Tanzania 2012 - Leadership Seminar “Casting Vision”



National leaders and their wives (including Pastor Deus
 and his wife, Elizabeth)



As with the Maasai Land ministry, only the Lord could complete the planning and activities of the training. Due to canceled flights and other things, once again our plans fell through. But, we rejoiced in the opportunity to depend upon God who wanted a training that only He could give. Giving the leadership training was an opportunity to partner with Iris Ministries Tanzania to train their national leaders, and give them tools to help strengthen and direct the ministry during a time when the Lord was expanding their vision. The theme of the seminar was “Casting Vision”, and I was able to have the main teaching written out and translated into Swahili. The 4 national leaders and their wives attended the leadership seminar. These leaders live hours outside of the city in villages, and many can’t afford school fees for their kids or even everyday practical things. But, thanks to the help of many generous people, their costs of travelling to the city weren’t an extra burden on them. We were able to pay for their full costs to travel to/from Mwanza, along with all of their meals and lodging for 5 days. This seminar was a time of spiritual and physical refreshing and strengthening, so it also included a women’s afternoon out in the city (each wife received a donation to enjoy her afternoon), and a Saturday luncheon for all of the leaders and their wives at a restaurant.



Eating out at a local restaurant



The presence of God was upon our meetings in a special way. I also covered such things as abiding, rest (Hebrews 4:10), and how to continue to minister in an outpouring. We experienced the first new waves of deeper worship and His presence that the Lord is bringing to Iris Tanzania. Before leaving Tanzania, I spent the last two days hanging out with Pastor Deus (relationship is an important part of ministry), and talking about how I can continue to partner with Iris Tanzania to help them walk in their destiny. For the last three years, the Lord has been pouring out life changing opportunities during my times in Tanzania. We will continue to partner with Iris Ministries Tanzania and continue to receive whatever the Lord desires to pour out upon us through His Holy Spirit. To God be all the glory.

Love,

Tyren and Tiffany Haynes



One of the meals that we ate during the training



We fed adults and children that attended the Sunday Church Service



Maasai Land 2012 – Testimonies of the Conference



Maasai man at a neighbor's house

During the planning, and actually the trip itself, all of our own plans and schedules fell apart, and we saw that if anything was going to happen, God would have to both organize and fulfill it. With our eyes on the Master, we yielded the conference to the Lord and were awed by what the Lord did though we had nothing to offer. The night before I left for Tanzania, a woman called us from America. The Lord had shown her the hunger and brokenness of the Maasai people. She didn’t have a lot of money and had recently given up her job, but she decided to give all the money she had saved from her last check for my trip to Maasai Land. Before that night, I had money for the pastor’s leadership seminar but didn’t have any money to travel to Maasai Land and hold the conference. Though I still had far less money than the estimate I had received, the Lord worked things out so that the amount this person gave was just enough for all that we needed. This was just a foretaste, a testimony, of how the Lord would reveal His glory if we only believed in Him, and chose to trust in Him for everything.


Ministry Times

Standing with friends holding weapons

The first full day in Maasai Land was spent visiting people and various church leaders wanted to interview and meet me in person before I was allowed to do anything in the area. Then, for three days we held the conference in the mid-afternoon. I taught about salvation and relationship with God, but my main teaching and focus of the conference was on outpourings of the Holy Spirit - holy fire and love. From the testimonies we received, we know of no sick people who had come for prayer that weren’t healed. Nearly everyone we asked was instantly healed. The Maasai were already full of love, but throughout the conference they were challenged to love God and one another even more. As people turned their hearts to the Lord, the Holy Spirit sent fresh outpourings of love and fire upon people’s hearts. It was truly amazing. The last day of the conference, we had believers turn toward one another, and repent on behalf of the land for the pride and division that had crept into the area. For two years, rain has failed to adequately fall on their land. If they continue in the love the Lord has released into their hearts, we believe that rain will fall in abundance this coming rainy season (2 Chronicles 7:14). People were so hungry to grow in the Lord that every night, as late as 10:00 p.m., a group of various adults and children came to my tent asking to hear the word of God, and receive prayer and ministry. Through their hunger, I learned so much. We were also invited to minister at Ilkilakuno International Ministries. Through much suffering and even beatings, the leaders of this ministry had started one church and in six years it had grown to 40 churches. Before I left, I was given an open door to return and minister, even in the much deeper areas of the bush.

