It's all about showing up . . .

I was thinking tonight about God's plan for us . . . as a group . . . our strengths . . . our weaknesses. We all have them. They are a reality. It is very easy for us to concentrate on our strengths and how God can use us through them. It is easy to think about our gifts and where they might fit in. 

This past week, I had a chance to sit in on a board meeting for a local charity. I was absolutely floored as I listened first hand to stories of God using people in their weakness . . . in times when they just opened their hands and arms to God and said 'use me.' Not stories of things that they did, but stories of how God has worked despite them. Stories of changed lives because someone just simply showed up . . . not because they were necessarily gifted.

As I thought about our trip to Africa, and some of the ideas we have been talking about, I realized that maybe one of the hardest things for us to do is going to be to simply show up. That is going to be a huge hurdle. We are going to have doubts as we get closer as to how God is going to use us . . . we are going to have fears about travel . . . the unknown . . . the future. God is calling us to simply show up though . . . to answer the call . . . to be available. 

I was reminded this evening of an awesome story that I have used in teaching over the past couple of years . . . really applicable to where we are at. 

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck.  One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.  

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house.  Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.  But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfections, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. 

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.  "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."  "Why?" asked the bearer.  "What are you ashamed of?"  I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house.  Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work and you don't get full value for your efforts," the pot said. 

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some.  But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it hadleaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure. 

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path but not on the other pot's side?  That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.  I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them.  For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table.  Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Cracked or not . . . weak and broken . . . limited . . . God wants us to show up . . . and He will use us. Please pray with us that we will accept the call to be a cracked pot and allow Him to use us as we are. 

Coach Freace

35 More Days!

It's getting so close! I think we are finally starting to get a small picture of what we will be doing while in Tanzania. We hope that our main project will be at a local orphanage. Also, we think we will be serving at a medical clinic. Hopefully there will be some non medical tasks for those of us who aren't like Kaitlyn :)

Mr. O'Neil has warned us that we must be open to ambiguity. We don't know everything that will happen because it's in God's hands, not ours! At first that was so scary to me-- I'm a planner. I like to have my schedule and to- do list organized and ready to check off-- then I add a few things at the top, just so I can already have some checks. But, this is different. Even with the details I've shared, we have only a small picture of what we will be doing! That scares me, but it also adds to the excitement. I think God will use our time there in a bigger and better way than we could even imagine. And that is better than any plan I could possibly have!

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Sabrina

40 MORE DAYS

As we near the end of our preparations on this side of the trip, I can't help but become more and more excited! I recently ordered my Chaco sandals and began searching for flowy skirts! :) The April 1st departure date is in sight and I literally am counting down the days-40 more! Please be in constant prayer for us and for the people we will come in contact with. Pray that we will stay focused on our mission during these last 40 days, that we will always rely on God, and that through Him we will be able to bless many during our time in Tanzania. Thank you and God bless!
~ Haleigh Swierski

Deuteronomy 31:6 
 "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Everything in Common

I was a little (actually a lot) late to our weekly meeting yesterday, but arrived just in time to finish up the conversation about the team commissioning service next month. As we talked about what that might look like, we realized that the seven of us represent five very different congregations. I began to again think about how God has put this team together with our different gifts and the beautiful picture of representing different congregation, but one God. We are all His children and our church, style of worship, or denomination is not what is important to Him as we worship, it is our heart. The team has been reading through Acts in preparation for our trip. These earliest church members weren’t concerned about order of worship, contemporary or traditional hymns or how long the service would last. They came to worship their Lord, with eyes on Him and off of themselves. So often I approach worship with the attitude of “what am I getting out of this”. But worship should not be about me. To worship is to adore, love, or show respect. So when I go to worship, who am I adoring, loving and respecting more – myself or God? The earlier church of Acts "had everything in common", and not just physical property but God honoring hearts. I am looking forward to the privilege of experiencing different worship services while in Africa and although different from each other, having the most important thing in common - Jesus Christ. Pray that as we prepare for our trip we will use our times of worship to focus on God and not ourselves to prepare our hearts for this adventure. I can’t wait till we will all be worshipping together in Tanzania and having "everything in common".

