Our God is so Great!

I have a praise report to share with you! As many of you know, there are several DTS students who are still in need of financial support in order to pay for outreach fees for Uganda and Swaziland. These fees will cover all of our expenses for those 2 months, including lodging, food, flights, and other transportation. To help raise money for this, our team held a DTS giving night on Tuesday with everyone from the Ten Thousand Homes base in attendance. It was a beautiful night of worship and giving to individual students as the Lord led, and praise God that a total of over $7,000 was given! It was so neat to see students' numbers dropping drastically (one from $1,700 down to just under $200) within the time span of 45 minutes or so. Our heavenly Father is so amazing!

With that being said, there are still a few of the students who still need to raise fairly large sums of money (ranging from just under $200 to just over $2,000). We are all in this together, and really want to help each other out as much as possible. Since some of these students don't have much financial support available from their churches or family, I would like to present this to you as a way that you can help support this team. If you feel led to help support a student financially, you can send donations via PayPal (specify that it is to help cover outreach fees for students in the comment/special request section) using the following link:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=M9VSQMBXH6W7A

Another very important way you can support us is through your continued prayers. Please be praying that God would provide the money that is still needed, and that everyone would be fully funded when we leave on November 18th. We are trusting that God will provide, and are excited to see how He works in and through this team over the next few months.

Thank you so much for your consideration!

And the photo is a little bonus, just because...

A week in review

Blessed.

It's been an eventful week to say the least, but if I could sum it all up in one word, that would be it. It's had it's ups and downs, but God is faithful through it all and has blessed me so richly. Through the classes, through my TTH family, through a crazy ladies night out, through His Word, through a trip to Johannesburg...yes, it's been a wonderful week.

We spent the week discussing healing and liberation, and really focused on loving the nations. I learned more about how God views the nations, and His love for the diversity that we see among them. It really helped me to gain a new perspective on how I view different cultures and gave me a renewed love and appreciation for them. I also saw how my ethnic group, culture, continent, nation, etc. has an influence on how I look at and love others, and without really noticing it those things can cause me to set up prejudices and preconceived ideas. If we want to be a light to the nations and truly love others as God has loved us, we need to lay those things down and ask God to help us to view others through HIS eyes. Quite challenging, yet so freeing!

The normal weekly schedule was disrupted by a quick trip to Johannesburg and Pretoria. Since Ida and I are in need of new passports before leaving for outreach, we had to visit our Embassies to submit our applications. So on Wednesday afternoon we left with two other staff members on a little trip. It's about a 4 hour drive each way, and it amazes me how the landscape can change so quickly. The difference between Johannesburg and White River is about the same as the contrast between the landscape of Colorado and Iowa. One is full of hills and mountains, the other is flat and covered in farmland. Praise the Lord that we were able to get everything submitted, and will hopefully have the passports within 3 weeks or so. It was quite a fun and relaxing trip, but we were ready to be back home by Thursday evening. We were only gone for a day...but we were missing everyone!

I know that this week's update was somewhat short, but it's way past my normal bedtime and I need to get some sleep in before church tomorrow! So now it's time for the weekly load of photos. I'm actually starting off with some pictures from Dwaleni that are a week or two old, and then moving into the activities of the week....

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Last week's Friday small group

Yes...that is what you think it is. A pile of frogs. Frog legs for dinner, anyone?

If I didn't know better...I'd say this was Iowa, not South Africa!!

My first rhino sighting was at...a gas station (they were in a pen)

Reminds me SO much of Colorado!

A beautiful night out with all of the ladies!

Beautiful Africa

On Saturday the DTS, as well as many of the families from the base, went to Mac Mac Pools for the day. It was a day full of swimming, exploring, fellowship, relaxation, and...sunburns. After a full week of classes, work duties, and book reading, it was good to get away for awhile and do something special. I've come to the conclusion that South Africa is beautiful.

As much as I'd LOVE to do more posts with stories of my time here and all that God is teaching me, but it just so happens that there are only 24 hours in a day and most days I simply don't have the time. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more posts up about what is going on in my daily life....

Love this kid SO MUCH...we've decided that he is gonna ride back with me to Iowa in my suitcase :)

I can officially say I have jumped off a waterfall...even if it is sort of small

Embrace the Moment

This post is long overdue, as it's been awhile since much of an update has been posted. To be honest, that is ok with me because I really try to limit internet as much as possible, so blog updates kind of get put on the bottom of the list.

