Hey!!
So I am at the internet cafe writing this instead of at the base, so i'm not writing this on word, so dont mind the spelling mistakes as i try to write fast.
We are down to the last 2 days before outreach, so we have been busy preparing, doing last miunte planning things, and paking up. WOW. Its acctaully intense...I am very sad about leaving half the team as they go off to Mozambique and Swaziland, my team of 8 is heaing up to Namibia now instead of Israel. I was a little disappointed at frist, but i am very very happy to be staying in Africa to tell the truth - Israel can come later. :P So I have no idea at all where EXACTLY we will be going, but we will be staying with some bushmen apparently for a little while, so that wil be very cool.
I am going into this expecting alot acctaullly. I am expecting God to challenge me with my faith - I am going to have to stretch my faith and wow, just keep positive! These last few days have been so amazing, i am totally just enjoying life. I have no reason to be down or to frown, because well, God rocks. I am just completely happy and content and its an amazing feeling guys!! However, i do know that outreach is going to be something different...but i am going to love it.
We won't have internet that often, but i will post when i can, and call when i can as well. :)
This last weeks teaching as been on Family and family life and such...it has been very good. My family has really been placed on my heart, and I realize that i can't forget about them, because they are a part of me, and family is the most important thing. I realize i have to pray and interceed for them and just love them!! And ya guys, my family really does rock even though sometimes they really don't. haha.
so ya!! I am just smiling and laughing and having a good time, at the same time learning alot, and discovering alot about myself and WHO I am. When i look back on the last three months i am amazed at how far i have come. People on the base comment, - Tierney, you have changed since the begnning! I"m like, Ya i know! hah.
Sooo.......the plan is.....leave tomorrow for cape town or port elizebeth for a week and .... ya thats all i know so far. Keep ya updated.
Hope everything is going well in Canada culture....don't work to hard and don't watch too much TV. that is my advice for today. :) Keep your mind open, not closed on the things of the world.
Expand your territory.
Sorry, i don't have a verse for today.
BUT i do have something cool to say, i found out what my name means!! And i dunno if my parents knew this, but it means:: - "Graceful Spirit." COOL EH, i totally suit my name. I love my name.
Okay, well enough of this, i'll write another blog later, the time is really adding up here.
Love you all, God Bless.
Tierney
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Duuuuude. The first weekend in March I was at the beach, and was just me and some girls, so we had out shirts off to tan our stomachs, and it was only for like 1 hour or so. And I thought, oh I don’t need to put sunscreen on my stomach cuz my shirt won’t be off long, and it wasn’t, but I got the worst burn I’ve ever had on my stomach! Like, I’ve never actually burnt there before, its quite weird, and stupid, like in Canada, I never would have burnt like that, in some places my skin is like, crispy hahaha, so not good for me …African sun I warn you if you ever come to Africa to wear sunscreen always.
Tonight we are doing an ‘open Heaven.’ We have the lounge open alllll night and we sign up for a time; there will be people praying all night long , just for whatever, but a focus on the community here and stuff. Myra and I are on the 12AM-1AM shift. So I’m trying to stay up till then. Steve, Tim and I have just finished making our team T-shirt design.
This weekend I went to Port Elizebeth with some friends, Natasha is from there so we stayed at her place. It’s about 45 minutes away from Jeffrey’s Bay, and it was really nice. She has a nice house and lovely parents, and the bed was soo nice to sleep in, my goodness. It was a nice change.
This weeks lecture is about performing arts, and it’s absolutely amazing. This is all about what I want to do with myself…..the first day we learned a dance and a few sweet dramas. The second day we split into groups, one to make a drama, one to make a dance and one to write a song. I was in the song writing group and together we wrote a sweet kick-ass song. (Am I allowed to say that?) haha, no, we are actually going to record it. So…it is so much fun, I am THOURALY enjoying myself. I love expressing myself through dance and music and the arts. So there is a group starting in July that will be doing something similar and I am very thinking about joining them…writing songs and dancing and teaching people?? How amazing?? So this week is defiantly one of my favourite weeks.
