...most likely going back to Mozambique!! (and teaching Crafts!)

Hello friends
I'm so sorry I haven't posted like I said I would. A lot has been happening that has made me sort have a continual pause button being pushed on what I feel like I should share. I have been really involved for the past month in plans for the future of my little life and what opportunities I should pursue. I have been sort of holding my breath waiting for responses from things I applied for off and on since mid-January.

-I want to share with you what God has been teaching me over these last few weeks. It's pretty awesome.The biggest thing that God has been doing in this season is reminding me that He is good regardless of what my situations look like, or how I feel. I should never believe that I am not going to be given the desires of my heart - God just has interesting timing when it comes to these things.
I applied to staff the Iris Ministries Harvest School that begins in June. What I would have been doing would have been to be a house mom for about ten of the students that come from all over the world, be in charge of one aspect of the school leadership (24 hour prayer week, worship teams, etc), lead a weekend outreach, and lead a week to 15 day outreach after that. I was so desiring to do this as it would stretch me in ways the I have been really desiring to be stretched: Leadership, personal ministry (to the students), and responsibility.

I focused on doing this and basically planned on it, though I wasn't sure if I would be. One thing that I was struggling with was the little nagging thought that maybe I wasn't ready to do this and that it wouldn't be God's timing, though it was the only thing that I wanted to do. I had been hearing God say many times that I am allowed to dream and hope for the desires of my heart, and this was a big dream of mine that I was barely letting myself hope for at times when I wasn't in the right head space. But then I would remember that God has good plans for me that are to prosper me and not harm me - His plans are always bigger and better than we think.

A month and a couple of days ago, I decided that I was going to spend a week praying and fasting. I canceled some of my responsibilities and spent time at my father's house and while I was there I found out that I was not accepted to be on staff for this Harvest School. I was taken aback very much at first. I was incredibly disappointed, and immediately felt a sense that my little worries had come true. I felt these lies creep in; "I am not ready for such responsibilities, and I'm not good enough". But luckily, I had already set all this time aside to be in God's presence, so He quickly set me back up on His lap and comforted me and reminded me of His goodness and His promises. I know very well that if there is an obvious "no" to something, then it's for my good, and God has good plans that will be better than "my" plans. So I just told the Lord, "Ok. Do what you want, and I will follow."
At the end of the email letting me know I wasn't going to be on staff, the leaders of the school, Pamela and Tony Maxwell, said to be expecting a call about other opportunities.

A week and a half later (God also has been working with me on patience and believing He is good when it looks strange) I got to talk with Pamela Maxwell. She told me of a couple of opportunities that I could possibly be a part of. One of those immediately stood out to me: She told me of a woman named Nathalia who is planning to start a Micro-business class/discipleship for the many amazing widows in PEMBA, Mozambique, which is the SAME location as the Harvest School, during the same time as the Harvest School, and I would be helping with teaching CRAFTS AND JEWELRY MAKING!!! Ahhh- wow!!!! Seems a little bit too good to be true, eh? She also mentioned to me the possibility of helping plan events in which the children of the students would spend time with Mozambican children!

-I remember after I hung up with Pamela I sort of stood stunned in my kitchen with, I'm sure a hilarious look on my face of puzzlement, complete excitement and the irony of the situation! If I did this, it would in fact be most of what I was wanting to be a part of if I staffed the school, in the same place, but with the added benefit of getting to use my skills of Jewelry Making and teaching!!! I kept saying, "NO WAY! NO WAY!" and laughing! "God, what are you up to??!" , I said out loud.
I went outside and sat on the sidewalk, just sort of taking in what was happening. I realized I needed to really and truly seek the Lord about the decision of whether or not to be a part of this. Part of me had thought that maybe the reason that I hadn't been accepted to the school, was because I needed to continue to be here in this place of refining and obedience (It has been a hard season for me here in Nashville in many ways - my desire was to be out of the country, but God had me here for this season for many reasons that I didn't understand until recently and He did some incredible thigns in this season that I am so thankful for).

