more journals written from the DR Congo ...
We went to a wedding today…all day! Gosh, it was amazing, but the longest wedding service I have ever been to! The service started at 10, and finished at 5.30pm. It was such a beautiful day. The bride looked so beautiful, as did her little bridesmaids. The little church was beautifully and creatively decorated with toilet paper. The bride didn’t smile all day.. a cultural thing.
I know women all over Africa carry heavy things on their backs, but I have never seen anything like it here before. The women carry great big bags of coal that rise up metres up over their heads. They are almost bent double. My friend gave one of the women a dollar and she was so happy that she threw her bag onto the floor and did a dance on the street with such a joyous smile! It looked like she had won the lottery. It was such a blessing.
So we set off through the heart of the jungle to go our destination village. I cannot explain the state of the roads.. I will try to attach photos. You can hardly describe them as roads.. simply trenches. The trenches often were as deep as my waist. We got stuck so many times. We would manage to get the truck free out of one rutt, and then 10metres down, we would get stuck again. There was so much digging, pushing and shovelling (and taking of photos..) When you rent a car in the Congo, don’t expect to actually use it.. We walked most of the way through the jungle, with a wet baby tied onto my back! haha. One car got stuck so bad there was nothing we could do – we just had to leave it! And came back the next day, to tow it. This was just a time when you really need the joy of the Lord, or otherwise you would just die! It was hilarious. I laughed so hard! The actual mission when we got there was so worth it. The people had been waiting in their church for us for 2 days. We fed the whole village with beans and rice and carried out a couple services there. Many people got healed – I prayed for a deaf man who immediately got healed! The next day,all the women came to me with all their babies, and they wanted me to pray for them. I had the amazing priviledge of praying for so many little babes… some of them so malnourished and sick, breaking off witchcraft curses and fetishes that many of them had.
Congo is beyond anything I have ever seen or experienced before. Please continue to pray for this country, that is in such a desperate state still, with so much corruption, and still has so much remnants of the war left. There are UN people everywhere, army men with ak-47 guns everywhere. We actually got threatened once. We were coming out of the jungle, and a load of army men asked us for money, after saying no, the guy thumped the man sitting right opposite me, and automatically lifted his gun up. Praise God we were all fine.
I look forward to chatting more to you all now I am back, and catching up with all that God has been doing in your lives too. Please pray for me as I decide what I need to do next. I have a lot of decisions to make. Thank you so much for all your continued support, love and prayers. I am overwhelmed by the love I have received from you all. I am so blessed to have such amazing friends! I love you xx
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Praise Jesus!
Hi everyone
We made it! Am safely in Nairobi now. We arrived back from the Congo yesterday, after staying a night in Rwanda (in the actual hotel based from the film, ‘hotel rwanda’… very strange). Man. The trip was absolutely off the scale. Thank you all so much for praying – it was so important to be covered by my brothers and sisters around the world! It was a tough trip, but God is so much bigger and his glory came! I hand wrote some blogs, and have started to write them up. Here are the first few.. i have so much to write about, but will probably do the rest when i get home. Here is a taster of this part of the world..
23rd August.
We arrive in Rwanda. I can notice the tension already – with all the army men with their big ak47s. They wont even let me walk to some areas outside, and are all very on edge. Rolland points out that right now we are actually in the middle of the worst massacre of African history, which happened just over 10 years ago in 1994.
I am now writing this from the ‘hotel rwanda’, although its not actually called that. This was the hotel that was a refuge for many people during the massacre in 1994, with the fighting that happened. I dread to think what has even happened in this very room I am staying in!
24th August
We finally arrive in Congo! The drive from Rwanda was so beautiful. We drove for hours along amazingly windy roads, amongst the mountains. I cant wait to show you photos. Its breathtaking. As soon as we got to the border, you could immediately feel the difference! The roads are so unimaginably awful – we havent been along 10 metres of paved road at all. As soon as we got across the border, the church we were visiting were waiting for us and were dancing and singing, and playing the newspaper-horns so beautifully! Apparently they had been waiting all day. They had been fasting and praying for us to come for such a long time. It is so humbling to receive their welcome. I saw one man cry as he welcomed Darryl. I am truly humbled. The heart’s cry for more of Jesus is so deep. They are desperate for Jesus. I was so overcome by Jesus’ love and the passion of these people of Jesus. I weeped and weeped! They are so blessed with his presence, which was so strong in that place. There were people singing and dancing with all their hearts, children, some as young as 3 kneeling in awe of God, people falling under the power of God.
Love you all, see you so soon! xx
We made it! Am safely in Nairobi now. We arrived back from the Congo yesterday, after staying a night in Rwanda (in the actual hotel based from the film, ‘hotel rwanda’… very strange). Man. The trip was absolutely off the scale. Thank you all so much for praying – it was so important to be covered by my brothers and sisters around the world! It was a tough trip, but God is so much bigger and his glory came! I hand wrote some blogs, and have started to write them up. Here are the first few.. i have so much to write about, but will probably do the rest when i get home. Here is a taster of this part of the world..
23rd August.
We arrive in Rwanda. I can notice the tension already – with all the army men with their big ak47s. They wont even let me walk to some areas outside, and are all very on edge. Rolland points out that right now we are actually in the middle of the worst massacre of African history, which happened just over 10 years ago in 1994.
I am now writing this from the ‘hotel rwanda’, although its not actually called that. This was the hotel that was a refuge for many people during the massacre in 1994, with the fighting that happened. I dread to think what has even happened in this very room I am staying in!
24th August
We finally arrive in Congo! The drive from Rwanda was so beautiful. We drove for hours along amazingly windy roads, amongst the mountains. I cant wait to show you photos. Its breathtaking. As soon as we got to the border, you could immediately feel the difference! The roads are so unimaginably awful – we havent been along 10 metres of paved road at all. As soon as we got across the border, the church we were visiting were waiting for us and were dancing and singing, and playing the newspaper-horns so beautifully! Apparently they had been waiting all day. They had been fasting and praying for us to come for such a long time. It is so humbling to receive their welcome. I saw one man cry as he welcomed Darryl. I am truly humbled. The heart’s cry for more of Jesus is so deep. They are desperate for Jesus. I was so overcome by Jesus’ love and the passion of these people of Jesus. I weeped and weeped! They are so blessed with his presence, which was so strong in that place. There were people singing and dancing with all their hearts, children, some as young as 3 kneeling in awe of God, people falling under the power of God.
Love you all, see you so soon! xx
Friday, 24 August 2007
Heather's Mum says: This is the email Heather referred to yesterday.
Hi everyone. Arrived safely in Kigali - just waiting at the airport now to go to Congo. We just received this latest report from Pastor Joseph in the Congo. It’s a horrible story, and I just ask you please to pray for this country. For the women who are being raped, killed, abused. For the starving children, for the dying. Please pray for them. Please pray for us.
“Every time I leave to Mozambique , I get a new anointment and my life changes. I come back new, with new vision and more faith for doing things which seemingly were madness. When I left Beline from the Staff Conference of IRIS-held on 2-5 June 2007 and which awakened me much, I went to Pemba then left on 24th of the same month. That whole month I was touched by the Lord. My wife was pregnant and expecting to deliver. July 2, 2007 was for us a challenge. We left Maputo on 26 June 2007 and reached Bukavu on 28 June 2007 and Josephine delivered on 2 July 2007 as we expected, even though with difficulty, but God helped us. Assisting Josephine, my wife, and doing the work of God made me too busy.
We had already planned the Conference of our churches for women, five women from each church. Especially those women who were victims of rape and inhuman or wild deeds. We comforted them with the word of
God. From 12 to 15 July 2007, 203 women attended the Women’s
conference and it was a blessing. The following is some women’s
witness.
THEREZI related how she was kidnapped and taken to the jungle by rebels. They were nine women. She said they were daily raped by more than seven men and other terrible things. Some women were shot.
These women are very weak, hungry, without clothes. They are
also suffering from sexually transmitted diseases and have no medicine. While we were listening to their witness, tears ran out of
our eyes. Our wish is that we can think together in order to assist these women to comfort and enable them to go on living and care for their children who are in hardship.
We have therefore thought of starting, without any delay a
various training programme for these women. This will include tailoring, sweater making, handicraft, illiterate adult education, carpentry. Machines, cloth, sewing, threads and teachers are needed for this purpose. One woman who attended the conference was touched and then offered to us her sewing machine. We have started already with that but still more are needed.
On the other hand, there is the orphans problem. Many children are dying because of hunger. Even adults are dying. Please do not abandon us! You are brethren, as the world is, please do not forget
R.D.Congo.
By faith, we are now caring for twenty orphans who are really
suffering from malnutrition. But the end of August, if we have care
takers, these children will be accommodated at the church and cared for. We therefore need your prayers.
NOTE: Whenever the mother has a problem, the children’s life is
affected.
On August 6, 2007 we opened our Bible School for pastors who
despite of hunger or loss of their wives or children because of war and starvation, are willing to listen to the word of God and get comforted. Our request! 72 pastors have already arrived, others have transport fare problem. But 100 are expected.
