awesome day...=)

Today was an amazing day. We went with friends of ours, (forgot there names again) =) they had a saiboat and canoos and a boat but you ahd to padle yourself..=) so we did a lot of windsurfing it was amazing lot of hard work but as you know me I don;t give up until I got it and that is what I did. I propably spent 3 hours on it. It was hard and my back hurts now. But that is ok. The point is that we were able to go out and have fun, make friends and just have a wonderful felowship with each other. Oh the best part is I got to ride a motor bike haden't done that since I was in paraguay. It was so much fun luckly I had expirience so it was not difficult. So yeah it was exelent and just that fact that we are making friends here that we can just go out with have a picknic and enjoy the time together. I am very greatful for that.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year =)

Christmas

Christmas away from home...never imagined that it would be so difficult. When we were in church and Pastor Nina gave me a mother loving hug I was just overwhelmed and the tears came. I couldn't hide them anymore. Just the feeling of missing family, home, Christmas it was a lot at once. But at the same time I must it was nice t expirience Christmas in a different culture. We went to Melanie and Markos Voller and there family. So with there granparents and sisters and brothers. It was nice, they were an amazing family. And I must say they had a lot of food. I don't think that I have ever eaten that much for Christmas...=) They also sang Christmas songs and just enjoyed a day together with singing, eating and enjoying each others companie. At the same time I am exeited to be home for next Christmas =)
We also celebrated Christmas as our "family" our team. We had taken names and bought presence for each other. So after church we had coffie and home made cinnamon buns and opening presence. It was nice. The little family =)
Love you guys..!!

sick ...=(

Today I am home. Alone..=( I am sick I had fever last night and was not feeling well at all. I had a bad headache and clogged nose and I have been feeling like I am under drugs, because I feel so weak. Today we were suppose to go to the township to have a Kids Klub event. But I couldn't go because I wanted to get well first. This is a bad timing to be sick especially because Christmas is right around the corner but I hope that I will be better by then.

church picnic

This last weekend we had a church picnic at Albert Falls, there were no falls but anyways. It was wonderful we had a Brei which is BBQ, and played Frisbee, volleyball and other games. The good thing about his weekend was that when we got to the park it was not getting out of the car and feeling awkward because not knowing what to do. But instead I got out and walked around talking with other people and for the first time it actually felt normal. Or should I say almost like home. I noticed that I had become more comfortable with the place and people that I could engage in different conversations. This showed me that I am starting to adapt more and more. I am very grateful for that.

yeah

Well what have I been doing? well this week we went to Karen and Andrews place and backed christmas cookies and Karen taught us how to knitt which was a lot of fun. We also had home made burgers, it was exelent. So today I have been sitting and Knitting all day haha =) It has been a little frusturaiting but it is a lot of fun. And for dinner we are having home made Pizza I hope my dough turned out good...!!!

how can we help?

Today Kyle and I went to the Townships again to get states of the children to see what they need. It was good becasue we had a translator with us who could help us becasue some children just spoke Zulu. It was a good experience to go out and talk with the children to get to know them, their backround and their family. A lot of the stories were very sad. Some lost their father some had different parents. The houses in which they live in could just fit a bed and some little furniture and that was all they had. They had a little food because the mother could not get enough money in the house to feed the whole family. The children though are open to talk about their situation and are happy to get help. For all those who read this please keep those children in your prayers. They struggle daily with not having food or even knowing if they will be able to go to school. They are excellent students but they need our support to get a better education.
I want to thank you in advance for the prayers they are one thing that unites us all in a powerful way and that is one resource that we can use to help.

expiriences that changes us.

This past week I learned a hard lesson. When we as Christians grow the devil tries to bring us down again. He sees that we are week, and knows that we will be an easy target. That is what I realized these last few days. I was questioning. I know that that is not what God wants us to do he wants us to trust in him. I lost 2 people in these last two weeks. It is hard I won’t say it isn’t, and it is ok to cry and to let it out. But it is not healthy to grieve on it. We have to move on. What helps that is to think of all the good times with the people we lost. God is an almighty God and everything he does is to guide and strengthen us and not to harm and bring us down. What I learned is to see the good things in this situation and to praise him no matter what. It won’t always be easy but it will help to get through the hard times as well as the good times. The verse that stood out to me was “I know the plans I have for you,” God said (Jeremiah 29,11), just a thought: If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, maybe the road to Heaven is paved with making the best of it when all your good intentions seemed to get stomped on. So sometimes our plans get stomped on by other things for example now with the death of people that were close, it felt like I got stomped on but I know that God is there for me to lift me up again. And the other verse is “No eye has seen no ear has heard no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2, 9) Sometimes we ask ourselves why me why do I have to go through this but the verse says that God has greater plans for us. Plans that we as humans cant imagine. God takes us through hard times in order for us to grow closer to him and to learn how to lean on to him. A good way that helps to deal with a situation like this is to praise the lord. Not just think about the hard things but the good things that the he has done for you.