I would have to say that so far this month God has been challenging me with prayer. Prayer is an amazing thing…!! Conversation and communion with God. Interceding. I learn that God hears EVERY prayer no matter what I might think or feel. And seeing the effects of prayer is such a cool thing. I’m starting to see answers to my prayers, or if I’m not, I keep at it, and learn that its not just words. PUSH. – Pray Until Something Happens.
Yaw….there’s just so much going on and so much I’m learning that I can’t type it all, haha, I could also just write a sermon lol. :)
You’ll just have to see when I get back. … also see the 10 or so pounds that I’ve gained haha. SO THERE to all you who said I couldn’t gain weight haha. :P
Funny.
Sooo!!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS YOU AND HAVE A SUPER AWESOME DAY.
I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live…and find satisfaction in all his toil -- this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13
Let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on JESUS, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, and the shame, and sat down at the throne of God. Think of him who endured such opposition so you will not grow tired and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3
Tonight we are doing an ‘open Heaven.’ We have the lounge open alllll night and we sign up for a time; there will be people praying all night long , just for whatever, but a focus on the community here and stuff. Myra and I are on the 12AM-1AM shift. So I’m trying to stay up till then. Steve, Tim and I have just finished making our team T-shirt design.
This weekend I went to Port Elizebeth with some friends, Natasha is from there so we stayed at her place. It’s about 45 minutes away from Jeffrey’s Bay, and it was really nice. She has a nice house and lovely parents, and the bed was soo nice to sleep in, my goodness. It was a nice change.
This weeks lecture is about performing arts, and it’s absolutely amazing. This is all about what I want to do with myself…..the first day we learned a dance and a few sweet dramas. The second day we split into groups, one to make a drama, one to make a dance and one to write a song. I was in the song writing group and together we wrote a sweet kick-ass song. (Am I allowed to say that?) haha, no, we are actually going to record it. So…it is so much fun, I am THOURALY enjoying myself. I love expressing myself through dance and music and the arts. So there is a group starting in July that will be doing something similar and I am very thinking about joining them…writing songs and dancing and teaching people?? How amazing?? So this week is defiantly one of my favourite weeks.
I would have to say that so far this month God has been challenging me with prayer. Prayer is an amazing thing…!! Conversation and communion with God. Interceding. I learn that God hears EVERY prayer no matter what I might think or feel. And seeing the effects of prayer is such a cool thing. I’m starting to see answers to my prayers, or if I’m not, I keep at it, and learn that its not just words. PUSH. – Pray Until Something Happens.
Yaw….there’s just so much going on and so much I’m learning that I can’t type it all, haha, I could also just write a sermon lol. :)
You’ll just have to see when I get back. … also see the 10 or so pounds that I’ve gained haha. SO THERE to all you who said I couldn’t gain weight haha. :P
Funny.
Sooo!!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS YOU AND HAVE A SUPER AWESOME DAY.
I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live…and find satisfaction in all his toil -- this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13
Let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on JESUS, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, and the shame, and sat down at the throne of God. Think of him who endured such opposition so you will not grow tired and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3
Friday, March 7, 2008
not just another blog
March 5th 2008
Not just another blog
So, a lot has happened since I came here 2 months ago. I don’t know what I’ve written in my previous blogs, I just write them and post them.
SO. 2 out of 6 months in YWAM have come and gone. I have learned a lot and have changed a lot in those months. I still have a lot of time to go and 3 months of outreach which will be really challenging and a whole nother aspect of learning and changing.
Some examples of change:
--I have taken off my western worldview glasses, and put on a more culturally sensitive, open pair of glasses that allow me to see the world in a different light. A more knowledgeable and sensitive light; I continually try to see the world how God see’s it: not only broken and needing more love, but also a beautiful place, with mericals happening everyday before our eyes: we just have to learn to see.
--I have thrown off, or I mean, Jesus has taken off the load of burdens that I have been carrying, enabling me to move forward in life, feeling much relieved.
