place, the disciples had to learn Luke 11:1
2. Determine to work at prayer- it should be aggressive, not passive, get up and move around as there is a connection between movement and brain focus Hebrews 5:7
3. Set a time and a place to pray- adapt this to your lifestyle pray morning and again at night Psalm 55 and Psalm 142, what you behold you become, II Corin 3:17-18
4. Pray to God- many have a distorted view of God, it takes revelation to know who He truly is- our worldview is formed by our environment versus the real truth. God will break expectations of who He is. We should develop a picture in our mind and address the Lord as you bring yourself before God Revelation Chapter 4 gives a vivid description. Mix prayer with faith. Also know that in Christ, strength is perfected in weakness. With Christ, the less you know the better it is. God delights in weakness and foolishness, like at the men in the Bible that He used. Our weakness becomes a launch pad to take us into His presence.
Rev 4-5
Rev 1
Ez 1
Is 6
Ex 33-34
Dan 7:10
All descriptions of God found in scripture
5. Pray the Bible, learn the language of the Spirit to express your heart, express spiritual truths in spiritual words I Corin 2, pray actual Bible verses and phrases, slowly and repetitively
6. Pray outloud- To know when you have stopped! It is hard to think of something else when you are talking. The tongue keeps the mind focused.
7. Silence and prayer of the heart- This is the pinnacle of prayer, not the starting point. For example, if your first date were a date of silence you would assume things didn’t go so well, it has to be talkative and verbal. Yet, after years of marriage, you can speak to one another in silence. Leave time at the end of prayer of silence and meditation of the heart.
1. Learn to Pray- it does not come naturally, you learn in the secret place, the disciples had to learn Luke 11:1
2. Determine to work at prayer- it should be aggressive, not passive, get up and move around as there is a connection between movement and brain focus Hebrews 5:7
3. Set a time and a place to pray- adapt this to your lifestyle pray morning and again at night Psalm 55 and Psalm 142, what you behold you become, II Corin 3:17-18
4. Pray to God- many have a distorted view of God, it takes revelation to know who He truly is- our worldview is formed by our environment versus the real truth. God will break expectations of who He is. We should develop a picture in our mind and address the Lord as you bring yourself before God Revelation Chapter 4 gives a vivid description. Mix prayer with faith. Also know that in Christ, strength is perfected in weakness. With Christ, the less you know the better it is. God delights in weakness and foolishness, like at the men in the Bible that He used. Our weakness becomes a launch pad to take us into His presence.
Rev 4-5
Rev 1
Ez 1
Is 6
Ex 33-34
Dan 7:10
All descriptions of God found in scripture
5. Pray the Bible, learn the language of the Spirit to express your heart, express spiritual truths in spiritual words I Corin 2, pray actual Bible verses and phrases, slowly and repetitively
6. Pray outloud- To know when you have stopped! It is hard to think of something else when you are talking. The tongue keeps the mind focused.
7. Silence and prayer of the heart- This is the pinnacle of prayer, not the starting point. For example, if your first date were a date of silence you would assume things didn’t go so well, it has to be talkative and verbal. Yet, after years of marriage, you can speak to one another in silence. Leave time at the end of prayer of silence and meditation of the heart.
Monday, July 16, 2007
apology
Tried to post photos of wedding and visit, but they would not post. I will try again. I think I am the volunteer of the day for the Iris Internet Cafe on Saturday and will try it then.
Tonight is Movie Night, watching some documentary...gotta run.
XOXO
Tonight is Movie Night, watching some documentary...gotta run.
XOXO
Life in the Dirt
My group left Friday morning for the bush bush and returned last night. I don't think I have ever been so dirty before. It was quite an experience. I really need to process it all before I write more about it. The village was very receptive and welcoming. We pitched our tents in front of the local pastors house. It was quite cozy and comfortable, for the most part. The kids loved us and I loved drawing pictures in the dirt, having them teach me the Macua words for each picture. We killed a pig for dinner one night and chickens for lunch, I didn't eat either one. I will try to process it all and elaborate more soon.
There is so much to say about all that is going on, but so little time here in the internet cafe'. I appreciate all your emails. I am really enjoying life here. It was nice to come home to my little hut near the beach after my time in the village and while in the village I wanted to stay there and learn from the Mozambican women. There are so many levels of poverty. I thought I had seen it all. The village, despite a nearby well and nice latrines, had a lot of sickness, disease and extreme poverty.
