'tis so sweet

Tuesday: Jesus Number One (A Sing-A-Long)

2011-11-15T06:26:00.000-08:00

Our second ministry day! After going to bed last night with a heavy heart and burden for the villages we visited yesterday, I woke up with a renewed spirit and energy for the day. Sometimes the task that we have been given seems overwhelming and so many times we get distracted by the barriers that keep us from seemingly being successful in sharing the Gospel; but we trust in the sovereignty of God and we trust that despite our weaknesses he is still working through us to make his name known among the nations.

Anyone who knows me really well can tell you that I am NOT a morning person, so having to get up each morning and instantly be surrounded by people; and to actually have to speak to people before 9am is quite a challenge for me. I think I have done pretty well so far, but you’d probably have to ask my team members for a more unbiased opinion. And a special thanks to Louanne for having to deal with me right after waking up in the morning and showing me lots of grace, I’m sure I was a pleasure to be around. I tried really hard to be as cheerful as possible!

We started out the day with our usual breakfast of bread and fried eggs, and today they didn’t really seem to have same nostalgia as they did yesterday, but I was thankful nonetheless to have food for breakfast. Today we headed out to the village Buagyi, which was closer than the village yesterday, a total of 15 minutes closer, which means it still took us two hours to get there. I am not complaining because Lou and I had another chance to wave to all the school children on the way. Also, today we had Paul with us or as he better known as “arch bishop of the whole world.” When asked why he gave himself title of “arch bishop of the world” he told us that he always wanted to be a bishop but all the titles had been filled so the only vacant one was “arch bishop of the world.” So there you go, and now I will loving refer to him as Arch Bishop. Arch Bishop is quite the character and as soon as we headed out of the gate today, he began our 2 hour journey with singing. He taught us several verses to a song that he made up. “Mondele Tia Moto” which we were told means “white people make the fire light.” OK? That makes sense right? We later learned this means that “white people bring the fire,” still confused? By “fire” we mean “the word.” Makes sense now! Another verse was “Isaaca sukara bia” which means “Isaac drives the vehicle.” After about an hour and half of singing this song and “Yesu Lu Ma” or “Jesus Loves Me”, I made up another verse which was “Arch Bishop knows many many songs.” I don’t think he was very impressed with my verse because later he said that he does not know many songs.

the bumpy road

When we turned off the main road to enter the village, we were greeted by about 20 women and children dancing, beating drums, shaking gourds and singing “welcome to our visitors!” What a sweet surprise to be welcomed in to their village this way. Humbling. We were led to a circle of chairs gathered under a mango tree, and then after they finished singing, every person came by and shook our hands. Of all of the cultural things that I love about eastern Africa, shaking hands with people as a greeting every time you enter their presence is my favorite. After the greeting we were asked to sit and rest under the mango tree, apparently it is a custom that when visitors come to a village they must have a time of rest before doing anything. And like any good visitors, we rested under the mango tree. By the way, I just love mangos!

This is the sight that greeted us as we entered Buagyi

After our “rest” we gathered into the church building with everyone and then Yancy introduced the team. Then Arch Bishop led us in a song with several hand motions called “Jesus is number one.” And it simply goes, “Jesus is number one. Number one, Jesus” over and over again. What an interesting song to sing? In the school system here, children are ranked numerically according to their grades, so to be “number one” in your class means that you have the highest grade, you are the best in your class. So, this song simply and truthfully means that Jesus is the best, and how true it is! Louanne and I continued our session with the ladies going over the Gospel presentation and teaching them the oral rehydration. Arch Bishop was our translator for today, and he was able to liven up the group with singing. The ladies today seemed to be a bit more engaged with the pictures as we told the Gospel story. Also, most of the women had brought their bibles with them, so we were able to look up scripture together in English and in Moru.

Louanne teaching the oral rehydration

one of the ladies with her Bible in Moru

After lunch, Louanne and I were able to sit down with 3 ladies who we had identified earlier as women who seemed to be leaders in their church. We asked them the assessement questions, and we saw that they too had been influenced by a works based salvation teaching. As we worked through the questions with the ladies we were able to point out scriptures that showed how we humans are born with sinful hearts and that there is nothing we can do to earn God's favor, and it is by his grace that we are saved through faith. We trust that the spirit will reveal these truths to them. It is so hard to leave these villages knowing that most of these people are trying so hard to work their way into favor with God, rather than placing their faith in Christ alone and trusting in His word, that "by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a results of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

Later that evening, our team gathered for our daily meeting and debreifing of the day. Jeffries shared with us his burden for his people and for the church leaders in these villages to have solid biblical training. He has such a burden for his people to know God through His Word. From the information we have gathered the last two days, we are really beginning to see the need for this. Teams in the past have come in to meet physical needs such as access to clean water and medical camps, and while those things are very good and very much needed, this week we are seeing that there is a greater need for biblical training for the pastors in these villages. In just the last two days my heart has been heavy as I lay down at night thinking about all the work that needs to be done, I can't imagine how much this burden must wiegh on people like Jeffries and Acrh Bishop who are living here everyday and trying to share truth. There seems to be so much in the way. We need to pray for our brothers and sisters here as they work everyday to make the Gospel known. Pray that they will continue to guard and fight for the true Gospel, and that as they fight the good fight the Spirit would open hearts to recieve the Gospel and that lives would be changed for the glory of God.

Just Another MORU Monday

2011-11-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

Don’t you just LOVE the title of this post? I am in awe of my creativity at times, haha!

Monday in South Sudan; this was our first ministry day of the week. We had been planning and preparing for this day for weeks, and needless to say we were all very excited to begin the day. This day would set the tone for the rest of week, I don’t think anyone really knew what to expect, and that made it even more exciting. We started the day off with a breakfast of fried eggs and bread. There was also a mixture of puree peanuts and honey that some of the more creative team members ate on top of their egg sandwiches. I was not a fan of the peanut/honey mix, so I just stuck with the eggs and bread. Call me weird, but I was excited about the egg sandwiches because it reminded me of one my first weeks in Kenya when I was still struggling with homesickness. I was invited into a co-workers home and they had made egg sandwiches for us, this is such a sweet memory for me because it was one the first meals that I actually enjoyed and reminded me of home. Not that I eat egg sandwiches a lot at home, but the bread and eggs were familiar to me and at the time I needed something familiar to help me through the homesickness.

Anyways, sorry for the random story.

After breakfast we piled into the truck, all the men sat in the back while Lou and I crammed into the front seat with our driver Isaac. There are two advantages of sitting in the front seat, 1) is that you get to see the bumps before you drive over them so you can brace yourself for impact, and 2) you get to wave at all the precious children heading to school carrying bundles of elephant grass on their heads…and oh my their school uniforms are precious, I died a thousand deaths of cuteness every time I saw them!

And so, we headed out on the 40 mile journey, which we were told, would take two hours on the bumpy dirt road, to the village of Witto, which actually turned into a two and half hour drive (but hey, who’s keeping time? definitely not me). We arrived in the village at round 11:30 and were greeted by the villagers of Witto and nearby village of Matta. It was so exciting to finally be out in the field doing what we came there to do. The villages chiefs greeted us outside and led us to sit down under the shade of the church building. At first there was a little confusion as what we were doing; Louanne and I were invited to sit inside a Tucal while the men were outside doing something.    So, we waited patiently for a few minutes and then we all headed in to the church building where the village church members had gathered. Yancy introduced the team and went over what our plan for the day was. During the prayer before we split up into our groups, I kept hearing a loud buzzing noise near my ear. Trying not to bring attention to myself, I gently waved my hand next to my ear in hopes that whatever it was would go away. At first I thought it was just a fly, which would not really bother me, but the buzzing was little more distinct and louder than that of a fly, so I swatted again, and this time my hand hit the bug, which was actually a huge black wasp, and then it stung me on my wrist. Again, trying not to bring attention to myself, I did not scream (like I wanted to) and I just whispered to Lou that I had gotten stung. She just kind of looked at me, and then I showed her my wrist which was starting swell up a little bit. She told Eric (a doctor) who was sitting next to her what had happened and I simply leaned over and asked “am I going to die?” They both looked at me and assuredly shook their heads NO! I still was not convinced that I wasn’t going to die, but somehow the Lord allowed me to stay calm. Now mind you, all of this happening while Yancy was praying before we dismissed into our groups, so after he finished, we told him what had happened and he just grabbed my arm and prayed over it. I felt a little more reassured after that. After that little fiasco, Lou and I were ready to meet with the women. We shared our story of pictures about a village in South Sudan who had been through the war and who people had come back to rebuild their communities and live in peace under a new ruler. Then we lead from that story into a story that shared the Gospel. We also used the same story telling with picture method about a little boy who they name “Emmanuel” to teach them how to make an oral re-hydration solution. Our desire for this part of our teaching was for the women to be able to make this solution on their own. We did not bring any of the materials to make the solution with us, so we asked them to take us around the village to find sugar, salt and clean water. To our surprise, these items were readily available and it took hardly any time to find them. What a blessing that was! After we finished making the solution, we asked them if they thought that they could make this on their own, and all of them agreed that they could and would use it next time a child had diarrhea. After this, we went back inside and began our assessment questions with the women. This assessment was actually prepared with church leaders in mind because the men’s objective was to get information on what aspects of the Gospel the leaders understood and how they teach them to their people. So we had to modify them a little bit for the women. We finished all of this by 3 pm. Then it was time for a short lunch in the Tucal. To our surprise, some of the women in the village had prepared a lunch of rice and beans for us, and it was delicious. Never in my life have red beans and plain white rice tasted so good!

some of the villagers in Witto

some of the kiddos who came out to see the "mondele" (white people)

Lou and I waiting in the tucal

Lou and I with some of the preciouse women we got to spend time with

Later on that evening, the team gathered to discuss the various events of the day. And as we talked, we realized that the men had gathered pretty the same information that we did with the women…a works based salvation theology. While these people have heard of the Gospel, they know God as the creator, Jesus Christ as his son, and man as separated from God because of sin, however they have been taught that good works is what saves us. They have taken faith in Christ and added good works. This is NOT the Gospel. True salvation is trusting in Christ alone for salvation. We can not add anything of our own doing to what Christ has done for us, doing so undermines the Gospel. They see sin as just bad things that we do, and not as a condition heart which then fuels our sinful actions. Our hearts were very burdened by this because we felt that as we are asking questions and getting the wrong answers, we needed to lovingly correct their thinking so that they can understand true salvation as faith in Christ alone by grace alone. Also, the Lord showed me in a clear way during this discussion, that if this Gospel is going to penetrate hearts and transforms lives and communities here, it is not because we are going to do it. It is going to be because God does it! I had a overwhelming sense of helplessness because I know that we cannot do this on our own, we need God to do it, and He has chosen to do it through us.

Sunday in South Sudan

2011-11-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

Sunday. WoW! What a day it has been. We started out the day at around 8:30, ate breakfast and began preparing for the day. Our group split up into 3 groups and headed out to different worship services today. I was able to attend Mirikalanga (I’m pretty sure I spelled that wrong). Originally, the plan was for Fred and I to attend this church, but Yancy and Eric finished at the church they attended earlier that morning in order to join us at Mirikalanga. I already had a greeeting prepare to give the church, but on the drive there, Yancy had given me a piece of paper with a greeting in Moru and a song in Moru, so I switched my plan and started practicing Moru! When we arrived at the church, it was about 10:30am and church doesn’t start until 11am, so we were able to spend some time outside with a few of the children who had gathered around.

Mirikalanga Church

Yancy and some of the kids who gathered outside with us before church.

At around 11am we were summoned into the church and invited to sit in plastic chairs at the front of the church. The service began with the pastor, Fred, and other church leaders in a procession down the center ailse from the back to the front of the church. Then the entire congregation stood up and started sing praises in true African style with drums, shaking gourds and lots of hands raised and bodies dancing! It was beautiful! After the song, one of the members stood up to give announcements, and I think that he was also sharing prayer request because this lasted about 45 minutes. Then for another 45 minutes various members of the congregation stood up and began talking, from what I could gather, they were sharing testimonies of what God had done in the lives that week. I could be completely wrong about that, but that is what I told myself they were doing. Then it was time for Yancy to introduce the team. When he got to me, I stood up and went to the podium, and here is what my greeting consisted of:

"Mede Amiro Avure Yesu Rosi, Agripe Maro Ago Enewon Mar, Yesu Lu Me Ago Yesu Le Me" which translated means "Greetings to you in Jesus name. My brothers and sisters, Jesus Loves you and I love you." Even though I was attempting to speak Moru, Coffey (the pastor) was still interpreting for me, I guess my enunciation wasn't quite right, haha. The congregation, however, seemed to LOVE my attempt at speaking Moru. It was such a sweet moment to be able to greet them in the name of Jesus in their heart language.

Then I told them that I had prepared a song Moru, so I began singing:

"Mozo mato miri Yesu, miroo ma" which means "I committ myself to you Jesus. Take me." Before I had the change to get 3 words belted out, the entire room began singing, drums began beating and people started dancing! It was quite an overwhelming moment. Later I was told by Daniel (our photographer/videographer) that the congregation illicited the loudest reading on his recorder during the song I led. I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me to a part of that. It is a memory I will never forget! After the teaching from Fred on The Prodigal Son, the children's sunday school presented us with a few songs. The began at the back of the church and marched in singing something to the effect of "We welcome our visitors..." and then they sang several songs in Moru and then they danced out the same way they came in only this time they were singing "We hope to see our visitors in the future."

a few men studying The Word before the service began

a view of the congregation

the children marching in singing for us

After the service was over (3 1/2 hours later), we were led outside to line up where the congregation came out and shook all of our hands. Then we were invited inside a small mud hut, Tuccals as they are called in Moru. One of the church ladies had prepared a small meal of chicken in a soup and some bread. It was delicious! While we were eating, there was breif rainshower outside. That was refreshing because it brought in some cool air for a brief time.

