Jackson Mississippi: Harvest School Extended Outreach

First of all stop for the one who is The One and worship Him, and then stop for the one in front of you, it’s that simple. –Heidi Baker

It's that simple...

 

Alright y'all...Mississippi…where do I even start. When I reflect back on my time in Mississippi I am just filled with so much thankfulness and joy in how good the Lord is. I am so thankful that he uprooted my original outreach plans and paved a way for me to go to Jackson and serve with We Will Go for two and a half weeks. I even got 3 extra days, since flights kept getting canceled and switched around. Thank you Jesus!!! Even with those three extra days it did not seem like long enough, Jackson stole a bit of my heart and it was quite heartbreaking to leave.

To start out the trip, I flew into Jackson very sick. My fever was at 103, body aches and chills, I was feeling quite miserable. When the team picked us up I was immediately wrapped in love. Like, literally! I felt someone hug me from behind and just start praying over me. The peace of Jesus came down as they continued to pray for me throughout our ride. 

I was taken to the hospital by two girls I had just met, Zakiya and Lindsay who instantly felt like sisters. How wonderful that Jesus can do that!! I’m sure we had the nurses and doctor wondering why we were there, as they heard plenty of laughter coming from our room. You want to know what love looks like? That day it looked like, taking a girl they had just meet to the hospital and sitting with, praying over, and keeping the humor and joy flowing for 6 hours.  I felt the love. It’s that simple.

Zakiya and Lyndsey were only in Jackson for one night, and they spent it in the Emergency room with me. Bless them Jesus!

I know my transition back into America from Harvest School was made much smoother by going to We Will Go for outreach. The We Will Go team is such a family, they are living the Acts community and it is beautiful!! So many students after harvest school (myself included) seem to be struggling with transition home and really missing the community that we were so blessed to live in while in Mozambique. I think we miss it so much because that’s how we are meant to live…together, with Jesus as our focus and center, loving him first and for most and then from there, from intimacy with Him we get to see the fruitfulness of the overflow of His love to others. At We Will Go they live in community with each other. I saw His love overflowing from them and into their neighbors and friends and each other. It’s simple. It’s beautiful.

Rebecka's first time to America! :) Papa Dan would make us an amazing breakfast each morning. We were so blessed to have Dan and Ruanne as our outreach leaders!

We ate some southern cookin'...fried catfish, fried okra, fried everything! It's a bit rough on the stomach after rice and beans for two and a half months.

  
Christmas day: My blind eyes opened

I know now why the Lord had put it on my heart to stay through Christmas, besides the fact that it was His grace in allowing me to slowly transition back into America and the craziness that tends to be the holidays. I’ll be the first to admit that it is hard coming from a third world nation where I saw people starving and held babies with bloated bellies with witch doctor bands tied around their waist, lived with a 23 year old mama and her 8 children for a night in a mud hut with holes in the wall that was infested with bedbugs and saw rats running around. My first thoughts back in America were “We are so rich! Even the poor in America are rich!!!” 

Throughout my first week in Jackson the Lord would often ask me as I was talking with a neighbor or a friend “Do you see them Mindy? Do you really see them?” I kept praying that the Lord would open my eyes, because there was obviously something I was not seeing since He was asking me this as I was physically staring right at them. I realize now that I was blind and the Lord was preparing to open my eyes. 

On Christmas day Ashley, one of the We Will Go interns, and I went to visit a few of the neighbors and it was during our visit on that street that the Lord said “Mindy, do you see them? They are much poorer than the ones in Africa.” My heart broke and I realized how blind I had been. Yes, it’s a different kind of poor. It’s a poorness of spirit, and it breaks His heart. The neighbors we visited were alone. It was Christmas and they were alone. The poor I was with in Africa might not have known where their next meal was going to come from but they had each other. The mama has her 8 children and her brothers and her mother that live with her. Many of them know the Lord and have the Joy of the Lord in them, and they trust that He will provide all that they need. Day to day they lean into Him and praise Him for what He provides. Christmas day the Lord really showed me His heart for the poor and lost in America. I will never be the same, in my time in Mozambique I learned the fathers heart for me as His daughter, and He placed His love in my heart. He brought me to Mississippi to see and to transplant His love to a deeper level that I would not have had if I had not gone. I saw the fathers heart in the We Will Go team as I had the privilege of watching them love on their neighbors and truly know them and love them for who they are. It’s that simple. 

