Working Around Our House

Besides ministering in the city, the villages and at our own center, there are a lot of other things that are going on. We decided to let you take a look (photos) and hear about some of the other things that we are doing.

Gardening
Tiffany is growing a variety of fruits and vegetables including sweet corn, snow peas, lettuce, tomatoes, winter squash, eggplant, broccoli, watermelon and cantaloupe on the side of a small hill within our yard. Tyren has been planting fruit trees- pineapple tops, apple trees and grape vines (from Malawi), a rose bush, and some beautiful flowers (some exotic looking) that are in the fields around our house. We restarted our strawberry patch which died while we were visiting the U.S. last year, and hopefully will have some strawberries by July.

To the right are our first bananas. Our house is in the background.

We also have some avocado plants, mango trees, and orange and/or lemon trees which sprung up from seeds in our compost. We don’t know how well the fruit trees will grow in this area, but it’s worth a try. Tyren also has been gradually hoeing up the local grass roots scattered around our yard. By July/August this type of grass can sometimes reach over 7 feet tall (2.1 meters).
After 2 years, one of our banana trees is giving some fruit. We also have two other large banana trees growing. We will uproot the baby banana plants springing up around the bottom of the main plant and transplant them around our yard.

Below is the garden that Tiffany started. In the middle are tomotoes and pumpkins. To the leftt are snow peas. The bamboo sticking up in the rear is where the grape vine is growing.

Cooking
By now you should know that certain people in our family really, really like good tasting food. We thank the Lord that, unlike times in the past, we haven’t had to eat peanut butter sandwiches twice a day, or rice with only tomatoes, onions and bell peppers. Sometimes Tiffany is able to make granola using her homemade mango, strawberry or banana jam. We also use the jam for PB&J sandwiches, or spreading on homemade biscuits. Depending on where we buy it, fruit is reasonably priced. For instance, large bananas are about 60 cents for 6. Tyren’s friend sells us the strawberries for cheap. Tiffany also makes yogurt using powdered milk and a powdered starter from the U.S.


Lake Niassa
We also drove 1 1/2 hrs to spend a morning at Lake Niassa. We prayed and asked the Lord if we could see a group of monkeys on the way there. Sure enough, we passed a large group. Others who have visited the lake haven't had this opportunity. Here's a photo of Amerel and Isaiah getting accustomed to the water.

Thank you for being a part of our daily life and ministry activities here in Mozambique.

Love, Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

Entering the New Year 2011

We are sure many of you are excited and in great anticipation about year 2011. There are so many wonderful things that the Lord is revealing. For us, it feels like the Lord is opening to us a whole new time full of opportunities, and walking us through a ripe garden giving us glimpses of things He has for us. Rather than sharing some of the things we are planning this year, we’ll just talk about the goodness of God that is abounding at the start of this New Year. The Lord’s goodness is a way that He allows us to experience deeper depths of His heart in such a way that we choose to look away from our own abilities, longings and needs to revel in the sufficiency of who He is. May this year be a year in which the people of God be in expectancy of the Lord’s greatness, and abound in His awesome goodness.

A Day of Many Surprises
Last Saturday, 5 of the hockey coaches, Claude (young man from Switzerland who is training them for a year) and I went to Lake Niassa for the day. On the way, the Lord told us that He would give us surprises. During the 1 ½ hour trip to the lake, we saw two groups of wild monkeys. We tried to feed the second large group we saw, but they backed further away from the car when we got out. Then, two of the hockey coaches that couldn’t swim learned how to swim in what seemed to be about 15 minutes. One of the coaches, Focas, was sick with a fever, and just lay down on the beach without playing or talking much. The Lord gave us another surprise, and shortly after Focas was prayed for, he began to run on the hot, sunny beach and swim in the lake – totally healed. Then there was some kind of bird that would fly, suddenly hover in mid-air for a while, and then quickly dive into the lake for a catch. It was so close to us, and we all watched it in awe. The Lord is good. As the other coaches were walking along the beach, Claude and I were given a special time together, praying and getting “lost” in the presence of God and worshipping our precious Jesus.