Around 2:30 we made it back to he Brookhills compound, where another lunch of rice and beans had been prepared for us. It was delicious too...yes, I ate two lunches!

Then later that afternoon, the Comissioner of Mundri county came by to visit us, so we gathered outside in huge circle and met with him and some other members of his cohort. This meeting was one of the most eye opening experiences in regards to how we need to specifically pray for our South Sudanese brothers and sisters. What we heard come out of the mouths of these leaders what heartbreaking to us. We heard pleas for help so that they can build cement church buildings, they wanted bigger buildings and less trees in the city of Mudri. The Commissioner told us that God created all religions and that they all lead to him, he told us that when we give to his people they will always want more, and that he was glad that the women (Louanne and I) were there so we could teach their women how to be good housewives. Considering Lou and I are both single, I think she said it best when she said "I think they have the wrong two women here." haha! He also said that God is not just a poor God but a rich God and that he wanted God to bless his city with riches. Most of us sat their in disbelief at what we were hearing. Thankfully, full of the holy spirit, Yancy spoke up, in a very loving and humble way, and told the comissioner that we were not there to give them anything but The Word of God, and that our desire for South Sudan is not bigger church buildings or cities, but that our desire is for the name of God to be highly exalted among the people of South Sudan, and that what we are bringing is teaching of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that pastors and church leaders can lead their church members to become effective disciple makers and transform their villages for the glory of God. We are all a little on edge on how the commisioner was going to respond to this, but God softened his heart and he was very receptive to what Yancy had said. It has taken me a while to process this particular moment from the trip, and what I have come away with so far, is that we need to pray for the leaders of this very young country. Pray for the True Gospel to take root in the heart of leaders, that they would see that faith in Jesus Christ for salvation is the only way that we are reconciled to God. Pray that they would submit to the Lordship of Christ in their lives and in their country.

Welcome to Africa (where Cows delay traffic and aircraft landings)

2011-11-12T03:50:00.000-08:00

Friday/Saturday. After two, 8 ½ hour flights, we FINALLY made it to Entebbe Uganda! Our flight landed at around 10:30 and it took us about an hour to get through customs and pick up our luggage. Then it was another 45 minute drive to the MAF guest house. I am not sure of the exact times, but I tried to estimate as best I could, considering my delirium of only being able to get about 4-5 hours of sleep in a 42 hour period. It was about 2am before we finally got to lie down and go try to sleep. In the hustle and bustle of getting out of the airport, we learned that we would have to get up earlier than we had planned the next because we had to make a stop in Juba to get our visas for entering South Sudan. So, we woke up at 5:30, got our stuff together, ate breakfast and headed to the Kijansi Airstrip. After arriving at the airstrip, we learned that our pilot had not arrived so while we waited, the Ugandan security guards somewhat half-heartedly searched through all of our luggage. I’m not really sure what they were looking for, but I’m sure that if you wanted to sneak something illegal in, your chances of getting caught are slim to none. Our pilot finally arrived at around 9:00 am or thereabouts (remember these are guestimates) and we (yes, we) checked ourselves in and weighed all of our luggage and even ourselves. I was aware beforehand that we were going to be taking a small plane into South Sudan, but nothing can really prepare you for the actual experience. We loaded up on the Cesna and headed out!

Our luggage being searched

Our plane!

Loading up!

One last picture before we board

After making one stop to register our exit of Uganda, we flew to Juba, South Sudan! As we flew into the city, we could see that progress has already been made since South Sudan gained their independence from Sudan this past July. Some of our team members have been to Southern Sudan before and they were very surprised to see that some of the roads were actually paved and that there were several jet liners at the airport. One of them I noticed was Kenya Airways ( and my heart smiled). So, after registering our entry to South Sudan (which by the way is a funny story that I will save for when I blog about how we left South Sudan) we boarded back on the plane for a 40 minute flight to Mundri!

We landed in Mundri at around 12:30 pm but not with out a story to tell. Our first attempt to land in Mundri was thwarted by, you'll never guess, A HERD OF COWS on the runway. I clearly remember prepping myself to land, and as we got closer to the ground we kept speeding up and I was looking out of the front of the plane and thinking "oh my, we are about to run out of airstrip." But then, just as I thought we were doomed, the pilot lifted the plane and that is when I saw the herd of cows. The pilot was just trying to give them a scare so that they would move off the runway! What a relief! So we circled around again, and this time we made a safe landing. We were greeted by Jeffries, Repent, Coffee and about 20-30 village children. It was such a good feeling to be back in Africa. I have only been to three African countries, but one thing that I have noticed about ALL of them is that the people have one thing in common. Hospitality. They LOVE visitors and they want you to feel welcome.

After arriving at the Brookhills Compound (which is where we stayed) we met with Jeffries (our field partner) for a short (but long) meeting to go over the itinerary for the week. On our agenda today was to meet with some the children sponsored through Four Corners Ministry. After the meeting, we were able to have about one hour of down time. Louanne and I decided that this would be a perfect time to get a short little cat nap before meeting with the children. Neither of us set an alarm, because surely if we overslept someone would come get us, right? Well, a one hour nap quickly turned in to a one and half hour nap! Although I felt bad for sleeping and missing out some time with the kids, I was still thankful for the sleep, even if it was the kind of sleep where you wake up in a pool of sweat because it is SO HOT! But, thankful I still was.

At the Brookhills compound...

sitting under the Mango tree...

After waking up, we headed outside to meet some of the children. Yancy, Daniel and James were meeting with them one by one to take pictures, give them gifts from their sponsors and to interview them for updates to give to their sponsors. Around the back of the building a group of them were gathered waiting for their turn. Lou and I took this oppurtunity to play and hang out with them while they waited. It was a bit awkward at first because we don't really know if they speak english and so we just end up doing a lot of staring and smiling at each other. I got out my camera and started taking pictures, which of course the kids LOVED! I handed my camera to one of the kids and they caught on very quickly on how to operate the camera. There are definitely some interesting pictures in the mix!

Here are a few of them:

It was a whirlwind of a day, but it was so good to finally be in South Sudan!

Never Say Never

2011-11-11T02:39:00.000-08:00

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of thefather and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Behold I am with you always until the end of the age.” Mathew 28:19-20

That verse is the purpose of this blog, and even more than that, it is the purpose of my life. For so many years, I struggled and struggled to try and figure out what it is that God wanted me to do with my life. I knew had been called and I knew that I was supposed to go, but what I didn’t realize was that the Word of God did not really have a specific answer for the specifics of my life i.e what should I study in college, what kind of job should I get etc…. What I was looking for was a concrete answer, I thought that God would give me a clear direction. I knew a lot of people who knew exactly what they wanted to do when they grew up, and never once did they question it. I have never had that feeling about anything. I was looking for something, but I didn’t know what I was looking for. It wasn’t until the last 5 years of my life that the Lord began to place people and oppurtunities in my life to teach me what the true purpose of my life is. And it is quite simple. As a follower of Christ, someone who was once hopeless and dead in my sin, I have been redeemed and brought to life by the blood of Jesus Christ. He commands me to go and share The Good news of his life, death and ressurection and he gives me the grace to do it. Whether I am in Birmingham AL or Mundri South Sudan, the purpose is the same. Make disciples!

One of the things, I was so excited about for this trip was that God had been SO CLEAR that this was his specific purpose for my life at this specific time. I had no idea I would be going to South Sudan until about 2 months before it happened. If God had not placed the right people at the right time in my life I would not have gone. This was the first time in my life that I knew with out a doubt that I was supposed to go on this trip. In fact, one funny little side note is that when Louanne told me that she was going on this trip and that God had provided all the funds for her to go, in my mind I thought “wow that is awesome, that would never happen to me.” Well, I guess the old saying is true, “never say never.” It was such a good feeling the day I found out that the trip was paid for, but at the same time, it was kind of scary. One of many thoughts that went through my head was that maybe God is being clear about this trip because I am going to die in South Sudan. I had peace that He would get us there, but I did not have peace about coming back home. I don’t know why the Lord did not give me a peace about coming back, but I am sure there is something He is teaching me in that. It wasn’t until we got in the car headed back home to Birmingham from Atlanta, that Louanne shared with me that she did not envision us coming home. I had not told her of my exact same feelings, and I am so glad that she had not told me beforehand either because I don’t think I would have gotten on that plane; especially after finding out the day we left that there had been a bombing about 250 miles north of where we would be. Right before I got in the car to head to Atlanta, I received a small little note from my dear friend Shayna. In it she had given me several scriptures to look up. Right after we got settled in the airport waiting for our flight, I began to look up some of the verses and they were exactly what I needed to hear from the Lord as I got on the plane.

“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Dueteronomy 31:8

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save, he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you with his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Talk about perfect timing! He knew that I was going to be scared and He gave Shayna those verses to remind me of His promises. I am so thankful for that!

About 2 weeks before we left, I remember telling Louanne, that I knew it was clear that God wanted us to go on this trip, He had been so faithful to show us that, and I knew in my heart that He was going to continue to be clear in his purposes while we were on the trip. In my journal I wrote 12 specific prayer requests. Over the next several days, as I blog about each day of the trip, I hope that we will see how God so faithfully answered these prayers.

• The name of God would be highly exalted among the people of South Sudan

• The spirit would soften hearts to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ

• The Spirit will give the power to speak and share the Gospel with clarity

• Physical Strength

• That our team would be an encouragement to the local church pastors and leaders

• That God would give Louanne and I unique oppurtunities to share the Gospel with the women we would encounter, and that he would allow us to build relationships with them even for the short time we would be in each village

• Unity among team members

• That the Spirit would lead us to a person of peace

• That mine and Louanne'ss friendship would be strengthened and we would have patience and grace towards one another.

• Safety in flight

• That I would not see or be anywhere near a black/green mamba or any other kind of snake, nor that I would get bitten by one

• Ultimately that God would be glorified in us and through us. Less of us and more of HIM!

Right before leaving Birmingham headed to the Atlanta airport (notice our nice straight blow dried hair because you wont be seeing in other pictures to come, haha)

Really God? ......like really?

2011-03-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have one of those moments where you just want to ask "Really, God?... like really? why did THAT have to happen to ME?" I often find myself asking that question, call me a complainer but the reality it is, I am good for blaming God (I should probably should work on that, I know). For example, there was a day during our trip to India that I was happily walking back to where we were going to meet our taxi, minding my own business and having a nice little chat with Shayna, and out of nowhere, bird poop comes falling out of the sky and lands right on my skirt. Yep. THAT happened to ME. Now, I look back on that scene and can laugh at it but at the time it wasn't very amusing, at least for me at wasn't. But I think what caused me to be so frustrated was the fact that earlier that week, a baby had peed on me and I had gotten some un-explained mysterious cuts on my leg (it looked like 3 exclamation points) that I have NO IDEA where they came from, and for me at that moment it was like tipping the ice burg. And I remember thinking, "okay Lord, I could really do without all of this." I fully realize that this all sounds very petty, especially considering the environment I was in. But also on the same note, considering the environment I was in, thoughts of possibly getting an infection and disease is quite a huge deal in a developing country. So, needless to say that was one of several moments during the trip that the Lord literally "stretched" me, in good way though.

There was also a quite different moment, yet similar in some ways, during the trip that really has become a pivotal memory in my processing of the trip, and I will share about that later on in this post, but first I want to paint a picture with words of what India is like, or at least to the best of my un-articulate abiliites.

One of the most striking things about India, in my opinion, is that there are so many people...SO MANY! 1.2 billion people. That is 1/6 of the worlds population. And of those 1.2 billion people, 5.8% profess to be Christians, and only 2.2 % profess to Evangelical. Another thing that really struck me instantly is that there is SO MUCH false god and idol worship. Now, don't get me wrong, I fully realize that we here in the good ole USA have our own version of idol and false god worship (i.e. TV, cell phones, sports, money, fame, famous people and the list goes on and on) BUT in India the reality of false god and idol worship is so blatent and in your face all the time. Almost everywhere you go, not only are you bombarded and your personal space invaded by thousand of people. but there are statues of gods and temples (big and small) on every street corner. I would like to say that it is much like here in the south where you have a Baptist Church on every street corner, however I don't even think that would even begin to paint a clear picture of just how prevelant the spiritual darkness is in India. And I must also mention the overwhelming poverty in India. I really don't even know if it could be acurately described with words just how poor the poor are. I know I am not the first person to say it, but having seen it with my own eyes, I can honestly and without hesitation say that the poorest of our poor here in the USA live like royalty compared to the poorest of the poor in India. We are talking more than 350 million people (more than the entire population of the USA) who live on less than $2 a day. Do you or I know anyone, ANYONE, here at home who live on less than $2 a day? I'm guessing the answer is no. If you have seen Slum Dog Millionaire, then that is a pretty close representation of the slums. It is just as rotten, smelly, dirty, scummy, and disgusting as one can imagine. You really do have to keep watch of where you step, because there is no telling what you might be stepping on.....human waste, animal waste, stagnant water probably filled with animal and human waste....it is just un-imaginable to our neat, fresh, smells nice, everything is clean on the outside American filter, until we see with our own eyes.

