Now that we're back home, people ask me, "How was your trip?" "Can you sum it up in one sentence?" How in the world do you sum up 10 countries, 10 different cultures, 6 months of exploration and learning? Yet in a way, I can. I can say that I've learned one main thing (or it became lodged much deeper in my heart)... it's such a simple truth that has been said countless times...
Relationship {a state of being connected} with Jesus really is everything & nothing else will suffice. Yes, it's so simple, but don't stop reading because it's also so profound. Alex and I literally traveled all over the world. We experienced so much, learned so much, saw so much...and yet now I'm back home, sitting on a sofa in a borrowed living room and what do I have? Jesus? Or just memories? Or just knowledge? What am I left with? I'll let you in on something...I didn't have that big "experience" that I was expecting or hoping for, but I know God had/has something deeper for me. See experiences don't bring transformation (I'm not dismissing the importance of them though!) Experience very well may bring change...for the moment...but relationship with Jesus is what carries us into glory. I could travel all over and meet so many people and learn so many things but remain practically unchanged. I need to have a personal relationship with Jesus - not just read the Bible and say a few prayers, but reallllly know Him, enjoy spending time with Him and love Him with all my heart. That is the only thing that sustains. That's the only thing that will change cities and nations. That relationship is the only thing that will enable you to live the life you want to and what God has created you for. And you can't run around to different pastors or prophets or the next conference or missions trip to get relationship (trust me, I've tried...But there are no shortcuts here.) You build relationship with God the same way you do with people - spend time, talk, ask questions, enjoy His company and let Him lead you in deeper until the presence and essence of Jesus consumes you, until people can't be around you without Him rubbing off and changing everything. So I traveled around the world and this is the main thing I took away from it all...at the end of the day, you're NOTHING without relationship with Jesus and nobody can give you that- you have to spend time with the One who created relationship in the first place. Everything else is shadows. You need to learn of His heart through connection to His heart. He's full of passion, fire, wisdom, grace, goodness and on and on and on....let Him reveal himself to you, pass before you and show you his glory. Oh then you'll be beautifully transformed. Will you join me on this journey of deep knowing?
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Israel. What a place! There's nowhere quite like it. We spent 2 weeks there and learned so much. I've been trying to write this post for awhile but it's just so hard to put everything into words. (This whole trip is hard to put into words, but I do intend to write more posts to share what we learned. More will come as we continue to debrief.)
Everyone that I met that had gone to Israel told me, "Just wait. You'll love it. There's no place like Israel." "The Bible will come alive!" I do have to agree, there's no place quite like it. To be able to see what I read about in God's word is amazing, but the biggest blessing of our trip was the teaching we received at the sites, as well as the group we travelled with. It wasn't just a regular tour, we received biblical teaching at many of the sites, had days we hung out at the church and received teaching, got to know our group really well, had nights of prayer and worship and built relationships with the believers there. We spent 1 week in Haifa and during that time we visited many sites, including Ceasarea, Valley of Armageddon, Ceaserea Phillipi, Magdala (city where Mary Magdalene was from), Tel Dan, Galilee and others I'm currently forgetting. Our favorite spot was Ceaserea Phillipi. In that city there was a temple called the Temple of Pan. It was a temple built to the pagan god Pan- god of the wild, shepherds, and nature. The temple was built into a cave where water gushed out of. During that time people thought the cave was the 'entrance to the underworld' and many horrible things went on there, including sacrifices, immoral sexual activities...so extreme were the practices that the words 'pandemonium' and 'panic' come from the god 'Pan' because the activity that surrounded worship to this god was absolutely chaotic. In its day the location became known as "the gate of hell" because of the supposed connection to the underworld. Why was this one of our favorite spots? Because Jesus brought his disciples to this place to teach them a very determining truth. We know Jesus purposely took his disciples there because Ceaserea Phillipi is quite out of the way-it's in the very northern part of Israel and quite a few days walk from Nazareth. We read about Ceaserea Phillipi in Matthew 16. This is the passage where Jesus asks Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter replies "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Then what does Jesus say? He says, "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT." Woahhhhh. Quite possibly Jesus was pointing to the Temple of Pan as he said that. Knowing this background brings a whole new understating of the passage, doesn't it? Gates don't attack, but the church attacks the strongholds of the devil and Jesus is saying, "Don't worry, not even this horrific, pagan place of demon worship can hinder my church going forth." Incredible. Now you have a taste of the treasures we received on this trip :) Another treasure we received was the beauty of seeing Arabs and Jews love each other under the banner of Yeshua (Jesus). In the congregation we attended there were both Jews and Arabs worshipping together - an incredible picture of the one new man Jesus talks about in ...Of course we don't receive accounts of these things happening on the news but the reality is that God is building his church and not even the most hostile situations will stop it. We learned more about God's purposes for Israel. He has not forsaken His people that he choose thousands of years ago. In fact, we're watching his purposes come to pass right before our eyes! For the first time in thousands of years, the Jewish people are returning to their homeland and God is revealing Yeshua to them - their long awaited messiah. The Jewish people are our older brother-they paved the way for the messiah, kept the Bible, passed down the traditions and bore the burden of the first born. They are worth honoring! It was beautiful to see the Jewish culture on display- they are very family oriented and they love to celebrate. Those were two aspects of the culture that stood out to us. Obviously there are parts of their culture which are God-less, but God did build