South Africa on my mind

Lately, South Africa has been popping up in my life here and there. I just can't wait for this trip. When talking about it to a few people, I have said after discussing the trip, "Who knows? I may not come back to the United States." People generally give me a fake laugh and then I tell them I'm serious. I still don't think they believe me. I want to be in the mission field so bad I can taste it. And even now, there are still doors being opened for this trip or doing missionary work there long term.

I sometimes feel it's happening so fast and I can't wrap my hands around it. We haven't even begun meeting yet for this trip, I don't even know who is on my team! Every day, I'm reassured that this is the path God has chosen and I'm staying on it strong. Without ever even being there, I can see myself living in South Africa. Mostly because it's what my heart wants, wants to be in the mission field, somewhere. And it could very well be in South Africa. I wouldn't be surprised. Too much stuff has come in my path regarding this country for something major not to happen.

I begin to worry about my education and then I have to realize that it will all get worked out eventually. My Spanish professor actually sent me a link today to teach oversees. Hmmm..teaching is not what I want in life, I want to be a nurse. Or do I just want to work with kids? I am not saying I'm going to up and change my major at school, it's an option that could be explored to do while I am working on the nursing degree. See, I have many paths before me. I'm not sure which one I should take.

My professor also sent me an email that basically says without a bachelor's degree, nurses are pretty much un-educated with just an associates degree. Are you kidding me? You mean in order to actually do well in the nursing field, I need a bachelor's degree? Do you know how long I've been doing school part time just to obtain my associates which I don't even have yet? I'm honestly not sure I want to further my education after the associate degree. I'm getting very discouraged and not sure how much more school I can take. I'm already in my 30's with no college degree. The email also said that the universities here are upping the requirements to get into the school when transferring from a community college. *Sigh* So, it's all becoming difficult for me and overwhelming. And then I start to wonder what the requirements are for nursing school in South Africa. I just happen to know of someone who could give me the low down on the school system there.

But I try to keep encouraged, being sure to explore any door that is opened for me. I don't know what October will bring. But it could very well be the one thing that changes my life completely.

And I'm so ready for it to happen. There's nothing here that's holding me back.

I never thought

I've never tried to imagine myself doing missionary work in a country where Spanish is not their primary language. I shut myself out to the rest of the world and only let my heart see what I wanted to see. Not what God wanted to see.


But today, I can't say that I still have the same perspective. My last blog I mentioned that God was putting on my heart that no matter the location, if you put me with kids, I would be happy. That's all I need are some kids who just need love and I'll be content anywhere. I feel as though God challenged me one day and said, "Anywhere?" I am sure I hesitated at my answer and said, "Yes, anywhere."


What has transpired in the past 2 months, more importantly the past 48 hours, has been crazy. A good crazy, but crazy nonetheless. It was all God's doing and the best way to show you how God brought me here today is to list everything. You might ask, where I am today? Today, I am looking forward to the fall. It will be when I take my first trip to South Africa to minister to people. Hmmm...Spanish is not spoken at all in South Africa. And it's a place that I never wanted to go to except to see Great White Sharks breach out of the water.

• About 2 months ago, my church started showing this video about Helping Hands in Africa. Helping Hands in Africa is an organization that ministers to kids in South Africa who are orphaned due to their parents/grandparents dying from AIDS. My church partners with them and they do mission trips there. The first time I saw the video, I cried. The second time I saw the video, I cried again. Every weekend that they have shown that video, I've cried. I knew God was up to something. I even looked at the trip details, but quickly dismissed it due to me being in school.
• I recently reconnected with a friend and she knew my heart about missions and saw how strong it was for that particular thing. She told me to talk to the Global Outreach pastor at our church. I, once again, quickly dismissed her prompting and never contacted him. I wasn't sure what to say to him about my heart for missions.
• Helping Hands and my church were doing a walk at the Phoenix Zoo this past Saturday. I decided to sign up for the walk. I definitely thought it was a good cause. I received a free shirt that said, "I am David. AIDS is Goliath." That small statement was so profound to me and I felt so proud wearing that shirt all day long. When we were there, the organization gave us "info" bags. I looked at the information when I got home and at the bottom of their newsletter gave the addresses of their office. There are only two, one based in South Africa and the USA office is based in Tempe. I sat there dumbfounded to know that this agency is literally right in front of my face. I know of two mission agencies that are based in the Phoenix area, Food for the Hungry and now Helping Hands in Africa. But that is it.
• I felt prompted to explore their website and quickly found the video for short term mission trips. As I watched, tears yet once again fell. Then who came on the video? Matt Swartz, who is the Global Director at my church. You know, the one I had previously dismissed talking to? I didn't realize that my new church home was so involved in this organization till that moment.
• So, I pulled up the Global Outreach page and for 40 straight minutes, I sat there and stared at my calendar knowing how many classes I would miss if I went on one of these trips, I also stared at the local office address for Helping Hands and the website with all of the trip information. I would normally stress about all the information that was in front of me, but I didn't. I felt a sense of calm, a sense of peace. I knew it was something that I was being led to do. So much has happened with this agency and me in the past two months. If I am not seeing the video in church, there has been this little voice saying, "Go to South Africa".
• Later as I told Kristine, she already said I had made up my mind to go. Yes, I had. She couldn't believe that I stopped fighting what was right in front of me said, "Yes, I will go." Between her and Romi, they both said the exact same thing to me in regards to this trip. God is obviously do some serious work in my life and had opened the door to go to South Africa.
• Yesterday at church, is what really got me. I got to church early as usual. I normally go in and get some coffee and do my daily Bible reading. Yesterday, I debated in the car for a few minutes if I should instead put make up on and then head in. I decided coffee and reading was more important than make up and walked up to the church. This man was walking to the car and said Good morning to me. I looked at his face and said good morning back, not noticing his name tag. Then as he walked past me, I realized who it was. It was the Global Outreach Director from my church wearing a Helping Hands shirt. I stopped him and began my flubbering story about everything that has happened and how God was putting this on my heart to go.