Carrie

30 Hour Famine

Well the shots are over and Tanzania is soo close that it is driving me crazy that we have to wait just a little longer! But something pretty cool is going to happen at our school on the first weekend in March. We are partnering with World Vision to endure a 30 hour famine to raise awareness for hunger in 3rd world countries. Now this may sound crazy and you may be thinking "why not eat for 30 hours just to know what its like when if those people had food they would eat it too." (Yes i actually have heard that from a few students) But are you not more affected and moved to action if you have somewhat experienced the cause that you are trying to support and raise awareness of? This is our goal for the school, not to make them starve from enduring a little over a day without chickfila but to recreate as close as possibly what people just like us are enduring. This is so exciting for me because i know that i am about to personally witness hunger and poverty in a less than 2 months and i am praying that God will use this experience as preparation for what i will encounter in Dar. Along with the "famine" we will also be getting donations towards poverty and hunger and any gifts that students want to donate (Bibles, Tshirts, etc) will be collected and taken over with us! Only a small group is able to take the trip to Africa so i feel that it is important that the rest of the school gets involved as much as possible in the event so they will learn from this experience just as we will. We already have a bunch of kids signed up to take part in the famine, but we of course need more so make sure to encourage your friends to come and be apart of it. I strongly feel that this is just another of God's big movements at our school to work in the hearts of us all and to reveal Himself in a new and powerful way! Please continue to pray for all of us that we will feel prepared and confident in the fulfilling the path that God has laid before us!

~Kaitlyn_

Am I going crazy?

Ok, so I have been reading this book called A Hole in our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Don't read it . . . totally convicting me and spinning my life upside down. It is really helping me prepare for our trip to Africa though . . . bring perspective. But seriously, don't read it unless you want to be convicted and impacted.

I wanted to share an excerpt, or rather a story from the book that is having a huge impact on me. Here it is:

Richard Stearns was visiting a community in the Andes mountains. He was visiting a desperately poor family high in the Andes. Octaviana was a widow trying to support herself and her children as well as pay back a $300 debt her husband had incurred. The whole family was sick with parasites. Her small flock of sheep were sick too. Here is Rich Stearns' description of his visit with her.

"I asked her what she prayed for, because I could tell she was a woman of deep faith. She said she prayed to God that He would not forget her and her three children on that remote mountain -- that He would help her carry this burden and that He would send help. And as I held her hand and prayed for her, God revealed to me a profound truth -- that I was the answer to Octaviana's prayer. Eight thousand miles from my home in Seattle, 14,000 feet up in the Andes Mountains, she had cried out to God for help, and He had sent me. God had sent me to help her, He had sent me to comfort her in her suffering, and He had sent me to be Christ's love to her. She had prayed and I was God's answer, I would be God's miracle in her life.

And then the even bigger truth washed over me. I could see that all across the world people were crying out in desperation to God for help, for comfort; widows, orphans, the sick, the disabled, the poor and the exploited. These millions of prayers were being lifted up to God, and we, each of us who claim to be His followers, were to be His answer. We were the ones who would bring the "good news" of Christ to the poor, the sick, the downtrodden. God had not turned His back on the poor in their suffering. God had sent us. This was the good news of the gospel -- good news indeed for the poor."

Not sure about you, but how exciting, humbling, and scary is it that we could possibly be his answer to prayers already being prayed . . . do we realize that? Sometimes it is hard to understand that . . . here I am sitting in my kitchen . . . and somehow God is preparing me to possibly answer prayers. What? Am I going crazy? How can that be true?

I think the farther we go on this journey, the more we are going to realize that God can and will use us for whatever he wants. He is equipping us not to just serve and help . . . but to answer prayers. Powerful . . .

