The past two weeks in Mozambique have been amazing. To be honest I don’t even know what to write about right now because so much has happened and it feels a little overwhelming because I haven’t been able to get on the internet in so long!!

I feel like I have completely died here in Africa. I don’t even know who I used to be because my life has changed so much this summer. It’s a good thing, I think at times when you say “I’ve died” it could be looked on as a negative thing but for me it is positive. My eyes have been opened to so much this summer and I am pretty sure it is going to take me a while to process everything I have learned, everything I have seen and everything I have experienced in the past 3 months.

On Friday I graduated with over 120 people from Iris Harvest School of Missions. 20 nations were represented in the group and some of the most amazing speakers came this summer to share from around the world. This summer was seriously unreal. I lived in a house with 13 people and not once did I ever want to leave. It took me a little while, but I got used to the fact that I couldn’t flush toilet paper down the toilet and the 5 minute cold showers were rough in the beginning but now I don’t even remember what a warm shower feels like haha. I love everything about Africa. The people here have impacted me in ways that I can’t even describe in words. I have six more days left here in Mozambique and when I think about coming home my heart hurts, not because I don’t want to come home but because I don’t want to leave here. More than half of the people in the school left this weekend so its been an emotional beginning to my last week here but I am so looking forward to spending time with the people that are still here and the Mozambicans, ok and I realized that this whole time I have been spelling Mozambicans, Mozambiquens haha so good thing I learned how to spell it correctly my last week here!

Anyways, I know this post is short and I apologize for not being as up to date as I would have liked but it hit me in the last two weeks that I don’t have a lot of time here so I spent most of my free time with others and with the people here and less time in town and on the internet. I will be home next Monday night and to be honest I don’t know what state of mind I will be in. I get culture shock every time I get on facebook so who knows how it will be when I am actually home. I start school on the 29th so the time before that will most likely be spent at home in Naperville/Chicago.

My summer in Mozambique has been life changing and I am so excited to see what my next step is going to be. I have learned so much about who I am and who God is and I wouldn’t have traded this summer for anything. I hope that I will have the opportunity to share with you all more details of my time here, but please give me at least a month haha maybe things will be different when I am actually home but as of right now I feel like I am pressing my feet in the mud trying to make time go by slower here so that I can take everything in. I might be a little bit of a mess at home haha, even thinking about leaving makes me want to cry. I also am super exhausted right now too because I stayed up past 12 with people that left today and woke up this morning around 5 to say my final goodbyes. I am so scatterbrained, I actually feel like my brain is fried haha ok I feel like I need to end this, please forgive me haha. I will have pictures up on facebook in a couple weeks I’m sure. Thank you so much for staying updated on my summer, I haven’t really decided if I am going to blog when I am home… it’s been really fun to keep you all updated while in Africa though. Please let me know if you have any questions about Iris Ministries, it is a wonderful ministry that’s main focus is love, so if you ever want to be apart of something were you truly die to yourself and learn to love like Jesus does, this would be a place for you, haha my summer has been incredible, but I cannot wait to hear about what you all did this summer as well☺

See most of you very soon!!!

Love llove loveeeeee

To be honest, the past week I have literally been dreaming about home. I miss my family and the beautiful food that America has to offer. I miss being in the comfort of my friends that know me well and I mostly miss just cuddling up with a warm blanket on a big comfortable couch. Living in America is so easy and this past week I have been realizing that more and more and honestly it’s been hard…

Then came Thursday…

I had a dream on Wednesday night of being at home. I was laying in my grass in the backyard just sobbing because I wanted to be here in Africa. I missed the kids in the baby house that I see everyday. I missed the people from the school that have become my family. I missed the group of Mozambiquen pastors that I have gotten to know so well. I missed the view from the prayer hut of the Indian Ocean. I missed the dirt roads and riding in the back of trucks but mostly I missed the atmosphere that I have been in since the day I arrived. I woke up confused but then I went to class and listened to Heidi speak…

Any time Heidi Baker speaks I get wrecked (this is two times a week, ya!!) Everything she says is from the heart she had a plan to talk about the beatitudes but when she arrived in the morning she felt like she needed to talk about something else. She simply said that she wanted to talk about Philippians chapter two which is all about imitating Christ’s humility. Humility. Humility. Humility. So then it hit me, it hit me hard.

