"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever" Ps 138:8
Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. Now I have too much to write about to post it in a blog. Not to mention we leave tomorrow morning and I have little time on my hands. So I am sorry for what is going to be such a short post. I hope this all blesses and encourages you in the Lord.
First, the last week of camp went amazingly well! I just absolutely love those girls. My eyes are still be opened to so many things. I think I'me finally ok with something and beginning to understand things and then.....I'm so aware oh how much I do not understand. Thankfully I can ask our Almighty God for the peace that PASSES understanding. I ask special prayer for Fillemon who has touched my heart especially. I believe that God will fulfill His purpose in her too. Alnay, Dofilia, Frigdaline, Amanda, Catrina, and Sarah are all girls we ask that God would continue to work His love and power in their lives.
Jenna and I also took little Mavinge with a bad burn on her leg to the clinic with her father. We were very glad her father agreed to come with us. It was infected and he was to take her to the clinic daily for dressings. We found out he did at least once. Luckily I think she may be taking the medicine and it is looking much better. Mavinge said no one took her more because her mom was too busy selling alcohol and her dad was drunk. Please pray for the apathy of these people and that God would overcome the darkness that is around and His love would burn in these people.
Monday we went to the 3 schools the girls came from with Hedwig who showed us how to get to the schools! We planned to have a good-bye hang-out time on Thursday with the girls that showed up. Yesterday was a lot of fun. It was hard to say good-bye, but we enjoyed our last time with these girs.
Tuesday we went to the hospital. Ndara is still there. It turns out he has sickle-cell anemia. Please pray for healing and that He will know the healing love of Jesus more than anything. He was sitting up that time, but still cannot stand or walk. He has such a sweet spirit. He colored me a picture of the Namibian flag and a chicken! I loved them! I did get to meet his mom! She was nice but her english wasn't even as good as Ndara's. I'm so glad he has a mom though!
Wednesday we went Sarasung and said good-byes there. These were very difficult. We have become very close to these girls. They have touched our hearts deeply. I gave Fillimon a letter to accompany her book of Letters from God(the Bible we gave them)! She gave me the biggest hug! I will never forget these girls, they will always hold a great place in my heart.
Thursday we had those good-byes at Sarasungu and cleaned a LOT!! :) It seems so surreal to be getting ready to leave. But I am very thankful for the time I will get with my team-mates during traveling to debrief and reflect together. I think God knew we would need this time to let His peace fill us.
Friday....it is very hard to leave. But as we pray for peace we are reminded that we are leaving these girls, these people, this nation in the best hands of all, our Almighty God! His STEADFAST love will ENDURE FOREVER!! We will be taking them in our hearts and in every prayer. I pray and plead that God will send more people here, that He would press one someone's heart to come and to minister and let God use them as instrument of righteousness. Please join me in prayer for this. God is so much bigger...so much powerful than the strongholds of Satan here....He will feed the hungry as they cry to Him. I pray they will cry out for Him. I pray that the witch doctors and traditonal healers will be overcome by the glory and power of our Almighty Father! I pray that God will pour Himself on these people and heal their relationships. I pray for the Long-term team here, that Satan will have no hold on them. I pray that God would strengthen them and shine through them. And I trust the Lord will complete the good work He has started! He HAS victory.
Thank you all for your prayers and your aid in this wonderful work of the Lord. You may never know the fullness of this trip. But God is stregthening my faith in Him and His steadfast love for all! Thank you for bearing with me through this amazing journey that does not end here.
In Christ's Mighty power and love,
Stephani
Friday, July 23, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
My ...Our ALMIGHTY God!!
"I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised." Ps 145:1-3 The rest declares my feelings as well!
This last weekend I was greatly encouraged in the Lord. Once again, our weekend was different than we had planned, but our Lord always knows what we need right?! Definitely! My mom called me and told me that she knew we were heading in the right direction by making changes. Our team really needed to hear that. It is very easy to worry about this when you have no idea what you are doing! Her phone call was an answer to prayer!