This is my beautiful friend Ashley, who I mention in the Christmas day story above.

I skyped with a friend this week and we were talking about our transitions since harvest school. I just loved what she said “I am a broken vessel; my responsibility is to just go and leak Jesus.” Wherever we are, wherever we go…we get to leak Jesus. He loves us, He uses us. It’s that simple. Heidi Baker said she told the Lord once "If  you can use a donkey you can use me!" She told us "God can use anyone who is yielded." Yield to Him. It's that simple.  

Note for my Harvest School friends: Farish district is where we planted the tent stake. Please keep it in your prayers! I’m excited to see the healing and restoration the Lord has in store for this street.

Some of the house on Farish that will be restored

The cross above where we put the tent stake

Tent stake from Pemba. From the nations to the nations. This land belongs to the Lord!

Mama Angela

A definition I found for immerse:   enclose or envelop completely, as if by swallowing.

I found this definition fitting for what Harvest School calls immersion. I was given the privilege of living for 24 hours with a mama in the village. We would be immersed into her life, do everything that she did…cook with her over hot coals in 100 degree heat, fetch water from the well attempting to carry it on my head the way she did, clean the dishes in about an inch of dirty water, sweep the dirt yard, play with the children, go to bed by 7pm and attempt to sleep on African day bed with a few grass mats.

I arrived at the mamas house with Anke and Heidi. Anke is from Germany and Heidi from Norway. What a ragtag group of internationals we were. You want to talk about language barriers and culture differences…we had a bit of everything. Our Mama’s name was Angela, she told us she was 23 years old and had 8 children (think about that for a minute...23 years old, 8 children). 8 Children meant there were normally at least twice that amount running around, to this day I’m not sure what kids were hers and what where just neighbors visiting. Within the first 30 minutes of being at her home she laid down some grass mats for us all to sit around and instantly all 3 of us had little girls braiding hour hair. It hurt sooooo bad!!!! I really wanted to tell them no, but I remembered what one of the house moms said before we headed out for immersion “remember the Lord wont give you more than you can handle.” And then Heidi Baker came into my head with “What does love look like?” and for that moment love looked like letting three little girls braid my entire head of hair.

Mama Angela took us for a walk through the village to visit her sister who had a one month old bady. So adorable! She also showed us the market where she bought us some mangos that we had for dessert after dinner. She cooked us some kind of fish stew and was poured over a huge bed of rice. The fish were just mini little guys, with their heads and eyeballs, bones, tails and fins and everything just thrown right in. I thanked the Lord that by the time we were eating it was dark out so I did not have to see the eye looking at me. It actually was very delicious, but I did have a rough time getting over the crunch of the bones.

It gets dark by 5:30pm so we were literally in bed by 7:30pm! The mama gave us her best. We had one African day bed and a grass mat on the floor. Anka and Heidi switched on and off the cot with me until the both decided the floor was more comfortable. I keep checking the time, thinking hours had gone by when really only 15 minutes had pass. It really was one of the longest nights of my life. I was getting eaten by bedbugs all night long. I thought as I laid there in the dark, praying for the sun to rise quickly “Our dogs in America have better beds than this mama will ever see.”

This experience really showed me how blessed I am. Do you realize how blessed you are? I pray that the Lord would continue to give me a thankful heart. Even now that I am back home in America, where we are so so blessed to have too much stuff! We have all that we need and so much more. I pray that I would not forget to be thankful for the little things that really aren’t little things at all. 2/3^rds of the world live like they do in Africa. Running water is a big deal!!! Clean water to drink is huge!! Hot water, wow, such a blessing to get to take a hot shower!!!! A stove to cook on, a comfy bed to sleep in that’s bedbug free, carpet in our living room with comfy couches, food, so much food.

