Mary Hollis - Bringing The Kingdom of God To Earth

I need you...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

First of all, I need your prayers! ALL prayers are encouraged and I will be sending out general prayer request updates on my blog for you guys while on the race. Specifically I am seeking out at least two people to pray for me during each month of the race, so basically you can "adopt a country" during the race and pray for me, my team, and that country while we are there! If you are interested in this you can email me at mkh514@gmail.com with the country you want to adopt!

For a reminder, my route is: Ireland, Ukraine, Romania, Israel, Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Pioneer Africa, Thailand, Cambodia, Pioneer Asia.

Financially, for the World Race, I will need to raise approximately $15,000 to cover all expenses: basic travel, food, lodging, travel insurance, etc. So far I have around $4000 in my support account and about $175 coming in monthly! Praise God! I am well on my way to reaching my support goal!

I am so thankful to those of you who have already partnered with me in the spreading of the Gospel. Your gifts are what make it possible for me to answer the call God has put on my life! Please pray and ask God what He would have you give. Is it a one-time gift or a monthly financial partnership of a specific amount? Only He knows!

Ultimately, If 35 people partner with me to give $25 for 10 months combined with what God has already provided, my goal will be reached! ANY amount whether one-time or monthly will make all the difference in this ministry!

Also, If you have any contact information of churches that may have me to speak, any fundraising Ideas or any local businesses that may be willing to support me please send the information my way via email. If you would like to receive a support letter via snail mail or would like to donate by check please email me your mailing address or leave it in a comment below!

To donate by credit/debit card or bank draft click on the *Join My Support Team* link on the left side of the page!

A lot of people think it's sweet when I tell them I do missionary work, then they ask how I'm funded or how much I get paid and when I answer they think I'm crazy. I love it! Support raising is a beautiful opportunity to watch God's massive hand come in and provide. It's a chance for HIM to get ALL the glory! It's a chance for the people around me to get involved in what I'm doing and to partner with me in the spreading of the name and fame of Jesus Christ!

"Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them."
- 1 Timothy 6:18 -

Breakthrough

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

"I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will never be shaken."

- Psalm 62:1 -

Today was a day of glorious breakthrough! I've been putting my armor on each day and fighting hard but the enemy has been fighting back just as hard. I've been kicked, hit, beaten, knocked down but thankfully JESUS is SO much more powerful than satan. Satan is an idiot that continues to mess with Jesus' disciples but I guess he didn't get the memo that WE WIN!
Over the past week or so I have been extremely attacked by satan. It was a subtle attack at first then he called in reinforcements. There has been a spirit of worry, doubt, fear, and distrust in my life lately but ALL those lies have been BROKEN off by the power of Jesus! I had been at peace about my support goal for the World Race, knowing that God will provide then I started to doubt, so foolish of me! After looking at my packing list for the World Race and all the equipment I will need I soon became overwhelmed. I've had no motivation to support raise which is no good!

God is so faithful though! When His children pray He answers! He loves for us to pray bold, persistent prayers and that is what He is teaching me to do! Through His word and beautiful conversations I have once again acquired His peace! I was able to start my day off right spending time with Jesus, I consistently prayed off ALL negative spirits in my life throughout the day and this afternoon I was blessed with two wonderful conversations with teammates and that was the cherry on top! Through those conversations I really regained a sense of peace. And now I can say, "It's okay. He's got in all under control!"

"Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

-Philippians 4:6-7-

For a side not, (serious one sorry) I'm going to try vulnerability out and ask for your prayers, as my brothers and sisters in Christ! This Saturday, Feb 20, is my mothers birthday. God has blessed my dad and I with the opportunity to go visit my brother and his fiance in Florida this weekend so for this I am grateful! Please pray that we would continue to find healing from mom's death, I think it's key to heal well. Pray that God and the Holy Spirit would be greatly in our midst, ministering to each of our hearts. Thank you in advance for your prayers! They mean more than you know!

Alarm Clocks and Trust Issues

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Okay, so you are wondering what the correlation is between alarm clocks and trust issues, right? And if I were you reading this blog and not me writing it I would probably be wondering the same thing.

Well over the past couple of months God has been revealing in my heart how much I really DON'T trust Him. Yep, that's right. I said it! On a daily basis I struggle with trusting God. I say, "Did I hear your voice God? Was that you God? Did you really just tell me to go pray for THAT person?" All around, I just find myself not trusting God the way I should. In the little things, in the big things. Food. Clothing. Finances. Silly things and serious things. Yatta yatta yatta.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart;

do not depend on your own understanding."

-Proverbs 3:5-

SO, I'm laying in bed one night, I had just set my alarm clock to wake me up for work the next day, and God tells me to turn off my alarm. I have a stubborn nature so obviously I was reluctant and tried to just fall asleep. Yeah, NOPE! I eventually turned off my alarm and when I did I felt complete peace! The peace of GOD! The peace of a God who provides for my EVERY NEED! He's got everything under control! I just need to live in that! I need to live in a blanket of trust in God!

"I lay down and slept,

yet I woke up in safety,

for the Lord was watching over me."

-Psalm 3:5-

So yeah, I slept without my alarm clock one night...no big deal. But no, I am still sleeping without an alarm clock. The first few nights I would continue to try and set my alarm and God would say no just trust me, now I just trust and know that He will wake me up exactly when He knows I need to be awake. It may seem silly but just by turning off my alarm I feel so much more closer to God! It's hard for me to believe that He cares about me so much that He wakes me up each morning, but HE DOES! Like He just sits with me through the night and when the morning comes He gently nudges me to wake me up! He loves me so much that He knows exactly when I need to wake up each day and He takes the times to wake me up! It's just baffling to me that the same God that spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai is the same God that wakes me up each morning!

"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!"

- Psalm 139:6 -

Asia

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

::Thailand::

With nearly two million people estimated to be stuck inside of prostitution in Thailand, it has become one of the most popular places for sex tourism. We will change lives in the city and rock worlds in the countryside. Thailand's sure to capture our hearts.

::Cambodia::

28 years ago, Cambodia experienced one of the most gruesome genocides known to man where over one third of the country's population was slaughtered. Still in recovery from their past, the people of Cambodia are thirsty for hope.

::Pioneer Asia::

We will abandon our last month of the Race and pioneer Asia! We will ask God where to bring the Kingdom on this last month of the Race! It will be incredible!

A-F-R-I-C-A

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

::Egypt::

Egypt is a country rich in historical significance. The Egyptian people are no less rich in their cultural goings-on today. A country shaped by the past and under religious bondage, the people of Egypt are hungry to hear of the freedom brought through Christ. While pyramids and palaces give the land a romanticized veneer, under the surface lie hearts in need of relationship and hope.

::Kenya::

Who hasn't heard of Kenya in their lifetime? The Kenyan people are colorful, musical, artistic and hungry for the love of Christ. The Masai bush, the Nairobi metropolis, the Kiberra slums...comprise a country diverse yet unified in history. As a new era dawns in Kenya, so does the Gospel of truth and faith. By meeting felt needs in the bush and the city, the World Race produces lasting fruit and lasting ministries to carry on even after we leave.

::Uganda::

From the Ugandan islands to the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, the African people of these nations share a common bond. Through the wild lands, home to Africa's "Big Five" animals coexist people, reached and unreached with the Gospel of Christ. Through evangelism, church planting and discipleship, we will be a part of a movement to further the kingdom of God in this incredible region of the world.

::Pioneer Africa::

. To "Pioneer" a location means to go somewhere "new" under the Lord's leadership. We will pray, ask God where to go, wait for His answer and then go!

Ukraine

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Okay I was too anxious so I'm giving you guys THREE countries today!

::Ukraine::

Caught between its past oppression under the USSR communist regime and the desire to be accepted by Western society, Ukraine is a land of many ups and downs. Thankfully, there's hope, light, and life spreading like wildfire throughout this nation. The Kingdom of God is coming in power to Ukraine!

::Romania::

The northern regions of Romania are home to the gypsy people. Though strangers in their homeland and forgotten by society, the gypsies are a strong and vibrant people who embrace the light of Christ in an inspirational way. Here we'll teach English, lead sports camps, live life with the gypsies, and more.

::Isreal::

The Holy Land attracts Jews, Arabs and Christians alike to be a part of a location so rich in our combined religious roots. We will serve in this new World Race location while walking the paths trod by Christ himself.

Religion in Israel is a central feature of the country and plays a major role in shaping Israeli culture and lifestyle, and Israel is the only country in the world where a majority of citizens are Jewish.

Note: If you have ever been to these countries or have any information to share about them please leave a comment!

11 Countries in 11 Days

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Over the next 11 days I will be revealing my World Race route to you all. I thought this would be a fun way to let you guys know all the countries I'm going to. I will list them in order of how we will be travelling to them (God willing of course). The route is always subject to change.

