As they say here in Africa, "I greet you all in the name of Jesus". I hope this update finds you well and enjoying the Christmas season! I figured that since I leave for Hong Kong in about 8 hours I would give you an update of how things are going lately.
Unfortunately, like my last update things have been a little rough. However; I totally see how God is working and I have so much more peace and joy about the whole situation. About two weeks, we had an unfortunate series of events that unfolded and ended up resulting in one of my teammates quitting the DTS. It has been a struggle to cope with simply because I strongly believe that it did not have to come to that. Not only that, but I also believe that if you make a mistake, you must deal with the consequences. Whether you want to or not. Despite all of the drama that has ensued within the past two weeks, I have grown infinitely closer to some of my teammates. My dear friend Melissa has seriously been a gift from heaven. She has become a sister to me and has been so incredibly helpful in allowing me to vent, understanding my thinking and what irks me (and totally sympathizing) and being a comfort and friend that I can openly share my struggles with. My other teammate, Renette has been so awesome to have on our team. She is ridiculously funny and so insightful when it comes to the spiritual realm and such. Odd combo to put together in a sentence but it works for her! She has been amazing at helping release stress by cracking jokes and lightening the mood. I could not be more thankful for these girls!!
About two or three weeks ago, I was incredibly frustrated because over this whole lecture phase we have only brought in three speakers. It upset me that I had worked so hard to get here and was so well supported finacially to come (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU) that it bothered me that my expectations were not even close to what it was really like here. It is a wonderful base, but when I applied, I was told that every week that would be a different speaker, flown or driven in and out of the 10 weeks that I have been here, only 3 speakers have been brought in. And yet, when I was praying about it, aka yelling at God, He told me that I did not come here for the speakers, I can listen to them back home. I can go to their conferences and I can listen to their sermons and what not. But rather, I came here for the experience. I came here for the adventure and to leave my comfort zone and most importantly I came because God called me. As I was asking God why He brought me here, why He would bring me somewhere where I would be continually frustrated and upset, He told me that He brought me here for personal growth that would only happen out of radical obedience to Him, and through leaving my comfort zone and being totally dependent on Him. Which I have been. It's been cool to see how it's not the lectures or even the outreach that was the reason for God bringing me here, but rather as a test of would I listen if He called. Would I obey even if it means sacrificing my family and education for a while. And I can say with certainty that that is the reason for me coming. To build great relationships with great people, to fully put my trust in God, to leave my comfort zone and be independent and to test myself as to if I would respond to the call. And how amazing it has been to see how God is using this experience to mold and shape and develop me!
I believe that I shared with you last time, about the many prophecies I have received lately. And if you recall, one (well a couple) of them was healing hands. The first few weeks after I received this prophecy, I had huge amounts of frustration because everytime I prayed over someone, for healing, none would come. And I know that sometimes this stuff takes time but when you have the same prophecy told to you multiple times and you don't see it happening, you start to wonder, "Am I doing something wrong?" So yesterday I was praying and asking God why am I not seeing any results? His response was breathtaking! I suddenly got this overwhelming sense that my healing will not be here, but rather will be at home. It's not something that I will see cultivated in my outreach or even in my DTS because this is not where it's needed. Let me explain a little more. God showed me how my healing hands are not medically healing hands. I will not cure the sick, or raise the dead (though I don't doubt that God's awesome power could do that) but my healing hands is more metaphorical than that. My healing hands prophecy was more about the healing of hearts than of anything else. And how would I achieve that you might ask? Through sign language. I don't really know how quite yet, but I believe that God wants to use me for ministry to the deaf. God, you are so freaking cool!! I was reading a book the other day about women changing the world and after each chapter, there was a vital stats section were it gave statistics of different abuses and issues against women that are going on in the world today. One of the first stat sections was about the hearing impaired. Here are some of the alarming facts:
2. The deaf are the fourth largest people group in the world unreached by the gospel.
3. American Sign Language is the third most commonly used language in America.
4. Fewer than 8 out of every 100 deaf people ever attend church and fewer than 4 out of every 100 claim a personal relationship with Jesus!
It was incredible how God spoke to me through a book to give clarity on a prophetic word I received. AHH!! I'm just so excited about life and all that God is doing in my life right now!! God is so good.
I apologize that I cannot tell you more but because my team is leaving later today, I have to finish packing and getting ready for our excursion!
Please pray for my team, for unity and patience with each other, for safe travels and easy entry into Hong Kong. Please also continue to pray for our safety once we enter the country that all visas and documentation is correct and acceptable. But most importantly, please pray for the people of Hong Kong, that God would prepare their hearts for what we have to share and like our t-shirts say that they "Receive It!" and receive the good news.
I love you all so much and cannot wait to see you all in March!!
Q: What do you call cheese that doesn't belong to you?
A: Nacho cheese!