them as a people, he created their culture in the midst of pagan cultures that were sacrificing their children, and committing shameful acts for their many false gods. To this day you can see the beauty of what God molded into their culture. We learned things we'd like to apply to our own family culture by watching them celebrate life, love their family and uphold the sanctify of life. We also spent 1 week in Jerusalem. This was my favorite time. Although much tension exists, we felt very safe there and all of the people we met were extremely kind to us. We went to the Temple Mount, Western Wall, walked the Via Della Rosa, went to the Garden of Gethsemene, Mount of Olives...it was a rich time. The Via Della Rosa was actually my least favorite part of our time in Jerusalem even though it's supposed to be the most 'holy.' It starts where it's believed that Jesus was whipped and ends with the place of his crucifixion and burial. The sad thing is the church has made it such a religious place that you can't see or feel Jesus. At the place of his crucifixion the church built a massive church laden with statues and incense and filled with tourists. Honestly I couldn't wait to get out of that place. Jesus wasn't there. But later we went to a place called the 'Garden Tomb'- another possible location for his burial- and the presence of the risen Jesus was there. It was a site run by Believers and there we worshipped, took communion and celebrated our Messiahs resurrection. Yes, being in Jerusalem was a treat - the city of the Great King! We know Jesus will return there one day (even Muslims believe that because they specifically bared off the gate and placed a graveyard in front of the gate they believe he'll come through. Little do they know their graveyard and barred gates won't stop him!) Spending time in Jerusalem makes the spiritual battle so much more clear. What a raging battle it is! But we know there's no stopping our great King. He'll get everything in order and we get to be a part of welcoming him back and proclaiming "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" If you ever have a chance to go to Israel - go! Actually, if you ever have a chance to travel the world at all- do it! I can't even begin to describe how much you learn by traveling, getting to know people of different cultures, understating their perspective, and learning to love even deeper. God used this trip to massively broaden our perspectives and for that I am so grateful. I plan to keep posting...I know I am so bad at posting frequently but I have every intention of continuing. I will also write a post trying to sum up what we learned during our travels - trying to sum up 6 months isn't easy but God is already showing me what the main theme was. It's simple but profound ;) THANK YOU for your prayers and love for us over these past 6 months as we've traveled the world. ❤ These past few weeks have been beautiful. First we spent a week in HOLLAND. What a needed week it was! The ministry we stayed with was called Lighthouse. It is a church and family home where young adults live who desire to grow and heal in a place of family. What a well of intimacy it is! For 3-4 hours every morning (Mon-Fri) they have a corporate time of prayer and worship. We'd gather in their meeting room, turn on worship music and just be with Jesus. England was an awesome time of dreaming about the future and getting deeper vision, but our time in the Netherlands helped us to sit before Him and just enjoy His presence again and He reminded us that HE is our focus. We had intended to stay for only 3 days but realized we needed more time so we stayed a few days longer 🙌. We received so much and tried to allow God just to love us and not feel like we needed to do anything for it😊 As we sat before Him, He brought many things up that were buried in our hearts and is gently leading us into deeper freedom and relationship. He is teaching me who I am, who He created me to be and these things are coming up just by being still and spending time in His presence. It was a beautiful time. God knew what we need and all throughout this trip he has orchestrated our steps and brought us to the right places at the right time. Always proving His faithfulness! Let me never forget! Then we spent a few days in ITALY...what a beautiful culture and beautiful land. We were tourists at their finest - touring the colosseum, forum, catacombs, posing for pictures (with a selfie stick!), eating pizza, drinking wine and coffee and trying to speak Italian. It was a wonderful weekend and we had a precious tour guide in our friend Esther. We took everything in and loved all the learning, both cultural and historical. So much church history happened in Rome, from Paul's imprisonment (we saw where he was kept during his imprisonment) to the Christian persecution and establishment of a state religion. Now, centuries later, there are many churches but so little Jesus. The establishment of a state church created a religion and now many Italians know about Jesus but have no idea about relationship. It's so neat that we learned what was happening in Rome before and after Jesus and then we'll get to see Israel and learn what was happening there, as well. We are beginning to enjoy world history and get a more well rounded perspective. There's so much we can learn that applies to our lives today! We also loved learning about the culture. Italian culture is fabulous! They love community, they love sitting together and talking for hours after dinner and you won't find people on their phones while they're hanging out together, they're present and it's a beautiful thing to see. We then spent a few days in SWITZERLAND-in Bern and Biele with friends and also on a Swiss farm in the alps! Alex woke up early to feed and milk the cows and we sledded, made snowmen and even got to ski on the alps. What a treat to be able to enjoy two days of snow before going back to the warmth of PA. We're now on our way to Germany to spend a few days there and repack our bags before we head to Israel. THEN WE FLY HOME!🏡 We're coming, friends back in PA! And we're excited! Traveling has been amazing but we are definitely ready to be more stable again and have our own place. 👍 Thank you Jesus for home! But I have to say, we've experienced the most incredible hospitality during our travels. The body of Christ is just beautiful. Everywhere we went we were incredibly loved, welcomed, listened to, prayed for, fed the finest cultural food, picked up/dropped off where we needed to go, treated to dinner, hugged and invited back. We have no idea how blessed we even are, this is just 'normal' for us, yet for most people they've never experienced such genuine care and love. The love of Jesus is the most precious thing in the world. I want everyone to experience this love. I want everyone to come into FAMILY like we have ❤ An expert from something I wrote during our time in the Netherlands...
