March

This has been a great month, I have had some downfalls, but the Lord picked me back up and helped me through it all.  I had the opportunity to stay with the kids during the week Spring Break; while their parents where serving with Samaria Mission in Zimbabwe.  We did a bunch of things such as, shopping with Luke for new clothes, go carting with the Hixon and Raley kids, bowling, a visit to the Bird and Snake farm, and spent a lot of time at the Hixon house, playing games and being together.  I am so thankful to Mark for teaching me how to drive a manual, so I was able to drive the kids around and not being stuck at home.

God is answering my prayer by teaching me patience. By God’s grace I have been able to overcome some obstacles in my life that I have been battling for some time.  He has taught me not give up, but to constantly keep pressing forward to Him. The Raley family continues to be a great blessing to me and is always there when I need someone the most.  They have been assisting with my walk by showing me the greatness of God.

 April 6^th, is Brit’s 18^th birthday!!  She is turning into a great young lady as she graduates this year!  I am in constant prayer for her and her little brother, Luke. I have grown to love the both of them as if they were my own siblings.  This year has gone by so quickly, my season here is rapidly approaching its end and sadly I will have to leave here and pursue my next chapter in life. God has used me here and I will continually allow Him to use me anywhere He leads me. I enjoy being with the Raleys and thank God for placing me with them. We have had our differences, but everything worked out once we talked about it. 

Next weekend April 5^th thru the 7^th , my friend Patience and I will be attending an adult camp called, Cross Current Camp.  We will be traveling to Johannesburg (which is 4 hours away from Polokwane) to Heritage Baptist Church who is hosting it. There will be some great instructors teaching believers around my age.  This camp costs R450 and pays for everything.  If you are wondering how to change the currency to US dollars, take the price in Rand and divide it by 9. Please pray for safe travels and that God opens the hearts and minds of everyone  to learn the message and training that is being offered.  I am excited for the opportunity to attend this camp.

That wraps up the month here in South Africa. I am continually learning the experiences that our Lord, Jesus Christ allows for me to partake in. I hope and pray that God gives you some experiences and lessons of your own and that you grow in Him as I am. If you want to pray for   Samaria Mission, the Raley family and me here are some prayer requests that are needing prayer.

Prayer Request:

1.      That I keep learning and seeking wisdom from Alicia and Dorcas until I leave.

2.     For my mind, heart and actions to be more Christ focused before going into Mozambique with Samaria Mission.

3.     For the Raley family to allow their hearts and minds to be focused and always ready for anything God allows them to endure while preparing for the outreaches and His hand guides them so that things turn out great and operate smoothly.

4.     For the Samaria Mission staff, to get everything properly prepared, allow God to be the foundation of their decision making process and obey His instructions.

5.     For school, we finish the last 6-7 weeks off strong and Luke passes 6^th grade.  For God to give me the ability, knowledge, and endurance to teach him whatever he needs to learn.  Please pray for Brit as well, that she can finish high school with the GPA she wants, and in some of her college classes as well.

Thank you all for reading this; I am blessed every day that I am here. I hope and pray that God blesses you on your daily walk and journey thru life as well. Remember to stay focused and keep the faith, Life is a mission field you never know when the opportunity will arise for you to be a missionary where you are.

Trusting In the Lord

Feb. 11, 2013

Today I thought I would share of God’s greatness.  It has been two weeks since my surgery, and I am proud to say that God has revealed so much to me in these two weeks.  I have been healing greatly and just so thrilled to be healed soon.  It has been a struggle for me to have patience while in the healing process. A scripture that has helped me through the process is “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he, will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6.

   God has shown me that it is okay to not be a tough cookie or a strong willed girl, that feels like I does not need anyone’s help.  God really has used me a lot here and I am blessed for the people He has put in my life.  For instance, Alicia has been a great impact in my life since I have been here. She always looks out for me as if I was one of her own children.  God has blessed me with a family to stay with that shows God’s kindness and love.   I learn from them every day.  We need to trust in the Lord, it is a struggle, but our Lord has his hand on you and me every day.   Everything we do should be glorifying to the Lord, even if we lose it some of the time. 

Overall it has been a tough two weeks for me, but God provided like he always will and surrounded me with people that care and love me. We all need to put our Trust in the Lord, for He will always provide.   As Psalms 56:3-4 says, “When I am afraid, I will trust in You.  In God, whose word I praise, In God I trust; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?”  This is what I rely on and use to vent when I have troubled times, but support and encouragement from others also help.  Call onto the Lord and He will help you through everything.

