Mission Update

Just wanted to give a shout out to all the people who support me in prayer and finances. This is a testimony of what God is up to. May you be blessed and encouraged that Jesus is alive and the Holy Spirit is moving and bringing people closer to Jesus everyday. I love you guys and bless you in the name of Jesus. I am honored to be able to do what I do for the kingdom of God!

PS- I apologize for the video quality in some areas. I recorded from my handy dandy iPhone :) 

Easter Pt. 1: The Story- Jesus.

“…not my will, but Yours be done.” -Matthew 26:39

This short passage says a lot about the character of Christ. Selfless. Simple. Giving. Devoted. Strong, etc. The verse sums up the life of Christ on earth. Fulfilling God’s purpose and completely removing himself out of the way for the plan: God’s gracious yet critical story of the cross. We all know the story. We hear it every Easter and are reminded throughout the rest of the year of what Jesus did for us on the cross. But I feel God is reminding us the significance of His purpose through Jesus. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are all substantial, but it’s not enough to just know the story. God is calling us to see and live the way Jesus did.

We can see Jesus accomplish His purpose throughout the entire Gospel. Healing (Matthew 4:23). Calming the storm (Mark 4:39). Raising the dead (John 11:43-44). Feeding the hungry (Luke 9:16-17). Walking on water (Matthew 14:25). And essentially, conquering death!
“Death has been swallowed up in victory!” (1 Corinthians 15:54)

Christ died for our sins, once and for all, to bring us to God (1Peter 3:18). What an obedient and humble move on Christ’s part. In the most perfect way our Father shows us the greatest example of obedience, sacrifice, humility, and most importantly, love. The cross—where humility now rests through the blood shedding event on Calvary. All for sin.

Coming back to the creation of this perfect man we find God Himself in humility. Sending His one Son to be crucified. So that in me and in you He would see Jesus, and pursue us for life.

God forms His son in the womb of a plain woman. Plain to us, but to Him, Mary held a special part of His heart. She was favored in the eyes of God because she was His devoted servant. In the appearance of one angel, Mary believed. And as if believing such news was not enough, she glorified the Lord in song.

From the creation of baby Jesus to the death on the cross, we see God’s plan unfold, not just for Jesus, but for us as well.

To be continued.

My Grace is in Place.

My grace is in place.
Comforting words for this season of my life. Just now am I starting to feel like things are getting back to normal in my life. Which surprisingly, I have come to strongly dislike!
Before Africa I couldn't imagine a single thing changing in my daily schedule. I loved every part of what I did and couldn't get enough. Still do, just trying to adjust to it.
I can't seem to find my place. I know what to do and where to go, but doing, going and checking it off the list is not enough. Which is basically how I've been operating these past 2 weeks.
I've realized how dependent I've become on my job, church ministry and friends/family through this change. And I know that God used Africa to flip it around for me. I see that now.
The feeling of disconnection between these 3 important things in my life has caused me to depend fully on God. And in many prayers, begging Him to keep moving me from glory to glory.
At our youth prayer this last Wednesday, God spoke into my life through Pastor Tim. He said, "Your grace is in place." So I thank God for grace. I thank God that I can grow to resemble Him and that even though sin is always present, through His blood nothing stands in my way. I'm thankful, yet again, that He has chosen me to be the one He moves from glory to glory, and place to place-- literally. I know I won't be in one place permanently in this season of my life. He is going to take me places. And He will give me grace everyday to live through the day. He will place His grace in the area and situation to abound and take control, so that I feel and know His presence is present.
I am reconnected to someone I never would have thought to be disconnected from, Jesus.
I'm watching out for my dependency to fall on Him and not on His blessings (job, ministry, family/friends). I've learned that God takes away certain blessings and brings in the new. I won't always have the spiritual support in a good work environment, I won't always have the same ministry experience, and even though I will always hold close my friends and family at heart, they won't always satisfy my needs and my wants. But my Jesus satisfies. And He is the same everyday, ready to pour more into my life and to move where I move and feel what I feel. In Him is where I find my place.

Thankful.