I've been a Christian for many years and have sought after God day after day, year after year. I've deeply wanted to know him more. But truth is, often I've felt stuck. Often I've felt like I'm getting nowhere. Yet I've realized that I've wanted him to come on my own terms and in my own ways. I've wanted a God I could control. I want a God I can keep in a box and make sure He doesn't do anything too crazy or call me to something too strange or difficult. I want to worship Him and love him, but I've been trying to keep everything in my hands. I've been trying to control how he comes and when. And if he doesn't come, I try to figure out why and what I should do instead. When it starts getting out of my control, I shut down and pull it back. But I'm learning that I can't keep this God in my control. Who am I to think i can always understand him and what he wants to do. Who am I to define what he can and can't do. He's a strong God. He won't be manipulated or controlled. If I want him, I must come to him on his terms and in his ways. I must let him do what he wants to do. In his timing and his way. He's not safe, but he is good. So good. Entirely good. I doubt I'm alone in this. Would you actually want a God you could control? Would you really want a God you could tell what to do? Do you really think you know the best? I don't know about you, but I take courage in the fact that I don't know and He does. Yet at the same time this truth has scared me a bit. I've wanted parts of Him and desired to leave other parts behind. No, I will exalt HIM! The GREAT I AM! There is no one like him and never will be. He's completely other than. Completely beyond me. Completely above me. He has no rival. He alone is worthy of my praise! This God I worship is the God who has no beginning and no end. He's the one who created the universe and calls people to himself. He's the God of the Isrealites, he parted the Red Sea and blew the walls of Jericho down. He's the God who calms the raging seas and confuses his enemies. He's the God who cares for orphans and widows and puts the solitary in families. He describes himself as "the Lord God merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty...." he's a God FULL OF MERCY, COMPASSION AND LOVE. He's God of all God's, King of all Kings, Lord of all Lords...he won't be manipulated, his plans won't be thwarted, he wouldn't have to be good, but he's promised to be so. So I can throw myself on this great God. Completely out of my control. Completely out of my mind. Completely bigger than me and my imaginations. I can throw myself on him and know that he will be good to me. He's promised to be. That's my confidence. Not that everything will fit into my little box...it won't...but I entrust myself to a good, good father. He's been my father forever and he won't let me down. I give way to an all consuming God who promises good and shelters me in His love. England was wonderful. Our three weeks in Blackpool were very formative. God gave us more vision for our future, we were incredibly blessed by the investment of the church leaders, we experienced many different types of ministry including soup kitchens, moms and toddlers programs, nightlife initiatives, discipleship groups and debt counseling and we had a substantial amount of time to walk, talk and think through different questions to help debrief and clarify our thoughts.
Blackpool was a beautiful town to stay in. Although it's the most deprived town in all of England, we really enjoyed walking around and we had many good conversations because the people were very open. We built friendships through going to the many soup kitchens in the area and were able to witness the beautiful family God is building there. Here are two quick testimonies of how God used us in England: We met a single mother and her two children at one of the soup kitchens towards the beginning of our stay. We sat at the table next to them and began to chat. That evening we were able to pray for the daughter and she was beautifully touched and baptized in the Holy Spirit. When she opened her eyes after praying, her complexion had changed and she looked much more hope-filled than she did before. The following Sunday we invited them out to lunch and treated them to Chinese, thier favorite food. Then we walked around with them for the whole afternoon as they shopped (mostly window shopped) and we took part in their lives. They were so, so blessed by the time we spent with them and we became fast friends. When the time came to say goodbye, tears were shed and lots of hugs were given. We know we left them more encouraged and built up than they were before, each of them had a new joy and lightness because of the precious touch of the Holy Spirit. We met a sweet woman at a soup kitchen one Monday evening. She had come to volunteer but didn't yet have a relationship with Jesus. That evening she so kindly offered to drop us off at our house and on the way home we were able to share about Jesus. She was very curious and we prayed for her before we stepped out of the car. The following Thursday she was at a church event and gave her life to Jesus! Two days later we saw her at a soup kitchen again and during the service she was so incredibly touched by the Holy Spirit. She has such a hunger for more of God and desire to serve and be with the family of God. We are so exctied for what God has in store for her and her family! Some more highlights: Alex gave a message at youth group and two girls in particular were so touched to the