My head is swirling with everything that has happened this past weekend. But there is still one concern: School. I am not sure if my college professors will allow me to take off 3-4 classes in a row to go on this trip. I am going to explore the option with them and see if they would be willing to bend over backwards and help me. If not, then it has been decided that I will take a semester off of school to go on this trip. I will not worry about this nor will I worry about what people might think because I will possibly be delaying my education. If I don't take this opportunity, it might never happen again. And I'm not willing to shut the door on my future this time. This time I want to see what God has in store for me come fall.

We are doing a vacation bible school with the kids in the village and that right there, makes me so excited about this adventure I will be taking.

*Giggle* I'm going to South Africa!

Down on my knees

Lately, I've been praying. No, I mean really praying, down on my knees. My last post was right after the earthquake hit Chile. Since then, numerous earthquakes have struck there again. I blogged about how I just wanted to go and I wanted to go to Chile, no where else.

Before when I used to pray, I would get all comfy in bed, do some reading and start falling asleep. I would turn the light off and then begin to pray. Of course, I would fall asleep praying, waking up the next morning not even remembering where my prayers left off. But since the earthquake in Chile, I've been praying differently. Before I even get in my bed, I've been praying on my knees, on the side of my bed like this little boy in the picture.

My normal prayers usually include a sick friend or family member etc. But since my last post, I have been praying for God to do something radical in my heart. To open the door to my future in the mission field and for me not to question and be prepared at any moment. I feel something happening and I'm not sure what it is. My thoughts and my actions are changing, little my little. I want to go somewhere, anywhere. That may not include Chile. I want to do God's work and I want to make Him happy. My eyes have been opened in the past month to the fact that if you put me in the mission field and I'm working with kids, then I'm in my sweet spot. It doesn't matter where it is. Just give me some little kids to love on and my heart will run over. Sun Valley has been showing videos about a ministry they work with in South Africa called Helping Hands in Africa . It's an organization that works with orphaned kids who have lost their parents or grandparents to AIDS. Every single time they show the video, I cry. I cry because my heart is touched and I cry because my heart is hurting for those kids. See, mission field + kids = Brandy's heart.

A friend brought up at lunch today that the one thing I fight with mission work (and if you know me, you know what I struggle with), will probably be where God places me. She wanted to know if I was ready for that if it happened. No, I'm not. I've fought this one thing for so long. But if God opens that door to that particular subject, then I have to be willing to walk through it and trust Him, no question asked.

Oh Lord, I wish I could get just a little glimpse into your plans for me. Please, just a little peek to guide me in the right direction in I should be taking.

I want control, but it's not mine to want

My morning started off good. I had a list of stuff to do, laundry, vacuuming my room, the never ending task of homework. The only thing I've accomplished today has been laundry. My time has been consumed by reading CNN, checking updates on the earthquake that has hit Chile.

I can't say it any other way, than to say that my heart is breaking into a million pieces for Chile. Now, I'm saddened by the natural disasters that hit anywhere in the country. I pray for the people, pray for strength. When the earthquake hit Haiti, I cried. I cried because I have been to the Dominican Republic and briefly stepped into Haiti for a few hours to minister to people. I cried because I knew the conditions of the country and how it would impact them. I just wanted to get on a plane and go do something...anything.

But Chile has a whole different place with me. Chile is what I've called my home away from home for 4 years now. Chile is the place that makes my heart yearn to be there when I talk with my Chilean friends or see pictures of Chile. Chile is ultimately where I want to move to. I want to work/be a missionary there. Chile is where my heart decided to stay when I stepped off that plane in Santiago back in 2005. No matter what I've done in my life, it's always come back to Chile. I can say I want to move to South America, but I've wanted Chile to be my place of residence.

I want to get my nursing degree and move to Chile, that's always been the goal. Many people don't understand why I want to do that. Why would I leave this country of freedom and English speaking people to move to Chile? A place where everything is so different and most of them speak Spanish. Why on earth would you do that, Brandy? Some people have even said it was a stupid idea. To you, it may be stupid. But if you know me, truly know me, then you know God has been calling me to do that for awhile now. And if you don't understand why I want to do that, then you don't understand me at all.

Kristine woke up to me crying. Oh let's admit it, I was a blubbering mess. She had to talk me down. I was distraught about the earthquake that hit my "heart". She asked why I was so upset. All I could say was, "I just want to go!" That's it, I just want to get on a plane and go to Chile. Not because of the quake, that's just making it more prevalent. She said, "Well go. What's stopping you?"

