When the Holy Spirit moves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG827sCz-v4

Check this guy out, Francis Chan. He was the senior pastor at a mega church in California until he decided to step down from his role in July this year. I can empathise with this guys story. His obedience to the Lord and the move of the Holy Spirit in his life is quite inspiriational. Francis Chan also wrote the book Crazy Love, which is really about how the American church today differs so much from the Early church and what Jesus called us to as his disciples. Well, if thats true for the Amercian church, its true for the church in the UK as well. the idea of the church as a movement of people, built on relationships, that breaks people tradtional viw of what the church is,  now thats appealing to me. 

Final Ella update

SO SO much to share but long story really short (I’ll try), Ella and her lawyer, Hanan, and I bus-tripped 4 hrs south to Aqaba (city on the Red Sea where Ella worked before) last Saturday to meet with the police there.  It was the last step she had to take before being released to fly back to Manila on the 15th.  Once in the police station, though, Ella’s previous employer was notified and came to meet with us (the same man who raped her repeatedly, he AND his son) and it was decided that since Ella was a run-away and now illegal (work permit had expired) the law said she needed to be taken into custody until she could be returned to the Philippines.  Hanan fought it and fought it…Ella had one more week of work, hadn’t said goodbye to anyone, we weren’t prepared for this at all, I asked them to make me her guardian til the 15th promising to deliver her at risk of being deported myself…NO.  It was the law.  So Hanan and I went with her employer to the airline office to change her ticket to the following night…

Second Sunday of Advent – December 5

An excerpt from iGracias! by Henri J.M. Nouwen

"A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him . . ." (Isa.11:1-2).

These words from last night's liturgy have stayed with me during the day. Our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable. God, who is the Creator of the Universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness, and hiddenness.

I find this a hopeful message. Somehow, I keep expecting loud and impressive events to convince me and others of God's saving power; but over and over again I am reminded that spectacles, power plays, and big events are the ways of the world. Our temptation is to be distracted by them and made blind to the "shoot that shall sprout from the stump."

When I have no eyes for the small signs of God's presence - the smile of a baby, the carefree play of children, the words of encouragement and gestures of love offered by friends - I will always remain tempted to despair.

The small child of Bethlehem, the unknown young man of Nazareth, the rejected preacher, the naked man on the cross, he asks for my full attention. The work of our salvation takes place in the midst of a world that continues to shout, scream, and overwhelm us with its claims and promises. But the promise is hidden in the shoot that sprouts from the stump, a shoot that hardly anyone notices.

iGracias! - A Latin American Journal (December 2, 1981) © Henri J.M. Nouwen. Published by HarperCollins. Reprinted with publisher's kind permission. Photo by K. Smith.

Ella update 2 & 3

So guess WHAT??  Since I wrote last, Ella’s former employer AGREED!!!  He’ll return her paperwork/passport and will drop all charges against her, without compensation, if she agrees not to take him to court.  Can you believe it??  Our Daddy is SO good.  Truly a miracle.  I still can’t believe it.  Bless you all for praying…I called Ella straight away and told her the news and she just cried and cried…soooo thankful to all who have given and been praying through this…and wanted to make sure I thank you for her.  Man what a privilege it’s been to watch God remind one of his children how dearly loved she is and how bright the future is with him THROUGH his people on earth rallying around her and giving and praying and fighting for her!  Beautiful.

So keep praying…I dropped off a copy of Ella’s ticket back to Manila yesterday with her lawyer, and once they have that, her papers should be returned quickly, hopefully early this next week.  Pray for the details of that, for her employer’s heart in all this, for wisdom for Ella’s lawyer in making sure all the little details are covered (visa expenses and police reports, etc) between now and the 15th so she can get on that plane and fly out without any hangups.  And pray for Ella and I as we talk and dream about the future for her and her family, for God to “take us by the hand and lead us in the path of life” for them, for direction in how to best use the money that’s come in (and still is…there’s time if you still want to!).  About $1250 has come in so far over and above what was used to buy her ticket, and right now her dreams are to use ~$500 of it to pay off an outstanding debt from her previous job in Hong Kong and the rest of it to start a small business in Manila so that she can stay close to her family.  I have a few contacts in Manila I’m writing that might be able to help in her transition and know of one microcredit NGO working there, but if you have any ideas or know of anyone who could help, pls let us know!!

