The Challenge. July 2010.

Fifteen years ago at summer camp the theme was "Countries of the World". All the kids were broken up into teams, and each team represented a country. Throughout the course of the week teams learned many different aspects about their country: Politics, religions, history, economy, and missionaries who served there.

It was the summer before my freshman year of high school, and although I had grown up in the church, and I had heard about other countries and people groups, none of them had ever really stirred my heart.

That summer I was on team Bangladesh. Bangladesh at the time had the highest proportion of impoverished people in the world...80%. We learned about the lack of clean water and the diseases that resulted, and the lack of medical care. We learned so many things that really broke my heart. But more than that, Bangladesh captured my heart.

Since that summer I have prayed for Bangladesh, and I have dreamed of Bangladesh. I have an unexplainable love for a country I have never seen, and a people group I have never met.

A little over a year ago I started sponsoring a child from Bangladesh through Compassion International.

This is Elahi. Over the last year I have grown to love him deeply, and my relationship with him has caused me to feel even more burden for his country.



Having said all this, I would love for you to feel this passion for Bangladesh and join me in prayer for this country. But that is not this month's challenge.

You see, I think God gives people different burdens for different places and different people. One of mine is Bangladesh. But before I could have a burden for Bangladesh, I had to learn about Bangladesh. Maybe there are countries God has already placed on your heart to pray for, and maybe not. But one thing I believe is that God desires his children to seek Him on behalf of others, near or far.

Operation World is an online prayer guide...for every nation on earth. It is a great resource to learn about the needs of those anywhere and everywhere.

My challenge for the month of July is to check out their website, and to read over as many countries as possible. While you do that, pray for God to break your heart for those things that break His. You may also want to check out the Voice of the Martyrs map of restricted nations to get more detailed and up to date information on countries where Christians face persecution for their faith.

I challenge you to pray about what God would have you do with the information you read, and the tugging you feel on your heart.

You may find yourself praying for a different country everyday, or maybe praying for one country for a week....or the entire month.

If you already have specific countries you pray for regularly, continue to do so, but make the effort to learn about and pray for the needs of other countries as well.

To take it a step further, if there are places that God lays heavily on your heart, consider finding missionaries to encourage there, an organization there to support, sponsoring a child from that country, or sharing the information with others.

My hope is that this month's challenge will open up your eyes a bit wider to the people of the world, stir a compassion in your heart to pray on their behalf, and that as your love for others grows, so would your love for the Savior.

Oh, and as the month goes on, I would love to hear about the places and people you grow to love!

You Capture. Get Down Low.

This week's You Capture assignment was 'Get Down Low'. With teaching summer school, all the summer programs starting at Youth for Christ, and doing some planning for my trip to Zimbabwe, time flew by and I failed at taking any pictures for this week's assignment.

So this week, I must cheat and use some pics of old. I am not sure how well they qualify, but I got down kinda low to take these :) This is Sabitheka, my little Zimbabwe princess, of whom I am counting down the moments until I see her in December.

I'll be Home for Christmas

In September 2006 I quit my job, boxed up all my belongings, packed a suitcase full of necessities, and purchased a one-way ticket to Zimbabwe.

I made a one year commitment with Mama Makeka House of Hope to serve with a local woman named Tecla, and to set a foundation for the organization to begin ministry there.



Four months later I received a disheartening phone call from the office of President Robert Mugabe. It was nearing the height of the political strife that has plagued the country for years, and Mugabe was on a mission to clear the country of foreigners who could possibly shed light on the ugly situation to the outside world. Reporters were being thrown in prison, missionaries and humanitarian organizations were being removed, and locals who held oppositional political views were being silenced by violence, and even death.

The voice on the line told me I must leave immediately. They threatened to throw me in jail, but worst of all they threatened the local people I was working with. The people I had grown to love fervently. My family.

Feeling defeated, I left.

I spent some time in South Africa, hoping and praying for a message from my family in Zimbabwe that I could come back. The call never came.

The time I spent in Zimbabwe was one of the most stretching times of my life. In the face of so many obstacles, so much was accomplished. We had laid solid foundations for the ministry, and built trustworthy and meaningful relationships. But none of that was easy. Spiritual warfare took shape in many forms. I won't go into detail, but I will say it was hard. Really really hard.

I left the country with a broken heart. Broken because I had to leave people I love, without saying goodbye. Broken because of the despair I saw and experienced there. Broken because God's beloved were being oppressed and abused and abandoned. Broken because the rest of the world seemed to turn a blind eye to the situation.

Since I left that day so much has changed. Many of the community leaders we worked so hard to develop solid relationships with have left the country.

People I love have died.



Children I love have lost their caregivers and have been thrown out on the streets. Boys have been forced to become men too soon.



And for this my heart continues to break.

For over three years now I have been homesick. For three years I have been seeking an opportunity to return, for God to open the doors. I have been on my knees in prayer for people and a country I love. I have been dreaming about the day I can hug my family and hold my little ones once again.



I am so happy to say that the doors have been opened, just a crack. It will take lots of faith. I will need to be covered in so much prayer. I will have to trust completely that God will provide financially and that He will protect me, but I am up for that.