Angela received a email right when we were feeling like we needed to change our "lessons" from her cousin who knew nothing of what we were doing. It was over 200 pages of material on the study of the gospel. Her cousin called it "the milk and meat of the gospel!" It is very good. Yet there are complications such as the laguage barrier. It uses big words and difficult concepts and we were unsure of how to get these across in an understandable way. Well let me just say God has been opening my eyes to the "ALMIGHTINESS" (a new work I think!) of Him! I feel as if I am dipping my toe into an endless pool! It is so refreshing and I want to keep diving in! Why have I never realized that the Almighty God is ALMIGHTY in my life and through everything! Wow!! I will never be able to fully grasp this but I pray God will continue to open my eyes to this each minute of every day!
I do not need to worry about this language barrier. He wants me to depend on Him...He wants to use me as an instrument and speak words into the hearts of these young ladies! I am hear to love them as He has loved me.....unconditionally and all the time! Our first day of camp back at Sarasungu was supposed to start on Monday. I had such peace and was genuinely excited about camp! We showed up and no girls! We looked at eachother and came to the conclusion God knew we had not prepared enough. The beauty of mistakes....is the beauty of His love and grace. Every time I make a mistake I am faced with God's acceptance of me no matter what I do. We talked to Mr. Dion and decided we would come in and announce the beginning of camp Tuesday morning in each class. We went home and began to get down and dive into His word preparing our lessons.
Tuesday.....AMAZING!! That is what Tuesday was! God, my Almighty Father, working! Using us and letting us reap benefits of it! I have not had such joy, peace, and excitement as I had yesterday yet this trip! It was nothing that I could have done...He showered on me His grace!
Tuesday morning we woke up at 5:30 or so. Showered and shoveled porridge down! We had a long day ahead of us. We packed lunches and extra clothes, our bibles and our journals. We left for the University, a missionary friend (Irene) works at. We had a lunch with her students 2 weeks ago. They had mentioned us coming back, so Irene planned a lesson that involved us. (It is a univeristy for teachers.) Class began at 7am and it was a blast! I was in a group of 3 young men who were interviewing me about education in the U.S. to see if we have the same issues they have. Working with these students is so fun, because we are the same age and exchanging great information about our cultures. It really helps in understanding their culture. At the end we pulled asided the girls after the boys left and asked them if they woud like to get coffee next Friday. The excitment on their faces matched our excitement! One of the girls squealed and said yes! So we have a date!! God being ALMIGHTY! Crossing the cultural barriers and allowing us to have a relationship with these young ladies!
We left the University and headed to Sarasung. We waited for their next classes to start and began to make the anouncement in the classes. Several girls said they were coming! It turned out well. We decided to forgo the charge of $N5 because we just wanted everyone to be able to come and decided we would pray that they would find it still important to show up to. We still have enough left over money for drinks for this week too! Last minute decision and it went well!
We left there to go to the Goldney's house (a missionary family who is about ready to return home) to go dig up some mud to help patch up Dophelia's mud hut. Dophelia is a girl from Sarasung who has a very rough life and lives in a hut (very dangerous) by herself. It gets very cold here and she has lots of holes in the mud walls. So we dug and filled up the back of our bakkie (our pick up truck). We took it to here house and visited with the people in the village while Richard Goldney went for containers of water to make the mud. We got to visit the women in their huts! They are so sweet, they were volunteers at the OVC project! Then we played with the children. I was chasing this one little girl and she ran by these ladies. One of the girls I knew from camp and stopped to talk to her. The young ladies were brading eachothers hair and the older woman was punding maize into flower. The older women don't speak much or any english. But she motioned me over to try pounding then sifting the maize! It was so fun....these women are SOO strong! One day we saw a women carrying a table on top of her head!! Crazy! She laughed at me! I finally got it down more! :) Wish I could post some pictures! The girls were cracking up at me!
