Week 3

I've only been here for three weeks, but it feels I've been here for a year! I still love it, but everything isn't all new and exciting anymore, it just feels like home. I've gotten really close with several of the people on base and that has been really great. I feel like I'll have a lot of life long friends from several different nations, which is really fun.

So this week we talked about the 'Father Heart of God.' We looked at how God is our Father, and we are his sons and daughters. We talked about the love of a father and his heart towards his children, this was really powerful for most of my class because most of them don't have a father. Most of them grew up as orphans on the streets, with no family, no security, and no love. And for those who do/did have fathers, they were abusive, or just really didn't love them the way the needed. So, their view of a “father” really isn't a positive thing. So we talked about how God fills that spot and he has all the love that we need and even more. We then talked of how God is our 'Mother' as well and he has the compassion and intimacy that we need from a mother. So we talked of the same thing of God filling that role in our life. Our speaker talked of the expression 'I love you' and it was heart breaking to find that more than half my class has NEVER been told those words. They don't have that confidence in who that are and that they are valuable. So our speaker stood in front with his arms opened wide saying whoever wants to receive the hug and the words from a father or mother that they've never had before, come up here. And you wouldn't even believe the reaction, the whole class started to just bawl their eyes out and just cried in his arms with him telling them he loves them. It was such a healing process for so many. We then talked about forgiveness and that was life changing for so many. My friends here have such deep wounds and such insecurities from their tragic past. People's hearts were opened and for the first time and they forgave the person who killed their parents or sibling or friend, or who beat and abused them, or who lied and hurt them, or who rapped them, or who belittled them, etc. We brought it to the cross and the Lord really worked in their hearts and it was life transforming.

But for me, i'm in a very different situation. I come from an amazing, loving, and trusting family. I come from a family who has a perfect picture of how a Father and Mother should love their daughter. I come from a family where both my parents tell me every day that they love me, their proud of me, and that I am valued and treasured by them. I really don't have any deep scars from my past that need healing, I don't have bitterness or anger towards anyone in my life who has wronged me. I am confident in who I am and in my value. So at first I was almost discouraged because I felt confused why I am here, trying to figure out my purpose and where I need to grow. But the I realized how much God has really blessed me with and how much he has saved me from. I realized that I am here, I am created, to help others find that healing, to help others find their identity, I am here to bless others, and to bring glory to my Heavenly Father. I learned how God really can bring that healing but you can not do it on your own, we need God. I realized that I can be such a testimony to people of how God intended a family to be and how a father and mother should love their children, and then point them to the love of Christ. We then talked about the needs of a human being; the need of time, attention, someone to listen, kindness, encouragement, and someone do just 'do' life together... and God has all those for us. God looks at us and sees our pain, he says in Matt 26:37-38, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” He tells us that 'he came to heal the brokenhearted!' And that is why we are here too, when we find that peace and joy, then we are to help others find it as well. And that is only found through Jesus Christ.

So, this was a really powerful week and I can't wait to see what God has up his sleeve next!

Outside of class, it has been a really fun week, i've gone to an orphanage and played with some street kids, i've gone into town and went to the african market, i've gotten fresh fruit and corn off the streets, we have a 'culture' night where everyone dressed up and represented their country/culture and we all performed cultural food and dancing (but American doesn't really have anything exciting, I just made chocolate chip cookies. Haha. But all the other african countries had some really sweet traditional clothing and dancing.) Oh and random, I'm a pro now with washing my clothes by hand! Haha! It takes a really long time but i've gotten the hang of it. And I've made dinner every night this week for the whole base so that's been fun learning how to cook over an open fire. Well there's always more to talk about but it is now lunch time, so I must go. Thank you all for reading.

