Malawi – Mzimba – July 2018

To: Our beloved-Missionaries, (Tonney and Runney) (that is – Tony and René – otherwise, not edited)

From: Brothers and Sisters, Mzimba-Malawi

RE: Vote of thanks and Appreciations

In the first place we would like to thank Jesus Our Lord for allowing us to conduct such a wonderful three days Bible Seminar in Mzimba-Malawi.  We write to express o7ur sincere gratitude/happiness from deep down of our hearts to you brothers for coming and share great insights of God that have been imparted to us, of which is expected to be delivered to the entire community.(Mathews 28 versus 19-20)

Indeed we have shared wonderful lessons that lead some one to Salvation.  We are no longer the same; we have been revived and transformed spiritually.  As Gods’ servants, we have been challenged on the need to carry out the same ministry with different gifts that now we are yielded to winning many lost souls to Christ and uplift Him higher and higher. (Ephesians 4:7)

We do not take your journey of coming here for granted, but it took your sacrificial heart of commitment, resources and Hold Spirit that enabled you to come preach, teach and become our beloved friends in Christ Jesus.  It does not mean that you have resources neither had nothing to do in your country, but it is a manifestation that the Holy Spirit drives you to accomplish His planned work in Mzimba.  We really tank you and give Praises and honour unto God.

40 members from different denominations came and attended to the lessons.  The message obtained from here for sure shall not only benefit us, but also others in our communities we live with and different people in our society across the nation.

May the Holy Spirit continue revealing, impart and bless you with more and more that one day we meet and rejoice together in paradise.

To day as we part in flesh not in spirit, we pray that God grants you the travelling mercies and pass warm and tender greetings to all brothers/sisters, families and everyone in south Africa.  We will be failing our duty if do not acknowledge and recognize the gift of the Laptop provided to us a Christian for truth organization (cft).  The resource given to us shall not only benefit us, but also the entire community at large.  We will keep on praying for you just6 as you will be praying for us.  Once again as you go back to South Africa, carry our greetings to all brethren.

Wishing to seeing you back very soon possible in two or three week’s time.  For we have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the Saints have been refreshed through you, brothers (Philemon 1:7)

With these few remarks, May our good Lord richly bless you!

AMEN!

Mozambique – June 2018

Quite a thought….. Repent from repenting of your sin….  Now that is a challenging point to get across.  Even more so when you are ministering in your second language, which is translated to Portuguese, which in turn is translated to Makua.  But Jesus never said that spreading the good news (His Gospel) would be easy.  He did however say,’ And lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the earth.’  And God is faithful…. No if’s, no but’s.  Faithful. (read full stop 🙂 )

When God is at work, all you have to do is sit back and enjoy.  God is in control and even when it seems as if He is not, remember, He has made a public spectacle of principalities and powers.

So here is the scorecard for the week:

  1. Plus minus 1200km travelled;
  2. 19 hours 15 minutes travel time of which 13 hours 45 minutes was for 563km (eisshh, mission is tough….);
  3. About 10kg of rice consumed…. 🙂 ;
  4. 2 new ‘fellowships’ visited;
  5. 2 days building on the foundation that is Jesus Christ;
  6. 30 people willingly bowing their knee, and choosing the Lord Jesus as the only way to the Father;

Enough said.

As for me, ‘I will bless the Lord all the time, His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul shall boast in Him alone.’

Please remember our brothers and sisters in Mozambique in your prayers, and do not forget the mighty man of valour, which is Elias.  He especially needs your prayers as he is still in extreme discomfort and pain from his back.

Lord bless,

André

 

Mozambique – Outreach and Building

Report back on Outreach Activities in Mozambique.

This year 2018 was blessed year when God spiritual brought us to deep understand in His Will through His Son Jesus Christ. John 6:39,40.
We believe that when Jesus spoke in his word Mathew 7:21 – 28 that “The Will of his Father” requires us to be hearing and do Jesus sayings, because Jesus is the only one and author of our faith.
Since we have applied Christ Jesus’ principles in His Word as the Head of the Body (Church), we have seen believers coming as true members of His Body added with such spiritual understand.
Our prayers is to reach more and more understanding in three major groups of people, that the revelation of God’s word come to full in hearts of; youth, women and men in our fellowships here in Mozambique.
This year 2018, we just planned in our prayers that the only way how to reach groups of these people was to bring true teaching of God’s word in some events as Youth camp, women meeting and Bible study, where God’s word will be exposed as our spiritual life and food. And by doing that God was so gracious to us in Mozambique to see many times in such events, people to rejoice in God’s Word even giving their life to Christ Jesus. In two first events, youth camp and women meeting, we were amazed, how great was God using young men and women sharing from heart with confidence that Jesus is the source of God’s word in our daily life.