Follow up...

Quick Ella update:  Found out this week that she needs to present herself in person at the police department in Aqaba (4 hrs south of Amman on the Red Sea) before they’ll drop the charges that were filed against her by her employer when she ran away. I called Ella after talking to her lawyer to tell her…she was instantly in tears, so so scared, wondering why and if her employer would be there, etc.  I was on the other end just exhausted, wanting all this to be over, not knowing what to say or how to support her.  I was on a break from class and had to get back so told her I’d call her lawyer again to get more details and then call her back after class finished.

Two hours later I called her back, and she answers with “Oh hi Ate (big sister), I’m fine now!”  WHAT?  I asked her, what happened?  “Well, I just did what you and Pete & Layne (my two friends who just left after visiting me and who got to meet and pray with Ella while they were here) told me to do.  After we hung up, I went into the bathroom and locked myself in the stall (her only place of peace and quiet in the gym where she works, she spends alot of time there!) and sat on the toilet and asked God what He thought I should do.  And he told me that I didn’t need to be afraid.  That actually, my employer was afraid of ME.  And that he is with me wherever I go.  So I’m ready Ate, let’s go to Aqaba!” 

AMAZING.  I was laughing and crying on the other end, she was like a totally different person than the one I knew even a few months ago…amazing and beautiful to watch her change as it sinks in how MUCH God loves her and how he longs to walk with her, in confidence and truth and boldness.  LOVE IT!  The Spirit of God at work, isn’t he amazing?

I was wondering how this trip would happen…two foreign gals-one with some basic Arabic, showing up at the police department in Aqaba and hoping for the best, but if they weren’t there or the right paperwork wasn’t signed, the time is so short before she flies I wanted to make sure we knew what to do and who to talk to…so today I went to her lawyer’s office before class with some cookies and a card Ella made her over the weekend and before I said ANYTHING, the lawyer volunteered to come with us.  YAY!!  So this Saturday the 3 of us are taking a bus trip there and back, and insha’allah everything should be set after that for Ella to fly back to Manila on the 15th.  So keep praying!!!

Redeeming Our Communities

Some of you may notice a new shiny widget on the left of your screen...did you see it yet? 

That's right, I'm fund-raising...again! Is anyone really surprised? I'm sure not, that the Lord would lead me on another journey of faith. I'm actually thrilled because its another opportunity to see His provision and for my trust in Him to grow. We both feel this way, Mark & I, and we hope that you'll join with us in prayer and giving (as you can).

Redeeming Our Communities is a worthy cause and I hope to keep you informed on this blog about what we do here. For now, I'll leave you with a video to hear some thoughts from folks who have caught the vision with us.

ROC Ambassadors Conference (29th-30th Oct 2010) from Redeeming Our Communities on Vimeo.

Ella update!

an update following my previous post...wow!!!

You won’t BELIEVE what happened today. Long story short, we were able to buy Ella’s ticket for 360JD (the cheapest I was able to find online was 640JD) thanks to a Sri Lankan angel with connections @ Royal Jordanian. She flies out in’shallah 15 Dec. AND Ella and I met with a pro bono human rights lawyer we learned about who, with Ella’s permission, called her former employer and gave him a choice of either handing over her papers and dropping all charges against her without compensation (the $800 he had asked for that we were trying to raise) OR having his and his son’s butts hauled into court for multiple cases of rape and sexual abuse. YES!!! He was speechless…hadn’t known prior to that that his son had raped her too…and in the end he said he’d think about it tonight and give her a decision tomorrow. The lawyer feels confident he’ll agree but we need to PRAY!! Pls pls pray for his heart and decision tonight.
The beautiful thing was that after sharing about their conversation, the lawyer looked straight at Ella and said “What this man did to you was WRONG and we will FIGHT for you.” I just started weeping, am again now writing this. Seeing someone care enough to fight for her! And Ella turned and looked at me, her eyes just SHINING and said “Ate, God did it! He gave me the JUSTICE!” She just knows he’ll give in, that he’s scared, but even without his decision already justice is being done. I had no idea up til then how completely injust it seemed to her that all these people were raising money to pay off a man who had wronged her so horribly…today made me want to go to law school. I think I want to be a lawyer.

