Zambia 2012

I have been in Zambia Africa for one month now, just now getting the time and internet access i need to be able to update. My trip so far has been all of  Amazing, challenging, and heartbreaking. The first two weeks of preperation before the team arrived was challenging with getting approval to do medical work here in Zambia. It took many letters and visits to the minister of health, But God provided and even built relationships along the way to grant the permission we needed. Once the SCRUBS medical team got in we got busy with doing clinics around the area. The first one was in Gripps community where we saw around 80 people.

 
God has his ways of blessing you when you are least expecting and teaching you through little things that you dont think matter at the time. I have been shown so much of God's grace and glory in the one month ive been here. The one place that has blessed me most has been a small orphange in Changwe, run by my good friend Jasper and his wife Zion. I had visited this orphanage last year when i came, but only for a short time. This trip we went out for 4 nights, slept in mud hutts, on the ground around a campfire.. it was an amazing experience. Two of those days were filled with clinic work where people from villages all around came to seek medical attention. Some people had walked for over two hours to be seen.
The first day began at 8 am and ran until after dark. We saw so many people, each with their own story.
There were times during that day, with everything being so busy and a little hectic.. i would stop and realize i was sitting in the middle of a mud hutt surrounded by miles of nothing but tall grass and a few small villages. That the people i was coming in contact with saw me, not only as a stranger who was coming into their lives from some other country, attempting to smile and communicate as best i could .. But they saw me as a hope.
To them i was someone with answers, with knowledge and the equipment they needed to gain health and strength back into their lives.
 The medical knowledge i have is not much, But i've learned through this trip and the people i worked with along the way that its Not so much about medical, doctors, or medicine. Yes they help, yes they are needed and much appreciated.
But we cant allow the fact that we came in with meds and a registered nurse become the focus of our time here. There were many people who didnt need medicine, but just to be heard and to relieve to someone what they experience and go through day to day.
The work we did in Changwe was amazing, we saw so many people, met so many needs, and made great relationships.
I have so many stories i could tell, but due to space and not wanting to go on and on i will share only one. The most needed medical attention we saw during our trip was a gentleman brought to us the second morning, carried in the back of a wooden trailer pulled by cattle.
This man (Peter) had a severe burn on his left leg covering from thigh to knee that had happened two weeks prior to us getting there. It was too much to move him so we assisted him by standing around the trailer, heat beating down on everyone. A few people were tending to the burn while the rest of us helped gather water and towels to keep him cool and holding his hand while he cried in pain.
He had been living like this for two weeks and sleeping on a dirt floor unable to move, No way of traveling the distance it would take to get the medical help he needed.
After an hour of treating his wound, praying over his body and helping ease the pain..realizing his wound was more than we could handle we loaded him into the one vehicle we had and assisted him to the nearest hospital where we made sure he was admitted and cared for.
It has been almost 2 weeks since then, and Peter is doing much better now. released from the hospital after 1 week and now back home in recovery.

Praise GOD!

All ready.. kind of

TOMORROW!! i leave for Zambia Tomorrow. And if anyone asks me how i am feeling at the moment my answer would be:  nervous, anxious, excited, unprepared, stressed, overwhelmed AND completely BLessed!! 
I am so Ready to be going back. this does not mean that everything is moved out of my apartment yet, my bags aren't fully packed, and i just now today finished my shopping of supplies i will be taking. But all in all, i'm ready! 
 I was talking with a friend a few days ago about leaving and Trusting that im doing the right thing in this. How its weird to look back over this past year and now being able to tell why God allowed certain things to happen to all plan out and place me exactly where i need to be. 
she said.. isn't it kind of a scary feeling when you suddenly realize God is giving you the things you've always wanted, the things you've prayed about and dreamt about.. It Is. 
 Its exciting no doubt, but it is also nerve racking.
SO, i am asking for prayer, for my travel, for safety, for love and support, for strength and knowledge. for peace and understanding. 
I will miss my family more than anything, they are the world to me, and what keeps me going. 

Gotta Love Them!!! 

MULI BWANJI

In Zambia you are normaly greeted by saying " muli bwanji" which means, how are you?
You would then reply with 'bwino" meaning good or fine. I love the African language, and hope to learn alot more on this next trip there.
Today was our first official Africa 2012 meeting with the SCRUBS group. we will be traveling with a group of 13. There has been some change in my trip the past few weeks. Everything in my life is always last minute. Anyone who knows me well enough knows this!
So i had purchased my ticket with the Scrubs group, planing on july 17th into August 17th. However, after alot of prayer and talking back and forth with the Luwizhi's, the missionary family there, I have decided to stay on another month. So after many phone calls and emails with my so very helpful travel agent Julie, I will be returning home september 17th.
Two months in Zambia Africa. This will be a journey! and i am so excited to go. only 3 weeks left.
The team i will be working with is so fun, loving and supportive of eachother. After only have met them all this one time at the meeting today, i feel like iv known some of them for years. We all get along and share our compassion for Gods love of people and this beautiful country.
As these short weeks go by i will need alot of prayer, for packing, money support, and strength to leave my life i am so used to here and get out of my comfort zone a little and move across the world for two months.
I am so thankful for my loving family who has and will always support me through this. for my parents who make this possible and have given me such encouragement and strength.
I am one blessed girl.

ONE month!

I have come to the conclusion that i need my own computer so that i can post pictures on here and it wont just be my blaa boring writing all the time ;)
Today is June 17 ( happy fathers day) and in exactly one month from today i will be on my way back to Zambia. Its weird that its been about a year since i was there last. I am thrilled to be going back. Not only to see old friends and continue the work there, but God just keeps putting situations and people along my path who i know will have a huge impact on this trip and My life.