By the time Richard made it back with the water, it was time to leave for Sarasungu. I cannot even explain how much fun camp was! Wow! These girls are amazing! We played kick ball and talked about Who God was and what sin is. I could see these girls having fun and then really taking it all in during the teaching time. It was amazing! Again....God being ALMIGHTY! Those are difficult concepts and they were really understanding...at least some of them were. God totally helped me think of words that they would not understand to explain in small group! He is so willing to do everything for us! Many girls came from last time and we had some new ones! Julia, Fillemon, Lydia, Beatha, and Patrina all came from my group last time! Please continue praying for them, they think it is so neat that you all are praying for them! We cap it at 50 girls and we had 47 sign up!! Amen!
After camp was over we headed back to Dophelia's hut and helped with mudding the holes. We had so much fun! Dophelia showed me her love by coming up and rubbing my arms down with the mud! I was so muddy! She was so happy to have help on the house! Also some of the kids that wander helped us...they kept laughing at the the "chindelay!" But there is a girl who has special needs and it was so neat to see her so happy helping us. At the end of the day when we were carrying back buckets, I kept ramming my freezing cold hand into the Jenna's bucket. She was walking behind us and just started cracking up after I hit the bucket! It was so neat. She gets looked down upon a lot and no one plays with her! It was a beautiful laugh!
All in all....God is beautiful and very much ALMIGHTY! He broke through so many barriers. He filled me with joy that no one could have given me but Him. I am learning, every so slowly, but He is opening my eyes! He just wants to be my ALL. He will be my peace, joy, and excitement. He will fill me with words that really point to Him! He will set up opportunities for us to build relationships! He will be Lord of my life if I just let Him take it!
Please continue prayers for us that we make have our eyes opened to Him and His leading. We have yet to completely fill our last week here...but it's Africa and things happen last minute. It is much easier to see how Almighty He is and in control He is here in Africa... because you may plan everything out and 95% will not be what you planned when the actual time comes around! At home, most plans go somewhat well, but here....planning doesn't exist! So yes that we had a camp on Tuesday shows His Almightyness! Please pray that we do not let Satan push us down, to think that we are doing anything when it is ALL God. Please also continue your prayers for us in the health department. Jenna and Stacey are stil feeling sick. Thank you so much for your prayers!
I love you all and appreciate all your prayers! More will come later! We did go to the hospital today but intenet is going now!
This last weekend I was greatly encouraged in the Lord. Once again, our weekend was different than we had planned, but our Lord always knows what we need right?! Definitely! My mom called me and told me that she knew we were heading in the right direction by making changes. Our team really needed to hear that. It is very easy to worry about this when you have no idea what you are doing! Her phone call was an answer to prayer!
Angela received a email right when we were feeling like we needed to change our "lessons" from her cousin who knew nothing of what we were doing. It was over 200 pages of material on the study of the gospel. Her cousin called it "the milk and meat of the gospel!" It is very good. Yet there are complications such as the laguage barrier. It uses big words and difficult concepts and we were unsure of how to get these across in an understandable way. Well let me just say God has been opening my eyes to the "ALMIGHTINESS" (a new work I think!) of Him! I feel as if I am dipping my toe into an endless pool! It is so refreshing and I want to keep diving in! Why have I never realized that the Almighty God is ALMIGHTY in my life and through everything! Wow!! I will never be able to fully grasp this but I pray God will continue to open my eyes to this each minute of every day!
I do not need to worry about this language barrier. He wants me to depend on Him...He wants to use me as an instrument and speak words into the hearts of these young ladies! I am hear to love them as He has loved me.....unconditionally and all the time! Our first day of camp back at Sarasungu was supposed to start on Monday. I had such peace and was genuinely excited about camp! We showed up and no girls! We looked at eachother and came to the conclusion God knew we had not prepared enough. The beauty of mistakes....is the beauty of His love and grace. Every time I make a mistake I am faced with God's acceptance of me no matter what I do. We talked to Mr. Dion and decided we would come in and announce the beginning of camp Tuesday morning in each class. We went home and began to get down and dive into His word preparing our lessons.
Tuesday.....AMAZING!! That is what Tuesday was! God, my Almighty Father, working! Using us and letting us reap benefits of it! I have not had such joy, peace, and excitement as I had yesterday yet this trip! It was nothing that I could have done...He showered on me His grace!
