My Birthday in Tanzania

So they made my birthday really special...  Barb and Mac from Arizona gave me cookies and a clif bar :) and ma ma Jan picked some beautiful orange flowers for me, and after dinner Eliudi surprised me with a kanga for my birthday that says "In everything you do put God first" in swahili...  It's white and blue... very beautiful...

and God showed me something on my birthday...  I was listening to my mp3 player and journaling when a song came on... I don't know how it got on there or who it's by but it's beautiful!  It is called close your eyes and the chorus goes a little something like this...

"Close your eyes this time,

cause trust is all we have tonight,

but trust will be forever.

Safe your dreams will be,

cause trust will be the light tonight,

so close your eyes this time.

Trust will be your light tonight,

so close your eyes this time."

And I have been realizing that through some things that happened when I was younger I had developed some trust issues...  Which God is now helping me to get through and He was showing me how it was effecting my relationship with Him.  So He spoke to me and said,

"You asked me the other day what I thought of you.  Well, I have a perfect plan for you that includes your healing...  Trust me...  Psalms 139"

and for those of you who don't know... this is psalms 139:

(I"ll bold the parts that really hit home for me so you don't have to read it all...  :) )

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

You know my sitting down and my rising up;

You understand my thought afar off.

You comprehend my path and my lying down,

And are acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is high, I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me,"

Even the night shall be light about me;

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,

But the night shines as the day;

The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.

For they speak against You wickedly;

Your enemies take Your name in vain.

Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate you?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

I hate them with a perfect hatred;

I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.
(I'm sure this is part of why David was a man after God's own heart!  What a man!)  :)

I was crying so hard when I was reading this!  It was amazing!  I can't even describe it because God has been showing me stuff too about how amazing it is that no matter what country you go to, this God the one true God is always the same!  from country to country!  what an amazing God we serve!  I listened to that song over and over and over again... Just thinking about how this God that has a perfect plan for me, even down to bringing things that I need to deal with from the past one by one.  I can trust him.  I can.

Asante sana Ba ba!

With Peace and Love,

Live,

AMber

Jambo from Tanzania!

Well...  Jambo! (hello)  Amsterdam was fun, but Africa is most definately the place I fell in love with before...  Well the people...  It's much greener here compared to  Benin and they grow corn and coffee beans in the local village...  Sakila...  On a clear day we can see Kilimanjaro.  It's beautiful!  The way the light hits the mountain almost makes it like a pop out card!  It rains everyday here even though it is still warm.

I have been helping Mama Jan (Yanee) as they call her in a clinic for the last few days with a man Bariki and a woman named Paulina to translate...  Me and Bariki pre-interview the patients and Mama Jan and Nesi (nurse) Paulina give the meds and dress wounds. Although I did give meds and dress wounds myself, I think I will stick to the pre-interviewing...  :)  There is a medical team that will be coming on the 18th to help.

I got to experience a wedding and it's pretty much an all day celebration here because many people have to wait quite a few years before they get married, so they live it up!  The women dance up and down the isles back and forth making loud noises and shaking their hips way before anyone even gets there!  It's awesome!  one woman wrapped me into dancing down the isles with them and i must say i rather enjoyed it.  Then after they give gifts to the bride and groom and their families..  It's a beautiful celebration.

We eat a lot of maharagi (beans), rice, and chapati (which is kind of like tortillas or thick crepes), and small bananas which also grow all over the village.  It's beautiful here and apparently mama Jan and I look good because we are on the plumper end of the scale...  :)

We went on a safari and I walked amongst the giraffe! The giraffe were walking around outside of the park headed towards peoples houses and we walked with them in the parking lot since they are not fenced in.  I walked amongst the Masai tribe (they typically wear red, blue, lean on sticks, and stretch their ears).

13 more days left and although I am excited to get home and see more loved ones I am having a great time here! Asante sana Baba (thank you father) for bringing me to this wonderful continent again, Amen.

