What if..?

I can only imagine what my mom thought about me when I was in her womb. Did she ever wonder what I was going to be like? I know that I was called baby Al because they didn’t want to find the sex out. Did she ever dream about me being a teacher or a nurse? Did she believe that I was going to do something else with my life? I ponder these kinds of questions, as we get ready for our trip. Did my mom ever believe that I was going to be a missionary one-day? I am sure that she knew that I was going to change the world one day, but did she believe that I would do it in that way? There are days that I still don’t believe that I am going to be a missionary. I still contemplate if that is what God is calling me to do.

            I have definitely had my doubts of if I am doing the right thing or not. But I believe that I am doing the things that God has called me to do. I am at a school where my professors really care about me and we have one of the best Intercultural Studies programs. I couldn’t ask for any better professors than Mike and Rob to teach me about missions. They have served on the mission field and they now want the best for our lives. I know that when I graduated high school that I did not listen to God and what He had planned for my life. I definitely had my own plan and it didn’t matter what God wanted. My grandpa had just passed away and all I wanted was to be with my family. Family has always been something that has been important to me and it always will be. God has really been working on me lately about how it is okay to leave our families. Since I went to Urbana over Christmas break last year, He has been working on me to leave my family. It has been getting easier as time goes on. I believe that God called me to camp over the summer so that it could help prepare me for the missionary life. As I was just talking with my parents, I was reminded that there are going to be important things in my life that I may just have to miss. Its not because I don’t love the person, but it is because I just can’t always leave the mission field.

            As, I just said that I felt that camp has prepared me for the missionary life, I believe that to be very true. I have been praying about an internship that I was offered next summer and I feel that God is calling me to it. As it has been said in chapel the last couple weeks, “You can run, but you can’t hide!” I really don’t want to run this time. I knew a little about the internship before I came back to school, but I knew that I was going to hear more about it when I came home for family camp. My thinking before I got to school was that I would be staying in the states and traveling around to raise support for the ministry. I thought that this was going to be great because I will have to do that in the future… Well, I was wrong about that thinking!! When I talked to Mark and Helen, they quickly told me that I would be staying in Zimbabwe for the summer! As I was shocked about this, I am not sure who was more protective… My mom or my brother! He definitely had about the same reaction as my mom. Adam has always been protective of me and can't thank him enough for that!  I am so excited to be taking this journey and I can’t wait to see where God takes me with it. I would never have guessed in a million years that I would be going to Africa… Let alone twice in one year. As my mom has reminded me many times, I have always said Africa, but I never knew why..  As I told Mike about going to Zimbabwe for the internship he said, “Well you have some Africa in your blood!” I think that he is right about that and it may be that I go back after my trips. I am not going to say that I won’t ever go back because I have learned to not say you won’t do something.

            So, I kind of left you on a cliffhanger about my internship. I can give you a little more about it. We have not worked out full details, but I know a little bit. I will be working alongside of Simba, Taka, and Hermann at Hunnington Retreat Center.  This is the camp that Hanging Rock Christian Camp is sponsoring the next 3 years. I am so pleased to be a part of the ministry in Zimbabwe. If you want to learn more about the camp, you can check out the website. It is www.zimoutreach.org . God has been preparing my heart for a while and I just didn’t know it.

Blessings to all!

Ally 

Shoes for Africa!!

I am starting to go through the packing list of things that I can have ready to take to Africa.  We have to have shots, lots of hand sanitizer, dresses, pants, bug spray, etc.  I mentioned to Ally that we needed to get our shoes early so that we can break them in before going.  I certainly don’t want to get blisters over there! 

I have never been a shoe hound!  Maybe it is the fact that most stores look at you funny when you ask for a size 11 WIDE!  My favorite response is when they tell me they don’t carry them in the store but you can purchase them online.  Grrrr, that really makes me angry!  Anyway, we shopped for shoes yesterday and actually had some luck.  Ally purchased a new pair of Asics and I walked out with a sturdy hiking shoe made by Merrell.  I have never owned a hiking shoe so I am in hopes that they will be comfortable and no blisters appear.