In the works are plans for me to return to Zimbabwe, for just three weeks, for Christmas.

It will be a time to reconnect with family,



encourage those who have been on the front lines,



and give some very deserving children a wonderful Christmas.



There will also be goals in regards to the ongoing ministry we would like to support there, but there will be time to share more of those later.

Right now I would like to say that I would be so honored if you would join me in prayer for Zimbabwe and my upcoming journey.

Zimbabwe is a beautiful country full of loving and peaceful people. A country that God desires to restore. Please, pray for restoration physically and spiritually for this battered land.

Also, I will be creating a more detailed prayer list, but for the time being I ask for prayers of guidance and covering for my upcoming trip, and for God's hand to direct my path every step of the way.



Thank you.

A Child Named Achile

This is Achile:



Since the moment I saw his face I have been fighting the urge to jump on the next plane to Burkina Faso just so I can hug him.

I'm afraid that if I was wealthy my whole life would be spent flying all over the world to hold babies and hug children.

But this sweet eight year old boy, Achile, who I am sure would appreciate a hug, needs something that I cannot give him.

You see, Achile has a broken heart, and it needs to be fixed.

Achile is suffering from a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. Over the last 5 years he has suffered with pain, and has not been able to regularly attend school because of his condition.

Through his sponsorship with Compassion International, Achile has been receiving medical treatment in Burkina Faso, where he lives. Unfortunately the operation that can save his life cannot be done in his home country. He must travel to India for heart surgery.

The cost of this surgery, including travel, is $20,449.

This amount may as well be millions for a family living in extreme poverty.

But if we each give the little we can give, God can take that gift and multiply it. And his beautiful child, Achile, can have the opportunity to live his life. He can have the opportunity to run and play, to go to school, and to be a child.

If you would like to be part of God's blessing on Achile's heart, you can donate here. And I ask that as you go through your day, you remember a child named Achile.

You Capture. Fun.

To be honest, this week has been a really rough week. Between my grandma passing away, and having to say goodbye to many of my students who will be at new schools next year, I have been an emotional wreck. Because of this, I will have to cheat a bit for this week's You Capture.

When I think of fun, I think of Thursdays. On Thursdays I invest a little extra time with some of the students I work with through Youth for Christ. A couple weeks ago I took 2 of my girls to the park to fly a kite, which kids and kites are the funnest things ever.

These girls, Payeng and Dulce, have been part of my life for several years. They were very shy when we first started getting to know each other...



...but as time has passed it has been a blessing and a complete joy to watch them grow



into beautiful,



joyful,



and fun







young women.

Wow, I am blessed.

Words. Surrender.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -Jim Elliot



"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." -Jesus

Watching the Birds

I spent today with my grandma.

It was a hard day.

Over the last couple of weeks my daily visits with my grandma have consisted of random hallucinations and spurts of rage. She has been mad that she is sick. Mad that there are children doing construction in the middle of the night. Mad that she can't be at home. Mad that there are cockroaches on the walls. Mad that we don't see the cockroaches or the children. Mad that she is not with her husband. In Heaven.

It has been hard seeing her change. It is hard to be with her when she is not herself, but it is worth it to be there in the moments that she is.

Most days, when she has calmed down, we sit, sing to her favorite album of hymns, and watch the birds.

Right outside her window there are bird feeders. They attract many kinds of birds. Red, blue, brown, gray, yellow, big, small, you name it.

They are a beautiful reminder of a beautiful God during an ugly situation.

Today was a different kind of day.

The will to be angry has left my grandma's body.

She is weak. Too weak to eat. Too weak to drink. Too weak to talk. Too weak to be angry.

We sat together and sang her favorite hymns, over and over again. Her words were just jumbled up sounds, but she sang her heart out.

She tried to talk, but other than a few words only mumbled sounds came out. I understood her call my grandpa's name several times. And I understood, when as clear as day, she shouted out "Glory Hallelujah!"

I couldn't see what she was seeing, but as I sat and watched the birds I could see a sign of Heaven right outside that window.

Today there were not many birds. No blue jays or robin red breasts, sparrows, or finches. Most of the usual visitors were no where to be found.

Today there were only two birds at my grandma's window.

Two doves.

My grandpa loved doves, and doves loved my grandpa's gentle spirit. Growing up there were always doves around my grandpa. Sometimes even sitting on his shoulder.

God couldn't have given a better sign. A reminder of peace and love and the beauty that is soon to come for my grandma. A sign that God never leaves us nor forsakes us.

So today was hard. Not the kind of hard the last few weeks and months have brought. It was hard because she was herself. And I know that there are not many moments left to enjoy her here on earth. And I will miss her.

As I watched the birds today and was reminded of the glorious and beautiful home that lies ahead, my grandma, with her mumbled sounds, sang her heart out to this song:

"So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown."

And I know Jesus understood every word.

You Capture. Your Best Shot.

This was a bit of a crazy week, but luckily this week's You Capture was easy on me. The assignment was 'Your Best Shot.' Considering I only had about 3 pictures to choose from, it wasn't hard to decide on this little boy.


He really is as sweet as he looks :)

Words. Prayer.

"Pray, but when you pray, move your feet." -African Proverb