Feliz Natal

Well, we survived Christmas and New Years here in Pemba!!

Christmas was excellent! It was overwhelming and super emotional!

On Christmas Eve, we had our Iris Staff party at a local restaurant and we were treated like kings and queens. We ate till we could eat no more! We laughed until it hurt! We smiled until our faces got locked! Then at midnight, we sneaked over to the children and woke them up to say Feliz Natal and had our very own candle service, which lasted about an hour! That service was a great success, no one was hurt, nothing caught on fire! We played a game half way thru the service with blowing each other’s candles out, which I must admit; the missionaries had just as much fun as the children! Then it was time to put the kids back to bed and then the missionaries back to work to finish all our surprises for the children here at the centre as well as the street kids!
I woke up at 7am here on Christmas day, which was a huge sleep-in! Then it was off to celebrate Feliz Natal. We handed out the presents to the children here at the centre, then it was a church service, then we had a wedding, then it was baptisms, then it was off to feed and love the multitudes the came for the grande fiesta!

We had well over 2000 people come and eat! It was such an honour to serve the people of Pemba their fiesta! They ate rice, chicken, and Mozambiqican salad and then got a COLD coca!

To see the delight on some of the faces of the children to give them a plate of food and then a cold coca! It was incredible! God moved so mightily, we saw people healed; we saw many become children of God!

We had enough food for all, even the staff! Praise God!! Many people were loved and honoured on Christmas day! I could hardly keep it in, and at the end of our long day which for us missionaries ended round 8pm we just sat on the floor and cried and thanked our Lord for being amazing and working such wondrous miracles and touching and changing our lives and for letting us serve Pemba! But the thing that hit me most was the LOVE of God for the people of Pemba and for me! I didn’t eat or drink for the whole day, let alone sit down! I was always with kids, so didn’t even get a moment to stand still and take it all in! But at the end when we sat and thanked Jesus for that He had done for us that day! God just touched my heart! I realised that He had sustained me for the whole day! God cares so much about people, but also the little things! That feeling of being so totally loved and then giving it away! It is very hard to pen down! It really is better to give than to receive!

New Years!! Well, lets just say that Mozambique’s celebrate so very different to Kiwis! They start the night before with a loud party on the beach then the party just continues! No expensive is spared! But here in Arco-Iris we just relax, outreach into the community then starting at 10pm we have church service, which finishes at 1am! We welcomed in the New Year worshipping Jesus, dancing and singing and of course my favourite praying for people! Life here is simple and beautiful!

NB - I praise God that the electricity hasn’t gone down in the last couple of days, so I have been enjoying cold water from the fridge! Hallelujah Jesus!!

The ladies in my sewing class have come a long way in such a short time. Over the next couple of weeks we will be moving from hand stitching to actual sewing machines. The ladies are very excited about that, as am I! I am hoping that if they pick up the machines well, they will be able to sew the uniform for the children that will attend the school! So it will benefit all involved! Earlier this month a group of about 180 pastors from all around the north of Mozambique arrived to begin their bible school education and planting churches. I am teaching the second year class! So they will be with us for three months, then we will have a week to two weeks break and then another group will come!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support.
Ate Logo! Ciao! Jesu Te Ama

Mana Ana