Cass

New website!

2010-01-22T16:15:00.002Z

Just wanted to say! I'll now be posting things to:

www.pursuingnormal.com

It'll have the blog, some pics and project details!

Will try my best to keep it updated. :)

So from now on, Pursuing Normal -NOT- cassbasnett :)

GCM Calendars!!!

2009-12-08T22:47:00.003Z

Hey Guys!

Exciting stuff, GCM now has out 2010 12-month calendars! All the profits go directly to helping kids at risk around the world. To purchase your calendar you can either buy online at: http://www.joshua-seale.com/the-journal-blog/ or get it from me here in LA or when I'm in Canada (December 17-December 30)

I'll write what's going on with me in the next couple weeks!
X x

Giving Hope, Expressing Love, Extending Justice to the Nations -That's my find of Christmas gift!

2009-11-12T21:17:00.004Z

Hey Guys! This is our amazing fundraiser! Let me know if you, your church or business want to get involved! It should be really fun and really great across the board (impacting orphans-prostitutes and those in war zones!)
You can contact me or GCM asap for more info!
Much much love,
Cass

The Giving Tree
Giving Hope, Expressing Love, Extending Justice to the Nations

This Christmas, give a gift like no other. Global Children's Movement a California based Not-for-Profit organization working with children-at-risk around the world would like to invite you to give a gift this year that will transform a child’s life and cheer their heart.

The Giving Tree project was started in response to meet very practical needs of children and families we’re working with in Kenya, DR Congo, Ecuador, and Thailand.

How The Giving Tree Project Works:

Your business, organization, church, or community group can host a “Giving Tree”. You provide a Christmas tree used for display, and we’ll provide the rest! Throughout communities “Giving Trees” will be displayed, and each tree will be adorned with hand-made ornaments that will be sold for various prices. Each ornament will have an attached tag that explains what the purchase price is going for. For example:

“$20—Five reading books for children in the DR Congo”
“$60—Send a child to school for a year”
“$10—A new pair of shoes for a street child”

If you would like to host a Giving Tree, you will collect all the proceeds made from the ornaments and turn in it after Christmas to Global Children's Movement. All ornament purchases are tax-deductable and we maintain a very high accountability process for all of our projects to be financially responsible and effective. For more information about Global Children's Movement please visit our website at www.gcmovement.org

Many community groups have asked if they can make their own ornaments—Yes! If your group would like to make your own ornaments and tags we have included a detailed price list for your convenience. Please contact us at admin@gcmovement.org with any questions.

This gift is no ordinary gift. Sure, it may just look like just a regular ornament that you’d hang on your tree, but it’s SO much more than that!

In the war torn DR Congo, in Central Africa only half of all children go to school. Of those that do, most are boys and only half of them will reach the fifth grade. (UNICEF)

With this Christmas decoration YOU are helping provide a child with a better future. Empowering them with education, to dream for a nation with peace and possibilities.

Not only that! Oh no, there’s more. On the Kenyan coast where prostitution cripples the lives of thousands of women, this gift helps those women find new means of employment and ensures their children are in good schools with full bellies.

And wait, we’re not finished. No longer are so many street kids rummaging through the garbage pile but with this gift YOU are helping provide them with a safe home, surrounded by loving care workers.

Pretty great ornament right? %100 of the proceeds raised from your gift go directly to one of these causes.

Giving Hope, extending Justice and expressing Love. That’s my kind of Christmas gift!

From War Zones to High Heels

2009-11-09T04:26:00.005Z

I’m back! I’ve safely returned to LA. I am in one piece and very happy. My flight took forever but it was worth it in the end. :) I’m still stuck in jet leg however (fell asleep at 8pm last night and was up at 4:30am this morning) but culture shock hasn’t been a problem! Yesterday I was at my friends wedding. The reception took place at a GORGEOUS house in Orange County where we ate amazing cheeses and crackers, and goofed around on the tennis courts and putty green in the back yard. Visions of the dessert table will be imprinted in my mind for weeks. I did have to laugh as I dipped a strawberry in chocolate fondue and thought of the rice and bread I’ve been eating for weeks. Two very different worlds, but accepting that is half the battle.

I’ll be back in the west for about two months. The states until December 17th then I’ll travel back to Saskatoon, Canada for Christmas with my family. I’ll be back in LA for New Years and about a week after that I’ll start the journey back to Africa.

If you live in Saskatchewan or the LA area and want to have tea-there’s my schedule!

Things are pretty exciting. I’m still working on Africa stuff, just more the admin side. Perhaps mixing both worlds. Trying to get used to my favorite pair of black heels, I scribbled down fundraising ideas while strolling around the house. It’s just like riding a bike. (Except for the stilettos, those will take more getting used to. They’re like a unicycle) Now the only thing that gives away the fact that I’ve been in the bush a few months (besides the endless flow of stories) are the strange bites on my arms. And my back. They’re going away, but still quite itchy.

That deserves more explanation. See, it was the Sunday before returning to America while staying in Uganda, when I woke up in the middle of the night with my arms, ridiculously itchy. I’d been sleeping with anti-itch cream for months so I just lathered up and went back to sleep. In the morning before my shower however, I curiously peeked at my arm to see what had been the matter. Literally- I screamed. My arm was COVERED in little red dots. For the next few hours the swelling got worse. I tried to count them once and stopped at 57. (The left forearm alone). It was DISGUSTING. I went to the managers of the sketchy hostel I was staying at and they seemed more concerned then me. They had to fumigate the ENTIRE place just because of my bites. (Not sure that’s the accomplishment I make it sound to be)

But other than that, things are great. I’m thrilled to be back with loved ones and ready to celebrate the holidays!

To elaborate more on the fundraiser real quick… We’re looking at offering really neat Christmas gift ideas! So if you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping (which should be everyone except for my parents) then hold out a little longer! I hope to have details within the next week!

Not sure how many blogs I’ll write while I’m back. Might try to post some of the “Lost testimonies” or funny stories that if I don’t blog, will never get told. But keep checking here as I’ll update the important things and upcoming news, as two months will FLLY by! For now here are a few pics to give you more of a visual of my week of transition! :)

Bringin' some Kingdom in the IDP camps
Fabulous kids in the military barracks
Bites much? (that was when they FIRST appeared. you can't see really but my entire arm was so swollen!)This picture makes me laugh- we all look so... "placed"?
Tennis courts at their house!The happy GORGEOUS couple!

Here it goes!!

2009-11-01T05:47:00.003Z

I’ve been trying to think over and over again of what to write. I can never seem to find the words though.

In the last few weeks I’ve collected some hilarious, very African, travel stories that would make you rotfl BUT they’re quite epic and I really haven’t been in the mood lately. I just got out of Congo. I’m in Rwanda staying with Melissa (TONS of laughs, in a real HOUSE with a HOT shower!!!) It’s fab. Right now we’re sitting by a gorgeous pool, surrounded by lush greenery, with a cup of tea trying to get some things done. I’ve been semi successful. The rain chased us inside, so now, trapped at a table in the restaurant, I guess I’m forced to finish my blog. (fyi- the tea is heaven. It came with a cookie on the side, ok I asked if they’d put a cookie on the side… and it tastes like a million bucks.)

So, this last Congo trip had many twists, turns and unexpected events. We arrived in Goma greeted with the repeated news that Mugunga IDP camp was empty. (The reason for our travel was to get clearance to work in the camp) I had heard this news before I even left Kenya but I honestly couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Empty? How could 20-30 000 people, who’ve made up Mugunga for almost three years, have all gone home in a month?? Seriously, it can’t be. Many IDP camps take YEARS to clear out. But as we toured Goma, talking with more and more people, it seemed to be true. Monday morning, bright and early (ha- actually cloudy and around noon) we headed out to see for ourselves. We arrived just in time to catch the tail end of various government workers celebrating the official end of Mugunga IDP camp. There was laughter and pats on the back, high fives almost. I picked my jaw up off the ground and dusted off the dirt so I could properly “congratulate” them. After getting their permission Sabrina pulled out her camera and we started walking around taking pictures.

Now, I’ve been warned by friends: “Those who leak Congo’s injustices, don’t work in the Congo.”

I’m not sure how much to say, or how to say it, but I’ve decided for now, a “blog” isn’t the best place to share all of my opinions. But I will state some facts:

Yes, Mugunga IDP Camp, is in fact, empty.
Yes, all 28 000 people (the last statistics we heard) went back to the bush in less than a month.
No, the bush is not safe.
Yes, the government was involved.
Yes, force was used.

Sometimes certain injustices are harder to deal with than others. This one definitely ranked high on the “difficult to handle” scale.

For the first week neither Sabrina nor I really knew what to do. We couldn’t cry, it felt deeper than that. Eventually we got it out but it seriously took a while. Lol And that’s all details I’ll share for now. If you want more, maybe email or over a large cup tea. (as I’m back in the states in less than a week!) ☺

After we realized our work in the IDP camp probably wasn’t gonna happen we starting plotting other ways to help. (aka – hung out on our faces. A LOT)
We visited another IDP camp that had no NGO or government assistance. It’s so hard to see sometimes. People living in “houses” the size of closets, held together by some tarp, old leaves and string. OI. They say two kids died every week from malnutrition alone. One baby we saw had half her face horribly burned from falling in a fire while her mom went to look for more food.

We did some great classes with the kids there and met with some leaders to pray for and encourage them as best we could. In my heart, of course, I secretly scouted the land for a place we could set up a “hall” like facility for feeding and more classes. Some people said by the time we come back though they’ll probably all have dispersed again. Suck.

So we started looking at where they’re all going. They’re IDPs. Displaced. They don’t really have a home or money to find a new one. It seems everywhere they go they’re either faced with extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition, lack of education and health care or rebels.

So we went to the area in Goma, where many of them have relocated. The pastor we work with started a little school last month so we’ve come up with some brilliant plans to empower the community and provide STELLAR education, incorporated with Kingdom values. The program’s called “Excellence Rising” and I’ll have more info on it soon if you wanna get involved! (I also want to take Excellence Rising along with “bush outreaches” hehe to the villages…. But one-three projects at a time ;) (I know I said the bush isn’t safe BUT we spoke with the UN and they’ve so kindly offered a little military escort :)

As most of you know I LOVE justice. Like I really really LOVE it. I can spend hours dreaming of what justice would look like in various places around the world. And for Congo, one of the places justice is lacking most is with the military. Lol. Yup, the rebel soldiers. They’re “good” rebels though. (as in “apparently fighting for the good side”?)

We found out that again, roughly 30 000 of them are living in HORRIBLE conditions. The soldiers don’t receive a salary for their full time job so the poverty is ridiculous. There aren’t any schools in the camp so most of the children are uneducated and if you’re a female living there; you’re a HUGE target for rape and abuse. We heard several stories of little girls mostly 10 years old working prostitution among the barracks.

With that said, it seems like a perfect place for Kingdom. We were warned however that it’d be extremely difficult to get in. You have to write letters and meet with provincial leaders, then it takes time etc etc. We prayed though and gave it back to Jesus. Our team told him we were willing and if he wanted to open the door, we’d walk through it. Then we stepped aside and waited. In days, not only did we have clearance but a full open opportunity to go whenever we wanted in whatever capacity we wanted. (YAY!)

This is getting long but it’s still raining, so I’ll keep going.

This is when God’s love really gets me. Even among the rapists, the thieves and murders God’s love STILLLLLL, NEVER FAILS. It’s perfect. So we went and invited Jesus and he showed up. Sabri and I just couldn’t stop smiling. One soldier stopped us mid conversation and asked if we could pray for him cause He had “so much pain”. Of course we agreed and without missing a beat he fell to his knees lifting his hands. We released the power and love of Jesus and his whole demeanor changed! He said it felt like fire was flowing through his body and we could just see how in love and happy our God was. We played with the kids and fed everyone who showed up. They couldn’t seem more grateful to see us, (NOBODY works in the camp. No government agency or NGO for “obvious” reasons, pft.) and they invited us back to work however we want. ☺

So yes, life is good. Even in the midst of war, God’s love will always be enough, his hope will always sustain and his goodness will always empower.

We met with tons of different people; locals, government and UN officials and every time we would hear negative reports God would just whisper “Cass, this is their perspective, not yours, you have my point of view.” SO, we’re standing as “winnnnners” (lol for those get it ;) and refusing to be discouraged even when looking down the barrel of a gun. :)

Seriously it is still raining but my drink is gone and because it’s a nice place we only budget for one. :P Sorry it’s long but if you can believe it, I’m still cutting it short! ☺

Appendix: ;)
IDP- Internally Displaced Person
Mugunga- Large IDP Camp just outside Goma
NGO- Non-Government Organization

2009-10-12T13:42:00.005Z

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!

When Time Stands Still.

2009-10-01T17:55:00.002Z

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… :)

doing life: bars and brothels

2009-09-25T08:43:00.000Z

Ahhh! Jesus is so amazing I could burst.

A lil sick right now so my mind is fuzzy BUT here’s some fun from the last couple days…

So I’ve been back working in the bars and “brothels” this last week on the Kenyan Coast. (Not working working, but … ya) lol. I wanted to return to be with the girls who came out of prostitution last time to see how they’re doing and help them get settled in jobs that don’t require sex. :) I planned sort of a “surprise” visit to really see where the girls were at, so two days before traveling I called them and let them know my schedule. It was brilliant, within hours the whole community knew and the girls were calling me: “Sandra, Sandra! You are coming!!! KARIBU (welcome)!!!!” Instantly I became ecstatic. “If they’re calling, that means they haven’t returned to their old jobs!!!” YAY!!!
The 18 hour bus ride ahead of me suddenly didn’t seem that bad, oh the things we do for the joy set before us. :)
The next few days were amazing. Investing in relationship with these girls and meeting new ladies desperate for Jesus, and a lil life change. Fabulous.

The nights, as always, were spent mostly in the bars talking with current prostitutes. We had such a good time. Almost every girl wanted Jesus. I know, a little suspicious but His presence would fall so strongly at the tables, how could they resist? We’d talk, hang out and then they’d ask if they could meet him. I would try to talk them out of it at first, seeing if they really wanted him or if they just wanted to please the foreigner, but it couldn’t be done! They were just hungry for Jesus. During a conversation with one girl I felt a nudging from papa and started to prophesy over her. In seconds she started BAWLING at the table. Another girl, also sitting with us, was so undone by God’s love for the girl crying; she couldn’t hold back, “I’ve got to have him too!!”

So those were the nights, in the morning we’d follow up with a meeting. It was a chance for them to get to know Jesus more and plug into a community. (Eventually get alternative employment if desired… :) About twenty girls showed up! (I had maybe spoken with ten over the last few days?) They were so hungry for truth and love. One girl named Maggie, stayed after the meeting and confessed to being six months pregnant. Seriously one of tiniest girls I’ve ever seen. Through tears she explained her story:

Working in the commercial sex trade in Mombasa her life took a twist when she learned she was pregnant. Crap. She tried to have an abortion but it didn’t work. Covering it up as best as she could, Maggie kept trying to terminate the little life several times. Somehow (who knows how) nothing seemed to work though, so she ran away. She came to the city I was in, and has been working there a month. Living in a clubs supply closet and selling her body to eat, she was depressed and wanted to die. She was so precious though. When we met she made the decision quickly, she wanted God no matter what.

While talking in the restaurant the morning after, tears streaming down her face I had no answer but Jesus. I was out of money, I couldn’t offer her a job, and I was leaving that night so I couldn’t even offer her solid friendship. All I had was knowledge of a perfect father. Thank goodness that’s enough! After she finished I sat and inwardly started praying: “God… what do I do??” just then I heard the other girls pipe up. The ones that have only just come out of the trade themselves and are still babies in the faith, “You can stay with us! We’ll help you find a job!” Then the pastor with a large smile on his face: “And what a joy! A baby! We’ll help you get settled in a house for when the child arrives!” AW!! YAY!!! God’s so faithful!!

Later that day God amazed me, once again, as I had the privilege of working with our “head girl” to start our first business! Not chickens like I’d hoped (as the chicken market is down right now- guess they’re all in Ethiopia for the month?) So instead the girls now have a small clothing shop! Woo Jesus!

So that was that was a taste of the last week! Of course it had its bumps. My hotel was in the heart of the area I worked and INFESTED with bugs. I’d just laugh, as I knew it wasn’t time to get up in the morning if I could still hear the music from the clubs next door. (They usually didn’t close until 6 or 6:30am!) Not to mention I got sick the day after I arrived! It felt like I was like doing the entire week under water. :( haha.. But it was still great! I love seeing the extra element of God’s strength when I’m super weak. He’s so fab. :)

(Sorry it’s long but that’s the condensed version! If you’d like to get involved and invest in a business for ex-prostitutes please let me know!!! We’re looking for partners!!! :)

RaNdoM Stories!

2009-09-20T17:58:00.002Z

It feels if I don’t write them somewhere I forget them!
So here are a few fun REALLY random stories of just how amazing Jesus is:

One day in Congo we were on our way to Mugunga camp. =) Our form of transportation, like most days, was public transit -a stuffed 14-passenger van. (that can hold up to 30 ppl!) This day was special though, unlike most days when I’m crammed in the back, THIS time I got to be crammed in the front (a little more leg room there!) The driver was on the far right, and then three of us closely cuddling on the left. Sitting there, I was practically on top of the middle guy and the end guy was practically on top of me. (Oh yes – so delightful!) Well, one time we had to switch positions a little and I noticed the end guy wasn’t moving his leg. So like little sardines in a can, I asked him what was the matter. He began to tell his story and I learned he was in an accident a year ago and still has pain and couldn’t move it. WELL, cornered!…sort of, we had all the time in the world to chat about God’s amazing love for people and I asked him if I could pray for him. “Now?” “Yeah!” He agreed and in no time was making attempts to unsquish himself to “test out” his leg.
Healed! Yay Jesus. Cause there’s no better time then hot and sticky on the way to an IDP camp. (And his name… Emmanuel. :)

Once in Uganda (while on the car theme) we were piled into a private taxi (thank the LORD!). It was raining and the roads were quite slippery, no worries, we’re in a car right? Sort of. As the rain got heavier a motorbike taxi in front of us lost control and crashed. “STOP!!!!” We screamed from inside the taxi as we all hopped out to make sure everyone was ok.
Not sure where the taxi guy went but the two ladies that had been on the back were distraught. “We need to get to the hospital! She’s dislocated her shoulder!” Well, I don’t know what a dislocated shoulder looks like, but I can say hers sure didn’t look good! Both women were in much pain and a little bloody so we asked if we could pray for them before taking them to the hospital! “Sure sure…” With the rain starting to fizzle a little we invited rain from heaven to come and heal the ladies. As their faces started to brighten we ran back to the car to scrap up any band-aids and tissue we could find. As we continued to invite Jesus to the scene of the accident we wiped up their blood and covered the open wounds with plasters. By the time we were finished the ladies were smiling and laughing. “We’re better. No pain! Don’t need the hospital anymore but thanks!” YAY JESUS!!!!! I love it when he shows up. So my favorite! ;)

And to top it off let’s move to Kenya… ☺ We were working on the coast in Mombasa at the time with a group of ex-prostitutes. We had been teaching on the Kingdom and how they are DAUGHTERS of GOD. That’s amazing! And that they have access to everything that’s in heaven. As a practical activity to demonstrate, we took them to the streets one afternoon to have them bring heaven. (Treasure hunting, for those familiar) They started by asking Jesus who to pray for and then went out to find them. One fun time we came across a lady and her baby. She matched the perfect description my friend had heard and we found out she was very sick with lung problems as were her kids. In fact she had just just returned from the hospital. So we gathered around them and the amazing daughters laid their hands on the sick. As we were praying I noticed the woman started to cry and cry and cry. When we finished I asked her what was wrong and she said “It’s gone! All my pain is gone! I can breath well without pain!” Healed! Then we prayed for her kids and the same happened with on of her boys. YAY JESUS!!! I love him….

