He had a better plan...

Hi everyone, thank the Lord we are back home in Maryland. The last week before ending school we went on a 5 day outreach to the bush-bush. It was incredible! It seems the Lord kept the best for last because we really experienced awesome things! We visited 2 villages. The plan was to encourage the churches, hold children programs and evangelistic efforts. The first village, Napuri, went as planned. Heather might tell you more about the children program. We were able to teach them more about the love of Christ and also pray for the Holy Spirit to fill them up. The guys had a special time with the youth (males) to talk about some issues related to their lifestyle that are not in line with Scripture -- cohabiting and having sex without being married. We sat and just chatted and brought light to these issues with the Word. At the end we prayed together and the Holy Spirit brought conviction on these young men, many fell on their knees asking for forgiveness to the Lord and power from the Holy Spirit to take the right decisions. At the same time the women had a time of encouragement and teaching. We had a sweet time with the Lord. 

Now, on our way to the second village we had a problem: The roads were in very bad shape - bumps, dust, holes, and a lot of mud. 7 hours into our trip and after rebuilding a bridge (that's another story) we get to this random village and a man stopped us telling us that it was impossible for us to continue our journey, the mud was to deep and our truck would not make it.... So I got out the truck and with two mozambican pastors we looked for a place to stay. We talked with some men asking for permission. The grace of God was with us, they said Yes!. 

So, it seemed the Lord had a better plan for us, this village, Niuti, had No church, no born-again believers, no christian background, it had a lot of occult and witchcraft stuff.... in other words, it was perfect soil to plant the seeds of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

This first night (friday) in Niuti we didn't show the Jesus film. Instead we showed some worship videos in their language and then we shared our testimonies. Pastor Jose, our mozambican leader preached. At the end he made an altar call. It was impressive that most of the men wanted this Jesus. Normally women and children walk to the front first, but in this village it was the men the ones repenting for their sin and asking for deliverance of addictions first. Many of them shared what they felt after repenting and accepting Jesus - freedom in their heart, lightness in their shoulders... etc.... Jesus was taking the burden of sin and replacing it with freedom.

The next day (saturday) we played with the children and explained to them the message of the love of Christ. All these children wanted the Savior! It seems so simple, they simply believe... and He comes to be among them! It's wonderful!!

Later that day my friend Levi and I were walking around the village. All of a sudden we hear this drum beat and voices in the distance. We get near and we see a ritual going on. Men dressed like woman and dancing in circles. It was a dance for the dead. An old man recently died and their friends were doing this ritual possibly to honor the dead... My friend was fired up and looks at me, he says "let's preach". I said ok. So he shared and i translated into portuguese and our driver, that was around, translated into makua. We talked about the "Higher Spirit" that rules over all. We tried to convey the message of the gospel into their own terms for better understanding without watering it down. Many gathered around us, old and young. Many raised their hands to Him, and then kneeled before Him. They repented for their ways and wanted this Jesus we preached. 

There were so many new believers and testimonies of the power of God meeting this people. Praise God!! They also wanted a church!! So, on sunday we had our first service of the Arco-Iris Church in Niuti. We gathered under the shadow of a big tree and we celebrated the birth of a new church and the beginning of a new era for the people of this village now that the Kingdom of God has come to them.

This outreach will be forever in my heart. I will never forget the privilege of speaking about the Savior to this people and the openness of their hearts to believe with simplicity of faith. I was part of a revival movement where the dominion of the Kingdom of God is advancing forcefully, and for this I'm deeply grateful. Thank you, Lord! To you be the Glory! May you receive the reward of Your suffering!!

De David - Espanol

Hola familia y amigos!!! Es dificil creer que ya nos quedan tan solo 10 dias aqui en Africa. Es ya tiempo de regresar; tengo por seguro que Heather y yo no somos los mismos de cuando llegamos hace mas de 2 meses. Podria parecer hasta logico que el haber venido aqui cambiara o transformara muchos de los “pobres” con los que nos encontramos a diario. Y si, vimos salvacion, sanidades, milagros, esperanza, etc. Sin embargo, tengo la certeza que el mayor efecto de transformacion ha sido en nosotros. He aprendido de los pobres materialmente, pero que tienen las riquezas del Reino de Dios; de los pastores mozambicanos, que para mi son heroes, que como pioneros llevan la bandera de Cristo Jesus a locaciones remotas, y todo por amor. He sido cambiado por la alegria de mis hermanos y hermanas que cantan con pasion a Dios por horas sin haber comido por dias. He aprendido de hombres y mujeres de Dios que impartieron no solo conocimiento pero vida spiritual, vision, fuego, hambre y sed por mas de El aqui y ahora. He aprendido y he sido afectado por aun mas cosas que todavia estoy procesando….

