“Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name…he says: ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’..I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out’, to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear’…they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up.” Isaiah 49:1 and 6 8-11
The gift of going to Pemba, Mozambique has been given to me.
The scripture up top was one that God specifically told me to read the day that I found out that I wasn’t going to be staffing the school in Pemba (1 ½ months ago) and the day after I found out I actually am going to Pemba (this week). Both times it served as an amazing reminder of who He is calling me to be: “A light to the nations!!” …He knows my name, and He wants to use me to call prisoners out of their bondage or those in the dark into the light. Wow what an amazing reminder; He is so faithful!! It’s amazing how the context of the readings change a bit with both times He put the scripture on my heart ; the first time was to comfort and remind me of my calling, the second as I kind of “I told you so” and that He always fulfills His promises !
It seems that our lives as lovers of Jesus can many times just be a series of scenarios in which God reminds us of things we are supposed to already know or that He has proved to us on repeated occasions! This has been an awesome season of reminders for me. And now I am reminding myself of His faithfulness to get me to Pemba! Ha! I know He can do it, and I have direct proof in that He did it for me last year. This time will be a bit harder time-wise, since I leave in less than a month! Yay! I’m looking at the amount of time compared to the amount of things I need to do, and it is going to be miraculous, for sure, but God is really good at those. J Im totally excited to be in one of these places; I love it when I know I can’t do things on my own and I have to be completely reliant on God. These are some of the best times I’ve had in life.
-So, what do I need to do? I need to get a plane ticket first ( I need to buy it ASAP, so that I can do everything esle! :)
-Applying for a Visa, filling out the letter of invitation (which is time sensitive - please PRAY for no hitches!!) , getting shots, packing/moving my things a bit, and preparing for the Jewelry making classes as well as finding /making gifts for my friends there!
-I am also trying to learn as much Portuguese as I can!!!
-I also am planning an outreach to the Tusculum area here in Nashville which will be the last Saturday of April (I’m soo excited about it!!!) with the Nepalese and Burmese people in that area. This will take a little bit of work, but mostly it will just be a great time. (Everyone is invited!!! Let me know if you’re interested in being a part – its April 30th and we will be having a potluck, playing games with kids, and playing live music. It’s basically just a hang out time with the people there! It’s going to be wonderful).
I’m excited to see God carry me through, and I’ll love sharing the stories to you all afterwards of how He continues to be faithful always always always!
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A little bit about what I’ll be doing!!!:
-I will be in Pemba, Mozambique for 3 months (Ill be leaving from a trip with my father and sisters that runs from May 8th – 28th)! I will be working with a woman named Nathalia who is from Colombia and is starting a class for widows on Micro-business Jewelry making as a discipleship program! Many of the widows there have children and a lack of work options. Teaching them a trade is an amazing way for them to start a small business and support themselves.
-I spoke with Nathalia through Skype video chat, and she is so amazing, has such a beautiful heart, and I’m so excited to work with her!! She was telling me that she is bringing different jewelry making supplies and beads from Argentina (Wow , what a cool connection for me! My mom lives in Argentina and I have wanted to study jewelry making there in the past!). Looks like she has a lot of experience with business and she and Heidi Baker are coming up with an idea to really help widows support themselves there. (I can’t believe how amazing this opportunity is for me! Thank you, Jesus!!)The name of the business is "Iris Arts", and all of the items will be made by the widows, and we will eventually be selling them online! I am going to be doing a lot of creative work and helping to come up with designs looks like. :) WOOO!!! This is what I'm made to do!!!!
-We will also be discipling and making friends with the widows. I looks like there are at least 200 ladies taht are wanting to be involved; so we will probably having classes daily. I'm going to try and stuff my bags with jewelry-making supplies!
The women there are some of my favorite people that I met while living there. If you have read any of my other posts, you’ll know that my best friends were the ladies that worked in the kitchen there on the base; they were teaching me the local dialect, and we would joke around and have a wonderful time together. A few of them are widows, and I’m hoping they will be in the class with me!!!
An amazing thing to look back on now is to remember how my friend, Lurdish, told me that she would be praying that I come back there as a Missionary!! Ha! At the time, I thought, “I will definitely come back, but it will probably be only for visits or to staff the Harvest Mission school.” Being a Missionary on that base is a little bit difficult, because there aren’t usually many openings, and it’s very popular as that is where the Harvest Schools are, and where Heidi and Rolland live. Also, I just had no idea what I’d be doing in the future, though I knew/know that I have a heart for Asia. But I so love Mozambique, and the people that I met there, and this is one of the most exciting opportunities of my life! I love that God and Lurdish had bigger plans for me than I could see. J And I can’t wait to go back and be with my friends like they so wanted me to do!!!!
I can’t tell you how much it means to me that there are people that want to know about these things that are so close to my heart, and to even be partnering with me Spiritually to bless the people that I care so much about overseas. I am so thankful for you, and I don’t really know how best to express that, but I very much hope you believe me!
I can only hope that my story is inspiring to you and reminds you of God’s faithfulness and of the fact that we should believe God when He says the we are important to Him and that He has called us even before we were born, and knows our name, and has very big plans to use our little lives. I can’t express to you how valuable we are in His eyes. I hope that it helps you as God is helping me SEE the people around me. This is my constant prayer: that He will open the eyes of our hearts and show us the way He sees His children (including the adult ones!).
I love the way that He has given me more roots here in this country over the last 6 months and opened my eyes more (though there is still a lot more opening to be done) to the needs of the body and the poor here. I thank you to those amazing friends that I have made at Grace Center and in California and Cincinnati and Philly and Charlotte and wherever else I have found amazing brothers and sisters in Christ; you have encouraged me greatly, and taught me a great deal about how to love my own culture. I take you with me on my little trips outta this country and look forward to partnering with you more in the future to rock our country as well.
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