So, yes, I am finally blogging after over a month of being home. It’s taken me a while to get to the point of being able to describe in words my 10 Day outreach. So, to you, whoever reading.. here goes nothin’.

This my amazing and beautiful team!! (from left to right) Mandy, me, Juan, and Hannah. God had so many plans for our trip, starting with teaching us patience. We got delayed in leaving by a day and a half.. So we watched movies and had snacks on the empty base instead.. really the hard life we lived in Africa. Finally, we set off on the back of a flat bed truck, and four hours or so later arrived in Macomia, Mozambiqe!

The ride there couldn’t have been more perfect.. We hung on for dear life and took in Gods’ perfect creation.

We had so much fun just hanging out with the kids; playing games with them, eating mangoes together, trying to communicate with them, and giving them love. We taught them how to play duck-duck-goose.. but in their language ended up being translated into duck-duck-chicken i think.. something like that. We came to Macomia with servant hearts, and no big plans but to be helpers and learners.. We got to do so much more than we had ever dreamed of doing!!

While we were there, we got the incredible privilege of participating in baptizing 22 brothers and sisters in Christ!! They preciously lined up one by one and sang a beautiful song of Jesus’ goodness. We sang throughout the entire baptism, all the way through prayer, and all the way back up the hill to our dance party that we had in celebration of the amazing thing that had just happened.. I’ve never seen such joy over receiving New Life.. I learned a lot on the simplicity of true joy that day.

This is their little church, where we came back to after baptisms and had a dance party while we worshiped God. :)

So, that’s the very very summarized version of my trip. Words can’t even begin to describe the lessons we learned and the experiences we had while we were there.. But if I had to say one thing I learned most on that trip, it’s that life truly does not revolve around me.I am SO thankful to be blessed beyond measure with the life that I have, but outside of little me, people are fighting for life. I learned so much about being truly grateful for what I have, and the amazing things I get to do with my life. I also learned so much about loving others before myself.. it’s much easier said than done.. Especially when all you’ve eaten in days is rice, beans, and tuna spaghetti.. But with Jesus’ help, I saw a bit of the world through His eyes, and began to believe that with God, I really could be the change I wanted to see in the world..

“So, what next,” you ask? Well, that is currently undecided.. But as of now I’m taking every day at a time, and seeking His wonderful face for guidance.. Until the day comes when He does show me, I will learn patience, and continue to change the world..one person at a time. :)

Until next time, my friends.. <3

Hello world!!

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written, It’s been a  busy last few weeks.  There’s so much to say, but so much has happened it’s impossible to explain with words what all has been going on!!

Thanksgiving was absolutely incredible, and the Lord blessed me in so many ways. I woke up that morning and made French toast with my friends, and then we spent the day cleaning and cutting about 25 large bags of potatoes for mashed potatoes.  Then everyone got dressed up for the dinner and hung out and took pictures!! It was so amazing just hanging out with incredible people and watching all of the Mozambique people light up to the sight of such massive amounts of good food. When your daily meal is rice and beans and occasional fish with mangos, you get really excited at Corn, ham, turkey, hot dogs filled with cheese, mashed potatoes with bacon, bread, and pretty much any pie you can possibly imagine.  Needless to say, we were all beyond blessed; I don’t think I’ve ever been so appreciative of food. 

Fast forward to Saturday night now, all the people from the southern part of North America decided to have a party and get together and pray together.  Basically meaning, feast number two. (Southern people know how to eat.) We had chicken, fries, dumplings, okra and tomatoes, no bake cookies, refrescos (soft drinks), cheese cake, chocolate cake with coffee icing, mashed potatoes, corn bread, biscuits, banana pudding, and spaghetti!!! The food was actually better than Thanksgiving, I’d say.  It was seriously incredible.  Anyways, we all got together and had worship and met with the guy who sponsored Thanksgiving Dinner ( he’s from Texas ) and we all prayed for the Bible Belt and prophesied into the people and land. It was really cool to get together and pray for our region all the way in another continent! It was an incredible night. :)

Ever since then life has just sped on by!!  I don’t think I will realize how much I have until I get home when I have a constant flow of toilet paper and water and an oven that doesn’t have to be lit every time you want to cook something.  But my life is still continually being changed. God isn’t finished with me, and even still He’s speaking into my life and filling me with his everlasting love. Now we’re in the last week of school with two days of class left! Graduation is on Thursday, and from what I hear it’s going to be an incredible day filled with the Holy Spirit. : ) I then have a couple of days to rest and say goodbye to everyone until Saturday/Sunday when I leave for Outreach.  I’m going to be dropped off with two of my closest friends, Hannah and Juan, in a village with a pastor and live in the village for ten days. There will be no translator, just us living and learning from the people! We’ll learn the language, just how the people of this area in Mozambique live their lives. It’s going to be an amazing trip, and God is going to strip me of every bit of flesh I have.  So I accept every prayer you send up!! I won’t be in contact after that until I finally get back to America on the 22^nd, so I love you all so much, and can’t wait to at least be in calling distance of you!! I’ll get mom to post a facebook status on my page once she talks to me after outreach so everyone can know that I’m back safe.  I love you all soooo much, and thank you for keeping me in your prayers on this incredible adventure.

