The Lord's Work In Lichinga

We’ve been having a wonderful time since we arrived back home in Lichinga. We were very glad to see the children and the rest of the family. We spent most of the first week re-setting the bedroom for home school (we had to pack all our belongings when we left for the U.S. so others could use the room), building bunk beds and a full size bed by hand. The beds and a lot of items in our house needed to be moved to the new site being built for the children’s center. We also arrived just in time for our first taste of fried critters – termites, wasps roasted in garlic and onion. Yum!!


While in America, the Lord gave us vision for increased city evangelism. The Lord has blessed us with a bicycle and a motorbike for evangelism (Hallelujah!!!). So you know what we’ll be up to, here’s an overview of the main areas of ministry that the Lord has given to us.

City Evangelism
Jesus loves the market area. Tyren will be spending extra time in the main market preaching the gospel and believing God for signs and wonders. Demonstration of the mercy of God will also be a major part of evangelism as I “stop for the one” the Lord puts in front of me. The Lord has brought several souls to Jesus in the past week. Please pray for them, that they may remain committed to Christ.

Village Evangelism
More than bringing souls to Christ, we believe that the Lord wants his people free from oppression, darkness, and self-rule, and released into their glorious freedom and inheritance as sons and daughters of God. Continue to pray as Tyren and other missionaries preach and teach the gospel in the villages.

Children Ministry
We will continue to engage in ministry with our children being cared for at our center. Tiffany and another missionary are holding Sunday School for the Lichinga children and the village children. Soon, Tyren will began traveling to Asumani village to minister to the children on a regular basis.

Tiffany continues to homeschool Amerel and Isaiah, and she also serves in the kitchen which allows her to build wonderful relationships with the women and minister to them.

Lichinga is our home and the Lord is pleased to have us here with Him. We’ll be here until the Lord’s work is done. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Heading Back Home To Lichinga

Well, we are on our way home to Lichinga, Mozambique. We spent several wonderful weeks in the U.S., visiting and seeing family and friends. Though we couldn’t spend time with everyone, we are thankful to have been able to speak to many face to face. While in the U.S., the first part of our Resident Visa application for Mozambique was completed successfully. The final part will be completed after arriving in Mozambique. The Resident Visa will allow us to enter and exit the country as needed instead of leaving the country (going to Malawi), reapplying and paying for new visas every 3 months.

While in the U.S. the Lord opened our eyes even more to see that as we obey Him and walk in our calling, many opportunities are opened for others to walk in their giftings and callings. For instance, a 4 year old boy named Joshua had been collecting people’s change (on his own) to support the work we are doing in Lichinga. We used about half of the ~$43.00 to purchase water color paints for the smaller Lichinga children. We are planning to purchase paper (for painting) with the rest. Then, there’s a family member who wanted to see us for a few hours during a layover in the U.S. She put away her pride and asked a stranger for money at a gas station (she had no cash and her ATM card wouldn’t work). If she didn’t ask for help she would have had to go back home instead of picking us up at the airport. The stranger filled up her tank, and refused to give my cousin her address so she could pay her back. My cousin (who had been out of work for months) rejoiced in the Lord as she told us that this is the first time her tank was full in months, and how she knew the Lord had humbled her even more. We rejoice in knowing that “our” ministry is the Lord’s ministry and goes well beyond us and the work we do in Lichinga. Hallelujah!!!

We’ll arrive in Lichinga on Monday afternoon, and continue in serving, evangelizing and caring for the children. Our hearts are set on following the Lord, and seeing His glory revealed in our lives and in His people. We’ll do our best at keeping people updated on opportunities to invest and touch the lives of the people here in the Niassa Province of Mozambique. If you want to participate, just send us an email and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Much love,
Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

He Bore Our Sicknesses and Sorrows

I spent the last two days laying on my side because I was experiencing too much pain and discomfort while laying on my back. Abdominal pain and diarrhea made it hard to sleep. I loss lots of fluid and barely ate food. But, I couldn’t help but focus on Jesus. He was with me and was sustaining me, just like He promised, and the pleasure of being with Him overwhelmed me. I literaly felt that He was bearing my sickness, and caring for me through this ordeal. After all, He “bore our sicknesses and carried away our sorrows.” When Sunday came, my joy in the Lord continued. I cried out to the Lord and he gave me strength to walk the 30 meters to the church. And there I saw Boma, formerly a drunkard with no knowledge of Jesus Christ, but now He is a sober, son of God translating from Chechewa into the Chiawo language for the Sunday message. I sat straight up in the church for about 20 minutes (the past day and a half I couldn’t sit straight up). The Lord strengthened me again, and I walked in the hot sun to Sunday school (under a tree) where Tiffany and Tonya were teaching. I had to see my children. Some of them walk 20 minutes from Asumani village. They are fruits of the Lord’s labor. After praying for them, I immediately returned to the house and fell asleep from exhaustion. But, by Monday I was well. Hallelujah!

But there were more burdens that Jesus carried. At the same time (Sunday night), Jessie, the other American missionary who lives in the same house with us, was very sick and had symptoms of malaria again. But Jesus bore our sicknesses and carried away our sorrows. As we all prayed for Jessie, I witnessed deep crying unto deep. From the depths of the Spirit’s heart emerged a longing (a heart’s cry) for the Lord’s will to be done in Jessie. Jessie immediately spring up and sat on his bed. He began to gain strength from that very moment. The next morning He was up and about as usual.

At this time, I can’t explain why I went through what I did. I know both cases were spiritual attacks. But, what is more important is that the Lord continued to strengthen me to believe Him and believe well for what He said He did for us on the cross. There is no room for sorrow, fear or discouragement. We are content with our Savior, and we are completely thrilled at the joy, peace, comfort and healing that Jesus brings. Refusing to be distracted, we choose to believe in Jesus and contend for the great LOVE that He has for us.

