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!
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:
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!!!
"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
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)
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
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