What's stopping me?!? I started naming off the fact that I don't have a nursing degree, the fact that I can't just hop on a plane, the fact that I have student loans and I would be leaving all this debt. I can give you or her a million excuses why I can't go right now. To me, it would seem so stupid to just drop everything I have in this life to go to Chile. But in the same aspect, it makes so much sense to me to just go.

I am all about controlling my life and sometimes controlling others. I limit God a lot. I don't put my faith 100% in Him and I don't tend to always fully rely on God to get me through things. I'm a planner to the max and I like to have a plan for my day, my week, my month...my life. I know God's plan is for me to do His work in Chile, but I'm limiting the ways it is getting done. Kristine can be brutally honest with people, including me. It's one of the things I love about her. I don't always want to hear what she says, but when she says it, it hits closer to home more than I care to admit. But she is right about me wanting to control everything.

So, what do I do now? Fully trusting God is so difficult to me. It's funny, I just posted on some one's blog about how I struggle with giving God control and then the quake hits Chile the next day after I left that comment. Do you think God is trying to tell me something? Not about the devastation of Chile or Haiti or Japan, etc, but maybe about trusting Him and knowing His plan is still very valid in my life? A conversation I had with Kristine during my birthday week, the conversation I had today, and the fact that I just read "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan have all got my head spinning. Kristine said, "Why can't you go to school in Chile?" I didn't have a response to her. Why couldn't I? Why couldn't I work there? I'm not saying that I'm definitely looking into that, but I need to explore options instead of sitting on my butt crying about the fact I'm not in Chile.

I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to pray, pray like I've never prayed before. Pray that God opens a door for me to do...something and to not shut Him out like I have before. Pray that I lose my "self-control" of sorts. I will get to Chile when God wants me there, it could be tomorrow for all I know. But if it does happen tomorrow, I can't slam the door and ask Him if He's crazy. Because let's face it, I do that a lot.

The only thing I can say is I need to trust God. I need to know that if he opens the door to get me to Chile quicker than I anticipate, He will provide a means for everything. Guide me God, send me God. Keep me from just saying I'll go eventually, instead I want to say, "Okay. I'm on it."

"We need to stop giving people excuses not to believe in God." ~Crazy Love, Francis Chan

“Confía en el SEÑOR de todo corazón, y no en tu propia inteligencia.
Reconócelo en todos tus *caminos, y él allanará tus sendas.” Proverbios 3:5-6

The Eternal Flame

I get breaking news texts sent from AZCentral. I usually get the texts and quickly glance over them. Most of the time it's local news and it's something that I don't consider breaking news. Yesterday, I received a breaking news text saying that an earthquake had happened in Haiti. My heart began to hurt for those people. I already knew how poverty stricken that country was and the earthquake is going to make everything worse. In 2006 I went on a 10 day mission trip to the Dominican Republic. We worked with a small town called Puello. While we were there, we crossed over into Haiti to a surrounding neighborhood to minister to some people. And although we were only there for a few hours, those people left an impact on me.

I got on and logged onto a local news site. As I read the article, I began to wonder if the Dominican Republic felt it as well. The article said the earthquake hit the capital, Port Au Prince. Further down it said that the quake was felt 300 miles away in the capital of the DR, Santo Domingo. This would mean the Puello and the surrounding Haitian community I worked with felt the earthquake as well. The news said it was the worst one Haiti had seen in 200 years. The earthquake demolished many buildings, including the hosptial.

I heard on Air1 this morning that an American Missionary team had landed in Port Au Prince one hour before the quake hit. Being on mission trips before, I know they had a schedule and an itinerary they would try to follow. God had other plans for them. As soon as the quake hit, they hit the ground running. They went into the devastation to show God's love and try to help out where ever possible. Needless to say, it will be a mission trip that they will never forget in so many ways.

My prayers last night were only for Haiti. I just want to get on a plane and go help, do something, anything. I feel as though my prayers aren't enough right now. But, it's the best I can do. The need to get on a plane is so strong to just be in the middle of it all trying to save lives.

It's a deep hurt that I can't explain.

It would seem as though I have been trying to get my nursing degree forever now. I decided on majoring in nursing a long time ago. I want to help people as much as I can. A few years ago, I also decided to minor in Spanish. I want to be a bilingual nurse. Did you know nurses make a lot of money? Did you know that bilingual nurses make even more money? The money is promising and there is always a need for nurses.

But I'm not doing it to make more money. I am doing it because I want to go work in a another country. I want to be a missionary or work for the Red Cross. I just want to help people as much as possible and share the love I have in my heart for God.

Sure you may think I am crazy, but this morning the need to drop my life completely and get on a plane to help those people is very strong. I am glad to know that after that first Chile trip in 2005, my heart still burns for missions. The flame is still there to move to another country and do missionary work. I have had many discouragements along the way, but after it's all said and done, I would leave the US in a heartbeat to go live my life in another country.

That flame burns eternally in my soul. It is taking me awhile to get there. But I will get there and that is all that matters.

Please join me in praying for Haiti. There are so many people who are believed to be buried under the rubble and they don't have the machinery or manpower to quickly pull these people out. Here is a link to some pictures. Warning, they are graphic.