We will continue to share the truth of His gospel with the people of the surrounding villages. The harvest is plentiful and the kingdom is advancing! Jesus did not die in vain. We choose to trust Him for the rewards of His suffering.

The Gospel Is The Power of God

Surprise! I’m back in the city mainly because it’s Tiffany’s birthday tomorrow, 10/9, and I’m buying her something special like a pastry or even a chocolate bar. It may not seem like much, but here it’s a special treat (especially since the little chocolate bar will cost about $2 US). But my beautiful wife is worth it!

While ministering in Asumani village I met Boma (the guy in the photo) who was very drunk. He began to hold on to me. I was overwhelmed with the love of God for Him, so I embraced him and began to pray for him in English (Boma doesn’t speak English). Suddenly, the power of God surged through Boma. And looking as though he sobered up a bit (but obviously still drunk), he immediately kept saying that He was sorry for drinking and wanted God to forgive him. When the interpreter told him about Jesus, Boma said he wanted to receive Christ and stop drinking. Since that day, Boma has stopped drinking even when His friends tried to offer Him something to drink.

Then, there’s beautiful Lucie who currently has some devils which make her act crazy at times and speak in languages that she hasn’t learned. The women at our site have been loving her and interceding for her. This past Sunday, Lucie was much calmer and had joy in her heart. In church she gave her testimony of how the Lord spoke to her to stop attending her mosque and be part of a church. Lucie obeyed the Lord and has been coming to church regularly. We see the Lord creating something beautiful in Lucie’s heart while setting her free. We believe that one day she will receive Jesus as her Savior and be transformed to such a degree that she’ll be a mighty woman in the Lord, and no one will ever know she had devils. Jesus can even heal scars.

The gospel is the only thing that has the power to transform the lives of individuals and villages. “It is the power of God unto salvation”.

We will be visiting the U.S. from Oct 27 through the end of November. What a blessing from the Lord! After that time, we’ll return home to Lichinga and be full-on in ministry at our site and in villages during the challenging rainy season. May the Lord open eyes toward His harvest and grace people that will help us “bring in the nets” and disciple adults and children.

Continue to pray for us, the people of Asumani and the people of the other surrounding villages.

The Harvest Is Ripe and Plentiful

On Monday, I mainly walked to Asumani to spend time with Antonio, a young man who gave his life to Jesus last week. But, I also witnessed the power of God beginning to transform the life of another young man. After preaching the gospel, several people received the Lord, but one young man wasn’t sure if he wanted to commit His life to the Lord. Through a translator, I told him in a very sincere way that if he didn’t love the Lord enough to want to give up his life to serve him, he shouldn’t accept Jesus as His Savior. The young man left, but about 5 minutes later, he returned trembling with watering eyes. He told us that he wanted to receive Jesus. Many people have prayed for years for this area, and now we are seeing numerous people of Asumani village live for the Lord. The holy fire of God has been falling in this village, and people are being convicted of their sin and their need for the Savior Jesus Christ. In the same village, a family recently gave their lives to Jesus. Sunday, this family entered our small village with singing and rejoicing to attend our church for the first time. They are a very lovely family and are a joy to spend time with. Although people are accepting Jesus as their Savior, our heart is for people to become full hearted worshippers of God, people of His presence who are willing to give up anything and everything to live their lives for the Lamb of God. The Lord has given us His passion to see this transformation occur in the hearts of men. We are looking forward to sharing the testimonies of all that Jesus will be doing.

My wife continues to do an awesome job homeschooling our children and being a true servant in many other capacities. She is a wonderful blessing. She also continues to informally minster to a few of our local woman who live in our village.

At the end of last month, we celebrated our 10th Anniversary again through a special lunch with our Lichinga family and lots of goodies (a few birthdays were also celebrated at the same time). Besides ministry, we take the time for important things like this.

To our CLG Family, congratulations on another church anniversary celebrating the goodness of Jesus Christ and the kindness of the Lord through the years!

We love you and may the Lord bless you. Continue to pray for Asumani that the people would have a burning passion to serve to the Lord and be true disciples of Jesus Christ. Continue to pray for us, that the Lord would continue to humble us, draw us into His righteousness and give us tremendous favor with the people and communities of this land.

We love you. The Haynes’

Ministering in our village and Asumani

So much goes on here (as I’m sure it does where you live), and we can’t possibly keep you updated on everything. But, our hearts are stirred for the harvest the Lord is bringing in Lichinga, and so that is what we’ll share with you.

A short walk from here will bring you to the village of Asumani. A few adults and children from our village (a.k.a Iris base in Lichinga) serve as translators as the Lord opens up a whole new world to a people that have known anything but the love of Jesus Christ. Wars, foreign occupation (colonization) and disease have taken its toll. Rituals such as the (which we have yet) to learn more about are celebrated with jubilance. But, the conviction of the Holy Spirit is awakening people’s hearts to their need for Jesus Christ. Actually, many people in Asumani were waiting for us to come down and share the gospel with them. Nearly every time we enter into the village, both adults and children give their hearts to Jesus. The Lord is raising up local people, including children younger than 11, to be on the forefront of a mighty move of God to pour out love and justice on a people He has been longing for. It’s great to see our Lichinga children preaching about the love of Jesus and the need for people put away their sin and come to Jesus (and we just tell them to preach what the Lord puts on their hearts).

