First week in village

The first week in the village went really well. It was alot of hard work, but it was really good work! I love the people where we live. So last week was the breaking of the fast. All the women worked really hard at the beginning of the week so that we could enojy the rest of the week.

Manda and I spent an entire day grounding up shea….only to find out this past week there a machine that does this in 5 minutes compared to our manual labor of an entire day. It was very good though because it gave us an opporutnity to show the people that we were going to work really hard.

The next day we went and washed clothes with the people. Because of the rain we went to an open part where it had flooded a little bit and washed our clothes there. It was very interesting to see their techniques. They would pick sand up from the bottom and wash their clothes with it. If they became thirsty they would just pick up a cup and drink from the same water they were washing in. I bet they have awesome immune systems after being exposed to this all the time.

Before the breaking of the fast we went to a nearby village to pick something up. 2 of believers went with us. One of them got out of the car and started to preach. It was very good. Then at the breaking of the fast he came to our compound and shared the message with people in our compound. it was all very very good!

Language is coming along slowly. It is the most exciting thing to find a word out. The only good thing about tripping and getting blisters on your hands is that you can find out the words for them. Continue to lift up that the language would be not far from my lips and ears and that I will find people in the village that would like to help me learn the language.

Continue to lift up the other believers that are in the village that they would continue to grow and be bold. Lift up my other team members for their health and for strength to make it through the days. Love you all back there.

a time to laugh

I figured I would make one more posting before heading back out of the capital. After this point I am not sure how often I will update my blog.

So this title is most appropriate for how my week has gone. I love the fact that Gd has allowed for so many trials in my life that I have just learned to laugh when things happen. I will steal this one from Elf, but make a few changes: “Laughing is my favorite” (with a big smile on my face as I say that).

To start the week off, my teammate and I continue to go to our tailor throughout the week for different things: One time we dropped of material, one time we went to practice learning language, another time to pick up our outfits that weren’t done, and then finally to pick them up again. Each time we go visit him we always have a good time. Our communication is great. He makes the best sounds to where I can pretty much figure out what he is saying. Today he was trying to tell us the word for rain so he took his pitcher full of water and started to dump it out like rain. After we received our outfits and told him they were very good in his language we gave him drink packets as a gift for being such a good friend to us. After we gave him these he was so excited! he called his friend that could speak English to translate to us “If you ever need anything, at any time, I am here.” Manda and I were so excited because we feel like we have a friend.

So earlier in the week I was sent out to get eggs. it was crazy storming though, but you know how I am, task oriented determined to get the job done. So although the water at the top of the drive way (it is slanted) was up almost to my knees I was like no I am getting those eggs. I kept walking out towards the store, then it happened I was deep in water all the way up to my stomach right under my chest. I couldn’t believe how deep the water was. I then went and got back in our house…. I guess the water won. Come to find out the next day what had happened is I had stepped into the ditch that was right next to our house…yuck! Oh well I guess you could say I took a nice swim.

One of the times Manda and I went to the tailor we were working on greeting people. We were saying Enkneechey (which is hello) to people that we were passing. We were getting so good at it that we even almost said it to 2 mannequin. The bad part is I had just told Manda that I thought that the mannequin were Africans and then as we got up closer and had been talking we tried to greet them. Seriously Africa does something to your mind.

The other day we went to yellow market to buy some supplies and hopefully to find a moo-moo. That morning I had pryed that Gd would help us with our language and He did. He sent us one of our journey friends to translate for us. This was such a blessing as she knew where we could buy moo moos too. So we go and find them and I go to try it on… As I am trying this moo moo on  the African tells me that it is on backwards… so as I am trying to turn it around… well I just couldn’t because it was hard to turn it with clothes on. Finally the African felt bad for me and helped me put it on correctly… did I mention it was a male African. This man was very nice as you can tell.

There were many other adventurous things that happened throughout the week. They were all my bads, but my teammate and I made it… That is all that really counts. Even as hard things come and humbling things, like an African having to help you put a moo moo on I am just reminded that Gd knew of the circumstances and He has ordained them before they happen. This brings me much comfort and just reminds me to laugh in the situation and to enjoy the moment which has been given to me. So that is what I leave you with at this time: Whatever situation you are in whether good or bad remember to live in that moment for it, even bad, is a gift from Gd.

