SECOND QUARTER 2015
INSIDE: The End of Story Telling? Come See A Man Miracle Testimonies!
Dear Friends, Life is full for us here in Mozambique. Full of wonder and full of amazing happenings. We are reaping the harvest through trained leaders who are going out with life, anointing and power to affect communities. These are leaders who came years ago as young students, most of them barely able to read and write. Now they are equipped, training and teaching others to do the same, winning souls and planting churches. We are grateful for every team member, every worker and person connected to this ministry. Thank you for your part in it also! As a couple we are being pushed by the growth and development in Team. If we are to continue to lead, we must be in constant transition and change also. Jesus imparted so much to His disciples through example and constant teaching. They learned from what they heard Him tell the crowds, and they learned from what He told them personally. In Mark 4:34 we read, “He did not tell them (the crowds) anything without a parable; but privately to His disciples (those who were peculiarly His own) He explained everything [fully].”
“We give you our best; we give you something real because you are important to us.”
We as leaders need those who have the hunger and courage to press in close, to see, learn and do. We need those who want to know fully. This pushes us into the more and pulls more out of us. This year more than ever, the Bible School Students are showing such a hunger beyond simply hearing and learning. They stop us on campus; stop us at the door, every chance they get for the more, to have something explained the more. We are holding extra meetings with them, personally hearing their hearts, imparting the things pertaining to the Kingdom of Heaven, answering questions. It gives us great joy. One of our challenges this year is in knowing how to best communicate with our readers. For almost thirty years we have been sending out a monthly newsletter. WOW! Some of you have been reading us for that long, how brave you are! With constant communication changes being brought through the internet where we live in a world of constant messaging, we decided to send out quarterly newsletters only, and sharing our ‘Amazingrace’ to fill in the gaps. Then of course there is Facebook. This I believe has brought more communication from us than the monthly newsletter, which was not the intention. Some have suggested Instagram and Twitter also but my goodness….where does one stop? I am a prolific writer and person of many words, my tongue being the pen of a ready writer, but all that would create an avalanche and wipe out. So, we are told a picture speaks more than a thousand words and people no longer read much text. We are indeed speaking thousands of words through our picture and postings. We share these pictures with you as in a parable. Some see only the pictures, and enjoy them. Some see beyond the pictures and see the mission. Is the world forgetting how to read and write? We will continue to do our part through pictures as well as preserving text, and trust that each person we are connected to receives something good, something uplifting and something real. We give you our best; we give you something real because you are important to us,
Rod & Ellie and the Afrika wa Yesu Team.
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
COME SEE A MAN! W
ho is this man? His name is Jesus. To some He is just a name, but others SEE Him, and seeing “Come, see a man who told me is believing. Yes, He is the Christ. In this intellectual everything I ever did. hour we live in, many think they are too intelligent to believe in God. And if they cannot shake themselves Could this be the Christ?” from believing in something bigger than themselves, they downsize our great God to something they feel (John 4:29) they can handle. Like mercury in the palm of their hand they turn Him this way and that, calling Him this or that. Some say he is the supreme being or mother nature or mother earth or whatever. As long as they don’t positively identify Him they think they can live enough within His reach for their daily breath and enough out of His reach for accountability. These are not the clever ones as it may seem, but lost in ignorance. It is in fact the one with childlike faith who is ready to believe, who becomes the inheritor of eternal life, and who knows the Truth.
“Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.” - Matthew 18:2-5
Sending out teams of students on evangelsim. Some students went by tractor, some in vehicles. Others went out on bicycles.
MIRACLE TESTIMONIES EVANGELISM WITH STUDENTS As promised, here are some of the testimonies of what God did through student evangelism. We sent out 58 students led by team members in five different groups. The prayer and preparation they put into the outreach was incredible. Such great expectations, so much enthusiasm and faith. They did not return disappointed but saw more happen than they could have imagined. All glory to God! COMMENTS FROM STUDENTS Each group had an opportunity to tell of the life changing events that occurred. We share with you some of their statements. The joy on their faces with which they told their stories is indescribable. There is nothing that gives such radiance, such pure satisfaction as speaking of the things that God has done. These statements are simple but the transformation in each life is profound, in both those who carried the Word and those who received it with joy. “We preached the gospel and the people wept. Tears ran down their faces as they heard of the love of God.”
got saved. We later found out he was a witch doctor but now he has received Jesus. His wife who was also a witch doctor also got saved.”
“Two women began to manifest demons; they began to growl like animals. Some of the people ran away in fear saying, ‘You have challenged the demons and now you will have to take care of it. It will take a long time. Better you leave these demons alone.’”