On the way home, I got to sit up front. We drove over 300 kilometers to get to this village in a covered flat bed truck. It was VERY BUMPY! So, someone offered a seat up front and I took it! I wound up sitting between an Iris Mozambican pastor and a Muslim driver, both about 60 years old. We had a really great time, laughing at the people in the back screaming each time we hit a bump, and they cut open and sliced yucca root? for me. I used my little Portuguese and even pulled out my dictionary. So, for five hours I sat in the hot truck between the two of them and took in the landscape and drank cokes, ate yucca, and laughed. I hope I never forget it.
Class this morning was great. Stacy Campbell is here teaching from Canada. I am taking notes and also hope to post her lesson on Praying the Word.
I am trying to prepare myself for coming home. It is only one month away. It will not be easy.
There is so much to say about all that is going on, but so little time here in the internet cafe'. I appreciate all your emails. I am really enjoying life here. It was nice to come home to my little hut near the beach after my time in the village and while in the village I wanted to stay there and learn from the Mozambican women. There are so many levels of poverty. I thought I had seen it all. The village, despite a nearby well and nice latrines, had a lot of sickness, disease and extreme poverty.
On the way home, I got to sit up front. We drove over 300 kilometers to get to this village in a covered flat bed truck. It was VERY BUMPY! So, someone offered a seat up front and I took it! I wound up sitting between an Iris Mozambican pastor and a Muslim driver, both about 60 years old. We had a really great time, laughing at the people in the back screaming each time we hit a bump, and they cut open and sliced yucca root? for me. I used my little Portuguese and even pulled out my dictionary. So, for five hours I sat in the hot truck between the two of them and took in the landscape and drank cokes, ate yucca, and laughed. I hope I never forget it.
Class this morning was great. Stacy Campbell is here teaching from Canada. I am taking notes and also hope to post her lesson on Praying the Word.
I am trying to prepare myself for coming home. It is only one month away. It will not be easy.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
This message is from a recent e-mail from Heidi and Rolland Baker, founders of Iris Ministries. I love their teachings and being under the tent with them a few times each week. It is a real blessing to be able to study under them. Rolland's teaching is always amazing. Heidi briefly mentions us, the "170 international students". I apologize for the spacing issues.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little over four years ago Heidi and I, along with Surpresa Sithole,
our Mozambican international director, flew to Nairobi in our little
Cessna for a leadership conference. On the way back we stopped in Pemba
in Mozambique's far northern province of Cabo Delgado, and for the first
time attempted ministry among a people considered unreached and
unreachable by missiologists.
We took a short bus ride into town near the airport, stepped off, and
found a group of fourteen or so young men standing nearby. Heidi
immediately used her Portuguese to witness to them right there where
they stood, and in a few minutes all fourteen were saved and wanted a
pastor. On our next trip we got a small plot of land on a hill among a
sea of huts, and built a Pemba-style church building out of reeds and
stones. It was filled mostly by children, but pastored by our extremely
fervent, Spirit-filled Pastor José, still one of our key leaders in
Pemba. This last week Pastor José testified at our annual staff retreat
that now we have over seven hundred Iris churches in Cabo Delgado
Province, a figure we could not have imagined on that first trip.
Our four years in Pemba have been tumultuous, intense, filled with
demonic attacks, violence, threats, opposition from the government,
discouragement, theft, loss, disappointments, failures, staff turnover,
and the constant, unrelenting demands of extreme poverty and disease all
around us. It almost always seemed that our capabilities and resources
were no match for the challenges we faced every day, resulting in a
level of chaos and stress that literally threatened our health and
lives. Intense witchcraft and a lack of exposure to familiar standards
of right and wrong made our work in this very remote part of the world
seem all the more impossible. Heidi and I remember many times when we
did not know how we could continue, often wondering if we really had
good, lasting fruit that was worth the sacrifice.
We are often asked what the overcoming key to our ministry and growth
is. We don't think in terms of keys or secrets, but in the simplest
truths of the Gospel. We have learned by experience that there is no way
forward when pressed to our extremities but to sacrifice ourselves at
every turn for His sake, knowing nothing but Jesus and Him crucified. We
must die to live. It is better to give than to receive, and better to
love than to be loved. We cannot lose, because we have a perfect Savior
who is able to finish what He began in us, if we do not give up and
throw away our faith.
In years past we did not think we could identify with Paul like this,
but now we understand more of what he meant: "We do not want you to be
uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of
Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so
that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the
sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves
but on God, who raises the dead" (2 Cor. 1:8-9).
Heidi and I get overwhelmed by our awareness that we are only jars of
clay, very fragile and finite, capable of only giving out so much, and
with very limited understanding and strength. But we have come to be
encouraged by this very state of affairs, because God's power and glory
will become obvious in our weakness: "But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of
God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not
crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the
dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our
body" (2 Cor. 4:7-10).