Bedai! (Later!)
AMber

Alive in Amsterdam

After 12 1/2 hours of flight time, layovers, etc. me and grams finally arrived in Amsterdam!  Which despite the permanent cloud of smoke from people smoking cigarettes (amongst other things) is quite a marvelous city.  When we first arrived at the Ibis hotel (eee-bis) in room 3138 we walked in to find that somebody who stayed in the room before us (or so it smelled like) had smoked marijauna...  we arrived at about 7 am so we got all freshened up and then headed out... 

In Amsterdam the airport is not just for flying out.  It's a central place to catch the underground train system that takes you to the heart of the city...  From there you are free to catch one of the many trams, buses or metros to your hearts contentment (let your feet do the rest...).

Me and G-ma decided to throw out the idea of a pre-planned tour and create our own adventure!!!  So we got a map, found some of the places we wanted to go in our travel book and started forward motion...

There is a woman singing somewhere over the rainbow behind me right now while I am tyiping this to you...  But back to the story...  Me and Gma had to make frequent coffee breaks (and bathroom breaks) because of our jet lag and boy I had forgotten how much I missed European coffee!  After getting to centraal station and sipping some joe with GRams (which felt great by the way if I forgot to mention) we just did some peeking about you might say... looking about random shops if you will...  Before we discovered the wonders of the tram system we were walking everywhere(then increased the caffeine intake... which increased the need for toilets ha ha).  We walked clear to the Anne Frank house (which is far) and then headed back to our humble aboad for a nice 11 hr nap...  he he..

The next day we each got some free coffee because the machine downstairs that you would normally buy it from was broken (yes!)...  then we headed back to centraal station took a canal ride, went to the rijks museum, van gogh musem, and tried though the attempt was unsuccessful to go to the hard rock cafe ( someone had booked the place for the week...  Yikes!) but we found a cute local place nearby where the lady supplied us with good info about the train system (and dutch suckers... yum).

So all in all it is a great place to be...  With nice dutch people around every corner to help lost tourists... who couldn't love this city????!  It's weird coming to a country and not knowing the language at all..  I've never experienced that part before..  Someone could be totally laughing at you (and sometimes I think they were or cursing in some occassions) and you wouldn't even know it...  weird... Anyway!  I would write see you later in Dutch but I don't know how so English will have to suffice... we leave for tanzania in the morning so i hope to write more soon!  be blessed! 

With Peace and Love...
FRom AMb

Donita Graduated!

My dear Donita has granduated from TCIMI... Congrats dear Oni... May God bless you in your adventures ahead!  and it will be an adventure if you let it!  Much Love!

Live

To Jenny's house we go!!!!

I went to Jenny's house with some amazing people this past wednesday and it was a wonderful day!  I am so excited to go back on Monday!!!!!  HOoray!  I'll be coming back!

See You soon my dearest Jenny!!!!!

xoxoxoxo

Music, music and more music!

So today I am going to get 3 shots and some pills for typhoid....  I am not looking forward to the shots but it's only a second and it needs to happen so bring it on!  But yesterday I woke up with a drum beat in my head and I am really excited because all day I had music running through my head... I am so glad!  I used to always have music running through my head and for some reason it's been gone for a while but thanks God it's back!  I love music!!!!!  It is such a blessing!  It moves my soul! What a beautiful gift from God that we get to use it to bless his soul and he's just such a good and wonderful God he lets it bless ours as well!  what a wonderful God!  Thank you for the gift of Music!

Icky Icky icky...

Ahhhhh!!!  I might have to get shots today!  Please oh Father in heaven let it be monday!

Getting there...

I signed up for airmiles today!!!  Yes!!!  I am getting nearly 20,000  free miles from this trip!!! hooray!!!  I can put them towards south africa!!!!  I am super excited!  Tomorrow me and Grandma Jan are sending off our visa apps and looking to see what shots we need to get...  (oh joy...)  But life is good.... stressful at times but good...  It's exciting!  

I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME/ Mocha Club

So...  Just to let everyone know... i cannot take credit for the beautiful writing that is about to be placed here... I just believe in it...  It is truly what I think of Africa...