::IRELAND::

Ireland is the third largest Island in Europe and the twentieth largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is the island of Great Britain, separated from it by the Irish Sea. The Republic of Ireland covers five-sixths of the island. Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island.

Ireland boasts a heritage of Christianity through Catholicism. Yet the lifeless display of faith reveals that this nation is farther from God than ever. Rampant alcoholism and suicide rates reveal a desperate need for hope. Through sports, children's outreach, street evangelism, pub ministry, and the relationships that just happen along the way, the World Race reintroduces a life-giving faith to this beautiful, historic culture.

The National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) reveals that Ireland has the fourth highest rate of youth suicide in the EU behind Lithuania, Finland and Estonia. Irish Christianity is dominated by the Roman Catholic Church which has 86.8% of the population as followers.

I am excited to start the Race off in this beautiful country of Ireland! I know there will be much breath taking countryside to gaze upon in Ireland but more importantly I'm excited to bring Jesus Christ to the lost and hopeless of Ireland. I'm excited to let people know about the Relationship they can have, about redemption, and that THEIR SINS HAVE ALREADY BEEN FORGIVEN!

Note: If you have any information about Ireland you think

I should know or if you've ever been there leave a comment and let me know!

Set Your Heart To Follow To The End

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I am speechless as I attempt to write this blog. As most of you know, I have been working with Adventures In Missions since 2008 and after returning from the First Year Missionary program, I was given an opportunity to come of staff with AIM to work with/co-lead a new program called The Novas Project. I spent a good chunk of time at the end of last year preparing for this new endeavor and was scheduled to go to Mexico last month with the Novas Project. After much prayer from AIM leadership the Novas Project was put on hold last December.

When I found out, I was crushed, My heart was broken because I long to see people come alive in Christ and realize what it means to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and to bring the Kingdom of Christ to earth and this was an incredible opportunity to do just that. I've never doubted AIM's decision or their leadership and I know God is in control of it all, it just left me asking, "Okay, what now?"

After realizing I was not going on staff with AIM anymore I was asked to consider going on the World Race. It's 11 month to 11 different countries around the world, It's a spiritual journey of great awakening, it's an opportunity to see the injustice in the world and an opportunity to DO something about it! It's an opportunity to bring the Kingdom of Christ to earth, and it's an opportunity of a lifetime.

So after a lot of struggling with God, praying, listening, talking, sitting, waiting, hurting, and healing God has once again opened some beautiful doors for me to walk through! I can not get over how good He is to me! I do not deserve ANY of His goodness yet He continues to pour it out upon me!

In June 2010 I will leave for the World Race. For me, this is not just another "trip", not a missions trip or experience or anything like what our American minds tend to go to first. For me, this is the next step in this life here on earth. An opportunity to continue seeking the Kingdom and bring it to earth. An opportunity to continue being a part of the body of Christ, a community of believers that lives as the first church did in Acts. It's just me trying to live life the way I believe God wants me to. It's scary but I have peace about it. It requires a lot of surrender which I am not ready for but He is and that's all the matters.

I want to thank each of you that have been praying for me during this time and for each of you that have supported me SO much in the past and even now! Honestly, I would NOT be here without ALL of the people God has sent to support me financially and prayerfully! It's true!

I will be bringing a lot more information to you guys in the future! Just hang tight! In the meantime, please be praying for me! Ask the Spirit and He will lead you in your prayers! You can learn more about the World Race here: theworldrace.org

For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh

reap corruption, but he who sows to the

Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

- Galations 6:8 -

A Different Kind of Baby

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son,

and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'"

- Matthew 1:23 -

Is this verse what we think of when we hear the word "Christmas" today? In the year 2009? Sadly, most of the time it is not. We think about trees, or big men with white beards or cookies or all the sales at the stores, or how we can't go to the store because our pockets are empty. We then wallow in self-pity while our neighbors go out and buy all kinds of shiny new things that in the end will amount to nothing. Why do we envy those who are able to spend so much money at Christmas? The toys will break, the gadgets will get old, the food will be eaten. I doubt Mary was concerned with any of these petty, earthly things while she was holding Jesus Christ in her arms.

But even if we do think of Jesus when we hear the word "Christmas" what exactly do we think of Him? Do we think about a sweet little baby boy born of a virgin and leave it at that? Letting it be a feel good story for our hearts, while continuing to rip open all our new shiny toys and gorge ourselves with pie and cookies.

Or do we think about our Saviour, the One who broke the chains of death for us! The One who overcame the grave and is alive today! Although He once was, He is NOT a baby anymore! He is highly exalted! As we read the "Christmas story" this Christmas, I wonder if we should also read Isaiah 53.

"See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted. But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. And he will startle many nations, Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about.

Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? My servant grew up in the Lord's presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected--a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had NEVER deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man's grave.

But it was the Lord's good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord's good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear ALL their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious solder, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels."

- Isaiah 52:13 - 53 -

If you do have the urge to spend some extra cash this Christmas, I would like to encourage you to save and change lives while you are spending the money our gracious Father has let you borrow from His glorious unlimited resources. Please check out, www.tradeasone.com for all kinds of fair trade gifts hand made by YOUR brothers and sister ALL over the world!

Satisfaction

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I search and search and try to obtain satisfaction in so many other things. Why isn't He enough for me? He is more than enough for me! Why I am constantly looking to other things and people to fulfill me? I should be feasting on His Word but instead I feast on food and facebook and television and an assortment of other earthly attrations. I feast on everything else in this world and then I run to Him! A feast is something you do when you are celebrating. I should be celebrating my Papa, my Father, the King of Kings EVERY day, not just when I feel like it. A feast is a long meal with many courses. It is not five minutes in the morning or twenty minutes at night. It should be all day, every day, feasting on how majestic His name is! How majestic His promises are to me! There are so many alluring things in this world, even things that in themselves are good yet I put them before Him and pretend that it is okay. It is NOT okay! He is jealous for me and does NOT want to share my attention with ANYthing else, with ANYone else!

"Whom have I in Heaven but you?

I desire you more than anything on earth."

- Psalm 73:25 -

When everything is going right for ME I find it easy to run to Him, to praise Him for who He is. When everything is going wrong, He is still the same God! He still loves me the same yet I'm spoiled and find it much harder to praise Him the same. This MUST change. I must PRAISE Him, truly praise Him and worship Him whether I think everything is going right or not. He works according to HIS purposes not mine! I'm SO selfish and He is SO selfless! He is working everything out according to HIS purposes and I should trust Him and be SO thankful that He's working things out HIS way and not mine. My prayer is that I may desire Him more than anything on earth!

"You satisfy me more than the richest feast.

I will praise You with songs of joy."

- Psalm 63:5 -

HIS Glory!!

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It's ALL about HIM!

God.

God is just speaking over me right now that it is ALL about HIM! What is "it" you ask?

EVERYTHING!

We are born of a selfish nature so it's easy for us to get caught up with ourselves or with those whom we think are "great" but God wants all the glory! He wants everything in our lives to point to HIM! It's for His Name and His Renown that we might live! I want to live to make HIM famous not myself!

As I start my fund raising efforts to go on staff with AIM, my humanness kicks in, but I SOOO badly want all my support raising to be for HIS glory! I want to make HIM famous! The whole reason I am raising support is so that I may go into the world and make HIS name famous! So I may walk alongside students as they make HIS name famous amongst the nations!

Support raising is NOT for me, NOT about me, it's ALL for HIM, it's ALL to make HIM famous, that HE may shine brightly for all the world to see!

God. WELL KNOWN prominent famed popular renowned noted eminent

distinguished esteemed celebrated respected of distinction of repute illustrious

acclaimed great legendary lionized HAVE ONE'S NAME IN LIGHTS!

yet none of these words do justice to who He really is!

May we bask in His glory daily!

"Be exalted, O God, above the highest Heavens.

May your glory shine over all the earth!"

- Psalm 57:11 -

No More Imagining

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The pain is finally gone.

The hurt has finally been taken.

You've finally reached your Home.

You won't imagine anymore.

You finally know what it's like

To hold the hand of God.

You've beheld the beauty of Jesus.

You won't imagine anymore.

His glory now surrounds you.

All you can do is cry, "Holy."

Your heart is filled with gladness.

You won't imagine anymore.

You've danced with Him;

You've stood in awe of Him.

You've shouted "Hallelujah" to Him.

You won't imagine anymore.

Your day has finally come.

You've stood in the beauty of the Son.

You'll worship Him forever.

You won't imagine anymore.

Welcome home, brave, fallen soldier.

You won't imagine anymore.

