Another Nyawa testimony

Our third expedition, in an area in the Nyawa Chiefdom next to the former Game Management Area, was incredible. We ministered to hundreds, had many salvations, and a few demonic deliverances. Nearly everyone we laid hands on was healed instantly. Here are a few of the most memorable moments of the expedition. The first evening we were there, the village headman came to our camp and invited us to a ceremony that night for a woman who had been oppressed by demons that made her ill for quite some time. They were to play drums, dance, and sing chants to appease the spirits that oppressed her in hopes that she would get well. We politely declined and decided to go and minister to her under more convenient circumstances. We could hear the drums and music clearly from our camp. The next morning, we met the oppressed lady at the headman’s house. She had pain in her teeth, legs, and other areas. We laid hands on the areas that were hurting, and the pain moved to new parts of the body. We then commanded it to leave entirely, and she was completely healed. After leading her to Christ, we shared the truth about witch doctors and demonic forces with her and the headman, answering all their questions. A few days later, a few of us went into the GMA in search of people to minister to. We came upon one group of huts with only 5 young boys present. I would say most of them were ages 10-13. We asked them if they knew Jesus, and they replied that they did not. We shared the Gospel to them and led them to the Lord. On the last day of ministry, a few of us came upon another small group of huts. The man of the household gave us a warm greeting, as did the many women and children of his family. When we asked him how long he had known the Lord, he said that he had tried to serve God but had gone astray. He was having a hard time finding the motivation. We then presented the Gospel to him (which he had never truly heard, and he accepted Christ. We sat and talked with them for a couple hours about freedom in Christ versus the intense, works-based legalism that was prevalent in the area. By the end, they seemed to have a thorough understanding of it and were very relieved and full of peace. Ten of them asked for prayer for physical ailments. We laid hands on them and commanded the sicknesses and pains to leave in the authority of Jesus. They were all completely healed.

These are only a few of many miracles that occurred on the expedition. The people were incredibly generous, as well as ready to receive the Lord’s blessings. We all learned a great deal from the amazing experiences and our faith increased. - Stetson, AMT student

Ministering in Nyawa Chiefdom

As I sit here on base camp, on the day that our AMT class graduates, I can't help but think about all the awesome and crazy experiences that I've had over the past three months. Both in day to day life, and ministry. Our last expedition found our group living in the Nyawa chiefdom, camped on the edge of a dried up river. On our side of the river sat villages and people that had been there for years, but on the other side of the river sat the former GMA (game management reserve), which people had only lived in for around two months. The story behind that is years ago the government decided that the animals in the area needed to be protected, and they forced all the villagers in the area out. Not only did they force them out, but they burned down their homes as well, to discourage any of them from trying to stay. These people had been, for a lack of better terms, without a homeland for years, and just two months prior had been allowed back into their land (and only because the new president decided that they could). They were given tents, and were as we traveled throughout, in the process of rebuilding homes and rebuilding a life. This made for interesting encounters, and sometimes, no encounters at all. On the last day, myself and a few others hiked into the GMA for the second time that week, and proceeded to walk the entire day. From around 9:30 in the morning, till after 4 in the afternoon, we walked, almost non-stop. At times we didn't even have a path, and had to hike through thick wilderness. How many people did we find that day you might ask, as we trekked through the African bush? The answer might seem to some to be disappointing. We found two people, a man and women, relatives, sitting by a few huts in the middle of no were. Along with them were two children, who were playing a ways off on a log. We sat down, discussed the word, and ministered life to these two individuals. They were already saved, but we got to learn their story, and encourage them in the Lord. The man was just weeks away from getting married to a childhood friend, and we got to pray for him as well.

Now you might think that it was pointless to walk all that way, all day, to minister to two individuals. And many times that week we did have the huge meetings, with the showing of the Jesus film, praying for the sick, and salvations. However that day the plan God had for us was to just walk, for hours on end, to find two people who hadn't come to our meeting. Two people that lived so far away that they would never find themselves at our meeting area, but that God still cared for and still wanted to minister life to. And that's the point behind OM and behind the work that we are doing, and continue to do. To go as far as we can, to areas were no one has gone, to minister to someone that might need salvation, or healing, or just an encouraging word. We go to people that will, in all reality, probably not get reached unless someone treks out to them. Here in Africa NGO's are a dime a dozen, but so few are willing to go that extra distance, and to find and reach the people that are almost unreachable. As we left that afternoon, I was somehow completely satisfied with the day, and even though we had only found those two people, I knew that we had instilled life and encouragement into them, and that it was worth every step that I had taken that day. - Jonathan, AMT student

