Back in Canada

And I'm home. WOW! I can't believe that I am home. 7 weeks went by incredibly fast. When I was on the plane flying home, it honestly felt like I was only gone a week, not 7. It blows my mind when I start to think of all that went on in the past weeks -- it's hard to fully comprehend.

I definitly learned SO much in Africa, and it changed my life, for the better. I feel like I know God more and love Him more now, then I did when I left, which is what I wanted to be able to say. God revealed Himself to me in ways that I needed Him too, and showed me many things about who He created me to be. He ignited a passion and desire to serve Him, and as I adjust to Canadain culture again, I'm praying that I don't lose that passion and desire.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to sincerly thank each one of you for all your support for this trip. God uses each one of us to reach the lost, and I love how He puts people together on a team, to accomplish this. Thanks for your prayers, which were heard. There were many times when I knew God was working through your prayers. I feel blessed to have such a great support team behind me, I love you all so much. I pray that God would continue to use you, to help reach the world with the love of Christ. So many have not yet heard --

As I continue to process and think through all that has happened, I will post stories here. So please keep checking --

God always amazes me, and going back to Africa was no different. To witness God's greatness, faithfulness, love, mercy and grace first hand always puts me in a place where I stand in awe. And it's with this awe-ness(if thats not a word, I feel like it should be!) that I desire to live me life; to always be amazed by Him.

It's still my goal to continue living out Hebrews 12:1-2, throwing off all that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and focusing my eyes on Jesus and Jesus alone. To run the race with eyes only for Him. To keep the finsih line in sight, and run hard with no looking back.

May God bless you and use you for His glory!

leaving on a jet plane

Tomorrow is the big day of leaving Africa and I am feeling such a big array of emotions right now! It breaks my heart to leave this place. I really do love Africa and I love the people here and I am going to miss the people so much.
In just a few short hours I will be getting on the plane and flying to England. Left with time to process all that God has done in the past 6 weeks....which is so much! God has done so much and I don't even know where to begin to process what He has taught me. We have spent the last few days doing debrief with the students and helping them to start processing everything and it has been a great few days. I love the students on this team, and their love and passion for God and to serve Him, so any time that I can spend time with them is good times!
But it's really late and I do need to get some sleep so I can function tomorrow...but I will be home so soon....Wednesday afternoon to be exact, and that scares me. It's hard for me to believe that I have been gone for almost 7 weeks...time has gone by so quickly and it scares me to re-enter Canada and the culture. Canada and Africa are so completely different, and I'm not sure how will fit back in. I know that last year it was a tough transition for me, so I do ask for your prayers that as I come back to Canada, that I would stay focused on God and not forget all that He taught me. And that I would not be judgemental of the culture and the people, but just keep putting God first.
There are so many stories that I want to share, so I am looking forward to being able to process and relay those stories to you!
So, for many of you, see you in just a couple days...it will be nice to see all your smiling faces!

Hello from Zanzibar - home in one week!

Hi!!
Sorry for the delay in posting, but I'm sure that you all understand!
THings are going great here in Africa...I am now in Zanzibar, on the Adventure Cylce of the project, showing the Jesus Film with the rest of the staff team and it's been so much fun! Zanzibar is a predominantly Muslim island (97%), so I have loved being able to share the love of God with the people here. It truely is an amazing island and I praise God for the creation of His people and this landscape. It makes me stand in awe, thats for sure! We are showing the film one last time tonight and then heading back to Dar on Friday. From there we will do a few days of debrief, and then jump on the plane for Canada. So in a week today, I will be back in Canada, which is hard to believe! I can't believe that 6 weeks is gone by already and that Canada is fast approaching...it's almost kind of scary to go back home!
God has been doing great things in Africa, so be excited about what God is doing around the world. The thing that makes me the most exicted, I think, is that fact that every night this week, in 8 locations around Tanzania, the Jesus Film is being shown. Hundreds and hundreds of people are hearing the Gospel each night....Tanzania could be changed through this! Isn't that exciting?!! So be in prayer that through this film, God would change lives and change Africa!
I hope that this is able to post, because I want to let you all know that I am good, and even more so, GOD IS GOOD!
And please, leave messages....it encourages me! :)