Una palabra que ha resonado en mi espiritu desde que llegue y que siento un fuerte llamado en mi Corazon es: Transformacion. Aunque suena comun, esta palabra ha hecho eco dentro de mi y no puedo evitar el relacionar el evangelio, discipulado y la iglesia con esta palabra. Para esto vino Jesus, para esto Su Iglesia esta en la tierra. Para eso vivimos. Este es nuestro mandato: Transformacion. (El tiempo es corto para entrar en detalles, pero luego compartire mas).

He escuchado que aquellos que visitan Africa quedan marcados por vida y con el deseo de regresar…. Es cierto, lo he comprobado. El deseo de regresar no es (como si fuera algunas de las razones normales de lugares especiales) por lo sofisticado de los hoteles, o la alta culinaria de los restaurantes, la moderna arquitectura de las ciudades o el ambiente turistico. Es simplemente la belleza en la simpleza de la gente; La libertad que se respire en el aire; el fervor de los creyentes, y la realidad del Reino de Dios en medio de los pobres de espiritu.

Asi como Pablo escribio a los Efesios, es mi oracion tambien que todos lleguemos a la unidad de la fe - que aprendamos de nuestra familia en Africa y crezcamos en lo que ellos han alcanzado y reciprocamente. Hay mas por alcanzar! Sigamos corriendo esta carrera de fe, y como Pablo dijo a los Corintios: Corramos para ganar! No solo para llegar a la meta. Lo unico necesario es decir “Si” al Senor y “Mas de ti, Espiritu Santo”.

Este martes salimos para evangelismo. Esta vez es por 6 dias. Visitaremos 2 aldeas. 3 dias en cada una. Por favor sigan orando por nosotros. Que el Senor siga guardando nuestra salud como hasta ahora, y que vayamos a estas aldeas con aun mas energia fisica, mas amor, y mas de Dios para impartir y sembrar vida en todos aquellos que encontremos.

Pronto les contaremos como nos fue, de seguro tendremos grandes testimonios; tenemos un Dios grandioso y fiel.

Un abrazo a todos.

