Explosions

My dearest family and friends,
thank you sooo much for praying for me/us the last 2 days. I sooo appreciate your loving e-mails,
i really have felt lifted up in prayer and it's encouraging to know people are thinking about me and praying for me.

I don't think I can explain very well the events of the March 22 but please read Sally Cosgrove's (fellow missionary)
report on www.irismin.com click on "late breaking news". That is how it was. There's also pictures. I have not taken
any pictures, so you can see what is on there.

It was a lovely day, and Ellie and I were just closing discipleship with the girls. It had been a really good lesson on what
salvation REALLY is. The girls left and we stepped outside to see where this "thunder" was coming from. It was a hot
day and the sky was blue and completely cloudless. We could see smoke off in the distance and people were saying it
wouldn't be dangerous unless there were missiles (what we discovered was happening is that an old munitions base about 5 km's away had started exploding). I walked up to the baby house and was just going inside when a
missile hit the bible school just behind the baby house. It shook everything. Just after this a bomb hit the corner of the
church building on the other side of the center, and several windows shattered. I and everyone around picked up babies and
ran! First we were told to go to the soccer field. All the kids and everyone was in a panic and running with all their might.
Then a missile hit the soccer field and there was lots of shrapnel flying, so we turned and ran towards the prayer hut.
The kids that had already made it to the soccer field fled out the gate off the center. Some caught buses going by, and
the rest ran across the street through the fields. Several were taken in by families and hid in their block houses.

Those of us who ran to the prayer hut (about 150 people) weren't sure to go inside, or stay outside. We just stood their covering
the kids and babies as best we could, and calling out to the Lord with loud voices. Then shrapnel started flying overhead and
we ran into the prayer hut. We just crouched down on the floor. Some people put duct tape over the windows so if they broke
they wouldn't shatter. The roof is just reeds so you could see through and see missiles and shrapnel flying over head. We just
prayed and prayed and sang to the Lord. We sang a song in Portuguese that says "Jesus passes by, Jesus passes by. And when
he passes by all will be transformed. All sadness will flee and all joy will come." During this a missile flew very close to the roof,
and landed just on the other side of the wall of the center where it exploded.

This went on for 4 1/2 hours. I could not stop praying in tongues and singing. I didn't know what else to do. I had one baby between my legs, and
a child sitting on each leg. It was so loud with bombs going off (5 of which for sure exploded on the center) and the ground shaking.
The missiles would whistle as they flew overhead. Then everyone would go dead quiet waiting to hear where it would land and explode.

When it finally stopped we just sat there quiet waiting to see if it would start again. Some guys went to the kitchen and brought back the
food and plates and we fed everyone in the prayer hut. Around 9:00 all my girls except for 3 came back. Several boys came back as well.
That night walking back to dorms everyone was feeling very trembling and nervous. We checked the rooms, and the worst damage in the
girls rooms were some lights that fell from the ceiling and shattered, and windows had broke. A few had cracks in the roof, but nothing major.
We got all the girls into bed, some slept on the floor in other girls bedrooms.

I talked to my parents on the phone. I slept at another missionaries room that night, and we stayed up late talking. It was so quiet and strange to
go to bed Thursday night.

Friday morning the other 3 girls returned, and all the boys came back throughout the day. I just walked around the center with a couple Mozambicans
and another missionary, Ellie, and looked at damage (not too much). It is nothing but a miracle that NOBODY was killed or injured! God totally protected
us! Even our workers came back, saying all their neighbors houses were flattened, but theirs just had broken glass. All the neighbors were killed or
had lost limbs, but they walked away without a scratch (just traumatized).

Late Friday morning the police were worried it might start up again and asked for everyone to leave. We loaded up all the girls, baby house, and
youngest boys dorms on trucks and took them to another Iris Ministries center about 40 minutes away. around 5:15 last night we came back after
the police said it was safe, people could return to their homes. Driving down the road so many buildings were hit. The mental hospital close by was hit about 3 times, and several people died. The gas station was hit through the front window, but amazingly missed the gas pumps which is a miracle.

Today has just been a sort of strange day. It was the educator shift change, so all the dorm parents from the last shift went home (some were still unsure how their families were) and the new shift came on. The head dorm parent for the girls dorm was a wreck. I just wrapped my arms around
her and she cried, and then told me she and her sons were all laying against a wall, and 4 of her neighbors who were sitting against the wall were
hit and exploded from the waist up. It's horrible!