As I was cleaning out some old junk from my room last night, I came across this poem that I had torn out of a magazine probably like 7-8 years ago. Who knows why, because I definitely wasn't dealing with any kind of death or anything really hard when I was 14 or 15. Anyways, last night when I came across it God definitely spoke to me through it and it definitely hit home WAY too hard. God is persistent in me dealing with my mother's death. It is painful but God is always there after every painful moment. The whole reason I am not in Mexico right now where most of my heart wants to be is so that I can deal with my mother's death. Which to me means it must be really important to God that I take this time and listen to the Spirit and deal with it and receive the healing I need.

Some days are extremely hard but I get excited when I think about where she is! Like this poem says "The pain has finally been taken and she finally knows what it's like to hold the hand of God." Mom never did belong to this earth, she was way to selfless and way to loving and caring to belong here. She doesn't have to imagine walking with Jesus anymore she actually IS now!! I'm glad she is finally where she has always longed to be but that doesn't make it much easier for those of us still here that love her and miss her SO much. As hard as it is for me to write this blog, I know it is imperative in my healing process. Death has NO sting and claims NO victory over those who know Jesus Christ! I will continue to live in that truth and freedom and run into His arms!

Please pray that my family and I will find the healing we need from the only One who can truly heal! Pray that we will take this time to grieve but also to rejoice and give praise to God! Pray against any attacks from the enemy! He is absolutely STUPID! I know during this time God is preparing me for BIG things! To bring His Kingdom to earth and to set captives FREE!!!

"I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying "Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever!" - Revelation 21:3-4 -

One Year Ago

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This time one year ago I was on a plane flying to South Africa! Little did I know then what God had in store for me and what He would do in and through me over this past year! It has been the worst and best year of my life! I have done things like jump off of the world's highest bungy bridge and other things like burying my mother! I have been stretched, broken, tempted, tested, I've been taken to new levels in my relationship with God and I've had major paradigm shifts thanks to some incredible people God has placed in my life over the past year! I've learned what it means to live in REAL community and I've seen how much I miss it when I don't have it! I've learned how to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and I've learned how to bring the Kingdom of God to earth! "May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven!" (Matthew 6:10)

God has broken down and chipped away the parts of my life and heart He couldn't use and rebuilt me into a woman of God that He wants to use for HIS glory and HIS glory alone! Over the past year I have experienced overwhelming freedom from things of my past and I now know what it feels like to live without chains on!! He is a chainbreaker! I have truly learned how to be Jesus' hands and feet over the past year! I can not fully express in words what God has done in my life over this past year but I am forever grateful for the Spirit leading me into a place where I was able to learn so much about the world around me and about God Himself! I am even more grateful that He is continuing to open doors of amazing opportunity!

I am forever changed and can no longer EVER settle for the typical American dream! Life is about WAY more than going to college and getting a degree that I hate, to do a job that I will hate more for the next 30 years of my life. It's about more than dressing up once a week, for an hour and sitting in a building with many other people who have dressed up and being fed health, wealth, and prosperity gospel! This life is meant to be lived the way Jesus lived it! Loving, Healing, Giving, Sharing, Praying, Raising in JESUS' name!

Thank you ALL for your love and prayers and support over this past year! I am so thankful for all the amazing people God has blessed me with!

"For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God's power!"

- 1 Corinthians 4:20 -

The Next Step

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

    I am not even sure where to begin! I will begin by saying that God has been extremely good to me! He continues to poor down His blessings upon me, even though I am undeserving! My family and I have had a tough summer, as my mother passed away on May 14th, the same day I returned home from Africa. It has been a hard road and I know it will continue to be but God has seriously been SO good to us! People from all over the US and Africa have been praying for my family and we have felt the prayers like never before! Not a day goes by the I don't miss my Mom but I know that she is MUCH happier with Jesus! She is now where she belongs and she is NO longer sick! Praise God!
    On a lighter note, I have recently been given an opportunity to go on full-time staff with Adventures In Missions! (the organization I went to Africa with) (www.adventures.org) I will be working with the Novas Project and Real Life trips! They are missionary experiences for college for students ages 18-24! I will be gone 8 months out of the year but not consecutively. Each trip will be from 1 to 3 months long. I am so excited to be a part of raising up a generation of radically committed disciples of Jesus Christ! I am excited to walk alongside these students as they figure out what Real Life here on earth is all about!
    I will start on in January with AIM so during the fall and the rest of this year I will be at home spending time with family, working some, and support raising! Yes, I did say that I was going on full-time staff but I will once again be a missionary so I will once again need to support raise. All my trips with AIM will be paid for but I will be raising about $1,200 monthly, for a two year period, The $1,200 will go towards my basic living expenses each month! I am excited for how God will provide for me! He continues to encourage me through His people, reminding me that He will indeed provide! He has called me to this and He always knows exactly what I need! Ideally I am looking for people who are willing to support me on a monthly basis. I will be grateful for any amount and I will of course be grateful for any one time donations as well! If you are interested in supporting me please email me at mkh514@gmail.com and I will give you further information about supporting me! Oh and if you have any good fund raising ideas please email me those as well! Thanks!
    I will also need prayer support! Please pray for me during this time as I wait upon the Lord and as I trust Him to provide! Pray that I do my part in the process and also trust Him to do His part and not try to take control! This is a small update for now and I will continue to post updates periodically! Thank you all for your love and support and your involvement in this ministry! I would not be able to do anything without the support and prayers of God's people!

"Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other.
Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude."

- 1 Peter 3:8 -

A Call To Be More Than Nice

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I have been back in America for about two and a half months now. I don't even know how to explain coming back to America after living in Africa for nine months. Let's just say it's very different and I have somewhat different eyes now. As we all know, In Africa I was a missionary. It was awesome! I loved every second of it! Sure, there were some days I wanted to give up but I didn't and

praise God for that, but all in all in was an incredible time in my life. A time to grow closer to God, to learn what real love is and be more like Jesus, to be challenged and challenge others. It was a unique experience that I will forever praise God for! Coming home from this amazing experience has been rather tough. I can't quite figure out how to adjust to living in America again without compromising everything I learned in Africa, everything that God convicted me of, everything that brings me closer to Him. Compromising is not an option so I continue to get up every day, open my bible, and try to decipher the key to living for Christ in America. It seems weird because this is my home country, but honestly I feel more comfortable being a missionary in Africa than I do my own country. God is breaking me down though and teaching me bit by bit what it means to be a missionary in America.

My job description as a missionary in Africa was basically this: to get up every morning, die to myself and let Christ love people through me. My job was to be Christ's hands and feet, bringing hope to the hopeless, healing and loving people in Jesus' name, putting others before myself and having an eternity mindset. My job was to desire, pursue, and love God more than ANYthing else in my life. Of course, I failed many times but thankfully we serve a graceful God who lets us get back up every day and try again. So this being my job as a missionary in Africa, I cannot just compromise it all because I come home to live in America. I want, desire, and should have the same job here that I had in Africa! Will it look different in certain ways? yes! Should it still look like Christ with skin on? yes! definitely! There should be no compromising getting up every day, dying to myself, and loving people as Jesus does! Because Jesus DOES love people! There should be no compromising praying for people and telling people about the Love that Jesus has for them!

For us to be missionaries, it will take more than just "being nice" to people! They must see the love of Christ POUR out of us! (POUR: to flow rapidly in a STEADY stream) They must know that we have Jesus living in us, not that we are just good people. We can't just be nice, being nice will not bring people to their Saviour, being nice will not heal people of sickness, disease, and pain, being nice will not bring people out of bondage and chains. We must BE Jesus! We must be MORE than nice. You may be saying,"well I am not called to be a missionary," but we are all called to "take up our Cross and follow Him," to love as Jesus does, to pray WITH people, to bring hope to the hopeless and that is what a missionary does.

Jesus says in the gospels "I have a kind of food you know nothing about." (John 4:32) We carry that same food inside of us! Because we have tasted that food, eaten it, digested it; we now own the responsibility of giving that food to the many people of this world and country that have never tasted it before. Jesus goes on to say, "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. You know the saying, 'Four months between planting and harvest.' But I say, WAKE UP and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!" (vs. 34-36)

"Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News you will save it." -Mark 8:34-35-

"But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned to me by the Lord Jesus-the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God."

-Acts 20:24-

Thank YOU!