So that’s fun. I realized today that most of my posts are rants and that I should switch it up with some glory story. Lol. So here are the odd ones – one from each country! :) Will share more with time…. :)

2009-09-08T20:09:00.003Z

I’m in Uganda! I escaped with the team to a retreat center (Mto Moyoni!!) shortly after Congo to rest, relax and process some of the stories from the war zone. Upon arriving I felt like I had processed most the traumatic things we’d heard so I was excited to ask God for strategy on how to tackle the international problems we faced. :) It was amazing. Within the first hour of arriving God was speaking and had A LOT to say. But the strategy was different from what I expected:
“You’re my daughter. First and foremost, my girl.” =)
Uh! How much am I his favorite?!
Thousands of hungry people I want to feed, a million things that could be done and that I probably need to be doing, and his answer couldn’t have been more perfect.
Us. “This” is what always comes first. I LOVE this. You know when you feel like the most LOVED person that probably exists? That’s how he makes me feel all the time. For two days we sat, laughed, swam in the Nile and beheld a breathtaking garden. Just being. How often do we miss life by doing? By trying to “accomplish” or “achieve” when all we’re meant to do is love. Everything else can happen but from that place. I am so motivated to run. To dive, to go as fast and as hard as I possibly can and to see Mugunga IDP camp look more like Heaven than the current hell it resembles now. But presently all that he’s asking is for me to be. To rest and wait.
Perhaps I’m just lacing up my shoes, only time will tell but in perfect love I wait. In this love I trust and in this love I dream.

Imagine a Mugunga where skin diseases don’t exist.

An “IDP camp” that’s not synonymous with sickness.

Imagine that instead of seeing development take a halt due to the war, creativity breaks out, inventions start being formed, new types of music starts rising and the children learn to play again. They laugh from their bellies free from the sound of gunshots and the fear that dares to imprison them in silence.

It’s so close I can almost taste it. It’s heaven on earth and it’s getting thin over Mugunga. Or so I dream. And trust. =)

I wonder which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Dreaming or trusting? Is it in knowing his goodness and trusting him in his desire for a war ravished nation that we can believe for its transformation? Or is it in dreaming that there’s transformation for a war-ravished nation that leads us to trust him more for the impossible?

I dunno. Love! Haha. Love is always the answer. Receiving it in full then giving all you just got. “Us”. Everything is just an extension of that. (deep sigh) :)

Oh the injustice....

2009-09-03T07:35:00.001Z

When the pain is too much, make pizza

2009-08-23T15:29:00.000Z

What do I say? Today I heard stories of hungry widows, forgotten orphans and a family who ran 72 km with nine kids to escape the rebels. We were in the IDP camp again today listening to stories and loving on people and now I’m drained. By the time you read this I’ll probably have processed and found the “happy place” in Jesus but right now I’m still trying to even get the point of dealing with it. I’m still in the phase where your emotions can’t take it and fight to shut down. Your brain SCREAMS “Hey, this hurts WAY to bad, investing would cost WAY to much. STOP”
This is when truth over rides reason though and my will has to rise up and give in to Jesus. He’s enough. He is. End of story. The most common thing we hear among the 20 thousand people in Mugunga Refugee Camp is “We’re starving. There’s no work and no food. What do we do?” Talking with a woman in her shanty little tarp and banana leaf home we sat together on her bed. It was painful. Literally. Spiky volcanic rock with a UNHCR tarp on top I could feel the edges jabbing into my butt. Ok Jesus. You’re still good. You’re still enough. As I chat with a family a little girl in my arms dozens of kids surrounding us we could hardly hear the people talking over the coughing and hacking of the little ones around us. OK JESUS! I KNOW YOU’RE STILL GOOD. I Know you’re MORE than enough for Mugunga. And in that, his amazingness, we get to see him show up. We get to see him as the answer for the sick, the answer for the depressed. I love that place. I really do. As we walk between the rows and rows of white tarped “closets” I feel at home. Living from Heaven to earth in the midst of hell. Sometimes I have to fight the natural survival mechanism of shutting my heart down but when I chose to trust in his love even after the stories, I know life is still amazing.
Their eyes are hard, empty and hollow. But it doesn’t take much. When we sit with them and cry out for Jesus to come and sit with us suddenly a life in them that I never knew existed emerges from nowhere. But yet I wrestle. Mercy would be filling their stomachs today, justice would be empowering them to feed their stomachs tomorrow and the next day, and the next day. Right? What’s the strategy for 20 thousand hungry refugees whose homes are invaded with rebels? Jesus. Love. What does action look like? (And this is only one of 6 camps)

As my itunes scrolls through “random” and I listen and type and process and type, and Jesus and type I’ve found my hope again. It doesn’t take long usually, He’s just to good. To funny. I love that even after the hardest days he brings joy.
Today we had a party. Barely freshly showered from the layers of IDP camp guck and we decided to host a bunch of people for a birthday party. It was fabulous. Pulling out my domestic diva skills we through together pizza! (without an oven or dough!) It was actually REALLY good though!!!! I’m still in shock how we did it. (we’re that incredible) Oh the bliss. Oh the contrast. But still how much I delight in his joy.

2009-08-19T16:39:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I literally feel like the luckiest person ever. I’m full of cheese which is fine because I’m just so in love. Lol. I get to not only know about a great God but I get to KNOW God. I get to be his best friend (his fav ;) and inherit the earth with him. Pretty much. :)
I see the disaster I see the ruin and hopeless that Congo tries to beat you down with and I can’t help but think, I get to know the one with the answer. I’m on his side and WE WIN. For the competitive side in me, that’s a good thing. :) Love is SUCH a powerful thing, and it’s great cause it’s so easy to see when you’re in a war zone.

One of my teammates Sabrina and I were working with the kids the other day. The rest of the team was preaching with the youth so everyone over 13 years old was gone and the two of us were left with 200 kids, a translator and a very small room. It was fine at first but there were some kids in the back being a little disruptive so no prob, we thought we’d sing a song and finish the lesson. Well as we did a song someone somehow shut the door and locked it. To be fair it was only a half a door but the kids went wild. Almost instantly a riot broke out and before we knew it we were in the middle of a brawl. Within about 30 seconds I heard a scream and one kid was down. As I worked on settling the crowd the child started throwing up blood. Stay calm stay calm. I tried Swahili, I tried French, I tried charades. What the heck just happened? Sabrina yells from across the room that she thinks the little girl went down and others were kicking her. As a pool of thick red blood formed on the floor I continued working crowd control and started comforting the child. Eventually she stopped throwing up, the doors were unlocked and we herded the children outside.

Stumbling out of the half finished cement room I walked over to another teammate who was talking with the pastor’s son. He had asked her something about education and as a teacher she was explaining the importance of kids going to school. “Not only does it teach them things for the future and provide job opportunities, but school teaches kids to think! It teaches them creativity and interaction with others. It gives them ideas and keeps them out of trouble…” I look around at the couple hundred kids now playing in the dirt around us. One little kid had a tight hold on my finger while a couple others giggled as they stroked the blonde hairs on my arm. Two Hundred kids and it’s just the close vicinity of the neighborhood. Most of the children originally came from the bush villages, fleeing the war and have just recently been settling in the city. All they know is war and fighting. Why should I be surprised at anything else? Now as their families attempt to start a new life and relocate in a safer location none of them are attending school.
One- there is no school, and two- the church tried to start one but had to charge to keep it going. The cost was $1 a month per child but 90% of the families couldn’t pay it. Hundreds of kids in the district. None are in school.
What does love look like for a neglected generation?....

Sometimes I just sit and look at Jesus. All I need is a glance, I don’t need to say anything he knows exactly what I’m thinking. How? What? Which? Should I? :)
How fast can I run and how big of a team can I run with? :)

We came home later that night and as we processed as a team it started to rain. We had just been praying that morning for a down pour and this was the first rain since arriving. We turned up the music and ran outside for a dance party. As we laughed and spun around on the volcanic pebbles I came back to that place. I am so lucky to be loved so well. Wet and exhausted we went inside and were greeted with electricity. (I am SO his favorite ;) Sometimes it’s the little things. I didn’t see any riots today. The water came on when I needed to shower and the store down the street was selling cheese. Life can get tricky at times yet I feel somehow I walk in perfection. Loved and in love. (sigh…..)
(There was a lot of talking between the lines this post. Maybe only those who know my “stories” will get it and so for those who do, what do you think? Next summer? :)

2009-08-12T09:06:00.003+01:00

I just finished writing about this for a class assignment so you’re getting sloppy seconds but I have to say something.
Congo is going amazingly though this week we’ve been introduced to the countries IDP camps…Now I’ve been to IDP camps before. Tons of poor housing an arms length away from each other, stories of unimaginable horrors. But no matter how many times I hear it, it never gets easier. Especially here. Day one we went to listen. See for ourselves what’s going on and how we might be able help. It’s been a few days now and I feel I’m still shocked and processing.
We met first with a medical director who described the six different camps in two different districts. The biggest camp he said has 26 000 people (as of May) and that was the one we’d be visiting that afternoon. As we approached the camp entrance I already started to feel sick from seeing the white “houses” lined up as far as you could see. Their huts are make shift, fragile little creations about the size of Smart Car. Ripped “UNHCR” tarp, twigs, banana leaves and rope hold it together though you dare not sneeze in close proximity in fear of blowing it in.
We arrived and were greeted by laughing kids and cautious mothers. Taken directly to the medical facilities we got more of the details on the peoples health. “Ninety percent of the kids are malnourished” the chief doctor tells us. “And the extra food they’re receiving to help with growth will be cut off in December.”
As we pass through the rows of huts, tents… shacks… whatever they’re called, we meet the sweetest people. Smiling and welcoming us into their “closets” we practice our Swahili. Every family has similar things to say. “We’re hungry. We haven’t eaten today and there’s no water.” Some women grab their breasts saying “There’s no milk! There’s no milk! How can I feed my baby when I have no food and I can’t make milk.” World Food Program is responsible for feeding but only give 6 kilos of rice and 6 kilos of bean to each person for two weeks. (bout a cup a day) For those going on their third year in the camp they’ve had no other nutrition besides beans and rices since their arrival. As we continue to an open field of loose dirt a crowd forms and a mob of children lead us to the high place for a better view. A hill just next to the camp we can see everything. From the top you can almost go 360 degrees and see nothing but torn tarped homes. However the kids are smiling. Laughing and dancing we snap photos of their unforgettable faces. They stroke our hands, arms, a couple of kids point with inquisitive faces at the ring worm on my left arm. Lol. It was such a perfect time. It was like I got to walk with Jesus himself. Amazing. I get to hold his favorites and love of the very ones that heaven aches for. I get to get dirtier than I ever thought possible, haha. but the smell I left with was all worth it.
As we were leaving we were told “White people come. Then they leave. And nothing changes” Will you help us lobby the NGO’s? Will you help us feed these people when the programs drop?
We get in the mini bus and fighting back tears, start to wave goodbye. But before our vehicle pulls away a man runs up to the window and starts introductions. “Hillary Clinton is coming here tomorrow! Will you be around? Can you join in the meeting?” WHAT!?!? As in Bill’s wife? SURE! We’d love to! What a funny coincidence! We finally start up and half way down the road are able to form sentences after the shock of our day. We returned the next day but found out her visit was only going to last 15 minutes and security was to tight for us to stay.
Not sure my emotions are more flared about her “15 minute photo opp.” or the fact that we didn’t get to meet her. ;)
Now as the time passes our faces start to mirror the imprint of the floor as we search out solution. Mercy isn’t enough. There needs to be JUSTICE partnered with it. Because they deserve that.
It’s funny as I pursue answers to the many of the questions and I feel I’ve forgotten what impossible looks like. I know, I explain the most horrible scene I’ve witnessed, more hopelessness than I could have imagined. Which is worse, their living conditions or that the world is doing nothing about it? But in my heart I KNOW God is good. And in his ABSOLUTE goodness, I KNOW there is a solution and I KNOW that he loves to give it to to his kids.

Ending on a good note….We saw lots of women healed the other day in our widows meeting. It was fun.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP WITH THE REFUGEES!!! –Email the GCM admin team and we’ll get you the info for donations. admin@gcmovement.org.

(Pics from the camp. -Super cute kids. Top notch photo project. And the top view of a portion of the camp.)

Congo time

2009-08-08T10:23:00.002+01:00

And I’m in Congo! So much to say but I’ll never say it all so I won’t even try to get it all in. I call yesterday “widows and war stories”. First thing in the morning my team piled into a car way to small for us. Two pastors in the front seat, three of us in the first row and couple more snug in the fetal position in the “back”. The trip to meet the ladies wasn’t long but it wasn’t on a road either. An active volcano, just outside the city, last erupted in 2002 and covered the town in lava. Now seven years later the people have managed to build on top of most of the rock however, for those of you who haven’t built on lava rock before, it’s not an easy task. And without money for roads, driving on it can be an exhausting adventure in itself.
Anyway, not the point. We went to the widows and I’m just shocked at their everyday lives. How they survive is… Jesus. The country has no money. What money it does have goes straight to the hands of the already wealthy. The government doesn’t pay salaries to pretty much anybody so getting a job is extremely difficult and keeping the job practically impossible. But these women welcomed us with song and dance, smiles stretching across each of their faces despite their current situation. We “evaluated their needs”, encouraged them and prayed for their bag business (which is another story) and now we sit and process to see how we can bring justice to their poverty.
ANYWAY, boring stuff. I was going to tell some of the war stories that we heard, advocate for ppl etc. etc. but I didn’t finish writing on time and now I’m at the internet café and I’ve got like 30 seconds. (not literally but I won’t get into it :)
Things in Goma are so different from what I remember. In Bukavu, the city at the bottom of the lake, there were so many more soldiers, more UN vehicles. Here it’s much less obviously from first impressions that just 5 months ago it was in war. However safe we are though it’s definitely more limited. Just outside the city boundaries is rebel territory and by leaving the confines of Goma you’re risking rape, mutilation or death. Harsh I know, but I’m not even being dramatic! The people live with SUCH fear. (If you know me you KNOW within the first few days I brought up the idea of venturing out there to work in the villages but the idea didn’t even get a second thought. Lol. I can’t imagine why…)
Oh! Internet time is up!
I'll post something good next time.

X x
Cass

Night life with a twist

2009-08-06T08:26:00.001+01:00

It’s the middle of the night. Literally. I’m too exhausted for words yet it feels there’s an overflow that I simply can’t turn off. Every time I close my eyes the overflow shows up in pictures, some sort of injustice painting the canvas of my dreams.
We’ve just arrived in a new city, a beach town, away from last weeks party town where we were working with prostitutes and ex-commercial sex workers. I’m excited as we have three full days to rest and process everything that just happened (And only a stones throw from one of the whitest sand beaches you’ve ever seen!) Sure our lodging is a dive but at under 10 dollars a night with practically an ocean view… it’s worth every penny not paid!

Last week was spent with prostitutes in pubs and bars. It’s hard to explain but here’s a little to give you a picture. Before I say more though, can it just be said, I’ve never known Jesus to be SWEETER? Every time I see horrific things in humanity I see more of his beauty. That he never looks away and continues to love us through the worst of the unimaginable. It’s unbelievable. I think I will be forever shocked at his love and am CONSTANTLY amazed at how we’re each perfectly and dearly his absolute favorites.

So yes, I’m trying to process in a hurry to get ready for Congo and so still trying to sort through my emotions. The faces, the stories. Girls not much older than me, some a few years younger, who know more abuse than I hopefully ever will. The injustice is like a slap on the face and I’m cornered again by this battle against EQUALITY.
Since when did the life of a woman compare in value to that of a street dog? If they eat or don’t eat, it’s of no matter. Kicked, abused, knocked up or bleeding, nobodies doing the double take. Such a high price was paid but somehow we miss how much they’re worth.
Whether it’s a thriving industry or one girl mistreated why is there not more action to stop the abuse on his favorite ones?

Our mornings were taken up with meetings with ex-commercial sex workers (to be politically correct) afternoons -meetings, and then evenings with current prostitution in the bars. It’d start with us heading into these manky “clubs” where a man goes to buy a woman. Slight twist compared to how I did this stuff in Thailand… this time our ex-commercial sex worker friends didn’t want to miss the fun! No pimps here to worry about and they refused to let us go alone. (I know, the method is… different, we’re still working out strategies but for now that’s how it was done) and it was AMAZING.
To see these girls who used to be the ones to sell themselves, now radically testifying to other girls currently selling themselves, how Jesus has so transformed their lives. IT WAS RIDICULOUS. I was trying to act natural but felt like anything but. It was the most exciting thing to see God’s presence fall so heavy over the loud music and drunken dancers and the girls unable to resist and give their lives fully to Jesus. They were so hungry and it was so “easy”. We’d barely say anything and they’d repeatedly ask us how to have Jesus, even knowing that in doing so they’d have to drastically redirect their lives. At one point it probably sounded like I was trying to talk them OUT of this life change cause I didn’t want them to just “pray a prayer” as a quick fix. But oh no, no matter what I said these girls were HUNGRY. The next day they were at our “Discipleship meetings” and had testimonies how Jesus was encountering them. I LOVED IT.

