He makes a home for me wherever I go.

hit the ground scrubbing.

2012-02-02T00:15:00.003+01:00

our beautiful base located in Perth, Australia has been trusting the L*rd for a property to own for years, since before I was even born. Since I joined in 2008, we received land close to where we were leasing a property. Since October 2010 the building has been happening and today the gas is being installed and tomorrow the town of Vincent will walk through to give the yes or no.
In my head, this was all going to be over by the time I returned from all my outreach and holiday happenings. Early January it became clear that there were enough delays that I might actually be here for the move in.
This has meant for me that basically "all else" is done at a later date so that my energy is going towards cleaning and preparing the new property for move in. I am so excited to be a part of it!
What does this new property mean? We OWN land, IN the city. We are taking the land. This is our inheritance.
Why do we need to have a new property? This is where training is happening! We are taking the land here, so that we can train and send others to take the land in other nations!

Trust me, it is so beautiful, I am just in awe of G*d's provision for us! Pictures to follow.

snowmageddon.

2012-01-20T09:46:00.003+01:00

i am in seattle right now. my older sister has lent me her bed, so kind. that means i have my own room, so lonely. our weiner dog tootsie is dependent on human body heat and is whining at the door to get out so that she can climb into mom and dad's memory foam, she is hardly a dog, rather a younger sister.
dad has been working 40 hour shifts and then sleeping 8 hours since Sunday night. they are calling this "snowmageddon". its kind of driving me crazy and making me have way too many bruce willis flashes in my head. the snow is almost up to our white picket fence, my family is one of few american familieis that actually has a white picket fence. the only time i can remember snow like this is when I was in the third grade and we had several days off school and then a major intersection near our house flooded because of all the aftermath drainage. everyone has had school off all week. that means at all hours someone is cooking in the kitchen, the dishwasher is constanlty full (and we rationalize against handwashing because it saves water) and i have coffee stomach (which leads to coffee bowels).
i feel underly productive. what is this drive in me to produce in order to feel legitamized to rest? perhaps the cold is seeping through the windows and numbing me.
i have read a lot of birth stories. a lot.
i just finished "baby catcher"-hilarious read.
then i started "spiritual midwifery", written by ina may gaskin, an iconic us midwife. they use words like "psychadelic", "telepathic" and "far out" to describe birth in her days. she gives good tips though for us up and coming midwives.

i am worried about this generation, our screen addiction. i feel shocked by it when i come home because internet and screens are way more accessible and cheap.
what is becoming of our next generation? socially awkward? visually impaired? bored by anything that's not "touchable"?

at TGIFriday's you can get an entree and a dessert or appetizer for $10. wow that is so cheap! at jack in the box you can get a medium fry, drink, 1/4 lb beef burger and 2 tacos for 4.29.
f.o.o.d.i.s.s.o.c.h.e.a.p.

my family made eggs benedict on sunday and biscuits and gravy today. so good. only the eggs benedict took about 3.5 hours from start to finish. i will blame that on the hash browns and the dirty dishwasher, not my lack of skill. other bummer was dad and pat missing it...then mom tried to recreate when they got home. she heated up the hollondaise sauce...in the microwave...oops, scrambled lemons?

most of my plans for the week were scattered and canceled. except for dinner with the Trimbles. I like families, a lot. especially this one.

friday it is.

2012-01-12T07:11:00.001+01:00

this friday. 6:30 pm-9ish

a little catch up, relaxed hang out, let's be together event.

see a bit of what's been happening through my eyes in 2011.

so, stop by for a bit, all are welcome.

at the dinneen house.
12127 36th Drive SE
Everett

friday it is.

2012-01-12T07:11:00.000+01:00

a long time coming.

2011-11-27T06:35:00.002+01:00

i can't tell you how many time i have written about two sentences on my blog and then gotten distracted by a skype conversation, a facebook post or an email and then before i know it my internet time is finished and another week has passed without an update.
its embarassing, really.

so let's have a fresh start, shall we?

week 10 in india has finished. and now we begin advent! so looking forward to the christmas season that refocuses why in the world we are doing and living life the way we are! how absurd that G*od entrusted a virgin teenager to carry his son into the world...had anything gone wrong...the absolute trust and risk he took with humankind, it excited me and makes me feel even more in reverence to his nature and character.

yesterday we went to a missionary couples house to celebrate thanksgiving. they have three children and the fourth is due in february-an immediate draw for a bunch of birth attendants. all week we have been scheming and shopping and prepping and the day was not a let-down...so fantastic. at one point we busted out the guitar for some wor*ship and started pra*ying and worsh*ipping...during "you won't relent" the muslim call to prayer sounded in the background and was immediately drowned out by the voices of many nations singing together in unity. powerful.

the weeks have been packed full of babies, paperwork, meetings and late nights where i am the first to bed. i have become accustomed to a sleeping mask...i never thought i would...living in community does funny things to you.

a little testimony from last week for you all...Marchien pr*ayed with some students earlier this week that we would meet women from previous years and reconnect with them. We have really been pressing in for eva*ngelism and more opportunities to lead people to the Lo*rd and then that came up in pra*yer...and no sooner had we pra*yed then we met Fatuma. As she struggled through her contractions she told us how "fia from canada" had helped her last time with her delivery. Incredible! fia was one of my students from two years ago. We rejoiced at the answered pra*yer. She comes from a muslim family and is so open to the gospel. This Wednesday we will go visit her at her house.

Bless you guys. thanks for reading. hopefully we will do this again soon?

arrived and well.

2011-09-26T09:59:00.002+02:00

flashback to childhood:
"where are we going?"
(sigh from the front seat, mom's patient reply comes shortly)
"this way, follow me."

i helped direct the massive vehicle, while everyone patiently "followed" in bags stacked up to their ears. the hostel was prepared for us...i was shockingly surprised as miscommunication runs rampant in this land. i like surprises. 2 rooms of at least 10 beds and one room for our couple. to top off the room preparation, they even had a small meal of bread and jam, with a cameo appearance of cockroaches. would it be india without the creatures? it was a good night. smooth traveling. we were even 26 kilos under our weight allowance and we packed more gloves than any school previous.

this morning we encouraged sleeping in and mosey-ing around. i took the girls to exchange money and showed them where to buy the essentials: a bucket for showering and hide and seek chocolate chip biscuits.

i am surprised by the few faces already that i have run into that remember me. i wish i could remember their names...wait, did i ever know their names? probably laxmi.

tonight we will enter the masses of punjabi possibilities while shopping together as a mob of light faces.

this morning i read through ephe*sians. good book.

bless you guys.

onward we move.

2011-09-25T12:16:00.003+02:00

bas saw $148,000 AUD provided in order to be trained, serve and take the good news to the nations...here we are laying over in dubai just a couple hours from our destination.

i sat next to some sweaty architectural animators on the flight from perth. sitting here reflecting on the conversation i am reminded again of how much i censor talking about jes*us. its ridiculous. i used the excuse of being tired and before i knew it i dozed off and was asleep. when i was getting off the plane i realized that i missed my moment, again.

from here on out, i have got to change this.

a couple of the girls are playing dutch blitz. they are drawing the indian crowds already, and we aren't even in india. time to grow accustomed to the unexplained stares.

here's to the first of many from outreach.

bless you.

india, here i come...

2011-09-13T15:22:00.001+02:00

ready or not. our team is on its way. and i can't wait.
so much need in india...G*d's kingdom is yearning to come and I am a bringer of it.

from week 1 to week 10

2011-09-04T13:39:00.002+02:00

oh blog how i have neglected thee.

life as a school leader has brought my capacity of carrying responsibilities to new levels...
yet i see myself neglecting other areas...i don't blog as regularly...i am slower to respond to email...i sleep less.
i feel so grateful to be entrusted with what God has given me-the opportunity to disciple in inter*cession, worship, finances, Fear of the L*ord...

in three weeks i will be taking off for india. hard to believe right now. there is still so much more to happen before that time! one thing being: our school needs $30,000, more teaching to be taught, more evang*elism to be done...

getting huge revelations on the need to speak more about Je*sus. HE IS THE ANSWER for all the horrible happenings in the news: famine, war, disaster...HE IS THE ANSWER.
I HAVE THE ANSWER.
goal: open my mouth. people want to hear about je*sus.

first week.

2011-07-10T14:07:00.002+02:00

i just brought my clothes in from the outside line. they are nearly frozen. it is winter in australia.

it is the start of week two on the birth attendant school 2011. the week was full of "getting to know you conversations", lots of hot drinks and me/sarah running around trying to figure out what in the world we were doing. i still feel a little bit like "what am i doing?" but G*od has been is so trustworthy. he has been speaking to me in the confused moments. sarah and i were looking at the loaves and fish this morning and the disciples just keep going back to J*esus, asking him "now what?". so here is what i'm thinking, if i keep going back to him, i am going to get an answer and next step.

i'm thinking back to last sunday's conversations with the girls and thinking about todays conversations with the girls...it is so impressive how J*esus has brought us together already.

in other news, i am peeling, and it is depressing to think that my tan is only going to fade from here on out.

here is to another week :)

culture shock

2011-06-16T09:45:00.002+02:00

lesson learned- the attention span of our generation is that of a facebook page loading.

case and point: molly's graduation-the row in front of us contained 5 friends sitting next to each other all playing a game that resembled "bejeweled" (but i'm sure it has a new and cooler name, considering that is what i remember my mom being moderately addicted to for a brief phase more than 5 years ago and i seem to be "out of the loop" these days). but wait, one of the committed players can't be bothered by the dean's boring speech, nor the game in front of her and decides to take a snooze. her neighbor witnesses the z's being exhibited and captures the moment and immediately uploads the hard evidence onto facebook. all the competitors/friends down the line are notified of their snoozing friend by the ever distracting red 1 and confirm it by actually leaning down the line-breaking eye contact with their phone-and immediately state their feelings by commenting on the photo. when sleepy eyes wakes up, she realizes she has been exposed, not just to the row and those within staring distance, but to the whole social network of facebook.

i thought to myself...wow, we are creating a socially awkward generation that will never again be able to interact face to face-unless you count taking a picture and commenting on it as face to face interaction. this is my generation...just before i can complete this thought...the man in front of droopy eyes is updating his status, he had to be atleast 60.

what is happening to the world (she says as she posts this on the internet for any and all to read)?

june 14th

2011-06-14T08:39:00.002+02:00

just a reminder...

Tuesday, 7pm, Dinneen House...
dessert and movie. "a walk to beautiful" (a change because of availability)
a time to hang out and be together.

welcome all.

past, present and future.

2011-06-06T15:35:00.004+02:00

when i came to the birth attendant school three years ago my sister was freshly married, i was 19 and my brother had just finished his freshman year of high school. claire and elsie, my nieces were 2.5 and barely could talk.

today i live in a house with 7 people from 5 countries, my eyes have welcomed a border of wrinkles and i have shed that awkward puberty weight that i first came to australia with. several dear friends are great with child, my nieces can figure out quicker airplane routes than the airlines i take, most of my friends from church/school have started or are anticipating starting their lives with significant others. i am a different person now and so is everyone else.

i started thinking about all these changes when i made this movie for my brother last night. it was supposed to be something to encourage and reflect on his life because he is graduating this year. this got me on this path of trying to conjure all that has transpired in the last three years and in pat's whole life. it made my head hurt. you know, my brother is the exact same age as Andy in Toy Story 3...october of last year i was flying and i started sobbing whilst watching Andy pack up his room-all the sudden it clicked, that could be Pat!

here is what i think, this is a reality of life. things CHANGE. hair colours change, speaking of which, i am the proud owner of yellow hair currently. people get married. babies are born. pat is going to have girlfriends. i started liking onions and chili.
so, i need to learn to embrace it and not hate it.
and isn't this the beauty of it all. people move on and do bigger and better things.

on friday i said good bye to my dear friend and mentor, Hollie. She trained me to be a midwife. Her family is moving to the east coast to start a new chapter.
over the course of Fri-Mon I said goodbye to 14 students of the BAS 2010.
tomorrow i will take a dear family to the airport as they continue on with vision G*od has given them for Burma.

we can't stay in the same spot, we have to keep moving forward--
sometimes that is a physical move or just a mental shift.

if this is the life my G*od has called me into, he is going to equip me to graciously grasp the changes.
so i embark on embracing.

it's the end of the year as i know it.

2011-06-05T06:06:00.005+02:00

i am coming to the end of the farewells here. the students walked across the floor, received their certificates, i got my license, drove several to the airport and now i am winding down starting to process...what in the world just happened.

hot water comes out of the taps now, the washing machine is my new best friend and i can eat most anything i crave whenever i want. part of me despises this because the reality of western living shocks my system and tells me its time to transition.

one of the students thanked me this week for being gracious with her when she did things the wrong way in the hospital or when i spoke into her life on a discipleship level. i felt seen when she said that to me.

yesterday, during a public event, i walked over to get a cup of tea and met one of my students who was also getting a cuppa. she said to me "are you going to the hospital?" and then we laughed hysterically as we both knew she meant to say "airport" instead of "hospital". after we wound down i smiled and thought about how i won't be going to the hospital for a while and felt a little melancholy. i think though as i write this, i need time to process. i need time to just be.

i have tried...

2011-05-31T15:55:00.004+02:00

to post a couple times this week. and i hit this wall. donald miller would tell me that all writers face that and that is what it means to be a writer, you make yourself write. maybe that is why so many people do it part time. don also gets sick of writing about himself. i feel like i am tired of writing my story too, perhaps I should start doing random profiles on my friends to spice things up.

This week is report back, that means we recap over the last eleven months on what we have seen G*od do. I think everyone should do this-not only those who have been catching babies in other nations. You can never underestimate the power of sitting and talking to another person, praying together, admitting we went wrong, making a game plan for what's next and how we are going to do it with G*od.
Here is some of where I have ended up...
HOPE. Always.
G*od freely gives his perspective when we are in awful situations.
We don't always like the system, but look at the fruit because it has been in place.
I am constantly given the opportunity to take the wide or the narrow.
Am I choosing G*od?

There is much more and I need to think more and talk more and WRITE more...
for now there are 15 students flying out on 15 different planes over 3 days.
I am working on getting my Australian license this week to help with the airport runs, its about time.

Bless you guys, thanks for the read. Hoping this will become a bit more regular.

a little diddy

2011-04-27T09:19:00.001+02:00

a little something from my good friend, chantal anderson. check out her work.

http://clpmag.org/article.php?article=How-to-Deliver-a-Baby-without-a-Doctor_00283

this is what i came for.

2011-04-04T10:58:00.002+02:00

this week an exciting discovery was made. the dear chantal anderson from seattle made friends (are we surprised?) with a man who owns a copy shop and also has dial up speed internet. eeeek. so today, i came to right you all a little update about life here in desh.

we arrived here on the 20th of march and stayed in the capital city for two days. we made a nine hour journey out to a village to be greeted by innumerable sets of staring eyes (later we found that it has been 10 years since foreigners have set foot in this village). a chipper midwife from england, we will call her "sister", has lived here since 1968, and helped us make contact with this untouched land. she made arrangements for us to stay at the hospital. so currently, we live about a two minute walk from the front door of bollophur hospital. there are 98 nursing students who have welcomed us with curious looks and open arms. our house is the new "cool" hangout. luckily i have more than 100 friends who will come at the drop of a hat when i fail to light the fire once again for making dinner for the team.

the dynamic of this location means that small teams go out for a week or a day at a time and then we reunite once a week as a whole group. it has come with its challenges but also with its blessings. this week a small team of 2 students midwives were able to travel to three villages and do satellite antenatal clinics for women who wouldn't usually have the chance to get ANC. they also were able to minister hope to a woman whose daughter committed suicide 2 years ago. poisioning with insecticides is a common occurance, three times this week at the hospital, patients came in who had poisoned themselves. it seems there is an underlying sense of unhappiness-caused by poverty, arranged marriages and more that drives people to do this. all the more reason to talk about J*sus.

i have been challenged and pushed to see G*d more while leading this team alone. G*d is the source of every good thing, and I want to give tes*imony to the fact that he has continued to lead and guide me in leading our team. We miss the team in India, but facebook and text messages are keeping us connected.

just a small update, thanks for all the support and pr*yers. i have felt them so much this week especially.

i went to kenya!

