Summer Adventure Update

There were some who weren't "on my supporting list" but may have prayed & have been interested in what I'm up to, so that's the reason for this posting of my summer update. Once I'm finished w\ the computer presentation, the plan is to post it on here as well, Lord willing.

Hey Everybody -

I want to apologize for being so late in getting this out to you. Being a team leader didn’t cure my procrastination, as you can tell! But here is my update at last.

HI & THANK YOU ! ! !
Muli bwangi ?(moo-lee bwungee)
Hello, how are you?
&
Zikomo kwambiri ! (zi-co-mo kwam-beer –y)
Thank you very much!

Thank you for standing behind me in prayers, in notes\letters of encouragement, in donating things to & buying from my yard sale, in supporting me financially, in filling out any kind of papers leading to the processing of being a Team Leader, in giving me odd jobs to do, & in any other way that I missed. I could not have done this trip with out you behind me & I ZIKOMO KWAMBIRI !!

ARIZONA TO AFRICA ?
I started thinking about a summer mission trip last winter because I wanted to grow, invest in others, be held accountable & be in a leadership position - thus helping me to stay on track spiritually. And, to be honest, I wanted a change of pace & scenery because I didn’t like my present situations; so I saw a missions trip as a great way to escape them. (The escape part didn’t work though. . . I’ll learn someday!)
I began to look into being a Summer Camp Counselor with World Gospel Mission to the American Indian kids in Peoria, Arizona. At the same time I was in correspondence with the Lytle’s, a missionary couple who are friends of mine. It was through their advice & counsel that I checked out Teen Missions International (TMI) headquartered in Merritt Island, Florida, as well. The team I originally looked into was headed to Suriname, South America; only 45 min. [across the river] from my friends. (That team ended up being canceled later on, showing God didn’t want me there.) Through a series of e mails with TMI ’s Team Leader department; a need for team leaders and a list of a few countries to choose from was presented to me.
I liked the looks of the Malawi (Ma-law-we) team because it was a choir team (I love singing), & we would live in tents & bathe with buckets. I’ve always enjoyed camping - so I thought this would be great! Also, I figured that I needed more exposure to evangelizing with the Gospel of Jesus - even though it’s not an easy thing for me to do.


HUGE, HUGE SUMMER MOUNTAIN !
Then reality started to hit me. . .
I didn’t see how I was going to help take teens across the Atlantic as well as raise around $ 5,000 (travel meds & shots included) in about 3 months. It seemed far too huge for me to handle. But despite my weak faith, God handled it for me as I just trusted Him & went forward.
Psalms 2:8 fit the bill, “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.” That’s a lot. . . so, I asked, & boy . . . I got!
But about a month after being registered as a Team Leader, seeing NO support come in even after sending out letters, praying & waiting; I was ready to tell TMI that I may have made a mistake about starting down this trail. I did a heart check & saw that some of my motives were selfish & was ready to say, ‘sorry, I can’t come’ & do whatever else God wanted. But God totally changed things around in ONE day. Different doors were opened & shut & my support money started to come in ALL ON THE SAME DAY. . . what an amazing God I have.
He provided the strength I needed to be in a position of leadership, often on my own, since our Head Leader had staff responsibilities & physical problems which limited her involment with the team. He also provide the help that we needed during Boot Camp through other part time monitors & a great male leader on TMI staff once we got to Africa.

BOOT CAMP !
Boot Camp is a two week training period for all of the summer teams at TMI. We ware leather boots the ENTIRE summer - thus giving it the name ‘Boot Camp’. We are also trained specifically in the areas we need according to what kind of team we are. There are ‘work teams’, ‘EV [evangelistic] teams’ and ‘work\ev teams’.
The Malawi Choir Team was an EV team so the team was trained in doing puppets, drama, giving of testimonies & of course, singing as a means to share the Gospel of Jesus. God put the Malawi Choir team together as one that learned quickly, got along well & for the most part had beautifully great voices. It was really neat to see how it all came together even before we left for Africa.
My role basically was to get them to OC [the obstacle course - which were challenging, team building events each morning around 6AM], classes, meals & rallies on time. Also, to keep them in line, answer questions & just fulfill TMI Leadership responsibilities. I also attended some cooking classes - designed for mainly the first year leaders – to help us in feeding our team overseas. We brought most of our food with us, but were able to purchase some food items overseas as well. God knew that I would need some experience in cooking for a larger group on this trip so He provided that at Miracle Mountain Ranch (MMR) in PA. & at the Ironwood Institute of Ministry (I I M) in California.
Yes, this time was very challenging ! But God was good. Some verses that stood out to me at that time were Psalm 18:29, “For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall.” & II Timothy 1:7, “ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.”


