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Jubilee Christian Fellowship has paid for the establishment and continues to support a children's home in Mieze, Africa under the umbrella of Iris Ministries....Jubilee's money at work in Africa

 

 

Pemba, Mozambique

July 7, 2009

Dear Friends and Partners in Ministry,

 We frequently remind ourselves that our ministry goal is not just to alleviate suffering and hardship...nor is it even just Christian conversion. While each of these is a step in the right direction, either one without the other is incomplete and only a partial response to the gospel. Our ministry goal is transformation: spiritual, material, and societal. Only this full-orbed transformation can release Jeremiah 29:11 “hope and a future” into a life or a community as the Kingdom of God begins to break through in its fullness.

 Transformational Power of Love

1 Corinthians 4:20 says the Kingdom of God isn’t a matter of words but of power. The power of the Kingdom is the transformational power of God’s love...a power qualitatively unique in the universe. Not too long ago, a child psychiatrist from the UK visited Iris-Pemba and spent several hours at our Mieze centre. She knew enough about the children’s backgrounds of deprivation, abuse, and hopelessness not to have high expectations; but she said afterwards that what she had witnessed there goes against everything her profession practices and teaches. She was amazed to see children freely loving, trusting, and sharing...filled with joy and hope, and believing in the goodness of God’s plans and provision for their personal future. It`s nothing short of a miracle, she said

Noviane Project: Another Miracle in Progress

Our Noviane Project has created a small Christian community near the Iris-Pemba Base...a point of light in the darkness of a sprawling village of 50,000 unbelievers. Four extremely needy families now occupy the three houses we`ve built there: a total of 17 children and six adults. All came to us desperate and hopeless, clothed only in rags, hungry and homeless.

 Most of the children had never been to school before and had no expectation of ever being able to attend school. And without an education, they knew their chances of breaking out of the cycle of grinding poverty, degradation, and hopelessness were virtually nil. Now, however, the 12 children of school age are enrolled in Iris` Christian primary school and they are so excited to be heading off to school every day.

 The latter two families to arrive in our Noviane community were headed by single, totally blind mothers. We`ve really never seen people in greater need and such utter desperation!

 The first of these two families arrived from a distant village about eight months ago: a blind mother, four very sad-faced young children, and their nearly blind grandmother. (Two more young grandchildren, nieces of the mother, have since joined the family constellation.) In the picture below, note the expressionless face of 11-year-old Jordânia on the left. Extreme poverty and hopelessness rob people of all normal affect.

 The transformation this family has experienced in such a short time with us has been amazing. They now have Jesus in their hearts and he has filled their lives with hope and joy. The children—and even their blind mother—are now secure and happy and never stop smiling and laughing. Jordânia`s constant laughter and new-found sense of humour is a wonderful testimony to the transformational power of the Father`s love.

Jordania and Angelo with their mother CelestinaAngelo - Jordania's brotherCelestina - Jordania's Mother
Left to Right, Jordania and Angelo when they arrived, Jordania now, Angelo now, Celestina their blind mother now.

 Only a few months ago, the fourth family joined our community: a blind beggar woman from the inner city and her two young children, Betino about 8 and his sister Isabela, about 11. (We say about because the children not only don`t know their birth date, they don`t even know the year they were born...an indication of how little their existence mattered to anyone until recently!) They had lived lives of extreme hardship, abuse, and degradation...again as witnessed by their lifeless eyes and complete lack of affect. In the picture below, the small cloth-wrapped bundle beside Isabela included everything they owned in the world when they arrived.

Betino and Isabela's FamilyBetino
Left to Right, Isabela and Betino when they arrived with their blind mother, Betino now, Isabela now.

 But once again, as they have opened their hearts and lives to receive faith, hope, and love from their heavenly Father and the Christians around them, a miraculous transformation has been taking place. The children are in school for the first time. They now have two good meals a day. They have new clothes, a safe place to sleep peacefully at night, even a few toys...and many new friends. Trust and joy have replaced fear and hopelessness...and Jesus has plundered hell once again!

And our website describing the ``Mieze Model for Village Transformation`` can be accessed by clicking on the link below.  There have been an amazing 5,625 visitors to that site since we posted it and many people we`ve never met have contacted us about it. We will shortly be up-dating the site with new information and pictures and a new page about our wonderful children`s evangelistic program at Mieze, so please check back again in a couple of weeks.

As always, we want to express our gratitude to each one who partners actively with us to help make this work possible by your prayers and financial support. Together we are changing the future of a nation and a region. To God be the glory!

With much love and appreciation,

Don and Elizabeth

. Dr. Don & Elizabeth Kantel
Comunhão na Colheita/Ministério Arco-Íris
Iris Ministries Inc.
Pemba, Mozambique

More Pictures and Stories

 “Mieze Model” for village transformation: http://web.mac.com/kantels/Kantels/Kantels_Website.html

A five-minute video clip focusing on the resident boys at Mieze can be accessed at http://www.xpmedia.com/QgwOEMOT6i4G

For updates on new adaptations of the Mieze Model, see http://www.irismin.ca/nmohsp

Previous Letters:    
March 2009 May 2007  
March 2008 January 2007  
     
 
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