--I know that my future is in missions…and I know that there is nothing that can hold me back from that no matter where in the world I am going.
--It may sound weird, but I have discovered that I am a person. I have value! I’ve learned that it is one thing to hear something and know it in your head, and another thing to believe it and know it in your heart. Do you believe you are a person? Do you believe you have value? Do you know you are loved? Well it’s true. When I found that out I cried and cried and it was just overwhelming! So now that I know I am a person, I have more self-confidence, yes more self-confidence then I had before, haha. I also know that I can make a difference every day. And that my opinion matters. I am a person.
So this DTS has a focus, and that focus is ‘children at risk.’ Now…I’m not a huge fan of kids. They are miniature, dirty, not-intelligent, attention-seeking things. It was okay at first cuz the kids are all so cute, then it got hard cuz then they were annoying. But I ask God for a heart for kids…I realize that God loves these kids and he uses them. We watched this movie about children in India who are impacting people so much with their prayers. There are ‘untouchable’ street kids in India who’s lives are changed, and they change peoples lives with their incredible prayers, and it was amazing to watch. Plus its not these kids fault that they are kids, they have to grow up, haha. So I understand that we have a chance to bring love into these kids’ lives. Kids love to come to the base mostly because maybe they don’t get hugs at home, they don’t get love, or they don’t have a male figure in the house to look up too. When we did KIDZONE today it was so much fun, the kids’ just love hanging off us and playing with our hair. And they were so surprised when I was kissing them…It’s just weird here that a white person would enter the black community let alone kiss a black kid. So I love loving them because they don’t get a lot of it. In this community the reality is that more than 90% will grow up either with a physically absent father, or an emotionally absent father – in other words detached and abusive. Many of them, both little boys and girls, will get raped by either a family member or a friend, or a complete stranger, but it’s not uncommon for a family member to abuse a child like that. South Africa has the highest percentage of rape in all the countries of Africa. It is just sad to see these kids….God is continually breaking my heart for them…they are just kids…today when we were walking to the KidZone community center a little girl, probably 2 years old was just wondering in the street, and she almost got hit by a car twice, and she was just wandering. So some friends and I picked her up and found out where she lived and took her home. I’ll share a story I shared with my mom the other day about a situation that is very common here:
There are 2 kids, 8 and 10 who were getting looked after by their grandmother because both of their parents have died. They both have aids, and our base leader brings them food packages sometimes. The other day she found out that the grandmother died, and the kids are on their own. They may be getting sent to their aunts farm, which is not a good environment – exposure to alcohol and abuse ect. It breaks my heart to think that the kids that we are playing with on the base, or kids we pass everyday in the street, or who we minister to and play with during KIDZONE are these kids that come from painful situations like that. It makes me want to love them and never leave. That in itself is a change for me as I used to not want to go play with the kids, because they sometimes are annoying and they want attention always, and they fight with eachother to hold my hand or sit on my lap. But they need love, and God loves them, and we need to show them Gods love, and they have a good time.
This past weeks lecture topic was about spiritual warfare. I really learned a lot about prayer and what it’s about and stuff. I read my friend Steve’s description about explaining what spiritual warfare is, and I liked it, so I am going to try and copy it here, he won’t mind J :
So God is real.
Satan, the Devil, is real.
Heaven and Hell are real.
The devil is not red and pointy horns; he used to be an angel: he is just twisted truth.
God created Satan.
Satan thought he was better than God, and fell from Heaven.
They are at war.
We as Christians are a part of Gods army.
There is so much more to say, and so much more that goes along with that but…I’ll leave it at that.
Um…ya so, we also learned about Intercession and what that means and it was so cool and something the speaker said that sticks is something like ‘prayer is tapping into the spiritual realm.’
Cool hey.
So it’s been great.
Really great.
