Testimonies: Iris Congolese Pastors/Leaders from the Refugee Camp

The following testimonies are collected from the 21 Congolese pastors/leaders who currently live in one of the refugee camps in Tanzania. I wanted to get more of their stories, but after one woman spoke for the group, many of the other pastors could not bear listening to more. I’m sharing these testimonies so that you can see how precious the name of Jesus is, and how some people have chosen to trust in the only hope there is, Jesus Christ, even in the midst of unimaginable suffering that many of us who live in the U.S. and other “western” countries may never experience or even consider.



Pastor Deus (to my right), His wife (black t-shirt), me
and many of Iris pastors from the camp

 Beatrice, one of the 21 Congolese Iris pastors/leaders who came from the camp, was speaking about the previous and on-going wars in the Congo, its effect on their lives, and the poor conditions of life in the camp. She said, “I don’t know what we’ve done against the Lord to deserve this…our situation is so bad [speaking even of their current life in the refugee camp],” and then she said “because of the war, maybe we thought that God doesn’t [present tense] love us, but when we came to Mwanza [the seminar] we realized that God loves us”. I stopped her and asked the translator to make sure he had translated her words correctly. Then, I realized that Jesus was doing even greater things during the conference than what I imagined. Below are some of the stories that I was able to get from the group of Congolese pastors in their words.


“When the war came to our villages, everyone just ran away. You woke up without clothes on and you ran. Husbands generally leave their families. But, because of their heart for their children, the mothers try to run with their children. Often the children run away by themselves, and we don’t know where our husbands and children are. Some of us made it to Tanzania, but you cry because you are alone. People come and tell you that your whole family is dead.” She said for years the soldiers took them [the women], and used them in a bad way [when I asked some about this afterwards they told me the soldiers raped the women and did many things to them]. Sometimes the soldiers took whole families and burned them in the house. The soldiers found women who were pregnant and cut the baby out, and just left the women lying there. Sometimes the soldiers would cut off your hand, arm(s), put your eyes out and just leave you there. Children were put in flour sacks, which were tied then thrown into the water. Beatrice herself had 5 children, which were killed right in front of her face. She said she was told this story in the camp: a woman ran with her children when the soldiers came into her village, but her 6 month old baby was crying and she couldn’t get the baby to stop. The soldiers were still around her, so she killed her 6 month old baby herself to save the rest of her children who were with her. Some people got a chance to reach the camps. Some people came to the refugee camp naked because they just woke up in the middle of the night and ran when the soldiers came. “The government helped us by receiving us into the camps.”


But now [many years later], the government is trying to close the camps where the Congolese pastors live. One older man sadly admitted, “In the camp I pray a lot, but really, I just complain. I’m just telling you the truth.” The food is spoiled. There’s not enough food. Many don’t have charcoal to cook the flour. (For you my readers, you’ll have to understand that boiled flour made from dried corn and beans is very common in our part of Africa. It’s what you eat most of the time). Each person gets about 3 ½ lbs. (1 ½ kilos) of the flour to eat for 2 weeks. Many parents give most of their food to their children and when parents don’t have enough food, they sleep during the day. They said that they can’t leave the camp when they want to [Pastor Deus was able to help them get special permission to come to the seminar but they had to return immediately]. Even though they received official permission, they were still made to pay money before they were allowed to leave the camp. One pastor said that he had only left the camp twice in 3 years – both times for a seminar. Because the government is closing the camp, half of their group of Congolese pastors in the camp already had to leave. The rest feared leaving because the war is still going on in their parts of the Congo. Because the government wants the refugees to return to the Congo, they closed down the market [where people can get food], and are not allowing people to plant food around their homes.


During the conference, some of the pastor’s daughters were calling them from the camp because they had been 2 days without any food. One called and said, “We don’t’ have any food or anything. What can we eat? What will we do?” (When I was told this, the pastors had 5 more days before they’d return home). Remember, I just wanted you to hear their stories to see that even in the face of difficulties, these men and women continue to believe and hope in Christ. That’s why they came to the conference. (Some might be wondering why the camps are closing down and have many more questions…but this blog isn’t about providing comments, questions or answers on their current situation in the camp or the camp. My joy was to encourage these pastors and minister life, love and healing to them, and help teach and empower them to believe in all the wonderful things Jesus wants to do with their lives now).


