Hello from Africa!

Well Aubrie emailed me with an update to post so this is what she has to say... *Kirsten*

 Hi Everybody!
  
I pray this email finds you all well. It's hard to believe, but I have been in Africa for seven weeks now! The time has gone fast. I'm going to do my best to update you on what's been happening without boring you with tedious details....we'll see how that goes! :o)
  
I'll start with Niaya. About 4,000 people live here, and if you were to drive through the village, you'd think that about 3,900 of those are kids! Well, maybe not quite...but there are lots of 
children. Every day, kids come and hang out on my porch. I've found 
lots of joy in spending time with them--playing ball, painting 

fingernails, and trying to speak Yalunka. I've also learned that 
adapting to a new culture requires thick skin. I went to my 
neighbor's house and she tried to teach me how to pound rice. This 
drew somewhat of a crowd, and she couldn't stop laughing at me. Okay, 
I admit it--pounding rice just isn't my spiritual gift. The kids also 
like to tell me their names and then laugh at my attempts at 
pronouncing them. Oh well...it keeps me humble!
  
Three days after we arrived in Niaya, Jim and Dawn took me to see the 
chief. It was a pretty interesting experience. They explained why I 
was here and the chief welcomed me to Niaya. I was also given a 
Yalunka name, which is Aminata. Other interesting cultural experiences 
so far have included going to the market, attending Yalunka church, 
and eating monkey (which actually tastes pretty good!). 

  
 I've been able to assist Dawn a little bit with the medical needs in the village, and I love that. There was a man with an 
infected foot who we visit every day. His foot had swollen to almost 
twice its normal size, and I went with Dawn when she lanced it. For several weeks after that, we cleaned out the hole in his foot and rebandaged it daily. There is a woman now who has a very similar problem, and we are doing the same thing for her. Please 
pray those here who are suffering from 
malnutrition and other physical needs. There are so many medical needs here. 
  

Well, this is my last update while here in the States for about nine months. Tomorrow I'll head to Grand Rapids where I'll catch a flight to Cincinnati (don't ask...it's a long story!), and then fly to Paris, and finally land in Conakry, Guinea on Thursday night.

It's hard to know what to write in this update. I mean, how do I express everything I'm feeling and want to say?

I'm nervous and excited and sad and overwhelmed, but honestly, the greatest feeling I have is peace. Emotions come and go, sometimes hourly for me right now, but no matter how I'm feeling, I know that I am in God's will and I trust Him. Wherever you go, whatever you do, if you are in the center of God's will for your life, you have nothing to fear.

This year, as you live your lives, my prayer for all of you is that you will find what God has for you, and that you will live it. I pray that you won't settle for anything less than God's best for you. I pray that you will find your security and hope and greatest delight in Jesus Christ.

I pray that out of HIs glorous riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
~Ephesians 3:16-19

I am going to email Kirsten while I'm in Africa, who has graciously agreed to update my site for me while I'm gone. You can also get my email address from her or Mo. Have an awesome school year and keep in touch! I will miss you guys!

Much love,

Aubrie

Awesome weekend!

Yeah, so my weekend was really good. The Andersons came to our house on Saturday night and stayed until Monday at about lunchtime. It was so exciting for me to get to hang out with them. Dawn and I sat and talked for about two hours on Sunday. I really connect with their family, so it was really encouraging to talk to them. They did their best to ease some of my fears/concerns, and I feel more confident about going. It was great to have so many questions answered. They also brought their laptop with hundreds of pictures, so I was able to get a look at my house, which actually looks really nice. It has three bedrooms!

I was encouraged to find out that they have a satellite phone (it costs about a dollar a minute to talk, so I probably won't make many calls, but it'll still be nice for short conversations), instant messenger, and a TV and DVD player! Dawn said that on Tuesday nights, Jim has a Bible study in another village, so it's girl movie night at their house, which sounds like fun to me.

It's kind of weird because most parts of life there are extremely primitive, but then there are some modern conveniences/luxuries that I'll also have access to. Hopefully those will help keep me sane without spoiling me.

Current countdown to leave date: 15 days.

Hewwo, evewyone.

We're home from vacation. It was a grand time. We spent the week at our cousin's lake home in Michigan. We went kayaking, tubing, canoeing, swimming, and best of all...kneeboarding! I must say, I fell in love with kneeboarding. It's a ton of fun. We also came home tanned and three turtles richer, which is a plus. All in all, it was an awesome week.

Oh, and when we arrived home, we discovered two adorable white kittens in our barn. They're so cute. I'm not a huge animal person, but I've developed a fondness for kitties, turtles, and big dogs (not little yippy dogs, mind you...big macho ones). Anyway, now our family possesses all of the aforementioned animals that I like, so I'm pleased.

I got an email saying that my visa has arrived at World Partners headquarters. So that means I am completely set to go! Woohoo. The Andersons are coming tonight and spending two nights with us. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with them before we're together on the field. I have so many questions to ask them. I did start packing today...slightly overwhelming, but very exciting. I have eighteen days until I leave, and I'm getting pumped. It's going to be awesome.

All right, everyone...enough random thoughts for the day. Peace.

Currently Listening Live Unplugged By Jeremy Camp see related

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith..."
~Hebrews 12: 1-2

I love this section of Scripture, and lately it has been really convicting to me. My eyes have been wandering from Jesus a lot lately. I've been so focused on myself, stuff I have to do, problems that friends are dealing with, and a bazillion other things, that I've been really distracted from Christ. I find it interesting...sad, really...that I know that if I take my eyes off Him, things will start to fall apart, yet I do it again and again. Whenever I read about the Israelites' pattern of forsaking God, dealing with the consequences, and returning to Him, I'm reminded of myself.

I tend to be a major perfectionist, so it's easy for me to try to take care of my problems on my own. I struggle with something, and instead of immediately taking it to my Father and laying it at His feet, I try to wrestle with the problem on my own. If you've ever done that, you probably know that it doesn't work.

This morning, during my devotions, I took some things that I'd been wrestling with and clinging to and I set them in Christ's hands and really entrusted them to Him. It's just amazing how freeing it is to do that. The problems and feelings I was dealing with weren't things I have any control over, and it was such a relief just to let Him take them.

I don't know if any of you are setting your gaze on anything other than Christ, but if you are, I challenge you to give those things up and set your sights back where they need to be--on Him.