First time at Footprints PLAY!

India was wonderful, but arriving in South Africa we were exhausted, sick, and ready to rest! Thankfully God put us in the right place for it. We arrived at Footprints P.L.A.Y. on September 1st and it has been amazing every day since! On this Iris base there are: 34 children ranging in ages 1-19, around 15 ‘aunties’ and ‘uncles’ as they are so lovingly called, 10 long-term missionaries, a handful of returning Harvest School Staff, and one Mommy, who all live as one big family. It’s not an orphanage, a halfway house, or anything other than a family because Mama Yolanda has loved and cared for each child as her own. 

The days are divided into morning devotions, then school classes, then reading classes or home classes, then afternoons filled with rest or play time. We have been blessed to lead morning devotions once a week, teach two classes on different days, teach reading classes a few afternoons, and lead the home class. Each week the classes can look completely different! It all depends on what Holy Spirit is leading us to do for each class. For instance a natural science class can either be a nature walk, or bug hunting; a reading class can be all silent or reading out loud in groups; and devotionals could be worshiping the Lord or singing a song about the fruits of the Spirit! There is great freedom in how people teach and get the kids to learn. 

God is teaching us more about children each day, because we are about to become parents and also to remind us how to be child-like in dependency upon our Father. Each day these children need to be taught right from wrong, they need to be fed spiritually and physically, they need to know they are loved, and they need to know who they are in Christ. The wonderful thing is, even though we are ‘adults’ we still need those same things from our Heavenly Father each day. We are still His children and He still wants to give us food, clothes, a warm bed, and all the love we could ever need. 

We will continue to update everyone as we live at Footprints! Thank you all for your prayers, your support, your love, and living your lives for Jesus Christ!

Blessings from the Reckless Team!

Final days in India

Right before we left Delhi God touched the lives of two Indian men!! One man was crippled with Polio and he was unable to stand or stretch any of his limbs. He was on the street begging for money when two members of our team started talking with him. In simple English they shared the gospel with him, and told him God would give him a new body. The man said he prayed that his next life he would have a new healthy body. Our teammates explained with Jesus the man could have a new body after death for all eternity and would never have to worry about disease in heaven. When they asked him if he wanted a new life and body with Jesus the man excitedly said yes!! Our teammates were able to pray with him and secure his place in heaven! Hallelujah! The next night one of the team and our leader went to talk with our hotel manager about taxis to the airport the following day. They asked the manager how they could pray for him, and he replied I always pray facing this way. They responded with no, we want to pray to our God for you; do you have any sickness or need prayers for your family? He asked for prayers for his family then mentioned he had an accident a few years ago where he injured his head. This left him in pain every day, needing to take medication for it, and restless nights with minimal sleep. One of them said we believe Jesus can take the pain away right now if you let us pray for you. The man immediately bent his head down to them for prayer! The next morning after breakfast the manager asked that team member to come and see him before we left for the airport. When the team member went the manager told him he had no more pain in his head and he had the most restful night of sleep last night! The manager asked our teammate to continue to pray to Jesus for him, and for his email so he would never forget what had happened! When our teammate returned to our lobby to share the good news we discovered a Hindi bible that had been left by someone on a table in the lobby. Everyone said give this bible to him! The teammate went back to the manager and showed him the book of John saying this is the story of Jesus you should read it. The manager replied I will read it every night thank you! God is so good and His love never ends! We left for Kolkata not knowing what God would do next.

It's crazy how different two cities can be even if they are only a short plane ride away! In Kolkata there are fewer English speaking people, it's 20 times more humid, about 100 times more crowded, and is home to the biggest area of prostitution and sex trafficking. Due to the sensitivity of prostitution and sex trafficking in this country/ city no names of organizations, places, or people involved will be said in this blog. We have visited several freedom businesses and have been shown their work. They operate as a business to help trafficked women get out of prostitution by giving them an opportunity to make/ sell goods instead of their lives. It's such a blessing to see the women smiling, laughing, and rejoicing at their new life of freedom. We were even able to minister at a church for girls 18 and under who were rescued from trafficking. All those beautiful faces are etched into our hearts as we pray for continued protection and for them to know the love and freedom only Jesus Christ can bring. 

