Pemba Center...39 International Missionaries
Located in the northern most province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, Pemba is a frontier ministry center
located on the beautiful Indian Ocean about 200 miles, by air, south of the Tanzania border and about 1,000
miles north of the capital city of Maputo where the Zimpeto and Machava Centers are located.
Center 1 houses the Bible school for pastors, many of our Pemba missionaries, Mozambican staff,
and some visitors.
Center 2 houses the church, children's center, primary school, grades 1-5, some missionaries and the Iris Harvest School Complex.
The housing units used for the Iris Harvest School are located on both of the center locations.
Currently, the children’s center houses 180 children and provides day school for about 700 children. The day school opened January of 2006. Three more classrooms were just added for school beginning again January, 2009. Pemba is directed by Dr. Heidi Baker and Associate Director Dr. Don Kantel.
See the Missionary contact list and pictures at the bottom of the page
Directors Rolland and Heidi Baker with some of their girls in Pemba plus jeorge in
the back
View of Pemba Base 2 which houses the Church, primary school, Iris Harvest school, children's Center and some of the international missionaries. the primary school is not visible on the back of the property. Pemba Base 1 is about 1/2 mile to the right of the picture.
Associate Directors Dr. Don and Elizabeth Kantel from Prince Edward Island, Canada
Don and Elizabeth have been connected with Rolland and Heidi Baker and Iris Ministries in various ways since 1999. They were previously Iris missionaries in Maputo and have been based in Pemba, in Northern Mozambique, since 2005.
Don and Elizabeth both have graduate degrees in leadership and are committed to raising up and equipping Mozambicans to lead their nation into the fulness of God’s purposes in the decades ahead. In particular, they recognize that children are the hope and future of Africa and are investing themselves to infuse godly character in the younger generation and enable today’s children to become tomorrow’s leaders for Mozambique and Africa.
Ania Noster, pictured on the left, is Heidi Baker's personal assistant.
Ania schedules and makes travel arrangements for Heidi.
At Pemba, it's always children, children and more children!
Submitted by Jean Nicole, February 23, 2009
Walking on the Beach
One of my greatest joys in Pemba is my daily walk on the beach. I find this time to be a great source of joy and strength as I minister unto the Lord and enjoy his wonderful creation. The sound of the waves crashing on the shore refreshes my spirit. Peace and tranquility flood my soul. Last Tuesday morning, I found myself in great need of help as I had just been asked to be in charge of our kitchen. With two days of training, I was handed the keys. The mission was to serve food to over 1000 people per day. All I could think was "help me Jesus!!" I was overwhelmed and in great need of assistance. The only thing I knew to do was to go for a walk and pray.
While going for my walk, I noticed a young boy in the distance, maybe 10-12, who was walking kind of funny. It looked like he had a club right foot as he was dragging it while walking. I felt a prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for him and felt like the Lord would heal him if I did. As soon as we met, I asked him what his name was and if I could pray for him. He asked me for money. Immediately, the scripture in Acts 3:6 came to mind, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you…in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk.” I also noticed that his hand was clenched closed. As I began to pray and invite the Holy Spirit to come his hand began to slowly open. I then took authority over all the power of the enemy and commanded him to let go of Basillo. I then told him to jump up and down and begin to walk. His foot straightened out and as we continued to walk together he asked me for money again. Praise God! Lord let your kingdom continue to come on earth as it is in heaven!
One week later...
After several days of overseeing our kitchen operation, I’m overwhelmed by the goodness, the grace, and the mercy of God. The prayers of the saints and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit have brought me into a new place of abiding in the presence of the Lord, even in the midst of trying circumstances. Teisa and I are honored to be serving God in such a beautiful place as Pemba. Our hearts are full of gratitude and thankfulness as we daily walk with our king JESUS!!!
Submitted by Bridget Carroll, February 23, 2009
My birthday in 2008 was a time when the Lord blessed me with extravagant gifts!
It didn't appear that way at first, however…!
The day before my birthday, I was shopping in Pemba when I lost my cell phone. As I retraced my steps, I realized it must've fallen out as I got out of the Land Rover by one of the shops. But all the street vendors denied any knowledge of seeing it when I questioned them, while not being able to really look me in the eye! Retrieving a stolen cell phone is almost unheard of here. They are a very valuable commodity. I was very frustrated. Replacing a cell phone and getting a new number here is time consuming, not to mention expensive! But that week in the Harvest School, I had heard one of the speakers challenge us all to say, "I am blessed and highly favoured," over our lives regularly for a few days and then watch the blessings flow! So, that's what I did! I started praying with another missionary who was with me and kept saying, "I am blessed and highly favoured," over and over again while a guard questioned those hanging around and then went off in search of my phone. Within 15 minutes, I had both my phone and SIM card back in my hand! Hallelujah!! One of the street vendors had indeed seen it fall and had stolen it. He had rushed off to the market to try and sell it, but he was caught in the act. We are all blessed and highly favoured and our Heavenly Father wants us to see that no matter what the circumstance or situation.