On the way out to the taxi, Ella started talking about how her family could use the money that was meant to go to this man…she was DREAMING out loud…of having enough to start a little market or buying a motorcycle taxi and hiring a driver…the possibility of being able to provide long-term for her family while staying in the Philippines…we’ve already raised ~$650 in addition to the money spent on her ticket and more’s coming in…so let’s dream WITH her and do what we can to see it come true.

So praise GOD!! WOW. And keep praying esp for tomorrow!! The lawyer will call me as soon as she hears from him, and if he doesn’t call her she promises to call him.

Can YOU help???

Please read the story below and let me know if you can help. This is from a trusted friend - a REAL need in the world this week, please will you help?

One of my all-time favorite people here in Amman is my Filipino friend, Ella.  We met last spring, she works and lives at the gym I go to, and since this summer she’s spent her one day off each week crashing at my place.  I’m honored and so grateful to call her my friend, and she’s given me permission to share her story with you all bc WE NEED YOUR HELP.

Ella (not her real name) is from a province in the north of the Philippines but years ago her family moved to the slums of Manila after a volcano erupted and made it impossible for her dad to make a living as a fisherman, and right after that a massive typhon destroyed their home.  Two years ago, Ella’s husband left her and their 2 young girls for another woman so the burden of providing for them and her aging parents (she’s the eldest daughter) fell to her.  Even though she’s a university educated teacher, she was forced by the lack of jobs in the Philippines to go to Hong Kong to work in the home of some wealthy Chinese folks.  Soon after getting there, she was cooking dinner for them and accidentally burned some chicken and as punishment the lady of the house poured hot oil over Ella’s arm.  Seriously.  She still has the scar.  She ended up leaving the job early after more abuse and decided to come to Jordan instead.

She arrived in Jordan a year ago and started working in the home of some wealthy folks here.  After four months of horrible abuse including sexual abuse from the man and son of the house, she decided one day to flee to Amman where a friend promised her a job in the gym.  But leaving meant leaving all her papers and passport behind…a choice that Asian workers (esp women) have to make daily in this part of the world.  Stay and face abuse, flee and be illegal but safe.  Since then, Ella’s been working 6 days/week, 16+ hr days at the gym, making the equivalent of $400/month.  She sends all but a fraction of it home to her family and lives on instant noodles and boiled eggs.   Without her papers, Ella’s unable to go home, scared every time she leaves the gym of being arrested and thrown in jail, is at the mercy of her employer/working with no rights or security, and is accumulating $2/day of overstay visa costs.

I respect and love Ella more than words can say.  She’s a picture of strength and hope to me.  We spend Saturday mornings making breakfast together and sharing what we’ve been learning about God over the past week, reading the Bible and praying together, and her stories and life have just opened my eyes to the world she shares with so many Asian workers in this part of the world…extreme poverty forcing people to leave their families for work, kids growing up without parents, couples separated and sleeping around on both sides and the resulting children and STDs and abortions and brokenness, people separated from their families going to drugs and sex and alcohol for hope and comfort, horrible horrible treatment of Asian workers by their employers…I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard since I met Ella.  It literally makes me rage inside.  And I think what I feel is only a fraction of the anger God feels towards it.

So, this is where we come to YOUR part.  A few months ago I felt like God whispered in a smiling way as I sat across from Ella at Saturday breakfast “You thought you came to Jordan for Arabic and to love Arabs…THIS is who I want you to love.  I want you to love her well and deeply, with everything you have, bc in loving her you are loving me.”  That sparked a desire to do what I can to get Ella’s papers returned, so over the past few weeks I’ve been talking with her former agency and employer as well as a lady whose full-time job is helping Asian women like Ella get legal and get home.  What I’ve learned is that the only way we can get her papers back is for Ella to reimburse her employer for the money he lost in bringing her here ($800) and that she HAS to leave the country immediately after that (one way plane ticket $4-500).  I know this is only a short-term solution to a huge problem…and neither Ella nor I know what awaits her once she’s back in Manila.  But what we DO know is that it’s imperative that her papers get returned and the only way to do that is for her to go home.