point of tears as they encountered the love of Jesus. I gave a message at the evening church service on Sunday and two ladies in particular were brought into a deeper place of freedom as the Holy Spirit enabled them to identify lies in their past that were keeping them in bondage. We were able to share about Jesus for one and a half hours with a curious Kurdish woman from Iraq. We were so blessed by the pastors investment into our lives. We were so loved and cared for by our amazingly generous house parents. We were encouraged through prayers and prophetic words from the church and we were beautifully welcomed into the family there. It's incredible how big of an impact we were able to have on people in such a short time! It makes us so thankful to be on God’s side and be able to impact people for eternity...what a privilege!!! ------ One question the pastor prompted us to ask during our time in Blackpool was, “What does it look like for the wisdom of God to be made manifest through the church?” (Ephesians 3) In studying this I began to understand a little more deeply what God is talking about. It's unity, it's oneness, it's Jew and gentile coming together as one, it's rich and poor, foreigner and citizen. It's what God has always been after- the union of God and man. The oneness of all people in His name and IN HIM. Where else, other than the body of Christ, do you see rich and poor, foreigner and citizen, old and young, educated and uneducated...coming together in love and unity? It happens in Jesus’ church. Or at least it's supposed to happen… The beauty of Jesus is that He is love unending and overflowing, He is grace boundless and wisdom in perfection...through Him and only through Him can we love unconditionally, have grace for one another's differences and the wisdom to handle them. Only through Him can we forgive again and again and lay down our rights at His feet. Only through Him can we see the glorious beauty in each person He created and call out their destiny. Because “Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. ... Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. " 1 Cor. 13 [MSG] Somehow this love and unity manifests the wisdom and glory of God in a magnificent way. We must be about this unity, we must be all about this community of deep love. We must welcome the foreigner, seek to understand the marginalized, care for the widow and orphan and do good to everyone so that all the world sees the wisdom and glory of God as he calls people into family. Let's get a hold of this idea and create family and community wherever we go. One day we'll see with our very own eyes the biggest, best, most loving family there ever was and will be...it’s His goal. It’s His love. Well, friends, we just arrived in Holland. As usual, we don’t really know what we're doing but we’re excited for what our Father has here for us, too. He certainly didn't let us down in England!! Oh the sweet, sweet love of Jesus. He goes after His kids.
Alex and I have had quite a few beautiful opportunities to share the incredibly good news of Jesus with precious men and woman here in Blackpool, England. Every person we talked to believed in a ‘higher power’ but they had trouble defining who or what that higher power was. None of them had any certainty or assurance of where they are going when they die. All of them were hoping they've done enough good to get by, but not many of them had given much thought to their eternal existence. When we prompted them to think about it, they all agreed that eternity it is pretty important to ponder since our life here is but a breath compared to what's coming. Oh the strong love of Jesus. He goes after His kids. As we shared with these individuals, we explained about our sin problem and God's solution, we shared about the life we can have in Jesus, we explained how Jesus has transformed our lives...but we couldn't change their minds, we couldn't make them believe. That's not our job. But we can and do share with confidence and courage because Holy Spirit will confirm everything we share about Jesus…Holy Spirit will continue His work of revealing Jesus. Oh the strong love of Jesus. He goes after His kids. And He uses us to speak the good news of Jesus. He uses our testimony. He uses our joy and our smiles. If you've made Jesus your king, the very spirit of God dwells in you. Let Him consume you. Sit in His presence. Let His love overwhelm you. He wants to love and be loved by you. He wants to use your life for His glory! He wants to use you to bring His other lost children home! Be still and quiet enough to let Him transform you in the light of His presence. Oh the sweet love of Jesus. Give Him your all. He's not a taker, He's a giver. He doesn't want to take your life, He wants to give you life. And through your life give others life too. You KNOW Jesus! The only one that gives eternal life. The world desperately needs what you have. Let Him transform you and use your life for His kingdom. You are precious. His. Loved. Wanted. Delighted in. Uniquely designed to carry His life into the world. No matter how ’small’ your life may feel, when you give yourself to Him, there's NO limits. May the peace of Christ dwell in your hearts and quiet your souls. Go forth into your worlds with the sweet, sweet love of Jesus & know your are His treasure. Always & forever. We've made it to England! We arrived here in Blackpool yesterday and have already made ourselves at home. But let me backtrack to share a bit more about Germany before I move on...