Back in Dar Es Salaam

We arrived back in Dar safely last night (may 27) It was an uneventful plane ride, but a really really hard goodbye to say. It was really tough to leave Malawi and to say goodbye to the wonderful people there, who have touched my life and become such great friends to me. I really haven't processed much of the three weeks that just went by, and all that God did. But I do know that many lives were changed and many were added to the kingdom, which means a huge party in heaven! And that's exciting!
We had a great last day with the malawian students, where we climbed a mountain together and then had a time of training on the top of the mountain. It was a killer climb, it took a while but it was alot of fun! Zomba is beauitful and the view from the mountain clearly showed that! And I loved being able to spend the whole day with life ministries. Once we were up the mountain we had lunch and one time, I looked at everyone and it looked like a family reunion/picnic and I loved that! We all did become like family, so it was a wonderful, wonderful day, and one that I will treasure! God is going to use the students at Chanco to change Africa and the world.
We also had a great last night of team time together where we spent hours encouraging one another and telling eachother why we love eachother. It was really encouraing and great bonding time. And the guys on our team blessed the girls, by making us chocolate fondue....we were blessed and happy! So it was a great night and I even today, not being with the students, is really tough. It was like a family! So thanks God for that!
we leave tomorrow for R&R, which the students and staff alike both really need. So pray for a great time of refreshing for everyone. and then we head off, Friday morning for Jesus Film. I am going to Zanzibar with the rest of the staff team, so I am really looking forward to that. I love the Jesus Film part of being here, because it exposes so many people to the gospel. So please pray for safety, as the students head out to all different parts of Tanzania to preach the gospel to the lost. Pray that God would change lives and people would come to have a personal relationship with Him.
God is just really showing me again and again, what I am here for. To live a life that is worthy of Him, and that in all I do, it reflects His character and draws people to Him. I want to be able to see everyone in heaven...so I love sharing the Gospel and the assurance of salvation with people -- to fulfill the Great Commission. But sometimes it amazes me how bold I can be here in africa and how shy I can be at home in Canada, with family, friends -- all people that need to hear and know about Jesus. So pray that I would come home with the same boldness and passion.
Today the students have the day off, and are off wondering the city of Dar, so it should be an exhausting and fun day for them! I am spending the day with my friend Melissa and we are having a relaxing day. Just spending time at her house (she's been her for the past 8 months) and just having some good quality time together. It's a good day! I am being shocked though at the influence of North America in Africa and it makes me sad that perhaps Africa is losing it's traditional ways to follow the Western world, and really, we aren't good examples to follow in some of our ways.
Pray for my friend Tim who flys home tomorrow, because he has other staff training. God truely blessed the malawi team with great staff and we all got along so well. That is one of my highlights of the trip, just being around such influential leaders who really helped me grow. God is good!
A verse that has become our theme while in malawi -- 1 Cor. 15:58 -- read it and let it sink in and live for the Lord!

Hi Everyone! Only 3 more full days left in Malawi…I can’t believe how incredibly fast the time has gone by. I don’t feel like it should be time to get back on the plane and head back to Tanzania. I am really feeling sad about leaving. Last year when I left, I knew that there was a chance that I could come back and see my friends again, but this year, there isn’t a good chance that I will come back for a while, so it makes me really sad to leave, because I really really care for these people and I have loved spending time with them. So please pray for that, that I won’t be over emotional when I leave. Ah, I am really going to miss my friends! It has been a fabulous three weeks, hanging out with them and doing ministry alongside them.
We taught some of our African friends line dancing for our cultural night outreach on Friday – they are surprisingly good at line dancing. We are telling them that they are practically Canadian! It should be a great night and a great last night together with them!
We fly out of Malawi on Sunday afternoon, heading back to Dar. Then we have one day in Dar before leaving for R&R, where we will be going on Safari, which also really excites me! I love God’s creation of animals…like giraffes! My favorite animal of all time! It will be a good time of refreshing before we head off for Jesus Film. There is a chance that I will be going to Zanzibar for Jesus Film, which will be really awesome! Zanzibar is a highly Muslim country, so it will tough soil, but much needed to share the gospel. So please also be in prayer as we, the staff, choose the teams for the students to go on, and pray for the safety of the students as they travel to different towns in Tanzania! This is an exciting adventure for the students.
The team this year is great! We all get along so well together and we have a great time together, no matter what we are doing! Whether it’s killing bugs or singing, there is always laughter and lots of it! And the rest of the staff that I am working with are great! Tim, Jill, Peter and Melissa – they are fabulous! We work really well together as a team, and are able to lead together and be unified! I am so thankful for each of them, for they have stretched me and have made this trip great!
We had an all night prayer last night and it was so good to keep our focus. We all prayed for 45 min during the night and it was good for me to get up in the middle of the night and sacrifice my sleep. And it was so refreshing to spend time with God and get my focus.
God is teaching me so much this year and I am so thankful and glad that I am here in Africa. There is no where else that I would rather be! I am also gaining a deep love for the Word and really desire to read and understand it more and more, which is a good thing!
So I am not sure when I will be able to update next, because I am not sure when I will have access to a computer. So there might be a dry spell of updates, but keep checking! Continue to be in prayer and know that God is moving in evident and HUGE ways in Malawi – on Saturday night at another outreach, Chanco’s party boy gave his life to the Lord --- GOD IS MOVING!