Soooo I’ve been really developing my artistic self. I have continued painting while I’m here and I’ve been taking a lot of super awesome pictures. J I can blow up a picture to A4, which is like bigger than an 8 by 10 photo, AND get it laminated for 12 Rand, like 3 Canadian dollars, and I can get an 8 by 10 photo laminated for 6 Rand. So I’ve done a bit of that, and obviously I play guitar and keyboard as often as I can, keyboard not often…I still miss my piano. I’ve also continued writing and am discovering that I am an artist J before I came here I wanted to teach English to foreigners somewhere, now I want to teach art.! How amazing would that be? So great.
What else? I am putting on weight. Hahahahaa. HAHAAHHA. Yes, it’s true. :D laugh it up, just wait till you see me, its not too too noticeable now, but we shall see in the next few months what happens during outreach. :P
So God has been doing amazing things here…all of us on the team have been touched in some way by God, and we have all been blessed. One girl came here with no money and now not only have her school fees been paid, AND her outreach fees, but she also got a ticket to go to America for a conference/school or something. Its just amazing the stories we hear about things God’s done…even on this base alone. The founders of this base told us about how 8 years ago they were fighting off the dogs, and cleaning out the cockroaches, and just how the neighbourhood was so sketchy. There are still drunkards and fights outside the base, but not as bad as it was 8 years ago. The other day someone was chasing someone else with a bottle, and some nights we hear people walking by like chanting weird things but God has this base under control, and this community is changing because of it.
YWAM –
“To know God and make him known”
It is a place to discover yourself, and to develop spiritually and mentally in an encouraging family atmosphere away from most obvious distractions and temptations.
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones, and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is shed on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart, Rejoice in the Lord and praise his holy name!
Psalm 97.
Not just another blog
So, a lot has happened since I came here 2 months ago. I don’t know what I’ve written in my previous blogs, I just write them and post them.
SO. 2 out of 6 months in YWAM have come and gone. I have learned a lot and have changed a lot in those months. I still have a lot of time to go and 3 months of outreach which will be really challenging and a whole nother aspect of learning and changing.
Some examples of change:
--I have taken off my western worldview glasses, and put on a more culturally sensitive, open pair of glasses that allow me to see the world in a different light. A more knowledgeable and sensitive light; I continually try to see the world how God see’s it: not only broken and needing more love, but also a beautiful place, with mericals happening everyday before our eyes: we just have to learn to see.
--I have thrown off, or I mean, Jesus has taken off the load of burdens that I have been carrying, enabling me to move forward in life, feeling much relieved.
--I know that my future is in missions…and I know that there is nothing that can hold me back from that no matter where in the world I am going.
--It may sound weird, but I have discovered that I am a person. I have value! I’ve learned that it is one thing to hear something and know it in your head, and another thing to believe it and know it in your heart. Do you believe you are a person? Do you believe you have value? Do you know you are loved? Well it’s true. When I found that out I cried and cried and it was just overwhelming! So now that I know I am a person, I have more self-confidence, yes more self-confidence then I had before, haha. I also know that I can make a difference every day. And that my opinion matters. I am a person.