They are worried buy their families left at home without food.
Others have no Bibles
Still others have neither notebooks nor pens.
They are sleeping on the cold floor without mattresses. Our request is to get mattresses. The cost is 30 $ US each.
Water and electricity are very useful.
These planning are finally making our request. As we could meet a total person; a heart, body and mind. We need you so much to come to assist by any means as you can. There is a lot of work but there are a few workers.”
Pastor Joseph and Josephine
Hi everyone. Arrived safely in Kigali - just waiting at the airport now to go to Congo. We just received this latest report from Pastor Joseph in the Congo. It’s a horrible story, and I just ask you please to pray for this country. For the women who are being raped, killed, abused. For the starving children, for the dying. Please pray for them. Please pray for us.
“Every time I leave to Mozambique , I get a new anointment and my life changes. I come back new, with new vision and more faith for doing things which seemingly were madness. When I left Beline from the Staff Conference of IRIS-held on 2-5 June 2007 and which awakened me much, I went to Pemba then left on 24th of the same month. That whole month I was touched by the Lord. My wife was pregnant and expecting to deliver. July 2, 2007 was for us a challenge. We left Maputo on 26 June 2007 and reached Bukavu on 28 June 2007 and Josephine delivered on 2 July 2007 as we expected, even though with difficulty, but God helped us. Assisting Josephine, my wife, and doing the work of God made me too busy.
We had already planned the Conference of our churches for women, five women from each church. Especially those women who were victims of rape and inhuman or wild deeds. We comforted them with the word of
God. From 12 to 15 July 2007, 203 women attended the Women’s
conference and it was a blessing. The following is some women’s
witness.
THEREZI related how she was kidnapped and taken to the jungle by rebels. They were nine women. She said they were daily raped by more than seven men and other terrible things. Some women were shot.
These women are very weak, hungry, without clothes. They are
also suffering from sexually transmitted diseases and have no medicine. While we were listening to their witness, tears ran out of
our eyes. Our wish is that we can think together in order to assist these women to comfort and enable them to go on living and care for their children who are in hardship.
We have therefore thought of starting, without any delay a
various training programme for these women. This will include tailoring, sweater making, handicraft, illiterate adult education, carpentry. Machines, cloth, sewing, threads and teachers are needed for this purpose. One woman who attended the conference was touched and then offered to us her sewing machine. We have started already with that but still more are needed.
On the other hand, there is the orphans problem. Many children are dying because of hunger. Even adults are dying. Please do not abandon us! You are brethren, as the world is, please do not forget
R.D.Congo.
By faith, we are now caring for twenty orphans who are really
suffering from malnutrition. But the end of August, if we have care
takers, these children will be accommodated at the church and cared for. We therefore need your prayers.
NOTE: Whenever the mother has a problem, the children’s life is
affected.
On August 6, 2007 we opened our Bible School for pastors who
despite of hunger or loss of their wives or children because of war and starvation, are willing to listen to the word of God and get comforted. Our request! 72 pastors have already arrived, others have transport fare problem. But 100 are expected.
They are worried buy their families left at home without food.
Others have no Bibles
Still others have neither notebooks nor pens.
They are sleeping on the cold floor without mattresses. Our request is to get mattresses. The cost is 30 $ US each.
Water and electricity are very useful.
These planning are finally making our request. As we could meet a total person; a heart, body and mind. We need you so much to come to assist by any means as you can. There is a lot of work but there are a few workers.”
Pastor Joseph and Josephine
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Am in Rwanda
Hi
Arrived safely in Kigali, Rwanda. Stayed all day in the airport.. but going to leave in a minute. Am safe and well! Sent some of you an email, describing the reality of the suffering in the Congo,- didnt have time to send it to everyone as am really rushed here, but for those of you who did receive it please feel free to forward it on. Please pray for the Congolese, and for our team. God bless you all.
Arrived safely in Kigali, Rwanda. Stayed all day in the airport.. but going to leave in a minute. Am safe and well! Sent some of you an email, describing the reality of the suffering in the Congo,- didnt have time to send it to everyone as am really rushed here, but for those of you who did receive it please feel free to forward it on. Please pray for the Congolese, and for our team. God bless you all.
Friday, 17 August 2007
hi all,
I managed to get online quickly and i really just wanted to say how blown away i am by all of you. Thank you so much for all your prayers, email and encouragements. It means so much to me and reminds me of Jesus' love even more. Isnt the body of Christ great! That we are all one - working for the kingdom. Thank you so much for those who have felt called to support the Congo trip financially. I have been completely blown away by your generosity and i know it is going to be such a blessing to the Congolese people. I cant tell you how grateful i am. thank you so much for sewing into this kingdom work.
God bless,
Heather
I managed to get online quickly and i really just wanted to say how blown away i am by all of you. Thank you so much for all your prayers, email and encouragements. It means so much to me and reminds me of Jesus' love even more. Isnt the body of Christ great! That we are all one - working for the kingdom. Thank you so much for those who have felt called to support the Congo trip financially. I have been completely blown away by your generosity and i know it is going to be such a blessing to the Congolese people. I cant tell you how grateful i am. thank you so much for sewing into this kingdom work.
God bless,
Heather
Thursday, 16 August 2007
16th August 2007
Dear everyone,
Thank you all so much for all your prayers and emails – they mean so much to me I cant explain! Its so encouraging to hear from you. Congo trip is fully going ahead – all flights booked now, after much fight from the enemy – but of course God is bigger! Haha. I’m so excited. Its so quiet here on the base now – all the pastors have finished their school, and all of the holy given students, except me and 3 others have gone! It was very sad to say goodbye to everyone – I cried SO much! Patty I miss you I love you! I cant believe you are not here anymore. (Have bonded with Jacinto - can you believe it! haha. he is waiting for me at the gate of the hotel.. i am using internet here)
But its really nice in a way because now I have lots of time to spend with just Jesus. It’s very peaceful – which anyone who has been to Iris will know, is very unusual.. its usually so busy, full of missionaries, students, Iris children, village children, pastors..
Anyway, today I had the opportunity to go to Miassy, a new Iris base not far away. It’s a new model of a base, and is what Iris is hoping to do more now in the future. Well, its not really a base – it is a village that Iris has sort of taken under its wing, and a small team go there a couple of times a week to encourage, help with food and do medical care etc, and just to love on the kids. The main aim is to build up and support the actual Mozambicans with skills etc. so that it is sustainable – supporting the locals to lead, and giving them actual practical ways to break the cycle of poverty, rather than just helping with short-term problems. So they are training them in different things, such as growing food, chicken farms, medically, discipleship, giving money towards children to go to school etc. Its so great to see what has happened in the village. In the past 16 months, where children were apparently severely malnourished, ALL had scabies, ALL with worms, the children look so healthy, with very little signs of scabies and bloated bellies. The church has grown massively where it is just as packed outside the church as in, and where people are so hungry for Jesus. There really is so much peace in the village, and the children are just so gentle and loving. The village is a real sign of God’s kingdom coming in Mozambique!
This is probably the last time I will update before I go to the Congo, so here are some prayer requests:
• I would become more intimate with Jesus, that I would fall more and more in love with him and that I would lead others to loving Jesus.
• That God would use us for his glory in all things; that we would be a blessing and be blessed. Signs and wonders – for God’s glory to be shown! I have a real heart to see blind eyes opening!
• Protection, safety, favour with visas, flights would all be ok
• Funds – that God would provide everything we need
• FUN!
• Unity within the team
• That God would use this time to reveal more about my future and direction in ministry
Wow – I just read an email from Chris and he said, ‘Jesus loves you so much that you would be overwhelmed if you knew the extent of it’. WOW! I am so overwhelmed by his love. Imagine knowing more of His love, and then more! We will never get to the end of his love for us. It is more than anything! Everything is about Him and his unfathamable love for us. I have been so overwhelmed by his love recently that all I have been able to pray is about his love.
Im so excited for you cornwollians and Trinitarians coming to cornwall for the mission! I am praying. Its so exciting. Bless you guys. Hannah – you’re amazing. Im excited for you to get to know my Trinitarian friends, and vice versa. I have heard lots of good things about new wine too – that’s so cool. Am glad you all had a great time. Am coming home to England on the 3rd of September.. man its going to be strange… I cant wait to see you all again though!
xx
Dear everyone,
Thank you all so much for all your prayers and emails – they mean so much to me I cant explain! Its so encouraging to hear from you. Congo trip is fully going ahead – all flights booked now, after much fight from the enemy – but of course God is bigger! Haha. I’m so excited. Its so quiet here on the base now – all the pastors have finished their school, and all of the holy given students, except me and 3 others have gone! It was very sad to say goodbye to everyone – I cried SO much! Patty I miss you I love you! I cant believe you are not here anymore. (Have bonded with Jacinto - can you believe it! haha. he is waiting for me at the gate of the hotel.. i am using internet here)
But its really nice in a way because now I have lots of time to spend with just Jesus. It’s very peaceful – which anyone who has been to Iris will know, is very unusual.. its usually so busy, full of missionaries, students, Iris children, village children, pastors..
