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