Youth Camp at Nhamu Fellowship in Gorongoza

         

Women’s Meeting Chimoio

Bible Study at Biarro 5 Fellowship

Our recently bible study at Bairro 5 fellowship, God through His Word challenged us that “if we are in Christ Jesus, and Christ in us” we have received a gift by grace and each member is called to exercise God’s gift for Christ’s glory in His Body. Ephesus 4:7-12.
Praise God for such teaching from God’s word which came to fulfill in our hearts the joy that we are stewards of God’s mystery. We are praying for God to reach us in full understand and to be the doers of God’s living Word which is Jesus Christ.

Building Project at Bairro 5

   

Please, please, pray for us for our building construction at Bairro 5, as we ask the Lord to provide us with funds to finish it by next year June 2019. By God’s grace is in our hearts that building is going to be training place and accommodation will be needed in yard also for the brethren who will come to be taught during one week. God bless you

By Elias Ernesto Paulo Jorge.

Mission Report 3 – April 2018

When Rupert asked me to join the trip to Malawi it was a total bombshell to me as we were busy with homeowners affairs on the estate and had just set the date for our estate AGM and so I called our chair lady who changed the date and insisted I must go as Gods work comes first . Please pray for Debbie as she is on treatment for cancer and the prognosis is bad and she is unsaved.
The day  we left I was stressing with unresolved problems and that night the Lord gave me total peace about it and we were able to concentrate on the trip and the ministry of the word and even on the one day I was ill was still able to minister the love of the Lord Jesus to the folk .
When you share the word of the Lord Jesus you always receive more than you give and we were blessed meeting the folk and hearing the singing and seeing the love of the Lord Jesus shining through them .When we arrived back at our base and compared what each team had shared that day the theme was the same and the Holy Spirit was moving and we were powerfully aware of it .
The Lord kept his hand on us on the long and dangerous roads and brought us home safely .
Please continue to pray for the folk in Mozambique and Malawi and especially Brother Elias with his painful back as we have promised to do and who received us joyfully and fed us bountifully with lots of good food [mostly mealie pap]
The border crossings were easy and at the one in Beit bridge we were taken to the front of the queue and were soon on the road again and we thank the Lord for his hand on us through the whole trip
Roland Holst   Southfield Assembly

Mission Report 2 – April 2018

Greetings in the name of our precious Lord Jesus from Caril de Beer from Southfield fellowship in Cape Town.
We had the most special and life building trip this April to Central Africa. ALL the brothers have been truly inspired and encouraged by what we had encountered along the there and back home.
The team consisted of Rupert Freese, Bruce Munro, Roland Holst, David Cunningham, Elias and myself.
 
We left On the 4th of April and returned back home on the 19th of April.
With drought stricken Cape Town behind us and slowly fading away in our rear view mirrors, we edged forward towards Central Africa km by km.
With the Lord’s praises in our voices and thanks giving in our hearts the Holy Spirit filled our sails and it was full steam ahead as we joyfully proceeded forward entering into the Lord’s fields . We were reminded of the verse John 4:35 and that the fields have been prepared and that they are white and ready unto harvest and that now was the time for us to enter in and to do his work.
Armed with verses, parables and inspiration we entered into the fields, ready to till where the soil needed tilling, pruning where dead branches needed to be removed to give opportunity for new growth, watering where the true living water was needed to sooth the quench and where fertiliser was needed to enrich the soil it was done to the Glory of our Father in Heaven.
 
