Africa

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I know it's been a good long while since I've put anything on this blog. To be fair, I was in Africa. Which I'd love to tell you guys about.

Africa was a life-changing experience. I know that our team got the chance to impact some people while we were there, but in all honesty, I think our lives were impacted in a much greater way than any of us expected.

I think we all get caught in this routine of everything being just how we expect it. We are blessed with things we take for granted all the time--clean water, running water, electricity, and availability of resources. We visited villages in Malawi that were so clearly lacking these simple things we use on a daily basis. The children don't wear shoes because they want to save the only pair they own for a special occasion, like church. They play with balls of trash wrapped tightly with twine. Yet they are still so happy. Could I be happy in those circumstances?

The village church

One of the most amazing experiences we had was during a service we did in a village church one Sunday. This church we went to had a building of sorts, if you call a wooden frame covered in cardboard boxes a building. Inside, there were a few benches, some material with Bible verses on it, and a pulpit. Quite a change from the huge American church with all the latest sound equipment and comfiest chairs. Once again, these Christians have next to nothing, but they praise God with such passion and love. Their praise and worship was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard in my life. I couldn't understand a word they were singing, but the intent was clear. They unabashedly sang as loudly as they could to praise God, and it brought me to tears. It was so incredible to realize just how God can reach anyone, anywhere, and how varied the body of believers really is. God was there, in that little church covered in cardboard, just as He is in our huge arenas or tiny hometown churches.

The most challenging part of the trip for me personally was when we had to prepare sermons for that church service in the village. I HATE speaking in front of people. Speech class has been the hardest class of my college career to date because I dislike being in front of people so much. But I couldn't refuse to preach a short sermon based on the simple fact that I was intimidated. So, with much prayer and trepidation, I preached my first very, very, very short sermon to that small African church. Because we didn't know Chichewa (the local language), we had an interpreter, which made preaching more disjointed, but I kind of enjoyed it. I'm sure it wasn't that great of a sermon, but the people seemed to appreciate it all the same, and I learned that preaching is definitely not as intimidating as I thought it would be, simply because I was talking about Jesus.

We had a lot of different ministry opportunities while we were in Malawi: we painted a TV studio (see first picture); traveled to several different villages to evangelize and do children's services; visited a crisis nursery and a compound for AIDS orphans called Village of Hope; and did several church services, both in village churches and a church in Lilongwe, which is the capital of Malawi. Every single opportunity we had was incredible, and whether they know it or not, the people ministered to us as much as we ministered to them.

The funny thing is that I used to tell my mom that I would never go to Africa. Apparently God thought that was pretty funny, since He ended up sending me to Africa, and I ended up loving it.

Africa was life-changing. It really opened my eyes to how universal the gospel is, and it also made me examine my priorities back in the States. Maybe someday I'll go back. We'll see what God has planned!

If you're reading this and you helped support me in any way, whether it was financial or spiritual, I just want to say thank you. The trip was incredible, and I appreciate every dollar and prayer.