...enjoying the prayer room any time night or day at the International House of Prayer-Kansas City...prayerfully waiting to hear back about a job I interviewed for Sunday involving a live-in respite position caring for a young woman who has had a stroke (I really want this one--believe it may be the "perfect job" I was asking the Lord for on Friday when I came across it!)...February finds me...gratefully accepting the hospitality of Lorelei Lyons, my Mozambique Harvest School friend whose room I am staying in until God opens the door to something more permanent...this is a beautiful house near IHOP and an answer to prayer!...
It finds me speaking at the Baptist Student Union in Rolla, MO, this Thursday about the gospel of the kingdom and God's hand in Mozambique....bringing my amazing new boyfriend, JJ Stratton, to St. Louis to meet my family!...(yay!)...
February finds me growing in excitement over the new waves of awakening God is bringing to the United States...anticipating and praying into another GREAT AWAKENING that will shake the intellectual humanism which has poisoned the Ivy Leagues and for Boston to be the Jericho that will fall and release revival to New England and all of America...!
God is doing a new thing in the earth, and I want to be a part of it. So Feb finds me asking...how...?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Nampula 10 Day Outreach
Warning: this is long and probably should be divided into chapters! And I skipped so much. :) So just print it out and put it in your bathroom or something and maybe you'll eventually finish it. :-P
Nampula 10 day seemed to get off to a rather bumpy start, between some miscommunications with Mozambican leadership, and having a translator who was not really present for the first few days (which no doubt contributed to the miscommunications.) Matt and I would think that we were finally on the same page with the Moz leadership and something else would come out that we'd had yet another misunderstanding! So we experienced some growing pains during the first couple of days, for sure. Cross-cultural Ministry 101!
When we arrived in Nampula we met up with Pastors Tanueki and their two teenage children, as well as nephew and two others from their church. P. Chico was waiting to connect with P. Tanueki to determine our plan for the rest of the trip, to come under P. Tanueki's leadership and what was on his heart for the region. One of the places P. Tanueki had wanted to visit with an outreach was Gile, in the northern part of Zambezia province. He was overjoyed that we were game to go there. After two days of driving, we arrived in Gile after dark to a crowd of church members lined up to greet us, singing and dancing. At first they said we wouldn't do an outreach that night, so we set up tents and cooked dinner. Then around 9:30pm they decided to do the outreach. Some of the team were already collapsed exhausted in the tents. Matt was game so Rollo went and they struggled to get the system going. The movie started around 11pm I believe. I was going to eat with the team and rest then try to bring a group over to help with ministry time. It was one in the morning and everyone was exhausted so I left it to Matt and decided to get some rest to be ready for the seminars and ministry in the morning. (You'll have to hear Matt's story of the evangelism!)
It ended up being a good idea to tag-team, and we did that a few other times. I was needed to translate for the women's seminar and again for the men's/church leaders. (That clearly shows how DESPERATE we were for translators!) Our main translator did the children's ministry with Lorena Wood, Rolland Baker's sister who we were very blessed to have join us as a last minute addition. For the women's seminar, I got to work with Florinda Tanueki and Harvest schoolers Cassandra and Jenny, and it was the highlight of my trip!
The church there has no pastor, and the night before I'd connected with the woman, Feliciana Domingos, who was hosting us, to learn that she had indeed BUILT the church, most of it alone (sozinha, sozinha, SOZINHA! she made sure I knew) and she said, without food and little water for a week! She kept praying for God to send help, and He finally sent some people and they helped with the roof. She was so grateful we had come! It helped me overcome a little of my tiredness to see how much it meant to her that we were there. This woman would love to go to Pemba and meet Mama Aida and attend the Bible school. She certainly has some of the determination of
Mama Aida. I'm so excited that they are teaching women now! Someone had given me a Portuguese Old and New Testament Bible before I left for outreach, and she could read Portuguese very well, so I was able to give her a Bible--the only one in the church!
Feliciana was a great help in facilitating the seminar, bringing up tough questions and issues the women in the church were struggling with. (What do we do if our children don't want to come to church? What if our husband started out in the church and now he's started drinking? What if he leaves? What is the church's stance on ceremonial circumcision?) It turns out, as she introduced some of the women, that she had really gotten the word out and several of the women were visitors from other Christian churches in the city. Florinda Tanueki shared about the husband being the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, and how to respect your husband and cause him to value you. I'd been told that there wasn't much affection between husband and wife in this culture, and that became apparent as she felt it necessary to teach them and share about many specific ways to show affection...etc.etc. Jenny's ears and face were getting red, and she didn't even speak Portuguese. :)
Then I got to help translate for the men as Fred Dykstra shared his powerful testimony and about men loving their wives and treating them with tenderness. Pastor Chico then preached a fiery sermon, continuing the theme. Our team came together for lunch and shared our experiences. Two groups had gone prayer walking and ministering in the village, one group did children's ministry and two helped with the seminars.
It was really cool in Gile to meet a Bible student from a nearby town who KNEW Matt and I from our school! Mariano recognized us shortly after we arrived. It struck me what an influence the small Bible school in Pemba was having all over northern Mozambique. Here we had driven 2 days WAY out there, and there is someone who knew us! Then it happened again in another town with another Bible student!
In spite of previous talks of staying in each place two nights, the pastors really wanted to minister in a village about 50 minutes back the way we came, so instead of back-tracking we decided to move camp. There was no established Iris church in Uape, but they had a Catholic influence so they had at least heard the name of Jesus. We set up the film outside of the main part of town, in an open soccer field right in front of the house where we made camp under the cashew trees. As often surprises me, people come out of the wood-work and we had a decent sized crowd. Our group worshipped and prayed during the film (after enjoying the most amazing lightening storm out over the valley!) and then a few of us gave testimonies. During ministry time, I was surprised that the healings weren't coming very quickly. I'm not used to having to pray two, three, four times and call in reinforcements just for a fever or stomach ache! We prayed a long time for a mute girl who did not begin to speak.
However, a large majority of the crowd wanted to receive Jesus!
I was able to see the fruit of it the next morning. Our plan was to wake up early, pack up, grab some breakfast and be off because we had a long drive back to Nampula province. We did the first part as planned, but then plans changed a little. Thirty-six people had returned the next morning to write down their names because they had received Jesus and wanted to be discipled! They wanted a church in their town. It was a mixed crowd: men, women, teenaged boys and girls, and even children. The pastors spent awhile talking with them, and then Cassandra did a great summarized teaching about the work of the Holy Spirit and we prayed over them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit! We gave money to P. Tanueki for the construction of a small church, and loaded up and were off by about 8:15am! We rode along the bumpy dirt road, laughing and singing and praising God for the Fruit. I couldn't believe all the Lord had done in that short time. :) Pray that God raises up a pastor to come to Pemba for training for that new congregation in Uape!
When we arrived in the next place to minister in the area of Niamoto, we were pleased to see more shady areas for camping, and to learn after 4 days of dusty traveling that there is a nearby "river" to clean up in! The river ended up being just a hole surrounded by tall grasses, but we had quite a little adventure as the local woman bathed us! :) Then the guys had a chance.
I had a great conversation with a critical member of our team as dusk fell which proved to be a huge turning point in him and in the week. He shared how God had convicted him for his "funk" and he really opened up to everyone and became an active participant in the group. I had just before this been pretty fed up and had it in my heart to just get through it and somehow "deal" with him. But God broke in and showed me again that He is not content for us to just tolerate each other, but to love each other and to go out of our way again and again if necessary to tear down walls and be reconciled and partner with each other. I'm so grateful for this breakthrough because as he stepped up a lot of pressure came off of Matt and I.
We were blessed to have the Tanueki's teenaged children to lead the worship for the evening evangelism, and their nephew and church friend to lead very vigorous dancing. I swear these guys had come across a Richard Simmons "Sweatin' with the Oldies" video somewhere. The crowd at the film seemed pretty lively, but as Angie G. and Krista shared testimonies, all eyes were on them. Angie's story of personal healing in comparison with the woman with the issue of blood who pressed to Jesus for healing seemed to tangibly raise the faith and expectation level of the whole crowd. Krista shared about being involved with witchcraft and the whole crowd admitted going to the witch doctor before she shared about the power and freedom in Jesus. We had an amazing ministry time! Countless people received Jesus and the majority pressed forward for prayer. The healings came quickly and joy on their faces was obvious as they were healed (which is not always the case.)