Anyway, today I had the opportunity to go to Miassy, a new Iris base not far away. It’s a new model of a base, and is what Iris is hoping to do more now in the future. Well, its not really a base – it is a village that Iris has sort of taken under its wing, and a small team go there a couple of times a week to encourage, help with food and do medical care etc, and just to love on the kids. The main aim is to build up and support the actual Mozambicans with skills etc. so that it is sustainable – supporting the locals to lead, and giving them actual practical ways to break the cycle of poverty, rather than just helping with short-term problems. So they are training them in different things, such as growing food, chicken farms, medically, discipleship, giving money towards children to go to school etc. Its so great to see what has happened in the village. In the past 16 months, where children were apparently severely malnourished, ALL had scabies, ALL with worms, the children look so healthy, with very little signs of scabies and bloated bellies. The church has grown massively where it is just as packed outside the church as in, and where people are so hungry for Jesus. There really is so much peace in the village, and the children are just so gentle and loving. The village is a real sign of God’s kingdom coming in Mozambique!
This is probably the last time I will update before I go to the Congo, so here are some prayer requests:
• I would become more intimate with Jesus, that I would fall more and more in love with him and that I would lead others to loving Jesus.
• That God would use us for his glory in all things; that we would be a blessing and be blessed. Signs and wonders – for God’s glory to be shown! I have a real heart to see blind eyes opening!
• Protection, safety, favour with visas, flights would all be ok
• Funds – that God would provide everything we need
• FUN!
• Unity within the team
• That God would use this time to reveal more about my future and direction in ministry
Wow – I just read an email from Chris and he said, ‘Jesus loves you so much that you would be overwhelmed if you knew the extent of it’. WOW! I am so overwhelmed by his love. Imagine knowing more of His love, and then more! We will never get to the end of his love for us. It is more than anything! Everything is about Him and his unfathamable love for us. I have been so overwhelmed by his love recently that all I have been able to pray is about his love.
Im so excited for you cornwollians and Trinitarians coming to cornwall for the mission! I am praying. Its so exciting. Bless you guys. Hannah – you’re amazing. Im excited for you to get to know my Trinitarian friends, and vice versa. I have heard lots of good things about new wine too – that’s so cool. Am glad you all had a great time. Am coming home to England on the 3rd of September.. man its going to be strange… I cant wait to see you all again though!
xx
Saturday, 11 August 2007
Congo
I ended up not going to zambezia in the end, as God told me not too. Am actually trying to organise a trip to go to Congo at the moment! Am going with a small team with Rolland, Georgian Banov. Iris has a new baby base there, and are gradually starting to take missionaries there. Am going to go encourage the church, preach the gospel, heal the sick and love on the people there. It is such a desperate, desperate country and there is just extreme poverty. Children die every day simply of starvation. It is a very dangerous country, but I know if i am in the centre of God's will, i am safe! But please please pray for me. At the moment, to arrange the cheapest flight possible, and for God to release finances, as we need to raise a lot of money for the mission, and when there, for safety. we are hoping to leave on the 21st ish, and just go for one week. Thank you so much for your continued love, prayer and support, love heather x
Thursday, 9 August 2007
Monday, 6 August 2007
Hey thank you all for your continued prayers, i really appreciate them! Last night i had the worst migrane ever.. i seriously thought it was the end of my life!! But am feeling a lot better today praise God, but still not completely. it seems to be really dragging on.
Yesterday was awesome. A few blog entries ago, i explained how God has given me a whole new revelation of my freedom in Christ, through Jesus' death on the cross. This revelation has totally changed everything for me! To know that i truely am his daughter, and no longer a slave to sin! So yesterday, i was walking down to the beach for the baptisms, and although i was baptised as a child, God told me i should be baptised again as a sign of my new freedom in Christ. In death to my old self, and to signify being totally consumed and pocessed by Him! It was so right to do this now, to truely signify how i am a new creation in Christ from my old self. Heidi, Rolland and Mel Tari baptised me as well as one of my closest Mozambican friends behind! It was totally awesome!!! When i came up out of the water it was just like fire had totally consumed me! Praise Jesus.
So am going to zambezia on friday and im not sure if im going to have access to intenet again. im in a bit of a rush at the moment, so i cant write much but please pray for: safety, health, salvation, grace for the long journey!, unity in the team, miracles to display Gods amazing love grace and power, discernment, energy! and FUN!! that it would all be working out of a place of Gods marvellous joy.
Lots of love, heather xx
Yesterday was awesome. A few blog entries ago, i explained how God has given me a whole new revelation of my freedom in Christ, through Jesus' death on the cross. This revelation has totally changed everything for me! To know that i truely am his daughter, and no longer a slave to sin! So yesterday, i was walking down to the beach for the baptisms, and although i was baptised as a child, God told me i should be baptised again as a sign of my new freedom in Christ. In death to my old self, and to signify being totally consumed and pocessed by Him! It was so right to do this now, to truely signify how i am a new creation in Christ from my old self. Heidi, Rolland and Mel Tari baptised me as well as one of my closest Mozambican friends behind! It was totally awesome!!! When i came up out of the water it was just like fire had totally consumed me! Praise Jesus.
So am going to zambezia on friday and im not sure if im going to have access to intenet again. im in a bit of a rush at the moment, so i cant write much but please pray for: safety, health, salvation, grace for the long journey!, unity in the team, miracles to display Gods amazing love grace and power, discernment, energy! and FUN!! that it would all be working out of a place of Gods marvellous joy.
Lots of love, heather xx
Saturday, 4 August 2007
Hey
Thanks all for praying. Am still feeling pretty rough, but it comes around in cycles.I really appreciate your prayers so much, particulary for direction. So school is coming to an end, and everyone is praying about waht to do next! God has realy revealed a lot of new vision.
next friday i go on outreach for 2 weeks which is really exciting. I have joined the medical team as an intercessor and to do basic woundcare. I will write a prayer request blog for the outreach soon.
I really hope you are all coping with the flooding ok. Its crazy. Have a really blessed time at new wine. Lots of love x
Thanks all for praying. Am still feeling pretty rough, but it comes around in cycles.I really appreciate your prayers so much, particulary for direction. So school is coming to an end, and everyone is praying about waht to do next! God has realy revealed a lot of new vision.
next friday i go on outreach for 2 weeks which is really exciting. I have joined the medical team as an intercessor and to do basic woundcare. I will write a prayer request blog for the outreach soon.
I really hope you are all coping with the flooding ok. Its crazy. Have a really blessed time at new wine. Lots of love x
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Monday, 30 July 2007
New wine
hi
How are you all? i guess most of you nam people are at new wine now. hope it is going fabulously! am really missing it this year! God is going to do amazing things. Am praying for you all. Please let me know how it went and what God did in all of your lives. Chris did you enjoy club one?! Bet you did. Am so tired today, we stayed up all night last night praying in the prayer hut. Was totally awesome to spend so much time with Jesus. We have to do it more back in chelt! Anna i miss our times in trinity house.. haha. The Lyles how are you?i miss you lots. I only have one more week of school left before i go to zambezia for 2 weeks on outreach. Please pray that i will continue to press in for all he has for me, and for the people around me. Please pray for wisdom and direction for future decision makings, although i have total peace about whatever God decides for me. Am still ariving back in the UK on the 3rd September, after going to maputo first for 5 days. God bless you all, love heather x
How are you all? i guess most of you nam people are at new wine now. hope it is going fabulously! am really missing it this year! God is going to do amazing things. Am praying for you all. Please let me know how it went and what God did in all of your lives. Chris did you enjoy club one?! Bet you did. Am so tired today, we stayed up all night last night praying in the prayer hut. Was totally awesome to spend so much time with Jesus. We have to do it more back in chelt! Anna i miss our times in trinity house.. haha. The Lyles how are you?i miss you lots. I only have one more week of school left before i go to zambezia for 2 weeks on outreach. Please pray that i will continue to press in for all he has for me, and for the people around me. Please pray for wisdom and direction for future decision makings, although i have total peace about whatever God decides for me. Am still ariving back in the UK on the 3rd September, after going to maputo first for 5 days. God bless you all, love heather x
Monday, 23 July 2007
I got a 2.1 in my degree!! wahoo!! thank you Jesus.
Wow. I went on outreach again this weekend, only this time as part of the medical team. It was totally amazing. God's glory really came. We went to the bush bush literally in the middle of nowhere, and travelled on dirt tracks for hours!! The medical van is really new to iris - its the first one ever, and the outreach i went on was the 4th ever! Its really exciting. I went as an intercessor mainly, but also to do simple woundcare. I love the vision of the medical team - the priority is totally God first.