As the Word was shared amongst the various fellowships in Mozambique and Malawi, it was made evident to us that God’s hand has been and still is at work here amongst the folk. God’s Word was soaked up in the various meetings just like a sponge that draws water into itself.  Prayers were prayed, testimonies were given and questions were asked and answered bringing to light that these folk are truly growing and coming to maturity in the Lord. God is at work here. The Truth is being established and men and woman are being drawn to Christ.
The brothers preached their hearts out and when the time came for us to get together and give report back of what was being shared in the fields at our various outreaches it was made so evident that God was steering the ship here. He was navigating and giving direction through the Holy Spirit.   Whether we were in Mozambique or Malawi, whether we were split up in different directions or if we were in fellowship together the messages was clear and direct and each message dovetailed perfectly into the next, giving us a perfect picture of God at work.
As we approached home again with Table Mountain on the horizon and the Lord’s fields getting smaller and smaller in our rear view mirrors, we were confident and reassured that it was the Lord’s work that was done over the last couple of weeks and not man’s.
We ourselves had received revelation upon revelation and blessing upon blessing had been poured out and Truths had been engraved upon our hearts.
We serve a REAL  and LIVING God. His son’s name is Jesus. We are loved and adored and so dearly wanted. This is all beyond our understanding, but we are reassured that he is a good and faithful older brother who brings us to all Truths and understanding.I have come back home with a fresh understanding of Jesus Christ and what he has done for me and what he means to me.
This has been a life changing event in my walk with Jesus.
I give him all the Praise and all the Glory forever and ever. Amen.
Caril de Beer

Mission Report 1 – April 2018

I’m grateful to the Lord that I was given another opportunity to accompany the brothers to Mozambique and Malawi in April. Every time I come back with something beautiful that the Lord has established in my heart.

Ephesians 2:1 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins”. I ministered this principle at Kulanga Fellowship in Malawi under a tree, that we were all dead because of our wickedness, evilness and selfishness, saying to them that we were all dead and that  “Dead is dead!!!”. God made me aware that I too was spiritually dead as a result of my trespasses and sins. Meaning I was lifeless towards God, but now I have been brought to life through Jesus Christ my Saviour. Being brought to life is not just something that I’m told to believe, but a life changing experience that causes me never to be the same again.

After asking the brothers at the Kulanga Fellowship to read their own verse that they think can be used to preach Jesus, Brother Benson stood up with a beautiful smile and read 2 Cor 2v 15 & 16. “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life”. He said that when we are spiritually alive we give off the sweet fragrance of Jesus Christ, but we stink when we are spiritually dead. It was clear that Brother Benson was himself alive, we could smell the fragrance of Jesus Christ through him. I pray the Lord may keep our Brother Benson and all the other folks that we ministered to, may they continue to seek after the Lord.

David Cunningham

Malawi Bible School 2017

Bible School 2017

Bible School week is a much anticipated event with leading men from many regions in Malawi and Western Mozambique attending. It is a time to renew fellowship with believers we haven’t seen in over a year and to make the acquaintance of others who are new to Bible School. This year there were three significant additions to Bible School; Bros John and Lamech who have returned to Malawi, having been in fellowship with the believers in Benoni and Brother Hellings formerly with Operation Mobilisation.

The ministry focused on the need to go on to perfection. The encouragement coming from the account of Israel being led out of the slavery of Egypt into the wilderness with the purpose of entering into the promised Land. Many challenging principles were drawn from this account, including the case of the twelve spies who divided into two groups; two and ten. Joshua and Caleb being men who had another spirit and were ready to go on and possess the land. The ten, filled with fear and unbelief would not go up to possess the land. The Lord challenging us to examine ourselves to see if we are of the ten or of the two.  With the conclusion of Bible School the team travelled north to meet believers that were part of the fellowships associated with Brother Hellings. We were pleased to be introduced to believers in a newly founded fellowship (1 ½ Months old) in the city of Mzuzu. The members of this fellowship were mostly young educated people who could speak English well. The members, men and women participated actively in the meeting and were a wonderful blessing to us.

It was our privilege to meet believers in Kasangu and Rumphi also in association with Brother Hellings before traveling to Karonga where we had an open air meeting under a tree with folk who had been led to the Lord by Bros Fredson and MacNell in January 2017. Our last stop was a town called Chatipa, on the border with Tanzania where the Lord was freely shared and received.

Having made such meaningful contacts with believers in the North, the need for Bible school in this region became evident. The Lord willing as He gives grace, the hope is to run two bible schools concurrently from next year. One held in Blantyre as usual and the other in Mzuzu.

Each mission trip has its own challenges and rewards, the Lord always accomplishing the work He has purposed to do. It is always a great privilege and blessing to be a small part of what Jesus is building and establishing even His Church.

Malawi update

We have just crossed the border back into SA!  Feels great to be back home!

