Christmas...

Christmas has been rather uneventful...but the past month has been pretty fun!! It all started out with the youth workshops and then a trip was planned to go to Juba the capital city for a week and then to Yei to visit another BVSer for a week or so and then back to Kajo Keji for Christmas...that all happened with a little hiccup...i was suppose to leave on a Monday but the Sunday before i got sick...so sick i vomited in town in the street and found out i had Malaria and Typhoid...so the trip was delayed a few days...I am fine now but i was sick for a few days with no appetite to eat and therefore no energy. I however have gotten all that back and i am back to normal. I went to Juba the capital and had a marvelous time...with a few exceptions...its blazing hot there, i slept in a giant room with rats that made noise all night but i got to eat some pretty amazing food. which was a good thing especially since i went having no real appetite but the food was amazing, chicken, french fries, bread, milk the simple pleasures that i don't normally eat where i live. so it was really good to be there while i gained energy and got to enjoy the people and city for a few days. The conference that took place was also a really good time. i got to just attend and be a part of the people and that was relaxing and to spend time with my friends was definitely a bonus. then we traveled to Yei. another bumpy road trip in the sun and dust. but once i arrived in Yei i was greeted warmly by a HOT shower....something i haven't had since being in South Sudan. Yei was a time to meet the BVSer and learn about possible future placements working with youth and being able to settle somewhere and that was really good. it was also good to hang out with another lady from the states and just talk about frustrations and the joys of being in South Sudan. it was a good time. i am really grateful for my friends though they may be few i know they are genuine. it was also a good time to just relax and get ready for Christmas. so after moving around and seeing new places i headed back to Juba to wait for some visitors coming into the airport with 2 people who had never entered the airport before. it was a really good time to be a tour guide in a place that i don't really know but be able to share my knowledge of traveling. so Moga and Mawa and i sat there for hours waiting for people to come but having no idea when they were coming....the good thing was we got to eat some good food and just chat and spend time together. it was good. i headed back to Kajo Keji on the 23rd and arrived late at night just in time for Christmas...the sad part is....my Christmas packages and cards that i know have been sent have still not arrived...i just pray they will and i will hopefully enjoy them eventually. 

so as i head into the new year i am constantly reminded of how blessed i am.  God has truly blessed me in so many ways. the fact that i can currently live my dream and do what He is calling me to do at this stage in my life. He has blessed me with an amazing family at home and friends who are always there to listen and talk when skype lines up. I am also blessed by my friends that I'm making here and the ability to serve God in so many different ways. and to imagine that the Savior of the world was born for me...he was born in a humble way and has truly been the living example of love to so many people and if i can only be able to show the smallest amount of that love to others i will shine so brightly. I pray that God gives me that ability to truly represent Him to everyone. i also hope and pray that we truly are living examples to the people around us that God is alive and that Jesus is born!! that is my wish for you all...that even if Christmas is over we never forget the birth of our Lord and Savor. Because without Him nothing is possible...He is the true breath of life and love. and for that i am truly grateful!!

Kajo Keji

Life has come at me fast....South Sudan is very similar to Zambia in the things people eat, and the way that things are done. so therefore i have been kept busy...i have put some pictures as people have requested to see my updated life so here they are.  I am currently in Kajo Keji, South Sudan working with some youth programs and doing some Youth Conferences in different churches and church communities.  I have had the opportunity to meet some so far great friends and i look forward to building those friendships and learning to know more people and seeing where God it taking me in this adventure. I landed on the 6th of November and set out for Kajo Keji on the 7th early in the morning. i was pretty tired but had no other option but to sit on a bus for 8+ hours on horrible roads and in a packed bus.  It was a realization that i was alone in a place where i knew no one and headed to a place where i had no idea what i would be doing or who would even pick me up from the bus station.  But God had it all worked out and i even have a small room with an actual toilet and water most of time and lights that normally work.  it is a blessing and a good transition into the future here in South Sudan.  i have started working with some pastors in youth conferences and being able to teach and see God moving is amazing. i have already slept in a tent in the bush, slept in a church with about 50 other people and it was probably smaller than the youth room at HCOB...so when you think you are cramped while sleeping....imagine that. but God has it in his hands and i am trusting Him to take care of me in  such situations. i Celebrated Thanksgiving by visiting a friends family in the village and eating ground nuts and sweet potatoes. it was really a good time.  so God is really showing me friends and knowing that they are truly following Gods call in their life and that is a blessing. so here are some pictures of the happenings and life here...

the bus i sat on for hours and hours

My room with the Bathroom

Lebron isn't hated everywhere...

Thanksgiving 

Mawa enjoying his Thanksgiving giant cup!