We set up tent, and when people came in, first of all we asked them if they knew Jesus, and then if they had been to the witchdoctor (most had, and in this particular area, it was very high for witchcraft). Then, if they wanted to, we would lead them to Jesus, and break off any curses, and heal them! Many times, as soon as we broke off the curses, they got instantly healed, becuase it was the curse causing them the sickness. The first village we got to, the people were literally circling out tents and poking us through our tents! I had like grown men circling mine! very intimidating. When we first got to the village, we de-wormed the children (most, if not all, had big bellies). The next day, we set up the tent, and i was rubbing lotion on children with scabies for hours. It was heart breaking. In the second village, babies were literally covered in it. Two girls needed treatment at the end, so i took them to the latrines to apply the cream. However, i ran out of cream, and i was praying so hard that Jesus would multiply it, but it didn't, and so i couldnt finish half of the first girl's body. I was so upset, and in the truck on the way home was just crying so much at the desperation of the people there.but then God gave me a picture .It was of Jesus and he was knealing at her feet, and kissed her feet, and was crying. Then he healed all her scabies. He said to me, 'dont you think that i am enough for her? dont you think i can heal her?' I am truely learning what it is to 'fellowship in his sufferings' (phil 3) We cant be JEsus' hands and feet unless we see people how he sees them; through this eyes, and share in his sufferings.Seeing all the suffering, the desperate suffering of these poverty-stricken people really broke me.. its just so hard to explain. I can also rejoice in him becuase he has everyone and everything in his hands! There were many joyous times too! here are some amazing testimonies from this weekend:
A man came into the tent, and the team just asked him like usual, have you been to the witchdoctor? And he said he was the witchdoctor! He came in to get healing for the cataracts in his eyes. He got healed and gave his life to Christ!! Greater is HE!!! Praise Jesus. Pray that he would be discipled well now, and that through this the whole village will be truely transformed.
I had the amazing priviledge of leading 2 people to Christ in portuguese! It was awesome becuase i had no translator and i was like Jesus!!! Help me! And he totally gave me all the words to say.
nearly everyone who came into the tent received JEsus!!
Nearly everyone we prayed for got healed!!! Eyes, ears, leg pain, back pain..
So many demonised were set free. There was one lady who came in and had knife scars all over her legs. She said that the demons take over her everyday and make her cut herself. She was totally set free!! We cut off SO many witchcraft bands of nearly everyone who came to us. Its just crazy the amount of witchcraft that goes on. (Actually in church on sunday, although i wasnt there, a cobra just appeared in the tent randomly on the stage! apparantly, a witchdoctor had done something.. not really sure)
Praise JEsus!!! Glory to him. It was just so eye-opening to what really goes on in the supernatural; an area that i know myself, and many of us in the west are so unaware of. Priase be to JEsus. I found out where i am going for my extended outreach - to Zambezia. A 19 hour drive away, to the place where they have recently apparantly had the worst floods recorded in history.
Love to my 109 ladies!! Well done Anna too!! tis brill. Other giriles how did you do? Jess - when do you leave for canada? xx
Wow. I went on outreach again this weekend, only this time as part of the medical team. It was totally amazing. God's glory really came. We went to the bush bush literally in the middle of nowhere, and travelled on dirt tracks for hours!! The medical van is really new to iris - its the first one ever, and the outreach i went on was the 4th ever! Its really exciting. I went as an intercessor mainly, but also to do simple woundcare. I love the vision of the medical team - the priority is totally God first.
We set up tent, and when people came in, first of all we asked them if they knew Jesus, and then if they had been to the witchdoctor (most had, and in this particular area, it was very high for witchcraft). Then, if they wanted to, we would lead them to Jesus, and break off any curses, and heal them! Many times, as soon as we broke off the curses, they got instantly healed, becuase it was the curse causing them the sickness. The first village we got to, the people were literally circling out tents and poking us through our tents! I had like grown men circling mine! very intimidating. When we first got to the village, we de-wormed the children (most, if not all, had big bellies). The next day, we set up the tent, and i was rubbing lotion on children with scabies for hours. It was heart breaking. In the second village, babies were literally covered in it. Two girls needed treatment at the end, so i took them to the latrines to apply the cream. However, i ran out of cream, and i was praying so hard that Jesus would multiply it, but it didn't, and so i couldnt finish half of the first girl's body. I was so upset, and in the truck on the way home was just crying so much at the desperation of the people there.but then God gave me a picture .It was of Jesus and he was knealing at her feet, and kissed her feet, and was crying. Then he healed all her scabies. He said to me, 'dont you think that i am enough for her? dont you think i can heal her?' I am truely learning what it is to 'fellowship in his sufferings' (phil 3) We cant be JEsus' hands and feet unless we see people how he sees them; through this eyes, and share in his sufferings.Seeing all the suffering, the desperate suffering of these poverty-stricken people really broke me.. its just so hard to explain. I can also rejoice in him becuase he has everyone and everything in his hands! There were many joyous times too! here are some amazing testimonies from this weekend:
A man came into the tent, and the team just asked him like usual, have you been to the witchdoctor? And he said he was the witchdoctor! He came in to get healing for the cataracts in his eyes. He got healed and gave his life to Christ!! Greater is HE!!! Praise Jesus. Pray that he would be discipled well now, and that through this the whole village will be truely transformed.
I had the amazing priviledge of leading 2 people to Christ in portuguese! It was awesome becuase i had no translator and i was like Jesus!!! Help me! And he totally gave me all the words to say.
nearly everyone who came into the tent received JEsus!!
Nearly everyone we prayed for got healed!!! Eyes, ears, leg pain, back pain..
So many demonised were set free. There was one lady who came in and had knife scars all over her legs. She said that the demons take over her everyday and make her cut herself. She was totally set free!! We cut off SO many witchcraft bands of nearly everyone who came to us. Its just crazy the amount of witchcraft that goes on. (Actually in church on sunday, although i wasnt there, a cobra just appeared in the tent randomly on the stage! apparantly, a witchdoctor had done something.. not really sure)
Praise JEsus!!! Glory to him. It was just so eye-opening to what really goes on in the supernatural; an area that i know myself, and many of us in the west are so unaware of. Priase be to JEsus. I found out where i am going for my extended outreach - to Zambezia. A 19 hour drive away, to the place where they have recently apparantly had the worst floods recorded in history.
Love to my 109 ladies!! Well done Anna too!! tis brill. Other giriles how did you do? Jess - when do you leave for canada? xx
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
freedom!
I havent written about it yet but last week, i had a massive life-changing revelation of the cross, and it continues daily! I am stuck in Galations and in Romans 6. Galations 2v20, 'I have been crucified with Christ and i no longer live but Christ lives in me!' 5v1 says, 'it is for freedom that Christ has set us free - stand firm then, and do not let yoursleves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery!' I have realised the freedom that i have in Christ!! I do not have to be burdened by my sin.
Oh yeah and Colossians 2v12, 'having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead'. Wow. Our flesh is dead.. our sin..ALL of sin is dead! It has been buried by the blood of Jesus, and now he has raised us in his resurrection! We ARE a new creation! Man o man. This revelation is changing my life; by the knowledge of the freedom that i can live in. Nothing, nothing, can hold Jesus back. God sent Jesus from heaven to become one of us, to suffer for OUR sin, to save us. wow. man, that revelation should never grow cold, and should never be stale to read or know. Praise Jesus. Thank you Jesus.
Oh yeah and Colossians 2v12, 'having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead'. Wow. Our flesh is dead.. our sin..ALL of sin is dead! It has been buried by the blood of Jesus, and now he has raised us in his resurrection! We ARE a new creation! Man o man. This revelation is changing my life; by the knowledge of the freedom that i can live in. Nothing, nothing, can hold Jesus back. God sent Jesus from heaven to become one of us, to suffer for OUR sin, to save us. wow. man, that revelation should never grow cold, and should never be stale to read or know. Praise Jesus. Thank you Jesus.
July 17th
'Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'
Wow. We had our first session on the Beautitudes from Heidi just now. It completely wrecked me - Im totally undone. This verse has totally come alive to me with meaning and humbled me. What is it about the poor, and also about children, that brings them the kingdom of heaven? What do they have?
All the student pastors that had had children die were asked to come to the front (Iris trains up pastors for 4 years here, and sometimes we have our classes with them.. many of them are baby christians..and have only known Jesus for a few months!). Probably 1/3 of the pastors came to the front out of the 200. They had lost children due to such simple means by which we in the west would consider not worth worrying about. Some because the mum didn't have any milk. Some becuase of starvation; some because of malaria; some at childbirth. It was a realisation that i will never forget. The poor have desperation - they can only but rely on God. If God doesn't show up they will die! They have to rely on God. They have humility, and they know they are poor - they know they have to rely on God. In a similar way, God says that children will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Children are hopelessly dependent, they are vulnerable, they have no back-up plan, and they believe so beautifully. Children know how to play - they have a natural joy! Children need and want Mum and Dad - they can't function without him (something my parents will know!!) and amongst everything, all they really want is mum and dad.. no sweets, no bike, nothing. They just want their parents! All these student pastors were asked to come and pray for all of us holy given students for impartation of desperation. Then we prayed for all those that had had children died. It was so powerful. It was so humbling. I have had such a revelation of these things, and God has completely broken me. God wants us to have a faith like this! He wants us to be so utterly desperate for him, where we literally cant function without him... I am desperate for him! I am hungry for him, but i want more desperation. I want the desperation of a small child who wants their dad!
