my wish

Random thing happened today... (from May 11th)

This morning I woke up realizing it was Mothers Day and getting a little bummed. The usual days that families usually get together and do things to celebrate each other and what it all means to them. A Sunday to go to church and come home to sit around and watch movies (which isn't a bad thing) while a lot of other people are with their families.

While getting ready this morning, I thought about November 9, 2005 when I drove up to Michigan to meet my nephew for the first time. I wasn't sure why I thought about this... I honestly don't too much. On the way up I popped in my Rascal Flatts CD that I just bought that week. The song "My Wish" came on and I just let the words sink in. I never met this little boy yet but as a new aunt, the words in the song meant a lot.

The ride home that next day after meeting Joshua, I put that song on and listened to it a good 3-4 times on the way home and cried as I sang it outloud (yep, just admitted that). I thought about the joy I felt in holding that little baby and how much I wish for him to dream big and to live out his dreams. This morning that memory came back to me, and I thought about the feelings I felt holding Josh, and was amazed to think how that joy will multiply so much more when I actually hold my son or my daughter for the first time. I can't imagine what the feeling will be like and someday I hope to feel it. Then, since it it Mother's Day, of course I thought about my mom and wondered if she ever felt that way with us, and if she thinks that way about us now. And after she hung up on me today when I called her, it makes me wonder even more...

An hour later at church, the worship band sang that song to honor mothers. Of all the songs that could have been chosen to sing at church they choose a Rascal Flatts song from 2 years ago. Kinda crazy. I was pretty good at holding back the tears first service, but second service when I could sit by myself it was a little bit harder. (I go to both services now because something I do at church)

how ironic and random is that?

is she really gone?

It's been 9 months since Grandma passed away... and I'm still finding times in my life when I'm searching for closure. I thought I got it during the Auction at the homeplace, but there are just random times when I think about it a lot... how I wasn't home for the surgery which was the day I flew out in june, her time in the hospital, her passing on July 18th, or her funeral which was two days before i was to arrive home... and I just get so upset. It doesn't seem like she can be gone when she seemed fine before surgery.

It's 1:00am, and I can't sleep. Lisa's not home. No one is around, and I need to be up in 5 1/2 hours. I'm missing Grandma a lot. Their place is forever gone from my life.. the place where I had so many good memories, even with hardship from my mom. No more driving to Ohio to visit which i didn't do enough, calling her and telling her i loved her which i also didn't do enough, walking back to the creek behind their house... Tonight I have just found myself feeling so many regrets for not coming home from Africa early.

I felt so alone in Africa during this time but so surrounded by love from people who hardly knew me. But now those people who comforted me and prayed over me, (literally, for 2 hours one night while I sat there crying...) are 8,000 miles away.

I remember it clearly... finding out about her passing. The team was eating in the tent where we normally ate supper, and Sammy (the guy who we stayed with) was trying his hardest to make me laugh. (He had already received the news from my sister about Grandma's passing, but we were out doing kids ministry and construction so he asked her to call back during supper time.) Sammy's phone rang and my heart started speeding up as it had been those 2 days. (My sister had told me she may not make it two days earlier and encouraged me to come home.) I remember glancing over at Matt, a team member who I thought would be there for me at least a little bit, and seeing that look that he knew what was happening... and then glancing around seeing everyone stopping what they were doing and looking at me. Charity, Sammy's wife, came over and put her arms around me.

When Sammy couldn't hear the connection well, I knew it was Melanie calling. I immediately started crying, and Sammy wouldn't let me leave the tent. So, as everyone on my team sat there and watched, I talked and cried to my sister. It was embarrassing but I didn't care. I was encouraged not to say anything about it to the natives and was supposed to go on like nothing happened. My team... well... let's just say I wish we had been a little closer. I felt so lost.
Mel called the next evening to tell me that I could write something for the funeral, but had to have it in by 10:00 the next morning, Kenya time.

I stayed up to write this letter while listening to my new friends who lose family members very regularly singing praises to God. After they left (they always left Sammy's early to get back to their home in the slum safely), I moved myself to a bench outside alone... under the Africa night sky with the sounds of the slum in the background, writing this letter.

