Here I am, Send me.

Our first week of outreach was amazing. Many gave their hearts to God. We lead a very successful youth and kid program. We worked hard as we traveled from house to house ministering to the people. This week has been the same program, but last week we planted the seeds and now we are harvesting. We have a church service every night except for Saturdays and almost every night we have had people coming to the Lord, there has been revival, visions being released, demons have been taken out. God's touch and presence is so tangible during the services. These two weeks we have just been focusing on a certain area in Jbay that is around the AOG church because the church we work with is doing a conference. The vision is to transform the community in one day. So its been really cool. Our team for the first week was very united, we had a lot of fun. As this week has been going on more people on our team have been tired and weary. We are starting to realize how much we need to spend time with God BEFORE we go out to the community. We need to let God minister to us before we can minister to others. We had a sickness that went around our team during the week. We have had some attitude problems but what can you expect when there are so many personalities with each other. This is our last week in Jbay and then both teams will be heading out. The South African team will be going around on the Garden Route all by God's mercy, He has been providing everything thats been needed to make the travels so far and most of the places they are staying are giving them free stay and free food which is amazing. Their first stop if God wills is going to be Uitenhage for 1 week.

The Madagascar team continues to change, all we can do is praise God because one of the girls that is from South Africa will be joining the Madagascar team. God is just so cool because she had been praying about going to Madagascar for awhile now, and she had been on a couple of our hearts for awhile. So we got together and figured out how we could raise money for her. She has all her money for the South African outreach and so God ended up providing the rest for her which is amazing. She will now experience what it feels like to travel by plane, she will experience things that only come once in a life time which ahhh its so cool. I am also back on the South African team, I was called here in the beginning and so Dan spoke to me again and aksed if I really felt good about going to Madagascar. I stayed up all night in a tree haha just praying and I kept getting the song lyrics “where you lead me Lord I will follow, where you lead me Lord I will go.” Also when I was praying I realized that Madagascar is the comfortable place for me to go, I would be with people from baiscally the same culture, there would be good food, and organization. I know God did not call me half way across the world to stay in my comfort zone. So I let Veronique take my place on the Madagascar team, its just so amazing really. I am now so happy, I don't even mind if we stay in Jbay, because these past two weeks God has been opening my eyes to see how much THIS PLACE needs him, how much this place is broken and hungry for God. Where you lead me Lord I will follow. So yeah that is a little update. Continue to pray for attitudes and unity.

Decisions Decisions Decisions

Prayer requests:

That the fear of God really starts to come into our hearts, that we begin to have a new respect towards who we are serving.

Pray that our attitudes will resemble that of Christ.

That our words will be always encouraging.

Pray against anger, and again the spirit of giving up.

--oh update about the people leaving, man God is good. Ok sooooo as of now no one is leaving (hahah gotta love YWAM)

we fought for one of our leaders to stay, Dan spoke to him and agreed to let him stay.

The one who wanted to leave, talked to Dan and realized his spiritual life is more important this how well he can speak english.

Then that leaves the two that just wanted to leave, they also talked to Dan (this guy I tell you, man he is powerful haha) and decided it was best for them to stay.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

This past week was interesting.

As of now, (its YWAM so it can change in a second), we have 4 people leaving our school. Two are getting kicked out for drugs, two are wanting to just give up, and one is confused on what he is supposed to be doing.

Looking back on this week I have learned more then ever that my attitude determines my altitude, if I want to let other people get me down then also I will be in the same boat they are with wanting to give up. I decided to do a juice fast all last week and at first it was because I wanted to see what my role was for my outreach team. But as the week went on I realized it was to stand in the gap for my fellow students who were becoming very weak in spirt, heart, and body. So the past three nights I have not gotten much sleep because God keeps putting different people in my head so I pray and pray into the early hours of the day. It has been really good though. I can only see the positives that are coming out of this. God knows, he has this plan that already has been worked out, he is now in the process of weeding out the people who are willing to go out and do what he calls, and getting rid of the people whos attitudes are just rotten. My team is down to 1 leader, and 5 students if the two that want to leave actually leave. At first I was like man I wanted a bigger team, but again God is not looking for numbers he is looking for the ones who are WILLING and able to go out and make His name known.

We are down to a week left here at the base until we leave for outreach. I am not sure how much time I will be able to access on the internet, but I will try my best to keep you guys updated.

Prayer:
I need prayer that my attitude is different, that I will always be filled with the spirit and the fruit that comes along with it.
Pray for the team, against the spirit of giving up, and for a new spirit to come into this place that is filled with encouragement.
Continue to pray that we have faith for God to provide the money almost all of us need still to pay for our outreach fees.
Pray that we begin to focus on the positives instead of dwelling on the negatives.
Pray for leadership that they become unified.

Nations 2 Nations, and Relationships

Update timeeeee.

Whooo alot has happened since the last time I blogged. Two weeks ago we did an event called, N2N (nations to nations) it was held in a couple churches around Jbay. Our base had another base from Cape Town that stayed with us so that was exciting, there were many new faces which was refreshing to see. Nations to Nations is an event where...well nations come together from all over to worship. We had some different speakers come and encourage us a lot, it had a focus on going out into the nations to make His name known which is awesome. My calling was confirmed almost everyday that week, which was incredible. This place, it is where I am supposed to be, this place is where I will have the opprotunity to go out into other places of Africa to do mission work. But now I am focusing on just being intimate with God. Being able to just go and sit at His feet, explain my problems, and to feel truley satisfied in His presence. It actually was a challenge to begin to go to Him before I went to other people, because I am so used to just running to someone else. But man has it been SO MUCH more rewarding, I have felt a peace that only God can give.

