Africa Story #1: Victory!

My brother Colin and I arrived home safely from Tanzania on Tuesday, June 1st. The trip was amazing. Thanks for all your prayers and support! I felt so covered in prayer the whole trip. When things would get quiet, and I was too tired to even think, it was such a comfort to know that people were praying for me and Colin and the whole team. Thank you so much.
The phrase God has put in my heart to declare as the phrase for the trip is this:


God did incredible things to make His name famous.


As I head on to the overseas mission field, I always go expecting great things from God. He always shows up and shows off. :) As I go expecting great things from God, I have also learned to expect attacks from the devil. Satan does not want more people to come to know God. But he always fails, no matter how many attempts he makes to stop God's people from sharing the truth of Jesus Christ with others.

Before the trip, I personally was attacked by doubts. This happened last year too. Finals week was stressful, but along with lots of studying time came many doubts. About finals and the trip and graduation and then even about my image and my ability to share the gospel. My roommates opened my eyes to these ridiculous and outrageous doubts, and I realized I myself did not believe any of these thoughts. Ah! The devil was trying to bring me down before the trip. I prayed and read and recited truth from God's Word. Goodbye, doubts.

Then, the Monday before the Sunday I was leaving, I woke up sick. I did not hesitate. No freaking out or worrying or questioning if I should go on the trip. I have been sick before EVERY mission trip, and I know that, again, it is only the devil trying to stop me from going. I went to the doctor, got some meds, and continued on with my packing and preparing. I felt almost well as I got on the plane on Sunday.

Finally, we were on the plane headed to Tanzania! And then...
The volcano in Iceland erupted again. I was watching a movie when a little notice popped up saying we were not headed to Amsterdam any longer. Instead, we were going to Dusseldorf. Dusseldorf? Yes, Dusseldorf, Germany. Now I have a Germany stamp on my passport. Then, we had to take a three-hour bus ride from Dusseldorf to Amsterdam. But we played cards, and thanks to Michael Talley from Dallas, we laughed a lot.
Next, we had to stand in the longest line in the world. Much, much, much longer than DisneyWorld. For three and a half hours. And no one, including the Amsterdam airport employees, knew what was going on. I was glad to be in charge of moving Michael's guitar inch by inch as the lined moved forward. It gave me something to focus on and be distracted by. And then, when we thought that maybe we could glimpse the end of the line, a man told Steve that our plane was waiting for us, and we did not have to stand in line. We ran very fast to some sneaky way through security and caught our plane to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Praise God!

Satan still tried to stop us. A group from Alabama was stuck in Paris for two days because of the volcano, but, after an additional three flights, they made it safely to Tanzania. During the two weeks in Tanzania, there was no shortage of flat tires and delays and broken down buses and fishtailing vans. Lots of waiting and wondering. Much confusion as, many times, no one knew what was going on. There was problems with hotels as people were split up or had to share rooms.

Above that, there was trouble the second week as the group tried to get permission to go into the Ngorongoro Conservation to talk to the Maasai people about Jesus. The government wanted each member of our team to pay $100 per day. Our budget would not allow for this. Finally, Keith Screws, the e3 leader from the states for our team, and Michael Silas, the second-in-command for e3 in Tanzania, after much debate with the person in charge, were able to get the price lowered to only $25 per day per US team member and $1.50 per Tanzanian team member. Praise God! We only were able to stay in the conservation for 4 days, but that was more than enough.

Other e3 campaigns had troubles too. One team never made it to their final destination, but instead were able to go to a different city. There was a trip originally planned to this city, Morogoro, but not enough people signed up. But because of the volcano, half of the Tabora team ended up in Morogoro! Churches got to be planted there, and people heard the name of Christ!

Satan may think that even as I share these stories with you, he will get some credit. He tried really hard to stop us from getting to Tanzania and from getting to the conservation. But he failed. And failed miserably.

After five campaigns in five cities, including the ones where I was in Mang'ola and Ngorongoro, over 23,000 people heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and over 13,000 people prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God deserves all the glory. Despite the devil's attempts, God blew away all my expectations and exceeded them beyond my imagination!!!!!!!!!!!! His power is inconceivable. The great thing is that though our plans were thwarted and turned on their heads and shattered, His plan played out perfectly just the way He planned and purposed from the beginning of time. I loved what my friend, Kala, said when we shared testimonies from the two weeks. She said, "I always knew God was good. But these weeks really God really showed me that He is perfect. And so is His timing."

Join me in worshipping the Victorious One. In Him, we always have the victory. Despite the circumstances. Despite every attempt made by the devil. God is always victorious!!!!

"With God we will gain the victory..." Psalm 60:12

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

"Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." 1 John 5:4

Love in The Victorious One!!!