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Our time in America is almost over again! Jean and I are finishing all the things on our “to do” lists and beginning to pack for the next year in Africa. One of the things on my list was to make a Face book page, which I just finished:) So for all you facebookers, please add us to your “friends!”

Please pray for us as we return to Pemba! Jean and I have several projects lined up for us upon returning, but our favorite one will be preparing for Christmas! One of our churches, Valley Brook Community Church, in Granby, CT will be sponsoring our kids this year! More specifically, their kids have raised the money to buy Christmas gifts for our kids- we named it “Kids loving Kids!” We are so excited to get home and begin shopping for our huge family of over 215 kids (188 in our children center and another 25 or so of our leaders’ kids)

So please be praying for us and we will keep you posted on all God is doing in our little part of the vineyard!

It’s hard to believe we’ve been in America for a month already. We hit the ground running, not missing a beat. We ministered at River of Life and Open Gate churches the first Sunday we were home. The following Tuesday we drove (thru a snowstorm) from MA to Mechanicsburg PA for the annual Voice of the Apostles conference. Oct. 31st we had an ordination service that was led by Heidi Baker, Randy Clark, and several other apostolic leaders in our network. It was a great time to reconnect and fellowship with our friends. Sunday we found ourselves at Christ Life Fellowship in South Hadley MA. We were extremely blessed as we had a powerful visitation from the Holy Spirit. WOW!

We then spent a couple days in northern Vermont visiting my relatives in Newport and St. Johnsbury. On Friday we left for Armonk N.Y. for my good friend Erik’s wedding only to return late Saturday so we could share Sunday at Valley Brook church in Granby CT. The following week we spent catching up with old friends over lunch and dinner. It seems like we had something going on everyday. Friday we finally found time to enjoy a full day of rest. Saturday we drove to Clinton NJ. And on Sunday we ministered at King of Kings Worship Center in Bernardsville NJ. Monday back to MA for more meetings. Tuesday we spent Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, and catching up on admin before we had a meeting with a prospective team of visitors to our home in Pemba Mozambique.

A 6am flight to Omaha NE, a lunch date with our good friends the Cory’s, and a meeting with a group of extremely hungry youths at 7pm led to a good nights rest at the Jordan’s. I now find myself at the dentists office while Teisa gets her teeth cleaned finally writing an update for ya’ll. We hope and pray our time will be more restful in Omaha as we are planning on returning to Mozambique in just over two weeks. (Dec. 7th) I wish I had more time to write in detail about our journey here in America. Both Teisa and I are so thankful for our friends and family in New England, NJ, and PA. We love you all and we’ll miss you. Thank you all so much for your love, prayers, and support!! May God pour out an abundance of blessings on you and your families!!!

It was another day in eternity. Jean and I had been looking forward to the outreach all week. We happily climbed into the back of the camion (a large, open-air, flat-bed truck we use for evangelism) and squeezed in with the existing twenty or so student pastors and visitors. After leading the introductions and prayer, we were off! The first leg of the journey was quite nice as we drove on the main road. After some time, we saw a smiling group of people from a local Iris church waving furiously and jumping up and down. They had walked for hours to get to the main road to ensure we would not pass them by. Eagerly they climbed in…what is 12 more people anyway? (Praise God, they did not have any goats, chickens, or smelly fish!) We set off again, this time on a narrow back road. Sitting in the back of the truck, we felt every bounce and bump of the rough terrain. Traveling the back roads of Mozambique is anything but comfortable, but our hearts were full. The air was thick with expectation and excitement. What would Jesus do tonight? How would He display His glory? How would He bring another village into His Kingdom???

After we arrived in Mahla, the target village, there was no doubt we were in the bush bush. We could only see a dozen mud huts within sight, but already a crowd was forming. The student pastors helped set up for the Jesus film while the visitors played with the local kids. Soon we had the music pumping and the crowd began to swell. As the sun set, I began to reflect on the headlines I had skimmed earlier online: Election tensions, Wall St. in crisis, banks failing, etc. I wondered about the turmoil in America as I looked upon the precious village of Mahla. By now we had over three hundred people gathered and everyone seemed enraptured by the Jesus film. The people that were before me never worry about their financial security. For the most part no one worries about tomorrow. In Africa, people live in the moment, hungry to squeeze every bit of pleasure possible from the hour…and that evening Jesus was visiting Malha! What could be more important?

