Thank you for your love, support and ongoing prayers.  I was so blessed to have been able to check my email and find encouraging notes and words.  I heard that people would set aside specific times to pray for me while I was in Africa…what a blessing!  You went with me, and I felt your love and support from home.

I am off to Africa again.  Just kidding!  After being in Africa for 3 weeks, I left my heart there.  I have such a passion and desire to go back even though I just got home.  I am still trying to understand what God is doing in my life because so many emotions were felt during the trip.  I saw things that I never would have seen in North America, and in the midst of it, I captured God’s heart.

Iris Ministries, amongst many things, is home to 200 orphans.  At Iris, the children are given a home and taken care of by local Mozambiquian Christians.  Iris has a school that all of the children attend.  Not only is Iris a base for the 200 children, it also is a safe place for village children to come and spend the day.  Iris is  a sanctuary, a safe haven, that rescues people.  It really is the city of God where people stream to.

In Johannesburg, South Africa, my team and I ministered at a church.  We didn’t know anything about this church before we visited.  We were told that it was a congregation of 250 people.  After we drove 10 minutes, we realized that we would be ministering in the slums.  The church building was made out of tin, with no windows or doors.  The real church—the people—were power houses!  It was South Africa’s winter, so the temperature was in the low 40s.  We led worship for the church and shared testimonies.  After the service, the people led worship for us.  It was incredible!  These people are desperately poor in the natural, but are so very rich in spirit.  Everyone in the church was dancing, shouting, and singing.  We became connected to every person there.

I was involved in many of the village feedings.  Iris Ministries feeds over 1,200 kids every day.  Before the village children are fed, they sit through a Sunday school where they learn Christian songs and the gospel is shared with them.  This was one of my favorite experiences because the children at the village feeding would just swarm us.  They all wanted to feel my skin, braid my hair, and simply be loved.  With runny noses, heads with ringworm, and no underwear, we held them and loved them in the name of Jesus.

One of the outreaches we were involved with is called Meize.  This is a smaller version of the Iris base that we worked with.  At Meize, there are 50 orphans who are raised and cared for.  The children here are taught to plant gardens, raise chickens so that eggs will be produced, and raise goats so that they can later have cheese.  This concept is very foreign to the Mozambiquen people because they are used to immediate satisfaction.  It is difficult to teach that planting seeds will one day produce vegetables.  The children at Meize are learning this concept.  Our team went there for the day to play games with the children.  I brought 20 large beach balls and balloons from home.  The picture above shows me playing a game with the children at Meize.

The Bush Outreach was by far my favorite outreach.  It was a 3 day outreach.  We drove 5 hours away in a flatbed truck to a village of 52,000 people.  Many of the people there are very resistant to the Gospel.  Islam has a huge stronghold on the community.  People go to witch doctors when they need healing.  At the outreach, we set up 30 tents amongst the villagers.  We showed the Jesus film in their Portuguese language and prayed for the people after.  We saw the deaf  hear and the blind see!  Miracles happened over and over again.  People’s reactions were different than what I was anticipating.  Instead of people rejoicing after  being healed, they stuck their thumbs up (to show that they had been healed) and then slipped into the crowd of 2,000 people.  We learned later that people did not express joy in their healing because the witch doctors charge double if people come back healed.  We tried to explain that Jesus is the true healer.

It has been such a priviledge being able to serve in Africa.  I saw God’s heart for people.  Whether here, or across the world, I want to continue to share the uncontainable love of Jesus.

Love,

Brianna