So, we’re dreaming big and stepping out and asking our Daddy to provide the money.  The goal is to buy her ticket this week, to meet with Ella’s employer and agency next week on the 23rd to pay them and make sure all is closed and clear, and to get her on a plane home before I leave Jordan on the 21st of Dec.   So it needs to happen FAST!  On this end, some other expat gals who know and love Ella are putting the word out to their people, and we’re planning some bake sales and such.  But we need your help!!  If you want to give, you can either send money to me via Paypal or mail a check to my parents address with Ella’s name on the subject line (email me and I’ll send you their address).

If you have more questions PLEASE feel free to ask away, but believe me when I say I’ve done the research on this end and this is the only way forward for Ella, and every CENT of what you give will go towards her.  If we raise more than we need, it will just go towards blessing her and her family.  And PLEASE PLEASE pass this onto any and all you think might be able to help too.  Don’t forget to pray for us too…for the process of getting her home and for Ella and her family and their future.

THANKS!!  Love and hugs.

Edinburgh, Scotland

Nieces and Nephews

A few pics of our lovelies, thanks to facebook and emails. Our little niece Sophie Grace is just at 3 months:

And Ryan & Maddy - now...

and then...

we miss them!!!

Haiti cholera outbreak is slowing!

Great news yesterday morning that the cholera outbreak seems to be slowing!! What an atrocious disease this is, all associated to lack of access to safe drinking water. We were praying for this yesterday during church and its been on my heart for the past few days. Keep praying that it is completely stopped as it usually hits children and elders the hardest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11617094#

Forgiveness

I live within the confines of our society...and that looks truly normal and good and right. Yet when I look deep within and hear the entitlement, the anger, the voices that seek to exalt me rather than bring me to a place of service to others, I know that the way I live is actually not the Way I claim to have chosen. These words from my friend, Ali, are powerful to me today:

"I’ve been reading about unforgiveness recently and a week or so ago I was walking home from school carrying some hummus and cucumbers for dinner, talking to Daddy about the day, and he reminded me about the post I wrote last month  (“Storytime”).  He whispered in his gentle, kind, strong way of love that what I was feeling/what I wrote about wasn’t only due to being tired and ready for a break, that I just don’t “click” with Jordan and am called somewhere else, the fault of Arab men, or that those walls that I’ve gotten so good at putting up in my heart are just necessary for single foreign women living in this part of the world…but that actually, bitterness and anger and hatred towards Arabs and towards Arab men in particular were growing in me as a direct result of my unforgiveness towards them.  He showed me that in big and little ways all thru these past 1.5 yrs I’d been holding onto wrongs done against me, growing more guarded and critical, when his way in reality is just the opposite.  He calls us to forgive and to bless to leave the rest up to him.

Man ALIVE talk about conviction and truth.  I asked his forgiveness which I know I already have…and then we talked about how it looks for me to live differently here, like Jesus would if he were me.  I felt like he was asking me to CHOOSE to immediately extend forgiveness after a wrong done against me and to follow it with specific blessing upon that person (for their family, work, future, rela’ship with God, etc).  So in the days following, I started doing it…to the guy who looked me up and down and made a comment as he passed me on the street, to the taxi driver who tried to rip me off and the kids on the street barking into my window just to hear the dog bark back at them…and seriously it’s totally changed me.  I feel like I’ve seen more smiles and acts of kindness and beauty around me in the last week than I have in the last YEAR just bc I have the EYES to see them again!  And this deep real LOVE for Arabs that so isn’t me but HIM is just bubbling up in place of the bitterness and anger.  It’s AMAZING!  It’s indeed so so true that WE are the victims when we choose not to forgive those who have wronged us."

The Boaz Trust

So, following Medair I'm now working for the Boaz Trust. The Boaz Trust is a Christian NGO which aims to meet the needs of asylum seekers suffering destitution and hardship in the Manchester area.

