As Harvest School staff we are required to lead an outreach after the school. This school I co-lead with Some Mozambican pastors and another staff member a group of about 17 people into the Bush bush of Mozambique.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into. To be Honest I feel like I never do. That is the cost of saying yes to God and it is so worth it even if it has its challenges.
Bush bush was not my fist Choice, but after a very intense chain of events I felt most peace in it!
We saw many, many amazing things, but overall the outreach was very hard as a leader. Mozambican culture is very different from the "western, white man" culture and a lot of issues were formed between the Mozambican leaders and my Harvest School co-leader and I. There are many things I would do differently. Our last night we stayed at a Longterm missionaries home in the Far north of Mozambique. Called Mocimba de Paria about 7 hours from Pemba. We stayed there our last night as a resting place before going back to Pemba. There in Mocimba we had a meeting with all the leaders. A lot of false accusations were made and the amount of miscommunication that we had no Idea was going on come out. I was not sure any of it was handled well during the trip from either side, but I learned a lot about myself and how much I need to only lean on God to show me how to handle situations and lead not lean on anyone else even if they have more experience.
Despite my leadership abilities being thoroughly tested we had an incredible team. Everyone was always so willing to serve and bless and there was no complaining everyone was so passionate and understanding even when translation was lost and plans changed. And plans were changed, constantly.
Being in the bush is not easy if you haven't lived in that environment before. You are sleeping on the ground in tents, you stay covered in dirt, a bamboo covered Latrin is the only bathroom options.... And showers.. Well it's almost easier not to even bother. The bucket part isn't what's hard it's worrying someone is gonna walk in on you at any moment or that they can see through the thin layer of grass, capulana, or tarp that is used to separate you from the many people standing around. Also the packing up moving every other night can where are on you and if that doesn't the hours at a time truck rides on dusty bumpy roads, and the steady delicious menu of rice and beans or tuna spaghetti should do it, despite all of that not one complaint was made.
That is why my team was amazing!
We stayed in 4 for different villages all in the far north of Mozambique only an hour drive to the Tanzania border. Villages that Iris Ministries has never been to, or have been denied access, Places where Heidi and Rolland have gone and been stoned for trying to share Jesus with them. Everywhere we went was completely new territory. The hunger we saw from those people, after being allowed access from the chiefs of the villages, was the most humbling experience I have ever been honored to witness!
The first village we stayed in was called Matombalalay. Mama Rosa, a long term Iris Missionary who lives in Mocimba went to this village alone with a district pastor just a few weeks before we came. While there she simply shared to Gospel with the village and she saw over 130 people receive Jesus that night, including a witch doctor who threw up whole tree when prayed for! When our team arrived, only a few weeks later the village had already built four walls for an Iris church to be planted. That kind of hunger is not as common in these areas of "people of another faith" and we were all very touched and decided to spend more time there than planned.
The next couple of places we went were places that we had not planned to go before hand, but leaders from those villages came to us, traveling miles and miles at times, begging that we would come to there village and share. I wish I could express how huge that is. Every where we went we saw radical amounts of Salvations, witch craft being burned, people being healed, demons fleeing, churches being built up physically and spiritually. The breakthrough was amazing! We grew close as a team despite all of the drama between culture differences. We were so blessed everywhere we went! In the last village we went to, called Nemo, in the province Mueda we stayed for 3 nights. People flocked our camp sight night and day. People asking for Prayer and wanting to join our "church" the chief even offered up land for a very small price to build a church. How good is God!
Along the way in a village we stayed in for 2 nights we visited a historical Mozambique sight. A giant "hole" in the earth where during a war over 700 Mozambicans were slaughtered. Pushed down this hole to their death. We went there and rebuked the spirit of death in that place. Because Mozambicans still believe there is an evil spirit there that will push you down the hole if you get to close.
We also were able to visit the Tanzania river border and go for a swim! Which was a total blessing. We were pretty dirty at this point..
Over all the trip was an amazing learning experience! We were so blessed to be chosen to go to those places! And I do pray one day I will go back!
I want to thank everyone who prayed for me during those 10 days. I and my team really felt your covering. Not once was there any fear invited in. A bit of a stomach bug was passed around, but other than that we really felt the spiritual covering as we went in for His glory.
So thank you for your investment. You were definitely there with us and our stories are yours as well!
Love and blessings,
Rachael Michelle