Okay, so now back to where I was going with this post. There was one moment during the trip that has really had a lasting impact on me and for the first time, God has really opened the eyes of my heart to what the urgency of The Gospel really means. On this trip we had the great privelege and honor to meet several local pastors and visit their churches and outreach ministries in the slums. One of them was Pastor BN. He is a very humble and sweet man who loves the Lord with all his heart; we later found out that our team was the first foreign mission team that he had ever worked with (smiles). On our last evening there, he invited to his home. Now, up to this point I had not been to his home before, but 3 of the other girls had because they visited his church on Sunday where as Shayna and I had visited another church. So, I am not really sure what I expected this encounter to be like, but what happened I certainly did not expect. We drive up in this very obviously poor section of housing and we get out of the care and make a turn or two in some cramped alley ways, and we walk into a dark building, no electricity, or at least it wasn't working at the time we visited. And we walk into what looked like a bedroom, for there was a bed, a TV, a closet type thing, and on one wall there was a pile of an assorment of items, Im not really sure what all it was. But something strange was in the room......a refrigerator......and then they had pulled around 5 chairs and a table for us to sit at. I think it was about 10 minutes into the visit that I realized what kind of room this was. Not only was this their bedroom. It was their kitchen, dining room, living room, closet.....it was their home. Every single earthly item this family owned was contained in this room. This one tiny room. And that is when IT hit me. Here is Pastor BN and his family, believers, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. All of them, such wonderful, faithful servants of God. Trusting in God and His good mercies for everything. EVERYTHING. Not just their physical needs but trusting in God for what matter most, preaching The Gospel and believing that in the midst of all the spiritual darkness, false god and idol worship surrounding their city and country, God has given them every spiritual blessing in Christ; He has promised them success in boldy sharing The Good News of Jesus Christ. And Oh how they believe that and live that out on a daily basis. I cannot tell you what an honor it was to sit in his home and to be able to pray for him, his family and the work that God is doing through them. I was so humbled, and even still as I sit here and write this, I am moved to tears. I know that I have said it many times before, but it is so true that some of the richest people in this world, do not own hardly anything by this world's standards. As I look at my own life and all the material things that I have been blessed with, I realize how much I squander all that He has given me. I don't use what God has given me for His glory. I don't boldy share The Gospel as much I should. I don't always trust God to provide for me. It is my prayer that God would give me the grace and mercy to change these things in my life, not so I can be a better person, but so that He will be glorified...in my life, in this state, in this nation and in to the uttermost parts of the world.

To say that our trip was sureal, is an understatement because there were so many moments that we could hardly believe what was happening; and I am still pinching myself two weeks later just to make sure. There is no doubt that God orchestrated the events before, during and after this trip, because to our minds it may seem to be coincidence, but when you read verses like Romans 8:28, which says "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." And then you find yourself sitting in a Sikh temple sipping tea with Sikh elders, there is no doubt that God has orchestrated THAT. I mean, I am just a girl from Birmingham, Alabama (a.k.a No.where.ville USA) who felt the Lord call her to India, and 3 months later she is sitting in the home of the Garg family of New Dehli, India being served a wonderful meal, having the oppurtunity along with 4 other women, to be the vessels who God chose to use to open the door for a relationship to begin with this precious family and a local pastor so that The Gospel can be shared with them. WHAT?....Really God? You allowed ME to be a part of THAT?......Only by His Grace.....that is the only way I know how to sum it up.

just a glimpse

2011-03-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

He said "Go to India"

but how? and why?

He said "Trust me"

I trust you Lord

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bring good news..." Isaiah 52:7

The Truth.

2011-02-06T10:37:00.000-08:00

He's calling me.

And I can't say no.

my NEW year's resolution(s)

2011-01-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

In honor the New Year 2011, here are my New Year's Resolution(s)
......because you know, i need more than one.....

1.) To have a more structured and consistent prayer life. I have really struggled with this pretty much my whole Christian life. I want to sit down and pray for at least 30 minutes to an hour everyday. I want to pray for the every country in the world in this year, for Stacy (my compassion child) everyday, for my small group everyday, for my family everyday, for my friends everyday, for my co-workers everyday, and when I tell someone that I will pray for them, I want it to be true.

2.) Well this one is easy. D-I-E-T and Exercise ~~maybe~~

3.) To actually follow the Bible Reading plan put out by my church. This past year I started attending Brookhills in July and they were already half way through The Bible by that time, so I didnt really keep up with the reading like I should have. BUT this year, I am starting with them at the beginning of the new plan and I am SUPER excited about it :-)

4.) Memorize Scripture. I believe this is important because so many times it is easy for satan to wage war in our hearts and minds, but if we hide God's word in our hearts we can confront satan's satans lies with The Word of God which is Truth!

AND just for fun, here is what I have been most thankful for in 2010 (in no particular order)....

my small group
my new friends (you know who you are)
my old friends (you know who you are, not old as in age, but old as in who have known me for more than a year)
my job
my new car
my apartment
my roomie
my family
my faith family
The ESV Bible
expository preaching
secret church
The Body of Christ
God's Grace (because without it, none of the above would be in my life, and I would not be where I am today)

Well, that's pretty much it. What are your New Year's Resolutions?

Bethany :-)

pre-year-end-thoughts

2010-11-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

warning: this is not a light and fluffy post. so here it is again. the END of the year has finally come. 2010. and hey wow what a year it has been. according the myan calandar. yeah right. we only have about 2 years and some odd days left (give or take a few) until armageddon. so in the words of the black eyed peas "jump off that sofa" and "let's live it up."

okay. for real. i'm not really concerned about that.

i know one of things i will always remember about 2010 is the earthquake in HAITI. i will never forget the first time i saw the pictures of the devastation. it was the first time ever that i can honestly say that i felt my heart drop into the pit of stomach. i dont know if it was because haiti is so close to home. or if it was just the overwhelming amount of utter devastation. probably a combination of the two. i ~~didn't~~ don't know much about haiti. but i know that it is one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere. only about 700 miles off the southern most tip of florida. if you could drive there, it would take roughly 12 hours. by plane about 3 hours.

do you think the people in haiti know that they only live 12 hours (or 3 hours) away from THE richest nation in the world?

how sad. not so much for the people of haiti. for us.

how did we forget them? how can we live in this land of so too much..........over abundance of everything, and let a people who live less than a days drive to anwhere USA, live in poverty. die in poverty. die from hunger. die from cholera. die from malaria. ??????? and the part that really gets me, is that many of them die without ever hearing THE Gospel.

may it not be said of our generation that we did nothing. i pray that our eyes would be opened to our sin. greed. materialism. idolatry. and that we ~~would be willing~~ will risk everything to live out James 1.

just something i have been pondering over the past few months. not just haiti. but the whole world. more to come later. not answers. more questions.

until then,
Bethany

The Waiting Room

2010-06-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favorite songs is "The Waiting Room" by Shane and Shane.

Here are the Lyrics (below) and here is link to a video of them singing it:

I will run when I cannot walk
I will sing when there is no song
I will pray when there is no prayer
I will listen when I cannot hear
Sitting in the waiting room of silence
Waiting for that still soft voice I know
Offering my words up to the rooftop to Your heart
Trusting that this closet's where You are
Lord I know if I change my mind
You will change my heart in time
Sovereign Lord this time's from You
So I sit in the waiting room of silence
Cause its all about You
I will fight when i cannot feel
I will trust when You don't seem real
I will tell when I cannot speak
I will step when I cannot see

I think one reason I love it so much is because I can totally identify with the what the lyrics are saying. Most of my life seems like it has been spent in a "waiting room" if you will. Whether it be waiting to graduate from high school and college, waiting for "the one" (of which I'm still waiting), waiting to go to Africa, waiting to come home from Africa, waiting for a job, waiting for payday, waiting for football season, waiting for the weekend to come, waiting for GLEE every Tuesday.......basically I do a lot of waiting, and I'm pretty sure most (if not all) of you do too.

During the time I was in Kenya, I still not could escape the "waiting room" feeling. I can remember my very first days there when I was seriously battling homesickness; I literally had to force myself to look forward to small things. For example, I would wake up in the morning, and during my shower I would always start thinking about the day and I would say "Okay Bethany, all you have to do is make it till lunch time." then when lunch time came around I would say "Alright, now I just need to make it until dinner." And before I knew it, three weeks had passed by and I found myself celebrating every week that I was there.

To sum this up, we all know that waiting rooms are not fun (not even the literal ones), but I believe that it is no coincidence that often times we find ourselves in a state of "waiting" because ultimately this earth is a mammoth size waiting room made to seat all 6.8 billion of us humans. And of course the one thing we are all waiting on is death, but let's not get all morbid here because that is not my point. My point is, that is there something glorious awaiting us on the other side of this life, and I for one am happy to know that and I absolutely cannot wait until that day. There are so many reasons why, but at the top of that list is I will get to meet my Savior face to face; and then I will get to see my grandparents again, and will even get to meet one grandparent for the first time ever! Just thinking about it makes me happy. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but I am so sincere when I say that. So whenever we find ourselves in the "waiting room" of life, I pray that we will find peace. and hope. and purpose. Even when we don't know exactly what is coming next.

In the Waiting Room,

-again-

Bethany

What I Saw

2010-04-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

Yes! You can help change a child's Life :) Please read on!

2010-03-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

I am so incredibly excited to tell you about this exciting oppurtunity that just landed in my email inbox! The ministry that I worked with in Kenya Life for Children Ministry trys to provide an annual VBS camp for the orphans they sponsor, and this year they are introducing a new way for more people to get involved with sharing the gospel to these precious children. This year, the US team is preparing a lesson plan that emphasizes God's Grace and Salvation, and the children will also have the oppurtunity to take part in communion, and pubilically proclaim their faith in Christ through Baptism.

Before I give you the details of how you can get involved, I want to share with you a little bit about what this VBS Camp is all about and what it means to the children:

I can tell you that from personal experience and seeing with my own eyes, that VBS camp is something that every child in the program looks forward to every year. It is a 4 night, 3 day camp away from home and the pressures of their lives. All of these children live in extreme poverty, half of them come from a traditional rural village (Homa Bay) where alot of kids do not even know what electricity is and have never seen an automobile, and the other half come from the Kisumu slums (think tiny mud shacks knit closely together built on garbage dumps) and surrounding villages.

Not only does living in poverty add extra challenges to these kids lives, but they also have responsibilities at home that would, quite frankly, make any American child want to divorce their parents. For example, when children come home from school they must complete their chores before doing homework or playing, they must fetch firewood to cook, then help cook the food, fetch water for drinking and washing clothes/bathing, then help wash the clothes (by hand), help bathe their younger siblings, and then its time for homework (hoping that it is still daylight) and if they're lucky enough they might get to sneek in a little bit of play time. So imagine that is your life, now imagine you are 5, 7, 8, 12 or 15 years old....what a huge load to bear! and what a relief it would be to get away from that life for a few short days out of the year, what a an even more great relief it would be learn about a Savior whose "yoke is easy, and burden is light." (Mat. 11:30)

I hope you can see what an exciting time of year this is for the kids, and most of all I hope that you will help sponsor some them for the Camp.

SO HERE ARE THE DETAILS:

This year the camp will be held during the week of August 9 - 13, and the US team will be traveling between the dates of August 4 - 17th.

And the part I'm most excited about: WE (me and you) can sponsor a child to be able to attend the VBS Camp!!!! The cost per child is $42 for the whole camp, including transportation to and from camp, room and board (food), toiletries, mattresses, blankets and all learning materials. Wow! that is ALOT for only $42! and who could put a price on the oppurtunity to learn about our Amazing Savior?

How can this be so cheap you may ask? well, here's the deal, most of the supplies like toiletries, blankets, and mattresses, will be bought locally in Kisumu and that makes it cheaper!

From what I understand, there will not be a way to line you up with a specific child before the camp, however, the US team is going to have a time where the children will write letters to those who participated in the sponsorship.

I also understand that some may not able to help out financially, but please know that your prayers are wanted and welcome with open arms, and so deeply appreciated by the children and mission team.

If you would like to help financially, you can send your check to:

Life for Children Ministry

7770 Roswell Road

Sandy Springs, Georgia 30350

***If you wish, you may also include a personal note to the child***

And just for fun here are some pictures from last years VBS Camp:

Opening Day, playing in the yard

Small group session, this lesson was on Faith

Another small group session

Studying the lessons

Lunch Time...woo hoo!

Craft Time! the kids will keep these crafts for a long time, they will hang them on the mud walls of their houses, and it is just the sweetest thing ever!

A group photo showing off their "Sheep" craft

Time to be a kid and PLAY

Celebration Fellowship

The reason why it's worth every penny:

Yours Truly,

Bethany:)

Where have you been all my life?

2010-03-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

So, as usual with most of my previous posts, I'll start by saying "Wow, geeze louise, it has been a long time since my last post." I think that if there were awards given out to the worst blogger ever, well, I'd probably be in the running for it. Well, anyways, I'll spare you the drama of lazy blogging skills.

For real though, I want to start keeping this blog regularly, not because I think my life is interesting or anything, but who knows maybe something exciting might happen and here it will be documented for all the world to see. My friend Laura, just started a blog today, and as I was reading it, she inspired me to continue on with this blog. I mean why not? Just because I don't live in Kenya anymore, doesn't mean that there isn't anything worth mentioning here on this side of the world.

So, for my first Post-Kenya post, I'll give you an update of what all has happened since my re-entry into the US, better yet, I'll show you with pictures.