I am reminded today of a something Heidi Baker said during harvest school. “We are called to come with great humility and great love.” Keep me humble Lord, give me your heart and love for each person I encounter today. Give me a thankful heart, help me remember how blessed I am. You are always so good to me!!

This is a picture of my neck after the night getting eaten by bedbugs. Oh these things itch so much!!! They were all over my back, stomach, arms, hands and even my face.

A Few Fun Stories From Africa

Friday night I went out with a big group of harvest school students and leaders to do some street ministry with the prostitutes and pimps. There is a group that goes out every Friday night but this was the first time I have joined in. It was an incredible experience! I was on a street ministry team were we would walk around praying and bringing in the kingdom and see who God highlighted to us.

We talked and prayed for one lady who owns a little bar. Sarah (one of the harvest school staff) had a word about her having bad dreams about things from her childhood. The bar owner confirmed that she did and Sarah asked if it was okay to pray for her. You could literally see her demeanor change after the prayer! It was like a weight had lifted. She was smiling and joking and seemed just so filled with joy. We also brought a few of the girls we found on the street back to the hut were some of the students stayed back to wash feet and do their nails and just pray for and love on them. This is just one of the amazing ministries that IRIS has here. It was an honor to get to join in for the night.

 
My regular practical mission is sewing school materials. Basically ever Friday morning I get to cut and fold fabric for capalians and purses that the Mamas and widows sew throughout the week. It's been a very chill practical. I expected to be doing more. But the lord has really been working on me while I've been here that it's about resting in Him. Easier said than done when my western mind is always telling me to run and strive and earn. But really He loves us! He loves us!!! The end!!! We can rest in His love.

One more fun story...this morning my color group was on for greeting team at church. When Mama Heidi came in she made a point to hug each one of us. Not only that but she made a point to look into my eyes after the hug. I don’t think I have ever seen such intense eyes filled with so much love. This really is an amazing lady who has fully given her life to the Lord. She knows what love looks like and truly does stop for the one.

Again I just want to thank you all for your support and prayers in getting me here! I feel so spoiled to be here on this amazing adventure growing more and more in love with our awesome God!
 
With so much love
Mindy

Pemba Africa

Mississippi, Fun Facts, and Quotes!

Headed into week 5 of harvest school. Again so much has happened that I hardly know were to starts. First I want to say again what a blessing it is to be here! I want to thank you all again for your support and prayers in getting me here.

Outreach Change:
I'm changing my outreach at the end of school. Originally I was going to be staying in Mozambique to do the 10 day bush outreach and then staying at the base here in Pemba to help with the Christmas celebration.
God has since put it on  my heart to change to the Mississippi outreach. Amy Lancaster was here for a week and a half sharing her heart with us. My color group had the opportunity to meet with her in a small group and while meeting with her and getting to ask questions about her ministry wewillgo in Jackson Mississippi. I really felt like God was telling me I needed to change outreaches. At first I was fighting it, realizing how hard and costly it would be to change flights. But that night as I was in bed I asked the Lord for conformation. I asked if I was meant to go on the bush outreach that He wold give me dreams about the Bush and if I was meant to go to Mississippi that He would give me dreams about Mississippi. The next 3 nights I had dreams about Mississippi.
Since I have felt such peace about the Mississippi outreach. I am emailing with the travel agent now trying to work out flight changes. Normally I would be so stressed out about getting everything changed and the finances of it all but I just have such a peace. I know that the Lord has called me to do this and He will provide all that I need.
I will be staying in Jackson through Christmas. I am also praying about the possibility of heading to the One Thing conference and spending some time in the prayer house before heading home.
I would love prayers for this as I am in the process of getting it all figured out now.

