When God’s power, grace, and omnipotence are seen through His furious love…..the present worldly circumstance and situation disappear.

This one statement sums up so many things about my time in Mozambique that are challenging to even put into words. When I say “present worldly circumstance” I’m talking about not having food to eat….or having a painful or disabling medical condition with a hospital not even being an option….the options are witch doctors……or Jehovah Rapha when they meet Him! Mama Heidi told a story pertaining to hunger about Mozambiquan pastors who needed to feed their families getting killed by crocodiles because they were diving for water lily tubers to eat……and the crazy thing is this hunger doesn’t even compare to the hunger I saw in so many Mozambiquans for Jesus! His Mozambiquan children hunger and thirst for Him…..and His love is poured out. They are truly the richest people I have ever seen.

I went to Mozambique and South Africa with Georgian Banov and Global Celebration ministries. I want to honor Georgian and Winnie because they have been instrumental in giving me a realization about so many things regarding God’s heart and the joy and bliss that are a natural byproduct of truly knowing Jesus and having a revelation of His love. They carry a joy and zeal for the Lord that inspires exuberant fiddle worship tunes and much of their time spent in garbage dumps, orphanages, and refugee camps around the world giving food, love, and the gospel message of hope to the poorest of the poor. Our team was an absolutely amazing group as well….from all over the world. They are dear friends forever. I am also honored to have been a part of what Heidi and Roland Baker are doing with Iris Ministries.

It has taken some time to get to a point of getting this on paper, and God has revealed to me all of the reasons why. I wanted to give you all a response from the trip to Mozambique and South Africa that you sent me on with love and support of funding and prayer. Thank you so very much for your support and prayer, it has truly advanced the Kingdom. It was an absolute shock coming back from this trip and processing all the things I was a part of and saw (and I have been on a mission trip before and to Iraq for a year)…God is so amazing! He has spoken to my heart, broken my heart for His children, shown me His ways, and given me vision for His call on my life in ways I could not put into words if I tried. He has ignited my heart for His children, and for “the one” and the trip to Africa has changed me forever! I definitely feel the call to return to Africa in the future and find unexplainable joy in “walking out the gospel” and ministering to the poorest of the poor and watching Jesus show up in amazing ways and seeing Holy Spirit move!

I don’t even know where to start…..I am thankful for and learned so much from my dear Mozambiquan and South African brothers and sisters about what it is to “hunger and thirst for righteousness”. The passion and call to action they take with the gospel is incredible and a picture of the road God is leading me down. To hunger…..and to thirst……for Jesus……above all…..I mean really….above all. To follow the Father’s call anywhere and into all dangerous situations and impossible looking odds to bring the message of Jesus to everyone….and to show them who they are in Christ! This intense hunger and thirst produces intense outcomes…..with pastors and evangelists truly risking their lives for the gospel…and many being martyred…..but many also being raised from the dead! The signs and miracles of the living God are common and expected….as was His presence which was so sweet with praise and worship almost continually. I am also very thankful for the amazing people whose ministries I was under: Georgian and Winnie Banov and Heidi and Roland Baker as well as an amazing team of folks from all over the US who love King Jesus so much!

We spent some time in South Africa to start. Hosting/ministering at a couple of church events where healing and the blissful joy of the Lord were released. At one church as we were getting ready to leave late at night I was running out to the bus when I saw two team members with a man with a cane who could hardly stand (found out later he had just fallen flat on his face coming in the door). I ran past to the door …..realized I forgot something…..ran past them again…..got it…..ran past them again and when I got to the door I stopped (realizing God had been speaking to me this whole time to pray for this man I had been running by). I said to one of the people from the team “you were going to pray for him right?” she said yeah let’s do it. His legs were out of alignment as they bowed out and his feet pointed inward 45 degrees. When we prayed I felt a pop in his knees and saw his face light up with joy as the presence of God came over him. Seeing him in the presence just getting rocked by God was almost more amazing than watching his legs straighten before our eyes. He was pointing to his feet and they were pretty disfigured when we took his shoes off to pray….and we watched his toes that were curled over one another straighten out as God gave him even more joy. He was ecstatic and when we went to help him up he motioned us away and got up without his cane and walked. Hallelujah….Amen

We spent time street ministering in some slum areas where we got a tip to an even poorer area. In the larger village (where I had several people tell me we shouldn’t be) I met a young man and said “what’s up” ….he said “Just blazin (smoking pot) man good day today….tomorrow who knows…you don’t know about that”. He asked what I was doing in his neighborhood and I asked him if he knew Jesus. He said he has heard of Him but doesn’t go to church…..I said that’s ok because He just loves you so much anyway. I asked what he does for a living and could we pray for him. He said yes, I am in school for business….we just started to bless him and pray for all he needed and success in business and most importantly for God to show him His love. As we prayed He lit up like a Christmas tree as a Father he didn’t even know he had encountered him! He seemed to be instantly sober with a spring in his step as he headed to school….something tells me he wanted to know more about Jesus after that. The people couldn’t believe it when they asked what we were doing in their village and we told them we were there to love and bless people and tell them about Jesus. Later we went to an even poorer place that was still heavily affected by a flood 10 years prior…..tiny shacks wall to wall lined the river and we wanted to bless them and brought food, and a joyful worship and prayer team. Went to the top of a hill and started worshiping ….playing fiddle, guitar, harmonica, and drum and people from the village came and started to dance. We called out for any sick or injured and God healed many as we prayed, worshiped, and fellowshipped with and loved the people and shared God’s love for them with them.