In our village, Tiffany and I teach the Lichinga children on Monday and Tuesday nights. This past Tuesday during a time of worship and Word (Bible), we cried out to the Lord, wept, and then gleamed for joy as the Holy Spirit blew a new and holy fire (His passion) in our hearts. Before we went to Africa, the Lord gave us visions of children being true worshippers of God (surrendering their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and in love yielding their lives to experience Jesus as He does what pleases Him through them). We are seeing that happen with the Lichinga children and are expecting to see the same with children from the villages. The Lord told us, “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of our children” (Isaiah 54:13). The harvest is here! Who will help us reap!

If you have a desire to help out, please contact us and we’ll let you know what you can do. A lot is happening here and we are just beginning to step out into all that the Lord has for us. By the grace of God, we’ll take the gospel to the other villages further away.

Perhaps, another time I’ll get to share with you about the other things we do like cementing bricks and creating beams for the new house, digging up roots, tending to gardens, substitute teaching on the spur of a moment, manually drawing well water, etc.

Continue to pray and believe God with us for the hearts the Lord has for us to harvest.

Love Tyren

Our New Home In Lichinga Mozambique

The Lord continues to amaze us by opening the door to our new home in Lichinga, Mozambique. Lichinga is on the top of a beautiful mountain with grassy landscapes, pine trees, warm days and cool nights that can drop into the 40s during the winter months. We all draw our drinking and bathing water from a well, and use candles for lights at night.

Our first month here, we’ll have the joy of living in a very small cinder block house with 10 other people – the base leaders, Peter and Debbie Wilcox, who have 6 children and another couple who graduated from the missions school with us. While here, we serve under the leadership of the Wilcox’s. There are also over 10 Malawian children, some who lost both father and mother, being cared for at this Iris center. Our center is one of few in Niassa that can legally care for orphaned children, and the government is delighted that we’ll be able to take in some. Currently, a house is being built to care for 18 new girls.

As missionaries, my wife and I have an awesome opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ to nations. We have a heart to minister in the villages (preaching, teaching, serving, loving), to see hearts turn to Jesus Christ and people become true worshippers of God. We are NOT here to “crusade” (force our own ideas, American culture or lifestyle, etc) or “colonize”, but to be used by God to help bring people to a place where they can fulfill their God intended purpose and improve the lives of their own villages and country.

There is a treasure in Lichinga that many don’t recognize – the children. While in missions school, the Lord gave my wife and I a penetrating love for the children of Mozambique. We are going to minister to many children in Lichinga including those who are physically and sexually abused through weeks of an initiation practice done in the bush. We’ve seen what the Lord can do, and continue to pray that adults as well as the children involved in this practice may encounter Jesus so they can be healed of scars, know His salvation, and be restored as productive and loving members of their local communities.

My family and I are doing well. Tiffany began homeschooling Amerel and Isaiah during the day. We are still learning Portuguese and a few words of the local language. Tyren is helping with the construction of the new girls’ dorm, and walking to a local village called Asumani to minister to children with two other missionaries.

Graduation Day and A New Beginning

Graduation Day was very exciting! Some activities we didnÕt expect. It started with an 8:30 A.M. meeting followed by some of us sweeping and mopping the cafeteria, some cleaning the latrines (holes in the dirt enclosed by walls of bamboo and mud) with sticks and small boxes, while still others of us carried chairs from the storage area to the tent where the graduation ceremony was to be held. The actual graduation activities started at 11:30 (lunch) and lasted until around 6:30. We worshipped, sang and danced with the Mozambican Pastors who were also graduating at the same time. All of these pastors voluntarily left their families, lands and/or houses behind for 3 months in order to pursue the call of God on their lives. Leaving home is no small ordeal. Many of them at some time or another had at least one child that had died, most had at least one person in their family die of starvation, others werenÕt sure of how their families would fare while they were away, and still others werenÕt sure it they would still have their land when they returned. Graduation is a very important event for the Pastors, and on that day we all thanked and celebrated the Lord for all He accomplished in our lives.

Also for us, graduation wasn't about successfully completing 10 weeks of the Holy Given International School of Missions. We encountered the Lord, we were transformed, and most importantly we have the Father's heart Ð His passion Ð for the people He will send us to next. We are thrilled with how the Lord will use us to be incarnational love to the children and adults in Africa.What's next?

Next week we will be moving east to our new home in the town of Lichinga in the Mozambican province of Niassa. Mozambique will be home until the Lord sends us elsewhere! When we initially left the U.S many people were very eager to help in some way. When we get settled in Lichinga, and see what the Lord places on our hearts, weÕll send out a blog entry with more specific opportunities for people who would like to help us impact the lives of the local people.

For now, we're seeking God's heart, enjoying a time of rest, and are taking the time to learn more Portuguese using our Rosetta Stone software. This is only the beginning for us, and we rejoice in the freedom we have to lay down our lives for the love of the Lamb, and go with Him as He searches for hearts to harvest among the nations.

Tiffany's Outreach

I (Tiffany) went on outreach with my group last weekend. I have to admit that I was kind of disappointed that I didn’t get to see anyone healed from anything as we prayed for them. I had such high expectations from the stories of everyone else’s outreaches, including Tyren’s. But I realized that God wanted to show me something else…something more important than the miracles and healings. God showed me, and demonstrated through me, His great love for the people there. When we arrived in the village, the first thought that entered my mind was, “Now this is where I belong.” For me, the bulk of my time was spent with the children. I walked around with another member of our group and we just made friends with the children and some of the women. We actually almost missed lunch on Saturday because we were sitting down in the church learning Makua words from a group of children that had followed us in there. We spent over an hour learning their names and learning the Makua word for things that we pointed to. Then we told them the English word. Later that day, we decided to take the 40 minute walk to the nearest water source for the entire village of about 3500 people. The women and children make this walk to the river every day, some of them multiple times daily, just to get water for the village. They carry huge 5 gallon jugs of water on their heads back to the village. We did notice that there are some men who help out with the water provision, but they ride down to the river on bikes and carry the 5 gallon jugs back on a rack attached to the back of their bikes. How ironic. There was one low point to the weekend. A village drunk tried to sell us a chicken and when we showed no interest in the chicken, he tried to sell us his daughter for 2 mil meticai, which I think is about $80 U.S. Anyway, I really enjoyed my time there and on the way back home, my heart cried, “How can I ever go back to school every day after being in the village where the people are?”

