Isaac And Brittany .com

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

We want to write you and tell you all how grateful we are for you this Christmas season.

Our hearts are warm with love here in Colorado with our friends and family. 

We had a wonderful second year in Sierra Leone. As many of you know we have been living and working with a Sierra Leonian family, (pastor Andrew and his wife, their 8 children, and many others in the ministry and his family in the surrounding compound). We are missing all of them as we spend the Christmas season here. 

Some highlights from the last year: 

• Isaac started a business and successfully additional funds for the work in Africa.
• Brittany and Isaac were 'the mom and dad of the downstairs', helping take care of 8 of Pastor Andrew's kids.
• Isaac opened a 'prayer room' on the compound, a much needed place of solitude in the midst of our busy compound.
• We had 13 graduates from the Bible school that we helped start last year, many of whom were street boys from the year before.
• Brittany started a 'church for kids' in a bad area near to us. Over 20 kids would come and receive love, play, andworship God twice a week.
• We both grew so much in the love of God this year. Learning more of His heart for us and for those in need.

A new missionary movement
Missions has been founded on some false prepositions and ideas.
Mainly how do we face conditions and ways of doing things in a helpful way.
We have seen the colonizing type of missionary making small western worlds in Africa. Putting Africans in subjection to white culture as the answer to development. Meaning development must look western to be development. Obviously from the outside this is very ethnocentric but unfortunately the attitude still exists I think mainly because of the great difference in development between the first and third worlds giving westerners an aura of superiority and at the same time giving those in a third world an inferiority complex.
The second type is the aid based type of missions.
A very biblical need driven way of spreading the gospel. This type of missions is done all over the world providing food and other necessities to millions who need it. Many however do not even preach the gospel or disciple which is to be our real goal. We show Jesus' love in practical ways and then open up ways for them to know Him more.
One of the problems with this type of missions is that it creates dependency. An aid dependent culture has developed in many third world countries and it is very destructive and unhelpful in the long run. Organizations like the WFP and the UN are looking at ways to build sustainable ways of helping third world nations and this is very good.
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The kind of missions that I think is coming and that needs to come is not new. I heard about it first from the story of the Moravians who sold themselves into slavery to be missionaries the West Indies. To become a slave, a servant of all.
Most missions now is far from that, people are brought in to enforce western protocol and help 'advise' or oversee.
I believe that although this is good in the short term it has such a aura of colonial master, creates dependency, and also sets up something that isn't culturally sustainable.
Many of these nations are in fact very behind in development. Leadership styles have not evolved in understanding like in the west. Many nationals don't know how to handle money well or plan well. Lack of education and experience makes giving power to nationals seem foolish. The truth of the matter is that we are called to disciple nations, where they are at. We cannot make up for the fact that they have not learned something by doing it for them. We are to empower nationals to do what is in their heart for their nation, not force them to do what is in our heart for them. This takes patience and most importantly love.

If you are going to get married my job as the wedding planner isn't to tell you how your wedding should look, how big it should be, where it should be, how the ceremony should be carried out. That needs to come from the heart of the bride and groom. Or it will not feel like their wedding. Although as a wedding planner I have seen the most spectacular weddings in the most beautiful places with the most creative ceremonies. That experience is only good if you as the couple ask for my direction. If I force you to try and do something you don't want to I will either succeed and you will resent me or fail and and you will feel like I am judging the ideas that you want to institute in your wedding. Like I am judging your heart. This could make you feel untrusting of me and my heart towards you or else insecure about your own way of doing things and desires.
My job as a wedding planner is to ask the right questions and advise and help according to the desires of your heart. Its true that we in the west have for the most part, more experience, education, resources and opportunity. Those need to be used rightly. Our job like the wedding planner is to dig out the desires and vision of the hearts of the people and then to help them to flesh those things out. Their heart brought into reality in part by some who lay down their lives for them, to serve them.
This is a very good analogy of missions, its heart and its usual pitfalls. What if your wedding planner made you feel incompetent, came it and forced you to have the kind of wedding that he/she envisioned for you? The better kind of missions is being a wedding planner, empowering and preparing the bride of Christ for her Bridegroom!

