Posted in General Posts by Malisa Thompson on 7/28/2010
Ready??? OK!
You will see how that applies later. (Insert secretive chuckle).
Zanzibar has been a blessing! We arrived here without a plan for ministry, on a literally 99% Muslim island, with no cover whatsoever for ministry. So we sought after the Lord. Matthew 6:33 has been permanently carved into my heart. "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need." What a blessing that has proved to be!
So we prayer walked up and down the streets of the small town we were staying in at the southern tip of Zanzibar, Jambiani. The town is a long strip that follows the beach with one small broken road separating the buildings into two long strips. All the women kept their hair covered and everyone spoke Arabic. The traditional calls to prayer were constantly reminding us the spiritual state of the town. The first day we prayer walked, we intentionally connected with the major non-profit of the area, ZAP (Zanzibar.. blah.. Project). Our team met the leader of ZAP and volunteered our time and hands to their projects, but their leader, Toni, let us know that ZAP had no current need for us. Then, before disappointment had a chance to set in, Toni told us about a Christian on the island that she could connect us with. Intrigued, Toni told us the beginnning of Rosie's story. Rosie is a Dar native who became a Christian at the age of eleven when she was healed by her mother's church. She gave her life to Christ and then went to school in Dar to learn about God. Rosie was send to Zanzibar upon graduating to spread the news of the gospel to the highly unhospitable island. She has had two churches burned down, multiple death threats, and currently meets with a group of eight believers who know the gospel and the Lord even in the face of extreme persecution.
We spent the rest of our time at Zanzibar thinking about Rosie and her extreme circumstances. We were so moved by her story! And we wanted to meet her and encourage her and just see what faith had kept her strong in the face of such adversity! On the next to last day, true to the way God has been working throughout our whole trip, God directly answered Angie's prayer for us to meet Rosie. A group of three of us (as we split up during our daily prayer walks) met a random man (who we had all met the day before, in a chance conversation with Toni). The rastafarian looking guy told them that Rosie was in town and then proceeded to take them to her!! What an incredible turn of events!!
The three came back to the team exstatic!! They had plans to bring us all to Rosie's house the next day!! We were overjoyed! We had no news for days and then God provided miraculously for us to meet Rosie. Allee and I, fellow new believers, decided that we would ask Rosie to baptize us in the Indian Ocean when we met her. Oh wow. I am not conveying nearly enough how tricky a situation this was and how much God provided!
The next day, we went into town and waited for the rastafarian to show up and take us to Rosies'. Of course, this is Africa, but when we waited more than an hour for him to show up, we were all super nervous. After all the waiting and then excitement! We had to meet Rosie! We decided to bow our heads in prayer and ask the Lord to intervene once again. LITErALLY, as soon as we asked God to come through, Jessica interupts the prayer and says, "Hey guys.. the rasta is here.. with a matatu.." AWESOMEEEEEE (a matatu is an african sketch bus, incase you don't know yet). WOW. God rocks. What can we say.
We're excited to be home soon, we've missed all you guys, and we're incredibly sad to leave.
Pray keep Rosie and her church in your prayers. Her safety, effectiveness and financial situation all are in desparate need. Thanks for your constant prayers!!
Posted in General Posts by Jessica Fouch on 7/28/2010
At this moment, we're in Zanzibar later tonight we will be in Dar. Tomorrow we're spending the day in Dar then headed to the airport to spend the night. Then we're flying out early Friday morning. Out of breath yet. If yes, then you know what I'm feeling. Actually, what I've felt this whole trip completely out of breath, out of my comfort zone, out of the box...Okay, I'm all over the place. Tanzania is drop dead gorgeous. God really out did Himself when He created this country. Sigh. So we serve a God of impossiblities, after heading to Zanzibar where Christians are like a rare species and hard to come by, we find out about a young lady named Rosie, who is 23 and has been pastoring a church here in Zanzibar for 4 years, yes, 4 years. Her life has been threatened time and time again even a village chief threaten to kill her. She was even locked in jail for a whole day and given 12 hours to leave a village. Those who housed her were threatened so asked her to move. Two of her churches have been burned down and now she holds church under some trees. Amazing right! Well, that's just part of the story, we found out about Rosie through Africa Impact which is a volunteer group in Zanzibar, we explained to one of the managers, Toni, that we were Christian missionaries just looking to lead a hand. Toni mentioned that Rosie was in a couple of English classes and was a pastor in Zanzibar and briefing explain about the church burnings. We try to connect with Rosie. Nothing. So Mal, Matt, and I are out praying on our prayer walk and asking God to have us