Tuesday morning we woke up at 5:30 or so. Showered and shoveled porridge down! We had a long day ahead of us. We packed lunches and extra clothes, our bibles and our journals. We left for the University, a missionary friend (Irene) works at. We had a lunch with her students 2 weeks ago. They had mentioned us coming back, so Irene planned a lesson that involved us. (It is a univeristy for teachers.) Class began at 7am and it was a blast! I was in a group of 3 young men who were interviewing me about education in the U.S. to see if we have the same issues they have. Working with these students is so fun, because we are the same age and exchanging great information about our cultures. It really helps in understanding their culture. At the end we pulled asided the girls after the boys left and asked them if they woud like to get coffee next Friday. The excitment on their faces matched our excitement! One of the girls squealed and said yes! So we have a date!! God being ALMIGHTY! Crossing the cultural barriers and allowing us to have a relationship with these young ladies!
We left the University and headed to Sarasung. We waited for their next classes to start and began to make the anouncement in the classes. Several girls said they were coming! It turned out well. We decided to forgo the charge of $N5 because we just wanted everyone to be able to come and decided we would pray that they would find it still important to show up to. We still have enough left over money for drinks for this week too! Last minute decision and it went well!
We left there to go to the Goldney's house (a missionary family who is about ready to return home) to go dig up some mud to help patch up Dophelia's mud hut. Dophelia is a girl from Sarasung who has a very rough life and lives in a hut (very dangerous) by herself. It gets very cold here and she has lots of holes in the mud walls. So we dug and filled up the back of our bakkie (our pick up truck). We took it to here house and visited with the people in the village while Richard Goldney went for containers of water to make the mud. We got to visit the women in their huts! They are so sweet, they were volunteers at the OVC project! Then we played with the children. I was chasing this one little girl and she ran by these ladies. One of the girls I knew from camp and stopped to talk to her. The young ladies were brading eachothers hair and the older woman was punding maize into flower. The older women don't speak much or any english. But she motioned me over to try pounding then sifting the maize! It was so fun....these women are SOO strong! One day we saw a women carrying a table on top of her head!! Crazy! She laughed at me! I finally got it down more! :) Wish I could post some pictures! The girls were cracking up at me!
By the time Richard made it back with the water, it was time to leave for Sarasungu. I cannot even explain how much fun camp was! Wow! These girls are amazing! We played kick ball and talked about Who God was and what sin is. I could see these girls having fun and then really taking it all in during the teaching time. It was amazing! Again....God being ALMIGHTY! Those are difficult concepts and they were really understanding...at least some of them were. God totally helped me think of words that they would not understand to explain in small group! He is so willing to do everything for us! Many girls came from last time and we had some new ones! Julia, Fillemon, Lydia, Beatha, and Patrina all came from my group last time! Please continue praying for them, they think it is so neat that you all are praying for them! We cap it at 50 girls and we had 47 sign up!! Amen!
After camp was over we headed back to Dophelia's hut and helped with mudding the holes. We had so much fun! Dophelia showed me her love by coming up and rubbing my arms down with the mud! I was so muddy! She was so happy to have help on the house! Also some of the kids that wander helped us...they kept laughing at the the "chindelay!" But there is a girl who has special needs and it was so neat to see her so happy helping us. At the end of the day when we were carrying back buckets, I kept ramming my freezing cold hand into the Jenna's bucket. She was walking behind us and just started cracking up after I hit the bucket! It was so neat. She gets looked down upon a lot and no one plays with her! It was a beautiful laugh!
All in all....God is beautiful and very much ALMIGHTY! He broke through so many barriers. He filled me with joy that no one could have given me but Him. I am learning, every so slowly, but He is opening my eyes! He just wants to be my ALL. He will be my peace, joy, and excitement. He will fill me with words that really point to Him! He will set up opportunities for us to build relationships! He will be Lord of my life if I just let Him take it!
