Destiny by Design

This was an amazing weeklong class where i learned more about my personality, my God-given passions for my life.

I know that God has placed both people and science on my heart for a reason, and that is where i feel more alive.

Because of what God spoke to me through this class I knew i needed to sign up for the Introduction to primary healthcare. I was looking up a school in indonessia that starts in 2009, so that would leave me with enough time to work, save up enough money, and spend time with my family.

One of my friends in the class (who did not know that this was going on) prayed for me and shared a verse about how we are blessed a hundred fold when we give up sisters brothers fathers mothers and fields (my working for $)for the sake of Christ. Iknew immediately that I needed to apply for the school in South Africa begining July of this year, leaving me with only three months with my family.

and that is the start of a new story...

http://thisisafrica-aziza.blogspot.com/

Last month in Costa Rica

I:



stayed at he Bedenkop's house for one week while taking the class Destiny by Design



stayed with one of my best friends for a week


House sat for a week while the Bedenkop's were in Guatemala



Translated for a mission's adventures team for a week
It was incredible to see God move in this team and use them to speak into the lives of others in such ashort period of time!

Grad Week

team before amazon

team after amazon

My friend Jade and i wanted to mark all the change that we'd seen take place with something physical. so we went to get our industrial's pierced soon after arriving in Costa Rica. (For those of you who don't know what that is, its a diagonal bar that goes throught the top part of the cartilage of the ear.)

I also took some of the girls to get their hair cut for the same reason, instead of a haircut, I ended up getting dread locks...

I found out that I don't really have pictures of grad week, so I should probably track those down...

Joel left the day after graduation, and few of us went to the beach for a day.

My mom came down for graduation so it was nice for her to be able to meet all these people who became like family to me.

Lessons learned is a continual thing

One thing that was really hard about this trip was a risk that I was challenged to make during the first month of my DTS I had to break off all ties with my boyfriend. He had been that safe place for me to turn to when situations were hard. God wnated to and continues to teach me how i can run to Him in my times of trouble and not to anyone or anything else.

In seeking out God more during my DTS, I learned more of who God is, and who I am in Him. I learned more of His character, his faithfulness and passion for us.

I am learning how to die to myself - my "rights" and be challenged in the area of working on my pride (pride meaning thinking higher or lower of yourself).

In learning more of who I am because of who God is, I have gained a sense of confidence and am starting to understand the value that I hold. Because of this I have been able to be more bold to go out of my way to love on the kids.

I have seen God develop in me a heart for intercession, a desire to pray for people in whatever situation or circumstance they are in. This is something so powerful that can be done anywhere in the world, no matter what our situation.

Now more than ever before I desire a more intimate relationship with Jesus to serve him with passion and fervor. To seek him out wholeheartidly.

It's hard to share what my experiences from the Amazon. Partly because it's something that I am still processing, and I'm sure I will continue to process for the rest of my life. As new situations arise, I will be able to have better insight as to what I learned. And at the same time, I will never really know all that took place. I know that God used us to speak to people with our actions in ways that we probably won't know.

Vista Alegre

I learned so much from one of the little boys of this community, Eliezar.

His desire to play with me was so great. Whenever I wasn't around he sought me out. This showed me was the sort of desire and passion that I need to have in my relationship with God. I need to seek Him wholeheartidly. Just as Eliezar clung to me, that's how I must cling to God.

When I wasn't there he sought me out, just as I am to seek out the presence of my king. To want to be in his presence at any and every opportunity. Not to just be by his side, but holding his hand, climbing on his shoulders, simply enjoying every second with Him.

Journal Entery

Reading the beatitudes, I was able to see how God was teaching me them in a tangible way.

"Blessed are the poor in Spirit..."
-I am learning how to humble myself, swallow my pride, and be okay with not recieving recognition for my actions.
-broken from myself, humbled before the throne of my king is where I want to be
-I want to decrease so that He can increase in my life.

"Blessed are those who morn for they will be comforted"
-In being vulnerable before my team, my family here, they've been able to extend God's love to me
-In their hurt I've been able to be there for them and bring God's love to them. To truly empathize and cry with those who are crying.

I hunger and thirst for righteousness for the people of the amazon. I hate seeing the injustice of the lack of resources: accesibility to medical care, clean water, and the knowledge that they need to be able to continue with life in a healthy way.

I love showing love, and compassion to the kids who aren't shown that love to by their parents. To care for the overlooked, and love the unloved because they are beloved in God's eyes.

As each day passes new things come to the surface of my heart as I face different trials. Much like the impurities clumping on the surface of silver as it is being refined. God is wanting to create in me a pure heart.

Along the Amazon

We set out on an eight hour ride on the Amazon River to reach a different communities along the way. The sights were more than I could take in. The lush green jungle bordering the murky waters of the Amazon. It was incredible, to this day I still can't believe that I was actually there, we were actually on the Amazon River... crazy stuff...



PUERTO RICO, COLOMBIA was our first stop. We did some sunday school activities with the kids of the community, and I helped some of the people in the community paint the church, and decorate with some of the girls on my team to "innagaurate" the church and for a wedding. I've only been to weddings of people that I know, and I've known it to be a touching experience. But even witnessing these people who were strangers to me get married caused tears to roll down my face. There is something about two people making a public display of their decision to become one, is just so beautiful.



SANTA CECILIA, PERU was our next stop. This was the community of one of the YWAM staff, Ingrid. She and her husband Jose are presently doing their DTS. While there I was overcome with an intense feeling of worthlessness. i had no idea what I was doing in the Amazon, felt like I wasn't contributing in any way, and made myself sick thinking about it. I had a migrane and just wanted to go to bed, and avoid everybody. But, i had to stay with my team. I shared my frustrations with God during a time of worship, and before I went to bed that night I felt Him so near "my mercies are new every day" I knew that my time there was precious and each day, and that this feeling of worthlessness was just the enemy trying to make my time in the Amazon ineffective.



A woman making Farinia, something eaten with every meal.


VISTA ALEGRE, PERU
With a renewed peace of mind, I was looking forward to the day. We said good bye to everyone in Santa Cecilia, and headed to Vista Alegre. I immediately fell in love with the people of this community, and was determined to give my all for them.


I spent some time in the Pastor's house, helping the women cook. Being a girl who is used to cooking on stove top, the women were amused watching me prepare food for the open fire.




I spent most of my time in Vista Alegre with the kids of this community, and learned so much from them. They were so proud to be the ones to show me around their community. Because they all wanted to feel like a part of this, I held two kids hands in each of mine, along with one who sat utop my shoulders. They showed me all the best sights to see, places to play, things to climb on, and fruit to eat. Then for some reason they found it quite amusing to stick some sort of fruit and smash it in my hair, but it didn't matter, I was laughing so much and havign way too much fun.

Tag games were quite interesting. It was a game of who could tag Tasha without getting cought. I think I spent most of my time in this community running after these little kids. I don't even know what more I can say about it, other than this was my favorite day from all of outreach.



While there I also came across a group of kids who were "reading" a children's Bible. One of the older girls had the attention of all of the younger kids, making up stories to go along with each of the pictures. I asked them if they would want me to read to them and they were excited to take me up on my offer.