Destiny by Design

This was an amazing weeklong class where i learned more about my personality, my God-given passions for my life.

I know that God has placed both people and science on my heart for a reason, and that is where i feel more alive.

Because of what God spoke to me through this class I knew i needed to sign up for the Introduction to primary healthcare. I was looking up a school in indonessia that starts in 2009, so that would leave me with enough time to work, save up enough money, and spend time with my family.

One of my friends in the class (who did not know that this was going on) prayed for me and shared a verse about how we are blessed a hundred fold when we give up sisters brothers fathers mothers and fields (my working for $)for the sake of Christ. Iknew immediately that I needed to apply for the school in South Africa begining July of this year, leaving me with only three months with my family.

and that is the start of a new story...

http://thisisafrica-aziza.blogspot.com/

Last month in Costa Rica

I:



stayed at he Bedenkop's house for one week while taking the class Destiny by Design



stayed with one of my best friends for a week


House sat for a week while the Bedenkop's were in Guatemala



Translated for a mission's adventures team for a week
It was incredible to see God move in this team and use them to speak into the lives of others in such ashort period of time!

Grad Week

team before amazon

team after amazon

My friend Jade and i wanted to mark all the change that we'd seen take place with something physical. so we went to get our industrial's pierced soon after arriving in Costa Rica. (For those of you who don't know what that is, its a diagonal bar that goes throught the top part of the cartilage of the ear.)

I also took some of the girls to get their hair cut for the same reason, instead of a haircut, I ended up getting dread locks...

I found out that I don't really have pictures of grad week, so I should probably track those down...

Joel left the day after graduation, and few of us went to the beach for a day.

My mom came down for graduation so it was nice for her to be able to meet all these people who became like family to me.

Lessons learned is a continual thing

One thing that was really hard about this trip was a risk that I was challenged to make during the first month of my DTS I had to break off all ties with my boyfriend. He had been that safe place for me to turn to when situations were hard. God wnated to and continues to teach me how i can run to Him in my times of trouble and not to anyone or anything else.

In seeking out God more during my DTS, I learned more of who God is, and who I am in Him. I learned more of His character, his faithfulness and passion for us.

I am learning how to die to myself - my "rights" and be challenged in the area of working on my pride (pride meaning thinking higher or lower of yourself).

In learning more of who I am because of who God is, I have gained a sense of confidence and am starting to understand the value that I hold. Because of this I have been able to be more bold to go out of my way to love on the kids.

I have seen God develop in me a heart for intercession, a desire to pray for people in whatever situation or circumstance they are in. This is something so powerful that can be done anywhere in the world, no matter what our situation.

Now more than ever before I desire a more intimate relationship with Jesus to serve him with passion and fervor. To seek him out wholeheartidly.

It's hard to share what my experiences from the Amazon. Partly because it's something that I am still processing, and I'm sure I will continue to process for the rest of my life. As new situations arise, I will be able to have better insight as to what I learned. And at the same time, I will never really know all that took place. I know that God used us to speak to people with our actions in ways that we probably won't know.

Vista Alegre

I learned so much from one of the little boys of this community, Eliezar.

His desire to play with me was so great. Whenever I wasn't around he sought me out. This showed me was the sort of desire and passion that I need to have in my relationship with God. I need to seek Him wholeheartidly. Just as Eliezar clung to me, that's how I must cling to God.

When I wasn't there he sought me out, just as I am to seek out the presence of my king. To want to be in his presence at any and every opportunity. Not to just be by his side, but holding his hand, climbing on his shoulders, simply enjoying every second with Him.

Journal Entery

Reading the beatitudes, I was able to see how God was teaching me them in a tangible way.

"Blessed are the poor in Spirit..."
-I am learning how to humble myself, swallow my pride, and be okay with not recieving recognition for my actions.
-broken from myself, humbled before the throne of my king is where I want to be
-I want to decrease so that He can increase in my life.

"Blessed are those who morn for they will be comforted"
-In being vulnerable before my team, my family here, they've been able to extend God's love to me
-In their hurt I've been able to be there for them and bring God's love to them. To truly empathize and cry with those who are crying.

I hunger and thirst for righteousness for the people of the amazon. I hate seeing the injustice of the lack of resources: accesibility to medical care, clean water, and the knowledge that they need to be able to continue with life in a healthy way.

I love showing love, and compassion to the kids who aren't shown that love to by their parents. To care for the overlooked, and love the unloved because they are beloved in God's eyes.

As each day passes new things come to the surface of my heart as I face different trials. Much like the impurities clumping on the surface of silver as it is being refined. God is wanting to create in me a pure heart.

Along the Amazon

We set out on an eight hour ride on the Amazon River to reach a different communities along the way. The sights were more than I could take in. The lush green jungle bordering the murky waters of the Amazon. It was incredible, to this day I still can't believe that I was actually there, we were actually on the Amazon River... crazy stuff...



PUERTO RICO, COLOMBIA was our first stop. We did some sunday school activities with the kids of the community, and I helped some of the people in the community paint the church, and decorate with some of the girls on my team to "innagaurate" the church and for a wedding. I've only been to weddings of people that I know, and I've known it to be a touching experience. But even witnessing these people who were strangers to me get married caused tears to roll down my face. There is something about two people making a public display of their decision to become one, is just so beautiful.