“There was a man with feet so sore he could not walk. We prayed for him and he began to walk normally. I saw so many things that I never saw before. I had only read about them in the bible but now I saw them.”
“Pastor Branco is a father like no other, a true spiritual father. He has so much wisdom and experience. His family received us with much love and respect, making us feel so welcome. Pastor Branco is blind but he is doing such a great job. He gave us a big sack of peanuts from his garden to bring back to Bible School.” “A man who was really complicating our work finally
“There were so many children. They were afraid of Simona because she is white; They are not used to seeing white people. But when they saw Simona dancing while we were singing they embraced her. After the Jesus movie those kids did not want to go home, all the people wanted to stay and not go to their homes to sleep.” “A man had an accident and stepped into a metal trap while he was hunting.” We shared Jesus with him,
and he began to walk. Till now my heart weeps for these places we visited. I have never seen people so hungry for God. The women held onto our feet, they did not want to let us go. My heart is transformed.” “During church service a woman began to manifest demons and she ran away out of the church. We caught up with her, prayed for her and she was delivered of demons.” “I cannot say all that is my heart. At one place people did not respond to the altar call even though they listened with all their heart. They were in shock at the Jesus film and could say nothing. The next day when we visited them in their homes they began to speak of all God has done in their hearts.” “A lame man walked. His one leg had become small, thin and weak. He used to be a pastor but he fell into sin. He had a closed hand that could not open. The roof of his house was falling down as he could not fix it. He lay outside his hut every day on a mat, all the villagers saw him and knew him. We gave him money to hire someone to fix his roof and we prayed for him. He repented. We prayed for healing and we told him we believed we would see him walk to church on Sunday. This man began to cry and we gave him a Bible. Two days later the thin leg was the same size as the other one and he had shoes on. He walked to church. Now he is back at the job he had some time ago. All the people are marvelling because they knew him as the man on the mat.” “We found another complicated woman who said that God is a liar. She said she had asked him for two chil-
dren and she only had one, so He must be a liar. I did not know what to say to her but God had already told me before we came that I was not to worry about what to say as he would give me the words to say. I said, ‘If you could believe God is good enough to give you one child then you can believe he is good enough to give you another one.’ She began to cry and repent.” “A woman told us she had been sick for five years and was always being abused. My heart wept for her. I told her I had never seen a disease as this one that was on her but that Jesus died for it. That night the Holy Spirit spoke to me while I was on my bed saying ‘I have sent you to deliver the captives, those who are captured by demonic activity and sickness.’ I knew that she was healed.” “There was a mute boy who had never spoken and couldn’t make any sound. He was four. We prayed for him and he began to make sounds. We spoke the name of Jesus over and over to him and suddenly he could say ‘Jesus’ . Now he is learning to talk.” “We saw so many people possessed by demons, full of witchcraft things. Many of them received Jesus as Saviour and burned their witchcraft things.” “Some people were so happy to see us. Some of them said, ‘I have seen you in a dream and now you are here’” “We have seen Jesus do what He promised. Satan fell like lightening, people got saved. They were healed and delivered of demons.”
NHANSOLE VILLAGE T
his village is known as a place where people drink too much and consume a lot of tobacco. There is no church of real expression. During the days preceding evangelism, we prayed that God would prepare the hearts of the people to receive the Word and that by His grace to win the resistance of hearts. On the first day we arrived we built our camp. We built small shelters with wooden stakes and grass so we could stay protected from the cold and rain.
...from Victor.
On our first night in Nhansole, a very drunk man came and began to speak many things, but one thing he said caught my attention; he said: “I’ll be the pastor of this church.”. Well, despite him being All groups camped outside with fires for food and warmth. drunk, in my heart I thought, “God wants that yes,” God wants to change him. I told the drunk man to come again the following day when he was sober then we could talk. To my surprise, the next day, even before we rose in the morning while it was not yet fully light, he was waiting to talk. He said that he could no longer stand that life and needed a change. We had coffee together and share the gospel with him, gave him a Bible and every day he returned (not drunk) to our camp to talk. Afterwards he asked us to go to his tobacco field with him because he wanted to burn his tobacco. He set fire to it all. On our last day there, we had a church service and there came about forty people. While we were driving out of there, people stopped us on the road asking us to come into their homes and share the Word of God. I never had such a real experience of salvation, healing and deliverance as this. The next Sunday Pastor Mariano took a group of students there and the testimonies are impressive. They found 14 more new people who gathered with others. Glory to Jesus.
TSOTSE
...from Santos.
Some made shelters to keep out e went on bicycles, it rained and it was a hard ride but we had a the winter chill. wonderful time. When we arrived we started digging a toilet and making a shelter for showers. We went hut to hut, people received Jesus and were healed and delivered. A woman who had been sick and unable to sit up for one week was healed. She got up and walked.