Coach Freace

A Stepping Stone

Well the vaccinations are over and that means only 48 days until departure! I can hardly believe it... it seems like just yesterday the trip was only an idea.

I think the vaccinations were easier that everyone thought. Mrs. Brigham took the prize for the most shots, though!

Mrs. Brigham- 5

Coach Freace- 4

Mr. O'Neil-1..so not fair.

Kaitlyn- 3

Haleigh- 3

Lila-3

Me-3

Mr. O'Neil acted like a pro, bringing his own yellow immunization card.

This does not excuse that he was late, though! Haleigh proved to be brave,

or at least we heard no screams from where we were waiting....Mrs. Brigham got

a little light headed, and Kaitlyn wanted to give herself the shots. Lila said there

might have been a few tears, and of course I got the different nurse...Coach Freace

was just upset that he had to get an extra polio shot.

Thank you, Tim McLane, for setting this all up!

Although we didn't like the shots, it was an exciting day for us all. It was a true

stepping stone on our path to Africa. I can't wait to go back in 6 months for another shot!

Sabrina

Vaccines and Tanzania

Well, today we made it through the vaccinations...alive. We will all be a little sore for the next few days. Some of us including myself were a little nervous, but God is good and the shots weren't that bad. I have a little bit of a fever from the shots and it came on quicker than I expected; however, not feeling very well actually made me realize how blessed I am. Those shots were a gift. If just that little bit gave me a fever what would it be like to contract the full blown disease over in Africa. So, today was definetely an example of how God is constantly looking after us.

On a little bit of a different note, I wanted to share about one of our previous meetings. Mrs. O'Neil came in and she and Mr. O'Neil shared all about the culture in Dar. I'm very intrested in other peoples and their culture so this was definetely a fascinating meeting for me. One of the things that struck me was Tanzanians cultural ideals as compared to ours. here in America we're very much focused on effeciency and individuality, but over in Tanzania they're more focused on relationships and community, thus the idea of "African time". You take the time to speak with or care for someone else rather than always worrying about the clock. There are so many more intresting things we learned, but I don't think that even hearing about them will quite compare to when we're being immersed in them.

Thank so much for your prayers! Please continue praying for us that God will prepare us to serve him cheerfully and also that we will be fearless when the opportunity arrises to share Him with others. God Bless!

Calling & Equipping

We had a great meeting today with the Tanzania group. It was great to hear Kaitlyn's heart and how God is working in her life . . . she shared a great devotional based on the book that we are reading . . . Out Live Your Life, by Max Lucado.

I am reading a similar book called The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. . . fantastic book. I came across an anonymous quote embedded in this book that was a great encouragement to me this evening . . . it specifically pertains to our preparation for Africa.

"God does not call the equipped. He equips the called."

We have been talking about and eluding to the fact that we have fears and wonder what we have to offer on this trip. Kaitlyn did a great job today of bringing to light that we all have different gifts and how exciting it is to see how God has molded us together . . . we are becoming a great team that can accomplish great things for God.

I think this quote provides valuable insight for us though. We all do have gifts and talents that will add to the team. But more importantly than our gifts or strengths, is God's equipping. We all know at this point we are going to Africa because we have been called. God is going to equip us for his work . . . we really don't know how He is going to use us and what he will accomplish through us . . . so we really have no choice but to have faith that He will equip us.

I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that I need to move the focus from myself to God. God is convicting me that he did not necessarily call me because I was tall . . . or outgoing . . . or tall. He just simply called me to be obedient . . . and I can already sense the equipping that he is doing . . .I can sense the equipping of my heart.

Coach Freace

I don't have anything profound that I want to say right now, so I thought I would just talk about what I'm excited, nervous, or scared about.

It's amazing how much more you hear and see about Africa when you know you're going! I am constantly seeing things about Africa-- things I may have overlooked before.

I think the trip is finally starting to sink in with me! We will be getting our vaccinations on Friday...I know everyone is looking so forward to that. Please pray that medically we will be safe throughout the trip and even before.