Anyway, i realized that this was an important decision. The thing that I was most worried about not being in Nashville for was my friend, Shyanna. She is a girl that I have been mentoring for about 8 years, though I haven't always been able to be consistent while I've been out of the country or while she was in another state for part of a year. recently she was put into temporary foster care, and the foster mother lives about two blocks away from me!! It has been such a divinely put together situation. I have been able to see her more than i ever have in the past (about twice a week), and i hav ebeen able to take her to Grace Center with me! she has gotten really involved in the youth group, which is a miracle, because she has never wanted to be very involved in the churches that i have brought her to in the past. she also never cared about the worship music very much, but she now has requested that I make her "at least 20" different worship cds! i asked her if she could feel something change inside of her when she listened to worship music (she is now 12 and that is part of the reason why she can grasp these things more than she used to), and she said that, yes she could feel lighter and happier. Two weeks ago, she decided that she wanted Jesus to be in her heart, and we prayed together to invite Him. Woo!! This has been amazing!!
That week I kept thinking, "what if'" this and that in regard to Shyanna's situation, and was worrying about leaving. My friend Jack Beach reminded me of something: he said, what if's don't usually come from God, but from the enemy who wants us to worry." I think that's very true! Why would God want me to worry when He is perfectly capable of handling any situation?!

I set myelf a deadline for making the decision and went to Grace Center and got prayed for. I have some amazing prophetic words including this one: "I see you were recently in a situation that is like you were reaching for a tissue out of a tissue box, but it wasn't there. And it was an opportunity that you were looking forward to very much, but it wasn't there when you thought it would be. but the tissue has actually just fallen into the box, and you have to dig for it." Ha!!! Wow - such an accurate picture of this situation in which I wanted to go to the school, wasn't accepted, but was given the same situation/a better one! Wow! Also that same day, shyanna gave me her permission to go to Africa! Wow. she said, "You can go...I'll be ok". Wow! And she didn't even know that I was worried mostly about her. I take that as a confirmation. :)

So - Isn't God so faithful, and kind??? He wants to give us the desires of our hearts! I am going to Mozambique, I beleive! there are still some things to work out and fill out, but it is the direction that I'm heading!
I don't have a lot of time to get ready, but I believe this is what I'm going to do! It will definitely be a miracle being able to leave here in a MONTH AND A HALF! I have to apply for being a missionary there, apply for a Visa, get tickets, get shots, pack, move my things out of where I'm living - wow!

Tete or bust pt. 1

Alright!

- The last bit that I shared was about our last days of school/graduation. I’ll give you a few more tidbits about that and try to be brief (I’ll share more detailed stories after I catch up!!),

- Then I want to share about my incredible adventure of an outreach to Tete, Mozambique.

-The day before Graduation consisted of hearing Heidi speak and making us cry and want to live our lives with more purpose, fervor, and passion for Jesus (as she usually does). We also heard from Georgian Banhov who quickly became one of my new favorite people. He grew up in Communist Bulgaria, and is now one the most relaxed and happy people that I have ever encountered. Then we had a dance fest for about two hours in which I danced on the stage with all of the African dance leaders. PAUSE – I must explain something: In the worship services at the churches in Mozambique, you don’t have solely a Worship leader, there is also a team of people leading dances on the stage or front of the church. If this isn’t enough for me to fall in love with the culture, then I don’t know what is ( I LOVE TO DANCE!!!). So, if I had any timidity in dancing on stage with the people who REALLY know how to dance, it was completely gone by that point in replace of my LOVE for JESUS and extreme release into the Glorious Freedom found in his love. YES!! So I danced my little heart out and my little feet to blistering on the stone /concrete floor in the church.

- this was an amazing moment for me when I recieved the "stopping for the one" award - which basically just meant that I was recognized for simply living with a gift God gave me, which is love for many people.

-Graduation day (I covered the general things I did in the week and the day after graduation which was also the day before my outreach when I visited people all day and Phillippe’s family etc.). As to be expected, our Graduation was not a normal Graduation ceremony. We first were prayed for and prophecied over by all of the staff ( I have all of these written down, and I have so many amazing promises and big picture things revealed to me by the Father. I’d love to share some, and will share a few key ones soon). Wow, this was amazing. Of course, we were all in tears.

