Malaria, Car Washes, and Government Leaders in Nigeria

We’re now in Nigeria, and we have been so incredibly blessed! The flight with Lufthansa was amazing, good food, plane half full we got our own rows, and it was a day flight, so it was uneventful. We landed in the capital and were greeted by our contacts who took us strait to the base in Jos 3 hours away.

Our accommodations and the YWAM base were not exactly the Marriot with 6 of us in a room and the 2 guys pretty much in a closet, but other than that this place is so amazing. The people are so warm and welcoming, God has definitely gifted this culture with the gift of hospitality. Also, the vision the base leader has for this place is incredible. They have purchased 15 hectares of land in order to build a YWAM University of the Nations that will be used to train up Christians, and the local church in making an impact on Northern Nigeria and beyond. So far they have a primary school built and running, a chicken house, and one housing building for DTS students. The rest of the base is running out of an old abandoned government building and that is where we were staying.

The weather has been really nice as well with highs in the 80s and it is just dry and cool at night. This place is also beautiful with rock formations everywhere in this state called the plateau state. As always the sunsets here in Nigeria haven't let me down for seeing Africa's amazing skies.

The ministry we have been doing is working in the primary school, giving messages and doing skits in churches, having bible studies with some guys that work at a car wash, meeting with the paramount chief of the area telling him about what we are doing, and also doing some practical work on base like planting cactus around trees so they are not eaten by goats. As for myself, the DTS school leader has asked me to also be a part in training his staff. I got the opportunity to talk to them about the responsibility God has called them to in raising up the students entrusted to their care.

The team is doing awesome too. We have this thing in our outreach training manual for staff talking about the developmental stages of group dynamics the first stage is about seeing if you belong to the group, the second stage is called the storming stage where power struggles happen, then the third and fourth stages are the norming and performing stages. I really believe we are coming out of the storming stage now and God is really working through each of us to touch the lives of people here. It's amazing to watch.

As for myself, I am doing pretty well, however if you asked me last Thursday I would have given you a different answer. Thursday morning, at about 1am, I woke up and found my body shaking and in a lot of pain, in addition to having diarrhea. I thought that I could go back to sleep and hopefully feel better in the morning. Unfortunately by 7am when the team was waking up I was so weak because I hadn’t slept the whole night and my body was still shaking. They took me to the hospital and after vomiting during the check-in process they decided to admit me to the hospital. I was not even able to keep a sip of water in my stomach without vomiting. L So they hooked me up to an IV. They took a blood test and a stool sample (diarrhea still) and found out I had gotten food poisoning AND malaria. I was miserable. They treated me right away and the malaria treatment made me feel horrible, but by the end of 3 days in the hospital, the IV was out, I was eating meals, and taking the medicine orally. I joined back up with the team and have been taking it easy since. Others on the team seem to one by one be taking turns with some kind of stomach bug, so please pray for our team that our health will be restored quickly.

Just yesterday we moved to a new location in the city in order to work with an organization called Urban Frontiers Mission (UFM). The ministry is directed to prostitutes, alcoholics, drug addicts, runaways, the homeless, HIV/AIDS victims, orphans and vulnerable children, juvenile delinquents, teenage mothers, convicts, ex-convicts, the mentally ill, and others who desperately need the gospel to transform their broken lives. Their mission is to show Christ’s compassion to the harassed and helpless in the urban world through evangelism, meeting physical need, discipleship, and rehabilitation in order that they may experience freedom and maturity in Christ, becoming productive members of society. We will be visiting the brothels of Jos tomorrow to meet with prostitutes to hear their story and minister to their needs. We are very excited to get working with them.

That's about all for now. I hope you are all well. Let me know if I can pray for you. Talk to you soon!

Love,
Janet

Love Conquers All!

This is the last update from Northern Ireland. We leave for Nigeria tomorrow morning and arrive there on Sunday night. Our time here in Belfast has been absolutely amazing. We've been able to see God working in so many different ways and had the opportunity to work with Him in various ways in the community.

Beautiful Northern Ireland Coast

Ministry this week consisted of helping out at preschools/toddler groups, having an after school club, working in the cafe, spending time with the elderly at a daycare center, and going out to spend time with teens out on the street. Everyone had the choice to pick which ministries they wanted to be a part of either in the morning or at night, and every afternoon this week and the previous we came together and either did prep for the after school club or put on the after school club. The week was filled with amazing highlights for all of us.