While we are in Africa, I am the "designated photographer." I am so excited about taking pictures of people, places, and of course the animals on safari! I am nervous, though, that I will run out of battery, or my memory card will fill up at the worst time! It might sound silly-- but please pray that the simplest logistics would go smoothly-- including camera accessories :)

1 Thessalonians 5:17-- "Pray without ceasing."

Sabrina

Remembering God's Power

This past month has been all about preparation for me . . . God's preparation in my life to do his will. He is leading us to Africa . . . we are being obedient. I was reading tonight over my blogs that I have written on my blogspot over the past couple of weeks to remind myself how God has been speaking to me during this time. I wrote one January 13th that served as a great reminder to me tonight that I wanted to share:

Yoda, Dreams and Power

“But is it possible you don’t really want God? Is it possible you just want what you think God can give you? One of the things I believe God is teaching me in my life these days is that at times we want our dreams more than we want God. We want what God does for us instead of just God.” Pete Wilson, Plan B

I think I had seen part of this quote somewhere else and know that it made sense to me at that point. But today it really hit home with me. As I go through this journey . . . the journey of growth . . . I find that we do not need to sugar coat the truth to make it worthwhile. We do not need to spruce it up . . . it is perfect exactly as it is. There is power in God . . . just God.

God doesn’t need our dreams to fulfill his will.The fact of the matter is that as believers we don’t need to dream. This is something that has become very real to me this week. We simply need to be godly. We need to be obedient and hold true to his promises.

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from Yoda . . . in the movie The Empire Strikes Back. You have probably heard it before, but it is simply “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” I believe that God is calling us as believers TO DO. Dreaming to me suggests hoping and trying. God is calling us TO DO.

To make my point, looking at a verse tonight really brought reality to what I have been thinking and feeling. Ephesians 1:19–20 says

“You will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe. That power is the same as the great strength God used to raise Christ from the dead and put him at his right side in the heavenly world.”

This passage just floored me. For us who have a relationship with God . . . “believers” . . . we have the same power of God in us that was used to raise Christ from the dead! We have the miraculous power of God in us! We have the power TO DO what he is calling us to do!

So forget dreaming. Forget hoping. My desire is to realize and grasp and hold firm and act upon the fact that God is in me . . . and his power is alive and well in me. Knowing that, it brings new meaning to what God can do through you and me. It gives me confidence and belief in that if I am faithful and obedient, he will use me exactly the way he wants to . . . and that is better than any dream I can think of.

Team Work!

Hey everyone! First off, no words could possibly express the joy and excitement that is building in me everyday as i am preparing for this trip! This is a complete new area for me and my first major mission trip and i am so thrilled to be doing something crazy for God! As i have been reading "Outlive Your Life" along with the rest of my Tanzania team i came to a chapter on the importance of having a team or a group in your walk with Christ and in the things that you will do for Him. This chapter was so incredible because God really spoke to me through it! He was showing me that He has selected the perfect group to go over to Dar, one whom He is going to use to bring about some pretty awesome things. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says "It's better to have a partner than to go at it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, but if there's no one to help, tough!" It is so important to have a support group when you are living your life in crazy actions for the Lord and with our Tanzania team i know that God has selected the most extraordinary of gifts to collaborate so that we can all be the best for each other and for Him! i hope my enthusiasm is evident in this because i am smiling the whole time writing it! it is just awesome to me that God can use the biggest of sinners and the most insignificant of people to carry out His work; and to be apart of something bigger than myself is very rewarding. This trip will be challenging none the less, but that is why we are going at it as a TEAM! With all of us, there will never be a lack of encouragement or passion; and as the day gets closer to our flight, we are continuing to learn more about each other as well as learning more about ourselves. God is so powerful and He is going to be revealed to us in ways that i dont think we will have ever seen before!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers daily as we prepare for our Lord's work!

~Kaitlyn~