Greetings from Pemba, Mozambique! We have now been here at the Iris base for 3 weeks and have 4 more weeks to go! Our desire is to keep you posted on how our time is going and how we have been seeing Jesus touch our lives personally and touch others we have had the privilege of ministering to.
First, we had a great time in Maputo at the Iris base called Zimpeto. Elizabeth was there for 2+ weeks and I, Timothy, joined up with her for the last week. We spent a good amount of time in the nursery with 6 adorable babies under the age of 2. It was a joy to play with them, hold them, feed them and love them. However, we spent most of our time with the children of the base, playing with them, talking and hanging out and eating with them. Our last night at Zimpeto we got a chance to minister to the missionaries and the presence of God was wonderful as we prayed for their hearts to be encouraged, spirits ignited with greater passion and fire as they serve God and pour into the lives of hundreds of kids.
We also went on an outreach to the Bocarria, which is 2 square miles of a trash landfill. We walked on the landfill looking for the people who live there surviving on the scraps of food. It was a very humbling experience to pray for several people who have so little and live in such horrendous conditions. Not only did the stench take your breath away, but the smoke from the several fires was blinding and heavy on our lungs. Ministry in my life has been mostly praying for people in churches and to pray for someone in these circumstances was quite different. In this moment I realized how much I have become so used to the normal church structure and the need for Christ to transform my heart even more to hold the broken, the homeless, the dying and the unlovely. This is something I knew the Lord wanted to do in my heart on this trip and I am thankful to grow through this process with Him.
The first 3 weeks has been great here in Pemba. We have gotten acquainted with the Indian Ocean that is viewable from the main Iris base. Every Saturday we go there with some of the missionaries to hang out with them and build better relationships with these amazing laid down lovers of Jesus. Every week we have been ministering on average to 6 missionaries/couples or Mozambican staff by praying for them for about an hour in or home. It has been amazing to see the Holy Spirit guide us and minister to their hearts through inner healing, processing upcoming decisions, relationship conflict and to pray for empowerment as they give several years of their lives to missionary service.
I have also had the amazing opportunity to speak to the 5th year students in the Mozambican Bible school twice a week. Elizabeth is offering her services as a photographer to take photos of the missionaries and the Mozambican children dorms. She also is helping our friends Steve and Casandra Soars start a vocational school on the Iris base. She also has the opportunity to teach at this school in the upcoming weeks. It has also been incredible to run into several people here at Iris that we have met in past years. One young man named Shri was at the meetings in India when I traveled with Global Awakening in 2008 and is now on the Harvest School staff! Several of the 270 students attending the Harvest School have come to us for prayer and desirous for mentoring. It has thrilled our hearts to see God connecting our hearts with so many people and the opportunity to pour our lives into others.
We will continue to try and give updates on facebook week by week. Thanks again for all of your prayers, encouragement and support as we pursue God with all of our hearts and pursue His calling on our lives. We love each of your dearly. May God bless you richly in the month of November.