Hi friends and family
We are coming home in two months and are very excited to
see all of you. Things here are going very well.
Pastor Andrew left yesterday for a trip to Mozambique.
He will be gone for 3 weeks and then a few days after he
gets back he will be heading to america for a month.
This is his first time going and he is planning on going
to California, Oklahoma, and Texas. We are all very
excited for him and for this opportunity. It is very
hard for a Sierra Leonan to get a Visa into the states
and even Pastor Andrew has tried 2 other times and was
denied. But this time he was able to get a 3 year Visa.
We all believe that this is going to be a very fruitful
and powerful trip both for Pastor Andrew but also for
the ministry. And Andrew will be able to experience his
first Thanksgiving which we have told him ALL about. (: It will be different not having Pastor Andrew around but
we really believe that God wants to use this time to
strengthen all of us and learn to trust Him in places
where we have trusted in man. We are planning on using
this time to practice and learn the different things God
has placed on all of our hearts to do. A lot of people
are learning to play instruments (guitar, keyboard, and
drums) others are pursuing evangelism, street preaching,
prison ministry, and even hip-hop dance. God has put so
much inside of each one of us and it has been so fun
seeing it start to come out. As for Isaac and I we are doing really well. I am
getting really excited about my work with the children.
It seems like everyday I wake up and I have more love
for the kids and more passion to see them come alive. I
have started two different children's programs and am
just trying to follow the Lord's leading in how to do
them. It has been so fun and challenging. In this
culture there is a lack of play with children. So, we
try to play and just have fun with the kids. We play
tag and duck duck goose and the kids LOVE it. The other
week we had a big game of duck duck goose and tons of
people from the whole community came out and were
watching. I really believe that we are brining light
into these different areas. I also feel like the Lord
is saying that He wants to use the kids even now. We
are teaching them to evangelize and pray for people. I
feel like it is just the beginning and I'm so excited to
see where this goes. Isaac has been recovering from this sickness and is
doing better everyday.
We love you all and can't wait to see you. Two months! Love Brit and Isaac
P.S. If you guys have any ideas, impressions, or just
love we love hearing from you!

We go to a local clinic every week and pray for the sick there. Brittany and I don't always go but this last week I felt that I needed to. I came late as Brittany and I had something to attend to, when we arrived the team had already prayed for all the sick. I thought 'maybe God wanted me here just to spend time with the team.' And I was satisfied with that conclusion. But as we were about to leave one of the nurses protested us going without praying for them. God impressed on my heart that someone had an eye problem and a hand problem. One of the nurses was dealing with both of things, we prayed for her and her hand and eyes were restored. This woman had the keys to all the medicine in the hospital but she needed the keys only God could provide. Revelation 3 talks about Jesus having the Key of David and the doors He shuts no one can open the doors He opens no one can shut. With Jesus impossible things can open up!

Hunger is really bad. After a bit of time here I have started to believe that God cries over the hungry. When I see hungry people now I just feel the childlike desperation that hunger produces. Hunger brings anyone to a place of brokeness. I believe the fathers heart is to heal the broken hearted (Isaiah 61) And I believe that food is a big part of that. I think food looks a lot like love here. I think giving food to hungry people is really high on the priorities of God's heart and I pray that in my life it becomes a higher priority as well. There are ones, people around all of us everyday who are hungry in one way or the other. I pray for grace for us all that we can be the handsand feet of Jesus to love and feed those around us one by one.

Hello friends and family! I hope you are all doing well. I (Brittany) wanted to share a little bit of what has been going on in Sierra Leone.

Isaac and I just came back from a weekend at one of our churches in a village outside of Freetown. As we traveled I found a new love inside me. It was supernatural love, love that God has been working into my heart since I’ve been here. When I would look out the window at the people I just wanted to love them and bless them. We stopped at one little place on the way and I had so much love in my heart. As I was talking to one of the kids he kept pointing to his brother. I went over to his brother and saw that his arm had been broken but had healed wrong. He couldn’t move it and it was crooked. I asked him if he wanted prayer and he said yes. I called Isaac over and we began to pray for him. By the time we were finished he could bend his arm and move it up and down. He could even move his fingers which he couldn’t do before we prayed. It was such an amazing experience for this little boy but it also did something HUGE in my own heart. I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be and I was in the middle of the calling that the Lord has for me. I saw so clearly that God knows what He is doing with me and that all that I have experienced and gone through since I’ve been here has all been preparation. It’s like in so many different areas I feel like my life has been in waiting. I see the lack of love in my heart or my inability to reach these people. But I have just been holding on to the promise that God has called us here. I’ve been keeping my eyes on Jesus believing and hoping that something beautiful is going to come of it. While we were on this trip I feel like so much came together for me. I was able to see what some of what God has been doing in me. Love is being established in my heart. Not my own love but love that comes straight from the Father. Seeing this and experiencing God’s love flowing through me has made everything worth it. It has made the struggle, the sacrifice, and hardship of being in Africa worth it. I would pay the price again and again. Having this new vision, I am excited to press on. I am excited about where I am going and what the Father is doing within me. And I am excited to be following Jesus wherever He might send me.

This is one of the most powerful, pivotal experiences that I have had since I have been here. So many things have come together for me in my heart and I wanted to share it with you all.

We love you all so much and are so grateful for your love and support. Thank you!

Love Brittany and Isaac

Happy Easter!!

