Remember the story of Samson, when he found honey in the carcass of the lion? That’s how this covid time has been for us. Though churches have been closed, we have drawn out a sweetness, sweeter than honey. Within small groups and families, we are experiencing sweet intimacy and connection in homes, under trees, any place we can group together. As it is written, “The thief comes to steal and to destroy, but I have come to give life, and that more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Samson was attacked by a lion, a destroyer seeking to kill him. Through the strength that He received from God, he overcame the destroyer. Not only did he get the victory over the enemy, he drew forth sweetness from it. (see article below)
Enjoy the sweetness that came out of what the enemy meant for evil, through the stories of Afrika Wa Yesu Team, and how God has strengthened and empowered us to win souls, heal the sick, make disciples and strengthen the church of Jesus Christ.
We are an apostolic movement, giving all glory and honour and praise to Jesus our King.
Through your prayers and support, you receive the honey also!
Abram Lyle ~ who remembers this tin of golden syrup?
Famously, on the front is a drawing of a dead lion peppered with swarming bees. Abram Lyle was a very pious man, and used the story of Samson in the book of Judges in the Old Testament as the inspiration for the design. Quite a while before his fateful haircut, Samson got attacked by a lion which, through His power, Samson was able to rip open, killing it. Later he sees that bees have built a hive within its carcass and he takes some honey to his family and friends and they have a feast. He didn’t tell them about the lion and had them guess how he came about all the honey, presenting them with the riddle:
(Judges 14:14) And he said unto them, “Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.” And they could not in three days expound the riddle.
THE NEW DISCIPLES
Pastor Mariano writes: After our students graduated, God brought a thought burning my heart a lot. We must secure the fruit of the great work that was developed during the time they were here at the School.
We understand that after our students graduate they face many difficulties. Where possible we continue to disciple and train them in practical missions by going out with them to evangelize. It is also aimed to occupy them and encourage them so that they would not be destroyed due to the restrictions and closing of the churches.
We called them together for a day of preparation, fellowship and prayer. Then we phoned to the Ndoro and surrounding zones of Mangane, Zona Batista, Nhancengo and Nhaudengua. We separated 7 days of house-to-house evangelism, the graduates from Inhaminga region visiting graduates and their work in those areas. They did a great job and we found the graduates in those areas being a strong witness among the people. We worked with many different churches.
Testimonies:
A mother was sick for 2 weeks with severe toothaches, she was unable to do any work. This mother was from the Catholic Church. Having passed our group on the way home, this lady's son asked if we could pray for his mother. They went and prayed with her, immediately the lady was healed and no pain was left. On the same night we showed the Jesus Movie. The lady came, bringing her sister also. Afterwards she stood up before the people to tell of what God had done for her.
A young man named João, sometimes went to church but was still involved in drinking and smoking. When we arrived he tried to be isolated from us, but by the time we were getting ready to go out to evangelize, he approached us and requested to go out with one of our groups to be face to face, showing us the way to the houses. After we had returned from evangelism he surprised of all of us by bringing his tobacco and all the things he smoked, to be burned in the fire. He did this in the presence of everyone. He received Jesus and said that next year he wants to come to Bible school.
A lady named Graça, after being very sick ended up getting involved with traditional healers in search of a cure. When our evangelism group stopped by her house, it was very interesting what she did after she heard the word of God. She decided to give her life to Christ and said that she had witchcraft things in her house and she wanted to burn them. She called her daughter-in-law and they delivered everything and we burned it. The lady was very happy.
There are many testimonies from the graduates who went with me also. I will continue to take graduates with me from every location that I go out from. n the next month on our way to Nacala from Inhaminga we will stop at Lualua, Minhonha, and Quelimane city.
After returning from Nacala, we will also pick up three graduates for our trip to Inhambane.
APOSTOLIC JOURNEYS OF PASTOR ARMANDO AND TEAM
Please note, each Afrika Wa Yesu team member is required to write a monthly report on spiritual and practical work progress. These reports help us know the state of our team, where they may need help and also so we can participate in their victories. The journeys are not easy, covering some very bad roads. Breakdowns happen, there is not always someone to help, but they work tirelessly. This report is truly and apostolic report, enjoy it with us.
Pastors Armando and Lurdes Jo together with their children, are a powerful asset to this nation. We are blessed to work with them and greatly value their frontline leadership on the Afrika Wa Yesu Team. Truly, God has put it all together.
Pastora Lurdes holds a high position in education in Nampula. Still she finds time to take apostolic oversight of women’s ministry, travel with her husband, and a multitude of other things. It is passion that drives this family. A passion for souls, a passion for Christ.
Pastor Armando writes: My wife Lurdes, she has been helping the new women leadership group as the other have transitioned into some other areas of church functions. Together with the former women’s leaders, Melita and the current leader Domingas, they are such a dynamic group. They have also been visiting and ministering to some small women’s groups throughout our House of Peace movement around Nampula city.
