Prayer Email #10
Sent 10/9/2004

I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
Psalm 9:1-2
 

     Hello dear friends! It is with a joyful and grateful heart that I write to you! I have been away from Grahamstown for some time now, off to retreats and vacations and trainings. This has lead to a lot of time in airplanes and long car rides, and has therefore given me a lot of reflection time. I have used this time to think back over my nine months in South Africa and I have come back feeling overwhelmingly thankful for all the Lord has done. As you know, there have been some really difficult times, but God has proved faithful and good and has used each and every experience to grow and refine me, and to bring glory to His Name! In the most recent weeks, He has blessed me far more than I could ever expect or imagine, so join me in praising Him…

The Journeyman Retreat
     What a lovely time! For starts, I got to travel to Zimbabwe, which proved to be a beautiful country (and much more like “Africa” than what often comes my way here). The country and the people really reminded me a lot of Southern Sudan and Kenya, my first African experience, and it just did my heart good to be there. Plus, I was in the company of some really wonderful people. It was seriously so refreshing to be around a group of my peers again, to hear what God is doing in their lives, and to be able to understand (yay!) and encourage one another. Also, in hearing other Journeymen’s stories of living alone in their areas, I felt so blessed to have Megan here with me. In addition to all those great aspects of the retreat, we also got to play putt-putt, go bowling, and eat at a (sorta) Italian restaurant, which all proved to be super fun! Overall, just a fantastic time!

Victoria Falls
     I really don’t even know where to start here! The falls were a beautiful display of God’s creativity, beauty, and power. It was also a blessing to leave ALL worries behind and just have a WHOLE LOT of fun! We hiked, we went white water rafting, we swam with crocs, we ate at fun restaurants, we went on a sunset cruise and saw hippos, and Megan and I even got to hop over to Zambia for a few hours. I will keep the stories to a minimum, so as not to give you the feeling of being forced to look at someone’s vacation slideshow, but hang in there for just one or two…
     I am not a brave girl. I already knew this, but (fortunately) I went to Zim with some very brave friends who peer-pressured me into going white water rafting (not the kind of activity I usually make a habit of!). Now I had heard some rafting stories before I began this adventure and I had decided in my head that the thing I was most afraid of was having our boat flip and being trapped under it. As we began our journey down the river, our guide, appropriately named “Trust”, gave us a (very) brief lesson in paddling, and then we took off towards the first rapid, which he claimed was a “3” (whatever THAT means?!). I wish I could say that I fearlessly faced that first one, but in reality, as soon as the water started churning, I wedged my feet in the raft and held on to the rope for dear life.
     Much to my dismay, after only about 20 seconds of rapid action, I felt my side of the raft begin to lift and flip. Before I could gasp for a lungful of air, I found myself EXACTLY where I didn’t want to be, trapped under the boat with two other people, struggling to get free. This actually did not prove to be QUITE as scary as I imagined, and I ended up finding my way to the surface.
     We got all sorted out and back into the raft (getting back into the raft actually proved to be the hardest part of the adventure, and resembled something like huge fish being hurled onto the deck of a fishing boat. We all just flailed around for a while in our huge life jackets until we could right ourselves and make it back to our seats)! Even after facing my biggest fear right from the start, the rapids continued to scare me pretty much every time, but I did start to have fun with it and enjoy the ride, which really was just one great big rush of adrenaline.
     It ended up being the best thing I did the whole time I was in Vic Falls, and I will always remember it! I find that this is how I often relate to God as well. I get scared about the things He may lead me through, thinking this or that will be the WORST possible experience, when in the end, its so rewarding. It’s when we just relax and trust God, wherever He may lead us, that we experience life to the fullest.

Alexandria Outreach
     The long awaited mission team finally arrived (the same day that Megan and I returned from Zim)! Although we did not get to participate in too much of what they did, we joined them for a Bible Club one day, and an (attempted) Youth day on another.
     The Bible Club was so great! I just love little African kids, they are seriously the cutest! Since we mainly work with the high schools, we don’t always get a whole lot of time with the little ones. I made up for it on that Friday though. We sung songs, had Bible stories, played games, colored, and made crafts. The craft section was a particularly fun one for me, because we made those pinwheels out of construction paper (I hope you know what I’m talking about, it’s too hard to explain) and I had dozens of little guys coming up asking me to help them put their pinwheel together. Then they’d run off through the school yard with the pinwheel whirling around. Soooo cute! Also, the team was amazing in their boldness with presenting the gospel, and I know that many kids’ lives were impacted.
     The Youth Day was a bit of a disappointment. Unfortunately, it rained that day, and since most of the activities advertised were outside, no youth showed up. Every evening the team had a tent meeting though, and I think that many youth came to that. Overall, many many lives were touched. Now for the exciting and challenging work of follow-up…

Jo’burg HIV/AIDS Training
     Megan and I had the privilege of attending a training on HIV/AIDS: A Christian Response, put on by the Christian AIDS Bureau of Southern Africa. This was just an amazing time of learning for me. I had not gotten just a whole lot of AIDS training before starting here, and I really learned a lot about the disease itself, and the many ways that it effects a person’s life. The training also included a personal testimony of someone living with AIDS and this was really meaningful for me.
     All of it helped remove a lot of false beliefs/attitudes that I have had personally, as well as helping me know how to encourage the churches we work in to really take a stand. Some things presented were also controversial, and the training helped me sort out, with the Lord’s help, some challenging topics relating to HIV/AIDS.
     In a weird way, it helped me see my purpose in being here better. I think in the beginning I thought that my main purpose here was to help in eradicating HIV/AIDS from this part of Southern Africa. Although that is a noble ambition, God really showed me that the passion He has placed on my heart, my purpose for being here, is to bring glory to Him and to allow Him to use me in leading others to Himself. Whatever I do in the fight against HIV/AIDS is solely for God’s glory.
     Aside from all that, the other people attending the training were so diverse, including just some really unique characters, that the meetings were (usually) very interesting.
     After the training was over, I got to go stay with my friend Bonnie (also a J-man) who lives in Jo’burg. She was wonderful in showing me and Megan around. The highlight I think was going to The Seattle Coffee Company and getting the very BEST coffee drink I’ve had since setting foot in Africa! It was very much like a caramel frappuccino, and it was AMAZING! Hahaha, I will refrain from talking about it any more or you all will think I’m a weirdo. But seriously. It was good.

Back in G-town!
     So here we are back in good ‘ole Grahamstown. It is good to be home! I feel blessed in even feeling this way, because I can see how all this time, God has been increasing my love for the people here, even when I wasn’t looking. I am excited to be getting back into the schools and everything else. As we start up what the Lord has for us here again, please pray…