In Pemba we just started another three-month Bible school session with
new student pastors from the bush, many of whom are barely aware of any
Christian doctrine and still confused about so much. But three of them
have already raised the dead and given their testimonies in class! The
Holy Spirit is opening hearts and bringing in the harvest more than
ever, in spite of our weaknesses. Our churches are monuments to the
grace of God. We are asked how we keep them all together, organized and
feeling like a unified family, but we can offer no adequate human
explanation, in spite of all our efforts. We have learned that He is
able to melt hearts and keep people connected in spirit by His own
power, and build a hunger for the Savior that conquers every obstacle.
This is His revival, His church, His display of glory, and He qualifies
us to do His work.
What motivates us to keep going? What puts energy into our spirits when
we run out of answers and resources? How do we stay patient and upbeat
when the outlook seems bleak, yet again? Where does our power to live,
serve and give come from? The question is important, because
missionaries do get tired, discouraged and down. Christians of all kinds
run out of motivation, no matter how much they have. Leaders with huge
responsibilities lose their peace and joy. Ministries become more like
businesses, and preachers more like sales managers. But what makes the
Kingdom run? What is the fuel that fires us effortlessly? What is the
real thing?
Every day we find out more of the answers to these most fundamental
questions, and every day we learn that what used to motivate us is no
longer enough. We are going higher, pressing on to what lies ahead. We
keep learning what Jesus is interested in, and lose interest in what we
used to pursue. And we learn that unless Jesus is interested in what we
are pursuing, the going gets tougher than we can bear.
But, ha, there is a secret place, a hiding place, a lower place, a holy
place that exceeds our dreams. It is not found in anything external and
impersonal. It is not found simply in activity, sacrifice and
dedication. It is not found in goals, projects, productions and
progress. It is not found in finances and growth. It may be missed
entirely even when preaching, teaching, training and discipling. It may
be forgotten completely when evangelizing and praying for the sick. The
greatest and most powerful gifts don't necessarily contain it. Even
ministry to the poor may become an impersonal effort that misses that
greatest and most intensely motivating creation of God, that supreme
display of His glory: relationship!
Love is a gift of relationship, not just self-sacrifice. The secret
place is not necessarily found in a prayer closet or a posture of
soaking, or in battling for a just cause, or in a massive prayer and
fasting effort. Even the most amazing miracles can leave us lonely and
without relationship. We can run out of motivation advancing the most
noble ideals and working at all levels to transform society. We can
minister until we have no more strength, and still go home and lie in
bed without the relationship for which our hearts are made.
Everything is okay with relationship. It is all that Jesus cares about,
all that motivates Him. He could do many more amazing miracles and
dazzle the world with His powers, but He is interested only in
relationship. The entire creation, all the grandeur of the physical
world, and all His works are designed to serve one thing: relationship.
Revival has no content without it. Renewal and manifestations are
pointless apart from it. Miracles only find their meaning in it. Joy is
shallow and groundless unless rooted in it. Without relationship we are
the living dead.
There is no pressure in genuine relationship. When it turns into work,
it is gone and finished. It is effortless to maintain. It is not the
goal of struggle, but the fire of life. It brings the utmost peace, and
washes away all tension. It is the point of living, the substance of
existence, the atmosphere of heaven. It motivates to heroic heights,
bringing out our best. In relationship we know we are alive, we have
arrived, we are satisfied. When we turn away from relationship to pursue
anything else, we lose. We have no strength to give and love without it.
It is a haven, a rock, a river of living water, the perfect source of
motivation to keep going.
As our Perfect Savior, Jesus provides us with relationship. For this He
died and rose again on our behalf. He provides not only His Word, His
promises and His gifts, but also freely fills our lives with
relationship in response to the desire He has put in our hearts. No
guilt and condemnation can keep us from drinking in all the relationship
with Him that we desire. Nothing in our past can block us. No attitudes
in others can prevent us from tasting and seeing that He is good. And
from this tree of life that is our Savior, we can branch out into more
and more relationship with those all around us. He takes away our
loneliness. In Him we end our search and find our destination.
So in this experience of revival in Africa, our values have been refined
in the fires of pressure, opposition and disappointment. Thousands of
churches and testimonies of supernatural power do not keep us motivated.
Huge feeding projects are not enough for us. We need more of a goal than
to target people groups and disciple followers. Education and
development don't keep our hearts alive. Mobilizing world-wide support
still falls short. Academic missiology lacks the energy that Africa
needs.
