O LORD, OUR LORD HOW EXCELLENT IS YOUR NAME IN ALL THE EARTH

THE CLINIC HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN OPENED TO THE PUBLIC!!

Today the Ministry of Health came and completed their inspection in less than 30 minutes. They were impressed with the changes and right then and there approved us to reopen and provide services to the public once again! Oh, what celebrations!!! First, we breathed deeply (a great sigh of relief and rest); all the concern and work that has gone into the last months have paid off - and we are first off most thankful to God for putting us on the straight and narrow path - He has done this!! We will continue to operate in a way that we know to be honouring to Him and give God all the GLORY! After breathing deeply, WE CELEBRATED - what rejoicing!!!

Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer over the last 6 months!

I (Sheri) will sleep DEEPLY tonight!

Love from us,
Matthew and Sheri Steer

CLINIC INSPECTION BY THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH IS IN 2 DAYS - Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 0800

Dear friends and family,
Just a very quick blog update to ask you to pray regarding our clinic reopening. If you remember in our last post we said that the Ministry of Health took the chain and locks off the doors to allow us to go in there to make improvements so that after 30 days they would return to do a proper inspection which would decide if they reopen us to the public. I know, two months has nearly passed since then, but this is Mozambique. ;-D
WELL, here it is, the day has nearly arrived and we are waiting in joyful anticipation knowing that we have done as they have asked, that we are complying by the law and we are looking forward to reopening and freely serving the public once again.
Wednesday, Novermber 16th, 2011 at 0800 (Mozambican time). Can we please ask you to pray before and if possible during that time, as a team of Mozambicans from the Ministry of Health will come and evaluate our clinic.
Today we had a pre-inspection inspection by one of the members of the inspection team who will come on Wednesday and the woman was very positive about the improvements we have made and only added little things that we should do (not on the original list).
Please also pray for Igor who has been hospitalized with respiratory problems since Friday night, we pray that they get to the bottom of his issues and that he comes home to us soon.

So much appreciation,
Matthew and Sheri Steer

Hope and a future

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. 12 

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity.

Jer 29:11-14 (ANIV)

This little boy just turned 8 years old - and what a joy it was to celebrate with him and his friends! 6 1/2 years ago this is how Joao arrived on our doorstep and we spent the next year battling for his life. What a joy and privilege it is to see him grow up into a strong boy who loves Jesus; who always wants to help and is always compassionate especially to those who are unwell.

               Here are a few snapshots of us celebrating his birthday. Your continued prayers and support help us make a difference in these children's lives. Thank you!

(below is our update continued)

We have been well since we last wrote. Busy as usual - there is always someone to care for, a wound to clean, a fever to treat, a computer to fix, a baby to comfort ;-D Chicken pox went through our babyhouse and nursery again - and then we had an outbreak of rotavirus which was very unpleasant (a very contagious diarrhea and vomiting virus)! We are relieved to say that all is calm now and we hope it will stay quiet for the next bit of time so we can all catch up! In the midst we did tons of problem solving, education with the workers on hygiene and health, and more infection control steps were put in place – so we have all moved forward even through the difficult time.And most importantly, through it all, the babies are healthy and strong, gorgeous, and growing well.

The chains were taken off and the doors were opened!!! News on the clinic is that TODAY we received a letter from the Ministry of Health authorizing us to reopen the clinic to make improvements. We will be given 30 days and then we need to request an inspection team to come evaluate the changes made. Same issues from the very beginning - many questions that have not been answered and many vague requests - but we can only do what we know -please pray for wisdom for us in this next 30 days. We have made some necessary changes (for instance, built an incinerator). Some of the changes that the MoH are requesting have made us question very hard whether reopening will any longer serve this population effectively  (for instance, they say we cannot have an isolation room - but what happens if rotavirus, chicken pox, measles...pick any one... hits again and we have nowhere to put the children so the illness does not spread - we have a centre of 270 children. They say we cannot have a Mozambican nurse stay on base 24hours, but realistically we need 24hour care available for our children especially for when they are unwell or just in case of an emergency.) 