David

From Heather

Here we are already, the final leg of the school. It has truly flown by. We leave Tuesday for our extended outreach, and return Sunday the 21st. Then we have one day in Pemba (I’m NOT looking forward to saying bye to my kids again L) , then we head home the 23rd! I hope we’re not too jetlagged arriving Christmas Eve, cause I’m so looking forward to Christmas with my family!! It’s weird being displaced from all the hussle and bussle of the Christmas season and sales and shopping. I don’t mind being away from all the materialism that comes along with the holiday. The kids here at Iris just had their Christmas party today, and Mama Heidi visited each kid to individually give them their presents. They all seemed so overjoyed; it means so much to them to get hand-picked gifts from their mom.
So for our outreach I’m SUPER excited…on our weekend outreaches, as I sat in church Sunday morning, I couldn’t help but notice that over 50% of the church was filled with kids. And they joined in for worship, but wandered out, playing with each other during the rest of the service. We had the privilege of doing children’s ministry the day before, but how often do they really get poured into? On a weekly basis where they can be discipled and brought up with a solid foundation in Christ…who is doing this in the villages that we do outreach in? Raising up the next generation? And then we find out that we get to do that for our 6-day outreach! We get to take the “village feeding program” outline that Iris does here in Pemba to these 2 villages. We’ll give resources to the leaders in the church to continue a kids ministry in their village. God totally answered my prayer!
I remember being home the past year and a half, remembering and picturing Pemba and the kids faces, and now I’m here, smelling it, living it. And in just a couple weeks it’ll just be a memory again. I’ll be closing my eyes and picturing Reina and Tiago and Namuna, the beach and my house and my roommates. I’m so thankful for this experience. In a few words, I feel like I’m taking away from these 2 months… a much needed growth in being a leader. God’s stretched me and encouraged me in leading others, particularly in this missions setting. He’s spoken to me more about the dreams and passions in my heart- particularly in seeing sex trafficking ended, and the kids rescued from forced prostitution given hope and restoration. He’s blessed me with being able to continue the relationships I started with kids 2 years ago, and I really have a love for them. I get so proud when Tiago sings a special song in front of church; I envision Amade going to university or becoming a minister; when Reina told me she was getting married my heart leapt! We’re not sure when or if God will let us come back to Pemba, but I’d sure love to at least visit again and keep the contact.
One thing I’ll end with is something that Heidi preaches often but so incredibly real that it just hits your heart and doesn’t let you continue living life as you know it. She was preaching on the Beatitudes. She calls it Jesus’ self-portrait. We’ve never thought of it like that before, but just read it in Matthew 5. He was the one who made himself poor and meek as he came to earth …think about the King of Kings on His throne in heaven choosing to become a baby…breastfeeding, crawling, learning to talk and walk. How much more humble could it have been? He learned a trade, worked a modest job and taught in places He was often not even welcomed at. He calls us to go “lower still.” Not to pursue our own successes and fame, but to find the true blessings that are found in humility. In staying hungry for Him, in desiring a pure heart more than a booming ministry. Do we show mercy, work for peace, rejoice in persecution? Do I even know what persecution really looks like? Heidi shared a story of a pastor in Mozambique – the cousin of Pastor Supresa, an International Director of Iris. He was serving God with his family in their local church and one day some men from another faith came in screaming and threatening him. They said they would silence the church. The pastor boldly stated, “Nothing can silence the church that loves.” He refused to renounce Jesus, and allowed his own blood to be shed so that God’s kingdom would not be silenced. That village soon saw thousands come to the Lord, and even 2 of his murderers repented and now serve God. This is the persecuted church – the martyr’s that are receiving their highest reward in heaven. Am I willing to follow Jesus no matter the cost? Is His name worth more than my very life? Whether it’s in an African village or a 9-5 job in America, what does it look like to be persecuted for His names’ sake, so that the kingdom of heaven will be brought here on earth? I encourage you to read through the Beatitudes and see what God would say to you about it for your own life.
With that I will end and look forward to seeing you in just a couple weeks!! Enjoy Christmas, and please keep us in your prayers during our outreach!

A quick glimpse into the Bush outreach - from David

The ride was quite bumpy, the heat very intense, all of us (foreign students) sang Makua worship songs along with our happy Mozambican bible students for most of the 2.5 hour trip to Napulimuiti, the village we visited last weekend.

This village was literally in the middle of nowhere as we diverted many times from the main roads into fields to follow mud tracks along banana and mango trees.

As we arrive, the children start to run behind the truck with smiles on their faces and very amazed at the unexpected ‘white’ visitors.

I start to feel excitement bubbling within me as I think of the fact that the gospel has reached this semi-remote place and the beautiful name of Jesus is being preached. It’s just incredible to see a church here, not only the building - in this case, the dusty mud hut with a few bamboo pews – but the living body of the living Christ.
It’s dark already when we get out of the truck. We make our way into the local pastor’s hut where we will camp out for the next 2 nights. Men, women and children greet us and stare at us as if waiting for something….. We are part of something much greater than us, still we are united as one, white, black, or mixed (latino like me), carrying the message of the Cross in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Minutes later we set up the projection of the Jesus movie; a few hundreds gather around the truck where we have set the big screen to watch the movie. This is what Heidi Baker rightly calls pre-evangelism, where through the movie people get a glimpse of this Jesus we are talking about. At the end of the movie I had the blessing of “explaining” the movie and bring the message into a personal level. My friend Abdul translated into Makua. To be sincere, it’s kind of chaotic. With the crowd, the translation, the people moving around, children being children, it’s a bit difficult to know that you are connecting with people. Still, after the altar call, people, mostly children and women come forward for prayer. We pray for them for faith to receive Jesus as Saviour and for the Holy Spirit to fill them. After this, we make an invitation for those who are sick. The Jesus movie shows Him healing people, and the same can happen for them. Many with back problems, stomach problems and headaches are healed this night. Who knows about the dozens of others we pray for but that we couldn’t ask right away about their healing because of language limitations… God is faithful to His Word! The book of Acts is still being written all around the world by common people like you and I who simply say “Yes” to Him.

