March 27TH & 28TH
Sorry I have been a few days posting but here is what is happen here in Jinja. HE GOD IS TEACHING ME EVERYDAY THAT I HAVE TO RELAY ON HIM AND I KNOW THAT HIS WHERE MY STRENGTH COMES FROM. HE HAS A REASON FOR ME TO BE HERE AND WHO KNOWS IT MAY EVEN BE TO BRING HOME ONE OF THESE DEAR BABIES.
HE HAS ALSO TAUGHT ME TO BE THANKFUL IN THE LITTLE THINGS. LIKE WALKING TO THE MARKET WITH MAGGIE, AND WALKING TO TOWN WITH EMILY. AND SHOWERS WHEN I CAN GET ONE (WHEN THE WATER WORKS). AND GETTING TO KNOW ONE OF THE OTHER LONG TERM VOLUNTEERS A LITTLE BETTER WE WALKED TO DINNER SAT NIGHT (MY FIRST INDIAN MEAL HERE) AND WENT BACK TO HERE HOUSE TO WATCH A MOVIE (IT WAS IN FRENCH SO I HAD TO READ THE SUB TITTLES) THEN IT WAS POURING DOWN RAIN AND TO LATE FOR ME TO SAFELY GO BACK HOME SO I SPENT THE NIGHT AT HER HOUSE. GOT UP SUNDAY MORNING AND PLAYED WITH HER TWO BOYS THEN WENT TO CHURCH AND HAD CHINESE FOOD (IT ALMOST FELT LIKE BEING BACK HOME).
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS FOR ME THIS WEEK AND FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT I AM VERY THANKFUL THAT HAVE SO MANY DEAR FRIENDS THAT I KNOW HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR ME THIS WEEK. I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT I COULD NOT HAVE MADE IT WITHOUT ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS. LIFE HERE IS HARD THEN YOU CAN IMAGINE. WE TAKE SO MUCH FOR GRANTED IN THE STATES MUCH MORE THAN I EVER THOUGHT ABOUT LIKE POWER, WATER, WASHING MACHINES AND DRYERS, AND SO MANY OTHER THINGS. BUT ONE OF THE BIGGEST THINGS I THANK WE TAKE FOR GRANTED IS OUR FRIENDSHIPS. THAT HAS BEEN THE HARDEST THING FOR ME MISSING ALL OF YOU. I AM VERY THANKFUL TO HAVE EMAIL, FACEBOOK, AND NOW SKYPE.
I HAVE TO SAY IF IT WAS UP TO ME I WOULD HAVE ALREADY TURNED AROUND AND CAME HOME. BUT IT IS NOT UP TO ME GOD HAS CALLED ME HERE FOR A REASON AND I HAVE TO STAY TO SEE IT THROUGH NO MATTER HOW HARD IT MAY GET. I HAVE TO CONTINUE TO SEEK HIS WILL FOR MY LIFE AND THAT IS MUCH HARDER WHEN YOU ARE SO FAR AWAY FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY AND ARE TOTALLY ALONE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY WHERE YOU DON’T EVEN SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE.
I AM VERY THANKFUL FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE HIM HERE AND TO HAVE A CHANCE TO BE A GOOD MOMMY OR “AUNTIE” AS THEY CALL ME HERE TO THESE 58 DEAR BABIES.
SO PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY AS I SEEK GOD’S WILL AND TO KNOW WHAT HE WANTS NOT FROM ME NOT JUST WHAT THEY WANT FROM ME HERE. PRAY FOR ME AS I STEP INTO MY NEW ROLE AS AMANI'S BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR AS I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I AM DOING AND IF I AM CAN EVEN DO ALL THEY ARE EXPECTING FROM ME. ALSO CONTINUE TO PRAY THAT I FIND HOUSING (CHEAP, SAFE & VERY CLOSE HOUSING).
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
DAY 5 at Amani
March 26, 2010
I want to start today’s enter by PRAISE GOD for getting me here and for keeping me here. I know HE truly has a purpose for me being here. And no matter what my finally job assignment is here GOD is in control and HE will give me the strength to see this through for HIS HONOR AND GLORY alone. Because HE is the one who opened this door for me to be here for HIS purpose. And I will give HIM my all my everything here as long as HE wants me to be here. No matter how hard it may be and how tired I become.
But I have to honestly admit to each of you that this week has been very hard for me. Starting with all my good byes back in the states and that was extremely hard for me to say good bye to each of you. Because some of you I see or talk to every single day and now I am on the other side of the world all alone and seven hour ahead of you (like right now it is 8:28 pm here in Jinja Uganda while it is 1:28pm back home in Tunnel Hill, GA).