Chayah’s Healing
Also, last Saturday, our little Chayah had a fever, stopped playing, walking and talking much, and barely ate for 4 days. She pretty much stayed in mommy’s arms all day long. We usually just write about happy days and great things the Lord is doing. We will continue to do so. But, know that we (just like you) do go through days of hardships, great trials followed by greater trials, and there have been times when we just felt like crying as we still chose to worship our beautiful Jesus. On Tuesday, during a unique time of worship, Amerel exclaimed, “Daddy, Chayah is taking bites of Mommy’s sandwich!”. I hardly took notice as the Lord had so captured my heart, that the only priority and focus was worshipping Him. It did not matter if Chayah was healed at that moment or not because at that moment I was doing what was most important to Jesus. His priorities prioritize everything else and set the stage for every good thing according to His own perfect understanding (Romans 8:28, 31). The Lord is only good, and it is never wrong to always put Him first.

Continue to pray for Mozambique and Lichinga. Believe God to bring in souls, draw people closer to Him, change the atmosphere over areas, and strengthen the believers who are confessing the name of Jesus Christ. This is another great year for the Lord’s Harvest. We believe and desire to be among those who will experience the new and greater things of the kingdom that Jesus Christ desires to bring forth in the earth.

Love,

Tyren and Tiffany Haynes
Lichinga, Mozambique

Christmas in the Prison

We can honor people by preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to them. We can also honor people by treating them as God sees them; by being led by the Holy Spirit to help them realize (demonstrate to them) that what God desires them to be is possible for them. As we interact with people according to the love of God, it helps them to see themselves as the word of God declares that they can be in Christ Jesus. So with a heart full of God’s love and a fresh revelation of honor, I decided to bring Christmas to about 300 prisoners in a greater way. Unlike last year, the prison didn’t send me an official request for money or help to provide food for prisoners to celebrate Christmas. Upon inquiry, I was told that the prison didn’t have the ability to provide anything out of the ordinary for the prisoners for Christmas. So with help from people who graciously donate to us (thank you, thank you, thank you), we purchased over 24 lbs of goat meat (from the outside market), soda and spices for the group that I minister to on a weekly basis. For all the prisoners, which include many unbelievers, we purchased over 335 packs of cookies and 350 small bags of chips. The Lord’s love extended to the guards with chocolate and cookies (wow!). A lady who sells fried bean patties on the street didn’t prepare the right number of patties for all the prisoners, so I asked the prison guard if they could receive these as well. I ate several to let them know they were ok to eat, and not poisoned (remember, it’s the prison). Thank you for your prayers and donations which helped about 300 prisoners and many guards understand more about what Christmas is about – the love of God that comes freely through Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, while inside the prison, I was not allowed to take a photo of all the items that were dropped off.

Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR and may 2011 be a year full of great surprises!

In the love of Christ,

Tyren and Tiffany Haynes

Merry Christmas With Love

Merry Christmas
We thank the Lord for all of your love, prayers and support. May the Lord abundantly bless you and open your eyes to the treasure that awaits those who are “sold-out” to Him. May you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year full of Christ’s blessing and love.

Celebrating Christmas in Assumane Village
(Tyren) I’ve been reading through the book of Luke, and wasn’t going to read Nahum when it caught my attention as I opened my Bible. But, God gives good things, so I began reading. Part of Nahum 1:3 says, “God has His way in the whirlwind and the storm.” I didn’t know why I felt it was so important to me, but I kept this scripture in my heart. The focus isn’t on our problems; it’s on the One who is still working His pleasure and good will in our lives in the midst of adversities with power to destroy. The same day, on Friday afternoon, a strong wind and pelting rain came down and destroyed the grass hut we used as our Church in Assumane Village. Then, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the scripture He gave me several hours before. Without yet knowing what we’d do and where we’d meet, I had a great peace. God works everything together for good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28). One thing I know – reality will only be experienced while focusing on Jesus and the beautiful things He is doing even in the midst of circumstances that cannot produce any good. This past Christmas Sunday, we celebrated Jesus outside under the blaring sun and brief showers of light rain that refreshed us. We found ourselves in the presence of God, with some worshipping on their knees as the Lord was touching and preparing hearts to receive more of Himself. The children rejoiced in Sunday school as they each received a pack of cookies, candy and chips. We handed out gifts: scented bath soap, cookies and flavored soda, to all the adults.

