Jehovah Jirah

Ok...so I have no idea if I spelled that right or if I picked the right name, but I meant to title this post about our Lord the Provider!

Yesterday I started going through the devotional that AIM provides for the teams. It's actually really good. It starts three weeks prior to the trip and ends three weeks after we come home and has some great daily devotionals as well as thoughts about cross cultural ministry and such. As part of yesterday's devotional, we were challenged to write about all the ways that the Lord has provided for this trip up to this point. In order to give him all the glory he deserves, I thought I would share with you the incomplete list that I came up with in no particular order:

God's leading to AIM with my trip to Kenya...I knew nothing about them then

My leaders from my Kenya trip who were so impactful in my own life that I wanted to do the same for others

Those same leaders having enough faith in my ability to encourage me to do this and to recommend me to AIM

Letting my application process finally work out (after months of uncertainty)

Giving me clear direction to Swaziland over Kenya

Letting this work so that the trip was a time that I could go!

My parents being willing to let me go (even though they aren't quiet about their misgivings...they still support me no matter what)

Keeping me healthy enough to be able to go

Putting our team and leaders together...I can already see his purpose in this group!

The job that literally fell into my lap that is giving me exactly the money that I need to pay for the balance of my trip

All of my supporters who have allowed God to use them to make this trip possible!...Their support is more of a blessing that they can know!

All of the people who have wanted to pray for me and my team...some that don't even know me! God has overwhelmed me with the love that he has shown me through others in the past few weeks as I prepare to go!

I know that this is only the beginning of what the Lord is going to do in my life, my teammates lives, and the lives of those in Swaziland! He is soo good! Yesterday as I was praying, I was lifting all of my anxieties about this trip and about leading, and God gave me this great picture of me standing facing the horizon and Christ walking up behind me and wrapping his arms around me. I felt so safe, that I just melted into him as I gave my fears up. It reminded me of the way a husband lovingly wraps himself around his wife as they both stare in the same direction looking forward to what lies ahead. How beautiful our Lord is!

One final thought: as I was reading yesterday in the devotional, it talked about Psalm 121. It's such a beautiful word of provision and protection that I would like to share it with you in closing for you to meditate on for your own lives and how God cares for you in the everyday!

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Tomorrow...I will talk about abiding in the Lord. Have a fantastic day as you abide in HIM!

Looking Back to Go Forward

In preparing for my upcoming trip to Swaziland, I found myself looking into my past through my journal from Kenya. I cannot help but be excited that I am returning to Africa once again all the more wise and in love with such a wonderful continent filled with such joy—joy that the world ignores by seeing only hopelessness and despair for these wonderful people. I fear that when many see Africa, they see only disease, violence, and poverty. However, two years ago, I saw for myself the richness that can be found when one chooses to look beyond the world’s standards of goodness. Nearing the end of my trip, I scribbled a list of things that I could not possibly capture in any medium other than my own memory, but that I hoped I would never forget and that I could help others to see one day…and I would like to share them with you now (warning...there is no rhyme or reason to this list, it was simply written as things came to my mind, and I typed it exactly as it appeared in my journal):

From July 17, 2005

The smile of the Kenyans
The sound of “how are you??”
The look on the kids’ faces when they say mazungu
The smell of the slum
The passion of Pastor Timothy
The sound of Kenyan singing
The dancing at church services
The taste of Vikki and Michelle’s cooking (yum!)
The beauty of the countryside
The fun of doing to the shower dance!
The feeling of a (bucket) shower after 6 days
Looking in a mirror for the first time in 2 weeks
The way Kenyans say “Teresa”
The excitement of seeing zebras!
The feeling of my teammates hugs
Recounting my crazy dreams!
The joy, hope and simplicity of life
Squatting in the squatty (and the infamous morning lecture!)
The Diguna music
The glow on a person’s face when they’ve just come into the kingdom of God!
The Comba dance!
The Masaai dance…jump!
Seeing Effy, Janet, and Evaline completely healed!
The rainbow God promised!
PB and J everyday
Carrying the cross
Blind Robert and Steve singing to one another
Boys holding hands
Double handed waves
Baraki…bless your neighbor
Dancing in the field!
Prayer walk…and getting lost
Abner and Sam’s faces when we left
Richard and Stephen’s faces period
KUJA!
Talking about in betweens
FIREFLIES!
Going offroading in the Diguna
Taking on the water buffalo
SLUMwear
The dust of Nakuru
Praying with Ashley E. and Allie when we were sick
Open Airs
Singing Swahili with my smile
LOVE WINS…upenda ushinda!
Baptism
4th of July Breakfast
Feast at Pastor Steve’s
Lord I Lift Your Name on High Kenyan Style
Lost boys at the carnival
Kijabe Hospital
The lady speaking tongues
Lindsay being so good with the kids
The women who were healed
The humble healed man at the hospital
The feeling of being loved, accepted and wanted by 24 people
Muslim man being saved
Demon possessed woman
Landing on Kenyan soil
Leaving Kenyan soil
Knowing that one day I’ll return!

