“Basking In The Son”
It amazes me how life changes so quickly here on the race. As me good friend the Count of Monte Cristo once said “One moment you are basking in the sonlight and the next under a rock”. Well He said something like that anyway.
I am staying with my team in a small village call Amolatar. We live in a concrete store front with 4 rooms. There is no electricity and no running water. In order to keep the bugs away we set up our tents inside our concrete rooms. We use our headlamps at night and we carry our water in big yellow jugs from a near by well. I have come to find out that Africa actually is pretty hot sometimes. Crazy thought I know, but the old stories are true. Even at night its hot. Granted my tent is for snow weather I think so that probably adds so it all. My sister Bethany was jsut telling me how clod it is where she is in Tennessee. Maybe in some weird way I am retaining heat for her. Sisters can do that right? Happy Birthday Bethany! For your present I got you some hot son!
God has been doing some awesome things here in Amolatar. He is so good and is teaching us all how truely wonderful it is when we “bask in The Son”. Here’s some cool stories:
~45 kids got saved last week! We went to a local school and sang a bunch of crazy songs. Then God allowed me to present the Gospel through the wordless book colors. I’ve never had a response like that before. I couldn’t even finish the story becasue so many kids wanted to get saved! Praise the Lord for His goodness! I was so pumped up with excitement!
~We counseled two hiv/aids men. They came to our house and told us their stories. It broke our hearts and made us realize the blessing of life. We were able to offer them encouragement as well and show them God’s love, even if that was just by listening to their stories. There is such a stigma surrounding people with Aids. Talking with these two men gave me a new vision to help remove this stigma. God is still working on this vision, but I’ll let you guys know what He tells me.
~We counseled two hiv/aids men. They came to our house and told us their stories. It broke our hearts and made us realize the blessing of life. We were able to offer them encouragement as well and show them God’s love, even if that was just by listening to their stories. There is such a stigma surrounding people with Aids. Talking with these two men gave me a new vision to help remove this stigma. God is still working on this vision, but I’ll let you guys know what He tells me.
~The four of us girls lead a womens conference. It was more just like a two hour meeting, but they kept calling it conference. So why not huh? We talked about the Proverbs 31 woman and tried to encourage them all in the many things they do every day. Then we started praying for them and answering questions about the Bible. There were quite a few healings. The one I remember the most though was this woman who was suffering from “pain in her chest”. I got a picture of GERD, which is a reflux disease. I started praying against that and when we finished she was in tears. She said the pain was gone! Praise the Lord! There was another woman who I just saw yesterday again. We prayed for her about her cough and about her knees. She told me yesterday that she has felt so much better. We encouraged them to pray for each other. We told them that we had no special powers that they didn’t have. God answers prayers! “Pray for each other!!” we told them.
~I preached two sermons for two different churches yesterday! The first one was like 1/2 hour. and I had prepared for it. I talked about Hebrew chapter 11 and great men of Faith. I encouraged them saying that God has called us all to be “great men of Faith”. I also had them all introduce themselves by who they were in Christ. “My name is Danielle, I’m a child of the most High King of the Universe! I am His friend and He has called me to great things for His kingdom!” The second sermon was still half the same people from the first. I litterally didn’t know I was preaching until like 3 minutes before going up! It was crazy!!!!!! God so gave nme the grace and the words I needed though. His faithfulness never ceases to completely amaze me!
God always brings humor into life as well. Here are some funny things that have happened:
~I chopped up a 20 pound fruit called a jack fruit. I nicknamed it Hermit, it was literally like a small child! I purchased it from the market for like a dollar fifty and everyone was laughing when they saw me carrying it off. I probably ended up eating at least half of it! It is for sure my favorite fruit thus far! It is so good! It tastes like a pinapple, a mango and canalope all in one. Its really sticky and tastes like candy! I seriously had glues from ti all over me! It took me like an hour atleast to clean everything up. It doesn’t change my love for it though, have no worries;-)
~I rode on a metal rack on the back of a bike for like 45 minutes yesterday. This was my church transportation system. I even had my own personal driver named Denise. He drove me all through a very dirty bumpy very uncomfortable road. But he got me there safe having experience the ride of my life! Next time though I will try to remember not to wear my skirt or bring my purse. Maybe I should install my own handle bars too. But then again, if I did that I wouldn’t be able to sing my favorite song. “I can ride my bike with no handle bars… no handle bars. So far= most uncomforable transportation system.
~Favortie way to sleep= Feet inside tent. Head outside tent. I guess this defeats the purpose of my anti bug system, but thats okay.
~Aerobic workouts in Africa occurs weekly during church services. Very Fun
~When I washed all my clothes for the first time by hand, I had a wonderful audience of African children encouraging me on… either that or laughing at my professional skills. I’m not sure which…
Thank you all so much for all your praying and support. Our team is doing very well and we continue to be amazed by God. More updates soon.