Much love,

Lindsey Dawn

Week 1 and 2

Wow.. I don't know where to start? So I've been here for about a week and a half now and I've learned and grown more than I ever expected! It's funny to me how comfortable I am here. I feel like I am more myself than I ever have been before. I feel like I am really becoming a new person and it is so exciting! God is really opening my eyes and made me realize that I have had my faith wrong all along. You see, we have “lecture” about 2 or 3 times a day. This past and current week our speaker has been Astrid, she is an amazing Godly woman! She grew up in the Netherlands but now has given up her old life and now lives in the bush bush in Burundi, started and running a children's village. Anyways, the first week was about the character and nature of God. To be honest, I kind of had my nose up in the beginning and was like, oh I know God's character, I've been to a christian school all my life and taken SO many bible classes! This is might be boring. Oh wow, was I soooo wrong! Thank you Jesus! We talked about how God is who He says He is. If we would just knew who God TRULY is, know what he has called YOU into, know YOUR inheritance, know His power FOR you. “If we would just understood, it would change everything!!” We talked about how we believe God to be only according to the limitations of our personal experiences with Him. And it's so true, I don't even know how to explain it but the way she used scripture to show us who God is, He became so alive! “But God's word only REVEALS him, it does not CONTAIN him.” We studied how God spoke in the scriptures and then we began to learn how to Hear God's Voice today. (That was the next topic) And at first, I was so discouraged! I just couldn't do it! We began to practice and to build our faith and I can't even explain it in words but I have had such a revelation and I am beginning to really be able to identify his voice. I have had tears of joy! After several days of practicing that, we began to talk about our Identity in Christ! We talked about if God is who He says he is.... then I am who God says I am! So we studied what our identity in Christ really is and what we should do with that. It has been so powerful and so revitalizing!

So besides classes, we just all hang out on the base or walk into town and just rome the streets. We're in a safe area so it's nice that we can just walk around outside and do whatever our heart desires. Haha. We have a lot of worship and intercession meetings, which have been amazing. The African culture truly takes advantage of being free in the Spirit to worship, they go full out and dance their hearts away! We play a lot of volleyball or futbol during free time. And we have to read a lot. We have to do a journal with questions for each lecture and we have to read 3 books and write papers or book reports on them and then we have to read different books of the bible each week that they assign and we have to write a paper on that as well. So during free time you really have to prioritize and get it all done.

So it has been great. I love love love it! There's much more to tell but for now, just know that God is real and that he is alive and he is doing so much in my life, and in my teams life. Prayers are always appreciated. Thank you all for the support.

In Him Alone,

Lindsey Dawn

First Impressions!!

Muraho, Mwaramuse! (hello and good morning in Kinyrwanda)

I am here safe and sound! I have been here for 4 days now. And it is everything I hoped and prayed for. I LOVE IT!!!! It will definitely get me out of my comfort zone, we have absolutely no running water! So no showers, no toilets, no washing my clothes, no sinks, no hot water, nothing! Haha. For showers we can to fill up a bucket from the cold well water and take a cup and splash it over your body. (that i'm still getting used to! Tehe.) For toilets we have to go in a hole in the ground. For washing clothes, everything is by hand, and then you hang it up on a clothes line to dry. For food, oh boy. So every morning we have bread. Just bread. Plain white bread. For lunch, we have rice and beans. And for dinner we have rice, beans, and potatoes. Every day!! lol. It's all starch!! So it's hard on my stomach just cause my body is no used to it. But we get a lot of it, so i'm not going hungry. No meat! That is hard, we get meat only on tuesday lunches, so that's a little difficult. And when I say meat I mean like they put a little hamburger meat in the rice. Haha. But these people are so thankful for it! It's amazing. The team is AWESOME! I love everyone so much. We have a lot bigger of a team than I expected, we have 19 people! Woot woot! There's 9 Rwandans, 2 Congolese, 3 Canadians, 1 costa Rican, 2 Burundians, 1 Ugandan, and then me, the only American. So it's a very diverse group, which I absolutely love! We get along really well, we're all SO different but it's really neat. The teaching is CRAZZYYY GOOD! This week we are talking about the character and nature of God and our teacher is radical, passionate, and a woman of the Lord. I can not wait to see what God has in store for me. Next time I get on i'll tell more about the teachings. Well it is time to go take my cold morning bucket shower!! haha. It's 5:30 am right now, we have to get up real early! But I will try and get on again soon and share more. Have a great rest of the day!

Much love,

Lindsey Dawn