Loving the Least of These

Several times a week I’d gone to the market, but hadn’t seen Milca. Then I began to get concerned about him. Maybe he was in the hospital, but I didn’t know for sure. I purchased rice, and carried it with me for days preparing for the next time we’d meet. I prayed and asked the Lord to help me meet him. A couple of days later, I saw Milca sleeping under a tree in front of the entrance to the market. I was so happy! I woke him up. Immediately he said, “Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.” The scent of urine was very strong on him. He, a grown adult, sat there apparently unbothered by the strong odor and the fact that everyone could smell it. A youth made fun of him saying that he had urinated on himself in his sleep. I purchased cooking oil and veggies for him in the market, so that he could cook it with his rice.

Carefully tying the bag in the usual fashion, I looped it over his one hand that was functional. His other hand is very large and nonfunctional. A man came and mocked him saying, “He is just going to sell this food for alcohol.” I gave Milca the food anyway. For the first time, I took deeper notice of his Portuguese. It was pretty good, and he spoke intelligently. He hadn’t always been in this condition, I thought. What had made him so abased that he could urinate on himself, sit in filthy clothes, and show no signs of even caring about it? Later, I thought about all the adults and young men who had been around him that morning. I wondered who was in a more impoverished condition, him or them. Seeing a man in such a condition didn’t move them to action. No one helped him. No one cared or noticed. They walked by him, as though blind to the fact that he was there, a man in need. In fact, I’ve never heard anyone of their own accord say anything nice about Milca. But, Jesus loves him.

Another man in a bad condition was in the market. After addressing him respectfully in Portuguese, “Senhor”, and asking if he wanted food, he followed me everywhere. But, he refused every type of food I offered to buy him in the market. Instead, he was asking for some specific food that he wanted. Suddenly, a woman spoke strongly to him. Another told me that his mom sells food in the market, and could give him food. I gently and politely told the man that he should go to his mother and eat, if he didn’t want anything I had to offer him. Some people say that I shouldn't help such people. But, what if we look at it differently? What if that day it wasn’t only about food? What if the Holy Spirit wanted me to offer to buy food for him because He knew the man’s heart would open up to so much more? Through such an action, I could impart the love of God to him that so many refuse to give him (just because he “should” go get free food from his mother). What if, by refusing to help him, everyone excuses themselves from an opportunity to show the love of God, and slowly becoming dull, unknowingly disqualify themselves from being used by the Holy Spirit to powerfully demonstrate God’s love ascribing value and refreshing the heart of this poor man?

Pray for us that we would carry the heart of God, and be greatly filled with the Holy Spirit and faith to serve the people around us.  We need grace to be sensitive to those around us.  Pray for the poor to open their hearts to the transforming word of God.  As we bring the gospel to the many, we will stop for the one.  And the King will answer and say...‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25:40).

Love, Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

Miracles and Mayhem

Motorbike: Working When It Shouldn’t
On the way home from Assumane village last Wednesday, my motorbike stopped. I could not restart it. Then, I prayed and asked the Lord to please let it work, so that I didn’t have to walk through the muddy water on the road ahead. I didn’t want to ruin the clean pair of shoes I had on. (A few days previously, after riding through pouring rain and muddy puddles, I arrived home soaked with mud inside of my other pair of shoes). Suddenly, I was able to start my bike and drive about a kilometer (~1/2 mile). Just as soon as I passed the muddy water I’d have had to walk through, my motorbike stopped again. It wouldn’t restart. The Lord answered my prayer. A few days later, a mechanic checked my motorbike and found that two parts were broken, a coil and the ignition. We replaced a coil which allows the motorbike to start up and get power (throttle). But, the motorbike still didn’t work. As soon as we connected the new ignition, the motorbike started up and ran fine. The Lord had not only allowed me to drive past the muddy puddles, He had miraculously allowed me to drive my motorbike when two broken parts, the coil and ignition, should have made the motorbike impossible to run.

Delivered From Smoking: Without Expecting It
During Tuesday’s prison ministry, one of the prisoners gave this testimony. He had been smoking for years. Then, last November he was prayed for. He said, “I wasn’t asking God or looking to stop smoking. But, after being prayed for I lost all desire to smoke. I don’t even understand what happened. I haven’t smoked since that day. I just stopped.” The rest of the prisoners have confirmed his testimony. Hallelujah! Our God is great and mighty. There is no other Savior besides Him.

Mayhem: Our House Was Robbed Again
While we were at church last Sunday, someone broke through our steel barred windows. This time, they made out with a lot of things including our portable DVD player, 2 Leatherman tools, lots of kids DVDs and computer software, and more (and whatever else we might find out in the coming days). Fortunately, other things were secured elsewhere. That morning we had a feeling that something was going to happen. (Lord, help me to be more spiritually astute to your voice). The guard was at church with us because several people stayed around the center. Just like the first theft at our house last year, the dog started barking. Someone was told to check our house. But for whatever reason, the person never did. The very same day, I filed a report with the police, and I am still waiting for them to let me know that they started their investigation (they said they will). The day of the theft, Victo and I ministered to the person whom we suspected had a part in this robbery. He finally admitted that he was the one that had broken into our house several months ago. We already knew he had done it. But, he and another young man do not want to admit that they were involved in this robbery.