We have also volunteered at Mother Teresa's house near the temple of death. It was a sobering experience as we prayed over men and women (who are in seep rate rooms) who are dying. The men were very serious and it was heartbreaking to see them welcoming the end of life because we know what awaits those who do not believe in Jesus. The atmosphere on the women's side was lighter. Some women were talking and laughing as we prayed and loved them. One teammate spent the entire two hours of volunteering coloring with a woman, who then showed her more pieces of artwork that had been created over the time she had been in hospice. Other teammates gave massages, scratched backs, helped feed the women, and loved them in a way only Jesus can. Due to the language barrier, none of the women or volunteers spoke English) we were unable to actually preach the gospel to these men and women. All we could do was share love. 

The final act in Kolkata was to plant a tent steak in the ground. These tent stakes have been prayed over for a year and are specific to each country, they are marked with a red dot to signify the blood of Jesus. This act of planting the stake represents claiming the ground in the nation for Jesus Christ. We prayed and felt to plant the stake near the kali temple, one of the main temples for sacrifice and worship in this nation. The spiritual atmosphere was intense around this place as it is dedicated to the worship of false gods, and we all felt it in some way. As we walked we prayed and worshipped Jesus, looking for a place to put the stake. There was one small space with some dirt and a tree, so we created a human shield as our team leader put the stake in the dirt. That temple is now claimed for the Lord! 

With everything said and done we are all set to leave India. Every team member is heading to a different destination, but we will never forget what God did in this nation. As we continue to pray for the people and their freedom we continue on in our journey with the Father. Our next stop is an Iris base in Johannesburg, South Africa where another adventure with Jesus awaits us! 

Blessings from the Reckless team!  

Namaste from India

The street outside our hotel in New Delhi

We arrived in India not knowing what to expect. We met with our Iris contacts and drove out of the airport to a totally new place neither one of us were ready for. Not every place is like the movie Slumdog Millionaire, but there are many places like it and there is a great reality to what happened in the life of the main character. There are children begging on the streets because someone is making them, there are slums where people live where there is no sanitation and waste is everywhere, there are places where prostitution is open and rampant. This nation is dark, but where there is darkness the Light of Christ shines so much more! 

Our first day we rode to the Taj Mahal in Agra. It was a breathtaking building from afar and up close because of the grandeur of the outer white marble and the intricate details all over the inner walls. We prayed as we walked through the inner dome and halls, because we know how many people of different religions walk the same route. Who is to say Jesus can't reign in the Taj Mahal!! After we exited the building we sat and rested in a shady area on one side of the building. All of a sudden many Indian tourists began asking to takes pictures with us! What a great way to start sharing the gospel, and to meet and bless new people. One group of guys we had already met and asked to take pictures with us. We did, then God spoke to us about someone's back hurting, there was one guy who everyone pointed to and said, "his back hurts!" So we asked him about it, and then asked if he knew Who Jesus was. He said he knew Jesus, so we started sharing the gospel. However we quickly found out this group had some hindu beliefs and they attempted to argue that Jesus was just another God who had no power. So we asked them to pray to the other gods to heal this mans back, but none stepped forward. We then prayed in the name and power of Jesus and this man immediately felt relief in his back! Praise God!!

The next day we boarded a bus and rode 8 hours North to a city called Dehradun, where we stayed at a boys home for two amazing days. When you walk into the house you feel the presence of God and you know a family lives here. This home houses boys who have been living on the streets, or their mothers are involved in prostitution, but you would never be able to tell when interacting with these boys. They are all so in love with Jesus it has completely transformed them. We were so privileged to spend time praying with them, sharing testimonies, playing silly games, and singing worship songs that we almost cried when we left. It was a connection we will never forget, and if we visit India again we know we will stay with that family.

So far India has not been a spiritually challenging place, people are open for prayer and are willing to listen. We know it's not our job to convert every person we see, but to love and to plant the seeds of the Gospel and spread the presence of God all over the nation. We continue to seek the Lord for direction as we are here, and we will continue to bring the good news to the people of India! Prayers and blessings to everyone! 

Houses and restaruants in Agra

Baby Monkeys!

