Two cyclones destroyed Mozambique in the last few months, decimating homes and lives. But Iris Global was on the front lines, using its established ministry to aid in relief efforts.
In Pemba, Iris served nearly 83,000 meals in about three weeks. They provided clean drinking water for more than 600 people and accommodated nearly 500 people for shelter in late April. In Macomia, Iris served 52,540 meals and distributed 2,492 tarps.
Charisma connected with Iris founder Heidi Baker for an exclusive interview about what God is doing in Mozambique right now. This interview has been edited for clarity.
Charisma: What has the Lord shown you through this devastation?
Heidi Baker: When you live in a country that’s been hit with two cyclones in approximately five weeks, your heart breaks. The first thing I want to say is our hearts just break for the people. We feel the pain and devastation. Friends of ours have lost their homes, their loved ones, their educations (through destroyed schools). Our hearts break, we feel the pain of the people in Mozambique. We’ve lived in Mozambique for 25 years now. We travel some, but this is our home and we’re really feeling deeply for this situation here.
Charisma: How has the Holy Spirit equipped Iris to minister in this area?
Heidi Baker: Holy Spirit has equipped us to minister by giving us a massive blessing of oil. We feel like we’re the vessels with the oil, and now Mozambicans and internationals can pour this blessing of oil onto the people of Mozambique.
Charisma: How is Iris meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the people?
Heidi Baker: At Iris Global, our big heart is to meet both physical and spiritual needs of the people. The physical needs of people, we’re sending tons and tons of volunteers, 98% of them being Mozambican. We’re sending rice and beans, oil and things that they need physically. We’ve also partnered with Samaritan’s Purse, and they’ve given us 6000 tarps. We’re so grateful for Samaritan’s Purse for the partnership, and we’re getting those out to cover houses.
Spiritually, the biggest part of what we’re doing is solar Bibles in their local dialect. It’s an audio New Testament in their local dialect. We’re really thankful for the Wycliffe translators, the Baptist translators who spent 20 years translating Scripture. We are now getting it out to thousands of people.
Charisma: What have you seen your team do this week to help them?
Heidi Baker: I have seen the most incredible group of laid-down lovers of God that you can ever imagine. I’ve seen the Mozambican women just rise up and just go, night and day. Just see them going non-stop. I see the international team: our pilot, Kelly; Liz, our farmer; Pastor Pedro, I see them going. … We are the feet on the ground, and we are going. We thank God for the partnership of Iris Relief, an extension of Iris Global, just going together, doing logistics. The team are absolutely filled with Holy Spirit, doing a supernatural job to get food, aid and education kits to our schools and other schools. We’re able to rebuild government schools, rebuild houses, rebuild houses of prayer. Through the devastation, we see Jesus is King, Jesus is Lord, and I have never seen such beauty in the midst of tragedy.
Watch the video, courtesy of Iris Global, for the full interview.
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