I have not only had to adjust to the time change, but the constant power outages, the water cutting off on a whim, the heat, the mud because it is rainy season, the constant sound of babies crying, dogs barking and sound of Monks chanting in the early morning just to name a few things. But for years now I have prayed for GOD to bless me a child and now HE has. HE has given me 58 precious boys and girls to love as my very own until they get a forever family.
Things never stop a round here you see I don’t officially start until next week but here is what I have done today and the work never ends. I started my day hanging laundry on the lines out side for all of this 58 babies & toddlers. Then I feed smashed rice, carrots and bananas to the babies, plus bottles and changing ( there are 9 babies in this dorm I am in). I did these feedings for breakfast and lunch today. Then I walked to town with Maggie one of the Ugandan women here and we went to by supplies for the babies home and the volunteers. I also had my 1st experience riding a Boda Boda (motorcycle taxi) today (I had to ride side settled). I praise GOD for my time with Maggie today and I pray that HE would allow us to become really good friends.
And Just like in the states I am still dealing with the constant reality that I don’t sleep so that makes things even more difficult here especially with the time change. So thank you to all of you who have been keeping me company on face book and yahoo in the middle of the night this week so I was not totally alone.
I know GOD HAS CALLED ME HERE TO SERVE HIM FOR A REASON AND HE WILL SEE IT THROUGH. HE tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, ...in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Then a dear friend sent me this verse today Joshua 1:8-9 Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. and of course I have to remember my favorite verse PHIL 4:13 I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH.
So that means I just need a good kick in the moonshine and I need to stop ll this whining and worrying about all the what if’s and I just need to take it one minute at a time and follow GOD‘S foot steps where ever they lead. So if I am here 3 months or if I am here a year then I will give GOD my all in everything I say and do. To HIM be the HONOR & GLORY for the amazing thing HE has done in my life and still is doing. God never said following HIS will for HIS life would be easy but HE did say HE would never leave us.
Please continue to pray for me because honestly I can't do this but I know that if HE can move mountains and then HE can show me how to run the business end of things here and everything else they want me to do. And HE will also provide the house that I need.
I want to start today’s enter by PRAISE GOD for getting me here and for keeping me here. I know HE truly has a purpose for me being here. And no matter what my finally job assignment is here GOD is in control and HE will give me the strength to see this through for HIS HONOR AND GLORY alone. Because HE is the one who opened this door for me to be here for HIS purpose. And I will give HIM my all my everything here as long as HE wants me to be here. No matter how hard it may be and how tired I become.
But I have to honestly admit to each of you that this week has been very hard for me. Starting with all my good byes back in the states and that was extremely hard for me to say good bye to each of you. Because some of you I see or talk to every single day and now I am on the other side of the world all alone and seven hour ahead of you (like right now it is 8:28 pm here in Jinja Uganda while it is 1:28pm back home in Tunnel Hill, GA).
I have not only had to adjust to the time change, but the constant power outages, the water cutting off on a whim, the heat, the mud because it is rainy season, the constant sound of babies crying, dogs barking and sound of Monks chanting in the early morning just to name a few things. But for years now I have prayed for GOD to bless me a child and now HE has. HE has given me 58 precious boys and girls to love as my very own until they get a forever family.
Things never stop a round here you see I don’t officially start until next week but here is what I have done today and the work never ends. I started my day hanging laundry on the lines out side for all of this 58 babies & toddlers. Then I feed smashed rice, carrots and bananas to the babies, plus bottles and changing ( there are 9 babies in this dorm I am in). I did these feedings for breakfast and lunch today. Then I walked to town with Maggie one of the Ugandan women here and we went to by supplies for the babies home and the volunteers. I also had my 1st experience riding a Boda Boda (motorcycle taxi) today (I had to ride side settled). I praise GOD for my time with Maggie today and I pray that HE would allow us to become really good friends.
And Just like in the states I am still dealing with the constant reality that I don’t sleep so that makes things even more difficult here especially with the time change. So thank you to all of you who have been keeping me company on face book and yahoo in the middle of the night this week so I was not totally alone.
I know GOD HAS CALLED ME HERE TO SERVE HIM FOR A REASON AND HE WILL SEE IT THROUGH. HE tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, ...in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Then a dear friend sent me this verse today Joshua 1:8-9 Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. and of course I have to remember my favorite verse PHIL 4:13 I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH.
So that means I just need a good kick in the moonshine and I need to stop ll this whining and worrying about all the what if’s and I just need to take it one minute at a time and follow GOD‘S foot steps where ever they lead. So if I am here 3 months or if I am here a year then I will give GOD my all in everything I say and do. To HIM be the HONOR & GLORY for the amazing thing HE has done in my life and still is doing. God never said following HIS will for HIS life would be easy but HE did say HE would never leave us.
