Before
going into the detail of our visit to the fellowships in Mozambique, I
would like to point out that GOD had his way, HE provided and HE showed us HIS
glory! From booking additional tickets the day before departure to arriving
safely back home on Tuesday 2 December at 23h00.
“Draw nigh to God, and he
will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8) How we experienced this verse during our
visit…..
Thursday, 28 November 2013
So I depart for my first
‘outreach’ of my life.
Excited, nervous, but willing. We left Cape Town
at 09:40, departing for Johannesburg. From there we would fly to Nampula, Mozambique,
our ‘home’ base for the stay. Or so we
thought… Already in the plane and ready for takeoff, we were informed by the
air hostess that we will not be flying directly to Nampula, but go via Maputo. Why? Because they said so. So off we went. After
an eternity of nothing but
waiting, and being ‘ordered’ to wait
when inquiring about the wait, we were at last on our flight to Nampula.
(patience tested to the extreme). At 21h30 we stumbled into our accommodation
in Nampula, exhausted, but grateful.
Rupert informed us that Elias (our brother in Mozambique and
translator) would only be joining us late Friday evening, as there were no
flights from Chimoio to Nampula on Thursday. Friday will accordingly be spent
seeking the face of the LORD.
Friday, 29 November 2013
A band of brothers (in SA)
meets on Friday mornings at 06h00 to pray.
Francois suggested that we also get up at 06h00 to be with them in
spirit. And so started the first of many prayer and worship sessions. We prayed
that the Spirit might lead us and we prayed for miracles. It is difficult to
explain in words what we experienced during these prayer and worship sessions,
but take my word for it… it was unbelievably blessed and amazing and awesome
and powerful.
While preparing breakfast,
Rupert contacted an old friend, Johan Cilliers, who also stayed in
Chimoio. Rupert was informed that Johan
and his 2 boys, Matthew and Daniel were very ill, with high fever, and the
doctors did not know what caused the sickness.
Johan was very concerned as he was in Chimoio and his wife and kids in Natal. Rupert told him
that we would pray for them. So, at
09h30 we prayed. We finished at 09h50 and within 5 minutes we received a
message that the fever of the kids were broken and that they were sitting up
and eating. (something that they were unable to do for the 3 days before)
Praise the LORD, oh
my soul! Miracle performed…
After a lovely bowl of
Oats, courtesy of Francois’ cooking skills, and inspired by what we experienced
through prayer, we headed into town to get much needed supplies. Unfortunately
this experience was disappointing, as poverty and a struggle to survive were
written all over the people’s faces.
Upon our return we decided
to take an afternoon nap. The previous days’ travel, and the humidity taking
its toll. We woke up about 2 hours later
and spend
time together in the presence of the LORD, reading and discussing HIS word and
praying and worshiping HIM!
Come dinner time, I was
informed that I was in charge of dinner.
Ok, Francois did help. (a bit )
After dinner we waited for
Elias. And waited. And waited. He only arrived at 12h05 AM (Saturday
morning), exhausted, but with a huge smile on his face. Elias had a quick bite to eat and then it was
off to bed.
Saturday, 30 November 2013
After breakfast we thanked
the LORD for Elias’ safe arrival and a good night’s rest. We prayed for the day’s activities and for
Johan and his family. The presence of the HOLY SPIRIT was extremely intense.
The plan was to be at the
fellowship at 09h30. Our SUV was to be
delivered at 08h00. Please note…that was
the plan. At about 09h00 we gave Kabul (Taxi man) a call
to enquire about our car. Apparently it
was in an accident the previous night, but Kabul was on his way with another car. If I recall correctly we received the car at
10h00, with almost no fuel in the tank and a funny smell coming from the
engine. After refueling and opening the bonnet to look at the engine and
fiddling with a few tubes and cables and some more looking and imitating
mechanics, we decided that the car was ready to go, so off we went. We arrived
at our designated parking at about 10h45, greeted by Sebastian. The heat and
humidity hit you like a brick wall when getting out of the air-conditioned car.
We all took a gulp of our 500ml water, while being informed that we will be
walking the rest of the way to the church.
25 minutes later we arrived
to warm welcomes, big smiles and singing.
The church was a brick/ mud building with a grass roof, 2 doors and a
window. There was about a 5cm gap between
the top of the walls and the roof. This
was ingenious, as all the warm air rose, and escaped out through the gap, while
colder (only very slightly) air came in through the doors and windows. Air conditioning – Africa
style….