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

      My heart is filled with overwhelming gratitude as I sit down and try to express my thankfulness to all of you for the huge role that you have played in this ministry. Whether you realize it or not, God has used you in amazing ways over the past nine months! By your support through prayers and financial contributions my team and I were able to "go into the world and make disciples." We were able to get on a plane in September of 2008 and fly (for a LONG time) to South Africa, we were able to live in Africa for nine months and experience the power of God in many ways! We watched God work amongst our own team of Americans. He brought healing to our lives through prayer and redemption. He molded us and shaped us more and more each day to look like His Son Jesus Christ. We also watched God's power fall upon Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa and Swaziland! We watched in awe as God used us to minister to the poor, the orphaned, the sick, the hurt, and the hungry.
    The the ministry of giving is huge. It takes great faith for a person to trust in God and give of themselves financially and in prayer! I can not thank you enough for taking your time and money to invest in God's Kingdom work! "They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor." Psalm 112:9 This is you! You have shared freely and given generously and your good deeds do not go unnoticed by our Father in Heaven! May He continue to walk with you every day and bring you closer and closer to Himself.
    There are no words I can write or even speak verbally to explain what God did during my time in Africa. I wish wholeheartedly that each of you could have been there, by my side, to experience it with me but unfortunately you were not. I am not even sure where to start but I guess I will start at the beginning and see what comes out.

We arrived in Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa in mide Sept. of 2008. We were a team of 41 college age student and 15 leaders! When we arrive in Jeffrey's Bay in I was put on a house visit team consisting of me and three of my teammates. We started by walking into the townships of Jeffrey's Bay and praying. We would ask the Holy Spirit where He wanted us to go. Eventually God would lead us to four or five families that we could pour into and love on each week. We were able to help Regina, a single mom of three, rebuild a part of her small home that had been burnt down. After scraping, painting and attempting to fix her roof we continued to visit her and her children each week. We prayed and played with them in hopes that they would know how much Jesus loves them! We met a woman in her early twenties named Sweetness who really just needed someone to talk to. We would hang out with her weekly and just try to invest time into her life. We fell in love with a family whom I can't really explain to you, but they are just so much fun to be around! Marta, Mina, Tabo, Mighty Mouse, Xoloni, and William are their names. They don't have much but they try to stay joyful and live each day to the fullest! God led us to a lady who felt led to start a daycare (creche) out of her own home. So she and her young daughter would singlehandedly take care of 20-30 babies daily. We would go weekly and just play with the kids in hopes of giving the mother a bit of rest. We also fell in love with a single mother, Theodora, and her son Thandi! Theodora just needed someone to pray with her. We prayed often for her to get a job and she eventually did get one! It was a day of praise and worship to God when we found out! There were many others in the Jeffrey's Bay townships that God lead us to minister to and pray for but these are the ones that I will never forget and never let go of!

Also, In Jeffrey's we did a lot of discipleship training amongst our team. We learned more about our spiritual gifts and our identities in Christ! We learned how to live in community and love each other better. We learned how to live more like Jesus in a world that is filled with evil. God did incredible, unimaginable things during my time in Jeffrey's Bay.

At the end of December our team of 56 people split into three different teams. We had an all girls team stay in Jeffrey's Bay, another part of our team went to Port Elizabeth, SA and my team of 18 students and 4 leaders went to live in Swaziland, Africa! We lived in Swaziland from January 2009 until May 2009. We lived and did ministry in a city called Manzini! If I could say anything to sum up my time in Swaziland I would say that God did immeasurably more than we could EVER have asked or imagined! I had the best team I could ever ask for! They are such a blessing from God! We had ten girls living in one room and never one had any quarrels, we had four amazing guys that truly showed us what men of God look like and we had four incredible servant leaders who would do anything for us! God truly showed up while we were in Swaziland and I'm fully confident that He is still at work in Manzini and all through out the small Kingdom of Swaziland! My ministry was somewhat different in Swaziland than it was in Jeffrey's Bay. I basically did something different each day of the week. On Mondays, I went to the local craft market and built relationships with the ladies there. I got to know some amazing women, Futhie, Ncamsile, Dwasile and Sibongile, pray for them and just pour into their lives. On Tuesdays, a couple of my teammates and I went to the Life Skills center in Manizini and led a bible study for some women in the sewing business. It was such a blessing to meet with these women and watch their faith in Christ return as we opened up the bible together. On Wednesdays, I went back to the Life Skills Center and made ceramic buttons with some amazing women! I built relationships with them and fell in love with Bongiwe and DuDu in particularly! On Thursdays, I met with and discipled my friend Zinhle! She is a beautiful girl going to school to be an HIV/AIDS counselor and she is hungry for God! On Fridays, we would do different ministry each week together as a whole team! We did things such as play with babies, paint, build, do hospital visits and lots of other things!
It is hard to sum up my nine month experience in Africa in two paragraphs so if you have other questions for me or want to get together and talk more about it please feel free to call me at 229-886-6266 or email me at mkh514@gmail.com. Once again, I can not express my gratitude enough to each of you for being such a big part of this ministry. I am not completely sure what God has for my future but I know it will involve ministry and missions work! I will keep you all updated as God updates me about the future He has for me! "And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive". Acts 20:35

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

Finding God In A Gas Station

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

          There is a sweet gas station in Manzini called Galp. The first time I went to Galp was in January. Our team was taking our first walk into town and we stopped at Galp to buy some juice. Nothing too exciting happened that day at Galp, but we met some of the employees that day and they were very friendly. Well eventually we started going to Galp a lot. One of my teammates, Gail, started to become friends with a lady named Thandi that works there. One day, a few months ago, I went to the gas station with Gail to visit Thandi. We talked with Thandi and met another employee of Galp that day. His name is Sizwe and he is about 24 years old. Now mostly every guy that we meet in Swaziland asks us to marry him within the first 2.3 seconds of talking with him but Sizwe was different. He was polite and not creepy at all. He didn't have wrong motive for talking to us, he was just curious as to what we were doing in Swaziland. We told him a little about our program and why we were in Swaziland and we continued to chat with him for awhile. He is a young man from Swaziland who is striving to truly live for God in a country where "living for God" is just a title that doesn't really mean much.
          After meeting and getting to know the amazing people that work at the Galp gas station we knew we had to continue visiting them. So Gail and I go to the gas station almost every Monday afternoon. We've had some really great conversations with Sizwe. He is hungry for God. He asks so many great questions. He has also been able to meet with the guys on our team and chat with them some too. He is in need of some male discipleship in his life. I am praying that God will provide that for Sizwe. I can truly call Him a brother in Christ!
          Sizwe is the cashier at Galp so the drill goes as follows. Gail and I stand in front of the counter, off to the side a bit, while Sizwe is behind the register checking out customers as they come in and out of the store. He stays pretty busy with customers but some how God always allows us to carry on in some sweet conversation.
          I have seen Christ walk in and out of that gas station so many times. Every week we go to Galp God seems to bring in a customer that either needs encouraging or encourages us. We've had the blessing of being Christ and seeing Christ in that gas station on numerous occasions. One time Gail and I had a really cool debate with a Siswati man about marriage, love and if it is okay to have more than one wife or not. The man couldn't speak English so Sizwe was translating throughout the whole debate. I know that it was truly from God because I didn't get angry that the man had three wives. I saw him as Jesus and tried to love him as if I were loving Jesus Himself. We were able to leave him with a verse about what love REALLY is. I pray that man comes to know the only true Love that has ever been or ever will be.
          Just last Tuesday Gail and I were at the gas station visiting once again when in walks an older man with a big smile on his face. I tried to greet him in Siswati but Sizwe quickly told me that he was deaf and could not understand me. Sizwe knew the man because he comes into the store regularly. His name is Donald. (Donald is the man in the picture to the left) He had a smile on his face that I will never forget and I could feel the radiance of God all around him. Donald grabbed a piece of paper and started to write on it. He wrote a note to Gail and I basically saying that he could tell we were trying to greet him and he said he likes writing so he asked if we would be pen pals with him. Once again, normally Siswati men are creepy but Donald wasn't the least bit creepy. We wrote back and forth with Donald for a bit, prayed with him and then he was on his way. Gail and I left the gas station on Tuesday extremely encouraged as we usually do.

Needless to say, God is definitely at work at that gas station. I am constantly in awe of God and His omnipresence! I know that God will continue to be there even after Gail and I leave in a few weeks. As with all of Swaziland, God will remain here, carrying out His plan even after we leave in May!

"I am the Alpha and the Omega--the beginning and the end." says the Lord God. "I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come--the Almighty One."
-Revelation 1:8-

The Sewing Ladies

Tue, 7 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Every Tuesday afternoon Gail, Kepp, and myself go to the Life Skills Center in Manzini where we live. The Life Skills Center is a place where Swazi men and women are taught life skills such as sewing, weaving, screen printing, carpentry, welding, ceramics, cooking and so on. A small business has been started at the Life Skills Center for each of these skills and once these businesses get up and running then they will leave the Life Skills Center to find a place in town to run their own businesses. Then the process will start all over again. It is a really neat project because the unemployment rate in Swaziland is about 30%.
Having said all that, Gail, Kepp, and myself hang out with some amazing Swazi ladies every Tuesday. We refer to them as the "sewing ladies". They are so sweet and friendly and genuine. We do a bible study with them every week and every week I fall more and more in love with them. We are really praying that the Holy Spirit would continue to reveal to us what they need to hear. We have talked about God's love and God's glory and Heaven with them so far. This week we will talk about how as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, we must lift each other up and cast our burdens upon each other. We will talk about being open with each other and trusting each other.
We are trying to prepare them for when we leave. We only have a few weeks left with them. My prayer is that after we leave they will continue to fellowship together in the Word and continue to pray for one another. My prayer is that they will be real with each other, casting their burdens on one another. My prayer is that the bible study would spread throughout the whole Life Skills Center. More people each week are asking what we are doing and now even some of the men want to come to the bible study.
No matter how hopeless this country may seem at times, God is still the God of Swaziland. He loves Swaziland just as much as South Africa or America. He loves these people and He is a jealous God. Even after my team leaves He will continue to fight for their hearts. He will not take no for an answer! He is a persistent God!

