I'm back in the States!!!!

I have been back in the States for a week now, and that's hard to believe. I said good bye to my teammates the day before yesterday and that was really hard. I had spent every waking moment with them for the past 2 1/2 months. It felt surreal to put them in a van and send them home. I will miss them and their friendships very much but I am oober excited to see my friends and family back in Ohio in a week!! I land back home on the 15th of December and I can't tell you how excited I am!! My next assignment is still up in the air but I will let you know when I know for sure. Until then, enjoy some more pictures from my last 3 months...


This picture is dedicated to Josh...it was taken during my least favorite drama "The Chair" but apparently Josh really liked that one :)


This is just a cool picture my friend took. It was taken at a school after a presentation.


This is the view of the mountain that sat across from our living quarters at Orphan Care. This was taken when stepping out of the bathroom. Gorgeous, huh?



Ok, the rooms on the left are the rooms we slept in. 3 girls in one, 2 girls in another, and then the guys in one. There was enough room inside for 2 sets of squeaky bunk beds, just enough room for a couple suitcases, and barely any room for walking around. The next set of doors (that I am sitting in front of) are the toilets. There were 3 working stalls and 1 was out of commission. The next 2 doors were our showers and the last door was where the washer was. And the lady in red is me, I am reading my Bible :)


There were 3 dogs that were always around even though we didn't know where they came from or who they belonged to. I thought this was a cute picture of them :)

Thank you again for all of your love and support. I can't wait to get home and see everyone again.

Lots of Love,
Britt

I'm Back!

Wow, it's hard to believe that my time in Africa is almost coming to a close!! I don't have much time but I wanted to let everyone know that I am flying out of Africa this Thursday 29th of November at around 7pm (12ish your time). If you could pray for safe travels and that I have a fun person to sit by on the 18 hour long plane ride back to Florida that would be great! I will be landing some time on the 30th. I am having a blast and learning so much!!! Thank you for all of the messages and emails. I love you and appriciate all of your love and support! The next time I talk to you might be over the phone ;)

Greetings!

“If Christ be God and gave himself for me, then no sacrifice that I can make for him is too great.” C. T. Studd

We went to a school yesterday where at the end of our time there the teachers kept thanking us over and over again because they said our message is exactly what their kids needed to hear. The kids were a tough crowd and we felt like we did nothing but then came their smiles when we handed them their books, the smiles made the whole thing worth it.

The next couple of days along with taking the message of Jesus to students in farm schools (schools located on farms for the farm kids—creative, eh?) we are showing them Jesus in other tangible ways. These kids go to school sick and when nurses are called in no one comes. At another school the children walk kilometers to school barefoot because they don’t have any shoes. Today we brought them shoes and with tears in her eyes the teacher exclaimed, "How did you know?" Our answer was, "Jesus". Our other school told us that they can see a difference in the students about 6 months after they start attending there. Why? Because they feed them. The students suffer so much from malnutrition it is hard to teach them anything but the principal works hard to feed them and over time there is improvement. We are taking these schools shoes, medicines and food. We will also be bringing them a future hope in Jesus. Please pray for our next couple of days and that God will continue to meet the needs of these schools and the children that attend them.


This is me sharing my story of how my life was before Jesus and how it is now that I know Him. After each drama we tie in our stories to make them applicable to the kid's lives. Here I shared with a crowd of about 600 5-10 year olds. Standing near me is Chicky who translated what we said into Zulu.

I want to add more pictures but I am having difficulties. I will try again tomorrow:)

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!

Hello Friends!!!

So I am in Potchefstroom for 2 weeks, well I have actually been here since Sunday, but I will have been here for 2 weeks. I then head back to Ingwavuma on the 4th of November. I am still going into schools and talking with students. Today we got to meet with students and talk about what is going on in their lives. In a group of 7 4 of the ladies I was talking to have been hospitalized for trying to commit suicide. One of the ladies just got out of the hospital a couple of days ago. There is a lot of pressure on both sides to have sex, the girls have to prove they are "good enough" and the guys have to prove they are men. Please pray for the students to see that their value does not come from sex or another person but their value comes from God and that makes them priceless.

I will be heading back to Ingwavuma and will be staying there until the end of November. Internet is probably not going to happen so please forgive me for not updating very often. I will be able to check my email again before I head back so feel free to send me a little "hello". Thank you for everyone who has commented on my blog or has sent me emails--I have really enjoyed them!!!