No, our hearts must have perfect relationship, a perfect union between
us and our Savior, in the Holy Spirit. We were never meant to be alone
for a moment. Our whole motive is to live life and do everything
together with our God, to take pleasure in His company always. Our power
to live comes entirely from our satisfying relationship with Him, and to
stay there is to stay in our own private revival that cannot be
disturbed by anything else. Only when that relationship is golden,
incandescent and pure enough do we have the power to delight in all that
God has richly provided for us to enjoy.
Therefore in Him we do not pursue revival, but rather revival pursues
us! Church growth and miracles pursue us. His presence pursues us. He
Himself follows us, responds to us, and takes pleasure in making us
happy, for we make Him happy. We care how He feels. We satisfy His
longing. To stay close to Him is no effort, but a relief, a release, a
door to freedom. To get a miracle is never the point, but in our
relationship with Him miracles are a delight for Him to perform on our
behalf. In fact, we cannot live without miracles, and in the normal
Christian life we recognize that everything is a miracle, "for in him we
live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
Leprosy and AIDS are being healed by God in our churches in DRCongo. Our
missionaries in Sudan are being caught up to heaven in visions while
stationed in a most dangerous environment. Our Bible school students in
South Africa are seeing waves of healing blow through a hospital when
doctors and nurses are absent on strike. The dead continue to be raised,
and the blind and deaf continue to see and hear, causing whole villages
to come to Jesus at a time. The poor and abandoned are fed and taken
into families. And yet we press on to the best yet in Him, in faith all
the way, as always! There is a massive amount of suffering still in
Africa, but we can deal with it only as our motivation is steady, sure
and secure, located in the unbreakable bond between us and our God and
Savior.
We love and thank all of you who join us and support us as you
yourselves continue to drink along with us from this inexhaustible well
of motivation. May His richness and and joy be yours beyond your wildest
dreams as you comprehend more of His love for you each day. Continue to
eat of Him and drink of Him to your heart's content until His will is
done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Much, much love in Him, Rolland
--
From Heidi:
The cup of joy poured out to His Makua Bride
Jesus has mercifully allowed me to not only sip from the cup of
suffering, but also to drink fully from His cup of joy. After the
challenges of feeding 50,000 people a day, the flood relief, bombings
and monster cyclones, Jesus has brought me joy unspeakable and full of
glory this June. This month I loved cheering King Jesus on as He
brilliantly shined His liquid glory love into the darkness of the
unreached Makua tribe. Seeing village after village run to King Jesus
makes me fall even more in love with Him. I love my life, and I love Him
more than life! What a privilege to be alive when the harvest is so ripe
and the Lord of the harvest is sending forth laborers (Matt. 9:36-40).
We must lift up our eyes to see that the harvest is indeed ripe and
ready (John 4).
In our missions school we have 170 international students loving and living among our beautiful Mozambican pastors. I believe that in heaven Jesus will have a Bride who is not only pure and spotless, but truly
color-blind and without superficial divisions of gender, race, culture,
socioeconomics and age. We are trying to model that one Bride in a
community -- a village of joy -- here in my home of Pemba. Four years
ago, when God sent me to leave my beloved children in the south and run
into the darkness of the north in Cabo Delgado, there were only a few
converts. Now, over 700 churches have been planted! I know God will give
us the Makua Bride as my inheritance.
Recently friends and our beautiful Mozambican children loaded up our
Land Rovers and charged off into the "bush bush." As Joanne was
worshipping, Rebekah, a preacher at our Holy Given School, seemed to see
straight into the spirit realm. It looked to her like the heavens broke
open and angels flooded the place as a tornado of glory filled the
village. I preached as Joanne worshipped. Rebekah saw that at that very
moment whatever we asked for in Jesus' name was granted. So I asked for
the Makua! I asked for the deaf to hear. I wrapped my arms around three
deaf mutes and merciful Jesus opened their ears. Surely God is opening
the ears of the Mozambicans to hear His good news! May we have ears to
hear all that He is saying. The newly saved village started worshipping
with Joanne and me as we sang in Makua. My calling is to be a worshipper
before anything else. There in the darkness and dirt new brothers and
sisters worshipped worthy Jesus. Sounds of newly created Makua praise
filled this little mud hut village. The joy never ends. Last week
Pastors Che and Sue Ahn, friends of mine with teams of Koreans,
Americans and Mozambicans, young and old, again drove off into the bush
bush. A young deaf man was brought to the meeting because people had
told his family if they took him to us he would be able to hear. And he
did!!! Demons were cast out of people who had previously turned their
lives over to the power of darkness. The village offered to build me my
very own mud hut! They told me I had to stay and live with them there.
