We only have 1 more week of classes left before we graduate! The time here in Africa has went by so quickly. We have classes Monday-Thursday and then we head to outreach in the bush Thursday-Saturday and graduate on Tuesday, Dec 6th! Then the next day we fly to Uganda for extended outreach. Phew! It’s going to be a whirlwind week, but we plan to finish strong :) We’ve really been enjoying the culture here and getting to know the Mozambicans better and better. We’ve so enjoyed hanging out with the Iris kids, as well as the kids from the village. They’re so special - full of joy and life. We’ve been able to build sweet relationships even without always being able to communicate verbally…love truly transcends all barriers. These Mozambican people are so beautiful - they are friendly, hospitable, generous and caring. It’s been a joy to immerse ourselves in the culture as much as we have. Iris is so big on incarnation missions - not going into an area to change it, but first going in and learning the language and building deep relationships, learning the culture and becoming one of them, rather than trying to change people into fellow westerners. It’s been beautiful to see it played out here at the base. So many well meaning people have done it wrong in the past, but God is raising up sons and daughters who are willing to lay their lives down and truly love and give of themselves to see the multitudes come into the Kingdom. We’ve been learning so much over the last 2 weeks. God is beginning to reveal more and give deeper revelation, however, we need time to process it all until we can put it into words. Although we’re learning a lot, this has been such a restful season for us. We know we’re being changed as we rest in him. He’s pouring into us…we can tell because we’re feeling like we finally have something to give and love to pour out on the people around us. It’s so necessary that we sit before Jesus every day and get filled with Him so that we have something to pour out - something real and fresh, new oil every day. However, let us not come to him just to receive something to pour out, but to KNOW Him. So often, as believers, we come to Jesus and ask him for things, then we get what we need and leave Him lonely. Could He possibly be the loneliest person on the planet? Think about that for a minute. I realize how often I (Erika) leave Him lonely and I never want to again. I want more than to get what He gives, I want more than seeing the sick healed and the lame walk…I want HIM. There will be many people that say on that day, “Lord, Lord, we’ve healed the sick and cast out demons….but He will reply ‘I never knew you’”…oh may that never be you or I. Ask Him to know His heart, to know what He feels about you, to share in His joy and sorrow…ask Him questions and allow Him to answer. Sit before Him and just be. He’ll change us in the process. :) I (Erika) wanted to share an amazing testimony from my practical mission last Friday…A few girls and I pray at the clinic here on base. Last Friday we had the privilege of praying over some of the patients. One person that we got to pray for was a little 4 month old baby boy. He had a hernia in his stomach and it was quite visible. So we began praying for him and we noticed that the baby was wearing a necklace and bracelet given from a witchdoctor. We learned that the momma had spent quite a bit of money at the witchdoctor for her baby to be healed, but nothing was helping. So we asked the momma to remove the bracelet and necklace and thankfully she did. We continued to pray and as we did, we watched the hernia disappear. Yes, disappear. We lifted our hands from the little one, and the hernia was GONE. Hallelujah! Then after that 2 other people were healed from pain in their bodies. It was so amazing the see and just the beginning :) Alex has had the opportunity of discipling a young boy on base. This boy has a had a very rough past - years ago a witchdoctor in the village told his dad to kill his mom so that he’d become wealthy. So this young boys father killed his wife in order to become successful. Apparently he did actually become successful for a season, but a few years later he died (What profit is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul? Satan’s tactics are always the same, it doesn’t matter which country you go to - he always promises something that sounds pleasurable but ends in destruction). In a moment this young boy became an orphan. Thankfully God sent a few of His children to Mozambique and this young boy found a home at the Iris base. Now Alex has the opportunity of pouring into his life. And not only him, but so many of the kids on base. Hundreds of the village kids spend their days here…the love of Jesus is quite attractive :) Life here is full...we can't take one step out of our room without encountering people and then once we step out of our student compound we're met with many, many more...but it's a beautiful place of the presence of Jesus and an amazing training ground for selfless living :) We're so grateful to be here! That’s it for now! We’ll post again before we leave for Uganda. Thanks again for reading and may you enjoy a wonderful, joy-filled week :) Pictures below of our time here in Mozambique!