My heart is heavy today and I shall leave you with some quotes about my want to leave this world that I know and venture into a world I don't know.

"To stay here and disobey God - I can't afford to take that consequence. I would rather go and obey God than to stay here and know that I disobeyed." ~Amanda Berry Smith

"The will of God - nothing less, nothing more, nothing else." ~F.E. Marsh

"If God's love is anybody anywhere, it's for everybody everywhere." ~Edward Lawlor

"Let my heart be broken with the things that breaks God's heart." ~Bob Pierce

Hmmm...

I'm in a bit of a funk right now and I'm not quite sure why. My day started off good, except the roomie is annoying me. She seems to be doing that a lot lately. I just don't feel the need to answer to her about anything, where I'm going, who is texting me, etc. And yet she continues to drill me. But, I don't think that is what is bothering me. Earlier today, I went to a thank you party for some friends of mine who just got back from a missions trip to Albania and Greece. They put together a presentation for the people who financially supported them and supported them through prayer. It was a beautiful presentation, beautiful words spoken by people who went, beautiful pictures and of course food. However, a few minutes into the presentation, I started getting this uneasy feeling in my stomach and I began to feel so out of place there. Why was I getting this uneasy feeling when these people were sharing about how God moved in them and in the people they encountered? I really couldn't justify why the feeling was coming over me, but it hasn't left.

Driving home, I began to zone out the radio, which is what I do when I'm really thinking about things. But what on earth am I thinking about? There were so many thoughts running through my head, I couldn't quite pin point one. I began to think about the people I met in Chile and the Dominican Republic and how in such a short time of meeting those people (10 days for each trip), they completely changed my life. I remember their names, their faces, their hugs, even the way they smelled. Like Charlie...she was my house mom the first year I went to Chile and no matter how many people were in her small little house, she tended to my every need, no matter what the cost. We would have Spanish/English lessons. She would point to a picture and tell me what it was in Spanish and I would repeat. I would then tell her what it meant in English, and she would repeat my English word. And when I came back the second year to Chile, she still remembered me, telling everyone I was her American daughter. Or Dilio from the Dominican Republic, in 10 days, we became very close, he became a big brother to me, taking care of me when I came down with Dengue Fever, making sure I was drinking as much water as I could. Dilio, the man I gave my Spanish/English Bible to because I knew he needed it more than me and the man who through my tears at the airport, I managed to get out that if God ever brought me a husband, I prayed he was as Godly as Dilio. Oh man, I miss those people, I miss how simple their lives are and I hate the fact how complicated mine is.

I guess maybe the funk is I need to go on another missions trip? My heart is aching to do that, it's been almost two years since I've gone. No, what I need to do is get my nursing degree and just move out of this country. I don't know, is God trying to tell me something? I guess maybe I'm also a little jealous that my friends went on a mission trip, but maybe that's not it.

I know tomorrow is a new day and maybe God will decide to reveal to me the reason as to why my heart is a little heavy right now.

Bran

The Flame

Happy Monday, everyone! How are you doing? I'm pretty good. Except my allergies are killing me today. Phooey. It's definitely a glasses/ponytail day. Last night, I got to hang out with Jason. It was nice. I haven't seen him in three weeks. We had dinner and went to a movie. And we didn't even spend a dime. We both had gift cards, I paid for dinner and he picked up the movies. By the way, I HIGHLY suggest you go see 88 Minutes. It was a really good movie. It was one of those movies that keeps you guessing through the entire thing. GO SEE IT!

Anyways, as most of you know, once I get my nursing degree, I hope to be a missionary in a Spanish speaking country. Sometimes that “missionary flame” that I have seems to fade out ever so gently. As much as I try to keep the light going, I sense it going out for a few reasons:

·I haven’t been out of the country since 2006 when I came back with Dengue Fever. I am itching to go on a trip, but need to make school a priority right now.

·My church has a really good missions program, but I didn’t feel as though I could follow with them as their focus is somewhere where mine honestly isn’t. In the midst of everything going on, I had left my church for that very reason. But 7 months later, after not finding a church, God somehow brought me back to Central with the realization that He’s not quite finished with me there yet. And came to the realization that I volunteer with a mission’s agency when I’m not in school. I could get my foot in the door there.

·I really don’t have a lot of people around me who are missionary minded to help keep that flame ignited and it’s hard to be encouraged.

·I am in my 2^nd year of Spanish, and although I can read and write it really well, I don’t feel comfortable speaking it in the slightest. I love the Spanish language, which is why I want to go to a Spanish speaking country. But sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be fluent in it to comfortably tell people about Jesus. I am not immersed in the culture and nobody really speaks to me in Spanish.

·My immune system. Enough said. I should be willing to die for Christ, NO MATTER WHAT, even if that includes me dying from a bug bite. I realize that, but to think how sick I was, how sick I could be if I get bitten by another mosquito, it honestly scares me.

I sometimes think maybe that’s not where I’m supposed to be. Maybe I’m not one of the called anymore because of all of this. But wait…God wouldn’t take something like that away, would he? It could very well be the evil one, just working his magic one. Then God, will put people or situations in my life that help me to remember that yes, I’m being called, just be patient, Brandy. So enough of the negative. Let’s focus on how amazing God is.