So while laying here in bed, I thought about the letter I wrote for the funeral. I wanted to find it and read it for the first time since that night. I had to dig through my email but found what I sent to Mel that next morning... the first time I had been in my email all month. Its funny that as I read it now, I'm helping myself by remembering how BIG GOD WAS TO ME DURING THAT TIME. I guess I just wanted to share it.
----------------------------------------------

To my Family:Please know that I want to be there to mourn with you. Its hard not having a piece of home with me right now. Know that I am with you in my prayers. That's the greatness of God - He's everywhere, even 8,000 miles away. Keep holding on to Christ's love and comfort. That same love and comfort is what is holding me together right now. Know that through every storm in our lives, He never lets us go. This is his promise to us:Psalm 33:20-23We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you.

Grandma, What can i say? Tonight, as my friends whom I have met here are outside singing worship songs in the middle of a place where there's pain all around, I'm sitting here in this room praying that God will give me peace and the words to write this letter.

Reality hasn't hit yet. You can't be gone. I went through my cell phone and came across your number, realizing that I will never be able to call you again. It has been so hard not being able to be there and to understand the timing in all this, but God has me here for a reason. Selfishly, I wanted God to hold you here on earth for only a couple more days. My prayer was that I could be there for this celebration of your life, but God had a bigger plan and only He knew the exact time and hour you were to leave us. Who am I to question Him? I love you grandma and wish I could have been there to visit and pray with you during these scary moments this past month.

The morning you had your surgery I was packing to leave. It was hard.. as I kept getting all these thoughts in my head of the unknown. But God knew. I'm glad I was able to see you at Mike and Heidi's wedding. You looked beautiful there. You seemed so healthy that this whole thing is hard to believe. I'm glad I was able to remember our last time together with you appearing so healthy and happy. That last embrace didn't seem like goodbye to me, but on the way home my hands smelled like you. (It was a good smell... no worries, or as they say here in Africa "Hakuna Matata"). I never wanted to wash the smell away because its the same smell I can associate with my childhood memories of you, as silly as that sounds.

Thank you for loving us enough to put up with us every summer for a couple of weeks. I say "putting up with" for a reason, because I know we had to be a pain at times...I mean, at least the boys were. I always remember being so excited to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa every summer. You always filled our weeks with joy; I remember going to the campground to swim and golf, sliding down the stairs and helping to ruin the fun green shaggy carpet in our pajamas with you joining us in our laughter, being forced by the boys to go through the haunted houses they made in our basement, playing Atari for hours on end, but most importantly are the memories with you and me specifically that I can remember, and I'm sure more will be flowing in my heart in these coming days. When I picture being at your house, I will picture you sitting in your chair and inviting up to be in the warmth of your lap while you read the book "Why Cant I Fly?" or the one you remember most, 101 Dalmations. And every morning waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and looking forward to meeting you in the kitchen for the best toast EVER. I don't care what anyone says, I have seriously not been able to make a better piece of toast than you could. And, I don't think I ever thanked you for being on the phone for a long enough time for Ken to take the scissors to my hair. I enjoyed not having any hair for a year or so. :)

I thank God for these memories and for the gift of a Grandma. I will treasure them in my heart forever.

I believe that you had a faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, and because of that I know that I, along with others in this room who have made that same heart commitment to live their lives for Him, will be able to see you, along with Grandpa, again someday. There will be no pain or sorrow there, and I'm excited for that.

So this isn't goodbye. I will be able to see you again some day. until then, I know that...

When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when Sorrows like sea bellows roll.
Whatever my lot, though as taught me to say,
it is well, it is well, with my soul.

This is the song God has laid on my heart the whole month, and now I know why. And, I know it is well with your soul too. I love you!

pray for my friends in Kibera

If you haven't heard the world news, Nairobi is in the middle of a lot of chaos. There have been about 300 people killed. Beatings, riots, burning of homes, looting... everything.

So I'm not much to watch the world news or keep up with what's happening, but everything is put in proper perspective now that I've been there and know MANY people who are personally effected by all of this.