The next day Heather and others of our team lead a children program, teaching mainly about prayer and the love of God. It’s vital for the transformation of this community to bring up children in the knowledge of God. And we are very thankful that we can invest at least this little bit on them, knowing that the seed of the gospel will bring much fruit as they grow up to be the agents God will use to transform their villages.

That night we show the Jesus movie in a village close by. There are a few dozens and many receive Christ as Saviour and many are healed.

I said before this is called pre-evangelism. After we leave, the local believers and pastors will do the work of evangelism in a personal level.

This type of outreach happens every weekend in several villages around this northern area of Mozambique. Praise God!

I’m very thankful to the Lord for allowing me to see revival among the poor. For bringing me here to experience the gospel in new ways, and changing my heart as I see Him work among those He loves and died for.

May He continue to receive the reward of His suffering…. through you and me.

Much love,
David

some thoughts from the mind of heather...

I’ve seen the whole starving African children scene so many times, been to Pemba, cried for them before…but I’m so thankful that God keeps it real for me. He doesn’t just let it be a scene for me. This week I helped at the village feeding program again, helped quiet rambunctious kids, and pass out plate after plate of rice and beans. For some kids, it may be the only meal they eat that day.
This time after the kids were served, I walked around the corner to collect the dirty plates and I was just captured by what was going on. I was just drawn to them, to watch them and meet them, to love on them. They all looked so beautiful to me. I noted how every child sat in a group of about 3 to 6 or so, and they all shared; some put their food together and ate out of the same plate. The culture of the poor is so opposite to our individualized Western culture.
The most humbling thing happened to me during this time. I was kneeling down with different groups of kids, asking them their names and such. I noticed a group of 4 young ones, maybe 3 years old, sitting together sharing a plate of food. I squatted down and smiled, simply wanting to bring them company and put names to the face of another “poor village child.” But then, one by one, each precious, hungry child – out of their own instinct, their natural reaction to someone joining them – scooped up a handful of food and placed it in my hand. I was taken aback and simply said, “Cushukuru” (thank you in Makua). They pointed to the rice, then to their mouths, giving me an indication to eat it. I took one bite, then the tears welled up, broke through the gates of my eyelids, and rolled down my proud ‘Akuhna’ cheeks (‘Akuhna’ is white person in Makua – and is generally yelled at the missions school students by just about every village kid).
When Jesus says to have faith like a child, this is precisely what He means. Who do I think I am, coming here to hand out plates to these poor orphans in my good missionary way? They know what it means to give when they have nothing to give, to give without questioning and preconceived judgments. They taught me what it means to share again. Simple as it sounds, our missions-minded, NGO plans and first world wisdom seemed so unnecessary when I saw the generosity of the poor spring forth so easily.
I wrestle with how to respond to the constant begging and endless needs – we surely can’t solve everyone’s problems everyday. By I finally am starting to really get what Heidi Baker preaches. After simply sitting down with the poor. Stop for the one in front of you – just stop and love them, help them. Love like Jesus did, with selfless love.
Truly, the poor in spirit are blessed, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3
We have so exalted ourselves, our own spirituality, honoring and preferring ourselves over others. We have forgotten that Jesus calls for an opposite spirit than the world – not climbing higher but lowering ourselves in humility, so that He may be lifted high.
I pray that God would bless you to be able to simply share with others, just as those tiny children did to me. They knew I had food, money, all I needed, yet their heart was to welcome me in like family. Oh, how I need faith like a child.
May you be brought ‘lower still’ as you seek God’s face. May He bless you with a spirit that is in constant need of Him. May you see His kingdom here on earth.

Un saludo en Espanol!!!

