Key To The City - Mercy

My heart yearns for several people in the market. Among them is a man who wears the same ripped shirt and shorts everyday, and plastic bags are tied around his ankles. People at the market call him crazy and pay him no mind. Sometimes, he suddenly yells and shouts at people and gets very angry. Other times he walks around talking to himself. He is oppressed by devils. People tell me that he was cursed years ago, and that’s when he started acting like that. The Lord has been giving me a heart for him. (Weeks ago I was able to approach him and tell him about the gospel. He immediately calmed down, his demeanor changed and he listed intently. As soon as I finished telling him all that the Holy Spirit put in my heart, he began getting angry and shouting at Victor (my translator) and myself.) I often pray for him. Recently the Lord answered another prayer for him. I’ve been having a desire just to walk up to him and hug him! One day at the market he came right up to me and stood next to me without making a sound. I knew the Holy Spirit had been dealing with his heart. I spoke in English telling him about his need to surrender his life to Jesus. Then, I looked him in the eye, and I knew what he needed. I hugged him, and just hung on him and loved him as I prayed for him. He smiled, and I walked away holding back tears because I can’t stand seeing him in that condition. The kingdom of God infiltrated his life that day. It was so exciting to see Jesus move upon His life in such a special way. Please pray for Him. I know Jesus is going to deliver him.

The Lord told me that he has given me a “key” to the city and the villages. The key he gave me for the city was mercy. As the Lord continues to give me more of His heart for the city, my own life is being transformed to love Jesus more and more. My love and honor for other people has also grown. Jesus has been giving us opportunities to feed the poor, bring children to Jesus, pray for the sick, and have compassion on those who are said to be “crazy”. Many times we get to encourage believers to live for the Lord.

For instance, last week I walked into a store, looked at a lady who worked there, and heard the Holy Spirit say, “Why aren’t you living for God”. So, I walked up to the lady, and asked her that in a nice way. She bowed her head and said that she works a lot, and doesn’t have time to do the things she wants to do for the Lord. She knows she needs to go to a church but hasn’t been going. This past Sunday, she went to a church Victor referred to her. She enjoyed herself and has committed herself to going there regularly.

These are just a couple of the many ways the Lord has been moving in the city. Thank you so much for your prayers, and all the other daily support you give to us. You are so precious to us, and we thank the Lord for His faithfulness and your willingness in helping us make the testimony of Jesus Christ a reality in lives of the people in Mozambique.

VIDEO CLIP ONLINE:Thanks to the Lord and our church, CLG, there’s a 3 minute video (available online) about our first few months in Lichinga, Mozambique. Go to the URL (see below), and click on the link to download the video clip to your computer so you can view it. The video was created by Tiffany and I last November 2007. The writing may be very hard to read (sorry), but hopefully you’ll get to learn a little more about our lives here.http://www.clgonline.net/blogs.html

Updates From The Field

At any given time, so many things are always going on here. The past two weeks, I’ve had to cut back on evangelism and teaching in the villages and the city. The base leader, Peter, got into a motorbike accident, and dislocated his shoulder and had to have it plastered (in a cast) for several weeks. The past two weeks I’ve been shuttling him around on my motorbike (we all thank the Lord for that gift). Secondly, we’ve had to temporarily suspend village evangelism until Peter can meet with a certain governmental person who supervises village activities. In addition to Peter’s meeting with village chiefs (and the governmental secretaries), we’ll have to get governmental “clearance” from the area supervisor to evangelize in villages. But, the city is different so I continue to freely evangelize in the central market (open outdoor stands where fruits, vegetables, toiletries and other small supplies are sold). I haven’t been spending as much time ministering in the markets, so I can help Peter get around for him to continue doing administrative things. (The other missionaries, Jesse and Tanya Gallantly, have been in Malawi the past 2 weeks to begin the process of applying for their D.I.R.E.s (resident visas).

We’ve also had to postpone the start of the worship event in the city church on Saturday nights. But, please continue to pray for it. The main reason was that Peter’s old car stopped working (after being repeatedly fixed), and the headlights also don’t work. (Of course, in his current condition he can’t drive). Everyone can’t be transported to the city, and there’s no way to transport the generator for lights, etc. We are resting in the Lord, knowing that He will make a way. In the meantime, we are all forging ahead in the other areas of ministry.

Praise the Lord! We’ve found a builder to begin constructing our house. All of who you have been involved in building know what I’m going through. And, I have an amazing joy. After praying about the type of house the Lord wanted, I had to draw out the plan and details of the house by hand, and then find out the cost of all the materials to make sure we had enough. The Holy Spirit continues to tell me, “There is always enough.” The Lord showed me part of the house twice during times of worship. The house is being built for the pleasure of the Lord. In the inside, we are incorporating wood panels for the walls which is unusual for houses in this area. More than anything, we are excited about what the Lord is speaking to us and His people through the building of this house. If all goes well, the house will be completed by June/July in a record 3-4 months (all the other building projects on the base have taken a year or more).

Just in case anyone is interested (and my wife keeps telling me that I should let people know prices in case they want further details on helping out), we found prices for one of the items, a twin-cab 4-wheel drive truck, on the ministry support list that we sent in an earlier blog. A missionary is selling a used twin cab, 4-wheel drive truck for $15,000. Other than that, the normal prices that we are finding out (after checking with other missionaries and the reputable Toyota dealership) are anywhere between $35,000 for a new basic twin-cab to ~$60,000 for other twin cabs and Land Rovers. Of course, new is better around here. As with everything else, we rest in the Lord concerning this also.

Prayer and Praise report:* Please continue to pray for Peter. At times he still feels a lot of pain in his arm. We pray for complete healing.* Please pray that we can continue with village evangelism soon. I long to minister to the children and spend time with them. At the moment, I’m not allowed to even walk through the villages.* Please pray that people will not only receive Christ but become true disciples of Jesus. True commitment is found in surrender, and surrender only occurs when one continues to choose to love the Lord above every other thought, idea and motivation, thing, etc.