So as you can see, there are quite a few things that we both have to agree to in order to move forward, so please pray for favor that the reopening of the clinic will be in our favour and for our favour. We march onward believing that God has better plans! Plans to give Mozambique a hope and a future!

Currently, I (Sheri) am working on getting my nursing registration here in Mozambique. Easier said than done when I don't have easy access to all my documents which are in some box in who knows whose home!! Please pray it will be simple and not complicated. 

Matthew is really well and is excelling in his area of technology – teaching computer classes and raising older boys up to walk in his footsteps. He has also helped to set up a biometric scanning system (a fingerprint scanner) that is now being used as a clock in/clock out for the workers and helps us monitor their work trends (some less consistent than others). He’s done such a  great job setting up this program on our base that the Pemba base (way north in the country, where Heidi and Rolland are currently based) are considering having Matthew come to set up the system there.  In order to make it work in Pemba on a large-scale basis he will have to put in many more hours of work on the programming side. This is fantastic though, because anybody who knows Matthew knows he needs a challenge (and a project). It’s a great opportunity for him and a great encouragement for all the hard work and hours he’s poured into perfecting the system here.

Please pray for Igor who has been struggling with ?? an asthma exacerbation/chest infection for the last 3 weeks. He's such a happy little bug, though, through it all, smiling and loving - Just gorgeous!! Come and cuddle and love on these precious ones -What a privilege it is to be the hands and feet of Jesus here in Mozambique!

Also, a most amazing privilege for Mozambique this month was that they were host of the All African Games (basically the African Olympics) hosted in Maputo and amazingly much of it was held at the huge new 45,000 seater stadium less than 2 kilometers from our centre (and the new Olympic sized swimming pool just behind it?!!!). Well done for one of the poorest countries in the world!! And although they didn't win any golds, they did a fantastic job hosting such an event. We pray it is a sign for the progress to come for Mozambique

We love you and miss you all - please write us and tell us what has been going on in your worlds.

sheristeer@gmail.com; matthewjsteer@gmail.com

Matthew and Sheri Steer

Taking time out

After 6 weeks of hard work, emotionally and physically, we have taken a weekend out to rest in South Africa which has been so good for us. This last week we celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary, and thought it best, in the midst of everything, to take a couple days out just for us. We thank you for your prayers for us during this trying time. Helena's funeral was as beautiful as one can be in Mozambique. The majority attending the funeral (which is literally just a ceremony at her burial site) were the little girls who lived with and grew up with Helena. And in the end they sang Helena's favourite worship songs as they planted flowers over her burial site. An action that brought all of us to tears. She is laid to rest in Jesus' arms of comfort and unending love, and is remembered in our hearts and minds. And we continue to work through the grieving.

Regarding the clinic closure, we thank you so much for your continued prayers regarding those things we posted as concerns on a previous blog posting. We have had some specific answered prayer -  we have had a book of medical protocols given to us by a Mozambican medical professional - a retired doctor who first trained as a nurse, then worked for the ministry of health training nurses and then became an anesthesiologist. He has knowledge of how many things work within the ministry and amazing connections. He is the only person, when asked about specific medical protocols, who actually within days gave us a book full of them. Hallelujah! Now he would like to come along side us and see us re-open in an even greater capacity than before. This all sounds too good to be true and so obviously when we clearly did not run our "health post" efficiently, we are hesitant at the thought of trying to open a health centre (one step up from a health post) as it requires more staff, more finance and better training and running all around. It would also open our centre to more outside traffic coming on site most days to receive healthcare which I feel makes our children vulnerable, open to greater risk. Please pray for us in this, that we would have wisdom to move forward in that which He is preparing, and that if this man is a gift from Him to get us back on our feet in even a greater capacity for our children and the community, that we would not miss the opportunity and gift.

