http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ajIFfSaEzE

Patiently Waiting...

there comes a time in our life, well actually a number of times, where we find ourselves in the midst of waiting. whether its waiting for a job, waiting for results from a test, waiting for a husband or wife, or even waiting for God to reveal a plan he has for you. im in the midst of waiting right now. this summer has been an amazing experience for me. i have learned so much about culture, people, children, passions, love, and even some medical things i didn't really care to know about. God has stretched me a lot this summer, and one thing he has stretched me really hard on is waiting. not only waiting, but waiting patiently. waiting paitently are probably the two hardest things to do. as humans we are always wanting it now, right now. not later, not tomorrow, but now. but if God always gave us what we wanted right when we wanted it, where would prayer come in? when would we spend time with him? when would we seek him? its when we are waiting that we find ourselves seeking him and praying more and more. i have found that there is something i want really bad, and if i want it bad enough i will do whatever it takes to get it. but then i have to pause. i heard this sermon about the desires of our heart. the pastor talked about wanting something so bad. and i thought to myself, wow i want this one thing really bad. then the next thing he said was, is this something that God desires for you? or is it something you desire? i had to think to myself, ya know, i have no idea. i began to pray "Lord is this disire from you? or me?" how do you know when a desire is from God or from yourself? im having a hard time understanding that one. but as i continue to seek God i am reminded by Psalm 37..."commit your ways unto the Lord.....delight yourself in him and he will give you the desires of your heart." pause...so many times people see that verse and thing ok see God is going to give me the desires of my heart...but if you look at the verse it clearly states :"DELIGHT YOURSELF IN HIM..and..." we have to delight ourselves in him. only then will his desires become our desires. we have to delight in spending time with him. delight in reading his word, delight in telling people about him, delight in the plans he has for us. i recently wrote a song called "i am still." this song talks about waiting patiently. one of the lines in the chorus is "how beautiful are the hands of thine my king. how beautiful are the plans you have for me." no matter what i desire for myself, God's desires are so much bigger and better and more beautiful than i could ever think of for myself. i find myself praying so selfishly sometimes. praying that this would happen and that would happen, but as i study his word, i realize i should be praying : Lord let your will be done. let your desires become mine. only then will God give me the desires of my heart becuase only then will his desires become my desires therefore giving me the BEST i could ask for. so many times we are afraid to commit our ways to the Lord. so many times we are afraid of giving him something, but..HE CREATED US!! HE LOVES US!! HE WANTS THE BEST FOR US!! he's not going to let us down. Isaiah says that those whose hope is in the Lord will never be disappointed. my hope is in the Lord. God has truely spoken to me these past few days and continues to speak to me. as i come down to my last day here in Salone, i will rejoice and praise him for his wonderful mercy. he has taught me so much and i am so blessed! blessed be his name! FOREVER!! or in Krio...blessed be de name ob da Lord tehhhh!!

Dangerously surrendered. Have you?

ONE WEEK!!

So i have been meaning to write about my past week but, the internet has been too slow for me to take the time to write. so let me catch you up...
i went to Kamasundo to visit the Banta Themne people. these are people my mom has a heart for and was able to minister to and even tell the world about them. what wonderful people they are. they were so welcoming. the cheif wasn't there so i wasn't able to meet him. but there was this one guy who knew my mom. he didn't speak krio or english, just themne. but he told me that he was so thankful for my mom. he said that if it wasn't for my mom, many doors would have never been opened. he said if it wasn't for my mom, his people would have never had the chance to hear about the Gospel. how sweet it was to hear these things about my own mother. she is my hero. i met this other lady who has polio. she is a teacher in a school in one of the villages. goodness, what a blessing it was to meet her. there were many many children there. there had been another missionary working there for a while. her name was abbey and they said she looked like me. so when we pulled up everyone kept calling "abbey abbey!!" of course when they got close they realized it wasn't abbey... sorry to disappoint! hah! but anyways. it was really neat to see the place where my mom had been working for so long. it really opened my eyes to see how much work is still needed there. they need lots of prayer. i am blessed to have just one other connection to my mom. ha!
my job has finally started here! we have one man who works for BGR here. so i cook for him and host him. its been really fun so far. i call it my "test week". all summer i have been learning how to cook. so this week, i am being tested. doing all the cooking with no supervision. i had to plan the meals for the week and cook them! so far so good. 3 out of 11 have been great!! so looking forward to one last week of cooking and serving! should be fun!
also this past week i have made such good friends with our neighbors. such sweet people. they need prayer. they are so kind. but so lost. well, another team member has arrived. i have to go cook! one week left!!