We had a blessed Bible week as we shared with the brethren about the journey from salvation to maturity in Jesus using the example of the Israelites journey from Egypt to the promised land.

God forbid that we take 40 years but that we grow up into Him in all things speedily! There was much encouragement to the brethren to go back to their home Assemblies and take back the message of the two spies, “We are able to possess the land”. Do not join the 10 who saw the good land but said “There are Giants there – we are not able”.  Every assembly is fully equipped with apostles, prophets,evangelists,pastors and teachers!

We travelled about 400 km to a lovely spot on the shores of Lake Malawi for an overnight rest before doing another 400 km the next day to Kazuni – meeting with some believers at Mzuzu along the way. Great to see the enthusiasm as they worshipped the Lord in their very difficult circumstances.

We enjoyed the rustic accommodation at Kazuni and the “Hippo Serenade” through the night.  As the sun rose over the mountains we watched the Impala bouncing along the shores of the Lake.

We were not able to hold the scheduled meeting there as the grandson of the area chief had died and the funeral was taking place. We met and greeted the believers and commended them to the grace of God.

From Kazuni we headed further north through beautiful mountain passes & views to Karonga to follow up on contacts made by Fredson & MacNel.

We had a very blessed open air meeting under a tree and saw people responding to the Word & coming forward for prayer.

The next day we travelled to Chitipa & met with a lovely group of believers there.  God confirmed His Word to them as we shared about committing the Word to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. We are God’s building and labourers together with Him.  The best we will ever be in the church of Jesus Christ is a “labourer” with the King of kings!

With rejoicing hearts and full confidence that the Head of the Church is building His church we turned to start the long journey back to South Africa.

The Believers at Rhumpi

Missionary’s reward!

 

Malawi Trip 2

After a good night’s sleep and hearty breakfast with Steph and Nadine we were committed to the Lord in prayer for our journey.  With Rene at the wheel, we headed out into the Johannesburg traffic on Wednesday morning.  Our timing was very good and we had a smooth journey all the way through to Pretoria and Polokwane.  A short stop with Josie at his grocery store and we were off to Musina.  The Beit Bridge border crossing went very well and we were on our way again in less than two hours.  Boabab trees dotting the country side flew by as we pressed on to cover as much distance as possible before dark.

The sun went down quite early at around 6:00 pm and we were very grateful to the Lord to arrive at out overnight accommodation at about 8:00 pm.  After a quick supper and a shower we soon fell into a deep sleep.

Thursday morning broke beautifully with a sunrise over Lake Kyle in Zimbabwe as we committed ourselves to the Lord for the remainder of the journey.  What a beautiful country!  We easily understood that it was once known as the bread basket of Africa.  After many kilometres of steady travel we picked up Elias at Tete and crossed the Zambesi river, arriving at the Matura border post at about 6:30 pm.  Once again the Lord was gracious and we had an uneventful border crossing to be welcomed to Malawi by brother John who had been in fellowship at the Rynfield Assembly and only recently returned to Malawi.

A hair raising two hour trip saw us arrive at the mission house in Blantyre at about 8:00 pm.  Exhausted, we were very grateful for a hot shower and a warm bed – ready to meet with the brethren for the Bible School the next day!

Elias, John (recently returned to Malawi from Rynfield Assembly in Benoni) & Tony. The Bible School is at Charimba in Blantyre

Bible School ministry today – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors & teachers

 

Malawi and Mozambique April 2014

Oh man! What an experience. It was totally not what I expected. I was under the impression I was just going along to see what the whole Malawi mission was about and act as support. Boy was I surprised at what the Lord had in store for me.

I flew from Cape Town on 2 April to meet up with the mission team on the 3rd in Johannesburg. I did not really know any of the brethren except for Rupert and Carl from Southfield assembly in Cape Town. Being a very quiet and reserved person I was a bit nervous of meeting the other brethren. When I got to the pick-up point we introduced ourselves and we were on our way to a very long journey to Mozambique.

We were told to brace ourselves for going through the different borders on this journey since it can take long and we could pick up some hassles. After going through the border of Zimbabwe, which went very smoothly I might add, we stayed over at Bubi village for the night where we already started to connect as a group. The next morning we were off to the border of Mozambique. After going through the Mozambican border, we realized that the Lord was really blessing us and keeping his hand over us for I was told this was one of the easiest border crossings they have had in the last couple of years.

