My 24th birthday was spent in Tanzania, Africa. I have always wanted to be in Africa and to spend my birthday here was the best present ever from God. My team and the team we are partnered with this month made the day extremely special. However being able to spend the day doing exactly what the Lord has called me to do this year and walking out his plan for me blessed me more than anything I ever could have imagined.
Birthdays were never real important to me until I went off to college and we started celebrating them for the whole week. It was a whole week where I was loved on and the center of attention. Being in Africa was a good balance between thinking all about me and learning what God wants for me and how every day is his day, and he created me and gave me birthdays so that I would share the gospel and bring other non-believers into relationship with him.
This year my birthday was spent by one of my teammates giving me an awesome pair of pants as a gift, I was blessed with snickers bars, cokes, and suckers throughout the week from teammates and others who are on our pack this month. I was overwhelmed with the amount of love that was poured out on me this week. I woke up on my birthday and spent time with Jesus in my tent so that I could have my quiet time before the Happy Birthday’s came at me. When breakfast arrived Angela one of my teammates was kind enough to bring me breakfast in bed, however I was ready to enjoy the day with everyone so as I was walking out the door to head into the living room Gary came around the corner and yelled “HAPPY BIRTHDAY’” at me. Needless to say he scared me to death. I was then informed by him that 24 is a great number because it was Chris Chellios number.
While sitting in the living room waiting for ministry to start our pastor came over and placed garland around my neck, and sang a birthday song to me. As we headed out in pairs to evangelize to the people in the village we are staying in I couldn’t help but think there really is nowhere else I would rather be on my birthday. The first home we visited was a young 18year old girl who didn’t know Jesus on a personal level. My teammate Ashley and I were able to share the gospel with her and share our testimony with her. The next house we visited was a 20year old girl who knew Jesus and we were able to sit with her and just be able to encourage her. As I was sitting there in my birthday attire looking at this beautiful woman of God all I could think was that I’m exactly where God has called me to be. It was an honor to share the gospel and love on others on my birthday. It was like walking out exactly what the Lord has called me to do and to be doing that on my birthday when normally it’s all about me was an amazing feeling.
After morning ministry God continued to bless me and love on my through little things. I was able to sit and talk with Shay outside about life and just things that have been going on. It was such a great conversation and much needed girl time. After lunch we were told we were going to walk to an elderly woman’s house who attends the church and encourage her. On the way to her house I was walking in so much freedom and joy, which is something I had not been walking in since arriving in Africa. There was so much joy in me that I couldn’t help but sing! I was blessed to be with 8 other girls who were willing to embrace the joy and we played a game I like to call walking DJ. We sang everything you can imagine from TLC” waterfalls”, to the Lion King “can you feel the love tonight”, and ended with a great song “we are the champions” It was such a joyous time where there were no cares and people were walking in freedom not caring what someone else was thinking.
The blessings didn’t stop there; once we arrived at the house of a beautiful woman named Rose. I was in love with her from the moment hearing her name, it helped that her name is my middle name and that I could feel the joy of the Lord shining through her. We were able to encourage her and pray healing for eye sight. The Lord healed her eyes and filled her with even more joy than when we entered her home. I couldn’t believe how my heavenly Father was continuing to give me the best birthday presents ever. He continued to shower love on me in everything he had me do that day.
For dinner my team and the team we are partnered with took me out to dinner where I enjoyed chicken and chips (French fries) two of my favorite things. Then I was given a bag full of notes that each person had written for me, a bottle of Heinz Ketchup, and a Pringles can with candy bars taped to the outside. What more could you want for a birthday gift in Tanzania!
The best part of the day was after dinner. We all came back to the house and had some very intimate worship. One of my favorite things to do is to sing worship songs to my daddy. However for some reason I had been in a drought and couldn’t enter in through worship. However on my birthday I found freedom in that once again. God was laying special songs on my heart and giving me words for people. My birthday ended with an amazing team time that God totally orchestrated and made into something incredible.
All this to say I had the best 24th birthday ever! Thank you to Gary, Angela, Ashley, Elizabeth, Stephanie, Marissa, Shay, Brittany, Katie, and Natalie for making this birthday such a special one. I’m excited to see what this next year of my life will bring.