Please pray that I may find trust in Christ Jesus, and remember to lean on Him for everything. He is my rock and my Salvation. Also, for Mozambique and the food intake there with the help of Samaria Mission Also that I focus on the reason I am here, to be a servant for the Lord, and to help the Raley Family with Luke. Also that I “Woman of God,” that my walk will be strong every day especially while I am here.  Finally pray that God gives me another opportunity to serve in Mozambique with Samaria Mission, for that is where I feel God wants me to be.  Thank You, “Lean On Him”.

God Is Good.

Just an update of how I am doing here in Polokwane, South Africa.  Teaching Luke is absolutely a great time, I am honestly learning stuff from him that I simply forgot about in school. This month was going great was on track, working out in the mornings, and working on school stuff with Luke, but somehow God can throw a curve ball in your life. Just never know when it is going to hit you, until you finally open your eyes.  I got to experience my first surgery ever and to top it off in a different country.  God has been near me every step of the way, and He put such talented people that took care of me till the end.  In my mind I was scared and nervous, but I remembered I shouldn’t because God takes care of everything.  He should be the mind set for everything you do.  

FRIDAY-- Now I have had pain in my side for about two days before I finally wanted to go and see the doctor.  Friday night, Alicia comes into my room with her friend Jill Hixon.  Jill was a nurse before she came to South Africa with her family as a full time missionary from Texas.  She checked me out and I was in pain, so Alicia, Jill, Cait, and I went to the doctors to get me checked.  He ran some tests on me and I had a really bad bladder infection, but was not very certain about my appendix.  Yet I was still in pain, I knew God was over me protecting me from something disastrous.  At this time Alicia is contacting my father telling him everything that is happening. The doctor then told us if I have pain I the morning, then I should come in quickly and he will treat it for Appendicitis.  Sure enough, I woke up around 930am and was in pain and usually I can tolerate it.  I told Alicia this and quickly took me back to the doctors as I was in pain galore.   He checked again and he was certain about it and I had to go in for a rush emergency for surgery.

SATURDAY -- So this is when it all began, I was in the process of the surgery to occur.   We had to travel a lot to get to certain places, but we made progress to everything.  We got to the hospital and they got me in quickly and I had a bed waiting for me.  The Russian surgeon Dr. Ryndine, came in and talked to me and made sure what was going on.  I had been drugged already and he asking me questions that I tried to answer.  He was a funny doctor though, he had me laughing and I knew right then I was in good hands with this man.  See God provides for your needs if you are a disciple of Him, and He has started his journey for me while I was getting ready for this.  Now, he walked us through everything that he was going to do to me and that was really settling for me to hear.  He arranged some visits for me to go to and see what was going on.  I went to my ultra sound, but before that Dr. Ryndine decided to shoot me with some pain meds so I can be okay.  Now that is the second pain meds that got shot in me in the past 2 hours. WOW! I was loopy J So Alicia and I headed over to the place which by the way in 3 blocks down where the hospital that I have already been submitted at.  Funny right?

Now we get to the place and we walked into the waiting room, now I am under pain medicine and I was kind of funny.  All of a sudden I felt sick and I told Alicia that I was not feeling so well that I was going to ralph.  She asked for the key and we walk across the parking lot to the bathroom and I threw up nothing!  I then walk back to the waiting room and was just out of it.  We finally got the room we were to be in.  The doctor looks in my stomach and tells me that my bladder is empty, now at the time I really had to use the bathroom.  The doctor decides to bring in a big pitcher of water and a good Styrofoam cup. He finally said that I am to drink 4 cups of this warm water.  Yes it was WARM water that I had to swallow.   I finally got to my fourth cup and I was quickly telling Alicia to bring me the trash can.  I could not hold it all in.  I was on a roll with throwing all this water up and then I told Alicia, “ I just lost all my water he told me to drink!”  Alicia tries to find him and he was in shock.  So we look more into my stomach and we found access water where my bowel movement was.

Before surgery..so excited can you tell :)

Now we travel back to the hospital again and I get up there and I get my IV in my hand and my blood taken.  A good hour later I was ready to go the theater (which is what we call the surgery room), and go to meet my team that was going to work on me.   My surgery was going to be approx. 1 ½ hours for them to do this to me.   I had a very international team and that was really exciting.  My main surgeon is from Russia, his Asst. was Indian, my anesthesiologist was from the Congo and the nurse is from South Africa.  Then there was me, that American girl. They were preparing me and my mind was all scattered and all I remember saying was 2 Timothy 4:7 over and over.  Then all of a sudden I see this very attractive doctor that comes over and sees if I am okay.  I was in shock, but excited at the same time.  All I remember after that before I was put to sleep was him standing over me and saying, “See you soon.”