Hola a todos nuestros amigos de habla Castellana. Un abrazo grande desde esta hermosa y calurosa tierra Mozambicana. Ya llevamos 2 meses aqui y de verdad que hemos sido transformados al ver todo lo que Dios esta haciendo y al experimentar mas de El en medio de este pueblo tan necesitado. Tenemos muchas historias que contar y poco tiempo para escribir... hemos visto a Dios sanar enfermos, dar esperanza al hambriento, alegria a los ninos huerfanos, y visitar al necesitado. La iglesia es imparable cuando le damos libertad al Espiritu Santo para que simplemente haga lo que desea hacer, y que se resume en las palabras de Jesus: El Reino de Dios se ha acercado".
Hemos recibido ensenanzas, imparticion, herramientas espirituales, y mucha bendicion. Que como lo dijo un pastor invitado, es como una caja de herramientas para nuestro futuro en este caminar con Jesus.
Sigan orando por nosotros, cuando haya mas tiempo, les contaremos mas detalles. o sino, traduzcan los blogs en ingles. Hasta una nueva oportunidad. En un mes nos vereremos!! Muchas bendiciones y un abrazo fuerte.
Con amor
David & Heather Moreno

the bush and the beach...

the weather's always hot. dirty is a way of life. the begging never ends. rice and beans gets old. our week's seem so busy we can't rest. everything starts late and nothing is done efficiently. living in a house full of guys gets...smelly.
there could be reasons to complain here in africa. it didnt' take me long to think of them. but honestly, all i can say is i love it here.

i love the bright sun and the beautiful indian ocean. i love the smiles on the kids faces. i love how they say my name "hea-da". i love getting to worship every morning at class. i love trying to speak portuguese and failing, and failing even more at learning Makua - but still learning from the mozambicans. i love hearing the kids from the village singing and yelling bible verses in Makua. i love that God is really changing a nation - the Makua tribe was one of the most unreached people groups in the world just 5 years ago when Iris planted the base here in Pemba. only about 200 christian makuas. today, i pass over 200 christian makuas every time i walk around the base, visit an Iris church and help at the village feeding program.
i see widows making a living sewing capulanas. i see kids saved from the dumps and poverty now learning life skills and artistic abiliites, and even going off to medical school. i see 100 mozambican men that are able to gain a biblical education to take back to their village and disciple more Makua christians in their local church. it's incredible what God's doing here.

last weekend was our outreach to the bush; we only traveled about 1 1/2 hours outside of Pemba to a small village that already had an Iris church planted. it was a warm and welcoming village (unlike others that teams travelled to the previous week. they're all different, some more resistant, some loving the guests). friday night we spent some time meeting the people, playing with the kids, and singing some good ole african worship songs. satruday morning the mozambican pastor in charge told us we'd be teaching the church members and village family for 4 hours. i took half our team to do children's and david went with the rest to teach adults. for me it was like 4 hour improv VBS - it was long, but it was awesome. we had a great translator and were able to do songs, games, lessons on not having fear, prayer, who they are in God... and do dramas of bible stories with them, even teach them a bible verse in Makua. God really gave us grace cause it was Hot and we were like uhh running out of ideas after 2 hours haha. but it was such an honor to pour into these kids. david and hte team with the adults shared messages to encourage the church about leadership and giving.

saturday night we did the Jesus film in Makua as a way to tell people mor eabou t who Jesus is. and then david was able to share the message of salvation and about 5 people gave their hearts to the lord! it's funny i am sometimes like , i dont know, i don't like how we use that same language like " he accepted Jesus into his heart" because its so muhc deepr and discipleship is so muhc more of a process than just counting converts. but i know that i've seen the seed of the Word realyl planted into these hearts and with the solid pastors that Iris plants into churches, they are able to connect and disciple people in how to grow in a relationship iwth a living God.

sorry if i'm goign on and on...we just had a realyl awesome outreach. i was so thankful we had a moz. pastor leading our group that had a heart of compassion for the poor - even though he would be considered "poor" himself. our outreach budget only provides food for our team (about 25 students and moz. pastors). so when we go into a village we're supposed to cook for oursevles only. well just picture the scenario of eating your spaghetti and tuna while 100 hungry eyes are 20 ft. away staring at you. how can you say you are preaching good news to the poor when you can't share your food with them?? so Pastor Chico and i talked and we decided we'd simply share our food with them evey meal, and if we ran out, we'd find a market and we'd buy more. so that's what we did and it was such a blessing to eat WITH this village that we're befriending and here to encourage. truly, i saw the simple statement 'its better to give than to recieve' ring true.

through our classes, guest speakrs, and God speaking to us, we've been really enocouiraged about the Kingdom of God. about the fullness of God's purposes here in earth, not just in the "great by and by in the sky". we encrouage you to read Acts and imagine that happening today.

