January 2010 Linda Currie Update

I write this update on New Years Day. I am standing here and looking one way to the past year and then looking the other way towards this coming year, and realize even more how good and faithful our God is and how his tremendous love for us moves and transforms us into the children he planned for us to be all along (Jeremiah 29:11).

This past year has been challenging as I was asked to oversee the kitchen in Pemba. I accepted because I wanted to submit to the leadership God had placed me under and to respond to the immediate needs of the ministry. In doing so, my Father God chose to use this opportunity to grow and transform me into more of the image of his son Jesus.

The kitchen ministry has allowed me to participate more in the biblical call to feed the hungry and look after the widows and orphans. I have been supervising feeding programs that have seen thousands of people able eat on an ongoing basis. Just a week ago, on Christmas day, we fed 3,180 people!

I have also had the privilege of raising up one of the yong men, Amade, who is soon to turn 19.  He has trained with me, and in coming alongside I have been able to help him step out into the call God has for his own life. Every night 30-40 village boys come for a program of worship, learning the word of God, and partake in a meal – all under the leadership of Amade. This group has been meeting daily since April and the growth and changes in all of us involved have been amazing; the Holy Spirit has been the director!

Two weeks before Christmas I had the joy of baptizing Amade at the Pemba beach. The two of us then went on to baptize 28 village youth from the program. When we do the planting and pruning, the Lord is so faithful to give us the fruit. I praise God as I watch these lives being transformed before my very eyes.

[Linda and Amade baptizing one of their village friends]

[They line up to be baptized!]

Public health training and laying hands on the sick to see them recover is still very much a part of the vision that I carry.  I was able to go to several villages this past year to teach the people about cholera, and they were very responsive. I will continue to invest in this way.
 
I am seeking the Father for his plans for me within Iris for this coming year. I don’t know what all lies ahead, but I do know that what looks like ordinary to us becomes extraordinary with him, because we have an extraordinary God who wants his children to become more like him.