These lovely people came to visit me

I woke up kind of from this in the recovery room and was wondering where I was.  I finally found someone to talk to, and I am pretty sure I was not making a lot of sense.  I did keep asking if I was all done.  Then all of a sudden, I don’t know if this was for real or not but, this guy came up to me and was talking Afrikaans to me and I was slightly confused and told him I did not understand.  He responded, “Oh! You’re not Afrikaans,” and I specifically told him, “No. I am completely American.”  I finally got back to my actual room in the hospital where Alicia was waiting for me.  I was in and out of sleeping and dozing off.  I was talking randomly to her I felt like so I am pretty sure I have kept her entertained.  Then her whole family enters the room and I finally woke for a while to spend some time with them.  It was a great time with them and just a blessing to be with this family and how Alicia was with me through the whole process of this operation.  God has blessed me and put this amazing family in my life.  This is was my first time ever having a surgery and God has placed people that took really good care of me while I was there.

Jeremy my stuffed Giraffe the Raleys got me :)

Sunday-- I spent the night at the hospital and that was an experience, but I managed to get through it.  Finally I had my Cell Group (Bible Study) come see me that after noon and it was nice to see all of them and again I AM BLESSED.  God has really tested my strength tolerance and He is the one that got me through all of this.  I cannot do it without Him and knowing that God protects and heals.  I finally got to go home around 1230pm and start recovering.  A fully recovery will take about 2 to 3 weeks, but I have to be proactive and keep working hard to get my health back to normal.  I just want to thank God for putting me through this, He tests us every day and He knows if you can take it or not.

Victoria Falls Trip-December 17th-20th 2012

Botswana-Zimbabwe trip to Victoria Falls

December 2012 was an amazing, busy, and exciting month.  First off, the kids and I were sat down in the beginning of the month of December to be introduced to something that was unexpected to us.  We were excited to open up something that was not even close to Christmas yet, so we opened the envelopes and read the top part of the letter.  Then we got close to the bottom of the paper and it was a vacation, a car trip, and a long trip that would be worth every minute.  We are going to see Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe with the Crawford family and the Raley family.  We were to leave December 18^th and come back December 20^th, plans changed and we leave a day earlier.  Now this happened two days before leaving and I was thrilled.

  We were to drive through Botswana and then in Zimbabwe.  Botswana was so amazingly beautiful, just seeing everything that God has created was very eye opening for me.  We got to the South African border and it was so long! So we finally got through the line after an hour and half standing there and we got through the South African border.   Now it was time to get through Botswana border.  Now that was long and boring, but it was worth it after 2 hours of waiting in this line that was not even long.  We got through it and then we were on our way.  We got on the Botswana road and the first 50 kilometers were pot holes galore.  We were dodging them left and right.  Now since I got my new camera for my birthday and Christmas early for this trip (thanks to my mother that I love so much) I got to take amazing pictures of Botswana.

 Driving through this country was beautiful and just thrilling to see.  We were heading to Woodlands Stopover Inn, it was a great drive all the way through.  We got there and it was a beautiful camp ground that had little cottage looking houses.  We had a security guard that carried a spur to protect us, now that was interesting.  The kids got to swim in the pool and us adults were talking around the picnic table.  Debbie and I went for a walk to look around and found the pond and sat there and just talked and caught up.  The Raleys and I stayed in one of these cottages and it was packed, but we made it work for the most part. 

We woke up early and got on the road at 7 am, heading to the Botswana border.   We were off and saw a big animal along the way, an elephant and then another hour up the road a group of giraffes crossing the road.  Now that was a sight to see, it was so thrilling to see that.  Now the road that we were on was an airplane landing strip which is called an air strip landing, now that was really great and interesting to see and be on.  When finally got the Botswana border and it was not even long at all.  But the line to Zambia was a trail of trucks waiting for their turn to get on the ferry to get across.  Thank goodness that we did not have to get on that.  As we went to go do the processing of our passports we got through it quick.  We drove through to the next border which is the Zimbabwe border!!!  It was weird to see American money there but it was great to actually get through there and just be in Zimbabwe.  Getting through the border was great and just a relief and knowing we are just an hour away now from the Kingdom Hotel was just thrilling.  