This past week our speaker was a couple from, East London South Africa. They are in the process of pioneering a base that focuses on restoring families, restoring people who came from broken families, and just helping new couples and stuff be able to bring up a good healthy family. Anyways they spoke on opposite sex relationships, which is always well needed. The main topics were courting and purity so it was really good. One thing that really stood out to me is when they talked about being 'mr right'..they said, stop trying to find mr or mrs right, start to BECOME mr or mrs right, so when the person comes to you they know you are right. Ahhh I loved it so much it was such truth. Like why keep worrying about finding someone when I should be the one finding myself and preparing myself for him. Hmm it was good. We also did a character test it split up 16 personalities in 4 main categories so that was really good. It was really nice to be able to see how all of us work, why some people we get along with better, and what our weaknesses are. I was a mix between a lion and an otter, my weakness was that of a Lion so I tend to run over people with my words and can become aggressive in my leading at times. But my strengths are leadership and also being able to mix with many people. Haha it was so good for all of us to figure out who we were dealing with. It was a long week, but such a rewarding week, we all had a bunch of laughs because the couple that taught us was ALWAYS making jokes. My friend Lisa said, “the class was so nice, now I know not all Christian couples are boring.” it was so funny, man you could tell that teaching together on this topic is what they were meant to do, it brought them so much joy to be able to prepare us for future relationships. It all starts with the family, that is how all of our influences start, if something goes wrong in the family it also goes wrong in the society.

This weekend both teams started to do some fund raising, my team decided to sell clothes (our clothes) and food. We have been selling for two days and have made some good money. I was laughing because man I am coming back home with hardly anything I came here with. But it is good, its been so humbling being here and being able to bless people with the things I had been blessed with at a time. So we will continue to fund raise up until we leave and even while on outreach, because my team is the team that has no money. I am the ONLY white person on the team so it should be interesting hahaha I am going to love it, and sometimes be so frustrated I want to kill someone. But I know that God has His hand in everything, that I will really grow so much on outreach. I hope to come back an even more patient person. Hmmmm so that was kind of what has been happening. We have one more week left of lectures, I am not sure what the topic is yet but I hope it is spiritual warfare because that is one topic that needs to be addressed. After next week our last week we will be busy preparing dramas, dances, songs, teachings and activities for outreach. We leave the 4^th of December to do two weeks in Jbay (do not worry we wont be stuck at the base, we will be traveling around to different peoples houses) and then I think we will go back to Uitenhage for one or two weeks. Time is getting close, I am still 600 bucks short for fees, so if anyone of you guys would like to help support, just contact me on facebook. Or Write a comment and I can give you my bank account number.

Prayer Requests:

School fees for everyone, and for the faith that God can do all things.

Unity with each team, leaders included.

Against sickness, anger, and pride.

For a sense of humbleness amongst us all, that we can see, and serve before we are asked.

Pray for leadership, that they can really connect and begin to help us prepare for outreach.

Lastly pray for a renewed spirit, for strength, patience, and for a new passion to come alive for everyone.

I personally need some divine wisdom on how to deal with bad attitudes, conflict, and to see into situations that cant be seen from just a normal prespective.

Hope everything is going well, I miss you guys and love you all!

HAHAHA

ok so sorry about never commenting back, I JUST now realized that I even had comments, I thought they would be sent to my email...guess not. So thanks for commenting hahaha.

Our God is an awesome God

So last week our team went to Uitenhage in South Africa for a short mission. We were beyond blessed throughout the whole week. All of us were split up to live with different families from the church we were working with. And man that was an experience in itself, my friend and I ended up staying in a shack with a family of four. We shared a twin size bed and had a leaking ceiling hahahaa, it ended up raining so much we had to move out of the house to a different family so we would stop getting wet while sleeping. Both families wow they were so welcome and accepting to us. That was probably the biggest thing for me, how open the people were to us. We had women of the church cooking us all three meals for the whole three weeks, and we did not even have to pay for them it was all blessed to us. Our team learned so much about unity. God really broke us individually as well, for me it was my pride, which was long over due. We did a lot of door to door evangelism which was really awesome, any house we walked into would offer us everything they had to eat or drink it was amazing. There were a couple people on our team that literally slept in a horror movie house. They had to fight with demons for two nights straight without sleep, it was pretty intense. Overall it was very successful, we learned about our athority we have in Christ, and just in general how much we need to all be united in order for our ministry to be effective.

The week now that is just ending our speaker talked about Prayer, which was a very good topic for all of us. Its been really good to be able to practice prayer and to understand why God needs us in the first place to pray. We are getting ready for Nations 2 Nations which is a huge worship thing that is happening in JBay with our base and three other big churches. There will be speakers, and alll kinds of nations together worshiping in our own way. It will last a week, but man we have been cleaning this base like crazy. Its looking very very nice! Ok OK I almost forgot, wow ok on Thursday we did this activity where our speaker challenged us to pray about the things that were keeping us distracted from God and to give them up. He challenged us to find seven things that we could give away to other people to bless them. So we got an hour to pray about it. and well lets just say I don't have many electronics left. Its been something ever since I got here, like man I have wayyy too much stuff, more then I ever will need in my lifetime. But it was amazing how life changing this exercise was, it was really hard for some people to give up stuff. But I received this Gold necklace that was passed down from a Madagascan King, man the significance behind it was so great to the person who gave it to me so I felt so blessed to receive something like that. It was so crazy how much joy you get from giving things. And it was also crazy how much God was speaking through every gift. No one got something twice, and everyone got exactly what they were needing at that time. It was incredible. God is so good.

