In the morning when I rise give me Jesus

When I was flying back from Madagascar despite all the flights and changes and stress that there was God was still there with me taking care of me.  There were a couple of times I was worried about getting out of Madagascar because of  passport difficulties but each time God was always with me taking care of me!  I was supposed to fly out of Tana at around 1pm but the flight changed to 7pm.  By the time I would have made it to South Africa I would have been late for my flight.  God took care of me though and I was about to get on a flight at around 2pm.

 

When I was flying back from South Africa I took this picture on the plane. 
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." Psalm 19:1  
How could somebody see such a beautiful, glorious sky and not believe in God?  When I saw this I kept thinking, "in the morning when I rise, give me Jesus."  He is all I want and all I need.  He alone is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise!!

Time goes by so fast! Enjoy the journey and praise the Lord!

Wow! I can't believe I've been in Mada for five weeks and am now home. Time sure has flown by! It has been an amazing adventure! From departing DFW with the team from SWBTS:

 God's beautiful Sky :)

to traveling in London:

To the airport in South Africa:

With Appletizers and Grapetizers :D

To small rickety planes :)

To Air Madagascar:

 

To beautiful Fort Dauphin:

 

Sweet Bailey :)

To being able to share God's love with new friends :)

To fun and crazy times :)

  

Dr. Sieberhagen :)

 

He was like our father on the trip.  He said he never had girls so he wanted to know what it was like to be spoiled by daughters.

  God taught me so much in Madagascar about myself and more about what life as a missionary is like.  He taught me more about how He wants me to serve Him.  He showed me where I still have weaknesses and the areas that I need to work on.  He taught me what it meant to trust on Him and depend on Him in every situation.  He also showed me how He had prepared me and how He was going to continue to prepare me for whatever situation comes my way.

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

 

Coming home: the stuggle

On Friday I flew home from Madagascar and on Sunday evening I arrived in Arizona.  I am thankful to be home and with my family but I long to be in Africa still.  I will always be thankful for the friendships I made while I was in Madagascar.  Lord willing I will be in Africa again soon.  Until then I know that God will use me wherever I am.  All He wants is a willing heart.

Oh yeah! Spontaneous worship service in Madagascar!

Thank you for all of your prayers!  We went to talk to some ladies at the shops.  I asked one girl if she believed in Jesus and if she believed in Heaven and she said yes.  I asked her if she knew the road to Heaven and she said yes again! Then she saw where I had asked her if she wanted to know the way/road to Heaven and she said yes again.  I went through some of the Malagasy tract with her, mostly the verses in the tract.  I went over Romans 10:9-10 with her and 1 John 1:9.  I had also read 1 or 2 other verses with her. She didn't seem as interested in reading when we got to the verse in 1 John so another one of the ladies read it.  Then I went to the back and read through the prayer of salvation in Malagasy with her.  She seemed to really like 1 John 1:9. 

 After that I got out the song sheet I had of some Christian songs in Malagasy and we had a spontaneous worship service!  It was amazing! It was a blessing to be praising Jesus in Malagasy with these ladies!  Later they were asking about going to the church we had been to in Madagascar so we gave them one of the programs from the church service.  It seemed like they had been to church before since they knew the songs.  I don't know much about where they are with Christ but please pray that they would come to know Christ fully if they don't already and that they would follow after Him with their whole lives!

"...but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice..." 1 Kings 19:12

I love the way God speaks to me!  Sometimes I get discouraged from being overseas and away from all the people I know.  This mostly happens because I am living in my flesh and focusing on myself.  I was reading my Bible and found this note from Beka a girl from my church in Arizona.  Sometimes I wonder if I am making an eternal impact in Madagascar.  When I think like that I need to remember it's not about me, but what Christ wants to do through me.  Then I read notes like this and it reminds me that a girl from Arizona is praying for me and reminds me that I need to put my focus back on Christ!  Praise the Lord! He is faithful when I am not!

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I landed in Tulear and got settled in somewhat for a couple of days then went on a girl's retreat in Isola with the other missionary girls for a few days. It was fun hiking and seeing all of God's beautiful creation.  We saw places where they would bury people in the crevices of the mountains. 

It has been difficult sharing the gospel here because I don't know Malagasy as well as I want to.  

Today we went over the different ministries I will be working with.  I will be working on updating a facebook page for the Malagasy people so that people can know how to pray for them.  I will also be going out and building relationships with people for the purpose of sharing the gospel with them.  I will also be going to talk to Malagasy believers to talk to them and find out how we can pray for them.

On Tuesday night I will be going to an ESL class.  I'm not sure what all I will be doing yet but I believe it will be a good opportunity to share the gospel.  I will write more updates soon.  Thank you for praying for me and for the team in Madagascar!

Me and River Hailes at the beach in Fort Dauphin :D