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September was a fairly calm month. At the end of last one we had the Rob Carman Conference and it was better than I had expected. I enjoyed the time with the team. Though I have met and talked with the Carmans quite a few times in different places, this was the time I was able to get to know them better and enjoy their company. The meetings were great and I have written you about that already! After the Conference I spent more time at the school, teaching more than last semester. I enjoyed having more time to teach on Communion, Fasting and Giving. Specially the two first ones are subjects very important to me and the Word spoke first to me and then to the students. We had a wonderful time fasting together, and remembering Jesus in Communion. We need to do those things more often I realize, because they draw our attention back to what is really important, Him! Apart from teaching and being with the students, I’ve organized our little school library, cataloguing all the books, worked a bit on the school notes and studied a lot. I’ve been in a reading mode that doesn’t come very often, so I have to make good use of the seasons when they come. When I’m like that I can read, read, read and just want to read more. Whereas normally it is hard for my brain and body to stop for a long time just reading. Usually I can only read if I’m doing something else at the same time (like watching some of the classes… then I can keep my brain entertained with listening to them and reading)! Kkk… I know I’m kind of weird! I also started meeting once a week with the ladies at Nacoto. We’ve been talking about health and relationship with God. I hope to encourage them to go beyond “church going” into a meaningful relationship with God. I realize many of them are still very involved with traditional things, and that explains why so many times they are sick, sad, and poor. I’ve been challenged to think that people are result of the Word they hear. Our lives are a clear expression of the revelation we have of Jesus, so if our lives are not reflecting Jesus it is because we haven’t been seeing him, receiving the revelation of who His is. I feel very weak in my own strength in changing anything, but I know that as I depend on Him, and obey the stirring of the Holy Spirit in me, He is the one who will change anything. So I’m determined to depend on Him. For myself and for the others He put me in contact with.
Thought I dropped a few lines to tell you about the conferece while it’s still fresh!The Conference is over and it left me with a good feeling. A word that really stuck in my mind was what Pastor Armando spoke in one of the afternoons. He spoke about Acts 3, and how the church in Africa has been through the years like that beggar at the gate of the temple, not going into the temple where God’s presence was, because he was crippled. And what cripples the African church is the attitude of looking for alms and financial help from foreigners. He spoke about the importance of the missionary work, but delivered a prophetic call that it is time for the Mozambican church to hear: “Silver and Gold I do not have, but what I do have a give you! In the Name of Jesus, get up and walk!” Noticing that those words alonde didn’t bring the healing. Peter stretched out his right hand and helped the crippled get up! This healing brought the cripple guy into the temple, and everyone glorified God realizing that this was the same man who had been a beggar for so long. He challenged the pastors to take out the old mentality and get up and walk! The time is coming when they should be the ones giving offering to the missionaries as a thanksgiving for their work. None of us, missionaries, would ever have had the same effect he had even if we said the same words! I cried most of the preaching, and once again came that feeling: I don’t want to leave Mozambique until I see the prophecy fulfilled! I want to be part of that right extended hand that brings the healing!
Though this was the high point for me, all the other words were SO wonderful! What I love about Dr. Carman’s teaching is that he, step by step, demolishes wrong concepts that form wrong thinking, that results in wrong behavior. Ps. Brandon, who came with them, goes in that same direction. I was challenged in things I already knew but I hadn’t heard in a long time, therefore weren’t as strong in my mind and behavior as before! But I pray each person that participated won’t forget what they heard… with all those stories and punches, I think they won’t!
Nacala, August 27th, 2008
Dear Team,
During this month I was reading some of the Words I had received from the Lord in the beginning of this year during my time alone with Him, through prophecies during a prayer time at the Youth Conference in Brazil, and through the Word preached. One of these messages was that God wanted to strengthen our “emotional cord”, our internal emotional strength. He was preparing us for the future He had planned for us, so that we could face the adversities and not be shaken.
I believe this month was one that if He hadn’t strengthened me, I would have popped! And still I know that this is only the preparations for more to come in the future. He has promised us that in this life we would face tribulations, but yet, we need not to fear, for He who lives in us has conquered the World, and finished the job!
On the 10th we received most of the students we expected, and after a few of them were sent home during registration, we are now with 44 students in our campus: 30 at the Discipleship School (4 of them are women) and 14 at the Vocational Center (full class).
Most of them come from Afrika Wa Yesu churches, and it is exciting to see how the investment the ambassadors have done in their lives truly makes a huge difference even on the first days of school.
With all the excitement of their arrival and registration came quite a few very unusual situations that we had to deal with, one by one. Two students who were told by a former student that they didn’t need to bring their clothes because the school had EVERYTHING! (Where did he get that from? – He had to go back to pick their clothes, since it was his fault!) A lady student who wanted money to buy milk for her three month baby, who she would leave home the whole day while she’d be here in school and go back to only in the evenings! (Oh, no, please go back, take care of you kid, come back in the future! ) And so on... I was even thinking about writing a book with all the situations we are faced with during registration for a Bible School in Mozambique. I’m sure we would collect many, many stories.
You may ask, what were the difficulties of this month, then!? The hardest for me has been the church in Nacoto, but also there were some difficulties with workers at the school.