The more i am living here, the more i learn what life is truely like here, and what it is to be a missionary. I know that all my blog things probably come across like everything is perfect, etc.. But daily there are crisis' here. Just yesterday, one of the Pastors from another province had an attempted murder attack, and was knifed all across his face. The guy who did it is known here, so everyone is really shaken up, particulary the student pastors. So your prayers for this stituation would be great.
'Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'
Wow. We had our first session on the Beautitudes from Heidi just now. It completely wrecked me - Im totally undone. This verse has totally come alive to me with meaning and humbled me. What is it about the poor, and also about children, that brings them the kingdom of heaven? What do they have?
All the student pastors that had had children die were asked to come to the front (Iris trains up pastors for 4 years here, and sometimes we have our classes with them.. many of them are baby christians..and have only known Jesus for a few months!). Probably 1/3 of the pastors came to the front out of the 200. They had lost children due to such simple means by which we in the west would consider not worth worrying about. Some because the mum didn't have any milk. Some becuase of starvation; some because of malaria; some at childbirth. It was a realisation that i will never forget. The poor have desperation - they can only but rely on God. If God doesn't show up they will die! They have to rely on God. They have humility, and they know they are poor - they know they have to rely on God. In a similar way, God says that children will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Children are hopelessly dependent, they are vulnerable, they have no back-up plan, and they believe so beautifully. Children know how to play - they have a natural joy! Children need and want Mum and Dad - they can't function without him (something my parents will know!!) and amongst everything, all they really want is mum and dad.. no sweets, no bike, nothing. They just want their parents! All these student pastors were asked to come and pray for all of us holy given students for impartation of desperation. Then we prayed for all those that had had children died. It was so powerful. It was so humbling. I have had such a revelation of these things, and God has completely broken me. God wants us to have a faith like this! He wants us to be so utterly desperate for him, where we literally cant function without him... I am desperate for him! I am hungry for him, but i want more desperation. I want the desperation of a small child who wants their dad!
The more i am living here, the more i learn what life is truely like here, and what it is to be a missionary. I know that all my blog things probably come across like everything is perfect, etc.. But daily there are crisis' here. Just yesterday, one of the Pastors from another province had an attempted murder attack, and was knifed all across his face. The guy who did it is known here, so everyone is really shaken up, particulary the student pastors. So your prayers for this stituation would be great.
Monday, 16 July 2007
July 14th
As i look at the glorious African tree, the sun rises behind it; today a pinky cloudy beginning. It is just too glorious to even describe - not even captureable on a camera. Praise Jesus! You are so glorious. Literally 10 metres behind me there are people even living in desperate poverty, behind the dividing wall of the centre. I can even hear the screams of a baby right now.. Please pray that these people would know his love and glory.
Yesterday i came back from outreach with Mama Ida. It was lots of fun - loads of people came into the Kingdom! So i will try and explain a typical outreach.. We all load up on a truck, so much that everyone is sitting on top of each other and drive to the village, (sometimes up to 9 hours) and when you get there you get hundreds of children literally running after the truck shouting, 'akunya!' (white person!) So we set up our tents, with an audience of hundreds of Mozambican villagers somehow all perfectly arranged eager to see what their alien visitors entertainment would do next! We play cheesy worship music which brings in the hundreds, sometimes thousands, and then show the Jesus film, and preach and do altar call, and pray for the sick. So many people gave their lives to Jesus. (Its amazing as all the different groups go out into the bush to hear about all the different villages, and how they are all turning to Jesus! ) Love it! In the morning you wake up to the same audience of people harmlessly goggling at you, literally standing right outside your tent.. hilarious. We then go into the village and speak to people about Jesus and pray for the sick, and invite people to church, with at least 50 children following us everywhere - even into peoples houses! Yesterday, we did a marriage ceremony for 4 different couples in the village, and Mama Ida married them.. it was very cute. They were all very shy and at the end the whole village was shouting, 'beju!!' which means kiss. We then officially opened the church, and had a celebration, and somehow managed to get the whole village into 2 truck loads and went down to the river to baptise people. I had the amazing priviledge of baptising people in the muddy river!! I have to say.. not only was it the first time i baptised people, but also baptised topless women!! Hilarious - not allowed to show our knees, but for thouse to go in completely nude on the top was totally fine.
July 16th – I just came from the last session with Rolland, (very funny..) and then we just cut witchcraft bands off a widow and baby on our way into town and told her Jesus’ love and truth! Wahoo! A regular daily occurrence here! Stacey Campbell is our guest speaker at the moment.. hope y’all have a great day today. Please let me no how you are all doing. Lots of love xxx
p.s. had a sleep over in the girls dorm last night!! was fun. Really getting to know the girls well, its such a blessing.
As i look at the glorious African tree, the sun rises behind it; today a pinky cloudy beginning. It is just too glorious to even describe - not even captureable on a camera. Praise Jesus! You are so glorious. Literally 10 metres behind me there are people even living in desperate poverty, behind the dividing wall of the centre. I can even hear the screams of a baby right now.. Please pray that these people would know his love and glory.
Yesterday i came back from outreach with Mama Ida. It was lots of fun - loads of people came into the Kingdom! So i will try and explain a typical outreach.. We all load up on a truck, so much that everyone is sitting on top of each other and drive to the village, (sometimes up to 9 hours) and when you get there you get hundreds of children literally running after the truck shouting, 'akunya!' (white person!) So we set up our tents, with an audience of hundreds of Mozambican villagers somehow all perfectly arranged eager to see what their alien visitors entertainment would do next! We play cheesy worship music which brings in the hundreds, sometimes thousands, and then show the Jesus film, and preach and do altar call, and pray for the sick. So many people gave their lives to Jesus. (Its amazing as all the different groups go out into the bush to hear about all the different villages, and how they are all turning to Jesus! ) Love it! In the morning you wake up to the same audience of people harmlessly goggling at you, literally standing right outside your tent.. hilarious. We then go into the village and speak to people about Jesus and pray for the sick, and invite people to church, with at least 50 children following us everywhere - even into peoples houses! Yesterday, we did a marriage ceremony for 4 different couples in the village, and Mama Ida married them.. it was very cute. They were all very shy and at the end the whole village was shouting, 'beju!!' which means kiss. We then officially opened the church, and had a celebration, and somehow managed to get the whole village into 2 truck loads and went down to the river to baptise people. I had the amazing priviledge of baptising people in the muddy river!! I have to say.. not only was it the first time i baptised people, but also baptised topless women!! Hilarious - not allowed to show our knees, but for thouse to go in completely nude on the top was totally fine.
July 16th – I just came from the last session with Rolland, (very funny..) and then we just cut witchcraft bands off a widow and baby on our way into town and told her Jesus’ love and truth! Wahoo! A regular daily occurrence here! Stacey Campbell is our guest speaker at the moment.. hope y’all have a great day today. Please let me no how you are all doing. Lots of love xxx
p.s. had a sleep over in the girls dorm last night!! was fun. Really getting to know the girls well, its such a blessing.
Friday, 6 July 2007
Hi again!
Just feel i want to say a special hello to my lovely small group! Thank you so much for praying for me. Love and miss you guys.
In the past few weeks, God has really started to put a nation strongly on my heart, so am really praying into that, and when (and if actually) he does want me there. So prayers for confirmation would be great for that; thanks guys. Hope all is well with you; let me no how your summer is going too. if you're going to new wine, have a FAB time! Lesley Anne is going to be there (shes the lady in charge of our school) so im sure she will tell all about the school. shes an amazing lady - be blessed.
We have Georgian and Winnie Banov here at the mo, if you have heard of them, you'll know that they are crazy in love for Jesus, haha. They have the anointing of joy, and when Georgian plays the fiddle, oh my word, it was so special. The presence of God comes so powerfully, and people get healed just when he plays! It was so realeasing - i feel totally freed and released in my worship now.. It is incredible. We just danced for hours and hours for Jesus! Afterwards we just ran into the water becuase i was so unbelieveabley sweaty!! haha. nice. I miss you all so much. God bless you. I cant wait to catch up with you all and what God is doing in your lives. He has so much for us all, and he loves us with such an incredible love..
Just feel i want to say a special hello to my lovely small group! Thank you so much for praying for me. Love and miss you guys.
In the past few weeks, God has really started to put a nation strongly on my heart, so am really praying into that, and when (and if actually) he does want me there. So prayers for confirmation would be great for that; thanks guys. Hope all is well with you; let me no how your summer is going too. if you're going to new wine, have a FAB time! Lesley Anne is going to be there (shes the lady in charge of our school) so im sure she will tell all about the school. shes an amazing lady - be blessed.
We have Georgian and Winnie Banov here at the mo, if you have heard of them, you'll know that they are crazy in love for Jesus, haha. They have the anointing of joy, and when Georgian plays the fiddle, oh my word, it was so special. The presence of God comes so powerfully, and people get healed just when he plays! It was so realeasing - i feel totally freed and released in my worship now.. It is incredible. We just danced for hours and hours for Jesus! Afterwards we just ran into the water becuase i was so unbelieveabley sweaty!! haha. nice. I miss you all so much. God bless you. I cant wait to catch up with you all and what God is doing in your lives. He has so much for us all, and he loves us with such an incredible love..
