First week in Pemba Mozambique

Hello Everybody!!! I hope everything is going great wherever you are! I don’t even know how I am going to tell everything that could be said without writing a book. Being here with Iris ministries and the Harvest School of Missions has been amazing. I will try to give you guys some basic ideas on what it’s like to give you a general idea and maybe draw a picture in your head. I don’t know if I am going to be able to post pictures yet but I will probably know by the end of this blog. I first of all absolutely love the fact that I don’t have any Internet or TV and get to enjoy what we were created for, fellowship with God and people. I will try to draw a picture of the Village of Joy (the base I am staying on) and then give some good stuff on what God is doing on the base and in the city of Pemba.

It’s not a joke when they say third world. If it were any poorer it wouldn’t be considered a city. The airport that we flew into was literally smaller than some houses in Allen. To give a background on the country of Mozambique, about 15 years ago a 25-year civil war ended. It left the country of Mozambique the poorest country in the world and not positive but I think more orphans than any other country as well. A huge percentage of the men were killed and much of the land was destroyed. It was said to be helpless by many people. It was also over 90% Muslim. Needless to say it is no longer a Muslim Country hahahahaha Jesuuuuuuus!!!!! It’s crazy to think that because one couple Heidi and Rolland Baker said yes to Jesus and wanted to prove the gospel worthy in the darkest of dark places, and ended up changing it into a Christian Nation.

Of course I still wake up sometime at 4 in the morning to the Muslim prayer call, but were at war what do I expect? We in the West must understand that the only way we are going to defeat the powers and principalities of Satan are with the Power of God. You aren’t going to affect even a village by trying to persuade the Chief with apologetics that Jesus is King. We probably won’t ever see you again. I know this is going to be shocking to many but many of these previously Muslim/Witchcraft villages would go to magic warlocks and witchdoctors when they were sick for many things because they respected his power. Lots of times they would go for healing and sometimes walk away healed. They were one of the if not the most respected person in the village. Natural love and compassion cannot defeat this kind of evil. Only through supernatural love and compassion received from the Father and through fasting and prayer like the bible sais can defeat demons and evil of this sort. I will give testimonies later but that is just an idea of what is still being fought here and around the Eastern world.

I live with 2 Mozambique pastors who are going through a bible school at the same time as our Mission school. I also live with 2 other Harvest students. I love my roommate from England. Hahaha I am seriously hoping I return with his accent. The Village of Joy consists of 2500 kids going to school and running around the massive play area or sitting in there home with their house momma. The staff refuses to call these kids orphans because they realize that once in Jesus we are no longer orphans, yet some still seem to act like orphans. Just like some of us Christians that act like orphans of the kingdom instead of sons and daughters, but I’ll get into more of that later. The village consists of many small concrete/clay houses, 3 large prayer huts, an outdoor classroom for the Mission school, a cafeteria, and a massive soccer field, with playgrounds and such. All this is centered on the large church where the Spirit hovers, especially on Sundays. They are currently building a medical center too. I will go more into the kids and what they are like and how beautiful/amazing they are later.

The living conditions are so bad for these people it’s ridiculous. We are currently out of running water and the well is now just about out of water as well. We have been out of water since Wednesday. Haha I have had three showers in the last 10 days and I love it. But basically if the water doesn’t turn on in the next day or two there won’t even be bucket baths, washing of clothes, hands or anything. Remember that none of this is to make us feel guilty or shameful but to get rid of the ignorance and enlarge our heart to love. They receive a piece of bread and tea for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch, and rice and a sauce of dinner. This is what I am eating as well except we get 2 bread rolls. Many of the kids and even Mozambique pastors where the same shirts for days and days because they only have two or three shirts. The town itself is dirt with random clay buildings and trash everywhere. My heart was so saddened.

The Lord taught me real quick to stop feeling sorry for many of these people. I asked the Lord what do you feel about these people and I heard in my heart say Kings and Queens. Haha I really don’t feel bad for many of these people at all because one day they will have more riches in heaven than a large percentage of the Christians in the West. I am not saying that to try and offend people but it’s the reality. They have nothing so for example, my Mozambique pastor roommate gets up at 5am and continues to read his bible for the past 3 hours straight. While most of us at home might spend 3 hours on the tv or wasting time with friends. Everything we do has an eternal purpose. These people aren’t just hungry for food but for God! We have to learn to train our mind to not be like the world and that means cutting off what is from the world. Or you could just live on the breadcrumbs from the table and just get by into heaven. Free will is a beautiful thing but also very sad.

 I could tell many many other things but I will wait until next time when I will get into the good stuff, like the kids, relationships, and miracles in hearts and bodies that are already happening in the base and outside at outreaches. I love all of you guys so much and I am so thankful for you taking the time and reading this and hope you can take one speck of help or wisdom from it. May Jesus’s love surround everyone!

Until Next time!

Joshua Trees