A Perfect Day -- from Heidi's point of view

 Check out this story written by Heidi about one of the outreach trips I was on:

http://www.irismin.org/news/44.php

This day WAS indeed amazing.  There are several witnesses that the Starbucks (of which I think I got the last cup!) truly multiplied.  Everyone got some!  And it wasn't weak. :)  Heidi's definitely got me with the idea that roughing it doesn't have to mean Ricoffy. 

The double wedding was interesting.  Heidi used it as an opportunity to talk very simply about AIDS prevention--faithfulness between husband and wife.  The couples were shy, especially the younger one.  It is rare to actually have a wedding ceremony in their culture, so they both had children together already, but solidifying the commitment sets a new precedent the church is bringing into the culture.  Many times, when the going gets rough the man will simply leave and find another woman.  It was beautiful to see how the church strengthens the family unit.

The whole wedding/church crowd moved across the road from the church as we began to walk the 20 minutes to the lagoon for baptisms.  I looked to see why several hundred people had stopped and gathered, and it was then I saw Heidi had lifted up the little girl, Joanna, with two hands.  Her mother and many testified she had never walked before in her life.  We celebrated and then moved on with the party down to the crystal clear salt waters of an ocean inlet, where singing surrounded new believers as they were immersed and raised up to new life in Christ.  I got the chance to connect with several visitors from France, England, and good ol Kentucky.  (Manuel, Bryan...! :)

After the last person was baptized, Heidi and Crystalyn and soon dozens of others took off swimming out into the lagoon, playing on the sandbar and apparently (which I found out the next day) leading those 6 village boys into the Kingdom.

After she took off back to Pemba for the children's birthday celebrations, my team split up into groups of about 2 foreigners and 3 Mozambican pastors and Bible students and we went house to house, praying for the sick and sharing the Good News.  The first person we prayed for was an old blind man my friend Taylor and I saw the day before and we wanted to visit.  After Taylor and I prayed for a little while, the rest of our group joined us in praying.  The man said that he was in pain all over his body from arthritis.  We prayed for him, commanding the pain to go and submit to Jesus finished work on the cross.  Pain left his upper body, but he said his legs still hurt.  So we thanked God and moved to praying for his legs.  We asked him to stand up and walk.  He said the pain was gone!!!  He began to walk very shakily and with each step he was more steady.  He turned around and walked back to us, a very different man than the one we had first approached, crouched over in pain.  Praise God!  I have to say, I was a little disapointed not to see his eyes turn from whitish-blue to gray to brown, but I'm so thankful he felt touched by God and loved by us due to the healing of his arthritis.  The pastors were able to share the Gospel with him more adequately.

This town had a great environment.  At first the night before people seemed not sure what to make of us, but by this day everyone wanted us to visit and pray for them.  It had a stronger Muslim presence than many other villages, but people were very curious and open.  It was the kind of place that had me wondering what if someone stayed for 3 or 4 weeks and just focused on this village....I'm excited for the young church there in Mecufi!