I went to the Beach (twice) woo hoo!

I went to an Alabama Game with my BFF :) ROLL TIDE ROLL! Can you say 13?

Went to Baby P's first birthday. She didn't like the cake so much...

But she was totally diggin' the car. What girl wouldn't?

Learned the entrancing powers of Yo Gabba Gabba...."there's party in my tummy, so yummy so yummy."

I Shared some 'tots' with Baby M.....gah!

Saw Rock City with JennyBakesBetter.

Watched my nephew B turn 6, where has the time gone?

Gave my dad this rare Elvis lamp for Christmas securing my place as favorite child for the next ten years...haha!

Sold this awesome Shrek mask on Ebay.

Cheezed it out with this cutie patootie, M&M

Bought this dress for BFFs wedding.

AND Most Recently:

Saw my beautiful cousin SLD get married....

...and perfected my water pouring skills with Emo.

Well that's all folks!

What have you been doing the last 7 months?

Bethany :)

The Least of These

2009-07-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

WOW! It has been a long time since I have updated this thing. Almost a month! My apologies to you:) There has been a lot going on here the past few weeks, so this may (will) be a long one.

First of all, before I get started with the rest of this post, here is a quick update on where we are with the house for John Onyango. For those of you who don’t already know, my church North Highlands Baptist raised funds through their VBS to help build a house for one of our orphans. John Onyango’s house is one of the first places that I visited during my first few weeks here. John lives in an area of town called Manyatta, basically it is a slum. You can drive a car to his house but the pathways are very narrow and the houses are all cramped together. Along the path there are heaps and heaps of garbage. On top of the garbage heaps you are likely to find a family pigs rummaging around eating, and I won’t even attempt to describe the smell. When you look a John’s house the first thing you notice is that it is very tiny; and then you notice that the roof is leaning to one side. The walls are made from mud and the rains have washed away much of the outer layer which exposes the frame of the house. It is amazing to me that this house is even standing. His guardian, Margaret Rakech, tries very hard to make the rent payment every month (yes, this pathetic house is a rental), but due to her having AIDS, her health is deteriorating and it becomes harder and harder to do manual labor. She was able to obtain land from her home village, which was an answer to a prayer. She had not been the village in 15 years; the odds were stacked against her. But through many meetings with the village chief and village elders, it was agreed that she could use a piece of land to build a house. Two weeks ago we drove out to the area where the new home will be built, and all I can say is that God is awesome! The piece of land they gave her is HUGE! And the best part is that it is very green and fertile; meaning that she will be able to have a small farm to grow maize, millet, and other foods. Hopefully and prayerfully, we will begin the construction process next week. Please pray with us in this, that we will be able to build the house before I leave in August, which basically means that we will have to build this month because in August we will be having VBS and then I will be leaving. I was hoping that the process would have started 2 weeks ago, but I trust God and I know that His timing is right.

Now here is where the title of my post begins: The Least of These

Many times when we go to the villages to make home visits, we will find the guardians and/or children to be very sick; most often they are suffering from malaria. Malaria is so common here, and one Anne told me that you cannot live in Kisumu and say that you do not have Malaria. A few weeks ago, we went to visit Joshua Okello. We had heard from other guardians at fellowship that his guardian was not doing so well and had been bed ridden for several weeks. Upon arriving to his home, we saw across the field a child lying on the grass in the HOT sun asleep, we thought it a bit strange, but we kept walking. When we reached the house, we were surprised to find Mama Joshua starting to prepare the jicoo (a charcoal cooker thingy) for cooking dinner. Even though she was up and able to walk around, it was clear that she was still very sick. Her body is very frail and she her movements were slow. She also has a problem with her left eye, there is thick white blot right around her iris, I am told she has cataracts. She was happy to see us and greeted warmly and tried to insist that she prepare tea for us; but we refused because it was clear that she was sick. After talking with her for a few minutes, she told us that she had been almost bed ridden for the last 2 months and now her oldest son is sick. We found out that the child we saw on the way was her son. Before leaving the house, we all stood up and laid hands on Mama Joshua and Peter prayed for her. Then we went to go see her son who was lying in the grass. When we got closer we could see his body shivering and let me remind it was a HOT day, and this boy was shivering cold. We bent down and laid hands on him and Peter prayed. Then we gently lifted him up, and walked him over to the house and laid him down on the seat. Since their symptoms were typical of that of malaria, we sent Joshua to buy malaria medication for them. Now, let’s fast forward one week. Mama Joshua and her son come to the office, all smiles and very healthy. She told us that 3 days after we came to visit her and pray for her and her son, they both began to feel much better and the boy was able to return to school. Now, I realize anyone could say that it is the medication that made them better, but I believe that it wasn’t just the medication. I believe that she and her son were healed by God. She had been sick for 2 months, unable to do much housework (including cooking) and unable to afford medication. God led us to this family through Life for Children Ministry, and he was guiding us on the day that we went to visit them. Peter had said that morning during our office devotions; that so many times when we see sick and hungry people we rarely do anything about it; but if we hear about someone who has died we would be the first ones to donate money to help buy a coffin, or help pay for removing their body from the morgue. I found myself thinking that what he said was so true. We could have easily just passed these people by and not think twice about it, and then as soon as we hear that maybe this lady had died, we would have quickly been the first ones to give money towards her funeral. We wouldn’t be able to get our pocket books out fast enough.

I ask myself why? Why are we so afraid and unwilling to help people in need?

Is it because we are selfish?

Could be.

Is it because we doubt that the person is really in need and they might be taking advantage of us?

Maybe.

Is it because we are too “busy” to stop and help?

Possibly.

Is it because we the same homeless wino and he always asks me for money, and even if I did give him money he would just go buy his next bottle of whisky?

Perhaps.

I think it is a combination of all the above and plus many more. I know I am guilty, and have used every one of those excuses. And the more think about it, I become more and more ashamed of myself; especially since I have been in Kenya for 5 months. I can’t even stand the thought of how many times a street boy has come up to me and asked me to give them “just 5 bob, please” and I didn’t. 5 bob (Kenya Shilling) is maybe about $0.06 with the exchange rate at 75Ksh per $1. I mean seriously, I couldn’t spare 6 cents! And my excuse you may ask? There are 7,000 street boys in Kisumu, if I give one kid 5 bob, then they will all come up to me and ask me for 5 bob. How pathetic is that? Honestly, I am ashamed. I am here to do mission work for goodness sakes, how could I have given in to such a lie from the enemy. How many times have we given in to these lies and excuses and missed a chance to serve those who are in need......to serve Christ?

“For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink….I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me….I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” Matthew 25:42, 43, & 45.

In reading that verse and then writing it just then, one thing really spoke to me. Jesus said “whatever you did not do for the LEAST of these.” What did Christ mean by saying the “least of these?” Is he telling us to give to the wino who stands on the street every day begging for money to buy his next drink? I don’t know. But what I do think is that Christ is being all inclusive when he says the “least of these”, meaning that there are no excuses to be found. Yes, some of our excuses are very reasonable (in our minds anyway), but Christ has instructed us to give, even unto the least of these, the poorest of the poor and even those who we may think don’t deserve it (i.e. those in prison vs. 43). I am challenged by these verses, and it is my prayer that I would learn to give, not out of guilt, emotion or persuasion, but to be able to give and help others with a true and sincere heart, as if I am serving Christ himself in the flesh.

Please continue to pray for me and especially for Life for Children Ministry. Here are some specific things to pray for:

The health of the guardians

The health of the children

The VBS team from the U.S. that will be coming Aug. 6-17

The building process of John Onyango’s house

Pray for me as my time here comes to close, that every moment would be used for the Glory of God.

Bethany:)

What Am I Doing?

2009-06-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

When I started preparing my next blog (this one) I realized that I have never posted much about what exactly it is that I am doing, more specifically: what I do on a day to day basis. Well, the truth is, I can’t really give you a day to day routine of what I do, because here in Kenya (and the rest of the continent of Africa), time is not really a big deal. The culture is event and people oriented, not time oriented. You make plans for the day, but it is really more like a list of suggestions rather than a list of things to get done; and if some things do not get done then you just add them to the top of your to do list the next day. Sometimes I like it, and sometimes it just gets frustrating; but I’m learning to just go with the flow…..Hakuna Matata :)

Before I came to Kenya, when people would ask me what I would be doing, I really didn’t know to say. All I knew was that I would be working with an organization called Life for Children Ministry, and that they support 120 children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. I had no idea what to expect, I was just ready to make myself available to do whatever needed to be done, even if it was just scrubbing toilets. Fortunately scrubbing toilets is not on the repertoire, although I have scrubbed a few since I have been here. I came with no expectations, just expecting God to use me and teach me.

To begin with, let me tell you a little bit about the ministry. Life for Children Ministry is a faith-based Ministry committed to providing food, shelter, clothing, education, healthcare, and spiritual nourishment to HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya. We are currently supporting 60 orphans in Kisumu and 60 orphans in the Homa Bay area. Every other Saturday, gatherings are held at each office, where the guardians and children come to fellowship with one another, study the Word of God and receive nutritional support, usually Maize. Monday through Friday, the office is open from 8am to 5pm. Every month we make visits to each child either in their home or in their school; we take notes at each visit and compile them into a General Report at the end of the month.

So, just to give you an idea of what exactly it is that I am doing; here is little glimpse into day to day life at Life for Children.

Monday: At first this day was reserved for staying in the office, working on field reports and catching up on work from the previous week. But now, in effort to make sure that all of our children our visited in their home or school at least once a month, we have added this day as a day to visit the field. One of the things I have been helping with is coming up with a plan that will allow us to visit each child every month. It gets a little tricky because this office is Kisumu is responsible for 60 children. That means, we have 20 days to visit 60 kids plus write reports and complete all the other office duties.

Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday: These are field days, and I look forward to them everyweek! We go out in either the Truck or the Van and make rounds visiting the guardians and children. Most of the time, we are not able to see the children in their homes during the week because they are in school; so we will sometimes go to the school just to check up on the child. I love it when we get to visit with the children. For example, today we went to visit Francis Ongoko in his school. First of all Francis is 6 years old and the cutest kid ever. He is VERY shy and rarely looks anyone in the eyes, but if you look him in the eyes and smile, he will always smile (sheepishly) back at you; and your heart will melt in the process. He came to the office today while we were having our morning devotions, when he walked into the office he gently shook mine and Prisca’s hand and then jumped in her lap and finished devotions with us. It is unusual for kids to come to the office during the week, especially ones that are as young as Francis. We learned that he had been chased away from school because his school fees had not been paid. The deputy head teacher sent him home, but Francis came to the office instead. This was a very dangerous thing considering that he had to cross a VERY BUSY road. Sweet Francis has had a difficult life, first both of his parents are deceased, and when Life for Children found him, the guardian he was living with was treating him very badly. They were able to find a family member who was willing to take him in, but recently we have found out that this guardian may possibly be mistreating Francis as well. When we spoke with the School, they told us that he often comes to school hungry and un-kept, meaning he hasn’t bathed or combed his hair. And he also is not coming to school with the proper materials such as notebooks and pencils. When we find out about such cases, they become a TOP priority in the office, and we are making every effort to resolve the issues.
Friday: On Fridays we usually stay in the office and compile our reports from the field. These are usually SLOW days, but it is a good way to end the week; especially if we have fellowship the next day.

Saturday: Every other Saturday, we hold a Fellowship Gathering at the office. The guardians and children come. It is ALWAYS a great time. We usually start off with the kids singing praise songs and we all join in singing with them. Then one of the staff will share a few words of encouragement from The Word, and then sometimes the guardians will stand up and share something from their heart. Like I said, it is always a great time of fellowship. I love getting to interact with the kids, they are so happy when they come to fellowship. Also, we distribute Maize during Fellowship to every family.

Sunday: My favorite days. I have been attending Fellowship Bible Church. This is where Jenny was going to church with Robert and Peter (co-workers) and so naturally I just went with her. The first thing they told me when I attended service there the first time, was that FBC is a small church with a BIG heart; and I have found that to be true. Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming that I feel at home when I am there. Also, I have been teaching the Sunday school class which meets during the preaching part of the worship service. At first I was little nervous about it, but the kids are so awesome, it didn’t take them long to warm up to me. A few weeks ago I went to visit Anne’s church, and the next day Peter said that kids wanted to know where I was had been. Sometimes after church, we will go the lake and eat fish. This is one of my favorite leisurely things to do here. Sitting by lake is so RELAXING and the fish is wonderful; and being able to enjoy it with friends is the best part.

Well, I hope that his gives you a good glimpse into my life here in Kenya. I LOVE this place, and I am so glad that the Lord has allowed me the opportunity. I love you all, and thank you for the continuous prayers and support. And I especially would like to thank ALL the kids at NHBC who helped raise over $1000 to help build a new house for one of our orphans.

Living Life Abundantly and Beautifully

2009-06-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to write this post for quite some time now, but I wasn’t exactly sure how it would work. Part of my ministry here is has been focused on people and building meaningful and sincere relationships with them. Over the past 3 months, the Lord has blessed me with new friends, some of the most wonderful and kind hearted people in the world, and it is my prayer that these new friendships will last a lifetime. There is one person in particular who I have really enjoyed getting to know over the last few weeks; and she is probably going to kill me for this (since she reads this blog), but her story and her life are worth sharing with you, and I hope that you will be blessed by this feeble attempt to capture with words, one of the most beautiful people I have ever met, Anne.