2011-03-06T18:07:00.002+01:00

and boy did we see victory. we needed visas for Bangladesh. I tell you what, when you want to see victory, go to a foreign visa office and ask G*d to do it for you and he shows up.

on our journey, i was able to share hope in G*d several times, long bus rides are awesome. East africans are so sick of corruption. It happens right in front of you, the government repossessing vehicles without good reason, prostitutes paying the police off with their evening earnings...the list goes on. so, what is the answer to this? millions of aid has been poured into africa, and what is changing? nothing. churches are everywhere, and people fill them multiple times a week. so what is it?
The kingdom of G*d has not yet come here. We need to see movement from heaven to earth. A kingdom not of words, but of power.

I believe Kenya needs to go back to the principles of the B*ble and they will see change. In the 70s, Kenya and South Korea were neck and neck economically. Kenya remains in the same place while S. Korea has blasted forward. So what is different? S. Korea who had shunned the g*spel for years and years allowed the church to come in, the underground church had developed perseverance and was ready to speak up, people came back to the L*rd. Their lives CHANGED, they followed the principles of J*sus with obedience, they devoted themselves to prayer and intercession and God blessed that.

So, this is the answer we need to be diligent in our walks with G*d, seriously allowing the transforming of our minds to happen, welcome discipleship, believe for miracles, believe that heaven will come to earth.

that's a bit of a rant.

okay, bless you wonderful people. i love this land. thanks for keeping up with the posts even though they have been few and far between.

hang in there...

2011-02-12T20:55:00.003+01:00

hmm, i am having difficulties with my monthly updates, i apologize. stick with me... for now, i will have to figure something out but will keep posting here in the meantime. cheers!

more than a month into it...

2011-02-05T13:53:00.003+01:00

and I find myself imagining being in africa long term. this is where i love to be.
enough about the future, how about the present?

each year G*od brings me back to his character. in seeing life, death and everything else in between, i have to ask difficult questions, and now even process these difficult questions with students. death doesn't get easier as you experience it more... i think it could because we have the choice to stay soft or get hard.

there have been moments of hardening, and these moments distance me from the heart of a G*od who feels the pain of his people every moment of every day. it seems so much easier in the moment to not feel and get hard, but down the track i have realized that i miss out on the impartation of his heart-a heart of compassion, one that desires long term change, a heart that is also yearning for the kingdom of light...

we had one maternal death last week due to eclampsia, a condition unique to pregnancy, characterized by convulsions, high BP and proteinuria. we had another mother die this week. and we have had too many fetal deaths to count. but both last week and this week, a baby raised from the dead. in the midst of death, i have to cling on to the giver of life, whose heart is for life, abundantly. whose heart is that no longer would an infant live but a few days, the man who lives to be 100 hundred would be thought of as a mere youth, that women will not labour in vain. his heart is to give life and life abundantly even when an enemy seeks to kill and destroy.

draw near my friends, as we draw near to him, he is there to meet us.

i tried uploading photos, no luck. maybe next time. bless you guys, thanks for reading.

i have arrived back to tanzania.

2011-01-08T12:19:00.002+01:00

and this land greets me with its warm breeze, magnificent palm trees and deep sandy footpaths.

the staff have crossed over in a hurry, my skin has become accustomed to sweaty situations and a huge pile of washing awaits me.

adjustments have been made and i am back in my element of high intensity situations that occur on a daily basis at the hospital, i love it, absolutely. my Swahili is weak but finding its superiority to english. and my desire to shave my head grows daily...its just so...practical.

one day this week, there were two deliveries with cord twice around the neck and one more with cord three times around the neck...all screamed shortly after delivery.

this week, two deliveries where the babies were born with no heartbeat but were screaming within 15 minutes.

i give you glory G*d because my human hands are not powerful. it is the power of Ch*ist in us.

christmas came early

2010-12-27T23:40:00.006+01:00

tonight we leave for tanzania. i probably don't have time to be blogging, but i am. i want to thank the L*rd for what happened last week. we need gloves every outreach and every year we ask and ask and ask...we don't always get donations but we always scrape by...see below for what happened last week...

ansell donated a BUNCH, I mean thousands upon thousands of sterile and non-sterile, both are needs of ours...

christmas came early this year for us :) thanks you j*sus.

next post i will be in east africa. (unless i have something to say before then.)

part 6...debrief

2010-12-19T23:44:00.002+01:00

and so we were prepared to leave the stan...

i left with new knowledge about the needs of a nation. my heart having been opened to how oppressed women can be in an Islamic nation, and what happens when we say yes to G*d-things change, his kingdom comes...in small ways but little bursts...

the whole time, emily and i felt as if we were merely representatives of the people of the nations that cared for the flood victims and passed on your love and care to the people there.

i don't know that all the lessons of the trip have been absorbed yet to the point where that can be expressed in words, and that's okay, i still have time to mull over it. but i think part 6 is the end of my stani posts. thanks for sticking with me through it...it took me a while...but we made it.

part 5....

2010-12-19T22:56:00.002+01:00

not really knowing what to expect, except that G*od had spoken for us to offer ourselves, we landed and exited the plane, dressed appropriately for the culture, but still receiving countless stares. i was adjusting to emily taking the lead and remaining quiet when we were interacting with someone older than us. this usually involved me staring at the floor and occupying my thoughts with the thought that "women just get used to this".

not too long after we'd arrived we were met by our hosts who guided us to the car. with them were three lovely ladies-stella, enum and priya, each of them was enrolled in their d school. the hosts-an american and a british-stani, shared their heart for the land and introduced us to the music of the land. the american-an ethnomusicologist, had come to the stan to study the music and essentially left his heart there and kept returning and now spends about half the year there. The british-stani started a lot of the work and continues to be the voice that directs the happenings. both incredibly welcoming and encouraged by the visit.

the days began at 6am-quiet time, 7am-team prayer, 8am-breakfast....that worked one day only. We quickly realized that these people were night crawlers...in bed by 2 or 3 or 4am, not up until 10-11ish...The first couple days we saw that we were missing a lot of what was going on, and we needed to adjust! I specifically had a hard time and felt like I should stop wearing my watch so that I could adjust to the people, not the time.

Our days were filled with...
inter-sesh times that are remembered fondly, times of an open heaven, a land thirsting for focused pr*yer...
getting a heart for a nation (that I knew next to nothing about) through conversation, reading news articles and listening to more music...
eating lots of excellent food, plenty of tea, learning to cook and serve the tea as the women do...
preparing clothing and food to distribute to the families affected by the flood whom we would eventually meet...
and doing health care teachings for the those who were d-school students...these were some of the best moments...these students had a long term commitment to reaching the victims of the flood. so even if we weren't able to love on these people, care for them, give health care to them, we were able to extend our knowledge to the people who would be with them. and they were so excited about learning, they were great students and recited the songs and teachings for the days following the teachings.

our last three-four days were spent journeying to go and meet the flood victims. i guess in my head i'd had this idea of how a government, or the leaders of a nation, get together and make these plans in case of natural disasters/bombings/no resources... so when things like a flood happen, they get together and say "Okay boys, just like we practiced, plan 242C (pull down chart from the wall, all gathered in matching uniforms sigh and agree), places everyone!" and then the officials go for it and take care of all the people... well it doesn't happen like this as i found, no organized vehichles to take people to camps, no designated resources for those who lost everything...

what we came upon was groups of men and women, camped out on high places, scrounging together all that they had to care for their family...quilts as their roof, a hammock attached to a wooden frame for the family bed, and a pot and a pan. the conditions were meager at best...they had lost nearly everything...the crops, the clothing, the food. most of the people we met it had been their first time to receive anything, this was 6 weeks post flood. I don't know what they had been living off of. they were completely isolated as well, no where near the city, these are people that survive off of an agricultural income and all their fields were submerged in water.

at one place we tried to distribute the goods to people and it ended in a riot, people fighting each other, ripping food and clothing out of each others' hands. there is an unbuilt fear that there just isn't enough, only the strongest will survive...this is the fruit of poverty-it leaves people without choices.

some of the most memorable moments for me was the eagerness of the pregnant mothers to see how their babies were doing. what a confession of hope in a devastating situation-pregnancy...new life is coming...

one mother was in labour with a baby that could not be delivered normally, we were able to encourage her family and we ensured that there was transport coming for here.
one baby with a cleft lip had not been fed in days. the women were telling the mother it was impossible for her to feed the baby, so she had stopped trying. the wee baby was so flaccid, and had all the markings of dehydrated. we were able to have a little time of helping the mom attach, with all the nay-saying women around, and they saw that the baby could in fact attach and feed...beautifully. that was to me such a miracle, a baby who had been without milk for around 3-4 days, that he had the strength to nurse, and do it well. the mother smiled as we left her with a suckling baby.
another couple of mothers, absolutely anaemic, but pregnant, and so joyful. a couple of babies who had not moved for days and we could not detect a heartbeat-i continue to wonder what happened in these cases.
in each of these cases-we had a government official's wife with us (she visited often she said and was able to help with translation)! her eyes were opened to the need of the pregnant women and you could see her heart for the people was massive. she was our advocate when we saw a need that we simply couldn't meet, she was onto it.

this has been the longest silence...

2010-12-04T20:43:00.003+01:00

i know our life has waves of busyness and chaos, but this has been the longest silence my blog has ever seen...i don't know that any pattern of life makes this excusable...

hmm...i need to finish about the stan and so much more.

sorry rachel. :( it has been on my mind a lot lately to work on this, but right now is not the time.

part four...scroll down for part one!

2010-10-25T15:37:00.003+02:00

the weekend was full of brazilian friends, hillsong and delectable home made feasts...emily and i rocked up at the consulate. over the weekend we had learned that because of my youth and emily's years of experience beyond mine, she should be the one to do the talking. i should not even make eye contact or anything close...leave it to emily. we had received a letter from a goverment official in the stan endorsing not only the foundation we were working with but emily and i...we'd put the final touches on some paperwork, saw more finance come in, and really pressed in through inter-sesh.

over and over emily practiced our new government "friend's" name, so when she needed to reference the letter, his name could roll trippingly off her tongue. we entered the consulate as soon as it opened-although the desk we needed was not open for another hour and a half. we stared off into space, occasionally getting the urge to make the other laugh...i thought about having a quiet time, reading the word, and then realized that most likely the worst thing i could do. the time was passed by a little boy and his father, waiting for visa. the little boy did not listen to his father at all, rather his inner spider man, which made for much entertainment. at the stroke of eleven, our friend who had told us "NO!" and then given us the stipulations rocked up (emily and i accidently looked at him and smiled) and without even making eye contact with us said-"your letter has come through, your visas will be issued today". and so we held the building excitement until we organized our passports,etc. and then let it all out in the elevator ride-"AHHHHHHHH!".

thus began our frantic ticket booking, inter-sesh, final finance collaboration and insurance purchasing. we saw each dollar needed for the tickets, visas and insurance come through...how phenominal is our G*od.

that night we were on the plane through dubai and to our final destination.

this is the story all about how...part three...this is getting longer than expected...

2010-10-10T16:31:00.003+02:00

And Friday morning, we arrived on the other side. We had exactly 1 1/2 hours to get to the embassy, plead our case and get our visas, hoping to fly out that day.

After hopping off the plane, we jumped on the train and briskly walked to St. Martin's Place in Sydney. Home of the consulates, and the fountain from the Matrix.

We took the elevator to floor seven, whipped out our official paperwork and invitation from an NGO and they looked at the paperwork and said "No, we cannot issue your visas, you are not Australian citizens. You need to apply from your countries." Not having come all that way to hear that, we said "Is there someone else we can talk to?" We arranged our meeting with the Consular General for two hours later.

We went to Hyde Park, chilled out, finished our airplane snacks, spent time with J*sus and then stormed the heavens together. Before we knew it, we were back in the office of the only person who stood between us and the flood relief victims. He was clothed in a suit that would have paid for both of our airfare, had the physique of a cricketer and had adorned his coffee table with a photo of him shaking hands with George Bush. He seemed important. And as we pleaded our case...without any warm fuzzies, he gave us some new info..."No one wants to be responsible for your ladies' lives. If I stamp your passports and something happens to you, I am in trouble." (This was the first of many insights into the instability of the nation. Everyone is afraid to mess up, no one wants to be responsible and actually it is quite unsafe for westerners, especially Americans--because we threaten to burn qur'ans, etc.) And then we basically asked, "what can we do to make this happen?" and he said "Get me a letter that endorses your NGO and takes responsibility for you from a government official and as soon as I receive that, I will give them to you. I will be here until 5 pm, and if it comes in before then, no problem, I will give them to you."

We made some more phone calls, found out that there had been a stabbing of a political figure who had taken political assylum in London and that things were potentially moving towards a declared 10 days mourning. This also meant that we would be delayed in getting our letter. Our contact in the UK was confident that it was possible though, we knew what we needed and now all we needed was time and we would get our visa.

And me? I was discouraged, tired and wanted to crawl under the lounge in the waiting room and fall into a deep sleep of hybernation. But Emily was right there, speaking truth, telling me that we knew what needed to happen, but we needed time and hey, we get the weekend in Sydney. A little bit earlier she had gone to the store while I had made some phone calls and in that time she had bought some sustenance. That was the best time ever to be surprised with a roll of sushi and a mini fish full of soy sauce. We toasted for what was to come. We remained in the lobby of this large commercial building there for the next couple hours, decompressing, downing hummus and listening to a man snore who was on the couch next to us. At one point the consular general walked past us and with a hint of soft heartedness said "Hey, if your letter comes this weekend, give me a ring." We smiled at each other, hopeful for this kind glimmer, even though we didn't have his number.

So a little more settled, Emily and I started to consider the fact that it was approaching 7pm and we had no place to stay and we were going to be in Sydney until Monday.

Alas, we live in a massive community where everyone seems to know someone, we were connected to some very kind people, now dear friends, that allowed us to stay at their flats, fed us to no end, showed us around and sent us out from Sydney after making us a priority all weekend. We love you Marcia and Jacob! Did you know there is a large Japanese population in Brazil? I never knew...

Onto part four...

this is the story all about how...part two

2010-10-10T11:11:00.006+02:00

Wednesday night was spent talking with my family, pr*ying-getting a word to stand on as I was sure that we were heading into a battle, making phone calls and writing emails to specific people to see if they wanted to partner financially. Thursday morning came much quicker than expected.

Thursday I rushed to prepare for family chores and also rearrange my schedule for the day. (Each morning I get to prepare all the cleaning supplies for one area of our base so that we can blitz clean together as a family for about 30 minutes first thing in the morning.) I was supposed to be on chocolate selling, a fundraiser that happens all year, every year, taking turns selling chocolate to businesses to raise funds for our building costs. I ran around looking for a swap and found a gracious beautiful friend who said "yes!".

I was in the clear, the day was Emily and I's to work on visa stuff.
I had no idea what an adventure we were embarking onto.

We spent the morning calling embassies in Australia. And the common consensus after 2 hours of phone calling was "No, we will not give you a visa."
The reasons:
-American and British citizens are not allowed to receive visas in any nations except their own.
-"And no, you cannot get a visa upon arrival."
-All visas take 6 weeks to process.

After hours of trying, we then stopped, took a breather and said to each other "Why did we think this would be easy? Of course the enemy doesn't want us to get in." So, we went into an AWESOME time of open heaven intersesh (my new fav version of "that word"). This was the beginning entering into a battle that has been raging for years in a country that separated itself to be an Islamic nation. Oh man the enemy has been a part of that from the beginning and does not want any land to be claimed back.

Around 1 pm, it seemed as if we received some breakthrough. Phone call after phone call led me to calling consulate after embassy after official person. I ended up on the phone with some man in S. Asia who said "Yes, we will grant you a visa upon arrival." We absolutely ELATED and double checked with our contacts in the UK and S. Asia, and they seemed to think it was a go. So at 7pm, it seemed as if, we were done, we could work on finances, flights and be on our merry way. We walked home 2 feet off the ground. I sighed when I arrived home, so satisfied to have seen G*d answer with his favour after we stormed the heavens, and asked, seeked and knocked.