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These people sing and dance so much and love to hear the Word. They welcomed us with chickens and gifts. We ate so many chickens our stomachs were sticking out. A man came during the night and waited for the morning light so he could talk to us. He received Jesus after hearing the gospel and went home to collect his entire family to receive Jesus. My heart is profoundly full and I am so happy about everything God did. Another man came to our camp and was so happy to hear about God that he did not return home but walked with us every day to learn as we walked from hut to hut.
NHAMATCHOTCHO
...from Jemusse
W
e went part of the way by car then had to walk up the mountain. This place is thick with witchcraft and many people die there. When we got to the village we saw the people had all evacuated and were living somewhere else. They said the place is haunted and not safe to live so they moved. There were only three huts there. These had people whom the other villagers refused to have move with them, saying, “You had better stay here because if anyone dies in our new village we will know it is because of you.” We went on the new village. The demonic presence was strong. Two of our students were attacked by demons and fainted. They recovered and got the victory.
Rod gave out blankets for the students to give away. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
One man said “I have many demons; they are the demons of my ancestors. I will never let them leave me.” Another woman said, “I want Jesus but these spirits will not let go of me. They say they will only go if I release them into the river. They say they will then return with a prophetic gift for me. Please help me get to the river and then I can let them go.” Because of these things the people are bound in witchcraft. Students experience the joy of giving. Even so, many people listened and believed. They broke their demonic ties and received healing. We gave the gifts of blankets to the poorest ones but really they are all poor. A man who is 70 years old received Jesus; he has never been in a church before, now he is coming to church. The people are begging us to come back and teach them more of Jesus. They do not want to live in darkness any more. Truly, my heart is so moved for these people. We enjoyed such strength and unity and joy amoungst us as a team. It was an unforgettable time and we will go back soon.
MARINGUE O
...from Simona.
ur team went to Maringue. My car was overloaded, 11 students and me plus the all the food for one week, pots and camping stuff, and everyone’s bag and a bicycle to give away for Pastor Branco, plus Jesus film equipment. The most important thing in our car was the overwhelming joy and expectations. For 3 hours of traveling nobody stopped singing and talking. SPECIAL TESTIMONY: Pastor Branco and his wife are very special people that travelled and worked with Pai Rodney and Mae Ellie during the war. Their lives were marked by so many experiences with God during a very hard time in Mozambique. All this time since then, Pastor Branco planted many churches and ministered to his people. Just few years ago, he got sick and lost his eyesight. That and other difficulties made him get discouraged and almost give up. Last year he came to our Bible School together with his wife. That time Holy Spirit raised him up again, ministering to his soul and family. It was that time that he decided to go back to Maringue and start again reaching his people. We went with our group of students to encourage him and the small work he already started since he went back home. It was such an honour to spend time with this humble and precious man of God. All of us had so many things to learn from him.
Maringue is a beautiful village with very special people. We were received everywhere with so much respect and openness. In the village there are some churches already, so we thought that it could be hard for people to hear us. But, no!! Almost every place we went, people received us with so much joy and true desire to know about God’s love. That gave the students boldness to preach the Gospel, pray for the sick and deliverance. Every one of us encountered God in a different way. When we go out it is not only for the people we preach to, it is for us that are going, too. To live close to each other, eating and walking, seeking God together, strengthens our relationships. Every night we could share the great stories of the day, encouraging and praying for each other. Camping close to Pastor Branco’s house was spe- Janeiro giving a bicycle to Pastor Branco who is blind. He will ride on the back with someone else cial too. It was like God rebuilding him a new house to visit his church groups. in Him. The prayers early in the morning, laughing and talking loud while eating, the conversations late in the evening were so good for our souls. It was very hard on Sunday to leave, almost everyone one of us wanted to stay more there. We showed the Jesus’ film two times in Maringue. Of the last years that I have been traveling, showing the film in many places in Mozambique, I can say that few were like in Maringue. After the film, many people came in front asking for prayer, wanted to give their lives to Jesus. There was a big crowd that didn’t want to go home, everyone from our team had people around asking about Jesus, very interested and with so much hunger. I was happy because I was able to minister to a group of girls and guys that were very serious in living their lives for Jesus. For sure we need to have a youth conference there…
Enough food for everyone.
