HELLO FROM SOUTH AFRICA

Hey Everyone!!!! 

I'm sitting at in internet cafe, so I don't have much time but I definitely wanted to give you a quick update about everything going on so far in South Africa!!

Just wanted to let you know that my team and I arrived safely in Johannesburg, South Africa after a VERY LONG 21 hour flight on Tuesday, May 17th!  Thankfully, ALL of our luggage arrived WITH us and we were welcomed with a very warm greeting by the Campus Outreach –Johannesburg (COJ)  Staff who drove us safely to our little bungalow called The Butterfly.

The weather here is really nice during the day but very chilly in the early morning and evening. It has been really interesting getting accustomed to driving on the opposite side of the road, the Rand (their form of money), the 6 hour time difference, the food, and the new lingo ! We have already had some interesting encounters driving on the streets…I’m not going to share the details, but let’s just say I’ve been somewhat scared! Ha! You can pray for Wil & Casey (2 of my friends on the CCP) who are driving us around in a 10 passenger Quantum. (This is training wheels for our 14 passenger vehicle we should be getting soon. ) Also, I learned to play Rugby with the rest of the CCP team which was a lot of fun and good exercise!

During the past 3 days we have been gettting oriented to UJ-Bunting and to the culture of South Africa by the COJ Staff, which has been extremely helpful!!! I am so thankful that we haven’t wasted any time getting on the campus of UJ-Bunting! We have already become great friends with the campus security guard, Simon (which is a HUGE answer to prayer) However, some of us girls have struggled getting into Panorama (a women’s dorm).  On Wednesday,  we spent time with the student leaders in praying for the campus; they are very young believers themselves, yet their passion for the Gospel to go forth on their campus is so challenging!  Wednesday night we also went to the CO weekly meeting called “LeLife” which was surprisingly  successful! Having stepped onto the campus only  two hours before, we were able to meet tons of girls who came with us! My ministry partner’s name is Sarah- she goes to Virginia Tech and is amazing! We have the privilege of serving on the first 5 floors of Panorama and on Thursday night we  hosted our first Bible Study where 18 girls showed up! These women are so hungry and are searching everywhere  for something to satisfy! There is one student named Lucia, who openly admits that she is not a Christian, but who wants us to host the Bible study in her room from now on!  THAT IS CRAZY!

 It’s only been about 3 days here and I am already seeing how BIG God REALLY is compared to my small view of the power of God. God is moving at UJ-Bunting!  I am beginning to gain an understanding for what it means for ministry to be food. (John 4:34)  

On another note,  there are 11+ official languages in South Africa and these students  speak 5+ languages fluently! For example, when a group of them are conversing they will each be speaking a different language and understand every single word, no joke. Ha! Also, their names are VERY difficult to say much less remember. I really want these women to know how much I care for them, so please pray for grace to remember their names.

Things to Pray for:

1.       Panorama & Horison (2 Women’s res) & Majuba (Men’s Res) and the students that are in them. Please pray for receptive hearts & boldness to share the Gospel.

2.       1 Corinthians 2:2 – that I would know nothing except Christ Jesus and him crucified.

3.       Living with 15 other people can propose its challenges, so pray for unity among our team and that I would personally sacrifice for my team and grow in service to others.

4.       The women that I will be ministering to in Panorama- pray that these girls would open up and that they would be willing to go deeper, beyond surface level “chit chat” as I desire to share my life with them.  Pray that they would come to the Fountain of LIVING WATER, the only One who can satisfy and give life! (John 10:10, John 4:13-14)

5.       Sarah & Me- our ministry partnership.  Remembering the names of these girls!

LOVE & MISS YOU.

-Lauren

It's TOMORROW!

I'm currently sitting at the Holiday Inn in Lynchburg, VA with my precious family and am just thinking about the fact that umm I will be on a plane to AFRICA TOMORROW! We traveled to Lynchburg this afternoon for a "send off and commission" at Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church tonight, which was awesome! Afterwards the family and I went out on a little adventure to find some AMERICAN food :) We ended up at the really great restaurant called the Depot Grill, SO GOOD!

Can I just tell you that...I can't believe that IT'S TOMORROW!

I literally will be getting up and heading to the airport to embark on one of the greatest adventures and completely life changing experiences of my life! 

Thank you to all of my friends, family, supporters, and church family that have given so generously the advancing the Kingdom of God! 

I encourage you to please follow my blog and to check it frequently for weekly updates (hopefully!) :)

LOVE YOU!!!!
-L

Counting Down

It's crunch time with finals. 7 down, 1 to go!
This weekend I will be busy packing and spending time with some family members before leaving North Carolina on Sunday afternoon where my dad and I will travel to Lynchburg, VA for our team send off. Our team will then travel to Washington, DC around 10 am to board our 5:55pm flight at Dulles Airport via KLM airlines on Monday.