It must have been 9pm, almost 24 hours after we first found out that we were going to be able to go, that Emily called and said "We can't enter without our visas." I fell to the ground...quite dramatically (and unnecessarily), exhausted, doubtful and afraid. I knew I was meant to go, but not being able to get our visas on arrival meant this battle was not done, it meant going to a consulate in Australia. So after a series of phone calls to the UK and Emily, we confirmed the only options were Canberra and Sydney. I didn't know what to do, with not much money in my bank account and the word of the L*rd to stand on, Emily and I went back to dad and asked him what to do. I took a shower and cried out. My housemates pr*yed for me and listened to me process the options.
And then G*d spoke "Go to the other side". This to me brought me to the story of J*sus and his disciples (Mk 4:35) when they were going across the lake and J*sus said "Let us go to the other side." And then the storm was a-brewin' and the disciples were frightened and woke him and asked him if he even cared about them. He then silenced the storm, as you do, and questioned their faith. The direction he gave to them was to go to the other side, he didn't say it would be without storms, but would not have told them to do something they were incapable of. And so I took this heart. "You orginally said to give myself as an offering, and though it is a battle to do so, I need to keep chugging along." I called Emily and shared this with her and she said "Hey, Sydney is on the other side of Australia!". It was also during this time of waiting on the L*rd that Emily received 1,000 pounds in her account, so we had enough money to buy our tickets to the other side.

The next 6 hours consisted of sending an email to my whole mailing list asking if people wanted to support this trip, {and this email was overwhelmingly responded to. It was each of you that made it possible for the whole trip to happen...okay, I know I am fast forwarding, but...so many times (more than I ever get asked) people wanted to know "WHY? are you here?" and I was able to respond on behalf of so many people from so many nations and say "the nations care for your people and I am here to tell you that."}, contacted individuals on the phone to see if they could give, organized details that you organize in order to travel and didn't pack my bag (because my amazing housemate/friend/fellow midwife Sarah packed it.

Before I knew it, I was riding my bike at 3:00am to pick Emily up from her house and then we were on our way to the base for our dear leader to drive us to the airport.

And it was all so surreal.

this is a story all about how...part one

2010-10-10T02:11:00.000+02:00

Every Friday night, together as a community, we come together and hear a challenging message, apply it and then grow corporately. this is the idea at least. about a month ago, the challenge came before the message. one of our base leaders led us into a pr*yer time for flood relief victims right at the beginning of the meeting. My heart was broken for the devastation, the women and children in need and the lack of response to the collapsing nation. In conclusion of the time we went into a time of giving, where we ask G*d what we could give financially. I felt like I could give myself as an offering. Sitting through the meeting was tough that night as my mind stayed in South Asia the whole evening.

After the meeting I found myself in my seat as the rest of the community stacked chairs up around me. Soon there were only a few people left and random people chatting around me. I waited for the base leader and found myself in the company of Emily, a British friend who just completed the birth attendant school, who too felt like she was supposed to go to Pakistan. It was late by the time we were able to speak to him, and once we had his attention, it was like "How do I put this...We want to go." He caught the curve ball and said he would get onto it, he had some connections and would see what he could do. Emily and I went to our leader after that, conveniently the same one, as we both work in health care. She said that would pray about it with our base leader and this other leader as well, for the weekend, we just needed to sit on it. As eager as I felt, I was grateful for her sound mind in it all. One of my house mates suggested that I paint "P stan" on the bum of my pants to show her I was taking that to heart.

Not much was mentioned on Monday and Tuesday I organized to speak with my leader and let her know what G*d had been saying over the weekend. She said she hadn't been able to pr*y but that she really wanted to see something happen and I felt like she was really going to all she could to make this happen. That day as well, the other base leader said he had gotten a response from inside the UK who is organizing the work in the country and that they would be happy to have two health care workers come...the door was opening.

I was so impressed with the support that we had. Wednesday afternoon Emily said that our leader was pr*ying...that didn't end up happening...she is busy. Really busy. Wendesday evening at about 10:00 pm, I was writing thank you cards for my BAS outreach finances...and Emily called and said "It's a go. We are going." And just like that, they had prayed and the base leadership was backing us to go into South Asia.

onto Part #2...

hi there.

2010-10-09T05:30:00.003+02:00

hi friends. i just wanted to let you know that I am alive, doing well and have not had any time to procure blog posts about adventures to south asia yet.
this weekend i am babysitting two sweet children with a lovely friend called Sarah.
i will need to be posting soon.
see you all.
i think you are wonderful.

ready for take off.

2010-09-20T12:11:00.003+02:00

visas-check!

amazing. miracle. should have been impossible, but here we are, waiting for our flight.

an opportunity has presented itself for those who would like to give towards med supplies in the stan. there is a great need, meds are available, just not for those who most need it.
you can send me an email if you are interested and i can write you!

thanks for all the asking. we are off.

sleepless in sydney

2010-09-17T08:00:00.002+02:00

hey guys. we are running into barriers here in sydney as far as visas go. if you think of it, take this one to dad. to him be all the glory!

saturday.

2010-09-16T13:39:00.002+02:00

i am going to the stan. it is a miracle.

pakistan. yes, i have responsibility.

2010-09-11T04:33:00.002+02:00

i have read a very unsettling article. all i can ask is "where are those who fear the L*rd?" and then I realize, that I am here, in Australia, numb and separate from a disaster that the body of C*rist should be at the forefront at.

thank you bbc.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8965711.stm

When covering disasters, reporters can face the ethical question of whether they should help, or remain detached. When is it right for a journalist to help a weak and possibly dying baby?
Sometimes the scale of a tragedy is so vast, it is hard to comprehend.

It was a difficult birth, by the roadside, with no-one to help
Eight million people in Pakistan are homeless and hungry. Sometimes it takes just one to make it all seem real.
That is how I felt in Sukkur 10 days ago. Overwhelmed.
People were flowing into the city at a ferocious pace, a ragged river of humanity, with shocked faces and frightened eyes.
They were fleeing on trucks, donkey carts, bicycles and on foot, clutching whatever was precious - electric fans, bedding, pots and pans, chickens and goats. Behind them, a great sinister mass of floodwater was pouring in.
Tiny scrap
Sukkur itself was overflowing with families, along the roadside, on river banks, on every patch of open ground.
The heat was unbearable but they had no shelter.
When our car pulled up, they ran to it, flattened their faces against the windows, begged for food, for water, for help.
When I got out and started to record interviews, people pressed round.
Then, in all the noise and heat and smell, someone told me about a baby, born by the roadside, and led me off to see.
She was a tiny scrap, silent and still amid the clamour.
She was lying motionless on her back, on a small mat under a tree. Flies were thick round her face. The passing traffic was just feet away.

I see my job as to bear witness in a tragedy and to report - but not to interfere
Her skin was almost translucent, her head smaller than my palm, balanced in a faded china saucer, propped up against a stone. Her eyes were closed and lifeless.
I thought at first that she was dead. Her young mother seemed vacant with shock. She had had a difficult birth, there on the road, with no-one to help.
Now she sat beside her baby, looking dazed. The baby was not feeding, she said. She had not seen a doctor. She did not know where to find one.
I went down the road to a chaotic emergency clinic and interviewed a doctor there who promised to go and help. Then I went back to the hotel to work on a different report.
Metaphor for suffering
The following day, I was busy chasing more stories, but on the way back to the hotel in the early evening, I stopped off at the roadside, with some trepidation.
It seemed very likely that the baby would not have survived. But she had.
She was weak, but whimpering now and trying to move.

As the flood crisis continues, millions face an uncertain future
The doctor had visited and whatever he had done seemed to have made all the difference. Her mother had just named her Samina. Suddenly she had a name and a hold on life.
That evening I was elated. In all that misery and heat and exhaustion, I felt boosted by the thought I had helped someone, perhaps even played a part in saving a life. It eased my sense of guilt and helplessness.
The report I filed on baby Samina met with a tremendous response. Suddenly she seemed to be a metaphor for the general suffering.
I was contacted by friends and colleagues and complete strangers.
An international agency got in touch, offering to help the family. Baby Samina was becoming, unwittingly, a poster girl for the floods.
In some ways, that is wonderful. But it also made me feel very uncomfortable.
I see my job as to bear witness in a tragedy and to report - but not to interfere. I had urged that doctor to treat baby Samina.
He may have saved her, but was it at the expense of another patient? Is it unethical to attract resources to one family, when millions of others may be equally deserving?
Hope and disappointment
This week I went back to Sukkur to do a second report on Samina.
Her family has a tent inside a camp now - tent number 59 - with a supply of food and clean water.
Samina seems stronger. She is lying on a pile of embroidered cushions, instead of the ground, wriggling and yawning.
Her mother's health, too, seems much better. The family's future is still uncertain, but the immediate crisis is past.
Maybe I should stop there, with a happy ending that makes us all feel hopeful, but as I walked away from Samina's family, someone tugged at my sleeve.
She led me to a tent nearby where another young woman had just given birth, a day or two earlier.
Her relatives lifted a cover to show a tiny, wrinkled newborn.
The women turned to me, eager and expectant, as if they were thinking now this foreigner will help our child too.
They looked disappointed when all I could do was to say thank you, congratulate them and then turn to leave.

so guys, now what? CBC world news predicts that 500,000 women are pregnant and in need of medical help.

garage sale-check

2010-09-07T17:00:00.002+02:00

hey family! i just wanted to let you know that over 800 dollars was made in the garage sale. wowie, can you believe it??? has to be favour of the L*rd. thanks for the pr*yers and for all the donations. you made it happen.

i am almost there with my outreach finances. they are due tomorrow and i am pretty sure they will be in. woo hoo! Go G*d!

sunday nights.

2010-09-05T10:44:00.002+02:00

i say out loud "i just want the clock to stop" and my housemate responds "it is never going to happen", and thwarts me back into reality.

there is something about each weekend that reminds me again of my desire, the very being i have been created as, longs for eternity, where time will never end.

friday morning greets me as i prepare morning chores, characterized specifically by auditorium mopping, and i think to myself, wow the week is almost over. friday afternoon reminds me of my love for learning as we talk about how chris*ian mission should be advancing the kingdom of G*d, friday evening comes with a sigh of relief that i now have a weekend of possibility awaiting me. nearly every friday night, i have the best intentions to get to bed early so that i can make the most of the weekend mornings, but the excitement of not having anything pressing the next morning gives me leeway to hang out, wo*ship till the wee hours or make skype phone calls.

saturday morning i once again feel the joy of a free weekend and realize i better get onto it at 3pm--because keeping up at this rate and nothing will happen.

sunday morning i grieve because another day has passed, joy comes in the afternoon when i realize that i do have more time then the fogginess of my morning mind was telling me, sunday evening i dip back into a grievous state because as i realized on friday afternoon, the week has spiraled to a close.

have i come to conclusions about the revelations you gave me this week g*d?
have i told everyone what i really think of them?
have i shared coffee with someone new this week?
did i make a card for grandma's birthday?

i want to seal it off before the newness of this next week comes. nearly every sunday evening i feel unprepared, i have not sucked this last week dry for what it was worth.

time is passing, and i am not ready for the next day. my nieces are growing, writing, evolving and i have missed point a to point b's journey.

so back to this age old cliche, i need to live in the moment.

and i am reminded that i was created for eternity.

scents and funnel cake

2010-09-01T14:52:00.004+02:00

i have one friend with such a distinctive scent. i hugged her tonight and now my hand smells like her, so comforting. it reminds me of when my aunt terri would go out with mom in our cool 1990 aerostar, then, when mom would pick us up in the car and we would fasten our seatbelt, instantly you would know with one sniff, aunt terri has been here.

it is nearly nine pm and the day has been full on. something about when we are trusting, not knowing where provision can come from, only fixing our eyes on him. everything else wants to distract, but i can't, i just need to baptize my eyes, clean off the muck and refocus. there is no formula to provision, only obedience. just some musings for the evening...

we had a very successful market night this evening-all come together who want to sell their goodies-a celebration of everyone's talents, an exchange of finances and a tummy full of tasty samples. our own little carnival. ben the balloon man even made me a purple pony with a yellow mane.

while i am here, if anyone would like to donate some items to raise finance for my outreach fees, let me know. anything you could give of course would be appreciated! and any pr*yers you have to offer as well for the event. it is happening this saturday. holly "the amazing" sturm is putting it on. she rocks.

okay, nighty night guys.

friday, what a day.

2010-08-27T16:29:00.001+02:00

HI!
Keep pra*ing for dad.
also, all my flight money came in. Miracle... yeppers.

spiders and flights

2010-08-26T00:59:00.002+02:00

hey guys, just wanted to rally some pr*yer for my dad. he has gotten a spider bite which has progressed to a staff infection and he is on antibiotics. as usual with staff infections, there is a risk that it is the strain which has a resistance of antibiotics, break this business off!

in other news, finances for my flight is due in 36 hours. woooo hooo! let's see a miracle, hey?

thanks for the pr*ayer.

cheers!! bekah

an excursion.

2010-08-22T15:01:00.002+02:00

Hi family.

Well today was an exciting day.
I was able to go with some of my friends, who are a part of a group that redeems island dances of the south pacific, to share with some "troubled youth" at a local center. it turned out to be all boys, which I was feeling a bit nervous about.
i wasn't sure what it was going to look like, but I felt like G*d was laying on my heart that whoever we shared with needed to know that they were not under the law, but under grace-that nothing could separate them from his love. while my incredibly talented friends danced their feet off we inter*eded for all that G*d wanted to come be released.
after the cru*ifixion Haka (a dance done by the Maori people of New Zealand) we had the chance to disperse and talk to the boys. all of us "visitors" needed to stay within arms length of each other and in partners. my partner was my friend from South Africa.
we headed for these two boys we had met briefly at the beginning. they warmed up to us quickly when we asked them how to properly shake hands and confusing me to no end by introducing themselves with the wrong names. they asked "yous guys all churchies?"... "yous (aussie plural for "you") always been churchies?"...and without much more my partner launched into his personal testimony of laughing at chris*ian people all his life and then to being high out of his mind and confused as ever and G*d meeting him then and there. little did we know we were talking to two boys fully addicted to crack and pot. they shared how it is just "too hard" to give up, but they really didn't want to screw up their lives. they shared dreams of wanting to be a mechanic and basketball player. and said they wanted to help each other get to that point. it turns out they were cousins.

in the end they saw from my buddy's story that they wanted to meet this G*d for themselves, as we likened meeting G*d to a drug high, you can't describe it, you just have to try him for yourself.

and our two friends pra*ed a committment to keep following J*sus from this day on.

the guy who got us "in" to meet this guys will follow up with them.

doesn't get much better than that, hey?

lately my posts have been about food.

2010-08-15T16:00:00.002+02:00

today a lady from church took me out for Indian food. i am so happy. i feel abundantly blessed. oh, and i ate lamb again.

hi! hi!

2010-08-12T12:25:00.002+02:00

i just wanted to let you all know how great Livio is doing. i was able to visit him at the hospital the other night and he was awake, alert, talking and joking. so many of the words spoken came to fruition for his healing. wow, G*d is so cool. so much grace over his life.
today he was discharged from the hospital! woohoo!
thank you all for the pr*yers of petition for his life.

a little update for those who have been asking...

2010-08-10T00:21:00.001+02:00

Thank you for your concern for my friend. He is called Livio, he is a Swiss-Italian. I was able to meet his parents today-I'm sure they were completely jet lagged but were in great spirits, fully trusting in G*d! They gave report that he is in good spirits. He has fractured (what I am guessing) his temporal bone, just behind his ear, very close to damaging his artery (again, guessing, but thinking his carotid artery)...but didn't! The haemmorhaging in his brain has subsided! Praise G*d! Thank you for asking, please keep on as led.

