Journal Entry 9/18

Saturday Sept 18, 2010

Woke up to the sounds of Taps cooking. This morning, I am not quite a 100% but not terrible either. My leg is very sore from Katie sitting on it in the car yesterday and I have quite a bit of drainage which is making me nauseous but will be fine I think.

I must say that today I am beginning to miss American comforts. A hot shower and Dr. Pepper would be AMAZING. There is no doubt in my mind, the next few days will be the hardest. We are settled in camp, have experienced the culture and the newness is beginning to wear off - however, I am still excited as I haven't really had the chance to share with the people yet. Judy and I hope to meet with the Pastors wives today and teach some evangelism.

My prayers this morning are for physical strength, energy and discernment. So far none are sick to our stomache and I am praying that continues. Dorothy hurt her back yesterday and I know Dave has struggled on and off and not feeling great - so praying today is better for them.

After breakfast and an amazing devotional about worship; Judy, Tab, Cynthia and I decided to take a hike up the mountain by the camp. Such a fun time and the view was BEAUTIFUL. We serve an amazing and creative God!

We returned to camp and after a break; Tim, Tab, Judy, Katie, Cynthia and I went to see the boar hole and the river. At the boar hole, we some kids doing laundry - HARD work!

The river was a sobering. Very recently, a girl from the orphanage was killed by a crocodile at the river. As I sat there I prayed for her friends and the workers at the orphanage.

Another great and wonderful thing happened on the walk to the river was a conversation between Katie and I. Katie has been a hard to connect with. She is very closed minded and naive. On the way, the verse in Deutoronomy about speaking of God on the road. So I began to talk to her about her why of coming. This led into a conversation about the blessing of obedience to God. I truly believe that this conversation was my divine appointment for today! My goal this next week is to reach out to her more and more.

This afternoon, was another service and convention reports. The thing that struck me during this service was the report on youth ministry. It was so cool to see their desire to reach young people. One need they have are Bibles for teens. I plan on talking to Joel about our youth working on sponsoring some Bibles for them.

After a break for another wonderful dinner prepared by Taps - we went back for another worship service.

This service was held outside. There are no words to describe the feeling of truly worshipping with brothers and sisters in Christ who speak an entirely different language than you. The ability to understand that we are worshipping ONE God is just awesome!

Shortly before Tobey was to give the sermon - a lady began shouting out. At first, I thought she was praying or speaking praise. Quickly we realized that wasn't the case. I was sitting next to Tobey and he leaned over and said, "Get ready and PRAY!" That was all I needed to hear. I prayed and praised Jesus with all my heart. As I continued to speak the name of Jesus many came from their seats and surrounded her. They also began praying and laid hands on her. Finally, they were able to move her away from the service and Tobey stood up. I continued to pray. I also prayed that the people would hear and understand Tobey's message despite distraction. They were using a VERY old sound system with people who didn't know how to use it. So I prayed that God would speak to hearts.

This experience revealed a few things to me. First of all, PRAYER WORKS! Obviously I know the importance of prayer but to see it first hand overcome true spiritual warfare was awesome! I also was reminded of who I serve. I serve the God of the Universe who is ABLE. The Great I AM. Our God is stronger, our God is Greater! If He is for us, who can be against us?

I am not totally sure how the rest of the team took the service. I know Tab wanted to go pray with the woman but Tobey asked us to stay where we were and to let the people handle it. Even in this, I learned an important lesson. Yes, there are times God calls us to lay hands and pray over someone BUT we are not limited to that. The power of Christians praying can withstand any distance. I prayed from where I was and I saw the Mighty Force of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords move.

We left the service early and came back to camp. I am sort of glad we did - they worshipped ALL NIGHT!