Prayer request:
Nations 2 Nations-just that instead of focusing on the event, we focus on the real reason behind it, God.
Patience
Our DTS unity
Just for our overall focus to be on our realtionships with God.
We have gotten our outreach teams and fees, so pray for money.
Many of us have the flu, all the girls do at the moment, so just that we can all get better.

Attitude is key

I will write more later, its really late and I"m exhausted!

Ok so the past two weeks have been amazing, lots of good things have happened.
We leave Sunday to Utang (i think thats how you spell it) for a week long mission. We will be working with churches, cleaning, building you know all that good stuff.

Pray for unity, we have much disunity at the moment, which stinks. But just pray God convicts the ones who need to get things settled! Pray for a divine protections against Satan, he is already trying to take us out one by one. People have been getting hurt, sick, random pains.. excreta

God is continuing to move in this place. I love it.

10/4-10/8

Mmm mmm mmm so a lot has happened in a week. I’ll attempt to just update you guys. Last week Marcus something from Germany spoke to us about worship and intimacy. Wow it rocked me, in a good way. I was very convicted on the way I had been worshiping and this box I put worship into. Marcus being ere has opened my eyes and brought a whole new meaning on worshiping. 


I realized my engagement when I worshiped was based solely on the voice of the person leading it. If he or she was off and sang out of tune, well the determined weather or not I was able to engage or not. Why? Why was I letting someone like that stop me from worshiping my father? It was because my  heart, when someone started singing off tune I stopped focusing on the real reason I began to worship in the first place. Where instead I should not care and just be extremely  honored at the fact that I have time set aside to worship and be with my father. I can’t tell you how wonderful worship is now, its amazing. Its like I have found this new freedom. Hmm ahh its good.


I have really enjoyed this speaker for the week, he likes being around us which makes a huge difference. Instead of just being our speaker he wanted to talk to us, and be around us more then just lecture time. The speaker the week before..whooo we NEVER saw him outside of the lecture hall. That is besides the point, Marcus’ style of teaching is very interactive so that has been nice, not very many people are falling asleep which is nice.


We do this thing called masiphumelele which is mandatory work for everyone, but instead of that on Wednesday we ended up playing soccer, and it was actually really fun. We all worked together and I even scored a goal hahahaa that was a big achievement if you saw my skills on the field hahahaa. 


After soccer we had base worship, which was a very disturbing experience for me. The girl leading it had previous drama with another girl and so she (the leader) kept using God to get these jabs at the girl. It felt very evil ahhh belch enough about that ok so after the messy worship we started lectures. Whoooooooooo it was so cool.


Marcus only talked a little bit and we ended up doing this activity thing. So he told us a story about his son who is a toddler. The boy, Ethean drew him a picture and was so proud of it. But the picture sucked, it was just scribbles. Marcus said, “and did I tell him that he drew it all wrong, that he is not going anywhere in art? NO! because I was SO HAPPY that he would take time out of his day to draw me that picture I did not care about the flaws!” I felt so encouraged by that story. Something I’ve heard multiple times but really got today. Going off the story we got an hour and a half to make something for God. It could be anything a painting, rap, dance, song, poem whatever and once the 1 ½ was over we would come back and present it before God.


So we walk in and they did this throne thing and we all took turns just soaking up God’s presence. One guy even was delivered from a demon! It was so crazy because you would kneel down and just immediately starting crying, it was like he was sitting before you saying its ok I forgive you or whatever you needed. It was so humbling to watch my brothers and sisters be so real with God for the first time. Yeah man whoo Wednesday was just good, the night ended with a random swim in the ocean at like half past 7 it was so fun haha.


Lets see whatelse happened, we went on a silent prayer walk through the community that was cool. It continues to blow my mind at how just a simple smile or hand shake can bring so much joy. So many people are deprived of love here, especially the kids. We walked through this one section not saying anything and the kids saw us coming, seriously probably 20 kids ran up to us and just jumped into our arms they had never even seen us before! I love it here still so that’s good. If you guys ever want more detail in the teachings or anything just let me know. This week is called the Devine Plumb line, its supposedly the most intense week of DTS, where you share everything about your life. There will be many tears but also much healing.


Request:
Maturity among the girls.
Visa papers and passports figured out.
Many people still need to pay fees that they don’t have this is not cheap here.
Continue to pray against distractions (boyfriends, food, phones, memories)
Pray for hearts to be healed this week, that we all come in with an open attitude to really open up and change. 
God is going to do some big things, so also pray against feelings of despair and the spirit of not being able to continue of giving up.

9-28

I have grown to love how this place is lead by the spirit. My heart has been broken more in these past two weeks then ever before. God is seriously moving among the girls on my DTS. So many of them like I was saying earlier have built up these walls, to the point where they basically don’t know who they really are. But today during class we were talking about Gods call, how there are three callings.