Language learning

Oh my… language what more can be said. Learning a new language is always hard and a little bit frustrating. Our primary way of learning will be barefoot. This basically means that we (my teammate and I) will be going out to the village and learning the language from the people and not a classroom. However, our supervisor set up an opportunity for us to meet twice with someone to learn our basic greetings for village life. You see if you do not greet people then you are considered evil, so greeting is very very important!

Our language teacher was very patient the other day. He taught us the basic greetings such as good morning, good afternoon, good day, and good night. We met with him for 2 hours to go over the basic greetings, it was a long time. Once we got home I started going through my notes and realized I am really dumb. We like barely went over any language… really, but I guess we are going to learn things in little pieces.

Today I woke up and listened to my recording. My teammate and I were also taught by other teammates how to go out and do language lessons in the village. As part of completing the teaching we were assigned to go out and to learn the body parts… well not really learn them, but find an African to record them on our recorders. We went to our oh so wonderful tailor. Our tailor is so sweet and loves to help us learn language. Along the way we were able to greet many people. I loved it because we could actually understand some of the things that the people were saying. We would always say hello and ask how people were. In return they would do the same. Many of the people asked us what our names were. We were both really excited because we could tell them our African names. The people always love that we have African names.

We finally made it to our tailor’s and completed our assignment. He was very helpful, but I could tell he wanted us out of there because he had much work to be done. He was very sweet and told us that he liked the water packet we gave him a few days before. He had asked me what Lipton (it is a tea) I was drinking. I told him it was not lipton, and asked if he wanted me to pour some in a cup. He said he was fasting though (yes he is muslim). I then pulled one of the packets out of my purse and his face lit up. He said that He would accept it because it was a gift from us. So the day we went back for language he made sure and commented how much he liked it. At the end of our conversation he blessed us. I was so excited because our language teacher had taught us blessings. I blessed him in saying, “May God increase your peace at night.” He thought it was so great. I am not quite sure if it translated into that though because our language teacher is teaching us one language, but it is very similar to the language in the capital. I don’t really care though, I am just happy that I was able to say a blessing. It really is the same things that count here.

As you come to the end of this blog I ask all of you to be lifting up our tailor’s name. He is a muslim, but many have come and shared the gospel with him. May you pry that God give him a new heart and pour out his righteousness on this man. Also lift my teammate and I up as we continue to learn this language. Pry that Gd would give us ears the understand the language and tongues that speak the language. Also we will be looking for a language teacher in the village, may Gd have pity on us and provide us with a woman in the village who wants to spend time with us and teach us the language.

Where I stay at!

I am so excited about the living arrangements where I will be for the next few months. On the weekends my teammate and I will be staying with some African believers who are also doing what we are doing. They are a very delightful family. They have 3 little children…one of whom is not very fond of white people, but i don’t blame her. If I barely saw us I would think we were scary too. This family is such a blessing and have already gone out of their way for us. Please keep them in your thoughts, that our Father would bless  them and lavish them with kindness  for the kindness which they have given to my teammate and I. They are truly a delight to be around. In fact I miss them very dearly. Our team made a short trip to the new city and village and then had to come back to town for business. I can’t wait to spend more time with the family on the weekends. This will give you a picture of the love that they have for the Father and us. The night before we went out to the village we had family worship. We all got together and our new African Dad (I will call him this) led the family in singing songs. They handed a book and wanted us to sing with them… no it was no English, but it was great. Then after singing He read from psalms talking about the power of YWH. Then He told us a story and started to tell us that village life it is hard. He then pryed for us that the Father would give us strength…. It was wonderful and I loved every minute of it. Afterwards he told us we needed to go to bed because we had a long day ahead of us.

