Greetings from South Africa. Sorry it has been so long since my last update, the last bit of Harvest School, and the ensuing month were quite busy for me. It was rare that I even found myself in an area where I was able to get internet, so I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive the delay on this blog. But, now that I find myself in the lovely city of Johannesburg, with wireless that doesn’t give out every ten minutes, I will do my best to update you on what Ive been doing.
After quick review, it appears that I last left you with my call to stay in Mozambique for another Harvest School. Needless to say, this has become one of my favorite moments from the last three months. Im overwhelmed with the fact that God would not only speak so clearly about staying for another school, but Im also glad how much he changed my heart towards it. As I mentioned last time, I was really unhappy with the first few weeks of staffing HS14. It was still an amazing experience, butit got to a point where I was just done with it. But, He changed my heart towards it, and now I am more excited to see what He will do in and through the next batch of students. These amazing students from all over the world will be arriving in Pemba in a little more than two weeks. But, before I get ahead of myself talking about the next school, lets finish up the last one.
This is a complete understatement, but the students recently graduated from HS 14 are stellar. We had our graduation on August 4th, an event that quite literally lasted all day. The following weekend the students dispersed, some back to their homes in whichever countries they came from, some to international outreaches from Brazil to Jerusalem to Asia, and some to still unreached villages in the bush bush of Mozambique. I want to tell two quick stories from the first group. God started doing incredible things in these students lives right away. On one of the many flights from Pemba, several of our students kindly asked the flight stewardesses (that’s an awkward plural) if they could instead serve the flight snacks and refreshments. So, the normal crew took a back seat and allowed our students to serve the entire plane. Then, the students began prophesying over the flight crew and made a fire tunnel (this is a fancy term for a prayer/holy spirit party) for other passengers on the plane. The flight crew said they had never witnessed something like this on a plane, with joy erupting in this little steel tube in the sky. As if that wasn’t enough, it just so happened that one of the little girls from a student-family was having her birthday that day, so they let her sit next to the captain as he landed the plane. Is that not just the most out of control story ever? It gets better. On a flight from Johannesburg to London, a few of our students witnessed a man on their plane suffer a heart attack. The flight crew and doctor on board spent about 40 minutes attempting to revive the man, and when it seemed hopeless they began making plans for an emergency landing. This is when our student boldly decided to go up and ask the crew if he could pray for the man. With permission given, he began speaking life over the man. He woke up! After several minutes the man was completely fine and the flight continued on to its destination. Our students were not even off the plane, and God is already using them to start revival and raise the dead! Oh man… The best part is, the ceiling from the last school will be the floor for the next. If we are moving from glory to glory, wow, I cant even imagine what God is going to do in the next school.
About the same time these revivals were happening in the far reaches of the world, my team was leaving on an 18 day outreach to Tete, Mozambique. Tete is a city in western Mozambique that is also seeing a strong move of God. Our first large hurdle in this trip was, the drive. Tete is about a three day drive from our home in Pemba, and personally this drive was one of my biggest worries for the trip. I mean, if you really want to see the true character of a group of people, lock them in the confined spaces of an old land rover, and drive them thousands of kilometers with no way of escaping each other. Im sure under normal circumstances, the people in that landy would have turned on each other, and Id be on the phone to several parents trying to explain why their child would rather face the dangers of the African wilderness than suffer one more moment traveling in that rickety truck. But, we serve a good God who heard our cries for grace and unity, and we survived the drive both ways. We even spent a good two and a half hours prophesying and speaking joy over each other in one of the worst sections of road. I was quite proud with my team, and their desire to constantly be united in Gods heart. Way to go guys! =)
When we finally finished this absurdly long drive and arrived in Tete, our team split up into two groups. One group of five students felt God leading them to live in one of the villages surrounding Tete to learn what life is like for your average African. So, without tent, cell phone, or translator they went to live with the families of a Mozambican pastor and village chief for ten days. Their purpose was not to show the Jesus film one night and quickly move on the next, it was to simply live with the people, to do live with them, to sleep when they sleep, to eat when they eat, to sit when they sit, and to show the love of God by giving up their comfortable lives and embrace the culture they found themselves in. It was an incredible experience for our students, teaching them how to slow down and completely embrace a people in order to learn how to love them. It was a big change from rushing into a village with an agenda, and escaping at a pre-planned time.
