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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 10/6/2008
Life here is... crazy! Sorry it's been so long since my last post! Things here have been insane, we haven't really had a set schedule, so I'm not sure where I've all been! Wednesday, I got to go with a different ministry team than my normal one. We did house visitations. Basically, we pray and see where God is calling us to go. Since this team has gone before, we went and met up with some of the families they are growing relationships with. It is absolutely crazy how much people will open up here and how willing they are to be prayed for.
Thursday I had the opportunity to go to my Tuesday/Thursday ministry. A little daycare (creche) in Humansdorp, about 20 minutes away. The little kids are so absolutely adorable and I love them to death! The fact that they speak Xhosa and are just learning to talk and don't know any english will be a bit of a barrier, but not much, they're kids and just love to be loved on, and I love it!
Friday I had the opportunity to walk around Jeffreys Bay with bags of food and hand them out to people as we prayed for them. It was amazing to do, yet extremely heart wrenching to see how many people don't have food to eat for the day. Sidenote on that, as we were on the beach, we saw a whale just flapping all over the place, it was really cool. But, the poverty here is intense, as much as it seems like America, it is so apparent that it isn't.
Saturday was our free day, and I found out Saturday night that I had what I thought to be pink eye. It ended up being a bacterial infection caused by contacts that is very contagious (I got it from my cabin mate - same cabin, the other room in it) and one other girl got it as well. So, we have been quaranteened to the leader house. Two days so far, I think tomorrow we get to join society again!
Sunday I just spent at the leader house, Ashley and I just got to sit around watching movies, we missed church and Nation Celebration, which was sad, but it was great just being able to get away and relax and spend some time with God without having 40 other students around.
Today was just a day of relaxing, I was able to spend a lot of time with God and it was absolutely amazing! I love it! Now I am sitting here at the house making boxes for Beat the Drum (I do believe). They are called Ask Francis boxes, where students will drop in questions and they will be answered.
Right now, I need to get back to the boxes, I just wanted everyone to know I'm still alive and well!
Thank you all for your prayers and continued support!
Bri
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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 9/29/2008
Hey everyone! I just have a minute here so I thought I would just post so everyone knows I'm alive! ;) Things are a little hectic right now. At UCSA, where we are staying, they have September camp right now. There are currently 301 students at camp there, so, things are a little crazy! They also have something called the Shell Festival going on in Jeffreys Bay, so there are a ton of people out in the streets everyday. Thankfully, we will be back to a semi-normal schedule on Wednesday! For a little bit...
Then we begin a week long project in Summerset East, it's called Beat the Drum (and I really hope I didn't post about it already!) Here's the info on it:
BEAT THE DRUM Somerset East, South Africa
October 12th-19th 2008
Adventures
in Missions is joining with other Jeffrey's Bay, South African
organizations, churches and friends to bring Beat the Drum to Somerset
East and WE NEED YOUR HELP.
HISTORY OF BEAT THE DRUM
The
horror of so many millions of souls currently under the curse of AIDS
has been seen. The movie "Beat the Drum" was the catalyst for our
response. A multi-faceted approach was developed that continued with a
massive campaign to train young people in AIDS prevention, mobilizing
people, volunteers from Africa and the US to break up into teams to go
into high schools to train the learners in biblically-based AIDS
prevention under a brand new project called, Beat the Drum.
Why Somerset East?
In
early 2008 George and Michele Mwanza took a team to Somerset East for
outreach. They spent three days prayer walking through the community.
Through this prayer walk God introduced them to many influential
leaders and opened their eyes to the need for change and growth within
this small community. George knew that the town was ready for Beat the
Drum it was just getting influential leaders on board. On Friday May
23rd six leaders went to present Beat the Drum to different
representatives of schools, businesses, and churches. The response was
amazing. God was so evident in that room that day. They are ready for
Beat the Drum to happen tomorrow. God is telling us that it's time to
move in to Summerset East and open their eyes and hearts to the ways of
our Lord.
PRAYER NEEDS:
*Continued prayer is needed for the whole week of community outreach week.
*Families of the community
*Finances
*HIV/AIDS positive people in the community
*Home Visits
*For the volunteers
*Curriculum facilitation
*Lasting impact and real value
*For God's spirit to be poured out on the people attending
*Opening of their eyes to the knowledge and truth with understanding
*The Truth of the Word of God
*For the overall smooth running of our programs
FINANCIAL NEEDS:
Vehicle rental/Gas for transporting teams from J-Bay to Somerset East (100 people/3 hour drive)
Curriculum-Our target is 6,000 books which will cost $.80 a book which equals $4,800.
Any additional food that is not donated by the community
HOW TO GIVE: www.adventures.org/give
Type BTD Summerset in the Staff name block
Why Somerset East?
In
early 2008 George and Michele Mwanza took a team to Somerset East for
outreach. They spent three days prayer walking through the community.
Through this prayer walk God introduced them to many influential
leaders and opened their eyes to the need for change and growth within
this small community. George knew that the town was ready for Beat the
Drum it was just getting influential leaders on board. On Friday May
23rd six leaders went to present Beat the Drum to different
representatives of schools, businesses, and churches. The response was
amazing. God was so evident in that room that day. They are ready for
Beat the Drum to happen tomorrow. God is telling us that it's time to
move in to Summerset East and open their eyes and hearts to the ways of
our Lord.
MISSION
To serve the Somerset East Community by
bringing primarily the message of abstinence through Beat the Drum
project and giving hope through meeting felt needs in the community.