KWYAH’S GOING TO SING IN MALAWI . . . . . . OOO-RAH AFRICA !
(that was part of our team cheer. . . . . . . . & yes, I contributed the OOO-RAH)

Upon arriving in Malawi, we traveled every 3-4 days to 6 different Aid’s Orphan Rescue Units (R .U.) as our mission project.
A Rescue Unit is similar to an orphanage in ways, but actually does more for the kids than a traditional orphanage may.
The orphans, (referred to as “children” there), do not live at the RU. Instead they live with other relatives in the village. The RU provides them with:
-garden helps for their own food
-medical helps for malaria, diarrhea &other tropical diseases which are serious conditions w\o attention
-clothing\blankets through used donations & sewing teams
-school fees\uniforms [w\o education & knowledge of only their tribal language, they have little hope of getting a job]
-week end camps where they can have fun, fellowship & spiritual training about Jesus
-protection from predators
-With out the RU. . . the kids beg, steal or are exploited.
-if you are interested in more info on the RU’s, go to www.teenmissions.org

There was a total of 15 teens. . . 13 girls & 2 guys that made up our team. They came from all over the US & one from Canada with different reasons for being on the Choir Team. But it was cool to see a lot of them change & grow in the Lord over the course of the summer. Some of them came from difficult home situations, or a difficult past . . some had to go back into that & most, if not all wanted to remain strong in what they had learned during the summer.
During our stay in Africa, communication with the out side world – which, of course, included our family & friends - wasn’t nearly as fluent as in the US. We received mail 2 or 3 times while overseas, & some times not all of us got mail each time, which was rough. But in a letter I received from my dad & mom while in Malawi, my dad encouraged me to read Psalms. 139. I did one day and was encouraged by God’s personal words to me as His kid. I kept the mail I received in one place & would read certain pieces over & over as a reminder of those who where thinking of & praying for me.
As a result of the Lord’s working in hearts through the team’s EV presentations; many, many people prayed to receive Christ as Saviour. Only God knows the true number & the sincerity of their hearts, but a lot of seeds were planted in those Malawi villages. I was able to go with the team on one EV trip & saw how neat a presentation time was! I was also encouraged just to watch them present the things they had been taught at Boot Camp! I also saw Satan throw some distractions in exactly at key times of the Gospel being presented, but he didn’t succeed very well that day because a good amount of folks prayed to receive Christ as Saviour after the presentation.
We attended a local church three Sundays while in Malawi. I was able to go 2 out of the 3 times; the other Sunday I played head cook for the midday meal. Though it was rather difficult to participate entirely in the services due to the language barrier when Misheck, our male leader didn’t interpret for ok reasons; it was neat still to worship the same God & Father though we, and our African brothers & sisters, were different in many ways sitting there together as a church in a building. It was neat as well, to see how they did a service & to be welcomed into their time of worship to & learning more of God. The team sang for them a good handful of songs, some in Chichewa, some in English & were well received by the Malawians at the services. One service had the kids in the Sunday School do their memory verse review that day & at the end of their recitation, different ones in the church came up to the kid, as every one sang & some danced, to give them money as a reward. I thought was very interesting, and quite out of the ordinary for me to witness. =)

R & R TIMES !!
It was really great to take some R & R throughout our project time. We were able to go to a pottery shop\restaurant, go on an African Safari ! & have a meal at Lake Malawi as well as buy souvenirs by bartering at a different local after our meal at the Lake.
We enjoyed the food, gifts & “modern” bathrooms at the pottery shop\restaurant; eating great food & seeing hippos, elephants, monkeys and a few other African animals on the safari; & enjoyed another good meal after strolling the beach of Lake Malawi [the Lake at which David Livingston became the first white viewer]. . . then buying little African reminders in Sanga Bay. These weren’t all on the same day of course, but came at different times throughout the trip, making it nice.
More R & R came once we reached Ethiopia. But it was technically called “Debrief”; a time to unwind from the summer before going home, take a few more Bible classes to help us adjust to life away from the team, our schedule & the project. . . and just have some fun with another team.
On our first attempt to shop at the market for more souvenirs, we entered a section of the city that I believe had satanic oppression. Goats & people lay in the middle of the road on the burm or off to the side & you could see on their faces different looks that I hadn’t seen earlier. Some of fierceness, some of depression & some were just blank. Also the closer we got to the market, the more uneasy & fearful I became. God gave us a sensitive guide (from the hotel we were staying at) who didn’t feel that it was safe for us to stay there & took us away before we got out of the busses. I thanked him later for his decision & he told me that even he didn’t feel safe there & those were his people. We did return after lunch to a place a little further down the street where it was a much safer atmosphere & enjoyed the shopping.

SO THIS IS WHAT'S IT'S LIKE-
For me through this whole process, I saw the other side of the overseas missionary that I had only heard about for so long. I saw some of what it took to raise support, to ask for prayer, fill out paper work, go through training, fly thousands of miles overseas, work in a unfamiliar land with unfamiliar peoples & their language, do with out modern conveniences, have very little communication with those dear to your heart & have much, much more in possessions & spiritual life than those to whom you have gone to help reach. I saw what prayer did, I saw how satan is still alive & well & I saw how God is bigger than anything, anybody at anytime. My God is amazing!

SOOO...WHAT'S NEXT?
Great question.
Keep praying for me as I am in need to seek God & daily work on being consistent in making good choices as I live a totally different life in ways from this summer. My surroundings are not the same as they were from June 15 – August 9, but my God is & I really have a need in the areas of determination to do right & dedication to Him. . . .regardless.
That’s were I need your prayers. I’ll be looking into others possibilities for the future & that’s were I’m at right now. I believe God wants me involved in some kind of mission work using the talents & abilities & interests He has given me. The specifics aren’t known yet & I think I’ll have to swallow my dislikes about certain steps to get to the more enjoyable times. But that’s the life of a soldier. . . . . .even this one here.

Thanks again!!

Because of Him,
Bethany Grace