The next morning we left out for our village. Our village is wonderful. The compound we are living in…well the women are great. Every one was so welcoming! When we got out off the truck we started to welcome everyone. Adam then went up and explained to our family in the compound that we would be staying in the compound with them. Soon after that we met the woman believer whom I wrote about before. I was so excited to get to meet her. We walked with her down to the well and helped her wash clothes. We probably washed clothes for like an hour. There are no washing machines out here…the only machines found out here are the women washing the clothes… they are beasts but is a good way. We helped her draw water up from the well and then helped her do all her laundry. It was alot of hard work, but it was not stressful. I actually enjoyed this type of work… I would defin. choose it any day over nursing.

While we were in the village we are got our African names. This was so exciting and quite funny. A woman came in and gave us our names. A few minutes later another woman came in to check on us and to check out our names. We then found out that the first woman had gotten us confused. They named me Gimbela because I am short.

We continued to go around to the village and greet people. We then walked out to the field and met another one of the believers. He was very sweet. He came in from the field and had tea with us. He told us although he had much work to be done spending time with people is more important. So we had tea with him for a while.

We had chicken for dinner with noodles and rice. Yes, my teammate and I helped to prepare the chicken. We helped pluck the chicken and then we held it over the fire and cooked it. The women then took and put it with noodles and rice. It wasn’t too bad of a dinner. I am still trying to get use to eating with my hands though. I always drop rice and noodles every where. Of course I can’t but help laugh at myself. The Africans are nice and act like nothing is happening, but I know they are thinking this girl has much to learn she cannot even eat with her hands. Just as a warning when i get back to the states… Don’t expect me to have good table manners 😉

After eating dinner all the believers met together. The Africans lead the meeting. There is not one specific person who leads, but someone will comment, read scripture, break out in a song, or share a testimony. It is very very good. One of the men said something very profound. He was saying that YWH wants to do something in that village for their are many sick there (talking about lost people)… He then said that my teammate and I are like YWH sending fire down when Elijah was up against the false prophets. He said that we are evidence that YWH wants to do something in the villages. It is just very good to see the Spirit teaching spiritual truths to the people in the village. Lift these people up that they would be bold and share the gospel with others in their village and that the Spirit would continue to pour out his righteousness, wisdom, and understanding among this group of people. May He open eyes and ears and give new hearts to other people in the village.

The village was very good. It was hard to say goodbye. I am ready to go back there and spend time with the people. On our way back to the city we stopped at our African Dad’s house. They had been waiting for our return. His wife was so sweet in that she fixed lunch for us. We stopped and ate lunch and then were on our way again. The days that we were gone were some of the best days of being in Africa.

Thanks to everyone who is reading my blogs and lifting up the things asked. Thanks for lifting me up and keeping me in your thoughts. It has been a great encouragement to know that you all are prying for me back there.

A little thing called rain!

O man things here are great! We have been able to have such sweet time to pry and worship our savior! It really does not get much better then that. As published in the previous blog there have been several changes that have been made, but it has made everything slow down. It has been great just to slow down and to just be still before Him. I love being able to take  moments and to look at them for what they really are. So often life is just so fast that we don’t really take the time to see things in that moment. We let precious moments pass us by instead of taking the time to Rejoice or to petition the one who upholds all things.

The church:

The few of us that are here we gather together to worship. The worship consists of everyone sitting. We open up in pryer and then…. there is no organization, it is all Spirit lead. People will pray or start singing a song and then the rest of us will join in . At times there is just silence where everyone just sits there prying. It is very good…. I love it what can I say.

Time in silence:

Last week we all had a very relaxing day. We went to a retreat area. The purpose of the retreat was to give us ample time to spend time with the One who created the universe and all things. It was such sweet time. We were told to take advantage of this time for out in the village time to spend with Him is small. One thing that continues to press in my mind is Proverbs 2. This is what my mind dwelt on during this time.  Continually my mind thinks about what it means to fear Yahweh and what that actually means and looks like in my life. After spending time with Him, all of us met back up together for lunch.

Lunch was great. We had meat on a stick. I tell you what… meat is so good. It is not something that we get all the time so I am so thankful for the protein. After lunch we started to discuss the new project that was before us. It was a very good day!