Violet.
A single mom with a story like many women here. Jobless, hungry, desperate and at the end of her rope. She came to the coast with a promise from a cousin that she’d find work, however after several months of still no job and two hungry babies at home she felt she had no other option. She started at a strip club dancing naked. Now in a beautiful long dress sitting across the table sharing her story, Violets faced beamed with joy. She went on to describe horrific stories of moving from dancing to “pure sex” with tourists as the “money is better with foreigners”. Abused and raped she now exuded life as I fought back tears. Over the next few days we got to know Violet quite well. Traveling with her to the streets to pray for the sick and prophesy over strangers and later to the bars as I had the privilege to see her boldly tell current prostitutes her stories and see them radically touched and transformed by the Jesus that she carried.
Working with these girls it was a neat situation as I’m broke. (In the natural :) My team was also broke AND all the project money we’ve been saving was going to Congo so the budget for the coast: next to nothing. Such a perfect opportunity though as we taught the girls with all our hearts “There is everything you’ll EVER need in Jesus in Heaven! If you EVER need anything just ask popa!” And as we worked with these girls getting out of prostitution, plugging them into a community we really got to see God show up.
Once Violet told a story of not having enough money to send her daughter to school. As men came she turned them away even though she didn’t have another source of income. Knowing, believing and totally TRUSTING that God was big enough to provide like a good daddy she prayed and went to bed. The NEXT day to her excitement someon came and offered to pay for her daughter’s tuition! Yay Jesus! Like I said. SOOOO sweet. Every girl seemed to ooze stories of his softy heart as He showed up again and again reminding them that they were his favorites and giving real examples of how He provides.

More stories but maybe for another day!

I really loved those girls and what God’s doing in the bars on the coast. I’m now working with some of them and hope to go back in September to continue updates and supporting them as they shift their lifestyle. Also encouraging those now working with the girls as it’s a big job! ☺

If you’re interested in getting involved in the projects with prostitutes (both current and those coming out!) send me an email and I can get you more info! We’re also looking for supporters to get the girls in school for them to eventually become self sufficient (now they just do small jobs like washing clothes.)

And now… ONTO CONGO!!!

Night life with a twist

2009-08-06T08:26:00.000+01:00

The Chocolate or the Nut?

2009-06-16T19:31:00.001+01:00

I'm back!

As most of you know, June 13th I was to be heading back to Africa. Spiders and dirt STILL filling the crevices of my two jumbo sized suitcases (from my last trip) and still stuffing the bags full of things on the way out the door (it all came together a little fast) my African journey continued. The plan had been to hook up with a professional photographer in Uganda later that week that had offered to do pro-bono work for GCM but in true “this is my life” fashion… two days before the trip, they bailed. Well, bailed sounds harsh. They “changed their plans and left me out of their new ones”. J She felt the trip would be to dangerous and that it wasn’t for her. Which is totally fair, and I understand her concern. HOWEVER I was to be on a plane in 48 hours to meet her.
Suddenly I was confronted with a new reality, I needed a miracle and the trip hadn’t even started. Where, what and in which country would I be working in this month?? But not only that, I had the choice, would I let this steal my joy and ruin my week? A project that was high on my excitement list and a friend to travel the country side with had just be erased from my day book, now what?
As I putted through the airport an hour before departing LA I got my answer. Nothing, NOTHING, can steal my joy.
It was one of those moments where I realized just how much my happiness is not founded on my circumstances, or if I have or haven’t a plan in front of me, I get to laugh through the roughest of times. So crucial to be reminded how much happiness comes from the fact that I am loved . Completely loved. And because I am so ABSOLUTELY ridiculously loved, I in turn give my life to love and trust- worry free.
Now I can’t really say I was doing cartwheels down the moving side walk between gates 101-102 BUT it was the neatest feeling that I have trouble putting words to. I was just so… content. And with my life in total limbo without a clue as to what awaited me upon arrival, I was just so solidly HAPPY. Lol. Now, I still have a long way to go in this adventure of living with absolute joy no matter what I’m confronted with but in that moment I remembered that I am so stable and satisfied, simply because I am rooted in Love. Lol. His love.
Ha. Seems like such a small insignificant piece when I think about what I’m embarking on… child soldiers in Congo, trafficking in Kenya but if it matters to me, it matters to him! And if you can’t get joy when a “job falls through” how are you suppose to get joy when the rebels come… JK! Ah ha… ha… But seriously it’s gonna be a good summer.
As of right now the “plan” is: Uganda in June, Kenya for July and DR Congo in August. Focusing on training kids and leaders, super focused on searching for justice and hopefully implementing mercy (aid and relief) AND developing a new photography project with Congolese street and village kids. On the side I’ll also be taking writing courses online for personal development and such. SO busy times ahead… J

And finally, as I sit waiting for the shower still DISGUSTING from travels, I look at an oversized bag of trail mix as an alternative to beans and rice for lunch, and I get to decide,
Chocolate or Nut?
Joy or sadness?
Passively accepting what’s in front of me or actively pursuing the freedom I know is available for myself and others?

Sometimes we forget how impacting our "inner yes" really is. ;)

(p.s. – besides cashews I’m not a big “nut” fan but rather a firm believer that they should increase the amount of M&M’s in the standard trail mix. ;)

The divorce from simplicity

2008-12-20T15:01:00.006Z

Life in various parts of the "African Bush" is quite different than life in "The west". I love going to restaurants in the third world and my first question being "Do you have food today?" Or ordering a meal with an item such as...cheese, and about an hour and a half after ordering having the waiter come up to me to explain "Gulu's actually out of cheese." -Gulu? Not even just the restaurant but the entire city. lol (You think they could have noticed that an hour earlier)TIA. So now here I am, just arrived in London (one of my most favouritest of cities) and they are not out of cheese. Oh no, if you want even a slice you'll have to choose from a plethora of 100 different types of cheese. (Oh my goodness, I've been eating "The Real Yorkshire Wensleydale with cranberries" lol Odd but AMAZING) Want a cup of tea? What kind of tea? There are also 100 different types. What would you like in your tea? Small glass, tall glass, red glass, blue glass? (Seriously too much Dr. Seuss in this part of the world :) I am adoring it though. (Speaking of, I now average 7 cups of tea each day. Ya, it's good to be back) My heart seems to LOVE Africa more then any other place but I find I can feel just as at home in big city London as I do in a mud hut in Sudan. If that's possible. AND I've already bought two new pairs of shoes =) =)

Still processing things of course, which is not my favourite part of returning. (Oh the injustices.. lol) BUT I found a song that sums it all up PERFECTLY. =) I don't really know how I stumbled upon it but I think it is crucial for anyone traveling to, living in or coming from the, well, closest thing to what many describe as hell on earth. (But more accurately described as just 'Pre-Kingdom zones' ;)

So, from Exp.58's "Love Revolution" Conference in LA '07...The fabulous Brian and Katie with a little Charles...

Set your TiVo!

2008-12-11T08:26:00.010Z

A note to all you "24" fans and lovers of popcorn...

We don't get tv in my end of the village ;) BUT apparently this latest season of "24" is about child soldiers in Africa!

For those missing the point, this is amazing because this coming spring I'll be working with GCM in Sudan helping to rehabilitate child soldiers into their villages.

Super readers digest version...
It's quite the issue in almost every war world wide as kids are forced to pick up arms to fight someone else's war. Usually when the babies are taken from the front lines and stripped of their beloved Kalashnikovs they're often sent back home with a small pat on the back and a hopeful "Good luck". With this as only the third year of peace in Southern Sudan not much has been developed to help the kids and the reintegration process is...lacking, taking it's toll on this generation of child fighters. (Rehabilitation nightmare, to say the least ;)

So this is where we will come in. Working with the kids post demobilisation we desire to love 'em back to life. haha In short.

So...24! With that said, I'm also moving back to America. I'm leaving Africa shortly (ya, dates still undetermined, maybe a few days...maybe a few weeks...TIA) where I'll be working with the GCM and Exp.58 team in LA to develop the project and give other people a chance to get involved.

It should be fabulous, to say the least ;)

Sudan In Pictures

2008-11-28T07:48:00.015Z

It's been months I know but I've finally managed to upload some pictures once again. I realised I haven't really said much about Sudan, I guess because finding the language to describe it is hard for a "blog post". They do say however, "A picture is worth a thousand words" so maybe it's best to just let my camera do the talking. I'd love to upload more but I could travel to America and back by the time the computer would have finished uploading. (eye roll)
So...here it is. Juba SS.

A New Style statement in "New Sudan" as a woman tries to find relief from the heat in the market

If you're caught taking pictures of the SPLA -Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army-, you could...lose your camera to say the least. So sometimes you need to get a little creative with some Bond moves.
Or just make friends with them...

The hot months arrived! To save ourselves from roasting inside, the beds were moved outside to where it's some what cooler

My fiery little kids bringin' the kingdom =)

Some of my fabulous little world changers that make any hard days easier

From the desert to the bushes and a short story inbetween

2008-11-24T08:46:00.006Z

It seems to be the common topic of emails lately, "Where the heck are you?"
(I know, I often wake up in the middle of the night asking myself the same question ;)
So to solve the most FAQ: I'm in Northern Uganda now.

Somehow the north of Uganda became my haven and feels now like home so it's nice to be back briefly. Work is also never hard to find as I run around teaching classes at a Children's Center or working with a friend I live with and the seven teenage mothers and their babies that share our house. (Which is totally bliss as I am LOVING them to pieces)

One fabulous thing about the Children's Center that I wanted to gush about though, is the latest door that's opened.
So the GCM model is really about empowering and releasing kids to pretty much change the world with Jesus and lately I've been working with this group of kids who are absolutely fabulous. They just catch everything so quickly. As they learn about healing the sick it's sort of a given that we'd go to the hospital to practice what I've preached so I spoke to the staff. They not only said that door would be possible but they brought up a twist. They didn't see just any hospital but they brought up the military hospital, inside the barracks, having the little orphan babies pray for the sick soldiers. Haha. I'm sure many of you can imagine my delight. =)

We entered the barracks and were taken directly to the hospital. An adult on the team meeting us there I think was expecting someone...taller and as he walked directly in front of me I could hear him laugh about "Barracks being no place for women".
I just smiled. And what about the six kids "The woman" brought with her?
(It's totally safe, don't anyone hear the word "soldier" and go into cardiac arrest. Never was I or any of my kids in ANY kind of danger)
We got to the hospital and a guy shared for a while and then I got up to explain that the kids have lots of Jesus in them and that Jesus loves to heal the sick so if they wanted prayer we'd be passing from bed to bed.
Well...It was amazing. lol. I had so much fun, I can't even say. The kids were simply fabulous praying fearlessly for the soldiers and leading them to God's heart. I'm just devastated that cameras were forbidden. =)
My favourite miracle of the day was actually a lady we prayed for. I assume one of the wives of a soldier there. She had a severe case of HIV. Her body was disgustingly thin with what I guess were scabies that COVERED her from head to toe. She seemed depressed, in pain and I couldn't blame her.
With permission we all gathered around her and carefully wrapping our arms around her delicate frame, just loved on the woman as best we could. After praying we asked her how she felt and if she could, oh so carefully, test out things she couldn't do before. Immediately her face seemed lighter as she described ringing and pain in her ears that disappeared! She then started kicking out her legs saying "I could barely do this before and not without severe pain. My pain is now gone!"
She was soooo precious. Whether healed of HIV I don't know but her smile said it all.
We all left the hospital laughing with pure delight at God's undeniable goodness!

So yes. I love Uganda. Sudan is amazing but here compared to Juba is a cake walk and I'm enjoying it thoroughly.
Minus my house I guess. That's not always a breeze. lol. In the last week alone,
Our toilet stopped working,
we had an...unwanted visitor,(haha)
a mouse moved in to my cupboard and will watch me when I'm most vulnerable,
I almost died from a massive spider with hundreds of babies hatching from it's behind when we sprayed it with Doom (bootylicious...not so much ;)
and I got lost in the village as sometimes every hut just looks the same. (I felt like a puppy as I circled some of the same houses and people tryed to convince me to live with them. "It's ok. Come Come. You are welcome to live." ....um...maybe another time thx...)

So, brief life update. Congo border still on the brain, if you can take that hint ;) Kenya next week for TheCall Nairobi which is exciting as the Cali crew is coming and for those who know Nairobi, two words : Java House. =)

It ends well ;)

2008-11-10T11:38:00.004Z

Sometimes when you witness something that's troubling, instead of processing we can fall victim to the vicious thing we call "self protection". I was told it'd be the only way I’d survive my hop, step and jump through the war zones. (For Kristen;) But with Jesus being my, well, everything, and love knowing "no bounds" I still think self protection isn't really an option. lol So yes, in other words - I cry a lot. ;) But another fabulous thing about Jesus, is with him, the tears always end with hope and smiling uncontrollably.
ANYWAY, I'd numbed my emotions for a little while but,
Last week I saw a little girl get beat. Or "caned". It was awful. It's technically common here but, uh. Just blow after blow. I tried to stop it but by the time I followed the screams and went through the barrier of people / translation it was over. Nauseated I was mocked for my opposition to the "discipline" and defeated I walked away.
Later the little girl (about five years old) was in my room (lol or...house should I say) and I needed to leave, emptying the room behind me. "No" she protested and gripped the chair tighter. Eventually to what I thought was no big deal, she was convinced to let go and follow me out the front door. No sooner than we exited however that she turned and wound up with a clenched fist and proceeded to beat me. Not like a temper tantrum but like "attack". With every hit there was such rage, something so much deeper than me going to the market. Suddenly I remembered her beating earlier and the flood of emotions returned.
Later that night I sat down with one of the ladies and spent hours hashing out theories of discipline and child rearing. (haha I know I'm not a mom but I've listened to Danny Silk's parenting teachings a dozen times)
By the end it felt like breakthrough as she relented that "Options ARE a good thing" and "There is another way other than beatings"
Now as fabulous as that is, yay for two less children being beat, it seems hard to forget the force to which the cane fell the other night on the little girls back. And arms. And head.
From one fight to another my thoughts somehow move to the latest Congo occurrences.
250, 000 refugees in two months, rebels taking over villages and the UN states there are reports of "rapes and acts of violence".
Good job Sherlock.
Slightly worse then a canning.
And so again I make the decision: No self protection.
This isn't just another "African Outbreak". Stats on a page. Would that little girls beating have affected me so had I not heard the thuds of the stick? BUT would it have made it any less real.
It just all makes me step back a little. The stories provoke an "upchuck" reflex of the brutal sexual assaults and children joining the army action cause life is somehow still worse on the civilian side.
The issue is so much deeper than the last two months.
Though...with Jesus it always end with uncontrollable smiling. lol. "Never Again". As horrific as it is, I can't conceal the giggle inside of me. This is our chance to write history. Sure the ball was dropped with Rwanda, Northern Uganda, Sudan...but not Congo, not this time. I'm oozing cheese I know I know but we're called the "Hero Generation" and I think this story ends differently. No complacency. "Evil triumphs when righteous men stay silent" No self protection. No silence. Sidelines are not our only option.
"There is another way other then beatings"

Anyway, it's been on my heart so it comes out in a blog. Guess that's serious post #2 though. Sorry. Try to think of something light to cap off with...A large spider in my shower, that only seemed to come out at night, forced me to bathe outside for a week. Ya, lets just say even in the dark...I still glow. lol.. I think I've solved the mystery to my many Sudanese suitors... ;)

-If this is the first time you've heard of the Congo fighting than you live in a bigger bubble then I do (which is saying a lot) and I suggest you turn on the BBC- ;)

Should mercy and justice be separated?

2008-10-29T09:52:00.005Z

Mercy and justice were described to me as: “Hundreds of people keep falling from a hill. Mercy takes care of the wounded below while justice runs to the top to stop them from falling above.”

I’ll never forget my trip to Thailand last spring to work with children and the prostitutes caught in the sex trade. I think I bawled for the next month straight totally gripped by the injustice on those girls. I’ll never forget their stories from our brief encounters over a couple diet cokes between their clients. Their faces seem forever etched in my mind.

A different sort of injustice here but it carries the same DNA. A battle of equality. The value of life torn from its foundations and shaken until nobody flinches when say... genocide takes place or every year 4 million people are bought or otherwise treated as slaves or in that same year 1.3 million unborn babies are killed.

So, how do we battle injustice? How do we team it with mercy, and should we be separating the two?

What sparked this (most recently) was a newspaper article I saw stuck to the floor of a pee stained latrine. “Nuba mountains at risk for increased conflict”. I covered my nose and bent over the paper to read more. The column talked about how with attention on Darfur, this region was now the “target” and armies were “beefing up” (lol my words not theirs).
My button was pushed. At first thought I think “Peace is in the Kingdom. Kingdom’s in me. Nuba needs some Kingdom. Let’s head to the Nuba mountains!”
But realistically (for now) I look at history for the “likely future”. War breaks out. People are killed and thousands become IDP’s (Internally Displaced People) or refugees.

Now in mercy, WFP steps up with their bags of maize.
Great. However daily food rations replace farming. War brings development to a halt and disease goes wild in a humanitarian nightmare called IDP camps.
Feeding programs are fabulous and oh so needed. I love them. Mercy, saving lives, but I’m thinking; only if they’re just the foundation.

I look at Uganda and with the horrific war in the north causing over a million people to live in IPD camps where the refugees sometimes described themselves as “prisoners in Hell”. What started as a great way to protect people from abductions is now ending in disaster. Not saying I have the solution or that I think IDP camps were bad. No. BUT is this a case of mercy without justice? Feeding them today but not preparing them for tomorrow? Or even really working hard to ensure they have a tomorrow with rebels still chillin in the bush.

Mercy and Justice.
I see the mercy in setting up schools but I see the lack of justice with school fees making it just out of reach for children coming from poor families.

I see the mercy in giving out medicines but where’s the justice when people die from a lack of knowledge of basic health care.

Signs that read:
“Watch out, malaria kills!” But you can’t afford a bug net.
“Careful, AIDS ruins lives!” Yet you don’t have access to condoms (or education on self control for abstinence ;)

Mercy is great. Honestly, I don’t want to under value it. I’m always giving out a dollar to the beggar or a bread roll to the hungry kids but... should you separate mercy and justice? Why is that child hungry or the beggar clued to his park bench? Perhaps justice is more work, or it costs more. But if it costs more, then does it yield a higher return?

Isaiah 58- “Loose the chains of injustice... AND feed the hungry and clothe the naked”

The two are put together. But for the sake of my bias, when we look for solutions it seems justice often gets the short end of the stick. Why?
Where are the William Wilberforces of our time? Those who chose to take action before the Nuba mountains become the Nuba flat lands. The Davids who bring food to the battle field AND kill the giant.

As Margaret Mead once said “Never doubt that a group of concerned citizens can change the world-indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

So, lol. When changing the world, should mercy and justice be separated? Or is it true, some people are meant to implement mercy while others fight for justice?

I don’t know. I’m just thinking out loud.
I used to be all about mercy but as I’m faced more and more with impossibilities that attract heaven I’m falling more and more in love with justice, to now, my thoughts leave me asking the questions about the marriage between the two.