-Some of the no-longer-orphans danced for us before we left, and left us all bawling and thanking the Lord for the chance to interact with them and be blessed by them.

-Then we went to the kitchen with all of the Mozambicans (200 – ish) that were in bible school/pastor school for a chicken, cabbage, and
Fanta feast! You have no idea how special chicken, and cabbage, and soda is in that world – it’s a huge treat, if you can grasp that! Each house of students from my school (about 6 – 10 people per house) also made a dessert of sorts with the Mozambican ingredients to bring to this feast. My house made banana bread. I gave out a few small presents to my Mozambican brothers from my Color Group, and received two drawings from my brothers with scriptures on them and notes in Portuguese/broken English blessing me and telling me that they would miss me. Paper is hard to come by (believe me, it is also a special treat to have!!), so these special drawings/notes meant so much to me. I also received a small wooden, Chinese wall hanging from one of my closest friends in my color group. ** Such a strange gift, but, again, meant so much to me!!!

(If I haven’t clarified the Bible School/Color Group well, yet, then here is a better explanation: There were men from all over northern Mozambique there living on the base for the same 2 and a half month period that we were in the school, and they were more or less new believers that had met Jesus through Iris ministries’ outreaches in surrounding areas . Some of them actually were training to start their own churches as a part of this huge revival in Mozambique that is 10,000 churches strong at this point. Wow! Heidi really stressed the point that we realize we are in the same family with these beautiful Mozambican brothers, and one the biggest growing aspects for all of us was tied up in walking out these relationships with them. We had class with them twice a week, and had other worship nights etc. We also each had COLOR GROUPS (my color was Zinzento = silver!) of about 12 of us International Students with about 12 Mozambicans. We had a meal together in which the Internationals prepared food and we all ate together; We made a special feast of fruit salad and fried chicken rice, and brownies for them, which is food that they don’t get often by any means. We also went on our short weekend outreach together, which I have yet to talk about. These men were amazing, and I will share about some more of that soon. )

- All the students eating and celebrating together for our graduation day! : a feaast of chicken, cabbage and fanta!

= Our color group in a photo with Mama Aida (Heidi) on graduation day!

-We then met in the church with our color Group and had photos with Heidi! Then different color groups spontaneously started chanting our color names “Zinzento, ZINZENTO” and we started dancing, and just being generally really excited that Jesus had saved us from everything our lives would have been if we hadn’t just had the experience that we did!!! It was one of the happiest days we had had!! And then we proceeded to DANCE some more! We topped the amount of time that we had been dancing the day before by about 2 or 3 more hours making a total of at least 4 hours. And I danced the whole time, you better believe it!! We were ALL incredibly hot and sweaty, but we were also so filled with joy and freedom, and I could see in the International students that they had lost so much of a worry over their appearance from being in the environment as long as we had, and realizing that they actually could go without coffee or plucking their eyebrows for a period of time, and be more than content about it. ;) Since I don’t drink coffee or pluck my eyebrows, I was even more feeling a level of disregard for “dignity” than ever, and I worshiped the Lord with so much abandon!! I will never forget this breaking off of my regard for the opinions of others, and I know I will NEVER care as much as I may have in the past. This is something that I PRAISE the Lord for. I remember ballet dancing a bit and hearing the Lord telling me that I was going to dance with Him all over the World (a word similar to one that Heidi received years ago as well – woo!). The dancing (sort of) stopped at about 6 pm or so, and then each student had their name called and blessed by Heidi and was then “blasted” in prayer by David Hogan, our other staff leaders, The Banhovs, and the Bakers. WOO!; Such an amazing time! We stopped worshipping at around 11 or maybe midnight and then at some "hot dogs" by a bonfire.

-Dancing dancing dancing! mozambicans love to dance, and we did too!! We praised Jesus for hours and hours even when we were sweaty and our feet were blistering!!

-The next day was the day I mostly explained in which I visited many people, received gifts that I didn’t feel like I deserved, gave some gifts as well, cleaned and packed, and cried all day (wearing my Kapulana outfit that rita blessed me with). I ended the night trying to see my roommates, the kids from the base, and my Russian friends as much as possible, and helped the Russians clean and pack. The next day I would be heading to Tete, Mozambique, a supposed 3 day journey from Pemba by Landrover.