The rest of our team spent about half our time doing outreach in the bush, and half in the city of Tete. Our outreach location took about six hours to drive to, through some of the bumpiest and dustiest roads I have ever experienced. By the time we arrived to our village each of us had several layers of dirt caked into every crevice you can imagine. But, after this short time of suffering we spent five days with an incredible village, spending time with the kids, feeding the hungry, and showing the people what the love of God looks like. One group of students found a woman in one of the villages who had fallen into a well several months ago, and had been injured to the point where she could not move to take care of herself. In the world of the wilderness, it is normal to completely ignore an individual who has no value or is unable to contribute to the community. This woman had been neglected, starved, unclean, and left on a mat to expire. Our students showed love to her in whatever ways they could. They gave her food, water, prayer, and ministered to her neighbors teaching them that Jesus showed us to be servant lovers to those in need. Several hours later when our students returned to pray for the woman, her neighbors had taken her and bathed her. It was incredible to see the love of Jesus sink into these people, with one simple message, with one simple action, they understood what it meant to be a follower of God.
Our second week we spent in Tete helping lead services at the Iris base we stayed at, as well as doing outreach in the city. A friend of mine, Marlene, who did Harvest School with me last year is now a missionary in Tete, and one thing God has laid on her heart is to create a safehouse for the street boys of Tete. She devotes much of her time to these boys, all under the age of 18, who spend their times trying to live as outcasts in Tete. They are the beggars and the thieves of the city, they are considered complete outcasts by the rest of the world, they are beaten and abused, shouted at and called hopeless. It is easy to hate these kids, who spend their time stealing, and their money on drugs and alcohol. But, these are the people who need Jesus the most. He didn’t come for the healthy but for the sick, and these kids will have such a powerful testimony when He redeems them from their darkness, and sets them up as holy given leaders of their generation. And this is exactly why my friend Marlene devotes so much of her love into these boys. We asked them one day, if they could have anything from God, what it would be. Ive heard this question asked to many a westerner, and the usual responses are things like, “I want a bigger house! A Macbook Pro! A new car!” These kids all expressed that they wanted somewhere to be safe, to go to school, to be freed from the life they found themselves in. These are kids, like twelve year old kids. These are things kids shouldn’t have to worry about, but they find themselves victim to this label that no one ever expects them to be freed from. So much of our time was spend loving on these kids, ‘the least of these,’ and soon Marlene will build them a safehouse where they can be freed from the darkness they are in now and into the strong arms of Jesus. (Marlene needs a lot of help, financially and physically to see this project through, if you are interested in helping, let me know and Ill connect you with her!)
Boy this update is long… Gotta do my best not to leave so much time in between posts, there is far too much to talk about. Maybe take 5 or 10 minutes, go grab a lemonade or a brownie, whatever you got laying around. Do some jumping jacks, get the blood pumping.
Ok, here we go.
After arriving back in Pemba, sending the last few students home, and spending a bit of time resting, I hopped on a plane to Maputo, Mozambique to spend a week with my friend Jenna. She’d probably be upset that Im blowing her cover, but Jenna is a South African “rock star” missionary in a little village not far from Maputo. She’s hardcore. She has spent the last few years living in a grass hut with a little Mozambican granny who will go down in the Hall of Fame for most amazing grannies ever to walk the earth. This granny is 70 years old, has birthed 12 kids, walked (yes walked) her family to Swaziland during the civil war in Mozambique, walked them back by herself after the war was over, and still looks like she will live to be 150. You think you’re the bees knees? This woman will run awesome circles around you in a marathon, and she’ll still outlast you… And Jenna is quickly taking after her amazingness, spending the last several years living in a grass hut, perfecting the local tribal language (to the amazement of many a xiangan Mozambican) and in the process of adopting what has got to be the cutest and most mischievous Mozambican child in the known world. On a more serious note, it was absolutely incredible to spend the week with this ittly bitty family just overflowing with character. It was something Id been looking forward to for several months, and it was great seeing them in their element. Be praying for them, that they see Bela Vista transformed with God’s love!
And now I find myself chilling in Johannesburg, South Africa. Im bored out of my mind, but I guess that means Im getting a bit of rest. Ill be spending the next few days resting and preparing for our drive back up to Pemba on Friday. And that’s the update of my life up until now. Just be praying for preparation for the next school, for finances to continue to come in, for continued protection against spiritual attack in this next school (ive still never been crazy sick in Africa, which is a huge blessing!), and for God to pour out his spirit on this next school. I love you guys, and miss you so much! I cant wait to see everyone when I get back in December, ciao!
Jon Watson
Bro, thanks so much for writing that. That was a very special read...
ReplyDeleteBless you man.