For several days after the retreat, we all met together to continue to discuss the new project. Those days were also very good. We have much to rejoice about!

Stories:

Here the way that we go out and tell people the gospel of our salvation is through stories…of course they are not any ole stories we make up, but they are stories from Gd’s word. Friday we were taught one of these stories and then went out in our neighborhood to share the stories. The people really like them. We start every story out with: this is a story from Gd’s word. It is amazing to see people’s’ reaction to the story. After the story we ask them questions about it: what did you like, what did you not like, etc.  One of the guys heard a story and then asked for another one. Thankfully Adam was there as my teammate and I only knew one story. (You must be careful with the stories because of culture and making sure that words can be translated, etc.) Adam told the second story. He told the story of creation. It was all very good! After the man heard the story he had to go, but he wanted us to come back and tell more stories!

The rain:

Yesterday, my teammate and I were sent out on a “secret mission.” Not really, we were sent out by ourselves to gather things we needed in the village. As we started to stroll down the street the dust started picking up. Here this is a sign that it is about to rain. I looked at her and told her that we needed to head back as the dust had really picked up. As we started to head back it started to pour down rain. We both just started to laugh. She then looked at me and said your teeth! I told her I knew they were covered in dirt because i could taste it…yucky! We were both covered in dirt and then the rain was giving us a nice shower. By the time we made it back to our place we were completely soaking wet. It was wonderful in that we had so much joy in our little adventure.

The purpose of Him will stand!

So first off I would like to apologize to all my faithful fans for not posting anything new; however, there have been lots of changes here so I wanted to make sure I knew everything so I could relay everything to you and not just bits and pieces that would change.

There has been much pryer on this end about where the Spirit has been leading…. well He has led us to a new project. The new project consists of my teammate and I working with a different people group in a different region. We are both thrilled about this. By accepting this project, we have also obtained for ourselves a new supervisor. He has been living in this region for almost a year and seems to have a good grasp on the people group including the language. Where he lives there are a handful of believers, several of them are women. There is a particular woman believer there to whom I have been prying about. Our Supervisor, I will just call him Adam, Adam has told us a little bit about this woman and how she is in need of other sister believers. I am so excited about meeting her and being able to spend time with her! If you have any other questions about this feel free to leave me a comment and I will reply to you. Thanks to everyone back home for keeping me and my team in your thoughts!

Meeting the teammates!

I have finally made it to the country of my final destination! I am so excited to be here. So starting out our flight was changed to a day early. Things like this happen all the time in Africa though so we just go with it. We arrive in the Airport in Ilam and we start looking for white people. (no this is not a racist remark, come to Africa and you will know what i am talking about. this is just a fact). Ok so we are looking for them and no one is there for us. A man came up to us and asked if we needed to use his phone. Thankfully we had been given emergency numbers to call if we needed. Yes, we used them and got in contact with one of our bosses. She had never gotten the message that we were coming earlier. 30 minutes later the girls show up to pick us up. I ran up and gave them a hug as I was so excited to see and meet them finally!

We then were introduced to the guest house. At this point we left our two other teammates that were going to a different country. We were able to see them the next day, but at this point 9 days together we are pretty much family so it was bitter-sweet to see them go. I know that the Father has wonderful plans for them in the country they are going to.

So our first day in the capital we went around and saw things. We also went and picked out fabric to make our first African outfits. It was exciting to be there. I am so thankful for my teammates as they were so patient and just helpful in every way. They have most definitely been a blessing as they have just been so kind, encouraging, and ready to answer any questions that we have. Me and Manda will continue our orientation till around next friday. Then we will head to our city G-Vegas and then to the desert.

A view requests to lift up to our Father is for team unity. Also the girls here have had health problems and are going to have a test run tomorrow. Lift them up and that the test may give them answers to some of the health problems they are having. Also intercede for them that they may be healed. All of it is merely a source of Spiritual warfare. love everyone thanks for your thoughts. Lifting America up while I am here.