Although I always bring my tent, they insisted I stay in their hut with
them. So there I was with the new pastor's wife, the children and the
family chickens -- and just to spice it up a bit a few rats joined us. I
know God is calling me to be a mother to the Makua and also to this new
missions movement. We are all called to stop and love the one before us
until the whole world knows of His love. May He multiply our little
lives laid down so an entire army can arise.
This seventh month of 2007 as Shara and I head off to Jerusalem, I am
praying for perfection and the completion of all God's promises. May we
see a generation give that which they cannot keep in order to gain that
which they cannot lose. May you drink deeply of His cup of joy. May we
all give the Lamb the just reward of His sufferings.
In love with Jesus, Heidi
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little over four years ago Heidi and I, along with Surpresa Sithole,
our Mozambican international director, flew to Nairobi in our little
Cessna for a leadership conference. On the way back we stopped in Pemba
in Mozambique's far northern province of Cabo Delgado, and for the first
time attempted ministry among a people considered unreached and
unreachable by missiologists.
We took a short bus ride into town near the airport, stepped off, and
found a group of fourteen or so young men standing nearby. Heidi
immediately used her Portuguese to witness to them right there where
they stood, and in a few minutes all fourteen were saved and wanted a
pastor. On our next trip we got a small plot of land on a hill among a
sea of huts, and built a Pemba-style church building out of reeds and
stones. It was filled mostly by children, but pastored by our extremely
fervent, Spirit-filled Pastor José, still one of our key leaders in
Pemba. This last week Pastor José testified at our annual staff retreat
that now we have over seven hundred Iris churches in Cabo Delgado
Province, a figure we could not have imagined on that first trip.
Our four years in Pemba have been tumultuous, intense, filled with
demonic attacks, violence, threats, opposition from the government,
discouragement, theft, loss, disappointments, failures, staff turnover,
and the constant, unrelenting demands of extreme poverty and disease all
around us. It almost always seemed that our capabilities and resources
were no match for the challenges we faced every day, resulting in a
level of chaos and stress that literally threatened our health and
lives. Intense witchcraft and a lack of exposure to familiar standards
of right and wrong made our work in this very remote part of the world
seem all the more impossible. Heidi and I remember many times when we
did not know how we could continue, often wondering if we really had
good, lasting fruit that was worth the sacrifice.
We are often asked what the overcoming key to our ministry and growth
is. We don't think in terms of keys or secrets, but in the simplest
truths of the Gospel. We have learned by experience that there is no way
forward when pressed to our extremities but to sacrifice ourselves at
every turn for His sake, knowing nothing but Jesus and Him crucified. We
must die to live. It is better to give than to receive, and better to
love than to be loved. We cannot lose, because we have a perfect Savior
who is able to finish what He began in us, if we do not give up and
throw away our faith.
In years past we did not think we could identify with Paul like this,
but now we understand more of what he meant: "We do not want you to be
uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of
Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so
that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the
sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves
but on God, who raises the dead" (2 Cor. 1:8-9).
Heidi and I get overwhelmed by our awareness that we are only jars of
clay, very fragile and finite, capable of only giving out so much, and
with very limited understanding and strength. But we have come to be
encouraged by this very state of affairs, because God's power and glory
will become obvious in our weakness: "But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of
God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not
crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the
dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our
body" (2 Cor. 4:7-10).
In Pemba we just started another three-month Bible school session with
new student pastors from the bush, many of whom are barely aware of any
Christian doctrine and still confused about so much. But three of them
have already raised the dead and given their testimonies in class! The
Holy Spirit is opening hearts and bringing in the harvest more than
ever, in spite of our weaknesses. Our churches are monuments to the
grace of God. We are asked how we keep them all together, organized and
feeling like a unified family, but we can offer no adequate human
explanation, in spite of all our efforts. We have learned that He is
able to melt hearts and keep people connected in spirit by His own
power, and build a hunger for the Savior that conquers every obstacle.
This is His revival, His church, His display of glory, and He qualifies
us to do His work.
What motivates us to keep going? What puts energy into our spirits when
we run out of answers and resources? How do we stay patient and upbeat
when the outlook seems bleak, yet again? Where does our power to live,
serve and give come from? The question is important, because
missionaries do get tired, discouraged and down. Christians of all kinds
run out of motivation, no matter how much they have. Leaders with huge
responsibilities lose their peace and joy. Ministries become more like
businesses, and preachers more like sales managers. But what makes the
Kingdom run? What is the fuel that fires us effortlessly? What is the
real thing?
Every day we find out more of the answers to these most fundamental
questions, and every day we learn that what used to motivate us is no
longer enough. We are going higher, pressing on to what lies ahead. We
keep learning what Jesus is interested in, and lose interest in what we
used to pursue. And we learn that unless Jesus is interested in what we
are pursuing, the going gets tougher than we can bear.
