AFRIKA WA YESU sukawalker@gmail.com sukawalker@gmail.com••p.o. p.o.box box67 67••beira beira••sofala sofala••Mozambique Mozambique
OCTOBER JUNe| |2013 2013
In Brazil, I visited many churches, friends and some of my family! I didn’t do as much as other times because what I really needed was to rest! It was a huge blessing, though, to see so many brothers and sisters and receive encouragement in so many ways! I praise God for everyone who “holds the rope” so I can be here, both in Brazil and in other countries! Thank you so much! I returned to Mozambique, still not 100%, but really close, and as work has picked up, I have been feeling strength, peace, courage and all I need to carry on with what God has called me to do and to be! Thank you for praying for me!
Inhaminga, November 27th, 2013
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ear friends, After many months without news, I am finally sending you this letter! In it you’ll read great news of what God did here in October. I left Mozambique in the beginning of August, after a month (July) full of Conferences at Inhaminga. Pastors came from all over the country for our Annual Leadership Conference, then the Board met together for our AGM and it was all wrapped up with Team Conference - a time when our ministry team comes together for teaching, fellowship and connection! It is a very important time of the year and many plans and decisions are made! It is also a very tiring time, with much organization and intense meetings. I was specially exhausted this year and needed time to recompose myself, get my physical and emotional strength back, so I was very happy to leave to States right after the conferences. I spent two weeks with my immediate family there and I did nothing but rest and recover (pic on the right)! I felt much better by the time I arrived in Brazil!
Now two months have passeds since I’m back, and God has done SO MUCH, I am so in awe! You will read in this letter about the Pre-Teen Camp! After that, we have had a Youth Leaders’ Training and a Youth General Conference, with over 200 youth coming from different areas of the country. All this is a miracle, considering the country is under a lot of political tension and many are afraid of traveling... and yet, God has given us a harvest during this time, and he is moving so much, it is umbelievable! We learn not to live by what we see naturally, but by faith, each day! You’ll read more about those in the next letter! Now, get ready to be thankful for what God has done and to continue praying for what He will continue doing!
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THE VISION, by Simona Caba “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of God will raise a standard against him!” (Isaiah 59:19)
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hat is how I feel when I think of the children of Mozambique. This nation has been so much under the enemy’s attack; but I see how God brings life and healing through a new generation rising up, standing straight and bold for His truth and righteousness. It is amazing to see how God chooses to trust His love to the little ones and see them at work throughout the nation. Little children covered by the blood of Jesus, empowered by His Holy Spirit are sharing the Gospel to the hidden and praying for the sick. We see how fearless they are and how they take a stand for God’s truth. It is amazing to think from where they are all coming: from families that are practicing witchcraft, some have already taken part of demonic traditional ceremonies; lots of them lost someone in the family through deadly diseases, live in deep poverty and many times lack food or water. Last year God spoke to me about an specific age group that needed to be reached with His love. We already had an established work with the little children as well as with the youth over 14, but there was a group of children that most of the time was left out of our meetings and ministry. They are children 9-14 years old, most of them very angry, already deeply hurt and full of rebellion. In December last year we had our first Kids Camp and we loved it! It was amazing to hear the testimonies of the team and youth involved in leading the Camp. You cannot do anything else but fall in love with them! Since then, we had another Camp in the North One special girl Bokiki, 12 years old, saw both her parents die in the last 4 years. She came to our Camp just a week after her mom died. Lost and confused she found this as a safe place with friends. But God had a bigger plan for her as she was filled with the Holy Spirit - her new best friend who will always be with her. She was hugging me tight and didn’t want to let go, and I knew that I was so privileged to give her back the most precious love of Jesus, the One that will love, protect and guide all her life.
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among Muslims and, just a few days ago, a Second Kids Camp at our Inhaminga base. The amazing journey that started last year carried on with those coming daily to our Children Center at “Casa Esperança” and others to a weekly meeting at the Youth Center in the village. Through the whole year we heard the testimonies of their lives changed. We believe that they have the potential to change their families and friends for Jesus, they can affect their nation with God’s love! At this time, when Mozambique is going through a tense political time, but we could minister God’s peace and joy into their lives. They are so open and ready for the Gospel; full of life and so funny at times! At the same time, their spirits are ready to be set free from generational bondages of sin. They haven’t learn yet all the tricks to hide their emotions, so they are ready to receive and trust God’s healing in their lives. We had an amazing team of Mozambicans, Brazilians and one Romanian (that is me). We worked together in unity and that was amazing! Another amazing thing was the transfer from our team to the youth that came to be trained. We saw the youth understanding the need to minister to the ones that come after them and leave a great model and heritage to their little brothers and sisters. One of the greatest blessings was to have our awesome leaders and spiritual parents Pai Rodney and Mae Ellie with us; the transfer of their vision and anointing to this generation is so important. The kids even handmade a motorcycle from an empty Coca Cola can for “Pai Josefa (Rod) to use “. How thankful I am to God for the amazing spiritual family he put me in and for all these special children He gave me as my inheritance!
AMAZING RACE, by Paulo Costa
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e had an Amazing Race, an obstacle course, prepared for the kids every morning, which was amazing! Not only there were great obstacles, and it was fun to see how much effort they had to put into completing the course, but the entire race was a way of preaching the Gospel, and that will forever be imprinted in the lives of many of them. In their first challenge, they encountered a variety of craft material and each team had to create something out of it. They learned how GOD is the Creator. By the end of the week, the result of their work was very creative and neat! (Rod and Ellie, the judges, grading their final work, on picture 3!)