Also shout out to all my friends in Louisville. Esp, lifting all of you up as I know that you will be starting back soon.

p.s. the hand is doing great! no breaks yet!

participatory worship

This is a special occasion as I am able to blog two days in a row, but this day is really worth mentioning and we have internet use. Today was an amazing day as us girls were able to go to lift up the Father’s name with a group of followers. It was such an amazing experience! I love how the Africans worship our Father! It is beyond words.

First, there is such a thing as participatory worship for all you Southern Followers who think not. It was amazing to see all the people coming and signing, clapping hands, and dancing. Everyone was participating and leading. It was not so much about organization, but about being there together and praising the one who united them as one body! (i tried to download the video, but it is not working 😦   )

The second part I loved about it was the joyful giving. The people started all singing and formed a line and were dancing up to the front to give money. First the men gave their money (which us girls did not know so we just gave our money during this time. I guess we decided to add a little bit of American Feminism to their service 😉 ). Then the second time they all went singing and dancing and the women gave money. It was such an example of what it means to trust in Him and to be a joyful giver.

After the service many people came up to shake our hands. They tried to speak English, but it was not so good. I tried to speak French but I was not so good. It was great to be there with my brothers and sisters knowing that we were all speaking the same language, the language of the one who has saved and redeemed those to whom he has called.

Alas…Africa

I can’t believe that I have been in Africa for about a week. Things have gone by so fast along with so many things that have been happening.  Where else to start other then the beginning:

To start things off Saturday am I did not eat anything before getting on the plane. Well as soon as I got on the plane I realized that I was not feeling so well. I know traveling to Africa, maybe I was feeling anxious. Then I remembered I had taken my malaria medicine. I was thinking uh oh I am in big trouble. Immediately I started to lift this up. Soon the plane took off. Still I was not feeling any better.  As soon as we got up in the air As soon as we got up in the air you guessed it…that am malaria medicine along with the pizza from the night before decided it was going to try to make its way up my esophagus. I continued to lift this up to the Father that he would help me to keep it down. I will spare you the details, but know that He answered my prayers.

At the Charlotte airport I got food and made my way to the gate. At that point I met a girl from Florida that was going to NY to see her brother and a girl from Jersey. Yes, the first thing that came to my mind was that TV show on MTV that I have seen previews for “Jersey Shore.” No, I did not tell this to her though. So I was talking to these two girls, when the girl from Florida realized that her and I were about to miss our flight. We got on the plane and took off. Across from me I noticed a girl that had on a skirt and was reading her bible. Come to find out she was also hands on Africa. Her and I became travel companions through the JFK. Then we met up with all the other girls participating in hands on.

The plane ride to Morocco was a lot of fun. I sat across from a family headed to Africa. 2 of the family members were a 5 year old and 6 year old little boys. They were so cute and became part of my family for the rest of the travel to Niger. They were so cute as they were wearing little mini suits.  One of the little boys needed help throughout the flight so I  helped the dad out in taking care for him. The dad was traveling with the little boys and a little girl. I am still not quite sure where the mother was. So we traveled with them all the way to Niger.

For the most part I have been in orientation. My sleeping pattern is still not very good. I am trying to sleep, but the lack of sleep came in handy when we stayed out in the bush last night. Our supervisor set us up with families to go and stay with. It was nice of her as it gave me a glimpse of what the future holds for me in Ilam. Interesting is all I can say. Everything was great except for the bathroom… think of a pipe lying horizontal in a wall where the area is basically open. I mean I don’t stick out at all being white or anything 😉 . Overall it was a lot of fun. I wish that you all could have seen me try to explain to this girl that I needed to go to the bathroom.  The people in the village where I stayed were amazingly great. One thing that the Spirit spoke to me about was to not see circumstances and the materials/lack of materials in the people, but to have compassion on them because they have Him not. In order to get to the village I took a canoe. It was exhilarating as the waves came up over the boat, the current was strong, and there was a herd of hippos in the water. For night time I was given a mosquito net to help protect me. Too bad there was a hole in it that was a little bit bigger then a quarter.  I knew all I could do was to lift it up knowing that my Father would protect me and somehow make a patch over it so no mosquitoes would get in. In the am there were no mosquitoes in my net! I did not get bitten by one bug. This is a problem here as malaria is very common. In fact upon returning to the compound this afternoon a message awaited us girls that our orientation supervisor caught malaria. Please remember her

I found out that the trip I am on is x-treme. How I manage to get myself in these situations I do not know. The guy in charge of hands-on said they were surprised that anyone signed up for the trip . Anyways I know it is going to be great and that the Father is going to make my head knowledge more then that…I can’t wait!