So, here's a short summary of why this is happening:

The government in Nairobi is corrupt, but yet was known as one of the most stable governments in the Africa. (When I was there, there would be police holding machine guns and sticks doing random stops along the road... sometimes taking people's belongings and beating people. Needless to say I was very uncomfortable when we were driving down the highway in the diesel matatu.)

The incumbant president is a member of the Kikiyu tribe. The president that was up against him in the election, which took place on the 27th, is in the Luo tribe. People living in poverty were drawn to this new guy because he campaigned as "Champion for the poor" and there was hope for the first time that if this guy won, the government would do something to help aleviate the poverty conditions which they live in. His main constituent is the Kibera Slum (where I stayed). The incumbant has handled money badly, and making many many empty promises to those living in the slums. For example, money was alotted for 5 light towers to be put in the Kibera slum, but I only saw 2. These light towers were to help to keep the occurances of rape and other violence down. Basically, there is still a lot of poverty and tribalism in the country that hasn't changed since he took over in 2002.

So apparently, on election day, it looked as if the new guy was going to win.
But, the incumbant ended up winning, and now the opposition leader has accused him of rigging the election.

300 dead, 75,000 people displaced. Homes burnt down. Orders to shoot to kill. Ethnic cleansing (basically attempts to get rid of a tribe). Shops burnt down. Fighting everywhere.

No water (which is scarce anyway).
No food.
And definitely no security

So what's next? There is going to be an opposition rally today in Kenya (they are 8 hours ahead). There is said to be a million people show up for that. Concerns are that violence will swell during this... which is likely.

Those who live in poverty are upset and have all the emotions built up. They have something to fight for. (See the video below to get a feel for this.) In the slums, which are often divided along tribal lines, rival groups have been fighting each other with machetes and sticks as police use tear gas and bullets to keep them from moving farther into the city. Kibera has seen the most violence according to the news.

The effects? Shops are closed because of looting. The price of food has skyrocketed. (A loaf of bread, which used to be about 20 shillings, is now 120 shillings.) And, people have to walk farther to even get their food. My friends have told me they have not eaten for days. Where we stayed this summer is in the middle of all the chaos. Shops along both sides of the road we walked up and down multiple times a day are burnt down, which is a ten second walk from Sammy's home.

I am so worried about my friends there. One of them has a brother who has been arrested. (He is a Luo tribe, and the government is Kikiyu.) Another friend had his home ransacked and destroyed. Sammy has left his home with his family and has taken refuge. Sammy is Kikiyu... and the Luo's are seeking the Kikiyu's and attacking them. Actually, some of the YCT (the ministry we worked with) members are staying at Sammy's house and told me that some opposition showed up at Sammy's to create trouble. After seeing the YCT members were Luo, they left.

But... their response? While on the phone, my friend Boblin asked me what I was going to eat for supper. I couldn't answer. He just said "no no no, Janelle, you live in America. Don't mind. You give God glory for everything, just as we here in Kenya are doing."

Check out Acts 17:26-27. This is the verse he mentioned to me while I was in Africa.

That is the faith of a friend who I have missed. My friends, who were there for me during one of the hardest times of my life when my Grandma passed away, are enduring a lot of suffering and I can't do anything... but PRAY.

Please do the same!

----------------------------
Video that shows you how people in Kibera are feeling:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/2246462022476942

Pictures:
http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,2990,00.html2_0
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/01/world/20080101KENYA_index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/12/31/world/1231-KENYA_index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/12/30/world/20071231KENYA_index.html

--------------------------

Emails from my friends:

Hello Janelle!
Praise the Lord!! Happy New Year!!!
I'm so much encouraged with your concern about us, it's amazings to have wonderful sisters who's hearts beat with the love of God.
Yes we've had a rough time here in Kibera because of the elections that were held on 27th. Dissagreements came coz of rigging claims by the oppotition, and this has affected especially our area since it's the stronghold of the opposition party. There has been looting of shops, burning of shops, killings though this has been low. If you can remember the shop(flat) that was just next to Sammy's house, it was burnt down, and the shops that were along Olympic road on both sides were all burnt down. There has been scarcity of food and it's been expensive.
Pray with us here that God will intervene on our behalf.
Thanks and may God's peace reighn in your heart.
Boblin Omondi