randomly meet up with Rosie. And...nothing. Sunday, we try to go to Rosie's church and nothing again. We're all checked out and ready to go home. We find out that Rosie is sick and in Dar with family. So Mal, Matt, and I are out on our prayer walk again through the village and we stop by Walter's shop (he's a shop owner we meet on our prayer walks). When out of nowhere a classmate of Rosie, stops by the shop to talk to me. He asks me if we still wanted to see Rosie, I informed Mallarie and Matt what God is doing and we follow him to see Rosie. Rosie tells us her amazing stories and we set up a date for her to meet the rest of the team. Yesterday, the team meets with Rosie and we worship, and pray over her. And she baptizes Malisa and Allee! God showed up in a big way which shows that when we think God's done He's never really done until He says so. So lessons learned! Wow, now I'm seriously out of breath. Well, this is the end for me at least the end of the blog. God created a family when He created this group. I can't imagine my life not meeting these amazing 8 people and I'm so ready to get back to my amazing family back home. It's a bittersweet goodbye for now. On this trip, I've accepted that I am apart of a family of 6 and a family of Christ. My decisions don't just effect me, really it's been selfish of me to have thought otherwise. I've never felt so loved and accepted in my life. A sermon we listened to on the trip, the speaker said, "When we lost sight of family, we lost sight of the kingdom." Guilty as charged but no longer. Fouch (and Lightbourne) family and my brothers and sisters in Christ, I'm going to change and travel the world. Instead of traveling alone, I'm taking family wherever I go. Get ready, get ready, get ready. Hello, world here WE come! ;)
Posted in General Posts by Allee Rodenbaugh on 7/28/2010
3 Days to go and boy is there a ton of emotions with that. We are all incredibly sad to leave each other, its like our family is divorcing. We've been together for 2 months every moment of everyday. And of course we all are losing part of our hearts in africa (not literally) haha... but it will deffinitly be sad to leave, and culture shock will be hitting us hard back home. But on a good note for our families, we are ready and eager to see everyone we miss from back home (and that yummy chickfila and some chocolate chip cookie dough too!)
2 Weeks ago we spent our time on the border of Kenya in an orphanage/school called Heartbeat Ministries. There were over 100 kids who lived there during their school year, and these kids were instructed by teachers and preechers who were on fire for the Lord! It was amazing, and such a refresher after being in the bush! Angie's church friends from Canada actually partner with this orphanage and they are impacting these kids lives in amazing ways! It was so cool to get a glimpse of what God was doing, and that there was hope for the African orphans. It made me think of what the bush could look like, and how we could use this new "responsibility" to impact them.
Mallarie wrote a little about what we have been doing in Tanzania! Dar and Zanzibar has been every adjective summed up in one sentence. We have learned a lot about patience, but also a lot about how big God really is! Zanzibar is 99% Muslim, so you can only imagine how hard ministry has been. But we were told about this girl named Rosie who is an African Missionary who lives on the island. Two of her churches have been burned down, shes been put in jail, and you can imagine all the other ways this woman has been prosecuted for her faith. She is only 23 years old.
We prayed and prayed that we would be able to meet her, but we had a wrong number, and she hadn't been at her workplace for over a week. We really wanted to be able to encourage her, but after a while we became completely discouraged, and told ourselves to not get our hopes up, because it wasn't likely at all to happen. So we mostly spent our days prayer walking and hanging out with locals. Malisa and I made friends with a Muslim girl named Gina, who we just hung out with and became friends with, and we would visit her everyday.
Then TWO DAYS AGO.. Matt, Mallarie, and Jessica were out walking the streets and talking to friends, and some RANDOM man, who apparently we have met before, but none of us remember... ran into them and was like "Are you guys the ones looking for Rosie??" and they were like YESSSSS! ANd he took them to her!!! SO they hung out with her and scheduled a time that we as a team could meet up with her the next day.
SO yesterday as a team, we went to her house, prayed with her, worshiped with her... and just go to love on her!!! It was amazing!! AND to top it all off.. me and Malisa has been talking about baptism and how we hadn't been baptized since we had been Christians.. so right there in the INDIAN OCEAN, Rosie baptized Malisa and I!!! What an incredible day I will never forget!! Which P.S. it was hilarious cause we had no idea she was going to dunk us 3 times in a row (father son and holy spirit) haha and Malisa probably swallowed a gallon of water.
Thats all for now, Ill have the Tanzania video up when i get home!
p.s. I dont have time to tell the story, cause im in a major rush because we have to catch a ferry.. but WE SAW HUMPBACK WHALES!!!!!!!! just had to say that :)
Posted in General Posts by Ashleigh Wilson on 7/24/2010
Hey everyone!!