Also, we went to a place, 20 km from the village – called Nhawato. The little road took us to a place in the bush where Pastor Branco and his wife just started a small work. The kids there never saw a white person, so I did not have too much success in the first hours when we got there. Just seeing me from far, the kids started to run away scared. We got to a bush school: big tree, one board and small trunks for kids to seat. Both, the children and the teacher were not interested in studying, so they gave us some time to make friends. Later in the afternoon, after coming from visiting some huts, the kids were waiting for us, hiding in the bush but daring to start following us. So, together with my translator and 2 of the students that were scheduled to cook, we stayed at our small camp. Children and adults were there, waiting to hear more about Jesus. They already brought some corn flour and beans from home, so after we all eat together we could spend some time talking and sharing. While most of our students went again to visit people, I was more than happy to stay and share about God’s amazing plan for us. While we could see how people were receiving God’s Word, 2 ladies, both with 2 babies each in their arms, started to manifest demons. The enemy was bothered and that was good. As we were speaking about the power of the blood of Jesus, faith arose and not taking too long, both of the ladies were set free.
At night we showed Jesus film in Nhawato. I understood it was for the first time in that place. During the film and after was so quiet. Was interesting that there nobody came in front for prayer. We heard later that they were afraid that doing that, they will provoke the demons and they will manifest. We had one more hour preaching the Gospel to them after the film and nobody wanted to leave. Someone said that all the witchdoctors from that place were there, exposed to the Gospel through Jesus film. What an encouragement, on the next day when we visit the people at their huts, and this time they were ready to give their lives to Jesus. We should never underestimate the work of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives even when we don’t see too much with our physical eyes.
Church doesn’t have to be in a building!
An old man, one of the chiefs of the witchdoctors came to our camp next day, asking us to pray for him and his wife. Even that he was very resistant while the students were preaching the Gospel to him and his family, on next day God was working in his heart and convinced him of his sins. We prayed and rejoiced with him as he started his new life with Jesus. He also asked Pastor Branco to go to his house with him and burn all his instruments and traditional medicine. We serve an amazing God!
The students returned home rejoicing, laden with gifts of peanuts and chickens. During the week, the guys built a shelter for the church meetings, for the people that just gave their lives to Jesus. So, on Sunday morning each one of us were waiting with expectations to see the ones we visited and prayed for during the week, coming to worship Jesus with us. What a joy to see many of them coming and sharing actually what God did in their lives that week. What a celebration!
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Rod & Ellie’s Amazing Race: amazingracemozambique.wordpress.com
THE END OF STORY TELLING?
Recently I saw an article on the internet, ‘Why Bloggers Are Calling It Quits’. I am sharing a few points that I found challenging and relevant.
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loggers are pulling back from the internet and these are some of the reasons why. Armstrong explains how even blogging has become eclipsed in the digital landscape: “Everything has been reduced to a small square on a phone. Attention spans are now 140 characters long, sometimes as short as a video or a picture that self-destructs in a few seconds.”
Whedon likened his behaviour on Twitter to that of an addict. Sullivan provides a series of posts to explain his decision to leave blogging, which can perhaps be summed up when he writes: “I am saturated in digital life and I want to return to the actual world again. I’m a human being before I am a writer; and a writer before I am a blogger … I yearn for other, older forms. I want to read again, slowly, carefully. I want to absorb a difficult book and walk around in my own thoughts with it for a while. I want to have an idea and let it slowly take shape, rather than be instantly blogged. I want to write long essays that can answer more deeply and subtly the many questions than the Dish years have presented to me. I want to write a book.” With such a transient, “what next?” mind set, bloggers and tweeters may experience what media theorist Douglas Rushkoff calls “present shock.” In his book of the same name, Rushkoff explains, “Our society has reoriented itself to the present moment. Everything is live, real time, and always-on. It’s not a mere speeding up… It’s more of a diminishment of anything that isn’t happening right now—and the onslaught of everything that supposedly is.” Our focus upon the present leads to “narrative collapse,” the end of storytelling, the end of understanding our place in the world as something with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Moreover, our brains process words on a screen differently than words on a page. According to Maryanne Wolf, author of “Proust and the Squid,” reading online tends to impede our ability to read challenging novels and other longer works. With the constantly changing and endlessly available content, and the pressure for writers to garner as many “clicks” as possible, the Internet lends itself to a loss of storytelling, and a loss of careful thought. We need to preserve a place for storytelling that takes time, and thought, and care, storytelling that provides a sense of purpose and meaning and not just an ever-changing present reality. Such writing assures us of a moral arc to the universe, in Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, an arc that is long but leads towards justice, towards peace, towards the kingdom. It will take time for the likes of Sullivan, Armstrong, Whedon, and C. K. to produce something outside the Internet, but I for one look forward to what they have to say when they have taken the time and care to say it slowly.
Taken from CHRISTIANITY TODAY: WHY BLOGGERS ARE CALLING IT QUITS by Amy Julia Becker.