“Make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others […] taking the very nature of a servant […] do everything without complaining or arguing so that you become blameless and pure.”

Near the end of Heidi’s session she said seven words that made my heart leap, she said, “will you give up the comfortable couch” and without even thinking I said yes. In the end, the couch will not matter. My comfort will not matter, ah. There are WAY to many people in the world who need to know that they are loved. If I have to give up everything so that only one person who is lost or unloved can feel loved, I will, I have too. I’m here in Africa learning how to love in a way that I was never taught or ever understood.

It’s not about me. Finally, I have figured it out! I had to fly across the world to figure that out but hey, at least I am learning!

So that was just Thursday morning—Then came Thursday night…

I know I have mentioned my Mozambiquen Pastors in my last posts but I wanted to go into more depth about them, I wish I could bring them home with me so that you could have the opportunity to just listen to their hearts, but since I can’t I just want to honor them as much as I can.

In the missions school we are all on different color group teams. There are 10 of us from the school on the green team and we are paired with 12 Mozambiquen men who are here on the same base for Bible School training to be Pastors. When we go on outreach we go as a team, the mission school and the Bible students. Let me tell you something about these men, some of them travel by foot to get to the school, they leave their families for months at a time just so they are able to come to the school.

These men are so passionate about the nation of Mozambique that they will give up everything just to come to hear more about God. Mozambique used to be the poorest nation in the world but now it is blossoming into a nation that strives for something more. These men are my hero’s. When we go on outreach they take it upon themselves to be our protectors. They make sure we are comfortable in their culture and they always put us first. When we set up our tents, or rather, after they are finished setting up our tents for us, they set up theirs right outside of ours. They have become my family and my heart aches when I think about not seeing them on a regular basis.

As a team we decided that we wanted to bless the pastors in our group so on Thursday we surprised them with dinner at a nice restaurant that is right on the beach. It was the best night I have had since being here in Mozambique. Most of these men have never stepped foot in a restaurant. One of them said that he had walked past this restaurant many times never imagining of sitting and eating in a place so nice. One said that he never thought he would ever eat from a plate that was not his own. None of them knew was pizza was because cheese here is very expensive. After they all received their meal which was elegantly given to them, and their cokes, they each tried a piece of pizza, it was great. Each and every one of the men said how grateful they were. One of them said that he couldn’t wait to get home to his family to tell them how privileged he was to come to a restaurant, going to a restaurant was a privilege. I can’t describe in words how much this dinner meant to me, I can truly say it changed me. I have learned more from these men than I have from anyone I have ever met.

I have three weeks left in Mozambique. Two weeks left of school and one week left on the base. It’s insane how fast this summer has gone. I have been so happy the past two days because I have been living in today. I will enjoy the last days I have here and when I do leave to come home I think it will be hard but I know I will be back here, and maybe some of you will come with me! It will rock you. I will never be the same but I am so so so so so excited to see where my life is heading, it is so thrilling to be in the will of God.

Life is so good.

Tomorrow I am going back to Felipe’s house in the village right after church. I mentioned him in a past blog, his family has been hunting us down asking us to come back, they want to spend more time with us, I love it. I hope that wherever you are that you make the most of it, because honestly life is so quick. Last night when we were all going to bed (I share a room with six girls) we were all just laughing at each other and at one point I said, “Ok, I have to go to bed, goodbye July 23, 2010” and I was like whoa, this day is gone and there will never be another July 23rd 2010, it’s crazy if you think about it, I know I am so corny right now, but its true!

Life is so quick so live everyday with love, it’s the best way to go. Love you all!!!