The purchase got me to thinking about the orphans.  Who buys their shoes?  Who do they turn to when their shoes break and they have nothing on their tired and dirty feet?  We have had many people ask us what are some things that they could donate and we take to the orphans.  Our team leader told us they are always in need of flip-flops.  So, my sister, Tammy, has been on the hunt for end of summer clearance on flip-flops.  She found a great deal at one store and when she told the clerk what they were for-the clerk gave her money towards the purchase!  Those $1 flip-flops will mean so much to the orphans.  I can’t wait to put a pair of shoes on a child!  What pleasure that will bring to the both of us! 

We take so much for granted!  Some people have enough shoes to fill a couple of totes and yet the orphans are lucky to have one pair.  We get up in the mornings and think which pair should I wear today and the orphans are lucky if they have anything on their feet. 

I challenge you to think about the less fortunate after reading this.  What can you do to help someone out?  Maybe you know someone that is in need of something that you have extra of.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and were thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “

Blessings to all of you!

Excitement Starts to Build!

When we first committed to the journey to Africa I was the only one that needed to get a passport.  Ally and Ashley have both traveled out of the country but this will be my first time! 

I thought getting a passport was a rather easy process.  You know, produce the materials needed and you get a passport.  My first problem was my birth certificate was not an original one so I had to trek over to Danville to get another birth certificate. 

I arrived in Danville but at the wrong building and carrying my cell phone, which is a huge no-no in the courthouse.   I finally found the correct building and was able to get the birth certificate.  So, I am now the proud owner of a passport and I can officially leave the country!

It doesn’t seem real that in just 58 days I will be in Africa serving others.  God started preparing my heart months ago for this trip.  One day this summer, I was riding on the lawn mower and listening to my music.  A song by Josh Wilson came on, “Do You Want to Know.”  I have heard that song a hundred times but I really listened to it this summer.  Here is just part of the song…

         “If you want a heart of sympathy then pray to God to help you, please, see the world that Jesus sees.  But be careful what you ask Him for cause if you’re gonna open up that door there’s no going back to before.  Cause once you see a mother who can’t feed the baby that cries in her arms-your heart will break and you’ll lay awake.  No, sleep won’t come quick anymore.  So, do you want to know?”

Wow, that is exactly what is going to happen to me in Africa.  I am going to see things that will shock me, faces that will haunt me at night, and eyes that will tug at my heart forever!  There might be nights that I won’t be able to sleep but that is okay!  I am ready for the challenge that God has put before me! 

58 days seems like a lifetime right now but I am sure it will be here fast!  Today, Ally and I hit Wal-Mart looking for cheap dresses to take with us.  We also hit the mall looking for shoes and other good deals.  Next week, Scott and I will be heading to church with Ally at Mt. Pulaski to support the Mott/Wakeman team bake sale and help the rest of the team get funded for the trip. 

Blessings to all of you!

Here is the link to the rest of the lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/joshwilson/doyouwanttoknow.html 

The Summer is Closing Down...

           As I am going to move my stuff in today, I can only reflect on my summer and how it was. At the last Bible study with all the summer staff, Rob said, “Before you answer about how your summer was, really think about how your summer was.” That statement has really stood out to me and still stands out to me. I can honestly say that I have had a really good summer and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. There was a reason why when I was sitting at Urbana in Bible study that I thought about working at camp. There was a reason why Gary wanted to hire me and there was a reason why I took the job. I can now see that camp was a small stepping-stone in my life. I had the opportunity to meet new people and I was able to work with a missionary from Zimbabwe. I was able to learn about their culture and about different things that their ministry is doing. I was even told about different ministry opportunities that I could possibly have.

            I feel that working at camp this summer was a way to prepare me for Africa. While serving at camp there were many different opportunities where I was able to show love to kids. My passion has really grown since I was little; it is now that I want to show love to orphaned children. I want to be able to show them the love that they so desperately long for. Remember when you were a little kid, the kinds of things that you longed for from your parents. Whether these children were left because their parents have passed or they are not around anymore, they are not able to have the things that we long for. They are left to find food on their own and they are left to figure out life by themselves.