We spent some time in trash dumps where some of the poorest of the poor work by picking stuff they can sell out of the trash. We loved on the people there and prayed with them seeing God encounter them and a new hope fill their hearts as we shared God’s love. We also spent some time at a hospital praying for people and worshiping. Worship everywhere we went was pretty much common….guitars, harmonica, drums, Georgian on the fiddle, and voices raised to the lord in praise and adoration. We saw people healed of pain at the hospital…..after prayer one guy even said “I’m leaving” with a hospital gown on and IV in he went and got on a bus.

In Mozambique we spent most of our time at Iris Ministries Pemba base in the heart of a Muslim area. Mama Heidi and Iris ministries does amazing things here through the Lords provision by housing and feeding tons of sons and daughters of Jesus (used to be orphans), feeding thousands of village people, and introducing sooooo many to Jesus. The kids are simply priceless jewels….and I loved spending time just loving them. We worshiped with the kids, ate beans and rice everyday with the kids, and I saw God’s heart when I looked at the kids. As soon as we got there huge groups of kids would come running towards us so excited to be loved and spend time with us. We went out into the bush bush (that means really far out….like 30 people in the back of a cargo truck driving 3 hours out which was a short trip) where we did outreach. The deal is get to a village somewhere and set up….start worshipping and playing gospel music over large speakers….and the town inherently comes because they have not even heard music before. The whole drive out worshiping ….singing at the top of our lungs. When we got there we set up the tents for the night and the African gospel music commenced with a huge screen music video….haha ….and they were dancing to the first recorded music they had probably heard. We showed the Jesus film and pastors preached….but later that night the village got very chaotic and there was a dark feeling. That night my Mozambiquan friend Justin and I and some other friends started praying and interceding for a shift in the spiritual atmosphere. It was a very intense prayer. The next morning everything was peaceful and the chaotic feeling was gone! We had a ceremony to honor the village elders and went out into the village after that. Again…this is pretty much Muslim village in the middle of nowhere. We were in small teams with interpreters and would go house to house sending the interpreter first to ask if we could pray. We saw several people healed of pains and unknown ailments….ALL were healed. We prayed for one young man….I told Him about Jesus and the relationship He wanted to have with him….we then asked if he had any health problems….he said he was deaf in one ear….we prayed and he was totally healed! His face glowed as he had encountered Jesus! On the way back from the bush bush we stopped in another remote village where Global Celebration put in a well and we had the opening ceremony. Same format as always…worshiped and danced before the Lord and then started calling out words of knowledge for physical ailments. All were healed ….I prayed for a man who had intestinal worms from drinking bad water prior to the well and kept asking the interpreter if he was feeling any change….and it was no…no….at one point I had my hand on his stomach and was sure I felt it move….I asked the interpreter….no pain! No worms! Glory to God! Teaching time with amazing pastors from all over the world happened at Pemba…and glorious worship and 4 hours of church on Sunday. There was a time in my life I would have thought that was torture….but I once was blind, and now I see and it was glorious, and I miss it, and I wish I was back there!
We also spent some time at the Maputo Iris Ministries base, which is very different then Pemba and amazing. Less missionaries and more kids….I could hardly lift my arms from picking up so many kids. It was so so great. I was beginning to be very sick from allergies and had trouble breathing through the night…but I didn’t want to go to the doctor and miss church service. So I went to church and was totally healed in worship.

These short stories don’t even come close to capturing the love of God that was poured out there, but I hope you have enjoyed them and they have edified and built your faith….we serve an amazing King who’s love is so powerful! I feel a great call to continue to care for and love the poorest of the poor, the widow, and the orphan as Jesus directed. I am passionate about bringing Jesus fame and glory and honor and pointing His children to His open arms of love. My good buddy Jason said it first…..”You were a fisherman….and now you’re a fisher of men” and now I can only agree. I am forever wrecked by God’s love (in a good way) and find such joy in just being His son. I love you guys; you’re amazing and precious in His sight!

Acts 4: 8-10
8 Then Peter, [because he was] filled with [and controlled by] the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and members of the council (the Sanhedrin),
9 If we are being put on trial [here] today and examined concerning a good deed done to benefit a feeble (helpless) cripple, by what means this man has been restored to health,
10 Let it be known and understood by all of you, and by the whole house of Israel, that in the name and through the power and authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified, [but] Whom God raised from the dead, in Him and by means of Him this man is standing here before you well and sound in body