“Wherever you are—Be all there” Jim Elliot

The Journey Never Goes Backwards…how awesome is that? This week has been amazing. This is going to be a quick post because SO many people are trying to get on the internet and it is super slow today so here we go:)

On Thursday I left with ten other students and twelve Mozambiquen men for outreach. We left around one on Thursday and traveled across Mozambique on the back of a truck for about four hours…it was awesome. When we arrived in the village we were greeted by children and Mamas singing, it was beautiful. The first night we spent time with the people in the village and did a short time of testimonies and singing. The kids at this village were stunning, they loved when I would take their pictures and then show them, it was as if they were seeing gold. I don’t even know if any of these kids knew what they looked like until they saw the picture on the camera.

When I woke up Friday morning and came out of my tent I was greeted by about fifteen kids just smiling with their hands pressed against their eyes, wanting more pictures…I loved it. Later that day we walked about fifteen minutes with our team and people from the village to a small river where we baptized 20 people. Every step I took to get to that river, I enjoyed because here I was walking with all these beautiful people who wanted to leave everything in their past behind them and come out of the water bran new…it was so exciting. When we were finished with the baptisms we headed back to the village and I saw this cute little pig sitting under a shady tree, so of course I took a picture, not knowing that, that poor pig was going to be our dinner (or I should say their dinner because I don’t eat meat and I am especially happy about that after what I had to witness). They slaughtered this pig and the squeals are stilling going back and fourth in my head even today!!! Horrible, but when in another culture, anything goes. One of the pastors took my camera and thought it would be so hilarious to take over twenty pictures of the pig before, during and after it was killed, I deleted them all haha. But the crazy animal eating did not stop there, later that night I was in a tent with my two friends who are married, we were just hanging out and I felt something on my hand but just ignored it because I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, then all of the sudden Matt freaks out and says that something bit him…there was a mouse in our tent, and we FLIPPED OUT haha, it was so funny but so gross at the same time... I wish it would have been video taped. One of our Mozambiquen pastors came to our rescue and caught the mouse and flicked it until it died haha, I am laughing out loud at the internet café right now just thinking about it. After the mouse was dead it was put on a stick with about 30 other mice and they ate them all, yes, they ate the mice, ah!!! So, last Friday I witnessed things that I never thought I would see in person, but it’s Africa, and I love the fact that I was able to be apart of everyday life for some of the most beautiful people that I know. After the killing of the animals was complete and everyone's stomaches were full we headed 10 minutes up the road to another village where we showd the Jesus film to people that had never heard of Jesus before, it was pretty amazing. We were able to pray with people and talk with the people of the village...it was an experience I will never forget. So many of the people here live everyday as if it is their last and when I hear their stories and get glimpses of what they have been through it makes me sad but it also makes me want to live everyday as if it my last day. I know I have said this before, but everyday here my eyes are opened even bigger than the day before.

Saturday came around quick and in the morning there was a Mozambiquen wedding that lasted about four hours because there were three couples being married at the same time, it was such an awesome experience. It was funny because in the middle of the wedding they asked us to do a skit haha, it was so funny, you guys have no idea how different weddings are here than they are in America. I mean, three couples at one time with a random skit from Americans in the middle of it, so funny. The wedding was beautiful and the couples that were married were truly in love so it was a blessing to be apart of their special day. We left around one to get back to our base in Pemba and didn’t arrive there until around five but the time went by super fast because we have many entertaining Mozambiquens on our team, it was such a blast and the fact that I had a nice cold shower after four days of no water, made the outreach even more amazing.

I really cannot believe that I only have about three more weeks here, I will be home in less than a month, crazy. Today when I get back from town I am having an interview with Iris about long-term commitment. I obviously have to come back and finish my last year of school (Don’t worry Dad) but after that I really have no idea what I am going to do with my life haha. I really believe that I will know a lot more during this next year than I do now, and I am really ok with that. As of right now I am trying my best to just live in today because who knows what tomorrow will bring, everyday here is so different yet so insightful and exciting, life is just exciting!!