Please continue prayers for us that we make have our eyes opened to Him and His leading. We have yet to completely fill our last week here...but it's Africa and things happen last minute. It is much easier to see how Almighty He is and in control He is here in Africa... because you may plan everything out and 95% will not be what you planned when the actual time comes around! At home, most plans go somewhat well, but here....planning doesn't exist! So yes that we had a camp on Tuesday shows His Almightyness! Please pray that we do not let Satan push us down, to think that we are doing anything when it is ALL God. Please also continue your prayers for us in the health department. Jenna and Stacey are stil feeling sick. Thank you so much for your prayers!
I love you all and appreciate all your prayers! More will come later! We did go to the hospital today but intenet is going now!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Week 2....or week 4...which every way you want to think of it! :)
Wizeni Pamwe "Come together" in Rukwangali....yes Language # Nbadi(2)
Oguyana, wee,wee
Ogiyana, wee, wee
(Halleluja!!)
This week has been birth of the most exciting events and the most discouraging.
First we had 2 girls accept Christ as their Savior, Helena and Grace!!! So exciting! We've met some wonderful girls this week. The language barrier hear is quite a bit more than at Sarasungu. We've decided to switch gears a little and focus on the message of the gospels. They really don't have the basic knowledge of Christ. We really have to trust the Lord that He knows what he's doing over here, because it is certain that we have no idea what we are doing!! We are beginning to feel called a slightly different way than "sports" for the next two weeks, so please keep that in prayer that we really seek out God's will and that He give us supernatural peace about the right way to go.
We have also been able to .....go to the hospital!! Wow!! Prayers and Dream come true! We took our art supplies and had a blast. I can't wait till next time, our plan as far as right now is to go MWF of each week! Way excited!
I really don't know what to put on here....very hard to put everything in understandable words. The girls this week are very hard to stimulate discussions...which has led to our change of content in our teaching time. But we've met a few girls that are very intelligent and have such potential! They are so open with us and talk to us just like good friends! That is so encouraging. We are going to try to take out our new sisters and these girls on Saturday. We are also thinking about having a bible study with these girls for the last week instead of having the camp the last week, because of the difficuties we've been running into with camp at this location. We'll see where God leads but we really think He's pointing us that way.
Thank you all for your prayers! We need them so very much, and it is so encouraging to know that you all are praying for us! We need lots of the Lords direction! Feelings of inadaquacy (sp? it's late!) flood in a lot. Satan is really putting up a lot of fight....but once again..God is almighty and greater than him!!! I layed in the middle of our yard tonight at 6pm and gazed at the stars...beautiful and breathtaking. That is my God....the one iside of me and the one who has the plan! But those thoughts have difficulty staying on top of everything else sometimes. I don't know why because this desert has the most amazing sunsets every evening when we walk home, it should always remind me that God never does something by mistake! These specific girls, the specific 5 of us, at this specific time!!
I love you all and remember you all in my prayers!! God bless! May He open our eyes to see what He sees!
Your sister
Oguyana, wee,wee
Ogiyana, wee, wee
(Halleluja!!)
This week has been birth of the most exciting events and the most discouraging.
First we had 2 girls accept Christ as their Savior, Helena and Grace!!! So exciting! We've met some wonderful girls this week. The language barrier hear is quite a bit more than at Sarasungu. We've decided to switch gears a little and focus on the message of the gospels. They really don't have the basic knowledge of Christ. We really have to trust the Lord that He knows what he's doing over here, because it is certain that we have no idea what we are doing!! We are beginning to feel called a slightly different way than "sports" for the next two weeks, so please keep that in prayer that we really seek out God's will and that He give us supernatural peace about the right way to go.
We have also been able to .....go to the hospital!! Wow!! Prayers and Dream come true! We took our art supplies and had a blast. I can't wait till next time, our plan as far as right now is to go MWF of each week! Way excited!
I really don't know what to put on here....very hard to put everything in understandable words. The girls this week are very hard to stimulate discussions...which has led to our change of content in our teaching time. But we've met a few girls that are very intelligent and have such potential! They are so open with us and talk to us just like good friends! That is so encouraging. We are going to try to take out our new sisters and these girls on Saturday. We are also thinking about having a bible study with these girls for the last week instead of having the camp the last week, because of the difficuties we've been running into with camp at this location. We'll see where God leads but we really think He's pointing us that way.