The first on is the general calling, the ones we all are called to do, like love god, love others, be a disciple all that good stuff.
The second one is a specific calling, which is something I’m still trying to sort out. Because yes I do believe that God has put something in our heart that we should do as long as its glorying him and following in his footsteps, but there is still not anything I have found in the bible that says God has a specific path for each and every one. Granted I have not read the bible in full, so if you do have scriptures that back that up, by all means share it with meJ
The third one is vocational call, which Wilson (the speaker) described as not necessary, like an extra thing I guess he would say. Like your skills and stuff. I am not sure if I agreed with that, because I think your skills and talents go hand in hand with your specific calling. Because if you think you are called to play guitar and be a worship leader but you cant sing on key…well then you don’t have the skills to lead worship, but then I guess it would not be from God? Hmm.

But wow today was so powerful Wilson was talking and all of a sudden he felt what I had been praying for. That there were people that have been so hurt that they continue to fake, that finally they are tired, that they can’t handle this mask they have put on, that the walls they have built have finally started to crumble bit by bit. Ahhh it was so good, five girls came up and were healed. Seriously wow it was so powerful, these girls were weeping, and falling, and just finally feeling Gods love. Feeling finally that they were worthy, that they were beautiful.  It was awesome to experience such fellowship, because these girls came up and by the end we all were up around them praying and praying for these girls. It is the start of something, seriously God is moving in this place. Mmm I am so thankful for Gods love and grace.

This already has been such a huge learning experience. Its been a huge test of patience, and standing my ground. The guy that asked me to marry him has chilled, so that is an answer to my prayers ha-ha my goodness. I have learned how to adapt to the cultures here, its crazy. We have three people from South Korea, and the girls name is Sue, she does not understand English very well, and is not confident in speaking, but she is hangin in there. I was able to talk to her today and found out she is a youth pastor, so sweet.

We have a guy here Phumnlani, he came here from Jbay. He was a street kid, he is now 24 but acts very young. From what I have learned he came from a very poor area just up the street and was abused did drugs and fought a lot because he got made fun of. Anyways, he has come not being able to read or write. But I have become a teacher haha, and the past week we have been working on writing, sounding words out all that stuff. He has been doing so good, today during lectures Keith one of our leaders said he wanted us to sit down and write down all the things we wanted to lay down at the cross because later we were going to burn them as a symbol that they were over with. Well guess what, Phumnlani fricken wrote! He obviously spelled things very wrong, but I was so proud of him, we corrected his mistakes and he rewrote everything, wow I could not believe it. In one week he is already forming sentences. MMMM praise God.

We had our first small group tonight, I really enjoyed it. God is a hilarious God, he put the two guys that annoy me the most in my small group to rub it in my face that patience is what I will perfect this DTS. Hahaaa he has put them in my life to teach me many great skills, so I can’t wait. After small groups when I was teaching Sue the lesson from today all of a sudden she was like “you wan Korean noordles???” haha so all the Koreans went to the kitchen, we all followed and we had a dance party while they coooked. It was so wonderful haha of course the noodles were very spicy but we have missed spice on the base! Whoo man my lips are still burning. But I need to go to bed, gotta wake up at 5am to run tomorrow. Wednesday is our fasting day, oh halleluiah.

Prayer requests:
Pray that the 5 girls will continue to be shaped and molded. That they will be ok in their own skin, and that they start to show their real self to everyone and take the mast off.
Pray for drug addictions, there are some people here that I know on the weekends are not making the best decisions, so just pray for conviction, and then action.
People are still holding onto things, pray God is able to clean out the smallest things we hold onto.
Our outreach will be to Madagascar and also India, along with three weeks traveling around South Africa so pray now for protection, that we can be strong and always in prayer.
Pray for a spirit of urgency, pray we can all use our gifts to reconcile South Africa I believe it will be done.
Pray for our school fees, many students still have not paid anything and are having faith in God that he will come through.
Last but not least, pray that everyone will get their visas and passports all figured out for outreach.

9-27

I have not had internet time for awhile now, sorry anyone who has messaged me or anything. Its starting to really add up, so I’m trying to watch it. I found a coffee place that gives you free wi-fi if you buy coffee, so thank goodness that is where I will be going now, because buying internet is a waste of money on the base.

Our speaker came for this week, his name is Wilson, and he actually founded this place 25 years ago. So the big papa has returned. I really really reallyyyy like his teaching style. He is speaking all week on Discipleship, the call of God, what the call of God is, responding to the call, the cost, and laying down your own wants and desires. So I am pretty excited about this week. Wilson is very funny, and very inspiring already.

We all have continued to get along, which is a relief, there are still some people that I have to really work on patience with, but it’s a good experience. I’m growing up.
OHHH I HAND WASHED MY CLOTHES FOR THE FIRST TIME THE OTHER DAY. I am now a woman. Except I’m never doing it again, because the crap didn’t dry, I left it out all fricken day and it did not dry..so Laundromat here I come! Haha I want my clothes to be dry you know?

Today was a very good day. Diego came back today, it had been a couple days since he had showed up. But praise God he had new clothes on, oh my seriously I love this little boy. He was back to his normal self, laughing, goofing around. But a couple of us decided to go out to dinner, because I needed a salad so I got that thank GOD! Whoooo but we brought Diego with us and oh my goodness it was the nicest thing. I don’t know if he had ever been in a restaurant before, so he was seriously so happy the whole time. Wow and on the way back he started singing worship songs, and we just all linked arms and sang the whole way back to the base. He was laughing and smiling the whole way, which has been not normal for him the past couple weeks. Its like maybe things are turning around for this boy. He still makes me so sad though, ahh its almost unbearable to walk down the streets and know these little boys walk around with no place to go.