You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.
(Exodus 34:14)

"For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself.

I promised you as a pure bride to one husband--Christ."

- 2 Corinthians 11:2-

If God leads you to give...

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

First of all, I want to thank God for each and everyone of you! Your support and encouragement while I have been in Africa has been such a blessing! God keeps reminding me daily of the support I have back home from so many people. I feel truly loved and undeserving of such support but I know it is all from God and for that I can not express enough gratitude to my Heavenly Father!

          As you all know I had to raise $9,000 to participate in the FYM program and God has been extremely provisional but I still have about $700 left to raise. My prayer is that you will prayerfully consider how God wants you to help me in raising this last bit of money. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you an amount and if you're listening He will reveal that amount to you. Trust God that He is bigger than your wallet or your bank account. Have faith that He is all you need! I don't mean for this to sound harsh or bad but each and every one of us is rich! We are rich! I know you don't think you are but you are! I didn't think I was either but after living in Africa for awhile I have realized just how good we have it in America, just how spoiled we are and just how rich we are. Most of my friends in Africa live on 20 to 30 dollars a month and most of us spend more than that in a day. All I am really trying to say is that if your initial reaction is, "oh no I can't give because then I might not have enough money for this or that." (whether it be food, clothing or whatever) I want to challenge you to reevaluate the situation. Look around your house, look around your room, look in your refrigerator/pantry, look at your car and think about your job. First of all, stop and thank God for blessing you with each and every one of these things because SO many people in the world don't have ANY of these things. Secondly, would you be okay if you didn't have ANY of these things but ONLY had God? If your answer if no, (and if we are truly honest with ourselves I think most of our answers would be no), if you become fearful or scared just by asking yourself that question, if you are sweating right now just thinking about not having a car or an ipod or a job or food or a room of your own or a house with a lot of rooms some of which don't even get used then you need to put your trust in God! It's easy to say that we trust God but can we actually put our trust into action? Without action we do not have trust! My prayer is that you will trust God in every area of your life. It is hard. I know I fail at it every day but we must keep trying and keep trusting.

          I can't wait to see you all again in May and share all the ways I have seen God work since I've been in Africa. All praise and glory be to our Heavenly Father who adopted us as His own children and loves us more than we could ever ask or imagine!

          Please continue to pray for my team and I! We have been experiencing a lot of spiritual attacks lately! Please pray that we would be able to finish strong here in Swaziland and not hold back for one second from the mission that God has called us to! Please pray for Swaziland! God continues to break my heart for this country more and more every day!

Remember this--the farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully." And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, "They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever."

-2 Corinthians 9:6-9-

Attention Supporters!

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I just wanted to check in and let you all know that everything is going well in Swaziland! We are on a small break right now to just rest and let God rejuvenate us for the rest of the trip. It has been a wonderful week so far.

I know you haven't seen many picture since I've been in Africa and for this I am sorry but as you might imagine the internet here is extremely slow and it is hard to upload photos. There is a girl on my Swazi team named Loretta and she is a great photographer and she has a website where she posts a lot of our Swaziland/South Africa pictures so if you want to check them out you can! The website is www.flickr.com/photos/lorettawang I also have some Africa albums on Facebook is you have Facebook!

Thanks for all your support and prayers! Please continue to be in prayer for my team in Swazi and all the ministry we have left there! I'm excited to see what God will do in these last couple of months!

Thanks!

-mary-

Be Careful What You Pray For

Fri, 6 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Well my first month or so of living in Swaziland was pretty rough. I didn't like it very much. I missed Jeffrey's Bay and all the friends that I had made there. Satan kept lying to me, telling me that I didn't have a purpose here in Swaziland and that God didn't want me here. But after a huge falling out with satan and a lot of prayer from my teammates and I things started to get better. I have been praying since late January that God would break my heart for Swaziland and that He would bless me with great relationships here. Ever since I started praying this prayer God has been answering it. I have building some really neat relationships with a few Swazis and I've come home crying or with a heavy heart for Swaziland on numerous occasions. God has been faithful in answering my prayer but it has been hard.

You see, the culture in Swaziland is extremely different than our culture back home. Here it is completely okay, even normal, for men to have two or three or four wives. The king of Swaziland actually has 13 wives. He picks a new one every year. Also, the men and women of Swaziland are not treated equally. Men are far more superior over women. It is perfectly acceptable for men in this culture to beat their wives or to bring their girlfriends home and make their wives sleep on the floor while their girlfriend sleeps in the bed with them. Swaziland has signed a convention saying that women have equal rights as men but just because it is written on paper doesn't really mean much. There are some Christian men who only have one wife and they do not beat their wives but they are the minority. Although the men in Swaziland are hugely at fault, we can't blame everything on the men.

The women in Swaziland don't respect themselves at all! It's not like in America though, In America most women know that they should and can respect themselves; a lot of women just choose not to. In Swaziland I'm not so sure the women even know that they can respect themselves. I have a couple friends, Futhie and Naomsile, that work at the market and I visit them every Monday morning. They are sisters. The first time I met them I was asking them about their lives and their families. Futhie is 21 and had her first child when she was 14. Naomsile is 26 and had her first child at 17. I was asking them what made them have sex at such young ages and they said that the didn't really know that they could say no. They felt pressure from the men and they thought it was just something they had to do. Also, the woman has no say in whether or not the man wears a condom or not. They are from the rural areas of Swaziland and no one ever taught them how to respect themselves as women. No one ever told them that they are precious creations of our Heavenly Father and He has so much more for them! It's not that no one told them about God. They are taught about God and most Swazis will tell you that they know God but that doesn't mean they have a relationship with God. They just know who He is. They know about Him. As you can see, they mix God with a lot of culture and ancestral worship.

After numerous conversations with girls and women with similar stories as Futhie's and Noamsile's I know that my purpose here is to teach Swazi women of the love that God has for them and that they can respect themselves. I want them to know how precious, beautiful and lovely they are! God has made them to be so much more than bunching bags! If I teach only a few Swazi women how to respect themselves then they in turn can teach other women and they can teach other women and so on.

Prayer will also be a huge part of this process and this is where YOU come in! Please be in Prayer for the women and men of Swaziland. Pray that they would actually read the bible and realize their roles as men and women of God. Pray that hearts would be changed and that the culture would change as well.

Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! This is what the Lord says: "The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me. Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognize its master's care but Israel (Swaziland) doesn't know its master. My people don't recognize my care for them."

- Isaiah 1:2-3 -

Some information about Swaziland

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hello all! The Kingdom of Swaziland is a gorgeous place! There are beautiful mountains all around and gorgeous green landscape everywhere! The people of Swaziland are so kind and friendly! You probably don't know much about Swaziland, as I did not know much before I moved here so I will tell you a little about Swaziland. Swaziland is a country in Africa about the size of New Jersey and it is the last country in Africa with a king. The government in Swaziland is pretty corrupt. 70% of the Swazi population lives in poverty while the king lives in his palace, has 13 wives, a lot of stinkin cars and a private jet. The children in Swaziland are required to pay school fees to attend even a public school. HIV/AIDS is rampant is Swaziland. The country is predicted to be wiped out by AIDS within the next 40 to 50 years. The average life expectancy is Swaziland is 31 years old. There are not very many jobs in Swaziland AT ALL and most of the jobs are government jobs.

Swaziland is known as a Christian nation but there is still a lot of ancestral worship and worship of other gods. Our mission, while in Swaziland, is not exactly to save people because pretty much everyone you talk to will tell you they are a Christian. Our mission while is Swaziland is to disciple Swazis, teaching them more about the truth of God's Word and reminding them that God is a jealous God and does not want to be shared with any other gods. Culture in Swazi is huge and is usually put before God and what the bible says. As we disciple Swazi men and women then they, in turn, can disciple other Swazi men and women and so on.

God is at work and alive in Swaziland. We have been here a month and have already seen God's power at work in this country. God loves the country of Swaziland and He wants His people to turn to Him instead of their culture. Our God is a relentless God and He will not give up on this country. Please pray that God would change the king's heart because to end poverty in this country it must start from the top. It must start with the king and his government.

