Apologies and update...finally.

Good afternoon all!!!!

I just want to start by apologising to you all for not updating my blog in a terribly long time. It has been difficult to get on here with limited internet access in India and with our time schedule here...I am so sorry.

INDIA:

Thinking back to sitting on our balcony looking over the city of Hyderabad sends shivers down my spine. I miss it there. The sights, the smells and most especially the people. Our trip was incredible time of seeing God's power really move.

We spent the first four weeks in the city of Hyderabad, working in orphanages, at an AIDS clinic, schools and going on prayer walks.

The AIDS clinic was were we spent a lot of our days, sitting on the patients check ups, praying with them, learning from the doctors, writing letters and the like for the doctors and the biggest project of all painting a childrens room.

The kids room was very plain and dingy looking so our team prayed about it and decided on how we should transform it. A Church here in the U.S supported us as a team so with that money we were able to totally change it! Minhee (our team member from South Korea) came up with two pictures, one was of under the sea and the other with rainbows and bunny rabbits. It took a couple of weeks to do and when it was done, it looked GREAT! I didn't actually do any painting as I was helping others in the clinic. I will post pictures when I can.

One very important thing I did learn while we were in Hyderabad was to "rejoice in the Lord always." And interestingly enough I learned this while I was ill. One day I stayed back from ministry and I had a bad fever. As I was tossing and turning in sweat I very distinctly heard the Lord say "rejoice in me all the time." So that's what I tried to do. Some times were tough, when I just wanted to give up but then I remembered that verse and it transformed my outlook on things.

One place I will never forget was one of the slums we went to, it was right next to a small river, full of all sorts of unpleasant things. We did our program in the late afternoon and as soon as dusk appeared, the mosquitos attacked! I have never seen so many swarms of mosquitoes at once. It became quite hard to concentrate, trying to pray but you have a mosquito flying up your trousers. We soon learned to swat and pray at the same time. As Katie on our team pointed out afterwards...'we're doing it all for the glory of God.' So true and good to remember.

After the month of being in Hyderabad we caught a night train down to Bangalore. It was a fun experience to travel as a team on an Indian train. We didn't get much sleep but it was a great adventure. Waking up to watching monkeys climbing on bridges and huge rock formations on a cloudless day was pretty amazing.

In Bangalore, a more western city, we did a lot of the same kind of ministry, however while we were there we experienced perhaps one of the most exciting events of our outreach. We travelled for about an hour out of the city to a place called 'Stone Village.' A place where miners and a their families live. The amount of dust was incredible, it clung to everything. We did one of our usual programs...which consisted of kids songs, a drama, a Bible story (mainly Jonah, Daniel or David) which we acted out and then ending with prayer for them. As we were praying one of our leaders felt God asking us to pray specifically for people with hearing problems. Two girls came forward for prayer as they were close to deafness and both were healed!!! It was AWESOME how God moved in that place. Their families were ecstatic to find their girls able to hear. Praise God! :)

These are just a few stories of many that I could tell of how God moved while we were in India. It has become a special place in my heart and I cannot wait to return.

BACK IN THE U.S OF A:

I've been back in the U.S now for three weeks. The first week was spent travelling to a new state for me...Alabama! To have a conference with all of the South East YWAM bases. It was exciting to have a week of 'feeding' after giving out for so long.

The week after that, we had a team come from a college up north and stay with us. We went to a bus station with them to do evangelism, did our youth club (Front Porch) about three times and went to other ministries. We also had debriefing for our team that week as we were to graduate that Saturday.

GRADUATION:

Was a day of joy at getting our diplomas, looking back on our teams' times together, remembering how much we had learned and most importantly God's teachings to all of us. It was also a day of tears as we all parted and went our seperate ways. After spending 24 hours a day for 6 months with one another it was a difficult day for us. I'm just thanking God for email and phones! :)

NOW:

That I've finished you're probably wondering what I'm up to. Well...the past week I've been at a friend's house just getting some rest and relaxtion. It's so nice to have to time to do it! I'm thinking of going back to the YWAM Charlotte base next week to spend a couple of weeks there and pitch in where I can and after that...I'm off travelling to visit Luke (my brother) who lives in California! I'm excited to see what the Lord has planned in the following months though.

I just want to end by saying...THANK YOU!

Without all of you, I would not be here, would not have experienced what I did, would not have met the special people that I have and most of all I wouldn't have such a close relationship with our Heavenly Father. So thank you.