I hope that everyone at home is doing well, everything here is going great I am healthy and have been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for every meal the past three weeks haha…ok and chocolate and popcorn when I am lucky, ha! I hope that you have a wonderful today, thanks for checking in on me..missing you all:)

Today is a good day, and this past week has been a good week. I will admit I have dreamt of things at home such as a couch with a bag of popcorn and a movie. It was funny, the other night I was with three of my friends and we watched a movie on a laptop and for a snack we had almonds and cucumbers pretending they were sour patch kids and buttered popcorn, ha! But other than the random thoughts of being at home my mind has really been focused on what is going on here and now.

This past week I heard a story that will never leave my mind because of how much it impacted my heart. It was about a little girl who has been adopted by Iris and has lived here for a couple years now. Her mother used to make her and her sister steal food to bring back for their family. They would be sent out each day and if they didn’t come back with food their mother would punish them severely. One night her sister did not come back with any bread so her mother put her in the latrine. If you don’t know what a latrine is, it is a hole in the ground that is made to go to the bathroom. This poor little girl was put in the latrine and died there. When this was found out the mother was taken to prison and the little girl was adopted by Iris. This is only one of the many stories I have heard that have impacted me to the point of tears. My heart breaks for some of the people here because of what they have been through.

I have been learning a lot about love here. The little girl who lost her sister is in a safe place and now knows that she is loved but there are many more people and children out there that have not experienced the feeling of being loved yet, that is why I feel so called to love those who have nothing. I spend most of my time here in the baby house because I have such a passion for children. The other day I noticed that Marcelino, one of my favorite little boys, was not being himself. I found out later that someone forgot to put a diaper on him the night before and he woke up in a crib full of diarrhea. Then later on in morning there was a fight with the older toddlers and Marcelino got cornered so by the time I came to see him he was super distraught and unable to eat. I checked up on him everyday for a couple of days and then at one point I asked if I could take him home for a half an hour just to get him out of his little home with all the other kids. Right when we got to my house I gave him some bread and juice that he ate within two minutes. As I sat with him and just loved on him I felt his fever leave and I saw his smile return. He began to rest when I held him and I could just sense that he felt comforted just by being held, he’s two so he doesn’t talk much yet but he didn’t need words I knew he knew he was loved, and it hit me, it’s so simple. Loving someone is so simple and can truly change someone, even physically. He just needed to be held and comforted and he was right back to his old self- I literally saw what love is capable of and it challenged me in so many ways it’s hard to put them in words.

Another thing that has been challenging me here is the difference between pity and compassion. When Jesus had compassion on someone he did something about it, He didn’t just say, “Aw, how sad”, no, He did something about it. I can’t even count on my fingers how many times I have felt pity towards some of the people here but I can count on my fingers how many times I have actually done something about it. This is one thing that I hope to bring home as well, just really making a difference in people’s lives. Every day I come in to contact with people but since I have been here I have challenged myself to really impact people and not just come into contact with them. I hope this makes sense I am trying so hard to type from my heart but sometimes that can be unorganized and confusing, ha, so sorry. Basically, my point about some of these things I have mentioned is that it is so simple to love and EVERYONE needs to feel loved but what comes after that is compassion, where we step in and actually do something about it! I love being here because I feel like I learn something new every day but at the same time my heart just leaps to get home so that I can do it even in Chicago, it’s so exciting.