"If you wanted to return to me, you could. You could throw away your

detestable idols and stray away no more."

- Jeremiah 4:1 -

Life In The Kingdom of Swaziland

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I will be honest, for the first month I have been struggling with why God has me in Swaziland. I have missed South Africa/Jeffreys Bay a lot and satan has been attacking me with a lot of different lies. After a month of doing ministry, praying, fasting, receiving some godly insight and trusting God I can honestly say that I am excited to be here in Swaziland! I'm excited about the ministries God has me in! I am so blessed to be here in this country! I do not deserve to be here at all but God has placed me here until May 13th and I will, with His help, strive to be the hands and feet of Jesus while I'm here!

My main ministries will be the market, the youth center, and the hospital. Gail, Jillian and myself go to the market every Monday. The market is an open area, on the streets in downtown Manzini, where there are a bunch of booths set up and Swazi people sell an assortment of different things. They sell things like vegetables, fruits, clothes, shoes, arts, and crafts. We just go and minister to the ladies that work there. I have met a couple of ladies, Goodness and Spongewe, that have really grabbed my heart and I am excited to get to know them better!

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I will be helping out at the life skills part of the youth center. As you now know, there are not many jobs in Swaziland. The mission of the life skills part of the youth center in Manzini is to teach Swazi people skills like ceramics, sewing, printing, cooking, mechanics, carpentry and so on. This is an incredible project because it makes for more jobs and the Swazis are actually learning skills to help them make money. On Tuesdays Gail, Kepp and myself will do a bible study with the sewing ladies during their lunch break and help them out in whatever ways we can.

On Wednesday Jillian, Caroline and myself help make ceramic jewelry with some Swazi ladies. It is so much fun! I love it and there is a really sweet Swazi lady who works there named Bongewe and she has loved me since day one! She doesn't speak a lot of English but I'm excited for how God is already working in this relationship and for how He will in the future. A couple of weeks ago it was raining so we gave Bongewe a ride home and she invited us in to meet her children. We went inside her small, two room house which is probably the size of your bedroom ,if not smaller, and we met her beautiful children. She has two daughters and a son. The little boy, 7 years old, was laying on the floor where he sleeps every night, wrapped in a blanket. We asked Bongewe what was wrong with him and she said he was hungry but we knew it was something more than that. This past weekend one of my leaders, Caroline, and some of my teammates were out in town and they saw Bongewe begging for money on the streets of Manzini so that she could take her son the the hospital. He was with her and he was wrapped in a blanket. They gave Bongewe a ride to the hospital and paid for the visit. We saw the little boy yesterday at the carepoint getting food and playing and he seemed like a different kid. He was running around laughing and playing like little boys should! Praise God! It was definitely not an accident that Caroline and my teammates ran into Bongewe in town on Saturday!

On Thursdays I go to the hospital to visit patients. This is the hardest ministry that I have ever done but I knew coming to Swazi that God wanted me to do hospital visits. I love it because so many people don't have someone to visit them. To see the smiles on their faces and to be able to sit with them like Jesus would and does is truly a blessing! It is heart breaking though to see women who are confined to a bed or small children who have all sorts of different illnesses who should be outside running around and playing. It is sad because in America most of these people could receive the help and care they need. Nevertheless, I think God calls us to visit and help and love the sick like Jesus would! And God is the ultimate Healer! He can do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine!

On Fridays we have team ministry. It will look different every Friday but, we will always do ministry together as a whole team on Fridays. So far we have visited the children at an abandon baby shelter in Mbabane, helped Mage Peggy build a garden for her orphanage and last week we visited the hospital in Mbabane (the capitol of Swazi).

I'm excited to share with you all the different ministries that God has going on in Swazi and that He is allowing me to be a part of for the next for months! Please be in prayer for Swaziland and for all the relationships that God is starting between myself and women of Swaziland.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favour has come."

- Luke 4:18-19 -

How Many Feet Have You Washed Lately?

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"It's one thing to write a check to your favorite charity; it's one thing to speak in sympathetic terms about the plight of those less fortunate; it's one thing to hand out blankets to homeless people; and it's another to get down on your hands and knees and lovingly wash the feet of a homeless person. To put yourself into a simple act that says "I love you, your are special to me and to God."

- Dan Merchant -

This quote comes from a book called Lord, Save Us From Your Followers. The book is about culture wars and how Christians are so quick to say, "you're wrong and I'm right so let be tell you how to be right like me." It is an extremely challenging book that calls Christ followers to actually sit down and have a conversation with someone who has different views than you, to listen to their story and try to understand them. We are all God's children. He made every single person in the world. We are all equals in God's eyes. How often do we just throw money at people who are less fortunate than us or tell someone we will pray for them without actually having a conversation with them and getting to know them? We get so caught up in our own busyness that we forget why we are living. We are alive so that we can be Jesus' hands and feet. That is our soul purpose in this world.

At the end of the book, there is a beautiful story about a group of people in Portland, Oregon who hang out with homeless people every friday night downtown under a bridge. The ministry is called Bridgetown Ministries and volunteers from different churches all over Portland come together EVERY FRIDAY night to provide a meal, clothing, and toiletries for the homeless. Another absolutely amazing thing that the volunteers do for the homeless people is wash their feet for them. Every Friday night they have a foot washing station. Homeless people walk a lot throughout the week so for them to have their feet washed is truly a blessing to them. One homeless man named Chuck said this, "The foot wash feels really good. Everybody likes that. I walk a lot so it feels nice to have somebody do that for you. Vicki and I can get a meal here, have people pray for us, get our feet washed, it's good." This, to me, is an incredible example of how to be Jesus to someone. After all, Jesus did wash His disciples feet.

I was extremely encouraged and challenged by this book. God calls us to love people and so often we fall short of this. Love means giving of yourself. Love means stepping out and putting yourself in uncomfortable situations. Love means following through with ideas that God lays on your heart even though you have no idea what the outcome will be.

"You can tell someone truly knows Christ when, in a conversation, they are way more interested in what you have to say than what they have to say."

"You may be saying, "What terrible people you have been talking about!" But you are just as bad, and you have no excuse!" When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you do these very same things.

- Romans 2:1 -

The Kingdom of Swaziland

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hello from Swaziland! I just wanted to let you all know that my team and I are safely settled in Swaziland! It is gorgeous here! We are surrounded by beautifully painted, luscious green mountains and fields. The Swazi people are extremely friendly! Although Swaziland is a beautiful place and God is totally at work here, there is still a lot of sickness, poverty, prostitution, jealousy, and begging that happens in Swaziland! This past week we have been visiting all the different ministry options to see where we want to do ministry. I'm pretty sure God wants me at the hospital, but I know it will be very hard at times! I went to the hospital twice this week and loved it! I was in the children's ward and ended up spending both days with a beautiful Swazi lady named Vuyisile and her little 6 months old baby. The baby was sick with a stomach flu for a couple of days. On the second day, Vuyisile and I sat and read the bible together. She shared some verses with me and I shared some with her. It was lovely! Monday we will start ministry for real and for that I am SO ecstatic! Please be in prayer for my team and I and the people of Swaziland! I will write longer and more in depth blogs as time goes on. For now I will leave you with an encouraging verse that Vuyisile shared with me. Love you all!

"The Lord is good. When trouble comes, He is a strong refuge. And He knows everyone who trusts in him."

-Nahum 1:7-

My address:

Julie Anderson

c/o Mary Hollis

PO Box 5526

Mbabane, Swaziland

AFRICA

(be sure to write AFRICA in REALLY big letters or else they will send it to Switzerland)

So Surreal!

Tue, 9 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I just wanted to give a short update for you all! This week is my last week of minsitry here in Jeffreys Bay! It will mostly be spent telling all of our friends in the township bye and leaving them with words of encouragment, reasurring them that God is with them even when we can not be! I know God will throw in some curve balls throughout the week, He always does and I'm excited for them! Next week is our last week of The Awakening before Christmas break and it will be spend in St. Francis Bay for our debrief!

It's so surreal everytime I think about the last three months of my life and how fast it has past but how much God has done and is still doing! I will miss JBay but I am super excited about what God has for me in Swazi minus the hot weather!

Please be in prayer for my team and I as we finish our our last week of ministry and our last two weeks of The Awakening! Prayer that we will not check out early and that we will let these two weeks be all that God wants them to be!

I will leave you with a picture of one of the most incredible moments of my life! God is SO glorious!!

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come."