Hun its worse down here and we are so glad you're praying for us. We cant survive in the hands of a rigged president for the next five years. Shops burnt down, pple killed, media burnt( by govt) in airing live news so its hard to know whats going on in the entire country, no food, no opened malls and no peace too. Over the protest for justice.
We are praying that the international will come to our rescue before things go out of hands. Kibera mostly targeted coz its the home(constituent) of the opposition leader( Raila Odinga) who was rigged against.
Peace be with you too, PETER


Please do something to Help soon. we are in a very BIG problem were are are unsafe, because their is one tribe in Kenya called LUO'S bringing Big Problem.please form more information please turn to your TV ON CNN OR BCC World NEWS.

We need you help to move to safety, please call for more information any time soon

Sammy Njiru
Kenya in Kibera Slums

a video worth watching

This reminds me that He's right there watching and waiting...ALWAYS

pictures pictures pictures

Well, here they are all you non-facebook users. My Africa pictures are uploaded. I have 12 albums on facebook and here are all the links which you can navigate through even if you don't have an account. There are some pretty amazing pictures of children that you should definately check out now, but I would suggest not taking all your time at once looking at them, unless you really have nothing to do. I tried to caption the pictures so you can understand more of what we did the month while in Africa. Some of these albums contain 60 pictures so there are a lot of pictures. :) Feel free to comment about them!

-------------------

1. Various Pictures from a Team Member's camera
http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032702&l=9891b&id=57100255

2. School and Community Outreaches/The girls I met in the slum
http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032487&l=fe4ca&id=57100255

3. Construction on the YCT building

http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032489&l=35ee1&id=57100255

4. Friends in Africa: Album 3

http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032372&l=1727a&id=57100255

5. Friends in Africa: Album 2

http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032370&l=a0a9f&id=57100255

6. Friends in Africa: Album 1

http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032368&l=3a345&id=57100255

7. Safari and Gorge day trip

http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032084&l=1864b&id=57100255

8. Children in the Slum: Album 2

http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032137&l=a7b24&id=57100255

9. Children in the Slum: Album 1
http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032136&l=b846c&id=57100255

10. Kibera: The Slum..."Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me"

http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031885&l=ee6e5&id=57100255

11. New Life Orphanage

http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031889&l=feaa6&id=57100255

12. Destination Africa: Preparations and London

http://ipfw.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029994&l=4ebf6&id=57100255

Kibera Missions Trip: July 2007

Imagine going to bed each night to the sound of a low rumble of music, talking, and howling dogs. Imagine having to watch where you step everywhere you go, and not seeing a hint of grass anywhere. Imagine not having enough money to even send your children to school.

That is just a tiny idea of what it is like to live in this situation. As you know, I was sent to the Kibera Slum in Nairobi, Kenya for a month, and I still feel like I do not have the slightest clue of what these people experience every day, but from my conversations with others and living 50 yards from the slum, I was able to see poverty firsthand. You can look at all the pictures you want of the 700 that I took, but no one can really ever know what the Kibera Slum, located in Nairobi, Kenya, is like until they see, hear, smell, and are physically present in the slum.

This letter is going to be pretty lengthy, but a month of experiences and seeing God work is something worthy to be shared.

God presented himself to me in huge ways on this trip. For me, I think personal growth is the biggest thing that happened on this trip. The first way God revealed himself to me is through helping me to discover some of my spiritual gifts. Through different outreaches that we took part in and through encouraging some girls in the slum each night, I was able to walk away with a renewed spirit and love for things. I can’t believe I am admitting this to everyone but my future plans may involve using singing to glorify God such as in our church’s worship band. In addition, I feel more comfortable with finding ways to be an encouragement to others, such as young girls in a youth setting. The second way God revealed himself to me is through the relationships with others. I think the people I met in the Youngsters for Christ ministry (www.youngsters4christ.com or YCT) ministered to me more than I ministered to them. These brothers and sisters forever left imprints on my heart and it was really hard to leave them. While having the best experience of my life, they were able to minister to me during one of the hardest times in my life.