TIA...This is Africa

Sorry its been so long since ive blogged. its been a busy couple of days. Sunday i went to my old church! it was so fun to see old friends. they all recognized me. i had a hard time recognizing them but i just greeted like i knew them! ha! they made me stand up and greet the whole church in krio. ha! it was pretty funny. the kids i used to play with as a child were now running the choir and other parts of the church. oh how we have grown up. the church is huge now! i was so impressed. then on the way home, me and donald switched seats so i could drive home and i slipped all the way into a gutter filled with rushing, poopy, water. it was so nasty. in my sunday clothes. ha! i laughed as i watched my flipflop float down the gutter and donald chasing it. it was a sight. then i got home and found that my computer broke because it had been rained on the night before, and i am HOPING it will be possible to fix it when i get back to the states. its a macbook so its not like i can just get another one. ha! anyways if you could pray that my computer gets fixed, that would be great. monday we had our weekly meeting and saw that we have alot to do the next couple of weeks. today we got up, me, chuck, donald, and kathryn went to town. its always an experience going to town. it takes about 30 minutes to get there. so finally we got downtown and we did our erronds and then we went to eat at Crown Bakery. we parked and went in to eat. while we were eating the police came and wanted to tow our car! by God's grace, donald was able to stop them and move the car. then as we were leaving downtown this drunk guy was walking on the side of the road and throws himself into the side mirror causing him to have a "pain" in his arm and making him fall down. so we stopped and pulled over and he was so drunk you could smell it. he called his brother over and his brother was like "pay us 100,000 leones or take him to the hospital." we were like no! he is fine. finally donald gave the man 50,000 leones which is like $15. and we drove off. as we drove off we looked behind and saw him laughing and he got up and was fine! oh man. this is africa is the only thing that came to mind. finally we made it home and me and christine cooked dinner. she is a fabulous cook. then after dinner we went across the street and played with our neighbor's kids. there was this one girl, who had never been over there when we were there, her name is Iesha. she is deaf. we all danced and sang and laughed and she did it right along with us. it was a ball. as me and christine left to go back to the house, she stopped us and hugged us and put her hands on our face and said.."bye bye." with the biggest smile on her face! it was precious! how sweet are the hands of our Creator who created her so perfectly. even though she can't hear, she has touched mine and christine's lives with two words and a smile. it was a good day. tomorrow we are going to the Banta Themne to visit. im excited to see the work that is being done there and to be able to talk about it with my mom. what a precious thing to share with her. well my only prayer request this week is that God would reveal Himself to me more and more this week. when i get busy i often put God off to the last minute. i dont want to do that. so pray that God would continue to be the focus in my walk. and pray for safety while i drive in and out of town this week and next. thats it. i hope you are all well! God is faithful! so very faithful!

P.S. Dangerously surrendered. Have you?

Laughs...and Lessons...