I need Africa more than Africa needs me

When I think of Africa, the following images immediately come to mind: Starvation. AIDS. Child Soldiers. Genocide. Sex Slaves. Orphans.  From there my thoughts naturally turn to how I can help, how I can make a difference. "I am needed here." I think.  They have so little, and I have so much. "It's true, there are great tragedies playing out in Africa every day.  There is often a level of suffering here that is unimaginable until you have seen it, and even then it is difficult to believe.  But what is even harder is reconciling the challenges that many Africans face with the joy I see in those same people."  It's a joy that comes from somewhere I cannot fathom. Not within the framework that has been my life to this day...

The images spilling out of my television showed circumstances that could seemingly only equal misery, and I was fooled.  i bought into the lie that circumstance defines happiness.  The truth is, in Africa I find hearts full of victory indomitable spirits.  In places where despair should thrive, instead I find adults dancing and singing and children playing soccer with a ball crafted of tied trash.  Instead of payback I find grace.  Here weekend getaways are not options to provide relief from the pains of everyday life.  Relationships and faith provide joy.  Love is sovereign.

My new reality...  I know now that my joy should have no regard for my circumstances.  I'm ashamed by my lack of faith, but at the very same moment I am excited by my new pursuit.  I'm forced to redefine the meaning of having much or having little.  I'm uneasy with the prospect of change and of letting go, but just the thought of freedom is liberating.  I want what I have learned to trickle down from my head into my heart.  I no longer want to need the "next thing" to have joy.

I'm not saying the Africa does not need our efforts.  It absolutely does need our partership.  But for me, I've come to understand that I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME.  Why?  Because it is Africa that has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart.  I've learned that I don't need what I have and that I have what I need.  These are just a few of this conitnents many lessons I came here to serve and yet I've found that I have so much to learn, and Africa with all it's need, has much to teach me.

This is from the Mocha Club.... to learn more about this amazing organization go to Mocha Club.org  You wont be sorry...  It's amazing what the price of 2 Mochas a month can do for someone in Africa.

God bless!

Getting READY

So me and my grandma Jan have purchased our plane tickets for a whopping 1,800!  Ouch! It was a lot of money but soooo worth it to go back to the wonderful land of Africa.  I am so excited to be able to experience a different part of Africa!  It's so crazy! The other day while i was waitressing at Bing's I meet a woman who had been to South Africa!  It's so crazy how God works!  It was so amazing to hear about her adventures there and to hear about how beautiful it was... she said she had only been there for a few weeks of her life in college (she was around 60 so it had been a while) and she said it had still made a huge impression on her heart.  Africa can surely do that to a person....  :)  The Lord has blessed me with many stories such as these!  C'est pour encouragement Je sais!  Father forgive me for the days I am full of myself! And help me to be more like you mon Pere!

On another note (ha ha)  I've been playing guitar again and loving every moment of it!  I have been so afraid! (and as everyone knows a life lived in fear is no life at all.)  but I have been pushing through the fear of rejection and mistakes to make music for my Lord and Saviour!  and He has blessed me immensely through it! It's so freeing!  Thanks Father!  

May God bless you today and free you from something that has had a hold on you for way too long!  :)  Live

4 months To Go!!!!

So I decided a few months back to go to Tanzania with my grandmother in May... 

We will be leaving May 5th and will be spending 2 days in Holland.

And then we will be spending about a month in Tanzania! 

I am so excited to see the faces of the people I love so much!  It is truly a remarkable continent, and I am thrilled to be able to return!  I am hoping and praying that I might be able to return to South AFrica in September to attend and SBS (School of Biblical Studies through the University of the Nations). It would be for 9 months!  That would be the longest I have been away from any of my family! Especially from my twin! 

But with God's strength and courage I can do it! 

I need to raise 8,000 dollars for the SBS so any contributions would be accepted with gratitude! 

Thanks again for love and prayers! 

God bless!