This time, it took a little more time to completely let some feelings and thoughts go concerning the break-in. “But, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). We needed His power to dispel discouragement, fear, anger and unforgiveness in any slight form. But, that’s not the power that the scripture above talks about. It’s more. His power enables us to be yielded and focused on the mighty love and faithfulness of God in any situation. We still trust God, and we know He was faithful during this theft. We felt a power (which is His love) freeing us from any feelings, thoughts, perspectives and fears that could have been established in our hearts (in even the slightest form). It is His power that keeps our hearts from being preoccupied and weighed down with thoughts of our loss, lack of diligent security, and wanting our stuff back. Instead, we actually have a peace just as though the robbery never happened. This situation is not ruling in our hearts, or determining our perspective on things. It’s His power (which is His love), that enables us to worship Jesus freely and unfettered from everything that was trying to hinder our hearts from the privilege of focusing entirely on Jesus Christ. He even restores joy and we are sincerely thanking God for what we do have in our house, and what wasn’t done during the theft.

Jesus Christ is Lord, alone. There is no other. He is our Lord who does the miraculous. He makes things work out, like my motorbike, which really shouldn’t work at all. He’s all powerful; delivering us (just like the man in prison) so we are free to live holy lives for Christ. We shared all these stories in one blog to remind you that even in the wonderful times, we still encounter mayhem (in its various forms) on the mission field. But, the choice is ours and yours. Through the power of His love, we can either serve Him in freedom and pure devotion, or we can unwittingly become servants or slaves held captive by the situations or actions of others against us. What will you choose? We choose Jesus!

We love because He [God] first loved us, (1 John 4:19, brackets added)

Tyren and Tiffany

Healed Miraculously

After my wife’s last pregnancy, she had a hard time sitting comfortably on normal chairs and was only able to sit on a specific cushioned chair that we have. After about 2 months, even that chair became uncomfortable for her. Basically, for the past 3 ½ months, this issue continued. Sometimes after sitting she was left in pain. So, there were quite a few things she stopped doing or couldn’t do. Then on January 28th, my wife was instantly, miraculously, healed in a moment! Yes, in a moment. We were both so excited and thrilled. The Lord is so good and merciful. He considers us when others would not or can’t. We were so thrilled that we wanted to share it with you. My wife can go places and sit normally, and not even consider pain. Oh, Hallelujah!

Here is a little detail, just to give more testimony to the love and power of Jesus Christ. Oh, if we would not stop believing! Before January 28th, we both would pray and believe for healing, but nothing changed that we could see. I even fasted more than once, purposely praying and seeking the Lord during the day and, at other times, late at night. At one time, things were getting a little better. Then, it got worse. We kept believing. We even had a midwife here check my wife to see if there was anything abnormal to prevent healing. She found everything to be normal. My wife’s condition still didn’t change. But, we were still convinced that our Lord would heal her. On January 28th, I told my wife that I was going to pray over her like some people prayed in one of Smith Wigglesworth’s books. That night it was just in my heart to pray differently. She responded, “Whatever it takes.” That was a confession of faith stemming from something igniting in her heart to believe God. I prayed quickly over my wife, casting out whatever ungodly spiritual stuff was preventing the healing. That was it. That night while sitting up in the bed to feed Berasia, and every day since then, she’s been pain free! In fact, the next morning she sat on a hard wooden stool with no problem. There is no one that could do what the Lord Jesus Christ does for us. We have chosen to believe Him and put our trust in Him, even when it may seem to others like it isn’t worth it. The Bible declares, there is nothing too hard for God (see Jeremiah 32:17). With God all things (that He desires to do in our lives) are possible.

For His glory,

Tyren and Tiffany

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A little Rest and Relaxation

Just a little for now.  Last week, we spent most of the week (plus two travel days) in Blantyre, Malawi, to get some work done on our car. It takes about 8 hours to get to/from Blantyre to Lichinga. Much of the road on the Mozambican side is filled with mud, sand, and ditches, along with chickens, goats, and lambs that play, and even sit, in the middle of the road.


Our 4 kids posing in our home in Lichinga

 We called some people we know in Blantyre ahead of time to find a place to stay, but we still didn’t know where we’d stay until we got there. But God is good, and had prepared things for us. A place that hadn’t previously been available was suddenly available. For the first time, we stayed at an SIM guest house. It was a new place, which was recently built. This blessing fit right in with what the Lord told us about doing new things in our lives this year. The guest house was fully furnished, and we even got to use the outside laundry room with a washing machine and dryer for our clothes. There was running (hot!) water, city electricity and 2 bathrooms. Chayah also found a basket full of toys in the living room area!

We knew staying in this place was of the Lord. It was very restful for Tiffany. So, we decided to stay one extra day and just hang out some more and relax. Before we went to Malawi, someone whom we had met recently actually gave us a donation which paid the cost of staying at the guest house.

Malawi:  After being in the certified Nissan repair shop for

2 days, I went to another place for tire alignment and balancing.

Of course, in my heart I would love to share some more ministry updates with you. After all, that’s what this blog is for. But, it’s also important to let you know about the other things we do. In some ways, how we live here is not very different than the way you live in the U.S. We do lots of other things besides preaching, teaching, interceding and other ministry in the city and villages. There’s washing clothes, cleaning the house, bathing, cleaning the house some more, helping the kids with homework, homeschooling, fixing the house, fixing the car, etc.; and, all the other normal things that one can expect have to be done. Usually, every day has its share, and often its fill, of ministry to others in one form or another. We minister hard, and are learning how to rest well, also. Rest is very important!

Just because you need to know more about where we live...


Close by our house, I gave these guys, and others, plastic bags to collect the bugs that were escaping
 from holes in the ground.  They were eagerly collecting handfuls of them to eat.

Love,

Tyren and Tiffany

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