New Year- New Outlook

A new year has begun!! New year's always sparks hopefulness, resolutions and a promise to make ourselves better than ever. I don't tend to make resolutions. Not because I don't have hope and aspirations to improve my life, but because when I have those desires I make them right then and there, may it be June or January. This year, however, I did buck my own self made system and sat down in the New Year to decide exactly what I wanted from this 26th year of my life, what is it I want things to look like when 2011 rolls around? I made some more typical goals like taking chances so as to become a better cook, trying something new like rock climbing, be consistent in exercise. Then I made a more daring statement, not only for myself, but also for the interns I'm leading. I want God to push us, I mean really push us beyond the regular efforts we give Him each day. Thinking about it I wondered if we truly gave Him our all. Do we give God less because we know that He is a gracious, good and a loving God who will forgive us? I'm not talking solely about a works based faith, but looking more at putting our faith into action. Living up to what God truly desires and deserves from us, no more half hearted Christianity. As a team we have agreed that we want God to push us and to give Him 110% in everything we do. We are getting an amazing opportunity to put our words into action with our first missions trip at the end of February to Lebanon! When I heard Lebanon it made me scared and excited, but I knew that it was just the challenge we were looking for in our lives. The Middle Eastern culture is something we have all been exposed to, but not one we have ministered in and definitely a culture we have preconceived ideas about. As a team we are preparing ourselves in prayer and asking God to open our eyes and hearts to what He wants to do through us in Lebanon. Please keep us in your prayers!

Passion or Complacency?

I haven't written in a while and I apologize for slacking off! So much has happened since my last post, went to South Africa with the interns, went home to America and spent a great time with friends and family, got denied a visa to go back to the UK, got approved a visa and then finally ended up back in the UK with a new group of interns for the year.
This current team is very different from my last group. They are such a wide range of personalities, different upbringings, different issues and younger. Obviously you aren't going to get the same group every year and I definitely wouldn't want that, but you can't help to compare them to the previous group you had. I already love them though. They are so excited about everything, passionate and eager to learn about God and how they can grow closer to Him. I think the thing that I enjoy about them the most is that all of that excitement can be channeled and focus on something productive. At times all of their energy can be tiring and you just want some peace and quite, but when I find myself complaining the Lord reminds me that far better to have energy then complacency! How much harder is it to inspire and stir up someone who is complacent then to help someone who is passionate focus that desire on something positive. At the end of this term, no doubt I'll be tired maybe even exhausted; but I know I won't regret one minute of it because it will mean 5 young people have grown in the Lord and their excitement and passion will be focused on the will of God for their lives! What could be a better reason to be tired?!

Liverpool

These past few weeks have flown by so quickly! I feel like we just returned from Portugal and here it is almost the end of May. At the beginning of May we had a team come over from a Christian college in California to work with Book of Hope in the schools. Kate is leading the team, but I was able to be with them last week in Liverpool and see how ministry works in other parts of the UK. It was amazing the open doors we had in the schools. Most of the classes we were in were ages 12-15 and we did their religious education classes. All of the students seemed really interested in the presentations and were very honest with us in the discussion groups. At the end of one lesson we asked the students if there was any questions. One of the girls raised her hand in front of her whole class and asked, "How can I become a Christian?" For a minute we all froze, I think wondering if what we had heard was really true! Since we aren't allowed in the classroom to pray with the students, we directed her to the page in the Book of Hope where you can make a decision for Christ and to speak to her RE teacher who happened to be a born again Christian. The coolest part of it all was that the other half of our team was in the van praying and someone specifically prayed that if there was a person whose heart was ready to make a decision for Christ that they would ask questions. Isn't it amazing to see how God works and to see the power and evidence of prayer! It was such an encouragement to the team and really lifted their spirits. The name of the girl is Jesse, please keep her in your prayers that she would be able to live out her decision to follow Christ especially at school where kids can often times be ridiculed for being a Christian.

At the end of this week our team is headed off to South Africa! I can not wait! There will be 5 other interns joining our team from America so altogether it will be a team of 11. It is going to be an amazing time for us all no doubts about it. Pray that we can become a united and strong team. Can't wait to tell you all about it!

Portugal

I love Portugal! It was such a great experience probably exactly what I needed at the moment. The people are very kind, the food delightful and the scenery breathtakingly spectacular. Our time of ministry definitely exceeded expectations. Not that we were expecting it to go poorly, but it went even better than hoped. All of the schools were great and the kids so receptive to the message.
In the second week we didn't do traditional schools ministry because the children were on break, so we worked with churches, in an orphanage and in a prison. The prison was with out a doubt one of our biggest challenges and also one of our highlights. No one on our team really has a testimony of being saved from drugs, alcohol or a hard life. So when we found out we were speaking at an all women prison all of us were kind of thinking, what are we going to say to people that have for sure experienced a rougher life than we have? Well that is where God stepped in, big time! Kate and I encouraged the interns and said that these women were people too and needed to hear love, truth and an uplifting word. It ended up we did a drama and the three of us girls spoke. All three of us spoke about forgiving others, forgiving ourselves and the hope God gives us no matter what we've done. There was not a dry eye in that place. I believe those women with out a doubt needed to hear those words and hearts began to change. My heart has not broken for people like that in a while so I know it was just as important for me to be there. Please pray for those women, they received the Book of Hope, pray that their hearts and lives would be transformed by the Word of God. Thank you to all that prayed for our trip! I have posted some pictures on my Flickr site of Portugal, soon I'll be posting some from England as well. Here is the address:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindytheworldtraveler/sets/72157617091070022/