It’s a huge topic, I know, one that could fill much more then just a little blog post. I’m just gripped with a million different questions and topic issues and the tip of this one just happened to make the blog.
=)

juba to kampala and back again

2008-10-15T11:53:00.001Z

It was just the other night in Kampala, long after everyone at the Red Chili backpackers place had gone to bed, where I laid outside under a blanket of stars and started to cry. Can I do this? Round two in the bush, no communication, no basic amenities, hot and dirty to say the least. Am I able to stand, really stand, on the promise that Jesus is enough and thrive in a recovering “war zone”? It wasn’t long though ‘til the tears turned to giggles and still with minimal understanding I knew it had nothing to do with me. He’s enough. His love..Enough. Even for Sudan, and even for the one’s who face it’s giants.

-Step back- My parents are leaving the country for a months and so with me being in Sudan unable to phone chat it was looking like we weren’t going to have contact for three months. That’s a lot for a mothers heart who’s “baby” lives overseas. In attempts to change that I was trying to find a way to get out of Juba, bumping up a later trip to Uganda so we could at least have endless conversations for a day or two before they left. Looking into flights all planes were expensive or booked so I weighed my last option, a 12 hour bus ride from Juba – Gulu, Northern Uganda. ( I can hear the gasps from those who know the route. Lol. ) Traveling on a poor excuse for a road, I was recommended by locals that air was the better way to move. However with my parents d-day fast approaching I glanced at Jesus for the green light and got a one liner about protection. SO, I hopped on the early 7 o’clock bus late last week. Now I don’t feel a blog is the best place for…”bus stories” but I’ll just say it was quite the adventure. Lol. At one point we came across a large sign in the middle of the road “STOP! DANGER! Road closed. De-mining in process!” My driver waves to the soldier by the sign, the soldier, clutching his AK-47 under one arm waves back with his free hand and without a wince or probably a second though we proceeded past the sign on to Gulu. Travelling through the south I kept trying to figure whether there were more soldiers patrolling the area or whether there were just more guns, as those often carrying the AK’s weren’t dressed with the same camouflage as most SPLA. The ones dressed up did seem to have more purpose though. Focus maybe. About half a dozen standing on the back of a “pick up” type truck, a couple of them manning a “big shooter” (lol, no idea what it’s called. The large da-da-da-da-da gun bolted to the bottom of the truck?) They seemed like they were ready to shoot at any moment, which is strange considering we live in peace. Guys and guns I guess. Haha ;) (maybe not so funny to some ;)
Anyway, I arrived safe in Gulu and was able to surprise my parents with phone access and the sweet sound of my voice (lol. Who let me get a blog…?)
From there a friend and I took another treacherous yet much safer bus down to Kampala. Uganda’s capital. It was such a delight to laugh and joke together while getting $5 pedicures and eating cakes and curries. She’s fabulous.
Kampala’s luxuries (electricity AND running water) made me realize though just how much I love civilization and really forced me to question whether I could move back to the ‘bush’. Which is good. It’s good to be challenged and to be certain…lol. After a semi difficult ‘yes’ to the great unknown before me the grace kicked in. Oh how we love the grace! I’m now back in Juba with “renewed focus”. (It’s not that I don’t love Sudan it’s just a little difficult at times is all) But as soon as I stepped off the plane ( Yeah I was NOT taking the bus ride back) it was as if everything was beautiful. If we were on a play ground I’d be getting my butt kicked as I was like “That’s fabulous” “What a lovely trash pile!” “Gorgeous latrine!” It was as if all I could see was potential. It was pretty funny. (Sadly that’s now sort of passed as the latrine wreaks, as does the trash pile)
Well I have no clue how to end this. No clue really what it’s purpose was. Just random ramblings perhaps. Perhaps just the nature of most blogs sometimes ;)

lil bit of girl talk

2008-10-06T10:23:00.003Z

One of the FAQ's from strangers that I meet who hear about my adventures in Africa is about marriage. "You're doing this single?!?". lol. I smile and sort of shrug my shoulders, my answer usually depends on my mood at the moment but all in all the freedom of being single can be bliss. HOWEVER, i'm not looking for anything serious right now, BUT if anyone wants to be a stand in fake bf, i wouldn't turn it down. ;)

The problem started late one night with my house mamma telling me of plans. Tired and sort of spaced I just nodded as she told of ppl "coming around" in the next few days-weeks. Suddenly it dawned. She's only named men and their professions. Whoa! "They're coming cause they just want to be friends right?" She smiles.
We then go into a debate on why she should not try to marry me off in the next few months. I'm pulling everything i've got but in the end it amounts to nothing, and so, the awkward "blind meetings" and persistent suitors began.
I feel I could write a book on bad pick up lines. Including "Sandra... one day...you and I , could be one". lol...Something to look forward to. The men come at all hours announcing their presence with "I have come". (as if there should be trumpets) NOw I don't know if it's "love" that blinds them or if they're just not that bright but they sort of figure anytime is the right time for..."romance".
I could be in bed, middle of the night, early in the morning or sick decked out on the couch, and they could care less. Some speak english some only Arabic. I find them both equally....amusing. Some with poor english will have phrases they've rehearsed to which, no matter your response answer "thank you very much".
Ex:
"Sandra...I wish to travel with you to Canada"
"Sandra...I want to meet your father."
or my fav.
"Sandra...I will follow you today." lol.
Oh but it gets better. Some are sweet and will come with gifts. The smarter ones find out what I like and bring that specifically. But others, they think a little more from the heart and come with song. But not just one, oh no. They come with and entire hymn book. One man, i'm sure a really nice guy, said He wanted to sing for me. I protested and told him I was busy but a woman's words have little value here and he pulls out his book and raises it high. Then from 'Hymn 67' He starts to belt out "I have decided to follow Jesus". Lol. I bite my tongue not to laugh. Harder but it doesn't work. Thinking of sad things, war- famine. Nope.
Hymn 92, 27, 36...Oh my goodness FINE i'll date you if you stop! ( Where's shawn bolz's dating blog when you need it?)
Now I know this may sound rude and these are probably great opportunities to "learn to love" but really, sometimes it's just too much. I've tried your forward, i'm busy plz go, but they answer "I don't mind just watching". I've tried picking up a book or my journal, but they just keep talking. One time I interrupted, shook his hand, thanked him for coming and said i'd see him later and left. Half an hour later I returned to see him still sitting in my house "Sandra, I have waited". Lol. NOOO!!! Hahaha. Dang it, where's my foreign internet lover when I need him?
At first it was funny and I was easily amused, now though, it's gotten old.
I've spoken to my house mamma seriously and I think she's putting a stop to the more persistent ones. But I just thought I'd give you all a glimpse into my love life and bid any single lady travelers a word of advice "get yourself a fake man before you venture out. Take a picture with him, keep it in your wallet and don't lie to ppl but if they ask questions, show them the photo and leave the room immediately" =)

From under a mango tree in SS

2008-09-17T10:45:00.003Z

(writing gives me outlet and helps me process, SO here is my life and thoughts about it on a chilled out monday night)

After a long day of meetings with governement officials, NGO reps and assessing the situation of various human rights violations (pretty much) I'm exhausted. My hut is hot and forces me into a comatose state. Yes forces ;) One problem though. Two, four, no six beaty little eyes that just sit and stare at me. Occasionally i'll hear "sandula, sandula" from the mouths just under them and they'll jabber something at me in Arabic. Through my complete exhaustion I mustter a smile and try to decode their message.
Before long they heat become to much and I head outside for more air. The women are preparing dinner and without escape I prepare myself to eat. See normally I love eating. I really do but in our culture we eat for fun, for recreation, as delight, for social enjoyment, but here the pleasure flees at times as, strange bowl of green stuff countered by strange bowl of orange stuff (or is the orange stuff the same as the green just with more oil?) just doesn't hit the spot. (Though it does hit my hips ;) We all sit around the bowls and clumps of Ugali, someone says a quick prayer in Arabic that I nod to in faked comprehension and we dig in. Their hands, my hands, orange goop mixes with green. My only comfort is that I can de-worm in a month. lol. I finish early and debate a quick lie down in my house before my ride come to pick me. (He said he'd be gone an hour...it's not been three)
My house. OH boy. It's actually quite nice i'm just adjusting to the no privacy. As in less than.. One concrete room with some metal sheeting on the roof. Three shear panels divide where we sleep from the living room/lounge/entrance way etc. Yes "we". Four of us, a mama and her two babies, six and eight, sleep in two beds. As the Mzungu I'm lucky and I sleep alone. As a communal house however, anyone at anytime feels they can come in and chat. If we don't speak the same language, no matter, they're fine with just watching me.
My bags are stacked on a hamper of some sort and on my bed, so I sleep around them at night. It's cozy and I don't mind to much but I can't find anything and part of me would at least like to unpack my toothbrush.
I start to plan for tomorrow. More assessment and more meetings. Nothing can be implemented until we fully know what's out there. What's being done, what needs to be done, how we can partner. Assessing to me can be exhausting if I'm not careful. It's just like looking and evaluating how crappy the quality of life really is. The meeting aren't so bad. The NGO's actually seem happy about my vision an open to the "wide eyed blond" that "sees the glass half full" Honestly part of me looks around at everything and it's like "Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless." Not in a negative way, just thinking "This too shall pass".

Honestly the first couple of days here were really hard. Culture shock FINALLY set in and looking around at the situation I had to ask myself "Am I really this hard core?" haha. Like really though. Life in the village, no int'ls, missin my friends, 'back to the stone age' some Sudanese say. So has love and hope for a war zone driven me here, or have I lost it?
After sulking and stewing in my whirlwind emotions, all in all just confused, I feel Jesus' response. "So what are you gonna do?" Uh. lol. Really? I know exactly what He means tho cause we've been here before. =) This is the part where I chose where I'm gonna sit. Cause technically I'm "seated with Christ in heavenly places" I live with a superior reality. Like a H.S. football cheer " You see death, I see life, (death-life, death-life) You see lack, I see abundance (lack-abundance...)" (Haha, sometimes I type like I think and it doesn't translate, sorry)
So with much struggle I chose another reality. I see the joy of my now life in the village and the beauty of surrender, Jesus comes and I'm now doing great!
As soon as I deviate my eyes away from His I get overwhelmed though. (Hundreds of babies sleeping in ditches can do that to you) But that's what brings me to the meaningless. All that matters is his face. I love Africa, yes it's where I want to be but, I miss my black stilettos (to say the least) and I realize once again, no matter what "world" I live in (first-third)All...that matters...is His face. It just doesn't matter if you develop "huge life saving programs" that "solve world hunger", or if you clean toilets. "This too shall pass". I dunno, when constantly confronted with sickness and poverty and problems, with no escape I'm brought back to my first love and I can't say it enough. Him in all his beauty is ALL that matters.
(Yes I'm full of cheese but He is pretty much amazing and there's just no way I could do this w/out him lol.)

and I'm left with mystery

2008-09-12T19:38:00.002Z

I'm in Kampala! I left Gulu yesterday with a friend and have been enjoying life in civilization. Last night a couple of us went to a nice Thai restaurant, followed by a fabulous Irish Pub. Oh the luxury and delight. I'm back in the big city as I'm preparing to leave for Juba tomorrow. I have to laugh at my excitement to be going "home". It's so strange that you can love a place so "out there". Sorry but Sudan really is. I'll probably live in a hut with a family of Arabic speakers paying way to much money for beans and rice, maybe a lil oily cabbage.
Yet I'm excited all the same. It's so unknown, so random. Before I came, Juba wasn't even on my map, it was only after hearing rumors of hundred of tough street kids thrown away that my interest was caught.
Because street kids are a "menace" often they're randomly beat, set on fire, or even shot at. Primarily at night, basically just cause there's a lot of anger going around. Mix that with a disgusting amount of corruption.. (Enough so that Juba is one of the most expensive places to live. Ya, for $100 a night you can rent a MUD HUT. And as "romantic" as a mud hut sounds, they're not awful, BUT they are dirty and spider infested and after a while the honeymoon wears off) Anyway on top of all that the kids only eat what they find, don't go to school or work and there's hundreds of them. So yes, my plans as of entering the country are targeted toward street kids. (but plans do change, this i know)
So. Also in collaboration with the unknown I've been in debate of whether or not I need to put together an escape plan. Life is safe now but say the rebels show up and decide they want to wipe out the city of Juba. How do I leave? Do I leave? If I develop a family of street babies how do I get a few hundred kids outta danger? Heck how do I get two kids safe? With access to an abundance of perfect strategy and lets face it, very little fear, I don't know how to plan.
So I won't for now. Ha. For now I'll enjoy my Kampala hideaway, complete with dozens of monkey's and flapjacks (that don't really taste like flapjacks) =) (an english...'delicacy', lol that my english 'mum' would make my flatmate and I when we'd visit them in Oxfordshire)
This blog's random but I'm bored. Sorry they often seem sorta 'down'.
Things are going amazing tho, really. God's been giving me sweet kisses that bring joy beyond words. For instance: I had cereal this morning for breakfast. Cornflakes =). Oddly enough one of my favourite foods is cereal. (haha) and it's to expensive for me to buy it day to day but my guest house offered it so I was thrilled.
Haribo. In kampala you can buy Haribo. My favourite German sweety. So yeah. I ate Haribo today too.
What else...
Thai food. Red wine. Ice cream. All simple things that make me blissfully happy. FREE INTERNET. A dozen monkeys playing out front of my room. A park!
We're just so loved. I'm always in awe of how God loves me with the little things. Big things too but it's the sweet little gestures that somehow capture my heart the most. So I try to reciprocate thinking how can I out love him? You can't ever, I know but... to love him like Haribo. To love him like cornflakes. The secret things in his heart that you only know through day to day lovin. How can I tug his heart strings like he pulls on mine? lol. It's a mystery. Just adding them to list I guess.

The Story of John

2008-09-10T07:28:00.003Z

So a couple of posts ago I mentioned a lil boy John, who to me, represented such injustice that I couldn't even talk about him. Well, in honour of John.

Orachi John
January 1 2002 - September 7 2008

I met John in Tororo, Uganda while on a medical outreach. He was brought to us by his mom just fighting for his life. The six year old was gasping for air and when we met him his body was oddly deformed. John's arms and legs were skeletal yet his torso was bulging and extremely swollen. His feet were also swollen, along with his lips and his eyes-so much so he could barely see. He was so weak he couldn't move, just occasionally whimper in pain. The worst were these awful holes he had on his body though. They were big, some were deep hollowing out his bone. Around the wound was black and as every breath sounded like his last I wondered how he was still alive.
The team gave him basic Tylenol 3 type drugs and then sent them to the hospital as I moved to the back room to bawl.
Later we followed up on him in the pediatric ward. Now, the doctors are suppose to give free medicine to extreme cases such as these but due to corruption they were with holding for 8,000 shillings. (about 4USD) Disgusting? We're not done yet.
His mom couldn't afford it.
She didn't have 5 bucks to save her sons life. So we bought the medicine and as we were "visiting" him I got in his face.
I started canoodling over him (sp? lol) Just telling him how fabulous his existence was and how much we loved him etc. etc. and for a moment, a crack in his lips almost formed a smile.
So who knew love would cost so much?
I found out John died. Just the other day. It was to late to see his body by the time I would have hopped on a trillion buses to reach. I don't know what to say. Or at least how to express. Am I more sad, or just pissed? (pardon my french) It feels like I'm being stabbed in the heart and that my massive tears will actually change something.
The injustice against kids and women is so blatantly obvious yet we walk around as if Hitler was never in power. Or... as if John's short six years didn't matter. (Hitler's tirancy (new word?) and ability to murder hundreds and hundreds of Jewish ppl was based on the fact that so many believed his lie that Jews weren't human. Thus enabling them to kill so freely. So to see women and children still so devalued, I just have Holocaust flashbacks)

I know i'm emotional and dramatic. But I feel it's an injustice to "shut-down" at life's realities. Only pansy's 'self-protect' ;)
Goodness. All week I've been wrestling with how much love hurts and how much it cost us. The price is so stinkin high, guess because it's so valuable. Right?
But instead of recoiling, John's death is like a fire under my booty. That even though loving him hurt and it was hard, I refuse to sit back and just watch "Johns" die. How is that ok?
I'm so ready for Juba. lol I'm going angry now. Or at least fueled.
Street kids are considered the worst. The hardest. Heck, they are the hardest.. So here we go! Off to the babies who could probably kick my...booty, was it? lol. I leave by weeks end for a whole new adventure. "Pioneering" is taking on new levels as, rumor has it, all other groups have given up on street kids in Juba cause corruption is too high.
What this new movement of powerful free walking in the kingdom street kids looks like...not 100% sure yet. But I can tell you this... my curriculum, ya it's pretty much amazing ;)

p.s. For all you worried souls out there, yes I had malaria last week. I'm doing better now, still tired so i'm taking it slow.

Ramblings of Gulu, France

2008-09-03T14:19:00.002Z

Note: I used to try to keep this thing religion neutral but I’ve failed so much that I give up. This might be way out there but really. It’s not that bad. ;)

Sometimes when you don’t know where you’re going next it can be good to look back at where you’ve been and how you got to where you are now.
So. Gulu.
If I fully went into details of how I got here ( as in, last minute decision, twelve hour bus rides, middle of the night taxi), many of you might be a little..shocked. But I just had to swoon as I read my journal from the past few weeks.
See in part, lol, or well total whole, my journey has been following God’s voice. Words, phrases, inside jokes, and it’s never worked out better. Well for Gulu he hadn’t said much, so I was following him into the complete unknown. (as in I really knew almost nothing or nobody until the bus ride there) What He had said about Gulu however was “You’re really good at this tho!” (in responce to my opposition) And instantly I had been reminded of my vaca to Paris in 2007; an invitation for romance that had led me three days alone with Jesus in the city of love. Didn’t make much sense to many, but was oh so fabulous for me. And here, now a year later in Uganda and I was given another invitation. Rather this time Paris, France was Gulu, Northern Uganda but the idea was the same. A chance for romance and an opportunity to step where I’d never walked before.

For clarity, the parallels of the two are sort of summed up in two moments from the Paris ‘weekend’. lol.
Day One: Upon arriving in Charles De Gaul from London (where I was living at the time) I dumped my stuff in my hotel, got dolled up in my cutest clothes and headed to the Eiffel Tower. With a chocolate crepe in one hand and a Diet Coke in the other I sat in one of Paris’ most famous parks, totally swooning like a faily tale that I was/am, well, his favourite ;)
Last Day: Lost. (Go figure) In a pair of jeans and a t-shirt wandering down some back street looking for Chinese food. (my FAVOURITE) Blistered feet and exhausted I finally found some and plopped down on a curb to eat. Still lost, yet blissfully content with my dinner.
Both days were so utterly perfect and wrapped up in God. Both days so totally “us”, and it’s like Gulu is like the back streets of Paris. Lol. Slightly messy, but completely brilliant.

