Today was incredible. After driving out to the rural bush village of Impiri, and camping overnight, I woke to Mozambicans singing and thanking God for the day ahead.  The whole morning was spent in worship, prayer and dancing with the village mamas and children. It was such a beautiful time of community that I never wanted to end! It was very important to spend this time soaking in the presence of God as He had much in store for the day ahead.

Even if you don’t believe in the spiritual world, in Jesus, or the Devil, what happened next is powerful and I’d love to share this video with you to convey the background story and atmosphere in which I was immersed. Witch Doctor Testimony

I met the witch doctor and his girlfriend– Their lives are so completely transformed I would never have guessed who they were if I had not held the woman’s hands that were eaten away from her previous leprosy. They were filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit and so pleased with their own transformation from their new life in Jesus!   ‘He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!’ – 2 Corinthians 5:15, 17 

I watched as they burned all of their witchcraft fetiches in a big pit as God had prompted them to clean out their home. This man was the witch doctor for all provinces in northern Mozambique. Burning these things in front of the village was a very significant sign to the people living there of a choice to leave darkness to live a life of light.    ‘God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.’ – 1 John 1:5-7 

Following this we went out into the village in groups of four to talk and pray with people. I was with a group of three other girls from my school and one Mozambican Bible School Student who is learning to be a Pastor.

As we went out we walked past a few houses until a lady greeted us and invited us to talk with her. Selama! Mohavo? Kihavo?

While we spoke with her, another lady laid out on a daybed nearby raised her head from under a sweaty capalana.  

This woman was obviously ill and we asked if we could pray for her. We listened to her story as we prayed for Holy Spirit to come and bring healing. She began to feel somewhat better! She said she had tried to go to the hospital but there was no room. She had been sick and laying there on the daybed for two months! Unable to go to the church, she would pray for Jesus to help her and she cried as she realized he had answered her prayer by sending us. We prayed a second time and she sat upright completely healed, saying that she would like to try to eat some food! Praise Jesus! Next she asked if we would cast all the demons out of her house! We went inside and prayed. We explained to her that she had full authority in Jesus name to tell them to leave. As she prayed we could feel the spiritual atmosphere shift dramatically. I offered to anoint the doors and windows with oil but she didn’t have any oil. I used water from my water bottle instead, and the girl next to the door felt the water turn to oil! Can you imagine? I couldnt believe the heaviness of the presence of God there. He really is so tangible!

‘Let all who are helpless take heart. I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!’ – Psalm 34:1-2, 4-5, 8

We then walked out of the house, not quite sure what to do next. In that moment, the cutest little old lady teetered up to us and we saw that her eyes were clouded with cataracts that caused blindness. She asked us to pray for her, and as we did, nothing changed. We asked if she knew Jesus as her Savior, but she responded no. Suddenly, the woman who had just received healing ran forward. She began excitedly sharing her testimony of how she had received healing just minutes before. All of a sudden the old woman exclaimed, ‘I can see!! I can see!!’ She looked into my eyes with joy and the biggest toothless smile on her face. The cloudy cataracts had disappeared and her blue eyes were glistening!     She announced desperately, ‘I want this healing power you have so I can heal other people in my village!’ We explained to her this power comes from knowing the love God offers us all through believing in His Son Jesus.

“For God so greatly loved the world that He even gave up His only Son, so that whoever believes, trusts, clings to, and relies on Him shall not be lost but have eternal everlasting life.” – John 3:16

She responded excitedly, ‘Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord!’

We spoke about the significance of her decision as she had previously been a Muslim. We explained that a water baptism would symbolize her new life with Jesus. She wanted this now, so I again used my water bottle, with water in my hands and baptized her in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

‘If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.’ – Romans 10:9-10

How amazing is His grace! How unfailing is His love!

What other King leaves his throne? What King leaves his glory to die?

That He would lay down his life, that I could be set free?

It is for freedom, that I have been set free.    ‘God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.’ 1 John 4:9-10