I also want to take this time to give a BIG THANK YOU to my church family at Hickory Grove. Their support throughout this whole process of support raising and preparing for Africa has been unbelievable!! Two Weeks ago hundreds of women from HGBC gathered around Morgan, Kim, and myself and prayed over us. Last Sunday the College & Career Sunday School Class did the same thing! Such a great picture of The Church!  I have never felt so loved and cared for by a church family in my life. To GOD be the Glory, I am so blessed to be part of this local church body.

Prayer Requests:
1) Focus for this LAST exam
2) Pray that I would find REST and meet intimately with the Lord!  Right now I am extremely anxious. Anxious about packing up my dorm, unpacking at my house, re-packing for Africa. I am anxious about the fact that my to-do list is more than a mile long, spending last minute time with family and friends, about traveling 21 hours, about going to AFRICA! Pray that I would cast all my burdens and cares on the Lord and find my rest in Him!
3) Safe Travel- to Lynchburg, VA and then to Africa. I will get to Africa at 3:20pm (our time) on Tuesday May 17th, which will be 9:20pm South African time.
4) Jet Lag and ENERGY!

It's REALLY Happening!

I'm going to AFRICA!!!

THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT!

<3 L

Check out this link!

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CCP Video

Here is a neat clip about the CCP. ENJOY!

Shouts of Joy

Hey Everyone,
  Just wanted to give you all a quick update about life, nursing school, and the CCP!
I spent this past weekend at CO's annual Summer Leader's Retreat in Matthews, NC! It is probably one of my favorite retreats each year (this is only my 2nd one) Ha! BUT still... It was awesome getting to be with the SBP, CSP, GSP, and CCP in one place, together for the Gospel.
I sat in on 3 extremely challenging talks by Andrew Holbrook, Zach Fulginiti, and Bill Moore. I am still chewing on the Word that was brought from those talks...maybe I will blog about those once I have had a chance to process through them. All I know is that there is a Gospel gap and I want/need to embrace the power of the gospel for change RIGHT NOW rather than thinking of the past or the future<-- so, I will be meditating on that for... well...probably the rest of my life.

  This weekend the CCP team was reunited again, at last! This team feels so much like family it is crazy! Unfortunately Phil & Wil had to leave Friday night and Casey wasn't able to be there most of Saturday so that left Doug chillin' with the ladies all day Saturday :) Friday night we found out some more details about our trip.

Here are some Updates:
1)  Since our last meeting, Noa  (Doug & Kait's 1 yo daughter) has learned to walk!
2) We are on campus at University of Johannesburg-Bunting
3) There is going to be awesome training packages this summer- led by the COJ staff and Doug.
4) We are staying in a super RAD guest house called... THE BUTTERFLY! (Our little Architect Becca has great talent, she drew us a blueprint of our little home) For our safety, there is a wall and gate in front of the house and a fake ADT security signs outside of the hosue..rest assured.
5) Wil Sessions is in charge of driving our Manual 12 passenger vehicle (Ummm....not sure how I feel about that one yet!)
6) We aren't sure where we are flying out of  yet- either ATL, NY, or DC. The plan is to leave on May 16th and arrive in Johannesburg on the 17th.
7) We have learned to Click :)
8) The girls will have to purchase hairdryers and straighteners in Africa
9)  God is so So SO FAITHFUL and GOOD-  For some reason God has poured out His favor upon our team and has supplied us with over $30,000 of support (with $30,000+ to go)!
10) Our team is BODLY praying that our goal would be complete by April 29th, 2011! Less than 4 weeks away! Come join our team prayerfully & financially!

  This whole process of support raising has been challenging with the demands of nursing school, ministry, and life in general but that's what has made this process so amazing! At the end of the day, I can't say that I did anything..because I didn't! God DID, He is so good.

 The sanctification process doesn't start when I step off that plane, but it actually began way back in January when I was wrestling over the reasons why God would call me to go to Africa for 2 months. In March I cried my heart out, because Doug and I both weren't satisfied with the progress that I was making with support. And when I thought about it afterwards I realized that I had been trying to do all of the work by myself without FAITH that the Lord would be true to His character as PROVIDER. My heart wasn't believing in the POWER and PROVISION of GOD to supply all my needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19)

Psalm 126:5 says "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!"  I truly believe even now as I am standing here in "crunch time" of support raising that I am reaping already with shouts of joy, because I am seeing just how Faithful the Lord is to His children and how He loves to carry out His plans just the way HE wants it to be done.