So why on earth am I posting this? Well, I leave in a few days and once again God hasn’t told me yet where we’re going or how we’re getting there. After walking out the last month and seeing that I couldn’t have timed out each day better myself I’m not really worried. Excited a little. Still aware of my state of homeless. (My beastly bags won’t let me forget that) But I guess what I’ve been thinking…learning, is that life is like a “Paris”. Just this gorgeous, spontaneous journey that’s all about love. All about Him, “Us”. And sometimes you get a front row view of the Eiffel Tower and sometimes you walk to the back streets but either way you’re in love. You’re with him. And you’re in “Paris!”. That to me is amazing, and my thoughts of the week.

a little creative action

2008-08-29T08:22:00.003+01:00

Just a starter note: The kids of whom provoked me to blog a vent about humanity last post have had a slight turn around. It was fabulous as the other day I was sitting with them when they were drinking tea. They were emotionless, lifeless - as always and with no way of communication I started singing over them. Prophetically.. lil Kim Walker, John Mark, whatever and something broke. The atmosphere shifted and these sweet little kids started to laugh. (and not at my poor singing either. It was more when I stopped, really ;) As a good missionary I accidentally whacked one girl as she was sipping her tea, spilling it everywhere and scalding those near (oops) but it was still lovely as after they just looked deep into my eyes and it was as if there was someone there, for once. This is huge as often you'll look into the eyes of post war children and you'll see NOTHING. It's so bizarre but a coping mechanism for many.
So yes, our time together was bliss. By the end they were making fun of me in unison (maybe it was the spilling of the tea that started it) But I guess they thought my accent was hilarious. (lol no comments plz) and I just loved that they felt comfortable around me, even if it took a while. Anyway, just thought i'd add a happy part two. (Also they're on medication and their feet should be better in a couple weeks)

ON a similar note...last night a boy TOTALLY got healed from deafness! It was such such a treat. I guess I haven't shared the Tororo stories of all the healings there, which was fun too as God really busted a move, but this boy last night was so fun cause I just wasn't expecting it. (Sorry to say)
He was sent to me for prayer during a meeting. He was about ten years old and appeared very stoic and 'strong' doing a poor job of hiding his immense fear of the Mzungu. I grabbed a translator and we asked his hopeless looking mother what was the matter. "He's deaf. He was born deaf and can't hear a thing, not even a little" Crap. Now normally a part of me gets excited when I hear things like that cause I know the possibilities with God, however last night and seeing the look on the mothers face, I just wasn't sure if I was up for the task. I looked around desperate for another Mzungu or Ugandan leader but no one was free. "Don't you have faith?" My translator sorta mocked. Uh. Yes. So I went to start praying for this little boy. Maybe a minute or two passes and the boy gets a surprised look on his face, huge grin and starts nodding. No way, already!? We did some little tests and he could repeat everything from whispers to yells, laughs were exchanged and freedom broke out. COMPLETELY HEALED. It was a lot of fun. I love when Jesus does his thing! Shortly after some friends and I prayed for another man who was mute and he started speaking. He was such a sweety. Yay Jesus.

Spitting out the bad taste in my mouth

2008-08-25T13:23:00.003+01:00

My vent from Northern, Uganda.

Uh, I’m so outraged, yet broken, FRUSTRATED but still raw – all at the same time. What is the value of a human life?
It’s not that high or at least not high enough, I can tell you that much. If you look around the evidence is everywhere and I’m almost out of Kleenex because of it.
Earlier this morning a family was brought to the mission house I’m staying at. Five kids under twelve. They had been living in a camp or “IDP village”. Their fathers an alcoholic, their mothers gone mad and they have no living relatives except an old frail grandfather. They’re in such bad condition they left the camp and were brought here. Just looking at them crumpled my heart. Their feet. Uh, their poor little feet had this fungus on them where their toenails looked like they had been repeatedly slammed in a door and the souls of their feet looked like sand paper. They had ring worm so bad it looked like it was eroding or “chewing off” one girls ear. Scabies COVERED their bodies, worms were in their hands not to mention their big swollen bellies. I felt sick and had to leave the room on occasion to regain composure.
My thought – love them and love them well. Uh. Right. The more time I spent with them the sicker my stomach felt. The two oldest kids went to a school in the camp and got one meal per day but as soon as they’d get it they’d run home with it and give it to the three smaller ones, as, well…it’s all any of them would see of any substance all day. And that’s in the camp.. where they’d run TO. So what have they run from?
I see individuals like this everywhere I go, I don’t know why this family is hitting me so hard. One little boy I saw a couple weeks ago, John. I still don’t want to write about him. But today it’s like, enough. What the heck. I’m just so frustrated at the state of...this.
It’d be soo much easier to look away or at least to separate my heart from the reality. “Self protection”. Mother Teresa always said to “pray for the courage to love” haha. Honestly I don’t know if I’m brave enough.
And I thought I could do Darfur. HA!
Maybe this is prep.
Everyone here has a story of war. Encounters with the LRA. Both locals and foreigners.
Man, no apologies though. I hate it when people tell sad stories to try to get money so in response I’ve often not told stories of families but this is reality (and I haven’t processed it yet so I’m taking it out online. Oh my goodness the cheese)
But really, this isn't a rarity; this is just one of a million. Everyday life. You can’t look at it that way I know, it really is all about the one. But uh. I dunno.
No matter how much I cuddle those kids, and no matter how many funguses I get from them, I still leave in two weeks. On to more faces and families.
I looked down at their maimed little toes once and then over at my French pedicured feet and it felt so..bizarre. Not that I’m apologizing for my pedicure lol it’s just.. Sometimes I realize how little I know of life. In all worlds. First through Third.
Anyways. We bought them shoes and fed them gave ‘em treats. The ministry here has now adopted them as well so their story's not over.
I dunno. It’s hard sometimes. I don't think this is coming out correctly. My written thought processing isn’t always to clear, I will apologize for that.
I should hop over to the market before it gets any later tho. The food here is TERRIBLE and expensive so I'm gonna go see what I can find from somewhere. OI. Life as it comes, the adventure of learning his goodness. Oh Jesus. :)

Fun little story from Uganda

2008-08-15T14:44:00.004+01:00

So for the last week I've been travelling with a medical mission team from eastern Uganda. My last day on our way home we stumbled upon a tradition here with men. It was a group of maybe 15-20 guys sitting around a bucket of alcohol each with a long straw stuck in getting drunk. But it looks kinda neat somehow. So we pulled over and a friend jumped out of the car to get me a picture. Well, what started friendly soon turned sour as it turns out, a bunch of drunk guys didn't really want their picture taken and they started getting mad. In rabutle my friend states he's a christian, doesn't want trouble and goes to dive back in the car. Halfway down the street he tells us how they had actually softened when he mentioned Jesus and had asked if we could pray for them. What? So we turned the car around, jumped out and ran over to chat. A little shocked at us they said they didn't want Jesus but yes they'd still a take a prayer. haha, God can use that... I quickly shared about God's power and his love and they agreed that we could invite him to join us :) Well He did. A couple of us then started giving words of knowledge and prophesying over them (telling them things God wanted to say to them, things that without Jesus we would never know) They totally melted. Someone gave a call for healing and people started getting well just there on the side of the street. "Wait, I gotta go show my friends!" One guy told us after being totally healed. Now because of this people kept coming forward saying now they wanted this Jesus. It was great. As the adults were getting totally blasted the kids were watching on the side. So I go over and explain a 'lil, teach a 'lil and they join me in praying for the sick. Well the very first one they saw, a women with immobility and pain in her knees, jumps up and started stomping her leg.(I always like for them to REALLY try it out) Well, TOTALLY healed! Fabulous I say. We had creative miracles, aches and pains, blindness (no blind, blindness) and a whole lot of changed hearts, right there off the road. What fun. Here are the pics from the day. First the men, then me praying with the kids for a guy with stomach problems.

life as of today...

2008-08-09T09:10:00.003+01:00

Oh my goodness life is bliss right now. I just love it. Not that everything is perfect or even sorted, haha but I'm just so loved and in love that I just can't help but giggle.
Right now I'm in a place called Tororo, a village in Uganda that hugs the border of Kenya. It's amazing minus some crazy bugs -half wasp half beast.
But before Tororo I have a fun story about the UN.

As many of you know I have this thing where... I believe in walking as his favourite... and through that going into strange places expecting to have locked doors open before me cause, well, I'm his favourite. lol... So this was another one of those moments. To lay a foundation- without contacts it's hard to go anywhere. Almost impossible unless Jesus specifically says to do it that way. So last week, while in Kampala I decided the UN would be a good place to get contacts and I left to pay them a visit and possibly speak with someone about the Sudan.It was neat though as lately I've been so stirred about Ugandan IDP camps and working and learning in them before heading up to Darfur, Sudan, to launch things in IDP camps there. (sorry, I'm leaving wholes, hope you understand)
So Monday afternoon I headed out to OCHA wearing my most professional clothes (considering I'd been living in the bush for a month) and my NGO hat (not a fashion statement just the card that I was choosing to play that day). I started with the front desk and at first was informed that there was nobody around to chat about the Sudan so I left. Half way down the street feeling a little lost I hear someone calling for me and I turn around to see a woman RUNNING after me! She said they didn't have anybody from Sudan but would I like to talk to the man in charge of the LRA affected areas? lol "Sure"... I was sent to his secretary who told me he was out and when he's in he's normally really busy. But we got chatting and off came the NGO hat and out came the giggle and the smile and she booked me an appointment! This was the start of a spiral of interviews with various UN directors of refugees and IDP's as they were giving me contacts and advce on how to get into the camps and what to say when inside and oh if I need a lift call this lady cause it's beter then the bus! I don't know if it's always that easy but I was pumped.

How I got to Tororo and what I'm doing here is another story that once again involves less then 24 hours notice before I was on a bus to work in the a place that I had never heard of before. But I don't feel like writing details now. Know that I"m safe and happy still living day to day.

I'm heading to Kenya next week for a GCM semi-annual woman's staff retreat (hahaha) and IDP camps the week after.

Juba is still a process but one we're still working on and Wudu is still sort of on the mind as the guys call me a couple times a day with "We miss you! Come back!" Haha. Such goofs.

hitting the height of boredom on a saturday night in kampala

2008-08-02T15:47:00.006+01:00

Life is such a trip. I left Sudan early the other morning. A rushed exit in a Land Rover full of people thinking we're a taxi, a baby on my lap, luggage to the roof, heading to Moyo to catch a flight to kampala, Uganda. With no idea what's next I wonder, Is this what it feels like to be refugee? Probably not, but i'm homeless with my life on my back, that's gotta be close. ;)
I'm now safely in Kampala chillin out before heading to the next destination.

It's great to be back in a city. I had a HOT SHOWER today..haha oh yes. It felt like pure luxury. I went to a mall and ate a shawarma (which i had been CRAVING) and ice cream...I found Haribos (!!!!) It's been lush.
However at the end of the day, I miss Wudu. =( The little village in bush country Sudan that I called home for the last month. It always completely surprises me how I fall in love with those places. No electricity, running water, stores -they barely had a market, just a hut that I shared with a million and a half spiders... shudder... Yet it was great. I'll never forget walking down the dirt path into..."town" and having a few dozen kids emerge from their houses calling "Sandra, Sandra, how aw you!?" They're so considerate ;)
(Private joke for those of you who have lived in Africa)
The first couple weeks were great with a team from California there with me. Travelling around to schools and doing open air meetings, miracles, signs, wonders, lotsa fun. The last couple weeks there was 'independent' living on a ACC base just working under GCM getting to experience jesus showing up in crazy ways.

It's always so neat seeing him heal hearts, minds and bodies. I'm still amazed when his love comes and people are instantly healed. Healed! Like really. (?) I can't do that! It's just amazing. About a dozen people were healed of pains -headaches, backaches, arthritis...ulcers, just on the side of the road or in the market. In the pediatrics ward babies were SENT HOME after being healed of malaria. People were coming up to me saying how they tried praying to Jesus and he was nice and He answered so now they were surrendering their whole selves to him. It was fabulous.

Last week I was sick with the flu too. That part wasn't so fabulous.

And it's Saturday night and I'm in a strange city with nothing to do. That part, not so fabulous either. lol.

Blogs are always so bizarre. It's like the stories that don't make the newsletter, stuff that doesn't go to Grandma...

Tomorrow I'm gonna start writing "untold stories of Sudan'. Just weird things that happen that...don't normally make the cut, haha, but still have value to me so they get the blog! ;)

Please continue to send me your updates. Dates, mates, babies and everything in between!

Also if you want my personal updates that explain what i'm actually doing (lol more than just trying to "love a nation to life" haha) then just send me an email
->cass.basnett@gmail.com.

Miss you all!! ....Seriously... =)

It smells like Africa! (Phase...three?)

2008-07-07T13:27:00.002+01:00

So I wrote this big long blog yesterday and right before it published my internet cut off. C'est la vie je quoi.

Well, after around 72 hours of travel on maybe 10 hours of sleep we finally arrived in Kenya!

I was more than extatic to say the least. We spent the night in Nairobi and the next day flew to Eldorate and then drove to Bungoma. We're here checking things out and having meetings about GCM's up and coming Rescue Center and then tomorrow we head off again.
A 6 hour drive across the Kenya-Uganda border to Kampala and then an early morning flight up north, followed by another long drive across another border to end in Sudan.

I'm so pumped to be back in Africa. My body not so much as my skin and stomach are still acclimatizing but...other then that! I've been taking lots of pictures and hugging all the babies. My swahili is slow but give me another day or two ;)

To step back a little... my time in LA was great. It was soo good seeing people again and eating all my old favourite Californian food, that and a few expression58 mettings and I had a blast.

We went from California to London where we had a great OVERNIGHT layover! It felt like such a gift to be back 'home' in England with one of my favourite friends, sad to have only been there a night tho!

Anyway, I'm sorry this is so scatter brained, or at least it feels scatter brained.

We still don't have a concrete plan for after the team leaves. I have some things that have been on my heart in the last couple days but right now they're pretty far out there so unless God shows up... they won't happen. So please keep praying as we decide what country I'll heading to after July 18th.

I hope everyone is doing fabulous, internet will be more scarce in the upcoming days so please understand my lack of communication is not my lack of desire to chat. I will be getting a Kenyan number today so hopefully I can use that in transit as well. I'll have that number out soon!
big hugs to all!

Phase One:

2008-06-23T00:13:00.002+01:00

Interesting fact of the day - Turns out it takes longer to fly from small town Saskatchewan to LA as it does to fly from TO to London. Ok, maybe not that interesting, but my journey thus far.

I made to LA in one piece. I arrived and was instantly whisked away to the beach to tan on the hot sand. I was told this was probably the only time i'd see the ocean this trip so enjoy! I'm now chilling in my friends flat for the day before I'm handed off to the GCM crew and we try figuring out the latest details on the Sudan set up.
It's been quite an adventure trying to plan this trip. With our contacts speckled throughout the world everything has been done via phone and has been quite confusing at times. Just three days before I was suppose to move our main contacts on the ground in Sudan told us there was miscommunication and they are not able to partner with our work. Not good considering we leave in less than two weeks... So i'm glad i'm here and maybe we can collaborate better, i dunno. Anyway, that's sort of the latest.

LA is hot. We're in the low 100F's here and you can definitely tell. I've been a little emotional since my arrival as well. Well...actually for the last week before I left to. I always forget how much moving takes out of you. Especially when you don't know where you're moving to or really where you're moving from... lol. It's good though. Life is an adventure and I am loving it.
Will be able to do a little email before I head out on July 3rd so if anyone wants to take advantage of that, now would be the time. :) Big loves to all.

Dining for Darfur

2008-05-23T21:26:00.005Z

Hey Guys!!

I'm back in Canada, rested and recovered from Thailand (will try to have email updates and pics out SOON!)
While I'm back I'm trying to focus on getting ready for what's next.
I'll be moving to Sudan July 1st. A team from California will be traveling to Africa and then July 20th they'll be traveling out of Africa. Leaving me behind. =) I'm so excited, and will have more details out via email.

One thing I am doing while back is a dinner for Sudan. In the province of darfur, genocide has been pronounced and it's the first time in history it's ever been named while it is still going on. I'll be living in the south but all ticket proceeds will go to aiding those hit the hardest in the west, Darfur.

Random ramblings after another trip to the district

2008-04-02T10:04:00.003Z

Day two in the red light district. I'm not quite sure how to word everything that's zooming around in my head. I keep replaying every conversation every smile, every stare.

My friends and I headed to the district just after dark. I was more nervous this time as I knew what to expect and the heart strings it would pull. The bar I sat at was pretty packed this time but somehow I was still able to talk to one of the girls after buying her a coke. She was incredibly sweet. She spoke english really well and told me her story of how she had to start work in the industry after her husband died. Before that she and her husband had been world travelers and had even lived in Europe for a while. She told me about some of her old dreams and aspirations but how now none of it will probably happen. She said all she has time for is working, sleeping and cleaning. That's right, most girls only get about two days off a month and "you can imagine all the spider webs that come after a few weeks!" (lol yes she too had a deep loathing for spiders) My heart went out to her as she recalled the pain of her husbands death, and said her only friends now are at the bar. It's like what can you do? How can you show her how much she's loved? We talked for just under an hour and when I left we hugged and she asked if I would come back. "Nobody talks to us. Well, they talk but they don't want to hear us talk" All I could do was tell her that our conversation meant a lot to me and just how valuable she was, hoping she caught it.
It's so frustrating. They do their job and you see them dancing and working the guys but when you actually look in their eyes you wonder how people can't see the pain oozing out of them. "It's their choice, they like it" can be the debate but really, most of them are working in the bars because in Thai culture the women must support the family and when it's not them paying the bill the families can work up massive dept. One girl was 19 and had only been working five days. This was her story as she had a nine month old baby at home and her parents dept to pay off. In desperation she turned to her last resort as most of the girls do.

Uh. Everything inside me wants to cry out for justice for the girls, how long will we let this issue go on, why the heck are we all so silent!
lol. I was planning on just saying some stories and leave out my emotions but haha, I guess i'm not there yet. We're heading out again tonight and probably every night until we go. lol my apologies for the randomness of it all, guess that's the nature of a blog.

Everything else is going great. I'm in love with Thai food even though my mouth hasn't stopped burning since I got here (slight exaggeration but it's still very spicy) My team is also amazing and we're having a blast everywhere we go. Oh! Please continue to pray for the kids. They're amazing and were totally blown away when we told them our God was nice and really liked them. However...translation has been quite the challenge. Only a few days left with this batch so please keep us in your prayers!

Thailand!

