Thursday 21 August 2008

OUTREACH!!! 1st few days...till the 11th

Well i went on the mozambique outreach from the 5th august to the 15 august. it was a great challenge and sometimes quite a struggle, it took you to all your limits and even further, but it was an experience of a life time!! we drove about 6 hours away, we were 9 adults and 3 young children and then about 12 or more mozambicans. it was quite a squash in the truck!!! its not the most confortable mode of transport, our driver was rather impatient and didnt really think about us in the back when it came to the very bumpy roads and potholes .......
we stayed in three places, the first for 5 days the next for 4 and then 1 night in the last place, but we went to many different villages up to 2 hours away from camp.
the first 'evangelisation we did was on the 6th. we went to quite a big towns outskirts. what happens is that you go in the flat bed truck, someone plays the some lively african music on the keyboard, and there are singers,and then there a few on the ground dancing. and that goes on for around and hour and a half sometimes, and then once its dark, we play the jesus film in makua and that lasts about 2 hours, then the pastor does a little talk and then one of us does a testimony, and then there is a call for those that want jesus, and then there is the prayer and then for those that want healing they riot to the 'front' and then we pray for them for quite a while and then during that people tell their healing testimonies on the microphone.
there were conversions and healings in this place even though at first they were quite reserved.

the 7th in the morning we were awoken rather early, then you peak your head out of the tent and you see loads of children just staring at you!! it doesnt really make you want to show yourself!! but it was also so so hot, but i decided to venture out and play with the children of the village! it was so fun, i went with a skipping rope but then more than a hundred came and so i sort of changed for a mini sports relay thing, and it was just so fun, it was complete chaos but the kids were having fun and i was too!! then at the end i got them to sing me songs and then we danced!! it was so great! its just hard to tell them that your going, they usually just follow you everywhere! you only have 2 hands but amazingly you can actually have about one child per finger, maybe a few hanging off your arms, a couple on your back and then a few on your front and still manage to waddle a short distance!!
we did a film in another village that night.

on the 8th we had a huge jam packed day! they did actually tell us that we were just going for a short time somewhere and then coming back and then doing a film later, but TIA, stands for This Is Africa, meaning, a plan is just a plan, it can be changed, and that change can change, basically you have to be prepared for anything. we ended up spending the whole day out and returning in the early hours of the morning.
we first went about and hour and a half away to consencrate a church. there was dancing singing, bit more dancing, then we all entered the church and prayed and sang and danced. then after this we did baptisms, so that meant going to a place where there is water, so that took a little while, and then about 15 people got baptised in a beautiful little lake place.....then we went back and then drove back, and did a wedding, the wedding of the pastor of the place!!! and then we did the film!!!! i said my testimony in this place. we all take a night to do one. and then we went back to camp. the truck drives at this point are getting worse and worse.......

on the 9th we went to pray hut to hut in the village where we were staying. it was really good. we stopped at a house where the people were really into witchcraft, they were ill and had gone to the witch for healing. we prayed for them and cast the demons out, we also burned all the witchcraft things, and the people who were quite important people in the village became christians, and renounced to witchcraft, they gave their lives to god. and they got healed from their pain and illness!!!! there were so many children there, and so we prayed for the children as well, for the older women there too.
in the evening we did another film!! it was so fun, me and paula sort of went hyper, and were dancing rather crazily with the kids, dancing all over the place, there was so much joy in them, it was wonderful!!!these children are the future.

the 10th, there was another trip to the village, and there a demon possessed women got delivered from a few of the demons and manifested and said that she would think about giving her life to jesus.
in the evening we did the film in this village where we had the camp. it was so great. i danced and danced with more than a hundred children that were following every dance that i danced, i ran round the main crowd and they ran with me shouting, it was so amazing!! then we did the film and prayer, and so many received jesus and so many go healed! there is just healing going on everywhere, we are all praying for different people and so not knowing what is going on with the others, but at the end there are just so many testimonies!! god is so good and powerful!

Sunday the 11th we did a church service in this village. but i was consumed by this little boy that was there. he was so neglected. he had flies all over him, his clothes were just hanging off him, ripped and so so dirty and he had a hug sore on his leg that had turned to gangrene and had flies resting on it, and his face was so dirty too...and i was just filled with compassion and a sadness for this child. and its there that you think well, what on earth can i do and what am i doing that is gonna make anything change for him in these short moments that i'm with him....all i could do is pray and hug him and just give him as much love as i could during that service just so that he could feel what love is and the love of god, and just feel special for that short amount of time. but it really tested me also, as if god was saying, yes, you can touch the children that are not so dirty but can you love those that appear to be the worst of the worst....
but that morning you could really see the poverty and the suffering, its overwhelming...its all about bringing gods kingdom down to earth for the poor, the suffering, those that mourn, sick, the persecuted, the lonely.....

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