The next day we had a women's seminar again, as well as children's ministry. The men had dispersed by afternoon so we didn't get a chance for a men's seminar, but at least there is a church and pastor already established there.
The next night we went to show the film down the road. Lorena had helped throw together a play of the story of Jesus birth, which we acted with narration before it became dark. The equipment malfuctioned and we were not able to show the film, so the crowd began to disperse. Our team pressed the pastors to have ministry anyway, and finally as several people gave testimonies and preached, the people came back and there was some powerful ministry. We had a blast praising God on the way back to camp...."In the highways, in the hedges...I'll be somewhere, a-workin' for my LOOOORRRDDD..."
This brings me to one of the more spectacular things which happened on our trip. We had FOOD MULTIPLY at least THREE TIMES!!!
The first morning in Niamoto I'd bought some extra food items, thanks to Lorena's prompting, to make breakfast a little more of a treat: 50 hard-boiled eggs and a few huge pineapples that were really inexpensive, as well as enough rolls for 2 each since they were rather small. The 35 in our group all ate an egg sandwich and some pineapple slices. Then Ernesto, one of Heidi's adopted sons from the original bunch in Maputo, cut the remaining 15 eggs in half and began to distribute egg and bread to the groups of village children, women, and men who had gathered around our camp. EVERYONE ate.
I got to be honest, I was thinking, "what are you starting Ernesto when you can clearly see that there will not be enough for everyone," but thankfully, I just stayed out of it.
I'd bought a pig the neighbors had butchered (with loud squeals at 4am!) for lunch and again first we all ate and then we fed the villagers. Zito, the Pemba youth who served as our chefe de cozinha, told me later, "There shouldn't have been enough because the people just kept coming, but I looked and the rice just didn't go down and there was always more meat." (And I have to say, that was the best pork I've ever eaten in my entire life!)
The next day I just thought, well, we'll have to pack up camp and then drive for awhile until we reach a town where we can buy some bread for matarbichu, breakfast. Clearly, we won't have enough bread if any. I had bought 140 rolls, enough for 2 each person for 2 mornings, and I'd seen Ernesto and the others hand out rolls to all the villagers the day before. To be honest, I was just hoping everyone would have good attitudes about starting the day with a delayed breakfast because that had been a bit of an issue in Uape amongst some of the Pemba Mozambicans.
And yet there was a bag of bread and surprisingly full! We each ate a roll and again handed out rolls to the village children, women, and men.
At the time I was too preoccupied to make sense of what had happened these three meals. It really wasn't until the leaders were sitting together in Nampula a few days later talking about the week when Ernesto and I were talking and I put some math with what we had seen. It was really convicting--it doesn't matter what awesome stuff God does, it takes eyes to see and ears to hear to really recognize His hand. At that time Ernesto said, "we should feed the Nampula church after service tomorrow." My initial thought of course was, how are we going to have enough? And then I laughed. How silly. God's heart is clearly to feed the hungry, and how do we see His provision unless we are willing to go out on a limb?
We also built a latrina at this church since there wasn't one in the area, and then we had a great public health address given by our lovely nurse Mandy, with the aid of Garrett's amazing graphic drawings, and Eric was only to happy to provide further visuals, acting out how to USE said latrine. :)
So we had a great service at the Tanueki's big church in Nampula city on Sunday morning, and after an hour of vigorous dancing showed the Christmas drama again. Pastor Chico preached. Finally it was time for lunch. As I looked at the crowd and the two pots of arroz e feijão I thought, we'll serve the church but I think our group may have to fast until dinner...and OF COURSE, EVERYONE ate, first the church and then us, and at the end village kids kept coming in off the streets to eat, and women were taking tons of leftovers home wrapped up in whatever they could find. God is always better than I give Him credit for.
A mighty rainstorm pelted the tin roofed church for a long time before Matt and our camion of supply shoppers returned to the church. It was just as well, it was better to be in the shelter of the church than back at the chicken farm.
When we returned, several tents were flooded out, but God blessed us again through the owner of the farm as he graciously opened his home to about six people for the night, and also gave us use of two HOT-WATER showers! Yes, at this point clearly the most difficult parts of our 10 day were in the past. :) After the heat of Gile, we camped in the shade for the rest of the trip, and when clouds rolled in Thursday night from Friday on through to our last night, Tuesday, the weather was in the beautiful 70s, even dipping into the 60s.
I had prophesied in one of our prep prayer meetings that this trip would be like ministering in the cool of the day as opposed to the heat of the battle (like Matt's difficult color group outreach when it was horribly hot and people were dropping like flies). I have to say the second morning when we woke up in Gile and it was so hot, I was like, huh? Maybe got that one wrong. But after that morning we didn't wake up hot for the rest of the trip, which is quite a small miracle in itself. God was so gracious to us. (Niassa/Tete groups, please don't hate us!)
The last two nights we set out from the chicken farm to towns 70 or 80 km away. Again, spiritually hungry, hungry people were fed. The second night the sound messed up again and Ernesto actually narrated the film as people watched it. In our weakness He is glorified!
One of the most powerful moments of the week was our goodbye service in Nampula church just before setting off back to Pemba. First Pastor Tanueki and then Florinda shared at how touched they were by our group. They said over and over how thankful they were to have food and water, to feel a spirit of unity with our group, that we were willing to go wherever they felt called to minister, even as far as Gile, and that they were treated with respect. They were very emotional and near tears as they mentioned past groups of internationals and Mozambicans from Pemba who did not supply them with water, and made them eat last and even comments that made them feel worse than slaves. Apparently there are some more deep seated issues between the Makua from Cabo Delgado and those in Nampula, that the northern people thinks of the Nampula people as lower than themselves. The humility and acceptance and love which they had treated us with from the beginning of the trip was magnified as I realized how they had set aside their feelings in agreeing to partner with us on this trip when they had such hurt from past experiences. All week we had no idea. As they spoke there 20 year old son began weeping with wrenching sobs. We prayed over all of them as they wept. God really used this trip to begin tearing down walls between Pemba believers and Nampula believers as well as missionaries.
It wasn't until we were riding home when God brought back to mind my spiritual encounter the night before. I had even mentioned it to Randy that morning before we left the camp in case his group had any nightmares or any encounters.
I was sleeping in my tent when I felt the presence of terrible evil over me. It was strong and fearful, like I've never felt before. I had a sense that it was two principalities over the area. (I don't know how I knew this.) I knew all I had to do was say the name of Jesus, but it was like I couldn't even talk. Finally, I told myself to just whisper, and I whispered, "Yesu, Yesu, Yesu" a little easier each time, and as I said His name, the heaviness lifted off of me and moved a little back toward my feet. And suddenly I said, "I bind the spirit of rejection! I bind the spirit of rejection! In the name of Jesus" and then it tried to come back and I said "In the name of Jesus" a few times "I bind the spirit of rejection" and it went away. I lay in my tent, I don't think I opened my eyes the whole time, and just prayed for the peace of God so that I could fall back asleep, and I felt safe and fell right asleep.
When this came to mind the next day as we were leaving camp, I was like, "Wow. What was that? That was freaky." "Full-on" you might say, Sarah. I'd never experienced anything like that. And I don't know why I bound the spirit of REJECTION. It seemed pretty random. But later on the way home, God connected it with what took place in the church. He wants to bring healing to the spirit of rejection the Nampula Makua are living under, and it begins in the church.
Then I was just thankful God let me participate in a new way and have greater insight into the spiritual warfare that is going on in the region.
Our trip may have gotten to a rocky start, but the camion roof ripped all the way down as the sun was beginning to set, and we took it off in Alua just in time for the spectacular African sunset behind the magnificent iselbergs! It was like a gift from our Papa. We worshipped God and we were all full of the Spirit for hours as the camion made its way under the stars to Pemba. What a way to bring it home!
