...11 days...

         

           
               It is hard to believe that in 11 short days I will board the plane and will send off to Africa for a month. For 7 days I will be traveling Tanzania with my brother, experiencing his world and learning more about his work for the U.N. and his life there. We will see and experience many incredible things and I cannot wait for all of that, but more than anything to spend time with my brother and really talk to him and learn more about his life and his world. I am praying God will open the eyes of his heart to the Gospel and to the Truth. I am praying Christ will soften my heart and quiet my doubts and fill me with an overflow of his grace for my brother. Lord prepare my heart…

            From the 18^th to the 25^th we will be serving in the hospital in Lusaka. Getting to know each other as team members and serve Cure however we can: serving the mothers and children recovering in the ward, attending surgeries and patient appointments with the doctors, participating in staff devotionals and worship services, and ministering to the staff and patients individually. From the 25^th to the 31^st we will be on the outreach in Mpongwe where we will serve the local tribes through our medical clinic, but most importantly through evangelism and delivering the Gospel through the Jesus film and daily ministry to the villages. Please see my “prayer warriors” page for specific prayer requests you can be lifting up while we are serving the whole trip. From the 31^st to the 9^th we will be serving again in the hospital and by the grace of God shining his love and mercy to all those around us as we serve as we are called and build up the hospital staff and patient at Beit Cure Zambia.

            Writing about the trip…thinking about the trip…praying for the trip and these people…ignites flames of passion in my heart. I cannot wait to see them, smell that place again, worship with them in dance and song and laughter, pray with them, watch the lame become healed and the broken be restored! But it also reminds of how weak and desperate I am for the Gospel. It reminds me that I am crippled and hopeless apart from the saving knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ and the cross. I pray heaven will be poured out over my life as I enter this trip tired, worn out, weary and with many struggles and the baggage of sin and shame…that Jesus will reign, that the light of his love will cover all my darkness and bring freedom to my captive soul. I trust he will heal, he will restore.

May these verses be the fountain of my words and the steps that I walk:

            “…Jesus welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.” Luke 9:11

            “Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:38-39

Cause Jesus only did what He saw You do

And He would only say what He heard You speak

And He would only move when He felt You lead

Following Your heart following Your spirit

So How could I expect to walk without You

When every move that Jesus made was in surrender

I will not begin to live without You

For You alone are worthy and You are always good

Where You go I go

What You say I say God

And what You pray I pray

And what You pray I pray

      Father God go before us and by grace alone, lead us as we follow, for we know your voice. You call each of us by name and you lead us out of darkness and temptation. You have freed our souls, now lead us into freedom. It is for freedom you have set us free! May we walk it out with you. Take up our cross and follow you…step by step, where you go we will go. (John 10:3-4) (Galatians 5:1)

      In the next week I will be working a lot, spending precious time with my co workers and continuously yearning for them to know Christ. As well as spending time with my roommates and last but not least finishing the remaining 900 cure cards we have to make in 10 days! In Christ we can do all things...I am clinging to that truth. It will be a full 11 days, and I cannot wait to see what God will do and teach me as he keeps preparing mz heart and working through sanctification. This is the hard road...but the one that brings lasting joy, peace, and freedom. This is the road that brings glory to God Almighty, and that is all that matters. 

Wir preisen dich Herr. Du bist unser Gott. 

  § I am may or may not send another last fundraising update, but with GREAT JOY I want you all to know that I have exceeded my fundraising goal by $1405. PRAISE GOD that $1405 more than I prayed for will be going to the Cure Zambia Hospital to aid in the surgeries of children anxiously awaiting a cure. Praise God...may he richly bless you for your love and prayers and support.