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Wowee!! God has even done so much in th past 3 days since i wrote the blog underneath.. I love Jesus so much!! I love him so much i dont know what to do.. im am just overwhelmed by his love, and there is so much more of his love - for all of us! we will never get to the bottom of it. Ever. He is limitless. He is love! wow. Please pray for protection for me - undergoing lots of attack at the moment. Also please pray for wisdom in decision makng that ihave to do in the next few weeks! if anyone gets any words for me please feel free to email or leave comment. Thank you s omuch foryour continued love and prayers, i appreciate it so much. I love u all. Do let me k now what is happening in your lives to - i will pray! take care y'all. lots of love xxx
Wrote on July 1st
We have a teapot! Its so exciting, we can now make coffee in ease - without having to use a saucepan!! Praise Jesus. We also had running water this week for 2 days in a row, and it was quite strong! We also had curry tonight which was so much fun - we all helped cook something separately in our houses, and as students, we had a massive meal together in the prayer hut. It was very special. A group from each nation did a song, it was so funny! Its amazing how God is raising up an army from all over the world to unify for his kingdom. There is people from all over - from New Zealand to Ukraine, to Iceland, Brazil.. the list goes on. I had a really nice weekend.Yesterday, i helped take a large group of children from another centre to the ocean.. it was SO much fun! They had clearly not been to the ocean in a while, as they were so excited to go in the water - and some a little apprensive; at one point i had like 3 little starkers chidlren clambering all over me! I took a little toddler and a baby to the beach which was sspecial. The little boy, Benny, is 2 and is a proper tank! He is a big boy bless him, which is great! Fat is good! But its also really cool, becuase apparantely when he arrived at the centre he was so underweight, so he is really thriving, and one of many stories of God's amazing grace. As I get to know the children more, i am discovering their heart-breaking stories behind their short little lives. One of the older boys from the village took me to his house this week, and it totally broke me. Its true, what Heidi says, you just don't understand until you go and see their homes, and their lives and see how they really live. You dont know them; you dont know. When i visited his tiny little room with a broken roof that when it rains, he and all of his stuff get completely drenched, it totally opened my eyes to his life here. He has no family, he has no job - he is still at school. He is just a child, living alone in such poverty. And i know he is one of thousands like that, and he is actually very blessed to have a home and the security of Iris, but it really hits you when its someone you know. We started to pray for him, and he just broke down and cried and cried on my lap for an hour or so.. words just cannot describe the experiences i am going through.
One thing that i am struggling with actually is knowing how to be wise in my giving. Children are constantly asking for things, and begging for clothes, money, anything they see. It is heart-breaking when the village children all stand behind the metal bars of the dining room and look up at you with their beautiful big eyes begging for the left overs of your plate piled high with rice. Its heart-breaking when you take a child swimming, and all they have to put back on is a thread-bare t shirt, that has more holes in it than material. Its heart-breaking to see the village children constantly fighting, pinching, hitting, throwing stones, bullying the younger children; when you know that there is a bigger picture behind their violence; and although necessary, its hard to be very stern with them. So when do you know how and whom to help? When is it right to say yes? When is it wise to say no? I have really been struggling with these issues, as my heart just wants to help them all.. but of course i know its just not possible. I am learning to focus on the one that i can help. Stop for the one. Love the one. I bought one of the village children, Manuel, a football - he was SO happy! His face just lit up when he realised it was a gift just for him. I saw him later and he had picked me some flowers to say thank you! It was so special.
What does love look like? How can we help the unlovely? How can we feed the hungry? What is mission? words and phrases that are constantly used, but God has set me really thinking about these things. I cant stop reading Isaiah 58 - he has called me 'to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and break every yoke. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and provide the poor wonderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?' Love is action! Its sitting with them in the dirt; its buying them a football, its sharing your food, its spending time with a widow, its hugging an orphan (as one of the children says, 'hug me harder Manna Hedar!!), its buying someone some more bamboo for their roof. In my last blog, i think i wrote about how God was giving me more compassion and love, and i feel that this week God is showing me how i can actually use what he has given me for his glory.
Wrote on July 1st
We have a teapot! Its so exciting, we can now make coffee in ease - without having to use a saucepan!! Praise Jesus. We also had running water this week for 2 days in a row, and it was quite strong! We also had curry tonight which was so much fun - we all helped cook something separately in our houses, and as students, we had a massive meal together in the prayer hut. It was very special. A group from each nation did a song, it was so funny! Its amazing how God is raising up an army from all over the world to unify for his kingdom. There is people from all over - from New Zealand to Ukraine, to Iceland, Brazil.. the list goes on. I had a really nice weekend.Yesterday, i helped take a large group of children from another centre to the ocean.. it was SO much fun! They had clearly not been to the ocean in a while, as they were so excited to go in the water - and some a little apprensive; at one point i had like 3 little starkers chidlren clambering all over me! I took a little toddler and a baby to the beach which was sspecial. The little boy, Benny, is 2 and is a proper tank! He is a big boy bless him, which is great! Fat is good! But its also really cool, becuase apparantely when he arrived at the centre he was so underweight, so he is really thriving, and one of many stories of God's amazing grace. As I get to know the children more, i am discovering their heart-breaking stories behind their short little lives. One of the older boys from the village took me to his house this week, and it totally broke me. Its true, what Heidi says, you just don't understand until you go and see their homes, and their lives and see how they really live. You dont know them; you dont know. When i visited his tiny little room with a broken roof that when it rains, he and all of his stuff get completely drenched, it totally opened my eyes to his life here. He has no family, he has no job - he is still at school. He is just a child, living alone in such poverty. And i know he is one of thousands like that, and he is actually very blessed to have a home and the security of Iris, but it really hits you when its someone you know. We started to pray for him, and he just broke down and cried and cried on my lap for an hour or so.. words just cannot describe the experiences i am going through.
One thing that i am struggling with actually is knowing how to be wise in my giving. Children are constantly asking for things, and begging for clothes, money, anything they see. It is heart-breaking when the village children all stand behind the metal bars of the dining room and look up at you with their beautiful big eyes begging for the left overs of your plate piled high with rice. Its heart-breaking when you take a child swimming, and all they have to put back on is a thread-bare t shirt, that has more holes in it than material. Its heart-breaking to see the village children constantly fighting, pinching, hitting, throwing stones, bullying the younger children; when you know that there is a bigger picture behind their violence; and although necessary, its hard to be very stern with them. So when do you know how and whom to help? When is it right to say yes? When is it wise to say no? I have really been struggling with these issues, as my heart just wants to help them all.. but of course i know its just not possible. I am learning to focus on the one that i can help. Stop for the one. Love the one. I bought one of the village children, Manuel, a football - he was SO happy! His face just lit up when he realised it was a gift just for him. I saw him later and he had picked me some flowers to say thank you! It was so special.
What does love look like? How can we help the unlovely? How can we feed the hungry? What is mission? words and phrases that are constantly used, but God has set me really thinking about these things. I cant stop reading Isaiah 58 - he has called me 'to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and break every yoke. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and provide the poor wonderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?' Love is action! Its sitting with them in the dirt; its buying them a football, its sharing your food, its spending time with a widow, its hugging an orphan (as one of the children says, 'hug me harder Manna Hedar!!), its buying someone some more bamboo for their roof. In my last blog, i think i wrote about how God was giving me more compassion and love, and i feel that this week God is showing me how i can actually use what he has given me for his glory.
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Hey
(make sure you read the post i wrote before before this one!)
Well, even since i wrote the last post (although i posted it just now - i borrowed someones laptop to write that on and then saved to memory stick) so much has happened! Its been a lot of fun here with lots of exciting things happening. On Sunday, i went to another little village church with a group to encourage them, and said my testimony in portuguese (although i did read it from a prepared paper i had done with someone) but still - they understood it, so praise God! I just think it means so much more for people if we at least really try to speak in their languague, even if it is really bad!! hehe. so that was fun, and then we went back to the centre and back to the beach and it was a baptism sunday, so literally so many people got baptised - women, men, children.. it was so amazing. There were hundreds and hundreds of people on the beach! It was so funny, Rolland came up behind me and prayed for me randomly.. oh that was funny for the next hour..!! hehe. After that, we heard that one of the boys from the centre's baby nephew had died, so we immediately went to his house in the village and prayed for the family etc.. and we walked for miles to go and pray to raise the baby from the dead (Matt 10.. heal the sick, raise the dead...) Although the baby didn't actually come back to life, God still worked amazingly in the family. From visiting the family, we found that the boy and the mother's relationship was very bad, and they had actually not spoken in so long. We encouraged the boy to say sorry for what he had done, and the mother and the child embraced and their relationship was healed! God is so beautiful. Wow.
