Latest news from the frontlines

Following are emergency and latest news items from the frontlines. Some missionaries and Iris leaders do newsletters that may be presented in whole or part when they present a unique current perspective or testimony expressing the Kingdom. Some editing will be done to remove items not relevant to the Iris audience at large or to clarify for those who may not know the author.

Emergency Prayer Request for Patrick, our Sudanese Director, May 1, 2008

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Greetings and blessings to you all from Gordon Haggerty, currently in Pemba, Mozambique.

I am writing this brief but urgent prayer request to you on behalf of
Patrick Jalan, the national pastoral leader of Iris Ministries Sudan, who
works alongside Michele Perry at the Iris center in Yei, in Southern Sudan.

Some time ago, Patrick was involved in an accident on his motorbike that resulted in an injury that separated his skull from his spine and shattered the top vertebrae. The doctors in Uganda diagnosed the problem and determined that a relatively simple surgical procedure could be done to re-attach the vertebrae to the skull, but it would have to be done by a specialist in South Africa. Meanwhile, Patrick had come to the point where he could not eat solid food and was becoming disoriented and in great discomfort.

We arranged to have Patrick fly down to Johannesburg to receive the surgery, but the doctors in Johannesburg, when they did a scan and further tests, discovered a large, fast-growing malignant tumor surrounding the site of the injury and literally choking off his throat and blood supply, and rendering the situation inoperable.

Patrick's hosts, Peter and Melodie Wheeler, Pretoria, have taken him for prayer, with some relieving results, but the situation is still growing rapidly worse.

It appears that the root of the accidents and cancerous tumor stems back to a violent and powerful curse that was placed on Patrick and others by another disgruntled pastor from a tribe of powerful witches in Southern Sudan.

There are limits to what the doctors can do at this point, and we
desperately need an intervention from heaven to break the curse off at its root and set our brother free from this death grip. Please pray with us, and pass this on to others who you know will stand with us to watch our God who cancels the power of death and releases LIFE do His miraculous work in our brother.

Thank you for standing with us for victory.

In His Love,
Gordon Haggerty
Iris Ministries

Addendum: Patrick is 30 years old. He and Betty have an 8 month old baby named Zion.

March 17, 2008, Mozambique Flood Relief Update

"Flood relief in Zimbezia has been quite eventful these past three
weeks as we have gotten to be a part of God doing some amazing things in the midst of much suffering. The first week we went to a camp with 693 familes and we were able to build relationships with the familes throughout the week returning with different supplies
specific to their needs. We brought over 200 bags of rice and and
700 hoes and over 700 bags of corn seed for planting so each family
recieved materials! More importantly than their physical needs, they
were so spiritually hungry and God met them in their hunger. We
preached the Gospel and prayed for the sick and just sat among the
people encouraging them and hearing their stories. On the last day
we handed out Bibles and there were near riots as people were so
hungry for the Word and one old man even yelled, "I do not care about rice, just give me a Bible" in Portuguese.

Last week was equally eventful as we went to two new camps and were able to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven coming down to earth. Our cameo went back for a second load of rice and crashed but God used this trial for His glory as we were all stuck at the camp until after 10 pm and were able to sing, dance, preach, pray and encourage the camp ABUNDANTLY! At another camp, a woman and her family gave us their ancestral idols to burn and then recieved Jesus. This woman had not been able to walk or stand for 7 years and after praying for 20+ minutes with our faces in the dirt in the pouring rain, Jesus healed her and she stood up and walked! These are just a few of the stories..."

By Erika, Iris Missionary, Morrumbala Area

The woman in the center front is the

one who walked after prayer.

From: Claudia Bernhardt, March 18, 2008

Subject: helping with the floods in Mutarara

It started off with dificulties. We wanted to buy farinha (maize meal) at Mobeira (factory) in Beira. We had consulted before, but when we went there there was none!! What to do?? We decided to go anyways, just taking the chapa. The Lord told me to take 3-20 liters of diesel. I obeyed, but I have to admit as we were traveling, there came a time when I thought this is stupid, carrying around this diesel from chapa to chapa. Then, on the bicycle across the bridge from Sena, arriving in Mutarara, we bought as much milhio (dried maize) as we could. it was quite a job to do because there isn't a store, nor a big storage where you can just get a big quantity. We put it on the radio, so people took maize on their bicycles to the house of the pastor where we stayed.