I am in Zanzibar!! God is so amazing and has blessed us beyond measure. What an amazing God we serve!!! The people here are amazing and so loving. We have made tons of friends with the locals and also with a french family who has the cutest kids ever =) I can definately say that God has changed our hearts.
However I recieved an e- mail today that stated that I have an outstanding balance of $700. Shocking news to me. I thought that had been taken care of but sometimes miscommunication happens. I am sending out this blog asking for your help. I am so grateful that you all have supported me in such a big way already and I thank God for you and your generous gifts and prayer!! I am blessed beyond belief to have you all as family and friends!! and I thank God that you are in my life. I am asking that you prayerfully support me but also financially support me as well if that's at all possible. It would be best if I had this money in by the end of the trip. So that gives us about a week. I believe that God is a BIG God and that he can do all things therefore I believe that He will provide this money. I pray that you would be blessed by what God is doing here!!! I love you all so much and I thank you again for your prayers!!!!!
In order to donate you would need to go to Adventures.org/give. You will go to field participant and type in my full name. (Ashleigh Wilson) and choose the amount you want to give. There will be a credit card fee of about $5. Also be aware that this gift is tax deductible. =) I love you all so much!!!
Posted in General Posts by Ashleigh Wilson on 7/23/2010
Ashleigh: Hey everyone we just wanted to drop a note to say that we are in
Zanzibar and we are alive and well!! God has blessed us by bringing us to this beautiful place and we are having a blast with finding Him in unexpected places. Miss you all and we will see you soon!!! Love you
Morgan: HEY EVERYONE! God has led us to Zanzibar and He is definitely teaching me how to be patient and love Him. We haven't had many opportunities for Internet, so I am sorry the blogs have been few! That just means there will be even more to share once I get home. I will see you all in about a week! Please keep praying for us! LOVE YOU!
Jessica: One more week...so we're waiting for God to do something big and then we're coming home! YAY! I'm so excited to be done and not excited to be done! Mixed emotions!
Matt: Hi guys! One more week left and God is amazing. He is at work here on this island and working and transforming all of our hearts for these people and preparing us to do whatever he has planned for our last several days here. And we have big expectations! That's all and see you soon!
WE love you all sorry we couldn't all blog but we are all doing well God has blessed and protected us through this entire trip!! We love you all see you soon!!
Posted in General Posts by Mallarie Phillips on 7/18/2010
I will be making a lot of references to the book Wild Goose Chase if wonder where a lot of my quotes come from.
As each location has become more and more dangerous as the trip has moved on we have also been favored more and more every place we go by the Lord. We have been doing ATL (Ask The Lord) for the past 4 days and fasting to stay as a community at this lodge, to do communion as a group, and spend two hours with the Lord individually unitl we he from Him on what to do next. We do this daily and for the whole day. We are on a" Wild Goose Chase". Following the Holy Spirit is like trying to follow a wild goose which shows the mysterious nature of the Holy Spirit because it cant be tracked or tamed. You never know what to expect or where you will end up but it is always worth the search and chase. It is stressful,confusing, and complicated when we are constantly trying to figure out His will and we have experienced that some. "Intellectual analysis usually results in spiritual paralysis" because we limit Him without realizing it.
Inverted Christianity: We invite the Spirit to follow us instead of us following Him. many Christians do this to be able to comfortably fit "following Christ" into their lifestyles. "The result of this inverted relationship with God isn't just self-absorbed spirituality that leaves us feeling empty, it's also the difference between spiritual boredom and spiritual adventure."
Our team has also seen God work and feel Him moving while sensing something big is coming our way. Our community of 9 is so blessed and favored with our various attributes, personalities, and family bond like no other. No emotional baggage, group conflict, and being on the same level spiritually has allowed us to be a true family (community) of the Wild Goose and sprint after Him on this adventure of Life.
So the Lord has narrowed our resources and contacts to Zanzibar Island. That's where we will head tomorrow which has never crossed our mind as even an option considering the touristy location and expense, but God has provided resources. Safety is better we believe and hope there also. It's amazing how God works and how ironically all contacts in Tanzania are full or exhausted so our only choice is Zanzibar pretty much. It means to me He doesn't want us to miss out or choose somewhere else to go but that something big is waiting to unfold and He has been setting up the divine appointments waiting to happen long before we got to Tanzania. Yipppppppeee! Our community is a ministry not only to ourselves and to the Africans but to the tourist as well and who thinks about them on a mission trip. Well God has been laying them on our hearts as we have stayed at this lodge and so Africans, Americans, Europeans, British, Jamaicans, TOURIST- Here we come!!!!!