Thank you all for your prayers! We need them so very much, and it is so encouraging to know that you all are praying for us! We need lots of the Lords direction! Feelings of inadaquacy (sp? it's late!) flood in a lot. Satan is really putting up a lot of fight....but once again..God is almighty and greater than him!!! I layed in the middle of our yard tonight at 6pm and gazed at the stars...beautiful and breathtaking. That is my God....the one iside of me and the one who has the plan! But those thoughts have difficulty staying on top of everything else sometimes. I don't know why because this desert has the most amazing sunsets every evening when we walk home, it should always remind me that God never does something by mistake! These specific girls, the specific 5 of us, at this specific time!!
I love you all and remember you all in my prayers!! God bless! May He open our eyes to see what He sees!
Your sister
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
First Sports Camp at Sarasungu School - Week 1
The volleyballs are flying and laughter is in the air!! :)
We have started our first week of camp at Sarasungu school in Kaisosi! The girls are awesome! We said we could take no more than 50 and they asked for a 100, so we went to 75. God knows and gave us 45!! A perfect amount for us to be able to develope relationships with! My group of girls are ..... Lydia, Maria, Berta, Filime, Patrina, Julia, Hilda, Hedwig, Helena, and Regina. They are wonderful girls! We practice vball skills with them and then have our small group time with our same girls. Our whole schedule is : prayers, stretching, vball skills, fun game, bible time, lesson time, and small group time. We have a short amount of time to fit it all in between school and when it gets dark. Its very dangerous for these girls to walk home in the dark and some have an hour to walk. So please pray that their hearts will be open to the Lord and us, that the Holy Spirit will talk through us during the entire time, and these girls safety as they walk home each night. We went over the gospel message on monday, then we began Esther on Tuesday. They girls seem to enjoy the story! My girls have opened up and shared examples in their own lives that they would need some of the characteristics of Esther. We've talked about depending on God for strength and knowing we each have a "for such a time as this" in our lives. Please pray that this is real to them! I will never forget these girls! They are lovely and I see God's hands on their lives. I hope and pray that they will be able to see the same. I hope that they will open up to me and that I can pray with them and share His love with them through our relationship with each one of them.
Thank you all for your prayers! I can already see the Lord has answered some of mine and yours by softening their hearts before we ever got here. I see He is in His process of raising up some awesome leaders for the other girls around them! I can't wait to tell you all more of our Father's amazingness!!! He is so powerful! So loving! So merciful! So ALL we need!!!
Please pray for Stacey, she is having some tummy issues. We don't know what it is, but please pray for healing. It's very hard to lead a team, play vball in the heat when you feel sick and there is no bathroom beside the "bush" around. I know she's feeling pretty weak so your prayers would be very appreciated!
I love you all and am praying for you too!
We have started our first week of camp at Sarasungu school in Kaisosi! The girls are awesome! We said we could take no more than 50 and they asked for a 100, so we went to 75. God knows and gave us 45!! A perfect amount for us to be able to develope relationships with! My group of girls are ..... Lydia, Maria, Berta, Filime, Patrina, Julia, Hilda, Hedwig, Helena, and Regina. They are wonderful girls! We practice vball skills with them and then have our small group time with our same girls. Our whole schedule is : prayers, stretching, vball skills, fun game, bible time, lesson time, and small group time. We have a short amount of time to fit it all in between school and when it gets dark. Its very dangerous for these girls to walk home in the dark and some have an hour to walk. So please pray that their hearts will be open to the Lord and us, that the Holy Spirit will talk through us during the entire time, and these girls safety as they walk home each night. We went over the gospel message on monday, then we began Esther on Tuesday. They girls seem to enjoy the story! My girls have opened up and shared examples in their own lives that they would need some of the characteristics of Esther. We've talked about depending on God for strength and knowing we each have a "for such a time as this" in our lives. Please pray that this is real to them! I will never forget these girls! They are lovely and I see God's hands on their lives. I hope and pray that they will be able to see the same. I hope that they will open up to me and that I can pray with them and share His love with them through our relationship with each one of them.