Irene showing off her waitressing skills at the cafe

Cafe Menu

When the week began and we had the first day of the kids club, we were kind of like deer caught in headlights. We had no idea of the discipline problems that we were going to face. At different points in the beginning of the week we had carried one boy out of the church for getting violent with the other children and the next day that same boy (13 yrs old) was climbing on the roof and trying to steal the ladder he got up on. It was crazy! We quickly realized that many of these kids come from extremely rough families and do not get very much attention at all. Our team, however, did amazing! They were so flexible and loved on the kids no matter what. As each day progressed, the kids were able to trust us more and were absolutely responding to and obeying what we would ask them to do. It really was an act of God to get the kids to sit still for more than a minute, but it all turned out so great. About halfway through the week a couple of the children asked us what it meant to be a Christian, so we explained the gospel to them and what it entails. We asked them if it was something they were interested in, they said yes, and we prayed with them to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. God's grace was truly upon us and love really did conquer all the struggles we had.

Snack Time

Learning the theme song

As for the team, I am continually amazed at what God is doing in and through them. Jordan is gifted in connecting with teens, and he is beginning to get a heart for possibly coming back here to work with them some more. Elijah and Irene are our team peace makers by making sure relationships are going well within the team and are always willing to go to others to see how they are doing and bring understanding between all of us. SaeWon is totally blossoming into the woman God has destined her to be and is becoming more secure in her identity in Christ. Lila is our inquisitive team member who is always asking great questions so we can accomplish our tasks in the most efficient and effective ways. Michelle totally stepped up this week in being head over the after school club, learning to delegate, and beginning to get over homesickness. Everyone's attitude has amazed me in their willingness to serve and prefer one another. It really has been a blessing to have each one on the team.

SaeWon, David(6), Elijah, Jordan, Irene, Lila, Michelle

As for myself, I am doing pretty well. I sometimes find myself a little lonely as the only leader of the team. I struggle at times because I don't really have another leader to verbal process with, but God has been meeting me where I am at and totally providing opportunities to talk with the local contact, or the team leaders of the Cameroon team about any challenges I might have. Our team as a whole, but I especially, have been really busy and have been getting more tired as the week progressed. I look forward to getting to Nigeria and recuperating at least the first week we are there as we get acquainted with the area. The after school club took a lot out of each of us, not only because of all the kids, but also because it takes place about 2 miles from where we are staying and we had to walk to and from the church everyday. But really overall, I am truly blessed and thankful for all that God is doing in and through all of us.

That's about all for now. Be praying for our safe travels and that all of our luggage will get to where it needs to be on time. Pray also for the team's health and that God would continue to transform us and give us greater revelations of who He is. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. I really can't put into words how grateful I am for each and every one of you. God bless you so much!

Love,
Janet

All is Well in Northern Ireland

It's been about two weeks since leaving the USA and it is about time to write an update. Everything is going great and quite a bit has happened since the last email, so I'll start from there.

We flew out of Kona on a Friday afternoon, expecting to catch a flight from Los Angeles to Washington, Dulles, an hour after arriving in LA. When we landed we immediately checked the boards to find that our flight to Washington had been cancelled. As you can imagine, we were quite tired of all of the delays we had already experienced, but it turned out to be an amazing blessing. After standing in line for two hours waiting to talk to a United Airlines representative, we found out we had a flight out the next morning at 9am. They put us up in the Ramada hotel, gave each of us $35 in meal vouchers, and also each a $100 travel voucher for a future flight. It was so awesome! We were originally going to land in London on Saturday night, but this flight only delayed us a night and we landed in London Sunday morning. We had a good rest in LA before flying out and the only red-eye flight we ended up taking was the one from Washington to London. We were so blessed!

After arriving to London, we took the Underground and a train to the base in Harpenden. Here we had our last week of lecture. You could basically say the topic of our last week was Reconciliation. We had three separate speakers, one from an organization called the International Justice Mission, one working in the city of Luten bringing reconciliation among the great diversity of people living there, and on Friday the national director of the UK spoke to us about reconciliation and the need to understand the history of an area and conflict before charging in and doing our own thing. It was a powerful week of lectures and we also had enough time to begin getting over jet lag and serve the base by helping with the grounds and painting windows.