We had a beautiful time in Germany. God sent us there at that time for a reason. We were able to be a blessing to many and encourage people in their walks with Jesus. We were also extremely blessed by people investing in our lives and also financially supporting us above what we could have imagined. We were blessed to have the support of Alex's dad (and pastor of the church) to do whatever God put in our hearts for the church so in our last two weeks in Germany we had another soaking night, led youth group again, Alex led both Sunday morning services, we had a prayer night, evangelism and lots and lots of time spent encouraging and investing in people. For me, it was a very restful time (not as much for Alex because he was more in charge of the planning due to being able to communicate far better than me!) But God is teaching me to rest in Him...even though I had to physically rest and give up my desire to plan and know what was going on, my spirit was also more at rest. I don't really know what the balance is between resting and pressing in, between trusting God's sovereignty and banging on heavens door...but I'm trusting Holy Spirit to show me, to reveal his perfect way and to lead me in it. From that place of rest, we had so many opportunities to minister, love people and speak into their lives and it was so natural. Our desire for our time in England is to really grow in hearing God’s voice, responding right away and absolutely radiating Jesus everywhere we go! We love walking around the city and so we want to stop and talk to people, pray for them and see God touch individuals every single time we walk. Why not? The very spirit of God is in us! What's impossible?? (For an incredibleeeee testimony, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsxUZEqdKYw) Last night we were already able to love and pray for a sweet woman who was hard of hearing, after we prayed for her, she said, "that was nice, no one ever did that before, but that was nice!" She had a doctor's appointment for her ears today and said she would email us if the doctor said they were better...we're waiting for that email or to see her again and hear what God did. I know he wants to use us and love people through us, he's just looking for our "yes!" Yet so often I don't respond in obedience because I'm fearful--fearful of what other people will think of say. Seriously?! I am (& all of you who are disciples of Jesus) the hope of the world, we are Jesus to this lost and dying world...oh God give us such love and boldness! I'm excited to share more and more testimonies of God working through us, breaking down our fear and giving us His faith to see the sick healed, the lost saved, the dead raised...it's all so, so possible and should be so "normal" if only we'd believe! We're saying, "start with us, God!" Yes, so we're in England as I mentioned...we're staying at a home for missionaries and we'll be serving with a church here in Blackpool. Blackpool is the most deprived city in England--there's a lot of homelessness, addiction and poverty...so we get the awesome privilege of loving people here in this city! Today we went to a soup kitchen and sat with homeless/struggling individuals and listened to their stories. Then there was a wonderful gospel presentation and Alex got to share his testimony. Tomorrow we will find out what our schedule will look like for our time here, but whatever it is, we're expectant and we'll enjoy whatever we get to do:) Thanks for stopping by, friends! May you tune into the sound of heaven and let his voice and perspective determine yours. Lots of love from England! ❤️ We arrived in Germany over two weeks ago now. Although we’ve been very busy and were thrown into ministry, our time here has been very restful and refreshing. We arrived on Thursday (12/29) with little to no winter clothes so we had to quickly make a few shopping trips to be ready for Germany’s winter. Then Saturday was the New Years Eve Party, which I shared about in the previous post. On the first Sunday of 2017 Alex had the privilege of preaching at church about God’s glorious plans for our lives. The following week was more relaxed, we had a belated family Christmas celebration, shopped some more, slept in, ice skated, went to a few amazing cafe’s and enjoyed being with family. On Friday night (1/6) Alex and I led a prayer and worship night at church which went until 4am. We had a fun time of worshipping, meditating on who God is and what that means for our lives, praying for the new year and encouraging one another. Then Alex preach again on Sunday (about purity this time) and that afternoon we were able to share about our experiences in Africa. We had a picture sideshow and talked for 2 hours (!!). We had so much to share! Everyone listened so intently and engaged, even cried with us over our South Sudanese friends (Alex still can’t share about them without crying). This past week (Mon.-Sat.) was a week of prayer and fasting at church. Truly this is such a beautiful body of people here…there is so much hunger for God and love for being together. About 40% of the church attended the prayer nights every evening and half of those were youth! We prayed for 2 hours every night and then most people stayed for another 1-2 hours just talking and being together! Although the church is small, they’re strong in fellowship and powerful in prayer.
We’ve made it to Germany! We had an amazing time during our travels throughout Africa and we are definitely missing parts of it—like the amazing, beautiful people we met there and the incredible warm weather! We arrived in Germany last Thursday and have been settling in, spending time with family (even seeing 2 nephews for the first time!) and preparing for our time here in Deutschland! We apologize for our tardiness in updating you about our time in Uganda. So let me begin now…our time in Uganda was very powerful and we're so thankful to have had this opportunity to serve our beloved South Sudanese brothers and sisters there. The kids and leadership team impacted us deeply. As we said our goodbyes to them last week, we realized that although we only spent 2 1/2 weeks with them, our heart connections went very deep and we were able to deposit more and receive more than we could have ever imagined. The 115 children we were able to spend time with and pour into were orphans - they had already lost everything (no family, etc) - but on top of that they were refugees and had lost every last piece of their lives due to instability in their homeland. They came to Uganda with only 2 sets of clothing and were now trying to adjust to a new country and culture, language, etc. They live in a run-down boarding school - concrete walls and beat up bunk beds (with mattress’ that have bed bugs) and a few school desks is all they had. Oh, plus a small chest to hold their two outfits, a broken soccer ball, 2 pots for cooking and a few mats for laying outside on the ground. Seriously, picture that…we’re not exaggerating…that’s all they had. Yet they loved the presence of Jesus more than anyone we have ever met. We’ve been forever changed by them. While in Uganda, our every day was spent with the kids (besides one day of rest per week, although we managed to spend some time with them on that day, too:) We played games with them, danced, sang, prepared a Christmas drama, played soccer, painted pictures, made hundreds of snowflakes to decorate for Christmas and just sat with them (one of the many things they’re good at is just “being”.) Something that broke our hearts is the amount of transition the kids have been through…people walking in and out of their lives so often. We got the question more than once, “How long are you staying?” We’d have to reply, "Unfortunately we're leaving after Christmas” to which they’d respond, “Why so soon? Why not stay longer? Why do people keep leaving?” One girl even asked, "What's wrong with us?” Oh this broke our hearts. Because we were such a short term team we determined to not build any unhealthy connections but instead to continually point them to Jesus--their only Constant. We desired to help foster an atmosphere where the kids could meet with their true Source. With that in mind, almost every evening we had worship/soaking nights and just spent time enjoying the presence of God with them. Truly, these kids are like none other...from the youngest