Snapshots from Pemba

Life in Pemba

Living in Pemba has been a wonderful (and sometimes difficult) experience for our family. We live in a compound that was built for the mission school students and a few of the long-term missionaries. It’s actually quite posh compared to my accommodations in Kenya the last time I was in Africa. We actually have running water (sometimes) and electricity (sometimes). We are told that the water quality is really not that bad for Mozambicans, but we use a backpacking water filter to help keep our tummies happy.

We all sleep under mosquito nets which keep the bites to a minimum. Bathing has been interesting. With the shortages of water, we've had to be creative with bath time.

We eat most of our meals with the Mozambican Bible School students and the Iris children along with a number of people from the surrounding village in a large room with rows of benches and no tables. There’s quite a bit of variety—some days we have rice and beans, other days we have beans and rice. On special days we have a small piece of goat meat with the rice or a small piece of fish. On really special days we have a small piece of chicken with the rice. The kids love those days! Because the kids are not nearly as excited as we are about beans, they sometimes only eat the rice. We’ve managed to locate peanut butter and some fresh fruits and vegetables in town (about a 1-hour walk or 15 minute ride if we can flag a taxi) which we use to supplement their diet. Aaron is definitely looking forward to a #7 at McDonalds when we get back. One day he asked me if we could fly to Johannesburg for a pizza (about a six hour flight).

Our days are quite full with classes, interaction with the Iris children and local children from the surrounding villages, helping to serve food, and outreaches. The children here are incredibly friendly and love to play with our kids. Aaron and Ryan have a blast being silly with the boys and Anna has really enjoyed her new Mozambican friends. The kids have also been adopted by the mission school students from around the world. They make the rounds around the compound and talk and play with people from all over the world. Ryan’s favorites are several of the Korean students. Anna and Aaron love talking with everybody.

We are staying with a family from Michigan with four children. Their three oldest are the same ages as our children, so they’ve really enjoyed playing together.

We’ve enjoyed going to the beach several times as a family. When we head that direction, the family usually grows quickly. We typically end up with a bunch of children from the village. If the children have parents they apparently don’t worry about where their kids are during the day. The Mozambican children always keep their swimsuits with them—they simply launch their clothes and jump in.

It’s been an amazing experience living amongst those who have laid down their lives to love and serve others in Mozambique – both nationals and foreign missionaries. Although we’ve read the beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-11) many times, this is the first time we’ve ever seen them truly lived out. I’ve included several journal entries below to share a bit more about what we are experiencing.

June 8, 2008 Journal Entry – The Lord Our Healer

It was amazing to witness the healings in church today. I’ve heard stories of the miraculous work of God here, but it was beautiful to watch with my own eyes as He touched the Mozambicans. One woman, who had been unable to move one of her feet was touched by God to the point where she was able to walk across the platform. When she realized what God had done for her she became overjoyed and ran back and forth. Another woman had been paralyzed on her right side. After God touched her she started to wave her right arm around, bend back and forth and did other things she had not been able to do. Finally, a man who had been completely paralyzed was able to get up and take his first few steps. He was not ready to run a marathon, but it was so moving to watch him walk slowly across the platform . . .

. . . The first groups of missionary students came back from their outreach today. They were tired, but very excited. Both groups saw many run to give their hearts to Yesu (Jesus) after watching the Jesus Film and hearing the gospel preached along with a demonstration of the Lord’s healing power and love. Many received physical healing and one man was delivered from over a decade of bondage to the demonic. He had had a curse placed on him by a witch doctor over a decade ago which caused a number of vexing physical symptoms. To seek relief he visited another witch doctor for a “remedy”. The “remedy” caused his symptoms to worsen significantly. His back hunched over and became stiff as a board, his eyes clamped shut and he stopped talking. As the team prayed for him and broke the curses over him, he spoke for the first time in a decade and slowly his eyes opened. One of the team members who was praying over him felt his back change from being like wood to being like flesh again. The man was able to stand up straight. Now being able to talk, the man relayed the story of how he came to this condition. He still complained, however, of seeing demonic beings as he looked around. The team helped the man renounce the witchcraft and other sins in his life and continued to pray. Finally the demonic visions stopped. Praise God for freedom for one that had been so long a captive.

June 11, 2008 Journal Entry – The Cost of Following Christ

I’m beginning to understand the price the Pastors here pay to minister the gospel. Because revival is sweeping through this area so quickly with whole villages sometimes coming to Christ at once, there is a severe shortage of Pastors. Because of this, new believers from the villages often leave their village to be trained for ministry. Many of the Mozambican Bible School students don’t know whether or not their wives will be there when they return home. Many of them give up their crops to go to school, so they lose any means of support they otherwise had. Many of the Mozambican Bible School students don’t even have a pair of shoes when they show up, much less a Bible, pen, or notebook. What they do have is a hunger for the presence of God, an understanding of what it means to be poor in spirit (Matt 5:3), and a deep love for their Lord. I’m only just beginning to understand their true riches.