Remember, Friday afternoon, we had a special time of ministry to the Congolese pastors. Can you imagine how I felt standing in front of them with a word, a prophetic word, for their good and their future? The Holy Spirit came with love and power that afternoon, and we rejoiced and danced. I know that Jesus continued bringing healing that day, but that much more healing will follow as they continue to pursue the One they love.


I asked the head pastor of the group why he and the group came. He had also lost children because of the war. He said that all 21 pastors had borrowed 34,000 Shillings (about $23 USD) each to pay for transport to come to the conference. They all went around to many people in the camp until they each collected enough money. They borrowed the money to come even though they knew that I would only pay their return fare back. They also knew that they had no way to pay back the borrowed money, but they all borrowed the money anyway. When I had Pastor Deus remind them that all the pastors had to pay their own fare to the conference, but I was only paying their return fare (because that was the original agreement) some pastors cried. They knew they had no way to pay back the money. The head pastor told me that he came to the conference because he knew he would receive encouragement and would be able to take that back to the camp. When I heard that, the Lord told me that was “boldness”. The Lord blessed them for their boldness. Both, my wife and I knew we had to give them money to pay back their loans, so that’s what we did for all 21 Congolese pastors. Of course, that was well beyond the budget we had to spend for the conference. We also gave them money for food during their return journey (as we did with the other pastors). I learned many things from the Congolese pastors, but their example of boldness stood out the most. I have met these pastors, and despite what they are going through, they are mighty men and women of God with ministries and purposes in the camp and a future beyond. They try their best to sell vegetables, and do other things like knit clothes to sell, or visit the sick in the camp. They are mothers and fathers physically and spiritually caring for adults and children who are not naturally part of their families. They are leaders who are bringing vision, restoration and hope to hundreds and thousands. They are contending for the lives of their families and friends, and for the sake of bringing the Word of life (the Gospel) to many others who are in the camp. They are heroes.

In our final session with them we talked about the value of suffering for Christ (as the Word of God talks about it, 1 Peter 4:12-16, 19; Philippians 1:29; 2 Corinthians 7:4). I told them what they already knew, that as they continue to live for Jesus at all and any cost, some might have to leave the camp and may be killed in the Congo, others would continue experiencing times of hunger and having no food, and suffer other harm (for His glory, 1 Peter 4:13-14). But, I believe many had already made their decision. They would consider preaching the gospel a privilege, and go wherever Jesus sent them, even if they had to be killed while serving the one they love, Jesus Christ, who first loved them and laid down His life that they might have an everlasting and eternal life through Him. “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24 (NKJV)
His love and joy endures, even in the face of suffering and martyrdom.


Tyren and Tiffany Haynes



Congolese leader praising God during the conference



Special prayer line, "Fire Tunnel".  Iris Ministries pastors praying for their fellow Iris pastors/leaders from the camp.



Special prayer time for one of the Iris Congolese leaders



Evangelism: Carrying Love and Honor to Whom God Longs to Give It

Our time of evangelism was about Jesus teaching us and giving us the priviledge of carrying His heart to people around us.



Praying for visitors who came to the church

 During the conference, on the afternoons of May 11 – 12, the pastors went on the streets and conducted house to house evangelism. The second afternoon, the pastors were tired, and so I prayed to ask the Lord if I should send them out. I didn’t think that it was the best idea to send tired pastors out to contend against spiritual darkness. Then, several times the Lord showed me a multitude of people who were taken captive and were being led to do hard labor. They were being oppressed. Then I saw a lion, who I knew symbolized the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (our Lord), that was watching the oppression, and it was full of anger because of what was being done. Through the vision, I knew the Lord was showing me that the pastors needed to go out because He wanted to free people from the oppression of the enemy. I gave the pastors the freedom to go out as the Lord led them. I reminded them to love their neighbors, whether they were angry, rude, drunk or uninterested, and to try to help them in whatever need they had. These are some of the testimonies from their evangelism times.  Of all the testimonies the ones that made me rejoice the most were when the pastors testified, "...but, we remembered what you said about the love of God and loving people."  Hallelujah!  They had understood that because God first loved us (1 John 4:19), we can love Him, and our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31).  Pictures from one of our church services are attached at the end of this blog.

