With Love from Elgin: How great thou art!

This week is our week of fasting and prayer. We've been praying for our families, friends, all of the people we have relationships with, Empower a Child, the MSTs, the staff members, our friends and families who don't know Christ, missionaries around the world, and the people who support us financially and spiritually. It's been such a hard couple of weeks for me physically because I've just been getting sickness after sickness. Thankfully, though, it's not that bad: my fevers haven't broken 100, just high 99's and I haven't caught the 24 hour bug that's making its round in the house!

Yesterday we went to Katalemwa, which is the children's hospital for children with disabilities. You aren't allowed to take pictures of anything, but I took a lovely picture of the sign and my project for the day.

The sign for Katalemwa is on the right!

We aren't allowed to take pictures, but I snuck this one since it was just of a chair.

We are taking a break from the village this week because we really need to rest our bodies. It's been fun and overwhelming to have everyone in the house together for the first time (besides weekends). Since we had so many people to help we split the Katalemwa group into working with the children, working in the kitchen and working in the workshop. I was assigned to work in the kitchen, but they had everything done but collecting wood. I chopped a log into 2 smaller logs with a machete and got another fabulous blister on my hand. It was worth it to show myself I could do it, plus I haven't used a machete since my time in PR! After our group was done with that we went to the workshop to help sand some wooden wheel chairs they were making for the children.

I'm not going to lie: the affects of not eating much this week have made me feel so weak. I couldn't help but think, again, of the scripture Jeremy and I talked about before I left: "For when I am weak, then I am strong." Still, I had to sit down and finish my sanding project because I was so lightheaded. I just kept praying in my head. I don't usually fast, let alone fast for a whole week. Maybe it's because my body is so dependent on food or maybe because I've never understood or been convicted of it. Sometimes it feels impossible to pray about it when your pains are so big. I can only imagine it's a small feeling, a temporary feeling, compared to what some people around the world feel (often) when they go hungry. It's a terrible feeling. I'm so thankful to be able to eat, have food made for me, be able to provide food for myself because I can afford it, and so thankful for every person who has given me a free meal when I was in need. This experience has continued to open my eyes to the hungry, but also given me so much joy that I am filled spiritually.

On another note, I've been reading Jeremiah and feel God is giving me a heart for the United States. I know that seems weird to say since I live there, but it's the same heart he gave me for Africa. Please don't misunderstand me. I don't want to limit myself. I want to be open to where God calls me and I still have an itch to travel the world and proclaim the gospel and God's love to the nations! I've just been praying about how I can use this trip to glorify God at home. It is because of God that I am here in Africa and He is teaching me so many things, but he is giving me a passion for his people like I've never experienced before. More specifically, he is giving me a passion for the younger generation. I'm so thankful that I have sweet children and youth at my church to go home to, and I pray God would use me in their lives for his glory!

Being here has given me the opportunity to learn so much about stepping out of comfort zones, stepping up when leadership is needed, listening when someone needs to speak, not comparing my gifts and talents to others, encouraging and loving one another, but probably the most important thing I've been reminded of is to not be afraid to step out for Christ. It's so easy to be overcome by fear and timidity, to not want to be made fun of or for people to think you're crazy, but I take rest in God's word that says in 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." I don't want to be held captive by fear anymore. I definitely want to step out of my comfort zones and simply rely on Christ! I want to use my freedom to glorify God! And I want to take that mindset back with me the United States.

I often think of one of my favorite songs By Our Love by Christy Nockels. It says, "we will come reaching out from our comforts and they will know us by our love...we will come reaching with a song of healing and they will know us by our love." It's such a passionate song and my prayer: That my love for Christ will be evident to everyone I come in contact with, my family, my friends, people in Africa, SC, Puerto Rico, or wherever else the Lord calls me to go to and that you, too, will live in the freedom of Christ and his love!

Prayer requests:

- Some boys on our team, Craig, Kyle and Gabe, are traveling to Rwanda to work in the slums of Kigali. Please lift them in prayer for God to guide them, fill them with wisdom and overwhelm them with his love to share with everyone they meet!

- Our team: 7 people will be leaving this week and more every week until the end of July, with very little people coming in. Pray for safe journeys for everyone leaving and that God would just reveal himself to them in their last days here and also when they get home! And for safe travels for the people coming in, that God would prepare their hearts for the ministry here.

- Please pray for the village. We are going next week. Everyone in the house will be going, but our team will be small. Pray for our safety, our health, our energy, and for every family we meet! Pray that God would be glorified in everything that we do there!

-Pray for God's will in your life, where he is at work and where you can join with him to impact the world!!

Pictures from the week (so far):