We introduced ourselves and
then Rupert communicated the first 2 principles of the doctrine of Christ, i.e. repentance of
dead works and faith towards God. The
fellowship struggled with the concept of dead works. “Dead works” was repeated
so often that I do not think that I will ever forget the Portugese for “dead
works”, “aubresh mortesh”. (don’t quote
me on the spelling) I then also had an opportunity to share a testimony with
the fellowship. My first ‘action’ of our
‘mission’. We took a break and Francois
took over from Rupert. Rupert concluded
and responsibility was allocated to a few brothers who really understood the 2
principles. It was very enlightening to
see the eagerness with which they accepted the responsibility. They were informed to communicate these 2
principles to friends and family.
We left at about 16h30,
eager for a cold shower and dinner. After dinner we praised the LORD for the
day and the work that HE has done through us.
We prayed for our families back home and the days ahead. The LORD was exalted through song and
prayer. Rupert read from 1 Sam 17 (David
and Goliath) and the day was ended on a high! I went to bed excited, and with
the anticipation that this was only the beginning.
Sunday, 1 December 2013
At 06h10 we were in our car
on our way to the fellowships in Mossuril.
The reason for the early departure was two fold, one – local elections
that should have taken place the Wednesday before was moved to Sunday, and we
wanted no part in the chaos associated this, and two – it is a two and a half
hour drive to Mossuril.
We arrived in Mossuril at 08h36,
after an uneventful drive. (thank you LORD) We did however enjoy glorious
worship and prayer on our way to there. Mossuril is the home of the first slave
trading post and first Catholic Church in Africa. Rupert took us to the sight were thousands of
slaves were auctioned off. One could not
help to feel very sad when walking down the ramp that was many a slave’s last
step on dry land.
After the sight seeing we
headed off to the fellowship at Namikop 2.
Here we were REALLY welcomed. The
presence of the LORD was tangible and you could see it on the faces of the
congregation. Everyone was excited and
anticipation lingered in the air.
After introducing
ourselves, Rupert started with the teaching.
It was about the HOLY GHOST and how you know that you have received it.
Various answers were given, but not the one Rupert was looking for. I felt the Spirit moving in me and felt that
I should say something. While Rupert was
waiting on his preferred answer, I asked if I could have an opportunity to
talk. So there I was in front of the
fellowship, with nothing prepared. And
so, I started at the beginning. Why did
GOD allow Jesus to come to earth to die?
John 3:16. And from there I was
guided by the HOLY GHOST to end with Luke 11: 11-13, where Jesus said that all
you have to do to receive the HOLY GHOST is to ask our FATHER in heaven. That was really, really AWESOME! I sat down and Rupert continued.
Rupert asked the fellowship
if there was anyone who wanted to receive the HOLY GHOST. Everyone got up and went to the front of the
church. Rupert explained that we will be
praying and asking GOD to send the HOLY SPIRIT.
And they will know that they have received it, by praying in
tongues. (somewhat of a challenge to
know if someone is praying in tongues if you do not understand Portuguese or
Makua) Elias assisted in this task. After a while, the prayer subsided and we
asked how many received that SPIRIT.
About 2 or 3 raised their hands.
We were obviously very excited, but not satisfied and could see that the
ones who did not receive, was disappointed.
So, we prayed again. And continued, and motivated and assisted and
encouraged. After a while I could not
stand as my legs and arms went weak. (the last time I experienced this
sensation was when I received the HOLY SPIRIT) The SPIRIT was moving and when
finishing about 20 people were filled with the HOLY SPIRIT! Unbelievable?
Believe it!
We braked for lunch (rice
and beans), which was lovely prepared by one of the woman in the
fellowship. Pudding was a mango or two.
We also went to the local fishmonger’s to buy some dinner. Prawns!
At about 14h30 we met at
the church and Francois led the meeting for the afternoon session. I was once again in awe to see the HOLY
SPIRIT in action through the message. We ended at 17h30. The fellowship then entertained us with some
lovely songs. Tired, but extremely excited we ended the day.
The night was spend at
Sunset Boulevard Guesthouse. Do not be
misled by “guesthouse”. There was no
running water!
Toilets had to be flushed
using a bucket and showers were taken by pouring water over yourself. At least we had a continental breakfast to
look forward to…..
Monday, 2 December 2013
Much to our surprise the
breakfast only consisted of a few Portuguese rolls, with jam, and a mango.
After breakfast we took
Elias to the local hospital to get his wound (from his shoulder operation)
cleaned and bandaged.