- I woke up at 4:30 or 5 a.m. and Ruth and I went on our last walk together down to the beach. I was packed and ready to go, and so we went to say goodbye to the Russian team who we thought we wouldn’t be seeing again for at least a year or two. I said goodbye to my good friend Eugenya. She is one of the younger people on the team, about 30, and was one of the 3 translators for the team. She and I became very close. She affected me very deeply, and I knew I would miss her terribly, which I do. She used to be in the Russian ballet, and we showed each other some moves; I showed her some breakdance steps, and she showed me ballet moves ha!! I love her so very much! I also connected so deeply to many of the amazing prayer warriors and tender hearted women on the team – Arianna, larissa, Iriana – all of them were so wonderful!!!

-Top: Ruth and I trying to get a picture with the amazing sunrise that we so enjoyed together every day, and are trying not to think about how our ministry time together was about to end! we were trying to take the picture ourselves and couldnt quite get the sunrise in it! haha

- Katia and Eugenia: two of my wonderful friends from Russia. - The Russian team waving goodbye to us as we are driving off to Tete.

Then it was time for me to leave! I tearfully said goodbye to all of my housemates, and friends and squeezed into the back of the Landrover with 7 other people, who I barely knew, and grew to know oh so well!! Haha – to compare the way we held our general personal space for the first couple of hours compared to the way all of our limbs were sprawled throughout the car by the end up the trip is pretty ridiculous!! And we began our journey with a prayer, a big one because we realized quickly how much of our comfort we were saying goodbye to. We didn’t quite know how much, and I laugh thinking about the imminent adventures and KILLING OF OUR FLESH we faced!!!!

- Our very small living space for the next 5 days!!! - This is how we started, and eventually we had our legs and arms dispersed throughout the small space trying to keep our bums from killing us and legs from cramping and falling asleep! What an adventure we had in that little Landrover!

You’ll find out soon as well. I’m breaking up the post by a few days, unfortunately. But now you have a cliffhanger to look forward to the resolving of!!

Blessings friends

Tetra

There's More

- Left: Hut where we had our classes Mon. - Thur. on the beautiful Pemba base -Right: The Church on the iris Base and the congregation plus us students.
Jan. 14 2011

I am incredibly behind with my blog. I'm beyond behind, in fact; It's almost a new season.
Yet, it has been on my heart to share more from my experiences this summer; I feel it's even a responsibility of mine to share some of the riches that were shared with me, and the life giving instruction that I have been entrusted with.
It's hard to know how little or how much to share. I feel as if I could spend a lifetime explaining all that I learned and experienced which resulted in changing my entire paradigm, and, in effect, me. In fact, I believe, I will be seeing and understanding all that happened in those three months that I was in Mozambique throughout the rest of my barely-begun lifetime.
I will start by trying to resolve some information about my school and Outreach, and then try to delve in a little deeper about what God did in me, and I learned overall, as well as discuss what it's been like after the fact here in the U.S. and what seems to be next for me.
-All of my classmates the day before Graduation!
Graduation from the Harvest Missions school came much more quickly than I thought it would, though I felt as if I had lived a long time in this new, strange, and important life that God had graciously brought me into. My last few weeks I spent trying to fit as much time in with the friends that I had made, and also seeking God with as much of me as I could so as to get ALL that He had for me. My roomate/best friend, Ruth, and I made a list of the people we needed to visit, and spend time with before leaving.
Ruth and I arranged so many get-togethers with our friends in those last 3 weeks, it was very complicated. We were incredibly busy, and would usually go straight from class to someone's house (though I hated missing lunch at our food hall, because I wouldn't see my friends, Filomena, Lurdish, and Marilia in the kitchen). We usually would buy groceries for our friends so that they wouldn't have to pay to feed us. We just wanted to be with them, but they usually would want to make us food - so, that was the compromise that Ruth and I figured out.

-Top: My friend Angelica, cooking us a dinner on one of our visits. - Chatting and visiting with my friend Amina, and Joanna's moher. -Walking abck from one of our many ventures into the surrounding villages. we are walking in from the back side of the base. - Breaking rocks with a big metal hammer to put in the walls of Marilia's house. -Ruth and I with Marilia and her family after helping put rocks in the walls of their house, i.e., building the house.