Please continue to pray for me because honestly I can't do this but I know that if HE can move mountains and then HE can show me how to run the business end of things here and everything else they want me to do. And HE will also provide the house that I need.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, ...in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Day 3 and 4 on this Journey here at Amani
March 24th
Today I got up in Jinja Uganda. I was taken to lunch by some of the other long term volunteers today and so I made my first trip to town with the 4 of them. Had a good lunch then exchanged money, got a cell phone and groceries.
Then I got to experience my first power outage and even help feed babies during the black out.
I could not sleep so when the power came back on I started chatting with friends from the state who help me past the time ago.
March 25th
I have always wanted children and today I got 58 of them between the ages of birth and 6 years old. This morning I worked in all three baby rooms and the toddler room. Then I learned how to mash rice, carrots and bananas together to feed the babies.
Then I spent the rest of the day learning about my just some of my other duties here. Then it was back to feeding babies again. And another black out.
Things are much harder here than I ever thought they would be. It is never quiet and there are always dippers to change (cloth) and babies to feed.
But I know GOD has sent me here for a reason and HE will give me the strength to see this through.
Today I got up in Jinja Uganda. I was taken to lunch by some of the other long term volunteers today and so I made my first trip to town with the 4 of them. Had a good lunch then exchanged money, got a cell phone and groceries.
Then I got to experience my first power outage and even help feed babies during the black out.
I could not sleep so when the power came back on I started chatting with friends from the state who help me past the time ago.
March 25th
I have always wanted children and today I got 58 of them between the ages of birth and 6 years old. This morning I worked in all three baby rooms and the toddler room. Then I learned how to mash rice, carrots and bananas together to feed the babies.
Then I spent the rest of the day learning about my just some of my other duties here. Then it was back to feeding babies again. And another black out.
Things are much harder here than I ever thought they would be. It is never quiet and there are always dippers to change (cloth) and babies to feed.
But I know GOD has sent me here for a reason and HE will give me the strength to see this through.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Day 1 and 2 of this new Chapter in my life
March 22nd
This is my last morning in the states for awhile. I got up and had breakfast with my pray partner of 25 years Mickey Blackwood and her niece Cheryl. Then I might two dear brothers in Christ for lunch Jason & Jeremy Talley. Then I spent some time with a friends to say my last good byes and before you know it was off to my last supper in the states and to the airport with Tyson & Renee Griffin and Jan Childers.
Got there to check in and all my bags where over weight so I had to unpack in the airport. Then I say my
last good byes which where very hard to do. I finally found my way through the airport and my it to my gate all while having a melt down but GOD is good and always there and HIS timing is perfect because friends started texting and calling to tell me that they were praying for me. So thank you all for all your prayers and support through all of this. I could not have done this with out you.
Then I got on the plane and set beside an older couple whose daughter was a missionary for Samaritan’s purse for several years. I sleep a good bit on that first flight.
March 23rd
I arrived in London this morning and it was a race to get through everything to catch the next plane.
I sleep some on this flight too! But more importantly I had the chance to serve on this flight. They was a woman with 3 month old twin girls so for the last 4 1/2 hours of the flight I held one of the babies and feed her while her mother rested. As those of you who know me there isn't anything I would rather be doing then serving GOD and holding a baby. Also I met a family sitting behind me who were moving to Uganda from the states to me missionaries.
We were an hour behind schedule so I did not arrive in Uganda until after 11 and then time I got through all the check points and got my luggage it was after 12. Then I met my driver and we drove for 2 1/2 hours to the baby cottage so I laid down a little after 4 and could not sleep so here I am bogging and catching up on emails. There are a lot of new sounds to get use to here.
Thank you for all your prayers and support on this journey. Please keep them coming it is going to be hard to adjust to life with out all of you here with me. All my love to each of you from Africa!!!!!
This is my last morning in the states for awhile. I got up and had breakfast with my pray partner of 25 years Mickey Blackwood and her niece Cheryl. Then I might two dear brothers in Christ for lunch Jason & Jeremy Talley. Then I spent some time with a friends to say my last good byes and before you know it was off to my last supper in the states and to the airport with Tyson & Renee Griffin and Jan Childers.
Got there to check in and all my bags where over weight so I had to unpack in the airport. Then I say my
last good byes which where very hard to do. I finally found my way through the airport and my it to my gate all while having a melt down but GOD is good and always there and HIS timing is perfect because friends started texting and calling to tell me that they were praying for me. So thank you all for all your prayers and support through all of this. I could not have done this with out you.
Then I got on the plane and set beside an older couple whose daughter was a missionary for Samaritan’s purse for several years. I sleep a good bit on that first flight.
March 23rd
I arrived in London this morning and it was a race to get through everything to catch the next plane.