With all the terrible things that happened, God has chosen to keep us safe under the shelter of his wings. He has a covenant with Iris Ministries (shown by the symbol of the rainbow) that will never be broken, and He has brought us through in faithfulness. God is so amazing! I had it going through my
head this song: "My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do." I just say to you that even though this world may be
destroyed, with my eyes I will see God! He has brought us safely through to the other side. We met death face to face, and walked away in victory.
God is perfect and His ways we will never understand, but He is faithful.

We have LIVED through Psalm 91. And now may we see healing and peace flood people here. May this be a season of turning to God with ALL our
hearts!

Please pray for the healing of shock and trauma (for me, every time I hear a drum, or a loud truck rumbling by, or a kid whistling like that sound of a
missile flying through the air, I just cringe and feel so awful inside). Pray for God do draw these children and people unto himself, and for us to have
wisdom in dealing with what takes place after something so tragic.

I bless you for your prayers and love. i love you all so much!Love in Christ, my Victory Banner,
Anna Coumos
Mozambique Africa, Iris Ministries

It's my 21st (Golden) Birthday!!

March 21, 2007 I celebrated my 21st birthday.
In my family, when you turn the age of the date of your birthday, it is your "Golden Birthday".
So to be 21 on the 21st of March was extra special. And my family at home and my missionary
family made it more special than I could imagine! In the morning a group of 9 of us ladies went
to a fancy hotel for their "simple" breakfast (if you call fresh baked chocolate filled crescents, choice of
fresh fruit juice, and bottomless tea or coffee 'simple'). We had such a lovely morning dining like
royalty, and chatting away. When the girls got home from school, all 48 came to see me and wish
me a happy birthday and give me their darling hand made cards and drawings. Some of them gave
me bracelets or little nick nacks from their own small box of belongings. How sweet.

My family sent me a package full of 21st birthday decorations and party supplies, as well as my favorite
maple creams (too good to share...). Some of the missionaries took the box of decorations and went to
set up the yard we'd be having our evening celebration at. In the evening we had a bring and share meal
at one of the missionaries houses. It was so nice to just enjoy fellowship. They went around saying what
each person did on their 21st birthday (I am the youngest missionary here). Then two ladies from England
sang to me "She's 21 today, she's 21 today! She's got the key of the door, never been 21 before!" (In England
when you turn 21 it's about being old enough to have the key to your own house). Everyone sang happy birthday and I blew out the candles, then they lifted me up in a chair and sang to me (in Mozambique, the
special guest at a wedding or whatever celebration gets lifted up in a chair!). And they put me in the middle
and everyone prayed for me. It was so special! I got lots of sweet gifts and cards. Lots of purple and lavender things, since that's my favorite color:-)

The Lord blessed me so much! What a birthday to remember...

Birthday Cake!!

Annelie with our new little boy, Tino

We had a Birthday party for Annelie, our lovely nurse who works in the baby house and clinic. All the babies came and had a blast playing in the pool, singing Happy Birthday, and ofcourse, eating lots and lots of cake:-)

What a joy to celebrate with these little darlings. God has done such miracles in each of their lives. Our babies are living testimonies of our faithful Father. Their lives shout glory to the Lord!

Water Fight!!

It was 110 degree F this day...
Filled up 200 water balloons...
Chased one of the dorm mother's all across the play ground and through another dorm,
and back to the girls dorm where she locked herself in a room for 45 minutes. When she finally
came out we had 3 big water balloons to "get her" with, and lots of buckets and cups of water to dump on her:-)
It was so refreshing playing with water, that Olga was caught in the bathroom having her own water cooler!
Oh those hot days of Summer...

Anti Procrastination Week

Before... ...After!!!
This past week has been anti-procrastination week over at "The Sparrow's Nest". Mrs. Wilt has encouraged all her readers to do one thing each day that they have been procrastinating. That wasn't hard for me to find plenty to do! I've cleaned out the huge storage cabinet in my house for storing all the clothing, craft supplies,
toiletries, birthday and Christmas gifts, and the list goes on and on. It's difficult to keep clean with such a variety of stuff stored there. This week I emtpied it out, tossed some things, sent some things to the Community, and organized the whole cabinet. I even covered some cardboard boxes with pink and yellow wrapping paper and made labels for them. Ahhh...It feels so nice to have that done! It took a whole day (with a 2 hour break to have a water balloon fight with the girls...), and it will be such joy to keep it clean now.