The beginnings of the Himalayan mountains

The Reckless Team

Last days of Harvest School

Harvest School is winding down, and God has not stopped doing great things! The staff member who was crushed by a 10 ton truck is sitting up in a hospital in South Africa! She never needed surgery, pins, or any other procedure, just the healing power of Jesus! We have two of the most amazing pastors here to speak and teach, pastor Jose Novela and pastor Supresa Sitole. Pastor Jose works at the Iris base in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, and he carries the powerful presence of God. We get to host him for the week, which means we get to spend more time with him than a normal staff would. He is such a humble man, who knows how important a relationship with Jesus is. Pastor Supresa is the leader of the Iris base in South Africa, and never stops laughing! He is filled with constant joy because he knows Jesus! It is such an amazing privilege to have both of these men of God here to speak to the students. They also blessed us by coming to a staff meeting and praying for us and washing our feet! It was a humbling experience because these men have walked with God for many years, and have seen hundreds, if not thousands, come to know king Jesus. Yet they humble themselves to serve and bless us who have served Harvest school for the past two months. 

Another amazing thing that happened was the 20th anniversary of Iris in Mozambique which was celebrated on Thursday. The entire church was decorated with balloons and packed with chairs to accommodate for 3,000 people! There was worship, the Iris school danced, Heidi spoke, and there was a special moment where both Heidi and Rolland were honored for their service to this nation. Local pastors clothed Heidi and Rolland with a piece of fabric, called a Kapulana, and then lifted them up into the air in their chairs! It was wonderful to see them honored in such a way, because so much sacrifice went into making Iris what it is now.  It was truly a day to celebrate all Iris had done in Mozambique.

Lastly there was graduation; the biggest celebration for Harvest School and the Bible School! Everyone gathers together in the church where there is worship, dancing, a school dance, and to end the ceremony a huge line of prayer, called a fire tunnel. The festivities started in the morning and went through a chicken lunch with the whole school, then into the night when all the Harvest school students came together to eat sweets, dance, and enjoy their last night all together in Pemba. That day is filled with both joy and sadness, because you know you have to leave this family you have created, and yet you reflect on every good moment you spent with them. 

Looking back at these past three months and at all the growth which has taken place within us it astounds me how great our God is. There are ways we encountered Him in Pemba, that we never would have anywhere else in the world. There were physical, mental, and spiritual challenges that were only overcome by the help of our Lord Jesus. We have come out of this season of staffing at Harvest School different people, with a whole new depth in our relationships with Jesus. He is King of our lives, and where ever He calls us we will go!!!

Blessings and Love from

The Reckless team

Life in Mozambique

Howdy Everyone!

     Gods plans are greater than the devils schemes!! After the crazy week of going to South Africa, then not going to South Africa we saw God pour out His spirit upon the school and the students. We thought everything was going to be easy after that week. However the devil never stops trying to hinder the good things of God. On Sunday one of our staff members was involved in an accident that almost took her life. The entire school, Mozambicans and internationals alike, banded together in prayer, worship, and praise of our King Jesus as she fought for her life. Gods hand was holding her because she is alive today!! She suffered minor injuries, which is impossible for the type of accident, and she is able to share the amazing testimony of God saving her life! She was allowed to rest on the base for a few days, but we are praying for her to be flown down to South Africa to make sure she gets the best treatment while she heals. All glory be to God and His saving power!

     We wanted to share a little about some of our work as staff on the Iris base. I work with the laundry mamas and they are wonderful! They are 10 local mamas who wash the clothes of staff members and some families. It is such a blessing because as staff we do not have time to wash all of our dirty clothes and this is a way to earn money for the mamas. Every morning I get to pray and worship the Lord with them in Portuguese and Makua, the native languages, before they start their work. These mamas are so loving towards all the staff, but they can be feisty some times! They have been so faithful through everything the school has gone through and I know they keep us in their prayers. Here are some pictures of us in the morning. 

Mama Luisa and I

     We also love our color group! It's a group of 13 international Harvest School Students and 9 Mozambican bible students. We do activities together every week, and do evangelism for one weekend. The weekly activities include: kitchen duty where we serve either breakfast or dinner to the entire base, latrine cleaning where we go and scrub the latrines to keep them clean, combined color group dinner when we all eat chicken and chips together, and village immersion when we go into the surrounding village and spend the day with a local mama or pastor. We even get to present a skit in front of the other students portraying the life of a missionary. It has been so wonderful to connect with all of them and hear their stories about where they came from and how they came to know Jesus. They have become our little family of 'brownies'! It has been such a blessing to be around them and live this life and walk with them through these experiences. 