Reflections on Siamunali

The second AMT expedition was very different from the first, but it was equally amazing. We went to the villages of Siamunali and Jafta in the Mukuni Chiefdom. It took a couple of hours to get there, but it was only about 20km from the base by the way the crow flies. The terrain of area was somewhat wooded flat to rolling hills. We were greeted by several eager and friendly faces as we arrived and set up camp in the afternoon. That night we had a meeting next to the small schoolhouse near camp. We gathered around a fire and Wilson gave a message of encouragement and explained what we would be doing in the area. We then broke into lively worship and chitenge dancing by the light of the fire. The next morning we broke up into groups and went to various churches in the area. My group went to the church of Christ. We met at a little outdoor cluster of benches. Jack gave a great message about his prison ministries and spoke into the lives of some young men. There was an old woman there who apparently did not know her age. When we asked her she jokingly said 100, and everyone laughed. After the service, she told us she could not see well and had pain in her legs and joints that made it difficult to walk. We prayed over her and I could feel the spirit moving. She began to sway and stumbled into the translator as he caught her. Then she looked down and started moving her feet and her face lit up! She started dancing and singing. As we were leaving, she called out something like, “Have as safe journey! I’m healed!” The night meetings were very fruitful as well, with salvations, worship, encouragement, fellowship, prophecies, and healings. There was a very personal feel about the meetings. The next day my group found some people tending to their gardens and helped them in their labor. After some hand motions and brief instructions, we broke some new ground dug small rows of holes for planting with water drainages between. After the work was done, we gave a message, prayed with some people, and played with the children. The remainder of that day and the next followed the same pattern. It was very interesting and rewarding to experience a more relationship based style of ministry. We took part in the basic aspects of their everyday lives and spoke to them as one friend speaks to another. Through these conversations, we learned a great deal about the people we were with and their amazing stories. One man had been attacked by a large crocodile and had the scars to prove it. His garden was near a small, secluded river and they said that there was a huge croc living nearby that had recently given birth. As we approached the river to dip water out for the garden, we heard some loud splashes. They had also recently caught a 7 meter python in the next village over. The man who had been attacked told us of another interesting story, but this one had a more tragic ending. He was fishing in the Zambezi when some of the displaced Zim rebel thieves from the mountains in Simwatachela came and forced him and his friend to help them. The men would often cross over into Zimbabwe to steal various things and bring them back to Zambia. They were on such a run when they came across the fishermen and recruited them into the effort at gunpoint. They had only a makeshift boat to cross the river, basically a few boards. The “boat” turned over while they were swimming across. The man telling the story made it to shore and could do nothing as his friend drowned in the rapids. The mother of the one who was killed was there as well; we helped tend to her garden and the girls prayed over her. We helped another woman whose daughter had been badly burned a few years before. Bev had tended to the child while she recovered. The woman named her Beverly, in honor of Bev’s act of kindness. On the last day of ministry, my group went to the home of a sweet old lady who had given us kind greetings each day. Her name was Mary and she had been healed of a tooth ache when we had prayed over her earlier. She said that she considered all the young people in the village her grandchildren. student

She and two young women showed us how to remove the shell from mungongo nuts. The presence of the Lord was heavy there as we each took turns speaking what was laid on our hearts. The messages were in no way generic, but rather directly speaking into the lives of each of them with encouragement and empowerment. We prophesied a powerful future in the Lord’s work over one of the younger women and I know that she was deeply affected. I was also deeply moved by the whole experience. That evening we had a community meal, learning cooking techniques from the local women and playing with the children for hours. When night came we showed a film on the projector and had a meeting. Wezi, Elise, and Jonathan gave salvation and encouragement messages and I challenged them to spread the Good News to everyone they could. We then had another productive call for prayer. The next morning, dozens of people came to wish us goodbye with huge smiles. I have seen expeditions with larger numbers ministered to and more impressive statistics, but the relationships formed and the lives touched cannot be described in numbers. It was a great experience that I will not soon forget. - Stetson, AMT

Pictures of our recent ministry with Advanced Missions Training students

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When God is slow to heal...

We have numbers and recordings that we are required to submit to headquarters for every ministry trip that happens with Overland Missions.  I am not a huge fan of declaring to the world how many people received salvation, or received healing from the Lord simply because if we made that same massive effort and only one person was saved or healed, I still think it would be worth it.

However, we receive some grant money from some different ministries who do require numbers...so we count.  Dan was grumbling to the Lord about this the other day and the Lord reminded him that there are lots of numbers in the Bible (like a whole book named Numbers!), the feeding of the 5000, the exact number of people in Jacob's family who traveled to Egypt, etc and that there is value in remembering.  So my perspective on this is changing.

When we were in Mukuni, we had 4 days of ministry and we saw 22 people receive salvation for the first time and the Lord healed 62 people as we prayed over them.  Another ministry team was out in the bush for 8 days and saw 331 salvations and over 100 healings.  Numbers like these make me want to cry because I am so excited for how God is moving in these areas and for all the wonderful changes this will bring to the villages as they share the love of Jesus with their friends as well.  WAHOO!

