That’s just in. In recent news Lauren Ricks is receiving an extreme inner makeover and is addicted to love. After much traveling from the USA to South America to Europe to the Middle East, we finally have her stationed in a camp in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. Here she is treated with all love of God she needs. Here, Lauren spends her days soaking up God’s love through African sunsets, Milky Way stars, beautiful children, gentle animals, and friends. It’s a life full of abandonment of all those “things” that bring so-called fulfillment. She’s left behind all the distractions that so easily take over and is nestled into a two-person, fully equipped tent in the middle of an African forest. In her quiet time she reads the Bible and novels of the Christian faith. Neighborhood monkeys make a stop by her tent around 5am every morning with a friendly greeting. She never goes hungry as there is an endless supply of p-nut butter sandwiches. The campfires are a typical night hotspot. And, morning jogs and afternoon sports with children bring an environment of physical health. Pranks on local campers are common place. Worship and prophecy occur frequently in the mornings. Campers are encouraged to live lives of purity and dedication to Jesus Christ alone. In fact, Lauren has already received much healing in her life, as she is completely surrendering every area of her life to her true Prince. As you can see, this is a place where you can find freedom in the Spirit, being crazy for God means having faith, and being addicted to love is accepted, actually encouraged. Here we have a letter from Lauren herself: Hey everyone, “By realizing the reality of Jesus within us, we are never bothered again by the fact that we do not understand ourselves, or that other people do not understand us. The only One who truly understands me is the One who made me and who redeems me….It is a tremendous freedom to get rid of every kind of self-consideration and learn to care about one thing-the relationship between Jesus and ourselves.” -Oswald Chambers Prayers and love, P.S. I’m on my way to Mozambique- MONTH SEVEN!!! WOO HOOO!! God is so good! It’s going to be over 100 degrees and I’ll still be living in that heat trap tent so be praying for me to survive. 🙂 The best is yet to come!
Volunteer South Africa’s news reporter:
Note: Personal suffering through trials may occur during your stay, so do not be surprised but be joyful in those trials. 1 Peter 4: 12-13: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If everything is going smoothly, are we really living by faith? In a world where people want to follow Jesus ONLY IF, let’s be different and follow Jesus EVEN IF.
It’s me! Ministry is going well this month and I’ll tell you a little about it and my daily life in S.Africa. But, since I’ve hit the halfway mark thru the race, I mainly want to focus on the spiritual growth that I’ve seen in my own life on the race, thus far. I know I didn’t make it home for the holidays, but I am well taken care of here in Africa. Christmas was lovely. I had the entire day with Jesus. It was as simple as you can get. Christmas Eve consisted of the 22 of we, World racers, singing Christmas carols by candlelight. I spent Christmas day on the farm in a hammock with my Bible. Christmas morning I opened my presents; two socks- one with a Snickers bar and one with chocolate milk and a sweet letter from a friend. That night we had our Christmas dinner on the floor and that had white elephant gift exchange. My team leader, Kaitlyn got an enormous vase which resulted in teammate Ashley pooping in it, not knowing that the vase was going to end up in her tent that night. Teammate, Lauren Erb ended up with Alysa’s armpit hair wax strips and a tooth from a road kill fox we saw on the side of the road in Romania. Annee stole a bunch of our things that we had been looking for all week and used it as her present. Basically, I live with a bunch of crazy people. We have a lot of fun on the farm. I’m determined to set a trap and catch a monkey. They are all over our tents at 5am and get into our trash like raccoons. We make our dinner on the fire and wash our clothes by hand. We are also on a tight budget for food. I miss fruit, vegetables and meat like crazy. What have I been eating?, you ask. Week days are spent doing a sports camp for kids. We have organized games for them such as relay races, soccer, and rugby. We all have our own possess that follow us around. It’s a way to allow 75 kids to get exercise and stay out of trouble during their Christmas break. We also bring the gospel through prayers, songs, skits, lessons, and the way that we love on them. Saying goodbye to them was the hardest ever! They chased our van for a block! On Saturdays we have the chance to have fun and relax on the beach…but if you are me that’s meant getting burned! Prayer request: for my hands that are really burned with heat rash. I want to be able to be in the sun and not be in pain the whole night because of it. ALOE!!!! I also went swimming with seals and walked with elephants!
On Sundays we go to a local English speaking church. The first Sunday I went I was in tears because it was the first time I had been able to be in actual church and understand all the songs. Our group has our own worship on weekday mornings at the farm. At night, I spend time talking with my team. We give each other feedback on areas that we can grow in and also for encouragement. We live these 11 months together to help each other grow closer to the Lord. I’ve never had a group of friends like this before. They have truly beautiful hearts. It’s hard to find people like that these days. But, if there is one thing that I have learned this month is that I can be friends with everyone I ever meet, but the close circle of people in my life should be the ones who will inspire me to be more like Jesus. I’m in the healing process (and have been for months now) of letting go of those relationships in my life that have crushed me and spoken lies into my life that I am not good enough, worthy to be loved. I know that the opportunity to settle will always be there. I don’t have to go looking hard for it. Settling is always easy, but never worth it. Settling is an attempt to fill voids in my life, those voids that only Jesus can fill. I know I’ll never find ultimate satisfaction in anyone but Him. So, here I am a college graduate, still trying to figure out who I am and what I desire in life. I’m finding those desires the more I know Jesus. I may not completely understand myself right now and others may not either, but Jesus understands me because He made me. I’m learning to see myself as Christ sees me, to listen to friends who are also walking close to Him, and to bazooka the lies of the devil.
(camping in style!)
Yes, I am on the road to freedom and I’m living for the applause of heaven. So much has happened in my past that only God could know that I needed to be in this place in order for him to have my total focus. When you find yourself far, far away from home and all those you’ve invested your time into and loved are not nearby to talk to, with no distractions such as t.v., cell phone, internet, limited belongings in general, no way to leave because you have no car, no control over basically anything; your daily life schedule down to what you eat, and all of your time and energy (24-7) goes into living a life that is pleasing to the Lord, you get what I call an “inner makeover”. I’m already feel like a different person from when I left the race six months ago. I actually talk about my struggles because I’m learning to trust people again. I walk away from temptations because my past has taught me better and Jesus helps me to say no. I’ve even forgiven some people I never thought I could. I’m learning to be more patient with the Lord’s timing in my life. Some days I fail at all these things, but it’s okay. God hasn’t called me to be a “perfect missionary.” He’s called me to go deep, be exposed, have joy in suffering, and share His love with the world. I am addicted to being more like Christ; to loving Him, others, and myself better than ever before. This extreme inner makeover is beautiful!
Lauren
(picture taken from my tent at 6am)
YOU can make a difference by volunteering in South Africa, too! Check out my friend Mandy’s video and come to this beautiful country to share Jesus with some great kids!