·I subscribe to a few people on Xanga who are missionaries. And although I haven’t actually told them this, but they bring so much encouragement to me. I read their blogs, and it’s just about their normal lives, except they are doing what God wants them to do in another country. And I love reading their blogs. So, to MissionaryMommy, EverythingLovely, angiewashington, and wrestlingwithGod, thank you for encouraging me. Even though you may not think you are encouraging me, you most definitely are.

·A few weeks ago, I had to speak at Tres Dias. My talk was about spreading God’s word. What better person to do it, than a girl who wants to be a missionary? I was so encouraged by people who had heard my talk. Many made me cry, because they all thanked me for being one of the called and keeping Jesus’ light going.

·Saturday, I met with the man in charge of the Hispanic Ministry at my church. He said I had been on his heart lately as to why I left, but was glad I was back. He said he knew where my heart was…Chile. Yes, it’s been there since 2005. He said he understood everything as to why I was having the feelings that I did. He really encouraged me in my walk, my missionary walk, and my Spanish walk. He wants me to start attending a Spanish Bible Study, just to listen and then when I’m comfortable enough, I can start participating and maybe volunteering with the kids. I also told him that I so missed my Spanish/English Bible. I had one, but in 2006 gave it to someone in the Dominican Republic. He was just learning English and had just become a Christian. God was telling me to give him that Bible, so I did. He needed it more than I did. But the Spanish/English one I want is $45 and I just haven’t been able to swing it to get another one. What does he do? He TOTALLY hands me a brand new Spanish/English Bible for free, it’s a nice one. That totally made my day.

·And then to top it off, I saw Jim Caviezel yesterday. He came and spoke at a church here in the valley. Do you know who this man is? Let me refresh your memory, he was in GI Jane, Frequency, Count of Monte Cristo, Déjà vu, Pay it Forward. Still doesn’t jog your memory? Have you seen the Passion of the Christ? He’s the man who played Jesus. Yep, yep. I totally met him yesterday. He’s a VERY STRONG Christian. I honestly cried through his entire talk. He talked about how being a Christian is not easy and we are to suffer, because Christ suffered. He said that during filming of the Passion, he actually became so sick from exhaustion and pneumonia that the doctor’s told him he could die. Do you know what he said? He said it didn’t matter, if he lost his life in order to save millions of people by doing that movie, then it was worth everything. I was honored to meet him, shake his hand, and talk to him for a few minutes. He is such a man of God, I had no clue how strong in his faith he is. See, God is AMAZING, but you knew that already, huh?

Have a FANTASTIC day and bask in His love!

Bran

Quote of the day: “You were not made to fit in; you were born to STAND OUT.” Jim Caviezel

40 = no sleep, lots of healing, and a big decision

Well, hello everyone! How are you? I'm good. I'm back from my missions trip. I had an AMAZING time! I didn't want to come home, but that is nothing new for me.

Okay lets start with the 40 hours. Yes! I went 40 straight hours with no sleep. It was weird I wasn't tired at all, I guess when you need to keep going, you just push yourself. But we left late on a Friday night and I didn't finally fall asleep until late the following night. I don't know how I did it.

We flew over some islands on the way to the Dominican Republic. Look what I saw out my plane window:

I don't know what islands these were, but they were beautiful!

We left bright and early the next day to head out to the community of Puello. It's about a five hour drive from Santo Domingo. On our way there, our van was acting funny. We stopped at a mechanic in Bani, he took our money, said he fixed it, even took it for a test drive with our driver, but about 30 miles down the road, the van was barely chugging along. We had a huge truck following us (with all our supplies). This wasn't a normal truck, but it wasn't a semi-truck either. The Food for the Hungry people were gonna flag down a bus to take us the rest of the way. We all decided, nah. We wanted to ride in the back of the truck with the open breeze. So, that is what we did, hopped in the truck and rode an hour into the next town. It was amazing. You really got to see the country that way. I loved it!

Right when we got to the community, we went to work unloading everything. We stayed in a church. Puello was on a long bumpy dirt road, about 20 miles away from the Haiti border. Everything in the community was so green, and the community is surrounded by beautiful mountains and rolling hills.

Yep folks, God's Great Creation right there. It doesn't get any better than that. We were welcomed by the people of Puello (about 200 people total) at the Community Center. The kids said hello to us and sung us a song. They were cute, and I fell in love with them immediately.

The next day was filled with me and two of my other team mates teaching. I had to teach on how children learn and how to prepare a lesson plan. Each lesson received positive feedback. During the day, the men were building latrines (outhouses) at various homes in the community.

I specially brought my Spanish/ English Bible to give to someone. I knew someone needed it more than me. The moment I met Dilio, I knew he was the one I was gonna give it to. Every day, we sat outside and ate lunch, one day the bees were out of hand. I'm severely allergic to bees, for those of you who didn't know. So, I decided to go inside and eat my lunch alone. Dilio came in and sat with me, and began to tell me his story. He has a powerful testimony and it was amazing to see him break down in front of me and cry as he was talking about how awesome God is. He just learned English about a year ago, and speaks it very well, he mentioned how he is beginning to thirst for the word in Spanish as well as English. So, I gave it to him. He told me that Bible I gave him was worth a million dollars. This is him. Everyone said he looks like Alex Rodriguez from the NY Yankees. I guess. Jason, what do you think?