For starters, Anne is the woman who has so graciously welcomed Jenny and me into her home. She has two AWESOME kids, Chris 9 and Cathis 7. Chris is your typical boy, he loves to take things apart to figure out how they work and the boy can EAT! And when he wants to, he can be the sweetest little gentlemen. Cathis is 100% girl, she is 7 going on 30 and girlfriend loves chocolate. She has the cutest smile EVER! Anne is a great mom to her kids and is truly training them in The Way. I don’t know what she expected when she agreed to have two Mzungu’s (white people) come and stay with her, but I hope that Jenny and I have impacted her at least half as much as she has impacted the two of us; and I hope she will forgive us for all the ways we have unintentionally “westernized” her children.

As I said before, Anne is one the most beautiful people I have ever met. Not only is she beautiful in her appearance, but the way she lives her life is, to me, the most captivating thing about her. She grew up in a very poor family. Just to give you an idea of how poor, she did not own a pair shoes until she was in her first year of high school. Anne is 38 and I am 26, if I have done the math correctly, then that means that I was probably romping around and wearing out my 10th pair of shoes before she even dreamed of owning a pair. Her father had several wives and Anne is the last born of many children. When her older brother started working, Anne’s future became little brighter. He saw her potential and sponsored her through High School and University. He was the one who put the first pair of shoes on her feet. Now after many years of hard work, Anne is a successful lawyer and even has her own practice here in town; and she just completed her Master’s Degree in December.

But that is just the beginning of what I love about her.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19 & 21

Even though she is now a successful career woman, she does not boast about it. She does not live in a fancy house, drive a luxurious car or wear designer clothes, all of which I am pretty sure she can afford. Instead, she uses her success to help others. Unlike many of us in the States, Anne does not use the wealth God has blessed her with to store up material possessions for herself here on earth. One of the most endearing things that I have learned about her is that she is now putting her two nieces through school; this is incredible to me because they are the daughters of her older brother who helped put her through school. He passed away several years ago, and Anne not forgetting the kindness that was shown to her, is now returning the favor to his daughters. What a beautiful picture!

When her other niece Millicent passed away, Anne was the rock of the family, leaning on the solid foundation of Christ. She was the one making sure that everything was properly taken care of. When she gives, she gives from her heart. She doesn’t worry about what she might have to do without; she just gives freely, without hesitation.

There are many people like Anne who have come from very humble beginnings and have “made it” in the world; but there are few like her who have not forgotten where they came from. It is easy for us to forget what we have left behind, especially if we have moved on to something better; but she has not chosen what it is easy. She chooses to glorify God with all that she has, and that means giving freely, just as Christ has given freely to her. Surely, this is what a life of abundance looks like when you are in Christ.

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians2:1-11

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” John 10:10

Blessings,

Bethany:)

I CAN"T THINK OF A TITLE FOR THIS ONE

2009-06-02T07:20:00.001-07:00

I hate to start this post on a sad note, but as I sit here and think about what to say, my mind can’t help but to be consumed with thoughts for family of Tucker Beam (www.caringbridge.com/tuckerbeam/visit). Tucker is without a doubt the bravest little boy I have ever met. This kid has been battling cancer since he was just a little baby, and he gave every ounce of his strength determined to beat the disease. I refuse to write that Tucker lost his battle with cancer, because he has not lost; in fact he has won the battle. From the very beginning Tucker and his family have given their all to make sure that in EVERYTHING God is glorified in their lives. It doesn’t matter what the outcome is, either way the end result is that God gets the Glory. Even though we all wish that God would have healed Tucker this side of heaven, we can take comfort in knowing that God does what will bring him the most glory. We can rest in knowing that Tucker is resting in the arms of Jesus. I ask you to please pray for Tucker’s parents Courtney and Jason, his little sister Lily, his Grandma Deb and the rest of his family. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering they are going through right now, but I know for sure that this family has built their faith on the only true foundation, and that is Jesus Christ; and even when things seem to crumble and fall apart, Christ is holding them together.

Now on to catching you up with life here in Kisumu, this past week went by VERY fast and in my mind everything is lumped together in one big blur, but I will do my best to fill you in.

The office has been filled with excitement as we welcomed a visit from Michael Agwanda, the founder of Life for Children Ministry. Michael is from Kenya, but he is currently residing in the U.S.; Georgia to be exact. Prior to his visit here, he had been working with the Rotary Club in Atlanta to coordinate efforts with the Rotary Club here in Kisumu in purchasing a new vehicle for the ministry. After a lot of hard work, prayer and God orchestrated events, Life for Children ministry was presented with a 9 passenger van. This van will be helpful to the ministry in so many ways. For one, it will be used to help in assisting with transportation for the children and guardians coming to fellowship. It will drastically reduce the time it takes to travel by foot, in some cases it takes 3-4 hours for some of them to walk to the office for fellowships. Secondly, it will be a great help when teams from the U.S. come and hold VBS camps. On Thursday we held a presentation ceremony for the van at the office. It was very exciting as the members of the Rotary Club in Kisumu were present and also several board members of Life for Children. Many of the guardians came dressed in their finest and color coordinated clothes. To show their appreciation for the van, they sang and danced their little hearts out for the Rotary Club members. I was excited and happy to be a part of this great event.

Well everyone that is all for now. Sorry for the lack of words today. More to come later.

I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!
Bethany:)

God Crashed My Party

2009-05-23T02:39:00.000-07:00

Over the past 3 weeks I have been thinking a lot lately about the past 2 ½ months I have spent here. I am overwhelmed at how much God has taught me and how far He has brought me. I am not the same person who left the Birmingham Airport on February 25th. It is hard for me to imagine that just 8 weeks ago I was seriously battling homesickness and the urge to go home. Now, after being here and getting settled into somewhat of a routine, I am looking forward to the next 3 months; this place has become like a home to me. Used to, when I looked at the calendar, the month of May seemed VERY far away, but now as we are already half way through May and I look at the calendar the time that I have left here seems VERY short. As the half way mark of my internship here passes, my heart is saddened because in a lot of ways, this place has become a part of me. I am dreading the day when I have to leave. At the same time, I do not want waste my last 12 weeks here thinking about how sad it will be to leave, instead I am going to make the most of the time I have remaining here.

I wrote that part of this blog on Sunday. Today is Thursday, and you cannot imagine the week I have had. The enemy has been out in full force and of course he is doing what he does best, trying to make me want to go home. Monday I got an email from my cell phone company in the U.S. stating that there has been an excessive amount of international data on phone. This was surprise to me because I have only used my U.S. phone only 3 times since I have been here, and that was back in March. So, I immediately make call to Cingular, and guess what? Someone has been using my phone. I went home and searched for my phone and it is nowhere to be found. I have no idea when it was stole. But that is not the worst part; Cingular also informed that there will be over $2000 worth of charges on my phone because of this. I quickly told them that my phone was stolen and that it was not me who was making the calls. The lady told me that when the bill comes, I can fill out some papers to dispute the charges. And the department that deals with these disputes will look at my phone call history over past few months to see if I had previously been making international calls. To my advantage, I only used the phone 3 times in March and 0 times in April. Please, Please, Please PRAY for me that this issue will be solved and that the company will waive these charges.

Tuesday, I come home from work, ready to just relax after a somewhat stressful day. I walk up to my front door and see that water is coming out from under the door. I think, “Oh, maybe Akoth came in and mopped the floor for me.” To my surprise, I walk in and there is water streaming down off of the light bulb and other various places in the ceiling. Needless to say, I am somewhat shocked because it has not rained the past 2 days. Well apparantly, the water tank to my house is in the attic (bright idea huh?). So, Chris and Cathis helped me drag all my things into Anne’s house, and now I am taking up temporary resident in Jenny’s old bedroom.
So, here I am, having a huge pity part for myself. I could possibly be facing a huge cell phone bill when I get home, and not to mention I won’t have a job when I get back; and I can take a shower in my sitting room. I know the enemy is trying to make me as miserable as possible because after all, I have come to love this place right? Satan does a pretty good job making you second yourself. Well, today God crashed my pity party.

If you remember, a few weeks ago I posted a blog about a little boy named Clinton Odhiambo, who is an orphan that is supported by Life for Children. Today we made a follow up visit to his home. This time we found his guardian even sicker than before. After being in the Hospital for several weeks, he was sent home….to die. His AIDS has progressed to a point that he is no longer responding to medication. He was lying in the bed, skin and bones, hardly able to move or even talk. I have never seen someone so helpless in all my life. The very moment I walked into that house, God crashed my pity party. I managed to hold back the tears that my heart so badly wanted me to cry and it was all I could not run out of that house as fast as I could. Here I am complaining about all these VERY material and superficial problems; and this man is on his death bed and little 7 year old Clinton will yet again face the death of a loved one and care taker. God stopped me dead in my tracks, and suddenly all my “problems” suddenly seemed irrelevant. I was ashamed of myself. Embarrassed. I wanted to run for the hills and hide.

That morning in our daily devotions at the office, we began reading James. In chapter 1, the very first thing that James tells us is to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” then at the very end of Chapter one he tell us “to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” At the time I was reading this chapter, I did not know what the Lord would have in store for me that day. But He is obviously trying to teach me something. Now, I will be honest and say that I did not find “Pure Joy” in the $2000+ cell phone bill or in the leaky ceiling and I certainly did not find “Pure Joy” sitting in that mud house watching a sick man on his death bed. I believe what God is teaching me, is that, yes we all have our own problems and trials, and He deeply cares for us and whatever it is that we may going through; but at the same time we are facing trials, God does not want us to be selfish and self-centered. He first wants us to take Joy in the various trials we have, because it will produce in us a perseverance of faith. Just because we may encounter a problem does not mean that God has left us. As Max Lucado says in his book God Came Near, “Change always brings fear before it brings faith. We always assume the worst before we look for the best. God interrupts our lives with something we’ve never seen, and rather than praise, we panic! We interpret the presence of a problem as the absence of God and scoot.”

So,then after trusting God with the trials we are facing, we are to look past our own needs and reach out a hand to others who are in worse situations than our own; i.e. orphans and widows,those suffering from HIV/AIDs, children facing their 3rd battle with cancer, people whose lives have been interrupted with the sudden news that they have lung cancer, families facing the unexpected death of loved ones, and the list can go on and on.

The point is that WE ARE ALL facing trials of various degrees, and the one common thread that connects us all together is God's Love. God cares for us. No matter how trivial or severe the issue is, God cares for us; and it is our job to receive His love and compassion, and then to share with others that same Love and Compassion.

“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us into pieces
But he will heal us;
He has injured us
But he will bind up our wounds.
After two days he will revive; on the third day he will restore us;
That we may live in his presence.
Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;
He will come to us like winter rains, like the Spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

Thing I LOVE about Kenya: A Not So Serious Post

2009-05-09T00:38:00.000-07:00

Coca-Cola has a monopoly here….A few years ago Pepsi tried to enter the market and the people here love Coca-Cola so much they refused Pepsi, so the Pepsi folks quit trying.

Everywhere you go there are Cows, they are an essential part of the city scene.

You can be ironing with a charcoal heated iron and your cell phone rings.

Don’t have an Alarm clock? No problem, the neighborhood rooster crows at 5am sharp EVERY morning! And if you are lucky, he has made his home right next to your bedroom window.

Crazy Tuk Tuk drivers. Tuk Tuks are a form of local transportation, they basically do the job of what we would call a taxi. They are three wheeled vehicles that are a mix between a bumber car, golf cart and the tea cup ride at Disney world.

John Deere Tractors. Am I really in Kenya?

Craving some good ole American Television? No worries, Just tune in to NTV every Saturday at 8:05pm to catch the WWF. Again, am I really in Kenya?

Catalina and Sebastian, a Latino Soap Opera that the locals love to watch. I have to admit, I like it too.

Security Guards wear baseball helmets.

If the temperature falls below 70 degrees, the locals break out their fleece sweaters, winter coats and toboggans.

When someone says to you “I am coming” and then they walk away, it really means “I will be right back.”

Please forgive me for this one: The word for “Poot” is “Pollute”

Everyday someone asks me “How is Obama?” as if I know him personally.

Toilet Paper in assorted colors: blue, green, pink and of course the classic white. Me, I prefer pink!

One day Chris was telling me that he cut his finger with a knife by mistake. I said “oh I am sorry” and he replied “you’re welcome!” (this represents all the things that are “lost in translation”)

Fries and Sausages are referred to as “Asian Food.”

Bethany:)

Where is God in the midst of Death and Destruction?

2009-05-04T00:35:00.000-07:00

In the short 2 months that I have been here, there is one resonating theme of the reality of life that stands out…..death. Sure, everywhere in the world, death is part of life. But how many of us in the U.S. are faced with the reality of death on a weekly or daily basis? Here in Kenya, death is an “in face your face” reality. Every Thursday and Friday, weeping and wailing in the streets can be heard for miles as families make the procession down the main road after receiving their loved ones bodies from the mortuary. I remember my first Thursday here when I heard the noises coming from the street, I asked what is was and someone coolly replied “oh, that is a funeral procession.”