So this DTS has a focus, and that focus is ‘children at risk.’ Now…I’m not a huge fan of kids. They are miniature, dirty, not-intelligent, attention-seeking things. It was okay at first cuz the kids are all so cute, then it got hard cuz then they were annoying. But I ask God for a heart for kids…I realize that God loves these kids and he uses them. We watched this movie about children in India who are impacting people so much with their prayers. There are ‘untouchable’ street kids in India who’s lives are changed, and they change peoples lives with their incredible prayers, and it was amazing to watch. Plus its not these kids fault that they are kids, they have to grow up, haha. So I understand that we have a chance to bring love into these kids’ lives. Kids love to come to the base mostly because maybe they don’t get hugs at home, they don’t get love, or they don’t have a male figure in the house to look up too. When we did KIDZONE today it was so much fun, the kids’ just love hanging off us and playing with our hair. And they were so surprised when I was kissing them…It’s just weird here that a white person would enter the black community let alone kiss a black kid. So I love loving them because they don’t get a lot of it. In this community the reality is that more than 90% will grow up either with a physically absent father, or an emotionally absent father – in other words detached and abusive. Many of them, both little boys and girls, will get raped by either a family member or a friend, or a complete stranger, but it’s not uncommon for a family member to abuse a child like that. South Africa has the highest percentage of rape in all the countries of Africa. It is just sad to see these kids….God is continually breaking my heart for them…they are just kids…today when we were walking to the KidZone community center a little girl, probably 2 years old was just wondering in the street, and she almost got hit by a car twice, and she was just wandering. So some friends and I picked her up and found out where she lived and took her home. I’ll share a story I shared with my mom the other day about a situation that is very common here:
There are 2 kids, 8 and 10 who were getting looked after by their grandmother because both of their parents have died. They both have aids, and our base leader brings them food packages sometimes. The other day she found out that the grandmother died, and the kids are on their own. They may be getting sent to their aunts farm, which is not a good environment – exposure to alcohol and abuse ect. It breaks my heart to think that the kids that we are playing with on the base, or kids we pass everyday in the street, or who we minister to and play with during KIDZONE are these kids that come from painful situations like that. It makes me want to love them and never leave. That in itself is a change for me as I used to not want to go play with the kids, because they sometimes are annoying and they want attention always, and they fight with eachother to hold my hand or sit on my lap. But they need love, and God loves them, and we need to show them Gods love, and they have a good time.
This past weeks lecture topic was about spiritual warfare. I really learned a lot about prayer and what it’s about and stuff. I read my friend Steve’s description about explaining what spiritual warfare is, and I liked it, so I am going to try and copy it here, he won’t mind J :
So God is real.
Satan, the Devil, is real.
Heaven and Hell are real.
The devil is not red and pointy horns; he used to be an angel: he is just twisted truth.
God created Satan.
Satan thought he was better than God, and fell from Heaven.
They are at war.
We as Christians are a part of Gods army.
There is so much more to say, and so much more that goes along with that but…I’ll leave it at that.
Um…ya so, we also learned about Intercession and what that means and it was so cool and something the speaker said that sticks is something like ‘prayer is tapping into the spiritual realm.’
Cool hey.
So it’s been great.
Really great.
Soooo I’ve been really developing my artistic self. I have continued painting while I’m here and I’ve been taking a lot of super awesome pictures. J I can blow up a picture to A4, which is like bigger than an 8 by 10 photo, AND get it laminated for 12 Rand, like 3 Canadian dollars, and I can get an 8 by 10 photo laminated for 6 Rand. So I’ve done a bit of that, and obviously I play guitar and keyboard as often as I can, keyboard not often…I still miss my piano. I’ve also continued writing and am discovering that I am an artist J before I came here I wanted to teach English to foreigners somewhere, now I want to teach art.! How amazing would that be? So great.
What else? I am putting on weight. Hahahahaa. HAHAAHHA. Yes, it’s true. :D laugh it up, just wait till you see me, its not too too noticeable now, but we shall see in the next few months what happens during outreach. :P
So God has been doing amazing things here…all of us on the team have been touched in some way by God, and we have all been blessed. One girl came here with no money and now not only have her school fees been paid, AND her outreach fees, but she also got a ticket to go to America for a conference/school or something. Its just amazing the stories we hear about things God’s done…even on this base alone. The founders of this base told us about how 8 years ago they were fighting off the dogs, and cleaning out the cockroaches, and just how the neighbourhood was so sketchy. There are still drunkards and fights outside the base, but not as bad as it was 8 years ago. The other day someone was chasing someone else with a bottle, and some nights we hear people walking by like chanting weird things but God has this base under control, and this community is changing because of it.
YWAM –
“To know God and make him known”
It is a place to discover yourself, and to develop spiritually and mentally in an encouraging family atmosphere away from most obvious distractions and temptations.
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones, and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is shed on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart, Rejoice in the Lord and praise his holy name!
Psalm 97.
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