Hope to see you all soon,

Christina.<3

Hello World!!

It’s a beautiful Friday afternoon; the ocean breeze is perfectly blowing through my hair, it’s just great!! The beginning of this week was pretty rough, from Sunday til Tuesday I was quite sick with things no one wants to read on a blog.  I didn’t fully gain back my strength until yesterday!! But throughout the entire week, God was just putting rest in me and giving me the ability to just rest with Him and let Him be with me. No speaking, no trying to figure out what is next or think about all the fun things I was missing out on, but just being.  And in my utter weakness, somehow, I was filled with peace. I felt like crap but I was able to say that God is good and I was okay with my situation.  As I laid in my bed I was reminded of a teaching which I once heard about being content in every situation. It’s such a simple concept, but most definitely harder than it looks. Philippians 4:12 says, “ I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”  I really feel that is my that is my theme for my time here.  I’m just learning to be content in any and every situation.  I’m not looking at yesterday or tomorrow, I’m not looking at what I don’t have or what I do have. I’m just being with God, residing in His love and being in relationship with Him.  I’m learning to keep my eyes on Him and not my current, past OR future situation. 

So yeah!! The time is flying by here, but yet so slow at the same time.  I’m so ready to be home but I never want to leave all the same!! It’s an oxymoron for sure, but it makes sense in my head.  I’m enjoying every moment so much though, and I can’t wait to see what God has for me in this next month before I head home. 

There’s not much of an update this week, it’s just life here now! We live as if we were going to be here forever. We’ve found our favorite stores to buy from, our favorite tree to climb, the best resteraunts and beaches, etc. I’m fully settled in here, and God is doing so much in my heart. Thanksgiving is next week and there’s a guy from Texas that runs an oil company here in Pemba, and he’s giving the entire base a Thanksgiving dinner! It’s going to be a complete feast. For all of you who know how much I love celebrating, I’m sure you can imagine me running around with a giant smile on my face. That’s basically how it’s been. : )

I hope you all have a marvellous next week, especially for those who are on break for school.  Don’t forget to eat some good food for me on Thursday, and just let God fully invade your hearts this week with his love. 

So grateful in this season of Thanksgiving,

Christina. <3

Hello everyone! Today marks three weeks of being in Pemba!! It’s been such an amazing experience so far. Everyone is fully settled in, and we’re all finding our ways to make this land our home. It’s strange that we still have 7 weeks left!! It feels like we’ve been here for months. Days feel like weeks here. All the while, God is doing a miraculous work in my heart.

I’ve been learning so much about just trusting God, and having true faith of a child.  I’m realizing that I complicate everything so much and just need to learn to be simply reduced to love.  When you’re walking in what God is calling you to do there’s no doubt that he will provide for every need you have.  We’re all just getting completely wrecked by the Fathers gracious and compassionate love.  It’s a crazy ride, but I couldn’t be more excited.

On a less serious note, this past week was filled with adventure!!  Just this morning a group of us went out on a “Dolphin Safari.” We went out in a boat and we actually saw dolphins and jumped in the water with them! We kind of scared them off though. After that though, we were taken to a private beach and got to spend a few hours snorkeling over a reef and just hanging out in the indescribably aqua blue water. It was something I’ll never forget. : )

So yeah!! Life is amazing over here in Mozambique.  I’m cherishing every possible moment, just knowing that it will fly by. I don’t want to miss out on anything the Lord has for me! The people are teaching me so much about joy and freedom. They have so much freedom in their worship, and they’re so welcoming with their warm smiles. It’s contagious!

I hope everything is going well for all of you, and I pray that the Lord will completely explode your lives with his pure love and joy. Until next time,

<3 Christina.

Hello, Hello!

It’s been about a week since I’ve gotten a chance to update!! But I’m really enjoying the time away from technology.  It really limits distraction and keeps me at a minimal home-sickness.

It’s a beautiful day in Mozambique!! Our second week of class is over, I can’t believe it! The first week drug by, but this past week flew by!! Monday through Thursday we have class, and Friday’s are practical missions, which I start tomorrow. I’m working with Mercy Ministry which is an organization to help women of surrounding villages do work to help support themselves. We’re doing jewelry making with the mama’s, which is anywhere from younger women, to widows. I’m so excited! Needless to say, I’ll be coming home with amazing jewelry.

This week was a bit more challenging than the last. We’re getting into our schedules, so culture shock has really started to set in. I finally realized that I was tired and crashed at the beginning of this week. But now everyone is slowing down to the pace they can handle, and we’re all really begining to adjust.  I’m making very amazing and special friends, and I can’t wait to see how much we all grow together through these next two months. There are 160 single girls and 38 single guys in our school, so for the guys it’s a little bit more overwhelming than it is for us girls. That’s a lot of estrogen on the compound.

I do consider this my home though for the time being. My house has a communal fund where we buy groceries together with the money we’ve put in for the week. We have family night with our home, and we eat, talk and have so much fun! We worship all the time, which is amazing. It will never get old. We’re learning so many cool songs from the Mozambiquans. They sure love to dance. We sweated every bit of water out of our bodies last night dancing for hours with the bible students before service last night. It was incredible!!

