Molumbo, MozambiqueMonday, September 21, 2009
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Trip with Peter to the Zambezia ProvinceJust got back last night from a four-day, 450 kilometer journey south to the Zambezia province of Mozambique. Peter Wilcox, a fellow missionary here in Lichinga, is responsible for overseeing IRIS churches and pastors here in the Niassa province, as well as in the very northern part of the Zambezia province. Peter asked if I would join him on this trip south and to give any input I could on helping bring more health to the hundreds of churches over which he is responsible. Of course, I don’t know how much valuable information I was able to give, but at least I could give some input based on my experiences in church planting and pastoring churches in the past. I was happy to go on this trip, and felt that Peter and I were able to develop our relationship with each other more. We were also able on this trip to spend a lot of time with some of the pastors and provincial leaders, as Peter has been investing into them over the past four years. We were also able to see the appointing of leaders over this new region in Zambezia, where there are eight IRIS churches, laying hands on them and commissioning them.
We first drove to pastor Varique’s home in Caumba where we spent the first night, camping in tents. Pastor Varique is the acting provincial pastor, and looks an awful lot like the actor Martin Lawrence, even in his facial expressions, which made me chuckle often. He is an awesome man of God and has done a great job in the province, as well as at the local church he pastors in Cuamba. We also connected with pastor Sylvester, who is responsible for planting around 35 churches in the Cuamba district, and with pastor Lorenzo, the provincial secretary and another local pastor. I love these guys. It was so neat to see them with their Bibles opened up discussing the things of God with each other, as well as asking for Peter’s input on what they were discussing. Peter is doing an amazing job just teaching, instructing and guiding them. They very much look up to him as their pastor; a pastor to the pastors in the Niassa province.
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We drove the next morning to Molumbo, where we again camped in tents. We had many services in the simple, local church building. The Mozambiquan people in this area speak Longwe and Chichewa, rather than Yao. They are much more musical than the Yao, enjoying very much singing praises in their beautiful voices to the Lord, and playing their wonderful indigenous drums and home-made instruments. I was given the opportunity to preach that evening. I spoke on knowing a tree by its’ fruit. They seemed very responsive to the message. Peter and the other pastors spoke throughout our time in the Zambezia province.
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The following day, we continued on in services, where the new district leaders were appointed. We laid hands on them, praying God’s anointing for the tasks which He has called them to. On this journey, I was able to experience real village life, including eating meals of shema, chicken pieces with sauce and beans with our hands, and without forks. I also took a shower in an outdoor shower house surrounded by a tall grass fence that you could see through in places, where I was a little apprehensive as there were many Mozambiquan people nearby, who seemed especially intrigued by our white skin, mine being especially white underneath my clothing. =) The latrines were also very simple. I also drank some water that was pretty sketchy and dirty, that I think is the culprit of the diarrhea I am now having a bout with, though I prayed over it before I drank it.
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We drove the next morning to Molumbo, where we again camped in tents. We had many services in the simple, local church building. The Mozambiquan people in this area speak Longwe and Chichewa, rather than Yao. They are much more musical than the Yao, enjoying very much singing praises in their beautiful voices to the Lord, and playing their wonderful indigenous drums and home-made instruments. I was given the opportunity to preach that evening. I spoke on knowing a tree by its’ fruit. They seemed very responsive to the message. Peter and the other pastors spoke throughout our time in the Zambezia province.
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The following day, we continued on in services, where the new district leaders were appointed. We laid hands on them, praying God’s anointing for the tasks which He has called them to. On this journey, I was able to experience real village life, including eating meals of shema, chicken pieces with sauce and beans with our hands, and without forks. I also took a shower in an outdoor shower house surrounded by a tall grass fence that you could see through in places, where I was a little apprehensive as there were many Mozambiquan people nearby, who seemed especially intrigued by our white skin, mine being especially white underneath my clothing. =) The latrines were also very simple. I also drank some water that was pretty sketchy and dirty, that I think is the culprit of the diarrhea I am now having a bout with, though I prayed over it before I drank it.
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We received a very warm welcome at the next church about 12 kilometers further south. We had a nice service there, and were also visited by the village chief who spoke at the service. After the service and before dinner, a crazy man wandered over toward us while we were chewing on some sugar cane near Peter’s truck. We laid hands on him and began to pray for his healing and deliverance. God was definitely working. All of the sudden we were flooded by many others who were seeking physical and spiritual healings. We all prayed over them all in groups of us pastors and missionaries. One man in particular we prayed for had been experiencing pain for quite some time. Peter began to dig a bit more into his past, and come to find out his parents had put witchcraft on him from his youth, which was ties into his physical pain. We had him renounce this witchcraft and break these curses. We then brought his wife over to pray for her as well, as some of their issues were connected to their relationship. They had their little infant girls in their arms. It was then Peter felt prompted in the Spirit to see if any witchcraft had been placed upon the child. Sure enough, tied around the child’s neck was a fetish connected to witchcraft. I would never have known that the Leatherman I bought in the States would be used to cut off witchcraft fetishes from people when I bought it. We had the father cut off the fetish from around his daughter’s neck and did some teaching about such things, showing him that he needed to completely be set apart from the use of witchcraft, as he is a born again believer. Thank you Jesus, for this spontaneous time of healing and deliverance from the power of darkness.
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The last night we spent at the other church to closer to Molumbo. Then we headed back to Lichinga, stopping in various towns along the way. We also stopped in at a church near Mecanhelas to take part of their service that Sunday morning. The pastor there was also responsible for planting many churches in the area. The people were so glad to see us and sang and danced their heart out in our presence. We finally made it back to Lichinga after dark last night. I really had the chance to spend a lot of time alone with the Lord on this trip, and I believe that the Lord really opened my eyes to some things in regards to a strategy in planting churches among the Yao villages, which we’ve been called by God to do. Thank you, Jesus!
.Christian Young
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