Bethany--sorry I can't put pictures on here now, I have a time limit and the internet is so slow I wouldn't even get it done. But one day Darling, I will put more pictures of me on here. Thanks for asking--I love you:)

My back is much better--thanks for all the prayers. I am out of time, but keep praying for children and for my team. I love you and will update again when I can!

p.s. My offical date of return is December 15th and my departure date is January 14th (yeah it changed again, but I get to see Sahi! :) I am spending a couple of days before Christmas with my dad, a couple of days after Christmas with my mom, and Januaray 9th with Amanda Vince. I would love to spend time with you while I am home!!! *just so you know*

Recap on the 10 day Team

My time with the 10 day team is nearing the end. We spent one week working in 2-3 schools a day, visited a squatter camp, worked with orphans, handed out food, and spoke on the radio! Whew....what a week. Let me tell you more and share with you some pictures :)

A squatter camp: 3000 people who have no money and no food. These people live on a piece of land that is not their own. The owner of the land may come at any moment and tell them to leave. The people then pack what little they do have and wonder around until they find another peice of land to squat. The most disturbing part is that just around the corner from the squatter camp is the most affluent population and some people outside the squatter camp don't even know that they are there. While our team was there we handed out food to 10 families, were able to pray with very ill people and visited a preschool.
At the preschool we made balloon animals for them.



My favorite drama we do is called "Values" or "Chappie". I get to pull a kid out of the crowd and tease them with gum and money. It is a lot of fun and then after I talk to them about how they are valuable. This picture is of the guy I called out. He had a great sense of humor and made it a lot of fun :)



Some beautiful girls we gave books to :)



Thanks to your support these amazing kids get to hear about Jesus. They get to hear about a God that loves them so much and how He thinks the world of them. They are important and God has a plan and a purpose for every single one of them. Please keep praying for the children. Also, please pray for my back. I love picking them up and telling them they are special but it is paying a toll on my back. I spent the last 2 days not being able to stand vertical. Praise the Lord one of the ladies on the 10 day team is a nurse/chiropractor!! I am walking almost normal but pray I can spend the next 2 months playing with and holding the children. I love you all!!!

What I have been up to...

This past Tuesday and Wednesday our team lead a camp for some young adults in Ingwavuma. We wanted to inspire them to volunteer and get involved with community. They all had dreams and aspirations, they just needed to hear that they could do it!! A lot of them wanted to know how to share the Gospel.

I met a girl named Amanda. She was very outspoken and had eyes to see where a lot of her community's needs were. She wanted to see changes and she really has the personality to do it! When our camp came to a close she was crying. One of our ladies went over to see what was wrong and it turns out that being with us Amanda realized that she had not delt with the pain of losing her two younger sisters and aunt in an accident last year. We were able to pray with her. She left smiling and excited to be apart of her community changing.

While someone else was with Amanda I was with a young lady named Cwalile (pronounced with a click). I went over to her because I felt like I was supose to pray for her. I asked her what I could pray for and I expected her to say for her family--she wanted to see them as believers in Jesus. Or I thought she would ask for boldness to witness because she had mentioned earlier that she wanted to be able to tell more people about Jesus. Instead this 17 year girl who wanted to be a nurse when she graduated asked me to pray that God would heal her of something in her blood. She said she was very sick and had been for a few years and though she could not explain it in english, she said something was in her blood. She asked that I would pray for her faith because the sickness had affected her faith. I prayed so hard for her in those few minutes that God would heal her, that He would be glorified through the healing and that her faith would only increase and see her through. She said thank you and walked away smiling.

At church on Sunday I sat by my friend Sean. He was telling me about what he was reading in the Bible and behind us sat our team leaders. They were talking with a young lady that said it was her first time to church. She was holding her bother's baby and telling Liz and Daneli how our team came into her school and gave her a Book of Hope. She read through it and was triggered by the part about a future. She asked her sister if she could go to church with her and so she came.

These are just a few stories of some of the lives the Lord is working through. Thank you for your support. Please pray for the above ladies, I know they would appriciate it! I love you all!

Ingwavuma, South Africa

Greetings from Africa!!!

So we have officially finished our first week of schools!! I never thought making a fool of myself in front of kids would be so much fun. They laugh a lot and they sing beautifully. They teach them when they start school to sing and they do it all of the time. Most of their songs are about worshiping Jesus. It takes my breath away listening to it. Ashley White you would love it here!!!!

In case you want to find me on a map I am living in Ingwavuma, South Africa. I am here until Friday and then I will be heading around South Africa with my team leader, Daneli. We are leading a 10 day team and should be back to Ingwavuma October 9th.

Last week we went to 7 schools and we had an oppurtunity to visit a men's prison. About 50 men and boys got to hear how Jesus loved them very much and that He had a plan and a purpose for each of them. After that me and 2 other ladies went to a hospital and read a kids book about HIV/AIDS to about 20 mothers and small children. I got to hold an itty bitty baby and pray for her.

I will put more pictures on here as soon as I can. Internet is really slow as you can imagine :)

I forgot to ask...Josh, how did your wheat bread work out for ya?

The children are beautiful and they smile, when you get it out of them. Please pray that Jesus would meet them where they are and that they would read their books. I love you all very much!! Thank you for all your support!

So this is it Kiddos!!

After 2 1/2 weeks of training we are ready to head out to the children!!! We are all very excited. We head out tomorrow (Friday) at 10am and we drive what should take 7 1/2 but probably will turn into around 9 hours to a place 5k from Swaziland. The team will be there for 3 weeks, but me and another lady named Daneli will be venturing out on our own to lead a team of 15 people for 10 days. Then we go back to our team and visit more schools. But before I go....pictures as promised :)


We went on a safari around the Game Farm!!!