I was also working on a mural in the children's library, and needed to finish it. I visited Filomena one last time as well as her family. I also visited Lurdish, Anna and her family, Rosa, Joanna, and her family, and my friend Elena who was teaching me basket weaving. I also organized a day to go help build Marilia's house, and we had a big group do it. I will have to go into greater detail about these visits in this post and the next few. I also took my best little boy and girl friends from the Iris base out to the beach one last time, and a few out to ice cream. I gave out all my presents, and gave away my favorite dress, skirt and most of the rest of my clothes. I will also tell a particular story about God prompting me to give away some of my favorite pieces of jewelry. I also made sure to spend time with my house family, and the Russian friends I made, as well as friends from all over that were in the school with me.


- My friends and I getting ice cream at the resteraunt run by Iris young adults. - Iris boys enjoying their ice cream treat! - Some of the awesome Iris boys being silly. - Amina and Angelica wearing the presents that I had given them the day before (kercheifs); it was a delight to see! -Amina, Angelica, and their families. - Messiajse and Jalia: two of my best friends.
One of our visits was a day when our little friend, Anna, cooked a meal with her sisters just for us, without us knowing she was going to. It was such an amazing day. We brought nailpolish and painted all of the girls' fingernails that lived in that little area (Anna lives with her mom and sisters in a widows home very close to the base). We ended up getting our nails painted as well as our backs rubbed by the girls, and hair braided!

- Ruth and I eating the meal that Anna and her sisters prepared for us. -Anna and I trying out what she would look like with my hair ;) - Anna, her sisters and some of the girls that painted our nails and braided our hair at the widows hoe. -Anna's mom and little brother; she works on the Iris base. - Anna wearing my purse to protect it as we walk through the village.
We visited our friend Phillipe, the head cook in the Kitchen, and his amazing and beautiful family 2 or 3 times in the last 3 weeks of school. We would buy food for them in the market and they would cook it for all of us and their family would get to eat at least one or two meals out of it. And also my friends Joanna, Rosa, Amina, and Angelica who I talked about in m last blog. The ladies gave me necklaces, and fed us. We played cards, and had a lot of fun singing and trying to talk in portuguese and Makua.
On the last day that I had in Pemba before my 15 day outreach I had to pack and clean our little house and say goodbye to everyone I loved ( I was going to be back in Pemba for about 4 days when I was done with my outreach, but I had to say goodbye to many that I may not have gotten the chance to see). This was a terrible, but happy day. I cried so many times!! Ruth and I had gone to town to buy presents for all the workers in the kitchen (our house shared the payment for the presents): We got them each two cans of sardines, and a pack of spaghetti. This is enough for a few meals for them and their families. I had a terrible time saying goodbye to these ladies, and was a wreck. They sang a blessing song over us, which really got to me.

-ruth and I after we gave the presents of spaghetti and sardines to each of the kitchen workers (this is half of the kitchen workers; we gave the others later.) - Fileman, and I with her family at her house during a visit with her. - Saying goodbye to some of the ex-orphaned girls that I made friends with on the Iris Base.
Then Ruth and I (soooo busy that whole week, and always on the move!) went to visit Phillipe and his family again. Ruth had baked a chocolate cake in our crazy Pemba apartment oven with crazy Mozambican ingredients, and we went to the market with Phillipe's daughter and bought 2 whole chickens, potatoes, lettuce, tomato, onion, and cookies!! We bought Fantas and Cokes as we were waiting for the chicken to cook at their house. I was allowed to help fry the potatoes on their interesting little cooking stations that are on the ground. It was one that was inside the house, which seemed a bit dangerous to me! I was happy to get to though, because it's not often that our Mozambican friends let you help cook! I suppose that's because: 1. They are so polite and don't want you to have to do anything when you are a guest. 2. They dont trust us to know what we are doing! HA!

