Hope

Zanell and Idrussi

Zanell is a volunteer from South Africa that came and help us home school our children, here is an entry in her journal. I have been in Mozambique now for a month and the things I have seen and experienced is worth a thousand words. I have seen sadness so deep that it crushes the soul; I have seen joy so powerful that it burns out the pain completely. What I have seen is the hardship of a war that has passed and the joy of a new day that has come.
 I have heard stories of people giving up, giving in and giving out. I have heard stories of joy and dreams and love but most of all I have heard stories of hope. Hope for a better day, a better life, a better tomorrow.
I have seen the faces of little children lighting up because you promise them love, I have seen the absolute desperation on the same faces when you take it away.
 I have heard their dreams, seen their hopes and listened to their stories. Today I dream with them, I cry with them and I hope with them, because today I am one of them.
I have gone through this a thousand times in my head, why did God deal the cards this way? Why am I here? Why them and not me? The questions haunt you in the long hot summer nights, nights where the only thing you hear is your own thoughts, fears and dreams. Seeing these kids, holding them, loving them and truly being one of them has taught me one thing: to believe as children do. No questions, no answers, just the absolute amazing faith of a little girl or boy that has been thrown away and left to die but got up and still believes in a higher power that will save them.
Every day I get up and look at this wonderful world around me and feel so welcome here. Here in this place of poverty and hardship and above all spiritual war fare I feel the most at home and at peace that I have felt in a long time. Here where there is no warm water, no tarred road, no shopping centre around the corner, where there is electricity blackouts, and mosquitoes, I have found my peace and my joy. Words cannot describe what I am going through because if I am being honest I cannot understand it yet. Looking back I cannot think that I have been anywhere but here and looking forward I cannot imagine leaving.

My dreams and my hopes have changed completely it is difficult to understand that in a month I have become a completely different me but at the same time the me that I was destined to be. I have found my calling and I have seen my future through the eyes of children. Today in this place I am letting go of the old and embracing the new and how wonderful this feels. I can see a dream and I can feel the change.

Diamonds in the trash

Rubbish Dump in Maputo

Rika and I started our journey in Mozambique serving with Iris Ministries a ministry founded by Rolland and Heidi Baker. Friday morning consisted of an out reach to a local rubbish dump in Maputo. It is a huge dump, with hundreds of people living on the dump. Spontaneous fires often start on the dump, burning down the houses built on the dump. Hundreds of people run behing the trucks that come and dump the trash, trying to find the best of the trash. One day a truck dump rotten sausages, the young men grabbed this rotten sausages and started to eat it. The first day Heidi visited the dump, one of the men put a broken bottle against het neck, threatening to kill her. Later he gave His life to Jesus and became a leader in the church. We would come to the dump and then walked and invited the people for a time of worship and teaching. It was some of the most amazing worship times for me, kneeling in trash and human escriment, millions of flies and an smell you can not explain to anyone. Jesus chose to be present, in this place, people forgotten living of the trash of others. Here Jesus revealed Him self, here He chose to live and to be present. Many people gave their lives to Jesus on the dump, choosing to serve Jesus. On Sundays they came to our church services at Zimpeto, a centre for over 500 children. Jesus is present were He is needed and wanted. I ask this question many times, Do I need Jesus today? We live our daily lives without Jesus and then on Sundays we worship Him for a few hours. We have to live our lives in desperate need of Jesus, wanting His presence in every moment of our lives.

Stay and be salt

Our community

I am passionate about the Great Commission and that we must reach all the nations that have never heard about Jesus. I read every book I can find about missions and missionaries. I can remember my first ever mission week so well, the speaker for the week was Floyd McClung. I committed my life to missions that week and so did Rika. We dedicated our lives to missions and to go to any place Jesus would call us. Staying anywhere were not part of language, we were dedicated to one thing and that is to go. The last few years Jesus have been talking to me about staying, staying here in Mozambique and to be salt for the community we live in. He told me to live, not to preach, not to evangelize, just to live. Many times as Christians we try to convert people, but it should be our love that draws people to Christ. The testimony of Jesus living in us and transforming us for His glory, that will change the lives of those who do not know Him. The day we chose to follow Jesus, we also chose to become like Him. How can we call ourselves followers of Jesus but not change the way we love others? Do the way we live our lives draw people closer to Jesus, is it a testimony of His love for us? The life of Jesus was an example of unconditional love, He died so that we can have live in abundance. So where ever we live we must love the way Jesus loved, serve the community we live in and Jesus will draw people to Him self. The only way we will see peoples lives transformed is through love and forgiveness. So today go out and live, be the salt and love those Jesus places in front of you.