Grass hut church which fell down; brick church building behind. The half-standing grass wall is surrounding the pit toilet (hole in the ground)

A few gathered in the light rain and then remained in the hot sun to worship Jesus. We plan to build a temporary grass hut inside the brick church to shelter us from the rain and sun until the new brick building is finished.

Some people didn’t come as they thought service would not continue due to the destroyed church hut, but the few that did come were willing to rejoice in the Lord. During worship, everyone began to move around and pray for one another and speak blessing into one another’s lives (even the children joined in). During this time, a little village boy who didn’t know Jesus Christ walked into the church and agreed to receive prayer, too. The rest of the service briefly paused as this little boy was told about Jesus Christ, and then he gladly accepted Him as His Savior. Hallelujah!!!

Love,

Tyren, Tiffany, Amerel, Isaiah and Chayah

Some Dreams Need to be Canceled

Dreams that Needed to be Canceled
It was Tuesday and time to go to the prison. On this day I felt kind of “blah”, and like nothing much was going to happen, but ministry isn’t rooted in how we feel. While singing praises to the Lord with the prisoners, I kept having the thoughts about 2-3 people, who weren’t part of the group of believers, having bad dreams and who needed a personal word. After teaching, I told the group of believers what the Lord revealed to me, and then asked them to go out to all the other prisoners around the court and ask them to come for prayer if they were having bad dreams. Some of the believers in my group were surprised when about 15 other prisoners came to ask for prayer. A word of knowledge can open people’s eyes to the greatness of God. I told those who came for prayer about the love of God, and about Jesus the Son of God, whom many of them don’t believe in, who was about to set them free. So many other things could have been said or done on this day. But, we are learning more and more each day to let Jesus have His way and do what’s important to Him. Just imagine. Unbelievers who didn’t want to sit among the group of believers to learn about Jesus Christ, came for prayer because they heard that this same Jesus knew they were suffering from bad dreams and wanted to set them free. People will come to know the Lord sometimes, not by what we say (especially if they don’t want to hear), but by what our actions speak as we give personal demonstrations that answer issues deep in their hearts.

Jesus Heals In Special Ways
“My back hurts”, said one of the prisoners. “I’m having very, very difficult problems”, said another. I told them to run, lift up their hands in victory, and shout the words the Lord directed me to have them say. They had to “shout” quietly because we were inside the prison with certain rules that we must abide by. Right afterwards, the man with pain in his back said it was a lot better. A few minutes later, he said, with a big smile on his face, “The pain is gone.” Jesus knows how to heal, and in the prison I’m learning He heals people in such a way that brings them inner freedom, and opens their hearts to Him.

We are praying that one day we can take some photos of our ministry work in the inner prison yard, and projects we are supporting. We thank you for your support that enabled us to purchase 20 hoes to help with the prison’s garden program. We are also in the process of helping the prison construct a huge oven with a chimney which will prevent prisoners from having to cook meals inside a smoke-filled room for 300+ inmates and many of the prison guards.

Prison Ministry was started in 2009, and focuses on opening the way for prisoners to enter their God given destiny. Currently, each week on Tuesdays, Tyren and Felix, who is a Mozambican coach on the floorball team, meet with a group of inmates who are believers and disciple them as well as equip them to evangelize while they are within the prison. Material provisions are donated for those in need. The Holy Spirit graciously moves to bring salvation to the lost, prophetic words, healing, encouragement and wisdom to both Muslim and Christian prisoners. Projects are also being coordinated with the prison authorities to bring material provisions, activities and other things that will benefit the entire prison population.

With love in Christ,

Tyren and Tiffany Haynes