Thank you all for your prayers! I can already see the Lord has answered some of mine and yours by softening their hearts before we ever got here. I see He is in His process of raising up some awesome leaders for the other girls around them! I can't wait to tell you all more of our Father's amazingness!!! He is so powerful! So loving! So merciful! So ALL we need!!!
Please pray for Stacey, she is having some tummy issues. We don't know what it is, but please pray for healing. It's very hard to lead a team, play vball in the heat when you feel sick and there is no bathroom beside the "bush" around. I know she's feeling pretty weak so your prayers would be very appreciated!
I love you all and am praying for you too!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Rundu, Namibia
Mwachili!! (Hi and how are you in Lucazi ....just ONE of the languages they speak here!)
Tunasansala (thank you) for all your prayers and comments! You have no idea how encouraging and uplifting they are! God has been amazing. Things are so imperfect here and broken, but He is sure and able and so powerful. It is not easy to remember these things every moment. But times like Zacha and Anita's wedding....such a testimony to what God can do. We just went to the flag raising ceremony this last sunday and this saturday is the wedding. Proof that God can work miracles in the lives of these peoples. They do not know God and love is not the true love here. I am certain God will use us as we depend on Him to speak through us to these women we've come to work with. They are so excited about the Sports program. We believe we are going to teach about the Women of Faith in the Bible during our teaching time. Everything revolves around men here so this is something they've never heard. Please pray as we are preparing for this Monday, the first day of the first camp! We are so blessed to be chosen to share His love with these girls! And that the Lord is working in my heart in so many ways! Verses the Lord has been using in my heart ...Ps147:2-5, 145:13-20,144:1-2 and of course "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world!"
Thank you all for your prayers, please keep them coming. Thank you Kathy for all your mentoring before now and forever! The cards are so encouraging! I love you all!
Tunasansala (thank you) for all your prayers and comments! You have no idea how encouraging and uplifting they are! God has been amazing. Things are so imperfect here and broken, but He is sure and able and so powerful. It is not easy to remember these things every moment. But times like Zacha and Anita's wedding....such a testimony to what God can do. We just went to the flag raising ceremony this last sunday and this saturday is the wedding. Proof that God can work miracles in the lives of these peoples. They do not know God and love is not the true love here. I am certain God will use us as we depend on Him to speak through us to these women we've come to work with. They are so excited about the Sports program. We believe we are going to teach about the Women of Faith in the Bible during our teaching time. Everything revolves around men here so this is something they've never heard. Please pray as we are preparing for this Monday, the first day of the first camp! We are so blessed to be chosen to share His love with these girls! And that the Lord is working in my heart in so many ways! Verses the Lord has been using in my heart ...Ps147:2-5, 145:13-20,144:1-2 and of course "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world!"
Thank you all for your prayers, please keep them coming. Thank you Kathy for all your mentoring before now and forever! The cards are so encouraging! I love you all!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Windohek, Namibia...We've arrived!
As we landed in the middle of no where....:) looked like a desert....we can all now say, "We've made it!"
We are no in Windohek, Namibia with our passports and luggage in hand! We are staying at a lady's house named Hannah. She is very sweet and is taking wonderful care of us! Rob and his 2 oldest girls picked us up at the airport (this is the missionary that is going to be helping us get started in our temporary new home). They are so sweet and nice. It is pretty cold here and it just keeps getting colder as the night wears on. I keep having to blow on my hands while I'm typing to warm them up!
So we got most of our luggage. Stacey's didn't come through, but we saw it in Joburg, South Africa when we were there. It's on its way supposedly. So we are hoping to get it tonight or tomorrow morning. So praise the Lord! Our volleyball nets, vballs, crayons, paint, and our most of our clothes made it!
London was very pretty. We took the "tube" (underground subway) to visit places like Big Ben and Kensington Palace during our 10hr lay over.
We will be traveling tomorrow morining at 8:30 am our time. We are 6 hrs ahead of you...after all the time changes just 6hrs! :) Well I love you all and will continue praying for you daily! I will try to get on to post again! Thank you all for your prayers and the rest of team thanks you too. Please keep them coming!