I'm not going to pretend that being here in South Africa, thousands of miles away from home, is always easy. In fact, some days it's quite difficult. Most days are great, but there are those times that I just want to be back in Iowa and see my family, ride horses in the lovely autumn sunshine, or go out for coffee with a friend. But through those times God has been reminding me to embrace the moment. To embrace this time He has given to me to go deeper in my relationship with Him and to experience all that He has for me. Here in South Africa God is giving me the amazing chance to step away from the normal routine of life and simply focus on learning more about who He is and who He created me to be. And when I think about it that way, I wouldn't want to trade this experience for anything! Yes, there are still going to be difficult days but that's all a part of the learning process. But in those moments I choose to embrace this time and rely on the strength that God gives.

The classes have been phenomenal and the amount of information is almost overwhelming (in a good way). I'm taking a ton of notes, and I have a feeling that I'll be processing all of this for quite some time. I'm so thankful for the reminder that I don't have to digest it all in these 5 months, because I'm starting to think that would be impossible! Learning is a process, so I'm asking God to show me what areas He want to focus on right now. Over the past couple of weeks we have discussed Cross-Cultural Principals and Relationships, and this week we are focusing on Transformation and Unity. I feel like it is the perfect time to be discussing this because my heart is so ready for it. God has brought me to a place where I truly desire transformation and to have God change me at the very core of my heart. It has been so good to look back over the past 5 weeks of classes and ask God what areas He wants to take from head knowledge to heart transformation.

Who would have thought that a little handbook could be so eye opening in how to relate to other cultures? Our current book reading assignment is a book called "Foreign to Familiar" by Sarah Lanier, and in it the author discuss the differences among "hot-climate" and "cold-climate" cultures. There were several "ah-ha!" moments as I read it, because I can clearly see those differences among this DTS, as we come from so many locations. It really helped me to get a better perspective of why different cultures do things a certain way, and it was quite helpful for preparing me for other cultures that I will come in contact through throughout my life. So if you are going to be doing some international travelling, you may find this little book useful :)

We were able to go to Dwaleni again this week to help out at the feeding program, and during this time God reminded me of the meaning of compassion. Compassion is not about doing "acts of kindness" out of pity towards others, it's about being SO full of God's love that it just naturally pours out of who we are and what we do. It's not just seen in those big things like building a home for a family in need or feeding 400 kids every day...many times it's shown through simple things like a child a hug when they need it or giving someone a word of encouragement.

I also have several prayer requests in connection with out outreach that I would like to share with you. I just found out that I may have an issue with my passport when we go to Uganda, as entrance to the country requires at least 6 months of validity on your passport, which I do not currently have. Another girl has the same problem, so please be praying that God would give us wisdom about what to do, and if needed, that He would provide for us to get new passports in time to go to Uganda. I fully trust that HE WILL PROVIDE A WAY, and I would greatly appreciate if you would join me in prayer as I trust in God to show up in an amazing way!
The other prayer request is that all of the students would see God provide for their financial needs. I am so blessed to have all of my support raised, but there are still several of my team members who have significant amounts of funds that they need for outreach. Please join us as we trust in God to provide in amazing ways. I can't wait to see how He will work!

We are down to about 6 weeks until we leave for Swaziland, so preparation for outreach is beginning to pick up. God has not only been working in each of us individually, but He is also working in us as a team. The topic of transformation has generated a lot of discussion this week, and it's getting to the point where we are having the chance to get very real and transparent with each other. It is so neat to see how God is bringing unity, and I trust that He will continue to bring us closer!

GOD IS GOOD, and I'm blown away at all He is doing. We serve an amazing God!

As one last little side note...I love to receive "snail mail"! If you'd like to send me a letter, my mailing address can be found on the sidebar to the right --->

I love this beautiful view! I can see it partially from where we eat our meals, and to get a better view I just have to take a short walk to the edge of the property.

Sundays seem to be the coldest and rainiest days of the week, so one Sunday we got to mop the floor of the church due to a large puddle of rain water that had accumulated there. Not quite the normal way to kick of a Sunday, but it certainly is a memorable way!

Finally, a picture of ALL of the DTS girls in one place! Love 'em SO MUCH!

When serving food for in the kitchen at Dwaleni, be prepared for lots of singing and dancing!

Me and one of the other DTS girls made chocolate chip cookies for a movie night that we had, and they turned out delicious (and they had disappeared by the end of the movie). We do things a bit differently in the kitchen here...like how we keep the oven door shut. Who knew that there were so many uses for full water containers and wooden spoons?

My new favorite way to ride to church on a hot and humid day...

Having a fun time at a dress-up birthday party that was held for a couple of people here on the base. Feather scarves, mustaches, and sunglasses...quite complete, don't you think?!?

'Cause This Is Africa

We all come from different countries and cultures, we all have different personalities, we all look different, and we all do things differently, but we are all one big family here at Ten Thousand Homes.

This is my crazy, beautiful family...and sometimes we like to have a little bit of fun...

Many thanks to Laura for making this fun music video! So many memories go into the filming of the movie...