adventures in pemba and the bush-bush

Hello Everyone!!!
So much has happened since the last time that I wrote!!
We have had a lot to deal with here! What we are learning usually is taught in about a year or more! So we have a lot to think about, a lot to sort out with ourselves and a lot of praying! When God shows us something in ourselves that either we should change or aquire that you have to do it right away however hard it is because otherwise you are just so overloaded and you just have so so much to do and also you have to get ready for all the next load of stuff you will face and the outreaches as you get people who want to be healed, delivered, set free and so you can’t not be ready. We never really know what to do but we just have to be in a place where you can listen to God in order to act in the way he wants.


So This weekend I went on an outreach in the bush-bush! Its was amazing!! My colour group of 8 people and about 4 mozambique bible students from the other school and a pastor rode in the back of a bed truck. We were all on the floor or sitting on the pile of bags and stuff. My bum is still a little sore from all the bumps! We pitched our tents and then went straight to the ‘centre’ of the ‘village’. There we just like huts all over the place. It was quite remote. Anyway, so first we all sort of just did what we wanted whilst waiting for the guys to set up the sound system, and so I went to try and speak all the makua words that I have learnt!! They really liked that, though I hadn’t a clue what they were replying to all my questions and they were laughing at me, but, laughter is good and gets a sort of relationship going so that was fun. Then we danced and danced and danced some more, its not like dancing in Britain at all. Its like a very physical work out!! And then we watched the jesus movie. That was 2 hours and then the pastor said a little message and then there is the call for people to come and receive Jesus and then for the healing. We had a lot of favour, the place where we pitched all the tents and stuff was in the compound of a very muslim family! And where we did the outreach was just infront of the mosque. About 400 people came. Many people were healed, and many received Jesus too! Then a couple of us shared our testimonies. Then at about 10 we went back and ate.


The next day in the morning we split up into 2 groups and went to evangelize in the huts. We had some good conversations and were able to pray for people. And then we went to this hut where there were a lot of women. There were several women who had children that were deaf and dumb due to witchcraft. We were just sharing the gospel and then two women wanted to receive Jesus. That was when the witch doctor showed up. She started to do incantations and put curses and stuff on us and then she grabbed a girl who was deaf and dumb and was trying to pull her to do incantations and the girl was fighting. We got the women to repeat that Jesus is lord and the witch doctor got so angry, and then she ran away. We also had a medical team elsewhere in the village and she went to them and then they prayed and she fell on the ground and wriggled like a snake and then started rolling over really fast and then she was calm and the suddenly got up and ran away. It was my first encounter with a witch doctor, but none of us were particularly impressed as we know our God is so so much more powerful than satan and she really had no power whatsoever, and she knew it, that is why she ran away.
In the evening we had another out reach and many got healed and came to God. When you go to these places you can sense if there is a spirit of witchcraft or evil, and in this place we had to be a little more careful not to stray to far away from the truck as there were many drunken and perverse men there. But it was great!
And then on the Sunday we had church, and the witch doctor visited again. But still people came to Jesus and people got healed and delivered, it was amazing. The thing is with not speaking the language is that, when you pray, you look at their faces afterwards to see if there is a change, if they look happy because they are healed, but here they just show no sign whatsoever so it was difficult as we only have a few translators! But in the end we figured it out!! The deaf and dumb girl that the witch doctor wanted to sing over, well she now speaks and hears, and other deaf and dumb people, back problems allsorts were healed and people were delivered from witch craft and demons.
We also found a few Christians there and they came and asked for a church to be started as they have no where to go, and so where we did the meeting under the tree there will be a church, and the chief of that village who agrees with that too, and also let us pray for him, so there is already a freedom coming there.

I did village feeding today that was fun, we just give out loads of food to the masses! Its hectic but fun!!
It’s week three, this is when everyone usually feels exhausted and drained out! Its true for this school too!! But we are just trying to get through that and rest as much as we can! The house that I live in is so great, they are such amazing people I live with, and my colour group is just wonderful too! They took a lot of time to pray over these things and its just amazing! it makes life so much easier!!
I am doing quite well in my learning of the languages I am quite proud to say!!
We have no water, we haven’t for a while now so that is exciting!! It just shows you how little we can actually live with! Not that I don’t like it when there is water though!! It poured with rain yesterday and its not even the rainy season, it must be terrible when it is.

Hmm, I think I had better stop there because there is a queue now!! But all is well, and I although very challenging, it’s the best place I could be at this time in my life!