But, ha, there is a secret place, a hiding place, a lower place, a holy
place that exceeds our dreams. It is not found in anything external and
impersonal. It is not found simply in activity, sacrifice and
dedication. It is not found in goals, projects, productions and
progress. It is not found in finances and growth. It may be missed
entirely even when preaching, teaching, training and discipling. It may
be forgotten completely when evangelizing and praying for the sick. The
greatest and most powerful gifts don't necessarily contain it. Even
ministry to the poor may become an impersonal effort that misses that
greatest and most intensely motivating creation of God, that supreme
display of His glory: relationship!
Love is a gift of relationship, not just self-sacrifice. The secret
place is not necessarily found in a prayer closet or a posture of
soaking, or in battling for a just cause, or in a massive prayer and
fasting effort. Even the most amazing miracles can leave us lonely and
without relationship. We can run out of motivation advancing the most
noble ideals and working at all levels to transform society. We can
minister until we have no more strength, and still go home and lie in
bed without the relationship for which our hearts are made.
Everything is okay with relationship. It is all that Jesus cares about,
all that motivates Him. He could do many more amazing miracles and
dazzle the world with His powers, but He is interested only in
relationship. The entire creation, all the grandeur of the physical
world, and all His works are designed to serve one thing: relationship.
Revival has no content without it. Renewal and manifestations are
pointless apart from it. Miracles only find their meaning in it. Joy is
shallow and groundless unless rooted in it. Without relationship we are
the living dead.
There is no pressure in genuine relationship. When it turns into work,
it is gone and finished. It is effortless to maintain. It is not the
goal of struggle, but the fire of life. It brings the utmost peace, and
washes away all tension. It is the point of living, the substance of
existence, the atmosphere of heaven. It motivates to heroic heights,
bringing out our best. In relationship we know we are alive, we have
arrived, we are satisfied. When we turn away from relationship to pursue
anything else, we lose. We have no strength to give and love without it.
It is a haven, a rock, a river of living water, the perfect source of
motivation to keep going.
As our Perfect Savior, Jesus provides us with relationship. For this He
died and rose again on our behalf. He provides not only His Word, His
promises and His gifts, but also freely fills our lives with
relationship in response to the desire He has put in our hearts. No
guilt and condemnation can keep us from drinking in all the relationship
with Him that we desire. Nothing in our past can block us. No attitudes
in others can prevent us from tasting and seeing that He is good. And
from this tree of life that is our Savior, we can branch out into more
and more relationship with those all around us. He takes away our
loneliness. In Him we end our search and find our destination.
So in this experience of revival in Africa, our values have been refined
in the fires of pressure, opposition and disappointment. Thousands of
churches and testimonies of supernatural power do not keep us motivated.
Huge feeding projects are not enough for us. We need more of a goal than
to target people groups and disciple followers. Education and
development don't keep our hearts alive. Mobilizing world-wide support
still falls short. Academic missiology lacks the energy that Africa
needs.
No, our hearts must have perfect relationship, a perfect union between
us and our Savior, in the Holy Spirit. We were never meant to be alone
for a moment. Our whole motive is to live life and do everything
together with our God, to take pleasure in His company always. Our power
to live comes entirely from our satisfying relationship with Him, and to
stay there is to stay in our own private revival that cannot be
disturbed by anything else. Only when that relationship is golden,
incandescent and pure enough do we have the power to delight in all that
God has richly provided for us to enjoy.
Therefore in Him we do not pursue revival, but rather revival pursues
us! Church growth and miracles pursue us. His presence pursues us. He
Himself follows us, responds to us, and takes pleasure in making us
happy, for we make Him happy. We care how He feels. We satisfy His
longing. To stay close to Him is no effort, but a relief, a release, a
door to freedom. To get a miracle is never the point, but in our
relationship with Him miracles are a delight for Him to perform on our
behalf. In fact, we cannot live without miracles, and in the normal
Christian life we recognize that everything is a miracle, "for in him we
live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
Leprosy and AIDS are being healed by God in our churches in DRCongo. Our
missionaries in Sudan are being caught up to heaven in visions while
stationed in a most dangerous environment. Our Bible school students in
South Africa are seeing waves of healing blow through a hospital when
doctors and nurses are absent on strike. The dead continue to be raised,
and the blind and deaf continue to see and hear, causing whole villages
to come to Jesus at a time. The poor and abandoned are fed and taken
into families. And yet we press on to the best yet in Him, in faith all
the way, as always! There is a massive amount of suffering still in
Africa, but we can deal with it only as our motivation is steady, sure
and secure, located in the unbreakable bond between us and our God and
Savior.
