Post Mission Trip Report -Day 8 to 18-

I left off just as our team was heading off to the bush bush for outreach on Wednesday

Our bush accomodations

That evening we arrived at the village and set up our tents in the front yard a friend of Iris Ministries. This particular village had been in need of a well and Iris had been trying for quite a while, without success, to find water. After 4 tries and $35000 the were finally able to make a fully functioning well for the people and we were there for the well's inauguration. It was a time of incredible joy. After the celebration a projector was set up and "The Jesus Film" was played in the native, Makua, tongue. After the film Heidi Baker preached a message (the women at the well) and we gave words of knowledge for healing and saw a whole bunch of people get healed. It was difficult to establish exactly what was wrong with people in they were legitimately healed because of the language barrier, but I do know that a friend of mine saw a blind person healed that night, and many others were affected by God's love and power.

March 29 - Thursday
In the morning we went house to house praying for the sick and preaching the gospel. Heidi told us that 95% of those who come to Christ do so when we go door to door, they are intrigued by the film and the miracles the night before, then they accept Jesus in a personal setting. In my group we saw some healings and at least 3 salvations, 2 were parents of a soon to be Christian family.
In the later morning we went to another, larger village to do a church service. The atmosphere was very dark and heavy, it seemed like there were some evil spiritual forces at work whilst we were there, people were unresponsive and it was difficult to muster energy. Nevertheless, at least 5 people got healed and we preached some good news.
After the church service we went to a farm that Iris purchased several years ago and are now developing, the land is 500x1000 metres, though only a portion is cultivated as of yet. It is some beautiful land that will go a long way in providing fresh fruits and vegetables to the orphans in Pemba.
In the evening we repeated the same outreach program in a different village. We set up our tents, played the Jesus film, preached a message and healed loads of people. This night there were two deaf people that got healed and a 4 year old cripple girl walked for the first time in her life. My own testimony of the night was a trio of drunkards that called me over to pray for them. The one that called me over was very talkative and certainly drunk, I got an interpreter and, after talking and praying for them (one was healed of his stomach and ear pain) they all accepted Jesus into their hearts.

March 30 - Friday
In the morning after breakfast we had a very special treat. The tribal king had heard of the miracles the night before and had come to greet us. Each of us went up to him one at a time and introduced ourselves. It was awesome, even more awesome was the fact that the king, the two queens (no relation to the king), the regional chief, and the village chief all accepted Jesus.
After the meeting we again went door to door, preaching Jesus. This village was substantially more Muslim and closed towards us, but we still had lots of fun. One lady had pain in her head and stomach, after we prayed for her all the pain left and she received a Bible, even though she was Muslim. She also convinced the matriarch of the family to take one. Another young couple received us very well. The wife had the same head and stomach pain, after she was healed and we prayed for them to have children I got a prophetic word for the husband, telling him that he wanted to go into business and God was going to hook him up. They were obviously affected and also received a Bible.
Before we left the village they did a wedding, the bride happened to be the deaf that was healed the night before! Because of that glorious miracle she was able to hear and say her own wedding vows. Wow!
The last event of our outreach was a trip to the regional prison. Many of the prisoners were already saved and reformed, we were greeted with the sound of many voices singing praise songs. The whole time we were there I hung out mostly with two cells of prisoners near the entrance who were not allowed to participate because they had been violent. I prayed for them and they got healed and it was incredibly touching to see these men that had nothing and so represented to me that whole world of people out there that are spiritually nothing without Jesus. We must give everything we are to spread the good news of salvation to this dying world!

March 31 - Saturday
On this day we saw the fulfillment of the prophecy that was given the Sunday before. The religious leaders of all northern Mozambique came together for a "Solemn Assembly" and we, as the Bethel team, got to pray for them and wash their feet. It was such a God moment and I am sure that something happened in the spiritual realm. I do not really understand that whole stuff though.

April 1-5
The rest of our time there was more laid back, we went to church on Sunday and were prayed for by the church, a sort of sending of and thanks for the visit, Monday we went again to the children's church, after which many of the group, including myself, gave blood for the sake of the hospital blood bank. Tuesday we went snorkeling and saw a group of dolphins, then did a night of ministry for the staff in the evening. Prophecy and encouragement abounded to all. In the morning on Wednesday we left to come home and 50 hours of travel later we made it back to Redding California.

This trip has certainly changed my life, seeing Roland and Heidi Baker and listening to their wisdom is a tremendous honour, and I will forever be different after seeing the incredible need, physical and spiritual, that was made so obvious in Mozambique. A huge thanks to all who supported me to go and made it all possible.