Bon Dia!
3 Saturdays ago Iris Harvest School 11 graduates began departing for their home countries and for their missions in this next season. Some of us prepared to leave for the bush and some prepared for other extended outreaches in all different parts of Africa!! Change was in the midst! I was amongst a group of 35 Mission School Students and 15 Mozambicans, pastors, cooks, mamas etc. And we set off for a 10 day trip through the Nampula province...All I can say is that we were scheduled for 10 days, we went 11, and it was one of the toughest things I've endured to date, but one of the best and definitely something NOT for the faint of heart!
Let me describe to you what our outreach was like: Our main base was located in Cuamba (Quam buh) and the easiest way to describe it would be, hot, HOTTER and HOTTEST, dirty, rocky, dry and shade free! A barren wilderness, a desert...and there we made our home. When it rained (thankfully only one day on us) it flooded and there was mud and tents were ruined...flies galore...YET, in the book of Haggai it says that the Lord calls His people into the wilderness, not to abandon them, but to woo them and speak tenderly to them...The Lord was there to woo and speak!! Would we listen?
It was day 7 and we were back in Cuamba after outreaching in several locations kilometers and kilometers away, I was sitting outside my tent in the last remaining moments of shade near a fence. I was being still and listening to music and I saw 3 men look into the mirrors of the camion and observe their appearance, check for blemishes, groom themselves...I pondered this momentarily as I began to understand what the Lord was teaching me through this entire journey...In the heat of Cuamba, the impurities had to rise to the surface to be released...This is what He spoke, "This trip is like that--you are on a journey with me to transforming to reflect my very Son. On this journey you have encountered dust and debris and dirt, and as you have passed before My mirror--we have seen them together--some are deep down and some have surfaced and are ready to be and have been removed. This journey has been one where you have been, not forced, but discovered the necessity of releasing these things to Me--free you are to bee, Nothing will stop this process..." Had the heat not been so hot, I would not have recognized that some of the character things being worked in me surfaced in the form of a heat rash and loss of voice. It was in my stepping back that I noticed the traits that were being worked out of me on yet another level. In the middle of the heat and harsh conditions, my heart was turned to the Lord and He began to remind me that I was no longer bound to impatience, pride, striving because I was looking at Him and saying, "Give me clean hands and a pure heart." And the Lord is looking at me, at us and saying, "Though you may feel dark, you are lovely. Though you may feel filthy, I have cleaned your dirty rags-and given you garments that are free from tears. You have been able to see those things [in you] because you have given me Your heart and you release your control to Me..."
This trip was about loss of control...He is God, I am not, and everything "we" planned of course was subject to change--hey it's Africa, and hey Holy Spirit takes the reigns!! So He brought us to one of the hotter places in Moz and began to heat us like gold in the Refiner's fire...the impurities surfacing...and yet He brought us to wells of refreshing and began to plant new seeds of life in us and in the communities we visited. Each village we visited had wells and one of the things I did was draw water from these wells. I usually went to the well with my new Moz sister and friend (Hermana c amiga), Alima--the wife of one of the outreach pastors. Without words (or few at that in Makua and Portuguese) we would pump the well and fill the buckets and interact with the local people at each well. The well is a lifeline for these people. Water is our Life. Jesus is the water of life and when we drink of Him we do not thirst anymore. I began to recognize that each person was in them a well of living water, but for the water to come out, it needs to be pumped and drawn. In order to tap into the wells He has for us, we have to release our controls and move with the pump, with His Spirit and draw out the water. I had to go to these wells as an "Akuna" (white person) enduring the jokes and the snickers as I tried to be a part of the culture...and as I walked away with the mama carrying the bucket moz style, on my head, I felt proud to carry the life back to our camp...the water was for the food, the cleaning, the bathing and for the Mozambicans the thirst. I had the privilege of experiencing their lifestyle and finding my thirst satisfied as I was welcomed into the Mozi culture, not as a "Westerner" but as a sister!!
The trip was about fruit and seeds to plant. The deeper heart works is the major blessing of this trip, because God showed up!! BUT, He topped the bill by showing up at each outreach and lives were snatched from the devil's hands!! People turned from darkness to the light and began to take drinks from the well of life. The blind literally saw, cataracts vanished from eyes, the deaf and mute could hear, migraines and malaria went kaput, legs grew out and spines were healed...bladder infections went tah tah! And two villages were soo moved by God and His Spirit that people supplied land for two new churches. We purchased land in two places for less than $1000 USD!! We left the Cuamba pastors with more than enough money to fuel their vehicles to travel to the distant places to build these churches from the ground up!! Some of the new believers have already signed up to attend Iris' Bible School!!
We went to and from Cuamba in the back of two large trucks filled with luggage, and many people (total travel time in 11 days 4 total days of driving-- 50+ hours), in the heat and you can imagine that things you didn't see in your friends over two months of Mission School and communal living, surely you'd see in the bush....thankfully our group was united...and there were moments of frustration and fatigue, hunger (most westerners don't know what hunger is like, yet there were days when meals were skipped and crackers were our staple), and for the most part, we pressed through and we survived! Not an easy task when by day 3 (of travel) we were ready to go home!! We left in victory! We left like valiant warriors who endured the battles and finished well!! We have our battle scars of course, but we will never be the same...forever changed.
So here I am beginning week 11...Outreach #2...Christmas...lots to do this week and as this is my first Christmas away from Home...and all the ones I love, may you be blessed beyond measure and may your Christmas be bright!!
Until next time!
Deus Abencoe!
Desi
P.S. 11 days left...
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