God revealed Himself to me is through his love, comfort, and peace. As some of you know, I had a situation come up which felt like a forever high mountain that I couldn’t even begin to climb. The last week, I found myself wanting to be home for the first time the whole trip, but at the same time not wanting to leave because it didn’t feel right to. I struggle with being vulnerable about this because I do not want pity… but this is just a way God worked in my life during this trip. My grandma passed away 6 days before we were scheduled to arrive home, and not having friends or family from home there with me was extremely hard and painful for me. I had the option earlier that week to transfer my ticket to get home to say goodbye. I again had the option to come home early for the funeral. However, through a lot of crying out to God in prayer and a couple of verses that actually came to me at the beginning of the trip and resurfaced during this last week of the trip, I realized that God knew this would happen when He sent me there for a month, so why would He send me home not being able to complete the work I was sent to do? (Luke 9:57-62, Psalm 118:8, Psalm 27:7-8, Psalm 18 were some of these verses. Please look all these verses up. You will see how powerful God worked and how much He used scripture to teach me while on this trip.) This was a time when I grew the most in His unfailing love, and although I may not know the reason and timing of this trial, I can rest in that unfailing love. I was fortunate to see God’s greatness through his creation at a safari and gorge the very next day after I heard the news, and it was there that I realized how BIG God is and not to question Him. As far as coming home to all of this, closure has been hard for me and still is, so continued prayer is appreciated.

Being God’s hands and feet on the trip and seeing the results of that was amazing. As the trip progressed, I saw how God used each member of our team differently as we individually sought His will. As a team, we partnered with YCT and did school ministries. We normally visited high schools but also ministered at one elementary school, which all brought their own joys. At the high schools, a block of time is set aside, for students to gather in a room where they can learn more about who God is. We sometimes shared our testimonies, sang, and performed skits to them, but also had discussions about the pressures they face and were able to find verses in the Bible to help them out with them. At one school ministry, 5 young people gave their lives to Christ! I had individuals come up to me to ask me questions. I was able to minister to them individually by showing them verses and praying with them. When leaving the conversation, I found myself giving total credit to God who totally gave me the words to speak and the verses to show these young people.

Evangelism. It’s a scary word to many people. We were able to go out in the slum and spread the gospel message to anyone we would come upon. We went as a group only one time, but the rest of the trip some members of our team actively took individual responsibility to do this as we felt called. The natives were so open and willing to hear what we had to say. I was able to pray with many people about things they wanted prayer for, and lead some to a relationship with Christ. Sometimes all it took was a couple of minutes of talking to them before they made that commitment, and when they did, their faces would light up. They received some hope... eternal hope.

Construction. Manual labor. This was a fun part of the trip for me. We spent many hours helping to build and maintain the YCT building which is located in the slum. It’s a beautiful silver building where you can hear praises and prayers lifted up over the slum almost every evening. Some members of our team carried heavy cement rocks from a landing down through the slum to the building where a wall was built to prevent further soil erosion. The soil was eroding pretty quickly and a wall needed to be built, and within 4 days of us being there God provided some funds for that to be done. We also spent a lot of energy leveling and moving soil. Bags of dirt were filled, lifted, and moved outside the building where we could create a walkway that is safer for the people in the slum. In addition, the building received siding and electricity while we were there and another small room was added to the property. God worked amazingly on this project, and now YCT has a beautiful place to worship. As we were doing construction and people saw us “strong white women carrying big stones” through the slum, they started to realize that we were there to help them and to work. We were able to feel more comfortable walking around by ourselves (during the day), and often did. There was a time, however, when a native stopped me and said “You do all this work, yet my son is still at home hungry. What are you going to do about this?” I want you to be aware of this because this is too often the view of a native who lives in a slum when they meet a white person.

As a white person in the slum, you feel like a celebrity, and this should not be the case. They do not see Mzungus (Swahili for a white person) enough. There should be an awareness out there and people wanting to go show love in this dark place. Children there ran up just to touch us. They would always greet us to the same tone of “How are you?” and would repeatedly say it until we answered them. My heart swelled for the children in the slum, in ragged clothes and often without shoes, walking and looking through trash. But these children know no difference and are happy. They laugh and find things to do to have fun in the slum. In addition, my friends I met there are amazing men and women of God. In the conditions that they live in, I did not hear them utter one word of complaint. They may be the poorest people I’ve met, but are the richest in their faith. One of my friends, Bobline, shared Acts 17:26-27 to me when I was talking to him about him living there and me living in the United States.