- Luke 4:18-19 -

It's Been Awhile

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So I know I haven't written a blog in a long time and for that I am sorry. We have been really busy here with different things and I are reading a book called Exiles that pretty much takes up all my free time. Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we will have a big Thanksgiving meal together and then we have Friday through Monday off to explore South Africa a bit more. Myself and four other girls are going to a place called Plettenberg Bay for the weekend. It is about three or four hours away from Jeffrey's Bay. Before we go to Plett on Friday we are going bungee jumping with about half of our team! I'm soooo excited! ALSO, on Sunday my friend Alyssa and I are going SHARK CAGE DIVING!!! I'm soooo stinkin excited! So yeah I'm excited for this weekend!

Soooo in January, I will be going to Swaziland until May! I am pretty excited about this! A few weeks ago we had a week of fasting and prayer and God gave me some pretty neat confirmation about going to Swazi! God is already breaking my teams hearts for Swazi and I am so anxious to see what He is going to do there, but I will miss Jbay and the people here so so much!

Our house visit ministry here is going great! We are building some neat relationships but we leave in about three weeks which is going to be really sad. One girl from my house visit team is staying in Jbay until May so she will be able to continue in the relationships we have been building, which will be awesome! We have been praying for our friend Theodora to get a job for awhile and she got one! This is extremely exciting because jobs are really hard for the people in the townships to get. Another one of our friends, Sweetness, is still looking for a job so please pray for her. Apparently she got one and worked for a week and the guy didn't pay her so she quit but there is really nothing she can do about it which sucks! We have a friends Davidson who is 25 and just moved to Jbay. He is addicted to smoking and alcohol. He told us he wants to stop and he said he knows God wants him to stop but I guess it is easier said than done. He has started going to church with us though so that is cool! Please pray for Davidson! You can also pray for Marta, Regina, Gladis, and all of Ocean View and Tokyo Sexwhale! Please pray that God would use my house visit team, Blair, La, Alexis and myself, in insane ways during our last 10 days of ministry! That is all we have left is 10 ministry days! It is crazy! Time is flying by!

God is doing so many others things and it is all so overwhelming but at the same time extremely exciting! He is teaching me how to trust Him like I've never trusted Him before! He is teaching me what it is truly like to be a Christ follower! Our team of 55 people, including our leaders, is more unified now than ever before! We are all learning, growing, and being stretched together! It's a beautiful but extremely exhausting thing haha!

I miss each and every one of you back home so so SO much! You are on my heart often! Please know that you are in my prayers and I know God is working back home just as He is here in Jbay! Continue to pursue God and just be real! Being real is what He wants from us I think!

P.S. If you ever want to call me I would love to hear from anyone and everyone! You can call me using skype which costs like $0.02 a minute or you can get a calling card and call me that way! My number is 27792550247. Love you guys!

Beat the Drum

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I know it has been awhile since I have written a blog and for that I am extremely sorry! I wish I could write more but because of busyness and limited internet access I am not able to.

My team and I were out of town all last week (Oct 10-18). We were in Somerset East, which is about 3 hours Northwest of Jeffreys Bay. We were involved in a biblically based HIV/AIDS awareness program called Beat the Drum. There is a move called Beat the Drum about a young boy, Musa, who lives in a small village. At the beginning of the movie Musa's father dies from a "curse" that is on Musa family which is actually AIDS. Everyone in the village shuns Musa and his family because they think his family is cursed. In actuality, the people of the village are just ignorant because they have never been taught about HIV/AIDS. So to make a long story short Musa goes to Johannesburg to search for his uncle and in doing so finds an awareness of HIV/AIDS. Musa and a friend he meets in Johannesburg take courage and start telling people the truth about HIV/AIDS.

If you don't already know, HIV/AIDS is extremely prevalent in South Africa. We had about 120 Beat the Drum volunteers and amongst those volunteers we were split into five different school teams. Aeroville (which was my team), Cookhouse (has the highest HIV/AIDS count in South Africa), Gill, Pearston, Johnson, and there was also a community team who spoke to prisons and farmers. Our focus was to bust the myths about AIDS such as: you will be cured in you sleep with a virgin, condoms give you AIDS, if I have sex while holding hands I am still a virgin, if I deny I have HIV/AIDS it will go away, and if I have sex with a fat person I will not get HIV/AIDS because their fat absorbs the AIDS. Now all these myths seem relatively dumb to you and I, but these people have never been educated about HIV/AIDS and these are things they actually believe.

So here we go, I will tell you what we thought God's plan for the week was going to be and then I'll tell you how stinkin clever God is and what actually happened. The plan was to show the movie to the grade 8 and 9 at AerovilleHigh School on Monday and come back Tuesday to start teaching from the Beat the Drum curriculum. The curriculum shows us what to teach from day to day and in our school team we split into smaller teams of 3 people and each 3 person team was given either a grade 8 or grade 9 class to teach.

We showed the movie to grads 8 and 9 on Monday and everything ran smoothly, praise Jesus! Afterwards we did a lot of praying and preparing in order to teach the curriculum on the next day, but when we arrived at the school on Tuesday there were no students at the school. Apparently Aeroville has a new principal and the teachers don't like him so they decided to go on a small strike and send all the students home. At this point I was a bit discouraged but knew that God was in control. We found out that about 400 of the students live in a hostile on campus so we had 40 minutes to go over and meet some of the students. I was ready to get into some deep conversations with these students, but God had other plans for the day. I ended up just playing games with some girls the whole time. It was really fun and just gave us a chance to get to know them a little and allow them to be comfortable around us and trust us more. We left the school and I was still a bit discouraged. Honestly I was not trusting God completely. I felt like we didn't have much time with these students and I was worrying but God is capable of immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine. He is capable of using 5 minutes or 50 minutes. God rocks!

The next day the students were still on strike, so we went back to the hostile to talk with them. I and two of my teammates walked up to a group of students and started talking with them. I started talking with an extremely interesting girl names Babalwa. She is in grade 11 and is really talkative and just a sweet girl. She stood out to me amongst all the other students for some reason. She was telling me how she didn't understand why 18 year old girls were sleeping with men old enough to be her grandpa. We started talking about Christianity and she told me her parents were Christians but she wasn't. She said she needed to be a teenager first and Christianity is for when she gets older. I talked with her some more and then in was time to leave. We invited all the students to the youth rally we were having at the youth center the next night.

The next night at the youth rally (Wednesday night) I was looking for Babalwa and I couldn't find her. I ended up meeting some other students that night and sitting with them. I was an extremely powerful night and God did incredible things in the hearts of those students. They were given an opportunity to accept Jesus and challenged to abstain from sex until marriage. We went back to Aeroville Thursday and we actually got to teach in the classroom. We had 45 minutes and it took us 15 minutes to find our classroom. Once we found our classroom only 3 students had actually seen the movie. We talked to them about values and just some general stuff from the movie that they could understand without having seen the movie. They also had a chance to write letters to us about something in their lives that they need advice on or have never told anyone. The bell rang and all the students left. I left the room a little discouraged. A few of my teammates and I decided to go over to the hostile to visit the students we met earlier in the week. I saw Babalwa and was anxious to ask her if she was at the youth rally. She said she would meet me at the hostile in a few minutes. So I went on over and started playing a game called Oh Lele with some girls. The game just finished as Babalwa walked up so I went up to her and asked her if she was at the youth rally. She said yes and she said she accepted Jesus into her heart at the youth rally!!!!! I was so excited! I gave her a huge hug! She said the youth rally was extremely powerful and when she and her friends got back to the hostile afterwards they were praying and reading the bible together. I asked her if she had a bible of her own and she didn't so I told her I would buy her one! So I did and I gave it to her the next day! She was so excited to receive it! Please pray that Babalwa continues to fall more and more in love with God every day! God gave me a huge heart for her since the first day I met her and I know He has incredible plans for her life!

So now it is Thursday afternoon, and we decided for our second and last day of teaching on Friday we would split the guys and the girls up. I've been reading a book called Messy Spirituality (which I totally recommend reading btw) and there is one part where the author tells the story of the Samaritan woman and Jesus at the well and I've never heard the story told in such a way. Here is a lady who has made all kinds of bad choices. Everyone thinks she is unsalvageable, unteachable, and unredeemable, but Jesus comes and tells her everything she has every done. He tells her who she really is when she doesn't even know who she is. He redeems her! So I had been thinking all week how perfect that story would be to tell to a group of teenage girls who really have no clue why they are on earth or what they are doing here. So I presented the idea to my teaching partner and she was down with it.