Going off that, I feel pulled to come back to start not necessarily an orphanage, but some sort of safe home. Some place where these kids, even adults can come and sleep without trouble. Where they can find clothes, and eat. Where they can shower, and possibly even learn how to read and write and just do normal things like clean, help cook that sort of thing.  And it will be right here in Jbay, because seriously right behind the base looks like a dump, but people are sleeping, living, freezing. Ahh its crazy, and you know whats funny, it would be so easy to get the money for something like this, because our dollar is like 7-10 rand. So our money goes a long way here. Obviously its not an easy thing to just whip up, but it is so possible. Because our God is a huge God, and this is something after His heart.

Prayer request:
Pray for the street kids, that they could be delivered from drugs, abuse, homelessness, and hopelessness
Pray that our DTS continues to grow together
Pray for masks to be removed, and for walls to seriously break, because a lot of these girls have gone through more then imaginable, and they are so used to faking everything.
Pray for the health of everyone here.
Pray for the July DTS, they are on outreach right now and one groups bus has broken down, so they have not been able to go very far. But already they have faced so much evil. Witchcraft is huge around here.
Pray for protection against Satan, that the DTS can be strong and put their armor on every day.
Pray for the Jbay community, there are so many broken homes and families, so much crime and addictions. But I believe God will restore them, it already looks like they are on their way.

9-26

I’m at a loss for words at the moment. This past week I have been so broken. The street kids that come here seriously break my heart. I have spent almost every morning talking with this 12 year old boy Diego, He has my heart more than any of these other boys. This kid has Tuberculosis, he wont take his meds. He sniffs glue and does weed, so the glue alone eats away at any kids immune system, so he basically does not have much longer to live if he does not stop using drugs and does not start taking his medication. He is a street kid, his dad is not in the picture, and his mom is an abusive alcoholic. He has no hope, which is why he has turned to drugs, he stands in front of stores and begs for money so he can get high. Ahhh he wow he breaks my heart. You can just tell when you look at his face, he wears the same clothes every day, and always smells like smoke. I love this boy, and I have been experiencing how God’s heart breaks for his children this past week. Every time I see him I just cry.

There are a couple guys here, well a lot of the guys that are doing their DTS, or some other school had a very similar story to Diego. I was talking to a man named Darren, he did meth was in a gang, used to do anything to get the drug. He sold it, he severely hurt people, anything just to get this drug. He was a mess, but one of those incredible stories where he suddenly just broke. I actually wrote a rap…hehe

The kids go without hope
Lost confused dirty with no soap
Pushed out in the streets smoking dope
So hard to bear, the can hardly cope
It starts with everyone joking around
Turns into the prime token that’s found
Suddenly bound, can’t be unwound
A couple years later, on the ground
Fears in a mound
Finally something breaks they burst into tears
After all these years no need to search any longer
For the lord takes those who thirst and hunger
Forgiven and restored
Humbled by the fact that Christ has opened the door
All he ever wanted to do was pour into your life so there could be more
With less worry
They turned the mess around, found a nice wife
Now their story did not happen without strife
There was pain and loss but in the end so much gain of life
Because HE reigns
Broken are the chains
HALLELUIAH HE STILL REMAINS

If you could pray for these street kids, most of them are boys. But they roam the streets at night, they start trouble, fight, do drugs, they have nothing warm to wear only the clothes that they have on their back. It has been a really cold start to summer, very windy, so its not normal and people are freezing.  There is no where for these kids to sleep, no place for them to just go and sleep without trouble finding them. Its very sad.

9-22

Today was Wednesday, and every Wednesday we fast for the people in the community. Its really cool actually, it was hard for a lot of people because they had no idea why they were doing it. Its hard for a lot of people because the staff expects us to just know when and why we do things you know? So a lot of people are getting dragged into things that they just don’t know anything about, which is bad. So if anyone has a good verse about fasting then share it with me, I used matthew uhhh 6 or something, when it talks about not boasting about your fast. But I know there is so much more. So pray that the staff can know how to explain to everyone the reason behind certain things, and that everyone will understand.

Also pray for this community. You walk one direction down the road and you see nice businesses and homes, and you walk to opposite way and you see garbage piles, kids running around with no shoes, houses that look like a worn down play house. Its so crazy, what these people live with. Uhmm ok so at 1pm every Wednesday we split up into groups and we pray around the town for different things. Our group today went to the housing area, the klosa community they called it and we ended up passing a primary school, some of the people in my group felt we needed to go into the school, and tell these girls that they were beautiful, that Jesus loved them..boys too. But we walk in, and right away this beautiful little girl around 4 years old walks up to me, and wanted to be held. It broke my heart because these kids are growing up in such crappy situations, they don’t know what a real love is like. They have never been told well some of them I can’t speak for all, they have never been told they are loved, they are worth while, that they are talented. Love is lacking so much in this community. There are gangs all over the place, there are drunks walking the streets day and night. Sounds like the cities. But wow it was a very eye opening thing to be apart of, and it was awesome to show this little girl some love, some real genuine Jesus love. The families are so broken, men are leaving their wives, the wives are leaving the homes, and these kids are looking after their siblings. Hmmm it’s a hard thing to see, but a very good thing to be apart of. God will restore this place,  he will.

