Well after 2 days of traveling and 2 days adjusting I am finally sitting down at the internet cafe to write this post.
I don't even know how to start! Africa..Africa.....is absolutely crazy. It is beautiful but trying me and stretching me at every second. So many times I have already asked myself "Why did I come here again?"
It's hard to take a shower. The shower floor is about as big as a medium cardboard box. The rod for the curtain is squared which means I have to slide each ring one by one around the corner until the curtain is closed. The water is cold and I only have 2 minutes to shower.
It's hard to sleep. I am on the top bunk and I have to fling my mosquito net over my head to get in bed. My sheets ar covered with sand and grit that I somehow always drag into bed despite brushing off my feet..and my mattress is slanted so I always feel like about to roll off. We only have one small floor fan which of course is on the floor..LOL. So it is crazy hot at night.
It's hard to walk. I'm constantly dripping in sweat which is very uncomfortable when I'm wearing a skirt down to my ankles.
It's hard to brush my teeth with a water bottle, and it's hard to remember not to throw the toilet paper in the toilet (already messed up several times..that was gross) and it's hard to remember to bring my silverware and water to all my meals.......
So now that I've written about how hard it is, I will just say.......all of that is nothing compared to stuff like this:
Laughing with the Mozambicans at meals while we teach them words in English and they teach us words in Portuguese.
Climbing up and down steep hills carrying a cute little African on each hip...this is a great workout by the way :)
Sitting out on the porch with so many beautiful people from all different countries, laughing at all the different accents
Getting wrecked by Jesus.
More to come whenever I can get back to the internet cafe!!
I LOVE MOZAMBIQUE <3
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
A Taste of This Summer
Here's a sneak peek. More to come in this next week!
I'm going HERE!!
To live on THIS BEACH!!
With beautiful children like THESE!
And do stuff like THIS!
And see sights like this every evening!
More to come......
P.S.--- 5 DAYS until I board a plane! =D =D =D
I'm going HERE!!
To live on THIS BEACH!!
With beautiful children like THESE!
And do stuff like THIS!
And see sights like this every evening!
More to come......
P.S.--- 5 DAYS until I board a plane! =D =D =D
Saturday, May 14, 2011
2 WEEKS
I am leaving for Africa in exactly 2 weeks! WEll, OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have absolutely no idea what I am about to step into. God is about to rock my world! Excited, scared, happy, full of anticipation......
I'm learning how to be fearless. He is making me brave!
I have absolutely no idea what I am about to step into. God is about to rock my world! Excited, scared, happy, full of anticipation......
I'm learning how to be fearless. He is making me brave!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
One month left ...
It has been so amazing to see so many different hands sowing into this for me! I LOVE THE KINGDOM OF GOD! I love how we all share, we all help eachother and we all lift eachother up! I love my family all over the world.
I am leaving May 28th, all my flights are booked and payed for and everything is good to go!
Some things I am still working on:
1) My visa to come in the mail
2) $2,000 school tuition that must be payed THIS SUNDAY MAY 1ST
3) Getting all my neccessary supplies and figuring how to pack them all under the strict weight limits
4) Travel and medical insurance (have to have these)
5) Neccessary medications, etc.
And a lot of other stuff that needs to be done..trips like this take so much work and preparation. I am not worried or anxious, which is strange for me. But I know the details are going to be fine. Everything is all going to work out. How do I know this? Because this is the path HE has led me on, and since I am in His will entirely, He's gotta take care of it all. And because I know His nature, and He's faithful.
I'M GETTING SO EXCITED. I CAN'T WAIT TO TAKE MY FIRST STEP ON THAT AFRICAN SOIL AND PICK UP THOSE BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN AND DANCE ON THE BEACH! Oh thank You Jesus for taking me on this adventure!
I am leaving May 28th, all my flights are booked and payed for and everything is good to go!
Some things I am still working on:
1) My visa to come in the mail
2) $2,000 school tuition that must be payed THIS SUNDAY MAY 1ST
3) Getting all my neccessary supplies and figuring how to pack them all under the strict weight limits
4) Travel and medical insurance (have to have these)
5) Neccessary medications, etc.
And a lot of other stuff that needs to be done..trips like this take so much work and preparation. I am not worried or anxious, which is strange for me. But I know the details are going to be fine. Everything is all going to work out. How do I know this? Because this is the path HE has led me on, and since I am in His will entirely, He's gotta take care of it all. And because I know His nature, and He's faithful.