We are no in Windohek, Namibia with our passports and luggage in hand! We are staying at a lady's house named Hannah. She is very sweet and is taking wonderful care of us! Rob and his 2 oldest girls picked us up at the airport (this is the missionary that is going to be helping us get started in our temporary new home). They are so sweet and nice. It is pretty cold here and it just keeps getting colder as the night wears on. I keep having to blow on my hands while I'm typing to warm them up!
So we got most of our luggage. Stacey's didn't come through, but we saw it in Joburg, South Africa when we were there. It's on its way supposedly. So we are hoping to get it tonight or tomorrow morning. So praise the Lord! Our volleyball nets, vballs, crayons, paint, and our most of our clothes made it!
London was very pretty. We took the "tube" (underground subway) to visit places like Big Ben and Kensington Palace during our 10hr lay over.
We will be traveling tomorrow morining at 8:30 am our time. We are 6 hrs ahead of you...after all the time changes just 6hrs! :) Well I love you all and will continue praying for you daily! I will try to get on to post again! Thank you all for your prayers and the rest of team thanks you too. Please keep them coming!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
New York-orientation
Ephesians 3:20-21
"Now to Him who able to do farm more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work witin us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
Hello Everyone!!
So as most of you know I'm on my way to Rundu, Namibia in south west Africa. Yahoooo!!! The Lord is amazing!!! I just want to know Him more! So we will be working a "sports camp" with bible lessons and art with 2 different villages for 12-18 year old girls! I can't wait to get in on the coversations God has already began with them in their hearts! I am so looking forward to all the relationships that I will have the chance to build with these ladies!
I am in New York right now at USA AIM (Africa Inland Mission) headquarters for orientation! It has been wonderful! I am learning and remembering amazing things that I know will be incredibly helpful while in Rundu. Just remembering our God is limitless and I can expect that He will use us to make a difference ---and this is the God I will get to introduce to these girls!
My team of girls is amazing! They are Stacey, Jenna, Angela, and Meredith if you would like to keep them in your prayers by name! It is very neat to see how God has prepared us all for this journey and how it seems we were hand picked by God to go to this area as a team to spread His message!
Our team was talking about Nehemiah last night and how cool it is that God took the cup-bearer and used him in an incredible way! Also something awesome....Nehemiah was only on the wall for 52 days! How awesome, such a testimony to what God can do in a short time! I cannot wait to get to Rundu and begin showing these young ladies God's love for each and everyone of them! How awesome that He chose me to do this! I can only praise the Lord with much thanksgiving!
I love you all and am praying for everyone at home!
To Him be the glory forever and ever,
Stephani
"Now to Him who able to do farm more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work witin us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
Hello Everyone!!
So as most of you know I'm on my way to Rundu, Namibia in south west Africa. Yahoooo!!! The Lord is amazing!!! I just want to know Him more! So we will be working a "sports camp" with bible lessons and art with 2 different villages for 12-18 year old girls! I can't wait to get in on the coversations God has already began with them in their hearts! I am so looking forward to all the relationships that I will have the chance to build with these ladies!
I am in New York right now at USA AIM (Africa Inland Mission) headquarters for orientation! It has been wonderful! I am learning and remembering amazing things that I know will be incredibly helpful while in Rundu. Just remembering our God is limitless and I can expect that He will use us to make a difference ---and this is the God I will get to introduce to these girls!
My team of girls is amazing! They are Stacey, Jenna, Angela, and Meredith if you would like to keep them in your prayers by name! It is very neat to see how God has prepared us all for this journey and how it seems we were hand picked by God to go to this area as a team to spread His message!
Our team was talking about Nehemiah last night and how cool it is that God took the cup-bearer and used him in an incredible way! Also something awesome....Nehemiah was only on the wall for 52 days! How awesome, such a testimony to what God can do in a short time! I cannot wait to get to Rundu and begin showing these young ladies God's love for each and everyone of them! How awesome that He chose me to do this! I can only praise the Lord with much thanksgiving!
I love you all and am praying for everyone at home!
To Him be the glory forever and ever,
Stephani
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)