Immigration and asylum are contentious issues wherever you go in the Western world. To give you some idea of the problems here in the UK, we have about 3000 failed asylum seekers in Manchester alone. For London, you could probably multiply that figure by at least 10.

Asylum seekers are people fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries. The people we meet here in Manchester come from various places on the African continent, DR Congo, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia, as well parts of the Middle East and the Far East, such as Iran and Afghanistan. They often arrive via Southern Europe, and many have taken huge risks to get here.

When asylum seekers arrive the UK, they are initially supported by the Government. Many of their applications for asylum are rejected, and these people then have no recourse to any public funds. The consequence is that some do become homeless living on the streets, others are helped in their communities, will find a sofa or a floor to sleep on. There are so many of these people now here that the government is incapable of either supporting or deporting them, often they don't have any travel documentation and their home countries will not accept them anyway.

So, i guess if you've read this far, the asylum issue is a complex one and my role as the Programme Manager is a demanding one. I'd suggest reading the Boaz website if you want a more in depth view of what we do, but in brief we resource Churches and Christians around the city to help run a housing and hosting system, we are running an advocacy project to assist many of their clients with their cases, and we run several social programmes to try and provide holistic care for our clients.

OK, so some of you may be reading this and be thinking that some of these asylum seekers probably don't have a genuine case, and are simply seeking a better life in the UK, and I'd be the first to admit you are right. With the development of advocacy and legal expertise, Boaz are getting better at identifying these situations when clients first come to us for help.

Boaz are serving some of the most rejected and despised people in our society, and in reaching out to such a forgotten group of people, hopefully we are showing something of Jesus to all the people we meet. I'll update you more soon on how the role with Boaz is developing. Bye for now

Prayer Storm

This is a plug for something we've been to in Manchester recently. Its exciting to see God moving so powerfully in this city. When in Colorado, me and Jennie visited the Toth Ministries Ranch for 48 hours. We were impacted by the power of Gods presence, the freedom and joy that was such a part of the community there, and the total reverance of and worship four our God. There was a similar atmosphere at the recent Prayer storm meeting we went to. Prayer storm is a movement of young Christians in Manchester which is challenging Christians on their lifestyles, its really a movement of radical worship and intercession.

Check it out on http://www.prayerstorm.org/

Back home

Wow, a lot has happened in the last few months since I last blogged. After getting married in Denver Colorado, myself and Jennie moved back to Manchester, in the UK. Its been a busy few months in many ways, but we are now starting to feel settled with life in England. I had anticipated that it would be fairly difficult to integrate back into life here after being away for so long, but that has not really proved to be the case. My life with Jennie has been an adventure since the day we met, coming here together has certainly helped us both to re-adjust. 

I've had plenty of time to evaluate my time in DR Congo now. When I left Africa in May, I really needed some time and distance to think about everything that I had experienced in my time with Medair. My time in DR Congo was full of adventure, disappointment, amazement, frustration and change. My own journey with God took a dramatic new direction, I often felt out of my comfort zone, my faith and reliance on Jesus went far deeper than I could have imagined, and in the midst of all the chaos of working in an African conflict zone, I met my new wife, the amazing Jennie, my best friend and now my wife. 

To state the bleeding obvious, working in the DR Congo was a hugely challenging time for me. The country remains deeply affected by war, corruption and poverty. The need there at times was overwhelming, the insecurity and the difficulties of work, frankly, stressful. I feel its only right to mention some of the disappointment and frustration I felt in my time with Medair. Admittedly, as Christian workers in such a dark place as Eastern Congo, the spiritual battle is of immense importance, but even so, for most of my time there, the expat team was embroiled in chaos, silly disputes and arguments, and sadly, there was not a great deal of care for one another. 

Since leaving the DR Congo, Jennie and me spent 2 months in the US. It was a period of recovery and transition, but there was also much to enjoy in the present. Meeting new family and friends, and of course our wedding in Denver was an incredible time for us both. God spoke to us in many ways, Im sure we will reveal more and more on this page over the next few months, but we are so excited to be starting married life. 

