Crow recounts time spent as missionary in Africa
Janis Crow will return to Pemba, Mozambique, where she lived for three months last fall, to build a church with local residents and Iris Global Ministries Harvest School. (Press photo by Molly Moser)
By Molly Moser
Former Guttenberg resident Janis Crow spent time in Guttenberg recently between trips to Pemba, Mozambique, where she gathered with 300 students from 30 nations worldwide through Iris Global Ministry.
Crow grew up in West Branch and found herself in Guttenberg last year after praying and fasting for four days. There she met Cheryll Shireman, owner of the Riverside Grind coffee shop, who asked her to start work there the next day. “I worked there for three months and got to meet many beautiful people,” Crow told The Press.
Supported by members of her home church in Michigan and her parents’ church in West Branch, Crow departed for Africa on Oct. 11, 2015, traveling through Atlanta, Ga., and Johannesburg to reach her final destination in Mozambique. She stayed there for three months, learning Portuguese and the native language, Makua, to teach and spread the gospel of Jesus throughout the area.
“A large percentage of the people there are Muslim,” Crow explained. “At 3 a.m., the day would begin with a Muslim chant played citywide over a loudspeaker.” Crow and others from Iris Global spent eight days doing what they called ‘bush-bush,’ visiting unreached tribal villages to spread a message of Christianity. “After eight days of showing the Jesus film in Makua on bush-bush, over 1000 people gave their lives to Jesus,” said Crow.
The population of the city of Pemba is roughly 140,000. “There are many huts with mud-thatched roofs. To have a wood door is rare,” said Crow, noting that many orphans would live together in one hut. Due to high poverty many cannot afford medical care, and the average lifespan in the city of Pemba is just 38 years. Crow reported witnessing a hungry child hit and arrested for stealing a bag of chips, and a little girl picking through a smoldering trash heap for something to eat or sell.
“That’s where my heart was,” she said. As the trip came to a close, Iris students took their message to Israel, Madagascar, and elsewhere – but Crow chose to stay in Pemba, and plans to return as often as possible for the next several years to stay with the family she made there. “God has given me sons and daughters, and three grandchildren in Pemba,” she smiled.
One of Crow’s Pemba children is a 24-year-old man, John, who grew up Muslim. His father, who served in the government, was shot and killed. After being rejected by the rest of his family, John lived on the streets until he was found by Iris Global Ministries and converted to Christianity. According to Crow, when he returned to his family to tell them about his new religion, they had him imprisoned for two years. After he was released, John attended Bible School for five years and is now considered a preacher. His family has since asked him to come back and pray for them.
When Crow returns this month, she will help John and the Iris Harvest School plant a new church in Pemba. “John and I feel like there will be other places John will be planting churches,” said Crow. “It’s my honor to plant with them.”
