Some post-Harvest School Thoughts

This has been the most difficult, life changing, and wonderful two months of my life. I mean those words with all of my heart. I've spent nights shivering in a tent under layers of clothes, a heavy blanket, and a sleeping bag, crying painful tears wondering what on earth I'm doing here. I've seen things I'd never experienced and felt lonelier and more confused than ever in my life. I've watched a little boy eat a handful of dirt and I've seen a grown man sit on the ground in tears because of a painful infection in his mouth that he had no way to do anything about. I've cried out to the Lord in the middle of many sleepless nights as I've realized just how hard this life can really be. I've struggled and wrestled with things in my heart that I never knew were there. There have been many times where I truly wanted to give up and go home, to live a regular, comfortable life and leave Africa and all my dreams behind.

But I saw a blind man see.
I held hands and laughed for hours with an old woman who could finally sleep after months of torment and pain. I saw demons flee. I saw people experience the love of the Father for the first time. I called women beautiful and saw their faces light up and laughter erupt out of hearts that have endured more than I can imagine. I've watched Jesus heal and I've witnessed his restoration and his LOVE that changes nations, and when I think about the rest of my life I realize that I can never do anything else but what he asks of me. I've realized that I'm happy anywhere as long as I'm in his presence. I'm perfectly content to love anybody in any city or village or nation as long as it is His love filling me to overflowing. I've learned that I can't survive without His presence - I need it more than I need to breathe. I feel so new and so different, like any ounce of religion that was there before was gone and it's just Jesus - he is all I want. I'd been trying to live as a slave when He calls me daughter. It's not complicated. All I have to do is be with him and any and all fruit will flow from that secret place. I can ask anything in his name and he will do it. I can read the Bible and actually believe every word if it because I've seen it over and over right before my eyes. I've laid hands on an aching back and seen all pain go in Jesus' name. It's real. It's true. And I can really be so foolish and so childlike to just believe his every word. And all the pain I have ever felt has been taken away and redeemed and replaced with this unbelievable joy that has me rolling on the floor laughing in the middle of a sermon and I literally can't stop because I just can't get over how good God is. I've spent nights just so drunk in his presence that I wonder if it's too good to be true, and then he pulls me deeper. He shows me something new. The verse he gave me for this season was Jeremiah 33:3 - Call to me, and I will answer you and show you great and unsearchable things which you do not know. I am overwhelmingly amazed at how prophetic and true that verse has been in my life throughout these past 10 weeks. It has gone so fast but also seems like it's been a lifetime, like my old life is so far gone that I can't believe it's only been 2 months. God can do a lot with the little that we give him. And now I get to go to Madagascar and then to Pittsburgh and really live and pour out everything that he has poured into me, and I'm SO excited to love people. "She will be so ruined and wrecked by love that she will run full force into the darkness." Wow, praise Jesus that he would look at me and consider me worthy to be a carrier of his powerful love. I can't get over it. And there's always more, there's always enough.

Final Thoughts

Okay, so it's 10:30pm and I'm leaving my house at 3am! AAAHHHH!!!
I will be in South Africa at 3am Friday (it'll be 8am there) so that's about 24 hours of travel. I'm so excited, I love everything about traveling. Airports, passports, flying, new people, new places. I CAN'T WAIT!!
My dreams are coming true and I'm sooooo amazed at God and all his goodness.

Here are some final thoughts before I go on this life-changing journey!

1. The chances of me actually blogging in Africa are pretty slim. The best way for you to see updates from my trip is Facebook. (My name is Gianna Marie Bellante if you want to add me, lol.)
I don't think I'll really have a good idea of how much I can communicate until I get there, which is fine with me. I'm so excited to really enter into the African world and learn everything I can about everything.

2. I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has given to make this trip possible.
I felt very clearly that I was not to send support letters or do any kind of fundraising for this trip. (Not that there is anything wrong with those things, just that for this specific trip I felt the Lord was asking me to simply trust him and not try to figure anything out myself.) So I didn't.
Yet every time I needed something--money, a tent, a backpack, anything--it came. Through babysitting jobs, friends, family, and even strangers, God just so perfectly and lovingly provided everything I needed.
And he always does, but I'm overwhelmingly amazed every time.
I was laughing earlier because when I applied for this school, it cost $3,000.00. I thought to myself, okay, I can do this. Well, I think I've spent about $10,000.00 at this point. And I'm like wow, I could NEVER HAVE DONE THIS MYSELF EVER. I heard my mom say about adoption once, "We didn't have any money when we started and we don't have any money now, so it's the same thing!" Lol, I think that same thing applies to everything God calls us to do. He just takes care of it. Wow, he is awesome. So, you know who you are, THANK YOU so much for allowing God to use you. You might feel like you just gave me one little thing or just gave a little money but nothing is little in the kingdom of God. You are a precious, irreplaceable part of this beautiful journey and I am eternally grateful to you.