0 Comments
I (Erika) have been wanting to write a post about some of the things God is showing me. It’s so hard to put into words what he’s doing in my life. Some days it feels like he’s doing nothing and other days I think he’s really on the move. Reality is, he’s always on the move but I definitely don’t feel it every day.
Although God has been giving me revelations about different things, the resounding message has been intimacy with Jesus. Yes, we may hear that quite often, but i’ve never heard it preached so strongly and exemplified so clearly. This whole ministry is built around loving Jesus. Heidi and Rolland drip love for Jesus and the message they constantly live and preach is, “ministry, missions, life…is NOTHING if you’re not IN LOVE with Jesus.” Everything is in vain if it’s not being done out of love for Jesus. Our lives were purchased on the cross for the sake of love…of living in deep union and intimacy with Jesus. I’ve struggled with this message for so long and God has revealed to me recently that one of the reasons I’ve struggled with it is because I haven’t really believed that I’m worthy of love and that Jesus would want me. Why would he? Does it make any sense? Not really, but he chose to create beings that he absolutely adores and something is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it, right? Well, Jesus paid a super high price for you and I. We had a 12 hour burn (constant prayer and worship for 12 hours) last week and during that time the prayer of my heart was, “I just want to see your face, Jesus!” and He spoke to my heart, “How can you see my face if you won’t lift up your head.” And all of the sudden God revealed to me that I will only experience as much of Him as I believe I can have. I have always felt so unworthy and when i come into his presence I keep my head down, thinking of myself as such a lowly creature. Yet I am delighted in! Rejoiced over by Jesus himself! He not only welcomes me into his presence, but he can’t wait for me to come! I need this revelation to penetrate my heart so much more deeply, but i’m on a good journey :) The hard thing about being in this place is that I can’t make anything happen. I can’t fall in love with Jesus. I can’t make revelation seep into my heart in a deeper way. I can’t surrender my life to Jesus without Holy Spirit helping me. I am totally and completely dependent on His Spirit. I am totally and completely dependent on His move on my behalf. Is this a hard place to be in? Yes, but at the same time, It’s a wonderful place because I get to trust His heart. I come into deeper understanding of who He is, not just what He does. I get to sit before him and depend upon Him. It’s a place of humility because I realize I can do so little to get where I want to be. I trust His good heart and continue to position my heart before him and surrender my life. Do I wish I could make something happen? Yes and no. I would like to fall in love with Him as soon as possible and experience all of Him that I’m desiring, but I am so thankful that He’s in control and that He knows the perfect timing. I’ve lived so much of my life trying and striving and it’s exhausting. I want to live in a place of dependency because that’s the place of rest, joy, peace and the impossible—where He can do incredible things through my little life because it’s laid down at His feet and He can freely move through me. That’s what’s been on my heart during the last week or so. When we were in South Africa the emphasis was on identity and that was amazing, too. We each wrote an identity statement and I’m trying to remember to proclaim it over myself every day. We become what we believe we are and the words we speak over ourselves are the most significant words—they have more power in our lives than anybody else’s words. I began to realize how much “death” I speak over myself without realizing it and I wrote an identity statement that proclaims truth in place of every lie I’ve believed in the past. Our authority comes when we know who we are and walk in that. I’m sure you’ve gathered by now that there’s a lot going on here and a lot being sown into us. Now it’s up to my good, good Father to make it all reality in my life as I submit to His heart! May God speak these truths to your hearts, as well and reveal more of who He is to you! We are enjoying life here in Mozambique! (I’m sorry we haven’t updated in quite a while. Life is busy here and our internet has been very sporadic.) We are living in a sweet little community of married couples on the student compound. The base here is like a little village - there’s a church, school, hospital, library, student compound, Bible school student housing, boys and girls housing, prayer huts, soccer fields…it’s an amazing, peaceful, secure base and it’s beautiful to see such life happening here.