Sunsets are beautiful EVERY night.

This is me during one of our very exciting classes. I am sitting by my friend Sarah from Alabama. Sadly when we divided into teams she was assigned to the other one :( I won't see her again for 2 months. The guys is Matt. He is a leader and will be doing a lot of traveling by himself.

This is us traveling into town. Traveling will be a little tighter than this. The girl I am sitting by is from Miamisburg, Ohio so I might be traveling home with her in December!

I don't know when I will get to post again. Please pray for the hearts of the children we will be talking to and for unity with our team. Thanks Friends!!

I made it!

So I've actually been here for a couple of days but I haven't been able to get access to the internet. All together it took us 34 hours to get here...."here" being a Game Farm. That's right kids I live on a Game Farm. This means while eating breakfast we watch giraffes scurry across a large dry field. It is beautiful! Our plane ride through Africa took 18 hours with a 1 hour gas refueling in Dakar, Senegal. I felt the affects of jet lag last night when I couldn't fall asleep until 3am and got back up at 6:30am. Needless to say today was a little rough. We are taking a week and a half to train here and then on the 12th we head out to are different locations. We will mostly be in South Africa with a chance of moving up north to Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, or possibly into Lesotho. I was told when I got to Florida to expect to lead a team sometime in May but recently found out I will be leading one Sept. 28-Oct.8. Where to I do not know :) Side note: we are 6 hours ahead of you.

The more I learn about Book of Hope the more amazed I am. "To affect destiny by providing God's eternal Word to every child and youth of the world" They live and breath this. And now do I. 5% of the kids in S. Africa go to church. Which means 95% of them do not. 1 in 10 people are affected with HIV/AIDS. There is a sick dilusion going through the country that if you sleep with a virgin you will be healed of AIDS. So rape is high. Kids having sex is starting regularly aroung the age of 12 or 13. So child rape is high. Also a lot of these kids have either lost one or both of their parents to HIV/AIDS. Please pray that our message of Hope and new life in Christ would penetrate the hearts of the children we meet. They said we will be going to the poorest places that they haven't been able to reach yet. Pray that the children and communities would reach out to Jesus to provide for their needs and that they don't rely on and become dependent of the Americans.

I hope to add pictures soon but have to wait until we go into town. I think that will be on Tuesday..? Rule #3 of missions work: Be flexible. I love you all!

What this is all for...

Three Stories

This link leads to a video that tells of 3 lives that were drastically changed because of Jesus. They were reached with the Gospel through Book of Hope. I have the privilege of being on the front lines. My job is to go into schools and hand out thousands of copies of the Book of Hope. I get to see the faces of the children as they are receiving God's Word, sometimes for the first time in their lives. I get to reach out to literally the fatherless, the child prostitutes, the sick, the dying and all with the message of hope that they are special...that they are loved...and that Jesus has the power to conquer anything and everything.

The world doesn't just need food to feed the hungry or clothes to warm the naked. This world needs Jesus.

I heard a quote today, "If you will hold the rope, I'll go down into the darkness" That is what you are to me. You are the support I need to go to the dark places. I could not do this without your help and without your prayers. So thank you.

Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey!!!

So I made it to Florida. My first day here I made a trip to the doctors and now I am immune to Typhoid and Polio--Thank you Jesus! I've been meeting new people and trying to charm them--I think it is going well :)

I wanted to give you an updated version of my tentative flight plans:

Sunday September 2nd we are dropped off at the airport at 6:30am. We fly to Atlanta to hop on the plane that will take us to Africa. The 2nd flight is 18 hours long!!! We land in Johannesburg somewhere around 4:30 pm on the 3rd of September.

I don't know how often I will be able to update. I have asked if we can receive mail and they are pretty sure once we get to Africa we will have a mailing address to be reached at. I will let you all know. I love hand written letters *wink*

If nothing else please know that Jesus is amazing and we (me, my team, and the children of Africa) need your prayers. I will post again sometime in Africa.
I love you all!!

Faithful

I had a minor scare last night that almost resulted in me not leaving tomorrow. Two words for you: support raising. I felt like God promised me from the beginning that He had cattle on a thousand hills and that He was going to supply all that I needed. He again has proven Himself faithful and against the odds I am leaving tomorrow. Just when I think I know what it means to "rely on the Lord" He shows me something new.

Fun News: My grandmother bought a globe for herself so she could follow me around the world. Cool, huh?

Trust Jesus. He is Faithful!

Less than a week!

I just read Steve and Liz's blog at brannanfam.blogspot.com and I was inspired to start my own. I am leaving in less than a week and as crazy as that is I feel very ready. Sometimes life moves so fast that I feel like I can't keep up but with this new adventure ahead of me I feel like I am in just the right place at just the right time. I love Jesus so much and I want everyone to know Him no matter what it takes and no matter what it costs me.