While waiting for him we
discussed the fact that GOD is the ultimate and best provider. Was it coincidence that the ‘leader’ of the
fellowship of Namikop 2 was a hospital administrator? We think not. What under normal circumstances would take
the best part of a day took 30 minutes. Elias was taken directly to the doctors
without having to sit in long queue.
With Elias cleaned up and
bandaged we went for a quick visit to the Island of Mozambique.
This island is connected to the mainland
through a 3,6km single lane bridge and was the first capital of Mozambique. We had a lovely espresso at the upmarket
hotel and then onto the fellowship at Namitartare.
Namitartare is situated inland
from Mussaril and on our way back to Nampula.
We arrived there at about 10h00 and were once again greeted with big,
white smiles. Today our church would be
under a huge Cashew-nut tree.
It would be slightly more
challenging than the other days, as our English message would have to be
translated to Portuguese and then to Makua.
While Elias spoke to the fellowship, Rupert leant over to me and said
that after the introductions I will be the one to speak/ preach to the
fellowship. Nervous and excited I stood
before the fellowship and began talking.
Now looking back, it is
difficult to remember what I said, but all I know is that the messages of
myself, Francois and Rupert fitted like it was rehearsed.
That night while lying in
bed, I felt exhausted, but contend and at peace. Francois and I agreed that this is the way
life is supposed to be.
Tuesday, 2 December 2013
Going home day! Hopefully
there will be no unexpected or unpleasant surprises and we will be home by the
end of the day. Whatever…. First plane
from Nampula to Maputo
– almost 2 hours late. Fortunately our
plane leaving from Maputo to Johannesburg
was scheduled to take off only at 17h30 to land in Johannesburg at 18h30. So we had some time to play with. We arrived with some time to spare in Maputo.
The plane from Maputo took off 25
minutes late, but we were informed that the flight would only take 45 minutes
in stead off an hour as indicated. We
would therefore still have time to catch our connecting flight to Cape Town. To our surprise (do not know why we were
surprised) the flight did take 1 hour. To add insult to injury, we landed on
the runway that was furthest from the airport building. We had to taxi over 3 runways, and then still
had to board a bus to go to international arrivals. Entering the airport
building, it was 7:10pm. We still had to
go through passport control, collect our luggage, go through customs, check in
on the next flight and board. This had
to be done by 19h20!
Passports were stamped by
19h17. Rupert and I told Francois to run
to the terminal to get our boarding passes. We will bring the luggage. Approaching the carousel, our bags were next
to each other and the first ones out of the plane. Never on the entire trip
were our bags together, even though we always checked in at the same time. GOD listened and answered our prayers on the
plane. Francois ‘charmed’ the lady
behind the counter and by GOD’s grace we boarded the plane at 19h40 and left
for Cape Town
at 20h00.
On the plan I thought about
what I have experienced over these few days, and looked back at disbelief….
From the bottom of our
hearts we would like to thank each and everyone who prayed for us. Prayer is never in vain and we often
underestimate the power it has. A
special thank you goes out to our families who send us and allowed us to share
the unbelievable WORD OF GOD. Each and
everyone who supported us from home played a massive part in the success of
this visit to Mozambique.
GOD bless….
- by André Gerber
Testimony
Just a short personal testimony. Going on outreach to Africa (or anywhere) has proven to be life changing for
me. We go on outreach, while God is doing major "inreach" into our
hearts. To illustrate - we were at O.R.Thambo waiting for our outbound flight
when a shop attendant in the Ferrari shop asked Andre where we are going. He
replied "we are going to do mission work in Mozambique". The man asked,
"so are you a man of God?" Andre hesitated for a second and then answered,
" uuuh, yes..., I certainly want to be..."
That summed up the kind of hearts we had on our way there,
but what grace the Lord Jesus had, and what change occurred as we spend time
together with Rupert and Elias in the presence of the Lord, in much prayer
together and in reading, and exhortation and ministry. Our hearts were melted
together, our love for Jesus renewed, our vision and purpose shaped by His
will. The dross that we carried with us was removed and we just experienced a
"new touch of fire on our souls".
If I can testify on behalf of André and say that in this
year he has gone from being a 'good nominal christian", to being truly
born again, baptised, filled with the Holy Spirit, and eagerly desiring the
sincere milk of God's word. Coming on outreach with us has catapulted this man
into ministry and a desire to serve the Lord. We praise the Lord for His great
grace on us all and the privilege to serve Him. Other brethren should plan and
look to the Lord for an oppertunity to go with on these outreaches, and
experience the amazing "inreach" that God performs.
Francois Visser
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