All of these may not make complete sense to you (and I did have 105 in my journal, but I chose to spare you from most of them J ), but they hold a plethora of memories for me, and make me excited beyond end to go once again and work along what the Lord is already doing in Swaziland! I know, however, that I must not slip into the trap of comparing this trip and this team to my old team (this is the main reason that I felt the Lord was not leading me back to Kenya even though a leader position was open there and I would have given anything to go back!) Please pray for me about this, and that the Lord will continue my excitement for his work and his people, no matter where I am!!

Team names

I wanted to let you all know the names of the girls and other leaders so that you could be praying for them specifically. I'm so excited to get to know each one of them indivudually!

Claire
Meghan
Becca
Bekkah
Taylor
Molli
Kelsey
Anna
Courtney
Hannah
Christine
Margaret

The leaders are: Teresa Hoelsworth and Stephen Spurlock (Teresa and I are currently taking suggestions for cool nicknames...)

I have a really cool idea for my team, but you'll have to message me to ask me about it, because I don't want to put it all out in cyberspace for everyone to read. I would love your help with this idea, so PLEASE ask me about it!!~T

Three weeks and 1 day!

Well, less than three weeks actually, but that's the amount of time that shall pass before I meet my team in Gainesville, GA for a wonderful time of training and greeting! I can't believe that it coming soo soon! I am more excited with each passing day to meet the girls that I have started to get to know through emails and phone calls. Their spiritual maturity and heart for God and his people already astounds me! When I think of myself at their age, I know that I was a Christian and loved the Lord, but I don't know that I could say that had the same conviction and faith that they do. Indeed, at that time I had never considered missions and quite frankly, traveling around the world to live as God's humble servant was the furthest thing from my mind...now it's nearly all I can think about! How the Lord changes our hearts!

Last night I was looking at the list of things to do that I had made, and started to get a little overwhelmed. I have yet to really start any preparations for my trip as far as packing and getting our lessons ready that we will be going through in our discipleship time with the girls. However, in the coming week I will be going to the beach with my family, so I hope to get some good work done in the car and prayer and intimate time with the Lord while relaxing in his grand creation. Please pray that I will use my time wisely and that I will be fully equipped by God to do everything good thing he has purposed for me to do!

Some practical updates, today I have the afternoon off from work, so I plan to go to the thrift store and find some great African outfits! I'm pretty excited as this is my favorite part :)

That's all for now. Please continue to pray for our team, our preparations and the people of Swaziland! Also pray for the other teams going with AIM. In addition to THREE other Swazi teams, we have people going to Kenya, India, Peru, Ireland, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic that I can think of at the moment. Some of these teams will be leaving next week.

Also, pray for the summer missionaries from the BCM going to every inhabited continent this summer! Will and Casey, Dusti, Lindsay, Tori, Amanda, Sybil, Josie, Laure Beth, Daniel, Andrew, David, Sam, Jessica D., Sarah Shores, and anyone I forgot :(

Post #1

Hi everyone! I was reading everyone else's blogs for their trips over the summer, and thought that even though I probably won't be able to update mine in country, I could start one now to update you on my preparations before I go and share stories when I come home! I leave in 20 days! I can't believe its here already!

For those of you who don't know, I am leading a trip with Adventures in Missions to Swaziland for a month this summer. I am working with two other leaders and twelve 15-20 year old girls! I could not be more excited to see what God is going to do in their lives as well as the lives of the Swazis over the summer! We will be staying at a carepoint for AIDS orphans and doing lots of relational evangelism. Hopefully we'll also get to spend some time praying over people in hospitals in the area. However, that's about all I know about what we are doing. It's a little scary, but I know God is working out all the details, and I can't wait to see where his spirit leads!

Please pray for me as I am preparing myself spiritually to be a leader to these 12 wonderful girls! I know that my own leaders had and continue to have such an impact on my life from my past trip to Kenya, and I hope to be used by God in the same way in each of these girl's lives! It's coming so soon, and I don't feel at all ready, but I know God will be working in my as I am out of control and he is in control!!