SANTA CECILIA, PERU was our next stop. This was the community of one of the YWAM staff, Ingrid. She and her husband Jose are presently doing their DTS. While there I was overcome with an intense feeling of worthlessness. i had no idea what I was doing in the Amazon, felt like I wasn't contributing in any way, and made myself sick thinking about it. I had a migrane and just wanted to go to bed, and avoid everybody. But, i had to stay with my team. I shared my frustrations with God during a time of worship, and before I went to bed that night I felt Him so near "my mercies are new every day" I knew that my time there was precious and each day, and that this feeling of worthlessness was just the enemy trying to make my time in the Amazon ineffective.



A woman making Farinia, something eaten with every meal.


VISTA ALEGRE, PERU
With a renewed peace of mind, I was looking forward to the day. We said good bye to everyone in Santa Cecilia, and headed to Vista Alegre. I immediately fell in love with the people of this community, and was determined to give my all for them.


I spent some time in the Pastor's house, helping the women cook. Being a girl who is used to cooking on stove top, the women were amused watching me prepare food for the open fire.




I spent most of my time in Vista Alegre with the kids of this community, and learned so much from them. They were so proud to be the ones to show me around their community. Because they all wanted to feel like a part of this, I held two kids hands in each of mine, along with one who sat utop my shoulders. They showed me all the best sights to see, places to play, things to climb on, and fruit to eat. Then for some reason they found it quite amusing to stick some sort of fruit and smash it in my hair, but it didn't matter, I was laughing so much and havign way too much fun.

Tag games were quite interesting. It was a game of who could tag Tasha without getting cought. I think I spent most of my time in this community running after these little kids. I don't even know what more I can say about it, other than this was my favorite day from all of outreach.



While there I also came across a group of kids who were "reading" a children's Bible. One of the older girls had the attention of all of the younger kids, making up stories to go along with each of the pictures. I asked them if they would want me to read to them and they were excited to take me up on my offer.

Crazy Story

Another team arrived from at the Leticia base, they are coming from Hawaii. They are an amazing team, and it's been fun sharing our room with a few more girls.

So one of the guys is from Minnesota. I find out that he went to a private school here in the twin cities. I have friends who also went to this school and so naturally I ask if he knew them, which he did. I share that I know them from my church, his response: wait, what church? .... Yeah he totally goes to Open Door, but we had never met because our church is pretty big, and he went to a different service than I. But still meeting someon in the amazon who goes to your church, pretty darn cool story.

Tabatinga, Brazil

The next two weeks we spent in the city of Tabatinga, a town that borders Leticia. Motorcycles and moto-taxis zoom by. For them, this is more than a form of transportation, it is also a source of entertainment. In the U.S. we may go out to a movie or to grab a bite to eat, there they drive there motorcycles around the main street of town. It's quite amusing to sit and pick out one motorcycle and watch it pass by some seven times, making the couple mile loop around the median.





While there, we worked with a church and stayed in the sunday school classrooms. Every day we went and did some sort of creative evangelism. Some days we would be clowns in the park with kids, other days we would write verses with chalk on the sidewalks around the park. We would stop and talk with anyone who was curious. It was so cool to see people so receptive, and so willing to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior.



During our time at this church, I gave the message in a youth service (i don't know why they call it a youth service when people of all ages attend) I spoke about masks, and challenged people to take their masks off and accept who God says that they are, as opposed to living by who the world says that they are. To drive this home everyone recieved a paper mask (the type you would see at a masquerade) and at the end of the service, we all ripped them in half.

I also spoke to the youth about evangelism, what it is, and that we are all called to do it wherever we are, that it is our responsiblity as Christians.

This time in Tabatinga was difficult, but with God's strength and grace, we overcame the challenges placed before us as a group, and in our relationships with each other as they arose.

Leticia, Colombia

During our time in Leticia, we did various work projects around the base and in the community. Some of these activities included using machetes to mow lawns and picking up garbage in the streets.

We had the opportunity to serve in a nursing home, cleaning, helping in the kitchen, and visiting with residents.

My first day there I was so excited because I was given the opportunity to work in the infermery. I thought that I would be finding residents and bringing them to the nurses, which I did, but I was also able to treat some wounds. The nurse explained the process to me, and I cared for open sores on an old man's feet. I saw more things than most people want to see in a lifetime, but for me this was a definig moment. It was one of those things that confirmed what I plan on doing with my life, heath care in missions.




Sometimes we sit and wonder, "God, what do you want me to do with my life" It's a very good question but sometimes we fail to actively seek the answer. I think that we need to go out and experience different things whether that means mentoring children of the inner city, landscaping yards, knitting blankets, whatever it is that we have a passion to do. And in that, through that, God can speak. He can confirm that question we ask by saying, this is where I want you or even expand from there. This experience in the nursing home was one of those experiences for me.

