May 2014
This month of May has been incredible, to
say the least. At the end of April, a
new missionary family joined us full time from America - Tanya and Eric Weaver
with their two little children, Haley and Lincoln. Ready to serve in the areas of evangelism and
discipleship, they jumped right in with two feet as a team of 17 YWAM students
arrived May 1st! After enjoying a few
local outreaches and ministering to our local orphans, we all loaded up into a
rented mini-bus that seats 17, and our hearty 4-wheel Mazda truck, to a
district called Buzi for three days.
Prepared with tents and bottled water, we were ready for the deepest
"bush bush" experience! God
more than met our hopes and expectations.
Packed to max capacity, we had no room to carry any food with us. We figured we would buy food along the way
and cook when we could. The team
willingly sought first the Kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33) and He provided in times
and ways when we unexpectedly broke down, or were hindered by flooded waters,
forcing us to take long detours down footpaths which our local guides called
"roads" at night with grass growing on both sides 7' high! Twice, poor local churches had prepared food
for us upon arrival, which we didn't expect but were very grateful for. Not yet to our final destinations, a long
journey lay ahead of us both times with no opportunities along the way to buy
food or cook (unbeknownst to us). Our
Heavenly Father knew this, however, and took care of His children
perfectly.
We work together with our district
pastors and leadership, choosing new areas to preach the gospel with home
visits and showing the "Jesus" film.
Buzi was no exception with our district pastor and his wife, Jacob and
Cecelia. Every week they ride their
bikes for hours to new areas planting new churches. On this trip, we brought reinforcements to
two of these new areas. One church had
only been planted two months prior. The
few believers there were just baby Christians.
So we headed out in small groups with these new believers divided among
us, visiting all the homes in the area to pray for their sick, share the
Gospel, and invite them to the "Jesus" film that night. As I walked the neighborhood with my little
group, we came across an old lady sitting in front of her house barefoot,
peeling peanuts. We invited her to see
the "Jesus" film that night, but she said she couldn't come because
she was crippled. "Can we pray for
you?" we asked. "Yes, if you
want." she responded, not expecting
anything much. So we simply asked Jesus
to heal her. Afterwards, we asked if she
wouldn't mind testing out her legs and try to stand up. She said, "If I stand up, I'll fall
down!" We said we'd help hold her
up so she wouldn't fall. So she
complied, standing up gingerly.
"Try to take a few steps,"
we encouraged. She did, very
slowly with her back bent over. Then she
took another step, straightening her back a little. Then another, straightening her back more and
more, till she began walking upright and freely! A huge expression of joy and surprise came
over her as well as all of us! She
declared she had no more pain and began to laugh. The next day I returned with Pastor Jacob,
the local believer that was with me the day before, and a photographer from the
team, ready to do a video interview. But
when we arrived at her house, we discovered she wasn't there! So we interviewed the neighbors, a mother
with 5 children. "She has been crippled
for three years. But yesterday God
healed her! This morning she left early
and is walking around the village!" the mother said. See Video Testimony below.
This country is ripe for the Gospel. Jesus heals the sick and crowds come out to
see the film. Usually many receive
Christ when the invitation is given.
Then our district pastors organize follow up with the new
belijevers. In these last three weeks
we've gone to 12 different places, some more unreached and deeper into the bush
than others.
After Buzi, we took the YWAM team home to
our center where we did more local outreaches in our district of Dondo. God moved mightily again, as we saw
salvations just at our local bus stop and open markets while walking around in
small groups, sharing Gospel tracts with individuals, praying for the sick, and
praying for the Holy Spirit's guidance.
At one of the local showings of the "Jesus" film at the
neighborhood elementary schoolyard, the team prayed for a little mute
girl. Jesus healed her and her first
words were, "God loves me!"
Soon it was time to head out again in our
rented mini-bus and loaded down truck of tents and equipment - this time to the
district of Nhamatanda for three days.
This district pastor, Domingos, along with his district leadership, took
us to two unreached but very populated areas.
They hoped to plant two new churches after our joint evangelism efforts
there. This is exactly what happened! In both places, hundreds came to the film and
received Christ. Many were healed and
some were delivered of demons. Out of
this, two new churches were born, now led by two pastors from other areas
willing to take on another church temporarily until these new converts can
continue on their own. These new
believers aren't concerned about first securing a church building. They just sit on straw matts under a nice
shady mango tree in the yard of willing community members. Hungry to learn, they come eagerly with open
hearts.
After we returned to our center, we went
out one last time the following night with this team - to an unreached area
just 1/2 an hour from our house. (It
doesn't take much to get into the "bush" with no electricity, running
water, stores, etc.) We did our typical
thing - leaving a children's ministry team behind to teach and play with the
local kids that gather to check out these strange visitors! At the same time, our small set up crew gets
the film projector equipment ready with the generator, speakers, and the
portable screen of white sheets on two bamboo poles "securely"
planted into little sandy holes we dig out.
Music begins, attracting people hidden from our eyes as their huts blend
into the surrounding bushes and trees of this dense wilderness. The rest of the team heads out in small
groups, again dividing up with some Mozambican believers we've brought with us
and some friendly local guides. This
particular village was very spread out.
Because of this, we were only able to visit a few homes. I only expected a few people that night. However, as the film began, the crowd grew
and grew! Seeing my shock at the
swelling crowd, the pastor informed me, "Believers from another village
came here last week to spread the word you were coming." They must have walked from long distances
that night! The Holy Spirit showed up
once again. Almost everyone raised their
hands to receive Christ and many were healed!
We saw children with burning fevers healed instantly beneath our hands
as we prayed for them. Two boys, each with one blind eye, both received their
sight! Many with stomach pain
(parasites), neck pain, headaches and body aches with fever (signs of malaria)
were also healed. Once again a new
church is birthed! Follow up with
discipleship materials are on the way, along with audio solar Bibles for the
majority who don't read in this new area.
What an amazing three weeks - such an honor to be here. Jesus is alive and well!
Bless you,
Lorena
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