Moving on, Iris Ministries is a faith-based organization, financially completely reliant month to month on individual's  generosity from across the world. Iris itself is an over-the-top generous, philanthropic organization who tries to meet the needs of whoever comes to us. At times we wonder month to month how we are going to pay our workers, or what sort of budget cuts we need to make to meet all needs to the best of our abilities. And amazingly, every child is well fed, well cared for and not one misses out! Yet, this last month was one of those times. Ministry financial needs were much greater than the finances which we held in our hands or accounts and so we pray and are sending out prayer requests that you would pray on our behalf.
Written to us by our director:"Iris has been in these crises before and we continue to give, be generous, pay salaries and minister to the poor but there needs to be a miraculous breakthrough. In June we have received  50% of our budget requests and other bases have similar problems.
The economic crisis in America continues (90% of our funding comes from there) and the demands of community, churches, outreaches, hunger and desperate situations increase at our door daily. Mozambique has given workers a large increase in May and we have passed this increase on this month. The US$ is down from a high of 38Mets and is now 29Mets increasing our budget request by 25%. In 2011 we are thousands of $$ over budget on car maintenance and school expenses. We need to be wise, good stewards and generous -but above all pray."


We would like to thank those in America (names unknown to us) who contributed a large amount of money to us this last month which allowed us to make a contribution toward the servicing and repairs of the ministry vehicle we as a couple and in our work, use the most. This weekend we have brought the vehicle out to South Africa and after more than a year of hard use it needed a proper service and many things replaced and repaired which cost a nice chunk of money - this we did not want the ministry to pay for (although they will insist) and not knowing if we actually had the funds to cover it, found that in our American account, unusually, there were a couple of big deposits this month which has now allowed us to cover these costs for the ministry. THANK YOU!

4 years later, the location where Matthew proposed

We send our love & appreciation out to each and every one of you!
Blessings from,

Sheri & Matthew Steer

Please do not cease praying for us

Dear friends and family,
We knew before returning to Mozambique that this year was going to be a tougher one than last year - knowing this we even asked some of you to intercede more on our behalf during this coming year. We, however, hoped that the "toughness" of this year would not actually have anything to do with the children that we look after. This is not the case. This week has been more trying than the previous ones and ended very sadly for everyone here at the centre.
Helena was an 11 year old going on 20, full of life & drama who loved everyone around her. She loved to dance and sing, she loved attention. She liked to pout and be loved on, she was a normal 11 year old girl who I've known and cared for since 2004. She came to our centre as a baby, so she was family to everyone. On the 7th of June she started with a headache and fever. It took the 5th and 6th doctor and 9 days later to actually do the proper exams and admit her to hospital. The following morning (day 10) she was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and by that evening, passed away in hospital, the most painful death I have ever witnessed. This has brought great sadness to everyone involved. We sit here trying to figure out how such injustice and lack of proper judgement could exist at such an extent. We sit and grieve for a country that experiences such injustice as normal as day to day living. And we grieve for such a full life that feels so unnecessarily lost. We fought for her, worried for her and cared for her in those last days and still it was not enough. We prayed and asked God to touch and heal and take away her pain and yet, she was still taken from us in such a forceful way! And yet I am relieved her suffering (which was great) is over - and that 2 days before her untimely death she spoke out loud that Jesus was her salvation - how amazingly grateful I am to have that memory knowing for sure that she sits with Jesus in Heaven now. How grateful I am for God's amazing mercy over her. But we grieve her absence and as we watch her "sisters" - all the girls she lived with and grew up with and the "mommas" - tias who cared for her through the years - we hurt for them who have lost a sister, a friend, a daughter.
Friday, June 17th was a day like no other, started out rather innocently, moved into crisis and ended with death in our hands. How much can a person be stretched?! I am learning this. Friday we received Helena's diagnosis  as a punch in the stomach - one of our Mozambican nurses kindly reminded me that bacterial meningitis can be contagious. I immediately moved into crisis mode thinking of the 260ish children who live on our base and all of the tias and nurses who had been caring for Helena hands on. I quickly did research and found out a simple one-off treatment with Ciprofloxacin was all that was required for post-exposure prophylaxis. Now I needed to compose a list of those who had "close" contact with Helena in the last 9 days. Oh, Lord, help! And he did - Helena had slept in 3 different bedrooms in the last 9 days, shared with many different little girls, was cared for hands-on by many different tias and nurses...and within 3 hours of the news everyone required had been treated - I don't know how, but Hallelujah! Through the afternoon I was attending to frantic calls about Helena quickly going downhill in hospital and as evening approached we arrived at hospital a few minutes too late. She was finally at peace after such a fight. I knelt over her, placed a hand on her head and her chest, still warm. I watched, nothing, I prayed, almost scared to breathe, willing Helena to breathe, she couldn't be gone. And then the tears came heavy as I saw the injustice of it all - 6 doctors - such terrible pain - how could they miss this?! And then they asked me to leave the room because you do not cry.
We believe Helena's funeral will be either Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning and would appreciate your prayers for all of her "family" here at Iris and out in the community.