2008-04-02T09:58:00.003Z

Hey guys, I made it to Thailand. Things are going really well I love the people and the culture, I'm melting in the weather but i like the heat so it works.
Yesterday was quite the day as we jumped right into working with the "working girls".
How to describe it I'm not really sure. I feel my emotions are still a little fragile and as I search for the words to describe what I saw.
The day began with worship as we joined all the women from the ministry we're working with. (They help women get out of prostitution and rehabilitate them into 'normal life') As about 70 women sang their hearts out praising God for his goodness, you could hardly guess that some of them walked the streets just 4 weeks before. After we were shown around the center seeing where the women now work, learn basic life skills and get healed and whole from their old lives of abuse.
Following lunch, we got a thorough orientation from the director and did a little tourist outing by the river side then proceeded to do a 180 from the morning and headed to the bars.
Honestly, I still just feel speechless. Part of me didn't know whether to weep or be sick or just feel numb. I'm still processing so please forgive the randomness but in short, here was our night.

In teams of four, along with the other ministry, we entered various bars at one of the districts here. All around were men of all ages, all nationalities and girls. All half naked, all fully abused. We entered cautiously, I've been researching this scene for a few years now but nothing ever fully prepares for seeing it. We barely stepped in and the air felt x10 thicker and you suddenly just want a shower on the inside. In the Buddhist religion they believe you're a woman because you didn't do enough good in your previous life to be a man. Women must obey and no matter what do whatever the man asks. When you look into the eyes of the women you see the pain and brokenness of that theory, poorly masked by make up and a string thong.
We sat in a corner and ordered some cokes. (Usually ordering non-alcoholic drinks spurs such curiosity that the girls come talk with you) Well it worked and a few girls came and sat down with us. They kept smiling saying how much they liked us, that there was something in our eyes. In their broken english and my four words of Thai we spoke about their kids, Canada, and attempted a Thai lesson (unsuccessful but they loved it) They were extremely sweet and even knowing I was surely not a client it was interesting seeing them rotate through me all wanting to ask my name and me attempt to ask theirs in Thai. The smiles on their faces were the only thing that kept me from bawling my eyes out.
After a while we went to a middle eastern hotel. When we arrived my team was confused as we thought we were going to keep working with the girls that night. Little did we know this 'normal' hotel lounge was bustling with trafficked girls. It was worse then the Red light as it appeared so normal but when you stop and start paying attention it was so corrupt. Here the women sat at tables waiting for a man to walk over and "chose them" to come "dine" with him. A friend and I got a chance to speak with a girl from eastern europe who was twenty two. She had just received a degree with computers and had been in here a month. Our hearts were completely shattered as she recalled her favourite things from home and her desire to return. She was so hard yet so open. I still feel nauseous thinking about her story and the other girls. Just the way the men entered the hotel restaurant scouting out a girl like they're buying meat at a grocery store. After spotting her they'd nod and wave and on command the girl would get up and head to their side. I was taken aback as I sat beside our girl and had a man summon me. I pretended I didn't see him until we were heading out the door and again and again he motioned asking if I would like to come sit. I was so annoyed and want to just blurt out "I'm not for sale and neither should these girls be" but instead just shook my head No and stuck to my girlfriends side. (Not wanting to draw attention to myself or the team)
With that said some of you might be a little annoyed also, but to think, is there any difference if the injustice happens to me or to someone else? Your daughter or theirs? (don't worry dad, I'm being safe)

So yes, there was our night to the bars. I still feel like emotionally I'm walking on eggshells with the matter. As weird as it is though, every time I'm faced with radical injustices like war, famine, poverty and now the sex trade, every time I feel I fall more in love with Jesus. It's like I feel every morsel in my heart shatters at the sights but I know that as much as it hurts me it tears him up even more. I witness their horror for a couple hours he sees it day in and day out. I love them in that place and he wants to take their place. It's unfathomable to me how good he really is yes, even in the Red Light.

The rock star kids of today. Location: Ontario, Canada

2008-03-22T05:06:00.002Z

Happy Easter weekend!
Things are going so fast lately oh my word. As most of you know, I'm back from Ecuador. It was fun but before I could even finish processing it seemed I was off on another jet plane this time to Ontario, Canada to speak at a kids Conference. I had a great time as I got to work with super stars for a week. (aged 4-13)
Honestly it's such a joy seeing kids really get God. So often as adults we can analyze everything to death, putting "friendship with God and hearing his voice" at such a distance, something complex that only 'special' people can achieve, (pastors, preachers, old fashion big haired ppl stuck in the 80's attire...) And we think heaven forbid kids could ever understand such a thing! But when you don't hold out on them, only giving them cake and cookies in the gym, they learn a lot and eventually stop calling church "the snore" and start having a real friendship with God. Here are a couple stories from the week, I'll try and keep it short.

Our first day they learned the reality of the kingdom and how to hear God’s voice. It went great and at the end to practice hearing we sort of played little games with God such as “If you could take me anywhere in the world, real or pretend, where would you take me? Why?” Or “Jesus, if you could give me any present what would it be?” Well after the latter question God told one little girl he wanted to give her family a new laptop. Lol. She didn't really understand why, "maybe just 'cause he loves me?" Well literally about an hour after getting home there was a knock at her door and out of the blue her family was given a brand new, fancy pants, fully loaded laptop! So like God to tell a kid what he's up to. Just because she asked.

The last couple days we take them out to the streets to hear God for other people and love on strangers, heal the sick and whatever else God decides to do. So we make cards with a message or picture from God and then ask him who he wants to give it to and where they are. Well one little boy makes a card and says the man’s at the mall. "He’ll be a native man, wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, no hat no mitts (which was actually quite hard to find in the winter) and the man will be near something orange." So we’re walking through the mall and we see a man who matches the description. “Well I’m not sure if it’s him, where’s the orange?”. Well the boy turns around and the walls in the store behind us are all bright orange! We chase down the man and the little boy hands him his card and the man gets totally rocked and is amazed at the card and how God spoke to this little boy just for him.

The stories of numerous as the kids touched heaven and brought it down to earth. They’d see sick people and get all excited “Look, there’s a guy in wheelchair!” not because they delight in his pain but because they delight in the fact that they have access to the answer. They would pray and ask Jesus where the sick people were in the store and God would lead the kids right to them and they’d get to see God’s love manifest as the people were touched in ‘aisle 2’.

It was great. lol. Life doesn't stop long though as Monday I'm off to LA to meet up with some of my team and then head to Thailand on Tuesday. I'm so excited for this trip, Thailands been on my heart for a couple years so I can't wait to see God radically show up and see a bunch of new babies bring the kingdom. Man he's good.

The tragic tales of donuts gone bad Part 2

2008-02-10T03:29:00.000Z

Ok quick little update that I find well sort of funny.

So we´re all still recovering from our donut horror from yesterday. Today we were standing properly but still feel the after effects and are watching what we eat. The guy, Everett that was really sick yesterday did not go to the hospital but after we left him was still quite weak. Later that night while talking to his house family he suddenly got really dizzy and passed out. While unconcious his body went into convulsions. He´s now more then ok and up and walking around. Pretty scary that a donut can do that to you. However in my defense he did eat a quesadilla with sketchy cheese as well. Maybe that was what did it. Oh the joys of third world dinning.

The tragic tales of donuts gone bad

2008-02-09T03:40:00.000Z

So today after a delightful breakfast I was craving something sweet. I thought it was perfect with a little pastry shop across the way to check out their donuts and other pastries. And hey, while I´m there I might as well buy some for the whole gang ( at $.35 a pop i thought it sounded good) So I got home and everyone rejoiced, however after a bite or two the praises ended and everyone started binning the so-called donuts. True they were quite sketchy and tasted like they were made when my mohter was my age but no bother I´ll finish not only one but three and try my best to enjoy my pastry. Not a wise move. Three of us pressed in to the end and three of us couldn´t stand by the end of the night. One guys is so sick we might have to take him to the hospital. So much for a pleasant trip to the donut shop. Note for future travelers. If the food tastes strange and not the way it normally does. Just say no!

On a happier note, we went to a village one wednesday! We were up at 3am for a five hour car ride out of town and up a mountain to visit some kids of a little school. I loved it. It reminded me of the Congo winding up a mountain on crazy roads, passing the clouds and clinging on to the person beside you for dear life everytime another car comes from the other direction on the one way...road. When we got to the village my spanish got a workout as I tried my best to make friends with all the little kids. THey were so cute and didn´t seem to mind the mix of french and portuguese and at the end were hanging all over me stroking my skin and petting my hair saying ¨You are REALLY white!!¨Before we left we gave out hygene supplies and hoped the little raggamuffins use them before we began our 5hour trip back home.

Next week we leave again to the coast this time to preach at villages and train up some teachers of a school. I´m excited to get out again to the bush! It may not be Africa but it will do for now!

And just some extra fun little pics.

Horse back riding in the country ;)

img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_P4eZTqwvzdo/R60mYIRO7xI/AAAAAAAAAH4/_sD_4eL8RC8/s320/DSC00424.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164826543642308370" />
Me posing with one of the guards from the men´s prison

2008-01-18T14:24:00.000Z

Life is so strange as it feels like been here for months but it turns out it hasn´t even been three weeks yet!
Things are going well, my health is back to normal and even though it feels like i´m eating a bucket more of food it appears that i´m losing weight because the food is so healthy (nice deal if I do say so)
Over the last couple weeks we have been extremely busy preaching, teaching and loving on kids and youth. Last week we were at a children´s school teaching 2-12 year olds about God. Here they have no problem with religion but they have no concept of relationship with God. (which is backwards. Religion ´bad´, relationship-good.) So we were doing 4-6 classes ranging from 40minutes - 1 1/2 hours...back to back...on hearing God´s voice, healing the sick, bringing heaven to earth and all in all being God´s best friend. For the most part the kids were rocked (we´re still waiting on confirmation from the two year olds ;)as they experienced the powerful presence of God for the first time.
This week we moved up and taught at a school with kids 13-18. These kids were a little more challenging. Each class had about 20-30 kids and we had 2 1/2hrs with each. It was great though, I love when the kids challenge us. One group couldn´t have cared less about God after having religion and rules stuffed down their throats all their lives. So our little rag tag group waltzes in pours our hearts out, one girl is even bawling as she tells a radical story of how God saved her, still...nothing. So we ask if any of them even just want to taste a little bit of God´s presence come up and we´ll ask God to touch them. Surprisingly enough quite a few came up. Well Jesus is so amazing and showed up big time. The kids were crying and crying and falling to the ground as his presence was so strong they couldn´t stand! It was crazy and lots of fun.

So that´s been some ministry for ´normal´fun last weekend we left town for a day of play. (After getting an $8 pedicure of course!) We went to this place called Mindo in the mountains and got a chance to go Canapying (where you´re attached to a harness and fly from mountain to mountain) White water rafting (for $3!) and quading. Oh the hard times of missionary life!

Today is another day off (we get one a week) but it won´t be so eventful. We have a big retreat tomorrow with all the youth and have to plan and prepare. (Please keep it us in your prayers!!)

Funny cause it feels like we´ve done more but at the moment i´m drawing a blank. Tuesday we spoke at a men´s prison... Slightly more sketch then the women´s let´s say. I was talking to my friend after and I was saying how tough they are, then we had to laugh as it was like ´well obviously, they´re in there for murder!´ (I think it was funnier at the time) God came though and we´ll continue to go back every second week.

Please keep prayin as we do a lot of preaching and it´s absolutely pointless to minister if God and the power of his kingdom don´t radically show up. Also Thailand planning is starting to go to the next level as we start organising our team, please pray for everything to fall into place!!

Extra note: I think Jen wrote an update that´s posted on the director of the ministries myspace page. So if you want more details the site is www.myspace.com/eagledove under Jen Toledo in Ecuador or something like that.
All my loves!

In Ecuador!

2008-01-06T15:38:00.000Z

Hey Guys,
I can´t talk long but I just wanted to let everyone know I made it. It took over 30 hours to get here but when I arrived I adjusted well to the altitude and ám trying my best to learn spanish asap (i understand it pretty well it´s just speaking where i struggle) I don´t have much time but i just wanted to quickly share some fun stories!
So on Friday we learned that a baby of a family that the directors are close to was in the ICU and on the verge of death. The doctor´s told them there was no hope and she wouldn´t make it through the afternoon. Well, not on our watch.We all piled in vehicles and rushed to the hospital to start praying. When we got there it didn´t look good but as we were praying the doctors came out and said the baby was stablising. Well as we´re in the waiting room we meet another mother who´s baby was on the verge of death. It had an infection that started in the lungs but was somehow climbing towards the brain or something. The mother was frantic but let us pray with her. A few minutes later she came out from the ICU room bawling as the baby slipped into a coma. Again the doctors said there was very little hope. We kept praying though knowing that the only answer at this point was Jesus showing up. WELL... within maybe 30 minutes the doctors came out once again to say the baby was on the mend. By the time we left the hospital a few hours later both babies were doing well and óut of danger´as they say. Isn´t God amazing! We were thrilled.
Well that was that. i preached at a woman´s juvenile prison yesterday and throughly enjoyed loving on all the woman. One girl was 16 and had two kids. One 5 and the other 3. They were great.
However... ever since I arrived I´ve had quick the stomach ache that has been accompaning me. It started in Calgary and Friday I started feeling nausious from it. Then saturday I started violently throwing up and was achy and full of pain. It sucked. Thankfully the guy we´re staying with is a doctor and stuck me with a needle to make me stop throwing up and pumped me full of medicine to ´make me strong´. I´m now on the mend and walking beautifully.
Well all my love to everyone! Hope to speak soon! Ciao!!

You had me at "the beach"

2008-01-02T04:27:00.000Z

Hi Guys! I'm in LA. I was up this morning at the ungodly hour of 3:30 for some more country hopping before I'll eventually arrive in Ecuador tomorrow just after lunch.
I forgot how much I missed LA, sitting with my friend eating a great little salad starring at the waves of the Pacific, it almost felt like home. lol almost. Not quite tho. (I've been quite emotional with this trip so please bare with me, hopefully it passes soon) ;)
All my love to everyone.
Probably won't have much internet time in Ecuador but I will have a phone (thank you Tunde) so I will email that out soon!
Loves

back in Canada...for now at least

2007-12-23T06:31:00.000Z

It's late at night on a Saturday, I'll have to get up super early for church tomorrow but for some reason I can't sleep. This week has been crazy, I feel that every bomb that could have been dropped was and all the while I was still recovering from sedation.
Life is so strange if you think about it. Everywhere you go, millions of new people, hundreds of hellos, dozens of goodbyes. I'm starting to get better at them. I used to bawl and bawl over after every "see you later" but now I know that's just a part of life and sometimes no matter how much you love somebody sometimes you never see them again. (Never say never however)
I got my wisdom teeth out wednesday and in usual dramatic Cassandra fashion I had a few tears before they even started. Before I was even in the chair actually. I don't remember much after that though, people tell me it's Saturday but all I can remember is tuesday. Until of course I hit the International Travel Clinic. Oh yes, one of the many joys of conquering the world is the needles you get along the way. "I've done this before" I tell the nurse. A few hours later though achy as can be I passed out on the couch from exhaustion doubting even the thought of Ecuador. Let alone Thailand.
I'm such a pack rat at heart and if I could I probably would keep every letter you and the stranger you passed on the street ever wrote me. However stuffing my life into a suitcase I try to purge as much as I can every chance I get. While doing so I stumbled across an old "Time" magazine article on the Sudan stating "Genocide in Slow Motion". (A quote I've heard all to much over the last year) But what was interesting was the paper I had covering it. I had to smile as I read "Security is not found in the absence of danger but in the presence of Jesus" It was written next to a couple other encouraging quotes and Bible verses as well as my old Congo flight itinerary. So funny. Sometimes I wonder if somethings wrong with me as it appears I lack fear in this department. I love rebel soldiers and don't understand why at the news of genocide the entire world doesn't jump off it's seat with the joy that we have the answer. It's probably a good thing though as if we all would rush to Sudan, Congo and Timbuktu who would take care of the Americas and my oh so beloved England? It's so peculiar how the world works. I love it. I'm so tired though. And sore on so many levels. My parents and I just laughed as I listed the places of pain in my body and questioned the next beautiful hour when I could pop the next round of Advil liquid Gels. Thus the reason for my ramblings.Sorry. But hey, those of you who complain at my lack of....blog-age (haha) can complain no longer. Unless you were hoping for something a little more coherent. Can't help you there. At least not now. Who knows though, next entry might be from breath taking Quito, Ecuador. Yay for yet another adventure, even if it does mean getting all four wisdom teeth out at christmas and aches, pains and nausea from the needles in my arm. ALL my love to everyone and anyone who reads this and of course MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

California Tidbits

2007-11-29T23:27:00.001Z

Hi guys!
I feel like I have no contact with the outside world! Somehow I got stuck in intern land and can’t seem to get out (Yes I’m still cell phone-less) =) But I do like it here. Anyway, some juicy tidbits for other bloggers…
Normally I don’t really share these stories but they’re just so fun I thought that maybe if any of you are suffering and sick, you can take these as your own and see God ‘bust a move’ in your life.
So I’m hanging out outside church one Tuesday night, I’m suppose to be a “welcomer” (not my favorite job) but I make the most of it. Suddenly a man walks by assisted by a cane. I stop him and as we’re talking I find out he has a spinal infection and is in extreme agony. I start telling him testimonies of times I’ve seen Jesus heal people and ask him if I can pray for him. He sort of shrugs his shoulders in agreement and I put my hands on back asking God to come and take his pain away. Afterward I asked him what he was feeling. “I feel warmth all inside and my back... my back doesn’t hurt anymore!” Jesus healed him right on the spot!!! Isn’t God AMAZING!!!
Another story. So I’m walking with the other interns down the street and there’s a park on one side of the street. I look and there are about ten homeless men lying on the grass trying to get some shut eye. My heart literally felt like it was being ripped out of me and I knew I couldn’t just walk by. Turning on the tips of my toes I made eye contact with one of the guys lying down. I go over, sit down beside him and introduce myself. We start talking and he’s obviously very uncomfortable and confesses he has arthritis in his hips and can barely walk. He’s been in severe pain for over a year. I explain that Jesus LOVES healing people and HATES sickness and ask if I can pray for him. He was quite open and at the end when I asked him how he felt he got very quiet then looked up at me and said “I feel God”. I thought that was a good start and made him stand up to do the healing dance (lol when you make them move and do whatever they couldn’t do before) So he climbs to his feet and his jaw drops, “My hips, my hips are healed!!” I started jumping up and down laughing hysterically as once again God radically showed up and changed some guys’ life. After my leader came up to us and we started explaining the story. She agreed that our relationship shouldn’t end there and we decided on dinner and are still friends today. lol
And just one more healing that I want to write. Ok. So this time I was in a team of about four, walking the streets seeing what Jesus wanted to do when we stumbled across a little “event” at a park with a bunch of people hanging out eating, watching some singer or something. When suddenly…(lol) my friend Bryan sees a lady in a wheelchair. He gives me the eye and asks if I want to go pray for her. I give the smile back and we walk over to her ( the “eye” and “smile” is having part of your brain know that God is big enough to heal her and wrestling with the other part that knows she’s pretty comfortable in that wheelchair) So we start talking to her and go right into testimonies of God healing people, before we could even finish telling stories she looks up at us and says “Well can you pray for me?” She had bad problems in her feet so we crouched down on the grass and cupped her heels in our hands. We asked Jesus to show up and bring his Kingdom and then turned to the lady, “How do they feel?” “Well I have to test them out!” So we carefully helped her out of her wheelchair and she starts hobbling around. She then stopped, looked at us and said “They don’t hurt” as the realization hits, her eyes like bulged out of her head “They don’t hurt!!!” She started walking faster and jumping and we all started celebrating. (After being confined to a wheelchair for two years she was pretty pumped) Bryan then asks if anything else is wrong with her. Well turns out she was pretty much deaf in her right ear. So we pray for her and she wasn’t completely restored but due to a series of tests (covering one ear and whispering in the other) she said she could hear better then she has heard since she was seven (now in her 60s ish)!!! Isn’t that amazing!!! We then told her that God could use her and she ran up to someone with a walker to pray for them (turns out the man didn’t speak English and was a little annoyed that she was talking to him but still!) She was so cute cause even as we were walking away we turned around and saw her dancing around doing this little booty dance, she just kept saying “This made my year!”
So God is good and I love seeing him ooze out on the streets.
Gotta run tho, will update more another time!