to the oldest (about 4 to 20 years old), they love the presence of God. We would walk back to our lodging most evenings for dinner and when we’d leave the kids they’d ask, “Are you coming back for prayers?” (Their term for worship nights). When we turned on worship music they’d gather and begin to lift up their praises at the top of their lungs. They’d continually blow us away by how they worshipped their Savior. One thing we realized is that Africans can teach us how to praise Jesus…instead of focusing on their own problems and their own lack, they lift up a joyful noise and it’s a powerful one! We also had one powerful night session focused on inner healing and healing from trauma. Our hearts desire was to see the kids (and the leadership team) healed and whole. They went through so many hardships last year and had to deal with tremendous amounts of trauma but God has carried them and they have an amazing testimony! One of the older girls told us the reason they love the presence of God so much is because they have lost everything and he's really all they have and they're desperate for him. Due to the amazing amount of support that was donated to aid the children, we were able to bless the kids with a day out - the little ones were treated to a pool day which they absolutely loved (many of them had never swam before!) We were able to go with the older ones - all 52 of us loaded onto a bus and drove 3 hours to another city where we went to an animal park and then out to lunch and to a cinema. They had never experienced those things before and were super blessed. Some of the girls said it was the best day of their lives! During that day we were also able to sit them down for a few minutes and share about purity and marriage - something they don’t see biblically lived out very often. One Sunday Alex was invited to preach at a nearby church and we were able to take 13 of the youth with us. Alex had worked with them to prepare a powerful drama that went along with his message and they performed incredibly well. Afterwards we had lunch at the pastor’s house and enjoyed the afternoon together. On the way home we stopped to treat them all to ice cream. It was such a wonderful experience to be able to involve all of them in the morning service. About 8 people got saved during the service and they were a part of it! On Christmas Eve we had a candlelight service and the kids performed their beautiful dramas. Then Christmas day was a fun celebration. As a team we had shopped (again, due to the amazing donations), wrapped gifts (they had never opened wrapped gifts before) and prepared for a party! First we had a church service and the kids worshipped Jesus, shared testimonies and listened to the message with the same focus as any other day, even though their presents were waiting in the next tent over. When the time came to hand out the gifts they were all excited and received a few individual things and also some family gifts such as a ping pong table, foosball table, board games...Then we played soccer, volleyball, ate lunch (an amazing chicken and chips, rice and vegetable lunch) and ate ice cream. During the day one of the older girls told one of our team members, "Thank you for coming, you've helped to take away the trauma and fear from our lives." Hallelujah! And we had an amazing Christmas at the same time :) On our last night in Uganda (Christmas night) we gathered as an outreach team to spend time ministering to one another but Alex couldn't get his mind off the kids and the fact that we were leaving the next day. Tears came to his eyes and he couldn’t hold them in. As our leader realized that the tears weren’t stopping, she allowed us to walk over to the kids. Alex and I walked over and just sat with some of the older ones. We cried together and they said to us, “It’s going to be so hard to say goodbye tomorrow. We are going to miss you.” And oh how our hearts felt the same. We said goodnight for the last time and walked back to our room with full and breaking hearts. As Alex cried, God revealed to him that they’re worth the tears. Who else is crying for them? Other than the leadership team, they have no one in their lives that love them enough to cry for them. They are certainly worth every tear. We too encountered the beautiful presence of Jesus with them - presence that brings joy, freedom, wholeness and life. Alex especially was so deeply encouraged by being with them and God brought a lot of freedom to him and restored life through being with the kids. Jesus revealed to him more of His love by the love He poured into Alex’s heart for the children. To see the way Alex loved the kids brought tears to my (Erika’s) eyes more than once. And the love and respect that they had for him back was extremely touching. Then came the dreaded time for us to leave...we had a beautiful time ministering to the leadership team in the morning and the base leader shared that we were a source of refreshment for them, which is an incredible thing to say about a short term team. We are so grateful to God that we were able to be a blessing to them in their time of transition and healing. God strategically placed our team together and gave us the strengths we needed to meet the needs of the team and care for the children. For the short time we were there, God really gave us deep relationships with the kids and leadership team. Saying goodbye was so difficult. Tears were shed as we exchanged hugs, took pictures and shared last words. God gave us the idea to write letters of encouragement to each of the older kids (about 60 of them) to encourage them in their destiny and future. The vision was to leave them stronger and more deeply tied to Jesus than before, not discouraged because of our departure. During our time with them, God expanded our hearts and gave us a greater capacity to love. He unified us both as a outreach team and also with the leadership team. We walked in love and unity which enabled us to bring the healing and refreshment that was needed. We loved the kids deeply. We are so grateful to God for the opportunity and thankful for the deep work He did in our hearts. As always, thank you so much for praying for us! A huge thank you to those who donated to aid the children, as well. We love you all! So now we're in Germany! We’re excited for what God has for us here! God is already showing us his faithfulness and his great plans for such a time as this. One short testimony is…we gave almost all our clothes away in Africa (as well as most of our belongings) and we came to Germany with very little. When we entered, we were blessed with over $1,000 unexpected euros. God is so faithful and good to us! It’s been sweet to be here around the holidays - we were able to celebrate a belated Christmas with family and celebrated New Years German-style :) (Nothing too different except that anyone and everyone is able to set off fireworks - and not the small ones… the large fireworks that only fireman are able to set off in America! People set them off right in front of their houses at midnight! Shocking!) We had a fun party with Alex’s church and didn’t get home till 5:30am :) Alex had the privilege of preaching in the church on the first Sunday of 2017 and he will be preaching again this Sunday. We are planning different events with the church but our main focus is to be able to refresh the leaders and care for individuals God puts on our hearts. Hoping each of you had a fabulous holiday season. May God give each of you expectation and vision for 2017. Ask Him to give you one word for the year - a word that will mark 2017 - and be encouraged because God is WITH YOU! Though there are giants, their protection has been taken away and God is with you! (Numbers 14:9) May you only have eyes to see the One who holds your hand (note: HE holds onto you, not the other way around :) Be blessed! I’m writing this post from the porch of a beautiful guesthouse in Uganda. Our time at Harvest School in Mozambique has come to an end and our extended outreach time has begun. We arrived in Uganda 2 days ago and we’re currently enjoying some wonderful time resting and processing at a guesthouse before we head to the Iris base where we’ll stay for the next 3 weeks. Harvest School was busy and went by quickly, so we’re thankful for these days to rest and process all that happened over the last 2 months.