Salvations and Healings

• After sharing the gospel with a woman, she began to want to know more about Jesus.

• A boy accepted Jesus as his Savior.

• One group returned with a list of 25 people who had received Jesus.

• A whole family who were merely devout religious people (they went to a specific church) received Jesus.

• Met a rich man who told the pastors that he loved the word of God but he feels like it never enters his heart. The rich man told them that a priest passed by and shared the word of God to help him in his bad situation, but it wasn’t like the word he was receiving now. He also told the pastors, “I have two wives. What can I do to receive the blessing of God?” They shared the gospel, and the man received Jesus. The pastors told him to start going to church, and God will tell him what to do about his bad situation of having two wives.

• Went to a home of religious people (they went to specific church, but never received Jesus as their Savior). They had been using witchcraft and were involved in immorality. The people in the house received Jesus, and a sick person was also healed.

• They went to a home of a woman who went to a specific church (but didn’t know Jesus). After her sick child was healed in front of her eyes, the woman gave her life to Jesus.

• People in the house didn’t want to hear the gospel. The pastors prayed for the bad spirit against the word of God to leave. Then, the people changed their minds and wanted to hear the gospel. They also accepted prayer and then asked the pastors to share more verses from the Bible with them.

• A woman selling peanuts on the side of the road accepted Jesus. She said she didn’t have time for church. They encouraged her to take time to go to church.

• Muslim woman didn’t want to hear the word. They showed her love, and afterwards she accepted Jesus as her Savior.

Miracles and Healings

• The second day of evangelism, one pastor was very tired and didn’t want to evangelize. But, the other pastors encouraged him to go. He joyfully gave these testimonies from his group: They prayed for an old paralyzed woman. She was healed. They also met a man who had crutches. He told them that he didn’t want crutches, but wanted to get up and walk. When they prayed for him, he started running. He told them that he went to a lot of hospitals, but none of them could help him.

• A man had “sugar”, his eyes were not well, and he used witchcraft (to try to get healed). After sharing the gospel, the man burned his witchcraft items and received Jesus. The Lord also healed his eyes and he could see well again.

• A man with a tumor was healed. The tumor was gone.

• A woman came to church to testify after a group of pastors prayed for her family members. Her sick husband was healed.

• Went to a house where people were merely religious. Tried to help them understand their need to receive Jesus as their Savior. A paralyzed man who could not walk or speak was healed. He stood up on his feet.

• Another man with a tumor was healed.

• For 7 years a woman could not have children (in her case it wasn’t because of natural causes). They went to pray for her and the demons said, “We closed up the womb of the woman.” They cast the demons out.

• A pastor testified: The first day our group went out, we saw 25 people saved. But today, God was doing many miracles. A woman with crutches was healed. The whole family gave their lives to Jesus.

I hope these testimonies will encourage you and help you see the reality of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ in everyday people like you and I. The Lord did so much more, both outside the church and during the services, including emotional and physical healings, repentance, and casting out demons. Thank you for the part you played in lavishing the love of God on children and adults, and helping the kingdom of God go forth in life changing and community changing power.



We began every session worshipping our precious Jesus

In His presence, we often ministered to one another...

 

We were not ashamed to cry out to Jesus as He loved on us...

 

We sought Him...



and He did not want to let us go...

 Thank you for partnering with us...all for Jesus!

Love,

Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

Tanzania 2011 - Brief Update of Conference

I know many of you have been waiting for our blogs about Tanzania – 2011. Some of you may be willing to read more than others, so during the next couple of days, we’ll post several blogs. You can choose what you want to read. But we greatly encourage you to read the testimonies of the Congolese pastors and the afternoon evangelisms. For now, here’s the first blog with a brief overview of the Conference.