I sleep some on this flight too! But more importantly I had the chance to serve on this flight. They was a woman with 3 month old twin girls so for the last 4 1/2 hours of the flight I held one of the babies and feed her while her mother rested. As those of you who know me there isn't anything I would rather be doing then serving GOD and holding a baby. Also I met a family sitting behind me who were moving to Uganda from the states to me missionaries.
We were an hour behind schedule so I did not arrive in Uganda until after 11 and then time I got through all the check points and got my luggage it was after 12. Then I met my driver and we drove for 2 1/2 hours to the baby cottage so I laid down a little after 4 and could not sleep so here I am bogging and catching up on emails. There are a lot of new sounds to get use to here.
Thank you for all your prayers and support on this journey. Please keep them coming it is going to be hard to adjust to life with out all of you here with me. All my love to each of you from Africa!!!!!
Monday, March 8, 2010
HOW THIS AMAZING JOURNEY STARTED 311 DAYS AGO
I would like to start by telling just how this amazing journey GOD has taking me on began:
Hello or “Jambo” as I learned while I was in Kenya. My name is Tracey Henson and I just want to thank you for this opportunity to share with you and to praise God for what He is doing in my life and in Kenya through a ministry call Possibilities Africa.
Have you ever seen anyone that was truly hunger or thirsty and I ‘m not just talking about for physical food or water but I mean really hunger for God and spiritual food? I have! Have you ever seen someone willing to walk for hours in the heat without food or water just to hear a total stranger so they can hear what God might say through that person? I have! Have you have seen someone carry chairs on the back of a bicycle so you could have somewhere to sit or a child get excited over duck tape? I have!!! And a want to tell you all about it but before I do I want tell you just how God introduced me to the ministry of Possibilities Africa.
On April 22,2009 I met a missionary from Kenya by the name of Martin Simiyu. While Martin was talking to our youth about Possibilities Africa & Kenya; God was talking to me and watering a seed that He had planted in my life 20 years earlier. God revealed to me that if He could take Martin from Africa to the states on faith and a willingness to follow Him than why could He not take me from the states to Africa on faith and a willingness to serve Him. That night I surrendered it all to God; I prayed Lord if this is your will for my life then I am willing to go serve you in Africa no matter what I have to give up no matter the cost. “Lord, I want your will to be done in my life, not mine”, but Lord you will have to be the one to open the doors and prepare the way. I wanted you, Lord to have all the honor & glory for everything that happens and for everyone to know it was truly you and nothing I had done.
Who would have ever imagined that just 86 days after I prayed that pray “Lord, I want your will to be done in my life, not mine”, I would be at the Atlanta airport waiting to met a group of 11 strangers from Nebraska to fly across the world to go serve God in Africa.
On July 17th at a little after 9:00 pm on Friday night I stepped out of a plane on the other side of the world in Nairobi, Kenya. And the moment I stepped out of the plane and I knew; I had this most incredible feeling that I was home and that this was where God was calling me to serve Him and His children. This was before I ever met the first child or any of the great staff from Possibilities Africa that I would be working with. That was all just icing on the cake & gave me the reassurance that I needed to know that this was where God was calling me to serve Him.
Our mission team taught in three different communities while we were in Kenya in Ahero (ahh-hair-oh) (this church was just a tin building), Bokoli (boh-kol-lee) (this church was beside a school & the kids came crawling out of the windows just to meet us) and Mbeere (mmm-bear-eee) (this was by far the most poverty stricken area we visited). Our team we had the privilege of teaching God’s truths in each of these communities. There were 12 members on our team 2 pastors, 2 business men, 2 IT guys and 6 of us that worked with the children and their leaders.
In each of these three communities we found out that most of these dear people had walked 2 hours or more to come hear what God had to say to them through us. They also sit there intensely listening & taking notes on everything God had to say and they would sit there for hours in the heat & never moved. In the church in Bokoli there were three women on the front row they had only two ink pens between the three of them so they kept grabbing the pens from each other so none of them would not miss anything that was said then one of our pastors pull a pen out of his pocket and gave it to them to use.
But the sad thing we heard in each of the communities over and over was how can we get bibles and how can we get teaching materials for our children. We found out that there were 700 pastors in these communities who did not have a bible themselves. We do not realize just how fortunate we are to be able to have all the resources we have here in the states at our finger tips and yet we don’t even use them. So ask yourself would you walk for 2 or more hours tonight to come hear a total stranger or would you set for hours in the heat on little wooden benches without food or water and not move, they did. I have never seen anyone in my life so hunger for the word of God as they were.
But I have to stop right here for a moment to let you know that God does still answer prayers and supply needs; shortly after we returned home from Kenya God raised over $4,500 so those 700 pastors and many others can how have a bible in their own language “PRAISE GOD!!!”
It was truly a humbling experience to know that in our 1st community they had carried plastic chairs on a bicycle so we would have place to sit & it was also humbling to hear them say that we have been praying for you for months and that we were the answers to their prayers and that they could not wait to see what God was going to say though us.