            God has really been preparing my heart for this trip and He has been working on me personally. I can honestly say that I feel that I was meant for this trip. I feel that I had a rough last semester for a reason. I feel that I am going on this trip so that I can personally love on those children. After I went to Guatemala last summer I was told about the book Kisses From Katie. I knew a little about it, but it wasn’t on my have to read list. After I realized that I was going to go to Africa to love on the orphans I decided that I should read it. I have started the book, but I have not really had the chance to finish it. But I was able to watch a video that Katie has made and I want to cry every time I watch it. She talks about how her life wasn’t what she thought that it was going to be. She explains how she is a mother of fourteen children and how she loves what she does. It breaks my heart every time that I watch it, because I thought that I knew the plans for my life, but those plans were destroyed. I wasn’t following what God had planned for my life and I definitely wasn’t cut out for the medical field.

            As I close this blog up, I encourage you to take a couple more minutes out of your crazy life to watch the video that Katie has made. Prepare yourself that you may have tears and your heart may break for what she does. I want to be able to live a life like Katie and in order to do that I need to give my whole self to God and allow Him to work in me.  God is slowly working on me and I know that I am a piece of art that is still in the making. I encourage you to allow God to form you into the masterpiece that you are supposed to become. 

http://www.amazima.org/katiesbook.html  

The Countdown Begins!

In just 100 days my mom, cousin Ashley, and I will be leaving for Africa. In November we will be able to take a trip of a lifetime. We are so very blessed by the plan that God has for our lives right now. We are going on a Visiting Orphans Mission trip to Uganda and Ethiopia. Our trip is November 6^th through November 19^th.  There are 163 million orphans in the world today and that means there are 163 million reasons why we want to go. We all have always had a special place in our hearts for children, and orphans hold an even deeper place in our hearts. My mom teaches Special Education at Attica Elementary, Ashley is a nurse at Riley Hospital for Children, and I am going to Lincoln Christian University to become a missionary for orphanages.

Some may not know that I had a rough semester with health issues and ended up needing to have my gallbladder taken out. With a little less than two months left of the semester I was about ready to throw the towel in and just be done with school. I told my parents that I was going to take a semester off and work in an orphanage in Africa somewhere. I was serious enough that I contacted a mission agency that I could possibly work with. I was so sick of school that every time I went back I would cry the first ten minutes of the drive. Mom even told me that if I went that I would have to stay over there the full semester and not come home early. She also told me that if I went that she would be there on her fall break.

There was one specific Sunday I was going to church and I knew that I was the only one from my group of friends to be there. I had the thought that I could turn around and just go to church where I knew I would have people there that I knew. But little did I know that God had a plan for me that day. As I was sitting there waiting for the service to start and I was reading their bulletin. I saw that they were having a mission trip to Uganda and Ethiopia to visit some orphanages. I knew that this trip was for me and that God was not calling me to take a semester off. I called my mom as soon as the service was over and to say that I was excited to read about the trip is an understatement. I knew that I was going to have to start the process of trying to get details about the trip and figuring out if I could go since I would be taking two weeks off for school. My professors approved the trip in no time and I knew right then that it was God’s plan for me to go.

We will be traveling with a team formed by God to visit just a handful of the orphans.  We will travel to Kampala, Uganda for one week where we will work with the children of Return Ministries.  We will be able to sing, play, teach and feed these precious children.  We will get a glimpse of life in the villages and attempt to give them hope, joy and comfort by visiting with them.  We will end our time in Uganda at Dwelling Places, which is a ministry that rescues street children from newborn up to 12 years of age.  The second week of travels will be spent in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  We will work in the community of Korah, which is next to the city dump.  We will work with Project 61, a ministry that provides feeding programs, educational opportunities, child sponsorships, and long-term solutions to the residents of this poor community.

God calls us to spread His word, to show His love, and to be His hands and feet.  He doesn’t call all of us to do the same thing.  Some of us are called to the mission field; some of us are called to sponsor those that are called, while others are called to be covering those in the field with prayer.  We have no doubt that He has called us to go to the mission field in November.  We have faith that if He calls you to it-He will see you through it.  We would ask that you pray our hearts will be open to what lies before us, a mind to understand what we will see, eyes that will look for those in need, and hands to do His work.

We are very excited that God has called us on this special trip.  We feel led to make a difference to these children that God will place in our path.  Every child has a dream to be loved and to belong to someone, even if only for a short time.