Anxiety & Peace

I’ve been struggling lately with fear of Africa itself. You always hear bad things about Africa and of course it gets me worried. However, I’ve been trying to step back and think of Malawi as an individualized country, rather than stereotype it within the “Africa mold”. I’ve talked to God about it…a lot. This uneasiness brought me to Psalm 121; “I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you – the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, not the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” In other translations, I’m assured that Jesus will guard me, he is my protector, and he is always ready, he will keep me safe.

                                         & from here, I have peace.

I

Here I am

In reading these past few days, I stumbled upon a verse that inspired me… 

   “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said. ‘Here I am. Send me!’”     

  This passage from Isaiah shows such passion, Isaiah jumps up, and is excited to embrace the mission God has given him. I feel so blessed to be presented with this opportunity to glorify God and teach others all about Jesus!          

  Here I am, I am overcome by the grace of God cleansing me, I am thrilled to commit myself to a time of ministry. 

So this is Africa..

My days in Malawi will vary quite a bit; some days will be spent at orphanages, while on others I’ll be spending time with widows. Day to day, we will go out and build things, help at medical clinics and assist teachers at local schools. A huge focus of our trip will be on kids and building relationships with them. This is probably what I am most excited about – I love seeing a child’s passion and positivity for the world. I’ve included some pictures from last year’s trip to give you a taste of what is to come.

Greetings World

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog! As many of you know, I’m living in Phoenix and attending Grand Canyon University. These days, in addition to my studies, I’m leading YoungLife and spending time volunteering with families at New Life Pregnancy Center – working with kids and mothers through parenting classes, bible studies, and counseling sessions. Back in August, I heard of an opportunity to help families, kids and widows over 10,000 miles away! I could not be more excited! For two weeks, I will be participating in daily outreach with the hopes of showing Jesus’ love and building relationships within the community of Malawi, Africa. I will be spending my time with an organization called African Bible College through the program Project Take Love. During this short -term missions trip, my group of about 40 GCU students will be staying in guest huts on the college campus. Our work will include medical outreach, orphan care, carpentry,  farming, teaching in schools, ministering to widows and community development. The best part is I’ll be given daily opportunities to hang out with precious African children! These kids live a much tougher life than we are accustomed to and even simple things such as love and affection are unusual. I am excited about all the positive things our project will do for them and just as excited about what this experience will do for us. I have even heard rumors of last years trip eating goat meat soup – while I’m not too sure I’m excited about that, I am looking forward to learning about their cultures and customs.

I can’t describe how happy I am to be a part of this ministry and would like to invite all of my readers to join my team:

 I would like to ask you to pray – pray for me, pray for my team, pray for the people of Malawi, and pray for our opportunities to share Christ with them.

I would like to ask you for financial support. The total cost of this trip is $3200 and as a full-time student I won’t be able to reach the April deadline by myself.

I am immensely thankful for your visit to my site and can’t wait to share this process with you!