Big Ben, Parliament & "The Eye"

Big Ben

Wesminster Abbey

Last Saturday we left London to fly up to Belfast Ireland. What an amazingly beautiful place! On Monday we received a tour of the area that we are in and a history lesson of the conflict and social problems affecting this place. We are staying in an area right on the peace line between the protestants and catholics. It is so interesting to see each side of the wall (they literally have a 30 ft wall separating the two sides), and begin to understand the conflict that is happening here and the similar problems that each side of the conflict has within itself with paramilitary organizations terrorizing their own people on each side. We have been going on prayer walks around the city and becoming more familiar with the area. On Thursday we worked at a cafe connected to a church that provides a place for people in the community (especially the older generation) to come and get some great food and good company. We had a blast as a team.

Belfast Murals

As for the team, they are outstanding! We had some conflict already, and I love it because the junk is coming out and people are growing. God is so at work in our team it is amazing and He continues to provide for all of our needs and is blessing us like crazy.

In being here in Northern Ireland God has been speaking to me so much about reconciliation and how we are called to be a people reconciled to God and to others. How Jesus gave his all, while we were still alienated and hostile towards Him, so that we could be rejoined in a relationship with Him. Studying this has brought me huge revelation about humility as a leader and also great awe and praise for the God who loves us so much. He has been showing me how Jesus paid the price for all of my sins and also all of the sins of both peoples involved in this conflict here in Northern Ireland and that Jesus is the one who levels the playing field between all of us because He was perfect and paid the price for all. All we can do now is come to Him for healing, there is no reason to hold grudges, or to respond in violence, the punishment has already been taken and violence only brings more pain and anger in this place.

I sit here now, it is around 9pm and I can hear fireworks going off in the streets and glass bottles being thrown in the street as people turn to alcohol to wash away their sorrows. It breaks my heart that tomorrow morning their pain will still be there and that the trouble they caused the night before may have caused others more pain. Jesus truly is the only one who can take that pain away and I thank God He has taken all of our sins and nailed them to a cross so that we can be forgiven.

That is about it for now. Next week we work in the cafe on Tuesday, will be doing service projects around the community, doing prayer walks, and putting on programs for youth groups. We're excited for what's ahead for all of us. Please be praying for good health and safety as most of us on the team are recovering from or right in the middle of a cold.

Thanks for all of your prayers and taking the time to check up on how things are going. God bless you so much. I am so grateful for you!

Love,
Janet

10 Days and Counting...

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post. We are so busy, I never knew life could go by so quickly. It has been absolutely amazing though. Each week we have had speakers come and share with us their stories and what God has laid on their hearts as a topic for each week. We have heard teachings on the Father heart of God, the Kingdom of God, Reconciliation, Hearing God's voice, Identity in Christ, and most recently I had the opportunity to teach on Destiny.

Much of my time outside of class has been working on preparations for our time in Ireland and Nigeria. I never knew it would be so complicated to get visas especially when we have minors going with us. It has been quite the task. We were able to send everything to the Nigerian Embassy last Thursday though, so we are just praying now that our passports with approved visas in them will get back here before we have to leave on September 19th.

In the last month there has been so much growth among the students it is incredible. God is absolutely faithful in each of their lives as students receive revelation after revelation of who God is and how God sees them. There aren't even words to describe being able to see God work in people's lives in such a way. I love it!

Some adventures as a school that we have had the opportunity to go on were camping on the north side of the island, and hiking; and also going to Haupuna beach together for a day. They were so much fun. When we were camping we got little to no sleep because it was pouring rain all night long and the wind was blowing so hard our the tent's poles we were in snapped, but the next day everyone was in good spirits and glad to have spent time with one another. Also during the camping trip we were able to stop by Makapala where I had my DTS. I gave the students a little tour of our isolated little YWAM base. It was great to see the place and to also see Kia (the really old dog that was there during our DTS).

Trying to decide who is going to pee on Makaela's
foot to make the sea urchin spikes stop hurting
(Haupuna Beach)

Hiking after the night of camping with no sleep.

Kia is still alive!

As I mentioned earlier, I was given the opportunity to speak Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (3 hours each day), to teach on Destiny and the plan that God has for each of our lives. It was so cool to see students begin to realize that the dreams, experiences, personality, identity, gifts, and network God has given each one, are intentional in guiding and directing them in the plan He has them. I had never taught so much or so long before, it was really draining, but I loved it and God totally used it to speak into student's lives.