What about us? In times of crisis, who do we trust for deliverance? Our Mozambican family can teach us so much in this area. Most westerners always have a “Plan B.” We have so many sources of deliverance at our finger tips: money, health insurance, good medical care/hospitals/medicine, retirement plans, 401K, credit cards, etc. When these things are threatened, many people are left feeling vulnerable and fearful, which brings the question to light- where is our trust? My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Psalm 62:5-8. For those of us who embrace these uncertain times as a divine opportunity, God promises to richly reward us. God is awakening one of the greatest blessings on earth…being poor in spirit! God is seeking believers who are so desperately dependent upon Him that they embrace this poverty of spirit. In this low place, God opens the heavens and invades earth….

After the film, Jean preached the simple Gospel in power and love. Hands went up throughout the field of people who wanted Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. After having the pastor of the village lead the crowd in prayer, Jean called forth the sick. People pressed in for prayer. We saw a young boy healed of deafness and several other people instantly healed of malaria (fevers dropped or headaches stopped instantly). We sang for hours as we returned home knowing Mahla will never be the same….

We love you friends. Come what may, God is good! Hear His voice wooing you to the same broken place of abandonment. Come what may…to God be the glory! Amen.

Our dorm room of eleven boys, formerly known as the “Mighty Warriors,” have graduated! Having moved out of the “Pequenos Casa” (Little One’s house or Baby House), our boys moved into heir new room and started the 1st grade! Our hurricanes of energy are now 6-7 years old! They have joined the slightly bigger boys dorm “River of Fire.” In keeping with the dorm theme, we began to pray for a new name for our room. Little did we know, the name would soon be given to us.

One fateful day in August one of our boys, Basilo, was playing in a field near our Prayer Hut. It was a dry windy day and Basilo found an overflowing beetles’ nest. Being the leader that he is, he recruited some of the other boys to help him destroy the nest….but what is better than just destroying it? Burning it!!! Yep, our clever boys set up a reconnaissance team to distract the tias (our Mozambican aunties who are the primary care givers for each room), steal a few matches, and set fire to the nest…or should we say field. Within moments, a huge fire was spreading rapidly over the field and sweeping dangerously close to the Prayer Hut and the wall of the surrounding village. A makeshift firefighting team was spontaneously formed by missionaries, visitors, and Mozambican workers. The fire spread so quickly that the crowd was sure it would jump the wall and start the nearby roofs on fire. Glory! Just as suddenly as it began, miraculously it was out. Thank you Jesus! Our God is the only consuming fire we ever want to see again at our center!

After Basilo confessed and our boys were disciplined, we had a good laugh about our new name. Please pray with us that we will always be “Firestarters” in the spirit! “He makes winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants!” Psalm 104:4

The following update is from Rolland Baker. He named it “Living on the edge.” Webster defines “edge” as: that place where you press forward….

Wow! That is what we are doing by the grace of God! The past few months have been amazing and yet very challenging due to things which are so hard to put into words…but Rolland somehow did it and I believe his insight will encourage us all to live on the edge for Jesus!

These are exciting times. Despite the worst Satan can do, we and our
churches in several provinces continue to grow in number and strength.
The Kingdom of God is upon us. The power of the age to come is breaking
into our world on earth. We stay filled by feeding on the Word of God,
and then doing what it says. In so doing we draw close to our Savior, so
close that even all our imagination cannot keep up with the wonder of
our connection with the Son of God. Each day, and through each trial,
the Holy Spirit carries us closer still to our perfect companion, the
precise image of the Father, whose Son has become our greatest joy. Yes,
Jesus forever will be our destination, our purpose for living. “How can
we know Him better?” has become the constant cry of our hearts as we
increasingly partake of His heavenly nature. From glory to glory we are
being transformed by the power of the Cross, becoming prepared for an
eternity of perfect fellowship with our God.