God taught me several lessons from this experience in Kenya
1st lesson: You don’t have to have money or things to be on fire for Him; you just have to have a hunger, a desire to learn about Him and a willingness to serve Him and a love for Him that is greater than anything else.
So ask yourself are you ready to get on fire and serve God? What is holding you back from serving God with your whole heart?
The bible tells us in Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
We had the opportunity to visit the home of Martin’s mother and some of his family while we were in Bokoli. We got to see firsthand what God is doing through PA in the lives of people in Kenya through their dairy project. They give a family a dairy cow and teach them how to keep so much milk for themselves, give so much away and sale the rest. We also got the chance to visit the farm of Titus; he is one of the farmers who received a Holstein cow from Possibilities Africa and that cow is now expecting a calf and that calf will be given to a neighbor. He told us what a difference this cow had made in the life of his family. He told us how before he received that cow his family was deep in debt and about to lose everything and since receiving this cow he was been able to pay off all his debts and send is child to college, all because of one dairy cow. He also told us that because of this cow we were all now part of his family.
Now what I really want to talk to you about are the children that I had the privilege of working with in Kenya & I really want you to stop and think about all things you and your children have. And ask yourself does any of it really make you happy. Now let me tell you about these dear precious children; how they have little or nothing but were truly happy with any little thing we did.
In Ahero there was a class of children and their class room was under a tree with just chairs & a chalk board. Their teacher had left them to go check on her baby at home. These children never left their sits (now ask yourself if the teacher left your children for 30 minutes or so would they just sit there and not move). Our interpreter finally talked them into play with us. So we got the opportunity to play games and sing songs with these dear sweet children. We played with jump ropes, bubbles & beach balls. And they were just so happy about anything we did with them.
In Bokoli (boh-kol-lee) the church was beside a school, as soon as we drove up the kids started climbing out the windows of the school in order to get to us. All they wanted to do was to shack our hands and to ask you “How are you” ; they would just smile from ear to ear when you answered them.
In Mbeere (mmm-bear-eeee) which was by far the most poverty stricken village we visited. Because in some of these areas they have not see rain in close to 3 years and they literally walk for 3 to 4 hours a day to find water. Droughts often plague this area and many of the locals grow a plant called Khat which is a drug (it is the equivalent to marijuana here in the states) that they sell and smoke. It is the biggest cash crop in this area.
It was here in Mbeere that Tracy Hock took duck tape and trash of the street and made into duck tape balls. I have never seen kids get so excited; you would have thought that he had given them something priceless instead of duck tape and trash. Then he took just pieces of duck tape and put little pieces on their hands, legs or arms and they went around all day pointing at it. As if they had won a big prize or something. Our kids have the best electronics know to man and yet they say their bored and have nothing to do.
Then we got the chance to play with some school kids that afternoon. We taught them a bible story, sang songs & played games but we were warned not get them to running around or get them too hot because they still had a long ways to walk home and nothing to eat or drink and in this heat this could be life treating for them.
How many of you had good breakfast this morning, how many had lunch & how many have already had supper tonight. And how many of you have had something to drink at least once today. I have to tell you that’s more than most of these dear children have had. Most of them don’t know where their next meal will come from & if they will have water to drink & if they do they will have to look for water for hours then it will not be clean water.
On Saturday morning we asked for around 20 kids to come help with our last session and we had over a 100 or more to show up. We went to teach these dear children but they ended up teaching us. We asked them for prayer request and this is what they asked for, that it would rain, (there are places over there that have not see rain in close to 3 years), that they would have food to eat, (most of them do not know where their next meal will come from), that we would pray blessings on their parents and on their education. Nothing materialistic or selfish this made us see just how selfish we are and how we take everything for granted. These poor children don’t know where their next meal will come from or if they will have water to drink.
How many of you had a hot show this morning? How many of you have had water to drink today? Was it clean?
We are so fortunate here in the states to have clean running water and food any time we want it. The water holes there in Kenya are so bad that we would not even allow our animals to drink from them and these dear children do not have running water at all, any electricity or bathroom inside their homes. Their homes have one or two rooms and the bathroom is outside and it is just a hole in the ground there is no toilet.
God taught me another lesson:
That I am very blessed but I am also very, very greedy and self-centered and I take a lot of things for granted; like clean running water, food to eat, and having resources at my finger tips & not using them just to name a few things. I am also very wasteful.
So ask yourself what all do you take for granted? What is controlling your life?
What is holding you back, what are you not willing to give up in order for you to serve God fully?
