Perseverance

Wow the time has really flown by and there is only three weeks left of ministry. The time here has been incredible with many high points.

I have really settled into life here. There has been so much joy to be found in serving this community that have very little of anything.  How quickly I am used to the medical clinics:  the primitive environment and challenging ways of working to fully embracing it and seeing how it changes lives. I am seeing the same few people each week and despite the language barrier relationships are being built.  Bridget whom I work with says its perfect timing that I should be here now to treat the ones coming with hand injuries or infections. I am learning so much. A lady with a severe infection came and we literally had to cut her skin to release the infection, I know at home I would have been operated on instead but praise God she is also doing well.   

The children are becoming family and we get to see them daily. Little Madelina who is 3 but severely malnourished has been responding well to love and attention. She also has a learning disability maybe due to malaria although we are not sure. I met with another missionary who is an occupational therapist too and we have implemented a rehabilitation program for her and this week she started to eat herself using her hands, which are really uncoordinated. It was amazing to see this, we all got covered in food but it was an amazing achievement. She is such a beautiful girl and brings so much joy.  When we to the baby house I think we receive as much as they do. They are hungry for love and attention and are satisfied with so little.  In

I am seeing God in so many things big and small. Just being able to walk alongside those suffering, give some one water when they need it, or when a 4 year old girl asks you to pray for her eyes because she knows the love of the father to pray for her to be healed. Today I with some others baptized some of the men at the bible school here, what a privilege and honor it was, to see them committing their lives to the lord. It was fun in the sea here in Pemba, we were nearly knocked over by the waves!!

Daily giving up the comforts of life to fully rely on God has been so worthwhile but extremely hard initially.  If I am honest the initial shock of living here has been hard to deal with. Our accommodation still better than many in Mozambique but still really basic ……tough, the bathrooms were flooded with water for a week, which was gross but also then rife with mosquitoes. When it rains the water comes through the ceiling and sand/mud is everywhere, nothing is clean. We live on rice and beans, which has been hard on our bodies. We are so used to the comforts of home and when they are gone all that is left is God. We can choose to be glad with any suffering, as Christ suffered. We are to share in it or choose to miserable and count the days until you have that comfort back again. I have had my moments when I have moaned but I have pressed in and persevered against what my flesh cries out for and through it I have found God is sufficient even when there is no other comfort to rely on. I think this is so why those who have very little but know the love of God have all they need and can seem joyful. Wow what a lesson, I am learning that without out perseverance we cannot become closer to being Christ like! I have deepened my reliance on God, going to him first for all things.

I am excited for the next few weeks here as I feel I am through the main challenges and now I can rest and enjoy it all the more. 

Finally we reach Mozambique

We had an epic 2 day bus journey from Maputo to Pemba which stretched us all but we were totally sustained by the lord. The music was so loud pretty much all the way and only playing about 5 songs. We never knew when the bus would stop, and the toilet stops were at the side of the road. We unlike the locals who just jumped off and went wanted to search for a bit of bush but by time we did that the drier would honk the horn and so we would have to run back super fast!! It is funny now.  We al got swollen feet and often had to share our seats or floor space with extra passengers. It could have been 5 days so we were really grateful. We made some friends along the way and Matt met a guy who he has now connected with the church here.

First few weeks here have awesome we have been so welcomed by Heidi, Roland and the team. We are not remotely like the visiting missionaries but very much part of the team.  Our first day we had a spirit filled worship session with our new family so so good. The first words that Heidi said to us were in the sprit “Shaka-baba” before hugging us all and welcoming each one of us individually. 

We hit the ground running after a day of being here we packed up and headed to the “bush bush” for a two day outreach.  These villages are so remote they are mud shacks and a hole in he ground for a toilet.  We did not wash for two days and we were completely covered with mud and dirt. We drove for about two hours to a remote village and set up a big screen to show them the “Jesus film” which is dubbed in the indigenous language Makua. Then Heidi evangelizes to the crowd, we all gave a testimony of why we had come to Mozambique and then she invited people forward for healing. It was chaotic as it is pitch black except the screen. We cannot communicate with people easily and so we pray in the spirit and just love these people, there were definitely people receiving healing and meeting the Lord, many just come to mock by asking for prayer reporting miraculous healing in gesture and then laughing with each other but hey they still got prayer.  I believe one was a witch doctor who mocked me but hey for the gospel we were not deterred as so many were experiencing amazing encounters with the lord.

The next day was really special as we shared breakfast and worship time with the local pastors. They are so amazing in their faith we were all humbled. They are under IRIS but may only get visited once a year and some still early in their walk with the Lord. They run a bible school at the base annually where they can get teaching but otherwise they are leading churches with minial support but their faith is evident.  We then spent time with the children in their church worshipping doing dramas and playing games. We then walked around the village evangelizing and praying for people.