Today was fun. The "grandparents" were out for the day so me and Christine had some freedom around the house! Woke up and read and chilled in the sunshine. Then ate lunch with Christine. Then Christine and i and our two housekeepers, Kathryn and Augusta, walked down to the market to take some clothes of mine to get fixed and then we walked to the bakery and just lauhged about all kinds of things. Christine is still learning Krio and the girls are always making fun of her trying hah! they says...."Ee day try to talk de krio." I speak krio pretty good because i lived here before so Christine is always looking to me to translate. She is so smart though. this is her 5th language to learn. She's nuts! ha! And english is her 2nd language! We came back to the house and sat with the girls and just visited. it was fun to laugh and goof off with them. then we went back to work and i finished some inventory Sharron had asked me to do...
on a side note, i have been reading this book called Safely Home. the most amazing book ive ever read. oh my goodness! its about persecution in China. there have been many chapters where i find myself lost in the words and i have to put the book down and pray. this book has challenged me to pray for the lost. to beg God for the souls of those who don't know Him. to pray for those who are being persecuted. this past chapter gave a interesting description of Hell. it made me tear up because i look around me here, and even think of people in the states that choose not to ask God for forgivness. the book gives a point of view from God. He looks down on the world and offers grace if we will only ask for it.. ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS ASK!!! AND BELIEVE! God is so good and whoever goes to hell will be separated from God and anything that is good. laughter. joy. beauty. taste. fun. light. EVERYTHING that is good will be gone. How awesome is God's grace on us He already went to hell for us so we didn't have to go even though thats what we deserve or worse. I am so thankful that God has a place waiting for me in Heaven. my home. My homeland. I am so thankful that God has a crown waiting on me! PRAISE JESUS! so i challenge you to pray for the lost. pray for those all over the world who don't know Jesus. pray for those who do know him, but chose not to follow him. pray for those who are following him, yet are being persectued because of their faith and obedience. pray.

P.S. Dangerously Surrendered. Have you?

Rain and Sweet African Fellowship

The past couple of days have been great! yesterday was about the rain. its rainey season here in Salone and it rains at least once a day. well, there is a little bakery down the street from our house that we walk to just about every day. we walked down there yesterday and got stuck in the rain. the bread wasn't ready so Christine and i decided to walk back in the rain. it was like being a kid again! we were soaked! i love the rain. the smell of the rain. the lightning. it makes the night cool which is a plus. although, during the day, if it rains, its super hot! but i still enjoy it.
today was a fun day of fellowship. Christine and i and our new team member Chuck and our night guard and friend, Eddie, went to the Bible college and met up with these 3 young guys that Christine had met on the Logos ship. we wanted to fellowship with them and encourage them since they are new believers. it was so much fun to fellowship in full krio. they kept saying.."oh you speak krio??!" or in kro its "eh?? you day talk de krio!!!" or "you sabey de krio?" hah! it was so fun. they said i get a 100% on my krio. we laughed and told stories and just enjoyed each other's compan. it was great! then we prayed together and went our own ways. i hope to be able to meet up with them again before i leave. so overall, it was a great day!

P.S Dangerously surrenderd. Have you?

The Month of July Has Arrived

It is finally July! wow! Just a few more weeks here in Salone. Can't believe it! The month of June was full of adventures and learning experiences. I hope July will be also. July seems to be busy. Next week not a whole lot going on but some organzing downstairs in the volunteer apartment. Next weekend my good friend Donald will be takning me up to the Banta Themne to meet them. They are a group of people in which Donald and my wonderful mother were able to reach out to and start a church there. God has really done a lot there and i look forward to meeting them and greeting them for my mother. the next week will be a prep week for the volunteers coming in the next week. hah. when the 18th roll's around, 2 guys are coming in. one will stay until the 22nd and the other will stay until the 26th...which is the date that I LEAVE!!! yay!! hah! the weeks are comin to an end. i can't believe it. i was talking to some friends this evening and they are counting down as well. my god mother says that my mother and i are the "count down queens". we love to countdown. when i was growing up whenever something exciting was going to happen, we would make a chain out of paper. hah! and each day we would tear off a piece of the chain for the day. i think i will make one for the day that i leave! my prayer request for this month is that I will not focus on the days to come, but focus on the day that is. I don't want to get lazy and miss out on a blessing God has for me. I don't want to miss out on something that He can use me for. so pray that I will continue to be a servant and serve Him every second that i get. thanks! have a great 4th of July weekend!!

P.S. Dangerously surrendered. Have you?