Jennie is working for a grassroots Christain NGO called Redeeming Our Communites, and i am working for the Boaz Trust. http://boaztrust.org.uk/. We are excited to see how the adventure with Jesus unfolds over the next few months and years for us both, we would not have it any other way.

Superabundant Grace

Superabundant Grace

Over the centuries the Church has done enough to make any critical person want to leave it. Its history of violent crusades, pogroms, power struggles, oppression, excommunications, executions, manipulation of people and ideas, and constantly recurring divisions is there for everyone to see and be appalled by.

Can we believe that this is the same Church that carries in its center the Word of God and the sacraments of God's healing love? Can we trust that in the midst of all its human brokenness the Church presents the broken body of Christ to the world as food for eternal life? Can we acknowledge that where sin is abundant grace is superabundant, and that where promises are broken over and again God's promise stands unshaken? To believe is to answer yes to these questions.

We're in this together

Hey folks, we decided it was time to merge blogs since we've merged so many other areas of life through marriage! We'd love to keep updating with thoughts and adventure from this journey we're on, so check this web from now on: www.jennieandmark.blogspot.com 
Both of us are now working full time in the UK - what a blessing! Mark is working with Boaz Trust as Services Manager. They are a small charity working with destitute asylum seekers here in Manchester. I'll let him share more about that work and how he's finding the job! 
I am working now with Redeeming Our Communities. My job title is Executive PA though we're are still sorting through what all my job may entail. I love what ROC is about - inspiring and empowering Christians and citizens to come together with schools, the police, fire depts, and health services to network resources, seeking to battle together against the issues harming their community. For most communities this is bored youth, resulting in anti-social behaviour, as well as unemployment, breakdown of families, and substance abuse. 

We are both humbled to find ourselves working in organisations we can truly put our heart behind, and be part of God's work here in Manchester. What a blessing!

The Created Order as Sacrament

The Created Order as Sacrament

When God took on flesh in Jesus Christ, the uncreated and the created, the eternal and the temporal, the divine and the human became united. This unity meant that all that is mortal now points to the immortal, all that is finite now points to the infinite. In and through Jesus all creation has become like a splendid veil, through which the face of God is revealed to us.

This is called the sacramental quality of the created order. All that is is sacred because all that is speaks of God's redeeming love. Seas and winds, mountains and trees, sun, moon, and stars, and all the animals and people have become sacred windows offering us glimpses of God.

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These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey

Keeping It Together

Some days I need a reminder of this, especially when anxiety feels as if its pulling me apart...

Keeping It Together

How can we not lose our souls when everything and everybody pulls us in the most different directions? How can we "keep it together" when we are constantly torn apart?

Jesus says: "Not a hair of your head will be lost. Your perseverance will win you your lives" (Luke 21:18-19). We can only survive our world when we trust that God knows us more intimately than we know ourselves. We can only keep it together when we believe that God holds us together. We can only win our lives when we remain faithful to the truth that every little part of us, yes, every hair, is completely safe in the divine embrace of our Lord. To say it differently: When we keep living a spiritual life, we have nothing to be afraid of.

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These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

Learning day-to-day

I went for a walk/jog today in my neighborhood. On my way around the park, I started noticed these spiky green balls all over the ground…and then I saw it:

A little piece of home to greet me :)

I’m amazed at how much I’m learning here every day about life and culture in the UK. You would think it was fairly similar to life in the states, wouldn’t you? A few small pieces of wisdom I’m acquired lately…

1. Today I found a little red post box pillar around the corner on my way to the park. I think these are much cuter than our big blue boxes in the states.
2. All the Brits keep telling me the weather has turned ‘autumny’ which confuses me. The windy, drizzly, chilly weather we’re having seems quite similar to the weather I experienced in June here… Now if they claimed the crunching of dead leaves under my feet were the sign, I’d have to agree.
3. I get to use words now like ‘blimey’ and ‘crackin’ which is just plain fun.
4. I’ve never lived in a multi-cultural place. Though I’ve lived in Africa, usually there’s only one or two races other than mine that I’ve come across regularly. Here I’m surrounded by faces, clothing, and languages that are completely new. It is rare that I walk down the street or sit on the bus and hear the same language twice or hear English for that matter. And I love it!