The Lord did many new and unusual things during the ministry times. We found that the Lord was more interested in revealing Himself (His glory) to the people He loved and drawing them to Himself rather than simply healing them. Here are a few testimonies.
• A woman brought material for me to pray over, so that she could lay it on a sick person at home. But, the Lord wanted to show her that she could be used by God. Instead of praying for the cloth, I prayed for the woman (no one touched the woman as I prayed for her). According to the word of the Lord, I instructed her to go home and put the cloth on the person, and declare healing in Jesus’ name. She did so. The sick man was completely healed.
• A woman had stomach pain. God gave a prophetic word over her life concerning worship. She believed the word. No one ever prayed for her healing, but instantly she was healed, and could move around without pain.
• During an unusual night meeting, the fire of God was falling. I instructed one man to shout, “Hallelujah!” For a while he refused, but then he simply said it without shouting it. Suddenly, God gave a prophetic word about the call of God on this man’s life. The next day, Sunday, the man, who was an unbeliever, went to church and surrendered his life to Christ.



In my host's yard:  view outside and around my tent

 My Daily Life in the African Bush
This is only a glimpse of what I experienced. Pastor Deus and I stayed with a beautiful Maasai family whose love and care for us exceeded anything that I expected. The Lord gave me extra grace to experience His beauty in the midst of situations that I never dreamed of finding myself in. I slept in my tent, and pastor Deus slept in a hut (because I wasn't able to buy a tent for him in Tanzania).  In the area where I pitched my tent, the bathroom was the African bush (we shared it with the domestic and wild animals). This had its own beauty in a sort of way. It was dry season, and I was told that lions and most of their prey had moved on to other parts of the bush. Needless to say, at night time my “bathroom” was very close to my tent. A few times fear tried to enter my heart, since all I had to sleep in was a nylon tent with a zipper. But, the Lord’s peace was the greatest security. The Maasai are herdsmen, and sleep in their mud huts with a locked wooden door and weapons (knives and spears) inside. It’s cultural for them to carry weapons as they care for their cattle out in the bush. African bulls, as well as other wild animals, visit the water hole which was only about a 10 minute walk from our host family’s land. One night, an African bull came very close by, but I was peacefully sleeping and didn’t hear it or see it. In other parts of the land, I got to see giraffes, monkeys, mongoose type animals (they were my neighbors), ostriches and many others. There was no clean water to drink. Every morning, we drank heated milk (fresh from the cow) with sugar and tea in it. This was the creamiest milk I ever tasted. Hundreds of people, and even more animals (cows, goats, sheep and the wild animals), had one water hole which was contaminated with animal waste and other stuff. For many, it is far away from their homes, but the nearest water source. Yet, this was the only water available to bathe in, wash clothes, dishes, etc., and to wash hands in before eating. Please join us in believing and praying that our Lord would do something wonderful and provide this area with clean drinking water for their herds as well as for their families.


Water hole where we got water


Thank you for your faith, vigilance in prayer, and unfailing support. As the Lord leads, continue to pray for the Maasai. Their destiny is great and they have so much to offer the world. Iris Tanzania desires to continue to partner with Maasai believers to teach, train and empower them to fulfill the call of God on their lives.

You can click on the photo below to see the photos online.  We'll let you know when we can put video online.

Tanzania 2012 - A Great Adventure

Thank you for helping us to go on this life changing adventure.
With love, Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

Maasai Land 2012 – A Great Adventure



Sitting in front of a house with older men who were neighbors
 of the family we lived with during the week

Hallelujah! I’m back in Lichinga. Ministry in Maasai Land was beyond anything that I've ever experienced! The leadership seminar was also amazing. In a few days, I’ll send out two separate blogs: one on Maasai Land and the other on the Iris Tanzania Leadership seminar in Mwanza. We’ll also try to put photos and video out on the web for you to view.

Thank you so much for praying for us. In many parts of the journey, Pastor Deus and I faced new challenges and intense spiritual opposition which gave us the opportunity to release the greater things God has put inside of us.  Nothing worked out as we originally planned (we even had flights cancelled the day of the flight), so we could only depend upon the Lord to work out the daily details of the Maasai land trip and leadership training.  But, this gave us the perfect opportunity to see His glory. The Lord showed up marvelously.



Leadership Seminar for the Iris Ministries Tanzania leaders

This trip was truly a great adventure!  It was a defining moment for both myself (out in the field) and my wife (ministering at home) that the Lord used to start us walking in our God-given destiny, and determine the course of our ministry, forever.  As a result, we are currently in the process of adjusting many things in our ministry.  Our lives and ministry will never be the same.

We thank you so much for your support that brought great fruit to individual believers and ministries.  During this trip, the Lord also opened the door for Iris Tanzania to begin a whole new area of ministry.  Thank you for standing with us, as we hosted His presence and partnered with others to help empower and encourage them to fulfill the call of God on their lives. Working together with you, greater works were accomplished. We could not have done so much without you!


Hallelujah to our great God,

Tyren and Tiffany Haynes