Nampula 10 day seemed to get off to a rather bumpy start, between some miscommunications with Mozambican leadership, and having a translator who was not really present for the first few days (which no doubt contributed to the miscommunications.) Matt and I would think that we were finally on the same page with the Moz leadership and something else would come out that we'd had yet another misunderstanding! So we experienced some growing pains during the first couple of days, for sure. Cross-cultural Ministry 101!
It ended up being a good idea to tag-team, and we did that a few other times. I was needed to translate for the women's seminar and again for the men's/church leaders. (That clearly shows how DESPERATE we were for translators!) Our main translator did the children's ministry with Lorena Wood, Rolland Baker's sister who we were very blessed to have join us as a last minute addition. For the women's seminar, I got to work with Florinda Tanueki and Harvest schoolers Cassandra and Jenny, and it was the highlight of my trip!
The church there has no pastor, and the night before I'd connected with the woman, Feliciana Domingos, who was hosting us, to learn that she had indeed BUILT the church, most of it alone (sozinha, sozinha, SOZINHA! she made sure I knew) and she said, without food and little water for a week! She kept praying for God to send help, and He finally sent some people and they helped with the roof. She was so grateful we had come! It helped me overcome a little of my tiredness to see how much it meant to her that we were there. This woman would love to go to Pemba and meet Mama Aida and attend the Bible school. She certainly has some of the determination of
Mama Aida. I'm so excited that they are teaching women now! Someone had given me a Portuguese Old and New Testament Bible before I left for outreach, and she could read Portuguese very well, so I was able to give her a Bible--the only one in the church!
Feliciana was a great help in facilitating the seminar, bringing up tough questions and issues the women in the church were struggling with. (What do we do if our children don't want to come to church? What if our husband started out in the church and now he's started drinking? What if he leaves? What is the church's stance on ceremonial circumcision?) It turns out, as she introduced some of the women, that she had really gotten the word out and several of the women were visitors from other Christian churches in the city. Florinda Tanueki shared about the husband being the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, and how to respect your husband and cause him to value you. I'd been told that there wasn't much affection between husband and wife in this culture, and that became apparent as she felt it necessary to teach them and share about many specific ways to show affection...etc.etc. Jenny's ears and face were getting red, and she didn't even speak Portuguese. :)
Then I got to help translate for the men as Fred Dykstra shared his powerful testimony and about men loving their wives and treating them with tenderness. Pastor Chico then preached a fiery sermon, continuing the theme. Our team came together for lunch and shared our experiences. Two groups had gone prayer walking and ministering in the village, one group did children's ministry and two helped with the seminars.
It was really cool in Gile to meet a Bible student from a nearby town who KNEW Matt and I from our school! Mariano recognized us shortly after we arrived. It struck me what an influence the small Bible school in Pemba was having all over northern Mozambique. Here we had driven 2 days WAY out there, and there is someone who knew us! Then it happened again in another town with another Bible student!
In spite of previous talks of staying in each place two nights, the pastors really wanted to minister in a village about 50 minutes back the way we came, so instead of back-tracking we decided to move camp. There was no established Iris church in Uape, but they had a Catholic influence so they had at least heard the name of Jesus. We set up the film outside of the main part of town, in an open soccer field right in front of the house where we made camp under the cashew trees. As often surprises me, people come out of the wood-work and we had a decent sized crowd. Our group worshipped and prayed during the film (after enjoying the most amazing lightening storm out over the valley!) and then a few of us gave testimonies. During ministry time, I was surprised that the healings weren't coming very quickly. I'm not used to having to pray two, three, four times and call in reinforcements just for a fever or stomach ache! We prayed a long time for a mute girl who did not begin to speak.
However, a large majority of the crowd wanted to receive Jesus!
I was able to see the fruit of it the next morning. Our plan was to wake up early, pack up, grab some breakfast and be off because we had a long drive back to Nampula province. We did the first part as planned, but then plans changed a little. Thirty-six people had returned the next morning to write down their names because they had received Jesus and wanted to be discipled! They wanted a church in their town. It was a mixed crowd: men, women, teenaged boys and girls, and even children. The pastors spent awhile talking with them, and then Cassandra did a great summarized teaching about the work of the Holy Spirit and we prayed over them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit! We gave money to P. Tanueki for the construction of a small church, and loaded up and were off by about 8:15am! We rode along the bumpy dirt road, laughing and singing and praising God for the Fruit. I couldn't believe all the Lord had done in that short time. :) Pray that God raises up a pastor to come to Pemba for training for that new congregation in Uape!
I had a great conversation with a critical member of our team as dusk fell which proved to be a huge turning point in him and in the week. He shared how God had convicted him for his "funk" and he really opened up to everyone and became an active participant in the group. I had just before this been pretty fed up and had it in my heart to just get through it and somehow "deal" with him. But God broke in and showed me again that He is not content for us to just tolerate each other, but to love each other and to go out of our way again and again if necessary to tear down walls and be reconciled and partner with each other. I'm so grateful for this breakthrough because as he stepped up a lot of pressure came off of Matt and I.
We were blessed to have the Tanueki's teenaged children to lead the worship for the evening evangelism, and their nephew and church friend to lead very vigorous dancing. I swear these guys had come across a Richard Simmons "Sweatin' with the Oldies" video somewhere. The crowd at the film seemed pretty lively, but as Angie G. and Krista shared testimonies, all eyes were on them. Angie's story of personal healing in comparison with the woman with the issue of blood who pressed to Jesus for healing seemed to tangibly raise the faith and expectation level of the whole crowd. Krista shared about being involved with witchcraft and the whole crowd admitted going to the witch doctor before she shared about the power and freedom in Jesus. We had an amazing ministry time! Countless people received Jesus and the majority pressed forward for prayer. The healings came quickly and joy on their faces was obvious as they were healed (which is not always the case.)
The next day we had a women's seminar again, as well as children's ministry. The men had dispersed by afternoon so we didn't get a chance for a men's seminar, but at least there is a church and pastor already established there.
The next night we went to show the film down the road. Lorena had helped throw together a play of the story of Jesus birth, which we acted with narration before it became dark. The equipment malfuctioned and we were not able to show the film, so the crowd began to disperse. Our team pressed the pastors to have ministry anyway, and finally as several people gave testimonies and preached, the people came back and there was some powerful ministry. We had a blast praising God on the way back to camp...."In the highways, in the hedges...I'll be somewhere, a-workin' for my LOOOORRRDDD..."
This brings me to one of the more spectacular things which happened on our trip. We had FOOD MULTIPLY at least THREE TIMES!!!
The first morning in Niamoto I'd bought some extra food items, thanks to Lorena's prompting, to make breakfast a little more of a treat: 50 hard-boiled eggs and a few huge pineapples that were really inexpensive, as well as enough rolls for 2 each since they were rather small. The 35 in our group all ate an egg sandwich and some pineapple slices. Then Ernesto, one of Heidi's adopted sons from the original bunch in Maputo, cut the remaining 15 eggs in half and began to distribute egg and bread to the groups of village children, women, and men who had gathered around our camp. EVERYONE ate.
I got to be honest, I was thinking, "what are you starting Ernesto when you can clearly see that there will not be enough for everyone," but thankfully, I just stayed out of it.
I'd bought a pig the neighbors had butchered (with loud squeals at 4am!) for lunch and again first we all ate and then we fed the villagers. Zito, the Pemba youth who served as our chefe de cozinha, told me later, "There shouldn't have been enough because the people just kept coming, but I looked and the rice just didn't go down and there was always more meat." (And I have to say, that was the best pork I've ever eaten in my entire life!)
The next day I just thought, well, we'll have to pack up camp and then drive for awhile until we reach a town where we can buy some bread for matarbichu, breakfast. Clearly, we won't have enough bread if any. I had bought 140 rolls, enough for 2 each person for 2 mornings, and I'd seen Ernesto and the others hand out rolls to all the villagers the day before. To be honest, I was just hoping everyone would have good attitudes about starting the day with a delayed breakfast because that had been a bit of an issue in Uape amongst some of the Pemba Mozambicans.