Us girls have started a prayer meeting they call it, we get together once a day to talk through how we are feeling, what we are going through that sort of stuff, and then we pray. We all need patience, and respect towards one another, we are getting along fine now, but once the DTS goes on, I know we will go through some tough things. So just pray we have the strength courage and discernment to talk to each other, to be real, and not to put on this mask that we are fine. Hmmm God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good. I wish you all a blessed day, week, whatever.

All my love.

9-21

Sunday was the official kick off of the Sept. DTS, and the send off of the July DTS. It was insane again with the holy spirit, whoooo man their commissioning is so much different then anything I’m used to. “holy spirit anoint these children” and BAM shaking, laughing, collapsing, it was exciting. The July DTS is going to do amazing things, wow just amazing.

Monday was our first day of class, but it was more orientation. We did some get to know you games, played soccer, and then split up into groups and played amazing race around town, I got my running in for the day haha I was so tired by the end. We probably ran over 5 miles around. It was sooo much. Our team lost, well we won but we had one person not with us sooo since we were not all there, that’s why we lost.

Today, Tuesday, was more orientation, but a lot more teaching. We all had to come up with a skit, dance or rap. Our group got dance, hmm it was interesting, not really a dance but its ok. This week we are being taught on hearing the voice of God, how to, what it sounds like, all that stuff. The speaker’s name is Daniel, he is our base leader, and will be teaching on and off. He actually is going to Switzerland for a YWAM meeting I guess this weekend, that will be so good for him.

I’m still getting a long with mostly everybody, there are some girls who have annoyed me but I have had to take a step back and tell myself that I have no idea what these girls have been through, whats going on right now, what insecurities they have. I have to keep rreminding myself I’m here to know God more, to be one with him, and to die to my old self and become filled with him. I’m not here to judge others, and get angry. I want to be free of that.

Uhmmm its been 5 days, and I already got a marriage proposal…dead serious. If you want to know more, just face book me hahahaaa, ohh goodness. Hmmm I was a little taken back by it, but it’s the culture here, its normal for people my age to start really seriously dating for marriage. I was speechless, but its all good I talked with some of the girls they helped. I just ahhh 5 days, and already seriously.sheeshhhh
But I hope all is well in MN, or wherever your reading this. I miss everyone!

9-17

9-17
More people have arrived for the DTS,
 Nabil from Jordan he reminds me of Abraham…ha looks just like him (if you don’t know who I’m referring to, well ask me about it later) But saif and emmi, you know who I’m talking about.

Mario from Jbay, he has been very welcoming to me, he showed me all around today.

Phumlani ohhhh hahahahahaa this kid wow NEVER STOPS TALKING, and he is from jbay as well but a pretty poor part, he used to drink and smoke until he met Jesus, and now that is all he talks about. He wears a suit everyday hahaha we went walking he was showing me around, along with Mario and Mo he kept saying he was going to “knock people up” I told him what that meant in America and he just laughed so hard. People kept coming up to him calling him pastor because of his suit ohh man it was funny.

Marie from Germany is here, she is the only one I had talked to before arriving, so it was good to finally meet her. She is a little shy about her English but she will get there.

Sandy is from some part in South Africa, she is beautiful, and my age, I was the youngest one for awhile until Sandy came, now Marie is the youngest she is 17. But I have connected very well with her.

Uhh there is also this boy he is a mechanic and is doing a DTS with us I think his name is barnet or something…

Our leaders for the DTS are awesome, haha we all went out for icecream tonight that was very fun. The icecream here is all soft serve, expect for there is one place with gelato. But that is quite expensive for them. Mario Mo and Phumlani showed me the store with all that icecream and they stood there in the store basically drooling saying next time they are going to bring 100 RAND and eat all day haha.

Lets see whatelse have I done today. I went to the beach earlier before the walk with Mario and phumlani to golf? Hahaha he told me he can’t loose his swing because next year he wants to try out for something in Jbay. But that was fun.

 So I went on a walk across Jbay, saw many many things. It is so amazing how you walk and you see the rich among the poor, there are shacks mixed with beautiful homes and hotels, its crazy. We went into a pet shop ha, they LOVE animals, Mo loves birds its great. They promised to cook me fish, so I hope they follow through with that.

To end the night everyone always drinks coffee or tea, and sits in the kitchen to talk and listen to music, EVERYONE is obsessed with music and dancing. They are always exchanging songs to each others cell phones its so funny. Music is their life. We have these little boys from the town that come to be with people to be loved you know, its great. They LOVE Micheal Jackson here, hahaha the little boys are amazing dancers, everyone can dance. I’m gunna learn. I’m gunna come back and be able to crump got it! Hahaha kidding, but yeah Step up 3 just came out here, so we have been watching it a lot. 5 of us watched it in a van, the only quiet place tonight, it was nice. Well I’m gunna go to bed. Gooodddd night.

JBay 9-16

Finally arrived, whew it was sooo long but so worth it. My first flight was only 7 hours to Amsterdam which was quicker than I expected, I sat by the isle next to a german man who spoke not one word but put in his ear plugs and on his sleeping mask and away to dream land he went. Hahaha so that was a longgg flight, I did not sleep at all, I read letters people had given me (thank you if you wrote one) I started reading Blue Like Jazz (LOVE IT!) anddd watched a couple movies.  I get to Amsterdam and I’m pretty sure I over packed, but no big deal I won’t run out of anything haaha, had to wait for only a couple hours until my next 10 hour flight to Johannesburg. That flight was a little better, I sat next to this older couple who basically have traveled the world and are now onto South Africa for 8 weeks, they were super nice, and very good to sit next to.