2007-10-13T00:06:00.000Z

So it feels like I’ve been here about 2 years but turns out it’s only been like a month.
Oh My!
Life is going good. Very busy. Every day we have class from 8:30-3. The classes range in topics from like Jesus stuff to parenting orphans stuff, and weekends are spent doing conferences. (Secret eye roll)
You know when there is so much to say that you just draw a blank?
Well, last Tuesday the director of Exp58 got asked to go have a meeting about God stuff with some people from Disney Studios, (Apparently it’s the norm. for him) But he was aloud to bring some “associates” and I was one that got picked. My friends and I giggled as we sang “A whole new world…” (very quietly) up and down the halls, we were amused.
Last week we also started some training for working with trafficked children and women. We pretty much just bawled the entire day. There’s one more official training day this week and then we start out on the streets the week after. We’ll be hooked up with a ministry that’s actually affiliated with the FBI. What will we be doing exactly? Well I think it varies week to week. A huge part of it is basically just asking Jesus were the trafficking action is taking place, he gives them clues and they stumble across massive scenes that caught the police’s attention. So yes, that’s that.
Sorry I don’t have much time, there’s a big Salsa Party tonight that I’m helping set up for but I just wanted to do a quick blog to let you all know a bit of what’s going on and I’ll try and email in the next while as well. All my love! (sorry, yes i see a common pattern)

2007-09-25T20:43:00.000Z

Ok, bad news. Internet is costing me $10 and cell phone would be $1.60 a minute. SO I don't know if i'll have any contact for the next three months. Now this may seem like a joke...lol but...it's not.
Cali is going great. Life seems like it's flying by, it feels like I haven't had contact with the outside world in FOREVER (even though it's only been like a week). Camping was an adventure. I froze! Who would have thought.
School is going great, Ralph and DOnna Bromely come next week to do the complete lo-down on children at risk.
Church is amazing, still in this guy Shawn's house but might be moving to a real building in the next few weeks.
Other interns? Love 'em. Turns out when you live, eat and breathe the same people for forever and day you become very close. very quickly.
And me, well I still secretly think we should be driving on the left side but am adjusting to the American lifestyle (fast food, no exercise, and starbucks every 10 minutes) (just kidding Americans, i love you!) I am also trying my best to learn spanish. I have daily classes with another intern from Ecuador, it's great.
WELL tons of love, hope you're all well!
Hopefully i'll write again within the next month or so?
add-on
CAITLIN, yes your family has vanished from the country but if worse comes to worse, corduroy does indeed make a lovely substitute.

2007-09-19T20:04:00.000Z

Hey ya'll! JK! I haven't turned that American yet.

I made it to Cali! Everything is going well, I had trouble getting into the country with customs and missed my flight but eventually I made it here. There are 11 interns in the program and we're actually at the directors mom's house right now on our way to a camping trip! (team bonding?)
The program keeps us busy with classes during the day and outreach at night. The most exciting outreach we'll be doing (most exciting in my mind) is called "Night life" that works with prostitutes and girls that are being trafficked in the scanky dens in LA.
Will share more about it later. Love you all, sorry it's so short. Might get a phone next wekk. loves!
Speak soon,
Cass

2007-09-10T18:35:00.000Z

Hey guys,
Thank you so much for all your prayers and numerous emails, just want to say I am doing fabulous. Well, maybe not fabulous, tired is more like it BUT my emotions have stabilised. (ptl) After saying goodbye to laura while working nine consecutive days and then trying to sell this flat all I really wanted to do was see my mom, HOWEVER work is now finito, I kicked out the real estate agents and i'm half way through packing! i've also hit the 'goodbye groove' so all is well with the world. (Not to mention I got my eyebrows waxed which always makes life just that much better. (lol it's the little things)) The next time I write I will be on the other side of the ocean hopefully developing a brilliant looking tan. (suffering for the gospel yet again. life is so rough) hope you're all doing great, speak soon!

2007-08-31T09:26:00.000Z

I always forget how much work big moves are. Just over a week ‘til I go and I’m overwhelmed at all that still needs to be done. Funny but if me moving isn’t enough Laura, my flat mate is also moving out of the flat when she returns from holidays (she went to visit some friends in America) So this past week was mixed with estate agents, and lots of packing. I had a few more days off (trying to make sure I take all my paid holidays) and I found myself running around switching currencies, picking up parcels and trying to close bank accounts. Which totally did not work. Somehow I managed to freeze my account three times. That’s right three. I kept, saying wrong codes and passwords and then you have to queue for ages to get the attendants to unlock and verify identification. Uh it was awful. I became great friends with all the cashiers though lol. But still.
It seems I’m not handling this move as fabulous as I handled the last one however. Either Laura or myself have been caught crying every night for the past week. I love life, I love moving and new adventures but sometimes the thought of more goodbyes, I just, I’ve never been a pro with them either. It seems that every time I turn around I’m telling someone new about me leaving. It sucks. And packing. This time I can’t ship things, I can’t leave things here and I can’t carry them all on my back. Any solutions? I think I’ll be purging half my life which I’m dreading but it’ll be great cause then if someone tried to steal my stuff I could just laugh and say “ha! I already gave half of it away, take that”. Deep sigh.
So yes, for those of you who know me and my heart, I’d love your prayers.
Should head out though, sorry for the repeat if you received my e-mail. Tons of love, will update again soon.

So long my fair England...

2007-08-12T09:02:00.000Z

Whenever asked how long I’ll be in England, you’ve probably all heard me say “Oh I don’t know, maybe another week, maybe another year” Well it’s now official, one more month.
Back in May I was talking with God and asking him about what’s next after London. Hoping he was going to say “I’m glad you asked, we’re actually going to Sudan next to work with orphans and child soldiers!!” He totally shocked me and instead said we were going to America. A very specific move and I would be working with these certain people and their ministry that deals with child injustices in third world nations. It was sort of strange and totally out of my box at the time. As God and I are still chatting my friend comes over to me and starts saying that God just told her I was going to be moving on and it was a very specific move and goes off on one saying what we were just secretly speaking about.
That night I went to bed still pondering everything and Jesus says “Don’t tell anyone, don’t even speak out what I’ve just told you.” So a week goes by and nobody knows what’s transpired when one night while washing dishing he says “You can speak it out now, and start thanking me for it”. Later that evening Laura gets home, looks at me and says “God just told me He told you what’s next. What are you doing, where are you going?” So after some humming and hawing I confess that I think I’m going to America. She paused and then without blinking an eye says “Yeah, and he’s going to hook you up with Global Children’s Movement Etc. ” (the ministry that God had already said) SO this was June 1st. A month and a half goes by, I have no idea how it’s going to happen or what it’s going to look like when out of the blue God brings it up and I know it’s time to contact them. Not knowing much about what they’re up to or if they have any opportunities for strangers to work with them I look up some websites. Turns out they have a little internship program that starts in September and they are taking applicants. Two days later my 10 page application was in and just over a week later I was on the phone with them discussing when I should arrive. SO great story but what exactly am I talking about? Well, I’m leaving London and moving to LA, California to do an internship with a ministry called Expression58 (affiliated with Global Children’s Movement) The directors are Shawn Bolz and Jennifer and Jonatan Toledo, some great people that really love Jesus and kids work in third world countries. It starts September 15 and then in January I go with the Tolledos to Colombia and Ecuador. So that is life as I know it. I was a tad nervous at first as I wasn’t sure I wanted to move to LA (far cry from Sudan) but I’m excited now, ready for yet another international move.
Hope you’re all doing well! Speak soon!

Photo Central

2007-08-03T14:50:00.001Z

The typical tourist shot
"Mommy and Me"
Bisou!Laura and I stopping to smell the roses at Hever Castle

London lovin

Don't you just want to squeeze him?

Here are some pictures of the last little while. My mom was here visiting which was nice as I had forgotten how much I missed her! We did all the tourist jazz and now life is back to normal.
London has finally realised it's summer and it's hot hot hot. I love it. It's still London therefore we will randomly have 20 minute down pours BUT it keeps it green right?

2007-07-22T10:06:00.000Z

One of the best things about working in the high rise commercial part of London is the walk home. My late night shifts finish around midnight and it’s about a twenty minute walk back to my flat. It starts around the now quiet high rises, I then pass brick lane, where all the amazing clubs are, and then finish in residential area, where I live. Anyone who knows the walk hates that I do it, even my “guys from the park” and my ex-cons shudder whenever discussing it. But for me it’s bliss. I’ve always loved walking at night but because of the danger don’t get to do it leisurely, so here’s my chance. I absolutely love staring at the sky and even though I usually can’t see any stars I have faith enough to know they’re still there. I’ll never forget star gazing in Africa in the middle of the bush with no electricity for miles. Honestly the poor little city girl didn’t even know so many existed. But now here I am in London where city takes on new meaning and so does a “starless night”.
I love London though. Laura and I have started realizing that this time isn’t forever and are trying to savor each bit. (Not that we really want it to be forever but…)
Hey good thing about Sudan! A huge body of water has been found under the earth in Darfur! Well digging is going to commence within the next while and they say “hope is returning to the war ravished area”. Now I know the only thing that’s going to bring lasting hope is Jesus but he’s amazing to bring water to the dry land. =)
I’ve been studying Child Soldiers lately and am annoyed at the lack of immediate action I can take. It’s eye opening though learning about the Government soldiers and the Rebel soldiers and then thinking back to my brief encounters in the Congo. I laugh of the naivety of my team at the time, not that I know much more now, but I don’t think we quite realized who we were really dealing with.
Hey ONE more THING. I got a baby! We’ve become good friends with this couple who have four kids aged 10mo-7yrs. Every time I see them I steal the youngest and kiss him until exhaustion. =) God is good! I’ll try to get pictures up and going within the next little while.

Cass is grouchy

2007-06-25T13:56:00.000Z

I've been in London 4 months today. Or yesterday. Maybe the day before. It's great, i love it, amazing city but I'm sick of the west! I miss orphan babies, I miss Africa, i miss any and all adventure. not regular adventure but like ends of the earth, almost driving off cliffs, what's that fungus on my arm? adventure. OH MY GOODNESS! And breathe

2007-06-16T10:47:00.000Z

It’s been quite a while since I blogged an update so here’s a quicky (sorry for the delay) I’m a working girl again! I got a nanny job a few weeks back but it fell through last minute and instead of waiting for another one I got a job as a waitress. Funny but tips included, it in fact pays better then a nanny job would. So that’s nice. It’s a fancy little Italian restaurant in the business area of London. I really like it actually. I still will sometimes break out in tears as the job in itself is miles away from my heart. It’s fine though, God’s totally been blessing me loads in it all. I finished my training a week early and was opening shortly thereafter. (which is good as you don’t get tips while training) I’ve also had amazing customer experiences, as people from other tables randomly come up to me, put their arms around me and tell me how much they like me, or say that I’m the “happy waitress”. The other day I got talking to some high class business people about my long term goals. Haha I started sharing Jesus and how he’s the only answer for a war torn Africa etc etc. and they welled up with tears! They gave me the “who are you” look and their business card and we’re supposed to go out for tea and talk more.(lol) So it’s been fun. The kingdom is a comin and I’ll settle for nothing less.

As of now, I’ve sort of stopped the “celeb banquet job” though. It was great and all but I didn’t want to get taxed and lose money, so I’ve been putting it off. As fun as it was all in all people are people and Beyonce doesn’t even tip that well. ;)

My neighbourhood has been quite the place lately .In the past few weeks the gangs have gotten quite restless. Whether just walking home from work or from the tube or wherever they have suddenly decided that we need to…get to know each other. It’s weird cause they never used to bother us but now they’re starting to cause some trouble. A pimp even tried to pick me up at the grocery store the other day! I was very annoyed. After a few rude encounters with some of the gang guys and a group of “wannabe gang” guys I got really frightened for a while and was ready to become a hermit in my flat. Funny that I’d be more scared here then I was in Africa.( I think just cause there I always had guys to protect me and here all of our friends live miles away) But, I had a good talk with God about it and he reminded me who he is and who I am and that (oh my word) he’s actually pretty big. And what can man do to me anyway? (Again, don’t wry, I’m not stupid just not scared)

Sorry that’s not too exciting. I have another cold and am pretty tired. My mom’s coming to visit me in just over a month though. That’s blog worthy. So that’ll be end July, if you want to come and visit (cough cough, Evan and Crissy) end Aug. would be great.

So there you have it, my one month flaky update. :)
Tons of british lovin to you all, speak soon!

a little AYS action

2007-05-22T12:25:00.000Z

Completely strapped for cash I recently got a job as a banquet server. The company is AYS and they do fancy dinners such as movie premiers, celeb parties, rich people’s gatherings etc. (The fact that I got the job was such a miracle as I showed up to the interview late, soaking wet and without being able to hear in my left ear due to an ear infection). I had my first job on Friday at a millionaire’s house. Now most of you know, I don’t really care who you are or how much money you have. Truthfully (as bad as it is) I find it easier to love the poor and broken then the rich and “whole”. (cough cough) So I’m on my way to wait at this dinner and I start crying realizing just how far this is from my heart, I do my best to suck it up but it doesn’t get much better. When I arrive the other workers weren’t very nice to me and my supervisor didn’t seem to like me. I bolted to the bathroom and did a panicky “God what’s up!” He was so sweet and just said “Cass, just do it for me.” Instantly a joy comes over me and I go back out to serve a platter of 260 pound “mini beef burgers” (about $630 for one of many plates of canapés). Well the night shifted and it seemed that all the guests liked me best! Suddenly the supervisor wasn’t so mean and by the end of the evening instead of cleaning up I was in charge of all the guests, making sure they were all topped up and happy. Haha. It was very sad though as those hundred pound dishes often went in the trash. We were aloud to eat some so long as we kept working and I found it soon became “one for me, one for the garbage”. That could only last so long however before the nausea kicked in.
It was so frustrating though seeing all the food going in the rubbish bin that I soon began to collect it. I think everyone thought I was a little weird at first as I start talking about the homeless and how we could develop programs to give the leftovers to street sleepers. They said I could do what I like and by the end of the night I had a trash bag of food that I hauled home.
My job Monday was much different. It was a L’Oreal party (is that even how spell it?) for the upper class and celeb’s. Apparently big shots were there and I felt quite out of the loop as I didn’t know any of them. I had two VIP tables where people would walk straight from the runway to my table but I didn’t know them. They didn’t tip either so I don’t know why they were so special. Lol. (Rumor had it that Beyonce was there but I looked for her and didn’t see her so I think it was made up)
So there you have it. London takes a twist as I now work for the richest of rich yet the poorest of poor. lol

Cornwall Vaca 2007

2007-05-14T19:52:00.000Z

The Plan: Surf Holiday in the Province of Cornwall
The Result: A rained out weekend of bed rest
So the weekend started out great. We spontaneously left a day early to the beautiful story book village of Gwithian, Cornwall for a few days of fun in the sun and surf on the sea. It had been an intense couple of weeks and we were all ready for a lazy good time ("We" as in Laura, Me and a girl visiting from Canada whom we had met in Africa 2 years previous). The forecast however called for rain and even before leaving London it started pouring. We get there and I'm not feeling to hot. I had been sick all week but it had seemed I was on the mend. Not the case. As the night went on my ears started getting all funny and before I went to bed it sounded like I was "underwater". Well two o'clock in the morning rolls around and i'm pacing the floor in excruciating pain. I honestly thought my had was going to explode out my ears. When I would try to be still and sleep my body would convulse from pain. (lol not the highest pain tolerance) So after almost an hour I woke up the girls in the other room ( I had been quarantined in the lone bedroom due to a bad cough) and collapsed on their bed cring. They prayed for me, found me drugs and put me back to bed but it wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that I managed to get back to sleep. The next day after having my head in the toilet as a mean of coping with the pain we headed to the doctor. The verdict: A nasty ear infection. So we were off the the pharmacy and then I went straight to bed. The end result: No surfing for Cassandra. Exhausted I spent most the vaca sleeping. It seemed that if I rested 3 hours I had energy for 2 and personallity enough for about 30 minutes. I still managed to visit the beach however and see some pretty shops. And due to the chilly weather nobdoy went surfing anyway.
So that was my weekend. I was going to give a full update but I'm bored so maybe another night.

2007-04-20T11:07:00.000Z

“If your dreams don’t make you want to crap your pants, then they’re probably not from God”.
A guy I know recently said this and it was an oh so timely reminder.
With the wrong perspective big things can look very small. The moon for instance as massive as it is, can easily disappear behind your thumb when caught at the right angle. The same with God. So often we’re so focused on our own problems that ‘our fingers look bigger then the moon’. Funny that we’re called to a life of impossibilities yet we run around only doing the things that look possible. Everything Jesus did was impossible without God so why would we think we’re to live any differently? I’m saying all this because at this exact moment everything seems impossible. Everything I want, everything I’ve planned, even my basic needs. Everything. So really, if God doesn’t show up I’m screwed. Pretty much. It’s amazing, I’m really happy with it and looking at history the “odds are for me” but I’m really learning to rest in what feels like the unknown. Anyway,

The last couple weeks have been ones to ponder, good but interesting. A while back God was talking about me going to Paris. It was right when my job at the clinic ended and I had no money to spare. He wouldn’t drop it however so I made a budget and said that if he wanted me to go he’d have to pay for it. Well, suddenly the job started up again and by the time it ended, it was exactly my budget.
So I got back from Paris Wednesday and have determined that England takes the cake over France ;) . It was an amazing trip I’d do it over in a heartbeat but I probably wouldn’t recommend Paris for the lone lady traveler. The French guys lived up to their reputation and I was actually shocked by their aggression. Even with my diamonds they still persisted! (thus the reason England gets cake) The food was amazing though. A chocolate crepe and the Eiffel tower at night…quite a feat.