Ok, so I think I’m done with the heart stuff, haha, let me update you all on some other little things that have been happening here!! My sandals that were stolen on the beach about three weeks ago were found hanging in town on sale for about 50 meticais, haha. We have had running water and electricity this whole week except for one day when it went out for a couple of hours. I am a pro at 5 minute showers, only using the water for half the time. I went to the beach yesterday and swam to a boat that was docked in the water with a couple other friend and jumped off it at least 6 times, it was so fun. Every day the weather is perfect and the sunsets are unreal. My favorite quote from this past week was from Bill Johnson when he said, “Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less”. I was told that I should write songs and that I should sing over children so that they can be set free, ah! Yesterday we dedicated a new baby Josephina into Iris, she is 3 months and is stunning. Mido, another one of my favorite babies, sat with me the whole time at church and discovered ice in a water bottle, he was entertained all morning. Portuguese is so hard for me to learn but I have been working really hard and remembering everyday that love has no language barrier. My tan lines are hilarious – I cannot show my knees even at the beach so I have a huge farmers tan…just on my legs, ha! I haven’t had one mosquito bite, praise God, but the bed bugs are another story. I watched the movie Persuasion by myself on my top bunk the other night and absolutely loved it, I didn’t think I would ever like a Jane Austin movie but, things change when you are in Africa. I wish I had a video camera to show you all the process of getting into town, today we jumped on a packed truck full of beautiful Mozambiquens, which stopped half way because of the weight, then the truck was pushed, then it stopped again so we got off and jumped on a another truck that was so packed I had to hold on to some random lady and I inhaled the exhaust fumes for the rest of the drive…it was seriously comical but so awesome. Every day is an adventure here and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I have four weeks left here in Mozambique. I really cannot believe how fast this summer is going. Four weeks seems so short so I plan to make the most out of everyday. Thanks to everyone who is staying updated I really am looking forward to being home because I know this is not my last time in Africa. I have a new home in Africa and I know when I do get back to Chicago a piece of me will still be here, I am definitely ok with that.

Love you all!!!

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. The sorrows for the appointed feasts I will remove from you; they are a burden and a reproach to you. At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you; I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they were put to shame. At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before you very eyes” Zephaniah 3:17-20 My new favorite verses, ya!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JONATHAN LOWRY ONE DAY LATE!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe that it is July, July fifth at that. Time here seriously disappears before my eyes. This past week has been amazing. I believe I posted last week in the middle of the week and already since then, so many things have happened. It’s hard to write out everything that has been happening here and today I feel a little overwhelmed but I am going to try and tell you all my highlights from this past week!

I had the opportunity last Wednesday to go to a wedding here in Mozambique. It was for two Iris Missionaries and for some reason I was asked to take pictures at this wedding, yes, I was one of the photographers for a wedding, crazy huh? There were three of us from the school that had the opportunity to go to this wedding and I feel so blessed that I was able to be apart of it. Wedding’s in Africa are NOTHING like weddings at home. I met the bride and groom at Pemba Beach Hotel (Let me tell you, I forgot I was in Africa for a while, this place is unreal) anyways, after we took some pictures at the hotel the bride jumped in a Land Rover and headed to the beach where she was getting married. There were about 15 of us in the Land Rover haha, it was so insane but seriously so fun. The wedding took place on the top of a hill over looking the Indian Ocean, it was beautiful, super chaotic but stunning at the same time. These two people really loved each other and even though there were African children running around and only one speaker working, it was such a beautiful wedding. Heidi did the service and Rolland gave the bride away, it was amazing. After the wedding we headed back to the base and they had a reception with chicken and cake, I even helped make the wedding cakes, ha! It was a wonderful day. The rest of the week was filled with the beach, the baby house and spending time with the people here.

This upcoming week is pretty huge for Iris because all of the leaders from around the world are here for a global conference. There are Iris bases all over the world so everyone is here for one week and we are fortunate enough to hear from some of these amazing speakers. Yesterday after church we went straight over to the beach to watch people get baptized, it was such an amazing event. Heidi was in the water next to Stacey Campbell, Bill Johnson and leaders from places like Kenya and from around the world. They were baptizing everyone in the Indian Ocean, it was awesome and such a cool way to start off the week of all these amazing people being here.