Remain In Me

This was the focus of my week, and a begining of a deeper journey in my relationship with God. Through the dificult time in Benjamin constant, I learned that I can't do it in my own strength. I need that time alone with God, to foster first and foremost that relatioship.


"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:1-5

A time for everything...

This week we are back in Leticia. Our original plans were to go to an indigenous community called Filidelfia in Peru, but the plans changed and here is why...

God had given our team words before leaving Costa Rica to protect our unity, and watch our tounges to keep from grumbiling and instead have praise on our lips to avoid harboring resentment and bad attituteds.

While we were in Benjamin, God was speaking to our group about remaining in Him, and that he would be the source of our strength.

Benjamin was by no means physically challenging, as the indigenous communities had been. Instead, it was emotionally and spiritually challenging. We saw God move in the hearts of many, both in the church and community we were servin in, as well as in the marketplace where we held an event. We saw him use us to speak words of hope, restauration and begin to move in the people of Benjamin. We were pouring out, ministering, giving,and sharing. While doing all of these things, we became focused on what we were doing for others as opposed to having a balance between this, and God filling us. When we allow God to fill us, we keep our relationships in check with our unity, and we deal with each problem as it arises. But because we were on Go go go, give give give, serve serve serve mode, we didn´t take the time to let God fill us, and many of us let things build up to the point of breakdown... in which case we were not in a place to be ministering or pouring into peoples lives if we are dry so. As a team we are really good at hearing God´s voice for other people, when he puts thing on our heart for us to share. but a lot of times we dont let ourselves hear what he has in store for each of us.

God has given us this week to bringing it back to where we are supposed to be, in His presence to receive our filling, in order to give. so this week is that, while we are haveing scheduled quite times with God, prayer and worship, intersession, soaking along with other things. this time is to let God minister to our group through these things as well as serve the Leticia base and the community doing service projects.

I feel a little bit like the Israelites before they were allowedd to enter into the promised land, but I know that this is going to be a very good time for God to grow in each of us

Benjamin Constant

Brazil has been an amazing experience thusfar.

It has been very difficult communicating with my spanish and their portuguese, but God's love has no barriers.



A couple of nights ago we did some door to door evangelism and invited people to an event that we held in someones makeshift front yard. we presented dramsa shared a messeage of restoration and healing. It was really cool to see the Holy Spirit moving in this place, even though we werent fully communicating. Where we come short, God fills in the blanks, and does even more than we could ever try to do.



Today we had a ton of kids come to the community center that we are staying at, and had game day where we divided into l\teams and led them through some fun games. (I was super excited to play soccer in Brazil for the first time with some kids who are super passionate about this sport) I just pray that with that sam passion they would be able to view God and their relationship with him. While we fed them we presented some dramas, and I'm really excited just to see the seeds that are being planted. That what we are doing is reaching and impacting the youth.

kidz reach

This is not what my team was doing, but just another one of the many things that come of\ut of YWAM

I will praise you in the Storm

I was a minute away from spending new years on the toilet.... yes, the dreaded occured.... I was being careful with the water that I drank, the food that I ate, and washed my hands with soap and water whenever they were available and with baby wipes when they werent. For 2 days i was stuck on my bed with fatigue from my body trying to fight whatever was sending me to the bathroom every 5 minutes. Only by taking medication was i able to manage the boatride to brazil from colombia, and once there was overwhelmed by not being able to participate with my team. The agonizing pain in my stomach accompanied by a painful sinus infection, diziness, among other things. I cry out to God, in this pain, not understanding why he was allowing this to occur, when I have asked him to heal me, and I know that he has the power and will to do so. But that is the thing... I was focused on the healing and not on Him. His desire for us is to first and foremost fuel our relationship with Him. Not that we can try to earn our way to him, but by keeping lines of communication with him open. so many times we become focused on our problems that we let it get in the way of seeing God. Maybe we are facing a crossroad in our life and we are asking Him for his dirrection (which is a good thing) but the second that it impedes other communication and we aren~t praising him because we are so distrought by the situation, we may not hear his response. He desires all of us our will and our emotions. When our hearts are broken from ourselves and offered up to Him that is when we can be opened enough to receive. Its not about receiving this healing, its about opening up myself enough to God, and out of this relationship i have with him, and not being focused on my circumstances and letting them bring me down, thats when he can give.

BE joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God~s willl for you in Christ Jesus 1 Thessalonins 5:16-18

Dois che bensoi

I~m sure that was totally spelt wrong but that is how i phoenetically spell God bless you in portuguese. Our team is currently in a city in Brazil called Benjamin Constant. We will be here for two weeks, we are staying at a community center that is right across the street from the church that we are partnering with. We are doing a lot with the youth from the church, and has been quite interesting doing so and forming friendships despite the language barrier.

This is the place that has been most impacting to me thusfar, and I think its because Brazil is the place that God placed on our teams heart. I think that the place that we are staying in is no accident at all. We are in a community center where right outside kids gather every day to jump into the pool (tile covered hole in the ground filled with slimy green water) and guys come to play futbol *pronouced fuchibol in portuguese. God has placed us here for a reason and i know that we are making an impact, just as much as we are being impacted by the people.

I appreciate all of your prayers!