Clinic Update

We've been back in Mozambique 3 weeks now and quite a few of you have asked what is going on with the clinic closure and what movement there has been. I am sorry to say there is not much more to report other than we are still trying to get more answers from the Ministry of Health, but there are other dilemmas as well. Here are some of the dilemmas and prayer points:

• Ministry of Health - that we would be able to find favor in getting answers/understanding on HOW to do what they've asked us to do in order to reopen - that they would be able to provide guidance  - specific answers about the size of our health post and the existence of a pharmacy within our walls and which medicines we can legally carry & dispense
• Protocols - there are no written protocols (at least up till now no one has been able to provide us with any) - specifically on wound care, proper equipment to be using, etc.
• Personnel - our foreign medical personnel are diminishing rapidly. That the Lord would send medical staff with more of a heart to encourage, empower and train up the Mozambican staff.
• Western nurses cannot participate in reopening of the clinic - we are only here as visitors and cannot participate in any official way -we need to take more of a backseat & support & hold up the Mozambican medical staff’s arms - wisdom to know how to do this
• Mozambican staff capacity and competence - they will be required to take more of a front seat - the success of this clinic reopening sits on the Mozambicans - we need Mozambican personnel with the capacity, vision and heart to reopen & then run the clinic.
• Trust and confidence in those we work with and them in us
• Transparency

These dilemmas run much deeper than the words themselves. They makes us question whether reopening is wise...daily I feel like a Pendulum swinging to and fro from that which I know in my heart to that which I can see with my eyes - wanting wise answers and solutions as we consider ALL the facts & as we consider that which we KNOW of our Father. As I think on these things, I have heard the following scripture: .
"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. 1 Cor 10:23 (ANIV)
And although this scripture may not fit in context, I continue to hear it. Feel free to set me straight.
So, as we seek wise council through some Mozambican doctors, medical administrators, lawyers and so on we seek our Wisest Counselor's face and ask Him to direct our path and help us think outside the box and to walk by faith and not by sight. All things are possible through Him.
I tell you all of the above so you can see the dilemmas that we are facing and so you can pray specifically for us as we work through these concerns.

Gloria - sitting on her own!

Clearly we desire to reopen the clinic - as it is a benefit to so many and most of all an asset to the community and our children - but in all that has happened over the last months it is clear that we cannot carry on in the same fashion. Much will have to change and we may need to minimize the amount of outside care we provide so we make sure our first priority is covered (that is the children entrusted into our care).

Sheila - growing so well!

Even in the midst of all this, it has been wonderful to be back. It is so good to be with the children again and they are gorgeous!! God has been very good to us and we do feel privileged to be serving Him here!

Thank you for walking this journey with us, which in the end will be a testimony of His faithfulness.