how unexpected God can take the people out of our lifes

Life is something so precios. Somethimes it can dissapear in a blink of an eye. This week especially it became so clear to me how fast life can end. I lost my Grandmother, well she is not blood related but she was always there for us (my sister and I). She had been struggeling with alzheimer desease. She died this week. Also my other Grandmother who has been such a blessing to me over these last years, her grandson, Jason died this last week. He is handicaped but he always had such a big heart. It was such a blessing to see him laugh. It is hard especially if it is two people who meant a lot to you. And such sudden and unexpected deaths in one week. I know that God only gives us as much to carry as what we can take. But it still is very hard.

Boys...Issues anything else?

Boys boys go away, and die.....!!! I wish I could say that the creepy ones would just vanish but, they don't. One example: there was a guy at camp and he was playing soccer, he said when he saw connie his legs just gave away under him. He feel to the ground. When he looked up there she was, Connie. He wanted to go to pastor Russel and ask if he could marry her but Tim sayed that we werent aloud to. Thanks Tim. The other thing is the guys that creep on us are ususaly in there 30's. This has happend to me to just not as dramatic. This might be as well a good lesson how to deal with the other culture and how to deal with these situations. I thanks the lord that he has given me an awsom group that I can talk to when we have problems like these.

Life is full of suppreises...SImple and wonderfull ones!!

Life comes with suppreises that is what we usually say. I can confirm that now. This last week has been full of supreises. My team specially the girls put a lot of effort into my birthday. They made me my favorite dish (chinese food) and some amazing deserts. It is alway different to celebrate something that is meaningful to you in a new country and away from the family. But I muss say I feel blessed to have such a wonderful team. They made my birthday an unforgetable event, which I am really thankfull for. God does amazing things..!!! I just want to say thanks to God for everything that has happend so far and I hope that I will continue to grow in his presence and become a faithful servant.

Life in the Townships

"This last week I went to the townships. Those are little villages that the Government sponsors. Most are little mud houses with hardly any room, for a family to live. I went down with Pastor Thandi. We went to sponsor the children new uniforms (the ones that cannot afford it). We listened to some of the childbearing's stories, and it was heartbreaking. Some lived with their cousins that were all under 14 and no income. It’s hard to imagine how they survive. Others, their Parents died and they were going from family to family and now they were living with their stepfather’s ex-girlfriend, and they didn’t know when they were going to be asked to leave. It is sad to see. They are so young and have so many struggles. The school fees are R70 that is around $10, and a lot of them can’t even afford that, not even R5 or 6R for a year which is under a dollar. It is so sad to see those broken hearts. I have realized that all we can do is pray for them. It doesn’t help to just cry for them, but we can help to teach them how to accept their situation and make their own gardens and all those little things that help to change the situation.

Prayer requests:
- For the Townships
- For the suffering children that have no home or parents
- For the church that they may be blessed that they can help the children
Prayer thanks:
- For the people that have a willing heart to give and sponsor those in need
- For the opportunity to sponsor uniforms to the children
- Thanks for those that give their time to make a difference in our society."

I trust in you

Lord I trust you with my situation. This has been difficult for me. Sometimes I just want to take my situation in my own hands. That does not work though. God plans are greater then ours. I ask a common question ever so often that is: "why me lord, why do I have to go through this"?. But God says that his please are to guide us and not to harm us. I believe that. I learned this last week to say "God take it from me there is nothing I can do about it, may your will be done". It helps. The situation I was struggling with turned out better then I could of hoped for. I thank him everyday for his power and kindness and for his patients with me. to go overseas does not always mean to teach other the word of God but to learn for yourself.