She really keeps watch over the women and weekly she is in touch with them, goes out to see them and this has been very touching for both sides and Lurdes loves doing it.
Armando - In light of the soon coming rain season, we are endeavoring to cover as many areas as possible, as we have planned for this September and we split our team into different locations. These are some of the events that happened:
ALTO-MOLOCUE:
The apostle Paul, from Miletus he called all the Ephesians church elders to come (Acts 20:17) And we, from Molocue villa, we called all our church elders to come and meet us there. We wanted to know how are they doing after our leadership conference held in July of this year. We were refreshed to know that they are walking in the truth and this was a great joy (3John 1.4). We had a fellowship around the Word, exhortation, encouragement and direction. Then we moved on to Gurue and it was like flying over the edges of the high hills, from one glory to another glory. Thank you Holy Spirit.
NAMINA WA YESU:
Located 80km out of Nampula, on the road to Ribaue. Half of our team left, from Nampula in September 16th to Namina for three nights outreach. The team did a door to door outreach, visited the church members and had a leadership meeting. The mission was very successful and the harvest was great. Namina Wa Yesu has 24 members and during the outreach 11 new members were added to the local body.
The Challenge: The local church leader moved to another zone and before he left did not train someone to take his place and he just left the area. The sheep were scattered with no direction and but when the team arrived, they first had the work of bringing together all those who were scattered, thenestablished a new leadership, praise The Lord. We will continue to do a follow up periodically and make sure the leadership is established and the people are fully taken care off.
GURUE WA YESU:
Our ministry at Gurue covered the following churches: Gurue villa, Nipive, Carico, Up2 and Meri. And I have to comment that Gurue church at large is blasting from every corner and there is a great potential for much explosion at Gurue at large.
Nipive Wa Yesu. Located at 75km south of Gurue, led by brother Antunes, is a well watered area by the Ligonha river, providing much vegetables and fish for the living. This river, is used as a boundary between Gurue District to Namaroi District. Nipive Wa Yesu has about 50 adults members, who love The Lord and also each other. We were the first AWY team arriving there and I have to confess that I fell in love with the people there and in spite of the distance, next year, I will return there for more days to equip the leaders and evangelize more the area, as a way of giving a back to the efforts done by the locals. Our time there was really incredibly wonderful and we thank The Holy Spirit for using our team to bring some encouragement to the believers and leaders there, we are so grateful.
Carico Wa Yesu. Nearly 30km out of Gurue on Cuamba and Milange road and it’s a good tar road. At Carico area, the government have established a primary school on one end of the area and the people are relocating from where they are and going toward where the school is and this is a good thing. We have discussed this change and people have decided to move the church with the people. Right now, we have half of the church members left and in order to not to lose the harvest, we will do one side a mother church and another side a House of Peace. Both the Gurue leaders and the people at Carico, are happy with the idea and they will move with it this year.
UP2 Wa Yesu. Located about 12km out of Gurue villa on the same road to Cuamba and Milange. Our church leader there is Terezinha. She was the first to accept the faith, even before her husband did. She is very, very dynamic indeed and for sure she is a strong witness in that area. Nelson is her husband and they are a powerful couple but with no biblical basis. Teresa does not know how to read and write. I would love to send them both to Inhaminga next year for a parallel training meaning that: The bible school for Nelson and literacy education for the Teresa, if there be a space for them.
The challenge I have noticed is the meeting place. There is a need a central point where they meet for church. I would to love request help to buy a plot of land. It’s quite a big plot and would be very useful for the church purposes. I also believe that UP2, has the potential to grow in number more than Gurue villa. I foresee many and great things happening for God there. I will be going back there for extra days of evangelism, leadership training next year.
We have witnessed the mighty Hand of God at UP2, where several people came to the saving faith in Christ Jesus, more than 13 people were baptized in The Holy Ghost. There was a healing miracle of a lady who had back pain for a long time. Oh, I want to go back to Gurue. But, we have other sheep to tend to and will return there next year, for sure. I love Gurue and loved every placed we visited and ministered on this journey. I am so happy and grateful for every opportunity.
Meri Wa Yesu. This is another zone which we ministered during our trip to Gurue. It’s located about 40km northeast of Gurue. One particular characteristic of Meri is that there are a lot of children. I was drawn particularly to one boy and I told him when he gets to 18 years old, he must come to the bible school. I believe there is something very unique in that boy, who is now 14 years old and doing his grade 7. At Meri, we had a meeting with the church people, had some rich time of fellowship, meals, singing, dancing and sometime of preaching.
Surely, next time, I would love to take our daughter Debora Jo for some children’s ministry at Meri and other places around Gurue.
Gurue Wa Yesu. We left Gurue villa for the last visit. Our ministry at Gurue Wa Yesu, was mainly to the local leadership. As they are covering all these 5 daughter churches, we had to focus on investing some quality time to these men and women who labor so hard and tirelessly. Daniel and Nefia, are such an excellent leaders and along with the couple, there is also an excellent group of young couples such as Almeida, Demitorio, Fernando, Quisito, Alfredo and others. We did a leadership training seminar for 2 days, solidly in the Word. We also set time aside to evaluate each place we visited and pointed out anything that must be taken care of and some follow up which must happen.