Blessed and highly favored
The next day, my birthday, a group of us went to Mieze to hold our regular weekly medical clinic. I was triaging along the line of people waiting to be seen. There was a lady there with a babe in arms and several other children clinging onto her. When I asked, she said her problem was that she had no breast milk to feed her baby. Mozambiquan women tend to be small with not even an ounce of extra weight on them, but this lady was large with proportionately large breasts and my immediate thought was that there was absolutely no way that there was no milk in those breasts! However, when she was examined by the doctor, it was as she said, there was no milk coming. There was no physical reason for this. She was a well fed woman and healthy. So, we asked her permission to pray for her to break off any curse that had been put on her life and she, in her desperation, agreed. As soon as we finished praying, the doctor asked the woman to touch her breasts to see if any milk would come and immediately it began to flow freely! Hallelujah!! The look on the woman's face is what will always stay with me. There were tears in her eyes as she watched the milk flow with a realization that a simple prayer to our glorious Saviour had broken off a curse that had been put on her life. What a wonderful birthday present it was for me to see a woman who had been in bondage set free!
Submitted by Mark Mozley, January 26, 2009
The look on the child's face told the story. Would it be like before when the food ran out, as it did at home, before he was able to eat? If he didn't get to the head of the line, was it going to happen again? Would he
miss out on one of only two days in the whole year where he could eat chicken and drink a soda pop? He was being crushed on every side. The guard had his baton high in the air ready to strike those who were pushing.
And yet, he wasn't pushing. He was being pushed from the back as he was the closest to the front which made him the prime target. There was absolutely nothing he could do. In a mob rule situation, individuality goes out the door. The mob rules. Add two hours in 90+ degree heat, black skin, two thousand people packed together like Indian Ocean sardines, no water and being hungry. Everyone was on the brink.
Front gate scene of the Village of Joy Children's Center, Christmas Day, 2008.
Wait! There as an opening in the gate. They were letting people through. Everyone was trying to get through a space less than twelve inches wide. If he could just slide through. Just push past the one person. Why does
everyone have to be thinking the same thing right now? Aaaaiiii! I'm through!
It was a clash of two kingdoms. On one side of the gate, there is hunger and want and suffering and daily situations where there is practically never enough. On the other side of the gate, in the Iris Center, there's a kingdom where there is love and care, provision and always enough. The ministry started with hungry, needy kids and it will remain with kids as its focus.
Jesus' disciples were arguing with each other about greatness. What did the Creator of the Universe do? He grabbed a child and said, "look, if you want greatness, start here!" (Luke 9:46-48, my paraphrase). He actually says that the way you treat these little one is the way you treat Him.
Fast forward two hours. These same children, now have bellies full of a huge plate of rice and chicken and a cool Coke. As they leave, all 2,000+ enjoying a bag full of candy and one little toy of a stuffed animal or the like, they smiled. For two hours on Christmas day, they were the princes and princesses of a kingdom which belonged to them. Walking back to the same gate that held them at bay earlier, which is now beckoning them home, they take more than food and a gift with them. They are carrying a piece of God's heart. No more panic is in their little brown eyes. Jesus died that there would always be enough. Today He showed them.
Continued by Teisa Nicole
Blessings from a very hot and sizzling Mozambique! While winter temperatures drop in the western hemisphere, temperatures soar higher and higher in Africa. As the heat index climbs in the natural, we also rejoice at the parallel elevation and open heavens in the Spirit.
Like the open heaven, He blessed us with on Christmas. We already celebrated one early Christmas with Heidi personally giving out gifts to our kids, which was such an incredible day together.
To have another round of celebrations on Christmas day was amazing! We were so blessed by the children from Vallybrook Community Church in Granby, CT, who raised money to buy our kids presents! Even in the midst of the crazy shopping and preparations, our prayer was “Jesus, you are the true gift this Christmas!
May every child have a fresh revelation of you this year!” He is so faithful! On Christmas day, we were so wonderfully aware of the Father’s delight in His children. It was His birthday party and we had a blast! Our Iris family enjoyed a precious time with Him as we opened presents, prayed, worshiped, ate chicken, and drank Coca Cola.