The Brown Color Group

Having a quick meeting

Praying for one another

General sillyness

     Well we are over the halfway mark for the school and we know the Lord has not finished His work here. As long as there is worship, prayer, and praises to His name He will never stop moving in the hearts of His people and the nations! We know our next step right after the school is to the nation of India, and then back to South Africa, but after that the plans are known by our Lord. He is good all the time and we eagerly await where He tells us to go next! We are growing spiritually everyday. 

A Beautiful stretch of beach

Movie Night! All the students watch the Lion King

We love every one of you and you are a blessing to us!! Have a wonderful day and we will post again soon! 

Love and blessings from the Reckless Team

An Unexpected Turn of Events

     We just experienced the craziest, most challenging day of our lives yesterday. It took us, and about 300 other people, for a loop; and it all happened in less than 24 hours. 

     The Mozambique government had only approved this school for 30 days, and everyone who was on base and part of Harvest school was praying for the government to change their hearts. Due to some other issues, no one was able to meet with the governor and the ability to renew any 30 day student visas was completely closed. The leaders of the school were asking all of us to pray for open doors with the government, and for God to move in their hearts. We were praying for the perfect will of God to take place in the school, wether that meant we all were going to stay or we were all going to leave. There was a plan involving moving all the students to another base in South Africa, but it required a shut door for the approval of the school to continue for 90 days. As we prayed we felt God speaking to us about the school moving to South Africa. We know His voice and we know what He spoke, so we were ready for the entire school to move. 

     This Wednesday, after communion with our Mozambiquan brothers and our color groups, one of the directors of the school called our attention. She had just spoken to the government and they said they were not going to approve the school for 90 days, and everyone has to leave the country. We were not surprised, but it was still heartbreaking to see the students and our Mozambiquan brothers upset over the news. Thankfully we were all together so we got to say all of our goodbyes and give hugs to everyone of our Mozambiquan family members. It was a heavy day for the students, but we were ready to move onto what the Lord had prepared for us in South Africa. As soon as the announcement was made, the process of changing 300 plane tickets started. The people with 30 day expiring visas were to leave first, so they would not have to pay an over fee. The first group of students and staff left the next day, and some realities set in. We were really leaving Pemba; it was exciting for us because we knew God had something wonderful there for us. We had our plane tickets changed to fly out on Friday and we had everything packed and ready to go. We talked about this new location and we were wondering what God would do in this new place. 

     Friday morning we were all packed and ready to fly out of Mozambique and into South Africa. We were excited and we were spiritually, mentally, and emotionally prepared for the big move. We loaded up the trucks with luggage and people, and we set off for the airport. Upon arrival we expected to see everyone with their luggage in a long line inside the airport as they received their tickets. However the sight we saw was all of the students standing outside of the airport in a huge mass, with almost no luggage unloaded. One of us went to talk to our leader while the other stayed back and pondered what was going on with the students. We had no clue what was happening. When he came back he said, "load up the luggage we are going back, the government approved the school for 90 days a couple of hours ago." We could not process this. There we were sitting at the airport with 1 and a half hours left until we flew out, and they said we had to stay. There was so much confusion, hurt, and emotions flying around that it did not seem possible to us. We were not expecting this, and it was not about to get better. What now faced us was the challenge of canceling every single plane ticket, trucking all 50 people and their luggage back to base, and then trying to explain what had just happened when we couldn't even comprehend it. We waited back at the airport with some other equally shocked staff to help with the cancelation of flights, and to have time away from the potential chaos happening back at base. Even with that time, we were still unable to grasp the full extent of what had happened, and we were called back to the Pemba base. 