Monday was independence day in mozambique (when moz became free from the portuguese) so there was much celebration, and much hip-hop!! haha. lots of dancing. The kids had meat for dinner!! they were so happy.
God is still breaking my heart for the things that breaks his heart, and continues to flood my heart with more compassion! Although of course, i do not want this to stop as i want to become more like Jesus, it is so painful. When i see others suffering around me, its just physically painful in my heart. For the last couple of days, i have just been sobbing and sobbing. He is truely breaking me!
God is giving me more vision for my future, and i would really appreciate your prayers for this area of my life... I think he is beginning to put a nation on my heart.
thank you so much for all your comments and emails. It means a lot to me. let me know any prayer requests of yours too.
Much love,
Heather xxxx
109 girlies - i did indeed use my 'estau gravida' line the other day!!(of course i was joking) hehe. And Anna - there is actually a load of horses at the centre so the phrase, 'i want a horse' is actually not that random!!! haha.
(make sure you read the post i wrote before before this one!)
Well, even since i wrote the last post (although i posted it just now - i borrowed someones laptop to write that on and then saved to memory stick) so much has happened! Its been a lot of fun here with lots of exciting things happening. On Sunday, i went to another little village church with a group to encourage them, and said my testimony in portuguese (although i did read it from a prepared paper i had done with someone) but still - they understood it, so praise God! I just think it means so much more for people if we at least really try to speak in their languague, even if it is really bad!! hehe. so that was fun, and then we went back to the centre and back to the beach and it was a baptism sunday, so literally so many people got baptised - women, men, children.. it was so amazing. There were hundreds and hundreds of people on the beach! It was so funny, Rolland came up behind me and prayed for me randomly.. oh that was funny for the next hour..!! hehe. After that, we heard that one of the boys from the centre's baby nephew had died, so we immediately went to his house in the village and prayed for the family etc.. and we walked for miles to go and pray to raise the baby from the dead (Matt 10.. heal the sick, raise the dead...) Although the baby didn't actually come back to life, God still worked amazingly in the family. From visiting the family, we found that the boy and the mother's relationship was very bad, and they had actually not spoken in so long. We encouraged the boy to say sorry for what he had done, and the mother and the child embraced and their relationship was healed! God is so beautiful. Wow.
Monday was independence day in mozambique (when moz became free from the portuguese) so there was much celebration, and much hip-hop!! haha. lots of dancing. The kids had meat for dinner!! they were so happy.
God is still breaking my heart for the things that breaks his heart, and continues to flood my heart with more compassion! Although of course, i do not want this to stop as i want to become more like Jesus, it is so painful. When i see others suffering around me, its just physically painful in my heart. For the last couple of days, i have just been sobbing and sobbing. He is truely breaking me!
God is giving me more vision for my future, and i would really appreciate your prayers for this area of my life... I think he is beginning to put a nation on my heart.
thank you so much for all your comments and emails. It means a lot to me. let me know any prayer requests of yours too.
Much love,
Heather xxxx
109 girlies - i did indeed use my 'estau gravida' line the other day!!(of course i was joking) hehe. And Anna - there is actually a load of horses at the centre so the phrase, 'i want a horse' is actually not that random!!! haha.
written around the 21st
actually written around the 21st (no access to internet but borrowed a laptop)
Hi y'al!
How are you? Trinity people - Hope preparations for new wine are going well! cant remember when it starts but am excited for you! its going to be fab.. Hellie, hope you managed to get it all sorted. Will be praying. Thank you so much for all of your comments, its so good to hear from you all. I cant believe how fast this week has gone... God has done so much. Getting to know more of the Mozambicans this week (children, workers, villagers..) has been really fun, and sitting and chatting with them learning portuguese is always very amusing..mostly for them! Its great to hear the amazing stories of what God has done in their individual lives, and their stories of God's grace. I just love chatting to them, the Mozambicans are so friendly and so eager to help! They are very patient with me in learning the language! Which although is going quite well, is still very frustrating, and is upsetting me that i cannot properly communicate the message of the gospel to those who don't know Jesus yet. I was in the village today, and so desperately wanted to talk to the people about Jesus, but was restricted to only a few phrases..which i know God will still use but still. So prayer for the language would be really great!
This week, God has completely blown me away by his love again.. I had an encounter with him yesterday, that has changed my life yet again! He just gave me a whole new revelation of his love for me, and in that, more compassion for the lost and the unlovely, the broken and the dying. He completely wrecked me! I am sooo in love with Jesus. I am love sick for him. I was crying for hours and hours, and finally had to be dragged out of the tent stil in floods of tears (with a really attractive face and mouth full of sand! Anna..you would have found it funny - i was crying so much that i had mahousive bags under my eyes and i could hardly keep them open - i looked like a mole!) Even today, after coming back from the village and seeing the desperation of the poverty that surrounds me, i am completely wrecked, and i just feel their pain, almost physically in my heart. I am just in love, and Father is giving me more of his heart. I had a vision of Jesus, and he appeared to me with a bloodied, bruised and broken face. He was crying. With his tears he washed my feet, and said that he was crying for the nations, and i feel that this is what i am going through right now. I am learning that to be a missionary, it is all about love. - incarnational love. Its all about loving the one - and stopping for the one. It can get overwhelming when there are so many people around you in such desperate need, and in knowing how and what to do. I just need to stop and love for the one each time. But i cant love until i truely know Jesus' love, and i think that through this time of revelation, he is truely giving me more of the Father's heart in order to be more compassionate in loving the one.
Oh yeah, and after all of this, we actually did a feet washing session! A little mozambican girl washed and carefully dried my dirty, disgusting feet. I just cant explain how much that humbled me.
I love living with the chidlren here, and my favourite thing is just holding them and hugging them. Although the village children here come across as quite fierce, (they like to come and sit with us for our class sessions!) all they need is to know love. And i love just loving them and embracing them.
People are being healed here on a daily basis - it really is a normal occurance! Its not even a thing that people are surprised at! Its so funny.. on our outreach, we prayed for a lot of blind people, and i only found out from the pastor the other day that they were actually healed!! He was like.. yeah.. we prayed for them, what did you expect?!! haha. I pray for more faith. A deaf person got healed last night on Heidi's outreach - he hadn't heard or spoken for his entire life. Praise God! Oh, and yesterday, i had a really bad head cold - and this morning it was completely gone!! Yay God thank you so much.
I love how the book, 'theres always enough' is really put into practice here. Its not just a title. At lunch time, anyone who wants to eat can come to the centre and gets fed. A group of us can take in turns feeding the people, mainly children, and literally, we are encouragead to always invite anyone we meet to come and eat! It really is amazing because every day there is ALWAYS just enough food for everyone to eat. There may not always be enough plates.. but a quick rinse in a bowl of dirty water does the trick..lol.
Thank you so much for all your prayers, its really appreciated. This week, it would be fab if you could pray specifically for:
· continued health for me and my fellow students - there is a lot of sickness and malaria now
· protection - as a base, we have been under a lot of attack spiritually, we are right near loads of witchcraft.
· in speaking portuguese
· in becoming friends with those in the villages who dont know Jesus and leading them to Jesus this week
· For more of God. More love, more revelation, more encounters.
· The children, the widows, the lost in Mozambique.
God bless you all so much,
love Heather xx
Hi y'al!
How are you? Trinity people - Hope preparations for new wine are going well! cant remember when it starts but am excited for you! its going to be fab.. Hellie, hope you managed to get it all sorted. Will be praying. Thank you so much for all of your comments, its so good to hear from you all. I cant believe how fast this week has gone... God has done so much. Getting to know more of the Mozambicans this week (children, workers, villagers..) has been really fun, and sitting and chatting with them learning portuguese is always very amusing..mostly for them! Its great to hear the amazing stories of what God has done in their individual lives, and their stories of God's grace. I just love chatting to them, the Mozambicans are so friendly and so eager to help! They are very patient with me in learning the language! Which although is going quite well, is still very frustrating, and is upsetting me that i cannot properly communicate the message of the gospel to those who don't know Jesus yet. I was in the village today, and so desperately wanted to talk to the people about Jesus, but was restricted to only a few phrases..which i know God will still use but still. So prayer for the language would be really great!
This week, God has completely blown me away by his love again.. I had an encounter with him yesterday, that has changed my life yet again! He just gave me a whole new revelation of his love for me, and in that, more compassion for the lost and the unlovely, the broken and the dying. He completely wrecked me! I am sooo in love with Jesus. I am love sick for him. I was crying for hours and hours, and finally had to be dragged out of the tent stil in floods of tears (with a really attractive face and mouth full of sand! Anna..you would have found it funny - i was crying so much that i had mahousive bags under my eyes and i could hardly keep them open - i looked like a mole!) Even today, after coming back from the village and seeing the desperation of the poverty that surrounds me, i am completely wrecked, and i just feel their pain, almost physically in my heart. I am just in love, and Father is giving me more of his heart. I had a vision of Jesus, and he appeared to me with a bloodied, bruised and broken face. He was crying. With his tears he washed my feet, and said that he was crying for the nations, and i feel that this is what i am going through right now. I am learning that to be a missionary, it is all about love. - incarnational love. Its all about loving the one - and stopping for the one. It can get overwhelming when there are so many people around you in such desperate need, and in knowing how and what to do. I just need to stop and love for the one each time. But i cant love until i truely know Jesus' love, and i think that through this time of revelation, he is truely giving me more of the Father's heart in order to be more compassionate in loving the one.