Some of the team went out to do the distributions, others stayed to buy more maize. The question that remained was how to get it out there to the refugee camps because we had no transport, and
besides that, on the side where they really needed food, there were only tractors passing because the road was still bad. There was only one tractor of the governement around which of course everyone wanted to use. I prayed that God would make a way after I was told there was no way. The next week, praise God, He touches the heart of the secretary (the main administrative leader in Mutarara), giving me favor to allow us to use his own private tractor which he had rented out to UNICEF for 500 USD a day, without paying!!! Only putting in diesel. Now here's the deal, he didn't accept the diesel from there, only from the gaz station in Beira because then he knows it's not mixed! We had to make 3 trips, so we needed 3-20liters of diesel!! That's exactly what we had! The Lord is faithful!

Anyways, we sang with them, preached, prayed for them,people got to know Jesus, seeing the love of God for them. We suffered well on the tractor, my body still hurts, but it was worth it! There faces were shining, as they praised Jesus, being so excited of finally having some food! Also, on Saturday, we had a meeting with all the pastors and leaders of the district of Mutarara to encourage them, spending many hours to preach and teach, pray and worship together, fellowship and having a meal together. It was good.

There are many churches in Mutarara now, so I knew we couldn't get enough food to give to all of them, but at least we were able to bless some of them. Maybe others can receive another time with the team from Malawi or another team. Thank you for making it possible for me & a team to go there by supporting us financially!

Love, Claudia

March 7, 2008

Vision and Invitation, Iris Ministries, Inc.
From Rolland and Heidi Baker, Pemba, Mozambique

We want to thank you for continuing to keep in touch with us and pray
with us in our pursuit of God's heart. Our constant prayer is that His
kingdom come in Mozambique as it is in heaven. Our colleges, Bible
students, and our children have been gathering together for three days fasting and praying for God's presence to increase in our nation.

I am greatly touched to watch little children taking the microphone and praying for God's glory to fall in this nation, to see their hearts on
fire for His presence and passionate for Jesus. One particular boy named Moses has been in every single prayer meeting barefoot wearing the same little red tee shirt for days on end. He continues to intercede for revival in His nation. His depth of passion for the Lord causes our heart to sing with joy. The children are some of our greatest treasures. We want to thank you for remembering the poor, for remembering the children, and for your continued love and support.

God has been speaking to Rolland and me with this revelation to enter a greater season of rest and intimacy together. Jesus is speaking to us about releasing our sons and daughters to carry His glory to the lost, sick, broken and dying. He is mobilizing a tremendous soul army of Mozambicans and internationals, poor and rich, young and old to release the glory of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14). We want to personally welcome all of our Iris family friends to three different events where we are praying this vision will be released in greater measure.

First of all, we want to welcome you to come to a special ordination. We are inviting you to come to Pastor Che Ahn's Harvest Rock Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena on Wednesday, March 26, 3-5 p.m. One of our daughters, Shara, will be ordained by Rolland and me with our friends after serving as my personal assistant for four years. We will be doing a 2-hour ordination with our Iris family and Revival Alliance friends.

Secondly, Rolland and I are ministering at Pastor Che's conference March 26 to March 30 with our covenant co-partners in the Revival Alliance. We will host an Iris friends one-hour gathering at the conference with place/time to be announced. If you would like to come, kindly email Shara at heidi@irismin.org.

Finally, the following Monday, March 31, Rolland and I and our spiritual sons and daughters are ministering all day at University of Southern California from 10am to 10pm at The Uprising LA that Shara is hosting. The information for this is all posted at http://www.irismin.com, "speaker schedule."

Please feel welcome to come to the ordination and celebrate with our
Iris family. It would be our great joy and delight to see our family of
friends! God is bring His Body closer together than ever before. We need Him, but we also need each other. We invite you to come and celebrate as we run into the harvest together as one big family,

February 11, 2008, Flooding in Mozambique

by Norbert Sango, Pemba

"On Monday, February 4, we left with our pilot Joe and flew to Morrumbala. We took off to fly over the Zambezi River.