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The day got even better as the gates of our center opened at 1:00 p.m. for all the community kids to join the Christmas celebrations. Over 1500 kids were eagerly gathered at the gate waiting. Our Makua youth did an outstanding job helping the kids come into the center in groups, avoiding a mass stampede. Groups of 20 were lead to the kitchen where each child received a full plate of rice, chicken and a coke.
Upon leaving the kitchen, each child received a present, a small toy or stuffed animal and candy bag. Things got a little crazy as the kids realized what awaited them. Suddenly, over 800 kids wanted out of the kitchen at the same time.
The riot was short lived as our Makua youth came to the rescue again. Soon we had organized lines and kids waiting patiently for their turn to leave and receive their present.
By the end of the day, over 2200 kids/adults had full bellies and happy hearts, but even better, each one was touched by the lavish love of God. Thank you again for all the ways you support Iris Ministries. We are so grateful for our huge, ever growing family around the world. On behalf of the Bakers and your family in Pemba. We love and bless you!
Continued from the Pemba Clinic, Healing Testimonies, January 27, 2009
A lady came who had been suffering with complete left-sided neck pain that radiated down into her chest. I could find nothing to explain this on examination. However, I asked her if something happened in her life the same time she developed the symptoms. She burst into tears and then told me she had lost two sons in a car crash. They had been knocked down by a passing car and both died instantly. After this the neck pain started. She believed in Jesus and I explained that He can heal her neck, but she needs to forgive the driver in the car. She agreed and forgave the driver and we asked Jesus to come and heal her heart and remove all neck pain. When I asked how she was, she smiled and said the pain left her and she felt the grieving also had gone. Jesus had healed her grieving heart!
A guard came to clinic for he had malaria. Sure enough, he was sweating all over with a fever and said he had body aches and a headache. But I asked if he wanted us to pray for him first. He said he was of another faith but believed in God. I asked if he wanted to see God heal him today. He said we could pray. We prayed and asked Jesus not only to heal him but reveal Himself to him. He was stunned after the prayer and said he needed time to take in what had just happened. Five or so minutes later he said all his symptoms left him and he felt normal again. He also had a God encounter where he was overcome by the presence of God.
One of our children on the base had developed a painful swollen knee, so much that it appeared twice the normal size and she was limping on it. As I examined it looked like she had infection in her joint or a septic arthritis. She had waited 5 days before coming in and this meant the infection could have already caused damage to her knee. I put a needle in
her knee and sure enough lots of pus came out, confirming the diagnosis. This meant that she required intravenous antibiotics but we had none suitable for her so I started her on the oral equivalent drug to that which I would have given intravenously. We prayed and asked Jesus to come and heal her completely. She didn’t want to go hospital so I did what I could with what we had and asked God to take care of the rest since He was her Father.
We reviewed the knee the next day. It was somewhat better but still needed more pus to be removed. She firmly refused this for she didn’t like needles and said, "I believe God will heal me." So again, we prayed complete healing with no complications but a normal knee. (Back home she may have required orthopedic surgery and also intravenous antibiotics for at least two weeks. There also was the risk of recovering with a reduced movement of her knee.)
About 5 days later, she had a big smile on her face. Her knee was less swollen and she was able to walk on it. She did indeed make a complete recovery which was a miracle on the treatment she received. I was in awe of God for I had offered up my small portion, like the loaves and fish, to God and He indeed took care of the rest! What an amazing loving Father we have! What an honour it is to work with the Great Physician Himself! He lovingly asks us to do all we can, then as we hand it all over to Him, He will surely do the rest!
December 26, 2008, Report by Dr. Don Kantel, Associate Director
t’s early in the morning of the 26th and I’ve spent the last hour gratefully reflecting before the Lord on his extravagant goodness. I thought I’d share some of this with you, since your prayers and support are so instrumental in enabling God’s blessings to flow through our ministry.
Christmas Presence
The tribal culture in which we work here is inherently challenging to the advancement of the Kingdom. Theft and corruption are accepted norms, for example; and the ministry is regularly victimized because we’re perceived as always being able to replace whatever has been unjustly taken. In the days leading up to Christmas, I realized that local people who could afford it were planning to buy a goat for their Christmas meal…and that many who couldn’t afford it were planning to steal a goat! There were two attacks on our Mieze goat herd in the week before Christmas…in spite of the fact that our goats are in a bamboo enclosure and guarded by full-time goat-herders. The first attacker was caught and turned over to the police. The second was a gang of men intent on taking several goats. They managed to kill one goat before being chased off without their spoils. The unfortunate goat went into the Mieze freezer and became yesterday’s Christmas dinner for the children in our orphan village instead…served up with rice, a bottle of pop and ice cream for dessert. The best treat imaginable for our kids!