I had to do my lesson on purity for the teenagers two different times. Those two times were the most difficult for me to do. I was talking about keeping your bodies pure for marriage and abstain from sex because God made that for marriage. Those lessons forced me to talk about stuff I don't normally let people in on. Some of my team members said I had the most powerful message. Really? Gosh, okay if you say so.

In between all of that, we were loving on the kids. They are easy to love. Look at these kids:

The second picture is Manuelito. I wanted to take him home. He's a keeper!

We also had the privileged to do 16 home visits. This is where we take the families a bag full of everyday things you use around the house: toiletries, band-aids, antibiotic ointment, washclothes, etc. While we were there we would talk to them about our testimony and tell them about Jesus. Of the 16, we had three people accept Christ. The first one that accepted Christ was very emotional. Vicky (one of my teammates) busted out an old Gospel song, I think it was called "Victory is Mine". We were all singing and clapping, it was amazing. The lady who accepted Christ, her mother was a Christian and had been trying for a long time. As we were leaving, her mother just hugged me, and began thanking me and my team, she was praying for me in Spanish and bawling. Yep....shed some tears at that house. God is so awesome. This is also one of the people who accepted Christ:

He cried when we told him about Jesus. He had heard of him, but said no one had ever really talked to him about Jesus. Again, I had an AMAZING time! I want to go back, I didn't want to get on that plane to come home.

In my title it also talks about healing and another big decision. I can't discuss what the healing was. I don't know if I'll ever discuss it on here. Let's just say I got my head clear. And yes, when I make decisions, they are never small. I can't talk about the decision right now. I need to tell some people personally before I post for all to see. Sorry I am being so sketchy!

Last thing...sickness. Friday morning in the Dominican Republic, I ate something that didn't quite settle with me. I was sick all day Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, I as of right now (Tuesday), I am still not feeling up to par. I got a call earlier from one of my team mates telling me that her and her husband were sick. Her husband was so sick they actually admitted him to the hospital. The doctors think they have Dengue Fever. Another teammate is sick as well. Please keep them in your prayers. I don't have the symptoms of Dengue Fever, but I have some sort of stomach bug!

Anyways, sorry this is long. But seriously, do I ever post short posts? Here are some more pics!

This is what everyone's house looks like.

I came out one day...this is what I saw in the back of the church.

See, that stuff on the roof? That is meat drying in the sun, by the way.

We played Baseball with some of the kids. They can certainly play and they kicked out butts. It's all good though.

This is Ronnie. We dubbed him "Foto Ronnie" as every time we went to take a picture, he would pose.

Chile

Hello everyone in Xanga land! I am back from Chile. Here is how my trip went, day by day.

Friday March 10th:

We leave for the airport bright and early. We get on American West to fly to Los Angeles. When we arrive in LA we are getting on a different airline (LAN) to fly to South America. According to our ticket, we arrive in Los Angeles on time to the minute. It takes us about a half an hour to get over to LAN airlines. We walk up to line and started wondering why A.) We were the only people there and B.) The LAN ticket agents were looking at us twelve ladies in matching red shirts weird.

According to LAN they would not let us on the flight because our plane was late and their aircraft had already left. Did I mention that LAN only has two flights a day that fly to South America and we had just missed the last one? Okay, I calmly tried to explain to the LAN guy that according to our ticket, we where not late. He then stated that you need to give yourself at LEAST 3 hours when flying internationally. What?! I didn’t know that. I had to walk away from him, because I was on the verge of losing my patience. Okay, no biggie, we shall call our ticket agent. She didn’t seem to remember that little detail about the time. While talking to her (I knew I brought that stupid cell phone with me for a reason), the LAN people proceeded to pack up their ticket counter. They took down their signs and left for the day. It’s like they never even existed and they left us (12 women, two of which are teenagers and one who is pregnant, and one with little patience- me) standing there with no solution. We are basically stuck in LA. The ticket agent suggests that we go back to America West to see if they can help in any way. Nope, no luck there. They proceeded to tell us that we had an illegal (YES, illegal! Did I mention that we got these tickets through church?) tickets and they would not help us. They talked to our lovely travel agent and proceeded to tell her it was her fault (which it was) for issuing an illegal ticket. The ticket was illegal because of the time span between flights and it not to be issued that way. She kept saying “Well it’s not my fault; the computer let me do it.” Ummm…hello? You are supposed to know this stuff so it is your fault.

The travel agent suggested that we go to the actual LAN ticket office which is not even in the airport. So Mae and Heidi hopped in a cab and left the rest of us at the airport with 24 bags to watch. They left at 4:30, the LAN office was supposed to close @ 5 p.m., but they were gracious enough to try to help us figure everything out. After 4 ½ hours of compromising and $3200.00 later, all 12 of us had tickets to get on a flight on Sunday, March 12^th. While we were trying to get that settled the travel agent got us reservations at the Best Western as we would be spending the weekend in Los Angeles. Best Western was nice enough to reserve the rooms with a credit card and said to call him when we were ready and he would have the courtesy shuttle van pick us up at airport. About 9 p.m., we finally were ready to go to the hotel. I called and said, “We might need more than one bus, as we have 12 women, and 24 bags (each girl took one personal bag and one ministry bag).” I know he heard me because he said “24 bags???” He said he would send someone to pick us up. So the guy gets there and freaks out because the hotel manager didn’t tell him there was 12 women and 24 bags. He only thought there was one. Poor guy! He took like three of us and loaded up as much baggage as he could. Okay there are two Best Western’s by the airport. One is Airport and one is Airpark. Well they took us to Airport one. The poor guy (I really felt sorry for him) unloaded the whole van, only for the hotel to tell me they didn’t have a reservation for us. HUH? You have got to be kidding me! She called; Airpark and they have the reservation for us. You should have seen the look on the van driver’s face. Okay finally got to the hotel and had to shell out $630.00 more dollars for 3 hotel rooms for two days. We wound up ordering a large amount of pizza and eating the day away.