For those of you praying for Judite...Thank you so much! A week ago we weren't sure if she would make it. She has had a turn around and is so much better! She will be coming home this week. Praise the Lord!

Thank you all for your prayers and support. You are a blessing.
May you feel the Lord's rich love for you this week.
Love,
Anna

2007 *A New Year!!* 2007

Happy Year 2007!!

In December I spent a week in Botswana with my dear friends from church, Jake and Khanya. They were visiting Khanya's family, and having a wedding for her sister. It was so fun being a part of the family and spending time with the relatives! The wedding was beautiful. Such a nice break, to be away from work, and with my wonderful friends.

Paulo is doing wonderful. It has been a privilege to pour into his life and give Him God's love. The tias (dorm mothers) love looking after Paulo, and have worked and persevered with him in many ways. He is now sitting up on his own, and picking things up with his hands. The girls are always playing with him, trying to get him to laugh.

In my last blog I posted a picture of these 2 darling miracles when they had first arrived. Here they are, doing so much better! Sina is now over 4 kilos, and doing fantastic. She loves to smile and coo, and her health is perfect.

Mateus is off his feeding tube, and eating just fine. He is health, crawls around and tries to stand on his own. He will be walking soon! He has such a sweet nature, always smiling and loves people. Thank you for your prayers for these 2!

We had a joyful Christmas, and a rainy new year's eve (which was welcome after weeks of hot, dry 100 + degree weather).

My Hopes for the new year are:

1. Start a program to train the girls in skills they can use when they leave the center to be able to make a living (sewing, crocheting, cooking, etc.).

2. Taking more time with each child God places in front of me. Never rushing them off, or being impatient (Lord, give me grace!), but just giving them all the time in the world and making each person I meet feel special and loved. That I might be the fragrance of Christ to them!

3. Get to know the Lord better. I have all eternity, and it starts now. I want to know Him and to learn to abide in Him. I want to learn to just BE in Him. Not work for something. I surely don't deserve and can do nothing to deserve Him. But as being His daughter is an honor and privilege, I don't want to take that lightly. I want all that God has intended for me. I want to live for Him with passion and excitement and joy. I want to know Him fully, even as I am fully known.

It will take commitment, but I am ready to start this year out, and see where God takes me this year. I am learning so much day by day.

I will be coming home mid June, and probably coming back to Mozambique in August. My brother Greg is getting married to my friend Bethany In July, and I look forward to being a part of the wedding. They are so perfect for each other! It's been so neat watching God bring them together.

I pray you each have a wonderful year 2007, and God gives you the desires of your heart, and fulfills your dreams.

Be blessed! Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement. I am truly blessed.

Love in Jesus,

Anna

Father, I thank you for life!

Please pray for LIFE!
God really is GOOD! He is perfect, and His grace is sufficient and His love is abounding (without boundaries!).He is just and Holy. He is faithful...

Hello friends!!! How are you doing??I am doing well. I slept in till 8:30 this morning. I didn't get much sleep the night before because I had Sina for the night(our DARLING little girl that came to us at 1 month old weighing 1.7 kilos--just under 4 pounds! She is now 9 weeks old and weighs 2.7 kilos and is just thriving! She is so perfect and amazing). we have to do feeds every 3 hours, and at night every 4 hours. It was a joy to have her though. I just prayed over her and thanked God for the miracle of her life. While rejoicing in God's goodness for Sina, we are also warfaring and believing God's victory for Matteus (Matthew).The police brought us this little boy, about 1 1/2 or 2 yrs., last Friday afternoon. They found him abandoned. He is VERY malnourished, and he has a sickness due to malnutrition that is so very dangerous, the dr. said really kids with this could drop dead at any moment. His legs are quite swollen, and we are tube feeding him. He is such a treasure! His eyes are the sweetest eyes I have EVER seen in my life! He is the saddest baby I have ever seen. Often the weak kids brought here are fighters, and that is how they survive. Our precious Matteus is so sad I just want to cry for him. We named him Matteus (or Matthew) because it means God's gift. He IS a gift. And we are thanking God that while he was out there abandoned on the streets, GOD still saw him and cared for him and didn't leave him there, but brought him here. God is so faithful and GOOD! I just ask you to please take some time and just lift up Matteus to Jesus! Thank God for His life, and pray for QUICK AND AMAZING healing! That his life would bring glory to our Father, and He would be a testimony to the world of our faithful God.Thank you! Love,Anna

Miracles!!