We love and thank all of you who join us and support us as you
yourselves continue to drink along with us from this inexhaustible well
of motivation. May His richness and and joy be yours beyond your wildest
dreams as you comprehend more of His love for you each day. Continue to
eat of Him and drink of Him to your heart's content until His will is
done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Much, much love in Him, Rolland
--
From Heidi:
The cup of joy poured out to His Makua Bride
Jesus has mercifully allowed me to not only sip from the cup of
suffering, but also to drink fully from His cup of joy. After the
challenges of feeding 50,000 people a day, the flood relief, bombings
and monster cyclones, Jesus has brought me joy unspeakable and full of
glory this June. This month I loved cheering King Jesus on as He
brilliantly shined His liquid glory love into the darkness of the
unreached Makua tribe. Seeing village after village run to King Jesus
makes me fall even more in love with Him. I love my life, and I love Him
more than life! What a privilege to be alive when the harvest is so ripe
and the Lord of the harvest is sending forth laborers (Matt. 9:36-40).
We must lift up our eyes to see that the harvest is indeed ripe and
ready (John 4).
In our missions school we have 170 international students loving and living among our beautiful Mozambican pastors. I believe that in heaven Jesus will have a Bride who is not only pure and spotless, but truly
color-blind and without superficial divisions of gender, race, culture,
socioeconomics and age. We are trying to model that one Bride in a
community -- a village of joy -- here in my home of Pemba. Four years
ago, when God sent me to leave my beloved children in the south and run
into the darkness of the north in Cabo Delgado, there were only a few
converts. Now, over 700 churches have been planted! I know God will give
us the Makua Bride as my inheritance.
Recently friends and our beautiful Mozambican children loaded up our
Land Rovers and charged off into the "bush bush." As Joanne was
worshipping, Rebekah, a preacher at our Holy Given School, seemed to see
straight into the spirit realm. It looked to her like the heavens broke
open and angels flooded the place as a tornado of glory filled the
village. I preached as Joanne worshipped. Rebekah saw that at that very
moment whatever we asked for in Jesus' name was granted. So I asked for
the Makua! I asked for the deaf to hear. I wrapped my arms around three
deaf mutes and merciful Jesus opened their ears. Surely God is opening
the ears of the Mozambicans to hear His good news! May we have ears to
hear all that He is saying. The newly saved village started worshipping
with Joanne and me as we sang in Makua. My calling is to be a worshipper
before anything else. There in the darkness and dirt new brothers and
sisters worshipped worthy Jesus. Sounds of newly created Makua praise
filled this little mud hut village. The joy never ends. Last week
Pastors Che and Sue Ahn, friends of mine with teams of Koreans,
Americans and Mozambicans, young and old, again drove off into the bush
bush. A young deaf man was brought to the meeting because people had
told his family if they took him to us he would be able to hear. And he
did!!! Demons were cast out of people who had previously turned their
lives over to the power of darkness. The village offered to build me my
very own mud hut! They told me I had to stay and live with them there.
Although I always bring my tent, they insisted I stay in their hut with
them. So there I was with the new pastor's wife, the children and the
family chickens -- and just to spice it up a bit a few rats joined us. I
know God is calling me to be a mother to the Makua and also to this new
missions movement. We are all called to stop and love the one before us
until the whole world knows of His love. May He multiply our little
lives laid down so an entire army can arise.
This seventh month of 2007 as Shara and I head off to Jerusalem, I am
praying for perfection and the completion of all God's promises. May we
see a generation give that which they cannot keep in order to gain that
which they cannot lose. May you drink deeply of His cup of joy. May we
all give the Lamb the just reward of His sufferings.
In love with Jesus, Heidi
--
Scabies is all clear! Just in case you were wondering. Things are still great here. The atmosphere is just unexplainable. I am certain it has to do with years and years of prayers for Iris Ministries to be a haven and a starting point to reach out to the nations. Today we washed the feet of the Mozambican pastors. Every day is something like this, just life changing encounters. Monday a little chubby toddler came up to me during our Community Service and I held him, he feel asleep on my shoulder and drooled on me. I was touched by his trust of me, a total stranger. It felt good, just holding him in my arms and loving on him. Today, is was another humbling experience to wash the calloused feet of a man who walked for miles to be there and is a man who has more faith than I do. It cannot NOT cause a shift in your way of thinking and you cannot truly ever be the same after doing something like this. They daily bless me.
Our teachings this week have been incredible. I have notes and will try to share my version this weekend. I made a last minute, unexpected trip to town and just wanted to report something.