I love Africa!

Hey Everyone!
Just a quick update for ya'll, because the computers here are a little wonky! But I just wanted to let you all know that things are great! I am having a great time and God is really changing me and molding me and refining me, which has been hard at times but a blessing too! I am thankful!
Yesterday we held two outreaches...the boys did a soccer outreach and the girls did a ladies outreach talking about purity...both physical and emotional purity and it was fabulous. we had around 100 girls come out, which is great, it's such an important topic and one that is avoided alot here in africa, so it was great to be honest with the African students about our own struggles with purity, and get them to open up about their struggles. God really used that night and it made me so proud of the girls on my time. They really put their heart into this outreach and God rewarded them for that! It was a great time! When I have more time I will update on it more, because there is so much to say about it!
I have really really loved having Laura on my team...being able to spend time with her in ministry has been such a blessing. She is a great woman of God, and it has been great to see God use her in great ways here in malawi...so for all of those NOrwoodians reading this, we are both doing great and are in great health and having a great time!
We leave Malawi on Sunday, only one more week to go, which is crazy! The time has flown by! but it has been fabulous. Everytime I see my friends that I met last year, and huge smile appears on my face...I really love these people and it's going to be really hard to leave them this year, because I really don't know when I will be back again! But they are graet!
Please continue to pray for us, that in this last week, we would keep focused and get our strength from the Lord because we can not do this on our own. Thats for sure! but God is truly using this team of Canadians to help reach Africa and to help Africans reach Africa to reach the world! I love Him! :)
I hope that things are going great with everyone, wherever God has you! Know that I miss you all so much and not being able to communicate effectively has been really really tough for me this year. I really do wish that I could talk to you and email you more often, so know that you are all thought of often and missed all the time!
This week our focus is on building disicpleship groups which is a tough job here at Chanco, so please be in prayer that God would orchestrate that perfectly! This week, the interns are taking charge and have been given full leadership for mon-wed which both scares me and excites me! I have alot of responsibilty, but am looking forward to the challenge of stepping up in leadership. this entire trip has really stretched me and taught me so much about leadership, which has been amazing!
I really wish that I could email you all individually, because I have so much to say to you all...but that might have to wait til I return to Canada!
As always, I feel overwhelmed by what I want to tell you and relay to you, but I guess just trust me that thigns are going great and that God is at work in malawi!
Brooke the girl on the team who was sick is doing much better, thanks for praying! She got some meds and took a fun trip the hospital, but is now back on cmapus with us! Praise the Lord!
Ok, enough rambling, time to head back to our lodge and get some good rest on the great Sabbath day!
Much love to you all....MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Mwuli Bwangi!
Things are great here in Malawi and it’s been a wonderful week since last updating you! God is so great and faithful to His children and has proven that over and over to our team! God has provided us with a great place to live, health of the team (we had our first sickness this week, but nothing serious, but be praying for Brooke, and also, on the other teams, there are several sick people, so pray for their health!) God is moving on campus and really changing lives. This week,our focus is build.We are wanting to build into leaders on this campus and disciple them and build into them. So we are praying that for each student here, they will find one leader to build into. So be in prayer for that! And we are having a great time sharing the Spirit Filled Life with the students. We really wanted to emphasize helping Christian grow in their walk, so we wanted to share the Holy Spirit with a lot of Christians, and we have, and God has been moving, so it’s been great!
Can I just say, that when I get a chance to write an update, I feel that my mind goes blank! And then I know that once I get off the computer, I will remember several things that I wanted to write to all of you! But, just know, that we are all doing great and that God is using each student here for His purpose and it’s been such a stretching time.
And to see the passion of some of the students that I met last year has been wonderful. Several of them want to join staff or do an intern with Life Ministries, which is really exciting!
Ah, I really do miss you all back home and really do wish that each of you could be here with me! This is more of a shorter update, but others still need to use the computer. Continue to be in prayer that as we end our time here in Malawi, we would continue to minister in God’s strength and be filled with His spirit, that through us, He would call students to Him! I really want to be His hands and feet, so please pray for that!
I want to come home, once again changed, and I know that God is already changing me. My verse for this trip, was Hebrews 12: 1-2. :Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us through off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,the author and perfector of our faith who for the joy set before him enduring the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
It’s my desire that I would throw off all that hinders me and completely focus on the Lord.I desire to live for Him and lately there have been things in my life that changed that I didn’t like, but I know that God is in control, and what sweet peace that brings!
Blessings and love to all!