March Madness

Things are really beginning to pick up here! We just finished our first week of ministry here in the area of Stoke on Trent and it was a great time. We did assemblies for primary age students and it was lots of fun and great to interact with the children. There was a low point in the week when we found out that one of the schools would not allow the children to have the Books because they might get some complaints from parents. We are leaving the books at the school for a few days in hopes that they might change their minds and hand them out to the children, please pray for their hearts to be changed! This next week we are going back to the schools and will be in some of the classes for their Religious Education lessons. There are topics we have to cover with them ranging from Parables to evil and suffering! It's an amazing opportunity and we are prayerfully going into this time with the students.
After next week we are headed off to Portugal for two weeks of ministry. We will be in area called Faro which just happens to be near the beach. I know sounds like a vacation, however we will be very busy with schools, orphanages and even a prison. Please pray for this time of ministry, we have faced opposition in just time our time of set-up.
My co-leader Kate and I are constantly learning exactly how different British and American culture are. At times it's extremely frustrating and you want to tell people the "right" way to do it and then other times you laugh and enjoy the ride. Well the good thing is I have adjusted to driving on the other side of the road on the other side of the car! On top of that I am getting better each day at driving a manual, I am pretty sure I have reduced my number of stall outs:-) Small things make me happy.

Across the Pond

Yes I have, I have traveled across the pond to the lovely country of England! I am very excited to be in the UK. There is so much history and culture surrounding you ever where that you go, if makes every time driving around a unique little adventure/history lesson.
This is without a doubt going to be a very unique and different semester. Myself, along with my co-leader Kate, are leading four interns that are from the UK and are in their own country. We are working with our partner ministry here in the UK called United Christian Broadcasting (UCB) so the interns are gaining media experience as well as doing Book of Hope ministry in the UK, Portugal and South Africa. The uniqueness of the semester isn't just due to the media factor thrown in there, but because we are two Americans leading four British interns in their own country. While America and England are both Westernized countries, there are many cultural differences. The meaning of words to start with. You would not go up to a woman and say nice pants, where did you get them? Pants to them is underwear, the correct word would be trousers. Also, you need to be careful which way you give someone the peace sign. Palm forward is alright, but showing the back of your hand is like giving someone the middle finger in America. All little suddle things, but very important when your daily job is communicating with thousands of students and school officials. I am anticipating this semester very much. All of our interns are great and I know there are so many things God wants to teach them and grow them in. Please pray for our team that we would be unified and make ourselves available to be used in all God desires this term and the future! I will continue to keep you updated on our exciting and enthralling cultural adventures.

Intermission

  South Africa was exactly that, an intermission right in the middle of my time in Madagascar. Although I was leading a 10-day team from the States it was a nice little breather because a lot of South Africa is like America. First of all the national language is English so everything is in English and pretty much everyone speaks English, well at least a form of it. They also have things there like McDonalds, KFC (which by the way has great ice cream) and you can eat salad and the fruits and a lot of other familiar foods. The first day my friend and I arrived, we went into a rest stop for something to eat and were honestly so overwhelmed. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves and what to pick out, I am almost positive people thought we were a little crazy. As you can guess in Madagascar we really don’t have many options. Also driving on the roads you would think you were in America because they look similar, road signs and all, maybe except for that whole driving on the other side of the road thing. All and all it’s pretty easy to mistake South Africa for America.

   You might be thinking, did she do ministry or go on a vacation? Like I said it’s easy to mistake SA for America, until you learn the truth. The truth is South Africa has one of the highest AIDS rates in the World. The truth is you look around you and can still see the evidence and aftermath of apartied. South Africa can be deceiving because as an American you feel pretty comfortable in it. I know for my team it was easy to slip into that and we had to keep reminding them; this is South Africa, this is still Africa. Most of the schools are still not integrated so you have your black South African schools and white South African schools, kind of reminiscent of America pre Civil Rights Movement. We spent our week in the northern part of the country and it was a great time of ministry. The kids were very receptive and seemed to genuinely want to hear what we had to say. The older kids especially seemed in search of hope for their lives.  The team had some great stories and I know they walked away truly impacted by this experience. I know my eyes have been opened to this country in a whole new way and will continue to pray that their hearts would be softened to the Lord because they are truly wonderful people.