I have already been to 3 funerals in the time that I have been here, and the saddest was this past weekend when I attended the burial of an 11 year old girl. Her name is Millicent and she is the niece of Anne (the lady I am living with). Millicent was HIV positive and it is suspected that she has been positive since birth. For the past few years she suffered from a skin disease and in December she had come to stay with Anne for a short while because the rash had become severely inflamed. During the time that she was with Anne, her rash improved and soon she was able to return home, healthy. Early last month she and her mother came to visit Anne and they stayed the night. This was the first and last time I would meet Millicent, sadly I didn’t get a real chance to talk to her, mainly because of the language barrier. I didn’t really even notice anything to be different about her and she seemed to be pretty healthy. About 2 weeks ago she contracted Malaria, and due to her vulnerable immune system because of HIV she succumbed to the Malaria. I have been to plenty of funerals in my life, but never before had I attended a funeral for a child. There is something inside you that screams “THIS IS NOT RIGHT!” when you see a casket made for child. We are left asking God “why?” And what can we possible say to a mother who is hardly able stand up and walk because her grief is too much to bear, especially when her child died of a treatable disease such as Malaria. As much I as I wanted to say something to comfort her, I knew there was nothing I could offer, but to just be there with her. Please pray for this mother, she is married to a man who has 2 other wives (a common rural practice in Kenya). She has not lived with him for the past 10 years, and now that her child is gone, she had to go back to him so that she could have a place to bury her daughter.

I know that God is working here, but sometimes the death that surrounds this place can be overwhelming and it is hard to see where God is breathing Life. A few weeks, before Jenny left, she posted a blog about this very thing. She was faced with the same question, “Lord, I know you are here, but where are you?” Everywhere we turn there are signs of death and destruction. Garbage filled streets, thousands of homeless street children rummaging through the garbage to find their next meal, dried out Maize fields due to drought, funeral processions filling the streets every week, crumbling houses and schools, News casts on how the terrorist group called Mungiki has killed 28 people. Where is God in the midst of all of this?

He is telling me, “I am here, just open your eyes.” I would try and write about how God is opening my eyes to where He is working here, but Jenny has already done that. You can call me a lazy blogger, but I promise she has done it much better justice that I could ever do, so here is an excerpt from her blog about Finding God in a place full of Death and Destruction:

“I knew He was here, and I knew he was doing something, but I was still overwhelmed with the fatalism Kenya seemed to be caught in. But slowly I started to see glimpses here and there, and I have started to have eyes that really see. God really has been here all along. He was in the smile of the old woman who was missing her teeth; He was in the enthusiastic greetings and thumbs up of the kids; He was in every heartache planting a seed of restoration; He was in the little moments of laughter the suffering people enjoyed; He was in my embraces with the sick; He was comforting me every time Cathis ran up with arms wide open for a hug; He was in the grass and trees pushing through the garbage; He was in the little baby who realized mzungu’s weren’t dangerous; He was in the hope he restores in people through organizations like LCW; He was in the prayer of the street boy George during Sunday school; He is in Chris’ crazy prayers over our food every night; He is in the friendships He orchestrated with everyone in the office; He was in the starving woman scavenging for vegetables yet still welcoming us in her home with prayer and thanksgiving; He was the only foundation holding up the crumbling house; He really was EVERYWHERE!
And I started to have new eyes. Where I had looked with my eyes and could only see hopelessness, dejection, and death, God was seeing something entirely different. It is exactly at this moment of fatalism and desperation that God sees His greatest opportunity for intersection. He sees the seeds He rooted from the beginning of time, being watered and nurtured to fruition. He sees the glorious harvest to come. He sees his Kenyan children gathered around him, and he knows why his son was given as a ransom for all.

I think when God looks down and sees suffering, when he looks down and sees the epitome of his creation- the ones he made in his image- hurting themselves and hurting each other, he weeps. He sees the wounds, and it hurts him more deeply than we could ever imagine. But instead of only seeing destruction, He sees redemption. Where we throw up our hands in disgust and helplessness, he loves more deeply and gets his hands dirtier, holding the brokenness in his outstretched arms. Instead of seeing all the pieces, He sees the redeemed whole.”

You see? I told you she has done a much better job than I could EVER do. God is opening my eyes to see Him in a way that I have seen Him before. He is teaching me to see through His eyes. Where I look and only see death and destruction, God sees life and restoration. He sees a broken life made new. He sees an oppurtunity to show is His love through His people. We are the body of Christ; when we extend a helping hand to those in need it is Christ being displayed in us. He is our hands that wipe away the tears of those grieving, He is our arms that extend to hug a child, He is our feet that walk across the garbage and muck to reach a family in need, He is our voice when we comfort those who need comforting.

Please pray that my eyes would continually be opened to where God is working here and in ways that I can be His hands and feet. Pray that I would not be overwhelmed with what I see, but that I would see what God sees.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen. For what we see is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

We see a Crowd, God sees individuals

2009-04-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

Even though we had Easter Monday off from work, things in the office were a little crazy this week and not as usual. In the midst of all the busyness; God had something to show me. Actually, it was someone he wanted to show me. No matter where you are in the world there are people all around us who are suffering and in need. We may not see the actual physical needs of some people but they are there and sometimes, especially here in Kenya, it is easy to get overwhelmed by all the needs that people have. Everywhere I turn there are street children sitting on the side of the road; dirty, hungry, waiting for nothing to happen……hopeless. My prayer the past few weeks has been for God to help me put a face to all these needs. It is impossible for me to help everyone here, even though every ounce of me wishes that I could. I am overwhelmed. Everything seemed be lumped together, just a bunch of people with a bunch needs, and I can’t do anything to help. So I have been praying for God to open eyes, and to put a face to all of the need here.

Last Thursday, the 10th of April, we were going out to the field to visit some of the orphans whom Jenny had not yet had a chance to meet. We were in a little bit of rush as there were several kids that we wanted to visit. Our first stop was to Joodan Primary School to visit Clinton Odhiambo, a 7 year old orphan who was taken into Life For Children’s program about one year ago. Upon arriving at this school, we noticed that the school has many children in attendance (a close guess would be around 500) and that there is not enough space to adequately hold them. The school rooms are made of large sticks and the walls are fashioned with mud. In some places the rains have washed away the mud exposing stick frame. For most schools in this area, that is the typical set up and I have seen schools that are in worse condition than this one; and what breaks my heart the most is that the conditions of the schools that these kids go to is the least of their worries. The school has very little resources due to the fact that it is run by the community and it does not receive support from the government. Despite these facts, the school is kept clean and it is evident that the Headmaster has a genuine passion for this school and the children who attend there. They have even been able to pool what little resources they have to be able to start a small feeding program for the children who cannot afford to bring their lunch.

After inviting us into his office, we learned that Clinton was not at school that day because the term had ended and it was not required that students attend. This is another amazing thing about this school. Even though they were officially supposed to be closed, children still came and the school opened its doors for them. The headmaster was very excited that we came to visit Clinton because he has been very worried for him the past few months. Clinton’s uniform was very dirty and in bad shape. The headmaster believes that it is because Clinton has been wearing it at home because he has no other suitable clothing. Also, we were told that Clinton’s guardian is very ill; we had already suspected this because Clinton has not been attending our bi-weekly fellowships at the office. Even though Clinton is facing many hardships, he is improving in his school performance. When Life for Children (LFC) first accepted him into the program Clinton was doing very poorly in school and had the lowest grades in his class. But now after being supported by LFC for one year, he has made great strides and improvements; after the first school term of 2009, Clinton placed 19 out of 70 in his class. His dramatic improvement proves that he is very bright and if given the proper materials and education, Clinton has a promising future that includes a chance to attend Secondary school and even one day University.

When we realized that Clinton was not at school and especially since we learned his guardian was sick, we went to visit him in his home. At first glance his house would be considered a typical house for this area. It is semi-permanent and it is fairly large, considering that most houses around here are usually cramped. It is a stick frame with mud walls, and looks as though at one point not too long ago, that the guardian, Cherlis, started to build up bricks around the walls, but the work has been stopped due to his poor health. As we entered the home we found Clinton and his guardian Cherlis. Cherlis was sitting on the couch very weak and hardly able to move. The effects of AIDS along with malnourishment are stamped on his face, almost every facial muscle and bone can be identified due to his thin and feeble frame. After speaking with him for a while, we learned that he has not been well enough to bring Clinton to the bi-weekly fellowships. He also told us that Clinton has started to do the cooking and washing for the family because he is too weak to do them. Already, the guardian is unable to adequately care for his dependents, but what happens if…when….he dies. Clinton and his sister will have nowhere to go.
The Lord has really pressed upon my heart that I need to stand in the gap for this child. Please pray with me for Clinton, his sister, and for his guardian. I don’t know what standing in gap for Clinton looks like, but for now I am going to do all that I know how….and that is to pray. In addition to prayer, I feel the Lord leading me to help provide for some of the physical needs of Clinton. LFC was able to purchase Clinton 2 new uniforms and I was able to purchase for him a new pair of school shoes. Clinton was so excited to receive these and never stopped smiling the whole time we were there. Today, Mary took me to town and we bought him some “new” (second hand) clothes and also got his sister two dresses. Then we went to the Supermarket and immediately the Lord brought to my mind that if Clinton and his sister do not have adequate clothing, they probably do not have adequate hygiene products, such as soap, toothbrushes, and toothpaste; so we were able to purchase them these items for both of them.

After talking with several people at Life for Children, I really feel that Clinton would benefit greatly by be able to go boarding school. There is a school about an hour from Kisumu, called St. Matthews Sironyo Academy. It is a very academically competitive school. LFC is already sponsoring 5 children to go to this school, and it is my prayer that Clinton would be able to have this opportunity as well. The only problem is that the school is rather expensive and I don’t think that Life for Children has enough resources to cover the tuition of a 6th child at this school. I am praying that God will provide the means for Clinton to have this opportunity, and I know that if it is His will, He WILL provide! Again, I ask that you please pray for this little boy and his sister. Let's stand in the gap together!

Grace and Peace,

Bethany:)

Living like Royalty

2009-04-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, when Jenny and I arrived home from the office, Cathis and her friend Elizabeth were playing in the sitting room. As we walked in one of us said “Hi Cathis and Hi Elizabeth,” and Cathis responded “I am not Cathis, I am Princess Cathis and this is Queen Elizabeth,” (as if we should have already known that they are royalty). Even though they were obviously pretending, there was no doubt in her mind that she was a princess and Elizabeth was a queen. So, from then on Jenny and I have been calling them by their respective titles of Princess Cathis and Queen Elizabeth; and they have given us the titles of Queen Bethany and Princess Jenny. This reminded me of when I was a little girl playing dress up in the land of queens and princesses; you could not have convinced me otherwise that I was not royalty. There is something inside all of that knows we are of worth and as children I believe that we are in tune with that fact. But as we grow older, we begin to realize (or think) that we are not royalty at all; that in fact we are just one of the regular, run of the mill, everyday people. Nothing special. We do not live in grand castles or wear brightly colored robes fashioned with expensive diamonds. Nope. Instead, life begins to weigh us down. After all, who has time to play dress up when there is work to be done and money to be made? We start to believe the lie that we are not of worth to anyone or anything. Sure, there are people who love and care for us, but there is still something always missing. There is a hole that cannot be filled, a longing to be worth more than life itself.

As believers we already know our worth to God. He is our father, the King of Kings. He has given his life for us and made us heirs into his Kingdom. That makes us Royalty. When we first become Christ followers, there is an overwhelming excitement that fills our souls. We want to tell everyone we know what Christ has done for us. But after a while, we tend to forget the initial joy and excitement that came with our salvation and the enemy steps in ready for attack. He brings to mind every sin and every short coming and even though we know we have been forgiven, a sense of unworthiness still manages to creep its way into our thoughts. We begin to ask questions like “Lord, how can I teach Sunday school when I get nervous speaking in front of people?” Satan’s number one attack on Christians is making us feel unworthy to be called Sons and Daughters of God. And what do we do? We believe the lies of Satan, and live our Christian lives hiding behind feelings of unworthiness and defeat. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have not done something God has called me to do because I felt unworthy or I felt like I don’t have what it takes. I am tired of living that way when I know that God wants me dwell in the fullness of His riches. I want to encourage us this Easter to re-visit the Cross of Christ, let’s bow down at the foot of the cross and experience the fullness of His forgiveness. Let us lay our feelings of unworthiness down and leave them at the Cross and Let us enter into the Fullness of Life through Christ. Let us live like Royalty in God's Kingdom.

“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:22-23

A Mighty Work

2009-04-05T05:16:00.001-07:00

I have told myself a zillion times that I was not going to revisit this subject; but Lord keeps laying it on my heart to share, so I MUST share.

As all of you already know, my first few days here we filled with a lot of angst as I was struggling with being homesick, missing all my friends, and to be honest, missing the comforts of home like air conditioning and sweet tea. It is really hard for me to talk about this time because in some ways I feel like that if I talk about it all those feelings are going to come back. Satan had pretty much convinced me that I could not handle life here for 6 months, and I felt like such a failure. Every time I would talk to my Mom I would start crying, and she would get frustrated with me because she couldn’t understand what I saying because I was crying so hard. I can’t even describe to you how hopeless and helpless I felt. But I believe that what I experienced those first few days was an attack of the enemy, he had declared spiritual warfare in my mind and in my heart. All I could think about was just being home and in my mind, that was the only thing that could make me better. If it wasn’t for the grace of God, I would probably not be sitting here in Kisumu, Kenya right now. You see, God has done a mighty work in my heart. The first Sunday I was here, one of the worship songs we sang in church was based on Psalm 51:9-12; which says:

“Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence or take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a WILLING spirit, to sustain me.”