Other than those couple of things, the past week has been pretty normal, well, as normal as you can get in Africa. It’s so different here because things are not run by time. In Africa, if you say be there at 8 (you really don’t even say that, but if you did…) being there by 9:30 would be appropriate. It’s been really nice but for me, I love structure and schedules so it’s been a new way of living, more relaxed which has been very nice actually! I have been learning a lot about myself since being here, which is good but convicting at the same time. I take a lot of things for granted such as having the internet whenever I want it, let me tell you, by the time you find someone to go into town with you, jump in a taxi or random truck, and get the internet to actually work…it’s a three hour process…oh, and then writing everything in less than one hour checking my mail and Facebook…ah! It’s nuts. Or, something as simple as being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet, you can’t do that here! But honestly, even the little things that I miss at home I wouldn’t trade being here for any of them. I’ve found myself here. I have never felt so much joy in my life before, even when I go to bed every night sweating under a mosquito net with no fan, I love it! I have really been stretched and broken but through all of that I have really learned about myself, and for that I am truly grateful.

I hope that everything at home is going well, I seriously wish you all could come here just for a day to see what I see everyday. It’s a different world here but one that I hope to share with many of you. I have already gone through one memory card for my camera and the picture I have can’t even describe the beauty that is in Mozambique, ah! I will try my best to get more pictures up soon, it usually doesn’t allow me to do it but hopefully I’ll get some posted soon!

This week is going to be crazy so I don’t think I will be getting into town until next week but I’ll make sure to keep my highlights coming because I want you to stay updated, thank you so much for spending time with me!!

Loving you all today:)

"The Lord delights in those who fear Him who put their hope in His unfailing love!"

The past three days here in Pemba have been unreal. I want to tell you about all three as best as I can because to be honest they have been three of the best days of my time here this far just because of how wide my eyes have been opened.

Friday night we began 24/7 prayer. For one week there will be at least one person praying here on the base. Sometimes there are groups of people and sometimes there are only two but for seven days straight there will be constant prayer happening here on the Iris Base!

Friday night was kicked off in such an incredible way I wanted to share it with everyone I know because it was such an encouragement to me. It started off with two dances by some of the kids on Iris. The first song was in Portuguese but the second song was in English. The English song rocked me. Here were these beautiful children worshiping and dancing with no shoes on. They were all once orphans but now living here in this safe place where they are free to dance and smile any time they want. It really touched me to see them smiling and dancing in front of all of us. Children are so important to God and to start off a week of prayer with children dancing and singing was perfect.

The next thing we did was have a time of reconciliation. Three representatives from North, South and Central Mozambique were asked to come to the front. The North representative was a young girl and the South and Central representatives were both men. Each of them asked for forgiveness from the other for the war that went on for so long in Mozambique. They apologized for killing each others families and repented and truly asked for forgiveness for their whole provinces. It was so touching I was a basket case the whole way through…but then it got even better. After they were finished a representative from America and England were asked to come to the front to ask for forgiveness of past slavery that went on in America . They stood up there and asked the people of Mozambique to forgive them for taking their families in as slaves and for treating them as slaves were treated in the past. It was seriously unreal. Then, we made a human tunnel and every white person hugged every colored person in the hut, I have never experienced anything like this before, and this was only the beginning, the kick off of the 24/7 prayer, amazing.

Saturday was just another day to add to the days I will never forget. I was coming up from a morning at the beach and a land rover stopped as I was heading up the path, it was packed with amazing people that I love, including my friend Lindsey. She asked me if I would come and watch her be baptized in the Indian Ocean, ah! I jumped in the car with two missionaries, Lindsey, my friend Meg and Adam and a girl named Kasilma who is from Iris. We went to a private beach and it couldn’t have been more perfect. Adam had his guitar so we were all singing in the back of the land rover as we made our way up the bumpy road to the beach. The waves were unreal and the sun hit the water perfectly, it was beautiful. As we got in the water to baptize Lindsey, Kaslima asked if she could be baptized as well (I believe she is around 10) of course we said yes so both Kaslima and Lindsey were baptized in the Indian Ocean. It was one of the most amazing things to be apart of, Africa became even more beautiful.
Here I was on the Indian Ocean just looking out to water and it reminded me of what a mama of mine once told me, that the Lord has the Ocean for me, I am so out of the pond because I need more than what I am used to or comfortable with, I need the Ocean and that is what Lindsey and Kaslima have as well, its just so exciting!!!! We ended the day celebrating!!

