Please accept our apologies, we have not managed to get to a computer to update the blogsite and when we did it wouldn't go through so hopefully this will update you on what the Lord has been doing and where we are at now albeight it bit late. :)
Since last writing we had thought we would be moving on from Chimoio after preaching on the Sunday but the Sunday turned out to be a very powerful and confirming word for the people there and we were asked if we had no plans would we like to join them out at the orphanage for a bit as people out there needed ministry. And so we accepted and hence that is where we have been until the last few days.
Maforga is a place about 40 mins out of the town Chimoio in Mozambique. It is a farm which holds an orphanage for girls and boys, a bible training college, a shop, a sawmill and in the past a health clinic and other ministries which have now branched out. It is a very key place in the area as the people who are running it have been there for many years and actually were captured in the time of the war. Trish has written a book called "In Enemies Hands" which some of you may have seen. But over the years it has been a place where many many missionaries have come through these doors in order to come into the country as Roy & Trish have had great favour in the government and then people have moved out into their own ministries.
It has been through a very difficult time over the past few years and the Lord brought us there to bring refreshing, bring challenge and truth for the things of God and to bring hope and help usher them into the new things in God. It actually came about through a dream the Lord gave in Zimbabwe which we followed up and so we were greatly encouraged by what we saw the Lord doing.
The first day there I went to pray with one of the older ladies there and the Lord instantly healed her back growing out her legs and bringing restoration to her body and in turn, to her spirit. We were so blessed by all that we saw the Lord do in that place. Roy and Trish took us out to various people that they knew and we had opportunity to pray with others as we were taken out.
Some of the stories - one girl was brought out by a local pastor as she was very very sick and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. It wasn't aids but it looked more like cancer as she had a hard stomach but we are not sure. After prayer she immediately looked better but two days later we met her again and she was just a picture of health, it was amazing. Her little old mother was so thrilled and thankful for what the Lord had done for her daughter. It was just wonderful and as she was telling us in the village, an impromptu service started and others came forward for prayer and healing. It was a wonderful time and during that time a drunk man who I believe was rejected totally by society came forward and the Lords love and power poured over this man in such an amazing way that people just stopped on the street and watched unbelieving that anybody would love that man. It was so beautiful how the Lord loved on him and ministered to his heart, healing his rejection from society.
We taught for two days in the bible college at Maforga on the prophetic, but instead of teaching on it as such as a formal lesson although some of that did happen, the Lord demonstrated by the spirits power. It was an amazing time as we saw people come in one spirit together, black and white together,and the glory of the Lord just came in wave after wave, healing both physically, spiritually with people testifying to feeling light and something having changed for the good as well as the testimonies of physical healing coming forward.
A similar thing happened in another bible college in Beira that Roy and Trish took us up to which is several hours to the coast of where we were. It was just wonderful. A small group of people at the college but the two words that simply came was "position yourself" and as people did that the glory of the Lord was released and once again people were set free in the love of God. Just powerful.
There was something happening every day, whether it was one on one with people once again or with more. Whatever God was doing, we were available. We were so blessed by all that God did there in Maforga and Chimoio. It was a very special time.
Before leaving the area when our visa ran out we were blessed to be able to go to a local game park which was wonderful and a chance for Jim and I to have a 'night off' so to speak.
From Mozambique time was running out and so we headed down South again back into South Africa. We had previously heard of the Karios Course through our friends in Johannesburge as they help facilitate it and the week before we were leaving Africa they had one running so asked if we would like to join. After prayer the Lord said to us that he had things there for us and so we planned that in before leaving Africa.
The Karios Course is an overall Missions Perspectives course really and so for anyone interested in mission or God's overall plan of mission as seen through the whole of the Bible, old and new testaments it is a great course to help you understand various aspects and we would recommend it as an introduction if you have not done anything before. Anyway the week was great for us, learning things, God revealing scriptures etc to us and also for some very important connections that were made through this time. And that brought us to the end of our time in Africa.
There are a lot of things the Lord was teaching us through all this time and hopefully given some time we will write some of those lessons down and impart what we learnt. As for right now, we have been home not even a day but felt the necessity to let you blog readers know where things are at not knowing for so long any information to pray for etc. So this is a quick update and so next week we plan to take some time out and just process all that the Lord was saying. Hopefully too soon we will publish photos, video etc and organise a time that we will share on the trip with those who are interested.
But for now - thank you so much for all your prayer, impartation, support and encouragement, it really has been a team effort and the Lord was glorified through it all. Just amazing what He has done and how He has led.
Bye for now - love Sarah and Jim