On another note…the Lord has been transforming us and changing our hearts. We increasingly see the things that break the heart of God because they are breaking our hearts also. School is almost over (we graduate Wednesday, 8/8), but our hearts will continue to ache to know the Lord more. We stay on our faces, crying out to Lord to know Him more, for complete unity within the school, and for no one to miss the reason why they’re here.

Thank you so much for your prayers (please keep praying for us), and for the few financial donations we’ve received since being in Pemba. It helps out more than you know. We’ve been supplementing our meals (which consist mostly of bread and rice) with bananas, apples, oranges, cheese, occasionally meat, etc.). In a short time we should be able to let you know more details about what we’ll be doing after graduation.

Much love,Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

3 Pictures attached: Tiffany on outreach, Tyren and local in the 'city', our family we live with during school

Overnight Outreach Experience in the Bush

Students at the Holy Given School of Missions are divided up into teams designated by colors. Each team goes on at least one overnight/weekend outreach. The group that I’m part of went on our overnight outreach at a village about 5 hours away. We spent 2-days and 2 nights sleeping in tents with the lady’s sleeping in their tents in the middle and surrounding them were the guys sleeping in their tents on the outside (just for safety). Somehow I ended in the very back (nothing like being the rear guard). The village was not only safe but a lot of fun. It had a small church. Both Christians and Muslims lived there.The outreach occurred Friday night and all day Saturday. Iris’ Mozambican pastors lead the outreaches and our job is to help as directed. When we arrived at the village, we first setup our tents. Then we started setting up the equipment to play the Jesus Film in the local language. At the first the children would not go near any of the white skinned ladies that were on my team. Whenever the ladies moved near them, they either ran back or kept a good distance away. Because I looked more like them, they let me get close. After we got acquainted, I told one of my white sisters to come over. We both knelt down and the children were finally ready to play with the “white visitors” that wanted so much to play with them. (In one way it was funny and in another way it wasn’t).

Lots of amazing things happened during the trip, and I also got to witness awesome things for the first time. The Lord has been putting village children on the hearts of my wife and I and this trip was no different. The first night, a group of children crowded around me making all kind of noises and then they started singing (along with others making noise). In the midst of the singing and noise, I heard a heavenly tune that caught my attention. I’ve never heard a sound like that before. It was remarkably different than any other singing. I looked into the crowd of children and saw angels! Yes angels appearing as children. The Lord opened my eyes and I saw them all, scattered within the crowd of children singing their song. I got so excited, I turned to call one other team members and as I turned back the song slowly faded. She missed seeing them all and didn’t hear a thing.

After the film played Friday night, the Mozambican heading the outreach preached! Several people gave their lives to the Lord. Hallelujah! Since the movie started late it was about 10 o’clock at night when we started praying for the sick. The Lord healed many of stomach aches, headaches, and other things. I was also able to pray for a number of people that were had lower back aches and were urinating blood. I didn’t always have a translator available but when I did the people were very, very descriptive about what hurt and where it was.

The next day, I and two ladies were assigned to keep all the village children (50+ children or more) occupied to keep them away from the medical team. Iris’ new medical outreach team accompanied us to care to provide general consultation, scabies treatments, malaria medicine and a slew of other things. There were many cases of Malnutrition, worms and scabies. Tennis balls, balloons, follow the leader, singing songs in local language and other things filled 3 hours. I even found a friend that decided to teach me more about love as he insisted on holding my handing and following me around. Then another child proved to be a very strict teacher as he taught me a song in their local language, Makua. He was very stern and quickly corrected me whenever I pronounced something wrong. I made a big effort to learn quickly.

Saturday night the village Chief gave his heart to the Lord. After the movie, the Lord healed more women and men that came forward for healing. A little girl that had a problem with her right ear was instantly healed. Another man that had pain all over his body was also instantly healed. And then it happened (I’ll give you a shortened description), I saw the Lord. The only way I can describe it is that I saw presence of the Lord in human form walking in the midst of the people. (I know you probably want a better description, but I’m it’s easier to explain the angels among the children). When I saw him, a shout arose within me and I turned to my interpreter and shouted, the Lord is here. He didn’t get it, but he soon did as I told him to dance. I left the people in the healing line and danced because the Lord wanted to dance. When the Lord walked through the midst of the people everything changed. Healing and miracles weren’t the focus, praying for the sick wasn’t the focus…He became the focus. Nothing mattered to me more than pleasing Him. Amazing joy poured out of me as I danced. Then the Lord began healing people with ease and without many words. God is amazing. The atmosphere of the whole place changed. A man completely drunk was so touched by the power of God he began to praise God in his drunken stupor. The next day we went to another village on the way home. The people gathering for church cheered (African style) as a few of their ladies were hugged by the “while ladies” on my team. Many of the people in these villages never saw or were touched by a white person. 6 or 7 people on our team gave their testimonies. Everything was calm until I gave mine, and right in the middle the people were distracted by someone holding up new clothes by our truck and half the crowd turned around. The gospel message went forth and I trust the will of God was still done. A lot of other things happened including a half dressed man, with his genitals hanging out came over to me and a few other people asking for prayer. Eric, one of the doctors took a tissue and cleaned the mucous and other slime off of his face without gloves. My heart ached with this example of love. He came to me and pointed to his stomach, motioning me to pray for Him. I did so and he expressed his gratitude. Obviously, this young man had mental issues that the village new about. Still, if we had clothes I would have loved to dress him. Even he is worthy to be honored.