Pastors with their new Iris Ministries T-shirts

 The "Love, Honor and Glory Seminar" in Tanzania was powerful, wonderful and full of the presence of God and fun. 39 Iris pastors/leaders came including 21 pastors/leaders who fled the war devastation in the Congo and currently live in heart-wrenching and impoverished conditions in a refugee camp in Tanzania. Some non-Iris pastors and visitors also attended. In a few days, we’ll post a blog with testimonies from the Congolese pastors (you’ll definitely want to read those stories). The Iris pastors had 3 meals a day, but I know that some days during the conference (May 9 -15) we fed at least 60 -70 people for lunch, most likely more. We fed a lot of neighbors, mostly children, whom I was told didn’t have enough food to eat (how could I say no to them?). They even had ice cream on Saturday.  We had rice, ground corn made like mashed potatoes (or made of flour from dried cassava), cabbage, beans, other vegetables, fish, and a few days we had beef.

May 10 - 13, I taught twice a day besides special meetings with some pastors. Friday afternoon was a special teaching and ministry time for the Congolese pastors. The pastors also acted very well in our 21st century drama of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Each day before the teaching sessions, we spent time in worship, hosting the presence of God as He refreshed us and filled us with love, joy, peace, vision, and brought physical and emotional healing to the pastors and visitors. During these times the pastors were encouraged to minister to one another, and the Lord gave prophetic words and visions about many things including the work He wanted to complete in Tanzania. Once again, after the teaching sessions the Holy Spirit would fill us with His love and presence. The last two days of the conference, Saturday and Sunday, we showed the "Jesus" film and then "The Passion of the Christ".
For two afternoons, I sent the pastors out into the dusty streets to carry the love of God to everyday people. The pastors carried the love of God in such a tangible way that muslims, other unbelievers and religious people could receive the love of Jesus. For two afternoons, the pastors brought back amazing stories of salvations, hardened hearts opening, healings and demons being cast out of people. These testimonies I will also share in a separate blog.



Raise your hand if this is your first time tasting ice cream!



Smiles and joy eating ice cream and chocolate





Special Pastor’s Day/Gifts

Saturday was a special day for the pastors to meet with the Director of Iris Tanzania, Pastor Deus Elias, to talk, eat and have fun. Saturday, the pastors were served their 3 meals including the highly prized tender beef (beef is widely available in Mwanza and is cheaper than chicken), pineapples, cookies and soda. Of course, all the pastors had their share of 20 liters of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry/vanilla mixed) and each had their own Cadbury chocolate candy bar. For most of the pastors, this was the first time they had tasted ice cream. The pastors were very excited to also receive T-shirts with the Iris logo that were especially donated by Iris Ministries. Each one then received an 8x12 group photo of all the pastors who had attended the conference.


Receiving Bibles on the 2nd day of the Conference

 Receiving a "Blank Check"
While I was in Tanzania, someone contacted my wife and told her to tell me that whatever I felt like doing for the pastors to go ahead and do it, and she’d pay for it. “Blank checks” are good, really good gifts to place at the feet of Jesus. So, I was able to do what Jesus put on my heart - purchase 35 Bibles and covers for pastors who needed one. Shouts, smiles, dancing and praise to God filled the room as we handed out the Bibles. After receiving a Bible, one pastor shared a dream he had beforehand about receiving a Bible at a conference where "someone was teaching a mighty word of God". He was elated when he received his Bible seeing that the things the Lord shared with him in the dream had come to pass.

We thank you once again for all of your prayers and financial support for Tanzania 2011. It was a mighty work that involved the love of so many people, like you, who willingly poured out their own hearts to support the Iris pastors in Tanzania. So many pastors voiced their excitement of returning back to their villages to share all that they experienced with renewed vision and strength.

Thank you again, and be looking forward to our other blogs - testimonies of Tanzania 2011 – love, honor and glory.

Love and blessings,
Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

Let the Conference Begin!

Below are some updates from Tyren about his time in Tanzania: 

Preparation Time
Things were really busy Tyren's first few days in Mwanza. It takes a lot of people to complete all of the physical details necessary to prepare for the seminar. Friday and Saturday, they shopped for plates, spoons and bowls for 50 people. Then they shopped for 50 notebooks and pens. Pastor Deus and his wife went out to buy rice, cema flour from maize and from dried cassava for 50 people. Pastor Deus said they needed 10 cooks/helpers to prepare food 3 times a day, wash dishes, and carry water. Water has to be purchased down the hill and then carried up the hill to the church for at least 50 people: that’s for drinking, washing hands, washing dishes and cooking. The water will be boiled for all the pastors since it is not always safe to drink the water without boiling it.