3. I also want to thank my the Joyful Twirlers girls for raising prayer support for me and making bracelet for the children in Africa. I had a blast getting to meet you all, talking to you, answering and asking questions, and making bracelets. I'm so glad to have so many new friends and can't wait to see you when I come home! Thanks for praying for me and recruiting others to join us on this adventure--it means more than you'll ever know.
The Bible says "where two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them." (Matt. 18:20)
If God is in the midst when two or three are praying, imagine 600! I am not even afraid or worried about anything because I know that I'll be covered in prayer the whole time!! Thank you sooo much!

 

 

 

 4. Check out irisglobal.org and learn more about Iris Global. AWESOME MINISTRY. I'm so excited to work with, learn from, and serve with them. I don't know what the future holds for me but I do know that these next three months are going to be INCREDIBLE. I'm just so excited.

I think that's everything for now! Not sure when I'll blog again, but adventure of my dreams here I come!!! Thank you to everyone who has given and prayed!

I love you all!

Gianna

God is Sovereign

adjective

5.

belonging to or characteristic of a sovereign or sovereign authority;royal.

6.

having supreme rank, power, or authority.

7.

supreme; preeminent; indisputable

8.

greatest in degree; utmost or extreme.

9.

being above all others in character, importance, excellence, etc.

I love that word! Sovereign. I'm sitting here wondering where I'm going to get thousands of dollars; wondering how I, a girly girl from the suburbs who hates bugs and probably wouldn't go camping if you paid me, am going to live in a tent (with my suitcase) (in Africa) (have I mentioned I'm going to South Africa now?)  for three weeks straight.

I'm thinking about all these things that should leave me feeling nervous, anxious, fearful, and uncomfortable, but you know how I feel?

Thrilled. Absolutely thrilled.

I do not have one ounce of fear in me. I'm so excited that I can barely sleep at night (and I still have 39 more nights of sleep to go). I wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back to sleep because this real, incredible life that God has blessed me with is so much better than anything I can dream of myself.

And the devil tells me I should be worried. Look at your bank account, there's going to be $9 left in there when you pay your tuition on Monday. You have a three-page-long list of things you need to buy plus $1100 for Madagascar still to pay. You only have 3 more pay checks before you leave and that's not going to help you much. You can't do this.

And you know what I do? Laugh in his face.

Because then I get a text asking me to babysit. And another. And someone at work asks me to take two shifts for them. And again. And someone else tells me to pick anything I need and she will buy it for me. And I just can't stop smiling because I know that His power is made perfect in my weakness.

In my inability, He shows up.

God never asks us to do something and then says "now figure it out yourself." He had it all planned out before you even knew what was going on. In fact, He had it all planned out before you even existed. 

So I just look at these huge mountains before me and I laugh without fear of the future because God is sovereign even when the rest of the world is spinning out of control. 

"Don't tell God how big your mountain is; tell the mountain how big your God is."

I know that I know that I know that my Jesus has never and will never let me down. And I am filled with so much joy knowing that I can choose Him in everything and that I'll never ever have to worry about how things are going to work out because He is so much bigger than me.

So even when it seems impossible, even when you find yourself up against a mountain you can't move, be encouraged that He can. Know that He is sovereign and all you have to do is follow ~ trust in Him and he will make your path straight. Lean on him for all of your strength, trust in Him for all of your needs, know that He will show up and show off exactly when you need him to.

The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:24

xoxoxoxo

Gianna

Mozambique & Madagascar

Two M countries in Africa that I knew pretty much nothing about until recently; the countries where I plan to spend October, November, and December :)

I am sooooo excited to announce (on my blog, even though everyone already knows) that I have applied & officially been accepted to Iris Harvest School of Missions in Pemba, Mozambique!

Here is a visual for everyone who will ask me where that is. :)

Since I already blogged about the school here, most of you know all about it. And if you don't, you can read that post and you will be up to date :) I am so honored to have been accepted, and the end of September just can't come fast enough!

This is going to be a crazy experience that will totally rock my world. I can't wait to see what God does in those months. I have already been so blessed by the Harvest School staff & students, and reading through the books we have been assigned to read is making me even more excited to be in Pemba!

(Oh, by the way, here is my application video, in case you didn't see that)

So, the next step after acceptance to the school was to read the student manual and pay the $200 deposit which would officially enroll me in HSM. Check!

The next step was to apply for an extended outreach.
The extended outreach is an additional mission trip following the school in which we will use the training & experience we receive in Pemba. Some of the extended outreaches are to different bush areas of Mozambique, while others are to many other countries and different parts of the world.

In the initial application for Harvest School, I was asked to select a few countries that I might be interested in traveling to after school. I picked some names that sounded familiar, such as Uganda and Cambodia. This didn't guarantee my spot on any extended outreach team, nor did it include descriptions of the trips. I think it was just to get us thinking and praying about the different options.
As I prayed about the countries I selected, the Lord began to reveal to me that none of those countries would be the one I applied for but that He would show me something new I'd never thought about before.