It has been a very slow yet the fastest 2 weeks of my life here in Africa!
I am enjoying it more and more each day and am finding that it will be a little bit hard to go home.
I am in love with the kids here. Today we taught at Gifted Hands, a school that EAC partners with, and I was privileged to teach the kindergartners the song "Jesus Loves Me".
The kids at Gifted Hands are very different from the other kids we do ministry with. All of the students at Gifted Hands are from the slum. I guess that's what makes them so distinct. They are much happier even though they come from a very rough background. As soon as I walked in through the metal door to the school ground a swarm of kids ran at me and literally attached themselves to me. Some took me by the hand, some held on to my purse, and of course there are always those girls who are fascinated with hair. Yes, they even clung to my hair! They are all adorable and seek only one thing: love. They want to be loved. They expect me to remember all of their names for next time. I don't know how that will go lol.
I am so thankful to God for this experience. It was really hard in the beginning, but each day gets better and better.
Yesterday I wrote in my journal a reminder that I kept hearing before this trip: You can't change Africa,  Africa will change you.
I'm finding that to be more true every day. Africa really has changed me. It is SO different from America. I will probably be saying this for the rest of my life, I never expected what I have seen, heard, and felt. It is at times unbearable and other times very exciting. I'm glad to be a part of God's plan for Kenya. He loves these people and is waiting for them to realize that.
I'm thankful that He didn't give up on me when I wanted to give up on His purpose.
I'm thankful that at the time that He chose me, He knew how I would react, and still chose me!
I'm thankful that He is good in every season.
I'm thankful that even though I feel powerless, He is able to pour His power into me.
I'm thankful that there is no one like our God.
No one else can satisfy me like He can. No one but God alone will ever know and feel every experience and struggle I've had to come through to realize what He is up to.
I'm thankful that He understands.
So thankful.

Africa, finally!

Africa... huge culture shock.

But I love it. Everything is so different here, it is an adventure with every step I take.

Today was my first full day here. And I have learned so much already. The locals and the other girls here for missions (Ashley and Heather) are so welcoming and made me feel at home right away!

So where to begin...

This morning was a surprise. The neighbor's rooster woke me up at around 4am. And wouldn't shut up. Quite an experience. Hopefully, I will become immune to his crow soon.

Today we went to the Getathuru Rehabilitation Center for young street boys. Such an experience! This week I get to sit back and observe how everything is done around here.

Of course, this is not like America at all. The classroom the kids sit in is so uncomfortable and dirty. Broken windows, chipped walls, spider webs, wooden desks and chairs. Very different. Makes me really appreciate what I had when I was in school. 

But the boys are all so sweet! They definitely have big dreams and believe that God really loves them. Most of these boys are in the rehab center because they ran away from home, were found on the street, got kicked out of their homes, or disobeyed the law. They just want to be loved and it is so good to tell them that Jesus loves them and to let them know that we love and care for them as well.

After the morning lesson, which today was on first aid, we went and got some ice cream for lunch. After that we had about an hour to relax before going back to the rehab center to teach English to the boys. I fell asleep under a tree in the field. Welcome to Africa! Haha.

After English lessons were over (around 3pm) we went home. The transportation system here is nuts! I'm still in shock. Basically, I risk my life every time I get into a matatu (which is like a 15 passenger seat van) or a city bus. There are no speed limits here but there are speed bumps! How funny is that? No stop signs. No stoplights. And everybody jaywalks. Oh, and no lanes! And if there is a faint looking lane on the road, it's ignored. People drive fast here! I figured that whoever honks their car horn first gets the right of way. On the way to the rehab center today, I got to sit up next to the driver in the matatu. He almost ran over a man. It was scary.

On the bus ride home, some young looking dude hit on me! And when I was paying for the ride, the man that was collecting the money looked at me and said, "Oh you rich huh!" (In a thick accent). 

When I walk amongst the African people I hear the word 'mzungu' a lot, which means white. A lot of them know the missionaries here already so today when they saw me for the first time they said, "Oh look, another mzungu has come". Lol. It's definitely a little weird being the only white person sometimes. This whole day, I have only seen 2 other white people. And it brought great comfort to know that I'm not the only one haha.

Life here is so different. Definitely not what I expected. I live just a minute's walk from one of the largest slums in Africa-- Kibera. Today we went into the marketplace part of Kibera. People everywhere. Kids running around. Lot's of food being cooked and sold. Stray dogs. And chickens. As you go deeper into the slum (which I will experience tomorrow) it gets more crowded because of all the mud shacks being so close together. They tell me it's going to be an experience of a lifetime tomorrow. So I'm excited and a bit nervous.

Africa is beautiful. Kenyan people are very caring. The children love white people. And adults have much respect for white people. It has already changed me so much in just one day! 

I miss you all, my friends and family in America :)

Mungu awabariki! (God bless you!)