This was truly a life changing journey for me but I have to tell you that the hardest part of it for me was getting on the plane to come back to the states knowing that Africa is where feel God was calling me to serve Him full-time. But I knew I had to get on that plane and wait on His perfect time because if I tried to stay on my own it would not have worked. When God is ready for me to go back to Africa, I will go & I will be ready to serve Him there with all my heart, mind, soul and body for the rest of my life or until He is ready to move me again. Until then I will wait on His perfect timing and I will continue to serve Him and preparing for the day He sends me back.
Here God taught me & is still teaching me:
That the really hard part of following God & doing His will is to be still and wait on His perfect timing because it is our nature to want things here and now. We don’t like to wait for anything. And you know what we end up missing out on some of the best times of your life because you rush through life and don’t wait on God.
So ask yourself what is God asking you to wait on?
The bible tells us in Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Will you wait on His perfect timing not you own?
Before I close I have to “PRAISE GOD!!!” & to tell you that He is still doing amazing things in Kenya though Possibilities Africa. They held the first Daily VBS every in Mbeere at the end of August and they over 700 kids the first night, 1000 the 2nd night, 1100 the 3rd, 1200 the 4th and over 1500 the 5th night with just around 88 workers and these dear children were feed physically but more importantly they were feed spiritually and because of that there was 600 decisions for Christ that week. “Praise God”
Thank you again for this opportunity to share with you and to Praise God for all that He is doing in my life. And I want to ask you to pray that God’s will is continued to be done in my life. Pray that the doors will be open and all the provisions will be made for me to go back and serve Him full-time in Africa.
I ask you also to pray about how you can help Possibilities Africa as they minister to the needs of the people in Kenya & throughout Africa? Pray that God will continue to be glorified through all that they do and pray that God will supply the funds they need to continue to serve these precious people.
I challenge you to pray about going on a mission yourself but if you can’t go then give to someone who can; but if you can’t give will pray for those who are going because it takes all of us to make a mission trip happen. It will change your life forever that I promise. You will never look at things the same way again.
I ask you to join me in pray for these precious people that their needs will be met, pray for their children’s ministry, pray for Possibilities Africa, pray as to what God is calling you to do in your walk with Him, “What is keeping you from totally living for the Honor & Glory of God?”, Pray for your children & their schools, pray as to what God is calling you as a church to do & pray for our country that we will come back to God and His truths.
I give GOD the HONOR & GLORY for everything that has taken place in my life these last 311 days. I can’t tell you just what an awesome journey it has been. But my journey does not end here for GOD is about to start another chapter in my story for March 22, 2010 I will be flying out to serve HIM in Jinja Uganda at the Amani Baby Cottage and I will serve HIM their with everything I have until HE is ready to move me again.
And here is the most important thing GOD taught me:
That “You truly aren’t living until you live your life fully for the Honor & Glory of God” and are willing to let Him to work through you. When you do He will do mighty things in & with your life. Remember you only have one life please don’t waste it. Live it for the HONOR & GLORY OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello or “Jambo” as I learned while I was in Kenya. My name is Tracey Henson and I just want to thank you for this opportunity to share with you and to praise God for what He is doing in my life and in Kenya through a ministry call Possibilities Africa.
Have you ever seen anyone that was truly hunger or thirsty and I ‘m not just talking about for physical food or water but I mean really hunger for God and spiritual food? I have! Have you ever seen someone willing to walk for hours in the heat without food or water just to hear a total stranger so they can hear what God might say through that person? I have! Have you have seen someone carry chairs on the back of a bicycle so you could have somewhere to sit or a child get excited over duck tape? I have!!! And a want to tell you all about it but before I do I want tell you just how God introduced me to the ministry of Possibilities Africa.
On April 22,2009 I met a missionary from Kenya by the name of Martin Simiyu. While Martin was talking to our youth about Possibilities Africa & Kenya; God was talking to me and watering a seed that He had planted in my life 20 years earlier. God revealed to me that if He could take Martin from Africa to the states on faith and a willingness to follow Him than why could He not take me from the states to Africa on faith and a willingness to serve Him. That night I surrendered it all to God; I prayed Lord if this is your will for my life then I am willing to go serve you in Africa no matter what I have to give up no matter the cost. “Lord, I want your will to be done in my life, not mine”, but Lord you will have to be the one to open the doors and prepare the way. I wanted you, Lord to have all the honor & glory for everything that happens and for everyone to know it was truly you and nothing I had done.
Who would have ever imagined that just 86 days after I prayed that pray “Lord, I want your will to be done in my life, not mine”, I would be at the Atlanta airport waiting to met a group of 11 strangers from Nebraska to fly across the world to go serve God in Africa.
On July 17th at a little after 9:00 pm on Friday night I stepped out of a plane on the other side of the world in Nairobi, Kenya. And the moment I stepped out of the plane and I knew; I had this most incredible feeling that I was home and that this was where God was calling me to serve Him and His children. This was before I ever met the first child or any of the great staff from Possibilities Africa that I would be working with. That was all just icing on the cake & gave me the reassurance that I needed to know that this was where God was calling me to serve Him.
