Have you ever heard that phrase “when one door closes, another one (even better in my opinion) opens—that phrase has been the essence of many great testimonies in my life up to this point. When team Luminous first came to Africa, two of the six were eager to go to Mozambique (and one particularly to work with Heidi Baker—and those who have not heard of her or read her books-I would highly recommend you to do so!). Needless to say, we were the only team that ended up staying right there in South Africa working with a branch of Heidi Baker’s aka Iris Ministries churches. There were tears of disappointment to overcome but as the month went along, it ended up being a favorite by many and gave us the opportunity to get into Iris ministries headquarters and home of Heidi Baker-Pemba, Mozambique.
Malawi, as many of you know, was a month of answered prayers alone and my favorite month of this year so far alongside Thailand, so going into Mozambique, my heart was overjoyed for my teammates who were eagerly awaiting a month spent in the poorest country in Africa not to mention serving such a dynamite ministry.
We arrived to Pemba after five long days on public busses (transportation in Africa could take up an entire blog on its own but at this point—all I am going to say is that if I had money, flying would be the way to go!). To our surprise, we were wisked away to a 50th birthday of the one and only Heidi Baker! Now is a good point to mention that she is the personal hero of faith & missions for my teammate Melissa and she happens to be a fellow southern Californian! After eating chicken and dancing with people from literally all over the world, we all went back to the base except Melissa who wanted to soak in the entire experience of Heidi’s party to the fullest. She ended up falling out of the back of a truck on the way home from the party, being prayed over by Heidi Baker herself and then personally being asked by her to go on an extended 10 day bush outreach for the remainder of our time there.
All this to say, team Luminous made it on the bush outreach, a heart felt desire by two of my other teammates Benny & Steph. We were dirty beyond belief, tired, and incredibly blessed during these 10 days. The transformation we saw both in the people of the bush and in laying down our rights was an incredible experience. I’ll never forget the night we prepared for an outreach (which typically included high pumping music to attract a crowd, a few testimonies, the Jesus film shown in Portuguese, and healing prayer), it started to downpour. The crowd dispersed leaving me standing in a huge dirt field praying for God to cleanse this land. We ended up going into a make shift hospital and praying for the sick-many of which were healed. Moreover was the fire that was being stoked in this place. It was a beautiful, wet, dark night that was being lightened by Jesus’s love and community.
I learned what it meant to sacrifice this month—both my agenda and my body’s physical needs (lack of sleep, food or comfort) for the sake of lost. I know I have much to learn about what it means to count it all as lost for His sake but I am glad to be at a place of brokenness.
Life is always full of surprises, but God is never shocked, just us. I have felt disappointment in my own life only to be given more than I could imagine. I am reminded over and over again this year to look up and trust that He knows what I need and is already in the process of preparing the next step. A good friend on this trip asked me what five words I would use to describe what I have learned most this year so in no particular order I leave you with these five things to work out in your own life—-
Faith Obedience Trust Sacrifice Love