-Us visiting Phillipe and his family one of the last times; We had just sung many songs and eaten a good meal together and were about to pray for them. - Me cooking the french fries inside of their house on a small grill built into the floor holding their youngest son.
We had such an amazing time - one of the best times of my whole trip. We sang worship songs together, prayed for his whole family, and heard stories of their early missions that they did together and miracles that they had seen. Wow, it was so beautiful to see this amazing part of God's family, and to be connected to these beautiful ones by the bond of Jesus Christ. Something amazing that they did was pray over each of us! And they sang a song over each one of us that was going on outreaches that were blessings. I cried some more. Then, to top it off, Rita, Phillippe's wife, who is amazing and strong and so in love with God, went to her bedroom and brought out two sets of Kapulanas for Ruth and I. A Kapulana is a skirt and head wrap that is traditional Mozambican wear. It was such an honor to be given this. These are expensive gifts, and receiving it made us feel as if we were truly accepted into the Mozambican culture. I am crying right now, thinking about it. :) This was the final realization that we had actually gotten to delve into the culture and MAKE FRIENDS. We are loved in return for the love that we were trying so hard to give out. What a wonderful blessing. Ruth and I had tried so hard to give of ourselves, and had had many instances where we said to each other, "we have no idea what we are doing, but God has grace for us!" How awesome is it to be rewarded for trying, and giving so much emotion towards trying to share ourselves.

-Rita, Phillipe's amazing wife who blessed us so much with her friendship. She is very joyful, as you can see! - Ruth and I in our Kapulanas that Rita gave to us! We have just been crying from such a special gift, and are so full of joy!
That last week of school was incredibly amazing as well. god did so much in me, it's hard to relate in words. I was fasting for part of the week, because I wanted to be as ready to hear what He had to say to me as possible! I had a few amazing experiences with God that week, and the overall completion in whaT God had been doing was incredible.
David hogan was the speaker for the last week of school, as well as Georgian Banhov (He only spoke twice on the last day, but he is so wonderful as well). I believe that he, David Hogan, may have affected me more than any other speaker aside from Heidi. I highly recommend looking him up and listening to a sermon or watching a video - his life, his stories, and his personality are INCREDIBLE and so inspiring. Here's a little bit of info about this gentleman: He works as a Missionary in the mountains of Mexico with a people group that are very dangerous and originally hated and killed many Christians. He is a very large and almost scary man from Louisiana who would be a violent and harsh person if he weren't a christian. Instead he is incredibly intense about seeing people healed from diseases and delivered from their demons. He is incredibly loving, a pacifist, who cries when he talks about the children that he has housed, and families that have been injured during his time there. This guy has seen 27 people raised from the dead!!!! HA WOW!!! I know that that's a hard one to believe for many of us in the West. But that is why he goes after seeing those healings in particular ; He said that the other types of healings are easier to refute than someone who has actually been legally dead for a day or a few hours standing up and being better than new!!! HA!! This is the real deal, my friends and loved ones!!!
He told us STORIES of praying for a man that had throat cancer and part of his face and neck were actually gaping open. Hogan then saw this person the next week and didn't recognize him because he actually had a face and had been completely healed of the cancer!!! WOW Thank you Jesus! He also talked of coming into contact with a man who was completely out of his mind because of demon possession: He had been chained up in a room with a heavy door, he had long hair and long nails and had apparently been killing and eating people before he was chained up....?! Yes, you are right, this IS crazy. (That's why you should hear his stories; if you don't believe me, I think you would believe him. 1. You need to hear him, and understand his heart in order to trust him, which I definitely do. 2.There is no way he could make up the details to all these different stories! 3. He didn't see any miracles for the first 10 years that he was working there (he has been there over 30 years), and they are in huge volume now. If you simply have trouble believing in miracles, then this may be something you should ask the Lord about. He never gives us a stone if we ask for bread, and if this legitimately confuses you, then Lord will want to answer your questions). Davd Hogan explained being very afraid at first, as this creature of a man growled and his chains rattled while walking towards him. But David remembered Jesus' dealings with the demon possessed in the Bible (such as the man called "Legion" because there were "many inside this man" Luke 8:30), and started to walk towards the man remembering the power of the Holy Spirit being greater in Him. The possessed man started backing away, and soon David was able to lay his hand on this man who was completely delivered of the demons and was then a completely normal human. He got a haircut and nails trimmed, and started wearing clothes, stopped eating humans (ha!), and spread the word of Jesus being the only deliverer!!!!!!
-Some of my roomates, and my house mom right before I left for outreach.
I believe that one of the most affecting things about my time in Mozambique this summer was coming into contact with so many people that LIVE what they believe and live RADICALLY!!! David Hogan, Heidi and Rolland, Supresa Sithole, Jackie Pullinger - they are all Missionaries that truly live the way the first Christians did in Acts and the epistles. They believe in the miracles of healing, finances, and radically LOVING everyone that you encounter. And they SEE these things on a daily basis. It is NORMAL for Iris Ministries to see deaf ears opened through prayer - it's a weekly event. It's almost just as often that they see completely blind eyes be opened. And hearing these peoples' backstories makes me realize that they were once "normal". Ha. Hearing David Hogan's testimony, in particular, made realize that I know many American's that are similar in demeanor to who he was. If this quasi-violent man that loves to hunt can be utterly in love with Jesus and softened to the point of complete pacifism and saving hundreds and thousands of people from death, disease, and the inner death of not knowing the deep and fulfilling love of Jesus Christ, then anyone can. And If Heidi who came from Laguna Beach, very privelaged and wealthy, and could lose it all for the love of Jesus and radically follow Him at all costs, and see 10,000 people fed everyday by Faith without any of her own wealth to help, then anyone can do this!! I can do this stuff! YOU can do this stuff!!!!!!
I have started to really understand that the spirit that raised Lazarus from the dead and Jesus from the dead is INSIDE of you and I that believe! Did you know that Jesus said WE will do "even greater things" than the miracles that He did on the earth??! (John 14:12) Does anyone believe that?? Do any of us act on it? This is part of our inheritance through being a Son or Daughter of God!!
I will tell about some of the miracles that I, personally saw, and my roommate saw in the next post. I will talk about my outreach to Tete, as well as my outreach in the "bush bush".
Eventually I will have to come in with simply story after story that I haven't been able to include so far. I feel as if I could fill a book with stories from this experience.
Thank you for reading, and I can only ask that the Lord bless you, and make it real to you. Let me know if you have any questions - I love talking about Iris Ministries, and the people that I met, and the things that I have learned!!!