I'M GETTING SO EXCITED. I CAN'T WAIT TO TAKE MY FIRST STEP ON THAT AFRICAN SOIL AND PICK UP THOSE BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN AND DANCE ON THE BEACH! Oh thank You Jesus for taking me on this adventure!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Here I Go Again
Getting ready to get on another plane next month and leave again. This time it's a lot farther away from home. AFRICA. For 3 months.
I'm so scared to leave again when I know it's only a season and I just want a place and community where I can stay and call home. Florida was wonderful and amazing, for 20 years. Missouri was incredible and all I could ever ask for. and I never wanted to leave. It was way too short. Now the Lord is leading me elsewhere, into another season. And then it's going to end. My heart gets tied to every season, and then they end. It breaks my heart. But there's always another season coming.
So I step out in spite of my fears, and brace myself to fall right into His arms. He has called, and He is faithful. I don't know what's going to happen, but I never do. I've got to learn how to accept that. You see, I'm always going to be passing through. I am just a pilgrim. The LORD has given me a Pioneer heart. While I wait for the man who is going to walk with me into the unknown, I have to go alone. While I wait for my Pilgrim man, I have to pilgrim alone. But I am NOT alone. I'm never going to know where I'm going, or where He's going to call me/us next. But if we keep our eyes on Him it's OK. He's our security. He's our safety. We never go alone.
I am not going to Africa alone. By myself, yes. But He is with me. He's never going to leave me. I've got to learn to lean on Him and Him alone. People will come and go in my life. ALWAYS. Some day family members may die and leave me here. When I'm married, my husband won't always be with me, there will be times we are possibly seperated, in other parts of the world.
In this season He is teaching me to find my security in Him. ONLY Him.
God alone is the only one who isn't going anywhere. He is unchanging. Everything in life always changes, but He doesn't. He is the First and Last. He's constant and He is a ROCK. When I'm spinning He is my anchor. He is the only one that isn't leaving me. I cling to the LORD with all that I am, and step out, into the unknown, into His arms.
Sweet Jesus, stay close to me......
I'm so scared to leave again when I know it's only a season and I just want a place and community where I can stay and call home. Florida was wonderful and amazing, for 20 years. Missouri was incredible and all I could ever ask for. and I never wanted to leave. It was way too short. Now the Lord is leading me elsewhere, into another season. And then it's going to end. My heart gets tied to every season, and then they end. It breaks my heart. But there's always another season coming.
So I step out in spite of my fears, and brace myself to fall right into His arms. He has called, and He is faithful. I don't know what's going to happen, but I never do. I've got to learn how to accept that. You see, I'm always going to be passing through. I am just a pilgrim. The LORD has given me a Pioneer heart. While I wait for the man who is going to walk with me into the unknown, I have to go alone. While I wait for my Pilgrim man, I have to pilgrim alone. But I am NOT alone. I'm never going to know where I'm going, or where He's going to call me/us next. But if we keep our eyes on Him it's OK. He's our security. He's our safety. We never go alone.
I am not going to Africa alone. By myself, yes. But He is with me. He's never going to leave me. I've got to learn to lean on Him and Him alone. People will come and go in my life. ALWAYS. Some day family members may die and leave me here. When I'm married, my husband won't always be with me, there will be times we are possibly seperated, in other parts of the world.
In this season He is teaching me to find my security in Him. ONLY Him.
God alone is the only one who isn't going anywhere. He is unchanging. Everything in life always changes, but He doesn't. He is the First and Last. He's constant and He is a ROCK. When I'm spinning He is my anchor. He is the only one that isn't leaving me. I cling to the LORD with all that I am, and step out, into the unknown, into His arms.
Sweet Jesus, stay close to me......
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Accepted!! HECK YES!
I AM OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED TO BE A STUDENT IN AFRICA FOR 3 MONTHS! SOOOOOO BEYOND EXCITED!
There are so many details I have to figure out - that's always the case when going to another country - but all of that is nothing. The Lord will accomplish His purpose for me. Even down to the last little detail. Taking care of flights, payments, visas, packing, funds, EVERYTHING.
A little more than a month! Around May 27th is when I will be leaving.
AFRICA HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are so many details I have to figure out - that's always the case when going to another country - but all of that is nothing. The Lord will accomplish His purpose for me. Even down to the last little detail. Taking care of flights, payments, visas, packing, funds, EVERYTHING.
A little more than a month! Around May 27th is when I will be leaving.
AFRICA HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Are You Willing?
When God awakened me 5 years ago and I in turn pledged my entire being to Him for eternity, I could have never anticipated all that would happen. Along the way I found that the cost was great and so was the reward.
I didn't know all I would have to lay down, but I didn't need to know it then. Those things would come at their proper time as God was free to lead me and nudge me gently when it was time to lay this one down, and then that one. Not all of them at once. It is a daily cross to bear.