now back to today (my sister's birthday!)... it was so nice to get a day off....we went snorkeling out with a group today! saw sooo many beautiful fish it was so enjoyable. i thought of Paw a lot (my grandpa who passed away last year after my wedding), and how much he would have loved to be in the water here in Pemba. i guess most of you are enjoying the snow and cold temperatures, huh? defintily not looking foward to that when i get back! ok GOd bless you all, we love you !
heather & david

Miracles and more of Jesus

I finally have time to sit and really write a good update about how our time has been in Mozambique so far. Of course it’s hard to believe it’s been almost a month since we left the States!! The 2 week conference to Beira took 2 weeks, so this week has just been getting into the swing of the actual missions school. And it’s been such a busy week! We typically have class 8am-1pm everyday, and we’ve been having a lot of meetings and activities. And my friend Jen is here (she was my roommate in the school last time I was here) so I’ve been loving catching up with her. We visited one little girl, Namuna, and her family in the village. It’s such a different world just 5 minutes off the base…coming face to face with the reality of poverty, of a family of 7 living in a tiny, one room bamboo house/hut. We’re constantly faced with the questions of how we can really help, how we can really show the love of Christ to the poor without feeling overwhelmed by the never-ending need.

In the school, David and I lead a ‘color group’ of about 10 students. We do our weekend outreaches together (we’ll be going to a village next fri-sun to share the gospel!), and different activities on base. We helped in the “village feeding program” today. This program really is incredible. A missionary couple here and a few of the Mozambican teenagers from Iris lead about 500 kids from the surrounding villages (very, very poor and malnourished kids like age 2-12) in bible songs, verses, a bible story , games in their own language, Makua, and then feed all 500 of them. It’s so cool and the couple here is awesome with a task this large. They have a great system to keep all the kids pretty under control and really feed them the word of God and feed them physically. These are the children you see on the “World Vision” commercials, the sad African child with flies on his crusty face and dirty rag clothes. The hungry, the poor, the “nobodies” to the world. But here they find their identity in Christ. They learn about His love and salvation and purpose for their lives. Iris is doing a lot of projects to aim to transform the villages they preach in a holistic way (well drilling, job opportunities, education..) and I love that. This program is just such a beautiful way to meet the simple need of feeding kids physically and spiritually. The kids in this culture are the last in line for food – the fathers and mothers and older kids eat, but the younger ones just get what’s left over. This shows them they’re valuable and deserve to be served. We have the chance to help lead the program for 2 weeks while the leaders are on a trip, please pray for this!

David and I are also “house parents” in our house, it’s just us and 3 guys, a pretty easy going group - I just miss the female bonding sometimes! But someone’s gotta keep these guys straight!! The food here is still the rice & beans I knew so well before…and my stomach is not loving it too much at times (I was feelin kinda ill this weekend but I guess diarrehea just becomes a fairly regular thing here!). Tomorrow night we’re going out to eat with some of the other younger couples here, there are 4 other ones in their 20’s.

As I mentioned briefly, but I feel deserves more time, are the miracles we saw in Beira. I’ve always thought it’d be awesome of course to see an actual miracle, but never have before. And I guess to be honest, I do struggle with having 100% faith in praying for supernatural healings after so many prayers for my sweet nephew, Gabe, feeling “unanswered.” I know all the theological answers, but sometimes it just feels like “God, please!” and then not seeing it… But I can’t deny that God’s word says He does perform miracles, that He sees our pain, that He cares for us, and that He is in control. And I can’t deny that I saw two people come into church blind, and leave with their sight. I saw the woman follow a guy around the church to show she could see him. It was incredible. The woman I laid hands on wasn’t healed right there. I don’t know why. But I’m not gonna stop praying for people to be healed. And being able to pray for that other woman in her home who had been sick for over a month, and then go back that night and see her up and healthy and eating and smiling…wow. When I pray for healing, I am reminded that God is a father who desires to give good gifts to His children. Tryphina, a Mozambican pastor’s wife, shared with our group a couple classes, and she told of how her son was born not crying or breathing and doctors said he would die. They didn’t stop praying for him, and even though he had to be put on oxygen, he was alive. They took him home after a few weeks, but the doctors said he’d just lay there his whole life, he’d never walk. She said her husband, Pastor Supresa (a leader in Iris) would always simply say “Don’t worry, he’ll be ok because we have Jesus.” After more than 2 Years of lying down, the baby began to walk. Today he has some impairments, but she said he prophesies and preaches…I couldn’t help but cry as I thought of Gabe. And I want to see him walking, and breathing. And I know it’s been almost 2 years, but I want to see it, I want to believe that God will give him the gift of a healthy and whole life. Please keep praying. I miss that little guy! And my little nieces of course. There’s a woman here with her 5 year old daughter, who reminds me of Brooke sometimes (but feistier!) and then a 2 year old named Faith – her mom’s name is Rachel!
Sooo, we do miss home and would love to hear from you and how things are going with you all! Sorry this is so lengthy. i’ll be sure David writes too, these are all just my thoughts coming out. Love you all!