 To be completely honest, when i left Zambia last year i wasn't planning on going back. I went to school, got Medical Assistant certified, graduated, moved out.. moved on with life. There were times when i didn't understand why i was where i was, doing what i was doing. BUT one thing i have learned through this past year of being on my own is that God will place you where HE wants you and he will make it Very clear to you. After that, its up to you to listen and follow or to stay put. At the beginning of this year i had no intension of going back to Africa. But i know that the things that have come up in my life recently and the opportunities God has simply handed me. I would be a complete idiot to pass up. Not to mention miss out on whatever it is thats in store here.
This whole planning of this trip has been a twisted mess. And its amazing to see how its all coming together. It started with me going with my church group, to then being disappointed when that fell through. But still God had plans because he placed SCRUBS in my path and now im going with them for a longer period of time.
I was speaking with Samantha Luwizhi last night. She is the wife of Vincent whom is a missionary in Zambia who we do our work with. She is living in Van for now with her 3 daughters until mid July. She was telling me about a friend of hers named Julie who is from Australia, who will be coming with her to Zambia and living there to prepare to start a premature baby home for the babies and young mothers. Julie has an organization called Zoe's Hope. (www.zoeshope.org)
It was started in Australia and she is now trying to plant one in India as well as Zambia Africa. She will be living with Vincent and Samantha until they find the money to finance a building for Zoe's hope housing.
soo.. I dont know what all that will hold but it is definitely something that is on my heart and i will need prayers for. So excited for this amazing journey and im ready to leave already!
ONE more month :)

AFRICA 2012
After alot of change, prayer, and planning, i will be returning to Zambia this summer!
 God has closed some doors these past few weeks with the group i did my travels with last year. Due to finances and lack of people the First baptist Van group fell through and came to conclusion that the money we have been raising would better benefit going to Africa alone than helping pay for plane tickets and other expenses to get us there. However, and this is how i know God is moving in this mission.. The team i worked with while in Peru a few summers ago was already planning a trip to the same villiage and working with the same people. They are a non profit medical mission team called SCRUBS http://www.scrubsmedicalmission.org/. This is also a blessing, seeing that i have some experience now in the medical field.
We will be working with an African doctor and while providing medical help will also give education to the children of the community there. I am beyond excited to be going back and visiting this beautiful country. i will be staying a month and plan to keep an update on my travels.
Im not sure what my plans are to do after Africa. But i have NO doubt in God he will provide.
He has been so good to me, and though i do not deserve this he has chosen Me to help on this misson to Africa.
Please continue to pray for the planning of this mission and for the people we will come in contact with. That we will not only help impact their lives with God's love, but that they will have an impact on ours.

A change in the making

I'm still learning this blog thing. At the moment I am without a computer, sO.. To catch you up on what has been going on in my life in the past few months, I got 2 jobs, one full time and the other waitressing nights and weekends. I moved into my own place with my dog, keeping up my little apartment and busy schedule has been a crazy ride, lost some people I cared about along the way through being busy and getting on with my life, but people can't and won't stick around forever, sadly enough.

So now I have a good paying steady job and I place of my own, finally growing up and having things work out and.... .. I want to give it all up.

I don't want to be the girl who stays in the small town with everything in my "normal" little life. I want something different. I've always kinda known that, it just took me trying out the "normal" to come to conclusion it wasn't what makes me happy. So I'm giving it all up.

And yes, I know how reciculous and dumb this all sounds. Iv been in my apartment for a total of 3 months, my job for 2. And I'm already changing things again.
BUT, when God lays something on your heart you have two choices, 1: drop everything and follow him  2: ignore it and miss out on what He has for your life.
Today is sunday, exactly ONE WEEK until my little sister gets married. im so very excited for her :)
I also have my second meeting today for going back to Africa this summer.
Things are still uncertain with the whens and wheres, but i have no doubt it will all work out. God has been so clear to me with this part of my life and im thankful for that. It gives me a peace of mind that though i may not be certain of details, i am exactly where he wants me. and i love that.
 Things are changing, God is moving.. and i am looking forward to what is NEXT.  ~ change in the making~ 

Africa trip 7/2011

It is officially 2012!! I had a great time bringing in the new year with friends and making memories :)

This past year i achieved alot of goals, experienced alot of things, trials and journeys God put me through. I grew Alot in my faith and in my relationship with God. im so thankful for that.

One thing i did this past year was visit Zambia, Africa with a mission team from my church. While there we worked with a community near Lusaka called the "grips community" a very poor and struggling group of people. We shared the gospel, worked with the children through bible school ministries and while there we helped the locals build a school there in the community to help better the education. It was an amazing experience.

So, this year, 2012.. we are going back. This time with a bigger group that plans to accomplish more than last time. There is an orphanage there we visited last year that really touched our hearts. a total of 8 or 9 kids who live there and the school which is the size of a small American living room, holding a total of around 50-60 children each day from the orphanage and the village surrounding. Our goal is to raise money to help these children with education and a safe and stable environment to live.

The Lord has opened so many doors through all of this, and i am so blessed to be a part of it. The plan of now is to leave the end of June and stay for 2 weeks. Hoping to reach goals and reach the people there with God's word. After visiting there once, part of my heart is there with these people. People who have nothing, who sleep on dirt floors and houses made of sticks and mud. People who are attacked with disease and watch loved ones die daily. People who have little food of which they grow themselves and slave to provide for their families.

These people are Happy, filled with joy and Hope. They arent told they need material things to find happiness. They understand the hardness of life and love, and find joy in 
little things. They are so greatful, and giving.
Going to Africa opened my eyes to alot of things, to Love, happiness, and true Faith. I am anxious to go back and see friends and do God's work, and share His love with people who share theirs!