Praise God, He has solved the problem with the workers, giving pai Jeff much grace before the labor department and, though we feel for their lives, they are not working at the school any more and the atmosphere has been freed from their bad attitudes and behaviors. It is during times like these that we see who are the ones truly faithful to the ministry and we rejoice because of those who stood by pai Jeff’s side even against their own family, for the sake of what was right!
At Nacoto, António, the main leader who has been through the Discipleship School, the Vocational Training and has just come back from Inhaminga in July, has fallen into sin, leaving his wife, and taking another woman. My heart just sank when I received the news through ambassador Abdul.
Mãe Nicky, Jorge and I went to talk with him about the situation, hear his side of the story and challenge him with the Word to make his life right before God. He said he would, in front of Fátima (his wife), her family, us and the church on Sunday. He didn’t fulfill his word and later said he had lied just in fear of us.
Still we went back to the church this past Sunday and spoke about repentance. There was a move and many came forward to repent. Yet, António repented from having lied but not of living in adultery.
My spirit was so heavy, I couldn’t go home without telling him the danger of the road he was deciding to take, and how serious and sad that was. I felt something like the apostle Paul probably felt when he heard about the problems in Corinth. I started to understand why Paul would write the churches with tears, and how he fought and struggled in the spirit for their lives. I said all I had in my heart, but still he wouldn’t change.
We’ve just received news that he is considering leaving this other woman, but won’t go back to Fátima, but he won’t tell us why. The community, his family, and even himself have testified of her faithfulness to him, and she is living at her family’s house, without being with another man.
There are other things happening in the church, but we know they are just a consequence of what happened with the leader. Ambassadors Abdul and Lucas have been staying there and will go back after the Conference to lead the church until things are right again and God raises someone to faithfully take care of the church.
We count on each of your prayers for this situation, and for wisdom for the leaders as they make the necessary decisions.
As the days go by we realize this won’t be a very easy class. There are quite a few strong personalities and though we are in the first few weeks of class we’ve had quite a few “let’s sit and talk about this” meetings with several students. The Lord is our strength and praise Him patience is part of the fruit of the Spirit.
Spiritual Formation week was precious and sweet. We saw the Spirit move amongst the students every night during prayer and we could see it was a direct result of the Word preached during the day. The Spirit moves upon the Word! That is so true! As the Word comes forth in the teaching, each student hears it and their eyes are opened to the Truth, and the Truth is Jesus. Jesus manifested changes our lives!
We split in four groups for the time of repentance, confession and prayer for deliverance. Dora and I were with the girls, and it was precious to see each of them open their heart in front of the others, pray asking forgiveness and then pray for one another! We can’t even see all that happened that day in the Spirit, but a lot of things were broken and that makes the difference.
After mãe Nicky and Agostinho taught on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we could feel His sweetness in our midst. All of us, without the other knowing, felt direction from God to not lay hands on the students at first. All the students who wanted to be baptized were in a circle in the middle, but I felt that if I laid hands in any one at that point, it would be an insult to the Holy Spirit, He wanted to move, and we shouldn’t be on his way! Wow, one after the other, the students started to speak in tongues as we just stood around, kneeling, worshiping, expecting Him to move. And then we felt released to start laying hands. What a wonderful experience of God’s faithfulness to His Word and the Holy Spirit’s direction.
About that week the students testified later:
“God’s love is so great! When I think the live I used to live, and yet He loved me so much to bring me here and give me His Spirit.”
“I have never been this happy in my life. Since the day we prayed for salvation, I went to sleep smiling, dreamed about singing, woke up smiling and can’t stop smiling until now. There were so many people better than me, in the place where I live. How could God chose me to come here? As I was praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I was sad because I wasn’t receiving it. Then I saw a big light, even with my eyes closed, and I was filled with joy again and started to speak in another language. Before, I thought I was going to speak something similar to the other people, but God gave me this very different language, listen….” And he started to speak in tongues with a huge smile on his face.
“I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but still wasn’t sure if it was really God or if I was just imitating the others. So at night I prayed and asked God to confirm that it was Him. I dreamt with God telling me: ‘The language you wanted is that one you have received. You don’t need to doubt’.”
“I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and it was so strong, that when I came out of the classroom I didn’t want to stop. I was talking to the grass in tongues, and I couldn’t even eat or sleep, I just wanted to speak in tongues. I was speaking in tongues to my xima.”
“I had a lot of headaches, but when I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, I’m not in pain anymore.”
“I was sweating because I had prayed so much asking God for the Holy Spirit. Then I saw a person, with much light around. And as I saw that, other students started to pray for me. I felt something bad coming out of me and I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling, and started to speak in a new tongue. After that I had the courage to do something I had never done before, help a family burn their witchcraft.”
“When I arrived at the school I felt the 90 days I’d be here would be too long. After we prayed and I felt the Holy Spirit warming my heart, I was so happy, I think 90 days will be too short!”
Amimo, Chris’ translator, also participated on the Spiritual Formation, and was baptized with the Holy Spirit. He spoke in tongues for a long time, and at the end when he wanted to testify about it, he was so full of the Holy Spirit he couldn’t stop stuttering. He has been a different man these past weeks. Full of joy and even his face is coming back to normal! Praise Jesus!!!