Prayer Requests:
-I truly believe the Lord is calling me to serve His kingdom as a nurse so be praying as I try to rely on His power to finish this difficult semester out strong!
- Please be praying for Hannah and Brittany, two girls that are in a Bible study with me on Thursday nights. Hannah is serving on a mission trip with her church this summer and Brittany is going to the Summer Beach Project.  So, be praying for there summers and the support that they will have to raise as well.
-Next weekend my Dad is throwing a Benefit Dinner for me to raise support for South Africa, so be praying for the heart of more supporters and for my family as they rally around what God is going to do in Africa this summer.
-Most of all, please be praying for my personal time with the Lord.

THANK YOU!

-L

Fixed and Satisfied

I just wanted to share a little bit about some things that I have learned from a quiet time that I had just the other day.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

-Hebrews 12:1-2

Sin is terrible, we all know that. But for real. Sin leads to death, eternal separation from God. Sin goes against the very thing that we were created for, to bring glory to God. Sin says that we are the lord of our life and that God's plan isn't perfect. We believe the lies that our original father, Satan, has scrounged up for us to believe.  Sin brings a cloud on our mind- we don't see, think, hear, or act clearly. The voice of God becomes faint. It is hard to see the light, because where there is darkness light doesn't enter. Only making that snowball effect of sin leading to death proceed faster and faster.

Our eyes must be FIXED on Christ as we run this race of the Christian life.

Fixed: firmly in position, determined, established, obsessive, persistently occurring in the mind, supplied, etc.

As I have been going through this season it is especially easy to become so fixed on things other than Christ like my grades, comparing myself to other girls, ministry, future plans, etc. I want to be a woman who is so FIXED on Christ. Not that school, ministry, or the desires that I have are necessarily bad, but in essence when I desire those things more than Christ, those things become a god or an idol to me.

I have recently been concerned with my thoughts. Your thought life controls the way you act, what you say, what you do, etc. I want to have the mind and thought life of Christ. During our CCP retreat last weekend we talked about this and it is so true, your thoughts can consume you and therefore you must seek to have the thought life of Christ.

 I have noticed that a lot this week particularly because I had three tests. Anytime there is a test in nursing school, everyone freaks out about it and we all become consumed in it.My mind starts blowing up with thoughts like " Do I really know this information? Did I study enough? How much did she study? What grade did she get? Oh dang, I studied a lot longer than she did and I got this crappy grade, really? What grades did everyone else get? What does my teacher think about me in clinical? Am I stepping up and proving myself enough to get my teacher's approval?" The reality is that our grades are not eternal. Yes, I am so so so privileged for the opportunity to be able to go to school and yes, the Lord has called me to be a student therefore I must honor Him by being a good steward of my studies. However, when I become so consumed with making straight A's or if I do bad on a test or if I eat, breathe, sleep, poop nursing school it is not healthy and it is sin in my life. I am therefore making school an idol. I am saying I must have God + Good Grades = happy/satisfied.

This scares me.

I recently read through the passage in Job 1:6-22 that talks about Job's experience. Job was a man who was clearly blessed, yet who feared God, turned away from evil at all costs, and was very reputable among the land. To make this short and sweet. Satan wanted to try and prove to God that if everything Job had (material possessions, land, family, etc.) was taken away from him that Job would not still worship God. God gave permission to Satan that he could stretch out his hand and touch everything that he had, but that he couldn't lay his hand again Job himself (v11-12). (Which I love that picture, because it clearly shows God's protection over His children and no one can be plucked from His hand- John10:29) Satan takes all of Job's property and children through a variety of awful situations, yet at the end of the passage, Scripture says that " Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and WORSHIPED. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." (v20-22)

WOW! In all of that Job did not sin or charge, blame, accuse, yell at, become frustrated with God because of his circumstance. I am just amazed. If I were to fail every test and fail out of nursing school, would I still be a woman who stands before God and my first reaction would be to worship Him?

 Through prayer, fellowship, evangelism, studying Scripture, and meditating on God's Word I can be fixed on Christ. My mind can be consumed with thoughts of Christ and it is so vital to arm myself with Christ's thinking. After all, He has overcome the world!  My grades are not over Him, time is not over Him, even the power of Satan is not over Him!

My prayer is that I would be a woman who is so FIXED and so SATISFIED with Christ alone.
So, that if everything material was taken away from me, I would stand before God and not blame Him, but fall down and worship Him. The truth is, if this was to happen HE IS STILL WORTHY! After all, IT'S NOT ABOUT ME! I never did anything to earn or deserve His grace and mercy. I was not worthy enough to begin with to be adopted as His child. I deserved God's wrath and eternal punishment, but because his grace and mercy He sent his Son Jesus to pay the penalty for MY sin so that I may have a right relationship with God and that my sins would be pardoned forever more.

PRAISE BE TO GOD!