FAITH ALONE

A lot has happened since our last blog post!  

So much so,  that it’s excitingly overwhelming to think about how to write about it all without this post being the size of a novel! So for your sake, I’ll try and share with you all the highlights to get you up-to-date!  

Throughout October 2017 we traveled to three different Iris Global bases in Africa. At those bases, we filmed and photographed projects highlighting their vision, heart as well as creating awareness of the need in each region.
We were so encouraged by each center’s love for the broken and their passion to see a transformation in the lives of those struck by poverty. In particular, we were filming for our children sponsorship program “Stop for the One” and were able to focus on how the bases pour into children giving them a new life, quite literally!

Below are two of the videos we created. The first from our Zimpeto base in the capital of Mozambique, Maputo, and the second a short video for Iris Footprints, in South Africa.

After spending time working,  filming and making new friends,  we left Africa for Australia. We spent 4 months in Tasmania working on my photography business shooting weddings, beauty shoots,  families and couples! This enables us to spend the majority of the year volunteering for Iris Global, living humbly in Mozambique!

Some huge miracles happened during our time in Tasmania,  Australia. As you all know, we are on a faith journey to build a house in Pemba. Heidi Baker has given us the land and by faith we were praying about how to earn the funds to build,  thinking it could possibly be 10-20 years of saving, while still volunteering in Africa. For it to happen we really needed a miracle. One Sunday service at our Tasmanian home Church in Devonport, Gateway Church, our Senior Pastor asked us to come on stage.  He was sharing on how God is pleased by faith, and out of nowhere and totally unexpectedly the church gave us $25,000 AUD for the house! We had been given quotes and this was exactly what we needed to build, it blew our minds! Words can’t express how grateful we are to God and the Family we have in Tasmania.

6-5 years ago I realized how real God was, we sold the house we built, gave up everything to be able to know him more and had a burning desire for our lives to actually count for something in this world. We did this not because we are good people,  but because we realized how good HE is! Jesus served the voiceless, poor and broken. So inspired by his love for us and others, that’s what we wanted to do too.

Strangely enough though whatever you surrender to Him,  he is trustworthy to give it back even more than you could ever imagine!
But never did we expect to be blessed with land and a house!

A man came up to James at the end of the service and politely asked him a bold question “Are you guys pregnant and expecting a baby? I felt God staying you are and not to worry”  He was a normal Aussie guy, a security guard by trade and a volunteer for the fire brigade. He felt God prompt him to ask James this and couldn’t shake the feeling that he just had to say something. James smiled and said, “no we aren’t.”
Little to our knowledge, we were two days pregnant!

When we found out we were ecstatic!
We had been praying about whether we explored adoption first or have our own baby first. We have such a strong desire in our heart to adopt that we didn’t think about the order and just assumed we would adopt first. But before leaving Mozambique we felt God challenging us that we had never prayed or asked him about the order!
So we were and had been seeking Him on what to do!

Before leaving Mozambique for Australia,  our next door neighbor, Meka, told us she had a dream about us. In the dream, we had our own beautiful baby. This was another confirmation from God as Meka had no idea we had been praying about it all!  She said in the dream it was quick, one minute we didn’t have a baby and then the next minute we did. We were laughing and full of Joy while holding our precious little one. Funny enough, we didn’t know the next time we would see Meka would be when we were in our second trimester, arriving home to Pemba from Australia.

In a future post, we would love to share more details on our pregnancy journey and the full testimony of it all!
In the meantime, we so appreciate your prayers as it is all still being written!

Today is the 9th of March and we are settled back in Pemba, Mozambique, on our Iris base. We just flew in two days ago and our kids from our children center and some from the village meet us at the airport!  What a joy to see their faces and to receive their hugs. I’m currently 19 weeks pregnant, and after having all the routine scans and check-ups in Australia we have been given the green light of a low-risk pregnancy,  praise God! We have created a birth plan for Australia and also are exploring our options here in Pemba. Our dream is to have our baby here in Mozambique, but we will surrender that to God and see where he leads us in the next 3-4 months, He knows best! 

It is the best season of trust and faith so far and we are loving every step of it.

The 9th of March is also the same date 13 years ago that James asked me to be his Girlfriend in Highschool!
We were only 14 & 15 then, and would have never dreamed that our lives together could be so amazing and beautiful!

We are planning to start building our house soon, so will keep you posted on the progress and planning.
We have many beautiful media projects to film and create too, so will share them as they are being finished.

We so appreciate all your prayers, love, support and encouragement!
Many many blessings, the Brewer Family xx

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6