Oh yeah, and after all of this, we actually did a feet washing session! A little mozambican girl washed and carefully dried my dirty, disgusting feet. I just cant explain how much that humbled me.
I love living with the chidlren here, and my favourite thing is just holding them and hugging them. Although the village children here come across as quite fierce, (they like to come and sit with us for our class sessions!) all they need is to know love. And i love just loving them and embracing them.
People are being healed here on a daily basis - it really is a normal occurance! Its not even a thing that people are surprised at! Its so funny.. on our outreach, we prayed for a lot of blind people, and i only found out from the pastor the other day that they were actually healed!! He was like.. yeah.. we prayed for them, what did you expect?!! haha. I pray for more faith. A deaf person got healed last night on Heidi's outreach - he hadn't heard or spoken for his entire life. Praise God! Oh, and yesterday, i had a really bad head cold - and this morning it was completely gone!! Yay God thank you so much.
I love how the book, 'theres always enough' is really put into practice here. Its not just a title. At lunch time, anyone who wants to eat can come to the centre and gets fed. A group of us can take in turns feeding the people, mainly children, and literally, we are encouragead to always invite anyone we meet to come and eat! It really is amazing because every day there is ALWAYS just enough food for everyone to eat. There may not always be enough plates.. but a quick rinse in a bowl of dirty water does the trick..lol.
Thank you so much for all your prayers, its really appreciated. This week, it would be fab if you could pray specifically for:
· continued health for me and my fellow students - there is a lot of sickness and malaria now
· protection - as a base, we have been under a lot of attack spiritually, we are right near loads of witchcraft.
· in speaking portuguese
· in becoming friends with those in the villages who dont know Jesus and leading them to Jesus this week
· For more of God. More love, more revelation, more encounters.
· The children, the widows, the lost in Mozambique.
God bless you all so much,
love Heather xx
Monday, 18 June 2007
Hiya
hope you are all well. thank you so much for those that emailed me and posted comments.. its such a blessing. its so good to hear from you all. i miss you all so much! I really appreciate all your prayers. God is great. i cant write much today becuase i only have 7 minutes left on the time thing and teh internet keeps crashing.. man i really need to come and dedicate some time to write properly on here. its kind of hard to voice whats going on too. Cath - if you need anything specific for the newsletter please let me know and i cant write something more specific.
Well, i thought i would tell you how a day goes here.. although its quite difficult becuase with the mixture of God and Mozambique, as expected nothing goes as expected!! haha. today, school started at 8.30 - and didnt fnish til 3.30!!! We were doing a fire tunnel for nearly 4 hours!!! the longest one ive ever seen.. was so funny. (A fire tunnel is wehre a load of people lay hands on people as they walk through to receieve more of Jesus!) most days God just decides to change the schedule. hehe. well, usually get up at about 5, then school is at 8.30, til lunchish. then sometimes we have another session in the afternoon, and then we either do stuff with the kids, or go into the village and share about Jesus etc. pray for whatever, in the evenings we have small group or stuff.. its a very busy schedule, so i would appreciate prayer for knowing how to spend my time correctly.. with where and with whom etc. ok i will try write more tomorrow..
God bless you
Heather xx
hope you are all well. thank you so much for those that emailed me and posted comments.. its such a blessing. its so good to hear from you all. i miss you all so much! I really appreciate all your prayers. God is great. i cant write much today becuase i only have 7 minutes left on the time thing and teh internet keeps crashing.. man i really need to come and dedicate some time to write properly on here. its kind of hard to voice whats going on too. Cath - if you need anything specific for the newsletter please let me know and i cant write something more specific.
Well, i thought i would tell you how a day goes here.. although its quite difficult becuase with the mixture of God and Mozambique, as expected nothing goes as expected!! haha. today, school started at 8.30 - and didnt fnish til 3.30!!! We were doing a fire tunnel for nearly 4 hours!!! the longest one ive ever seen.. was so funny. (A fire tunnel is wehre a load of people lay hands on people as they walk through to receieve more of Jesus!) most days God just decides to change the schedule. hehe. well, usually get up at about 5, then school is at 8.30, til lunchish. then sometimes we have another session in the afternoon, and then we either do stuff with the kids, or go into the village and share about Jesus etc. pray for whatever, in the evenings we have small group or stuff.. its a very busy schedule, so i would appreciate prayer for knowing how to spend my time correctly.. with where and with whom etc. ok i will try write more tomorrow..
God bless you
Heather xx
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Hi everyone!
Man o man!!! God is so good. Wow, where do i start. Well, i hope you are all ok and healthy! I love it so much in Mozambique, i feel just at home. God is doing amazing things, and i feel so priviledged and blessed to be a part of what he is doing here. The children and babes are great and i love living with them. I have made some really good friendships, and God is doing lots of stuff in me... i am growing closer and closer to him each day and falling more in love with him. He is teaching me so much, and showing me that i need to completely die to myself and let him completely take over every inch. I want to be completely consumed by him, and i am so desperate to be closer to him.. please pray that God would completely transform me and consume me with more of his love and fire!!
Last weekend I went away on a weekend outreach for 2 nights away in the bush. It was SOO amazing. I loved every single minute of it - it really felt like it was what i was created for. We arrived on Friday night and the people had never seen white people before, so literally, hundreds of people crowded around us! It was very amusing putting our tents up with a massive crowd of onlookers. The children literally followed us around ALL weekend!! haha. Well, we showed the Jesus film, and there was well over 1000 people there, and then I had the amazing priviledge, as well as a couple others, to preach. These people had NEVER heard the gospel before in their lives, and i felt so blessed to be able to share with them the truth. Well, probably over 80% of people gave their lives to Jesus that night!!! Praise God! In the morning, we planted a church and the mozambican pastor chose (not sure how) some people to lead the church, and Iris are going to try and get back there as much as possible to disciple them. So many people were healed praise God!! Blind eyes were open, headaches were healed, peopel with crippled legs and hands, so many healings that we dont even know of becuase the people are so expectant that they literally dont sometimes even say when they are healed becuase that is what they expect..so why be surprised!! haha.
I cant believe i have only been here a week.. i love it. Please pray that i would become more intimate with Jesus. I know that through that all the other needs will come.
I have to go now. I miss you all so much. God bless, heather xxxxxx
p.s. please pray for me as i have to make an important decision about something
Man o man!!! God is so good. Wow, where do i start. Well, i hope you are all ok and healthy! I love it so much in Mozambique, i feel just at home. God is doing amazing things, and i feel so priviledged and blessed to be a part of what he is doing here. The children and babes are great and i love living with them. I have made some really good friendships, and God is doing lots of stuff in me... i am growing closer and closer to him each day and falling more in love with him. He is teaching me so much, and showing me that i need to completely die to myself and let him completely take over every inch. I want to be completely consumed by him, and i am so desperate to be closer to him.. please pray that God would completely transform me and consume me with more of his love and fire!!
Last weekend I went away on a weekend outreach for 2 nights away in the bush. It was SOO amazing. I loved every single minute of it - it really felt like it was what i was created for. We arrived on Friday night and the people had never seen white people before, so literally, hundreds of people crowded around us! It was very amusing putting our tents up with a massive crowd of onlookers. The children literally followed us around ALL weekend!! haha. Well, we showed the Jesus film, and there was well over 1000 people there, and then I had the amazing priviledge, as well as a couple others, to preach. These people had NEVER heard the gospel before in their lives, and i felt so blessed to be able to share with them the truth. Well, probably over 80% of people gave their lives to Jesus that night!!! Praise God! In the morning, we planted a church and the mozambican pastor chose (not sure how) some people to lead the church, and Iris are going to try and get back there as much as possible to disciple them. So many people were healed praise God!! Blind eyes were open, headaches were healed, peopel with crippled legs and hands, so many healings that we dont even know of becuase the people are so expectant that they literally dont sometimes even say when they are healed becuase that is what they expect..so why be surprised!! haha.
I cant believe i have only been here a week.. i love it. Please pray that i would become more intimate with Jesus. I know that through that all the other needs will come.
I have to go now. I miss you all so much. God bless, heather xxxxxx
p.s. please pray for me as i have to make an important decision about something
Wednesday, 6 June 2007
Hi everyone!
Just to say that i made it safely, and am setting in. Its so great here. Am finally home! Bill Johnson did a talk and stuff this morning, was awesome. God bless you all so much. Will write a proper post of whats happening next week probably. Hope you are all well,
love and blessings,
Heather x
Just to say that i made it safely, and am setting in. Its so great here. Am finally home! Bill Johnson did a talk and stuff this morning, was awesome. God bless you all so much. Will write a proper post of whats happening next week probably. Hope you are all well,
love and blessings,
Heather x
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