------------

Hey everyone, finally we have more time to write… As you might know, this is my first time in Africa and I love it! It’s more beautiful that I thought, and what God is doing here is greater than what I first thought, too. It’s such a privilege to be in the middle of a transformation of a nation by the power of love - God’s love – and by the manifestation of the Kingdom in such a powerful ways. In the midst of indescribable despair and poverty, the King is finding a people who love Him despite circumstances, who believe His Word with childlike faith, and passionately pursue the indwelling of Holy Spirit. It is in this kind of atmosphere that the Lord breaks forth with His hope as He brings: wells, schools, food for the hungry, etc, and also all kind healings, signs and wonders, restoration of communities, hope for the lost, unspeakable joy, peace….My life will never be the same.

I’ve been blessed to be able to lead worship for the missions school and also play with Mozambican worship teams. I love the simplicity of their musical arrangements but most of all their all-out-passion for Jesus. They really don’t care about time! They just want more of Him, what else do they have? Where else can they go? It’s an incredible experience to see them lost in adoration. And I love how they dance, it’s so much fun, and everybody, babies to old people, all are one in their dance.
After being in Kyrgyzstan and now being here, joined with students from 20 nations, I can’t help but laugh in my Spirit and rejoice at the fact that Jesus is loved in the nations, He is the Desired and Hope of the Nations. It will come to pass: from every tribe, tongue, and nation, they will declare – Jesus is Lord.

The Lord is teaching me a lot about the Kingdom and His desire for me to be truly one with Him. It would take a long time to write all about it, but I just want to encourage you, as I’ve been encouraged, to keep asking for more of the Holy Spirit, and for the supernatural to be manifested in tangible ways.

Well, I won’t take more of your time. Thank you very much for praying for us, we need it! We pray blessings of over your life and your family.

Love to all,
David

Week 1

Salama! (greeting in the local language, Makua)
We've spent our first week here in Pemba and we LOVE it! thank you all for your prayers as we travelled. God is doing amazing things among the poor and satisfying their deepest need - His love. It's such a blessing to be part of what He's doing in the nations.
Things have been pretty busy here with the children, helping, meetings, school, worship... today we had a 'dance party' with the Mozambican men in the pastoral bible school on base. they taught us lots of african dances and we taught each other our languages.
For me (Heather) i've loved seeing the faces of the kdis i got to know last time i was here, and spending time iwth them again. they've grown so much!]
Yesturday we took a swim with about 30 kids jumping all over us, had lots of fun. David's already been adopted as a 'staff'' member (surprise, surprise ;)
as he helps a lot with worship and sound equipment.
there are students in our missions school from 17 nations!! our expectations are very high for waht He's going to do in our hearts and in the future.
Oh, the other day we helped wtih the 'village feeding' program - it's amazing to see almost 500 beautiful, dirty children of God sitting in the dirt acutally listening to Bible verses, worhips songs and memory verses in their language. Lorina and George are a couple that teaches these kids from surrounding villages and then feeds them every day sun-fri. it is tough but they are so precious and worth the time and energy it takes - to be part of their Father's kingdom.
thanks for reading , we'll write more after this 10 day trip the school is going on - 3 days travelling on a flat bed truck, stopping in villages to preach on the way to Beira, then helping for 4 days at a conference hosted by Hillsong!! it'll be awesome (and david's dream come true haha!). then 3 days back home...
Jesus is truly the Hope of the Nations!!
david & heather