2010-08-08T13:49:00.002+02:00

i just finished a satisfying dinner of lamb stew and sourdough bread and for dessert, a glass of milk.

there is so much commentary in store for this opening sentence.
Firstly, lamb...I have consumed enough lamb in this month than I ever had in my years in America. We just don't eat lamb. They are cute animals that represent J*sus and we don't herd enough of them to slaughter them.
Secondly, all the bread I have ever eaten here has been donated. Twice daily we pick bread up in the city, and when I say "pick up bread" I mean 5, 6, 7 massive trash bags. Abundance.
And milk--for some reason we have also received an abundance of milk donation, expired it may be, but delicious it is. Although there isn't enough to drink it by the glass usually, this weekend has called for a rare season. Yummm...It tasted like gas station. Okay, allow me to explain "tasting like gas station". I grew up as a milk snob. Twice a week a little man, called Bob Phelps (at least that is who we made the check out to), would bring 2% or 1% (depending on the Dinneen season) milk in 1/2 gallons and leave it in our milk box. It tasted like he drove the cow around in the milk truck, milked it in your drive way and then left the sealed carton in your insulated milk box, it was so fresh. On the off week, we would drink more than bargained for and then we would either go without milk until the next delivery day (torture) or my gracious father would pick some up on his way home from work. At some point , we decided this "pseudo milk", often purchased at texaco, tasted horrible, and dubbed it "gas station milk"---the worst of the worst. And now, having milk powder be a luxury, I look back at my silly jokes and wonder-"Why didn't dad spank his ungrateful daughter?" Hahaha. Thanks for your patience dad.

This weekend has been good. I reread the book "Is that really you G*d?". I feel like once again I have the vision of sending youth into the nations and how G*d uses the willing.

I did want to ask for pr*yer from you all. Yesterday, my friend, the very one who lent me his long board, was riding and took a really bad fall. He is currently in critical condition at the hospital, some bleeding on the brain, fractured skull, ruptured ear drum...but with that said-he is conscious, joking around and in a state of recovery. His parents are coming from Switzerland, they should be here tonight. Please take a moment to pr*y. I feel like he is definitely going to be fully recovered, but we need to cover him to get to that point.

Thank you guys for reading. It has been a weekend of getting things done. Gearing up for seeing outreach finances come in!

Look forward to hearing from you :)

my july update goes a little something like this...

2010-08-03T13:59:00.002+02:00

although it is lots better with pictures, i am going to post this anyway...(if you do want my real updates in your inbox, you can send me your email address and i will make it happen.)

News from me to you...

the birth attendant school 2010
yippee!!! this is the new crew of 16 students began on July 4th. It's all happening! from the nations of france, u.s. (one u.s. via peru), canada (one canada via barbados), australia, samoa/taiwan (she is a special mix), the netherlands, new zealand and singapore. and not pictured is rachel...one of our staff!

and they are hilarious...a pre-requisite, of course.

what's been happening since i have been in perth...

it has been nearly two months since the last birth attendant school ended and since then i have been adjusting, refocusing, soaking and enjoying! this has been a time for me to see what really happens when you are working behind the scenes and not on the front lines of a school, rather the backbone.

as a base we are trusting for 1.7 million more dollars before we can begin construction on our new property. what an exciting time this has been to be reabsorbed into the base! ...

...once the new school was prepared for and had arrived, i was able to transition and see what happens to keep the base running. i have been able to work on planning our outreach, babysit, learn about applying for outreach visas, be a part of fighting for new staff to come aboard, re-organizing the keys for 53 properties the base has, and a lot of pr*yer, inte*cession and wors*ip in the mix of it all.

there are several times a week that i get to interact with the students who are learning to become G*d-fearing midwives, but this year i am not "staffing" the lecture phase. this means i will not go on outreach until after christmas. get ready everyone, i will be home from mid-november until just before christmas this year! woohoooooo!

thanks for all the pr*yer and being a part of this new season.

yes, i want to hear from you! send me an email!

i turned 22 this week. :) i would love to catch up with YOU! i thoroughly enjoy skype dates...my username is bekahwekah29. i also like to get prayer requests from you, send them my way! thanks for reading! til next time...(mad props to mailchimp who has revolutionized my updates.)

goodnight moon

2010-07-17T17:08:00.002+02:00

Hey there guys. I am working on a "proper" update tomorrow. For now though...
I think I am adjusting back to the life lay before me in Perth.
A life that includes plenty of morning tea.
A life that includes baby sitting nearly every Sunday night.
A life that includes a revolving front door and a french press that can't be cleaned fast enough.
A life that includes dreading letting my feet touch the wood floor each morning.
A life that includes sitting with people from the nations at each meal.
A life that includes swallowing my pride and asking "What is your name? I have forgotten...again."
A life that includes commercial mops and disinfectant that dries only to smell like pee.
I am learning...that it is different...that it is okay for me to have free time...that G*d will show me how to use it and be wise with it, if I ask. There is adventure unfolding. I am being stretched. Hmmm...I like doing posts like this, don't I? I think my posts end up like when I feel like I have a lot to say but I don't know how to say it.

I am enjoying my last week of being 21.

My friend was epilating her legs while I was typing this and now she just turned it off...my ears are ringing. I think that machine was used in Medieval times for torture.

Cheers!

new school. new schedule.

2010-07-05T15:53:00.003+02:00

hi guys. the school started yesterday, the fourth of july, what a celebration!
i just spent some time tonight long boarding outside my aussie home. it feels like it is filling my snowboard love tank. i'm loving it, and i don't need snow pants to do it.
my friend lent me his board for the week while he is away at a youth camp. such an unexpected blessing.
anyway, just a testimony to how kinesthetic activities bring euphoric joy and clear minds. i had such a great time, nearly falling off, talking to dad, jumping ship, watching cars, riding...
I am enjoying a bit more laid back schedule, a more 8ish-7ish day than outreach or staffing a school can be. oh man G*d is good.

aussie aussie aussie

2010-06-30T16:48:00.002+02:00

hey there guys.

it is evening. i just wanted to say hello. i am snuggled up on our pleather, sea green couch. the electric heater warms the room inside the house without any central heating. i don't think australia is actually that cold, it is just that there are few warm spaces to be found unless you have a space heater. dare i purchase something so...permanent? for now i wear plenty of layers to bed and dread getting out of them each morning.

recently, i have been working with the other staff on the preparations for the new 17 students that are coming. we are still fighting for several students. we want to trust for all the lecture phase finances to come in before the students arrive so that it is just outreach finances we have to push for. there are 3 students who are still fighting this fight...up until days before their flights are scheduled to leave. thus far, 4 students have arrived.
four fresh minds.
ready to embrace the need for healthcare in the nations.
ready to immerse themselves in the call of mother and child healthcare.
sounds like i am in the business of indoctrinating. i'm not though.

if you think of it...you can fight with us... we are fighting hard for a nigerian couple's visa. when this is mentioned, the first words spoken out of most people's mouth who know anything about aussie immigration is: "nigerians never get their visas"...i rebuke this. i am, we are, trusting to see breakthrough, the beginning of many to receive birth attendant training who are from nations that greatly contribute to the 500,000+ pregnancy related deaths per year.

that's all for now.

G*d has been really good. I am making new friends. Even with the boys. I have been in an all boy inter*ession group twice a week for the past four weeks. I shared with them that this was the first time I prayed with boys in two years, they were shocked.

cheers.

Zumba is on.

2010-06-24T00:58:00.001+02:00

Countdown to Zumba!
This weekend, Saturday the 27th at 7pm and Northlake Christian Church.
$10 suggested donation.
Are you game?

its not you, its me.

2010-06-21T13:11:00.001+02:00

i will be the first to admit that blogging has slipped from my fingers since i have been back in perth. just because i have been able to write more personal emails doesn't mean my blog should suffer. i am going to work on this one.

a thought for you.

2010-06-05T10:42:00.003+02:00

Last night this was shared at one of the base's corporate meeting times...
A country in central asia has decided that all new believers and those who continue to choose J*sus will be executed as their penalty.
I wanted to share this with you, as knowledge comes responsibility trails right behind it.

back to perth

2010-05-30T14:22:00.002+02:00

hi guys. thanks for the covering. we actually got put up in a hotel thanks to the airline instead of 16 hours in the airport, what a surprise and picture of G*d's grace. one of the students hurt her back two days before we left and needed a bed for the night and we were expecting a turn around of getting home this evening and showing up for report back not having had great rest...anyway we did have excellent rest and free food! so thanks guys and thanks G*d.

2010-05-29T08:15:00.002+02:00

hello everybody. just a small note to tell you that i am sitting in the airport of manila. this is our last leg of travel for the team. wowie. onwards to KL for a 16 hour layover and then to Perth. all pr*yer cover welcome.
thank you.
a final update very soon.

mmmm yesterday

2010-05-19T07:06:00.002+02:00

For all of those inte*cessors from yesterday, I wanted to pass on the happenings of the day...isn't G*d the best? I think so.

I was able to converse extensively with a man who is part of the Church of Ch*ist. It is disguised as Chris*ianity but rather cult-like in the engagement with G*d. So much truth was spoken, specifically through testimony and G*d's word. In the end he allowed us to pr*y for his wife who is struggling with infertility and share that we believed when she would be healed it would be from G*d (they are only allowed to pr*y 3 times a day, very specific pr*yers).

At another clinic Reinette finished a prenatal check and asked the mother if she could pr*y for her. When she finished pr*ying Reinette was surprised that the woman was crying and deeply moved, she shared that 6 months ago there had been a large conflict in her ch*rch, so much so that she hadn't been able to return to the ch*rch and was longing for G*d.

We also were able to facilitate a discussion at women's bi*le study about oral hygiene (massive need here!) and here them share their worries for their children and then brainstorm about ways to save up for toothbrushes and toothpaste for a family of six...even looking equally effective alternatives. The women left having heard G*d's thoughts on stewardship, the parental influence and blessing! It was a very spontaneous time of G*d bringing his love and care through the teaching!

I am inspired by the power of pr*yer, G*od really met us. He is here.

bekah

points of the day.

2010-05-17T15:57:00.000+02:00

Hi Guys!

Tomorrow is the 18th of May and my day to make sure that the team is covered in pr*yer. A couple of people had said that they had wanted to partake, but I decided to send out the requests to many just in case the day has opened for you and you have a moment to talk to Dad.

-There have been MANY open doors to share with Catholics (in the Philippines they are into idol worship, sacrifices, lacking in relationship) about the way we meet with G*d. Please ask for more chances for today.

-Please ask for our final days in the health care centers, good byes will commence on Thursday. A final covering over good relationships specifically, so that will translate as the base here starts it's own birth center.

-Please ask for the women on 12th Street (where we have been joining in with community development). Few can afford to see the midwives after we leave or to be able to pay for a skilled attendant at their birth.

-Please ask for our transition. May 30th we will arrive in Perth for a final week of debrief and then the students will graduate!

Thank you! So, if you are able to cover this stuff, double thank you!
You guys rock, couldn't do it without you.

Bekah

tstmny

2010-05-17T14:46:00.002+02:00

Sunday night we were wandering down a boardwalk, near the beach, where many foreigners come, in between the lighted walkways are bars and dance clubs. I met a young girl who was trying to sell bracelets and small trinkets. My heart hurt to see her there in a lustful environment, going from tourist to tourist, up late, doing things children shouldn't be doing. I didn't have any money with me but so badly wanted to win her over, look into her eyes and tell her how precious she was. She didn't speak any English and was frightened when I would softly touch her shoulder. I asked G*d "what can I give to her?". I reached into my bag and remembered a bottle of nail polish that I had bought for a girl in India that I never saw again. I handed the shiny, red bottle over to her and she accepted it and walked away, not receiving what she was hoping for. All I could think was that she deserved a bigger picture of life then what poverty was giving to her family. As we were leaving I ran into this same little girl, her whole demeanor had changed; a joyful little girl with light in her eyes waved me over to see the masterpiece on her friend's hands. Even if only for a moment, she was able to shrug off the responsibility and see the creativity given to us through a child's eyes, it was a glimpse of G*d's kingdom. Thank you G*d.

This week concludes our work in the clinics here, next week we will say our good byes, pack our belongings and head back to Perth, Saturday the 29th. I am wrestling with the reality of this, wondering what life is going to look like when I am back in Perth. Although I will be involved with the school (doing background prep-for outreach, and participating in small groups, etc.), I will also be serving in other ministries. My heart is preparing for the painful good byes that are ahead and the sudden changes that will follow.

abridged april.

2010-05-11T12:50:00.004+02:00

Hello my dear ones...

“Ground breaking” were the words that G*d spoke as we began the first week of April in Subic Bay, The Philippines. The month has been a compilation of transitions, meeting midwives and learning from them in their clinics, crying out for this nation, joining with the work of community development and meeting G*d in rich ways to carry us through these last months. I have some stories to share with you and hope that they will give you at least the slightest view of all the ways the kingdom of G*d are breaking into the lives of the Filipino people we are doing life with.

Here in the Philippines, the enemy has sabotaged relationships. Absolutely.
As team, three times a week, we sit in groups of four or five and ask G*d, "What do you want to say?" Almost every time, G*d reveals the twisted views of women and men and family life here. In one time of int*rcession, G*d brought this up and raised the question to us of “What are you going to do about the teenage pregnancies that you are seeing everyday?” There are too many fatherless homes, a lack of commitment in male and female relationships and it has caused teens to move into relationships, searching for that intimacy that was not received from their fathers, therefore skewed their vision of G*d, therefore almost every day of prenatals we are meeting 16, 17, 18 year olds. Out of this time of listening, G*d gave us the strategy to link in with some teen girls in the area we have been doing community development with and begin to share with them our stories of finding relationship with G*d in the midst of the world telling you to find value in boys. We also got to do teaching on G*d’s view of women and how that is seen in the way he has created us (always my favourite teaching). We have a larger group of girls that we will be meeting with to share this same message next week.

As a team, we have been looking into Jo*hua 1 for the last month and this week we were talking about being the “first fruits”. That we are a “first evidence of the new creation” coming… “a foretaste of future glory”. So just by being here, G*d’s kingdom is here in Subic Bay. How encouraging.

More stories and pictures are on my blog (www.bekah29.blogspot.com) if this has left you hanging. Just one month is remaining for the 2009 Birth Attendant School. In some ways I think, “it has been so quick” and then when I stop to breathe my body tells me that it’s tired and yes, it has been 11 months.

So, until next month...bless you family, bless you friends, for all your support, reading this email and blessing me with your love.

Bekah

we went to "zoobic", a home for tigers here in subic bay.
to all my zoo hating friends: they have been raised in captivity. i feel like they are well cared for there.
this was an amazingly large and gorgeous white tiger who was very hungry because he hadn't been fed yet that morning when we met him.

here is a tiger family. this was also my favourite picture, this one is for you molly.

this was to make up for the previous photo "the bad one" (according to the photographer).

here we are, ready to go for the day.
there are more pictures, not that i have yet. just a taste.

Relationship Perversion. How do our sins affect others?

2010-05-03T04:19:00.000+02:00

I haven't researched my thoughts and opinions, and probably never will, but need to get them all out on "paper". So have a look if you'd like. I don't if I have pinpointed the beginning of the sex trade, but these are the conclusions that have roughly been formulated these past couple weeks through inter*cession and interaction.

What are the implications of a massive hub, drawing mostly men, in and out, day after day, hour after hour...
Years and years ago the US Navy planted a base here in Subic Bay. It was around that time that Olongapo city was stigmatized as "Sin City". The chains that poverty leaves cities in has outworked itself into the sex trade...For years and years the women of the city have found that this is how they can provide for the family, this is what they capable of doing. Still today, when I walk up the street, there is bar after bar after bar advertising their "women", it is a booming industry.
Why did the women need to provide for their families? What are the implications of such a thriving economy stimulated by prostituting of bodies?
Each time I have done prenatal checks with women, they have had a "partner". The term "partner" is widely accepted here in Olongapo as a proxy for "husband" and vice versa. Most families are matriarchal because the father is such a temporary or ever-changing figure.
What does this do to the family structure here in Olongapo?
Girls are missing their fathers. Boys are missing their dads. The value that is due to each child from a father has been withheld. This also means that the view of G*od as our father, that is most greatly affected by our fathers, is absolutely thrashed when fathers are not a part of the picture. Meaning that boys and girls are searching in other places for what they are longing for.
How does this affect who I interact with each day?
I have seen maybe ten women, in total, that have been over the age of 25 in prenatal care. Our greatest number of pregnant women fall into the 15-19 category. I would say 4 in 5 of the women we see fit in that category. The teens of this city have not found the value that G*od intends for them to receive and the cycle of either prostituting themselves or rushing into relationships is the outcome. Daughters, mothers, sisters, women, have been absolutely raped of their value.