People ask us how to follow us to the mission field, how to be prepared
— “how to do it?” Our pursuit of His Kingdom has always taken us to the
“edge.” We have never been able to survive by backing away from the edge
and leading a more “normal” ministry lifestyle. Sometimes our flesh
cries out for more time out, more time to organize our lives and
possessions, more time to battle the chaos in our surroundings. But our
daily crises demand an awareness of the schemes of Satan and an
ever-increasing trust in our perfect Savior. That means time — lots of
time — with Him, talking over everything in our lives. And from our
walk with Him we receive the urgency to press on, to run the race, to
love our God with all our strength. And so by every decision, every
expenditure, and by every project we start we move closer to the edge.
We already live in an impossible realm. But Jesus sends us teams,
support, ideas and initiative, and so on we go, pressing forward to what
lies ahead no matter how close to the edge we get.

Our journey takes us to those who have just fallen over the edge and
need rescuing. The poor and destitute know they need help; they are not
too proud to receive. And once they see love, real love from the Master
Himself, in our lives, they will come to the King. Entire villages will
come to Jesus when they see that He heals the deaf and blind with just a
touch and a word. When we bring a truckload of food for a feast, or
solar panel-powered hand-held units that play recordings of the Bible,
or new Bibles for the pastors, or clothes, or plastic to rain-proof
their thatched roofs, the love of God flows freely. And then Heidi and I
can find ourselves right up against the edge ourselves, and our spirits
need replenishing again.

We cannot leave the edge because we see that so much more is needed.
These villages are parched. People walk for hours to get water, carrying
it in jugs on their heads. We finally have well-drilling equipment, but
need qualified engineers to supervise the drilling process. One engineer
from the States is arriving this week for this purpose. Our older youth
need simple block houses to live in now that they have outgrown our
children’s homes. We need to buy property and a building in downtown
Maputo for a church center. We need honest and capable construction
workers who can build our primary school before our rainy season. We
need to diffuse and heal the serious tribal tension that exists between
northern and southern tribes in Mozambique. And we need to demonstrate
to the people all around us that we are here for love, pure love from
God. We are here to demonstrate the Kingdom in every way we can. We need
to be so full of the Spirit that our service to the King is
exhilarating. For that we need provision of every kind, the kind of
provision that we don’t see unless we are on the edge.

We invite our readers to live on the edge too. That means something
different for each person, but I pray you will know what that means for
you. Loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength will take
you to the end of yourself, and you will find yourself looking out over
a precipice. Only God can keep you from falling. Only faith working
through love counts. Let’s never leave the simplicity and purity of
devotion to Jesus. All we know when the pressure becomes great is Jesus
and Him crucified. We exist by the power of the Cross, safe and secure.
From our position at the foot of the Cross we warn and persuade to the
limit of our ability the multitudes that pass by. Those who turn and
follow us into the heart of Jesus will be our joy.

We thank you with all our hearts for supporting us faithfully and loving
us so much from a distance. We thank and love those of you who have come
to visit us in Africa. And we treasure the prospect of seeing you again
back on your own home turf. May Jesus bind us together in His service
until we are truly one in Him!

Much love, Rolland and Heidi

Jean and I are always struggling to find time to write about the awesome stuff God is doing here in our corner of Africa. So when a visitor came to me recently with written testimony of her outreach team- I was so thrilled and touched, I asked her permission if I could share it with you! Thank you again Carol for your amazing heart and life! I was also very blessed to be a part of the team following up in Namanupiri so we had the honor of baptizing several people from this village!!!

Here is Carol’s testimony:

The same weekend that Heidi went to the new and unreached village, our team headed out for the village of Namanupiri. We literally saw the Kingdm of God come onto that village. The first night we arrived, the chief of the village would not give us permission to show the Jesus movie and so we just worshipped and prayed for those who came and wanted prayer. That night our team set an all night prayer watch for breakthrough. The next morning the team praised God and worshipped Him for all He was about to do and for His pure goodness. Then, in their little church with bamboo pews, the watchmen began to testify as to what the Lord showed them through the night.

