Wasquitoes, mosquitoes, and malaria

Dear friends and family,
Well, this is it! We have one more day until graduating the DTS school! I’ve been waiting for this day for three months. Although I never wanted to skip the three months, I’m glad that they are finally over. We are all exhausted in every way. I thank God that we’ve finished and that we’ve finished well.
I also thank God that he is faithful. He has been so faithful to me through every hardship. Even when I would fall and “forget” to lean on Him, He would still carry me through the hard times. I thank him that through all the times that I’ve been sick He has healed me and that even now He is going to heal me.
Yesterday I went to the hospital and they said that I have malaria AGAIN. Yep. Third time in six months. It can get really discouraging if you lose focus on the reason why God brought you here. Yesterday I did just that. I went to the hospital to get checked for malaria, but I thought for sure that I didn’t have it again. I was SHOCKED when they said that I have it again. I was thinking to myself, “I can’t live in Africa. I can’t. I just want to go home where there’s not all these sicknesses and life is easier. I understand the culture, the language, the people, etc.” But God brought me back to reality pretty quickly. He told me “Jess, I brought you here for a reason and that reason is bigger and more important than being sick.” It took me some time to say, “Okay, God, I’m going to be okay, and you’re going to heal me.” But he slowly worked on me. That’s one thing that I love about my God. He’s gentle. He doesn’t force you to do what he says, he gently tells you what he wants.
And the really good thing is that I’ve been sick so much here that there’s no way I can be sick in America. And even if I’m sick in America, it’s not near as bad as being sick here. My body is so strong that no sickness can get me now. Maybe that’s what God’s doing. Building my immune system into a missionary immune system. Plus, my employers in America will love me because I’ll never have sick days. When you’re sick in Africa, you keep pushing through the day. They’re not like us where they immediately go to the hospital. That can be dangerous for me sometimes because I can easily fall into not going to the hospital. Even yesterday I was convinced to go to the hospital. I didn’t want to go. I’m so tired of spending money on doctor bills and medicine. But that is what hospitals are there for. That is why God put them in this world: to use them.
Anyways, please pray for my health again. I have five more days until my medicine is finished. Please pray for me that God will strengthen me and that His Almighty Hand will be upon every part of my body and heal me quickly, even quicker than me being done with the medicine.
Thanks for the prayers. May God Bless You in your faithfulness in praying for me. He will reward you for your faithfulness and bless you for it.
Love, Jess

thank you

This is Jess. I wanted to spend this time to thank you for all of your support financially, spiritually, and prayerfully. I've really been blessed because I know that there are people that are backing me up 100% and that is so comforting when you're this far away from home. Thank you for being diligent in going through the painful process of canceling your checks and rewriting them and sending them out again. I know that it's hard. Believe me, it hasn't been easy on either side, but I'm very grateful to God for your persistence.
We will be going on outreach soon. Please pray that God will prepare the hearts of those that we're going to reach out to.
I love you guys.

In Him,
Jess

Happy Easter!

Today has been a pretty relaxing day. I have all my clothes clean, (as clean as a mzungu can get them washing them by hand), my bed is clean, and all my stuff is organized. It hasn't been like that in awhile. I'm so busy all the time. I really only have about two hours of free time from 8:30 AM to 10:00 PM. It's crazy. Sometimes it's hard for me to hear God's voice when I'm caught up in all the busyness. Someone once told me that BUSY stands for Buried Under Satan's Yoke. That's so true at times. One of my favorite things in Africa is the corn. They BBQ it, and it's white corn, so it's really sweet. My friend Anu and I love it. We often go to Boma to get it. It's so nice to have something different for a change. The weekends here are always so quiet. I feel like I'm here and about four other people are here as well. That's not the truth, it's just that that's how quiet it is here. One of these days I'm going to take a picture of my feet. Some of my friends joke with me that I have village girl feet, which is definitely not a compliment. I'm starting to speak African English now, which means that my English vocabulary is slowly diminishing. Wow, at least I still have that big word. The other day, our teacher, who speaks very big English words and expressions, was trying to explain to the class what sugarcoating an issue means. I didn't get what he was meaning until he explained it to the full extent. It was awful! That was when I knew that it's changing and dwindling. AAHHH! I'm going to come back to America and you won't be able to understand me! I speak Kiswanglish now. It's a mix between Kiswahili and English.
I shall write more later. My body is falling asleep from being on the computer for so long.

Mungu aku Bariki!
God Bless You!

Love,
Jessica

Liffe is Here!