My internet time is running out so I have to post this. We are all well!

New News For The Week (July 21st)

Two and a half more weeks and we’ll be graduating from Iris Ministries’ Holy Given School of missions. The graduation date has been moved up to 8/8, and we are finishing up assignments such as group “drama” presentations, classes on theology and theology of missions, mandatory readings, projects and other things. The coursework contains some in-depth theology teaching , but the fact that we live in the reality of what’s being taught changes the “formal” class room experience. It is reinforced by the fact that we are living in what is being taught. Let me explain by giving some short news on this week.

Sunday was “community” church where people in the community, the Mozambican pastors in the bible college and the holy given students are all under the tent worshipping and praising the Lord. People are getting healed of diseases, oppressed people are set free, witchcraft is denounced, and people are giving their lives to the Lord. (One of the most important things that I see occurring is that Iris is literally changing communities and bringing different tribes together as one community of people who have Christ Jesus as the focus).

In mid-week the Lord wrecked our hearts (for good) during one of Heidi Bakers teachings on the beatitudes. We, the students, were crying as we laid out on the ground offering our lives (no matter the cost) for a greater anointing to serve the poor and comfort the mourning (Isaiah 61:1-2). We started with those among us as we prayed for healing and comfort for more than 1/3 of the Mozambican pastors (our friends in Iris’ bible college) who at some time or another have lost children to hunger, malaria or other means. Treating malaria is not expensive for you and I, but the typically Mozambican can’t afford it. But, the Lord has called us to bring the good news of the gospel to the poor. That means, if possible, we find a way to get the money, to buy the medicine and treat them. We also prayed for a group of pastors who lives were being threatened for the sake of the gospel. (By the way, I was told that a good paying job in Pemba such as a teacher or a police man only pays $2-3 U.S. per day. One roll of toilet paper is .40+ cents. 1 liter of juice is $2 USD. A pack of crackers is .90+ cents. These are things that most can’t afford to buy. Our taxi into town is $2…most Mozambicans walk everywhere).

Wednesday night while walking to dinner a little boy stole my water bottle right out of the box I was carrying. I sent another group of little boys after him and went to eat. The culprit returned crying and holding my water bottle. A single stare let him know how I felt about the situation. Then, the Lord’s compassion filled my heart. To his surprise, I asked him to sit down with me, and then I gave him all my fish (I kept the rice). Before leaving, I let him have a water bottle (smile). The little boy was comforted and was taught something by the love of God. My wife and I aren’t always like this, but when the Lord moves our hearts we trust in the authority of His love.

Friday, one of our housemates and two other ladies were praying for a man with a wilted arm in the city. People around them started making a scene telling them that he wasn’t worth it and that the man should just be left alone. They continued to pray, and 5 minutes later the Lord healed the man’s arm. Jesus loves the poor, and His kingdom belongs to them. (As we discuss in school, so we do…praying “Thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. There aren’t any wilted arms in heaven. The Lord put it in His holy scriptures so we’d know what to do while on earth).

This Sunday, 7/22, we’re headed to a local Mozambicans house for a dinner. He’s making the main meal, and we’re making him peanut butter cookies.

This school is to help prepare us for missions any where in the world. Missions is not colonialism or crusading or cultural replacement. We love Jesus so much that we believe that He is the only Savior and are willing to minister to Him and serve people, his creation, whom he loves so dearly. We long to bring Jesus to this Muslim community and at the same time see how they will respond to his love in worshipping him with their own traditions, within their own culture, using their own styles of music, building church and their communities as they want and running services how they like them, etc.). God will redeem culture and change it to reflect his heart and ways. We don’t need to do this. But, we do have the privilege of spreading the gospel (good news for the sick, poor and those who haven’t accepted Jesus as their Savior) and letting people know how much God wants to restore right relationships with the people he created for Himself.

Much love,Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

Feeding the Poor

We see poverty everyday. It looks like rags with people wearing them. It looks like children wearing the same clothes day after day. It looks like open soars and cuts exposed to dirty water. It spews out curses, acts undisciplined and is filled with anger and threats when met with authority. One day at the beach a boy threatened to hit my children with a rock because I refused to buy him a candy bar. The occasion ended with him happily grinning as he pulled a large candy bar out of his pocket that someone had already bought him. Today, I welcome the same boy with love and hugs when he is willing to receive them. Poverty has a great need that only the love and power of Christ can fulfill, person by person. We are here to impact people with the love and power of Jesus Christ. That's why I welcome that little boy who is often so rude into my arms. It is in my arms and the arms of others, that his poverty will be stripped away and he'll be able to receive true riches. Please don't judge the little boy. Underneath the filth, he's so beautiful.

Every weekday, the poor village children come into the center and are fed for lunch. In this way, none of them will die of hunger. They are so lovely. Beyond the rags, unkind words, fights, etc. the call of God can be seen on their lives. They are fed at the front of the center because (as we learned from experience) many (NOT ALL) are less disciplined than the children cared for by Iris, and often will fight with the children who live in the center.

Feeding Program

On one of the days that I helped feed the children who live in the surrounding village, I had to do more than dish out plates of food. A 10 year old boy was trying to hit another boy with a big rock. He was disciplined by a local, but that just left him screaming and very angry. After prying another rock out of his hand, the Lord had me pick him up, and give him a father's love as I carried him around, praying and prophesying over his life. The boy calmed down and I disciplined him in wisdom and love, showing him that it was better to choose JesusElove than a rock. Another Holy Given Student loved on him also and was trying to find out about his home life, etc. This is one way ministry takes place here. Both my wife and I have been praying about greater ministry for these children. Instead of waiting for our turn to feed the children with our individual groups, we've decided to go at other times to feed them and spend more time around the children. One of us takes Amerel at least once a week because she enjoys caring for them so much.