This was actually the Mieze kids’ second Christmas, because we celebrated with them on the 24th so we could be available to help at the Pemba Base on the 25th. Many missionaries and visitors joined us for singing and worship and a home-grown chicken lunch with the full Mieze family of more than 50 kids and more than 20 staff. Each child received a colorful gift bag with some new clothes, toys and stuffed animals, combs and toothbrushes, hair extensions for the girls, and candy and cookies. It was wonderful to watch how the kids gathered in groups to open their presents together and how all delighted in every little thing their brothers and sisters received. The missionaries and visitors sat with the kids and were enthralled at their delight in these simple blessings. The purity of these children’s joy was a blessing to the rest of us that’s hard to put into words.
Our orphan village residents also took bags of candies and gave handfuls of treats in Jesus’ name to the many poor village children who had gathered around outside. The freedom to give to others is evidence that the spirit of poverty has been broken off our resident kids! Thank you, Jesus, for your presence in these children’s lives!
The evening of the 24th was the traditional candlelight service at the Pemba Base. It’s not exactly “Silent Night, Holy Night” though. Raucous praise music in our decorated dining area…followed by distribution and lighting of candles. Then our annual Iris tradition began of 200 people running around blowing out others’ candles while trying to protect their own. You had to be there….
On the morning of the 25th most missionaries participated in giving gift bags to our 180 resident Iris kids…while we went with a few others to our Noviane housing project in the neighboring village. We gave gift bags to the 13 kids there while their families looked on. None had ever experienced anything like this in their lives. We also had boxes of good used clothes for each family and after the excitement of opening their bags they all tried on new clothes to the applause of everyone. It was such a privilege to be able to share everyone’s joy in the blessings the Lord was pouring into these formerly destitute and desperate families.
Next we went together to the Pemba Base for a wonderfully creative and compelling presentation of the Nativity Story in Portuguese…followed by the beginning of the Christmas meal of chicken, rice, and a bottle of coke. First the Iris family—including the Noviane kids—enjoyed their meal. Then we began serving the village community who came in droves for this festive treat. Over the next few hours 2,500 chicken meals and cokes were served in an incredible demonstration of love and grace by our Iris missionaries, visitors and staff. It was a Christmas Day to be remembered as the brilliant light of the glory of the Lord shone brightly into the spiritual darkness around.
Later, weary but grateful missionaries and visitors gathered for a “braii”—the name for a barbecue in the Southern Hemisphere—featuring fresh-caught yellowfin tuna and freshly gathered Mieze eggs. And we reflected together on the privilege that is ours to be carrying the presence of the Lord to the spiritually and materially needy in this forgotten region of northern Mozambique. Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Thank you for sustaining and enabling this ministry by your prayers and support!
December 8, 2008
The focus of this report is harvest—natural and supernatural. It may seem a little late in the year to be thinking about harvest, but harvest, both spiritual and material, is our year-round focus here at the Pemba Base and in our many ministry centers surrounding Pemba.
The Harvest…Spiritual Bounty
The Iris Pemba Base is surrounded by nearly 50,000 poor villagers…almost all of whom would call themselves Muslims. One of our challenges over the past few years has been to develop effective ways of reaching villagers, and especially village kids, with tangible expressions of the love of God. We’ve had various kinds of food programs but hadn’t been able to combine these very effectively with Christian content until recently.
Our Christian primary school has been our first successful sustained effort. About 580 village kids attended this past year in addition to about 130 resident Iris kids. We had to turn some village kids away due to overcrowding. Now, we’ve added three more classrooms for the new school year which begins in late January.
In the past few months, we have begun a daily program of Bible teaching, stories, games and a hot meal for village kids at the Pemba Base. This is a high-energy program, conducted mostly in Makua, involving many staff and helpers each day for an hour and a half. We’re now getting close to 600 kids out every day! Many have already accepted the Lord, are praying, and are even having visions of Jesus! More and more of these kids are also now coming regularly to our Pemba church services, where we’ve also just begun to have a separate children’s hour. Then, we feed 800 or more children plus hundreds of adults every Sunday following church.
We’ve recently been training leaders from Mieze to run a similar village children’s program there, as a Saturday-only program. This new program is being attended by well over 300 enthusiastic children. We’re trying not to let the word get out too widely because we don’t presently have covered space for more until our new church and community building is completed in five months or so! The first week, we had prepared rice and beans to serve an expected 150 children. Yet, all 300 or more received a full serving. God seems to like doing that for these precious Mieze kids!!