These verses have become my prayer everyday that I am here. More specifically, my prayer has been for the Lord to “create in me a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me….and grant me a WILLING spirit.” Somehow between the time I left Birmingham and the time I arrived in Kenya, the enemy had taken a strong hold on me; my heart was not in the right place and my spirit was no longer willing. I wish I could tell you that the first time I prayed over these verses that I was instantly changed, but I cannot. It has been a process, and it is still an ongoing process. I wake up every day and these verses are on my mind and I am constantly praying over them; and God is answering. He is restoring me and I am very thankful for the time that He is allowing me to be here. The Lord has brought me a long way over the past 5 weeks. Friday morning it was Jenny’s turn to lead the morning devotions; we have been in the book of Galatians, but on this morning Jenny surprised us with drawings that she had made for each one of us (she is so creative) and they each had particular Bible verse on them that reminded her of something that we have taught her while she has been here. The one she put on my picture is Romans 8:37: “In all things we are more than conquerors in Him who loved us.” She said that it reminded her of me because she has watched me as I have overcome homesickness. I cannot tell you how much this has encouraged me, to know that we are MORE THAN conquerors in Christ; that no matter what our situation may be, Christ has already won the battle for us. I did not overcome the homesickness, but Christ in me was the strength and the only thing that could help me to overcome it.

Jenny also made an interesting point on her latest blog and it really struck a chord in heart. ((She is an amazing writer, and I am telling you that she will write a book one day and I will be the first person to buy it)) She said that so often she is tempted to say “Wow, God you really showed up today.” But that implies that God was never here in the first place, which is NOT true; He has been here and He has ALWAYS been here in BIG way. So she said that WE should show up where God is already at work. This has really stuck in my heart because I feel like so many times I am expecting God to come do a huge miraculous awe inspiring work right in front of my eyes, but to no avail I haven’t seen it. Why? Because I am looking in all the wrong places. For one, I have been looking for God to “show up” and I have totally missed the fact that He is already here; and He has been stirring the hearts of the people here. He is here when the sunrises and sets, He is here as Jenny and I walk to work every morning, He is here when we go to field and greet the guardians and orphans, He is here when birds poop on Jenny’s head, He is here when we are at the office and there is not much to do, He is here when I come home after a long day and Chris and Cathis run up to me and give me the biggest hug ….. HE IS HERE! And the best part of it all is that He is there with YOU, right now as you are reading this; wherever you may be. He is already there, all we have to do is just show up.

Please be in prayer for us over the next few weeks. Peter, the project coordinator for Life for Children is going to be away in school for the entire month of April, and Jenny will be leaving on the 15th. It is definitely going to be a lot different with two of them gone. I am not sure how much we will be able to go to field next week, but I will keep you updated. That is all for now.

Blessings,
Bethany

We have got some cathing up to do!!

2009-03-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry it has been a whole week since I last posted.....I know you are just dying to see and update! Things have been really crazy this week, but here you go and enjoy:)

Last weekend was my official first Fellowship at Life for Children. I was so excited because last week we did not get to go to the field very much and I really cherish the time that I am able to spend with the children. I really did not know what to expect, but I knew it would be a blessing!

I got to the office around 9am, and there were already of few of the guardians and children gathered. I went out and greeted them and sat with them while others arrived. I was really excited because some of the guardians who I have visited their homes recognized me and were happy to see me, and I them. Time is really not a big deal here in Africa, so even though Fellowship is supposed to start at 9, it never really gets started until around 10 or 10:30. Part of the reason for this is that many of the guardians and orphans have to walk 3-4 hours to get to the office.
To start off Fellowship, the children gathered around and sang us a few songs. I don’t know what the songs were because they were in Swahili, but nevertheless, I still enjoyed hearing their beautiful voices! After the children sang, one of the guardians got up and started sharing out of the book of Luke. Then Jenny and I handed out “sweeties” or candy as we would say in the US. The children were so cute as they each came up and got a sweetie; they would hold out their hand and bow or curtsey to us and say “Asanti” which means “thank you” in Swahili. Then while the guardians were getting Maize, Jenny made make shift jump ropes out of some string she had brought with her, and we played with the children. It was a great fellowship.

This week went by really fast, but there are a few things that I would like to share with you about this week. On Thursday there was a guy who came into the office and he wanted to take us to nursery school out in a slum area called Obunga. We drove into the slum as far we could go with the truck, and then when we couldn’t go any further we had to get out and walk. It was very short walk and as we approached the building, it was clear that this school was in a deteriorating state. The walls are made of sticks held together with a mud like substance, and in several places the rains have washed the walls away exposing the frame of the building. As we entered the one room school house, there were about 20 boys sitting on the left and about 20 girls sitting on the right; all between the ages of 3-5 years old. They were very excited to see us, and greeted us in English saying “welcome visitors.” In Kenya it is customary that every school require that all children wear uniforms, so one of the first things we noticed was that these children were not wearing uniforms; this particular school does not require the children to wear uniforms because the families cannot afford to buy them…..this is a rarity in Kenya, most schools will not accept children who do not have uniforms. The teacher of the class is young lady who I would guess to be around 25-30 years old, and she is very resourceful. The school does not have the funds to buy learning material so she has made make shift posters out of burlap sacks and has painted them with the alphabet and numbers so that the children can learn. During our visit, Peter asked the class to raise their hand if they had taken tea (breakfast) that morning and only about 10 of them raised their hands and when he asked them what they had many of them replied that they only had water for breakfast. My heart sank into the pit of stomach, most of these kids had not eaten anything all day and probably do not even know when their next meal will be, but they were still smiling and happy to see us. Unfortunately, Life for Children does not have the resources to help all of these children or to help this school a great deal, but hopefully we will be able to do something. The thing that breaks my heart the most is that this is probably the last school these children will be able to attend simply because their families cannot afford to buy school uniforms or pay the school fees for public school. Please be in prayer for this school and for these children, pray the Life for Children will be able to do something to help these children.

Also, Saturday (yesterday) I was in the Homa Bay area. Life for Children supports about 60 orphans in this area. Julie (a US missionary) lives out there and is the coordinator for that area; it is about a 3 hour drive from Kisumu, so Jenny and I went out there Friday night and stayed until Saturday evening. Our sleeping situation was quite interesting to say the least. First of all, there is not an extra bed in Julie’s house, but Peter has a set of bunk beds in the house that he just built. It was too late to bring the beds over to Julies, so instead we just brought over the mattresses. Now here comes the interesting part, there was only one mosquito net available for Jenny and I to use, so we put our mattresses side by side and put four chairs at each corner and somehow we were able to spread the net across the mattresses; it reminded of when I was little and me and my sister would make forts in the living room out of sheets. Jenny’s side of the net was very close to her face so she tried to scoot as close to my mattress as possible. It was a very funny situation and it is the stuff that the best memories are made of.
Saturday’s fellowship went very well. Julie had arranged for two nurses to come and administer free HIV testing for the guardians; I believe that the final results were that less than 10 out of about 50 guardians who came tested positive. While the testing was going on Jenny and I played with the children, and they taught us some of the games that they play. As we were playing and attempting learn the games, which is very hard when you don’t speak the same language, the guardians who were waiting to be tested were laughing and having a good time watching us. Julie later told Jenny that she had not heard the guardians laugh like that in long time. It was good to know that we could bring smiles to their faces and laughter to their voices. Isn’t it interesting how sometimes it is just the simple things in life that really make us happy? That is one thing I have noticed about the people here; they take time to enjoy the simple things, like taking a nap under the shade of tree or enjoying a cold soda with friends. I encourage us to do the same, when life gets frustrating, remember that there are people who are in much more desperate situations and yet they can still find joy in everyday life. Take a lesson from the Kenyan people….go take a nap under the shade of a tree and let the breeze calm your spirit……invite some friends over and talk over a cold glass of coke and fresh fruit……Enjoy life!

3 weeks old...Already??

2009-03-20T00:36:00.000-07:00

Today I am officially 3 weeks old! I arrived here on Friday Feb 27th, and I cannot believe how fast the past 3 weeks have flown by. It seemed like the first week went by so slowly, but now everything seems to be a blur.
On Sundays I have been attending church with Peter, Robert, and Jenny. They go to Fellowship Bible Church, it is a rather small church, maybe 40-50 on a good Sunday; and they meet in a local school building. Robert is in charge of Children’s Church and there is no one to really help him out, so Jenny and I are giving Robert a break and we are taking over Children’s Church for the time that we will be here. Jenny only has 3 ½ more weeks with us, so that means I will be flying solo once she leaves. I have to admit that I am little nervous about it, so please pray for me. There is couple who attend the church, Steve and Diane, they run a program for street children called Agape Children’s Home, and every week they bring with them about 10-15 kids, and typically we may have about 15-20 in children’s church all together. The church doesn’t have a lot of resources, in fact they have no resources when comes to teaching material or activities for the children. Last Sunday was our first time to do Children’s Church by ourselves, so we came up with idea to do a small series on the parables that Jesus taught and we focused on the story of The Good Samaritan. I was really surprised at how well it went. We sang some songs with the kids and then I taught the lesson and then Jenny handled the games. The children seemed to have a really good time, and they all memorized the Memory Verse which was “Love you neighbor as yourself” Luke 10:27. I believe that this week we will focus on the parable of The Rich Fool, located in Luke 12.
In terms of the office this week, I really did not get to do much. There is missionary couple from Georgia who came to visit from The Mission Society, Elliot and Catherine, they were on a vision trip and were feeling out the organization to see if this is where the Lord wants them to spend the next 3-5 years of their ministry. So, most of the week Peter and Robert took them around to the field, and Jenny and I were left at the office with Prisca and Mary. I am hoping that next week I will get to go out on the motor bike with Peter and maybe spend more time in the field. It is a tricky thing now that I am here; Jenny was able to go the field more when I was not here, because it was just her. Now that I am here, we have to split up our time, or we will all go in the truck. The truck is not very ideal for field visits because it uses more gas and it cannot go as far into the villages as the motorbike because it is too big. Tomorrow is Fellowship/Distribution day, so I am really looking forward to seeing the orphans and guardians again.
Thursday, Peter took me and Jenny to the Kakamega Forest. It is a National Forest here in Kenya and it is very beautiful. We drove around and climbed on rocks, well I didn’t really climb rocks, but Jenny and Peter did. I was too scared. We even saw some Baboons, but they were not interested in seeing us! Peter got out of the car to try and take a picture, but one the Baboons fell out of a tree and then started fighting with another one, so Peter got back in the car as fast as he could. It was reallyfunny.
Also, another funny thing that happened to me last night. As I was sleeping, my bed broke. Yep, it broke. I must have rolled over or something, and the next thing I knew, me and my mattress were on the floor. I was too lazy to get up and try to do something about it, so I just waited till my heart rate slowed down and went back to sleep.

Well, that is all for now. Thanks for all the prayers and please continue to lift me up! I love you all, and I am so thankful for each of you.

Holding on to the Rope,

Bethany:)

A New Name and a Few Stories to Share

2009-03-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

I have new name, it is Adhiambo (Ah-dee-ahm-boh), or “Adis” for short. Everyone here is given a nickname when they are born, and it is given to them according to the time of day they were born. I am not 100% sure but I think I was born in the late afternoon around 3pm, so they have given me the name of Ahdiambo, if I were a boy I would be Ohdiambo., just replacing the A with an O.
I have only been here for 2 weeks now and I already have several memorable moments that I would like to share with you all:
~ On one of my first feid visits we visited one of the orphans in their home. It was pretty far back in what I would consider to be a bush area or forest type area; the guardian chopped down some sugar cane for us and we sat under the shade of a tree and chewed on the sugar cane, I think it was at that moment that I realized I was actually in Africa.
~ One of the favorite foods around here is called Ougali (ooh-gah-lee). The only thing I can think of to be similar to it in the states is Grits, but it is not soupy like grits, it is served in a ball shape and you cut pieces of it and roll up in your hand, and then dip it in the juice of whatever it is you happen to be eating. My first experience with Ougali was very interesting, I kept looking for a fork or something to eat it with and then I realized that I was supposed to eat it with my hands.
~ Often times when we go to the field it doesn’t take long for word to get out among the children that there are Mzungu’s in the area. Mzungu (Mah-zoon-goo) is a word that is used for white people. Once we were walking along the path and a bunch of children came up to me grabbing my hands and arms and holding on to them as I was walking, and they just giggled and said “Mzungu, How are you? I am fine” all in one breath and they say it over and over again. It is quite funny, because that is the only English they know, so I am not really sure how to respond….I just smile and say “I am fine, how are you?” and they just giggle.
~ Also, on the same day as the story above, we came across a young child who had never seen a Mzungu before and she was shocked to say the least and it was clear that she did not want to have anything to do with us. But her mom started dragging the reluctant child over to me so I could shake their hand and then the child calmed down. I was quite funny and I will never forget the look on her face when her mom dragging her over to me.

That is all for now, until then Thanks for all the prayers and keep 'em coming!

Holding on to the Rope,

Bethany:)

My First Week in Review

2009-03-11T05:33:00.001-07:00

My first week as a “real” missionary did not go quite as I had expected it to. I am not really sure what I had in mind that I would do, but one thing is for sure I never imagined that I would have such a hard time adjusting to this place. When I was in the states all I could do was think about being here, and now that I am here, it seems that all I could do was think about being home. But now as I am starting my 2nd week here, things are getting better and I am settling in ((slowly)).
Saturday we were supposed to have Fellowship with the orphans at the office, but we ended up not having it because Mary’s brother died a few weeks ago and so we went to the funeral. But we did get to distribute the Maize to the families who came. I became broken before the Lord at one point during the time we were distributing Maize, because these children and their guardians had walked for 5-10 miles to come and get the food and then they were going to walk all the way back. I could never imagine being so poor and having to walk that far just to get food. I am not really sure how I was to supposed to feel, and all I can say is that I was broken, because I felt so helpless and guilty. Guilty because I have never been in such a desperate situation like that and I waste so much money on myself buying things that I can live without while there are people who cannot buy the things they need to live. And I felt helpless because I want to do something to help all of them but I can’t, and even if I could give them all the money in the world how would that help them? I don’t think it would, I think a lot of times we think that the answer to all our problems is to have more money and to get more things so that we can be happy. But really the only true thing we need is Christ, for he tells us in His word that “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor 12:9. That is one lesson I am learning over and over again here, that even though I am weak, He is strong, and because He is in me that means I can be strong.

