Where is Mozambique? And where is Pemba?

We hope this gives you a better idea of where in Africa and where in Moz we will be. Pemba is located in the northern region of Moz. on the coast, yea for the beach!

Many have wondered and asked if we are heading to Africa because things here are hard. The answer is, NO! We often wonder why the Lord is having us move there now because things are going so well here. We have seen many people delivered, healed and beginning to walk out the reality of their freedom. These last few months have filled us with awe. We have witnessed many recognize the call of God on their life and begin to move out in obedience. In all honesty we are a bit disappointed that we have to leave right now because so many wonderful and crazy things are happening. But this is how the Lord often works.
So, why are we going? One reason is because we KNOW that the Lord is telling us to, so the first is out of obedience. We are very excited about Africa and can't wait to see what aspects of the Kingdom we will experience once we arrive in Pemba. Another reason is that the Lord is raising others up into their gifts and roles right there in the Portland area. We don't to be a bottle neck for them but rather walk away when things are at there height for all to see that it's not our "ministry" but the Spirit releasing His Bride into the fullness of Christ. The last main reason is that we believe the Lord has given us another son that we need to go bring into our family, Adelino. So Lord willing the next time you see us we will have Adelino with us.
I hope this gives some insight into the "why's" of our life and leaves little room for gossip about the "because".

A side note, the Lord has blessed our family with a Laptop (a MAC, which happens to be the best) so now we can Skype you all. Which I am reminded when the Lord asked me to give the other MAC laptop he gave, me away. He told me, “If I can give you one I can give you two!” Thanks to both individuals who have blessed us with Laptops, it has not been forgotten by the great bookkeeper of Heaven!

We are going to get the best house that Iris has to offer. It will be two bedrooms, two baths, large living room with a large kitchen and dining room. It has a fenced in yard (great for kids and a dog, but don’t tell Emie about the dog) and a gazebo. I understand it use to be the Bakers old house.

Not only these two things but also the Lord is pouring out his blessings in every other area of our life. We have been given language programs for learning Portuguese, Home school supplies, iPOD and travel speakers, luggage, and clothes. Besides these and other things I can’t remember off the top of my head, we have the possibility of connecting with a current missionary in another part of Mozambique who is returning to the States and will need to get rid of his 4x4 vehicle (A Toyota Land Cruiser I believe, for those men who are dying to know what type of 4X4 it is). We are overwhelmed in how the Lord is faithfully putting everything in order.