And yet there was a bag of bread and surprisingly full! We each ate a roll and again handed out rolls to the village children, women, and men.
At the time I was too preoccupied to make sense of what had happened these three meals. It really wasn't until the leaders were sitting together in Nampula a few days later talking about the week when Ernesto and I were talking and I put some math with what we had seen. It was really convicting--it doesn't matter what awesome stuff God does, it takes eyes to see and ears to hear to really recognize His hand. At that time Ernesto said, "we should feed the Nampula church after service tomorrow." My initial thought of course was, how are we going to have enough? And then I laughed. How silly. God's heart is clearly to feed the hungry, and how do we see His provision unless we are willing to go out on a limb?
So we had a great service at the Tanueki's big church in Nampula city on Sunday morning, and after an hour of vigorous dancing showed the Christmas drama again. Pastor Chico preached. Finally it was time for lunch. As I looked at the crowd and the two pots of arroz e feijão I thought, we'll serve the church but I think our group may have to fast until dinner...and OF COURSE, EVERYONE ate, first the church and then us, and at the end village kids kept coming in off the streets to eat, and women were taking tons of leftovers home wrapped up in whatever they could find. God is always better than I give Him credit for.
A mighty rainstorm pelted the tin roofed church for a long time before Matt and our camion of supply shoppers returned to the church. It was just as well, it was better to be in the shelter of the church than back at the chicken farm.
When we returned, several tents were flooded out, but God blessed us again through the owner of the farm as he graciously opened his home to about six people for the night, and also gave us use of two HOT-WATER showers! Yes, at this point clearly the most difficult parts of our 10 day were in the past. :) After the heat of Gile, we camped in the shade for the rest of the trip, and when clouds rolled in Thursday night from Friday on through to our last night, Tuesday, the weather was in the beautiful 70s, even dipping into the 60s.
I had prophesied in one of our prep prayer meetings that this trip would be like ministering in the cool of the day as opposed to the heat of the battle (like Matt's difficult color group outreach when it was horribly hot and people were dropping like flies). I have to say the second morning when we woke up in Gile and it was so hot, I was like, huh? Maybe got that one wrong. But after that morning we didn't wake up hot for the rest of the trip, which is quite a small miracle in itself. God was so gracious to us. (Niassa/Tete groups, please don't hate us!)
One of the most powerful moments of the week was our goodbye service in Nampula church just before setting off back to Pemba. First Pastor Tanueki and then Florinda shared at how touched they were by our group. They said over and over how thankful they were to have food and water, to feel a spirit of unity with our group, that we were willing to go wherever they felt called to minister, even as far as Gile, and that they were treated with respect. They were very emotional and near tears as they mentioned past groups of internationals and Mozambicans from Pemba who did not supply them with water, and made them eat last and even comments that made them feel worse than slaves. Apparently there are some more deep seated issues between the Makua from Cabo Delgado and those in Nampula, that the northern people thinks of the Nampula people as lower than themselves. The humility and acceptance and love which they had treated us with from the beginning of the trip was magnified as I realized how they had set aside their feelings in agreeing to partner with us on this trip when they had such hurt from past experiences. All week we had no idea. As they spoke there 20 year old son began weeping with wrenching sobs. We prayed over all of them as they wept. God really used this trip to begin tearing down walls between Pemba believers and Nampula believers as well as missionaries.
It wasn't until we were riding home when God brought back to mind my spiritual encounter the night before. I had even mentioned it to Randy that morning before we left the camp in case his group had any nightmares or any encounters.
I was sleeping in my tent when I felt the presence of terrible evil over me. It was strong and fearful, like I've never felt before. I had a sense that it was two principalities over the area. (I don't know how I knew this.) I knew all I had to do was say the name of Jesus, but it was like I couldn't even talk. Finally, I told myself to just whisper, and I whispered, "Yesu, Yesu, Yesu" a little easier each time, and as I said His name, the heaviness lifted off of me and moved a little back toward my feet. And suddenly I said, "I bind the spirit of rejection! I bind the spirit of rejection! In the name of Jesus" and then it tried to come back and I said "In the name of Jesus" a few times "I bind the spirit of rejection" and it went away. I lay in my tent, I don't think I opened my eyes the whole time, and just prayed for the peace of God so that I could fall back asleep, and I felt safe and fell right asleep.
When this came to mind the next day as we were leaving camp, I was like, "Wow. What was that? That was freaky." "Full-on" you might say, Sarah. I'd never experienced anything like that. And I don't know why I bound the spirit of REJECTION. It seemed pretty random. But later on the way home, God connected it with what took place in the church. He wants to bring healing to the spirit of rejection the Nampula Makua are living under, and it begins in the church.
Then I was just thankful God let me participate in a new way and have greater insight into the spiritual warfare that is going on in the region.
Our trip may have gotten to a rocky start, but the camion roof ripped all the way down as the sun was beginning to set, and we took it off in Alua just in time for the spectacular African sunset behind the magnificent iselbergs! It was like a gift from our Papa. We worshipped God and we were all full of the Spirit for hours as the camion made its way under the stars to Pemba. What a way to bring it home!
******************************
For my part, I think the trip was God's tailer-made plan for me called "How to Kill Angie Softly in 10 Days". He surely revealed my weakness to me in a new depth, as well as His strength. He showed me how much I need Him, in order to show the simplest kindness to anyone. That it is from Him and not from any goodness of my own. Thank you, Matt, for being patient with me when I was crabby and just wanted to throw myself on the ground like a baby who just spilled Kool-aide all over itself and have a good cry. God also brought ministering angels to me in the persons of some members of the team just when I needed them! Thank you, you know who you are. :)
The Gospel of the Kingdom
My prayer is that I would have LEARNED the lessons God went to such lengths to teach me. The truth about the upside-down kingdom--that it belongs to the poor in spirit, the desperate, those who allow no other props to get in the way. It is beyond reasoning. The One who gives all to serve all by going the lowest is given authority over all. The one who serves little, gives little, fights to manage what they've attained, is given little authority.
I have seen blind eyes open, lame walk, the deaf hear. I have seen food multiply on several occasions. I have seen hundreds of people receive Jesus at the same time. I've seen a church planted in a day, new believers eagerly asking for a pastor to disciple them. I've seen believers with one change of clothes asking not for clothing but for a Bible. I've met a single woman who built a church alone with her own two hands so that we would come.
Who did this things happen to?
They were all poor, unknown to the outside world, off the map in the bush of Mozambique.
The kingdom comes to the least of these.
And yet, I've also seen a white American girl healed of bruised and badly sprained ankle just in time to join a weekend outreach group. I've seen a white South African man healed of a badly torn ligament in his knee in an instant. I've seen a South Korean girl's leg grow out 1/2 inch to match the length of her other leg. These were all believers.
So God's kingdom is not only for the actual poor. It's for all those who call upon His name! The gospel of the kingdom doesn't mean I can only expect His hand only to touch the lost in Africa, or even the lost you meet in the supermarket, but even "rich" believers in America.
The Church in America is nearly as unreached as Mozambique, probably more so, when it comes to the Gospel of the Kingdom. We've been preaching the Gospel of Salvation for years. It is critical. But it is NOT the whole gospel which Jesus commanded to be preached in the whole world and then the end will come. I've heard it described as the door, say the front door of a house. You enter the House, the family of God, through the finished work of Christ on the cross. But if you don't understand the gospel of the kingdom, it's like opening the front door to a grand house and looking straight into the back yard.
Salvation is a gateway TO SOMETHING. To the Kingdom of God. A topic Jesus preached on more than any other topic. And yet something we consider so seldom.
For those of us who want to see what the House, the Kingdom of God, actually looks like, for those of us who believe and are hungry and nearly starving for the Truth of the Kingdom, a gospel that has the POWER to transform lives--not to just save the soul, but to save, heal and deliver--I invite you to read accounts of my personal observations during these past few months in Mozambique.