I arrived at the airport in Johannesburg and was greeted by Jenna the girl who took me for the night and welcomed me into her BEAUTIFUL house. Seriously, wow I was blown away by her house, it  was in ehh platoria or something, whatever the capitol of SA is that is where she lived, in a very rich and overly secured part. We had to go through 3 gates of security just to get into her house…I guess it makes them feel more safe…haha but wow the family was soo nice, already this culture is so much more welcoming than anything I have ever experienced. I love it.


I talked with Jenna and her mom for awhile then went to bed to be awoken at 4am so I could catch my 630 plane..and surprisingly it was not bad at all, I was super awake (I know weird I’m never a morning person, Africa changes you, ya know!) I get on my plane without any trouble and it was a very small plane and a very short ride, only about 1 ½ hours so that was very nice.


Ok this is where it kind of gets interesting…ok not really so I get to Port Elizabeth and it’s actually chilly outside, like SUPER windy, it felt like a cold football game night, which is fine by me but EVERYONE was wearing winter coats I kept laughing to myself. The airport itself is very small, so I did not get lost (I am proud to say I never lost my way in any airport) but I was sitting and waiting in the airport wondering, “where the h are the fricken people that are supposed to pick me up!!!” I found internet I could use (it pays to be a tourist) and checked my email to make sure they were still coming, I had nothing from them so I was like ohhhhkayyy then. I decided well I should try calling someone, so I ask to use the phone, they direct me to this pay phone, I don’t have a calling card so that’s annoying. I ask where can I find coins, they say nowhere…hahah I was pretty frustrated at that point, so I just was like WOW SCREW THIS, and sat down because one thing I have realized is if you say your going to do something now, its usually like an hour later it ends up being done. So I sat and waited for 40 minutes until this man comes up to me “are you going to ywam” and I forgot his name, but he was one of my drivers to the base. Pastor Robin also was in the car so that was a fun ride. We ended up getting a bit lost on the way to the base but its all good. I got shown around while we were driving, oh my, its gorgeous wow I love it. But the first thing I get asked..well told is “Rachel your gunna die…” hahaha Pastor Robin kept telling me, “Rachel, you gunna die, you gunna die.” I just told him to bring it on.

It is already crazy to me how much we are used to in America, after not even a day of  being here wow uhhh guys you have it reallyyy good! Their playgrounds oh my nothing and trash all over, (they do have KFC and a McDonalds). That is besides the point.

Ok now about the base, its located in a pretty low income area, what you might call a slightly niceish slum. It is right near the little Jbay town, which is fantastic. Right when I got there, I was shown to my room, everything is locked, we all get keys and we have to lock our doors when we are in and out of the dorm. The room we are staying in has two rooms filled with beds, and then in the middle of us are the bathrooms. I share a room with two girls as of now, Lisa who is from Germany, and this Brazilian girl…can’t remember her name ha. On the other side is a girl named Vernica who is from South Africa, and a girl Charlotte from England. We have a guy coming from Jordan tomorrow, he is escaping, was a muslim and converted to Christianity, so I am super excited to hear his story. Everyone is crazy here, I feel like I’m living in a gospel church HALLALUIAH! The DTS that is here now, just finished their lecture phase and are leaving Monday to head out to India (which is the place we probably are going as well, India or Madagascar I guess, but that could change) I have already had some pretty intense conversations, everyone is so eager to know you and hear your story which is pretty neat.

The food I heard is pretty bland, but so far I like it. Not high class or anything, but I was not expecting that haha. A lot of coffee, tea, rice, and peanut butter. (that is what the girl I stayed with in Johannesburg told me anyway) I have to do my laundry by hand, we’ll see how that goes. I walked into town today to buy a SIM card, ended up getting it for free, I’m still not sure how it works. I can’t manage to make calls..yeah and you have to pay hourly for the internet, which is why this is so long, because I am writing the blogs on word before I use the internet, so I can just copy and paste. Thinkin like my daddy, whats the way I can use the least money. The base it pretty small, sorry I keep jumping around I’m not sure how to organize my thoughts right now they are all over, I have too much to say or to explain. I’ll do more explaining as I stay here longer, but the ocean is a two minute walk.

We wake up at 530 every morning to do a half hour jog…530 AM. Wow shame but its all good, I’ll get over it. So we do the half hour walk, and then we go to the beach to pray for an hour. There is a lot of praying here, the holy spirit is very very relied on, which is good, its different, something I’m not that used to. When at chapel this evening it was lots of speaking in tongues and jumping dancing crazyness. Very African I fit right in hahaha.

The beds are average whatever, we just share bunks but the dogs bark alllll night because they run all over. So I made sure to get earplugs for tomorrow night. Mmm yes well that’s it for the day.

Beyond Blessed

Today was a pretty emotional day, I had my goodbye party and was just blown away.

I felt overwhelmed by the amount of love and support I felt throughout the day.

I had people give amounts I knew they could not afford, but their trust in the Lord, and their willingness to give was a very beautiful thing to be apart of. I could not have been more happy with the way things turned out today. The ones who I had not seen for awhile were able to come and it was just an incredible day.
I am exhausted but I am so humbled.

Seriously I was swept off my feet with love today. It was the most intoxicating feeling to have so much love, and to have it be so genuine. I was very touched by the words people were speaking, by the encouragement I received and again by the love they were showing. It was a powerful day, it helped prepare me even further for what is about to take place in two days. 