Our mission team taught in three different communities while we were in Kenya in Ahero (ahh-hair-oh) (this church was just a tin building), Bokoli (boh-kol-lee) (this church was beside a school & the kids came crawling out of the windows just to meet us) and Mbeere (mmm-bear-eee) (this was by far the most poverty stricken area we visited). Our team we had the privilege of teaching God’s truths in each of these communities. There were 12 members on our team 2 pastors, 2 business men, 2 IT guys and 6 of us that worked with the children and their leaders.
In each of these three communities we found out that most of these dear people had walked 2 hours or more to come hear what God had to say to them through us. They also sit there intensely listening & taking notes on everything God had to say and they would sit there for hours in the heat & never moved. In the church in Bokoli there were three women on the front row they had only two ink pens between the three of them so they kept grabbing the pens from each other so none of them would not miss anything that was said then one of our pastors pull a pen out of his pocket and gave it to them to use.
But the sad thing we heard in each of the communities over and over was how can we get bibles and how can we get teaching materials for our children. We found out that there were 700 pastors in these communities who did not have a bible themselves. We do not realize just how fortunate we are to be able to have all the resources we have here in the states at our finger tips and yet we don’t even use them. So ask yourself would you walk for 2 or more hours tonight to come hear a total stranger or would you set for hours in the heat on little wooden benches without food or water and not move, they did. I have never seen anyone in my life so hunger for the word of God as they were.
But I have to stop right here for a moment to let you know that God does still answer prayers and supply needs; shortly after we returned home from Kenya God raised over $4,500 so those 700 pastors and many others can how have a bible in their own language “PRAISE GOD!!!”
It was truly a humbling experience to know that in our 1st community they had carried plastic chairs on a bicycle so we would have place to sit & it was also humbling to hear them say that we have been praying for you for months and that we were the answers to their prayers and that they could not wait to see what God was going to say though us.
God taught me several lessons from this experience in Kenya
1st lesson: You don’t have to have money or things to be on fire for Him; you just have to have a hunger, a desire to learn about Him and a willingness to serve Him and a love for Him that is greater than anything else.
So ask yourself are you ready to get on fire and serve God? What is holding you back from serving God with your whole heart?
The bible tells us in Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
We had the opportunity to visit the home of Martin’s mother and some of his family while we were in Bokoli. We got to see firsthand what God is doing through PA in the lives of people in Kenya through their dairy project. They give a family a dairy cow and teach them how to keep so much milk for themselves, give so much away and sale the rest. We also got the chance to visit the farm of Titus; he is one of the farmers who received a Holstein cow from Possibilities Africa and that cow is now expecting a calf and that calf will be given to a neighbor. He told us what a difference this cow had made in the life of his family. He told us how before he received that cow his family was deep in debt and about to lose everything and since receiving this cow he was been able to pay off all his debts and send is child to college, all because of one dairy cow. He also told us that because of this cow we were all now part of his family.
Now what I really want to talk to you about are the children that I had the privilege of working with in Kenya & I really want you to stop and think about all things you and your children have. And ask yourself does any of it really make you happy. Now let me tell you about these dear precious children; how they have little or nothing but were truly happy with any little thing we did.
In Ahero there was a class of children and their class room was under a tree with just chairs & a chalk board. Their teacher had left them to go check on her baby at home. These children never left their sits (now ask yourself if the teacher left your children for 30 minutes or so would they just sit there and not move). Our interpreter finally talked them into play with us. So we got the opportunity to play games and sing songs with these dear sweet children. We played with jump ropes, bubbles & beach balls. And they were just so happy about anything we did with them.
In Bokoli (boh-kol-lee) the church was beside a school, as soon as we drove up the kids started climbing out the windows of the school in order to get to us. All they wanted to do was to shack our hands and to ask you “How are you” ; they would just smile from ear to ear when you answered them.
In Mbeere (mmm-bear-eeee) which was by far the most poverty stricken village we visited. Because in some of these areas they have not see rain in close to 3 years and they literally walk for 3 to 4 hours a day to find water. Droughts often plague this area and many of the locals grow a plant called Khat which is a drug (it is the equivalent to marijuana here in the states) that they sell and smoke. It is the biggest cash crop in this area.
It was here in Mbeere that Tracy Hock took duck tape and trash of the street and made into duck tape balls. I have never seen kids get so excited; you would have thought that he had given them something priceless instead of duck tape and trash. Then he took just pieces of duck tape and put little pieces on their hands, legs or arms and they went around all day pointing at it. As if they had won a big prize or something. Our kids have the best electronics know to man and yet they say their bored and have nothing to do.