Fun Facts:
-On day 16 in Pemba I took my 4th shower (bucketbaths more often than a shower since the water is out often)
-When your leg breaks through the latrine on outreach and you fall a good foot and a half...you get a HUGE adrenaline rush!!!
-When a man gives a gift to a woman in this culture it means you are engaged....
-2/3rds of the world lives like they do here in Africa
-If a guard explains that he is getting bit and you offer him some bug spray...he may thank you over and over again as he walks away and you will never see your good bug spray again.
-If you go out to eat, there is a good chance you wont see your food for and hour and a half.
-Holding a baby with a bloated belly and nothing on but the rope the witch doctor has tied around her belly will give you such a mix of emotions...I don't even have the words to explain.
-When you pray with your housemates and cast out the bugs in Jesus name during week one after having roaches, lizards, ants ect. We can now testify going into week 5 that we have had no more critters!!! Praise the Lord!!!
-Pooping is a time to rejoice!!!
-Fanny is a much different word to all other English speakers that are not from America.

Quotes from Heidi: I wish I could share all the context and heart of these quotes but I hope that even these little tidbits you can find some wisdom and joy to add to your life.

"All of you are called to do radical things for God"
"When you release, God grows it"
"You need to walk in the shoes God has given you, not somebody elses"
"Don't try to control people, just press in for the presence"
"The key to finishing strong is giving love and receiving love. We have to have a relationship with Him"
"Ask Jesus what love looks like in your situation everyday"
"We are called to come with great humility and great love"
"A good prayer to pray is...don't leave me like this"
"If you spend time in Gods presence, He can do in a moment what would take you a life time to do"
"Whatever He asks of you, He will provide"
"Radical lovers do far more than slaves"
"God says think bigger-your vision is too small"
"The primary purpose why God has called you is because He wants to be your friend"
"I don't do evangelism, I don't do outreach. I am outreach."

Final note:
I'll leave you all with something from Colossians that the Lord keeps bringing me back to the past couple of days: Teaching me more and more what love really looks like. Real Love. True Love. Unconditional Love...

Colossians 3:12-15 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness. and patience. Make allowances for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Safari, First week in Pemba, The bush bush

Our ride

Our amazing tour guides! Loved them!!

Hello Friends and family!

I’ve now been in Pemba for a week and a half. Internet is not easy to access here. It’s quite a chore getting into town and back, so these updates won’t happen to often.  But don’t worry, I am doing great and getting wrecked in His love everyday!

Safari:

To start off…Kelsi and I had the amazing blessing of being able to go on a safari in South Africa before school started. It was so much fun! We had the most amazing tour guides who had so much knowledge about Africa and the animals, and just such a love for Gods creation.

Safari crew :)

African Beauty!

Our safari hats brought all the way from Northstar golf course in Fairbanks Alaska

 
































The first week of Harvest School:

WOW! So good! Steve Long was our first speaker from Ontario Canada. He spoke on the fathers heart and the focus was on us receiving His love.

Our school consists of 28 nations! How cool is that!?!?! There are all ages here as well. Married couples with babies, and children, ladies in there 50’s and then the 18 and 20 some things like myself.

The Lord has been doing some deep healing in my life even within these first few weeks. I don’t even know how to put it all into words. He has been tearing down walls, cleaning me of anger, jealousy, dealing with an orphaned spirit, and fear.

Our first day with Heidi Baker she told us “A good prayer to pray is, Lord don’t leave me like this”. She talked from Ephesians and how it says every spiritual blessing has been given to us. God actually says to us “think bigger, your vision is too small!’  We are called to be radical lovers! Heidi said to us “Radical lovers do far more than slaves”. Amen! I want to be so filled with His love that it overflows. Let there be no room in my heart or mind that is not of Him.

Outreach/The bush bush

Wednesday evening I found out that I would be leaving for the bush bush for outreach Thursday after class. I’ll admit I was freaking out! I was like I’ve only been here a week! No WAY! I’m not ready! HAHA!

We were split into groups of about half Mozambique pastors from the bible school and half Harvest School students. We will be in these groups for the rest of our time here. It ended up being such an amazing time! We arrived to the village after dark and found the chief of the village to get permission to stay in the village. We were actually blessed to be able to camp in a back yard with a fence and a latrine.

