It has been an intense week! Awesome, but intense! While making firebreaks to stop accidental fires, ironically an out of control fire got started. We were running around trying to put it out-grabbing water, beating flames with flames with branches and blankets...it was CRAZY! Everyone was freaking out but it all turned out okay! Charmain, the head lady here, was so chill about it. She said it's happened before. She is such an amazing woman of God who just completely trusts him with everything. There have been so many tough things for her to handle but she never gets upset, she just takes it all in stride and keeps her focus on Jesus and the kids. It is so inspiring to see her and just really reminds me that God is completely sovereign, so obviously worrying or freaking out is just pointless. He's got it under control!
I also got sort of sick for about a day, but it wasn't too bad. Everyone was sweet and willing to help. I seriously love these people! I have had some awesome talks with them and God has already used them SO much in my life and I've gotten to help them out as well! I got to feel like God was really speaking through me when I was having a conversation with Kristen. I was just saying things that came to my mind from passages of scripture I'd been reading and it ended up being exactly what she needed to hear! How awesome is God?! Everyone is always speaking encouragement to each other and pointing out the things others are doing well. There is so much love and acceptance! And they're all insanely fun as well :) It's so different here, I love it!
Lauren has also been such a blessing! We are so similar in so many ways and have had ridiculously similar experiences. It has been awesome to talk with her and learn from her. She is such a woman of God who just does what He tells her and knows what she believes. I am so thankful God put her on my team; it was definitely no accident! :)
Another really cool thing has been Justin & Tiffany, the married couple here. They are just amazing and it has been so cool to see a Godly marriage being loved out between people near my age (26 & 27). Justin is always serving Tiffany whenever she needs anything and she is such a hard worker who is always looking out for him. It's been awesome to watch a Godly couple, and I do definitely love couples :)
I'm learning to really expect things from God and believe He's going to come through for me. I even get disappointed if it doesn't happen, but I'm not upset or angry at God obviously because He is still God and He's already done WAY more for me than I deserve. I'm just learning a huge part of having actual faith-being SURE of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Obviously that is in reference to the Gospel itself but I believe it can be applied to other things as well. I used to think that faith was just having no real expectations and just going with whatever happened. I do think that you need to accept God's will, whatever it is, but that does not mean that I can't ask God for things, hope for them, and believe that He is going to answer my prayers. Because He has answered them! Time and time again! Whenever Jesus healed people He told them that they were healed because of their faith. If they had come at it with the mindset of "oh well, if He heals me that's great, if not that's cool too" then would they really have had faith? Instead they completely believed that He was able to heal them at that moment and that He would! I want that mindset, that faith.
I really want to continue to learn more and more from everyone here, from God and His word, from this ministry, from these kids...just this whole experience! God is showing me SO much! It's awesome! I'm not ready for it to be over but I'm excited to get to take back all that I've learned.
Prayer requests: Lauren, Kristen and I are preaching Sunday! The kids here and their faith, Charmain and all the things she's going through, my team and the other team here as they head to Mozambique next month, the World Race as a whole, safe travel, and we're going to be having 30 hours of prayer and fasting from Saturday at 9pm until Sunday at 3am! :) Love you all! Thanks for your prayers!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Awesome God!
These past 2 weeks have been awesome! We've been playing with babies, hanging out with kids, searching through garbage pits, raking leaves, organizing/cleaning a gross garage, cutting down trees and tons of other stuff! At night we worship, have bonfires, have team time and hangout. It's pretty cold here but you warm up during the day when you're working. We have beds, hot showers (sometimes), a kitchen and electricity!
The kids are adorable! They love to play and go on walks. They are all so full of joy! They have clothes, beds, food to eat and they get to go to school! There are huge pigs, geese, pigeons (nasty birds), cows, goats and dogs here as well. The view is always incredible, the sunsets are insane and the people are so sweet!
I love team time! We give people feedback which is basically praising them for things they do and encouraging them on things they can work on. It's a really awesome thing because it's all spoken in love and from a place of really wanting each other to grow in Christ!
It is so nice to be able to sit and talk to Jesus while looking at His amazing creation! I've learned so much through spending time with Him and in His word and talking to the people around me. I want the joy and freedom and contentment they have in Him! I've read through Paul's letters in the New Testament and decided that Paul is my favorite person! I just love his heart and mind for Christ!
I love praying over people and being prayed over! It is such a cool experience when you really embrace it! I'm so grateful for these experiences and this opportunity and how I get to break out of my shell! I was telling two of the girls how I hate praying out loud but want to get over that and then another girl walks in and suggests we pray for some of the people who are sick and then the whole thing turned into an awesome night of prayer and worship! God is so good!