One week left in April and I’m looking forward to May. Bring on the heat.

(I saw this in the Paris Metro and thought of Jarett, can you believe it's been 2 years?)

2007-04-10T11:04:00.000Z

Happy Resurrection day!
Laura and I went to the cottage for the Easter Weekend. Friday we tanned and Saturday we managed to slip up to Blenheim Palace. The Sunday was beautiful and topped off with a chocolate egg hunt that that we put on for the parents and baptismal service in the evening. (LOVE baptisms) Don’t really feel like blogging much else so here are some pics instead. Yay for spring

Only in Oxfordshire....

Seems to have lost his pants in battle :0

2007-03-23T11:12:00.000Z

So a day turned into a week. Seems about my blogging style. Sooo much has gone on. My goodness. I was thinking what to say and I’ll just give a fluffy life summary.

Well last weekend our tiny little church put on a conference. Rolland and Heidi Baker (With Iris Ministries, whom I worked with in Africa) are old friends of my Pastors so they came in with a lil team to be the speakers. It went really great. So Eleos style, as it had free admission and the first three rows were reserved for the homeless. Laura and I ended up running most of it as Kurt and Asha caught up with the Bakers. We joke that the pictures below best represent the practical part of the weekend “Eleos-Iris Style”.

Things here are still going amazing. New little development, I’m now the keyboard player for my church. Haha. I guess they’ve been praying for a keyboard player for quite some time and even though I haven’t played in a worship band or even really practiced for about two years for some reason I agreed to do it. It was funny as I arrived at church about a half hour before the service the Sunday I was suppose to play and even though everything was set up, nobody had any intention of practicing. I noticed the piano was well, a tad tiny and missing a pedal so I asked if I could quickly have a go at it. I sat down only to discover, they don’t have sheet music. They sort of laughed and asked if I could play by ear. We started practicing and turns out they only have one monitor for two vocals, one guitar and now a keyboard. I don’t know which was more difficult, trying to learn a new song by ear or simply trying to hear myself over the bongos and guitar. One guy was sent on a mission to find music to a song that I didn’t know and came back claiming he was successful. Only one small problem. “Can you transpose music?” “Can I what?” Turns out it was the right song, wrong key. So they gave me a pen and about 5 minutes to try and transpose this song. In the end I did figure it out (proof alone that God is in love with me) and they find music to another song. Except with this song the cords are right but in the wrong spot. “Well you just sort of make it up” The drummer tells me. And the lead vocalist/guitar player agrees, “Yeah just make it up”… Not reassuring. So we play around a bit, made a total new song list and then just waited for people to show up.
Lol Was funnier at the time I think.
It was really good though, I loved every minute. God totally showed up and did his thing and we worshiped for the next two hours, completely skipping the sermon.

A couple weeks ago I also got a chance to leave London and see some country side as Laura and I took a train to visit her parents in Oxfordshire. It was great, her parents are moving to a new little village that we visited that is all thatched cottages! No joke. The whole thing looked straight out of a movie, topped off with a 16th century pub next door and a castle up the way. Below are some pics.

Work is going better. I’m working part time now while secretly looking for a way to love on babies and annihilate poverty in London. No luck as of yet but I’ll keep updates.
Laura and I went with Kurt and the team to “Church without Walls” last Saturday. In short it’s breakfast, a short talk and prayer with about 40ish homeless guys under a tree at about 7 in the morning. Kind of similar to what I did in S’toon.
The shear quantity of homeless people in London though, has been quite the issue lately. There is a solution, I know there is, I just don’t know what it is yet. Giving up my futon isn’t it and neither is throwing a pound or two at their feet. Lol I’m not going into that now but man, I refuse to sit on the fence for this one.
Anyway there’s some of life’s basics, below are some pictures. Cheers

-The location of the conference was moved across the street so to avoid confusion we posted a sign, we feel this picture sums up the practical aspect of the weekend.
-The place that it was held in was an old anglo-catholic church probably older then my country. The bathrooms were ancient and a joy not only to use but also to clean.
-Just got off the train and still a little tired and cold. (laura’s parents new cottage)
-16th Century Pub

Floods in Mozambique

2007-03-15T16:26:00.000Z

Hopefully most of you know about the floods in Mozambique, probably through Rolland and Heidi's email. If you didn't get the email, the pictures or you have no idea what i'm talking about, you can go to www.irismin.org.

but here's my friend Jessie's update. I'll try and write about my little London life tomorrow.

There has been serious flooding in one of our southern regions because of all the rain we’ve been having in this part of Africa. It has affected not just Mozambique but Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia as well. But, with the rain in those nations, because of the river systems, a lot of their excess water comes to Mozambique and adds to our flooding problems here. It has washed away over 4,500 homes as well as a lot of crops. There are people even now still isolated because of the swollen rivers and thousands of displaced people living in temporary camps until they can rebuild.

Iris sent a team down to Zambezia, the province that was hit the hardest. I was so happy that I got to go! I found out Thursday night before and left 12 hours later. (There were issues because I was the only girl, but Josham went so they said I could.) There were 8 of us with 1 Land Rover and 1 camiao/truck. On the way we stopped in Nampula, a large city, and bought rolls of plastic, rice, sugar, salt, soap and cookies for the kids. Going down we had no idea what we would find or even what we would be doing. It took us two long days to drive down to our center there. We worked with the provincial pastor in talking to the Governor and getting approval by the government, as well as actually visiting the camps where the people were.
We got permission to visit 12 camps where people had set up temporary residence. Since their houses were made of mud, with all the wind and rain they either melted or blew away/apart. They had built temporary ‘houses’ out of bamboo and the grass that grows everywhere. The conditions in the camps were so bad. Some of the people had lost everything as their houses were carried away in the flood, they didn’t even have a way to cook food. Some had more than that, but still it wasn’t much at all. We tried to visit about 7 camps, though we couldn’t get in to all of them. Even though we had the blessing of the head of the province, we still had trouble with the local governments leaders. They wanted us to leave the food we brought with them instead of giving it directly to the people. If we did that, food would disappear before it got to the people, or the corrupt officials would turn around and sell it to the people. Who, by the way, had just lost everything and had no way to buy the food they needed to survive. It was heartbreaking. In one place we ended up driving 3 hours back home with the food still in our truck. That was one of our worst days.
At the camps we visited we always gave food, and in a lot of them one of our team was able to preach. Even though we brought them food, it wasn’t much for all the people that had been displaced. But they were so thankful, there was always clapping and cheering African style. We visited some of our churches and were able to give them food as well. We also bought some supplies for them to start rebuilding some of the churches that were washed away by the rain. Even though we couldn’t do much, the people were so encouraged that we had come all that way to help them. We were the first people in a lot of places, even though there were other world aid organizations there and aware of the problem. They were still in the planning stage while people were starving. So when we came with what food we had, they were encouraged that they weren’t forgotten and that more help was on the way. Even though we gave out food everywhere we went, our main purpose was to share the love of God with the people there. He’s the only way they can get through the next few months or even year of trying to rebuild their lives.
I’m still trying to process what I saw down there.I’m still trying to process what I saw down there.
I’ve never been faced with such poverty, devastation or overwhelming need. I still cry when I think of the conditions down there. Even with the realization that God is the only way that the people can get through the process of rebuilding their lives, I’ve realized that He is the only way I can get through it too. How do you see things like that and keep going on? Even with what we could do, it seemed like so little in the face of such great need. But then I think back to the face of one of the children as they received a roll, or the face of a mother as she’s able to give a roll to her crying child and that alone makes it worth it. To be able to help the one if front of you, it makes a difference in one life. I don’t have to do it all, I can’t do it all, but I can be the hands, feet, smile of Jesus to that one person in front of me. So on I go with Jesus holding my hand as I embrace the heart of Iris Ministries and stop for the one in front of me.

2007-03-09T11:25:00.000Z

The more people I meet and the more places I visit the more sure I become that the only thing I can be sure of is the love of God. That he loves me unconditionally and that I can trust him with everything. All my hopes, all my fears. The desires that everyone knows and the ones that I’m even afraid to admit to. I’m learning that if I do nothing for the rest of my life but love him and the ones around me then that’s enough. Whether it’s the Queen of England or the homeless man by the tube station. It’s all about love. I always thought I had to become something fancy or do great impressive things but now I know that if I do that then fine but all that matters is that you love. And love selflessly. Not expecting anything in return. And extravagantly, going above and beyond what’s “normal”. Love is always a risk, but when your hearts in the hands of a trustworthy God we can afford to take that risk.
There are such extremes here. The extremely rich and the extremely poor. In the past we’ve gotten annoyed at the poor. Thinking they’re a “burden to society” or something, completely missing what they have to offer. In my little “London adventure” I hope to be taught by some of the best. (of the west that is) I hope to never forget the presence of God at church last Sunday when a little broken “homeless” guy stepped up to the mike and softly sang a song to Jesus. With his thick Scottish accent I barely knew a word of what he was saying but I did know that that place became electric. Something about the pure love from this man got all of Heavens attention. There needs to be such a balance though. To be completely satisfied yet to live with complete dissatisfaction. Loving Jesus and those around you has to be enough yet you must always be desperate to see more, to have more and just know more of God. His presence and his power. Talk is not enough. Talk is never enough. It must always be backed with action. Love requires action. Such a simple revelation but for me so profound. Love is so huge and like God, we’ve often made it small. In the words of Misty Edwards [God] “Won’t you let me love you more”! I love the fact that he’s everything. He’s my “enough” and everything else comes from that.
Guess I’m rambling and I’m sorry but words can’t properly describe what God’s up to right now.
Anyway… My first week at work is over (sigh of relief) It wasn’t bad just super stressful. I just kept looking around thinking “Do they know who I am and my qualifications?” as I typed up “Urgent Cancer” this and “Brain Surgery” that, desperately praying I didn’t make a mistake. Not to mention learning new computer programs and formatting new templates at the same time. Yeah, almost cried at first, lol but no it was fine. I think the worst part was just being chained to my desk all day. They offered me long term, which I thought I wanted, but now I know it’s not.
Last night Laura and I went to see Rolland Baker speak in Eeling. (area in London about two hours away) Gotta love Iris, Laura and I were quite a scene. (sloshed, not groupies;) Kind of been struggling with keeping my emotions for Africa in line though, and that certainly didn’t help. So in the meantime I’m going to ask God for English babies. Might as well, at least until I hit up the Sudan I guess. ;)
Well that's a lot and i'm running out of time.
*NOTE to mum* -Got your parcel! Fell head over heels at the sight of the Sweet Chili Heat Chips!
*NOTE to others*- I normally don't ask for specifics but if God puts it on your heart to send me Sweet Chili Heat chips, I won't refuse them. :)

2007-03-05T12:16:00.000Z

Saturday I was fully immersed in London shopping. Laura and I went to Oxford Circus and tackled the shops and…crowds. I have never seen so many people in all my life. Or at least never so many people with the same goal of shopping. It was like the entire population of my hometown in Canada on one street. I felt so small town as I gazed at the massive stores. Every time I lost sight of Laura I thought I was a goner. But the shoes! All the beautiful shoes, floor after floor after floor. I didn’t buy any as I didn’t want to spend money until I was making it, but after a few hours I got used to it all and fell in love with the never ending racks of clothes.
Life is going great, pretty intense at times but good never the less. I love London and my area is really growing on me as I learn my way around and have even been asked directions! It’s sort of strange as some areas look and smell so much like Dar Es Salaam in Africa, it kind of pricks my heart and makes me fully want to pack up and head South. Really, what I wouldn’t give to love on my orphan babies. (lol I know, Tanzania in London, but Laura agrees, it’s really strange)
Anyway, I’m pretty much settled in now. I got a job last week and start tomorrow. It’s only part term doing a “special project” at a Mission Doctor’s clinic (paper pushing I think) for about two weeks and then they’ll see if something opens long term. Honestly I think they’re just checking me out as the job I applied for is above my qualifications and they probably don’t want to spend crazy amounts of time training me if I’m a dud. So I’m praying they love me and maybe offer me full term. :)
(It’s a “Mission” clinic meaning it works in the inner city, which is great because I can walk to it and not have to pay for public transport. That and if I get into any human relations I’ll be working with the poor which would be perfect)
It’s not my dream job as I don’t quite get the child interaction I want but its neat how God worked it as it was the only job I applied for. ;)
That’s all the generic stuff I can think of for now. I still love the little church that I’m now calling family. They are so pure and so raw. None of the fake phony stuff, God just loves hanging out with them. Funny how you’ll get a big Church that says all the right things and does all the right things yet God is absent and then you get a little group of “nobodies” and Jesus just rocks the place. I so love that, his heart is so great. Sort of sad how easily we can miss it though, to chase after a religion instead of a relationship. Get stuck in “religious routine”. Lol Not with this church. Honestly, if you ever get a chance to visit London, add “Eleos” to your list of places to visit.

2007-03-05T12:03:00.000Z

Police accessing the scene
Laura accessing the scene
Cassandra enjoying her camera

Ok, so i'm not the technical genius I thought I was. Hopefully the pictures work this time.

As for her car... It's a write off. Sort of sucks but we know God will totally use this situation for our good so we're not really worried. The gang is still a problem as they insist on trying to terrorize the neighbourhood at night provoking fear in all the residents. Again, we're not really worried, we're not being stupid, but we're definitely not living in fear.

2007-02-27T15:07:00.000Z

Just for the record, I'm ok and so is Laura. (it's never really a good thing when you start off like that) But just a super quick update...
Things here are great, went to the Eleos Church on Sunday and am totally in love with the little church. Also went to Holy Trinity Brompton (Tim Hugh's Church)...still decided that for now I'll definitly call Eleos "home".
And just a quick funny story for ya, Laura, her friend from America and I were all hanging out in her flat last night when we heard a knock at the door and someone calling "Police". Totally thinking it was a joke or something I didn't want to open the door but eventually gave in to find a tall man in a little blue vest asking for Laura. He told her that she should probably come with him to see her car and when we get down there find out it had been tipped by a local gang. The window was smashed but nothing was stolen. It's was pretty crazy but all we could do was laugh. Guess we're known in the neighbourhood. Like I said everything is fine though and I love what Guy Chevreau says in one of his books "We're not the ones at risk".
I was able to upload some pics of it. that I thought were funny. Will try to write more in a few days. (sorry they're a bit blurry but that's "night vision" for ya)

2007-02-22T15:44:00.000Z

I made it to London! Everything went well, I think the most stressful part was packing before hand. But I did it, my entire life in a suitcase, 2 backpacks, and a computer case. My flights were good too. I wasn't sad or anything until TO when a man started an unusual conversation with me. He was from Tanzania travelling back to Dar and wanted me to go with him. After I said no he decided we should meet up in London then. Now it wasn't bad but it triggered something inside. Suddenly I realised where I was and started panicking. The whole.. What did I just do? I'm travelling across the ocean with no real plans, direction, anything, just clinging to a couple promises from my jesus. What on earth? Like, oops? I'm doing good now. We had a nice long chat and i'm enjoying London life. The area i'm living in now is Bethnal Green. It's 50% muslim and 50% "other". It has a split personality. On one hand it's known for it's gangs and "Jack the Riper" and the other side it's known for it's trendy stores and "posh" streets.
It's a very heavy area but on the verge of transformation :)
Seeing Laura (my new flatmate) lol was great. We went out for Indian food last night :) to celebrate my arrival and just talked about what God's been saying to us bout London. WELL our chins were quickly bruised as it's so similar for the most part and EXACTLY the same in others. To a "tee". It's just crazy. (Speaking of tea. Turns out it really is the thing you do in London.) But yeah, so good seeing her again. I think it'll still take a couple days to just catch up but it'll be fun. I think that sums up my little intro to the english life. My flat is super cute, apparently Laura really likes Ikea and most of the place looks fresh from the magazine. Sometimes I look around and totally wonder how I got here BUT i'm sure that will pass with time?
And so to end, here are just some random facts of life.
-I love Indian food
-It took us about an hour and a half to drive home from the airport. Turns out London roads really don't make sense. That and they have stop lights every 2 meters...
-Laura's flat is directly across from where Rolland and Heidi did their London street church 15 years ago. Coincidence?
-After hearing nothing but english accents for only a day I find my thoughts are already "polluted" :)
-Guess what genius brought the wrong converter?
-Things here are green and budding
-Just for my Dad... My computer works again! I didn't fiddle with Norton I just told God that with you not here he was my only dad so it was his job to fix it. Next time I turned on my computer (like for the billionth time) it worked. perfect. So now it just needs juice and i'll be set.

2007-02-18T05:03:00.000Z

So i'm going to London in two days and found out most people are still a little confused as to why... haha SO, here are some basic answers to some of your questions.

Why: Well It's kind of a long story so i'll try to summarize. God actually brought up the idea of moving to the UK after a really random email from my English friend whom I had met in Pemba. I had no idea what he was talking about but said that if he wanted me to move there then he'd have to figure it all out. Well he did, and after talking to the girl on the phone we discovered God had actually told us both the same thing about "the move" and it was decided, I'd leave for London in just over a month.
Now I know that seems sudden but way back when I was in Africa, God told me how my next move after Canada would happen. Not where I would go but how I would go. Now he's pretty reliable so I just believed him and came back and waited. (little did I know his timing was much different then mine) What I thought would be a quick three month turnover turned into a long nine month "Private HS School of Ministry" haha. (if you missed that then n/m) It was long and hard and I almost caved a couple of times wanting to leave the country prematurely, once to Rwanda and once to Malaysia. Each time God so lovingly reassured me that his plans are amazing and to keep waiting for this "impossible series of events". Well FINALLY it happened just like he said and I'm sooo glad I waited.
What: Now I don't quite yet know what I'll be doing when I get there. My heart is still for the poor and Godly transformation and plans are actually in the works for me to work with an inner city ministry there (that turns out to be only blocks away from my flat!).
Basic Vision: My ideal Vision would be to work on the streets seeing God totally shake up London for about 3-9 months. I would then proceed to travel to the Sudan. Now for those of you who don't know, the Sudan is currently suffering a horrific genocide. The death toll is sickening and it has to stop. I would love to move to a village and work in an orphanage having Inner healing with the children as my focus. After seeing parents, siblings, friends and family just chopped in front of them these poor kids are severely traumatized, technically a lifetime of working with the best shrinks couldn't fix them. HOWEVER, just a few moments with my Jesus and these kids can be completely healed.

So I think I covered the generics, I hope this answered most ppl's questions! I'll be trying to post semi-frequently, not sure if it will happen but i'll try!