Now for Sunday, Yesterday, I really don’t even know where to start. The Iris Base where I live is surrounded by what is called The Village, basically it’s where everyone lives. I have not been to the village once since I have been here so yesterday was my first time. There is a man who works at Iris and he asked one of my friends if she would like to come to his house to pray for his sick son, she of course said yes and asked a couple of us to go with her. Without even hesitating I went because I knew I needed to go. Stepping into the village was like stepping into a whole other world. There are no streets or sidewalks in this “neighborhood” it is simply dirt and hills but covering the dirt and hills are “houses” which are made of rocks, sticks and mud. Because most of us here at the school are white we are like celebrities in the village. People stop and stare, point and run up to touch us, that in itself was really hard for me to grasp. As we made our way to this mans house I saw people everywhere, mamas sitting in the dirt, kids running around playing with toys made out of leaves and string, its so hard to put everything I saw into words but I am really going to try and paint this picture for you.

When we arrived at his house I noticed it was made out of rocks, sticks and mud. There were three rooms and in each of them were mattresses (if you can even call them that) that were laid on the floor full of mud and dirt. This man has four kids and a beautiful wife who were full of HUGE smiles when we walked in. The baby was so sick as I held him I could feel the pain that he was in because every breath he took was a challenge. We prayed for the baby and then headed back outside. We sat on the ground and before we knew it plates and silverware were handed out to us. This man and his family made us lunch and brought each of us a coke. Now, they don’t have anything. They didn’t even have enough money to buy enough medicine for their sick baby and they gave all of us coke’s and beans and rice. They have nothing, but they wanted to bless us. I had to hold my breath the whole time I was there to stop myself from crying, I’m shaking right now even thinking about it. One more thing that really struck me was that Felipe, that’s his name I just remembered, was one of the happiest men I have ever seen. He walks 30 minutes everyday to work in the kitchen at Iris to support his family. He doesn’t wear a fancy suit or take his car to work, he walks shoeless, in the dirt with a smile on his face, everyday, wow.

I’m not telling you all this to make you feel sorry for what you have or make you feel guilty for having shoes but for me, it really challenged me to be thankful. The people here are not sad and they do not feel sorry for themselves they are some of the happiest people I have met but I know that they are happy because they have Jesus inside of them. Of course there are people in the village who are not saved and who are angry but their eyes tell me they are hungry, not just physically hungry but hungry for something more than what is in front of them. The poverty here is unreal to me and makes me want to come home and sell everything. I kept thinking about how I have TWO beds at home, one in Naperville and one at my apartment in Chicago, TWO. I have been blessed my whole life but I haven’t been thankful my whole life. I don’t believe I should feel bad about what I have but I do believe I should be thankful and I do believe that I can give more than I have in the past. Again I am truly sharing from my heart and I hope that this story blesses you and it isn’t a story that makes you feel bad, that is not my intention at all! Oh, and before I move on to this morning, the baby we prayed for yesterday was 100% better this morning, ha!

So this morning, I just wanted to mention two things one is, I heard this morning that there are over 300,000 child soldiers in Africa today and I don’t know how but I pray that in my lifetime I can see all of them healed, ah! Then, Joshua, he is a four year old boy that is here with his parents who are doing the school got up in front of the class today to talk about what he saw on his outreach this past weekend “I saw blood dripping from a tree so I told my dad. I said Dad, do you see the blood? (his dad didn’t but he asked what it was) It’s Jesus’ blood dad, and its dripping down onto everyone’s hearts that are here!” This precious little boy saw this moments before everyone there was asked if they wanted to know Jesus, ah! How awesome is that!?

