Sunday at Dondo

On Sunday, part of our team left to minister at the conference in Beira while Darlene, Dani, and I were asked to share at the local church service in Dondo. Before church began, a tall, thin man came over to me and began speaking in near perfect English. This man, originally from Malawi, was attending the Iris Ministries Bible school. As we were talking, I felt led to ask him if he had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. He said he believed he had been baptized, but had only received a little of his new heavenly language. When I asked what words he had been given, he said “Da-Da,” but also stated that he didn’t know what those words meant. I laughed and shared with him that he is saying Father, or Papa, in English. I could literally see the revelation hit his heart. When I asked him if he would like to pray for his heavenly language to be expanded, he readily agreed. We prayed and he received more and was greatly encouraged. We parted ways then as he was going to get ready for church and I was preparing for the service as well. The church service went well; I was able to preach on not losing sight of what Jesus has done in our lives and not letting the enemy steal our testimony. I encouraged them to share their testimony with those they come in contact with, as the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.

After church, I was going to take a short rest when I saw a small group of Bible school students. I decided to swing by and say hello. After sitting down, I saw the same man I had spoken with that morning walk by. He looked at me and said, “Oh, I am coming.” He was then able to translate for me, which was great. One of the men sitting there was the uncle of Jacob, a very sick boy we had prayed for the first night we arrived in Dondo. Jacob had a cancer in his neck and was suffering severe pain from a botched operation. He was being taken to the hospital that very night. Jacob’s uncle asked me to continue to remember him in prayer. I assured him I would, and began to encourage him about the goodness of the Lord in any situation. I related to him some of the things I was personally experiencing in life, and how the goodness of the Lord was carrying me through. He was encouraged, and we both rejoiced in the fact that the Joy of the Lord is our strength in any situation.

As I prayed for him, I was again led by the Lord to ask if they had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit with their new heavenly language. About 10 or so responded that they had not received their prayer language. I ran and got my Bible, and with my translator’s help began to teach from the book of Acts and 1 Corinthians. I also asked my translator friend to relay the experience that he had that very morning in receiving more of his heavenly language. We then prayed to receive and the Holy Spirit came and 10 of them began to speak. It was so awesome to see God pouring out His Spirit on these future leaders of the churches in Mozambique. I asked Jacob’s father if he had received and he said he hadn’t, so I spent more time praying with him and he received. As we were praying he told the translator to tell me that my coming and talking to him was a great blessing and a gift from God. I had to laugh because all I wanted to do was to say hello.

Soon after this a crowd of 30 or so pastors gathered and I began to encourage them all that they were in the middle of God’s plan and was reminding them of the awesome things that God is doing in Mozambique, because I fully believe that God is going to show Mozambique to the world. I was humbled that He was using me to bring this great blessing to these hungry people. As we were getting up and some of the students were going off to get dinner, my translator friend kept thanking me for coming and encouraging them all so much. I reminded him that none of this would have come about if the Lord had not brought him to translate for me. This encouraged his heart even further. It is awesome and truly an honor and a privilege to be here in the middle of this nation to be a vessel that God can use to pour out His goodness. May his name be praised continually!

~Andy