Dear friends and family,

I hope these pictures do not take to long for you to load!

I would like to introduce you to Paulo! This little boy is about 8 years old (we are guessing this from the fact that he has his adult front teeth,
and from his head and face), has cerebral palsy, and he weighs just 8 kilos (17.6 pounds)! God is truly rescuing in the desperate children that have no voice.
Paulo is from the same center as Yuran (for those of you who read my last blog). It is a children's center down the road that is in quite a state.
The children are pretty well neglected, and dirty, and smelly. Slowly God has given us a cracked door into that center. We've been visiting every week and bring small gifts like stuffed animals for the kids (about 70 children live there), or sweets. 3 1/2 weeks ago Yuran (age 3) came to us quite sickly. They told us he was paralyzed on his left side and couldn't walk. A few different missionaries have been working very diligently with him, and since he has come, he's put on 4 kilos (about 8 pounds!), and IS walking all on his own! Today in the baby house he stood up and, slowly and wobbly, walked to me to ask for water! I wanted to cry. He's been transformed from a constant blank expression, and cranky personality, to a joyful little boy.
He laughs all the time! He had horrible scabies when he came, and his skin is almost completely cleared up.

Miracle #2 came to us one week later. Feliciano is about 6 years old and suffering very badly from TB, and probably many other conditions. He has gone untreated. We asked if we could take him, and the director of that center said "Yes." So we brought him here and immediately started tests and exams at the hospital, and treatment. He also is walking now, and laughing, and a very happy little boy (which happens to be what his name means! "Feliziano"--Happy little one).

And yesterday the director of our center went to this children's center again to ask for another child that isn't doing well, Paulo. For some reason they really didn't want to let us take him, so Ros asked if we could just bring him for a few hours so he could have a physical exam by our Dr. (we have a registered clinic here on
the base, and a Dr. who comes in 4 afternoons a week). He consented, and she brought him back. I looked after him all afternoon. Fed him, bathed him, and prayed for him. The Dr. said he has a very bad ear infection in both ears (it smells, too). And he has pneumonia, and horrible scabies. When we took him back to the center late in the afternoon, and explained his condition and that it would be easiest if we could treat him at our center, the director consented to letting us take him for a week. Please pray with us that he will let us keep him after the week is up. We also found out he came to that center in March or April 2006, after they found him behind a building across the street in a plastic bag!
Because he is on medicine and high maintenance, I was asked to have him sleep with me and care for him and keep up on his medicines. So I have gained a son for a week! During the day when I have lots of work he can sit in his stroller in the girls area with the dorm mothers. I am giving him all his medicines at the appropriate times, bathing him in the morning and evening with a special antibacterial treatment, and then doing a spray to treat the scabies. Feeding him his meals, changing his diapers, and loving on him! my girls think he is wonderful and all want to push him around in his stroller, and he laughs and smiles while they do! Please pray for healing for him, and for a miracle in his life!

We are amazed at how God has given us these 3 children, and I know you can rejoice with us! I want to ask you to please join with me in warfare for the rest of the children still at that center. Especially the youngest ones. Pray God would open doors to get them out of there and give them a better life! Please think about the many children throughout the world that are neglected, abused, broken, and forgotten. Cry out to God on their behalf. He HEARS the intercession of your heart, and I believe he is already responding.

Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement. You mean so much to me! I so appreciate you sending me out as an extension of the body of Christ, to
care for God's children in Mozambique. I love being here!
May you be blessed richly,

Love in Jesus,
Anna

Hope for the Hopeless...23 September, 2006

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Photo 1:

Our joyful baby house!

Photo 2:

Our newest addition to the girls dorm. Mira was brought to us yesterday by the police. She is about 6 or 7 years old. The police found her on the streets alone and brought her here. We took her to the clinic for an exam. I showered her in my house and dressed her in new clothes. She is darling, and a little bit hyper. Right now she is sitting next to me on the bed and some other girls are in looking through photos a visitor sent. Last night I set up a movie for the girls, and was just leaving them when Mira came running up to me and said, "I want to sleep with you tonight!"

