By Linda Haist

They say everything is bigger in Texas.

Certainly, no one could say that about the stature of one of the state's missionaries. However, the job that the diminutive Brenda Lange has been doing for God in Mozambique is enormous and for the last 12 weeks the little Texan has shared her testimony with 28 churches, among them Burlington Alliance Church, the only Canadian congregation on her itinerary.

Her adventures in the African nation amazed the Alliance listeners as she told how Jesus saved her from deadly black mamba snakes, found under her bed at night, rescued her from a colony of baboons that she overtook by surprise, while on a hike one foggy morning, and protected her from a marijuana crazed man, who chased her with a machete and threatened to chop off her head.

How an agricultural graduate, turned emergency medical technician, turned nurse, turned missionary, ended up s"peaking in Ontario is just one of the God incidences that have been part of Lange's life since she rededicated herself to Jesus.

Although she had given her life to Christ at the age of 12, and by 14 had clearly heard God tell her that He had something very special for her to do, Lange backslid when she went to university. She readily admits that the excitement of campus life drew her away from God. By the time she graduated in 1977 she had been married and divorced.

Following graduation she decided to become a paramedic and eventually pursued a career in nursing. She graduated from nursing school 1980 and eight years later she had purchased a ranch, with the help of her live-in lover, was raising Arabian horses, and was working full-time as a nurse. While some thought she had it all, Lange says it was at that point she knew something was missing from her life. "I asked the Lord what was wrong and a few days later I got his answer."

God's response came through¡ a husband and wife blacksmith team Lange had hired. The Christian couple became her friends and eventually were able to witness to her about her immoral lifestyle. Although her initial reaction was to "stomp off in a rage" she says she had the good sense to ask Jesus to confirm to her that they were right. It took nine months before she acknowledged her sin and "in my own living room; by myself, I rededicated my life to Jesus. I remember the message he had given me when I was 14 and I told him I was ready to do whatever he had planned for me."

It would be another two months before she sensed the Lord's direction for her life. In July 1988, she was at church listening to a missionary when she was struck by the woman's words. "As she ended her talk she said, 'If you feel called to missions, you are welcome.' My stomach jumped, and then the woman who had led me back to the Lord passed a note down the aisle to me. It said, 'I just had a vision of y¤ou training to be a missionary and using your medical skills as well.'"

As she drove home from church that day, Lange says she questioned why she had to be a missionary. God's answer came to her mind: "I will use your agriculture, your nursing and your ability to rough it." Later that afternoon, while she was sitting at home listening to a John Michael Talbot recording, she was touched dramatically by the words to a song -- "The Spirit of the Lord is upon you, the Spirit of the Lord has anointed you . . ." Suddenly she heard a voice that said, "I want the afternoon with you." Naturally, she thought she was losing her mind but when the voice spoke more firmly a second time, she knew it was the Lord.

"For the next two hours he gave me specific directions," says Lange, explaining that she knew that he was sending her to Africa and that she was to dispose of her belongings -- with the exception of some personal items and her medical text books. "The hardest part was the Lor--d's instructions to give away my prized stallion and the ranch. Anything I had idolized and put before God had to be given away."

She was also told to go to church on the Oral Roberts University campus by September 1, exactly one month away. Although she thought she would attend school there, God had other plans. When she arrived on the campus she discovered that Victory Christian Center was holding a Word Explosion meeting with speakers from all over the world. As she sat in on the week long sessions she discovered that Victory offered a Bible and mission school program. "It didn't take me long to realize that this was the church and school God wanted me to attend."

Lange graduated from the Bible college in May 1990, as an ordained youth pastor, and immediately signed up for an intensive 90 day missions course. In January of 1991, five weeks after graduating from that program, she was on her way to Africa, specifically to work in Mozambique. Initially she woŽrked with a number of organizations including Operation Mobilization and Campus Crusade for Christ. Each work experience prepared her for the job that God had called her to do -- create orphanages in northern Mozambique.

His plan, says Lange, has been very specific. She is to create at least five orphanages, keeping in mind the African culture. Once each is established, she is to turn them over to other people to run and move on to create the next facility. She is currently working on completing the second site and knows that in 2003 she will be ready to create the third orphanage. When exactly that will be, and where, she has no idea. Regardless, her goal is always the same -- to establish a place where children can be cared for and educated, and to take the gospel to people who have never heard it.

She notes that the need in Mozambique is great. The country has not only been ravaged by years of civil war but more recently by cyclones which have cause major flooding aÂnd loss of life.

Despite the successes that Lange has had in carrying out the work, and the support she has received from the Mozambique government, her job isn't easy. Much like a pioneer in the old west, she works in very remote areas, living in a tent, cooking over an open fire, and washing out of a bucket. At the present time she is the only missionary (besides a Wycliffe translator) working in the very western part of the state. She admits she often suffers from loneliness. Add to that having to deal with wild animals, including the infamous black mamba, a vicious snake with a deadly venom. It was an encounter with one of these snakes that actually led her to Ontario.

Lange explains that in July 1997 her interpreter, a man named Crispo, was bitten on the hand by a black mamba. By the time she reached him his arm was so swollen it had become as hard as a rock. Under normal conditions, the man had no more than 15 minutes before the snake's venom would kill him.

"I had beenÄ praying for a miracle that couldn't be disputed by the people," she recalls. "When I was told what happened, I immediately cried out to God that Crispo must not die." As she transported him to the nearest medical centre, she told him to "start thanking Jesus for your miracle." In the meantime, she was praying "that Jesus would cleanse Crispo's blood."

"As a nurse, I knew I was totally helpless, but I knew that I knew that Jesus could reverse this situation if I just stood in faith," she says. As they approached the nearest clinic, Crispo turned his head towards her and said, "I feel better."

Crispo's rapid recovery was beyond incredible and became the talk of the region. No one, says Lange, could remember anyone recovering from a black mamba bite. Crispo's story became more widely known when Lange included it as a chapter in her self-published autobiography, African Adventure. SÄhe also forwarded the chapter about Crispo to the editors of Guidepost Magazine, who published the story in 2001.

Ron Oatman, chairman of Burlington Alliance Church's mission committee, saw the article and encouraged the church to invite Lange to speak at this year's missions conference. During her five day visit, he told her his side of the story. In January of 1997, the Lord had impressed upon him the need to pray for a man in Africa who was going to be bitten by a snake in July of that year. Oatman prayed but knew nothing of what happened until he read the story in Guidepost.

The Lord told me to send the story to the magazine and after it was published the support for my ministry tripled," says Lange. Demand for her as a speaker also increased. And at every church she has visited, this year, she has shared a special message. "The Lord told me to tell every church that every beqliever is a piece of his puzzle to bring in the end time harvest of lost souls, and he needs all the pieces to get into place. If they are willing to set aside their goals and do his will for their life, he will make them into something they never thought they could be and they will do things they never thought they could do," she says.

Lange is interested in talking to trained missionaries who would be willing to work with her long term in Mozambique. She is also looking for a youth leader who could run a sports centre for teens.

Contributions to her work can be made through: New Life Fellowship, Box 777, Cary, North Carolina, USA 275122. Send cheques in US dollars so her ministry can avoid an $8 service charge. Donations can be designated for her ministry or her personal use.

Anyone interested in sponsoring an orphan can contact her at: bbbinstates@yahoo.com