As we were flying at about 200-300 feet high, I was so shocked since I had never seen so much water in the Zambezi. It is true that there was more water this year than in 2000 or 2001 or the flood we had last year. I've never seen so much devastation from a flood. Hundreds and hundreds of houses were under water.

We followed the Zambezi from Morrumbala toward Caia. We saw so many people that were still being trapped by the water. I believe the government still did not see many of those people because you could only see them from the sky or a boat. I believe it would be really easy to rescue people with a boat because there are many places you cannot drive to. Also looking down, I saw that a lot of people have lost 1000's of acres of farms and I believe so many of our churches near the Zambezi were washed away.

Basically every house is underwater and there was nothing we could do. I was really praying and thinking that I wish we just had a helicopter because there was so many people just waving and needing rescue but we could not pick them up because we were in an airplane.

We did fly a little over Beira and found that even in Beira a lot of places have been flooded. Then we flew into Tete where there had never been any flooding. We flew at 4500 feet and looked over Tete. The flooding was really bad and the water had taken over many places in Tete. The Zambezi had cut lines through the city, wiping out everything in the low places and leaving many people stranded on
islands. A lot of people were waving and asking if we could help them, but there was nothing we could do.

I went with one of the teams to take the food to the camps. It's not fair to see people living in those kind of conditions because a lot of people don't have any medical supplies or food. We took trucks with 200 bags of rice and 18 bags of beans to the camp. You could see that the people had been waiting a long time and were only living on black fish they got out of the river. A lot of people don't have any tents and were making houses out of grass that they had cut. The houses were about 10 feet by 10 feet and some of the families had

6 people in that small house. The land wasn't very clean like the land we saw last time. Basically, people are tearing everything with their bare hands because they don't have machetes or hoes to clear the land.

There was a lot of joy when we handed out the food to the people, but there were so many people at the camps we passed that looked so sad because we had no food for them. It is true that there is so much more help that is needed and many people that need food and need to be rescued.

On Wednesday evening, I went to speak to a man who was a victim and ask him a couple of questions. I asked him how bad the floods were. He told me that they had never seen so much water before and he had never seen so many of the farms wiped away. Everything had been washed away by the current including their pots and pans. As we were talking, he told me that the day before the team arrived, there were 6 people in two canoes trying to cross the river. The current caught the canoes and flipped them. There were four men and one
woman with a baby in a capulana. The woman managed to hang onto a stalk of sugar cane but when she looked behind her, the baby had slipped out of the capulana. The woman was the only survivor. and the man took me to the place where it happened.

On February 6, while one man was trying to catch fish to feed his family, a crocodile came up and ripped off the flesh off the man's left arm and thigh. There was a man that came alongside and started beating the crocodile until it let the first man alone. The man was taken to Kilimani Hospital, but the man had lost so much blood that he was not coherent. There are so many crocodiles and many people have been attacked or eaten by the crocodiles. There are many people that have tried to cross the floodwaters and so many of them have been attacked by crocodiles. It's really horrible.

For a lot of people, it's hard because their houses are in the water and they cannot stay on their roofs because they don't have the nice metal roofs. I believe disease is going to be a real problem because
many people are just standing in a couple inches of water. Malaria is going to be really bad and so is foot swelling because everyone is just standing in water all day. A lot of people really need clothes and plastic bags on the roofs. The kids need clothes, blankets, and plastic bags and they really need teams of people to play with the people and tell them Jesus loves them and that someone cares about them. I
believe this is an opportunity for the worldwide church to come and show God's love to these people.

There must be people that are willing to go and play with the kids. A lot of the schools are under water and the kids can't go to school. Instead of just feeding people, I believe there is something else the
Holy Spirit wants us to do. If we can buy rice seed and bean seed and corn meal along with hoes, the people will have a harvest in a couple months. This will help the people a lot because most of the people live through agriculture. We feel like this will be a tool to help us invest in the people and give them something a lot more lasting than a little rice.