Just know that I am more than well and I miss you, but am beginning to believe that if you want to see me you best get your passports up to date.
Much love,
Jena
Our teachings this week have been incredible. I have notes and will try to share my version this weekend. I made a last minute, unexpected trip to town and just wanted to report something.
Just know that I am more than well and I miss you, but am beginning to believe that if you want to see me you best get your passports up to date.
Much love,
Jena
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Stats about Moz
There is a lot I could say about life here and the "struggles" we face, however, these statistics and the fact that I absolutely love it here make it unnecessary.
80% of Mozambicans have to walk approx 5 miles to get water
90% of Mozambicans do not have electricity
The average income is $80/ year
Half of Mozambican children die before age 5
80% of Mozambicans have to walk approx 5 miles to get water
90% of Mozambicans do not have electricity
The average income is $80/ year
Half of Mozambican children die before age 5
lions, tigers and scabies, oh my!
Ok, there are no lions or tigers, but I do think I may have scabies. The doctor in the clinic at the time did not speak English but he gave me scabies cream and told me it was from "holding baby". Treating it, all is well.
I had a traditional Kenyan meal this week with two of the students who are from there and live in the bush. They told amazing stories about elephants and pythons and life in the bush. The meal was very good. They both breezed around the little kitchen and meticulously prepared our meal. They purchased two large guinea fowl- one of which I watched Tamara (my roommate from Holland) saw its head off while alive. The knife was dull. They prepared the fowl and put it in a big pot with lots of spices, tomatos, peppers, garlic, onion and potatoes. We also had fresh greens that were my favorite. They served this along with a huge slice of rice type stuff that was in the form of a cake and we used that to sop up the juices.
Robert told us the story of his chipped tooth. He told us how he used to drink a lot and go to the disco and was drunk all the time. He was in a head on collision with another vehicle and four people died instantly. God met him there, no religion, duty, obligation, guilt or remorse. Just the simple message of a Savior meeting him there on that road in that experience and now he is changed. The change is real, true and pure. His faith is not tainted or jaded. A living Savior met him, delivered him from himself and a miserable life of abuse and misery and gave him joy, peace and daily pours out to him the desires of his heart.
I have had wonderful teaching this week from Heidi, Rolland and Winnie Banov. The big wedding is this weekend and we are preparing for that. I will be going away the following weekend to the "bush bush" for outreach. I am nervous and excited. We have a big project due Monday that we are all working on. We have been assigned a scripture and we are to show how someone from the "underside" or the marginalized would view that scripture differently than we. We are trying to do a video and if it turns out I will post it when I return.
Eating too well...still loving it here...not much time for snorkeling, trying to run the beach each morning...May have opportunity to help build a home for someone. I will keep you posted on that.
If you see Catherine, Gracie, Carson or any of the Eavenson trio, give them hugs and kisses for me.
I had a traditional Kenyan meal this week with two of the students who are from there and live in the bush. They told amazing stories about elephants and pythons and life in the bush. The meal was very good. They both breezed around the little kitchen and meticulously prepared our meal. They purchased two large guinea fowl- one of which I watched Tamara (my roommate from Holland) saw its head off while alive. The knife was dull. They prepared the fowl and put it in a big pot with lots of spices, tomatos, peppers, garlic, onion and potatoes. We also had fresh greens that were my favorite. They served this along with a huge slice of rice type stuff that was in the form of a cake and we used that to sop up the juices.
Robert told us the story of his chipped tooth. He told us how he used to drink a lot and go to the disco and was drunk all the time. He was in a head on collision with another vehicle and four people died instantly. God met him there, no religion, duty, obligation, guilt or remorse. Just the simple message of a Savior meeting him there on that road in that experience and now he is changed. The change is real, true and pure. His faith is not tainted or jaded. A living Savior met him, delivered him from himself and a miserable life of abuse and misery and gave him joy, peace and daily pours out to him the desires of his heart.
I have had wonderful teaching this week from Heidi, Rolland and Winnie Banov. The big wedding is this weekend and we are preparing for that. I will be going away the following weekend to the "bush bush" for outreach. I am nervous and excited. We have a big project due Monday that we are all working on. We have been assigned a scripture and we are to show how someone from the "underside" or the marginalized would view that scripture differently than we. We are trying to do a video and if it turns out I will post it when I return.
Eating too well...still loving it here...not much time for snorkeling, trying to run the beach each morning...May have opportunity to help build a home for someone. I will keep you posted on that.
If you see Catherine, Gracie, Carson or any of the Eavenson trio, give them hugs and kisses for me.
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