I wrote an update of the 10 day bush outreach I got to co-lead with another Harvest staff member, Matthew Hedges, and Mozambican pastors from Pemba and Nampula province where we ministered. I'll be writing more as the Spirit leads me to digest what I've seen and heard.
Thank you again for everyone who prayed for me. I needed every last prayer! And thank you for those who gave to financially support this. I know it is a good investment. ;)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Back from the Bush and On to America!!!
Howdy, friends and family! It's been awhile since my last update, and I can't begin to say how much God has done in that time! Right now I'm in South Africa preparing to fly back to the U.S. this evening. After so much, with the school and extended outreach, it's hard to believe HS11 is over!!!
I will be spending Christmas with my family in Colorado (praise God, it was actually $100 cheaper to fly into Denver!) and then stopping by Kansas City on the way back for the Onething conference at the International House of Prayer. I'm so excited to see family, and jazzed to be meeting up with so many friends from various arenas at Onething: Christian Outreach girls, Harvest School 10 and some 11 peeps, other friends from Rolla and Springfield. Fill me up, God! So I can pour out anew!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
More than Conquerers
Please lift me up along with the rest of the team as I will be joining my friend Matt's outreach group to travel a good eight hours tomorrow to the bush. We will be ministering in a place known as the biggest witchcraft stronghold in Cabo Delgado province. Iris had built a church there but a strong wind came from inside the structure and blew the four walls out. But we go in the knowledge that though the enemy is out to steal, kill, and destroy, his main weapon is scare tactics. We go in the knowledge that the blood of Jesus is stronger that any force that comes our way. We go forth in joy and love and confident we didn't send ourselves but this is God's mission and He has eveything in control.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Novemba' in Pemba --- Hotter still! :)
Blessings from Mozambique!! After several fun and adventure filled weeks, I have finally grabbed an opportunity to get some internet time and update you all to what God has been doing here at Arco-Iris and Harvest School 11.
The 24/7 prayer week ended with a celebratory worship service, and we all thanked God for breakthroughs and blessings He has given us individually and as a body. However, as the night closed, the Holy Spirit seemed to bring us to more intercession and expressions of hunger to know Him more deeply and to see true and total transformation in the neighborhoods surrounding the base as well as Mozambique as a whole. People have mentioned, even though we worship two to three times a day in the school, how much they miss having the prayer room going with the additional worship hours in the afternoons or evenings. I can just see a permanent 24/7 prayer house on the Pemba base, equipping and discipling missionaries and Mozambicans...and those same people who are operating as worship or prayer leaders or sound equipment or gatekeepers, after spending time seeking the Lord and getting full, being the same people going into the bush bush for evangelism and teaching and going into the barrios visiting people house to house.
Back in America, the whole house to house evangelism technique seems invasive and pushy. Here, people are honored to have a missionary visit them, and almost without exception want you to pray for them. It usually only takes a visit or two before they receive Jesus. Then continues the life-long discipleship.
But there are so few here to do the work!
More news on the front: I got to lead my first bush outreach last weekend! There was a marriage seminar for missionaries and students here in Pemba at the local hotel, so the two teams that went out last weekend were not the color group teams, but optional extra volunteers. A few had been on a 8 hour one way bush trip the weekend before, and they and the others carried the excitement and zeal that only voluntary lovers have. It was an amazing trip! I was so blessed by my group of 15 students, a few with noticeably more experience than myself. One has led six Discipleship Training Schools with YWAM, and he was always ready to fill a need. Our group had a very positive attitude, even when one student was up sick all night the second night, and a couple others were not 100 per cent.
The first night's outreach began (after a bout an hour of dancing, of course) with my team presenting a simple narrated drama of the parable of the wedding feast. There had been at least three drunk people coming up to dance with us earlier, and the idea that our heavenly Father is preparing a great party which they are invited to seemed to strike a chord with this village. The main pastor from Pemba, Pastor Jose, was with us and he used our drama to preach the gospel. It was well received. As the team prayed behind the truck, I kept my eye out. Sure enough, he went ahead and led people in a prayer of salvation as well as offering prayer for healing. Usually, we watch the Jesus film first, then present, preach, and pray. So I got the team ready and we prayed for some of the many who raised their hands for prayer.
One man the team prayed for had cataracts on his eyes. When I approached the group, he had already received some sight. They prayed and he received his sight and most of the cloudiness cleared up. He also was motioning about pain in his neck, so they prayed for that. They grabbed a translator and learned that his guy had an amazing story. In this mostly unreached area of Africa, he had never gone to a mosque and never gone to the witch doctor. He was raised as a Christian. (This is believable because the larger town we were just outside of had some Catholic and Assembly of God ministries.) We asked about his neck. The translator said, "The pain in his neck is gone. Also, he used to be blind and now he can see."
He had faithfully served God, and was so humble and so touched that God would heal him.
They wrapped up the prayer time and began the Jesus film. Our group congregated across the clearing under the stars, far enough away from the loud film and generator to hear each other, and far enough away for me to play guitar and lead some worship. We pressed in for a little while in prayer, that the people would be set free from addiction to alcohol we'd seen in the village and know hope, and then it was like something shifted and we had the victory and we were all filled with joy and just worshipped God under the million stars. They are so amazing when there is no electricity meaning no lights in the villages! They only showed 30-40 minutes of the film because it was late, so then we went up and prayed for more people and it was time to go. Pastor Jose talked about returning Sunday morning because, "Tem muito fame aqui." There is a lot of hunger here.
Saturday flew by. We had a church service I was asked to share in which was mostly an audience of children, some small group prayer amongst ourselves, children's ministry because there were constantly dozens of village children around our camp, and prayer walking/visiting in the town. We arrived at the evening evangelism town when it was still light. I was amazed to watch children fearfully run 100 ft away just when I moved in their direction. A large crowd of hundreds gathered instantly. All eyes were on us. The people seemed interested but apprehensive. While the sound guys were setting up for music and hte film, I decided to start some singing so I led our group in the 3 or so Makua songs I know, and then we threw together a drama: the parable of the good Samaritan. This involves us supplying someone who could tell it in Portuguese, and then we grabbed the local pastor to translate Portuguese to Makua. God had provided a few on our team with some Portuguese, including a Brazilian girl. Another was very good at telling the stories. She had a degree in Spanish but had just learned Portuguese in Brazil for one month in June! We were blown away at how quickly she had learned the language. After that was done, we decided to do another, and we had just neared the conclusion of the wedding feast when the music blared from our speakers and the crowd flocked toward the camion. Dancing began. I was so thankful for the fact I had been running so much this school. I was able to dance just about the entire time 2-3 times a day on outreach and really give it my all and not get tired!! (When I say "dancing," just picture jogging and jumping in place for 40 or 50 minutes at a time.)
Pastor Jose greeted the town and explained that this was NOT a political event. He then asked me to come forward and showed the apprehensive villagers that we both have eyes and ears and mouth and nose...five fingers...that we are both created by the same God, in His image...that there was no need to think we were different from each other. I could see the crowd visibly relax and nod as they realized it was true! (He also said some amusing things about that their babies are like "acunhas" (whites) at birth but they become black because they live in a hot climate...not exactly true, but what are you gonna say...? It was clear this was a commonly accepted theory. :)
Next, Pastor Jose welcomed forward the president of the village, who said a few words. We try to involve the chiefs as much as possible. The more they are honored from the start, the more healthy the relationship is in the future and it softens their hearts to the gospel.
We had amazing intercessory prayer this night during the film. God spoke to us and was really present and gave us a lot of passion for this village. We seperately had pieces of a puzzle--when Pastor Jose was praying earlier, I had seen a picture in my minds eye, just a flash of angels coming from all directions like time-lapse photography, from really tiny far away to huge and looming in a circle above the crowd, against the orangy pink sunset sky. It was a really quick thing like, "WOOOOSH" and then gone. (It reminded me of Daniel 9 when the angel Gabriel said, "As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given...") Then later when we were praying, one of the guys felt God wanted him to pray while he walked a circle around the crowd, seven times like Jericho. Others joined him and eventually we sat out in the clearing behind the crowd and prayed. One girl had a vision of a dome of angels over the crowd, and in the center was a circle through which the water and fire from heaven flowed down. This reminded me of what I had seen earlier, so I shared that. It seems like we were building from the initial circle of angels a dome as we encircled the crowd with prayer! :) Another had been praying for this area to be a safe place, where the people were shielded from any demonic manipulation and witchcraft and mind-control spirits, and could have eyes to see and ears to hear the Truth.