After that, they memorized a verse and received a dirty heart, representing the heart we were all born with after the fall, a heart rooted in sin. Then they experienced the Sin Slough, (picture 1) representing how life without God makes us dirtier and dirtier!
1 A PERSONAL TESTIMONY, by Gabriel Gabriel Galvão has been here for six months for Missions’ Training. During this time, he found out his calling to minister to children.
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or me, living these days was something supernatural! We had a huge expectation, but our God is so great, He goes beyond our expectation and shows us that the work is His, exclusively! Some of these children were my students at Casa Esperança, some I knew from the village and others I used to see at different churches; but seeing them this way, being reached by the Holy Spirit was something totally new for me. Their response was sincere, from hungry hearts and, though small, already tired from their lives of sin. It was an “Yes” to the Cross of Christ, to repentance from all sin and to a new life. I don’t say that out of sentimentalism, but what my eyes saw in these pre-teens were a total dependency and a need to receive the Holy Spirit.
Only after that they had the opportunity to go to the cross and learn that through repentance and faith alone we are saved. If they made the right choice, they received a clean new heart! Another lesson learned was that after salvation we have to walk in unity with the other born again believers and that group of people, we call CHURCH. From that point of the race on they had to walk together in unity as a group! The last part of the race was for them to discover that we are called to walk in holiness, from faith to faith, in spite all the obstacles and difficulties of life (picture 2). They also learned that the only way to do that is by the power of the Holy Spirit! It was wonderful to wake up at 4am, start racing with them at 5am and seeing the joy and the commitment of the children to finish the race! As the verse they memorized at the end of the race, my prayer is that they will live their lives with no regrets and at the end be able to say like the apostle Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim. 4:7)
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2 I believe the work was deeper than what we could see. Many of them went through tough situations in their childhood, such as: hunger, abuse, being despised and other things that we can’t even imagine. All these situations created deep roots of bitterness and hate in many of their hearts. I could observe in the last days of the camp, a new joy in their faces. Something unexplainable, that I know it is joy coming from God, something that doesn’t depend on circumstances and is not temporary. I trust in the work Christ started to do and the fruit of the Holy Spirit in these lives, and so I can imagine the sound from heaven as an answer to their hearts: “Let the little children come to me and do not forbit them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven!” I’m entirely grateful to God for allowing me to experience this in my last month in Mozambique. I know he brought me to this time to move my heart and make me fall in love even more with this work and these kids! All glory is to God!
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In the picture to the right, Gabriel teaching about Jesus’ life, and how he was tempted by the Devil.
THE MESSAGE, by Susana Walker
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udagina, 13 year old girl, testifies: "When I arrived here I had a very bad mouth. I called names and gossiped about that girl over there. My heart was dirty. But I have repented from that and God has forgiven me. As I go out of here I won't gossip or say bad things about other girls anymore." Nelinho, 8 year old boy, says: "I came here and I didn't know God was Good, the Almighty, Righteous and The Creator. Now I know. I also came with a dirty heart, but now I have a clean one because God forgave me. I also want to thank you for the rice and buffalo meat we ate!" As we sat around the fire on our last night together and over twenty kids spoke about what they had learned and what God had done in their lives throughout the four previous days, I was amazed by the assuredness they had in saying: "God forgave me!" They didn't say: "I think God forgave me!" or even: "I feel God forgave me!"; but as a matter of fact they stated: "GOD FORGAVE ME!" I realized once again what Jesus meant when he said we must become as children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Receiving the Kingdom with faith like a child is the only way in! Some might think it is too harsh to preach to kids that they are sinners, that we inherited a dirty heart from our earthly father Adam and they must repent and receive a new clean heart! And so, many kids around the World are deprived of the chance of being born again, of receiving salvation at a very young age, because of adults' lack of faith in the power of the Gospel! On the other hand, the forces of darkness and the plans of Satan advance planting seeds of sin that spread roots deep down the little hearts. Lies, deceipt,
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gossip, anger, unforgiveness and even immorality and witchcraft weigh their little hearts down, even from a very young age! How can we, then, deny them the greatest news of all, the news of Salvation through repentance and faith in the complete work of Jesus? During these days, we preached to them, with simplicity, using stories, drawings, dramas, practical games and activities, small groups and one on one time. The WAY we preached was brought to their level, to their way of understanding, to their limitation in concentration. But the MESSAGE was not brought low, it was THE MESSAGE, the Gospel, the truth we all need to hear, no matter our age. We started with God the Creator, who He is, and how He created us. (On the picture bellow, explaining how God is ALLMIGHTY, much stronger then any man!)
We went on to speak about Sin, and how it affected the whole human race, and about SINS and their consequences in our lives. The kids then saw a clear demonstration of Jesus, GOD-MAN, 100% each, how he lived on Earth and how he was totally obedient to the Father. But that wasn't the end, they heard about the Cross, Jesus' death and victory over SIN. And finally we answered the question they had been asked since the beginning of the camp: "What was I created for!?" with three clear messages: "I was created to obey God!"; "I was created to walk with God!" and "I was created to LOVE!" The Message requires an answer from all who hear it, no matter their age! And it brings the power to make Words become Experiences! At the end of two mornings, this happened! The first was when many of them experienced repentance and salvation! And the other, when many received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as a seal upon their hearts! I know for a fact that they will never be the same again. There is a great walk ahead of them, and the trials and temptations of life will still come at full force. But the message they received and the seed that was planted in them will grow and bear much fruit! Thank you for being a part of this! At His Service, With much Joy,