Please write us at sheristeer@gmail.com. (Best not to try to comment directly to the blog because for many this doesn't work properly).
Love and Blessings from us!
Sheri & Matthew Steer

Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit

Dearest friends and family,

We arrive back in Mozambique tomorrow following a 2 month break after our first full year of service in Moz. So many of you we had the pleasure of visiting with in England and America, and if we missed you, we apologise for this. To our friends and family whom we visited with, it was such a pleasure to catch up with you and your babies and your lives!! It has made it harder to return (especially for me, Sheri) as we (I) count the cost of being away from new neices and nephews who will not know me during these beginning years. We count the cost and yet are still so sure we're where He wants us - our hearts have felt the tug of being away from Mozambique for so long and we are so excited to get back there!

Just to catch those of you up who have been wanting to know since our last blog, it is said that little 6 year old Shelton who has struggled with his health for the entire of our first year in Moz is starting to seem somewhat better. I hope to see an amazing improvement in him on our return (which is Friday evening, May 20th - and I am currently writing this blog in the Dubai airport as we await our next flight that takes us to Johannesburg, South Africa).

Little Gloria who came as a 3.5kg 10 month old (that's approx 8 pounds for those of you wondering) is gaining weight in leaps and bounds - she's now well over 5 kg and I cannot wait to see her!
There's news that we now have a brand new 1 month old weighing 1.5kg (3 lbs), we have named him Inacio and we would appreciate prayers for his vulnerable little body and that he would gain weight and remain healthy now in the presence of our loving Iris family!

Matthew spent a good bit of his time off from work researching and ordering technical bits and bobs (small pieces for computers, little web cameras, etc.) to take back with him to Mozambique. As you can imagine it is much easier for him to find all the little pieces he may need or that will aid him in future projects outside of Mozambique. So, his luggage is packed with so many little valuable pieces and instruments that will contribute to this next year of IT work.
On our return to Mozambique, Matthew expects to have to fix up a few of his projects that were running well on his departure, but in his absence seem to have taken a beating and little intervention after help left. One of his strong suits has always been problem solving, so he will have everything up and running smoothly in no time.

My (Sheri's) work on the other hand has become a bit more tenuous. There have been a few drastic occurrences and changes since our departure which makes us keener to get back ASAP. About a month before we left for our 2 month holiday, the Brazillian director of our clinic who helped run it for 8 years moved on to help with a new ministry and base that is being built up north. Her moving on has left a huge hole of knowledge and experience. Our directors asked me to consider overseeing the entire children's base medically (including managing/running the clinic) and to integrate the clinic care with babyhouse and the HIV+ children which has always been kept a bit separate as a specialty. I stepped into this role just a month before we came away for our vacation. Daily, my interest and passion for this new perspective has increased considerably to the point where I desire to do this (and most of all let God do this through me as I fought it for so long with the excuse of incapability - but through Him all things are possible and in my weakness He is strong and all I have to be is willing). In this journey I have not only become willing, but I am desiring to see Him move in the medical work at Zimpeto.

BUT about a week after we came away the Ministry of Health (which would be comparable to the NHS in the UK and whatever organization is responsible for registering and maintaining medical services in the US) - who has the right to come in and do surprise inspections on our registered clinic at their leisure, did just this. As a result of this inspection the MoH raised a few concerns for which we were to address within 6 days. We were compliant in this and addressed these concerns to the best of our capability and felt that we were in the ok. However, just last Wednesday the Ministry of Health came onto our base with the intent of closing our clinic - they gave us 10 minutes to get whatever out of the clinic we needed and then they nailed the door shut and chained and bolted the door. In  this whole process the MoH never gave us any documentation stating their concerns or anything else. There is much I am not clear on because I am not there to discuss it properly, but I know it is an absolute eyeopener to everybody on base. We do not feel this whole process has been done above board and we feel it is a tragedy, not for us as the Westerners, but for the Mozambicans, our surrounding community and the children. Our Health Post (clinic) is the only one in reach of the city that provides completely free healthcare - see a nurse, see a doctor, have tests done and receive treatments all for free - the Mozambicans do not have to pay a cent when they come to our clinic. And it is their own Mozambican staff who care for them and occupy the positions on staff in the clinic - we employ Mozambican nurses and doctors and it is these who lose out. Once a week we have a community day where the community is welcome to come in and be seen by medical professionals, another day during the week we open our doors to new mothers in the community who have malnourished babies and cannot breast feed. These mothers and their babies get seen by doctors and then are provided with milk to nourish their babies...we've seen tremendous improvement in the health of these mothers and babies. Our doors are always open to our own Mozambican staff (of which we have hundreds of paid Mozambicans working on base during a week), and our approximately 300 children to care for of which over 40 are HIV+ and over 50 are under 4 years of age. Many are malnourished, and many come sick. These are the ones who will lose out.