We went back to the truck and I woke the sleepers for a time of group prayer before the film ended. Just after they showed the empty tomb, but before they showed the living Christ, the projector overheated!!! Hundreds of villagers streamed away to their houses while we looked to see if we could get the film up and running again. Inside, my thoughts screamed, "noooo!" They need to hear the message of salvation still! But as Pastor Jose began to share, all remaining eyes were glued to him. The much much smaller crowd was completely quiet and still, a very rare thing on bush outreach. It was then I realized that the ones remaining were nearly all men and teenage boys. They are the ones who have authority in the village and in their homes in this male dominant culture, and if there are only a hundred for us to share with, the most strategic. I watched Pastor Jose speak with in fatherly tones, clearly and with authority. Many hands went up to soberly receive Jesus, including the man with the president of the village. Praise God! We had great expectations stirred up during our intercession, and I feel that maybe God needed to encourage us with more visions and words of knowledge and Presence THEN, so that when circumstances went awry we would see through that to His kingdom coming.
During the ministry time, we got to pray for a deaf mute whose hearing and speach improved noticeably! He was beaming. May God continue that healing. I got to pray for several others, a young woman, a teenage girl, a little boy...they were all sick and very miserable looking. Afterwards, they were beaming. It was such a joy!!! Sometimes on outreach even when they get healed they don't show much joy because they think you are going to charge them money for it like the witch doctor and they are very poor so they might try to hide the healing. But when you assure them it is free and encourage them to thank Jesus, it is so much fun to see the transformation in their faces!
Sunday morning we returned to the village we ministered to the first night. We did a "teatro" of the parable of the sower (after an hour of dancing/worship of course), and again Pastor Jose preached off of it. There was a great response, and many were healed. I got to pray for an older woman who could barely see and each time we prayed she could see farther and farther! Each time the smile on her face grew. Her leg was healed, and she began stomping it on the ground and laughing. My friend Naomi behind me prayed for a woman with a big goiter on the back of her leg and it shrunk down and went smooth. I prayed for a woman who was very demonized and kept being disruptive and swinging a stick randomly. The children and crowd just laughed at her. My heart went out to her. As I held her hands she calmed down completely, but then suddenly she would strike out behind her and yell. She yelled, "Saia, demonios!" Be gone, demons. We were loading up the camion and I had to leave. It is hard to walk away when people are still in bondage. Apparently, during the church service a few of our group had prayed for her and gone to her house because they had said there were idols there, but they didn't really see anything. (Oftentimes the witchcraft fetishes, which are open doors to give the demons authority in someone's life, have to be destroyed before they can be delivered, or healed if the sickness is related to witchcraft.) But I have hope because God will not forget her. He sent us, and he will send more, and the young little Iris church is there, too.
Back at camp we loaded up, enjoyed our chicken lunch (thanks to the early departure, we didn't have time to make the beans so we had to get chickens. How unfortunate. :) The ride back was fun and seemed faster than the 5 1/2 hours out. We came back with spirits high. "Our God is mighty to save, He is mighty to saaaaaavvvee!"
This week since has had its challenges. I caught some bug from I believe contaminated water, and emptied my guts (for the first time in Moz) a couple times on Tuesday. It cleared out quickly but I still think its time to take some dewormer. Yum. ;) Then Wednesday we dug a worm out of my roommates butt cheek. (She was also on the outreach with me.) Many others from our group battled stomach bugs, colds, etc. Then Thursday another girl in my house was diagnosed with malaria. Only two from the school have had malaria, and they are both Lizzie! Praise the Lord, she has very close friends who have put themselves on a rotation 24/7 with her. They are amazing, fanning her when the electricity is out (we are on a generator now for about 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening), helping her to the bathroom, giving her meds, etc. God bless the Mercy redemptive gift people out there!!! I'm so glad for them. I have other school duties, and they have completely freed me to continue with that. I feel actually quite useless when I am home. They are so on top of it. I just get them drinks and make them pancakes. And give up my bedroom. She's in my room and I'm in her little one because mine is breezy and one of the toilets is right off it.
Today I had a fun swim at the beach and last night the directors of the school, Nathan and Sarah, made made a great goat curry dinner for my color group, so don't think it's all suffering here, either.
Praise God, I have an entire testimony about His provision, but this blog is really more about the outreach so I won't tell all the details but I will say, God knows our needs before we ask Him. I will tell you the full testimony soon. He has completely provided for all my needs for the extended outreach!!!!!!!!! I was asked to co-lead a ten day bush outreach with fellow staffer Matt, so you can please pray into that! I'm hoping to still have a couple of days to visit Jon and Carla in Dondo before I fly back to the U.S. on December 19th.
Thank you all for your prayers! Thank you for being patient with me while I'm out of contact! But please, e-mails (angieschachner@yahoo.com), texts (+258 823 131 029), and facebook messages very welcome! I don't have my own pictures, but I will try to get some from some students to put some visuals to all this!!
So please pray:
For Lizzie and pray no one else gets malaria!
For the upcoming 10 day bush bush adventure!
For health, as I now have a cold which is keeping me from sleeping all night!
Electricity to get fixed, as the generator 8 hrs a day costs Iris $1000/day!!!
Water -- The city is also on water shortage. (Bucket showers only.)
Praise for mostly very good health and increased fitness!
Praise for grace to lead with joy and peace!
Praise for financial provision!
For future direction when I return in Dec!
God bless you!
Ajira :) <><
The 24/7 prayer week ended with a celebratory worship service, and we all thanked God for breakthroughs and blessings He has given us individually and as a body. However, as the night closed, the Holy Spirit seemed to bring us to more intercession and expressions of hunger to know Him more deeply and to see true and total transformation in the neighborhoods surrounding the base as well as Mozambique as a whole. People have mentioned, even though we worship two to three times a day in the school, how much they miss having the prayer room going with the additional worship hours in the afternoons or evenings. I can just see a permanent 24/7 prayer house on the Pemba base, equipping and discipling missionaries and Mozambicans...and those same people who are operating as worship or prayer leaders or sound equipment or gatekeepers, after spending time seeking the Lord and getting full, being the same people going into the bush bush for evangelism and teaching and going into the barrios visiting people house to house.
Back in America, the whole house to house evangelism technique seems invasive and pushy. Here, people are honored to have a missionary visit them, and almost without exception want you to pray for them. It usually only takes a visit or two before they receive Jesus. Then continues the life-long discipleship.
But there are so few here to do the work!
The first night's outreach began (after a bout an hour of dancing, of course) with my team presenting a simple narrated drama of the parable of the wedding feast. There had been at least three drunk people coming up to dance with us earlier, and the idea that our heavenly Father is preparing a great party which they are invited to seemed to strike a chord with this village. The main pastor from Pemba, Pastor Jose, was with us and he used our drama to preach the gospel. It was well received. As the team prayed behind the truck, I kept my eye out. Sure enough, he went ahead and led people in a prayer of salvation as well as offering prayer for healing. Usually, we watch the Jesus film first, then present, preach, and pray. So I got the team ready and we prayed for some of the many who raised their hands for prayer. One man the team prayed for had cataracts on his eyes. When I approached the group, he had already received some sight. They prayed and he received his sight and most of the cloudiness cleared up. He also was motioning about pain in his neck, so they prayed for that. They grabbed a translator and learned that his guy had an amazing story. In this mostly unreached area of Africa, he had never gone to a mosque and never gone to the witch doctor. He was raised as a Christian. (This is believable because the larger town we were just outside of had some Catholic and Assembly of God ministries.) We asked about his neck. The translator said, "The pain in his neck is gone. Also, he used to be blind and now he can see."