For some reason some of my guy friends decided to call me that night and I was getting some serious razzing from the ladies about them all calling me in one night (Travis, Reed, Adam, and Mark). Honestly, if I was at home, they wouldn’t have called!

Saturday, March 11^th:

Okay, spending the day in California. I have never been there before, so we decided to rent a van and go see the coast. We saw Huntington Beach and ate at Fred’s Mexican Grill. Yummy food by the way! It was super windy and cold, so we hopped in the van and drove down to Newport Beach. By that time it was sprinkling, but we braved the weather and went over to Balboa Island. It was pretty cool, I enjoyed my California trip. Came back and ate left over pizza from the night before. Life is good and we are getting on that plane tomorrow. We couldn’t figure out why God wanted us in California for two days, but we did some serious praying.

Sunday, March 12^th:

Okay, got on the plane and flew for a very long time! Stopped in Lima, Peru, but we didn’t get off the plane.

Monday, March 13^th:

Arrived in Santiago, Chile about 7 a.m. Legs are sore from sitting so long (it’s about 13 hours). We arrive in baggage claim (an hour later, we had to get Visa’s, go through Immigration) and I hear “Hola, Brandy!” I look up and I see Yolanda (she is in charge of Women’s Ministry at El Faro, the church we are working with), Susanna (Children’s Ministry) & Hal (one of our missionaries). We get to the church, drop off our ministry bags and head to our families house to freshen up (I guess we were pretty funky after flying for so long) and then we are off to see Santiago. Hal works with IberoAmerican Ministries (IAM) and he took us on a tour of other churches in Maipu that are under IAM. It was amazing to see God’s hands at work with these other churches and how they are influencing different communities. We went to a school in one of the poor neighborhoods. The school wasn’t big, but it was a Christian school and the kids were taught about Jesus as well as normal school activity. They love to see the “Gringas”. That is what the Chileans call us (out of love, they say). I decided at the moment that I needed to become fluent in Spanish, get my teaching degree, and come back down there. I want to work there! The lady who started the school explained how God had provided for her to be able to start this school. It gave me goose bumps.

After touring the different churches, we had lunch. YUMMY! It was awesome, meat and potatoes. Okay, full tummies we headed out to see Santiago. I know having a tour day on a mission? Hal has started doing that so we can learn about the city and culture. It made for a long day, as we covered a good portion of Santiago that day by foot!

During the day, I somehow inherited another “gringa”. I now have 12 heads to keep track of. Lindsay is from Texas and happen to be down this week exploring the missions’ field. She was awesome and she can speak more Spanish then I can!

Tuesday, March 14^th:

We spent all day at Casa de Esperanza (House of Hope). This is for the kids in the neighborhood that we ministered to. In Chile, the kids only go to school for half the day. You either go in the morning or afternoon. HOH provides a place to go during the time they are not in school. It keeps them off the street and they are able to get a hot meal. For some of the kids it’s the only thing they will eat all day. Most of their parents are alcoholics or drug users and don’t care for their children. HOH provides guidance and lots of love! The plan while we were there was to make sugar cookies with them and decorate them. Smidgy of a problem, the recipe we had was in English and the measurements are different in Spanish. So…we improvised and kept adding stuff until the dough tasted somewhat decent. We figured the kids wouldn’t care about the cookies as they will be loaded with frosting, etc.I got to visit with Elesio (he’s the little boy I used to sponsor; Sheri’s mom now has him). I even got to have lunch with him. He’s such a big brother, his younger sisters, Catalina & Camilla come to HOH also; he was making sure his sister’s needs were met before his. Most of the day was spent just playing with the kids and loving on them. I had a sick team leader on my hands. She was the first…

Wednesday, March 15^th

We spent the morning, preparing for the Women’s retreat (which occurred Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). We made decorations and prepared crafts for the upcoming nights. During lunch, Sue asked the big question to Yolanda and Susanna….what do you need spiritually and physically so we can pray for you. Now, I knew there was some problems down in Chile, but I had no clue what was happening. Both women stated that they weren’t happy and were emotionally drained. Both are looking to leave the church after the retreat that we were planning. A little info about this church, there are no paid staff, they are all volunteers. The people they do have on staff are limited, there is less than six. The church has been struggling for a long time as it was started and funded by someone who worked for IberoAmerican. He has since left and the money he put into the church completely ran out in December. The church is in a neighborhood that is stricken with drugs, alcohol, gangs, incest, abuse, etc. Susanna started sobbing hysterically stating that her family doesn’t want to leave the church, but she and Yolanda were at their wits end. Susanna and Yolanda both said they can’t meet the needs of everyone in the neighborhood as they are only one person. After they talked to us about losing faith in God, we all sat down and prayed for them, the church, and the neighborhood. It was an emotional prayer time, although the Chilean’s couldn’t understand English, they sat and prayed with us. At that moment, language had no barrier.

