How's that for a title? Yes, it's been a crazy month.
Reconciliation
In my last email, I asked for prayer for unity in our DTS, and especially in our room. God has answered your prayers swiftly, powerfully, and thoroughly.
A few days after the email, our room had a meeting and talked through
the things that we were struggling with, and the culture of our room
changed that day. Most of the hurts had been unintentional, through
miscommunications and assumptions, mixed with a little selfishness on
all of our parts, but we have seen such a shift towards love, humility, and service. Praise the LORD!
And this morning... I don't really even know how to
describe this morning. I had read about times like this, but I had never
experienced it for myself on such a large scale before. We, as a whole
DTS, were having a time of prayer for our upcoming outreach, and the
Holy Spirit came with such a flood of repentance over the whole group... for hours, we were weeping
and confessing our selfishness and weakness and sin to God and to each
other, humbling ourselves and acknowledging our need for Him. By the end of the time, all
bitterness and discouragement had melted away, the feeling of disunity
was gone, and we as a DTS had come to a new level of love for each
other, commitment, awe, and submission to God, and excitement about what
He's going to do in our remaining two months. One girl had
even changed her plane ticket a month ago to go home next week, and by
the end of this morning she had changed her mind and is so excited to
join us for the outreach and finish the DTS. No one could put a finger
on what we needed as a group, but God knew and brought it to pass,
because He is faithful and powerful and loving. We are walking in our
forgiveness and redemption, and we are excited to go forth in love and
unity and share the good news!
Outreach Plans
Speaking of sharing the good news, the outreach plans/teams have been announced! I'll be going with a team of about 30 people to Arusha, Tanzania for six weeks starting November 24.
We'll stay there in Arusha, partnering with local churches to share the
gospel and minister to the hurting and needy in any way we can, whether
in hospitals or ministries for street children or anything else that
comes up. It's a bittersweet time, as I'll be separated from many of the
people I've become closest to, but I know God has a perfect plan, and I
cannot wait to see what He'll do during this next season!
Malaria/Health Needs
As many of you know through Facebook, I had my first run-in with malaria about two weeks ago. I'm doing much better now,
thanks to God and your prayers and the doctor we have here on base, but
I certainly don't recommend malaria! Days of high fevers (staying
between 103-104, around 40 Celsius, for about 3 days), uncontrollable
shivering, aching head and body, and no sleeping or eating, accompanied
by a medication that makes you even sicker, weaker, and wildly
emotional... but the students and staff around me took care of me and
celebrated with me when I was finally able to get up out of bed.
Thanks so much for your prayers and all your notes of encouragement-- I
can't express how much that meant to me while going through such a
rough time.
One of my best friends here, Humphreys, a Ugandan staff
member, was also hospitalized this week with malaria, typhoid, and
stomach ulcers. We almost lost him, and it got a little scary for a few
days, but he's home on the base as of last night and has the life back
in his eyes. Thanks for your prayers for him as well-- he says without
them, he knows he would have died. There have been several major
health needs among the students and staff in the last few weeks,
leading to large hospital bills for several of my close friends.
Healthcare is inexpensive here, by Western standards, but a hospital
bill of $200 can be crippling for an African YWAMer living by faith... Please
pray for provision, and if God puts it on your heart to give anything
towards the hospital bills for Humphreys, Arafat, Florence, or
Steven, please send it to Journey Church/1491 W Rose St./Walla Walla, WA
99362 with a note that it is for me, and also send me an email
letting me know the amount you are sending-- sometimes it takes a
little while for the money to make it through the mail and into my
account and to my attention (I do live in Africa).
I also got electrocuted! No lasting damage except for a
small scar on my foot, but apparently sometimes live wires are just
lying on the ground, and when you take your high heels off after a long
day of being a bridesmaid, you can step on them and burn the tissues
inside your foot and also feel the electricity all the way into your
shoulders. So that was a new experience.
Wedding
Speaking of the
wedding, I got to be a bridesmaid in my Canadian friend Chasity and my
Ugandan friend Nixon's wedding this last weekend. It was a long day,
especially after having malaria all week, but it was an honor and a joy
to get to stand with Chasity on her special day, as so many of her
friends are so far across the world.
Closing Remarks/Prayer Points
I'll
send at least one more update before leaving for outreach, and I hope
to write a few blog updates (on repentance, being wealthy and living
among the poor, and maybe waiting on the Lord) this weekend, but for
now, here's how you can pray:
-Outreach preparation. Unity for the teams, wisdom for the leaders as they plan, and provision, protection, and fruitfulness as we go.
-Health and hospital bills. Pray
for health for our DTS-- the last few weeks we've seen more sickness
than we ever want to again-- and for provision for the hospital bills
that have come up, especially for students and staff who don't have the
resources to pay for them.
-Continued outpouring. Pray that God will continue what He started this morning, in each of our hearts and in us as a team. It's so good!
Thanks so much, and all my love to each of you!
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