I was expected to cross this....we decided the lemons were not worth it :)

Jocelyn and Mawa I was teaching at a youth conference

Kajo Keji, South Sudan

I have made it to South Sudan. My luggage did not arrive but I was assured that in 3 hours to come back to the airport only to find that it actually came...what a huge blessing :) I landed in Juba and caught a bus the next day for Kajo Keji. the ride was long with the frequent stops to get out and walk through knee high water because the bus was too full, it was interesting but all worth the experience. I'm in Kajo Keji until the new year and the rest to be determined later...things are ok so far, I am trying to figure out things and find friends. I have eaten beans and rice a lot and that is definitely a high note. Keep me in your prayers as I go about my daily life and figure out things as they happen. 

leaving on a jet plane take 2

Well....lets try this again....I am hopefully leaving on Monday 5th November at 10:15 am. Due to some crazy  delays, storms, visas, and stress I venture on this journey again.  I pray that everything works out this time around. Pray for my travels, my safety and my new friends and new adventures!

Well the last three weeks have definitely passed me by and I have truly been blessed. When I was told that in my three weeks before I head out to South Sudan I would be going to New York to work with Brethren Disaster Ministries, I really had no idea what I would be doing but I knew it would be work. When I showed up I walked out of the van they thought I was a youth…I guess I look young. I got to work in the kitchen for a week, paint some houses for a week and back in the kitchen for the last week. I have been blessed by the people I have been able to meet while I have been here. There have been three groups of volunteers from PA and Ohio. I have also had the chance to make some new friends. I have had the chance to meet the BDM staff and have been truly blessed.  Jeff and Sandy a couple from Michigan have really been a blessing. The laughter, stories and genuine interest have truly blessed me. Their relationship with God and their faith journey are really an inspiration. Prattsville, New York is a town that has suffered a lot through Hurricane Irene but in the rebuilding process the community has really touched many people who have come in to help and walked away with a renewed spirit. The church in this town is small but mighty and they are fully supporting each other and building a community of believers. Even in the different views of people I have enjoyed Bible studies and getting to laugh and joke with people. 

I know that as the days get closer to leaving and flying off to South Sudan the anxiousness builds up. So keep me in your prayers as I fly out of DC on Monday mid-morning and arrive in the capital, Juba, South Sudan on Tuesday around noon their time. I know that God is and will continue to use me in this time of transition and protect me as I travel across the ocean and to Torit. I know that His timing is perfect and His plans are much bigger and greater than anything I can ever imagine.

Orientation and beyond

Well orientation has come and gone...I watched the van drive away as I waved. It has been really wonderful getting to know people and hopefully keeping in touch with them as our years progress and our projects start to take off. I am so excited to see where God is taking each and every person on this journey of BVS. I am headed to Prattsville, NY to work with Brethren Disaster Ministries for the next 3 weeks to help out there where they need me. I am excited to have something to fill my time before I head off to South Sudan. It is an exciting adventure before an even larger, longer adventure in a strange land. I will be headed off to South Sudan October 29th and arrive on the 30th. I am excited that I should hopefully be arriving before November 1st and be able to spend my 30th Birthday in Africa. I will be staying with a couple working with African Inland Missions for the first month and after that is yet to be all organized. I will be working at an African Inland Church School and hopefully starting some sort of HIV and AIDS education in the community. I am so excited to be able to serve God where I really feel called at this point in my life. He is really blessing me in so many different ways. From some pretty amazing other BVS unit 299 people who truly have the passions and desires to serve and be used, to being able to truly be used by God in the things I do and say. I pray that God will truly use me in ways I can not yet imagine. I know I will look back and rememebr the amazing Germans I have met and laughed with, the others from America who feel a calling to serve. I am truly blessed by all these people in so many different ways to the laughter, dancing, faith journeys, spending a weekend in a room, cooking with, staying up late unable to sleep because the stories never stop or music and videos are like ear worms in the ear, to the spiritual, emotional and intelectual conversations. Thank you God for truly an amazing group of peopel I now call friends.

OK lets see where to start...My life has been pretty amazing so far with so many adventures and amazing experiences. TO the USA to Zambia to where? well it was home for a while to pay off some student loans and now the excitment of the next journey that God is taking me on is coming fast. Ill be going to BVS the volunteer program with the Church of the Brethren and hopefully headed to South Sudan. Its exciting. Its stressful. Its scary. Its a new page in the book of life. I am getting ready to leave home in September for a 2 year journey to see where God is leading me. I pray that the orphanage and the plans that are currently made follow through, because it sounds like one of the jobs that i will love, that i will enjoy, that i will be stretched, and that i will grow. God is in control and thats what i am focusing on for these next weeks...his perfect timing and his plans for my life. Its always a blessing to see where he is taking and leading me to be able to see Him glorified but to also Glorify Him in the things that I will do and say.

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8