He had faithfully served God, and was so humble and so touched that God would heal him.
Saturday flew by. We had a church service I was asked to share in which was mostly an audience of children, some small group prayer amongst ourselves, children's ministry because there were constantly dozens of village children around our camp, and prayer walking/visiting in the town. We arrived at the evening evangelism town when it was still light. I was amazed to watch children fearfully run 100 ft away just when I moved in their direction. A large crowd of hundreds gathered instantly. All eyes were on us. The people seemed interested but apprehensive. While the sound guys were setting up for music and hte film, I decided to start some singing so I led our group in the 3 or so Makua songs I know, and then we threw together a drama: the parable of the good Samaritan. This involves us supplying someone who could tell it in Portuguese, and then we grabbed the local pastor to translate Portuguese to Makua. God had provided a few on our team with some Portuguese, including a Brazilian girl. Another was very good at telling the stories. She had a degree in Spanish but had just learned Portuguese in Brazil for one month in June! We were blown away at how quickly she had learned the language. After that was done, we decided to do another, and we had just neared the conclusion of the wedding feast when the music blared from our speakers and the crowd flocked toward the camion. Dancing began. I was so thankful for the fact I had been running so much this school. I was able to dance just about the entire time 2-3 times a day on outreach and really give it my all and not get tired!! (When I say "dancing," just picture jogging and jumping in place for 40 or 50 minutes at a time.)
Pastor Jose greeted the town and explained that this was NOT a political event. He then asked me to come forward and showed the apprehensive villagers that we both have eyes and ears and mouth and nose...five fingers...that we are both created by the same God, in His image...that there was no need to think we were different from each other. I could see the crowd visibly relax and nod as they realized it was true! (He also said some amusing things about that their babies are like "acunhas" (whites) at birth but they become black because they live in a hot climate...not exactly true, but what are you gonna say...? It was clear this was a commonly accepted theory. :)
Next, Pastor Jose welcomed forward the president of the village, who said a few words. We try to involve the chiefs as much as possible. The more they are honored from the start, the more healthy the relationship is in the future and it softens their hearts to the gospel.
We had amazing intercessory prayer this night during the film. God spoke to us and was really present and gave us a lot of passion for this village. We seperately had pieces of a puzzle--when Pastor Jose was praying earlier, I had seen a picture in my minds eye, just a flash of angels coming from all directions like time-lapse photography, from really tiny far away to huge and looming in a circle above the crowd, against the orangy pink sunset sky. It was a really quick thing like, "WOOOOSH" and then gone. (It reminded me of Daniel 9 when the angel Gabriel said, "As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given...") Then later when we were praying, one of the guys felt God wanted him to pray while he walked a circle around the crowd, seven times like Jericho. Others joined him and eventually we sat out in the clearing behind the crowd and prayed. One girl had a vision of a dome of angels over the crowd, and in the center was a circle through which the water and fire from heaven flowed down. This reminded me of what I had seen earlier, so I shared that. It seems like we were building from the initial circle of angels a dome as we encircled the crowd with prayer! :) Another had been praying for this area to be a safe place, where the people were shielded from any demonic manipulation and witchcraft and mind-control spirits, and could have eyes to see and ears to hear the Truth.
We went back to the truck and I woke the sleepers for a time of group prayer before the film ended. Just after they showed the empty tomb, but before they showed the living Christ, the projector overheated!!! Hundreds of villagers streamed away to their houses while we looked to see if we could get the film up and running again. Inside, my thoughts screamed, "noooo!" They need to hear the message of salvation still! But as Pastor Jose began to share, all remaining eyes were glued to him. The much much smaller crowd was completely quiet and still, a very rare thing on bush outreach. It was then I realized that the ones remaining were nearly all men and teenage boys. They are the ones who have authority in the village and in their homes in this male dominant culture, and if there are only a hundred for us to share with, the most strategic. I watched Pastor Jose speak with in fatherly tones, clearly and with authority. Many hands went up to soberly receive Jesus, including the man with the president of the village. Praise God! We had great expectations stirred up during our intercession, and I feel that maybe God needed to encourage us with more visions and words of knowledge and Presence THEN, so that when circumstances went awry we would see through that to His kingdom coming.
During the ministry time, we got to pray for a deaf mute whose hearing and speach improved noticeably! He was beaming. May God continue that healing. I got to pray for several others, a young woman, a teenage girl, a little boy...they were all sick and very miserable looking. Afterwards, they were beaming. It was such a joy!!! Sometimes on outreach even when they get healed they don't show much joy because they think you are going to charge them money for it like the witch doctor and they are very poor so they might try to hide the healing. But when you assure them it is free and encourage them to thank Jesus, it is so much fun to see the transformation in their faces!
Sunday morning we returned to the village we ministered to the first night. We did a "teatro" of the parable of the sower (after an hour of dancing/worship of course), and again Pastor Jose preached off of it. There was a great response, and many were healed. I got to pray for an older woman who could barely see and each time we prayed she could see farther and farther! Each time the smile on her face grew. Her leg was healed, and she began stomping it on the ground and laughing. My friend Naomi behind me prayed for a woman with a big goiter on the back of her leg and it shrunk down and went smooth. I prayed for a woman who was very demonized and kept being disruptive and swinging a stick randomly. The children and crowd just laughed at her. My heart went out to her. As I held her hands she calmed down completely, but then suddenly she would strike out behind her and yell. She yelled, "Saia, demonios!" Be gone, demons. We were loading up the camion and I had to leave. It is hard to walk away when people are still in bondage. Apparently, during the church service a few of our group had prayed for her and gone to her house because they had said there were idols there, but they didn't really see anything. (Oftentimes the witchcraft fetishes, which are open doors to give the demons authority in someone's life, have to be destroyed before they can be delivered, or healed if the sickness is related to witchcraft.) But I have hope because God will not forget her. He sent us, and he will send more, and the young little Iris church is there, too.
Back at camp we loaded up, enjoyed our chicken lunch (thanks to the early departure, we didn't have time to make the beans so we had to get chickens. How unfortunate. :) The ride back was fun and seemed faster than the 5 1/2 hours out. We came back with spirits high. "Our God is mighty to save, He is mighty to saaaaaavvvee!"
This week since has had its challenges. I caught some bug from I believe contaminated water, and emptied my guts (for the first time in Moz) a couple times on Tuesday. It cleared out quickly but I still think its time to take some dewormer. Yum. ;) Then Wednesday we dug a worm out of my roommates butt cheek. (She was also on the outreach with me.) Many others from our group battled stomach bugs, colds, etc. Then Thursday another girl in my house was diagnosed with malaria. Only two from the school have had malaria, and they are both Lizzie! Praise the Lord, she has very close friends who have put themselves on a rotation 24/7 with her. They are amazing, fanning her when the electricity is out (we are on a generator now for about 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening), helping her to the bathroom, giving her meds, etc. God bless the Mercy redemptive gift people out there!!! I'm so glad for them. I have other school duties, and they have completely freed me to continue with that. I feel actually quite useless when I am home. They are so on top of it. I just get them drinks and make them pancakes. And give up my bedroom. She's in my room and I'm in her little one because mine is breezy and one of the toilets is right off it.
Today I had a fun swim at the beach and last night the directors of the school, Nathan and Sarah, made made a great goat curry dinner for my color group, so don't think it's all suffering here, either.
Praise God, I have an entire testimony about His provision, but this blog is really more about the outreach so I won't tell all the details but I will say, God knows our needs before we ask Him. I will tell you the full testimony soon. He has completely provided for all my needs for the extended outreach!!!!!!!!! I was asked to co-lead a ten day bush outreach with fellow staffer Matt, so you can please pray into that! I'm hoping to still have a couple of days to visit Jon and Carla in Dondo before I fly back to the U.S. on December 19th.
Thank you all for your prayers! Thank you for being patient with me while I'm out of contact! But please, e-mails (angieschachner@yahoo.com), texts (+258 823 131 029), and facebook messages very welcome! I don't have my own pictures, but I will try to get some from some students to put some visuals to all this!!