Families of Poverty

Some of the village children find a way to come into the center cafeteria for lunch and dinner. For safety reasons most aren't supposed to be there, but they do come into the center with plastic bags to beg for food for themselves (and perhaps their family). Iris feeds children, adults and widows around here so we haven't understood why some children beg for food and others don't. One day we were saving a bunch of our beans to refry into patties (it helps having different things to eat). We met a boy in the cafEwho carried a very small plastic container (see photo) and was begging for food for himself and 4 other people in his family. How can anyone feed a family of 5 with a small container of left-overs! We both were filled with compassion and gladly dumped our beans onto the plain rice in the boys container.

Please pray with us as we ask the Lord to open our eyes to see the poor and open our hearts to have compassion on them just as the Lord has compassion on us. By poor,I don't just mean the physical, but those who are lacking spiritually and emotionally as well and for some reason or another are not depending on Christ in their time of need.Tyren

School Day in Pemba

School is full of the presence of God. It is awesome and such a blessing. It’s impossible to give a short, detailed review of the school because the Lord does wonderful and different things everyday. We’ll give you a general overview of a school day hoping it’ll capture the heart of what is going on.

The school is like a family, the family of God, abiding and working together with the Lord. Outside of formal class times it’s like a living community breathing the fresh air of the Holy Spirit. Every day the Lord disciplines, stirs, encourages, enlightens, fills and refreshes us through the Holy Given staff, International speakers (Heidi and Rolland Baker, Bill Johnson, Fred from Toronto, Lesley Ann, Shampoo Rice, etc.) and the students themselves. Several times during the classes, the Lord gives different students visions, words, songs, etc. and then leads the group in the next thing He is doing through the person He chooses. It’s amazing. Sometimes in the midst of worship, the Pastors in the bible school and the mission students are led to pray for one another. The fire of God rains down. Love flows like mighty, inter-twining rivers. People are being healed, set free from hurts and offenses, challenged by the Lord himself to live holy given lives and stirred for kingdom living. God does multiple things at the same time, but there’s complete order and decency.

The School Day

Breakfast starts at 7:00. 8:15 starts Portuguese lessons with long term staff. (Some things don’t start on time in Africa so 8:15 may be 8:30 or later). Worship begins at 8:30, and until 12’ish we may have international speakers minister to the group (just the students or the Mozambique student pastors may join us as part of their classes). Lunch is a huge plate of rice and beans (or rice and cabbage, rice and a little piece of fish, rice and a little piece of chicken). Our favorite is mataba which is rice with a topping of coconut milk, crushed peanuts and greens. Lunch time is also when we sit with the student pastors and learn Portuguese and just hang out and have fun with them and the Iris children (children that live in the center). A number of the pastors have only been saved for a few weeks…but that’s part of the reason their in school now. (It would take me a while to explain this so just rejoice in the Lord…already the Lord has used them to raise 3 people from the dead along with many, many healings and salvations. They are also maturing in the Lord). Depending on the day, the afternoons are for additional speakers or group activities. Tiffany and I are in different groups so one of us can watch our children. We’ve both had the privilege of feeding the kids from the village. The food from Iris is the only meal most of them get everyday (~200 children come from the surrounding villages). They often carry plastic bags around asking for food for themselves and their families. Poverty is so great here. It’s before our faces everyday. Evenings are for occasional homework, spending with the children or other Mozambican friends, spend one-on-one time with the Lord, cleaning, washing, etc. If the water is running we take cold showers, else its bucket bathes. One time the water was so dirty (no, the dirt doesn’t settle) our whole house skipped bathing. We’ve been able to get well water so we use that now when the water isn’t running. None of the water is drinkable. If it’s Tuesday, we lead our house’s “homegroup” meetings. We are the house parents for are house. Right now, it’s our family and 3 ladies, one from Sri Lanka, another from England and another from Washington.

Our children are with us during class and take part in worship. They got over being dirty all day long. Now, they enjoy running around the student houses, playing in the reddish colored dirt (where the flies lay their larvae), playing with other children, being very loud and just having fun.

Saturdays are a day of rest unless we are in a group that has overnight outreaches. The outreaches can be in villages where Iris has gone before or in other Muslim villages where the gospel has never been preached. Sunday is church and the afternoons are free time (unless the group is still on outreach). Free time means your doing work, reading, washing, relaxing, getting tired from having long conversations in broken Portuguese), playing with children, etc.

That’s it for the overview. There’s so much we could share, but we hope to share more detail information about activities that the Lord is accomplishing here.

We are all well, rejoicing in the love of Jesus Christ as He draws us closer to Himself. The children are having so much fun. Last week, the Lord delivered both of them from very high fevers and stomach and headaches!

The Wake Up Call!