And finally, after many months of planning and praying, it looks like we may be about to acquire some property on Ibo Island to begin our next major project based on the “Mieze Model.” This will be a challenging new initiative for many reasons. We’ll write more about this in a future report.
For information and pictures describing the “Mieze Model” for village transformation please see the Mieze Village webpage. For pictures and updates on the new adaptation of the Mieze Model in Noviane village, please see http://www.irismin.canmohsp
Pemba Missionary Contact Information List
We respectfully request that you do not contact our missionaries by cellphone unless it is an emergency, you are a family member, or you need to talk to a missionary about an important issue. In Mozambique, a cellphone is not charged for incoming calls. However, all of our missionaries are very busy and sometimes very over extended with severe time limitations. So, please use email when possible. Always be aware of the time zone differences. In the fall and winter, Mozambique is 7 hours later than Eastern Standard Time in the US. The difference in spring and summer is 6 hours since their time does not change with the seasons as they do in North America.
Following is the information we are authorized to post in the following order: name(s), home country, email address(es), cellphone number(s), and primary area(s) of responsibility. An email address will be posted on your email program by clicking on the underlined portion of the missionary name.
Updating and Editing will be on ongoing project, so please be patient.
The Baker family in the back yard of their Pemba home. Crystalyn and Elisha are currently attending school in California.
Baker, Rolland and Dr. Heidi USA, International Founding Directors of Iris Ministries
Basson, Annelie, RN, South Africa
Bridget on Children's Day in Pemba
Carroll, Bridget, RN, UK, medical team, clinic and Mieze Center weekly
Cheng, Yonnie, USA, media, Blog Website
Cox, Pam Australia, Long-term Placement Committee, Iris Harvest School, 258-82-518-3591
Curry, Linda, RN, Canada, Linda works with public health services
Dubois, Jacques and Mary Jacques, RN, USA, is a master carpenter with a vision to train our boys and Mary serves in the children's center.
Laura with some of our children
Eubanks, Laura, USA, Art and creative activities for the children, website
Hart, Emelyn USA, Children's Center, 258-82-550-8526, Website
Natalia is 1 1/2 and has been a part of the Iris family and Aldeia de alegria since she was 2 1/2 months old.
Emelyn has been with Iris since January of 2006. She assists Rabia, our Mozambican Children's Center Director, with running the Children's Center at Aldeia de Alegria in Pemba. Her days can include running a staff meeting of our Tias to handling the intake of a new child or giving kids rides to school in the city. Each day looks very different. Emelyn also enjoys teaching in the Pastor's Bible School.
Dr. Eric listening to his interpreter for a patient in Kolonge, DR of Congo
Dr. Eric loving a child in the Congo
Jonckers, Dr. Eric, Belgium, physician
Kantel, Dr. Don and Elizabeth, Canada, Associate Directors of Pemba, Meize Village and prototype, Elizabeth is the chairperson of the Iris Long-term Committee.
Mark and Jennifer with Heidi and one of our young men
Mozley, Mark and Jennifer, Discipleship and hospitality team, 258-82-7460-351
Ania Noster Poland, 258-82-527-1698, personal assistant to Heidi and prison ministry outreach
Katie in Morrumbala with friends
Rateje, Jacinto and Katie (Hilditch) Mozambique and USA, Bible School, 258-82-535-2068
Soars, Steve and Cassandra, USA, micro enterprises
Papa Jolie holding our temporary gift, Baby Lourdes, with Shara Pradhan
Staab, Joel (Papa Jolie) USA, Children's Ministry/teaching children and pastors/intercession, 258-82-527-0961
Melissa with a pastor and his wife from Nampula
Stanton, Melissa USA, Primary school/discipleship, 258-82-598-0267
Tarbill, Jeff and Janet USA, Harvest School Team and missionary home group, Website
Jessie with some of the children from the center at the beach
Turner, Jessie USA, Children's Center, 258-82-564-0284 Website
Joe on one of the medical missions off the coast of Pemba
Marian with some of her "adopted" sons in Pemba
Vaine, Joe and Marian, USA, flying ministry and transportation, Joe is the pilot. Marian also assists in the sewing center, website
Vaney, Raphael and Ana, Switzerland and Brazil, Accountant, Website in Portuguese and French
Vaney, Ana, Brazil, baby house/toddler house and pre-school
Brian and Lorena Wood with sons Matthew, Nate and Caleb, USA, Leadership Training and Bible School Teachers,
discipleship of village children, website
John and Margaret, faithful servants at Pemba
Woolett, John and Margaret New Zealand, John, construction, Margaret, sewing school teaching and discipleship, 258-82-551-1304 John, 258-82-551-1305 Margaret
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