Now back to my day of laundry, unknotting a skein of yarn, and waiting for my husband to come home from work! I’m already wishing that buckeye was made of peanut butter and chocolate…but it’s a blessing from heaven that its not! ;)

Meeting God in the Poor

Meeting God in the Poor

When we are not afraid to confess our own poverty, we will be able to be with other people in theirs. The Christ who lives in our own poverty recognises the Christ who lives in other people's. Just as we are inclined to ignore our own poverty, we are inclined to ignore others'. We prefer not to see people who are destitute, we do not like to look at people who are deformed or disabled, we avoid talking about people's pains and sorrows, we stay away from brokenness, helplessness, and neediness.

By this avoidance we might lose touch with the people through whom God is manifested to us. But when we have discovered God in our own poverty, we will lose our fear of the poor and go to them to meet God.

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These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

Our Poverty, God's Dwelling Place

Our Poverty, God's Dwelling Place

How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves: "What is my poverty?" Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence? Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place where God wants to dwell! "How blessed are the poor," Jesus says (Matthew 5:3). This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty.

We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity to discover God, who dwells in it. Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden.

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Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

A blanket made with love :)

Mark & I just received a wedding gift in the mail - an amazingly creative & beautiful afghan crocheted by our friend, Kristi Pearson. Thanks Kristi - we love it! 

Choosing Life

Choosing Life

God says, "I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

"Choose life." That's God's call for us, and there is not a moment in which we do not have to make that choice. Life and death are always before us. In our imaginations, our thoughts, our words, our gestures, our actions ... even in our nonactions. This choice for life starts in a deep interior place. Underneath very life-affirming behaviour I can still harbour death-thoughts and death-feelings. The most important question is not "Do I kill?" but "Do I carry a blessing in my heart or a curse?" The bullet that kills is only the final instrument of the hatred that began being nurtured in the heart long before the gun was picked up.

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Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

{ampersand} � jennie and mark

{ampersand} � jennie and mark

Our Wedding Stationary!!!

Please check out Ampersand - these ladies do incredible work and are creative geniuses. Plus, they're just really fantastic people!

I loved how they incorporated our long distance relationship into the design. Our favorite piece was the Save the Date.

Do you have a favorite?

A new look, a continued journey

I'm officially settled with Mark in Manchester now. Such a long way from my last post in mid-May! We finished up our time in Africa, traveled to the UK & visited friends and family, then onto the US for more visiting and to plan our wedding!

On August 1st, we vowed our lives to each other witnessed by a small group of family and friends in Genesee, Colorado. It was a fabulous day of celebration! We had so much fun and enjoyed sharing Joy and Love with our community. Following the wedding we spent a week in the Rockies, then drove away from Colorado with my car packed to the brim, saying farewell (at least for now) to my home-base for the past 8 years. We enjoyed a road trip through South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, & Chicago where we enjoyed quality time with new and old friends and Mark about wore out the camera with his constant snapping!

After a week of time with my family in Ohio, we flew off to Manchester - our home! Now I'm job searching while Mark starts his first day at the Boaz Trust today. I thought updating here was good and necessary, especially after such a long hiatus. 

I look forward to updating more on here. Though not at exotic as Africa, there is still much to be shared here, I hope you'll still follow along on our journey! The adventure continues, and as we journey with God it is definitely never going to be boring!

Shakira

Last fall I introduced you to a friend of ours, her name is Shakira. Her story is one of the kind you read in books and it has yet to reach the climax I believe! Shakira was orphaned young, sent from relative to friend to relative, struggling to get an education, let alone to be loved and wanted. As a teenager she ended up on the streets & without her consent, trapped in prostitution. She was able to escape that life, but now found herself stranded in a Kampala slum with another burden to bear: she was HIV+. At this point, she also found herself in a relationship that actually brought some life back to her – a man who wanted to care for her and be with her. They began attending the local church, taking Christ as their Hope and vowing to remain faithful to each other.* Upon further testing, Shakira was now found to be HIV-, and has tested so ever since…a testimony she praises the Lord for daily even still! The two built a humble life together, and within 4 years had 2 small children, Ema & Esther. Her husband, Joseph, had a consistent job working in construction. Quite an upswing in Shakira’s life!