That night was awesome! I loved getting excited about Jesus and worshiping Him and feeling Him move in that room! Through it God just freed me of so much pain/hurt/confusion, things I'd been holding onto while trying to get over at the same time. Once I just gave it to God and immersed myself in Him and His word He freed me from it! I am so happy and I feel like myself again! He gave me an indescribable joy and feeling of peace! I am so grateful! God is so good!
I'll write more next week but my time's up now. I just can't wait to get home and pour into others the way I've been poured into. To share what God's been teaching me. It's such an amazing experience and I am so blessed to have been given this opportunity! Thank you so much for all your prayers, support and love! You have no idea how much it means to me! God bless! :)
The kids are adorable! They love to play and go on walks. They are all so full of joy! They have clothes, beds, food to eat and they get to go to school! There are huge pigs, geese, pigeons (nasty birds), cows, goats and dogs here as well. The view is always incredible, the sunsets are insane and the people are so sweet!
I love team time! We give people feedback which is basically praising them for things they do and encouraging them on things they can work on. It's a really awesome thing because it's all spoken in love and from a place of really wanting each other to grow in Christ!
It is so nice to be able to sit and talk to Jesus while looking at His amazing creation! I've learned so much through spending time with Him and in His word and talking to the people around me. I want the joy and freedom and contentment they have in Him! I've read through Paul's letters in the New Testament and decided that Paul is my favorite person! I just love his heart and mind for Christ!
I love praying over people and being prayed over! It is such a cool experience when you really embrace it! I'm so grateful for these experiences and this opportunity and how I get to break out of my shell! I was telling two of the girls how I hate praying out loud but want to get over that and then another girl walks in and suggests we pray for some of the people who are sick and then the whole thing turned into an awesome night of prayer and worship! God is so good!
That night was awesome! I loved getting excited about Jesus and worshiping Him and feeling Him move in that room! Through it God just freed me of so much pain/hurt/confusion, things I'd been holding onto while trying to get over at the same time. Once I just gave it to God and immersed myself in Him and His word He freed me from it! I am so happy and I feel like myself again! He gave me an indescribable joy and feeling of peace! I am so grateful! God is so good!
I'll write more next week but my time's up now. I just can't wait to get home and pour into others the way I've been poured into. To share what God's been teaching me. It's such an amazing experience and I am so blessed to have been given this opportunity! Thank you so much for all your prayers, support and love! You have no idea how much it means to me! God bless! :)
Travel and Team!
After 24 hours of traveling we finally made it to JoBurg! The flights weren't bacd, lots of sleeping and movies. I got to see Mr. & Mrs. Gestring and lots of the university students I met last year in the airport! It was awesome! :)
2 World Racers came to get us in the airport and we drove to the hostel we were staying at for the night. It was freezing! The next morning I met some awesome people and finally got to meet my contact, Birdy. All the racers are so legit! We had some great conversations and I loved hearing about all their experiences!
Saying goodbye to everyone from training camp was so sad and weird! We already felt like a team! Lauren, Kristen and I left with our two teams. There were 16 of us, plus 2 drivers and 2 other passengers. One guy had to stand up our whole drive, which was over 5 hours. Our tire blew out about 2/3 of the way there but it got fixed quickly. We finally got to the Swazi border and then to El Shaddai around midnight.
My team is: Justin (our leader; an awesome and wise man of God with such a heart for the team and for God). Steve (hilarious, really talented musician, and great with people), Misty (such a hard worker, full of love), Birdy (has an amazing testimony and such a heart to serve), Chelsea (so joyful, hilarious and a real heart for Christ), Kasey (sweet, caring and wise), and Bri (such a joy and encouragement, Christ is so evident in her and her servant's heart). Lauren is the other girl on my team from training camp. She has such a heart for missions and has the gift of wisdom and prophecy. I love her!
The other team is: Rachel (the leader; fun, wise, strong in her faith), Mark (strong man of God with an amazing story), Kim (passionate servant), Katy (photographer, artsy, sweet, joyful, beautiful heart) and a married couple Justin (hilarious, hard working servant of Christ) & Tiffany (sweet, caring, hard working servant). Kristen is on their team-she's hilarious and I love her!
There are so many musical people on my team (which if you know me you know I LOVE). Someone is always playing guitar or mandolin or singing! These people are incredible and I'm so blessed to spend the next month with them!