Plans for October:
The Man makes the plan but God is the one who makes it happen. We believe that its God´s will to go and preach the gospel, make the disciples and equip the leaders. Below is our vision for October.
Mopiha - We plan to do one week end outreach at Mopiha Wa Yesu, under Ribaue District, with a team of 4 people: Armando, Lurdes, Benildo and Bety, around the first week of October. Our purpose is to minister to one local church body, that The Holy Ghost has led me to go. I believe that there is something there which needs to be tended to. We will also encourage the people, show the Jesus film and strengthen the leadership and be a blessing to all those whom we can reach.
Meconta Church Leadership Conference. We had planned this conference earlier but we postponed due to the restrictions. We will gather all our 6 churches under Meconta for leadership training, massive evangelism in the community and Jesus film every evening.
Baby dedication: Six newborn babies were dedicated to the Lord ~ All glory to Jesus!
Editor’s note: Along with these reports Pastor Armando recorded many testimonies of healings, deliverance and great change in people’s lives. Space does not allow for all of these, we wanted you to see the operation of the ministry through apostolic leadership. We love signs and wonders and miracles, but establishing the church, working is a vital part of the church that must continue till Jesus comes. Armando is an apostle of apostles, taking care of more than two hundred churches and their of leaders. We thank God for him and his family.
FATHER & SON CAMP
In line with the sweetness that has come forth out of covid restrictions, came the idea for a special father/son camp for some of our key leaders. We contacted Gorongosa Game Park and made a booking for a game drive. The boys and some of the fathers had never visited the park just a few hours from Inhaminga, and never seen wildlife, these tourist parks are beyond the financial reach of most Mozambicans. The purpose of the trip was not simply for diversion, but to give quality time together with the boys from 12 years old and up. We were blessed to be given a free place to camp near the park, where we had all necessary amenities to make it an unforgettable time.
Pastor Mariano writes: Thank you for the rich opportunity to go out together with our children, we had a good time with our sons, also between us as fathers, we had never had such time outside of our homes. We talked together, prayed together, played a lot together, it was a moment of reflection, rest and a lot of fun.
At the park, we were very proud to be national tourists.
Two land cruisers arrived and we divided into two groups for the Safari.
Not only did we see many different kinds of animals but we also learned a lot about plant life, how to understand the language of animals, their communication with each other as well as with humans. It was a really a great adventure.
The boys had training about how to share the gospel and how to evangelize. This was directed by Bible School teachers, Sabão and Félix.
The third day, we left very early to Vila de Gorongosa where the boys divided into two groups for house-to-house evangelism, each group accompanied by their teacher. They returned, filled with joy that they had the opportunity to speak the word of God to people and pray with them.
During this time six people accepted Jesus, three young people three adults.
One of the testimonies, when they told about Jesus to the family outside their house, one of the children said, “I'm asking you to pray also with my brother who is sick inside.” They brought the patient out prayed with him. After prayer he felt much better and wanted to stay outside, not go back inside to sleep. Our boys were very happy to have this opportunity.
Love our Penthouse!
Abdul, the other Armando, and Tesoura watch the fish on the coals.
Pastor Lino stirs up the maize meal.
The great safari is about to happen!
The sons are primed and prepared for evangelism.
About to go out, Bibles at the ready.
OUR LAST FLIGHT
This was literally our last flight together... we actually managed to smile!
Are we ever ready to let go of something we love? No. Thus it has been with our flying and Rodney’s great passion for wings and sky. We made the decision to let our Cessna 206 fly out of our hands. Letting Go is hard to do, but when it’s time is time, …..and in time …… we’ll share more about this. It is quite a story!
Taking off from Nacala one last time, the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds, the kind we love to dance in. Then crossing into Zambezia province, the sky turned grey from the annual bush fires; the smell of smoke accompanied by unexpected bumps from hot air pockets declaring the change of season from pleasant winter into hot summer. Our light dance and chatter changed into a deep, silent waltz.
I'LL HAVE THIS LAST WALTZ WITH YOU............
I wondered should I go or should I stay,
The band had only one more song to play.
I had the last waltz with you……
Yes the love we had was going strong,
Through the good and bad we got along.
I wondered should you go or should you stay
My heart was broke in two when we said goodbye.
The last waltz should last forever.
It’s all over now, nothing left to say….
except that……
It’s has been incredible,
unforgettable,
life changing ride…..
and we are grateful!
In journeyings often, and perils on the road.
Multitudes of buildings remain in ruins since the colonial war in Mozambique. Every building on our campus looked like these, and worse, before we restored it all to a paradise. The flowers continue to bloom among the ruins, a sign of hope, beauty from ashes. We continue to rebuild!