The first day I was in the slum I met a girl named Saida. She took me down into her home, and I naively went by myself. I was able to pray with her that first day, and told her I would be back. However, because we were not allowed to go anywhere without a YCT member, I felt limited to return. God brought her back into my path the 2^nd week, and that is when I met her sister Jackie, who wanted to meet me. After that, I was able to go to their home nearly every night to talk with them, encourage them, and pray with them. They were very hospitable and gave me gifts to remember them by even with having very little. Their situations were so heart-wrenching, and that is just 2 young women in the midst of 1.2 million people in the slum. They insisted that I was there to help them financially and that they relied on me, but I kept reminding them that I will fail them because I’m human, and any amount of money they get will soon go to waste, but God will not fail them, and I can provide them with spiritual help by encouraging them and helping them in their walk with Christ. By the end of the trip, these girls started going back to church and praying. They told me God helped me to show them things they have never learned before. And, the last day of the trip, it so happened that we had extra support money and I was able to use some of it to help them out. I was blessed by their company and miss them a lot.

Coming home has been hard. Culture shock is more "shocking" coming home than going to Nairobi. We have so much. Yet, dare I say that our faith often does not even compare to the faith of some of those I met who have so little in the slum. A lot of us complain so much, when not a word of complaint was heard while I was there. We have been blessed... but as a friend of mine says, we should be pitied, because too often we do not even SEE what we have been given and entrusted to give to others.

I was not ready to leave Africa, but I knew that if I was actively seeking God and doing what He wanted me to do on the trip, then my time there was done. This time, God sent me to Africa for a full month, but I’m already praying for doors to open for Him to send me back. How can I be a part of that and see the need there, without wanting to go back and show God’s love to the people of Kibera? This trip was a trip of highs and lows in my life, yet I learned to love and worship God through those highs and lows. I was put through his refining fire and was refined by our ultimate Refiner.

God is good…. All the time, and I know that He is a Father who will never ever fail me, you, or those that live in the Kibera slum. Though many may think it... all they need is people to go over there and show them a little bit of Jesus.

Thank you to all of you who supported me on this trip of a lifetime. I have returned a different person, and I hope you can see that in me. Please keep YCT and the people in Kibera in your prayers, and my team members and myself as we continue to transition and apply what we learned to our lives here in America.

Nakupenda na upenda wa Mungu!
(I love you with the love of God!)

Kibera here we come!

Wow!!!! It's time to leave? What??

The past few weeks have been amazing. The preparation that I've experienced is something only God could have orchestrated. Spiritual preparation has been unbelievable... something I've never expected. I've been able to read the Bible, discuss things, and pray often with a team member and it has helped me out tremendously! Although I still feel times of being adequate, I know God will give me the words to speak and be all over this trip while we are there.

The passport ended up coming on Friday. I had two congressmen working on it for me. Friday morning at 10:00 Mark Souders office called me with a tracking number for Fed-Ex, and as I was copying it down, I heard a truck backing up the driveway. I told the lady that I think I just tracked the passport - its currently backing up my driveway! She was amazed, and I was amazed at how that worked out. Thanks Pat for meeting with Souder in the morning to get this pushed! They were on top of things and let me know as soon as they found out the status of it. Mike Pence was the congressman who put the congressional rush on it, so he deserves a thank you note sometime too.


The website of the place we are being hosted by is:

www.youngsters4christ.com

This is information about the slum I will be at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibera


My prayer requests for the trip:

*My focus has been SO clouded lately because of my Grandma having open heart surgery the day I fly out. Please pray for peace about that, and that my focus stays on the trip and what God wants me to do the whole time that I'm there.

*Conversations be blessed and filled with God's love

*Endurance, safety, good health, for the whole time - and that I can experience this to the fullest and come back to tell others about it

*Hearts will be changed, people will be moved. That my heart is softened and challenged.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED ME THROUGH ENCOURAGEMENT, PRAYER, AND FINANCES.

I'LL SEE YOU IN A MONTH!!!