-A view of the wall surrounding the Iris Pemba base with a worker sitting on it. I saw this as I was reading and praying under a Baobab tree.
- Elena, my friend who taught me some basket weaving.

Love and joy and peace!
Tetra

I only have one week of school left. That is quite a surreal realization. My time here has been an amoebic mixture of smells, people, foods, and African gestures and ways of communicating; things that form your understanding of a culture and location that aren’t quite identifiable, but more atmospheric. I have learned how people show that they think something is funny: they laugh and sort of slap your hand as if to say, “You’re too much”.

top left: My friend Fatima; I will always remember the way she dances with her baby balanced on her back. She is a beautiful and happy woman who told me that I was special to her like a daughter even though we only spent one day together.
top right: women and children selling fried sweet bread and roasted nuts by road
Bottom left: My friend, Amina, (Rosa's Grandmother). She can not walk, and when she isn't in her wheel chair she crawls on the ground with protection for her knees and hands. She had just given us a bowl of oranges and we were about to play cards with her family.
Bottom right: Another friend named Fatima and her family, as well as a few neighbor friends in her house when we were over for a visit.

I’ve learned which corners it is that ladies and children tend to sell peanuts and strange sweet breads, and which ones of those little boys from Iris like to eat (also which ones my roommate and lovely friend, Ruth, likes). I’ve learned how to dance many different types of African dances, and also learned that I LOVE TO DANCE AFRICAN STYLE! Yes. I’ve learned and am figuring out how to find the balance of wanting to help and give gifts to my friends and how to handle these same friends at some point asking for money. I’ve learned how to shave a coconut and make coconut milk, and how to make pastry dough with a mortar and pestle that usually is used for making xima (cornmeal type of food).