The next testimony I am going to share is from one of our guys in Advanced Missions Training as he wrestles with the miracles and healing he is seeing:

"During the expedition, our first night meeting brought to us an old man with a massive, grape fruit sized tumor on this lower back near his right kidney. Each progressive night he returned, always asking for more prayer. On the second night he grabbed me and a few others, throwing us into a big group hug shouting “Amen!” What faith he has! 

During our last expedition I found myself extremely discouraged for a time when a young paralyzed girl remained immobile after hours of prayer. Thankfully she did eventually find relief and stood for the first time in two years, and I was able to throw myself into the arms of God and praise Him for His grace. 

As soon as I saw this man return, affliction intact, I told myself that I would not allow my faith to waver because of a lack of immediate, miraculous healing. I will not make that mistake again. It is not by my clock that the Lord works, if it were He would hardly be God. We did not witness the disappearance of the man’s tumor but rather the growth of the man’s faith and spiritual countenance. There is no doubt in my mind that he will find the healing he so fervently desires. It is with extreme gratitude that I thank God for His broad shoulders that carry the weight of all healing and forgiveness. It is not my place to worry or concern myself with what has already been done. Praise God."   - Bryan

This is Bryan as he overlooks the Zambezi River below our base.

I appreciate his honesty - don't you?!  Have you ever seen God work in a certain way with someone else and wonder why He didn't answer in a similar way in your life?  There is great mystery with healing, but what I have learned is that it isn't up to me to pray a "correct" way or to have faith big enough to have God show up and do something amazing, it is all about Him.  We pray in faith believing God wants to heal and He often does.  Sometimes he doesn't, but He is sovereign and holy and we trust in His perfect timing in these things.

Showing Jesus's love through serving in Mukuni

Here is a wonderful testimony from one of the gals in our Advanced Missions Training classes:

"On our second expedition to the Mukuni Chiefdom one of the many experiences I was pleased to be apart of and so blessed to be used by the Lord was with a young mother named Gertrude a single mother 18 years old with an 8-month old baby girl. The first day I met her was in her mother’s garden. She was very reluctant to talk to me. She would not make eye contact and just was not interested in talking or engaging with myself or the other missionaries. I felt in my spirit she was struggling with shame and guilt. I invited her to our night meeting where I hoped she would go to hear the word and be part of worship.

The group I was with was able to serve Gertrude and her family in their garden tilling the ground and pulling weeds, preparing the ground for planting a garden. After being able to bless them in a physical way the message was given on the parable of the good soil and bad soil (Mark 4). This family heard the word and was grateful for it. Leaving that place I just knew the seed fell on good soil.

 

The next day while ministering at an influential elderly woman of the villages hut, I saw Gertrude walking past the hut about 3 times. I got up knowing she came to speak with us, I asked her to come in so we could talk. I was able to encourage her and tell her how much Jesus loved her, and how special she is in the Lords eyes. Her eyes brightened up, and her down cast head was lifted; she was seeking after more of the Lord. She was seeking His forgiveness and approval and He gave me those words to speak over her. The importance of her role in the village and in the Kingdom of God was spoken over her that day. I also had the privilege to pray for her and her baby that His provision and protection would be upon them. I prayed that this women would see herself as the beauty that God see her as, so that she my step into the abundant life He has for her, and not settling or turning back in the opposite direction. That day she followed us to other huts and listened to us minister. Each place we went I was walking hand in hand with her. What a beautiful thing in my life to walk with a young Zambian woman down a dirt road taking the message of life, hope and redemption to all Gods people. I am learning Gods love is shown and shines through words, deeds, smiles, hugs, laughter and relationship.

 

I was able to say by to this young woman before leaving; in her I saw a new spirit one of strength, hope and joy. She was renewed in receiving his goodness, and I am confident that she will walk in His righteousness. She will be a great mother and will impact many lives in her village around her.

He bore our sin and shame. He took it upon himself and we receive his full forgiveness and approval when we accept and understand that his blood has covered us once and for all. There is nothing in our lives we have done that we cannot receive forgiveness for. There is no sin that is to great for our great God."

It is such a great delight to see God at work here!  As you can see, sometimes it is more powerful to spend time doing daily life with the villagers then just preaching to them at meetings.  Spending quality time serving them communicates great value to the people we meet and softens their hearts to hear about Jesus.  Trust, the daily life of African villagers is CHALLENGING.  They carry heavy water containers (usually on their heads, with a baby strapped to their backs!), they cook over an open fire, they hand wash laundry, they water huge gardens a bucket at a time, and care for livestock.  Having a Westerner "get dirty" helping them is a massive blessing and they will never forget it because it communicates great care and love for them.