Then, tragedy hits again. Joseph falls from a roof, injuring his head, at work & is now in the local hospital, Mulago, and the family has no provision. Soon, Shakira finds herself locked out of her house after not making the rent payment – which is where James, our friend who works alongside the Thread of Life sewing shop by recruiting ladies from the slum, found her – alone, despairing, in the rain, without a home for herself & two small children!

Seriously, I can’t make this stuff up…sounds like a movie scene, and yet for this young mother, it was real and vicious and hopeless. James asked her what was wrong & she spilled her story to him. CLD was able to help Shakira in the beginning to pay her rent and not go without food. With time, as we came to know her more and realize how brilliant and strong this woman was, CLD supported her in buying a plot of land and building a house there in the slum. She was then able to live in one room and rent two others out, creating an income for herself. Eventually Joseph came home, but not without some health issues that hung on. He was unable to hold down a job, to provide for his family.

Now, I wasn’t around during this time, so I can’t say that I’ve got all the details exact or timing correct. But sometime after this, Shakira approaches the guys at CLD with a proposal for a business. This proposal was for a chicken business – a chicken coop with hens laying eggs to sell or broiler chickens to sell for meat. Having worked with chickens when she was young, she already held a lot of knowledge and also knew of a class she could take to help her prepare to care for the chicks and run this business. The goal was to create enough profit that the business would eventually fund the micro-loans that CLD was beginning to offer to some women in the slum!

*photo by Jeff Guerrero

The plan was brilliant and so fund-raising began to purchase some land and build a house and coop outside of the city for Shakira and her family to move to. This past fall, the family moved out of the slum to their new home in Namusera – a gorgeous plot overlooking a valley of pastureland! In January, Shakira began with her first round of chickens, 250. She tirelessly cared for them & by March they were ready to be sold. She had some potential buyers from around the area come to look at the chickens and found a few that wanted to purchase all the chickens the next day. Then, the misfortune struck again: deep in the night, thieves came and stole 100 of the chickens! It seems this had happened before in the neighborhood, so we found out after the fact. This was a definite low-point, but after the drama of getting the story straight and clearing Shakira of any wrong-doing, we continued on and she was able to sell the remaining chickens by Easter. Now Shakira is excited to start with a new wave of chicks and has been researching many new ideas for lowering costs, increasing quality of the chickens and providing a more steady income.

The story is full of Hope, but I only wish you could actually sit and talk with this woman! She has become a friend to me, someone whom I find encouragement and inspiration through every time we talk. Around every bend there is a new challenge to face for Shakira: her husband doesn’t want to anything to do with living in the village and working with chickens, there are school fees, empty stomachs, rags for clothing, etc. Her life isn’t magically perfect. Yet she perseveres, ever with her heart focused on her faithful God. In just six months she has created such a community of friends around her in this new village. When I visit her there, everyone who passes greet her with smiles, friends bring by gifts of food or herbs to her. Her compassionate spirit and patient resolve draw people to her. She has huge hopes for the future, always thinking about how they can create more business so that she can help the other women in the slum out of their poverty! This woman with a dark and disheveled past, speaking now with authority, confidence, and conviction is 26 years old!

I share Shakira’s (abridged) story with you to honor her and to honor our faithful God who truly lifts the oppressed to places of glory. You could also pray with me for Shakira & her family. She is expecting baby #3 this summer and is glowing with anticipation. Her husband comes and goes, but does not do any work to help with the business, nor does he bring anything home to provide for the family.

In the midst of a few steps forward and, seemingly, a hundred steps back some days, Shakira’s smile and faith are reminders of why I’m here – of what God is doing among his people! Thanks for being part of this with me, and with Shakira!

* Marriage in this culture is very different than ours. A traditional or church wedding both carry huge burdens of finances as bride price and huge parties are expected by both families. Thus, many couples find themselves committed to each other for a number of years before even being able to ‘officially’ wed.