Friday, November 1, 2013

Update :)

I feel like it is probably to update the general public on my life. Well, if anyone wants to know, here it is ;)

Since my last post about not going to college and moving to Africa to work in an orphanage, things have changed a little, or a lot, or not at all. I don't really know :)

Before I left for Liberia, a lovely, awesome woman of God whom I've known all my life and is quite special to me called and told me that the Lord had put it on her heart that I needed to read this book: Love Has a Face, by Michele Perry. So I did. It was a story about a woman, a missionary, in Sudan. I thought it was an awesome story, but wasn't exactly sure why God would want me to read it. I didn't give it much thought after that.

Then I went to Liberia, and it was AWESOME. The one thing that God spoke to me the whole trip was "Yes."
Walking through fields with four orphans holding my hands, "yes."
Sitting on a dusty bench with a child in my arms and a new friend beside me, "yes."
Carrying sleeping babies, playing with beautiful children, "yes."
Preaching in a church the size of my dining room/kitchen, praying for person after person and being prayed for right back, "yes."
Bouncing along on crazy roads, feeling sick and possibly on the verge of death, wondering if I can actually do this, "yes."
Leading people to Christ, seeing whole families drop to their knees, "yes."
Waking up to roosters crowing, falling asleep to pounding rain, "yes."
Every experience, every moment, every feeling, yes.
This is it, you were made for here.

I came home so, so sure that God wants me in Africa.

Sometime later, a number of people in my life began to express uneasiness about my plans to move to Africa with no training, no backing, etc. I was hurt at first because I thought that all of those people had supported me, but I greatly respected their thoughts, and understood that the Lord could possibly be using them to speak to me for a reason.
Partly out of curiosity and partly to please others, I went on Google and searched "missions school in Africa".
The first result was "Harvest School of Missions."
So I clicked on it.

Harvest School of Missions. Pemba, Mozambique. Iris Global. Rolland and Heidi Baker.
Remember that book God wanted me to read?
Well, Michele Perry is a missionary with Iris Global. She learned from Rolland and Heidi Baker. She went to Harvest School of Missions in Mozambique. In the book, she talks about it and what a crazy, unbelievable experience she had there, the incredible things the Holy Spirit did, how it changed her and challenged her, the miracles she saw, the things she learned.
Hmmmm.

I spent forever on that website, reading everything I could find about Harvest School of Missions, and just cried. I didn't know why I was crying, I just felt so excited and amazed and a million thoughts flooded my head all at once. We could be onto something here.

Here is how it is described:

Iris Harvest School of Missions3 Months Training

God is calling His sons and daughters to GO into ALL the earth, that His house may be full! Iris Harvest School of Missions is preparation for harvesting the nations. For this purpose Iris Global offers international, three-month missions training schools based in Pemba on the north coast of Mozambique. We invite you to come and be trained on the field. Live, love and learn from the poor:
  • Attend a missionary training school with Mozambican pastors and leaders
  • Be trained by Heidi and Rolland Baker and other international ministers and missionaries
  • Three months including extended outreaches: The schools dates are usually between 9-10 weeks. We have many international outreaches after the school that last from 2-4 weeks.
  • Go on extended evangelistic outreaches in local bush areas
  • Live with hundreds of children and experience the Father's heart
  • Gain understanding of how to minister cross-culturally
  • Get practically equipped for the physical challenges of third-world nations
  • Live with a company of abandoned, holy and whole-hearted lovers at the Iris Global Village of Joy in Pemba, Mozambique
You can read all about it here if you want to know more, or ask me. :)
The "About" section is very informative.

So I prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and just get so excited every time I think about it.
I very much feel that God is leading me to go there! The school I want to go to would be from October-December 2014. I have no idea what I would do after that, but am perfectly content to trust God one step at a time. Application doesn't open until June 1, so I can't say for sure that I'm going there, but that is where my heart is at this point in time.

So now, you are all caught up. Thank you so much for your continued prayer, support, and love. I'm so blessed to have family and friends who are trusting God with me!

I love love love this quote from the website.

"There is a new breed of missionaries being released across the earth, transparent saints, with oversized hearts, beating in rhythm with the heart of their Bridegroom King Jesus, carrying His glory across the earth. Fearless, laid-down lovers that know a love that has no boundaries, and are ready to run into the darkest places of the earth and bring in the lost, the dying, the poor and the broken. Jesus came with ceaseless love for both the one and the masses. Now we must do the same: stop for the one, but believe for the multitudes."


Love always,
Gianna. :)


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