We Received Our D.I.R.E.s !!!

Hallelujah!!! It’s taken about 3 months, but on January 25, 2008 we received our D.I.R.E.s (temporary resident visas) to travel around and in and out of Mozambique at leisure. Now, we won’t have to leave Mozambique (traveling to Malawi) every 3 months to purchase short-term Visas (this gets to be expensive and time consuming). The immigration office expressed doubt that we’d receive our resident visas due to a few words that the Mozambican Embassy in Washington D.C. forgot to handwrite to indicate the permission to be granted a D.I.R.E. But, He who promises is faithful. Our lives and ministry depend upon the mercy and word of our God. We are truly blessed and excited about the future opportunities that await us since we received our D.I.R.E.s.

Do you remember Lucia, the women filled with devils that I wrote about in a past blog? Well, she was saved last year, delivered, baptized and is living for Jesus. Her village invited some of the missions to come and preach the gospel after seeing the transformation that the Lord has begun to do in her life. Lucia is so filled with joy that she walks more than an hour to church (and another hour back home) in the hot sun and in pouring rain (along with one of her children strapped on her back).

This Saturday evening, Feb 2nd, (~ 11 AM EST) we will begin our first worship event in an Iris Ministry church in Lichinga called Igreja Comunhao na Colheita. This will be an event where we do nothing but worship. Worship will be in Portuguese (I’ve been learning lots of new songs). At first it will mainly include the church leadership and the missionaries from our center. Around the city of Lichinga, God is stirring up a hunger for His presence, power and glory unlike anything we’ve experience to date. We know and believe the Lord will meet us in a new way. Though the leadership in the church has a lot to learn, we are all in the same place of desperation and in dire need of fresh and constant revelation of the glory of God. All of us have chosen to lay ourselves out before the Lord, and see what God does with vessels that are totally abandoned because they have nothing else to do and nothing to prove.

Please pray that the Holy Spirit will transform all of our lives and the lives of the surrounding villages, that the city church will become a spring welling up with new life for the surrounding community, that these times of worship will also help start a fire that will bring the various Christian groups into the unity of the Spirit (to be a people that are Spirit-led and who only exist for the pleasure and presence of the Lord).

Over the last few weeks, I believe we’ve updated you on the “new” things that are happening. Going forward we’ll be looking forward to updating you on testimonies of the great things the Lord is doing in the village and city (especially with the children). Great things have been happening!

Our Lichinga Children Are Moving!!!

Yes, our Lichinga children are moving!!! All of them.

All of the 13 children that are currently at our center are from Malawi. All are orphans with 5 having neither dad or mom, and the rest only have their mom. (In Mozambique, orphans are children who lost one or both parents). While at our center, they have been cared for by their grandmother, moms, and other family members who over time have also come to live, work or volunteer at the center. The missionaries at our center have also helped in many ways to care for the children, and minister to the family as well.

The Lord has revealed to the family, and to us, that He has a much greater purpose for them that extends well beyond our children’s center/orphanage. They need to be released from the center so that can grow as a family, outside of a children’s center environment. The Lord has already provided land and a place for them to live.

A group of everyday working individuals from Australia have donated money to build a house for the sake of the children and the family members. The house is currently being built in a nearby village, Madaba, on property that was purchased for Auntie Violet (the grandmother). Our Lichinga children and the rest of the family should be able to move to their new home before the end of February.

YES, we will miss them greatly. But, it’s more important for the children to grow in their own family structure, and have an opportunity to fulfill the great call that God has placed on their family. All of the family who live at our center are saved, filled with the spirit, and have a passion to pursue the Lord.

The last blog included a section on microenterprise projects. These projects are to support the grandmother (Auntie Violet), the moms and an uncle (Moses), in starting income generating business to provide for the family (which will be trusting in God to provide for all of their needs once they move). Auntie Violet (who used to train chefs in hotels) is a great cook and seamstress. She’s had a vision from the Lord about leading women to Christ as she teaches them to sew. Her daughters would also like to take part in selling baked goods, and the uncle would like to start a small shop in the city. If you would like to help out in any way with a microenterprise project, please email us for more details (heartsforharvest@yahoo.com).