     It was calmer at base than expected, and we were thankful for the veil of peace. Arriving back at our room we stopped to breath, it was so surreal. After unpacking everything again, we had a staff meeting. Almost everyone shared their hearts, some having experienced a trial like this, and it was beautiful to sit and listen and hear God in everyone. People were real with each other, there was no falsity in what people shared. The most amazing thing was the amount of glory given to God. Everyone emphasized praising Jesus through the situation, forgiveness of those who made certain decisions, keeping your heart open to Gods works, and understanding the sovereignty of God in everything. Wether we were meant to stay or to go God knew exactly what was going to happen, and He knew who would be hurt and who would rejoice. God is never surprised. He may give us choices, but He already knows which choice we will make. He is a good God Who always knows what is going to happen. We may be shocked and confused, but praise God He is not. 

     After a few days of processing in our own hearts God has restored both of us and we have allowed Him to work in our hearts. Although we both thought we were going to South Africa, we are now full of peace and joy to be here in Pemba where God has us. What is even more amazing is what God has done with the week after this event. He has poured out His Holy Spirit upon the base!! There has been a revival of a deep hunger for God ing the students, and God has said this is just the beginning!! Worship will break out freely, His praises are heard continually, glory is given to God in every circumstance, and His love is pouring over everyone afresh. God is amazing, and His word never returns void. 

We love you all and we bless you!

The Reckless team

Jesus in the Mozambique Bush

We have been doing great in Pemba! God is blessing us with great fellowship, beautiful scenery, and His presence 24/7! Each day we realize this is the place God wants us to be and how blessed we are to be here. The weekend before this was a weekend of rest for us, but this weekend was filled with challenges, prayer, and Jesus as we went to evangelize in the Mozambique bush.

     We left for bush outreach on Thursday at 15:00. As we started everyone on our team, about 40 people of Mozambique and International background, was excited and ready to share the good news of Jesus to the poor and lost. However our initial travel time of 3 hours quickly passed and we were still not in the village where we were meant to be. After 6 hours of travel, including a stop for the bathroom on the side of the road, a stop to get a tire fixed, and a stop to get food, we arrived! Everyone stumbled out of the cameon into the dark village and we started to set up camp. 

Setting up all the tents in the dark is challenging, but it looked great once we woke up!

After a long drive it usually takes the team a little while to wake up and leave their tents. In Mozambique, the villagers wake up as soon as the sun starts to rise at 5:00 am! They start cooking, or taking care of their children so it gets too noisy to sleep. When we finally climbed out of our tent we were greeted by all these beautiful faces! The village children rarely get to see outsiders and they get so excited when Iris teams come to evangelize. After breakfast the team split and half of the people went to do baptisms, and the other half stayed back to help with the children's program. The children get to sing songs, play games, and receive a piece of chocolate! They really look forward to this part of the day.

There were 13 people baptized into the name of Jesus, and there was much rejoicing! It was a magical moment to see these beautiful brothers and sisters in Christ come out of the water in complete freedom from their past lives. Consciously choosing to dedicate their entire lives to live for Jesus. 

After this everyone gathered together for a Mozambiquan lunch of rice and beans. It was a very relaxing afternoon and we were able to watch and interact with the villagers and the pastors. It was humbling to see how simply they live and how they don't have the same worries as most people do. They have to walk around 5 miles each time they need water, they need to either farm or raise livestock to eat, and they have to make clothing to cover themselves. Very few village children ever go to school, so they continue to live as their parent s do when they get older. The saddest part is very few of these villagers have ever heard the name of Jesus. They don't feel the presence of our living God, they don't experience the miracles done through the power of the Holy Spirit, and they don't know about the love of Jesus. Thankfully after lunch and rest our team went out to houses all around the village to spread the gospel of Jesus! Over 20 people gave up their old beliefs to live a new life with Jesus, many people were healed of sickness, and many more were blessed to be reminded of the love of God. Every person we encountered we invited to our big evangelism night, where we would show the Jesus film, do a skit, share testimonies, preach, and pray for anyone who came. 

     When we left we were dirty, tired, and completely satisfied with what God did for those people. We had another long journey back to the Iris base due to another cameon breakdown, but we made it home that night none the less. It was amazing to see God moving for the people, but we were also beyond blessed to be a part of that team. The students who came with us were so fantastic and never complained once! We cannot thank God enough for blessing us in all the ways He did that weekend. 

This is our beautiful team from all over the world and Mozambique!

Love and blessings from the Reckless team!