" Otro dia, otra aventura." Another day, another adventure!
Posted in General Posts by Allee Rodenbaugh on 7/17/2010
THis trip has been absolutely amazing. I really do wish I could begin to explain how blessed I have been to have this experince. I want everyone to experience something like this in their lifetime!
Has it been incredibly challenging? ABsolutely. But God is worth it in everyway! He has been teaching me so much about his love... it is crazy! And bringing me back to the most important thing, his greatest commandment. to love Him. I thought I had Mark 12:30 mastered, but to be honest- that was probably my biggest struggle.
Its so easy to get caught up in Ministry.... in life... in worrying about the future and asking yourself "what am I being called to...etc etc"
But God is simply saying.. First anf foremost. love me. Love me with all of your heart, love me with all of your soul, love me with all of your strength. "I dont care about what you do Allee, I care about who your become" and in that process... just love me! With everything, with absolutely eveyrthing.
Posted in General Posts by Allee Rodenbaugh on 7/17/2010
Hey guys! So.... SO much has happened since the last time I have blogged and its hard to firugre out what to even begin blogging about! Since the bush we have been all over from Kijabe to Narobi... and we are now in Dar Es Salam, Tanzania!
We spent four days on the border on Kenya at an orphenage and school, and it was such an incredible time!! We also visited the 2nd largest slum in Africa, Kibera, and what an experience that was!! I have a story and pictures that I will upload from that, as soon as I get the chance with more time!
Our team as a whole has really been praying and thinking about Ewosil (one of the towns we were in when we were in the bush in Kenya!) I, myself, havent been able to get it off my mind! Just what God has in store for that place.
Just one well dug... would provide water for the ENTIRE town (which is a huge daily struggle for them now) and not only would it provide water, it would also allow them to create a business... which allows others in near-by towns to have more access to food... and right there the economy is doubled, if not, trippled in that community alone.
In result= less kids would have to go to sleep hungry and thirsty. More widows not having to worry about how they are going to provide water and food for their children the next day... while us Americans go to sleep with our stomachs hurting because we stuffed ourselves so bad at El Ran.
One well is $12,000. And there is 9 people on this team. Thats only less than $1400 dollars that each of us would have to raise for a whole town to be provided for. CRAZY!
I also can't get my mind off those little girls being seduced at ages as young as 9 (in america that is 3rd and 4th graders!!!) and this is a continual cycle that they are in... thats been going on for years! If only we could one day provide a rescue house for the girls.. to begin the process of breaking this cycle. Educating them, and allowing them to become true women of God.
...and if what if we were one day able to provide a ministry for the warriors so that they could be discipled and taught how to treat women, and live a powerful life in Christ.
...and what if one day we were able to get a online sotre business for the widows there, to be able to earn money and sustain themselves and their families. We could teach them how to make reasonable FLOWER HEADBANDS (haha everyone knows those are my favortie), jewlery, and even cute clothing!
and the list could go on and on..
okay one more- in Satoman, one of the towns near Ewsoil we visited... the church doesnt have even a building. It would cost less than 2,000 to build them one. Maybe even way cheeper then that with a team building it for them. And the leader of the church is 14 years old, without a bible.
Look what little we could do to change a community(ies) completely around, all for the glory of God! As a team we feel that this passion, has now come kind of a responsibility. I don't want to be the one that lets another girl, at eleven years old, have to go through this lifestyle...
In the book Wild Goose Chase that I just got done reading.. .it says this "Responsible Irresponsibility means refusing to allow your human responsibilities to get in the way of pursuing the passions God puts in your heart. When God puts a passion in your heart- that GOD ORDAINED passion becomes your responsibility, and you have a choice to make.. are you going to be irresponsibly responsible or responsibly irresponsible?"
You know, my sister, Heidi, and her husband, could of easily passed over the God ordained passion that was laid on their hearts of adopting an orphan from Ethiopia. But instead they didn't listen to what the world told them about adopting, and now because of their obedience to taking it as a responsibility to literally "care for the orphans" just as the bible tells us over and over.. there is one less child who has to go to bed at night without being tucked in by their mother and being told that he is loved. there is one less child who has to grow up in a life of complete poverty and no education.
My nephew Jonas has a family, and an incredbile life ahead of him because of the passion God put in Heidi and Scotts hearts. (read their blog www.armstrongfamilyof5.blogspot.com)
TO be honest about this whole passion he has given this team.. we have no idea whats in store. But I do know its a God-ordained passion, which has become a responsibility. SO if it just means doing fundrasiers at school or in Townelake. COUNT ME IN. Hold me accountable! Cause we as a team want to to be known as responsibly irresponsible!
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