We bless the Lord for all that He is doing. We are still in the process of building the first girl’s house for the ~20 Mozambican orphan girls that the government is waiting to release to us. Finances are available, but we are praying for dedicated builders with hearts to build for the glory of God. (One of the main workers we had left without notice to work in another area of Mozambique. This happens a lot here). A lot of other great things are happening, but we wanted to share the good news about our Lichinga Family with you since it is very dear to our hearts.

Attached photos:

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON THE PHOTO IN YOUR EMAIL TO SEE THE OTHER 2 ATTACHED PHOTOES. 1)) Girls dorm (progress is being made but it still needs a lot of work)2) House in Madaba village (the house for our Lichinga family will be brick with a tin roof)3) Creative art by our Lichinga Children

MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP US SERVE

The Lord has many things planned for the Iris Ministry Children’s Center in Lichinga and for us. Many people have inquired about how they can help, and also have encouraged us to let people know how they can be a blessing. We’ve included a few of the top priority items that we’ve been praying about, and a few testimonies of the resources the Lord has already provided for the building of the center.


If you’re interested in helping in any of the areas below, please email us for more details. It may take us up to a week to respond (Tyren travels to town to use the internet because we do not have access from our village).


A HOUSE
We currently live in a white house on property that a local man has lent to the center leaders (rent free). Meanwhile the children’s center (orphanage) is being built up the hill on property that belongs to Iris Ministries. The leaders of our Iris Center already live on the new property. We have a great desire to move into that “promised land” and live within the children’s center property. We have two options: 1) The center’s leaders have offered us temporary lodging in a missions house that is being built. It will cost about $5000 U.S. to finish building it (see photo #1). Currently, no additional work is being done on it because no one has the funds to complete it.



2) The other option is to build our own house on a beautiful piece of land (we chose the spot, see photo #2) that the leaders have given us permission to build on. The cost to build the all cement house would be about $10,000 U.S. It wouldn’t be big, but will have all the essentials: 3 small bedrooms, a kitchen/dining area, and an indoor bathroom (no electricity/water manually drawn from a well). Whenever the Lord moves us to a different location, the house would become the property of Iris and would be used to house other missionaries. What a blessing!


TRANSPORTATION
We’ve asked the Lord for a truck both for our ministry purposes (evangelism teams and supplies) and for travelling together as a family. Currently, we can only go out as a family when the base leaders have invited us to go out with their family because they have the only vehicle that will hold all of us. We trust the Lord for a vehicle such as a 4-wheel drive, twin cab truck that will hold at least 4 people and get through the mud and water during rainy season. Quality used/new trucks (mainly Toyota/Nissan/Ford) can be purchased in the area.

Tyren has been using the motorbike to transport himself and one translator during city evangelism, and to purchase small supplies and quickly run errands. It’s a big blessing!

EVANGELISM

We’ll continue to purchase bibles, shoes/flip flops/clothes for the children, bible tracks in local languages and food for translators during evangelism. Usually the need for such items arises quickly, so we are not able to send a blog to give people opportunities to bless others in this area. We just bless people ourselves, and thank the Lord that we can live by faith and still be a blessing to others.

BUILDERS
Please let us know if you know how to build with cement/bricks and have a heart to invest a week or more to help build girls’ houses (for orphans), the dining hall/multi-purpose facility, our worship garden/center, etc. We can host individuals or teams onsite. We desire people that have a passion for the kingdom of God and have servant hearts to work unto the Lord.

MICRO-ENTERPRISE PROJECTS
We have a few micro-enterprise projects (small retail shop, sewing, food stand) that our center would like to begin for several men and women that currently work at our center, but will soon be moving out on their own. The projects will range from $50 - $100. Accountability, training and initial oversight, etc. would be given from missionaries at our center. If you’d like to help in this area, please contact us for full detailed information on the projects.

