Monday, October 12, 2009


I love that love is perfect. Not necessarily the way WE love, but the way HE loves –perfect. No matter what we do, we can never make him love us less and no amount of striving will ever make him love us more. God just loves us-perfectly.

This is my favorite thing when traveling to a war zone.

“God loves you. Perfectly.” That’s enough.

I have no doubt in my mind that I’m God’s favorite. I live, move, and function from that place. Sure, I definitely haven’t mastered it, and sometimes I forget BUT only for a moment, and then I remember, that, OH! I am loved the most. ☺

It’s from that place, that I realize something….

Over a hundred thousand women have been brutally raped in the Congo.

+100, 000.

I can’t imagine. Thousands more live in fear, as it’s such a part of everyday life.

Now as confident as I am that I AM God’s favorite, I’m just as certain that every single one of those women, of those girls, is God’s absolute favorite too.

He loves them most.

But it goes on. Not only that, but without a doubt I also know that every single man, soldier, or rebel who did that to those beautiful women, they too are God’s favorite.

He loves them most.

That’s why I love war zones. The reason I love brothels, and how I can see him among the slave traders or even just “the homeless guy”.

Because if he loves them as much as he loves me then OF COURSE I have no problem running as fast as I can into the darkest parts of the world to fight for just one of them. I don’t mind risking it all if it would mean that they would get to spend forever and day with him, like I will. Cause that’s his joy. And that’s enough. Living for love.

Over a hundred thousand women have been brutally raped in the Congo. Oi.

“He who has been forgiven much loves much”.

It’s like he sets us up for redemption. What we think would be impossible, he plans on how to make it simple.

“Can a nation be changed in a day?” Can a woman be healed in a moment?

That’s why I love the Congo, because it’s a nation full of his favorites.

So, to give a little more understanding why I live in huts in Sudan, hang out with prostitutes in Kenya and work with IDPs in Congo. Pretty much… I just really love Jesus, and he really loves us. I think that covers it. (However I PRAY I’ll never have to do the hut thing again. Not a fan of the dirty, spider infested, human size rats and no privacy thing. I would, BUT I l-o-v-e the luxury of space and a place to plug in my laptop. ;)

Also I’m heading back to Congo this week. It was expected but decided really fast. We’re going to see if we can get the right clearances and paper work to feed some kids ;)

PLEASE be praying for favor, as we have to go through the government and UN and a few other guys. There has been a lot of corruption in the Congo and we don’t have time or money to submit to their bribes. SO… Jesus? :)

ALSO- I’ve been feeling sick the last couple days. I have a three-day bus journey ahead of me, and then a month’s workload that we have to cram into two weeks – I can’t be sick!!

If you’d like to donate to the trip and our desire to feed an army of kids and see a little redemption take place in a war zone, EMAIL! I’ll let you know how you can get involved.

But for now, I’d love some extra love and prayer as we head back to the bush. Will post the exciting news as it unfolds when we get there!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

When Time Stands Still.

I’m bored. It’s been a….slow day and it’s now evening and I’m now in the mood to be productive. However, TIA (This Is Africa.) Once it’s dark it’s “dangerous” and as a young lady with pretty pale skin, I’m sorta under house arrest. Bah.

So I’m plotting. (Something I seem to do whenever I have too much time on my hands) How can I change the world? Jesus, what are your dreams for the brothels... for the street kids, for the widows? What do you want to do and how can I do that with you?

My latest schemes fall back to the commercial sex workers on the coast. How can we get them more jobs? How can we support them, lifting up their arms so they can fulfill their dreams? We’re hoping to partner with this organization that teaches salon. Lots of the girls really like doing hair and nails so it’d be perfect. BUT let’s go a step further, how can we take the girls working the sex market, and give them an opportunity to really make a difference to their community? What would that look like? So I’m dreaming and because I’m bored I’m going to verbally process those dreams in a blog. Haha. So bare with me.

If they’re going to have a salon, let’s make it the best salon. But how? If they’re going to sell chickens (what we’re hoping to do next) how can we have it so successful that the city says: “Man, I’m so glad your business opened up! I can’t even remember what we did before you.” Haha! I know. But these are my thoughts. My prayers I guess. I have a couple answers but I’ll throw it out to you guys, any ideas? What do you think?

In Congo we bought bags of charcoal (cause they do all their cooking over hot coals) and gave it to the widows. Now they go around selling it and are able to make a steady income to feed themselves and their families. They’re not relying on handouts they’re self sufficient, it’s great. But what else? How can we add to the quality of life to the people in war zones? Often becoming a widow can be almost like a death sentence in Africa. “A life with no man!?!??! How ever shall I survive!?” I’m serious tho. But how can we change that? How can we partner with the widows to see them thrive; happy and successful with who they are and where they’re at? :)


For the young adults in Congo we bought sewing machines. Now they can make clothes and do tailoring for money to get them through university and stuff. Self-sufficiency that promotes education and “hopeful futures”. Lol. One of my dreams for Mugunga IDP camp is to have a “sewing center”. We could buy maybe 20 sewing machines and keep them in our building at the camp. (“Our building” lol calling things that are not as though they were!) And then anybody who needs income can come and we’ll give them some fabric and they can sew some clothes. Then when they sell it they can give a small piece of the profits back for the use to the machines. (Like paying rent. It gives it value etc.) Then the profits can go to machine maintenance and maybe a group of orphans or something!

I dunno. Just thoughts. I had an epiphany tonight that “I should go to business school!!” Haha. Probably not, I don’t like business that much, I just love justice. And for a hungry family, a bag of beans isn’t enough. Mercy which is good. Great actually! But not enough. Or least I don’t think it is. There needs to be that partnership with justice. Cause when that bag of beans runs out then what? Why not empower them to be successful on their own?

How else can we change the world?

School systems! It’s been said that North and Eastern Congo is one of the worst places in the ENTIRE WORLD to be a woman or child. That sucks. They say because of the war a child has almost no chance at education, and if they do get the opportunity the schools are so terrible they don’t really learn anything. We did some teachings and games with a group of kids in this one community in Goma. The kids were SO violent and SO numerous. Hundreds and none went to school. (I think I blogged about it earlier –it’s where the riot broke out) So my idea? WELL… when we start working in Mugunga feeding the kids, we can also train the teachers. See Mugunga has thousands of people with many different professions, teachers, doctors, pastors, farmers, cooks, etc etc. SO, we gather the teachers and offer trainings. We teach them different teaching styles, how to handle kids with trauma, behavior issues, everything. Then when they’re ready to go back to their villages we go with them! We help set up a school giving all the kids in that area a change for education, empowering them to be the change that the nation is so desperate for! BRILLIANT yeah!??! That’s one of my favorites. Anybody want to come to Congo and implement it? Or fund it? :) :)


So there are a few thoughts that helped pass the time. Any input? Any volunteers? We not only need people on the ground in Africa but people mobilizing various things in America and Canada and donors. :) Both one time and monthly! :) :)

Well I think I’m gonna make myself a cup of tea and search the house for any left over chocolate. Oh to find a piece of hidden Toblerone stashed away for desperate times such as these… :)