Still Sowing

        Well, I showed up early again Tusday, The unnamed man was just packing up his books and about to leave when I got there.  We greated each other and in reference to last week I asked if I could pray with him. He said he felt that prayer was a  personal conversaition between a person and God and that he would not be comfortable with praying together, but he said he would really appriciate if I would pray for him. Dubfounded by his response.. all week long I had thought about how this moment would go..I would ask him if we could pray together.. he would say yes... the spirit of the Lord would become evident, he would feel the forgivness of the Lord, and his life could begin being transformed and ultimatly affect those around him for the better.
   Did I remember to ask his name? Of corse not! But the Lord is good at showing me what I need to know but forget to ask. I went out to the hall to talk to my mom, who had called to see if " the man" had been there again. After telling her what had happened I headed back to the classroom when a picture on the buliten board caught my eye.  It was my unnamed man, but underneath the picture was a name, Matt. I had to laugh as I thanked God for giving me his name, it was right there in front of me the whole time. I believe that when you pray you should be as specific as possible, though I also believe that the Lord understands if you can't be because we don't know everything . I would like to ask you all to please pray for Matt , that he will find God's forgiveness, and be able to forgive the church for what they did so long ago.  Also I want to ask you to reach out to those you know who may be hurting or needing the church to reach out and show the love of  Christ. We cannot change what Matt's  church did, but we can choose to do the best we can to prevent the same thing from happening again. One day we will stand before the Lord and will be asked why we did not reach out to others. 

      This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-4

 I hope that the seed that was planted will be watered and grow in the love of the Lord,  and that the weed of bitterness will be choked out allowing the fruit of God to grow. We may not know what the outcome of this seed will be  in this life, thankfully God does.

My job was the to plant the seed in your heart and Appolis watered it, but it was God not we that made it grow. 1Corinthians 3:6

Growing Roots

Before I relized that I was being led to Africa the Lord was already weaving His work in my life , and preparing me by placing people around me that could and would help me on this mission. Growing my "roots" so to speak.


Not long after we had begun the adoption process we met a couple from Ethiopia. They had recently adopted and brought home a beautiful little girl from Ehtiopia. We met with them many times, they told us about Ethiopia, made delicious Ethiopian food for us to eat, and "tried" to teach me some Amharic words.
As the news spread that we were adopting from Africa people that we already knew came to share with us they knew someone who worked or lived in Ethiopia, one such person was the Receptionist from where my siblings with Down syndrome go for therapy. She told us that her sister and brother-in-law, had been missionaries in Ethiopia for over thirty years, we quickly called them and they nicely answered dozens of questions. They even gave us some wonderful advice about religions in Ethiopia and shared with us some traditions of the country.
Then  Mr.Gross, a man that works with dad who just happens to do missions. He uses his vacation to serve the Lord through missions in what third world counrty? You guessed it Ethiopia/Uganda. He told dad about a fundraiser Ethiopian dinner. So we got tickets and went.we not only met the receptionists brother-in- law.  He just happened to be one of the main speakers. While in Ethiopia he had preached in a church our friends with the adopted little girl attended. a Pastor.We also had the priviledge of sitting with a wonderful couple of Ethiopian decent they are both doctors and we enjoyed visiting and worshiping with them.  It was a wonderful evening.

Time went by and we traveled to Ethiopia and picked up our new family members and I fell in love with the children who where left behind. This is truly when my two worlds began to collide.  Shortly after we got home my Mom got in touch with dad's co-worker to see when and/if there would be a mission trip again this year. The thought of having an oppertunity to go back was exciting. There was to be a missions meeting in October. A meeting I did not miss. At the meeting I met three others that would be going on the trip. We were told a bit about last years mission trip. One story was about a women waiting for Americans that the Lord said would come to help her build an orphanage. Another moving story was about a little boy in Uganda that had been dedicated by his mother and Witch Doctors to Satan. My heart broke as I looked at the picture of the little boy. Not to worry the team there not only led his Mother to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ, the little boy was released from the curse that had been put on him. Praise God he is free.



On the drive home from that first meeting I was overflowing with excitement, the Lord felt especially close and I couldn't wait for the next meeting(which wouldn't be until January) so that I could be better prepared to follow the Lord into the world begining with Africa....Turns out the Dr's we so enjoyed fellowshiping with. Their son will also be going on the missions trip.

If anyone serves Me, Let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. John 12:26

The Lord has a plan for each of our lives and a destination for us to reach, but we can't find it on our own, we have to Follow Him, start today...