2 World Racers came to get us in the airport and we drove to the hostel we were staying at for the night. It was freezing! The next morning I met some awesome people and finally got to meet my contact, Birdy. All the racers are so legit! We had some great conversations and I loved hearing about all their experiences!
Saying goodbye to everyone from training camp was so sad and weird! We already felt like a team! Lauren, Kristen and I left with our two teams. There were 16 of us, plus 2 drivers and 2 other passengers. One guy had to stand up our whole drive, which was over 5 hours. Our tire blew out about 2/3 of the way there but it got fixed quickly. We finally got to the Swazi border and then to El Shaddai around midnight.
My team is: Justin (our leader; an awesome and wise man of God with such a heart for the team and for God). Steve (hilarious, really talented musician, and great with people), Misty (such a hard worker, full of love), Birdy (has an amazing testimony and such a heart to serve), Chelsea (so joyful, hilarious and a real heart for Christ), Kasey (sweet, caring and wise), and Bri (such a joy and encouragement, Christ is so evident in her and her servant's heart). Lauren is the other girl on my team from training camp. She has such a heart for missions and has the gift of wisdom and prophecy. I love her!
The other team is: Rachel (the leader; fun, wise, strong in her faith), Mark (strong man of God with an amazing story), Kim (passionate servant), Katy (photographer, artsy, sweet, joyful, beautiful heart) and a married couple Justin (hilarious, hard working servant of Christ) & Tiffany (sweet, caring, hard working servant). Kristen is on their team-she's hilarious and I love her!
There are so many musical people on my team (which if you know me you know I LOVE). Someone is always playing guitar or mandolin or singing! These people are incredible and I'm so blessed to spend the next month with them!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Quick Blog for Swaziland!
So I have a whole actual blog written but I'm using a computer in an internet cafe and my flash drive doesn't work so I'll just have to do a short one!
First off, Swaziland is beautiful! We are on a mountain and The view is seriously insane! :) Our days mainly consist of working from 9-3 (cleaning a camper, digging holes, making fire breaks-to keep the orphanage from burning down if there's a real fire, raking leaves, playing with the babies...) and then helping the older kids with their homework from 3-5, doing chapel with the kids and then dinner and time with our teams. My team is so legit! I'll write more about them next week.
The kids are so adorable and fun and smart! Most of the older kids know at least 3 languages (English, SiSwati, Zulu...). They love to learn and talk with us. I've met a 9 year old girl named Gift who is hilarious and so fun! We hang out everyday, I love her! :) She'll get her own blog as well.
God is really doing some awesome stuff in me. It's so great to get to sit on a rock and look out at His amazing creation and just talk to Him. I've read through Acts and 1 & 2 Corinthians so far and I've decided Paul is one of my favorite people ever! I've just been seeing things that I never really thought about, it's been awesome!
I've also done a prophecy exercise with my team. Before this I was kind of wary of prophecy and all that, but as I've been reading the Bible and talking with my team, I've realized it's really Biblical. It was AWESOME to see God speak to people and just give them the perfect words for others. I'm out of time now so I'll have to talk more about all this later but basically, God is rocking my world and I love it! :)
Thanks for all the prayers! Love you all! :)
First off, Swaziland is beautiful! We are on a mountain and The view is seriously insane! :) Our days mainly consist of working from 9-3 (cleaning a camper, digging holes, making fire breaks-to keep the orphanage from burning down if there's a real fire, raking leaves, playing with the babies...) and then helping the older kids with their homework from 3-5, doing chapel with the kids and then dinner and time with our teams. My team is so legit! I'll write more about them next week.
The kids are so adorable and fun and smart! Most of the older kids know at least 3 languages (English, SiSwati, Zulu...). They love to learn and talk with us. I've met a 9 year old girl named Gift who is hilarious and so fun! We hang out everyday, I love her! :) She'll get her own blog as well.
God is really doing some awesome stuff in me. It's so great to get to sit on a rock and look out at His amazing creation and just talk to Him. I've read through Acts and 1 & 2 Corinthians so far and I've decided Paul is one of my favorite people ever! I've just been seeing things that I never really thought about, it's been awesome!
I've also done a prophecy exercise with my team. Before this I was kind of wary of prophecy and all that, but as I've been reading the Bible and talking with my team, I've realized it's really Biblical. It was AWESOME to see God speak to people and just give them the perfect words for others. I'm out of time now so I'll have to talk more about all this later but basically, God is rocking my world and I love it! :)
Thanks for all the prayers! Love you all! :)
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