On a journey...

You might wonder what the two have to do with each other, but if you read on you will find out. On Tuesday evening I went to a meeting here where a couple that works with orphanages shared a bit of their story. It was so exciting and encouraging and really just shows how God is so powerful and how when we walk with Him and partner with Him, amazing things happen. Basically this guy, Judah Becker, was working in missions in Thailand and one day as he was driving up to a village he saw a truck full of crying children drive past him. Asking what was going on he found out that the crop of the village of the children had failed, and so they had decided that every family would sell a child into prostitution to survive. Obviously this totally messed Judah up and the short version is that God gave him the idea to plant coffee to give the villages a sustainable crop to sustain themselves and hence not need to sell their children anymore. And that was what happened and now these villages don’t s...

“Not much”, I think is the answer. Although, that’s not quite correct, I’ve had quite an adventurous weekend (in the mildest sense of the word). Let me see, where do I start? Well, Thursday when I last wrote was really good. I got to join with a team for a bit in the evening, which was really good fun and it lifted my spirits as I am totally a team person! The whole week had been quite tense because of adjustments with our household and people coming and going. On Saturday two of the girls I shared with were moving out and since Friday night they were packing, my other housemate and I went shopping. We figured it was easier to not get caught up in the chaos that packing to move houses is. It was fun to go shopping, even if we only went to Wall-Mart and HyVee (big grocery and other thing shops). We got a few bits and pieces for the house to make it more homely and generally just had fun looking at all the stuff they have. We’d decided that when the other girls had moved we’d do a big cl...

Well, as I opened my blog today I realised that it’s been a while since last I wrote. There has been plenty to write about, I just haven’t done it. Oh well. So here I am sat in my room. A set from the prayer room yesterday, meditating on Psalm 139, is playing in my ears so I find I’m switching between listening and writing which is a good way to write a blog (although maybe not the most time efficient, but I have time; I’m doing my laundry so I’m stuck in the house for a few hours). At the moment the chorus being sung over and over again is: “Nothing in all creating is hidden from the sight of God. Everything in all creation is laid bare before your eyes.” I am sat on a pillow on the floor with another pillow resting against my bed to support my back. My bed is kind of rickety (I think that’s the right word) and has wheels under it, so I can’t sit in it leaning towards the wall (it’s a little bit strange…). So in want of a nice, comfortable chair I can lounge in, I am sat on the floor ...

Well, it’s been a while since last update and the week gone by has different things I want to write down so I don’t forget them, so here we go, a little “my diary” style update… Friday 17th October- The edge of Hell Friday evening I went with a friend on mine on the IHOP evangelistic outreach to the famous “Haunted Houses”. As far as I understood, this time of year (i.e. Halloween time) they set up haunted houses, like ghost houses, where people pay and ride through them and get scared (that’s it in a nutshell, and it’s good business too. Someone offered us tickets for 2 houses “a combo” for US$ 46!). One of the haunted houses is actually called “the edge of hell”, so what better place to go to talk to people the reality of heaven. It was quite hard to engage people in conversation. Not quite like Brazil I must say. But in spite of feeling like a fish out of water I did talk to a few people. One was this homeless man I spotted (with my eyes that always notice street people, I guess it’...

Well, since I last wrote I have actually moved. It is lovely to be so close to the prayer room…it only takes 4 minutes, and I still have people giving me lifts if it’s raining (which is nice because heavy rain is capable of getting you pretty wet even if it’s only a short walk). Sat her in my nice room I am feeling a bit culture shocked though. Today it suddenly hit me again… it’s weird how culture shock does that, hits you at different times. I’ll be totally fine and then I’ll be close to tears, like I am writing this. I had such a lovely afternoon today. I met up with a few friends from Commission and we went to Panera for lunch. It was so nice to catch up and just hang out. I came home and went to do my laundry, which is tricky because it means going into the flat in the cellar and it feels strange to walk into someone else’s home. And so that just got me all insecure in how to go about the whole thing. I did get my washing on in the end and now it’s in the dryer on this great setti...

Life goes on. I am still settling in here in Kansas City. I looked at a room to live in last week and decided to take it. It’s only 4 minutes to walk from the prayer room, has nice wooden floors and is a lovely house. I signed the contract yesterday and will move today. I feel peace yet a bit sad to leave my friends’ house. It’s been so lovely to live with people I know and be a part of life here. It’s funny how you get to catch up on a different level when you share day-to-day life. And being a good walk away from the prayer room has given me a chance to let others bless me with lifts. Other then my friends how live here, a couple of other people have kindly given me rides. Yesterday a lovely lady who was on her way in the other direction turned around and came back to give me a life because it was raining, and yesterday morning a lady stopped as I was walking to the prayer room at 6 am and gave me a lift. So I have been very blessed. It has also been quite nice to walk when it’s been...

I am finally in Kansas City. It is so great to be back here, it feel like I’ve finally got to where I am supposed to be. My friend Maria picked me up when I arrived on Wednesday and it was great seeing her again. I am staying at her house with her, her gorgeous little son, and a friend of hers with her 3 boys. No need to say that it’s not the quietest house I’ve ever lived in, but I do like the life the children bring and they are all very sweet. It’s such a blessing to be able to stay here while I figure things out. And these 3 days that I’ve been here I feel so blessed. I’ve connected with a few people I knew from before and being back in the prayer room feels so normal. I am also well on my way in getting things sorted so I can start working. Today I went to get my social security number and it took, oh let’s see, all of about 5 or maybe 10 minutes to get it sorted and it’ll be sent to me in the post. And so I feel like things keep moving forward and God continues just opening those...