Today was an interesting day. I had Connie helping me with the filing. It is something i do monthly =( it really is not the best thing to do but it is ok. It was interessting to hear her say that it was confusing. It is a confusing job if you don't know what you are doing. But i am enjoying it. Tomorow i have to learn about the financial department and how to run it. oh my. That is not going to be easy. The good thing is i got my own space now in the office my own desk, and computer =) it feels good to finally be able to say this is my part of the office. Well that is all for now. Otherwise I am down with what feels like ahorrible cold but Anna told me that it could just be sinisus. =(

My spiritual walk

Most of us go around with the question or the common phrase “I am too busy to spend time with the Lord.” I used to do that as well. I would think that I am so busy that I only have 10 minutes to pray and read the word. Why do we do that? Since I have been here in South Africa I have felt that God was talking to me through his word and saying I want all of you not just part but all.

We sang a song that just hit me and made me say God take every part of me take my all. The lyrics were:

The more I seek you

the more I find you

the more I find you

the more I love you,

and that is true the more we seek him the more we love him. In the book Knowing God Intimately by Joyce Meyer she says “Open your heart to God in a greater way then ever before. Ask him to change you and your life however He sees fit and proper. None of us can afford to stand still without change. If we aren't moving forward with God, we are drifting backward.”

This was very important to me. Now I don't want to start my day without having my time with the Lord. Not everybody is willing to pay the price it takes to be close to God. Not everybody is willing simply to take the time to be close to the Lord. God doesn't ask for all of our time. He wants you to do other things beside engaging in spiritual activities. He designed us with a body, a soul, and spirit, and He expects us to take care of each area of our being.

He has changed me. He makes me hungry for his word. He also says do not be afraid to spread my word, and not just hide what you know. So this week we have a week of going out to people and telling them the good news. The evening before that, we got anointed with the Holy Spirit to guide us. It was powerful. Indescribable. I felt my old life leave and the Holy Spirit enter, it entered with such power it knocked me to the ground and I was crying like a little child. Afterwards we could all speak in tongues. It was powerful and magnificent to have a language that only God knows. It is a prayer that God is putting in us, something so powerful that the Devil can't understand.

So this week we go out to share the gospel with others. The first evening was so powerful. We were praying over the new believers and you could feel the Spirit moving into them and filling them. God working in there lives. I have never experienced something so powerful and real. I thank God for changing me the way he has. I thank him for filling my life with such Love and compassion for him.

convention at Bloumfontein

For me when I hear convention i think sometimes of a time with people to praise and worship the lord. This weekend we went to Bloumfontein to a church conference where around 800 people were. What made this convention as special as it was were the preaching of God the preachers would talk for 45 minutes and it still wouldent get boring. They were filled with passion and fire to speak,it was extrordinary, as well as the worship singing people would laugh , dance, sing, cry it was filled with emotions and power of the holy spirit. Another thing was the people. They had such warm heart and welsomed us with oppen arms. There when you walk somwere they will smilie and greet you. In canada it was hard to find that frindlyness in th people. We also got to share our testimonies as an encouragment for the youth there to go on missions and to let God shine a light in the world. For me this weekend was a blessing. I truly enjoyed every minute. I thank God that he is giving us this oppurunity to get to meet new people, people in christ that are true belivers, and worship from all there heart. There were questions as well that came with it, what plan does God have for me? where does he want me to help here when I feal helpless compared to this culture. It feels like i am the one suppose to learn and not teach. But i know God has great plans and i want himto work through me.

trip tp south africa

We as team left on september 21 for amsterdam. The flight went well and we had a 8 hour flight. From Amsterdam where we had a 3 hour delay the trip continued to Johannesburg wich was a 10 hour flight. We had actually planed to stay at a hostel at Johannesburg for the night, so we were exeited to get some sleep. When we got to Johannesburg we noticed that the money that we were suppose to use was not on the account yet. So we had to think about what we were going to do next. Some of our team members said that we could take some money from theres. But we decided not to use monay and stay at the airport for the night. That was the longest night of my life. We spent 11 hours at the airport. At least there was no one at night so we could get some sleep, what was 4 hours for me. The next day we borded then for Pietematrizburg. Finaly. The interesting thing was though that we got transported in a bus to our airplane. Which was small airplane with probably 15 passengers. When we arived in pietematrizburg we were welcomed with smiles and open armes. Our group was taken out for lunch and then we setteld in to our new hous, wich by the way is great. At 5 we went to Phil and Kristine's place for dinner and the whole staff was there. It was an amazing evening with a llot of laughter and fun, even though we were exauhsted. I had probably goten around 6 hours of sleep from the 60 hours. Around nine we could finally go to bed. yes. I was so happy to finaly sleep ina bed and not an airplane seat. This morning Tim came and woke us up and what ws the time? 2 oclock in the after noon. That was the longest and best sleep I have ever had. A little bit about south africa. we have cold and rainy weather. It is nice though first thing that came to my head when we landed was the lion king movie haha.
Thanks for all the prayers. Please keep praying for the group and this weekend when we have to go to a convention. That he may give us peace and the energy to do his work, since we all are still tierd.

