Hello everyone! I haven't been able to write for a while, but
I’m doing well and very much enjoying my time here in Mozambique.
The last mission
school course here went very well and after that I led a team for outreach to
Matola Rio. We traveled there by bus which took 36 hours. It’s was crazy. The
bus went almost nonstop and that was without air conditioner, seats are in a
fixed position and do not move and we were seated so close to each other,
almost without moving for 36 hours. Plus we had people staying between seats
which was more uncomfortable for all of us and HOT. So we all arrived with hugely swollen legs.
We came to a small
center for children near Maputo where we spent a wonderful time. I was glad to
help the kids with medical care. Three quarters of the kids have HIV there. So
I was checking them and treating them. One needed emergency help because he had
an abscess that needed to be opened and treated. My team of new missionary
girls were pouring the love of God on the kids just playing and spending time
with them. We had a very encouraging evening with some teachers, where we
talked about the love of Jesus and that
we need to stop and love others. And they can practice it every day with the
children, especially special needs kids or babies because they can’t say to us
that they want to eat or they need a diaper change. So it’s was very
encouraging. And after that we were
praying for them and washing their feet.
The girls taught the kids dancing and the kids taught the missionaries
how to dance African dances. And then they did drama for evangelism and it went
well!
We also did outreach
in the village. We went from house to house and prayed for the sick
and witnessed to them about Jesus. People were getting healed and giving
their lives to Christ. We also had great
personal time with the girls from the center where we talked about purity and
holiness. It’s was strongly touching
them and they were very open and asking a lot of questions which had not
happened on previous visits. The leader of the center was so thankful for the
time that we spent with them, she said she had never seen them so open! Even one little special needs child started to sing and to be very
happy after ours prayers and pouring
God's love on him.
After that outreach I
went by myself by public transport to the border to get a visa to Mozambique
for another month. Remember, I had a problem with my visa before because it was
corrected by pen at the embassy which was not very official looking. After that
I went to Zimpeto(the center where I was serving year ago) and I was helping
there as a nurse and was glad to let other nurses have some rest days. After two wonderful weeks
in Zimpeto where I had the opportunity to provide medical help and evangelize,
I went to Swaziland.
I was praying that God
will give me someone with whom I can travel there, because it’s not very safe
to travel alone in Africa, but I didn’t find anyone and because I didn’t have
any choice I went alone. I was sitting in the public minibus on the way to
Manzinini and was waiting inside almost 6 hours while it was filling up, and
amazingly enough, the last person to get on was a woman and child who were
speaking Russian. So we talked together all the way to Swaziland and funny
thing that she needed to go to the exact same place as me, so we traveled
together:)) The woman is half Mozambican & half Russian, but presently
living in Swaziland. It’s was a wonderful time
to witness to her about Jesus because she doesn’t know Him yet.
Afterward we had a chance to meet in Swaziland and spent more time together.
She was with a friend who invited me to her house and did my hair for free which was a huge blessing
for me. I was glad to again witness to both of them about Jesus.
When I came to
Swaziland I stayed with Youth With A Mission and had a great opportunity to be
part of their ministry and go to the all outreaches that they were doing. We
went to the poorest communities, prayed for the sick and preached the gospel.
We went as well to the hospital where we cared for sick people. That outreach
was the most difficult for me, because in Swaziland they don’t have good care
for patients in hospital and people are suffering there without help. So we fed
sick people, changed their clothes, helped with other things, as well as
talked with and prayed with them. I even
helped with I/V catheters for nurses. There were a lot of patients who needed
to be in ICU but they was just in a regular department. One lady whom I was
ministering to was suffering so much that
she had to be in ICU but no one cared for her. So after helping her with
feeding and changing her clothes I prayed with her and she received Jesus. When
she prayed with me there was such strong
presence of God! After two days when I returned there, her neighbor said
that she had died that night. But I knew that she is now with God, with no more
suffering and pain! So the time there was very very fruitful and interesting
and I so much enjoyed it.
After that I got a new
visa to Mozambique and returned to Pemba to the Harvest missions school. This
time I received added responsibilities. The most exciting thing is that I am the house
mom of the Portuguese speaking house. It means that most
of the students there speak only Portuguese. Now I have 10 girls and we communicate
only in Portuguese which means I can practice my Portuguese day and night J At this session of missions school I’m part of
the outreach preparation team, I’m exited about that too! So I’m helping with
organizing teams to the outreach every week. It’s a new area for me and I’m
very happy to learn more and I’m asking God for wisdom in this area. I also do
outreaches to the hospital once a week. So it’s even more busy than the last
missions school semester, but it is all things I really want to do. The school
started October 1st, and my team was out that first week to the
outreach but it’s was amazing outreach even though the students were just a few
days in Africa. We saw many people come to Christ and many healed of serious
problems. There was a blind woman who received her sight and a deaf man who can
now hear. The whole village was
surprised and we even called the chief of the village to check them, so there
was so much glory of God!
The next week I
decided myself to go on outreach again just to help with translating for a team
which didn't have a translator. On the way there we were stopped by a crowd in a village. There was one little
boy who had been hit by a car and they
were asking us to help him. He was very damaged and definitely needed to go to
the hospital for an emergency operation. He was already in a coma but
still breathing. On the way to the
hospital we stopped at a small clinic where they gave us catheters and
solutions and helped immobilize his broken leg. And we straightway after that
went to the hospital. On the way there he was getting worse and worse, he
started to have more difficulties with breathing and I was just praying that
God will give him strength and then in
one minute I got a song which I started
to sing over him “there is power in the Name of Jesus” and all in the truck
started to sing with me and then the boy started to sing it and it was so powerful, I so strongly
experienced the presence of God and Love
of God for that little boy. When we arrived to the hospital we stopped singing
but the boy continued to hear someone singing so audibly that he turned
around to see who is singing, but he
didn’t see anyone. We felt it was like angels singing with us. We took him to
the emergency room. We explained what happened with him and what we had done
for him. We blessed the medical staff and left the hospital. When we came back
to the village where our team was, we found that they were praying and worshiping and sharing the gospel with the
people of that village. And then they said that they sang the same song (there
is power in the Name of Jesus) and they also strongly felt the presence of God
on that song. And then we went to to another village for outreach, but arrived
quite late.
There we set up the
Jesus film and after that we shared the
gospel and prayed for the people. There was so much power, people easily got
healed. One boy couldn’t hear and came for pray for his ears, he just pointed
to them. He was very serious. I put my hands on his ears, prayed and then looked
at him. He was smiling. And he said: “ It’s good! I can hear”. I started to
speak and ask him to repeat after me. He started repeating things. And when I
did it his friends started to tell me that he is deaf and can’t hear you. But
he did hear!. And then I told his friends, “ yes he was deaf, but not any
more!”
So these are the
things happening in my life here. And I’m so excited to be here and learning
how to serve people and just pour on them God's love. It’s very very good. And
I feel as well that it’s a new season for me to hunger for Him more!
I want to ask you for
to pray for me that God will continue to give me wisdom in all circumstances
and all situations that I have. That He will continue to lead and speak to me
about my future and His will for my life.
I will be leading
another missions school outreach to Zimbabwe for two weeks, so can you please
pray for that trip for me and my team.
We will be serving in poor communities and we will be connecting with local
churches there, so we need Him very much.
If you get any words
it’s will be very encouraging for me!
Praying for you that
you will be blessed and fruitful in the places where you are serving now.
Love you!
Lana