In the afternoon was our Chilean Adventure Day. We were given a list of stuff that we had to go buy. We were to get on a city bus, go to the plaza (big shopping center, with different stores, almost like a strip mall) and we were to buy certain things. It was almost like a scavenger hunt and we were to see what life is like as a Chilean woman. We did have Chilean women with us, but they were not allowed to help us in any way. The women stayed outside the store and we had to go in and order different things that would make us use our language (or lack there of). It was fun, although I wished it lasted longer. One of my team members got off the bus before the rest of her group and found herself alone. She freaked out and so did Susanna. They were both crying. Everything turned out okay. It became a running joke that every time I turned my back, one of my girls was crying.

Thursday, March 16^th:

First day of the women’s retreat. We spent the mornings doing last minute lesson changes and crafts. Thursday is the Feria, which is a huge swap market that parks right in front of the church. We printed up invitations to the retreat and passed them out in the Feria to the women. We all had invites and the Chilean’s told us what needed to be said, “Tengo una invitacion para ti.” After passing out the invites, we then knocked on doors in the surrounding barrio inviting women to come to the retreat. Don’t worry about your kids, bring them, we will take care of them! Here is when we saw how bad the poverty was. Some of the girls got upset and started crying because they had never seen anything like that before. We passed by a door, Susanna said we would not knock on it because there was really bad people living there. I couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t knock. So as we passed by the second time, I took an extra invitation I still had and rolled it up and stuck it in there door. Hey! I’m trying to plant a seed! I don’t know if they came or not. My team members did lessons on Bible Basics, Self Worth, and Prayer. We also did a lot of crafts, they love crafts. I had another team member sick.

Friday, March 17^th:

Second day of retreat. We went to more doors and invited more people. We all took a chance and ate some sort of fruit off the tree, it was pretty good. I have no clue what it was.Came back and did a prayer walk around the neighborhood. My group didn’t get very far; we just went to the park and prayed for a spiritual awakening. I spent most of the night caring for the little ones upstairs so their moms could enjoy the retreat. I was able to come down for a little bit. There was the cutest baby, Martin, there. I asked his mom if I could hold him, she said sure. I sat down with him and was playing Peek-a-boo. I was trying to shush him because he was laughing so hard at me. Lol, he was the cutest!

My team members did lessons on Worship, Quiet Time, Friendship, Evangelizing, Stumbling Blocks and Family as well as more crafts.

Mae did the stumbling blocks lesson and had everyone write down on a piece of paper what they are struggling with and what is keeping them from God.

Saturday, March 18^th:

Final preparations for the retreat. I know we did a lot of preparations! The Chileans are famous for changing things very last minute!

We spent more time in prayer for the neighborhood and church. We sat down and prayed over the stuff the women had written down. We didn’t look at them, no need to. God knows what they are struggling with.

Again, I spent most of the time upstairs with the children. It’s hard trying to keep them occupied and to discipline them when you don’t speak Spanish very well! I did my lesson on spiritual gifts, then we did finding God’s will and doing what you love (Sweet Spot), Missions, and to top off the night, we did Victory in Christ speech. We offered an invitation, although no one came down. That’s okay. God needs to work on their hearts, and they might not be ready to commit to Christ yet. Again, God will work it out in our own time. The end of the retreat was emotional as usual. They pulled all the ladies on my team up front, and then the Chilean women circled us and lifted us up in prayer. Very emotional!

Sunday, March 19^th:

Last day in Chile. We had breakfast with our families and the headed out to church. The worship was absolutely beautiful! Ah, the greeting time is so much more different than Central. Their greeting time takes about 20 minutes. You have to go around and kiss everyone on the cheek! It’s fun trying to remember who you have greeted!

Rochelle gave her self worth lesson again to the whole church. Sue was scheduled to do the sermon. From what I heard she did her “White Horse” sermon. Again, I missed it, because I was upstairs with the kids. That’s okay. I love kids, and I’m the team leader. So I missed out on some things to build relationships with the ninos. No biggie.

Susanna grabs my hand and we run back into service just in time for them once again to call us up to the front of the church to present us with lighthouse statues. The name of the church is El Faro, which means lighthouse in Spanish. They sang Friends from Michael W. Smith to us in Spanish. Yeah, I love that song and life is so good! All week long I have been saying that I didn’t want to leave, the same thing I said last year. Yeah, I feel God has got some plans for me there.

After church, we run to the store to pick of 40 (yes, 40) containers of Manjar. Yes, it’s the absolute best stuff on earth and I did a manjar run for almost everyone on the team. Went home, had lunch with our families, packed up, and headed to the airport. We took a school bus to the airport and it was packed with Chilean people wanting to say goodbye to all of us! That’s okay, it was fun!

Okay, that is it for now. I know this is long, but I had to inform you about my trip! Thank you for all your prayers! I definitely felt them!

Ciao,

Brandy