I am here!!!

So we made it here safe and sound! we met the kids already and they are fabulous. If you can pray for our growing relationship with the children that would be awesome. We start our actually assigned ministry tomorrow (monday). There are so many different things going on. Home visits were we help out in homes, sports ministry for amy tracy and i. there is a widows ministry as well some others things.
we got to go into the market and live like a mallawian. we had a specific amount of money and had to buy food and pots and what not and then get home. We had to buy a live chicken. THEN we had to kill it and cook it. EEEK.
Our electricity goes out every so often and we have cold showers alot. BUT that means we have running water.
MISS YOU ALL
-the malawi team!

Gearing Up

Well i leave this sunday for Malawi. I wont get there till tuesday and have NO idea when i will be able to get online to update. Keep checking back for new posts though. As soon as i can update i will!
THANK YOU to everyone who helped support me! you really cant know just how much it means to me. I was really stressed out about getting the funds in but it has all worked out thanks to your help!

I know alot of people are worried about me going to africa and for my safety. I will do my best to stay safe. The church i am going with has sent people for more the 60yrs on overseas mission so I know they wont send me somewhere to dangerous. I LOVE YOU ALL and THANK YOU so much

Alaska...

so alaska is the best place on earth! I wake in the morning to two beautiful glaceirs. There are porpoise and bear as well as moose. The wildlife is beautiful. Not quite as beautiful as the kids that enter my life while at camp! The many faces, april katy, kels and laurie. Cameron and lisa. So many more and so many stories flood my memory. I was blessed those two years with some amazing fellow staff members. I fell in love with the cooking staff my first year, J and Charlene. The stories I heard from spending time in the kitchen are endless. I had a very different relationship with those to then many of the other staff, but i think they are two of the greatest people ever! I learned so much about myself that first summer.

The one story that will haunt my memory forever is from an eight year old child. It was week one of my first year. This adorable little girls was sitting by the fire after vespers. She came and sat near me and started telling me a story about her dad. It was about being out on a fishing boat and she finishes by saying he is a butthead. This is a word most kids would use to describe a goofy but annoying person in their life... i asked if she had fun with her dad and she said actually he is really mean. she went on to tell me how the fishing pole was leaning against the wall and she walked past and accidentally knocked it over, it made the smallest scratch on the wall. Her dad yelled and yelled. he told her to call her mom quick before he got really mad. She assured me i had nothing to worry about as she had an escape plan. I then felt the blood rush to my face... she had a what? she is eight. She explained that she can pop out the window in her room and climb out if she needs. the last day of camp is a worship night, she climbed onto my lap super tired and we sang together songs to worship God. As questions flooded my mind about how God could let this happen to such an amazing kid I also found myself praying for her safety as she would be going home the next morning. I cried for hours wondering how i could send her back

Another child told a story about how her mom was not a fit mom. She recalled how one time her mom was sitting on her with her back flat to the ground, a knife at her throat. and then her mom just dropped it. The child said there was no reason for her to drop it, it had to be God. Her mom was then entered in a program to get help and the child lived with her grandparents. She explained that she would be seeing her mom for the first time since the incident and she was nervous and was so happy her mom got help. She knew she wouldnt be ready to be a mom again but knew she was working on it.

the faith these kids have... and the trust in us as staff... its only faith and trust a child can have

Still in the States

I am just gearing up for the end of school... just waiting for june so i can graduate and head on out! I am so excited I cant wait. Malawi Africa here i come... well june 20something anyhow