Friday comes and we go to teach the girls we had the day before, but once again, God had a totally different plan for us. I ended up teaching with three other girls I wasn't prepared to teach and we were in a classroom with about 30 girls whom we didn't know if we had the day before or not. We had about three minutes to put our plans together. I told them I had to tell the Samaritan woman at the well story from John 4 and they were fine with that. So we went in the classroom to find out from the teacher that we only had 35 minutes when we thought we were going to have an hour. We started teaching and trying to have discussions with them about things such as dreams, love, and lust. They seemed to be listening but they didn't participate much in the discussions. All of a sudden the bell rang and they we all about to leave. I asked them if they would be interested in staying and listening to a story and they all said yes. So I told them to picture themselves as the woman at the well and I started reading the story out of Messy Spirituality. I finished and told the girls that if any of them wanted Jesus to do this for them He would and I told them they could stay after and talk with any of us if they wanted to. They all left the classroom but not a minute later five girls walked back in. One girl said, "My friends want to accept Jesus!" So two of my teammates and myself led four girls to Christ on Friday! God is so big! He can do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine!

Beat the Drum in Somerset East was an incredible awakening for the town but there is still a lot of pain there. We had free HIV testing on Friday for the community. A lot of people were negative but some were positive. Teenagers were redeemed and forgiven, but some are still getting raped by their dads or uncles and some are still going to sleep around. God cries with these people, but He is there only hope. So please keep Somerset East in your prayers! We are not with them anymore but God definitely is! My prayer is that they would remember that!

"Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, INVINCIBLE IN BATTLE."

- Psalm 24:8 -

What God is doing in my life

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So I know I have been writing a lot about what God is doing in house visits but I haven't told you guys much about what God is doing in me. I'm not even sure where to start or what to say because He is doing so much, but this is my attempt. He is teaching me so many different things that it is hard to comprehend it all. God is teaching me that I am powerful and useful. I have, for FAR too long, believed the lies that I am not useful or good enough. I have always told myself, "Oh, I shouldnt even attempt this or try this or volunteer for this because surely I am not good enough and surely someone can do it better than me" and those are complete lies from Satan! Satan is so stupid! I am good enough. God wants to use me to do incredible things! He wants to use each and everyone of us! Each and every one of us can have the same power of God in us!

He is teaching me to continually be led by His Holy Spirit all day, every day, which is extremely difficult. It's the only way to possess the power that we have been given! The possession of the Holy Spirit must be a lifestyle not just something we call upon at church or in "ministry". What is ministry anyways? Shouldn't that be our lifestyles too? It is a learning process. "Like a child taking first steps we are learning through success and failure, confident that we have a present Teacher who, through the Holy Spirit, will guide us into all truth." The Holy Spirit is such an incredible gift that we far too often take for granted by not inviting the Spirit to take over for us. The Holy Spirit is our Helper, Encourager, Comforter, and Advocate. As humans we are selfish and desire control but to let go and allow the Holy Spirit to take over is the smartest thing we can and will ever do.

God is teaching me boldness. He is teaching me to take initiative which goes hand in hand with obeying the Holy Spirit. He is teaching me my true identity in Christ! I am a Daughter of the King! He has adopted me into His family and I possess ultimate power in and through Him! God is also teaching me how to live in community. Living in community takes a lot of patience, a lot of love, a lot of kindness, a lot of sharing, and a lot of selflessness. Basically it just takes a lot! And well I don't have a lot of any of those things so God is teaching me to die to myself daily and let Him live through me. None of me and all of Him! God is teaching me that my money is not mine. It is only by the wonderful grace of God that I have anything! Everything I have is a gift from God and I don't need to be attached to any of it.

God is teaching me how to live a simplistic life in general. Living simply isn't just external. It's not just buying less things or spending less money. Living simply is external and internal. It means seeking first the Kingdom of God and letting Him provide everything you need. Whether is be money, time, love, friendship, fellowship etc. itt really doesn't matter because God knows us way better than we know ourselves so why wouldn't He provide everything if we just trust Him to do so? God has been teaching me that the "free time" that I thought was mine to do with whatever I want is not really mine at all. So I must be open to doing whatever God wants me to do with that time.

So basically I am just learning. I've only been in Africa for a month and a half and God is already teaching me so many things. I'm sure that by May my head will have already exploded! I believe though that He is teaching me all these things now so I will have the rest of my time here to put what I'm learning into action in hopes that when I am thrown back into American culture I won't forget all that I've learned.

I'm so excited about next week! Our whole team will be fasting. It's called a 25 hour fast. We will eat breakfast Monday morning, lunch Tuesday, dinner Wednesday, Thursday we won't eat at all and we will break the fast on Friday morning. We are also fasting from all communication, so that means I will not be on the internet for all of next week. We will have a prayer room and a sign up sheet so every hour of every day next week will be covered in prayer! I'm so stinkin excited for what God is going to do so please please please pray for my team and I next week! Please pray for our fasting of food because It will get hard and we will get hungry! Pray that we will trust God for strength and pray that God would release His mighty power upon us like never before!

"And He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him

and make the kingdom of God your primary concern."

- Matthew 6:33 -

TIA (This Is Africa)

Wed, 8 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Africa is so overwhelming! I do not even know where to begin. God is doing so much in Jeffreys Bay, yet so so much in my own heart as well. My ministry team and I are beginning to build relationship with some families in the townships and it is really neat! I'm excited for what God has in store for us and for what He wants to show these people through us! There are no limits to how we can show God's love in the township. For example, yesterday we went to see our friend Sweetness and she was not home, she was at the clinic, but her mother Joyce was there. Joyce was sitting on the couch and we could tell that her back was bothering her and she wasn't feeling well so we asked if there was anything we could help her with around the house and she said yes. So Blair, Alexis, and I stood in the kitchen washing Joyce's dishes. It was so funny because it was nothing like washing dishes in America. It was interesting to say the least.

One day last week it was raining and very cold so our amazing ministry leader Kristen drove us to the townships and through out the townships while we visited people. At one point we were sitting in the van in Ocean View (one of the townships), praying, asking God to show us where to go and God said turn left and so we did and then He gave us something about bananas so we stopped at this small grocery shop in Ocean View and Alexis and I got out of the van and walked inside. Alexis went straight to the Vaseline and picked some up. I was so confused as to why but I didn't question her on it. She then picked up bananas and took both the Vaseline and the bananas to the counter to pay. We introduced ourselves to the shop owner and he told us his name was Mohammed. We asked him where he was from and he said Somalia. We talked to him some more about his family and he asked us a lot of questions too. I saw the Karan sitting beside him so I asked him about it. We had a really neat conversation with him about Christianity and Muslims for about an hour. We finally left to find the rest of our team but later ended up back at Mohammed's shop with the whole team. We talked to him and his friend more about who Jesus is and about the bible. It was neat! Mohammed is such a nice guy. He gave us a huge bottle of coke before leaving and the next time we visited him he gave us each a banana.

God is truly starting to break my heart for the people in the townships. We were visiting our friend Theodora and she told us about a four year old girl who was raped by a Somalian man. So because of this one Somalian mans actions all the Somalian's were pretty much kicked out of the townships. As soon as we left Theodora's house we went to check on Mohammed. The shop was still there but there was nothing left in the shop at all. Everything was gone and so was he. I have no idea where Mohammed is now. I pray that he is safe though! This is really hard for me to process and I am still trying to process it all. It's hard to fathom but I know God is using this situation for good. It wasn't a mistake that God led us to Mohammed, to know him only for a short week.

There are so many stories much like Mohammed's and much like the four year old child who was raped. There is Theodora who didn't get her grant from the government to feed her son this month but God is providing! There is Regina whose house is partially burnt and has a hole in the roof from an electrical fire but it hasn't rained yet and God is providing the means to fix her house. There is sickness and pain and hardship but GOD is in the center of it all. He is crying with His people. My prayer is that they know that! My prayer is that even though their bodies are sick, their houses are falling apart, and they really don't have much; I pray that they would cling to the cross of Christ! I pray they know how temporary this life is and this is just the waiting room for eternity.

God is teaching me so much and it is overwhelming to think about it all. He's teaching me to reply completely on Him FOR EVERYTHING!. For strength, for nourishment, for rest, for words, for actions. He is teaching me how to live in community and how to call upon my teammates when I need something. He is teaching me to discern when the Holy Spirit is speaking to me and most importantly He is teaching me how to obey the Holy Spirit, which is such a hard thing to do sometimes. He is teaching me about prayer and the power of prayer. He is just teaching me!

Thank you all so much for your prayers! I miss each and every one of you more and more each day! I hope all is well! Please let me know if there is anything I can be praying for you guys about. Please pray about all the situations that I have written about, please pray that my head won't explode and that I can process everything God is doing here. A lot of my teammates and leaders are sick right now so please pray against the sickness here! One of my teammates, Erin, had to leave yesterday for good so please pray for her situation.

Also, Friday we are leaving for Beat the Drum which is an AIDS awareness program in Somerset East (which is like three hours away) and it is going to be OFF THE CHAIN! God is going to do some incredible things! So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be in prayer for it next week. My whole team is leading plus about 50 other South Africans will be helping as well. We will be speaking to farmers, prisons, schools etc. about AIDS/HIV!

"God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God."

-Matthew 5:8-