top left: Our other friend named Amina cooking us an amazing dish of coconut rice and beans. In this picture she is squeezing the soaked and shredded coconut into a sieve and through to a pan of beans.
top right: Amina shredding the fresh coconut with a very interesting instrument specifically used to do this.
bottom left: amina's friend teaching me to shred coconut. I brought home a coconut shredder, and have made this dish at home!
bottom right:

And I know what it feels like for a family to share the small amount of food that they have with you and give you a larger portion than you need while they take a much smaller. I can tell you about different little children and their stories, like Rosa who lives with her Grandmother, Amina, who can’t walk, but crawl and use a wheelchair and has a mother that lives in another province and she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.


top left: Rosa with our friends Angelica and Joanna sitting outside of her and Amina's house.
top right: One of our friends' daughter falling asleep in my lap. I'm getting overwhelmed with love for the little girl!
bottom left: Me and my friend Derefina sitting in her backyard when she invited me to come visit her.
bottom right:My feet and my friend Joanna's feet on the beach!

I have learned that a shaking pinkies with a kid means that you are no longer friends” and to restore this friendship, you must touch elbows. Haha! I have gotten to know some of the people from the 20 different nationalities in my school, like the group from Russia, who are so so beautiful. They are so encouraging, selfless, and so very…Russian! :) They love to lead worship, and it’s one of the loveliest things; I love their style. Eleyona has a beautiful high voice with a fast vibrato that sounds very classically Russian. Whenever you spend time with them, they offer you tea or a snack, though they don’t have much, or any spending money while they are here.

top left: Me learning how to basket weave from my friend Elena. top right: Me and my Russian friend, Tanya, keeping dry in the rain!
bottom left: Elena and I talking and basket weaving with the pile of reeds behind us as well as another friend who basket weaves.
bottomr right: village kid friends!


I’ve started to learn how to basket weave from some of the ladies that work here making purses, hats and grass mats (I know more than ever that I truly LOVE to make things with my hands and be creative, and I always will. Regardless of where I am and what I am doing, this will be a part of me!) I had a chance last week to teach some of the kids how to makes hemp necklaces att their children’s camp! That was an amazing, and trying opportunity. I couldn’t speak Portuguese that well, and the kids were somewhat difficult, but I loved it.

I am completely finished with the ordinary. I feel as if I am just now starting to walk in the path that God has for me. This is regardless of my location; It’s more of a state of mind that I have been blessed to find in which I am realizing that God is WITH me wherever I am. He has many plans, and He indeed moves today!!!
I have one week left here in Pemba. Then I will be going to Tete for my outreach. I will be working with a small church there that has just purchased a buildsing that WAS a brothel and is now becoming a children’s home. I’m excited about that, but I feel surreal. But I am happy. I am definitely sad to say goodbye to my little life here, my friends here, and my friends from the 20 other cultures that have been studying with me. I have been packing in last chance visits with the friends that I have made here, and I think Ruth and I are going to have a little birthday party for the little boys and girls that we have become friends with from Arco-Iris. I took kids to the beach for possibly the last time last Saturday, and I went to church for the second to last time here yesterday. It seems to have gone so quickly! I’m going to be taking a little more time getting my beans and rice this week so that I can see my lunch lady friends as much as I can. Ah!! How sad. But I am sure that I will visit her again. I don’t think that I am going to work here long-term. I am not sure where or when I will be, still. I have had some amazing different understandings of my destiny since I have been here, but the immediate next step is always the difficulty. But I love this life that God has made for me…so interesting, and it always keeps you in a place of reliance on Him.

top left: Playing cards with some of the Iris boy, Anselmo, and our village friends, Focas and Osamo. top right: ruth and I with our friends Joanna and Rosa (Rosa is the grandaughter of Amina). bottom left: Anselmo asleep in my lap. bottom right: Joanna and Rosa and their families outside of their house.

By the way, they are now accepting applications for the next school starting in October. Please please think about it if you want your life to change for the better, and have any interest in Ministry or Missions!!! (I’m specifically thinking of a couple people I know like…ASHELY TUTHILL!! Rachel Singleton!!! And maybe Tracey?? Or everyone I love!!! Hee hee – I highly recommend it!)
see you august 26th!
Love you all

Tetra