Also, on August 27th I celebrated my 24th birthday. It was an incredibly busy Monday in that we had our normal schedule in addition to a night class at night. I was able to get out of a staff meeting early and go get some sushi for dinner with some friends which was really awesome. Later that night the students lured me outside and surprised me by all of them singing happy birthday. It was really neat.

Well that is a brief description of the last 5 weeks. Feel free to email me if you would like more details. If you could be praying for a couple of things I would be truly grateful.

-Pray for finances to come in both for students and the staff to go on outreach.
-Pray for our passport/visas to arrive back here on time.
-Pray for us as we are preparing to leave in less than a week and a half.
-Pray for continued revelation and understanding of who God is, who we are, and that we would really learn how it applies to our lives.

10 days till we fly out...

Thanks,
God Bless,
Janet

I love my life!

It has been a few weeks since I posted my last blog and basically it is because I have been crazy busy or incredibly exhausted. We just completed week 3 of DTS and it has been incredible. We have 22 students, 11 females and 11 males, and God has been doing some pretty amazing things in and through each and every one of us.

Our first week we focused on Worldview and studied pre-modern, modern, and post-modern thinking and how it has effected many of the minds in the world today. In our second week our speaker, Mark Anderson, challenged us to take hold of our new identity in Christ and rely on the Holy Spirit's filling to help us live from the inside out instead of being affected on the outside and letting that determine who we are on the inside. In our third week our speaker Philip Powell, YWAM's representative in the United Nations and director of the International Center for Justice and Reconciliation, challenged us to really seek to understand what Justice really is in the context of the Bible and what God says about it. All three weeks so far have really challenged all of us to go deeper in our relationship with God and let Him speak to us about how He really sees us.












Catherine Christina Michelle

Did I mention that I'm crazy busy and exhausted at the end of every day. Well it's true, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Being here is so incredible because what I am doing here is exactly what I am created to do. My favorite times of the week are my one-on-ones with three of the students, Christina, Catherine, and Michelle. During these times I get to listen and ask questions about what God is doing in these three girls lives. It is so incredible how God has gifted me and works through me to help these women discover how much God loves them and has an incredible plan for their lives. I am so honored to have been entrusted with the students in our school and daily I am finding myself coming to God asking Him for more wisdom, love, and patience. He is the only reason why I am able to do what I am doing. I love it!!! I have never been so exhausted and yet filled with so much life than before this time.

My Weekly Schedule

Some big news that I'm sure many of you would like to hear is my outreach location. After much prayer individually and as staff we will be sending out 3 teams from our school. At the end of week 11 we will fly to Harpenton, England to finish our last week of lecture. After that two teams will head up to Belfast, Ireland to work with a reconciliation ministry between Protestants and Catholics. The other team will head strait to Bosnia. After about a month, the Bosnia team will go to Ireland and the other two teams will split and go to Nigeria and Cameroon. The team I will be leading is going to Ireland and Nigeria! We will have 4 female students, 2 male students, and a 6 year old boy who is the son of one of the women. The eight of us are very excited for what's ahead and we are just beginning to meet as team and prepare for outreach, only 9 weeks away!

Belfast, Ireland

Nigeria

As a side note, two friends of mine, Sharissa and Carolyn, came to Hawaii for vacation and visited me here. On the weekend we were able to go to the other side of the island and see many of the beautiful views and waterfalls that cover the north east side of the island. We also made it over to the volcano and visited many of the sites there. We had a great time and it was such a blessing to spend time with them here.

Volcano!Sea Turtle!Adventures Around the Island

That about sums up the last few weeks. If you could be praying for a couple things I would be so greatful. First, please pray for our students as they are growing and challenged in many ways while they are here. Pray that they would receive the peace and joy of the Lord even in their times of struggle and that God would speak to them right where they are at. Many have come here with a lot of wounds from their past and God is bringing healing and reconciliation into their lives. Second, please pray for my outreach team. As I am the only staff leader leading our team I am really seeking God as to how to unify our team and raise all of us up as leaders in our gifts and strengths that God has given each one. Lastly, pray for continued revelation and understanding for all of us in our identity in Christ.

Thank you all so much for all of your support. I love you and am so thankful for you and all of your prayers. God bless!