Friday, June 1st, we received a wake up call in our hotel room in Johannesburg, South Africa just around 6:30 am. It was my mother in law (Mom) calling us all the way from Connecticut in the states to make sure we were awake so we’d be on time for our 10:40 am flight to Pemba, Mozambique later that morning. We had spoken to her the day before and had told her we might want to check out of the hotel around 7:30 am to be at the airport in time to check in and look around the shops before our flight. Moments after the phone call, God told me the next blog entry was to be entitled: the WAKE UP CALL! And here’s what the Lord has been sharing with me since then concerning the wake up call:
Many of you at home were shocked and some of you, admittedly, a little amazed at what God was calling our family to and some just couldn’t quite believe that we were doing the right thing. Since we’ve been here in Pemba, God has shown me just what a small, teeny tiny, light little thing we did that had some of you so amazed…and what a huge, great and awesome plan He has for us just because we took this small little step in coming to Mozambique. The whole kingdom of God has been opened before us because of this small step. On Thursday, May 31st as we were worshipping together in the hotel room, the Lord told me to read Isaiah 43:16 -21 and He said not to remember the former miracles , signs and wonders of old because “I’m now doing a new thing which you cannot even comprehend. Now you have entered into My joy…and NOW I will be your strength. The JOY of the Lord is YOUR strength.” We’ve entered into His joy and therefore have entered into a whole new realm of His glory…A realm where His love is absolutely everything, where nothing else matters. He’s opened up His love before us and we’ve walked right into it and the only thing left for us to do is to accept it and let it wash over and through us!
Let me share a story with you. Last Monday we went into town with one of our housemates to buy food and supplies for our house. After spending way too much time trying to exchange money at the bank and buy a Mozambican SIM card for our phone, we finally headed off to try to purchase the items we needed. We only had about an hour to get everything because stores are closed between 12 and 2 pm and it was just about 11 am when we finished with the SIM card business. We decided to trek down to the one store in town that would have mostly everything on our list, including groceries, but at a more expensive price than the markets along the street, since we were short on time. We purchased some food and household items at this “one stop shop”, and then headed next door to the electronics store which was owned by the same person. Tyren went inside while the kids and I along with our housemate, Nancy, tried to find some shaded spot just outside the door to rest. A man sitting behind a desk just inside the store called out to me to come and sit down inside on the other side of the desk where there was a nice comfortable cushioned chair. I hesitated for just a moment, and then went to sit down with the kids. After we were comfortably seated, he told me to call Nancy inside to sit in another comfortable chair nearby. I began to chat a little with this man, who I figured must be kind of important because he was just sitting behind this nice big desk while others were working behind the counters and helping customers. He asked where we were from and what we were doing in Pemba and we told him. At some point he told us his name, which happened to be the same name as the store. He was the owner. When he found out we were at Iris’ Holy Given School for Missions, he told us that the property we were staying on was some of the choicest land in Pemba -he knew this because he was the one who had sold it to Heidi and Rolland Baker who he considered to be his friends. The school is right across the street from the beach and one of the nicest hotels in town. I remembered that we would need to catch a taxi from his store back to the school, so I asked him if it would be easy to catch a taxi from that end of town. (We had walked from the center of town where the first taxi had dropped us off to the other end where his store was located and I didn’t see too many taxis around there.) He said, “Don’t worry about a taxi. When your husband finishes making his purchases, I’ll take care of you.” He then handed Nancy and I his business card with the store’s phone number and his cell phone number and told us if we ever need anything or ever get stranded somewhere to give him a call. He also mentioned to Tyren that he had given us his card and that we could call him if we ever needed anything. A few minutes later, Amerel and Isaiah began to complain that they were hungry because we had missed lunch being in town for so long. Mr. “O” said something to one of his employees and a minute later, the employee came back and handed a package of cookies to my kids. Shortly afterwards, Tyren finished up and Mr. “O” spoke to another of his employees who proceeded to carry out all of our purchases that we had made that day and put them into the trunk of a black BMW SUV. He then ushered us into the nice clean, cushioned seats inside and drove us all the way back to the school! Let me just mention quickly here that the man who did these things for us is a Muslim Indian whose family has been living in Mozambique for 5 generations. I know some of you are wondering why in the world a rich Muslim would show this kind of generosity to a few Christians who are learning about evangelizing the world for Christ at a missions school! I wondered myself, but God told me it’s just part of His WAKE UP CALL!
Wednesday, June 6th, Bill Johnson was the speaker for our morning session. He taught out of Ephesians 3:10, 19 to show us that when we walk in the calling that God has called us to, God’s wisdom is revealed to the heavenly realms…the angels and demons alike begin to understand God’s wisdom in sending His only Son to die for us that we might have eternal life with Him. They begin to see us being conformed into the image of Christ as we walk according to His plan for our lives. Bill said whenever we do exactly what God told us to do, God’s wisdom is made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 3:10). In Ephesians 3:19, it says that we are to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. How can we even begin to imagine being filled with all the fullness of God Who has the whole earth as His footstool? He Who can span the heavens with one hand, how can we contain His fullness within us? This is the WAKE UP CALL! The WAKE UP CALL is this: Begin to see God in HIS fullness and you will walk out the plan of God for your life and you will begin to walk in the realm of miracles…Begin to allow His fullness to fill YOU and you will never again know lack OF ANYTHING-NOT love, NOT joy, NOT prosperity, NOT even a taxi to get back to school from town-NOT ANYTHING! Begin to see Christ in YOU…the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)…this is the WAKE UP CALL! God has just begun to wake me up since we stepped out into this next thing that God has for us …I hope you are now beginning to WAKE UP!!

On the Way to Africa...God's Way!!!