This expirience to be here at orientation has been a great blessing for me. I feel a great change in me that I have never feelt before. This growth has been spiritual, emotional as well as phisical. God has transformed me and I want to let him transform me in such a way that I could just possibly dream of.

I have struggled a lot in my life with eating disorder or not feeling good enough. Just by being here for a month I have grown and learned that I am worthy. I have struggled with not feeling worthy all my life, know I feel exepted the way I am. I have learned that the outer apearance does not matter as much as the inner appearance. It is going to be a long and hard journey, but I wnat to get better and first work on my self and then let God transform me to someone who I didn't know I could be. Through Orientation God has made me want to be a true follower and I want to let him use me this coming year. I want to let him transform me and use me to be a blessing for others.

I am very greatfull for all the friendships that have been established here at orientation. They have been a blessing for me when I needed to talk to someone or just a word of encouragment. I thank everyone for the prayers and support. I hope that everyone can expirience Gods greatfullness and love the way I have.

Orientation is a month where we learn and get ready to go to our countrys. For me this has been the most important month of my life. I have come to so much realization about myself, and God. I have had a difficult past with learning to accept myself the way I am. I have learned that God has made me the way I am. And he loves me that way. I am learning to really put that as number one in my life. I thank God that he has blessed me here in such a great way and that he always has something new for us to learn. I thank him that I am special in his eyes and that I am made in his image. I want to honour God with all my heart for that.

hospitality

What is hospitality? or what does it mean to us these days. We have become lazy and not really recognized how important or in what litle ways we can show hospitality. Becca and I went around and tried to smilie at people and see how they would react. It was interessting. A lot of people would totaly ignore us others gave us the look that we were wierd and some appritiated it and smiled back. Those people were the least though. I realized that to show hospitality can be done in so many ways, and how important it is. I have learned to be thankful, if I recive a smilie on the street to be thankful and replie with one, or just to respect the littlest hopitality. Ihope that people realize that to show hopslitality is so important to show Gods love and care, and to be the example that he was.

love and care

Learning to be there for each other in a caring and loving way is not always an easy task. We each have to come to do that though if we belive it or not. I personally have expirienced that. When I went through a difficult time there was someone to talk to. When I was in pain and didn't know what to do there were others that would be there for me to help me to get well again. I am so greatful that God has brought us all together and that we may share his love and kindness with one another. I am really learning how to interact with others and learn how to speack up if I need something or to say my opinion.

expiriences that shape us.

The expiriences we make each day are expiriences that will stay for a lifetime. Each day we learn something new. For example, when I went to wash my clothes for the first time in a public laundry room, I accidentley mad a misstake of taking the expencive washing machine instead of the cheaper ones. We learn how to eat lunch with only a dollar, and still be thankful for what we have, and to see what Gods greatfulness in the little what we have. To know that such a little can also satisfy. We learn how to support each other in a loving and caring way. This week we all have come to see God working in many ways, may it be simple or complicated. To learn how to trust him no matter in what situation we might be.

orientation

First what i woould like to say is that i arived great here in chicago. I want to that the congergation and frinds and familie for all the prayers and support. It was a new expirience to travel by myself, but God was there with me. We as group are geting to know each other in different ways sharing our faith storys or just having a nice cup of coffie with another. We are living here at a commune it is a place where a group of people live toghter and share there faith aith on another. This programm that runs it is called the Jepusa. They have two hommless shelters a coffie shop and a new skateboard shop. They try to reach other people with Gods word out there in this way. The money for this programm mostley comes from fundraisers and other things. This is a great way to interact with other people, people that might be different from us but share the same faith as us. For most of us this is a new expirience. So there has been a lot of time with talking, praying, devotions and lots of others.
We also have been forming great friendships with on another. This will be very important espcially becasue we will be spending time with each other fo a long time. This is also a great way to see what God is doing in other peoples lifes. In orientation we are also suppoes to travel by train and get to know the city so that when we are on our own in a new place that we know what to do. I just thank God for giving us this great oppurtunity.

Prayer requests:
-Jepusa programm
-The teams as we prepare for the big journey
- That God may create a change here in Chicago

Prayer thanks:
-That i arrived saftley here in chicago
- That God has been such a blessing to us here

south africa

I want to that all the people that have helpes me and supported me to make this dream come true.