So, about a week later, I received my acceptance letter via email, along with some other emails with more details about Harvest School. One of the emails included the extended outreach summaries.

I carefully read over each one, and although they all sounded awesome, none really grabbed my heart, until I came to the Madagascar trip.
I have only heard of Madagascar from the movie (lol) and because my uncle had traveled there on business. I knew nothing else about the country, which was the main reason I did not initially select it.
However, when I read the description of the trip, I felt the Lord clearly speak to my heart, "That's the one."
Here is the description:

This will be a great opportunity to be part of a new and developing base. Iris Ministries started here in Madagascar in July 2010 and we're currently renting 3 properties for our children's center and looking at land for sale. There are 82 children at present living in our center, but the number of kids increases often!! They range from newborn babies to 19 years old and they love lots of attention and to play!! You will be able to spend some quality time with the kids and just love on them!

We also have some community projects and outreaches:

We have a lunch-time feeding program for around 200 of the poorest children in our neighbourhood who come to eat lunch with us during the week

We have a program called 'Iris Kids in the Community' where we support families with food, medical fees and school fees, to enable them to keep their children at home with them, rather than taking them into our centre.

We have a formula milk program for people who are unable to breast-feed their babies (eg the mother has died and baby lives with grandparents)

We also have a weekly outreach to a nearby rubbish dump where a

community of people all live on the dump, spending their days hunting

for everything they can find from the rubbish to sell. We spend time

playing with the children there, telling some bible stories, praying

with anyone who wants prayer, and taking medical first aid kits with

us as there are often people with injuries there. It's usually really

fun! We want to show the love of God to the poorest of the poor here

in Madagascar.

We also visit the street children who live in the city centre and buy them food. At Christmas we usually have a Christmas party on the streets with them, tell them about Jesus and give our presents.

We want Christmas to be an amazing time for all our kids, and your help is really appreciated in all these projects, helping practically with packing up presents/ giving out food/ preparing stories, drama's and games for the children and also having time to stop and pray for them and to share Jesus with them. We want to show the love of God to the poorest of the poor here at Christmas time!

We would love to have worship and prayer walks around the area and soak the land with the presence of God and build  some amazing spiritual foundations here. It would be great to have prayer soaking, worship and prophetic ministry times for our kids, just soaking them more in the presence of God and ministering to them.

We would also like to include some free time to explore the richness and beauty of the Malagasy culture and would like to take you on a 2 day trip to the rainforest to see the lemurs and other animals that are native only to Madagascar! It was be a shame to come this far and not see some of the incredible natural beauty of Madagascar!

HOW PERFECT IS THAT!?!? :)

Since the extended outreaches cost additional money (for the trip itself and airfare), and the school alone would cost a lot, I asked God if I could really go on this other trip that had become all I could think & pray about. I asked Him to please show me that he would make a way financially for me to also go to Madagascar.
The same day that I prayed that prayer, I went to work, and my boss called me into his office and told me that he was giving me a raise. I couldn't believe it!! He had no idea that I had just been praying about finances. I don't think the raise is large enough to cover the whole trip (but every little bit counts!) but it was definitely my sign from God that he has everything worked out.

Shortly after this, I applied for Madagascar. I then proceeded to check my email every 5 minutes for the next 12 days.

On July 2nd, I woke up and saw that someone had posted in our Harvest School 21 Facebook group that she received her outreach confirmation email. I hurried and checked for mine, and sure enough, there was the email I had been praying for for the past (almost) two weeks! Hooray!!! I ran downstairs and told my parents and we all cried, lol.

So, I am officially going to Madagascar from December 6th - 28th, 2014!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

And here it is, and yes, it is part of Africa.

I am so unbelievably excited for this new journey in my life, and I am so humbled and amazed that the Lord would chose to use me in this way.

I am also so grateful for my family and friends who support me and believe in me, and have encouraged me to follow the dream that God has been growing in my heart for all these years.

If you would like to partner with me in this adventure, in prayer, finances, or both, I would love to hear from you! Feel free to email me at gmbellante@gmail.com, Facebook message me, text, call, anything. If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them as best as I can.

I will definitely need to be raising money; I am not completely sure of how much at the moment, but I will have a better idea when I get airfare prices.

If you need a babysitter or any jobs done, let me know! I work a lot so that takes up a lot of my time, but I am happy to do whatever I can, whenever I can. 

I think this is everything I know right now, so you are all officially updated! Thank you all for your prayers and support as I begin this journey. I still can't get over how good God is. Wow.

All my love,

Gianna :)

"I believe the Lord is calling us to a lifestyle of laid-down love that goes well beyond being waist-deep in the river. It is a permanent lifestyle of 'lower still.' It is a call to dive into a love that is limitless, ceaseless, and bottomless - a call to relinquish control." -Heidi Baker