Well, we arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday after over 24 hours in flight and in airports. God has truly been showing His grace and favor from the moment we overslept Tuesday morning and rushed out of our apartment a lot later than we had planned to when we got kind of lost on the way to the airport arriving about 30 minutes before our plane was scheduled to depart! (Technically, we should have been already checked in about an hour before our plane was scheduled to depart!) We ran into the airport to catch our 9 am plane right around 8:30 am. God sent a couple of airport baggage clerks to help rush our 7 large suitcases and 3 carry-ons upstairs (we had ended up in the baggage claim area downstairs instead of the check-in area upstairs) to get checked in and to get our boarding passes. It took 2 ladies at the check-in counter, along with one of the the baggage clerks who stayed with us, about 10 minutes to check us in and get all of our luggage tagged correctly. Something had gone wrong during the check-in process and they were not able to get a baggage ticket for one of our checked suitcases. It looked as if we might either miss our plane or have to leave one suitcase behind. We just waited patiently and eventually one of the ladies at the counter went to another computer and was able to print out the last luggage tag. When we were finally checked in and all of our luggage tagged correctly, the baggage clerk went to the security area where we had to put all of our checked luggage and told us he'd take care of it for us so that we could run through the other security area with our carry- ons. We ran over there and went through the process, getting held up again because we didn't realize we should have taken one of the electronic items out of our carry on before running it through the security scanners. We had to wait while they slowly opened up Tyren's backpack, put on gloves, inspected the item very carefully and slowly then slowly put it back in his backpack. By the time we were finished with all of that, it was almost 9:00! We gave Amerel one carry-on with wheels and Tyren (who was carrying Isaiah) and I took the other two and we bolted to find our gate. It was just around the corner! We rushed to the gate and hurriedly told the guy there that we needed to get on the 9:00 flight to Atlanta (we had to catch a connecting flight from Atlanta to continue our journey). He calmly replied that the crew was late for that flight and they were not boarding anyone yet! The first words out of my mouth were, 'Praise God!' God knew all along that we had plenty of time, but everything that happened was just to reveal His glory and His sovereignty in every situation. We ended up boarding the plane around 9:40 am--about 40 minutes of free time to relax in the airport waiting for our plane.

Monday night before we left, I had spent quite some time unloading things that I felt we couldn't take because our luggage ended up being way overweight. It had gotten to the point that I just gave in and said, 'Well, God will have to work something out in our favor because there's nothing else I can take out!' (I must admit that Tyren had told me a few times while I kept trying to empty things out of our luggage not to worry about it.) In our rush to get checked in etc., no one had paid any attention to the weight of any of our luggage-they were all just trying to keep us from missing our flight! God worked it all out for His glory! That was just the beginning of the hand of God working in our favor to get us here without hassle and bypassing normal procedures, i.e. customs in Johannesburg, so that we could see that this is all about Him and not at all about us. Without Him, even boarding a plane is impossible. I don't have time to write about everything else God orchestrated on our behalf just to get us here! To God alone be all the glory! Amen!!

The Lord is Good

We’ve been rejoicing in the Lord as we continue to pack, donate items, complete final administration items, etc. I have to admit, without my wife doing a lot of the administrative things, they wouldn’t have been done (especially since I was working in the beginning of May). Thank you to everyone who offered to help clean the apartment and pack the UHAUL. Thank you for all the donations to date. We bless the Lord!

The Lord has been truly faithful to us, and He has given us a great peace in the midst of circumstances…like waiting for passports and visas. We finally received passports with the visa stamp on 5/18. Single entry visas can only be for 90 days at most. Holy Given students were warned not to schedule a flight over the maximum days or the visas would be denied, so we requested 90 days. Well, on their own accord, the Mozambican Embassy gave us 92 days, 2 days over the ‘maximum’ limit. I’m sure the Lord has reasons for which we are not sure at this time, but even if the Lord only wanted to reveal His sovereignty to give His servants a cause to boast of His great name, it’s worth it.

Another boast of His goodness: We went to Radio Shack to purchase a $27.00 continuous converter to help protect our laptop while using it overseas. (We wanted to purchase it earlier but the Lord had us wait). While talking with the sales agent, we told a customer that joined the conversation that I had quit my job, and the family was entering into full-time missions in Mozambique to help the poor. That’s about all we told her about our upcoming trip. Long testimony short- that woman, who isn’t even “religious” by her own declaration, offered to buy a converter for us. Not the cheap one, but an expensive one that we had mentioned we wouldn’t be able to buy – the $160.00 iGo Anywhere Converter (it’s very nice). Radio Shack wasn’t sure if they carried the model we needed, so she told us to wait at the store, while she went to a bank to withdraw $200.00 cash. She put in extra money to have it shipped quickly to us and another $20.00 “just because”. (She had told us that she has a “good life”, and that “she has the money and we have spirit to help to poor, so why not buy it”). The woman believed she was sent there just to buy the converter for us. Isn’t it wonderful how the Lord will use small things to touch the hearts of people that are lost?

We also had a peace about finances, and weren’t thinking about them because we knew the Lord would provide (it’s His ministry). Today, 5/25, we were able to send off the check to pay for our tuition (all 4 of us) that must be paid by 5/31. Hallelujah!

We fly out from JFK on Memorial Day, 5/28. We’ll spend 3 days/2 nights in Johannesburg waiting for the flight to Pemba, Mozambique on June 1. After 5/28, our internet access will be limited, but we’ll be sure to update the blog and stay in contact.

The Journey Begins PEMBA, MOZAMBIQUE (Iris Ministries' Holy Given School for missions)

Before we even met, my wife and I both already knew the Lord's purpose for our lives was to be missionaries to the nations. Over 16 years later, the time has come. There's nothing else we'd rather do than live out our days in surrender to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, being abandoned to His call, and passionately pursuing His heart for our own lives and for the nations. He is calling us, and there is nowhere else to go, but with Him. He is worth everything.

On May 28th, my wife and I and our two children will leave for Pemba, Mozambique, to attend Iris Ministries' Holy Given School for missions from June - Aug (www.irismin.org). After graduation, we hope to become full-time missionaries with Iris Ministries going wherever they may send us. May the Lord's will be done.

During school, updates will be available on our blog. We'll have some access to the internet via the local Telekom (phone) office.

Thank you to those who have committed to support us in prayer and financial donations. Some people have asked about supporting us financially. If you desire to give a one time donation or commit to monthly support, please email us (using the 'contact' link above in the blog menu bar) and we'll send you information on where to send your financial donation.

With Love,

Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

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