So what now?
G*od let your kingdom come in this place. Through man and woman being in covenantal relationship with you. Men and women who are committed first to you and then to each other. We want to see burst of your kingdom in this place.

i have been trying to upload videos for three days. this will have to do for now.

2010-04-30T14:57:00.003+02:00

Also, a wee report from my buddy Rach who just left Hyderabad with the rest of the team for Central Asia...this is from her update. Do you remember the woman I talked about meeting on the last day at the hospital? Well, they went and met her and this is how it went...

On Friday we went and did home visits and Cara, Alana and I were able to visit Shanaz - the woman Bek met at the hospital, She had lost her baby (due to placental abruption...aka...the placenta detaches from the uterus early). Her husband (Josef) was really lovely and directed our auto. They live a bit far away (about 75 rs) but we got there fine. They welcomed us into their home and we got to ask Shanaz a bunch of good post-natal check-up questions. We talked to her a bit about grieving and although she said she wasn't still sad she broke down crying. We let her cry a bit and then I asked if I could pray for her in the name of Je*sus and she said yes. Later we got to share with both her and her husband about why the school exists - who Je*sus is - how much he loves them and also talked to her husband a bunch about differences (and similarities) between is lam and chris ti an ity. They made us lunch ( dahl, rice and chicken - sooo good) and tea afterward. We stayed nearly 4.5 hours and they wanted us to stay longer but we had to go. We spent the entire afternoon laughing, crying, playing with her 5 year old (first child) daughter, loving and sharing with her and husband about the Hope that we have. She told us before we left that it felt like her sisters had come. (she has no family - her dad is dead, her brother and mother won't speak to her because they had a love marriage). It was a really beautiful day... we saw glimmers of hope in her as we hugged goodbye.

Here is some stuff Rach had in her post as well that maybe you would like.

NUMBERS: Although numbers only give a small part of the whole picture - let me give you an idea of what our time here has held. We delivered approximately 171 babies (and assisted at the births of countless others)of which 33 were in the last two weeks. More than 1000 people received some form of healthcare, around 500 people were prayed for, 5 came to know J*s us as their savior, and several hundred heard a test i mony of how G*d loves them. We visited more about a third of the women we delivered in the post natal ward the next day and 10 in their homes.

Yay! So cool!

this is the day!

2010-04-28T15:03:00.002+02:00

So, for those of you who were wanting to send up some memos to our dad, here goes the requests!

• Yesterday we had five of our team members join up with us, who were doing a health care seminar in India. Please ask for the re-unification of our team and their adjustment to the culture, strongholds and dynamics of the whole team here in the Philippines.
• Ask for our team in central Asia who just arrived on Sunday. There are 4 students there (one of them is a student with a family of 4), a staff and our school leader with her family. They are scouting out the needs there and how our school can connect in for the future.
• Ask for Hollie, my fellow staff member, she is 13 weeks pregnant. Daily she faces the feeling of “seasickness”, more like all-day sickness as opposed to morning sickness.
• Ask for Melisa and I, in leading the team, while the dynamics are changing, we are still trying to settle the daily schedule here. In all of this we are learning to communicate with each other and keep on keeping on through tiredness we are sometimes facing in our spirits.
• Ask pray for the work here in the PHILIPPINES! So many open doors! Yippee! Birth clinics galore want us to come, such a chance for evangelism and learning from the midwives and doctors here.

Thank you thank you thank you! We have definitely sensed a difference since we started this and I am grateful to you for pitching in. Bless you!
G*od is so stinkin good.

it took so long.

2010-04-21T08:01:00.007+02:00

Well, how do I sum up the time thus far in this land that I really do love.
Here are some photos from the lovely Reinette of South Africa. I have some of my own that I will upload a little later, for now. Enjoy these.
Sorry it has taken so long. I have been trying since Sunday but the internet has not been on my side.

this is our amazing dining room where we enjoy home cooked Filipino food almost everyday. Melinda, the cook, hopes to open a restaurant one day.

On this day we went to visit a birth center for the first time, we are now doing prenatal checks and immunizations there.

Elections are happening. I will send a movie shortly of what that loaded phrase entails. For now, this is mayor James "Bong" Gordon, hoping to be re-elected. He has my vote.

Taking a stroll on the beach. I'm clearly still in the Mu slim world with my head wrapped and all.

These are the lovely children of 12th Street, we go often during the week to be with the pregnant moms as well as these little cherubs.

and here we go with the pregnant mums...i take photos. that's my job.

Anyone can always come and get their BP taken. always a great time to love and people and send up some pra*yers for miracles!

we like kids chairs.

oh the "houses"...it is common for most people to have their house flood three feet everyday, yes, everyday.

we thank the u.s. navy for our transport.

These are the base leaders, community developers, loveliest of most lovely people.

every saturday. kids program. thank goodness i have the mother i have, I owe Kids INC a lot.

we take a little boat "banka" to the clinic each day, this is the view.

mmm...sunset...a lovely background to have up while we play beach volleyball.

that's all folks. hope you enjoyed!

ooohhh mail

2010-04-13T15:37:00.000+02:00

If you like, here is the address that I am "at" for the next 2 months. Some have been asking and so I offer it to you.

P.O. Box 166
Olongapo City, 2200
Philippines

i may never March in the infantry...

2010-04-12T09:41:00.001+02:00

March's update.

Kamusta ka?!

Greetings from the Philippines! We have arrived safely and have been greeted by guest-house standard accommodations and fans enough to keep us cooler than our bodies can handle sometimes. The L*ord is giving rest.

I want to share with you about our last month in India, but if you are interested in the recent transition to Subic Bay, you can check out www.bekah29.blogspot.com where I will be posting.

The strongholds of India that G*od first spoke to us continued to be things that factored into daily life. The implications of two major religions being entertained in the space of one city resulted in a battle that was constant, so many things being worshiped, sacrifices being made, led to a very active spiritual realm. For our team, the constant battle caused sickness, fatigue and the feeling of oppression that can cause a reluctance to participate. In the final week of our stay in Andra Pradesh, the Muslims and Hindus broke out in fighting. People were killed, stabbed and injured all in the name of false gods. This gave us the final push, showing us once again that G*od was calling his people to this place to bring his kingdom. And so we left the city through inter*cession and wor*ship, calling out the body of Ch*rist to live differently to show the city that blood has already been shed and atoned for each of us.

Our time in the hospital is a ministry that I thank G*od for at the end of the day…well, most of them. Being in a place where women are travailing alone, G*od quickly brings us along side to inter*cede silently or with them. The overall feeling of the maternity hospital was quite oppressive and once again a battle. G*od made a way for us to share his name, for students to learn skills needed and to make friends.

I just wanted to share a story with you about a woman I met on the last day. It doesn’t have a happy ending yet, but I believe that seeds scattered were in fertile soil…

Our last day in the labour room I felt burdened to speak with each of the women labouring. I didn’t get much further than a woman called Shohazi.

Shohazi locked eyes with me and said “Baby dead, my baby dead.” She was lying on a metal bed in the corner, waiting to be cleaned up and for the blood to finish transfusing before she could leave. It seemed as if no one had spoken to her since she came to the hospital. Her eyes were empty with loneliness. She shared her story, about how she had grown up rejected by her family for being a girl, that her first husband died of kidney failure and then she was married to her current husband as his second wife. She said several times “I hate the gods, I hate all the gods.” Nothing that anyone said would comfort her where she was at. She listened to me as I shared with her to tell G*od all that she felt, that Allah, the Hindu gods, they would all fail her, but G*od wouldn’t. He can handle us telling him how we feel. She cried and cried for her baby and let me pray for her that she would have another baby and that she would meet G*od. A softness came over Shohazi as she grieved and shared. It will take a lot of prayer to see her moved to J*esus, but those who have experienced as deep of suffering as she has meet J*esus in a deeper way. I got a phonecall from Shohazi’s husband the day before we left India, some of the girls still thee will visit her. It is an open door.

Recap. G*od is moving in India. We saw 5 salvations while we were there, hundreds prayed for, hundreds given healthcare to and about 100 babies delivered. His kingdom is coming. I believe he is calling people to commit to India, in inter*cessory prayer and long term miss*ions. I have tasted and seen that the L*ord is good over India.

Bless you family and friends. I will talk to you at in a month…

Bekah

***One more thing, our team felt that G*od was leading us to get more pra*yer cover as a team until the end of outreach. Each of us have taken a couple of days to ask if people we know (that’s you) are willing to take some time during these day to pr*ay for our team. My days are April 28th and may 8th. If you are willing to commit to pr*ay for the team at any point during any of these days for any amount of time, please email me so that I can send specific requests to you! Bless youuuuuuu!

here so very safely.

2010-04-04T14:23:00.002+02:00

just a wee note to let you all know that i have made it to the Philippines. i am relearning the use of toilet paper, how ranch dressing tastes and what it means to sit at the table together as a family for dinner. it has been absolutely wonderful, splendid and restful yesterday and today. tomorrow we will dive in, but slowly and surely it is beginning...

Happy Easter all!

2010-03-29T15:03:00.002+02:00

This is my friend Zara. We met at the hospital, a couple of us went to visit her. Enjoy the photos. These are the women of India.

Zara's sisters. The one on left (I forget her name, ahhh) did all my henna. Fatuma, with the blue scarf, she is 17 and awaiting her marriage in a couple months, she did our arm tat henna.

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This is when they served me Bidyiani, three times, I was so full.

The mahindi-ed us (henna) and did our hair. Doesn't Kali's hair look great?

mmmm...henna

All too quickly we had to leave, and once again...burqua-ed up.

2010-03-14T06:26:00.002+01:00

this is the world's largest imax theatre.

these are the world's largest 3-d glasses.

this was the world's most thrilling movie to see.

And now, completely unrelated to Avatar...

This week I spent three days in the labour ward welcoming babies with the students. I stand in awe at the end of this week thinking about the foot in that I have into women’s lives because of the favour G*d has on this school to get us in these doors. After processing with a student on Friday, she told me about her English midwife friend who couldn’t believe what she was learning to do, the skills, etc, and I agreed with her and we talked about how cool it is that when G*d calls us, he equips us. We are living testimonies.

As much as I would like to, I often shy away from graphics or too intense of imagery in relation to the labour ward, those stories are better for one on one conversation. That is, seeing how I don’t know my blogging audience and all. Perhaps I should start a separate blog? Kidding. I know I appreciate the details, but I have learned that my language needs to be accessible to all, especially when talking about things pertaining to birth.

With that said, the following is appropriate for all.

Our image of a woman labouring in a hospital with her separate room, having ice chips served to her hourly, the contractions recorded on the monitor are things of luxury and not actually how most women in the world spend their hours labouring. With that said, it is not at all wrong, but not like any of the deliveries we as birth attendants usually are a part of. The women here in India, as well as the women of every other country that I have birth attended in, labour in community, all sitting on their separate-or sometimes the same, bed. Usually there are about eight women in labour in one room at a time, but on an especially busy day, like it was most days this week, there are 10-14. Every once in a while, there are those quiet women that don’t say a word, and before you know it, baby is coming and it isn’t waiting for nobody. One time this week, a woman delivered into her sari and the rest of us were so engrossed into our work with postnatal moms until we heard a crying baby and realized, “it’s too late”. In these situations, although it hasn’t been the best care for the mom, but you can still slap on some new gloves and welcome the baby in the name of J*sus, sing it happy birthday and ask the mom “larki-larka?”, “babu-papa?”, “bathchi-batcha?” and any other way you can remember to say “boy or girl?”. The mother has to respond with the answer of the correct sex of the baby before you can take it to warm it up. If no one is looking, we can keep the baby on mom’s belly, turn off the fans and let a little bit of bonding happen… Sometimes there are no students around and as baby’s don’t wait for nobody, I get the chance to stand with the mom, encourage her to push, smile at her, ask her what her name is, introduce myself and reunite mum and bub. Although we want all the students to get as many opportunities to be a part of conducting deliveries, sometimes they all are busy and in these situations, I am so happy to take part!

On Friday, there was one mom who had been labouring since six am in the labour room, and once they are in there, they are not allowed to eat (for cases of caesarian sections, etc.) and this mom was crying at us, begging us to let her eat. We tried to advocate for her and ask the madam (OBGYN) if we could give her something or if she could get some tea from her family, but she still said no. The mom was so angry with us, she didn’t want us to listen to the baby’s heart, to let us put a line up for her, nothing. We stayed with her and continued to encourage her. Low and behold, at the end of the day, when everyone else was tied up, baby was coming. I went and stood with her and asked a student nurse if she would like to learn to conduct a delivery. I began with guiding the mom in her pushing and recognized she wasn’t progressing well and asked the madam to come. After about 45 minutes of focused pushing, her baby girl was born. Anjana was a new woman after, she cried and thanked us for all of our help and we told her J*sus helped her and then she insisted on exchanging phone numbers. Hopefully we can visit her. These joyful-ending situations with tough beginnings can seem frustrating. Yet, I think of how Jesus is so persistent in standing with us, even when we push him away-kicking and screaming we deny his help, and in the end, we are so thankful, so thankful that he has been there with us through it all. Granted, women usually can’t be held accountable for how they act during labour, but that doesn’t mean G*d can’t teach me through this stuff.
G*d is right there with us in the labour room.

Thanks for reading guys, I hope the details were palatable.

Your friend,
Bekah

feeling the feb.

2010-03-07T16:36:00.001+01:00

February, I remember feeling that last year this month went too fast, and again I echo this thought.

Last year, a girl called becca led my outreach until the month of January. She then went back to Perth briefly and then to Vancouver and got engaged and was married before we saw her for our debrief in May. She was a part of staffing the lecture phase this year and then moved to Wollongong . Last week, the pregnant becca and her husband Chris visited our team while they were doing a project here, ahhh friendship. While on our way to get iced coffee, she began sharing with me, “it’s not about the outcome, it’s about the relationship on the way”. Oh how I needed to hear that, to hear it from someone who has been in my shoes with years of experience. That’s why we are here, to meet the women, to share with them in their pain, to learn together as a school. There are tasks, skills, evaluations that of course that need to be ticked off, but those are not to rule me in co-leading the team. The principles of the kingdom are based off of what builds relationship. I once heard a man, (I think I’ve shared this before) who said you can replace the word “sin” with the term “relationship breaker”, that’s how serious G*d is about relationships. My feeble task-orientated self needs to change.

I have been sharing in my blog updates about how the battle between life and death has intensified here. We are not elite to the strongholds of the city, but aware, and thus must stand strong. Just opening your eyes in the morning can be a brawl of lies. We have entered into more fights for our unity, more difficulties with sickness and most of all, more struggles in communication. As a result, we have gone deeper into wor*hipping and inter*eding for this city and recognized our authority because of the name of J*sus.

We have one more month here in India . Staying for only two months is actually such a short time, then again, even four months in Tanzania felt short. We will be heading into the Philippines in my next update. I do have a mailing address here. I can send it to you individually, but through a mass email is slightly insecure.

I want to leave you with a beautiful testimony from earlier in this week. G*d has met us in the hospital. Since the first birth attendants came here seven years ago, we have seen his kingdom begin to advance. There is now a new location/building of the hospital-that gives much more space and is just more livable, there are more doctors-whom we have seen relationships increase with, there is newer equipment-that we have seen give much better care since we have been here…

So here is the story from Consuelo. Consuelo was once a student on the school and then returned back to Texas to receive her accreditation as a midwife there. Since the car accident in Nigeria in 2005, Consuelo has committed to see the school rebuild so she is here for our final month in India- teaching us, working with us at the hospital daily.