TESTIMONIES
Here are a few of the amazing testimonies of how the Lord is providing for the Iris Ministries’ center in Lichinga.

Mama Elena (a widow and our closest neighbor) passed away while we were in the U.S. Before going home to be with Jesus, she told her family that she wanted our children’s center to have her property. An Australian Organization (the leaders of the center are from Australia) donated most of the $3000 U.S. dollars needed to purchase the property which includes a house, a well, 5 hectares, fruit trees and vegetable gardens . The property is next to the children’s center property, and will be the future site of the Pastoral/Ministry Training Center.

The same Australian Organization donated $2500 Aust. dollars this week to build the Dining Hall/Multi-purpose center for the children’s center .

Last week, someone from the U.S. donated $5000 to build a playground and other recreational facilities for the Mozambican orphans that we will soon have at our site.

All these things are an answer to prayer. The Lord has specific things He desires to do at the center, and has been faithfully sending people to donate their time, skills and finances. For additional information on any of the opportunities mentioned above, please contact us: heartsforharvest@yahoo.com. Thank you for believing God with us and for keeping us in your prayers. We rejoice in the faithfulness of God through you, as we glorify the Lord together and see His Kingdom changing lives in Mozambique.

For His Glory,

Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

The New Year Has Begun

Our church was decorated with balloons and flowers as we held a special service to celebrate Christmas. There was a lot of singing followed by dramas. Dramas seem to be the thing to do on special occasions. Service was followed by a rice and chicken lunch for the entire church family which consists of our center and people from surrounding villages. On Christmas Eve our center had a special dinner, spaghetti (you might be wondering what we usually eat), followed by a time of worship. On Christmas day, the entire Haynes family walked to Asumani village to celebrate Christmas with one of the church families. We praised and danced unto the Lord in the village street. Many of the children who knew the Lord came and joined us in celebrating our Savior.

Around the holidays we, the missionaries at our center, continued to preach and also spent some days fasting. Our ministry can not stop. We live in a Muslim area that is also steeped in many practices and traditions of the local Jao people. This time of year is also one of the set times when people march down the street with drums and singing to celebrate the Jao tradition called Nuongu – the customary practice to prepare children for “adulthood”. Children are sent (sometimes without the parents consent) out into the bush for 4 – 6 weeks to be circumcised (boys), offer animal sacrifices, and both the little boys and girls go through sexual abuse and other practices involving witchcraft.

The Holy Spirit comforts our hearts by assuring us that He has chosen the children to be His, and the purposes and plans He has for the people are for their good and for the preservation of future generations. During evangelism in the city and villages, the Lord has been bringing both adults and children into the kingdom. On January 9th, a bunch of children came into the church where I was worshipping, and waiting for Victor, a translator and part of our evangelism team. The Lord gave me a simple, new worship song in Portuguese. (My translator was surprised). I sung it and taught it to these children. Last Friday, I was preaching in Asumani Village to children and adults who ONLY SPOKE JAO. While two women were speaking Jao, I only heard perfect American English. The Holy Spirit translated every into English for me. One of the Jao women said to the other, “Come with me and stand over here. We need to listen to what He is saying.” One of our young boys, Maton, couldn’t translate everything I was saying into Jao. Amazed at what the Lord did for me, I begin to preach in English. I was even more amazed that after I was done, the people kept waiting for more. I wondered if the Lord was translating my English into Jao for them! The people never left, so we said good-bye and continued our ministry in the village. Even though I’m studying Portuguese, I still believe for supernatural impartation of the Portuguese and Jao languages.

Thank you for your prayers and support. Many new and great things are happening here, and more is on the horizon. We continue to pray for you. Pray for us that we’ll boldly enter into the glory the Lord is revealing to us, and that the Lord will perform healings and miracles among the people of Lichinga, Mozambique.

All for the glory that is already His,

Tyren