So, what can I say? I've been having hard times here. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that things have been going wonderfully, but God keeps bringing me back to Him. This week we are talking about pride and humility and the heart of servanthood. I've found out that I'm a failure in these areas, but it's okay, because God will work on me in this. Please be praying for me that I will grow closer to God during this time. I've received the packages from home. THANK YOU! I'll blog later when I don't feel like my eyeballs are about to fall out.
God Bless You!
-Jessica

It Feels Like Home to Me

I feel at home here. It's beautiful, I've made wonderful friends, and it couldn't get better. People always say that Africa doesn't have much, but they are rich in the Lord and rich in relationships. I think God is telling me to come back here. I don't know when but I know soon after the DTS. God's just telling me that this is where He wants me. I still need to continue to pray about it, but I feel as though this is what He wants for me. The orphanage is low on staff. I feel so at home here. I don't even know why, but I just do. I know that it's God. Today I went to town with six other friends. I got chocolate, shoes, and some food. It was a good day. I finally learned how to wash the African way. People were laughing at me for the longest time so I decided to become like the Africans and do it their way. I talked to someone about washing clothes and they were like, "You don't do it our way?" I said no. Then I told them that I've washed clothes by hand before but not like them. They asked me how I do it. I said that I just dip and swirl them around and then rinse. They would not stop laughing at me. We are definitely called to be fools for Christ let me tell you. This week was a wonderful week of learning. We learned about the nature and character of God and the Father Heart of God. God really spoke to me about how He is the only person that I need. It's been a great week. I'll update you all later. Tomorrow we're going to go out to eat with a bunch of friends for my birthday, so pray that I have fun!
Love you!
God Bless!
-Jess

Kiswahili Kiswahili Kiswahili!!!!

I was drowning in Kiswahili yesterday. Mary, bless her heart, invited me to go to her church. I was the only mazungu there. AWKWARD! You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I'm not. There were two little kids that were poking at me, touching my hair during the four hour service. Yes, I typed that correctly, FOUR HOURS. Noone should EVER complain about Jim speaking longer than until 11:15. It was really awesome though. I felt the Holy Spirit at that church. Africans are just more open about God and more excited it seems. At least they show it better than us mazungus. After church we went to a home to have lunch. (chakula... food) It was an english primary school teacher's house that we went to. Her husband just last Sunday crashed his motorcycle and it rolled on top of his leg. He broke it in many places. We had ndizi: hot bananas and meat. It was good. They have such HUGE portions here. I always say kidogo.. little but then I feel bad because I think they think that I don't like it. I told an African friend that, and he was like, you need to get fat! I was like, no I don't. That's the last thing I need. Last night, I took a little walk out of the base and watched the sunset. It was beautiful. God has made this place GORGEOUS even amongst the living conditions. I've already seen some of the most beautiful birds and lizards I've ever seen. They're a BRIGHT turquoise blue. Beautiful. Mary made us dinner last night. We had spaghetti, with meat, avocadoes, and for dessert we had coffee. I'm definitely blessed to have such a wonderful hostess. Yesterday was hard because I really missed you all, but it got better. Sometimes the power just randomly goes out here. Well, yesterday it decided to go out while I was taking a shower. That was interesting! When I fumbled out of the bathroom though, I looked up at the sky, and it was GORGEOUS! The stars were amazing!!! I kept telling everyone that we don't have stars like this in America. They're so surprised when I say things like that. They think that America has EVERYTHING, but we don't. We don't have near as welcoming loving helpful people, or stars that you can just look up at and stare at their beauty. You have to hike up a mountain or something. I think I'm getting adjusted. I know I am a lot more than I thought I would be at this point. God is good. Enjoy your day. Walk in His love today.
God Bless!
-Jess

ONE WEEK!

Yesterday it was exactly one week that I've been here. I love it here. It's so peaceful and the people are so welcoming and sweet. They are very helpful too. It's hard for us muzungus to accept help, but it's always better in life to be encouraged and helped. Tomorrow I get to go to a Kiswahili church. I'm excited, but it will be very long. Especially because I'll have no idea what they're saying, but it's all part of the journey. I got to play with a little orphan named Barakah. He's a sweetheart. He's six years old. He jumped off the bed and I would catch him. He's sooo cute. I talked to Mama Abby and Baba Abby about the orphanage and we need one more person to sponsor a little child. There are two children, but only one still needs support. It's only fifty dollars a month. That takes them to school, living expenses, food, etc. Let me know if you're interested. I feel at home here. It has to be God, because realistically I shouldn't feel at home yet. I'm learning Kiswahili pretty quickly. God is giving me a special memory just to learn Swahili. Mary, the lady that I am staying with right now said to tell all my friends and family thank you for letting me come here because she knows it can be hard to let me go. She is such a sweetheart. I love her laugh. Every time she laughs, I can't help but laughing. I'm staying with her for a week before the DTS starts, then I'll be moving into a dormitory. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. I love you and I'll blog soon... hopefully. I finally got to today because the internet is FAST!!! YAY!!
God Bless!
-Jess

Thank You Everyone

Family & Friends,
Thank you so much for everything that you have done to make this trip to Africa possible. Your encouraging words, little homemade gifts, little pieces of advice, hugs, tears, laughter, prayers, Biblical direction and financial support have all been a HUGE blessing to me. I love you all and pray that God continues to bless you as you seek His face and His direction for your life.
Ten days from now I'll be in Tanzania, but you and your ministry will be with me in my heart and radiate to the hearts of those I meet. Thank you very much for everything. I love you.
God Bless!
-Jess