A New Respect and Greater Appreciation

2009-03-03T06:15:00.000-08:00

My biggest struggle right now is battling loneliness. I am so homesick and all I can think about is being back home with my family and friends. I don’t know what my problems is, I am scared to think that my love for all the comforts I have at home is more than my love for serving Jesus. The afternoon times are the hardest for me around 4 and 5 I just become drained and exhausted. That is when I start thinking about my family and friends and I just want to go home. But at the same time, it is not like I am not trying to do anything. I am doing things; I have been to the office 2 days now and been to the field for a few hours. I have really enjoyed my time doing those things. But, I still not understand why my heart is longing to be home. I never in a million years would have ever imagined that I would have felt this way. After all, this trip has been in the works for almost one year now, and I know that the Lord has brought me here for a reason. Not sure what that reason is yet, but I am sure I will find out soon enough. If someone would have told me 2 weeks ago that I would feel this way now, I would never have believed them. I know for sure one way I have changed is that I now have a much GREATER respect for those foreign missionaries who serve full time overseas. I have much deeper understanding of what it means to sacrifice, whether it is sacrificing time with our family members or a sacrifice of living on a lower income. Also, in the short 4 days I have been here, I have realized how much my family means to me. You can ask anyone, I was never one to show much affection or to say affectionate words to the people I love, but now for sure, I will never let a moment pass by that I will not let my family know how much I love them, especially my mom. I don’t know why, but for as long as I can remember, I have put barriers up between myself and those who are close to me, but I now I am determined to take them down and not hide my true feelings. It makes me sad to think that the Lord had to take me thousands of miles away from home to make me realize this. But I am thankful to Him for showing me this.

Okay, well enough about me. I know you want to hear more about what is going on in the field. Like I said before today I was able to go and spend a few hours in the field with Robert, Peter, and Jenny. We went to Ayaro Primary School to visit two orphans named Eugene Okoth and Carolyn Aweno. I don’t know much about them except that they are sponsored by Life for Children (LCW). The head teacher was saying that Carolyn’s guardians had not yet paid her mid-term exam fees, and that sometimes the guardians will do not pay the fees with money that LCW gives them, but will instead use it some other way. I would post some pictures, but it would take all day and all night to upload them all.

Please continue to pray!

Love you all,

Bethany:)

Jambo (it means "Hello")

2009-03-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!! I have been in Kisumu for 3 days now and everyone here has been very welcoming to me. I am so thankful for the friends that I am making here, everyone is just so nice and very accomodating to anything that I need.

I am having trouble with getting a good internet connection here, and right now I am using Jenny's internet modem. I must be honest and tell you that this has been alot harder than I thought it would be. Life is alot harder here than it is in the U.S. But eventhough every ounce of my being wants to be back with my family and friends at home, I am sticking through it and getting out and experiencing the culture here. I believe that Culture Shock has set in alot faster than anticipated so Please pray for me in this respect, that my thoughts would not be consumed with how much I miss my family, but that my thoughts would be consumed with what the Lord has to teach me and ways that I can be His Hands and His Feet.

Well, I am going to end this post now and hopefully soon I will get a better internet connection. Please Please continue to pray, I desperately need them!

Holding on the Rope,

Bethany:)

Glory Revealed

2009-02-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

In a little less than one week from now, I will be boarding a plane and heading on a 24 hour journey to Kenya to spend 6 months of my life in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. As I reflect on the past few years, trying to pin point an exact time and place where I told the Lord “Here am I, Send me;” I can’t really think of one particular moment. It has been more a gradual ((growing)) process, rather than a one moment in time sort of thing. I know that I began to feel the Lord calling me into missions as a young teenager, but as I grew older and went to college, I never really seemed to “find the time” or really step out there seek opportunities, my mind was always focused on making excuses like “I need to graduate first” or “I really need to work and make money this summer.”

Well, about year ago, around this same time, my grandmother, who recently went to be with Jesus, invited me to come to her church and hear a missionary name Andrew Jernigan who was at that time serving as a missionary with his family in Ghana. During the speech, Andrew told of how his family needed someone to come and help his son with 1st grade homeschooling. After he spoke, I went to him and said that I would pray about it and consider coming to Ghana to help out with his son. He told me to go online and visit the website of his sending agency, The Mission Society (TMS). I did, and I completed the interest form and then soon after completed the internship application form. In mid August I was accepted into TMS, but with a different twist on where I would be serving. In the midst of applying to The Mission Society, Andrew and his family had to unexpectedly leave Ghana due to some legal issues that were beyond their control. A few weeks before attending the intern training, Anna (from TMS), asked me if I would still be willing to go somewhere else, and of course I said yes. I knew that there was no way that God would have brought so far and then just leave me hanging with nothing. Anna told me about Michael Agwanda and the ministry that he began in Kisumu, Kenya, called The Life for Children Ministry. This ministry seeks to serve children in Kenya who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. They provide food, shelter, clothing, education, and spiritual nourishment in Christ to the 121 orphans they have taken under their wing. While I am there, I will be working with these children, going into their homes and meeting their families, sharing with them the love of Christ; in addition I will be helping out in the office too, there are many behind the scenes details that need to take place in order for Life for Children to operate. I will be making myself available at every opportunity to serve the Lord and this ministry in any way possible while I am there.

As I look back on everything that has happened over the past year and half, I can only give credit to God for making all of this come together. God does not make His ways clear to us all of time, and sometimes we may think we are going in one direction, when really He is leading us in another. He only shows us one step at time; but one thing we can know for sure is that God will always get His Glory and one day all will see the Glory of the Lord Revealed!

A voice cries in the wilderness
Prepare the way of the Lord
And make straight in the dessert
A highway for Our God

And every valley will be raised
And every mountain be made low
And the ground, it will be level
And the rough places smooth

Then we will see the Glory of the Lord
All eyes will see the Glory of the Lord Revealed
Oh, the Glory of our Lord revealed!

Go up to a High Mountain
Lift of your voice with strength
Saying “See your God, Behold He comes with Power!”

Then we will see the Glory of the Lord
All eyes will see the Glory of the Lord Revealed
Oh, the Glory of our Lord revealed!

- Candi Pearson-Shelton, Glory Revealed “The Word of God in Worship”

Just a little bit closer............

2009-01-22T18:35:00.000-08:00

Once again, as I sit here and prepare to blog, my mind is flooded with all the events of the last few weeks. I am having a hard time deciding on where to start. So, I will just type as the thoughts come to me.

Today is Jan 22nd, which means that in just 4 weeks I will be boarding the Plane!!

Last Monday I was invited to come speak at the WINGS meeting. WINGS is a group of women at church who meet regularly to pray and study about missions. I am incredibly honored and humbled that they would ask me to come and speak to them. Now, as most of you know, speaking in front of people is definitely out of my comfort zone. I was so nervous, but I knew that Lord had given me this opportunity and there was no way I was going to turn it down. Fortunately, after the first few minutes of sharing my testimony, my voice stopped cracking and my lips stopped quivering. It turned to be a really great time of encouragement and I definitely felt the Lord using it to teach me and confirm further in my heart that this is His will. I want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to all of the ladies who were there.

The very next day, my sister-in-law Jamie was hospitalized with kidney failure....it was total shock. She developed of condition called TTP, which is a very dangerous blood disorder. She had to have several blood plasma transfusions. Thankfully, due to many prayers of many, after a week in the hospital she was able to come home and is doing well.

I have to honest with you all, there have been a few times this past week that I doubted whether or not going to Africa is what God wants for right now. Sometimes it so hard to determine between the lies Satan's wants you to believe and the truth that God whispers. I have been praying this week that God would open my eyes to the ways He is confirming to me that I am in His will by going to Africa. There are times when I get so scared and think there is no way I can do this, and then there are times when Feb 25Th can't get here fast enough. In the deepest part of my heart I know without a doubt that God is calling me to Kenya, He has been preparing my heart for this for a long time. I am asking that you please pray for me over the next few weeks, because I know that Satan is going to be on the attack, because that he wants me to do is board that plane. Also, please remember my friend Jenny as you pray, she is already on her way to Kenya. We will be serving together with the same ministry. You can see her blog at amazementinafrica.blogspot.com

Thank you to everyone for the support you have given me and continue to show!

Praise Him,

Bethany:)

It about time for an Update!!

2009-01-04T15:31:00.001-08:00

Hello!! It has been awhile since I have update this thing, but let me tell you there has been some pretty exciting things happen since my last post! First of all, and this has nothing to do with missions, but it is still very exciting, my sister Emily got married! Here are a few pics of the wonderful day:

And the second exciting news that I have to share is that I finally have a departure date and plane tickets!! I will be departing from Birmingham on Feb 25th and I will be returning Aug 16!! I can't tell you how excited and nervous I am all at the same time! There are so many emotions that go along with this. I think the first emotion that I felt was of course excitement, and then I finally felt a sense of realness (is that even a word?), it just all suddenly felt real to me that this was actually going to happen. The day before I bought the tickets, Beth Moore posted a verse on her her blog (livingproofministries.blogspot.com); and it is Luke 1:45 which says "Blessed is she who believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" and below it she wrote the simple words "Believe Him." As you already can tell this verse is about Mary and her unwaivering faith in what God was going to do in her life; she would bring forth the Son of God on this earth. What an amazing thing for God to do in the life this young woman. I know it sounds crazy and maybe even a little self absorbed, but when I read the verse on her blog, I just felt in that moment that God had placed it there specifically for me to see, God was/is telling me that what He has been telling me in my heart for so long was going to be accomplished and all I need is a faith like Mary had!

Impressions

2008-11-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

This summer I was able to spend 10 days in South Africa on a mission trip with my church. While we were there, we met so many wonderful people who love the Lord and have a sincere passion to share the gospel of Christ. Of all the people we met, there was one person who left a huge impression in my heart. Her name is Mama Jeanetti, and she lives in a squatter by choice. Everyday, pre-school age children go to her house to seek safety and shelter from life in a squatter camp. She teaches Bible storiesf and songs. She also teaches them scripture verses in English. One of the most incredible moments God allowed us to be apart of while we were there was hearing the children sing Jesus Loves Me and reciting John 3:16. She truly shines the light of Jesus in a dark place. There is even a Sangoma (witch doctor) a few houses down from hers. These children live in what seems to us to be a hopeless situation, however, God has shined His light on their lives through Mama Jeannetti. There is no doubt that God is using her in big way to raise a mighty generation of Christ followers in South Africa.

Mama J

The kids running out to greet us, they were so excited. I will never forget the sound!

Before going to Africa we made little care packages with travel size toiletries and face towells in them. We were able to take these with us to Mama Js. The children were so excited to get these. We also braught toys with and we had some little baby dolls. The little girls we all able to have brand new baby doll, and Mama J told us that these dolls were probably the frist brand new dolls the girls have ever had. There sweet little faces just lit up when the held the dolls!

Passing out the care packages

Sweet Babies showing off their new baby dolls

Beautiful Faces

This is Vanessa; How could anyone forget her with that hair?

Precious Memories

Steps Of Faith

2008-11-26T19:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this is my very first attempt at a blog so please bear with me!

As many of you already know (and just as many probably don't know yet) I am currently in the process of raising funds in order to go to Kenya for 6 months in the spring of 2009 through and organization called The Mission Society (www.themissionsociety.org) I am very excited about this opportunity. While in Kenya I will be working with The Life for Children Ministry founded by Michael Agwanda (www.lifeforchildrenministry.org). This organization provides financial support and spiritual nurishment in Christ to children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Ever since I was about 12 years old, I have known that God was calling me into missions. At the time, I was not really sure how all this would turn out; and after many years of wondering when God would allow me the opportunity, I finally realized that maybe....just maybe...it was time for me to step out on faith and be pro-active in seeking out ways to serve Him. I say that because, I for so many years I struggled with knowing that God has called me to do this but not really knowing how or where to start. I guess I thought that it would all magically appear to me in a dream, and God would lay a plane ticket on my front door step or something. Wouldn't that be easier? I mean, it would take some of the guess work out of it. But I don't believe that God works like that. James 1:2-4 says "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." I believe that God makes us take "steps of faith" so that He can use these times of uncertainty to show us what faith looks like lived out; and to refine us so that we may become mature in our faith, "lacking nothing." Can you imagine what a mess of missionary I would have been if God would have laid that plane ticket on my door step? I don't even want to entertain the idea! Thank you Jesus! I am so thankful because I would have never had the chance to partner with The Mission Society. Every step has been a challange, from the application process to attending the intern training. I have had to place my trust in God and allow Him to position my heart to focus solely on Him (and that is a challenge everyday in this society of "me first" mentality). Please pray for me as I contiue to take steps of faith on this journey. One particular area is fund raising. I know that God is going to provide the financial means that are needed in order for me to go, what I don't know is how!! But I am beleiving that God IS going provide!

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand,

Bethany:)