Then we got the chance to play with some school kids that afternoon. We taught them a bible story, sang songs & played games but we were warned not get them to running around or get them too hot because they still had a long ways to walk home and nothing to eat or drink and in this heat this could be life treating for them.
How many of you had good breakfast this morning, how many had lunch & how many have already had supper tonight. And how many of you have had something to drink at least once today. I have to tell you that’s more than most of these dear children have had. Most of them don’t know where their next meal will come from & if they will have water to drink & if they do they will have to look for water for hours then it will not be clean water.
On Saturday morning we asked for around 20 kids to come help with our last session and we had over a 100 or more to show up. We went to teach these dear children but they ended up teaching us. We asked them for prayer request and this is what they asked for, that it would rain, (there are places over there that have not see rain in close to 3 years), that they would have food to eat, (most of them do not know where their next meal will come from), that we would pray blessings on their parents and on their education. Nothing materialistic or selfish this made us see just how selfish we are and how we take everything for granted. These poor children don’t know where their next meal will come from or if they will have water to drink.
How many of you had a hot show this morning? How many of you have had water to drink today? Was it clean?
We are so fortunate here in the states to have clean running water and food any time we want it. The water holes there in Kenya are so bad that we would not even allow our animals to drink from them and these dear children do not have running water at all, any electricity or bathroom inside their homes. Their homes have one or two rooms and the bathroom is outside and it is just a hole in the ground there is no toilet.
God taught me another lesson:
That I am very blessed but I am also very, very greedy and self-centered and I take a lot of things for granted; like clean running water, food to eat, and having resources at my finger tips & not using them just to name a few things. I am also very wasteful.
So ask yourself what all do you take for granted? What is controlling your life?
What is holding you back, what are you not willing to give up in order for you to serve God fully?
This was truly a life changing journey for me but I have to tell you that the hardest part of it for me was getting on the plane to come back to the states knowing that Africa is where feel God was calling me to serve Him full-time. But I knew I had to get on that plane and wait on His perfect time because if I tried to stay on my own it would not have worked. When God is ready for me to go back to Africa, I will go & I will be ready to serve Him there with all my heart, mind, soul and body for the rest of my life or until He is ready to move me again. Until then I will wait on His perfect timing and I will continue to serve Him and preparing for the day He sends me back.
Here God taught me & is still teaching me:
That the really hard part of following God & doing His will is to be still and wait on His perfect timing because it is our nature to want things here and now. We don’t like to wait for anything. And you know what we end up missing out on some of the best times of your life because you rush through life and don’t wait on God.
So ask yourself what is God asking you to wait on?
The bible tells us in Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Will you wait on His perfect timing not you own?
Before I close I have to “PRAISE GOD!!!” & to tell you that He is still doing amazing things in Kenya though Possibilities Africa. They held the first Daily VBS every in Mbeere at the end of August and they over 700 kids the first night, 1000 the 2nd night, 1100 the 3rd, 1200 the 4th and over 1500 the 5th night with just around 88 workers and these dear children were feed physically but more importantly they were feed spiritually and because of that there was 600 decisions for Christ that week. “Praise God”
Thank you again for this opportunity to share with you and to Praise God for all that He is doing in my life. And I want to ask you to pray that God’s will is continued to be done in my life. Pray that the doors will be open and all the provisions will be made for me to go back and serve Him full-time in Africa.
I ask you also to pray about how you can help Possibilities Africa as they minister to the needs of the people in Kenya & throughout Africa? Pray that God will continue to be glorified through all that they do and pray that God will supply the funds they need to continue to serve these precious people.
I challenge you to pray about going on a mission yourself but if you can’t go then give to someone who can; but if you can’t give will pray for those who are going because it takes all of us to make a mission trip happen. It will change your life forever that I promise. You will never look at things the same way again.
I ask you to join me in pray for these precious people that their needs will be met, pray for their children’s ministry, pray for Possibilities Africa, pray as to what God is calling you to do in your walk with Him, “What is keeping you from totally living for the Honor & Glory of God?”, Pray for your children & their schools, pray as to what God is calling you as a church to do & pray for our country that we will come back to God and His truths.
I give GOD the HONOR & GLORY for everything that has taken place in my life these last 311 days. I can’t tell you just what an awesome journey it has been. But my journey does not end here for GOD is about to start another chapter in my story for March 22, 2010 I will be flying out to serve HIM in Jinja Uganda at the Amani Baby Cottage and I will serve HIM their with everything I have until HE is ready to move me again.
And here is the most important thing GOD taught me:
That “You truly aren’t living until you live your life fully for the Honor & Glory of God” and are willing to let Him to work through you. When you do He will do mighty things in & with your life. Remember you only have one life please don’t waste it. Live it for the HONOR & GLORY OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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