Botswana Border to Zimbabwe

Now we are on the road in Zimbabwe and just seeing their rainforest was exciting. I took a lot of pictures on this trip and what we were doing so you will get to see more.    As we got closer my heart was excited and just amazed of how far we drove to get to this gorgeous place in Zimbabwe.  Since we got there the day of but way earlier it was great to go swimming and just looking around the hotel.  The hotel was big and just gorgeous surroundings that were around it.  I got to my own hotel room which was a blessing and got to relaxing and just enjoy what God has provided for me. They had very friendly and helpful employees that worked there. 

having a quick lunch before we get to the hotel

Mr. and Mrs. Raley

The Raley Kids and the adopted offspring :)

pool area

view from my room

a waterfall in the front of the hotel

pool area from the top floor

the dining area

 Now the next day we got to go on a train tour and this was the start of our day.  Breakfast at the buffet and then off to the train where the Victoria Falls Hotel was.  Wow, that hotel has been around for such a long time that it looked amazing.  The view from the lawn looks over a ridge and in the distance you can see the Victoria Falls Bridge.  It was a great eye opener to all of us of how our God is so great.   We got to walk the red carpet and got to think we were at the grammy’s or something to get on the train.  The ride was great to see beautiful Zimbabwe and go pass the Zambia border.  [Which by the way never take pictures at the borders they will yell at you.]  Ha. But other than that I got to see another country and the beauty of it. 

  This is where you can do so many things, like the swing (which you sit in the harness and you just swing from the bridge to see the beauty of everything), you can zip line from one country to another (I believe it is Zimbabwe to Zambia, yeah I was in two countries at once J) , you can do a bridge walk where you got to see how the bridge was construct and see the view from under it, and finally you can bungee jump off the bridge (which I did ).

 I have the video and pictures to show that I did all three!! Yes I did all three back to back to back.  The Raley family did the zip line as a family and they had a blast, I believe it was the first time for all of them, and they took it all in while they went across the gorge, to see the beauty of God’s creation.   I want to give a big thanks to my father for even letting me go on this trip with the Raley family, I am blessed to be with them and the Crawford’s while I was there.  We finally did all our activities and headed back to the hotel where we changed into our swim wear and walked to the Victoria Falls view sites. 

Now this is when I got excited and just see how beautiful and tremendous God constructed this world just amazes me.  The Victoria Falls is about 2 miles long where it runs through Zimbabwe and somewhat in Zambia.  We got to see it from the Zimbabwe side and wow that is all I have to say about that.  The water fall was great site to see and just to take it all in at some spots you just needed to take a visual picture.  Due to the heavy mist that the falls created, it was shocking that is was not rain, but it was the water hitting from below that shoots up and sprays everything.  I have great photos of this tremendous water falls from different viewpoints when I had the chance to take my camera out and snap shot it.  Our God is so amazing, powerful, and He was a complete genius of how He created this world.  This was proof of how incredible our Lord is.  Go to Genesis and read the first chapter it explains how He created us, and how He created this world we live in now.  This is something that we sometimes miss in our daily lives in the book of Genesis.  When sometime we ‘already know’ what it says and what it was meaning about, but to actually see what He has done is just a blessing. 

Continuing with our day, yes it was not over yet.   As we finished our walk of the Victoria Falls view, we walked back the hotel and rested and decided to have dinner at the buffet, and there is where we got to know a brother in Christ Jesus named Charles.  He is the one who took very good care of us and go to know him so well and he told us pretty much his testimony.  This man showed us the love of God by what he was doing and he did that by talking to us and taking care of our group.   At dinner I go the opportunity to dance with one of the dancers named Lucky ( he was one of the friends I made while I was there) and we danced to a lion king song.  Yes it was great and it was actually fun to do.  That was our last night there and we were having a blast and enjoying it as a family and to realize how blessed we all are to be given this opportunity to do this.

The next day came, and we had time to swim a bit and relax at the pool while the Crawford’s go enjoy the Victoria Falls Views.  I was sitting there and I started to realize that I am glad I got to do this and see other parts of the different countries.  It was something that I would never forget ever.  As we were heading back to the Backwoods Stopover we had to stop so many times to make sure we were safe. Other than that we made it safe to the Stopover and stayed there for a night and headed home afterwards.  The trip itself was just great and exciting to do with the Raley family.  I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could go again.  This is something that everyone should look into and just realize how amazing and great our God is.