The Miracle of Life at the Edge of Death

(Consuelo York, midwife serving with the Birth Attendant School , 2 March 2010)

A lady was laboring today. When she was feeling ready to push one of the other tutors saw that the umbilical cord was coming out before the baby’s head. This is a very dangerous, and often life-taking emergency situation. I was called over, as well as the doctor. I arrived first and checked to see if she had opened enough for the baby to be born, and she had. I maneuvered the baby’s head to take pressure off of the pinched cord so she could get the blood she needed to stay alive.

The doctor arrived and told me that they knew that the cord was coming first and that I should just wait. I asked if the baby was still alive. I knew that if she was, the mother had opened enough to deliver quickly to preserve the baby’s life! I knew that delay would certainly mean death. WE checked and found the baby to have a heart beat; so I commenced with assisting this baby to be born safely. The doctor saw that the baby delivered quickly and revived immediately. Resuscitative measures were not even necessary.

As I entered the newborn room a few minutes later to see the baby, I had such joy that G*d’s hand in this child’s life had preserved her to fulfill her destiny. Yet, I was also aware that sadly her mother seemed not to be delighted to have a female child. So, for my pr*yers over this child, I called her Joy. My prayers to G*d for this child were that she would fulfill her destiny as a child of G*d, He delighting in her life being preserved, and asking that He would cause her to be accepted and loved by her family.

tank you (as said in telagu) for reading.
bless you guys.

nothing much.

2010-02-27T06:38:00.002+01:00

hello there.
today is day off. it seemed as if i had very little business to take care of at the internet and now my time has ticked away.
things continue to daily be a battle here. the enemy is not against flesh and blood, but he often disguises himself that way. my daily push comes out of wo*ship and inte*cession times. if it wasn't for those times together, i wouldn't be able to make it through each day.
G*d is so worthy. So stinkin' worthy.
Today I have been blessed to go to the IMAX. Wowie. I am so excited.
I will post more later this week.
Bless you family and friends.
bekah

photoooooosssss!

2010-02-20T06:19:00.008+01:00

i know mom and dad are going to be happy. :)

i have a quick story to share with you and then some photos!
hereeeee weeeee goooooo!

A Muslim woman clad in her black gown, exposing her lovely face stumbled into the ward complaining of back pain so severe that she could hardly lift her leg to take a step. I grabbed a student nurse to come and translate and was pleasantly surprised when she responded clearly in English. Between her winces she shared that she usually goes to a Muslim women’s hospital and was not feeling comfortable with men being around. The pain became so severe that she was endlessly crying out “Allah”. She begged for us to pr*y for her. I shared that we would pr*y in the name of J*sus and after resisting slightly she agreed. Shortly after her groans for “Allah” became groans for “J*sus”. We remained by her side since she was feeling insecure; she continued to whimper until it was time for her to consult the doctor. At that point she claimed that she couldn’t move because her vision was so blurry and the dizziness was so intense. She again quickly asked if I could pr*y, this time, specifically in the name of J*sus. I pr*yed a simple pr*yer for the “dizziness to be gone in the name of J*sus”. I asked her if she felt better. She looked me in the eyes and said, “Yes, Doctor, I am better”. She proceeded to get treatment for her back pain and left, having felt the touch of J*sus.

Yipee!!!!

Oh, before the photos, just wanted to mention we saw three salv*tions this week at the hospital!

the lovely emily with sarah christine, an abandoned baby that we visit daily in the nursery

this is hollie. my fellow staff, with a mum who delivered this beautiful breech bub.

rickshaw central. outside our home.

worship time on the rooftop shout it out.

a day of evan*elism ended up in a poetry slam.

booya. cricket at the park.

beautiful school children by our home. photography kudos to richard simmons.

here we go.

2010-02-14T07:26:00.000+01:00

A bit of a longer post… feel free to skim it-I won’t hate you.

Hi guys…

I don’t know really how to start this post or what it will include. It feels as if I have been living in this country for months now, but as I recognize the date of my last post I am shocked into the reality of only having been here less than two weeks.

India.
Clothes are comfy like pajamas. Everyone has a bottom bunk. We still like bucket showers. You will be fuller than full if you have one dollar. A rickshaw for the first time is similar to a ride at the theme park.
India.
Beggars claim every corner. Men stare unashamedly. Incense to gods invade each breath, the call to prayer, your silence. The battle of the mind is unending. To leave the busyness at the door is victory. Women draped in black gowns, men in white.
India.
Take the city. He has said. Reclaim what’s been stolen. Be yielded. Be obedient. Guard your unity. Fight for the team, together.
Do not come under these strongholds.
India. Here we are.

So there is just a bit of a summary for you. It kind of came out like a poem.

We are living at a Pastoral Centre, where they have conferences frequently. They are interesting and draw a unique bunch of people each time. So far there has been a conference for the deaf (one of the girls was confused the first day and thought they had all taken a vow to silence), one called “Women for Secularism” and this week one on the H*ly Spirit. In the mix of all the strangers we have our hideway home just a staircase away. There is also an amazing rooftop, perfect for wors*iping, breaking off strongholds of the city and enjoying the view. Our life kind of takes place in our bedrooms, we meet, sometimes eat and sleep in them.

We started at the government Maternity Hospital this week. Yes, a hospital only for women who are pregnant…they need it. I keep thinking that I need to take a little video to show how many pregnant Indian women exist. They are neck and neck with the amount of deliveries per day as in Tanzania (T:60-80, I:60) but they definitely see many more pregnant women daily here.

Spi*itual warfare is constant. The battle within your mind is relentless. It is necessary to often ask someone to p*ay for you or you get in a maze of anger, miscommunication, lust, greed, anxiety, intimidation, you name it, and the rest of the day you feel bitter towards people who have done nothing to you. It is simple to just think, “oh, I will get over this”, man but the enemy will get a hold of you and yanks your chain. I am learning more intensely about the authority I have. With the name of Je*us, I don’t have to come under this, I can be free, I’m not a slave to this. Of course I still do. But this is the place to learn authority. I am buckled in for the ride. We have seen the unity of our team takes some hits here and there. When the enemy is allowed our unity, we will be useless. It is something we are actively on guard for.

I have decorated my new little home…photos and art that have been sent to me. Everyone has their little space and we are all thrilled at the convenience of having our own bathroom. I appreciate that so much. There are no bunk beds so we all have a place to sit, so welcoming.

I have been bombarded with the need of beggars. Asking big questions, not wanting to get hard, but still getting feelings of resistance to walk when I know I will be faced with one. Easily you see three or four just on the way to the main road in the morning and it is pain free to avoid…
bleh, not what G*d has called me to.
There have been moments of exhaustion these past couple weeks. Once again traveling was tiring, starting from “scratch” here, adjusting to a new home. Several times Melisa and I needed to remind one another, that this is exactly what G*d has called us to for this time. The team is incredibly gracious, as we have learned how to lead here in India, a place that both of us are very unfamiliar with. Hollie and Rach, our new staff that we are leading with, are experienced and so supportive, they have brought such a fresh breath to Melisa and I and the team.

Tomorrow we are singing at a church as the birth attendant choir, it is “Medical Sunday”. I will be singing soprano. Watch out Dale.

Okay, that’s enough for now. I will post again next week.

2010-02-03T12:30:00.001+01:00

i made it! my internet time is up! eeek! more later.

celebrate good times.

2010-01-31T09:57:00.000+01:00

Hi Everyone…

I write you from the floor of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We are on our way to India and the regrouped (including some new staff, husbands and children) team spent it’s first night cuddling here together.

On the 16th of January we departed from Tanzania. It was a heart-breaking week. It still hurts to think about the hospital-our friends, the women and the rough conditions due to lack of staff. We were not the hope, it was Je*sus that brought the hope and as the staff expressed their gratefulness for investing into the need for the season, we encouraged them that the hope is in Jes*us. Some of the staff even came to our home, quite a jaunt, to say their final words and thank those that hosted us.

We made it made it safely to Perth on the 18th and were able to connect with our “new staff”, that are now traveling with us, as well as our school leader. Within a couple days the 25th celebrations of Perth and 50th for our organization were in full gear. We had the chance to be a part of serving the base in the kitchen, which was cooking for 750 people and the quality of the food only increased. We also were able to hear Loren and Darlene, our founders, speak to us as a base. In 1960, our organization was founded. Loren (who has been to every country in the world and works as a volunteer as well) was originally given the vision of waves covering the shores of every continent and as he watched the waves, he saw they were turning into young people. Since then, there have been many visions and words that have shaped and led our organization to continue taking cities, multiplying in numbers, expanding in the spheres of society and sharing the go*spel. How rich it was to see the foundation that our base had been built on. He left me thinking, “Am I really trusting and working towards millions being sa*ved?”

One story he shared was about some of our friends in Nigeria, out of a time of inter*cession they had a word of the L*ord to go and share with guerillas that were responsible for mass killings. The entry-level students in the course, were trusting that G*od would give them an in. They traveled and came upon their camp and asked if they could camp out with them. They were suspicious of course but when the students began to serve them and live in harmony, they became friends. One by one, they started giving up their weapons entranced by this “Jesus” that the students were talking about. One night, a man held his gun to the outreach leader’s head and told him he was going to kill to him, the leader remained calm and repeated multiple times with the tension rising each time “No, you are not.” He commanded him in the name of Je*sus to put the gun down and the man fell on his face in tears, free from this demonic possession. In the end all 3000 of the guerillas gave themselves to the L*ord and handed their weapons over to the students. The government then entrusted our organization for rehabilitation of the men. One of the leaders of the guerillas stated: “What we couldn’t do with guns and bullets, was done with the love of Je*sus.”

And so we have been sent out, having celebrated all G*od has done in the last 50 years and filled with the love of J*esus again. Committed to seeing the flame go forward, ready to serve for no greater reason than our love for G*od.
Bless you guys. Soon we will be in India. I will write on my blog and update you as soon as I can!

Happy 25th Perth!

Bekah

my december update. im working on january's :)

2010-01-31T06:22:00.001+01:00

This was what I meant to post about two weeks ago. I didn't want to miss out on sharing these testimonies, so I went ahead and added it today.

Hi guys. I must begin apologetically. The past two weeks, I personally have been riddled with sickness as well as increased responsibilities and there wasn’t the usual time to sit down and hack out the update. Please accept my apology and enjoy what’s coming…

Here is a testimony from one of the students about how G*od is moving amongst the staff…

I was working in the hospital last Monday taking care of women in the postnatal (after they deliver) ward. One woman caught the attention of another student who then called me over to her bed. We checked the woman and discovered that she had been sent over from the labour ward with an unrepaired tear that looked quite bad. We called for one of the doctors to come who had experience repairing tears. “First, she will need a catheter to empty her bladder, and the hospital doesn’t have any more” said the doctor. This was a serious situation; her tear needed immediate attention. By saying this, he meant, “There is nothing I can do right now.” She didn’t have any money, so she would have to wait for until her family came and brought a catheter. It was at that exact moment that Emily walked by and said “I have a catheter, she can have it!” the doctor looked at her a moment and then asked “Did you buy it with your own money?” rubbing his fingers together. She smiled and said yes, “Because Jesus loves these women.” And then she left to get the catheter. I was still standing there with the doctor and he was obviously very touched by this act. I looked at him and he looked at me with moist eyes as he shook his head saying, “I would never expect someone like you to do something like this for one of these women. Breathing in the beauty of this moment, I echoed Emily’s words, “It is because J*esus loves them, and we love them.” This man, a doctor and a Muslim looked at me and said, “I know – and that is what I appreciate about you; you love.” In the end, the woman got the catheter and her tear was successfully repaired. It was so cool to see how a simple act, done in love, at the right moment, could have such a tremendous impact on a doctor and make such a difference for that woman. That is how J*esus is; His love changes people’s lives.

Here is another quick one about the same doctor and my experience with him later in the same week…

A student and I were conducting a delivery with a case that had been labouring since morning. As Birth Attendants, we learn and put into practice covering each delivery in prayer, saying aloud a prayer for the woman and welcoming God’s presence in that exact moment. All seemed to be going normally when the baby delivered and appeared lifeless. Seconds later the placenta delivered as well. The placenta is the baby’s sustenance, with it delivering so shortly after the baby we knew this baby was not getting any oxygen and asked ourselves “How long has the baby been without oxygen?” When we laid our hands on the baby it miraculously had a heartbeat and so we quickly separated the baby so that it could be stimulated and resuscitated. We knew we were experiencing a miracle, how was the heart beating if there was no source of blood? At the exact moment that the baby was delivering a doctor was bringing two med students around for a tour. When the placenta came, he commented to the effect of, “too bad, the baby is dead” and when he heard our exclamations that the baby was alive, he shook his head and said “this is because the followers of J*esus are here”. We have had many conversations previously with this Muslim doctor about the power in J*esus and in this moment, he gave glory to G*od and rightfully acknowledged that the miracle of this baby’s life belonged to God.

Our time in the hospital is winding down and the place we have called home is one we are leaving behind. This Saturday we are departing from Tanzania . I struggle with the fact that we have to go for now. It seems with this little organization of ours that somehow you always get connected again, it’s the saying “bye and I don’t know when I will see you again” that hurts. G*od has been speaking about investing into short term relationships personally, and this is the part that makes me not want to do that. I must trust him.

We will land in Perth on Monday and stay there for 12 days, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of our base and then the 50th Anniversary of our international organization. Then we will take off for India .

I am still blogging at www.bekah29.blogspot.com so you can get more frequent updates if you like. I also would like to ask you to send me your postal address. I am trying to compile an address book and I want you to be a part of it.

Thanks, you guys rock. G*od is with you my friends.

Bekah

2010-01-28T17:02:00.001+01:00

hi, i posted some new photos on facebook.

hello from bangkok

2010-01-18T00:18:00.001+01:00

Hi friends. I got a free 15 minute internet voucher here in Bangkok, oh the things you discover on 18 hour layovers. Just thought I’d let you know we made it this far. I did write an update last weekend and I will post it when we get back to Perth, along with a final report of Tanzania.
Love you all, thanks for your pra*yers and friendship.
bekah

YIPEE

2010-01-09T07:42:00.002+01:00

warning> i am on a foreign keyboard. the punctuation is lacking.
rachel hailstone says that she would like to protest the lack of blogging and i will second her. the last two days off i have been down and out with the bug, by bug, i dont mean the usual bug, rather the bug that bites you and vomits its sporozites into your bloodstream. i am feeling better now, the Lrd has sustained me, and pra~ise him because i get to write my update to you today.

change in plans, my family called me. i will finish later.

a snippit here

2009-12-19T11:09:00.000+01:00

Hey guys,
6 days until Christmas. Today I will buy my stocking stuffers. I didn’t write a specific post this week, but here are some excerpts from emails to some friends about what’s been happening over here…

“We are getting ready for Christmas over here. Next week we have some days off, I am looking forward to being a bit more chillaxed! I am missing home, missing the cold weather that seems to go hand in hand with this “time of year”. I am sweating right now and it is 9am.”

“Our two families are getting ready to leave, both are headed back to Australia to meet up with the rest of their family to celebrate Christmas. Neither planned on going back that early but G*d made a way for it to happen. It is a quick change and will decrease our number from 27 to 20 for Christmas and the three weeks following until we go back to Perth.”

“The team is amazing, and G*d is abundantly full of grace. Each day women and babies are slapped in the face with injustice and somehow G*d puts us in the place at the moment to int*rcede practically with pr*yer or action.”

Okay, love you all. Happy Christmas!
Bekah

2009-12-15T00:26:00.000+01:00

Here’s the thing. G*od is really cool.

Okay, I have been thinking a lot about grieving lately. Learning how to do it. All of us need healing. I think grieving and healing are deeply connected. Grieving releases healing.

Yes, all of us need healing. Whoever who you are, your parents probably weren’t perfect, you have probably made mistakes, you have probably been rejected, you probably haven’t seen the character of G*od in the painful things you have walked through in life…

About the healing.

I’m not so good at the grieving part. I like to keep the peace. To feel the peace in my heart. Grieving offsets the feeling of balance I love to feel.

You know when you cut your finger, and if you suck hard enough or squeeze hard enough, the pain subsides. That is, until you let the blood rush back to your cut. For me, the blood is the grieving, I like to cut it off and slowly let it flow to the site of the cut and kind of control the pain that I feel. It is actually the blood that contains the healing agents for the open wound, the very thing I cut off. Or like cartilage, cartilage takes a long time to heal because it is less vascular. You know when people tear their meniscus it often has to be repaired by surgery because the healing would naturally take too long. The blood, the pain, is necessary.

