I feel on my heart to share some of my journey in Pemba, Oct-Dec 2010 with you all, so here are some excerpts from week one, Iris Harvest School of Missions, Pemba, Cabo Delgado Province, Republica de Mocambique!
“Your vision’s too small” - Mama Heidi
No matter what dreams or visions God’s given me,
there is SO way more than I could ever imagine!
“The devil simply doesn’t have the ability to blackmail us." - Papa Rolland
“If you have any desire at all for God, it’s from Him. He has the ability to finish what he started."
“The foundation of Iris Ministries is to actually believe the bible!”
“Zero compulsion except love” - Papa Rolland
“Iris is a vehicle to new places. Just relax and let Him be in control. Keep your eyes not on the vehicle but on the driver."
This is the way to avoid crashing and burning and becoming stressed out! All of every day is all about Jesus! If it becomes about the future, then that is an idol. Keep it about my Jesus.
“You can’t make yourself love people if you don’t know what love is.
LET HIM LOVE ON YOU!”
- Mama Heidi
“The only way you can be a radical lover and give radical love is to receive radical love. Unless you LOVE you run out of steam. It’s whipping yourself to do it. Stop Every Day of your whole life for Him, before you stop for the one. So long as you are in the centre of His heart.”
“Your good works need to proceed from faith. If it’s not done out of affection for God, then it’s sin.”
“He meant all these good things to INCREASE your affection for Him.”
“Don’t complicate love. Keep it simple :)”
Ministry time after one of the sessions:
I saw a single long stemmed rose, and I was like that to God. He wanted me. There were thorns on it and now I know why. Because my thorns hurt Him. My defenses are still up a bit. “God loves you so much it HURTS!”
Sunday 10th 10th 2010! My first Sunday in Pemba.
One Samuel Two
6 “The LORD kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings up.7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up.8 He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory.
“For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s,
And He has set the world upon them.9 He will guard the feet of His saints,
But the wicked shall be silent in darkness.
“For by strength no man shall prevail.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory! This is so God’s heart. God is an upside down God. Most of my visions and pictures from God since August 2010 had been upside down and I really felt that He was making a point, in saying how upside down His kingdom is! We go to the least of these and God changes a nation. His heart is the least of these. Yet his heart is the rich as well. His heart is all who are hungry, whether we are hungry in the natural or the spiritual… It is a good thing to be hungry, as God loves to fill those who are hungry!
I just found a journal entry from week 2… but it applies to this
“I love that God is an upside down God! I’ve been seeing all my visions since August from underneath or upside down, and it’s been driving me crazy!I think God is going to rearrange everything upside down here in the way I think and the way I SEE.”
Journal excerpt from 10.10.10 (again)
Apparently I woke up my bunkmate last night with shaking because God was being funny in my dreams. He was literally making me laugh! So I woke at 4am with her saying “Serena”? and the muslim call to prayer going on outside.
Today church was incredible – reminds me of my home church, with all the dancing and even action songs! And also the immediate presence of God (there is one song especially which I cannot seem to find on a recording although it is partly on the Finger of God DVD… It is slow and is about Yesu – Jesus. It brings the tangible presence of God straight away and I miss church so much… as much as I can when it is mostly in portugese and the makua tribal language!).
After church I ended up sitting on the floor with this whole group of Makuan kids. Junita, Anna, Aida, Owlla and two others. I also met their Dad Manuel who was in a wheelchair/bike. None of them spoke English. The baby played in my lap… The Mozambicans are Beautiful, Beautiful people!
We went to the beach after lunch and there were hundreds of makuan kids everywhere. At least three hundred of them and mostly without parents!
They smiled, hugged, laughed and grabbed us and pulled our white skin and rubbed our faces and rubbed our hair. And splashed us and jumped on us in the water – many at one time so that it was really hard to stay standing!!! And some of the older boys got a bit too touchy. We learned that Sundays on the beach are pretty much not a good idea. Most of the kids though are really nice and are just so excited that we would come and play with them on the beach. One girl followed us halfway back to the base and kept running up, grabbing my hand and saying “Ciao” with a beautiful smile at least six or seven times :)
Photo credits: Esther Brueckner-Leech, Angel Huang, Betsy Graton
There is way more than I could ever convey of what happened, what I learned and what God did in the past 3 months. Just as God is so much more than we could ever discover, take this as just a scratch on the surface, just the tip of the iceberg... and always, through everything, ask Him to do in you whatever He wants :) Let Him love you and yield to Him your heart... He wants it all!
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