Another exciting day in Pemba. Was on the back of a truck heading into town and we got rear ended, so just another day in the life. 😉 No one was hurt though. I feel like its pretty normal practice here.
Today we washed the feet of the IRIS pastors. It was a really beautiful ceremony of serving them. Many of them were so shy sticking their feet into the water—but its such a beautiful picture of white people washing all these black pastors feet—and really serving them and repenting for the years of colonialism and oppression.
IRIS runs a 4 year training program for local people that want to be pastors. Within the first year they must establish a church. They get tons of discipleship and training…its awesome. But they give up so much to serve God. They have to leave their families for 3 months at a time, and often their farms suffer or their wives leave them. They do it all in faith because they are called, but many walk miles just to learn…its pretty amazing. We all chipped in money to buy them backpacks and flip flops and water bottles so that they could feel a part of us when we go out together into the villages.
I haven’t gotten to go on outreach yet, which is where we get to go out to remote villages and pray for the sick to be healed, etc, but I think I am going this weekend and am so looking forward to it! So many have come back with stories of the lame walking and the blind seeing. SO PRAY FOR THAT!
We’ve been praying for Heidi’s husband, Rolland who has been ill and he is making a pretty miraculous recovery, so its really good news. He’ll be joining her here next week.
Also we’ve been praying for a group of 41 children at another base who got kicked out by the government and God is providing them other homes through IRIS.
Every day there is some kind of crisis and its only by God’s grace that Heidi survives it.
I know that when I get back to Uganda my own life will be something like that, but I feel I’m learning here how to handle all that. (without having a meltdown) It’s such incredible training for running Zion Project that I feel so blessed to be here!
I’ve met several people here who are going to Uganda after this, and I’ve been telling them all about Zion Project and Favor of God so I’m really excited to make those connections. I’m on the intercession team here so we’ve been praying over Uganda, Sudan, and Mozambique.
God is doing a lot of amazing work in all 3 countries! Everything God is doing in Africa is so interconnected. We are having a solemn assembly here to have the pastors repent for the sins of the nation and to really make changes. What has been so cool is that I didn’t even know what a solemn assembly was (not up with all the Christian lingo 🙂 but when I was praying God gave me Hosea 4 as a list of the sins of this nation and a call to repentance, and Joel 2 as a promise of all He is going to do here…in Joel 2 it speaks of having a solemn assembly. Also those same verses were given to the leadership before I ever got here…so I was feeling pretty prophetic that day 🙂 What is even more exciting is that they are hosting one in UGANDA as well and I got invited to go!
Something I’m praying about and believe God is saying yes to is that Shara (this amazing woman here who teaches a lot of the classes) invited me to go with her on July 28th to Uganda where they are hosting “The Call” in Kampala. It will be a time of prayer, healing, revival, and moves of the Holy Spirit. Stacey Campbell is planning it with Shara, so it will be pretty incredible. I would need to get a ticket though which will cost around $600. Normally I wouldn’t think of going because of the cost, but I really feel God is asking me to go especially because of the fact that I was praying we could do a solemn assembly in Uganda and here is my opportunity. I just find the connections from here to Uganda to be too much of a coincidence to not be God opening the way for me to go. The fact that I even made friends with Shara, is such a blessing in the first place, much less for her to invite me, a student, on the trip. Since she is organizing it, I would be in on the planning stages for it, which would truly be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Things have been really expensive here in Pemba and we’ve had to pay for more than we originally thought, so if you would like to give towards my plane ticket and towards blessings the pastors here in Mozambique please make your checks payable to Zion Project and put “Sarita’s trip” in the memo and send to P.O. Box 321 Quinque, Va 22965.
I really appreciate all your love and support. It truly uplifts me to know you are out there praying for me, supporting me, and sharing in the joys of ushering in God’s kingdom on earth.
I would also love for you to keep my family in your prayers…as I’ve been interceding here and pressing into God, they’ve come under a lot of backlash and attack and I know that it’s a result of all we are accomplishing here and the enemy is trying to keep me distracted, so really press in for them as well.
It’s hard to be so far away and not able to help in any way, except for praying.
Thank you! Am missing you all, but cannot think of a place I’d rather be right now.
Being so close to God—the intimacy– is worth all the sacrifice of crappy food and being caked in red dust all the time!
Hugs from Pemba,
Sarita