Many things were shared. One that was most in the forefront was that the children were the keys to this village. And so we formed two lines of team members and had all the children slowly go through and we laid our hands on each of them and spoke destiny into their lives and cancelled all of the enemy’s plans against them. We spoke freedom into their lives. Then we headed out in teams to visit houses and minister where needed. As we stood in the street wondering where to start, we realized that the children would have to take us where we needed to go as they were the keys! And so we followed. We prayed for a man who had multiple sclerosis and within 10 minutes we had him up and walking with us around his entire yard. He said he felt stronger than ever and was happy.

As we left there we met a man in the street (dirt road) and he was going to demonstrate his handmade guitar for us. We realized he was very drunk and so we laid hands on him and just poured out the love of Jesus on him and soon the Holy Spirit descended like a gentle dove and this man just went limp and laid in the dirt on his back and lifted his hands to heaven. When we stood him up and took him back to the church to talk with a Makua speaking pastor we found out some wonder things. His name is Joe Pinaca which he said means “I will meet you” and he said that he felt such a power and presence come over him in the dirt and he knew he didn’t want to drink anymore or smoke cigarettes or live the life he had been living. He had never met Jesus and he wanted this more than anything! Jesus “met him” and Joe stayed with us the rest of the day in that church. He didn’t want to leave.

Some of us left and went back to the streets and we were taken by the children to a lady who was in her late 20’s who had lain practically comatose on her cot for five years! She had never left her little hut in all this time and was in the fetal position with dark and vacant unmoving eyes when we found her. We were told that she would eat there when fed, and shishi (uses the bathroom) there on her bed, and be sponge bathed there. When we walked into that place, it was clean but we could literally taste the evil in that place.

We started to just lay hands on her and call out demons and just began to literally soak her in Jesus’ love for a very long time. We sang over her, held and caressed her and just kept singing Jesus name. After awhile we sat her up. Soon after, we stood her up. All this time she wouldn’t look at anything. Soon we were walking her out the door of that hut for the first time in five years! Her mother and sister told us through translators that she went crazy five years ago and so they took her to a witch doctor and this is how it left her.

We sat Aleeza (her name) down on a chair facing the sun and let the warmth of it bathe her. We continued to sing over her and love her and touch her. This went on for at least two hours solid. Soon the entire team joined in! Son there were tears running down her face as she looked at us. She was overwhelmed by Jesus love! She still never said anything. Then her mother and grandmother took her into the bana and gave her a real water bath by pouring it over her and cleaning her and we put her into a new capalana and t-shirt! Then we had her into a new bed in another hut with her grandma watching over her. For five years, everyone was afraid of her and wouldn’t do this!

The Mozambique pastors noticed another hut next to hers and inquired about it. We were told that it was a hut built just to house all her demons. The whole time, the witch doctor lady is standing there watching us and not happy. She was saying bad things to us although quietly. At one point I looked at her with love and told her “Moluku now fenta” (God loves you). She shook her head no. I told her again very gently and she just looked at me. God does love her. So, we asked if we could tear this demon hut down. The family discussed it and said we could the next morning after 4:00 a.m. We told Aleeza we would be back. Still no further expression from her but we could see the transformation coming over her.

The next morning we were back at 6:00 a.m. and we built a fire and two of the team sat with Aleeza. She did recognize us with her eyes and was receptive of our hands and our praying. Still no expression. The men started tearing down the house, destroying the works of the enemy! They threw the bamboo into the fire and reduced the hut to a pile of rubble. Then they began to dance on the rubble and praise God! We sat Aleeza up and showed her what was going on and Aleeza SMILED!! Her whole face smiled!!!! Oh how Jesus loves her! Then Pastor Balenzia preached about the authority of God and how he reigns and the works of the devil are dead and destroyed. What a wonderful day of rejoicing! Much more happened in this village. A deaf mute little girl received her hearing and started to form sounds by the time we were leaving! A 17 year old boy received Jesus and within five hours he was laying hands on the sick with us and healing the sick!!!