When we got to Mozambique we stayed over at this lovely family’s house. Johan, Anne and their two boys were very hospitable.  They made us feel very comfortable and at home. This would be our base in Mozambique for the next 4 days. After having an awesome meal that evening we went to sleep.

After breakfast the next morning we were split into teams. We then had a prayer meeting asking the Lord to bless and direct us and to give us the wisdom and for Him to talk through us. Each team would be going into the different villages. Myself, Dean Botha(from the Bluff assembly) and Allan Hemphill(our team leader) were combined into one team. All the other guys were split into their respective teams. At this point I was asked to try and give my input and preach at the different locations, even if it is just 5 min. As a group we took off to go meet our interpreters since the people we needed to go and preach to did not understand a word of English. This I thought was going to be a task and a half. How do you really get a message across to someone with an interpreter??? We got to meet our interpreter named Bonde. What a pleasure of a man. He was very friendly and could speak English quite comfortably.  Off we went to our first village.

After driving for a while we reached our destination. I was overwhelmed by the way they welcomed us with singing and dancing. They were really happy to see us. We greeted everybody and went into their little church. Most of the churches are built out of clay and mud and have grass roofs. For seating they all sit on a log or even just on the ground. They gave us their only comfortable plastic garden chairs to sit on. To start with they really praise and worship for quite a bit. They can easily worship and sing for about an half hour to forty five minutes. Then we formally introduced ourselves and started preaching.

Allan has done this Malawi trip a few times before so we thought  best that he should kick off with the first session. At this time I became  very very worried since all the way to this church I was trying to plan something to say but could not find anything. Here I was sitting with absolutely nothing to say. I even asked my other team mate, Dean, if he had something to say but he was in the same boat as me. As Allan started sharing his message the Lord laid a message on my heart. How happy I was but I was still very nervous since I have never preached or shared anything to anyone. Even at home at our assembly I do not share. I am always the quiet one who listens. After Allan finished I got up and shared what the Lord laid on my heart. It was only between 5 and 10 min but that was my very first ministry. All I shared about was the Lord Jesus dying for us on the cross and how much he really loves us and how he took our sins to the grave. They really responded well. After me was Dean. What was so amazing to me is that everything that we said tied in with each others ministries. There were also a handful of people that gave their lives to the Lord.

During the following 3 days we covered another 3 villages. What I really enjoyed about all the villages is that the people were very humble and grateful
for the message from the Lord. At one of the villages we even had 2 men wanting to be filled with the Holy Ghost. We prayed for them and will continue to do
so since at that very moment they weren’t filled.

After our 4 days in Mozambique, we were off to cross over into Malawi and face another border crossing. By this time we were sure we were going to have
hassles at the border but yet again, the Lord blessed us since it went very smoothly. That evening we reached our destination, the Zambezi mission house. This was our base for the next 4 days.  Getting to know the Malawians, I realized they were just as humble as in Mozambique. By this time Dean and I were far more confident in ministering.  We found this crowd to be just as responsive to the Word of God for here too we had people responding to the gospel. How refreshing that was. Our last stop of the Malawi leg had around 400 members in the church. There were people peeling out the doors listening to the ministries as the hall we had was too small to accommodate everyone.

All locations we went to in both Mozambique and Malawi, none of them had chairs to sit on. The people sat on either the floor or thin log tree stumps.
This got me thinking of how easy we have it here. They were only too happy to sit there for two to three hour sessions at a time without complaining.

What really hit home for me after I shared my messages from the Lord is how happy these people were to receive this simple message. This is when I realized that these people don’t really know much about the Lord. They knew the basic bible stories but not the deeper meaning of any of what the Bible is teaching us. All these people were so thankful to just and hear the basic gospel and principles explained to them. I would say that they really have child-like minds. How refreshing that was to me since it made me realize that we sometimes get so wrapped up in too much detail that we forget what the most important thing is. Just love the Lord God with all your heart, mind and soul and everything else will start falling into place. You can go to church everyday and read your bible for hours every day but if you haven’t given your heart to Jesus and seriously fall in love with him the Bible will be like a good bedtime story.

I really look forward to going again and would seriously urge any brethren from the Assemblies to go on this trip. It will not only benefit the people you are ministering to but will quicken your spirit personally.

Lord Bless
Wayne Grove
Montague Gardens Assembly