We asked the students to carry water one evening to experience how challenging getting water is.

Spending time in the bush has challenges, but it is a far greater reward to be a part of what God is doing here, seeing how He is moving,  how many people receive salvation, and are set free from things that burden and bind them.
Glory to God!

Beauty's Story

I am still processing some of what God did during our few days of ministry a little over a week ago in the Simwatachela chiefdom.

I am going to do my best to tell you what I know about the life story of a little girl named Beauty.  What God did for her imprinted her on my heart, and for the rest of my life, I will never forget her.

We were in the area for 5.5 days and I believe on our second day, a mother approached Overland staff and students and asked them to pray over her 10 year old daughter, named Beauty.  Apparently, a few years ago, Beauty had been very sick and her parents had taken her to the witch doctor for a remedy.  Her health had improved for a few months, but then after that she became gravely ill and had been fully paralyzed for around 2 years.  Members of our group prayed over Beauty several different times over the next few days and didn’t see any change in her situation.

Our group a few hours before praying over Beauty.

On Thursday, I was hiking with a few students and we had been meeting person after person who requested that we pray over them – a few for salvation and many for healing.  We finally got our lunch break around 3pm at the truck, and then headed back to where we had left off.  As we walked, I prayed that God would direct our steps to those He wanted us to touch for Him that afternoon.

Quite literally, a few steps later, a lady had asked our translator Lucy to stop and have us pray for her daughter.  We agreed to do so and then as we followed her to the mat made up of cornmeal bags sewn together, my heart sunk a little.  There in a pool of urine lay the little paralyzed girl.  I honestly didn’t expect much from the Lord as we were now the third team of Overlanders to pray over her, but we knelt down next to her and prayed simple prayers asking the Lord to heal her and restore health to her body.  Then, I asked Lucy to tell Beauty to squeeze my hand.  About 30 seconds later I felt a small twitch.  Wondering if it was involuntary, I asked her to do it again.  She did!  Words fail to describe fully how incredible that little tickle felt on my hand!

Of course, I was a sobbing mess as we continued to pray over her and the Lord slowly increased the strength in her hands, arms, feet and neck over the next 20 minutes.  She was squeezing our hands, lifting her arms, moving her head from side to side and was pushing with her toes – absolutely incredible!

Then all of a sudden, her eyes got huge and her body began to convulse.  After about a minute, a demon came out of her.  I don’t have any special training or experience in things like this, but we just continued to pray over her, speak Scripture over her, and declared the authority of Christ over all powers on earth.  There was no fear at all in the situation, and at the end, when it had left, Beauty’s dazzling smile was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. 

We continued to pray over her and for the next hour we saw great progress as her back grew strong enough for her to sit up and she even took a few steps with gals holding on under her arms to support her.  With their hands under her arms, her shirt came up a little bit and we could see that her back had been scarred by a witchdoctor’s knife – there were cuts and marks all over.

God was doing amazing things and we were so excited!  However, Beauty seemed to get tired and was crying a little bit.  As we set her down to rest, she leaned back into one of the Overland gal’s lap and curled back into a fetal position with her hands and arms curling back in.  It looked like she was regressing back into the paralysis position we had initially found her in.

I prayed, asking God to show us what to do from here, and I felt an impression in my spirit to pray over her mind.   So, we did.  We also had a suspicion that perhaps there were more demons and sure enough, after about 15 minutes, a second demon manifested, and then quickly left.  After that demon was gone, Beauty was exhausted and just wanted to curl up in her mother’s lap.

We talked with her parents about trusting in Jesus alone for Beauty’s healing and how they must not take her to the witch doctor any more.  They agreed and we prayed with them for a little while too.

We asked them to bring Beauty the next day and we would continue to pray over her, but the parents said that they stay very far from where we were and that they needed to go home.  Apparently they had been sleeping near our campground for several nights already and the nights were really cold.  We commended them for their faith and perseverance and asked them to try to send word to the June team Overland is sending into the same area regarding how Beauty was doing.  At that time, we had a sense of peace over our group knowing that we had done what God wanted us to do that day and we felt like it was okay to go.

Honestly, I don’t know the end of her story.  I don’t know if Beauty is fully healed and running around again or if she is still struggling.  I continue to pray for her and ask God to continue the healing that had begun in her body.  Will you join me in the tension of the unknown ending to Beauty’s story?  Will take a few minutes right now to ask God to touch her body with His healing power and that the seed of faith that is planted in her parent’s hearts will grow to maturity and that they will continue to trust in God alone?

As you give to us and pray for us as we go, you truly are partnering with us, so you can join in the celebration of what God is doing in Beauty’s life with us.  We are so grateful.