The kingdom of God sure is the funnest and bestest place to live!!!! Woohoo!

WOW! It’s hard to believe it has been 3 weeks since our visit to Durban. I (Jean) have been meaning to write this update for the last couple weeks, but as usual time has gotten away from us here in Pemba. While in Durban we had the opportunity to minister at Harvest Church. On Friday night over 50 hungry youth showed up, including over a dozen visiting for the first time. The presence of God filled the sanctuary from the beginning of worship till 3 hours later when we finished ministering. After preaching a short message Teisa and I prophesied and imparted to all the youth, and some adults too… Shortly thereafter about a dozen came over to the house we were staying at for some food and fellowship. The Hungry Always Get Fed!!

On Sunday we ministered twice in the morning and once in the evening. As usual the Holy Spirit showed up in power and many lives were touched. There was an incredibly strong prophetic flow and healing anointing, especially in the evening service. One lady who had TB and was having extreme pain in her chest was touched by the power of God and all of her pain left!! Glory to God! We are still waiting to hear more testimonies… Both Teisa and I had a wonderful time in Durban and we were so blessed by the hospitality of Pastors George and Andrew, and the Harvest staff and family. Not only did they take us on a great safari (see our travel pictures), but also Teisa got to go shopping at the largest mall in the southern hemisphere and I even played a round of golf…well…tried.

A few weeks ago, one of our boys, Awiley, broke one of his toes while playing. Normally, a broken toe is not a big deal, but in Awiley’s case, his foot was feverish and infected. And his toe swelled up twice the normal size with something protruding out…our doctors were divided in thinking it was his toe bone exposed or a really thick and weird nail bed. So after praying for him, we headed for the local hospital…I was not looking forward to the long lines, lack of supplies/staff, poor sanitation, and overall suffering in the faces of the people. Unless we are praying for people, I avoid the hospital at all costs! Anyways, we were able to get an X-ray and see a doctor on our first night. Due to it being a Friday night, they scheduled him for an out patient surgery for Monday morning.

Awiley needed to stay completely off his foot, so Jean and I decided that Awiley would stay at our home till he was better. Normally our boys stay at their own house at the Children’s center under the care of our two Mozambican aunties (Tia’s). We want all our kids to be raised within Mozambican culture as much as possible☺

We had the best time with Awiley! We watched movies, colored, read books, and ate lots of yummy food. Monday morning came and we set off for the hospital again. We found the operation building ad we were asked to wait in a large room. Many people were wheeled into our room to recover after their surgeries which was not very pleasant, but we were happy to pray for their healings. Awiley was so brave as the doctors came and poked and pulled at his toe. One doctor who had bloody gloves tried to touch his toe, but I slapped his hand and told him not to touch him…the doctor sheepishly took off his bloodied gloves and replaced them with new ones. The doctor then told us to come back the next day because the person who could operate on children was not in on Mondays. This was quite frustrating because we had been waiting for hours….

We returned to the clinic at our base to seek advice. At this point, I lost it and started crying inconsolably….this was probably my first real “Mom” moment related to the health of our boys. I felt like if we did not fight for Awiley, who would? Jean was a rock and stated the obvious, “Jesus is fighting for Awiley, Teisa.” Just then, our doctor at our center reexamined Awiley’s toe…and found it healing quite well! The protruding object was definitely nail bed and would fall off soon. Best of all, she told us we did not need to return to the hospital (glory!!!) and that we just needed to keep it clean!

Awiley spent one more night at our house before returning to the boys’ dorm. He had a hard time leaving (he had faked a stomach ache) which made us both cry. But the other boys welcomed him back and he remembered how fun life is with his bothers.

But the best part of this story is this: A few days later, Jean and I were sitting in church when we spotted our boys coming in. Suddenly, Awiley saw us from across the room, his face burst into the biggest smile and he came running into our arms with such unashamed love, it melted our hearts. It was then that we knew that love healed Awiley’s toe and maybe a little of his precious heart!