1 week

On Sunday I went to church at Substance, and wow was I glad I did. It was so affirming, Peter was talking about living a radical faith, and not living in your comfort zone your whole life. So it made me honestly feel ok about leaving, and more excited then nervous, which was a change from the week before. I was pretty nervous, and now I can't wait to get out!

My goodbye party is on the 12th, so this Sunday from 3-whatever time.
So come and say goodbye!!!
I really want letters to read on the plane as well, so if you feel bored write me one! I am not sure the address of the base, but once I get there I will put it on here so you will have it always.
I decided to post my Itinerary for the 14th-16th so you can know if I'm in the air, or in some city!!

14Sep,Tue	KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight 6044	MSP - Minneapolis 05:05pm-14Sep,Tue	AMS - Amsterdam 08:19am - 15Sep,Wed	Nonstop Econ 32hr 05min
15Sep,Wed	KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight 591	AMS - Amsterdam 10:30am-15Sep,Wed	JNB - Johannesburg 09:25pm - 15Sep,Wed	Nonstop Econ 32hr 05min
16Sep,Thu	KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight 3783	JNB - Johannesburg 06:30am-16Sep,Thu	PLZ - Port Elizabeth 08:10am - 16Sep,Thu	Nonstop Econ 32hr 05min

From Port Elizabeth, I will be picked up and drove to Jeffreys Bay. andd taaadaaahhh I will be at my destination. Just continue to keep my travels in your thoughts. Pretty soon I'll be looking at things like the picture below every day:) Ahhh i am so excited.

Busy busy life

I have started to become sooooo busy these last two weeks. I already am packed full...but i feel like i'm starting to live these weeks in a blur. Like I'm not living for the day, but for the two weeks i'm in the states. I don't know, I have become overwhelmed, and overbooked. My parents keep saying "rachel is your goal for these next two weeks to become so tired that when you begin your flight you are just gunna be knocked out?!!" haha its so true, I have been working almost 40 hours a week, for...this is the 3rd week I have done the 40 hours a week. On top of that I need to start packing, and of course see people before I leave! But I watched this video awhile ago, and i wanted to share it with you, its about stoping and thinking. About really living your life the way its meant to be lived, about not taking any day for granted. So watch it!
 (click on the link to watch the video)
http://www.crazylovebook.com/videos_stop.html

Two week countdown!

Be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

As I have been really preparing to leave, I have become nervous. I have become sad. I have become excited, and totally not ready. At the moment I'm not sure if I will become ready, but I know that I have been called out of my comfort zone. I know that I am protected, and loved by God himself. What more could I ever need? I know He's got me, I know that I should not worry. I admit, yes I have started to worry a little bit, not bad, but a little. Today when I was doing my quiet time, I came upon the verse Joshua 1:9 which is above. This is a verse I have dwelled on, and memorized, its embedded in my heart, but it was such a good reminder. Rachel be strong, be courageous, don't be terrified, don't be discouraged, because guess what I'm with you! It was refreshing to hear that, to be told that he is with me no matter where I go. I still am in awe by that, I can go anywhere and he will be right by me, its so nice.

Many of my friends just started college, and most are really enjoying the experience. But then I have friends who got stuck with some odd roommates, who feel like they did not pick the correct college, and who are just not wanting to be at school. I think when it comes down to that, its all about your attitude, if you already go into school saying, wow this is going to suck...well guess what your right it will suck. So from their experiences I'm telling myself I am confident in my traveling skills ( even though I have never traveled alone ever.) that I will have the time of my life, and that my faith is going to be rocked. Yeah I am going to miss people, and all that, but I am so excited. I am beyond excited for what is in store. I am so so so ready to be rocked, challenged, and brought into a new culture. I'm ready to go somewhere, where I don't know anyone. This life is a great life, its shorter than we think, and I'm ready to make the best of it.

Visa Papers

I got home from work today, and my visa papers were at my house. So that is a HUGE relief, also they got my check after a month, haha takes awhile to get mail i guess. sheesh.
I am been working my butt off to get money, i'm just forgetting to take time to raise support...
I have worked everyday for 2 weeks...tomorrow is my day off, then i work for another solid week. Its pretty crazy, and I really need to sit down and get my support letters sent.
But thats the update for today:)

Jeffreys Bay, South Africa

WOAH FIRST ONE!

I just wanted to see how this whole thing worked.
   Obviously I am creating this so people like all you can follow and stay updated on my travels.

as of now i am currently waiting for my visa papers, its kind of getting to be crunch time, but thats my life. livin on the edge ya know. I am just trusting and not freaking out, because i know it will happen in time, even if its the day of hahaa. But i still have not figured out what I want to do after my DTS, as of now i am flying to Germany to stay with one of the exchange students that came to our school. I am super super excited for that. I just figured it would be cheaper to renew my visas in germany if i wish to do so rather then fly all the way back home.


Soooo I also pretty much figured out I am now excited to go to college when the time is right. I would like to go into social work, so i'm thinking thats like a psych major. My goal is to work with girls who were rescued from brothels, or to just be involved in an organization that fights for it, and I actually want to work in the united states, so I'm excited to start that journey when it comes, as of now I'm just focusing on getting everything ready for my DTS. (I made this just so I could have an address for my support letter, then I got to bloggin, woahhh man haha so much for multi tasking...)