So here is this for now. Maybe more later.

We had an excellent week at the hospital. I personally got to be in the labour ward, and it was awesome. I love life.

Bless you guys.

2009-12-06T23:08:00.001+01:00

Hey guys!

This month, as a team, we welcomed 85 babies into the world.

G*od is working not only in the present moments, but also changing things for the future, a doctor gave his life to the L*ord! This doctor has begun joining us in our morning prayer times before we enter the wards to work.

Here is a bit of a testimony from my lovely co-leader, Melisa:

“Throughout the morning we had several difficult births but every new baby was full of life and strong. Then there was one little one who a student midwife at the hospital was having trouble delivering and I ran over to help her. The little one was turning blue and I knew we had to get him out quickly. After he was born, I put my hand directly on his chest to feel for his heartbeat and there was none, he was blue and limp…lifeless. So we moved into action to get him separated from the mama so that we could resuscitate him and we pra*yed like crazy and spoke out life over him. Then just before he was moved to be resuscitated one of the students exclaimed “He has a heartbeat but isn’t breathing”. After 2 of the girls resuscitated him and we continued to pr*ay and call on the name of J*sus, this new beautiful baby boy was breathing and alive and doing much better and before we left for the day he was breastfeeding with his mama in the postnatal ward… “ asante Yesu” his mama exclaimed with us. Praise the L*rd!”

We have now heading into our third month of life in Tanzania . Our schedule in the hospital is in full swing Mondays thru Thursdays. Fridays are set aside for assessments and teaching. Saturday and Sundays for rest and ch*urch.

Three times a week we meet together to inte*rcede for whatever G*od is saying. As a team we are on the journey to see the marriage of wor*ship and inter*cession. This week G*od put it on multiple people’s hearts to seek G*od in a child like way about the injustice women are entangled in daily. We jump roped, hop scotched and leap frogged to prepare our hearts. As people were reminded of songs from our childhood we shouted them out and danced around while also recording on the chalk board what G*od’s heart is. While we got G*od’s heart and perspective we also recorded the injustices we are seeing:

“No BP cuffs to recognize warning signs of pre-eclampsia (a condition of high BP in pregnancy)”

“Premature babies without incubators”

“Women delivering on their own”

We arranged the “injustices” in a circle and marched around them six times and the seventh time screamed prayers for justice. We closed the time by dancing upon these injustices. G*od is using these pr*ayers.

Christmas is approaching rapidly. We hung our stockings tonight on the windowsills. May you find deep joy in refocusing you and your family on the miracle of life that Je*sus has given us.

Feel free to email me back! Merry Christmas my friends!

bekah

2009-11-30T06:17:00.001+01:00

Hi all. Here is a testimony from the post caesarian section/eclamptic ward that I was in this week.

We cannot detest the small. Even taking someone’s blood pressure can change their life.

This is written by one of the students from South Korea .

I was working in the ICU and met Rehema she is 20 and had just lost a baby for the second time, I asked her if I could pr*ay for her but she said no, so I just took her vitals. After lunch I went to take her vitals again, her pulse was weak, and she didn’t want to eat anything. Her heart was broken. I told her I knew she was feeling sad, and I told her my testimony that before I knew J*sus I didn’t want to live, but I met JESUS. I said “Now I am here so I want to introduce you to J*SUS, J*SUS gave me hope, do you want to believe in J*SUS.” This time she said YES, I led her in a pr*ayer of sal*ation, and I pr*ayed for her after and her face was radiant and her smile beautiful, her pulse was strong and she even wanted to eat. The next day I went to see her again; I gave her Kiswahili sc*ipture and taught her how to pr*ay, she was so happy to know J*SUS.

2009-11-23T06:59:00.001+01:00

I am multitasking: typing and wincing at my sunburned shoulders and legs.

Sunburned from our Thanksgiving celebration. Contradiction?

Yesterday, with the locals on staff and our whole team, we crammed ourselves into two “vans” and we were on our way to the ocean. I spent the day playing catch, beach/water balloon volleyball, beach soccer and swimming. It was freeing, not only to wear shorts, but also to be together as a family for a whole afternoon and evening. In the evening we shared why we celebrated thanksgiving and then around our tables, while nibbling on Trifle, we also shared the things that we were thankful for at that moment. Throughout the week we have been doing this, polishing up on habitual thankfulness, each time there has been something different that popped into mind. I think Thanksgiving is Bib*lical, as is feasting. So enjoy your family feasting on Thursday, can’t wait to hear all about them.

I am hopping back and forth between the stories to tell you. Okay, I think I’ve got them.

Thursday. I was in the postnatal/admissions ward. 4 students. About 100 women.

One student was caring for the women who’d had their babies, taking vital signs, doing breastfeeding teachings, looking for extra digits, etc. She found one baby who had a fever of about 38 degrees (100F). It is all too common for fevers to happen, which leads to exhausted babies who won’t feed and become dehydrated and then diarrhea and then every day is a fight. After notifying the ward charge, she began to take this mum and bub under her wing. She began with assisting the feeding process, which resulted in the mom expressing milk and cup feeding. She also stripped the baby’s layers down to a single piece of fabric and dabbed him with another wet piece of fabric. All the while she continued to pray. Within an hour or so, the baby’s temperature was down to 37 degrees (98.6F) and his overall condition had improved! Mir*acle? I think so.

This same day, one of doctor friends, whom most of us have worked with, came to us with something on his heart. He said “I want to be like you people, can you pray with me?” And just like that, Doctor G repeated after Melisa in a prayer and gave his life to the L*ord.

So much to thank G*od for.

I am thankful for my blogger friends.

Happy Thanksgiving! Don’t miss the Radiocity Rockettes!

here you are.

2009-11-14T07:42:00.003+01:00

This week I was in the labour ward. We have weekly rotations so the students are in one section for a week and we as staff do the same, rotating weekly so we are with different groups and in different wards. This is a story from this week.

Our first week in the labour ward began by orientating ourselves to the protocols and learning about the function of rotation, few women were close to delivering which gave us the chance to strip down the baby’s cribs where resuscitating happens and the “waiting room” crib. We pra*yed over the cribs, binding and rebuking the spi*rit of death and blatantly proclaimed it was a place for life to be loosed. There is also one crib in the corner of the room where babies who die remain until their family can take them. The babies stay there from the night and are there when we arrived in the mornings. The first day, there were three dead babies, our second day to the hospital-two dead babies, the third day-one dead baby. Yesterday was our last day in the ward and as we walked in several of us quickly shot a glance at the crib and it was empty. Not one baby died while we were present in the labour ward this week. Life is coming abruptly at Temeke Hosipitali.

I feel like I still have a lot to process. How often do I say that in my posts? Very often. I want you to know where I am at though even if my mental filter feels blocked like a siev with soggy noodles, if you will.

Bleh, so I feel hopeful, but I don't geel like it is coming right now, but I need to sit in this place of "where is the hope for these women, the hospital, the overworked staff?" I need to think, pray, dream and the hope will come. I need to wrestle with these realities of suffering, the lack of joy, the overcrowding, the chaos and in the meantime daily ask for sustinance to be hope, to be light, to be with the women in the hospital.

There have been endless opportunities for the students this week to insert catheters, cannulas, catch babies. They are bubbling with excitement and experience.

This week each group found themselves deep cleaning their wards, nothing slowed down in the wards, rather-sing to a mama while dusting the window sill, drop your mop, change your gloves-catch that baby. On the ride home one ward shared that they had the inside scoop, Naomi Campbell-the British super model, was coming on Friday.

Normally, we don't go to the hospital on Fridays but Robyn heard from G*od that she was to go and share. She recalled a prop*hesy over our team that we would go before Kings and that we needn't have anxiety because G*od would fill our mouths. And so, yesterday, Robyn and two students headed to the hospital while the rest of us remained for our day of teaching. G*od was there. They were able to share about the need in the hospital, share about G*od!, share about our school...ahhh, incredible report. They spoke with Princess Sarah of Jordan, a photographer from Spain, a musician from Tanzanian, a journalist from Tanzania and of course-Naomi Campbell.

G*od is really cool. I will send a more specific test*imony next week but couldn't wait that long to tell you the amazing way G*od redirected yesterday.

Thanks guys. Love you my friends. Thanks for pra*ying for healing, in total 17 ended up having malaria, only two are still recovering.

Just a couple photos. I was a bit hesitant to post them. I don't want to exploit the women, but I decided to. So, this is how it is, this is reality.

the ward where our lovely women wait to be 4 cm, and then they go to the labour ward.

This is one after they have delivered.

One thing that Princess Sarah of Jordan said yesterday was "These women shouldn't be on the floor", we agree.

hmmm

2009-11-07T09:26:00.002+01:00

well, on the bus ride here i was racking my thoughts from the last week about what in the world to share.
so this is what i've come up with:
this week katie and paula were part of a breech delivery and the baby came out without breathing, looking flat, and the nurse handed them the baby and said "fresh stillbirth". they jumped to resussing the baby and soon enough with pr*ayer and hard work the baby was crying. the nurse was just a little surprised.
thank you J*esus.

short and powerful.
learning a lot. wondering even more. what about the endings that aren't that happy?
still processing.

bless you guys.

my update from last week. don't worry i will post a new one too.

2009-11-07T09:22:00.000+01:00

Hi family and friends.

Today is undoubtedly Halloween, however, what I found out in Germany is that saying “Happy Halloween” usually denotes that you welcome demons, etc. So I have erased that little phrase from my vocabulary. Something still dings in my brain every time I see the 31st of October written that I cannot simply ignore it…give it a couple more years.

All of that to say that today is the last of the month and I get to update you for the first time since I have been in Tanzania . Let me first just exclaim “Thank you G*od for all those who have sent me and are still supporting me!”. It is such a joy to update you. Now that I have that out of the way, what a startlingly impressive month we have experienced together as our team of 27 hailing from 11 nations in a brand new nation.

We are living in a predominately Muslim village. The local greeting comes from the strong Arab influence of Zanzibar where slave trading was heavily indulged in. To anyone considerably older than you, so for me to say to a 40ish year old, I would say “shikamoo”, meaning: “I am under your feet” and they would respond with “marahaba”, meaning: I reduce your punishment”. We have learned about the passivity of the people to see any change in their village, due to “enshallah”, basically everything is Allah’s will, so why would I try and change anything?

In having the last month to settle in and wait for our work permits for the hospital, we have been able to dig our heels into the environment of the village. Through pra*yer walking and making friends in the village, we met a Chri*stian woman who gave us an open door to begin doing health care teachings with children, which lead to more friend making, which lead to the women’s class. It was a massive pra*ise report to be able to start a women’s class with about 18 Muslim women because of this prevalent mindset that “everything that is happening to me is supposed to happening to me, why would education change anything?”. We are committed to see the group continue to meet while we are here and dream of handing it over to a new staff here at the base that also has a heart for health care. Women need a space to be silly, dance, ask questions and find solid friendship. It is beginning with health care and we pr*ay that it will fuel freedom and value for each of the women.

We have been battling for work permits for our team and saw them released finally! We started going to the hospital and clinic this week. On average there are about 50-70 deliveries daily at the hospital. There are many women, labouring there on the floor, sometimes delivering without anyone near them, babies dying from fevers, mothers with eclampsia. We have been discussing on our lunch breaks “How can we bring God’s kingdom here?”, knowing what is happening is not God’s will. G*od is all about reconciliation (2 Cor 5:16-21) and rebuilding and redeeming. The answer does not always lie in beginning our own clinic, but we know G*od’s heart is restoration, now. So we are set to be a part of it all for the next three months.

Here at the base is a small clinic. It is peaceful, like a refuge. We are able to see the two extremes and learn from both, we are so blessed to take part.

Thank you guys for your support, each month. Every email is a tangible blessing. Please feel free to send some input or questions and I will get back to you when I am able!

Bekah

A request; the team has been riddled with malaria and currently seven are infected. If you could offer that one up and cover our unity we would appreciate any pra*yers to see the sickness flee.

2009-10-26T05:59:00.001+01:00

Here is a test*imony from last Friday. We had a good time. Thought I would share this one with you.

The four of us headed out in the blazing heat of the day set onward to our destination. In planning to do a children’s health care teaching on keeping your food covered, we thought the soccer field was where we would find plenty of onlookers to take part in the teaching. En route to the field, we watched the children waiting for dahla-dahlas (local transport) throw rocks up at the mango tree. If your rock hits a mango, score, but watch out for the mob of children headed for that same mango. Quickly it dawned on us that we could do our teaching right there. So we went for it…Firstly, attracting the children with a song about peeling, smashing, shaking and eating bananas, and then a failed attempt at playing “electricity” and finally with a teaching about dirty flies landing on our food and that can make us sick. At this point the original 10 had quadrupled and all eyes were on us. We shared a small devotional about our responsibilities, and then thought, “hey, let’s tell these kids about Je*sus”. Just that morning we had been crying out in intercession for salvation for the predominately Muslim village and faith without deeds is after all, dead. Our small friends, who weren’t distracted by dive-bombing fruit, listened to the story of a refugee baby who saved the world and following, five children said that they wanted to get to know him. Woohoo! We continued to sing and dance with the children, they would sing songs and we would pipe in with the one or two redundant Swahili words we understood and eventually did the teaching again as the group reshuffled. Following the teaching we did a short drama about the gifts we have been given as people to share, and when we share them, they grow. Jacob, our local friend, gave a short message that was on his heart. We were about to depart for home but felt like something was still there. Once we realized this, we asked Jacob if there were any questions, one boy about ten years old asked, “Who is Je*sus?” and another asked, “Why do you call him father?”. It is common for there to be skewed teaching within the schools on the Bi*ble as well as many children attend Islamic schools. In both cases, questions aren’t readily encouraged. We closed the time with all the children by praying for Je*sus to show himself through a dream that evening and then of course, we united as bananas and sang again once more before we left.

Since that testimony things have been on a roll here in Tanzania. We have been here about three and a half weeks. I apologize; I still have not posted my thank you notes to all of you who have helped me get here. I have not forgotten you. Soon and very soon.

I am wide awake this evening after a spontaneous improv game night. I sit here writing to you in hopes of winding down my active thoughts. I am sweating through my skirts these days…everyday is getting more and more humid. I don’t know how much more of my sizzling laptop I can handle. Currently, I have white girl cornrows since one of my beloved students restyled my frizzy hair. Monday commences our time at the hospital. We are growing ever eager to be immersed in daily health care. We had to fight for the work permits and as they were granted this week after a two-month process, we are now able to go!

We have been spending these weeks orientating ourselves as a team to the base and the culture. A couple hours teaching at the clinic here, a few home visits there, some jackfruit here, bucket shower under the coconut tree there, applied lectures here, inter*cession and wor*ship there. It has been a gliding descent into the relationship-orientated culture that we are now ever present in.

I found myself this week, daily asking G*od, “We are such a massive team…how can we all be used?” And we are figuring this out. We are not a normal midwifery school that bends over backwards and spreads ourselves thinly so that everyone can be a part of X amount of deliveries, but we focus on the G*od’s will for un*ity and trust in him and pray forth the experience we all need. Also knowing that G*od is going to create facets for each gift to reflect, that we have more illuminate and we don’t want the number of students to hide but create a brighter light. I am seeking to overcome my ideas of what we did as 6 students and 2 staff and asking God to exterminate my small expectations. We are a powerful army and there won’t be any playing “left bench” this year.

Yeah, that’s kind of where I am at.

Some thoughts from this week:

-Mongooses do exist, they are more than a BMX brand.

-Don’t sit under a coconut tree in the wind. They are deadly, branches and all.

-One more ALWAYS fits in public transport.

-SMSing/Texting is a blessing. (I have a cell phone now!)

-Americans can register their travel destinations online, although meeting the consulate at the Embassy is exciting.

Ok, long post. Maybe I will split it in two.

Miss you guys. Callie called me this week AND my family. So much love.

You too can call me/text me and I will respond!