Here, we feel like we’re in Africa. South Africa didn’t feel like it…when we wanted to buy food or eat out, we took a taxi to a western style mall a few minutes away, we could flush the toilets at the campground, take showers with actual water pressure, and eat ice cream whenever we felt like it (it was still quite difficult compared to normal western standards). However, now we’re experiencing real African culture and being immersed in life here. So our schedule here is quite a bit busier. Our day starts around 5:30am and we’re in bed before 10 every night. We have class from 8-1 or 2 every weekday besides Friday and then we have electives/group activities/outreaches in the afternoon/evening. Also, this base is bustling with activity. As I mentioned above, they have a hospital on base which sees approximately 100 patients per day. They also have daily feeding program for the children who live in the surrounding villages, they have a Sunday and Wednesday night church service, there’s hundreds of orphans-turned-sons-and-daughters on base and there’s also a large school. So there’s plenty of people to get to know and always something to do. We eat bread rolls every morning, rice and beans every afternoon and rice and fish or rice and matapa (don’t ask me what it is) every night. We’ve had 2 weeks of class so far, which have been excellent. Rolland and Heidi gave some amazing messages and they have already significantly impacted us by their lives. The motto and mission here is to “stop for the one” and that “love looks like something.” We’re learning to lay our lives down for the one in front of us and not be too busy to stop and love. We’re learning about relationship and the importance of prioritizing people over need and seeing people through the eyes of Jesus. We’re being reminded over and over again to first stop for the One who is the One and that our only job is to love Jesus with all of our heart, mind and strength and that everything flows out of our intimacy with Jesus. (I intend to write a blog post in the next few days to share more about what we’re learning.) We’ve been able to go into the neighboring village twice so far and we’re planning to go again this afternoon. Both times were wonderful experiences. The first time we went we got to pray for quite a few people and one sweet mama gave her life to Jesus (we’re going to visit her today.) Last Friday we went into the village a second time. We were told to go in groups of 4 and our requirement was to find a mama and bless her and spend the morning with her and her family. We weren’t sure how it would go since none of us spoke the local language, but we were excited for the adventure. So we set off into the village and as we walked, a mama walked up to us and asked us for prayer - her stomach and back were hurting so we sat down next to the road and prayed for her. She was on her way to the market so we walked with her and got to purchase some groceries for her. Then we headed back to her home and spent the morning sitting on their grass mat in the shade. We brought markers and paper along and played with the kids. Then the mama made us lunch on her tiny charcoal stove outside and prepared the food in her two (and only) steel pots. She made us Chema and beans (Chema is somewhat like grits). We ate Mozambican style - with our hands. One of the girls who lived in the house had a 4 day old baby! We held him (as he peed all over our laps ;) and blessed him! The mama was super thankful that we spent the morning with her and she welcomed us back any time. She said, “I was just walking to the market but I came back with family!” (One of the girls on our team spoke Spanish so we were able to get by.) We are learning so much from being here in Mozambique. The culture is extremely generous and relational. It’s an absolute privilege and pleasure for the people in the villages to welcome us into their home. They love to offer food, even though many of them have so, so little. They love hugs and prayers and sitting and enjoying relationships. We’ve also been able to get to know some of the amazing Bible School students (there are about 200 of them on base). Many of them have left their families for a season and given up so much to spend time being trained to go back to their village as pastors. (When Iris goes into an unreached village, they lead people to Jesus and build a church, then they train men of the village at the Bible School here to go back and pastor the village. They have an incredible model here.) A few nights ago we prayed for America with 8 Mozambican students. It was so touching to see how much they cared, they prayed with such passion that God would have mercy and crash into our nation. Then they asked us if we wanted to pray with them the following day. One of the guys asked us, “Do you want to pray with us tomorrow? We meet at 3 in the morning.” We responded, “In the morning?! Like, in 7 hours?” “Yes, we pray from 3-6am”, they replied. Wow. We have so much to learn. They wear the same clothes day after day because they have nothing else, but they are hungry for more of God. Sometimes the students come over to visit us - they love building relationships. We’re learning a lot but still very hungry to encounter more of God. Nothing else matters to us, so we’re crying out to him and surrendering our lives before him so he can really fill us. This is an amazing school and incredible ministry and we’re so thankful to be here. As I mentioned, I plan to write a post in the near future to share more about what we’ve been learning. Thanks for your prayers! Lots of love to you all! P.S. We want to say “thank you” to those who gave us donations—we handed them in and were thanked profusely and told that our donations were so very helpful and needed. So, thank you, to all of you who donated! You’re a blessing! |
AuthorA & E. Currently living in the USA but called to the nations for this season of our lives. Devoting our lives to His Kingdom Come... Archives
April 2017
Categories |