So please pray:
For Lizzie and pray no one else gets malaria!
For the upcoming 10 day bush bush adventure!
For health, as I now have a cold which is keeping me from sleeping all night!
Electricity to get fixed, as the generator 8 hrs a day costs Iris $1000/day!!!
Water -- The city is also on water shortage. (Bucket showers only.)
Praise for mostly very good health and increased fitness!
Praise for grace to lead with joy and peace!
Praise for financial provision!
For future direction when I return in Dec!
God bless you!
Ajira :) <><
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Harvest School 11 -- Hungrier Still !!!!!
It’s hard to believe it is already the 25th of October!!! My experience with the staff and students of Harvest School 11 has been nothing short of awesome. The students have brought such a hunger, Day #1 worship was at the intensity that we left the last school!!! The students mentioned sadness that this school was two weeks shorter than the summer one, but I said, “Well, God knows how long you have and He can accelerate everything so you get exactly what He brought you here to receive.” Acceleration has been so obvious, especially to the staff as we were almost all at the last school together. People often talk about someone’s ceiling being the next person’s floor, but we’re actually seeing it in an incredible tangible way!
The word spoken over me by the directors as they prayed for the staff on week one was, “grace, grace, grace.” And I’m happy to say, God has extended His grace for me to walk in some things I’ve always wanted and finally am walking in, such as waking up at 4:40am each morning Monday through Friday and running on the beach, then having plenty of time to clean up, spend in the Word, and have breakfast and get to class before 8:00am without feeling rushed. Some of you might know me well enough to realize what a miracle this is!!!! My normal schedule back home was more like, get up with 30 minutes to rush out the door and be 2-3 minutes late to work each day! Praise God. There have been two days, last Thursday and then this Wednesday, when I was so tired and decided to “sleep in” to 6:30am or so, and I experienced such spiritual attack both days! I asked for grace the night before, but the next day my perspective was off, and I battled voices of accusation all morning or on Wed all day. The directors were praying for me Wed when I mentioned I hadn’t gotten up like usual at 4:40am, and Nathan reminded me of what our guest speaker had said about life in the Spirit being like 440 3-phase power going through our AA battery flashlight systems. 440 Power!!! So I believe God is giving me the grace to get up--I pretty much have jumped out of bed at that time—but if I bypass the grace He’s offered, He’s allowing my protective covering to be removed to be tested by the enemy to stretch me and bring me unto maturity. It sounds harsh, but it makes me so happy! He loves me too much to leave me the same and is unrelenting in the work He’s begun to bring me to maturity!!!
So this Wednesday I learned the 24/7 week would begin Saturday, thus making Harp and Bowl training imperative for Wednesday night. After seeking God’s peace all day, as I headed up to the Prayer Hut I felt His peace. A majority of the school showed up to the training, and even though I’d never done it before, His grace was all over it! We had something like 5 circles of 7 or 8 people going around doing spontaneous singing and choruses and prayer leaders! People who had never sung much before by the end were having a blast!!! Praise God. Then Matt my friend and staff person in charge of the 24/7 prayer week, shared his heart on intercession and the night ended with everyone facedown in awe of God. I ended up doing about 40 minutes of worship just because no one would leave! And it was an extra meeting. They have school meetings with guest speakers Monday and Wednesday. This school is just so hungry!
Last night I led opening worship and Harp and Bowl (music and intercession) for the 24/7 prayer week, and our “rapid fire” prayer line had like 40 plus people in it! It took over an hour! Ha ha, so not so rapid fire. But the point is to get people praying, and wow, a spirit of intercession was on us for Mozambique like I hadn’t anticipated! It was powerful.
A new thing from last school are the worship teams leading 2 one hour sets a day, which I believe will energize our unity and prayers throughout the week, as well as stretching and releasing these “musicianaries” into new levels of anointing and authority in worship. Can’t wait to go to tonight’s sets and just be a part of the crowd and enjoy!!!
I could go on forever, but this blog is already really long. The worship training I’m doing on Fridays went really well this first week! Extra people keep asking if they can come if their Friday practical mission assignment is at a different time. My prayer is that when we start going on bush outreaches the week after the elections, many of the groups will incorporate worship and intercession in their days as they bring in the harvest!
God is doing so much in me and in the school, I could blog everyday! Maybe I will try, but the base internet blew out and it’s hard to have time to get down here to the hotel, or even if I do it may not be working. TIA, This Is Africa! God bless you all! Please comment, please e-mail, and please let me know what’s going on in your lives!!! I CAN check e-mail on my phone, it’s just hard to type a lot compared to a keyboard on a computer…
Angie ;) <><
The word spoken over me by the directors as they prayed for the staff on week one was, “grace, grace, grace.” And I’m happy to say, God has extended His grace for me to walk in some things I’ve always wanted and finally am walking in, such as waking up at 4:40am each morning Monday through Friday and running on the beach, then having plenty of time to clean up, spend in the Word, and have breakfast and get to class before 8:00am without feeling rushed. Some of you might know me well enough to realize what a miracle this is!!!! My normal schedule back home was more like, get up with 30 minutes to rush out the door and be 2-3 minutes late to work each day! Praise God. There have been two days, last Thursday and then this Wednesday, when I was so tired and decided to “sleep in” to 6:30am or so, and I experienced such spiritual attack both days! I asked for grace the night before, but the next day my perspective was off, and I battled voices of accusation all morning or on Wed all day. The directors were praying for me Wed when I mentioned I hadn’t gotten up like usual at 4:40am, and Nathan reminded me of what our guest speaker had said about life in the Spirit being like 440 3-phase power going through our AA battery flashlight systems. 440 Power!!! So I believe God is giving me the grace to get up--I pretty much have jumped out of bed at that time—but if I bypass the grace He’s offered, He’s allowing my protective covering to be removed to be tested by the enemy to stretch me and bring me unto maturity. It sounds harsh, but it makes me so happy! He loves me too much to leave me the same and is unrelenting in the work He’s begun to bring me to maturity!!!
So this Wednesday I learned the 24/7 week would begin Saturday, thus making Harp and Bowl training imperative for Wednesday night. After seeking God’s peace all day, as I headed up to the Prayer Hut I felt His peace. A majority of the school showed up to the training, and even though I’d never done it before, His grace was all over it! We had something like 5 circles of 7 or 8 people going around doing spontaneous singing and choruses and prayer leaders! People who had never sung much before by the end were having a blast!!! Praise God. Then Matt my friend and staff person in charge of the 24/7 prayer week, shared his heart on intercession and the night ended with everyone facedown in awe of God. I ended up doing about 40 minutes of worship just because no one would leave! And it was an extra meeting. They have school meetings with guest speakers Monday and Wednesday. This school is just so hungry!
Last night I led opening worship and Harp and Bowl (music and intercession) for the 24/7 prayer week, and our “rapid fire” prayer line had like 40 plus people in it! It took over an hour! Ha ha, so not so rapid fire. But the point is to get people praying, and wow, a spirit of intercession was on us for Mozambique like I hadn’t anticipated! It was powerful.
A new thing from last school are the worship teams leading 2 one hour sets a day, which I believe will energize our unity and prayers throughout the week, as well as stretching and releasing these “musicianaries” into new levels of anointing and authority in worship. Can’t wait to go to tonight’s sets and just be a part of the crowd and enjoy!!!
I could go on forever, but this blog is already really long. The worship training I’m doing on Fridays went really well this first week! Extra people keep asking if they can come if their Friday practical mission assignment is at a different time. My prayer is that when we start going on bush outreaches the week after the elections, many of the groups will incorporate worship and intercession in their days as they bring in the harvest!
God is doing so much in me and in the school, I could blog everyday! Maybe I will try, but the base internet blew out and it’s hard to have time to get down here to the hotel, or even if I do it may not be working. TIA, This Is Africa! God bless you all! Please comment, please e-mail, and please let me know what’s going on in your lives!!! I CAN check e-mail on my phone, it’s just hard to type a lot compared to a keyboard on a computer…
Angie ;) <><
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