From what I've seen, this is a really huge disaster. I don't know how long Mozambique is going to take to recover from this. So many schools are underwater and many bridges were destroyed. The people need food, they need help, they need Jesus . They just need a lot of help. We have a team in Morrumbala buying and handing out food, but we need so many more people. But this isn't the worst of it. There are 5 dams in adjacent countries that they are going to open up soon. It's not their fault. They really have no choice or their country will be flooded too. When this happens, the damage will be unbelievable.

Pass on the message for people to pray about how they can help.

January 22, 2008

Flooding in Mozambique
Rolland and Heidi Baker
Iris Ministries, Inc.
Pemba, Mozambique

Once again Mozambique has been hit by severe flooding. Few countries in our modern world have been hit by disaster so often and devastatingly. Already one of the poorest countries of the world, it struggles without the mechanisms of modern countries that can deal to a great extent with regional weather fluctuations, food shortages and medical emergencies. Its transportation infrastructure barely exists. There is hardly any safety net for the poor. Much of the world suffers from "compassion fatigue," and well-known relief agencies in Mozambique struggle with funding and distribution challenges. Christians hardly know what to do with still more pleas for financial help. We are all tempted to run and hide, and try to find some protection from all the assaults on our peace in this world. Forces of evil seem to get away with so much.

But we are not helpless, and even in our weakness we find strength. We have a source of never-ending goodness and energy. This source is not impersonal and remote, unlikely and sporadic. No, this source is a personal and perfect Savior, the only person who can make sense of our lives in this world. He makes Himself available to all who call upon Him. And to those "who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life" (Rom. 2:7).

Rather than seeing discouragement on all sides, we preach power and total salvation in every circumstance. Every disaster leads us to lean on our Savior all the more, and to depend on Him alone. Our joy is to be able to encourage believers everywhere even while facing the most overwhelming damage done by the enemy. In such situations, we cannot afford to be doubtful and down, depressed and immobile. No, in every circumstance we are called to be "more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Rom. 8:37). If we look into His eyes, there will always be enough, because He died!

As I write, Heidi is returning to Mozambique after an Asian speaking tour, and with me she is seeking the Lord about our response to the flooding. We have seen the churches of Mozambique explode in number and fervency after previous major floods, and we look forward earnestly to what Jesus will do now. I am in the States, and will be there as soon as
possible, accessing flood regions with my plane as Jesus leads.

Meanwhile, our missionaries in Malawi, David and Joanna Morrison, are at work. Their location is not far from central Mozambique where the flooding is worst, and David has already visited this flood zone and written a report, which I would like to quote here at length:

"We went to Mutarara District in the province of Tete and there learned that over 116,000 refugees have fled the flood waters. Thousands are still trapped on higher ground waiting to be rescued by helicopters and boats. All resources are concentrating on this emergency rescue operation. Soldiers are assisting rescue workers as the banks of the Zambezi River continue to overflow and the threat of increased flooding
is very real. For some, the idea of floods penetrating so far inland from the Zambezi River is too obscure. However, the threat is real and in some situations people are removed by force.

"I was amazed at the vast amount of water and its destructive force. From the vantage point of a boat on the Zambezi River, it looks like an endless sea. We traveled with the Mozambique navy in a little rescue boat several kilometers inland from the Zambezi River to one of the areas of evacuation, called the Inyangona region. The reality of the cost of the flooding was evident everywhere: the tops of drowned crops and banana trees, and even the roofs of houses. It was hard to imagine
how just a few weeks previously people had walked where we now traveled by boat. And now, village life has been silenced by a sea of water leaving only protruding tree tops and isolated highlands. We finally arrived at an island where desperate people patiently wait for a rescue boat. Helicopters were also flying overhead and assisting in the evacuation of people in more remote areas. There is calm and out of the
misery, the people politely greeted us with a smile, gave us the nicest places to sit, and at one refugee camp I was even offered their last bananas -- I just wanted to cry.

"Our Iris Team met with the District Commissioner and was invited to join the weekly debriefing meeting involving all the government officials and NGOs helping with this crisis. Although there is great progress in the rescue operation, the process is time consuming and more boats are needed. Some of the refugee camps are now becoming too large and it may
be necessary to establish even more camps. Some of the resettlement areas from last years flooding must now be relocated because they too are being affected by the flooding. Sickness and hunger are two growing concerns and the DC encouraged us all to try to mobilize food into the camps as quickly as possible. We have been appointed to participate in
the relief effort and have been given freedom to assist however possible.

