Last one before I go...

I head out around 7pm on Wednesday January 30th. I head to Costa Rica, hang out for a day, and then I will take a 10 hour bus ride up to Nicaragua. Crazy!!! In other news...I have had a some people ask for the address at language school. We will be working with some missionaries there so you can send letters or whatnot to that address:

Brittany Arthur
Apartado 614-2010
Zapote
San Jose, Costa Rica
American Central

I will be there for a couple of months and I have heard that it isn't too expensive to mail stuff to Costa Rica.

Also, I got some glasses...



Please keep in touch! Email, mail, blog, I will take anything. I love you all very much!!!!!

Adios,
Britt

HELLO...........ehhh GOOD-BYE!!!!

So funny enough I updated even less with Internet access than I did without it. My bad. I am now back in Florida getting more training on changes that are going to take place this year and slowing hearing about what my next semester will look like. So far what I know is that I will be going to Costa Rica where I will be going to language school for a couple of months and then off to do more ministry in schools :) I will have Internet access all of the time so I should have no excuse for not keeping in touch.


Daneli and are back together again!!!! And she loves it :)





This is me and a few of the other RT Ladies :)



I heard once that young people were doing missions work because they were just looking for their next "experience". I was thinking about that and wondering how true that was for my life. Why am I doing this? Yeah, I love to try new things and I love having a story to tell. But I don't travel so I have another country under my belt or another pair of earrings from a place I can't pronounce. I do it so I can meet the people around the world that the Lord wants me to talk to specifically. I do it because I want the Lord to see that I am serious when I say "Send me. I'll go!" I do it because I want more people to find the love, peace and protection that only comes from knowing Jesus. I want to tell them that even when it doesn't look like anything is going right that the Lord has a plan and He is holding them in the palm of His hand. I go because I want to be the answer to someones prayer thrown up out of frustration in the middle of the night, "IF you are real-show me! Send someone to tell me!"

"Send me. I'll go." Isaiah 6:8

Thank you for sending. Thank you for praying.

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!!!