Friday morning we went into the village to tell people we would be showing the Jesus video and pray for the sick. The first people we ran into were hiking back with water (the women carry about the size of a five gallon bucket on there heads like it’s no big deal!) and sugar cane. They immediately handed up a sugarcane pole as a gift. What a humbling experience, to be given a gift from them. You almost want to say NO NO! Keep it! But it’s such an honor, you can’t say no. They took us back to their home and again had us sit in their best seats. The Mozambique pastors said we must, it’s the place of honor. The village was all mud huts with straw roofs. They cooked over fires and have to walk to collect water each day. We asked if we could pray for them and the lady told us she had foot and knee pain. After we prayed for her she stood up with the biggest smile and said the pain was gone.  The Mozambique pastors translated for us and she said “I’m afraid that if you go it will come back.” We were able to share with her that Jesus loves her and healed her, and she does not have to be afraid that it would come back. We then prayed for her husbands shoulder pain and he was totally healed! He then asked if Jesus could help him with his addiction to alcohol, so we were then able to pray with him for that. It was so good! And that was just the first people we prayed with that day. We also were able to share about Jesus with some Muslims, who came to Jesus! And a couple who told us they were about to separate but wanted Jesus to help them because they did not want to separate.

The Jesus video was so good! We prayed and surrounded the camp in intercession the whole time. So many gave their hearts to the Lord and came up for prayer and healing. I could go on and on with story after story but I realize this is already getting long.

Please know that I miss you all so much! I actually got sick on outreach with a bad cold/chest cough (just the Lord helping me to lean even further into Him).  But I will admit I was feeling quite homesick and missing the comforts of home this past week. Please pray for health for me. It’s been hard feeling so tired and sick.

Like I said I won’t have access to internet often but please do email or facebook me! I would love to hear from you all and have news from home and what’s going on in your lives!

Blessings and love to you!!!

Mindy

Africa, it's time!

Hello again friends!

 

Tomorrow at 9:30am I'll be on a flight headed for Africa! I'll admit that I was stressing out this evening, and eventually found myself crying. I think all the little things finally caught up to me, all the rushing, packing, figuring out finances, paperwork, emails, and so many hard goodbyes. Even if it's only for 3 months, goodbyes are always hard...at least for me. I'm not good at goodbyes.
 

I'm happy to say that I am all packed and feeling much more ready. I praise the Lord for good friends who call and pour peace and sense into my life!
 

I would love for you to be praying for me as I travel and make the transition into living in Africa for the next 3 months. I want to have an open mind and heart to all that the Lord will be speaking and doing in me.
 

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Reflections from Mexico

I wanted to share a few pictures of my trip to Mexico to visit Marnie. It really was such a blessing to get to visit and see a little bit of the life Marnie is living down there. God is so so so good!!! My time in Mexico was good for my soul in the deepest way possible. I had not laughed as hard as I did on this trip in a long time. It was so fun to see how much Marnie loves where she is at and the ministry she is doing. It was a reminder of how great God really is, and what ministry is supposed to be. It's meant to be something we enjoy and that brings us life and happiness. Sure it's not always a cake walk and life has it's ups and downs. But we really are meant to live life to the fullest and to enjoy it! When we seek God's will and follow where He leads we can walk in that to! It was so great to see a good friend living that life.

Rainy season in Mexico, lots of cool storms and fun suprise rainshowers:

One of my favorite quotes from Marnie was when we got caught walking home in a surprise flash flood like rain storm "we might as well have some fun in this cause otherwise we're just going to be miserable!"

Marnie, myself and Kate in front of one the Catholic cathedrals

Another brightly colored curch

 Bussin it

View of the city from the piramides in Cholula

Walking the circulo

Huge tacos with cactus and spaghetti

So so good!!

Our new little friend showing us a turtle

Just a little Lucha Libre Wrestling

The 4

Inside the worlds smallest active volcano

Volcano

In front of the volcano

Marnie's team getting ready to play some softball

Marnie and her killer arm

Marnie sharing at church about her trip to the London Olympics

The Girls (rooftop of Marnie and Yost's casa)

:)

This birdnest is just outside Marnie's window

Popo trying to clear up for us

Finally on our last full day in Puebla we had a clear view :)

View from Marnie's rooftop