Lodging
The pastors will be staying in 3 different lodges. They are traveling from a few minutes to a day or two away. Tyren and Pastor Deus decided to have bottled water and bananas in their rooms just for Monday (because most are traveling from far away). They also hope to find name tags so the pastors can know each other's names.  This is the first time in over 9 years that all the pastors will be getting together in the same place.

New Church Opening
Yesterday (Sunday), Pastor Deus held the official opening for the new church location in Mwanza. He insisted that Tyren preach for the opening, so God gave him a word that was just for the church.

Act of Love
It was on Tyren's heart to honor Pastor Deus and his family. He kept thinking that it would be nice to treat them to dinner. Since they (along with Tyren) have a lot of work to do, while he and his wife were out supply shopping for the seminar, Tyren cooked curried vegetables over rice (over 4 lbs) for his family of 8. Either God multiplied the food, or he just cooked way too much. They ate a lot that night, then shared it with neighbors and friends.  Still there was a little left over for some people to have it for lunch the next day!

We continue to thank all of you so much for your prayers and support, and for helping us prepare the way for an outpouring in Tanzania.

 
Hallelujah!  God is doing great things in Tanzania!  Let His shout be heard in Tanzania!
 
Blessings!
Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

The Lord Gave a Dream about Tanzania 2011

The Lord speaks through dreams, and He also gives the interpretations. The Lord spoke to Tiffany about my upcoming Tanzania trip via a dream. We'll skip some of the details and just tell you the main points. The dream started like this...The first day of the conference started in a huge banquet hall and everything was being catered. Everything in the banquet hall was really nice. Tiffany was there eating. After the main meal, which was wonderful, the waiters began to serve dessert - vanilla soft serve ice cream in a dish (it was really good and creamy). Minutes later the waiters came out again, this time, serving the same ice cream in a dish, but dipped in chocolate (it had the hard chocolate coating). Tiffany thought to herself that if she had known they had the chocolate covered soft serve, she would have waited. Even though Tiffany already had a serving of ice cream, the waiters allowed her to have the chocolate covered one also. I was also in the banquet hall sitting next to Tiffany. Tiffany turned to me and said, "See, you got ice cream on the first day of the conference and you thought ice cream had to wait for the finale". Then she said, "God said that His beginning point for the conference (ie. ice cream) was what you thought that you would only be able to accomplish at the end. Lift your expectations for this conference. Your highest expectations will be My starting point and it will only go higher (get better) from there."

Actually, I was thinking about having ice cream, chocolate and other things on the last day (when I would be sure we could still afford them). But, I know that the Lord is going to do greater things (in teaching and ministry times, and in all of our hearts) than what I thought starting right at the beginning of the conference. I am praying for the Lord to help me raise my expectations. May He raise all of our expectations. The glory of the Lord will be there. I know all of us at the conference will be surprised, awed, full of joy and in holy expectation. Please pray for the conference and for me. May the Lord stir you up to pray beyond your own imaginations. It's going to be great!

To help you pray during the conference, here's a tentative plan of some things that will be going on. Please, just be sensitive to the Lord for the great things He'll share with you to pray about. I'm not sure how often we'll be able to give you updates during the conference, but we'll try to let you know about the great things the Lord will be doing.

DATES        ACTIVITIES
May 5-9        In Tanzania, preparing for the conference. Buying initial food (for feeding pastors) and supplies. Meeting with Director
May 9-13      Pastors arrive, conference begins. Part one (Tyren's teaching and ministry) ends on May 13.
May 14-15    2nd part of conference. Director meeting with his pastors for fellowship, sharing vision, etc.
May 16         Pastors leave to return to their villages
May 16-18    After-conference activities (wrap up)


Blessings and love upon all of you who have been donating to Tanzania 2011. Thank you, thank you for all of you who are praying for the conference. You are truly helping to give these pastors a beautiful time, and a life changing encounter with the Lord.  Believe God!

Shout for Tanzania 2011! The Lord is going to do awesome things.

Love,

Tyren and Tiffany Haynes