June 14, 2008 Journal Entry – Medical Outreach Part 1

We are now on medical outreach in Miriangoni. We drove for about four hours yesterday in a cameo, the flat-bed diesel trucks they use to haul people and equipment. All the mission school students, Bible school students—along with the sound system, Jesus film equipment and camping gear—piled onto the back and we drove up into the hill country. The “mountains” here are beautiful. They stand in sharp contrast to the gently rolling hills in this area.

It was interesting to watch the children’s reaction to our arrival. They apparently do not see augunia (white people) very often. They all stood back at a safe distance with fearful expressions until I managed to shake the hand of one brave little girl. All the other children began to giggle at her bravery, which broke the ice. The children here are such a delight. They love to play, giggle, dance and sing. I’ve seen more smiles and heard more laughter in the last two days than I do for months in America.

Because we arrived with only 2 hours of light remaining, we were not able to set up the tent we use as a mobile clinic. Instead, we spent about an hour with the children dispensing de-worming medication. It was quite a process trying to get small children to swallow six foul-tasting tablets. Through an interpreter we tried to describe the process of tilting their heads back and opening their mouths so we could pour some water in. Rather than just swallowing most of the children chewed up the pills—yuck! The medication gets rid of the worms right away and gives them relief for about six months. The parasites are hard on their little bodies because they absorb the few nutrients they are able to take in. We used the time with the children as an opportunity to pray life, health, and destiny over them.

It’s been so refreshing to spend time with the two doctors from Iris Ministries, Dr. Angie and Dr. Eric. Even though Dr. Angie was highly sought after in England for her pediatric experience, she chose to come and do Kingdom medicine for the poorest of the poor. The doctors have come to rely completely on the Lord to deal with the overwhelming needs here. They seek the Kingdom first in all they do. The outreach team’s time of preparation the night before leaving involved three hours of prayer and worship, personal ministry over each of the team members, and taking communion together. Because of the spiritual battles in the bush-bush, that preparation time is absolutely critical to the success of the outreach.

The strategy of the medical team is to spend time with each individual lined up outside the medical tent for treatment. Our task was to pray for healing, deliverance, and salvation for those waiting for medical treatment. An important part of the ministry is to determine whether the person has sought out “treatment” from the witch doctors. When they have, it often prevents them from receiving healing. This strategy makes a lot of sense because a number of the individuals received healing right there in the line and never had to see the doctors. On the ladies side of the tent four of the women had their vision go dark about four weeks ago. They could still see, but it was as if they were trying to get around on a dark night even though it was broad daylight. Apparently they had all come under the power of a curse. The team prayed over the women to break the curse. One of them had the sense that they needed to pray over a bottle of water and pour the water in their eyes. When they did, the vision of all four women was completely restored.

We did have a witch, who wore only a capalana with no top, attempt to curse us throughout the weekend. She prayed and sang incantations over us in a language that was unknown even to the locals. She even showed up one morning when I was playing hacky sack with the children and tried to curse the hacky sack. She stomped her foot down on it and prayed an incantation over it. Then she kicked it out of the circle, spit on the ground and left. The demons don’t play nice around here! At one point the team confronted her demonic captors and she dropped to the ground and writhed like a snake. It was interesting that while we were packing up the medical tent Saturday night, a snake came right through the middle of the tent sight—ground that we had declared holy to the Lord. Dr. Eric took one of the tent poles and “crushed the serpent’s head.”

June 16, 2008 Journal Entry – Medical Outreach Part 2

The highlight of the medical outreach for me was the opportunity to pray over a little boy during the worship service yesterday. I was asked to pray over a child who was nearly impossible for his mother to control. He would bite, kick, pinch, and smash his head into anyone that got close to him. I picked him up and began to pray over him and he quickly calmed down. Soon he began to get stirred up again and was difficult to hold. Just then, one of the Pastors from the outreach team called for those from the village that were in need of prayer to come forward. I carried him forward, but all the other prayer ministers were busy with other people. I sat down with him on my lap and did my best to keep him from hurting himself (or me). Soon I began to weep over him. My prayer was that the Lord would receive the offering of my tears because it was all I really had to offer. As soon as my tears fell on him, he became still and quiet and fell asleep. That gave me the opportunity to hold his hand and pray healing for the broken places and speak life, health, destiny, and love over his life and his family. When he finally woke up he remained completely calm. His mother bundled him on her back and as she walked away I watched the boy reach out and gently touch another child.