Today is a busy day, Andrew is working excitedly on his new desk. Its an African creation that is unlike anything Ive ever seen, so beautiful. Brittany has been washing our clothes and I have been tying up loose administrative ends. This is our first day back in the old routine after two weeks of hosting 10 guests from Bill Johnson's church in CA, Visiting the President, the parliament, building relationships with some of the most influential people in Sierra Leone, and seeing a multitude of miracles mostly physical but some circumstantial. At the beginning of the year we really were feeling like God was going to do a lot. Andrew was saying 'we will do less and see more' encouraging us to just focus on God. So far we are far from disappointed. Here are some things that have happened.1. Miracles -- We went to the hospital with the team from California. One man due for spine surgery was later released as he no longer needed it. One young man, Unisa, who had fallen from a tree and had been paralyzed from the waist down for three years is now moving his legs, they are growing in strength and he now wants to be a pastor to his village in eastern S. Leone! We saw a multitude of other healings, bad vision perfected, arms and legs strengthened and lengthened, back pain removed, malaria healed. I learned a lot from the team from California to expect that God is good and He wants to heal all the time! Its a blessing here where people often don't have any other way to help themselves. 2. Pastor Andrew and the team from CA visited with the president and His wife. They were able to pray with them and be a real encouragement in the midst of a hard time. 3. We went to a session of Parliament and afterward met with and prayed with the speaker of the house and the other party leaders. 4. The team from CA had contacts with some of the more influential families in Sierra Leone. They are wonderful, Godly people and from that the ministry has gained access to three plots of land, one of which pastor Andrew's wife has been praying for for over 3 years.5.We started two new churches, Andrew now meets in town and holds a service every Sunday on the street. While doing business a businessman gave us a property to use across the street from a club where teenage prostitution is rampid. We have also begun to meet there. 6. The business Ive embarked on is going well. I am trying to raise funds through it for both the work in the provinces and also to raise money to send a container here. So far we have profited over 2000 dollars for the work. Watching Andrew make his new desk there is a sense of what we are here for. We want to help Africans rebuild Africa out of their African hearts. What would Africa look like without war, poverty, and corruption? For this reason God has allowed us to influence with His love and power this country from the President, to a crippled boy from a small village. All is related to helping give Africa their heritage, their glory. Isaiah 49, Rev 21:26 We are honored to be a part of this work. It is worth our lives, to give Him glory. There are so many other things big and small that God has done. We have seen a lot of people give their lives to Jesus, we have grown closer as a team, and God has grown us all individually so much. This is just my perspective, Brittany will have to give her own account soon too!We love you all so much, thank you for your prayers and supportLove Isaac and Brittany

The airwaves in Sierra Leone on will be filled on Tuesday Nights with the sound Pastor Andrew's worship! People in Africa, (take our word for it) listen to the radio all night, and LOUD. Its just a thing here I dont know why.
But that will be a good thing as Pastor Andrew begins to broadcast his program on Tuesday nights. I have never met a musician like Pastor Andrew, He claims that the Holy Spirit taught him how to not only play the guitar but also how to make his first one (ive seen the pictures, its huge)!
When he told us his vision to broadcast I knew that it was from the Lord. We have been praying for a way to do it as it costs about 630 dollars for 3 months of airtime/1day per week.
Well we found a way. Ive begun to do some small buisness here selling those little memory sticks and a few other things. In one month the profit was 600 dollars.
I came home from a long day in town and handed Andrew the money. I was so happy that my work had produced enough to open up this door! Andrew was really happy too it was a really special moment.
One man who I met in town is going to give us property to use to open two new churches. (Property is very expensive in Freetown) Everywhere I go when Im doing buisness I keep meeting people that I know God has wanted me to meet. I get to share the gospel often and I really like it.
Brittany too is doing really well, expect to hear her side of the story soon.
There is so much else going on but I wanted to let you all know about this new development.
Be praying for wisdom and direction.
Love you all
Isaac

I want to write and just say how wonderful it is to be here and to see the hand of our Creator taking care of us at every step. God has really connected us in a special new way with Pastor Andrew and his wife Angella. We are really 'embracing' each other and this year I know that so much good will come out of that.
Emmanuel is doing really well, He calls Brittany 'ninny' and tells me to 'sit down' while pointing at a chair. The other kids too are doing well, they missed us and us them.
The streetguys 'God's favorites' are also doing well. Although two of them left us (one stole a few things then, a few days later in a town 20 miles away, Pastor Andrew just 'happened' to see him and forgive him and tell him that we love and believe in him)
Three of our pastors began to go out to the provinces. The purpose, to encourage the pastors there, set up future training, and start a program to give them seed to do farming.
In one village a group of pastors met. One stopped our pastors with a shocked look in his eyes "what did you say your name was?" Five years before, in a dream, the Lord had told this old pastor that 'Iris ministries' was going to come and they would bring with them blessing for the whole nation. Five years ago Iris ministries was not in Sierra Leone or even Western Africa, and this old pastor never could have accessed the internet or heard of Iris before that. He left and came back with an old notebook with the dream written in it and showed our pastors.
Its encouraging to know that God has us on the right path.
We will begin in two weeks to send a team to bring our Bible school to help train and support these pastors. One called the next week and said "I was about to give up being a pastor and move, but since you came I know that I will stay and do the work of God"
I am beginning to do a little bit of buisness, selling small computer memory. Pray that through this and other means we will be able to finance this work without the help of people internationally.
We love you all and miss you all. We had such a wonderful two months in the States. It was a blessing and everyone here says that my 'belly big' ha ha
Love
Isaac