First, ill give you all a brief overview of the last week and a half.
Friday june 24, we finished early, so we called the church driver, but he was out of fuel. Because there is a fuel crisis in the whole country right now, people sit in queues for up to 6 or 7 hours to get half a tank. We finished early so we decided to just walk to CCBC, a 7 kilo walk, and was a two hour walk. It ended up being fun and a good team-building time.
Then on sat the 25th, we went to old town mall. There is an Italian restaurant, mamma mias, in this mall and some nice shops. We walked then to the wood market. I don’t know if all of you have heard of the wood market but its pretty intense. There are 20-30 shops lining the rode all selling similar products. They magically learn your name, and follow you and crowd you to get you to come to their shop. It always overwhelms me!
Sunday the 26th, we went to church and talked about the names of god. It was good :] we got home and talked with our host mother. she explained a lot of situations and cultural differences and rules of the house and things. It was very educational and helpful. Then I went to blessings house to sleep over.
Wed, the 29th, was an exciting awana day!!! We have doing a study on Moses. We have talked about his mom trusting god with her child, and god blessed them by sending moses to the palace to become prince. Then we talked about the burning bush and how god calls each one of us. And we have the option to accept or reject him. The ten plagues were next and how god hardened pharaohs heart because he wanted moses to perservere and wait. God always answers our prayers with a yes, a no, or a not now. The lesson this day was the people finally leaving Egypt and how god followed them with a cloud and a pillar fire. i said that when we ask god into our heart, we are being followed too, but now GOD HIMSELF gets to live WITHIN us. Morgan stopped me at this point to ask if everyone had jesus in their heart, everyone raised their hands. But god called her to persist, so she kept asking questions. ONE little girl raised her hand and said she didn’t understand. Morgan then explained what being a Christian means and how to ask Him into our hearts. The little girl beamed and said I want to do it NOW. So morgan was able to pray with all these kids out loud the salvation prayer and WE EXTENDED HEAVEN!!!! Yay god.
On Friday, no one would be at adziwa, so they told us to take a break. So on Friday, me and Nicole slept in (until 7 ha) and just hung out ALL day resting. We played cards, skyped our families and friends, helped cook, walked to the PTC to get some chocolate and chat.
Sat was pretty much the same as Friday. Dancing, singing, getting to know eachother better.
Sunday at church, I was really struggling with letting go of someone back home that I had been trying to move on from for a long time. I was heart broken because I knew I would be better off once it was all over but it was killing me because this person was the only thing I kept for myself to make me happy. I got really deep into worship and felt gods peace and love surrounding me. I got a picture from Him: the gates of heaven opened and there were houses. I was working on one putting emeralds and rubies into the outside walls. I asked God what he wanted me to know about this. Then he gave me memories down here on earth of acts of kindness and service I have and am doing like smiling, giving to the homeless men, loving kids, proclaiming his truths, ect. I asked him how these two things were connected and he told me that he sees my sacrifices and pain and love and everytime I give him glory and serve for him I am building my heaven. Its still terribly hard to move on and let go, but god sent me a little blessing to remind me that he loves me even more. then we went to spend the night with blessing again. We were helping cook, and her little brother was hangin with me. He decided to stand on my feet and then lean back. Of course we fell because I couldn’t get balance when he standing on my feet. I heard something crack in my foot. I limped the rest of the day.
Yesterday morning, the fourth, I woke up and my foot kinda hurt but it wasn’t too bad. We walked into the extended Kauma village to Mariam’s house to spend the day. Her husband and son can speak and understand English, so we could really get to know the family. We began by shucking the shells of peanuts. As we did our job we sang worship songs (we are learning them fairly well now) and laughed with them. Then we went into the home to sweep, mop, clean dishes, and clean all the cob webs. Of course Nicole is getting cob webs right over my head and a 4 inch spider comes down the wall RIGHT beside me! The dad killed it though so its okay. After we finished we helped with the family business, tedza. This is Chichewa for peanuts. We picked through the bucket to find the dud peanuts that we rotten or too small to eat. Then we flipped them in the basket to get rid of any dirt, shells, ect. Next we put the peanuts in cooking oil over an open fire to cook. Once they were done, the were drained and put back in the bowl. After salting them and letting them cool, they were ready to be bagged and sent to the market to sell. THEY TASTE SOOOOOOO GOOD! It was one of the funnest days here so far. At awanas we continued the study of Moses and talked about the Red sea splitting to let the people get free from pharaoh. That god does miracles to protect and help us and to give Him the glory. And that he can use shepards and everyday people. When I got home and took a shower, I looked at my foot again. It was swollen and black and blue! I iced it the rest of the night off and on and kept it elevated. They say I may need to go to the doctor tomorrow.
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT, I had a terrifying vision. I swear I’m not making this up….
We were driving late at night and there was a raccoon the size of a 10 year old looking at me. A few feet ahead the raccoon appeared again. it then climbed on the car and started speaking in a creepy language. I kept rolling up the windows and locking the doors but they would just go down again without anyone touching them. The raccoon was hissing and cursing me. It was a demon. The cool part of the dream was that even while I was sleeping I fought it. I grabbed it by the neck and shouted that it must flee in the name of jesus. That it had no power over me and could not harm me. I woke up and the clock said 4 am. I immediately felt and knew that it wasn’t just a dream. I could feel cold breeze in the room and shuddered in fear. I woke up Nicole, and asked her to pray with me for protection and that god would send his warrior angels to watch over us and fight for us. I have never been more terrified then at this moment in time. We turned on worship music and I read psalm 91 and psalm 27 over and over again. I declared truth and the air felt peaceful and I finally felt safe again. I did not go back to sleep. Its now 5:45 am and its time to get ready for the day. i am thankful, however, and praise god right now that he opened my eyes to what is going around me so that I know what to be aware of and what to pray for. God is great and above all evil in this world. If everyone would be praying for me today especially I would greatly appreciate all of them. Bless everyone that reads this blog and prays for me. It keeps me going.
I just opened a letter from my daddy. He took pictures from home and made stationary from it, and put a devotion in each to read…. I wanna share with you the one I read right after waking up from that dream. The picture is me at ripleys museum laying on a BED of nails. The note says, “ellie-I pray that you have been sleeping well but if not remember that he wants to give you rest and restore you(no sleep my foot my spiritual and emotional well being) I pray that you are restored to 100% ellie! Love you dad” and the devotion says, “Come to me and rest. I am all about you, to bless and restore. Breathe me in with each breath. The way just ahead of you is very steep. Slow down and cling tightly to my hand. I am teaching you a difficult lesson, learned only by hardship. Lift up empty hands of faith to receive my presence. Light, life, joy, and peace flow freely through this gift. When your focus turns away from me you grasp for other things. You drop the glowing gift of my presence as you reach for lifeless ashes. Return to me and regain my presence.” WOW is all I got to say.
I love you and the one true god that is worthy of praise.