The next evening we did a drama to the crowd then Matt did the call. Loads of people came forward for prayer it was amazing. A man who was deaf was healed. Hallelujah.

On the way home we were taken into another remote village to a lady who was demon possessed according. She was manifesting with these loud noises deep from her belly and was unable to stop. It looked so exhausting. She confessed to knowing Jesus and wanting to be free. She was free from torment when she had been to church but every time she was at home it reoccurred and was getting worse. We were invited to pray for her it was an emotional time and intense. After an hour she said that she saw two lights and but that she was fearful of both.  Also that she was not letting go of something  …… it was hard that she was still in fear of letting go. It was hard not to see her free at times the noises moved from her stomach to her throat like the demon was being forced out. There is only one light that was Jesus, and the enemy was confusing her and keeping her in fear. We took her away from this village and to a Christian home who could look after her and continue to pray for her.

The time since then we have all been involved in various ministries, there are so many opportunities here. They are doing so much in the community. There is mercy ministry that is food distribution and supporting widows to work on the base. There is ministry to the men’s and women’s prisons, community outreach, medical clinics and milk programs for babies.

Of course there is ministry for children/of all ages live that live here, discipleship, activities. They have a primary school here that offers free education for 5-16 which is amazing for the local community.

I have been involved with caring for a malnourished baby with Kath, who is 3 years old but is the size of a one year old. She also has some learning disabilities. It has been so amazing to be able to pour love into her and the small progress that she has brought such joy. There is glory in every day.

The boys are working in the kitchen and gardening as well as other things due the heavy lifting which is really humbling them.

I have been helping an amazing missionary Bridget with medical clinics my role initially was to pray for people once she has seen and treated them, which was great. Since then people with hand trauma, wounds, etc have piled in so I have been literally hands on treating them. It has been great to be a part of this and good to still have this passion for healthcare and hand therapy. The challenges are; minimal equipment, hygiene and resources. There were not enough gloves so I was rubbing alcohol and having to reuse gloves, which was so hard for me to do but in the face of reality that they have little access the health care there was nothing else for me to do. The flies are intense as they swarm all around you when you are trying to clean wounds on a wooden bench in an open walled church. The heat is also a challenge, I thought I used to sweat at work in the warm NHS hospitals but this is nothing. I am so grateful for all that I have and the life I was born into. These people walk for miles even with Malaria to receive treatment, which breaks me.  They persevere.

I swear that there has been supernatural healings when we have seen people again, one boy whose hands looked severely burned and infected and in and the mother couldn’t tell us what had happened he had hundreds of flies on him so we treated the infection and dressed his hands. His mum had travelled well over two hours because she heard that people who come to the clinic get healed.  A week later he was healed. I was astonished. He was so good he never cried even though he had pain, just sucked on a lolly we had given him whilst we treated. It’s such a privilege to serve this community. The last time he was treated he could hold his own lolly:  good outcome measure.

The other main things I have been involved in is the pre-school which is fun, 12 lively 3-5 year olds. I love them already. I support them in their learning and then play games which I love especially like as I don’t have a clue most of the time what is being said as it is all in Portuguese.

Once a week we have been heading to a mixed remand jail, which has been amazing. We worship with about 40 inmates and the presence of God is there. Its pretty rough and we just sit in the dirt with them all no security or guards.  We then give testimony and a teaching then invite the Holy Spirit. God is so faithful to these people. We don’t know their stories yet but God has mercy for them and desires their hearts. When we prayed for the women they were really touched it was quite emotional.

As well as direct ministry we have been supporting the team here with other projects that need many hands to get things done. We measured a 100 or so children for school uniforms as they offer free primary education here, this was crazy disorganized as we couldn’t communicate but we got there even if it took a few extra days. They have been so thankful that we are here and even though it does not seem like ministry. It is all Gods work and we know that blessing the staff here is Gods heart and so we see it all as important. Heidi spent some time with us as a team sharing with us her heart for Mozambique and the visions she has had over the years that have bought her to this place. She and Roland have experienced hardships and persecution and that the gospel is not about being comfortable but being intimate with him and from there flows love but that joy and suffering go together.  If we have not persevered then we cannot fully know Joy. Also that perseverance leads us closer to Jesus and to perfection. Our aim should not be to coast avoiding difficulties but to embrace life full in the face and be as perfect as we can before God in heaven and ensure we are helping those around us to do the same.

Always start with loving the one in front of u and always giving something to those that ask. It sounds easy but when there are hundreds of children around you and they are all climbing on you and wanting you or something from you it has been vital to be in his all sustaining presence to not feel overwhelmed. If you don’t then you have nothing to give!!! We need to be filled with his love to love. I am learning this, saying daily to the lord in my brokenness meet me and help me to see heaven here.