Harvest School was a stretching time for us. It wasn’t very comfortable to live in community 24/7, to always feel dirty and sweaty, to eat rice and beans so often (or a fish head!), to be swarmed by kids every time we left the compound, to be in class for hours at a time…Our expectations were different than what we experienced, but nonetheless, God did his beautiful work in our hearts. I (Erika) came with expectations of what God would do in me during the school. I was hoping for and expecting a “moment” when I would encounter Jesus in an extraordinary way, but I didn’t have that “moment”. Instead God just continued to work in me as He always has…gently and (according to me) slowly…a steady, gentle incline from glory to glory. However, my greatest prayer prior to school was, “God, I want to learn how to walk with you.” Day in and day out. Steady, stable, overflowing…a deep and beautiful intimacy with Jesus that won’t wane and won’t be effected by circumstances. I want to KNOW Him, that deep knowing that only few really step into…there are so many Christians who have never stepped into depth of intimacy with Jesus. But we can actually know his heart, hear his voice, He will actually share his secrets with those who are close enough and faithful to Him. I want that. I want to live the rest of my life in deep intimacy with the almighty creator, God of the universe, King of Kings, bridegroom Jesus. God brought me to a deeper place of surrender during this school. God brought me to the edge of the pool and I had to decide if I was going to jump in or stay on the edge. It was a process but I finally came to the conclusion that what other choice do I have? I’ve come too far to turn back, I know too much to do nothing, I’ve seen too much to be content where I am. As Peter said to Jesus, “Where else are we going to go? You alone have the words of life.” If I really believe that He is who He says He is, why would I stay on the edge? If He’s offering abundance of life and joy unspeakable, even in trials and adversity and He promises to never leave me of forsake me, what sense does it make to not jump in, to hold back? If I really believe He is who He says He is, there’s only one reasonable choice…jump all the way in. So I did. I jumped in and said, “Ok, Pappa God, here I am…catch me. I know nothing but that I love you. I don’t know how to swim. Hold me. I don’t know how to breath under water, let me die and allow you to resurrect me. I’m not the master of my own fate…if you don’t do something with me, I’m absolutely nothing. So now I’m completely in your hands.” (The silly thing is that I was always in His hands, but I didn’t think so, so I stressed myself out trying to sail my own ship and get where I thought I should go. Reality is, there wasn’t much wind in my sails and I couldn’t get far. God wasn’t breathing too hard on my efforts. He brought me to realize my sailing skills weren’t good enough - I wouldn’t and couldn’t get to the desired destination without His intervention.) He intervened. And now I depend on Holy Spirit to continue teaching me, revealing truth and keeping me at that place of surrender. One incredible thing about Iris is the way they depend on Holy Spirit. They live what they preach - love Jesus and depend on Holy Spirit. We’ve watched it lived out and been blessed by the example. This is a beautiful journey I’m on. I’m looking forward to all He will do on this outreach. I won’t be able to update much (this is way harder than I thought it would be!) and I want to be fully present where I am, but I will try to at least post pictures on Instagram. So hopefully you can stay updated there. This outreach team is so wonderful. We are having great team bonding time right now as we prepare to travel to the Iris base. We’re so excited to run with all these people. We’ve been blessed out of our minds the last 2 days. Since being in Mozambique, we have become so thankful for the little things…a good cup of coffee, a clean shower, cooler weather, menus and food choices…God is so good to pour out all these blessings on us! And we want to stay in this place of awe and thankfulness! Tomorrow we will head to the Iris base in Uganda (which is still being built). Two weeks ago the president of South Sudan granted all 100 of the Iris children the opportunity to leave South Sudan and take refuge in Uganda, so they are now transitioning to a new base, new school, new environment , new language and we are thankful to be here at such a time as this. We will be spending time with the children and helping in whatever ways we can. We will buy gifts and throw an amazing Christmas party for them (they have nothing but 2 outfits - they had to escape their home and leave their belongings behind.) We will spend time talking with them and allowing Holy Spirit to use us to bring healing to their traumatized hearts. We will also be ale to go into a refugee camp in Uganda where 100,000 South Sudanese refugees are living in tents with little to no food. We will have plenty to do! Please pray for us as we embark on this adventure. Please pray Ephesians 1:15-19 over us…we want to be filled with the knowledge of His will, to not see with our physical eyes but that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened that we’d see how He sees, that we’d see with spiritual eyes. We don’t want to be hindered by our carnal mind, we want Jesus to do all he wants to do in this time - to be totally unhindered. Please pray and if God gives you a word for us, please share it with us! We need you all, we need the body of Christ so we can be strengthened and function like we were created