As for me, I’m being completely emptied out. God is just taking me and dumping me out, so he can refill me with a newness I’ve never known. He’s purifying my heart and all my motives. The Staff at Iris are so pure hearted, and want so much to just love that it is spreading to everyone in the most contagious way. I expect to come home changed — definitely for the best.

I’m growing in patience and I’m even really learning how to be peaceful in such a confusing and scattered world. We’re all having to learn how to listen for God’s still voice in the loudness of all the business, and it’s quite the learning experience! Yet there’s so much grace here, so I’m very excited to have the opportunity to grow in a place where there is no judgement whatsoever. Just love. Simply loving between people.

Heidi has a phrase that has caught most of our hearts. “Go low, and go slow.” In everything of life, it’s the only way to go. If you want to be kindgom minded, just go lower and go slower. It’s something to chew on for all you folks!

My mind is so scattered, but I hope to post again this weekend with pictures from the past two weeks. I love you all and hope you are enjoying fall weather. Spring is coming to an end here and the heat is growing stronger with less of a ocean breeze. Keep me in your prayers!

Until next time, <3 christina.

Hello family!! I’m going to make it quick today, as I am pretty tired and ready to get back home after shopping in the market and have the boys hastle me to buy their fruit. Haha. :)

This first week has been utterly amazing. I’m getting acclimated with my house family, friends, the land, the heat, and everything. Tuesday was a National Holiday for Mozambique— A Day of Peace. Such a great thing to celebrate! My house went to the beach, and a resteraunt at a hotel and had american food… Pizza! my first eat besides rice and beans (and snacks that i brought of course). We had an amazing day. Everyone bonded and worshiped and hung out with the mozambiquans.

Yesterday was probably my favorite day so far. We have color groups, and in our gropus we have harvest school students and mozambique bible students. so we had a bonding day yesterday after class. We got in our groups and played games and danced to silly music like Justin Bieber, Glee - don’t stop believing, Jason Mraz, just upbeat music! Then we all worshiped together, they’re so full of joy, and they can dance for so long! Us white people were all dying after 20 minutes and they just kept going! Then the very special special part of the day.. They prepared a chicken dinner for both schools. Everyone was SO grateful! We got fried rice, cabbage, a small chicken breast and a soda. Everyone was estatic!! We all bonded and sung and danced to songs they taught us. Everyone had huge smiles on their faces as we bonded together and worshiped Jesus.

My time here is going to be so great, and I know I’m not going to want to leave. I’ll post more soon, love you all!

Christina.

Hello Everyone!! I’m safe and sound in Africa.. It’s beautiful here!! So much joy is here. The children are so loving, always wanting to hug you and play with your hair, cameras, any thing shiny, etcetera.

It’s been a journey!! God has been doing such a work already, and I’ve only been here since Saturday! I’m going to get my work out most definitely, everyone here lovess to dance!! They’re practically all naturally talented. Last night some of the kids put on a show for a group of us and danced and sang Beat It by Michael Jackson!! Soo funny! My life is being radically changed, and it’s only been a short time. The students are amazing, the locals are amazing, the weather is HOT! Thankfully there is an ocean breeze. :)

Everyone is still settling in. I’m still trying to unpack my suitcase in a room with 6 girls! My house has 12 not including my house mom. It’s an incredible thing seeing so many different countries represented. I think there are 38 different languages represented throughout our school! From North America all the way to Asia. It’s an amazing thing. I’m soooo blessed to be here, and I can’t wait to see what He has planned.

Keep me in your prayers, as I will be keeping you all in mine!! Much love my family,

Christina <3

It’s crazy to see how far I’ve come.. Two years ago, I made this image for a computer graphics class. I had no thought that I would ever have a strong heart to go to the nations; to see the unseen. Yet now here I am packing my way to Africa!! That picture of the little boy was a picture I used off of Iris Ministries Website. Jesus is just too funny.

I was reading a new devotional I recently got, and I felt led to share it. It really encouraged me in my busy,crazy stressed out state of life that I’m currently in.

It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. Hebrews 11:6

” I am not impossible to please. In fact, I provide to you exactly what I require from you: faith. I have given you the faith to believe that I am real, and I am a rewarder. I am not merely an impersonal cosmic force but a personal, loving, gracious God to those who seek me.

I gave you the desire to go after me, and then I rewarded your pursuit of me. And what is the reward I have given to you? I have given grace and forgiveness. I have rewarded you with the righteousness of Christ in place of your failed attempts at being right with me.  But the most prized reward I have given is myself — in closer relationship and clearer understanding.  I have rewarded your seeking by allowing myself to be found. ”

So here I am, the day before I leave, and I have only begun to receive my reward. God loves to reward and bless His children, all we have to do is accept Him and let Him love us! I head off tomorrow and start my journey to Pemba. I’ll post as soon as i can. Goodbye for now, my friends. :)

Dear goodness, I need to hug all of these children.

I cannot WAIT to be in Africa. 3 Days and counting.