If you say yes to God, to His call on your life, it's going to cost you everything.
I will be the first to tell you I never wanted to be a missionary. But now I can't imagine doing anything else. Jesus just likes to do that. :)
When I was 18 I was standing on a balcony overlooking the land of Haiti, and I knew that something was about to happen in my life. I didn't know that thing was going to be heartbreak. In that moment I felt the nearness of His presence as He nudged me to respond to Him. I stood there with tears welling up in my eyes and said "Lord, I am not afraid for my heart to be broken."
As soon as those words left my mouth I let go of control, and He could finally take what I had been grasping so tightly for so long. I only had a few days left in Haiti at that point, and those few days He showed Himself faithful to do what I asked. He broke my heart. I left this country WRECKED, little did I know it was just beginning. My heart had only started to crack.
In the months that followed as I was back home, my heart was BROKEN. Into pieces. And here I am 3 years later, and I survived. And my heartbreaking was absolutely neccessary. He is so good.
I can tell you firsthand: What you will gain is 10,000 times better than what you will lay down.
Say yes to the Lord and His purposes, even if you're scared. There's something about that free fall into the unknown that is so liberating. If you don't do it, you're going to always wonder what could have happened if you did.
There are no limits to what God wants to birth through you and all it takes is a willing, obedient vessel.
Do you want to find favor with God and with men? I'm gonna tell you how. God's favor rests on the heart that says yes. The heart that burns in the private, secret place where no one else sees.
Will you be a lover of God who will get down on your knees in your closet where no one can see you and labor in prayer? Then you can have His favor.
Will you be a child that longs for purity? Then you can have His favor.
Will you be a servant who loves people even when it hurts, who loves when it isn't repayed, appreciated or even noticed? Then you can have His favor.
It takes a lot. But it gives more.
If you say yes to a life of love, to a sacrifice of your own plans and desires, you will reap rewards you never imagined that will come when God swings wide the doorway of your life and heart and blows your mind with His presence on, in and through you.
And when you are 85 you will look back and remember the day you gave Him everything, the day your heart broke, the day you were on your knees in tears before Him, surrendering your life and laying everything down, and say "It was worth it."
I didn't know all I would have to lay down, but I didn't need to know it then. Those things would come at their proper time as God was free to lead me and nudge me gently when it was time to lay this one down, and then that one. Not all of them at once. It is a daily cross to bear.
If you say yes to God, to His call on your life, it's going to cost you everything.
I will be the first to tell you I never wanted to be a missionary. But now I can't imagine doing anything else. Jesus just likes to do that. :)
When I was 18 I was standing on a balcony overlooking the land of Haiti, and I knew that something was about to happen in my life. I didn't know that thing was going to be heartbreak. In that moment I felt the nearness of His presence as He nudged me to respond to Him. I stood there with tears welling up in my eyes and said "Lord, I am not afraid for my heart to be broken."
As soon as those words left my mouth I let go of control, and He could finally take what I had been grasping so tightly for so long. I only had a few days left in Haiti at that point, and those few days He showed Himself faithful to do what I asked. He broke my heart. I left this country WRECKED, little did I know it was just beginning. My heart had only started to crack.
In the months that followed as I was back home, my heart was BROKEN. Into pieces. And here I am 3 years later, and I survived. And my heartbreaking was absolutely neccessary. He is so good.
I can tell you firsthand: What you will gain is 10,000 times better than what you will lay down.
Say yes to the Lord and His purposes, even if you're scared. There's something about that free fall into the unknown that is so liberating. If you don't do it, you're going to always wonder what could have happened if you did.
There are no limits to what God wants to birth through you and all it takes is a willing, obedient vessel.
Do you want to find favor with God and with men? I'm gonna tell you how. God's favor rests on the heart that says yes. The heart that burns in the private, secret place where no one else sees.
Will you be a lover of God who will get down on your knees in your closet where no one can see you and labor in prayer? Then you can have His favor.
Will you be a child that longs for purity? Then you can have His favor.
Will you be a servant who loves people even when it hurts, who loves when it isn't repayed, appreciated or even noticed? Then you can have His favor.
It takes a lot. But it gives more.
If you say yes to a life of love, to a sacrifice of your own plans and desires, you will reap rewards you never imagined that will come when God swings wide the doorway of your life and heart and blows your mind with His presence on, in and through you.
And when you are 85 you will look back and remember the day you gave Him everything, the day your heart broke, the day you were on your knees in tears before Him, surrendering your life and laying everything down, and say "It was worth it."
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