I’m still waiting, 7 days later, for Charlie to respond.

a first little report.

2009-10-10T12:37:00.002+02:00

earth to my fellow family and friends. i am now alive and well in tanzania. communication is looking limited. but i want so badly to keep you posted.

my time is running slim on the internet, but in the next five minutes i will do my best to watercolour and little illustration for you...

we arrived safely and happily about twenty four hours after departure from perth. beate, a german midwife and her kenyan husband have been our amazing hosts. they are helping melisa (my trusty sidekick co-leader) and i to set up work in the hospitals and in surrounding chu*rches. the past week has been full of becoming orientated, fighting in pra*yer for our work permits, settling in the second lecture phase and for me--learning to lead.

some exciting highlights have included seeing a tarantula (like memeseeku's) in our classroom, becoming distracted as a class during inter*cession as the monkeys chased each other in the trees and eating a guava off a tree while washing my clothes.

i felt as if i arrived at home when we were bouncing along the road back to the base for the first time. oh how my heart loves east africa.

the village we are living in is primarily muslim. the call to prayer echos through the mango trees of the base every couple of hours. many women cover themselves with a full burka while others just a full head covering or small scarf. we have been diving into friendships this week. one exhilarating moment was when a small team of four girls returned back to a house they had visited the previous day, when they arrived, the woman asked "where is the fifth? i know there were five of you yesterday." there was a moment of confusion when they tried to communicate to the local translating that there were only four, the four that there right then. she was adament. it was clear that G*od had been with them.

We are bringers of his presence. Our value is in his love for us. Not what we do, what we complete, in his love for us.
Let us together, carry this message to the nations.

bless you my friends.

This is the day, this is the day...

2009-09-29T01:12:00.002+02:00

Shimbly September.

I do feel as if I have possibly neglected my news from this last month…I feel like I am late, I’m not thought, right? It is just the end of September.

First of the firstlies, I want to thank each of you for your petitions in pra*yer for our school’s finances. Such a beautiful ending came about ten minutes before our plane tickets needed to be purchased. We were standing in the classroom, singing songs of tha*nksgiving while Darcy, the school leader frantically recalculated all the inflow of finances. Sure enough, while we shouting “there was thunder in his footsteps and lightning in his fis---“, the board was erased. All 232,571 dollars had come in.

What has been learned?
1. I want to be like an air popper, where seeds (finances) are poured into me and I pop them right back out.
2. I have never seen a worried bird.
3. Pra*yer IS where it’s at.

Countless stories of generosity, money flowing through one person and into the hand of another. There were a couple instances personally about G*od prompting me to ask a specific person for a certain amount…not something so “socially acceptable”, but man oh man, I saw G*od use this in a massive way. Much more massive than release of finances. Okay, just one story. I asked a friend from Germany to pr*ay about giving 200 euros. Now that’s quite a bit of money, about 400 AUD. So he was praying, and after a week we were able to talk again, and he shared that he was on the brink of losing his apartment and that he still had bills to pay and that at this time he couldn’t give. I was able to pr*ay for him over the internet and to keep me posted. He needed a friend at that moment. Even though that felt purposeful, I felt for sure that that where there would be release. Anyway, I walked home, feeling confused, exhausted and wondering-“G*od, tomorrow I need 3,600, where is it going to come from?”...Oh me of little faith.
I walked into my bedroom and splayed across my floor was 400 AUD.
Unity. So G*od’s heart, that we are cared for and that we learn to care for each other.

Today is the day that we leave as a team of 27 for Tanzania. G*od has been faithful to me in making moments for me to take deep breaths and refocus, time to scramble to the city and half hour blocks to call my family.

We will be staying at a base there, working in a local clinic that has about a delivery a day as well as a government hospital that has roughly 50 labouring women a day. Our team will live in a muslim community where the main water source is on our property, we will have many chances to share the liv*ing water. ☺

Well guys, this month has come and gone with eagerness. The students are ready on the front lines. They are amazingly inquisitive, encouragers of one another, dreaming big and diligent learners.

Thank you all for the pra*yers and ask for your continued support! I will still be blogging and communicating there approximately weekly. You guys are the best!

Bekah

i just wanted to let you all know...

2009-09-15T14:53:00.002+02:00

That 10 minutes before the purchasing of our tickets needed to be happen...
all our finances were finally covered.

We are done. We are absolutely finished paying finances...

Yay! Thank you for your pra*yer cover!
More stories to come.

we are almost there.

2009-09-10T14:21:00.003+02:00

Well, Wednesday came and went and it was a party. I don't have a full, conscious, story for you yet because of my inability to focus due to sleep deprivation. However, I wanted to let you know, that G*od is indeed good and is indeed faithful.

As of last Friday, I was personally needing 6,200 dollars and our class was sitting in the sixty thousands somewhere. On Tuesday night we were at 42,000 and by last night we were at 15,000. We are currently still needing about 10,000 dollars. Is G*od not fait*hful? As of Tuesday I was personally needing 4,200. By Wednesday morning I needed zero. Thank you L*ord.

So, if I could ask you to still be standing by our side tonight for the final release, especially over the Montoya family. They are needing a lot of thousands still.

We will keep fighting for the full release.

A fuller update, with all the insider/life lessons/how cool G*od is, soon to come.

ein kleinen update

2009-09-08T14:21:00.002+02:00

a little update.
down to 42,000.
and by this time tomorrow. it will be zero. and i can't wait to tell you all about it.

a schpeshawl email.

2009-09-06T09:43:00.000+02:00

Hey Everyone...

I think it was just last week that I sent an update, maybe two weeks ago. Anyway, since we are so close to our due date for finances, I wanted to send a special update to keep you posted and ask for your pra*yers especially these next couple days.

We are currently needing to see 53,000 more dollars by this Tuesday and could use your pra*yers at any moment and any time. Especially for one family; The Montoyas are a family of five who are coming on outreach and need to see 23,000 dollars come in by Wednesday. They have been receiving mixed responses from family and friends about their choice to come into mis*sions. We all have been pushing for them and I felt the next step was to ask you, my family of friends, to also push for their finances.

I am getting closer and closer to seeing all my personal finances roll in. This weekend we had an amazing, last minute, anointed garage sale and we got to see a nice chunk come off my number, bringing me down to 4,500. Thank you to everyone who participated through donations of goods and of time.

So let me know if you have questions or you are receiving strategy or want to be a part of giving to our school!

Bekah!

garage sale

2009-09-05T07:15:00.002+02:00

hiiii everyone.
thanks to an amazing community of people that my family lives in, we were able (well mostly my family was able) to organize a garage sale for tomorrow.
on the fifth, from 9-4 at the Dinneen Household we will have a garage sale to support volunteer midwives!
yahoo!

everyone is welcome!

AND>>>

2009-09-04T17:24:00.001+02:00

down to $54,000.
:):):)

these 3 teams of perth were...

2009-09-02T16:30:00.002+02:00

...commissioned tonight.

One of the girls from the entry level school shared a small testimony that I wanted to pass on.

She started out by nervously opening a crumpled paper. She confidently read "G*od is perfect in all his ways". She made eye contact with all of us listening and said that 9 weeks ago she didn't believe that statement. She and her husband came to go deeper with G*od. They were living a life minus relationship with G*od. Every one of their difficult and painful circumstances was what shaped how they looked at G*od.

She shared that G*od began to work on this and swapped the viewing of life through circumstances to the viewing of circumstances through G*od's character. This launched her and her husband into a hot pursuit of understanding that G*od is constantly wanting to speak to us, even the next step of life. They sought the L*ord for what was next and he spoke clearly with "I have something bigger". They obediently laid their 2 desires down. Two weeks ago we watched a film about the needs of the unreached peoples. During that evening G*od called her husband to China. She quickly said "I will go in support as your wife". Two days later, the L*ord spoke the same vision to her.

After the completion of their school they will take another course that will launch them into the nation of China.

From skewed vision to hearing the voice of the L*ord to the burden for people to committing to go.

as of today...

2009-09-01T16:00:00.002+02:00

we are down to $64,000ish.
wowie zowie.

august update. decreasing the numbers.

2009-08-29T03:26:00.002+02:00

Hi Family...

One month has passed since my last email and this is shocking. It is now almost over, August, that is.

We are really in the finance push right now. FInances for outreach are due in 11 days. I just wanted to share with you a fresh story. Starting need: 230,697.45. Basically, a house.

One of the lovely girls, who has been staffing here for two years and just completed the primary health care school, felt the L*ord said to give all her outreach fees away. That is about 9,000 dollars. Obediently she did, and she came to a place where she needed the L*ord to provide again. So for two weeks she has been seeking about how to approach this and didn't feel released to ask people yet. She did send one email and got 1000 dollars last Thursday! And then today, as I am walking to the base, I am met by a teary eyed girl. She said that she felt prompted to email her dad, whom she hasn't asked for money in 20 years, who also doesn't believe in G*od. (I realize that the term "girl" may be decieving, she is just so young at heart, although she has put in more years of life than me.) She specifically felt to ask him in participating in the building of G*od's kingdom. The story comes down to her dad saying yes to giving 4800...so "yes" to building of the kingdom, but he also gave much more than that. Needless to say, her full outreach is paid for. Pr*aise the L*ord.

Another story comes from Reinette, a South African (who is sitting right here and said I could use her name) and a lovely British girl (who shall remain nameless since she is currently car-washing and inaccessible). Each morning for the staff debt, there is pra*yer time that everyone can participate in but is specifically to see the debt decreased. During a prayer time last Friday, Reinette felt led to tell the "lovely one" that she would see half of her money come in. The "lovely one" was quite shocked and she claims "doubtful". At the end of the prayer time Reinette told the "lovely one" that G*od had spoke to her about giving half of her money to her. All of Reinette's money had been paid in, and only 50 dollars of the "lovely one's" had been paid in. So now, they are neck and neck, trusting G*od together for the final push.

So in the beginning, we needed $230,697.75 and as of this morning, we need $76.548.45. So in total, we have seen the provision of $154,149.30.

Otherwise, the teaching, small groups, wor*ship times, inter*cession times, etc. have been a time of refining. I feel like G*od has been bringing personally to the surface all the ugliness. Why do I say that? What is my motivation? Why do you think that way? There is plenty more where that came from, and he is surfacing it bit by bit. It could be discouraging, but right now, being a place of dis*cipleship, this is a good time for it to be happening. Thank you L*ord that you consider us worthy for a work that is much greater than ourselves.

Okay, I think that's all. I mean I could keep going on and on...but maybe that's enough for one month. (If it isn't enough, I am still blogging at www.bekah29.blogspot.com). Please send me your thoughts, pra*yer requests, funny riddles, I love to hear from you guys.

Bekah

from the students. :)

2009-08-27T15:33:00.002+02:00

what are they learning these days???

this one is from Cara. she is from orlando, florida, has an infectious laugh and bouncy curly hair. i love her.

Gatekeepers for women and children
The BAS... I have already been here for 5 weeks now, and I would say it's an amazing school!! Honestly it’s just been awesome learning about birth and how G*od created a woman's body for it! I stand in awe of G*od all the time as I am learning about labor and delivery, Anatomy & Physiology, antenatal care, and what it really means to be a G*od fearing midwife!! Also learning about our role as midwives how we are the gate keepers into these women and children's lives, we are there to protect and pr*ay over them; basically we are going to be inter*cessors in the lives of these women as they bring forth G*ods creation!!! How exciting is that, I love this school and we are only half way through our 3 month lecture phase!!!

this one is from Kali, a Texan...no I am not partial to the americans.

It is amazing how G*od can cleanse our eyes and give us His view of the world. One of the ways that G*od has changed me is breaking this world view of a sacred and secular divide in the kingdom of G*od. I had such a wrong view on G*od's look into health care and had no idea that He speaks and cares about so many of the details that go into health care. I always saw G*od as the healer, but never as the practical G*od that would provide preventive tools to avoid ever needing healing. He goes to the source, G*od provides the practical things to prevent us from ever getting sick,. He has such a love for us that He doesn't just rebuke all sickness, but teaches us how to raise up our lives out of it, how we can play a part in keeping ourselves well. I am in awe of G*od's love constantly and in His ability to constantly be gently bringing us into His kingdom in so many ways.

I love them.

hrmph.

2009-08-26T13:21:00.001+02:00

twenty four hours without complaining. can you do it?
i'm in the middle of it. i will post it for you when i finish. :)

ooodles

2009-08-19T01:47:00.000+02:00

Pra*ise the L*ord family!

This week has been massive breakthrough in the authority and unity that our school beholds. We had a speaker share with us on Tuesday night about the authority that has been given to us. Ah, so much revelation. One thing he talked about was how G*od gave authority to Adma and Eve and then they gave it back to sa*tan. Then Jesus walked the earth for 33 years, winning the authority back through dying on the cr*oss and then hands it back to us. We have all auhtoiryt on hea*ven and earth to bind and loose. G*od has given us the keys of the kingdom. That means we can unlock those who are enchained, we can release a sp*irit of freedom over strong*holds of darkness, we can he*al the sick, make decisions in parliament. Ah, incredible! All I need to do is act upon it. I did see a headache healed this week, 24 hours of pra*yer be planned in 3 days and thousands of dollars released through pra*yer for a specific ministry after I took a hold of this. This is supposed to be the norm. Signs and wonders are to follow us.

As we enter labour rooms and places beckoning for hea*ling, this is what we as G*od fearing midwives need to have mastered. We must practice our pra*yer, intercession, essentially, grow spir*itual muscles. If I’m not comfortable speaking out hea*ling—I need to get comfortable. If I am used to prayers of passivity, speaking in pleases and thank yous to the enemy, I need to recognize authority and defeat him with it. This teaching flowed into the teaching we received as a class on unity and team dynamics. I have realized how many small excuses I can make, “I just am an internal processor, I don’t like to share out loud”---the enemy is going to speak for me or to me if I don’t claim what I learned and communicate to those around me. How many times have I had a relaxed face on (which looks sometimes grumpy or uninterested) just because I was relaxing and didn’t share my thoughts because I wasn’t sure of them and before I know it, I have, without saying a word, not contributed to the unity, nor cultivated G*oddly thoughts, nor claimed what I am learning and people can easily think I don’t want to share with them, that I don’t feel comfortable sharing…i.e. not the best unity builder. And the thing is, I can become better at this, this is something I can excel at, if I just practice…I can contribute or deteriorate the unity. This is such a big deal because almost every problem in the world is a relationship problem. You can replace the word s*in with “relationship breaker”… I am beginning to recognize that G*od takes friendships/relationships just as seriously as relationship with him…we are all mini reflections of him, if he have distorted visions of each other…well…

Thoughts? Anyone? It’s still fresh…and I could keep on…

Anyway! I am amazed by the dedication and excitement of the students. The way they ask questions to the speakers and study with eagerness. I am blessed to be learning alongside them. One of my favourite parts of being in their lives as a leader is reading their journals…”G*od spoke to me about being in obstructed labour”, “G*od spoke to me about repairing the breech”, they have taken a hold of the powerful imagery of labour.

This week we have a Dr. who has specialized in tropical medicine and has been serving the needy for decades. He speaks with great convicition and as a servant leader. Really looking forward to the impartation of his wisdom.

One of my special roles as a staff is co-leading wor*ship. Shocker, possibly. Although I am not musically inclined, I get to be a part of the planning with an amazing friend of mine, becca. Today we were brainstorming about the quote “Let jus*tice and wor*ship kiss” for our wor*ship time…maybe I should get into this one later. I am still trying to figure out the extent of it (maybe the rest of my life I will) but I know they are supposed to be intricately woven together.

A lot of thoughts. A lot is happening. Please send me some questions via comments or some things that you would like to know about, etc. I love to hear from you guys.

Oh, staff debt is down to 160,000! That’s 141,000 in!

thanks for the read guys!

2009-08-06T14:54:00.002+02:00

MY G*OD IS THE GOD WHO PROVIDES.
HE IS LIMITLESS IN HIS CREATIVITY.
HE IS OMNI-RESOURCEFUL.
HIS WELL OF PROVISION WILL NEVER RUN DRY.
I have seen $225 come in this week for outreach. :)