Google+

iPhone5 vs. Samsung GalaxyS3

We spend a lot of our time on Social Networks and the more members they have the more revenue they can make out of advertisement. I joined another social network a few months ago called Google+. I like reading the tech pages as I enjoy knowing about the latest technology available. I quickly realized that the Google platform is not very Apple friendly and that Apple users are called iSheep. I could not believe the war of words between Apple users and Android users. Comparing cell phones and what makes one better than another phone. As I saw this war of words about something so meaningless it made me wonder about the world we live in. Daily I see people fight poverty, hunger, AIDS and many other things. Yet we fight the fact that one phone is better than another phone because it's battery can be removed. Honestly do I really need a faster phone, with a bigger screen and the fact that it's battery can be removed. The last few nights people have been queuing outside the Apple stores for the iPhone5, here in Mozambique people have to be at the hospital before 5 in the morning if they want to get their retroviral medicines. How many pairs of shoes, clothes,  and do we need the latest phone or a bigger screen TV? How much of the things we have in our home do we really need?

Every morning the grandmother across the street comes and clean her piece of land. She can not walk  properly anymore, yet she has to plant the seeds if she wants to eat. At the local rubbish dump, young men run behind the trucks to get the best of other peoples rubbish. We live in a era where we have so much information, but we choose to ignore the information that makes us uncomfortable. The information that makes us look at our lives and that makes us realize that true happiness is not found in material things.Not having the nicest clothes, the latest iPhone, BMW, does not mean it is the end of the world, because in other parts of the world millions of people are going to bed hungry, without medicines and clean drinking water.

Obedience

It was about 10:00pm when we finally lied down on the carpet to sleep in our bedroom. All the furniture gone and our Opel Astra packed with the rest of our belongings, we were ready to leave for Mozambique in the morning. Pascal and Pietro came to sleep with us in our empty room, Rika was pregnant with Philip. After trying to sleep, I told Rika we might as well start driving, because sleeping on the floor was very uncomfortable. We lock our house for the final time and climbed in our car to start the 2400 kilometer journey to Mozambique.  We had mixed feelings, leaving behind our families, friends and Cape Town. We were also excited to start living the vision Jesus gave us. We understood the cost behind it all, but we knew that Jesus is speaking to us and we need to obey.

Hearing the voice of God is so important in our lives and then to make decisions based on His will for our lives. I grew up with the understanding of a path for my life, I do not think this path is wrong at all. The first thing was to complete school, then study at university, get a good job, marry and have children. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, but in this we feel safe and secure. We feel so much more significant and secure in our future when these things are in place. It is very difficult for us to move from our comfort zone and the things that makes us feel safe. I know that for many this is the way Jesus uses them and they are obediently serving Him in this way, but their security lies in Jesus and not the comfort of their lifestyle. Jesus knows our hearts, so things like medical insurance, life insurance, is in it self not wrong, but are you security in the insurance product or Jesus?

Our family, with Luis our prodigal son.

The greatest thing is, even if you are in the middle of a war, is to know that you are living in side the will of God. The Bible promises us the seek the Kingdom of God first and then everything else will be added on. Jesus call us to a life of faith and to know that He will care for us, He will provide in every need we have.

When the Spirit comes....

Rika and I served with Iris Ministries in Mozambique for a few years. Every week the long term workers would meet in Rolland and Heidi Bakers living room for a time of fellowship. One night Heidi was praying for me, she put her hand on my arm and as she was praying for me I could feel something like electric currents run up my arm. As Rika and I walked back to our house I told her about my experience. During my quiet time that night as I prayed words of a different languages started flooding out my mouth. All of my theology, everything I believed about the Bible and the Holy Spirit was in ruins. I was taught that other tongues were just for the establishing of the early church and that it stopped after the Apostels. I knew that my theology put the Holy Spirit in a box limiting Him to work in my life.

Acts 2:3-4: "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."

Jesus promises us that we will be able to do greater things than what He did during His time on earth. I know that my western mind and way of thinking came in the way of the Holy Spirit working in me and through me. Jesus tells us to believe like little children and to be like little children, pure faith without the corruption of our theological intellect. Those who knows me personally, knows it is very hard for me as I love to think and philosophy about everything.

Nicia and Aninha