I explained to her that she would be sleeping with the other girls, and introduced her to her dorm mother. She had her mind made up that she wanted to sleep in my house, so she pouted and hung onto my shirt. This morning she seems to be settled in a bit more.

Photo 3:

Meet Yuran! There is a children's center down the road that is in quite bad shape. The children are not being well cared for, and it's filthy. We have been praying for a couple months now that they would decide to close down and we could get the children. Or that they would clean things up and change the way they are doing things. We just want the children to be taken care of!

Social Services said they would give them one more chance, but nothing has changed. Ros (wife of Steve Lazar. They are the directors of this center.) has been visiting every week, and this little 3 year old that weighs just 15 pounds really touched her heart. On Monday she was praying and felt the Lord tell her to just go ask for the baby! So she did! And the director of that center said "Yes"! And he is going to make a list of some others that are not doing well for us to consider taking. That was such a miracle! Tuesday she went and picked up Yuran. He is being cared for in our baby house now. He definitely has the mind of a 3 year old even though he is very week. He interacts with people, and talks. He's a fighter, which is a good sign! But he has picked up habits from being treated like a baby, so we are trying to break him from them (like gagging when it's time for medicine). He has sores all over his body, and his left side is weak. But we are trusting God to do His miracles and heal this boy. He will be a new child soon! I can't wait to share his testimonies with you.

Photo 4:

Yuran hates bath time and screams the whole time. All bundled up in my arms after his bath!

God is doing miracles every day. The children here are lovely! It is such a privilege and honor to mother the motherless, and give hope to the hopeless. Thank you for your prayers and support. Please pray for Yuran and Mira.

May the Lord bless you richly!

Love in Jesus,

Anna Coumos

Serving Jesus in Mozambique, Africa with Iris Ministries

...Treasures in Heaven... August 30, 2006

Gina, Anna, and Maria Crimilda

Rainy Saturday

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

How rewarding it is to sew into people's lives and reap heavenly rewards! Each of the children and people here are treasures and it is such a joy to minister to them!

Lately the Lord has been speaking me about spending TIME with people. Just as He loves to spend time with us. It is not the 'things' that we give people that builds them up and encourages them, but the time we take to focus on the person in front of us. Loving on them, listening to them, caring for them, praying for them.

Saturday night is movie night in the girls dorm. It was pouring down rain, cold, and very windy. After turning on the movie (The Parent Trap) and passing out little bags of chips, I huddled in with the girls (all trying to keep warm) and enjoyed their laughter, and repeating lines. It was so nice to just be with them.

Sunday afternoon I walked with 2 girls that are rather shy, Paula and Judite, to the pool down the road. It was too cold to swim, but we sat and had french fries and coca-colas. They were teasing each other and laughing the whole time. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The girls had so much fun!

We have started discipleship in the girls dorm. The girls are divided into age groups, and 2 afternoons Ellie (missionary also involved in the girls area) and I invite the girls, and one of the Mozambican dorm mothers, into my house. We serve them tea or juice, and sit down in a comfy setting to learn about God. So far we have watched a film about the prodigal son, and how the father is like our heavenly Father. That has brought us into a session on the Father heart of God. Something important for these girls to learn, as many of them have a bad example of what a Father is. We do activities with them, and they get a memory verse to work on over the week.

I so enjoy being here! The Lord is faithful all the time. My days are filled with nursing small cuts with bandages, holding little girls who's feelings were hurt, laughing with those who laugh, praising the good things and disciplining the bad. It is amazing to be here, and I love it!

Things are going well in the baby house. I will only be running it along for another 2 weeks or so, and then Tracey comes back (yay!!). Everything has gone smoothly, praise God! The babies are lovely and growing so fast!

For those who may not have heard, baby Jill did go to be with Jesus. It was very hard, but the Lord has been gracious. And we have a new baby here now named Nehemiah. His dad is a pastor of a church near here. His mom died 3 weeks after he was born. He is about 6 weeks old now. Today his dad came to visit him. He comes a few times a week. When Nehemiah is a bit bigger he will be able to go live with his daddy.

Every day I am blessed by the treasures God gives to us! And I am reminded that our treasures are not our possessions, or our money. Our treasures come from how we are living our lives and using our time! Is it for the Lord? That is the richest life to have!

Bless you each! Take time to store up heavenly treasures! Of all things, you will NOT regret it!

Love in Jesus,

Anna Coumos