5 year old

I know this is a very interesting title. However, what you are about to read will explain it all. To some of you what I may be writing may be a major offense. To you I say don’t flatter yourself and you will truly get over it.

On to the title (long story trust me)…So since I have been back in Memphis I have really appreciated Whitney Mathes as she has been a wonderful friend and a truly amazing sister to me. She has been there to listen and to speak truth into my life. She does not know the impact that she has had on me since I have been back in the M-town. She is one of the most genuine people I know here in M-town that is pursuing Holiness. It makes my heart so happy to be around her. In fact because of her love and pursuit of Christ-likeness I feel most comfortable with her. This is for two reasons one which may be hard to understand. First off, I know that Whitney genuinely loves and cares for me. She makes this clear to me as she offers me rides (my car is out of AC)…etc. But more important to me is that she listens to the things which God is speaking in my life and she also tells me that which he is speaking into hers. Often times we even tell one another where we have sinned in our lives and the repentance which God has drawn us to. The second reason I feel most comfortable with Whitney,  which some could say is just an extension of the first, is that I know that Whitney will hold me accountable. If for some reason the things I am saying or doing are not glorifying to God I know that she will speak up out of love for me and rebuke me for it. So I would say that the first was actually a ground for this one. She rebukes me because she loves me. One thing that I love about Whitney is that we will literally stand around for hours talking about God. One thing she brought up in one of our talks is that when people talk about other things it is just meaningless, pointless, but when talking about God there is eternal value in it. However, many people (talking adults here) don’t know how to talk about God in casual conversations. Their actions show that they believe that God belongs in the private sector of life and not the public one. Thus showing that God is only sufficient to meet one’s needs as they see fit and not that He is the Holy, Infinite, God that spoke things into being…he judges and through that judgment shows mercy to him he will show mercy to. He has saved us, Yet we do not want to talk about him…What is wrong with us?    This  brings up the point of Isabella  aka Bella.

Bella is I believe around 5 years old and goes to my church. She is one of the great joys in my life. When I see her it puts a smile on my face. The reason for this is because I love it when I am able to talk with her. Yes, we talk about every time how she wants me to braid her hair because braids are so great; however, you should see how she talks about her bible. She loves her bible so much! Her and I actually have the same bible, but this fact never gets old to her. She always takes mine and compares it to hers and is like look they are the same. It truly is her delight to hold that bible. In addition to her love of her bible, she will also talk about God. Often times I will ask her a question and it will be, well God says that we aren’t to do that. In talking with her mom, her mom said that they review the catechisms. Sometimes when Bella is caught doing something she (the mom) will ask the question and then Bella will answer! How beautiful is that! These parents are teaching and disciplining their child with the word of God! The word truly is sufficient for every area of life and these parents are actually living out they believe God is who he says he is by the way they are parenting their child!

This child and the obedience of her parents are such an encouragement to me. Most children of her age don’t even bring God up, but this child not only will bring God up, but she already knows some of the basic truths about God. So many times people write off that children just can’t learn theology, but that is not what the bible says. Many people who consider themselves Christians have posted in their homes the verse in Joshua talking about as for me and my house we will serve the Lord; however, the parents are not living out lives that show this and aren’t teaching their children the basic truths of the bible. Therefore, how are the children suppose to know how to serve the Lord?

Many parents don’t know how to start. so if you are reading this and want to know how to start to share the word of God with your children here are a few resources:

Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God by Bruce A. Ware

catechism:

http://sojournchurch.com/resource/a-catechism-for-boys-and-girls/

family worship guide:

http://sojournchurch.com/resource/sojourn-kids-family-worship-guide/

bible reading in one year:

Click to access calendar.pdf