Its only Monday today, and I believe that it is going to get even better as the days go on. AH! Ok, I am super sweaty now and am running out of time, but I am just so excited and I came into town just for this!! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and keeping updated on my life. I know that I am here because I am suppose to be but to be honest I feel like I am here to get others excited about what God has for their lives as well. Please be encouraged today and listen to what God has for you, because I know that it is huge and I know that not everyone is called to Africa, but you are called and when you are in the will of God you are in the best place!!!

Love you all

Then, cradling the little ones in his arms, he said, "Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me - God who sent me"

“Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” Then, gathering the children in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.

I really can’t believe that it has already been another week. The days here go by so fast by the time it is 8pm I am ready for bed. This past week was really awesome. Everyday I am challenged but encouraged at the same time.

One of my highlights from this week happened on Tuesday. Every month Iris has a birthday party for the kids whose birthdays are during that month. All the Iris kids are invited but the kids whose birthdays are in June were celebrated. We went to this beautiful beach and celebrated each of these kids with presents and gifts it was so amazing. I feel so blessed because my color group got asked to come and we were the only ones that were able to be apart of this amazing celebration. It was beautiful and after the party our group got to spend time alone with Heidi. She is such a wonderful woman and her heart is like gold. She didn’t talk about what she does or what she plans to do, she simply asked about us and what we dream about. We were all able to tell her about our lives and how we got to Mozambique, she was encouraged by us! (For those of you who don’t know, Heidi Baker is who started Iris Ministries along side her husband Rolland, she is amazing) by the time we left the sun had set and we had to jump in a truck to get back to the base, it was such an wonderful day.

Yesterday I found myself extremely tired. I woke up and could not get out of bed. One new thing that I have done this week is each morning instead of waking up and quickly getting out of bed I have taken time to just soak. I turn on my ipod and just listen to worship music, it has really helped me start my day in a peaceful way. The first couple weeks I would be so pumped every morning to get ready real fast then go find people to be with, but I have been finding that it is so hard to just be still and quiet with God here because I am constantly surrounded by amazing people!! But I told myself yesterday morning that right after class at 1 I would head back and spend the afternoon just being still, I haven’t done that once since I have been here, ha! I was in my hammock for four hours, and it was perfect. I fell asleep for a little while but for the most part, I was able to just be still, read and pray it was wonderful and very much needed!

Today was an awesome day. We had two sessions this morning. The speaker for the first session was a lady named Patricia Bootsma, she is a pastor in Canada. She talked all about the end times. I have always had a hard time listening to speakers talk about the end times because it is a topic that I am uncomfortable with and I believe that is because I really don’t know a lot about it …because I choose not to ha. I think it makes me nervous because it makes me realize the importance of every day. Life goes by so fast and things on earth are only temporary but sometimes its hard to grasp the reality of eternity. I am really thankful for the session this morning, not because it scared me but more because it encouraged me. The choices I make now, today, will affect me later on and I know with all of my heart that we are called to love, that is what I have been learning from day one here. Life moves quick, so I constantly pray that each day I wake up I make the best out of every moment.

The second session was so amazing, Heidi’s daughter Crystalyn and her husband Brock were here and they simply just talked about their lives. I love hearing about other people’s journeys because it just encourages me to step out of the comfortable boat that I have been in for so long. They are both my age and they have already seen so much in their life so it was just fun to hear their hearts and what God is doing with them as a couple, loved it.

As for the rest of the day today, there was no hammock time, ha! I had a meeting with my group and straight after that I went to hang out with three of the boys that are at the school with their parents (all under the age of 8) I told their parents to take a break so we played some games, went to the chicken shack for a coke, played with the kids on the base then got some rice and beans for dinner! It was a great afternoon, but right when the sun went down there was a group heading out to a restaurant near by, and of course, I went. I just love everyone here and it is always so much fun to just be around such awesome people. It was a good day today.

Tomorrow my plan is to spend the morning in the baby house (my favorite place here) then head down to the beach! Yay!!

I hope that you have a wonderful day today. "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow, God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes" YA!