This has refocused our eyes on what God can do and not what man can do. I do feel that the last years we have become distracted by the gift of the clinic and we have focused on what man can do (through medicine and knowledge - which are gifts from God) but possibly in some areas God has been replaced. We need to refocus on His healing power and that in all of these situations, closing of clinics, sick babies, maintaining registered clinics, a needy community He is the answer and we need not to forget that it is not by might and not by power but by His Holy presence (Zec 4:6) that we are capable of making a difference in any of these things!

We will stay in touch as more information comes out and this situation unravels. Please also be in prayer about needing more nursing staff - however God wants to provide them - our numbers more than halve by September (and actually those nurses who took my hands-on work in the babyhouse and with the HIV+ children leave in 4 weeks' time). Come September there will be 2 western nurses left (me and another), and only one of us lives on base 24/7 (and that is me!). We do not know how we will be able to fight for our clinic as well as take care of all of our children - so we really need His wisdom and leading!

We both are really looking forward to getting back to the centre for all of the above reasons - to confront them head-on and with God's solutions - we are also looking forward to being back with all of the beautiful children...and to no longer live out of our suitcases, desiring to stay put for a while (as during our 2 months home we have taken 12 individual flights). We are also looking forward to the warmth - as Mozambique moves into winter it should feel more like an American Spring or Summer.

We love each and every one of you - we value your support, encouragement, love and prayers!
Love from us,
Matthew & Sheri

Prayers for our babies!

The little guy in the middle of this picture loves Jesus more than any little boy I've ever known. It's not unusual to see him laying hands on other sick little children in church and just praying his little heart out - I may have never seen a child's heart as beautiful and pure as this little guy's. He himself is very unwell. He and we would appreciate your prayers for him as we all try to come together to get to the bottom of what is going on. Basically he has been very unwell for months but test after test has come back clear giving us no better indication of what his little body is fighting. He is being looked after by good doctors as an out patient, but I feel he needs to be admitted to hospital so that the whole picture can be seen at once. Now with swollen face, a very distended belly, an ugly chronic cough that racks his body and many other symptoms, we will go to the hospital tomorrow morning seeking to be admitted for more tests and hopefully yield more information as the doctors put all the puzzle pieces together. We ask for your heartfelt prayers for this beautiful little boy, that even as he himself over and over again cries out to Jesus for his own healing - that his body would know peace - Shalom. Thank you and bless you!

This is Gloria - isn't she gorgeous?! She will be 1 year old at the end of March.

This is Gloria next to a 3 month old who is malnourished

This is Gloria, 11months old, next to a healthy 6 month old!
Please pray for Gloria to grow well - she was brought to us from another children's centre - we don't have much more of her story than what we can see with our eyes - she is obviously struggling with chronic malnutrition, but has already gained 1/2kg in a week (for her 3.5kg body that's a massive weight gain and we're thrilled!!) She's now 4kg!

This is Igor - we love him to BITS!! Isn't he stunning!!!

Jeremias likes to sleep like this - HA!

We love each and every child that He has entrusted into our care. Please pray with us for each one!

Blessings and love from us,

Sheri & Matthew Steer