"On our journey we visited eight refugee camps all of which are threatened by disease and hunger. Some of the refugees have been in the camps since the beginning of January but none have received food. Many left in haste as their homes collapsed in the path of the rising water. A fortunate few had carried maize left over from last winter's harvest, but most are eating grass seed, water lily bulbs, bugs and mice. Wells
are few so most drink the flood water which is resulting in dysentery. Many children have bloated stomachs and eye infections are common. This is malaria season, an added threat for the refugees who sleep without the protection of a mosquito net.

"In each camp we witnessed the arrival of new refugees. Hundreds are arriving everyday. They are quick to make a shelter out of branches and grass to provide a little protection to the family from the next rain. These tiny houses sleep families as large as eight people. We didn't take much with us, but managed to carry enough soap to give one bar to each family at three refugee camps. We also provided about 500 families with a good supply of water purification packets. A bar of soap is such a precious gift in situations such as these!

"Everywhere we went desperate people quickly gathered and listened carefully to every word that came out of our mouths -- they were in search of hope. We gave them hope -- the message of God's love. So as we preached under the shade of a tree in the refugee camps, the precious poor, those who have lost everything, wearing only dirty rags, welcomed Jesus just like they welcomed us. There is good news to report: In the midst of great suffering and loss, Jesus is moving in the hearts of Africans!

"So what are we going to do next? The only accessible road into this region of Mozambique is through Malawi. We are therefore prepared to help in any way possible. Actually we can't help but help! We believe God wants us to care for the refugees located in camps along the road from the border of Malawi.

"Malawi is also affected by the flooding. The swollen Shire River has destroyed crops and hundreds of people have been displaced. People living on Nchalo and Ngabu Islands in the Chikwawa District are evacuating - about two thirds of the islands are under water now. Across the river from Bangula is another area vulnerable to flooding. We are monitoring the situation here carefully and expect that we will need to
support 1000 additional families with food from now through June. This is on top of the 1,600 families we already assist each month through our feeding program."

Already David "Mo" is loading up three trucks and leaving early Wednesday morning in a convoy to take seventeen tons of food to the flood area. Many have helped already, almost instantly, and we are pressing forward all the more to what lies ahead. Pray that corrupt Malawi officials at the border will not be able to block passage of the food.

Heidi and I, and all of us at Iris Ministries, want to thank our
supporters who voluntarily have enabled us to do so much in Africa. We love the Body of Christ. We are proud of you, and look for what may be credited to your account (Phil. 4:17). Thank you for taking us to this point, and participating with us in the gospel and in the divine nature we share in Jesus. May you be richly, powerfully and lovingly blessed!

Much, much love, Rolland
--

For more information about Iris Africa, contact and support information:

U.S. office for mail, support and information:
Iris Ministries, Inc.
PO Box 493995
Redding, CA 96049-3995, USA
Tel: 1 530 255 2077
Web sites: <www.irismin.org> and <www.irismin.com>
Email: info@irismin.org

Iris Ministries Canada
3092 Shannon Crescent
Oakville, ON L6L 6B4
CANADA
(905) 847-7749; fax (905) 847-7931
Web site: <www.irismin.ca>
Email: info@irismin.ca
Contact: Janis Chevreau

Pictures will be posted soon on the Morrison's web site:
<www.morrisonafrica.com>

Iris Ministries (UK) Ltd
PO Box 351
Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1WQ
UNITED KINGDOM
Web site: <www.irisministries.co.uk>
Email: info@irisministries.co.uk

Iris Ministries South Africa
730 Dikhoorn St.
Moreleta Park, Pretoria
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: 27 12 998 8220
Web site: <www.irismin.co.za>
Email: irismin@absamail.co.za
Contact: Peter Wheeler

David "Mo" and Joanna Morrison
Iris Ministries Canada -- serving in Malawi
Email: mo@irismin.ca or joanna@irismin.ca
Web site: <www.morrisonafrica.com>
Mo's cell phone: 265 8 343 814
Joanna's cell phone: 265 8 345 710
Land line: 265 145 3368