More to come as more comes or not if He comes!
Blessings
Heath

Loving an Orphan into Sonship

Have you ever loved an orphan? I bet you have. They're all over. They sit next to you in church, work in the cubicle next to you, maybe even sleep next to you in bed or worse yet, look back at you in the mirror. It is incredibly challenging to love an orphan. Nothing you do is ever good enough. You can pour in, pour in, pour in, pour in and then one wrong move or one trigger from the past and you're back to square one with a pointing finger in your face yelling, "You don't love me!" It is a never ending game of "prove that you love me. . . . . and do it on my terms."
I had five boys I loved on. Luis was one of the tougher kids. His walls were high and the rules of his "prove that you love me" game were steep. Frequently I broke the rules and had his accusing finger in my face telling me all the reasons I loved everyone but him. It was deeply spiritual. If you've ever heard these words and experienced this accusation, you know it is spiritual. It cuts deep even when you know the truth and what is motivating the lies. It is a battle to stand against the condemnation. Most days I could smile at him, wrestle him into a hug and say something like, "You know that's not true. But you choose to believe what you want."
One morning, I was really tired, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I needed to bandage Adelino's toe that was infected. But that was no small task because whenever I pulled out the first aid kit, 20 little (and big) boys came running with wounds ranging from small scrapes to gaping sores and intense infections. Most the time, there was at least one wound bad enough to turn my stomach. Luis had multiple wounds on his legs and arms that weren't healing. Sometimes I'd put bandaids on and sometimes I didn't have enough bandaids for all his sores. This particular morning, as I applied bandaids to boy number 3, Luis stood behind him pointing his finger at me, loudly and boldly declaring how much I didn't love him. That day, I couldn't fight the spirit of condemnation. The tears began to trickle down my nose and drip off my chin. Luis quickly backed off and the whole chattering group of boys became silent. I immediately thought, "I need to get it together." But I felt the Holy Spirit say, "Go with it."
Soon the trickle was a waterfall as I continued to apply bandaids through my sobs. None of them knew what to do. Eventually some of them asked, "Mama Emie, what's wrong?" By this time, I was no longer crying because I was feeling sad that Luis wouldn't believe that I loved him, though that's what triggered my tears. As I continued crying, God began speaking to me about His children. "I have poured out and poured out and poured out on my children. I have given them everything, even my only Son and my very Spirit to live in them and they still believe they are unloved and alone. One thing triggers their past and the pointing finger and accusations of abandonment come at Me. What else can I do to prove my love?" Now I was sobbing for the Body of Christ. Now I was longing for my brothers and sisters all over the world to really believe that we are not orphans anymore! What if we believed we were forgiven? What if we really believed that the same power that rose Jesus from the dead is alive within us? What if we really believed that the purest, most overwhelming love in the universe is poured out upon us and revealed through Jesus Christ? What if we believed we were a dearly beloved child of the LIVING GOD?!!! Just imagine how our world would be changed or how we would change the world. (Eph. 1 and 3, Rom. 8, etc.)
Then the Holy Spirit took over as I began, through tears, to ask the boys questions. "How many people can Jesus love?" "Everyone," they answered. "How many of you can Mama Emie love? Just one?" "All of us," some of them answered. Then the Holy Spirit continued talking through me about how we have to choose to believe that Jesus loves us no matter what happens to us. I told them that Jesus will continue to pour out his love in different ways upon them, but what else should he really have to do to prove his love? Then I walked them through all the ways I had tried to prove my love to them over the 6 weeks I had been there. I asked, "What else can I do to help you believe that I love you? I don't know what else to do." Looking into their eyes, I said, "I love you. I love you all."
With that, I left the tension unresolved and walked away. I wanted them to wrestle. I wanted them to feel the need to respond. I went to my house and began to journal. About 10 minutes later, I heard little voices out my window saying, "Mama Emie. Can you pllleeeeaaase come out here? Mama Emie?" I went out and there were 10 or so of them. "We're sorry Mama Emie. We love you. Can we please have some water?"
I rarely heard the words please and sorry from their lips the whole time I was in Africa. But that day, it was like music as I knew the Spirit was working in those boys. Luis was there, leading them. For the rest of my time in Pemba, he only accused me of not loving him two other times and Jesus gave me more personal ways of communicating my love to him. One of the times, he caught himself and apologized. The other time, he softened a few hours later and everything was good again.
I don't know how long it will take Adelino and Luis to be loved from an orphan spirit to sonship. When will the switch flip and they don't question my love anymore? What will it take? Taking them out to dinner 10, 15, 20 times? Buying them clothes and shoes? Two hundred hugs? Just time? I don't think so. I think it will take a lot of prayer, tangible love poured out and a lot of coaching them to hold on to the love poured out BY FAITH even when they don't feel it. And if they never believe . . . what then? Do I give up and quit pouring out on them? Ahhh, I don't think so. I'll keep loving. I'll keep praying, I'll keep coaching them to live by faith when their whole life feels contrary to the truth. I'll keep loving. And I know I'll cry. I know I'll cry a lot. But this is a small part of sharing in the sufferings of Jesus as my heart breaks for these children. His heart is breaking for you.

Romans 8:12-17
So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
So you should not be like cowering fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family - calling him, "Abba, dear Abba." For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we will share his treasures - for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Romans 8:31-39
What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? NO! He's the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? NO, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep." No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS REVEALED IN CHRIST JESUS our Lord.

Ephesians 1: 3
How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

So, today have the power to grab on to how long and wide and high and deep the love of God is for you. Embrace His amazing love by faith and live as a CHILD OF GOD not an empty, longing orphan. And if you are in the struggle of loving an orphan, don't give up. Keep pouring out tangible love, keep praying for the orphan spirit to be cast out and the Spirit of adoption to be embraced, and if you need to cry . . . . maybe you should just go with it! The Holy Spirit knows what he's doing!

I love you all, dear friends.
Emie