to. Thank you so much for your prayers and your care towards us. We are looking forward to sharing more stories and testimonies in the upcoming weeks! Bless you all! We only have 1 more week of classes left before we graduate! The time here in Africa has went by so quickly. We have classes Monday-Thursday and then we head to outreach in the bush Thursday-Saturday and graduate on Tuesday, Dec 6th! Then the next day we fly to Uganda for extended outreach. Phew! It’s going to be a whirlwind week, but we plan to finish strong :) We’ve really been enjoying the culture here and getting to know the Mozambicans better and better. We’ve so enjoyed hanging out with the Iris kids, as well as the kids from the village. They’re so special - full of joy and life. We’ve been able to build sweet relationships even without always being able to communicate verbally…love truly transcends all barriers. These Mozambican people are so beautiful - they are friendly, hospitable, generous and caring. It’s been a joy to immerse ourselves in the culture as much as we have. Iris is so big on incarnation missions - not going into an area to change it, but first going in and learning the language and building deep relationships, learning the culture and becoming one of them, rather than trying to change people into fellow westerners. It’s been beautiful to see it played out here at the base. So many well meaning people have done it wrong in the past, but God is raising up sons and daughters who are willing to lay their lives down and truly love and give of themselves to see the multitudes come into the Kingdom. We’ve been learning so much over the last 2 weeks. God is beginning to reveal more and give deeper revelation, however, we need time to process it all until we can put it into words. Although we’re learning a lot, this has been such a restful season for us. We know we’re being changed as we rest in him. He’s pouring into us…we can tell because we’re feeling like we finally have something to give and love to pour out on the people around us. It’s so necessary that we sit before Jesus every day and get filled with Him so that we have something to pour out - something real and fresh, new oil every day. However, let us not come to him just to receive something to pour out, but to KNOW Him. So often, as believers, we come to Jesus and ask him for things, then we get what we need and leave Him lonely. Could He possibly be the loneliest person on the planet? Think about that for a minute. I realize how often I (Erika) leave Him lonely and I never want to again. I want more than to get what He gives, I want more than seeing the sick healed and the lame walk…I want HIM. There will be many people that say on that day, “Lord, Lord, we’ve healed the sick and cast out demons….but He will reply ‘I never knew you’”…oh may that never be you or I. Ask Him to know His heart, to know what He feels about you, to share in His joy and sorrow…ask Him questions and allow Him to answer. Sit before Him and just be. He’ll change us in the process. :) I (Erika) wanted to share an amazing testimony from my practical mission last Friday…A few girls and I pray at the clinic here on base. Last Friday we had the privilege of praying over some of the patients. One person that we got to pray for was a little 4 month old baby boy. He had a hernia in his stomach and it was quite visible. So we began praying for him and we noticed that the baby was wearing a necklace and bracelet given from a witchdoctor. We learned that the momma had spent quite a bit of money at the witchdoctor for her baby to be healed, but nothing was helping. So we asked the momma to remove the bracelet and necklace and thankfully she did. We continued to pray and as we did, we watched the hernia disappear. Yes, disappear. We lifted our hands from the little one, and the hernia was GONE. Hallelujah! Then after that 2 other people were healed from pain in their bodies. It was so amazing the see and just the beginning :) Alex has had the opportunity of discipling a young boy on base. This boy has a had a very rough past - years ago a witchdoctor in the village told his dad to kill his mom so that he’d become wealthy. So this young boys father killed his wife in order to become successful. Apparently he did actually become successful for a season, but a few years later he died (What profit is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul? Satan’s tactics are always the same, it doesn’t matter which country you go to - he always promises something that sounds pleasurable but ends in destruction). In a moment this young boy became an orphan. Thankfully God sent a few of His children to Mozambique and this young boy found a home at the Iris base. Now Alex has the opportunity of pouring into his life. And not only him, but so many of the kids on base. Hundreds of the village kids spend their days here…the love of Jesus is quite attractive :) Life here is full...we can't take one step out of our room without encountering people and then once we step out of our student compound we're met with many, many more...but it's a beautiful place of the presence of Jesus and an amazing training ground for selfless living :) We're so grateful to be here! That’s it for now! We’ll post again before we leave for Uganda. Thanks again for reading and may you enjoy a wonderful, joy-filled week :) Pictures below of our time here in Mozambique! |
AuthorA & E. Currently living in the USA but called to the nations for this season of our lives. Devoting our lives to His Kingdom Come... Archives
April 2017
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