Love,
Janet

Training, Training, Training

Well, these last four weeks has been all about training. The first was Uniquip which I told about in the last post. The second and third week consisted of the staff internship training that was for all new DTS staff. We learned a TON of valuable stuff including spiritual disciplines, time management skills, having the fear of the Lord in realizing the great responsibility we will have discipling students, and so much more.

Activities included a 5 hour speaking fast, creating a collage of what the Lord is calling us to commit to, and a couple of trips to the beach to promote bonding. :)

It was an amazing time and God really met me right where I was at and began providing new friendships which has been so awesome.

This last week has been a corporate training week for all schools that will be beginning this quarter, such as English as a Second Language School, DTS, and Introduction to Biblical Counseling School. It was so awesome to get connected to people from other departments on campus. Some valuable knowledge that I have taken away from this week is YWAM's Core Values, having discussions about why we do what we do, why we have the guildelines that we have, how to handle difficult situations with students, and really the value in listening to understand where people from all walks of life, including culture and upbringing, are coming from. It really has been a valuable time of training.

A side note that was really a blessing during this time is my friends Candace and Tim Marinello were here in Kona on their honeymoon and gave me a call to see if I'd like to hang out. We were able to go to church together on Sunday, check out the lava on the Hilo side of the island, and they were able to join me on a Thursday for our campus' Thursday Night Meeting. It was so much fun and I am so excited for them and their new life together.

Now we are in the last 2 weeks before students arrive. Things are going to start getting really busy these next weeks, but I am so excited! For my school I am officially in charge of intercession times, and I will unofficially be helping out with graphics design stuff, and readily available to help anyone who needs it.

If you could be praying for our students that would be amazing! The last two weeks before coming can be quite stressful and they will also be scrambling to get their finances taken care of as well. Pray for God's protection on them and their families these two weeks and also that God would supernaturally provide the finances they need to get here.

Thanks you guys for taking the time to read this, I am truly greatful for you and appreciate all of your prayers and support.

Love,
Janet

Settling In...

Aloha everyone! Here is my first blog from Hawaii. This week has been one of adjustment, reunions, and insight. When I arrived here last Sunday I quickly discovered that where I was going to stay was off campus about three quarters of a mile away from campus. However, because I arrived on Sunday, and because Monday was Memorial Day, I was not going to be able to get a key until Tuesday. All was well though because a friend of mine said I could stay on her couch on-campus until I could go to the housing office to see if I could get a room on-campus anyways. Well, as the week went on, it wasn't until Friday that I was able to get my room key and get a ride for my two 60lb bags to my room off-campus. Let me just say that it was so wonderful to wake up on Saturday morning in my new bed knowing that I was all unpacked and settled in. Definitely a relief.

Hale Ola is where I live

This week the new staff were invited to attend a seminar called UNIQuip. It consisted of corporate gatherings of worship, prayer, and listening to God in the mornings; and then the rest of the day there were a number of modules that we could choose from in order to become further trained in specific areas of our choosing to help with our ministries. I chose the "Discipling the Sexually Broken" module. The purpose of this module was to train people to become the bridge between secrecy and shame to coming into the body of Christ. I learned that sexuality is the divinely inspired longing to connect with others. I also quickly realized that to some degree or another we are all sexually broken, but having a relationship with Jesus can heal our hearts and bring us to more wholeness. Some great quotes I have in my notes include, "Our past does not predicate our future;" and "Lack of intimacy with God causes us to look to be satisfied by people." It was an amazing time of growth and learning for all of us in the class.

I'm officially staff!

As for adjusting to the YWAM lifestyle, I think I'm getting back into it. It amazes me how quickly we can forget things. When I went to the first morning of UNIQuip I was overwhelmed by the spiritual atmosphere. Back home, it's just not like here. So, it has taken some getting used to. I've been struggling with pressing into my relationship with God. I sometimes wish it would just come so naturally, but recently it has been something I have to be really intentional about and choose into. When I have, God has really spoken and it is amazing; He is so amazing, and He loves us so much. It still is a struggle though, so if you could pray for me in that area, that would be awesome.

Reunions!

That about sums it up. Reunions with some friends from my DTS have been great and I'm really excited for the staff internship to start on Monday. Please pray that God would use this training to speak to us about our future as staff and ignite a passion for the ministry He is calling us to. God Bless you all!

Love,
Janet