EXPECTATION
To see the movement of God
To see believers, Churches and ministries join hands in unity to serve our community
PURPOSE
To educate on HIV/AIDS
To prevent and STOP HIV/AIDS in the community
To care for our community
If you would like to help go to ...
www.adventures.org/give
and type BTD Summerset in the Staff name Block
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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 9/23/2008
A lot faster than I thought it would be, I have found out my ministry location! I am on a team of four other students and one leader. With Megan, Jillian, and Sarah, I will be working between two different locations. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I will be working at a place called Algoa Fragile Care. This is a ministry position where there are nearly 200 children who are disabled, mostly from Cerebral Palsy or disorders that act as such. I have not yet had the opportunity to visit that site, but will very soon. We had a meeting today with a director from there and were able to learn about what they are doing. If I can find a link for their website, I will post it asap so that all of you can see what I will be doing as well. For Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will be working at a place called Intyatyambo (have fun pronouncing that, I will tell you how when I come home! ;) ). This is a ministry in a tiny shack behind a tiny house that a wonderful lady named Virginia is working. Basically, it is a daycare and, though her heart is for disabled children, she does not have any that she is working with for the time being. The babies are beautiful and I cannot wait to begin working with them and helping this wonderful woman of God out!
Yesterday we got to learn about and/or visit our ministry sites. Since Virginia didn't need our help starting yet, our group got to go to St. Francis Bay (about 20 minutes from Jeffreys) to check out that team's ministry site. We got there and all of these kids started chasing after our van yelling and screaming. By the time we got out of the van, a good sized crowd of children had gathered around. For the rest of the afternoon, we just got to play, sing, and color with these amazing kids. It was great for me, because I got to play with this little girl who would not talk to me, just constantly smile at me. As I was getting the other kids off of my back, saying I had to leave, she ran over and gave me a HUGE hug and smile. She wouldn't tell me her name, so I kind of regret not getting that somehow, but it was such a blessing to just be able to play with and love on these kids yesterday.
I am not sure what tomorrow holds, we are just taking everything one step at a time. I will keep everyone as updated as possible, I just wanted to let all of you know where I will be working for these next few months!
Ah, yes, I wanted to give a sample schedule of my days here in Africa. Basically it's like this:
Monday - Friday
8am: breakfast
9am: discipleship
Following discipleship: free time
12pm: lunch
1pm-5pm: Ministry
7pm: dinner
8pm: worship
10pm: curfew (have to be back on the base)
11pm: back in our rooms
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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 9/22/2008
Our compound
Me and teammate, Faith, on the beach!
For the scavenger hunt, we had to go in the ocean! Brrr... Left to right: one of the workers at UCSA, Kayla, me, Mary, Layne, and Tyler
The beauty of God's creation!
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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 9/22/2008
This weekend was civilization free. By that I mean we were at an authentic South African bush camp for the weekend (Welkom in die bosii = welcome to the bush). Our rooms at UCSA were booked this weekend, so we all had to move out to their bush camp. This place has no electricity, heat, running water, anything. Pretty sure I got 4 hours of sleep all weekend because it was literally freezing temperatures, but it was great. It was really interesting to see God's African creation since Jeffreys Bay is very civilized and full of stores. We were able to rappel down a cliff, paintball, or do archery. It was a long weekend of cooking over a campfire, warming by the campfire, freezing in "cabins" made of plywood and no insulation. But God is good. I learned a lot through the different activities. One of my favorites was when we were given red clay from the river and asked to make something we really care about. Then we discussed those and the story in Matthew where Jesus asked the rich man to sell all of his possessions and follow Him. The question is still ringing in my mind of, "If you were to lose that, would God still be enough?" I think it's that way with anything, family, friends, favorite activities, anything. If it were gone, would God still be enough for you?
The last night we were there, we were lead (blindfolded) into the woods and given a rope to hold on to with the instruction of "find the end". The leader was shouting instruction as we walked around what we later found out to be a circle of rope without an end. He began by saying, "If you want help, raise your hand." and ended with, "If you want to find the end, you need to ask for help." Personally, my ‘asking for help' was, "How do I find the end?" It was amazing to me how seemingly unwilling I am to allow other people to help me. It took me three attempts before I finally raised my hand and said, "Help me." And I was led to a warm fire (it was only 2 degrees C, hardly above freezing, yes, I am in Africa, I promise!).
This week, we will find out where our ministry sites will be. Our team of 41 students will be split between 9 different ministries, based on where we see ourselves best fit, where the leaders see us as best fit, and, most importantly, where God sees us as best fit. Because, if He has a plan for us, it will happen, no matter what order I placed on my list for where I wanted to be. I will not put in here what I listed as where I want to go because, for all I know, where God wants me could be the last choice on my list. So, I will let everyone know where I am when it is selected and finalized.
Well, we just sort of moved into our cabin, we may or may not be moving out again in a few days. With AIM, we are learning to be flexible with our plans and just go as we are led. It is difficult to not be able to completely settle in, but we are kind of having fun being nomads at the same time.
Anyway, I am typing this as I am in my room (I type them before I go to the internet café so I don't use too much time there as I have to pay by the hour). And my roommates are very giggly tonight. It's amazing. We have ended up with a very wonderful room and I will post pictures asap!
Much love from Jeffreys Bay,
Bri
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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 9/18/2008
We made it to Jeffreys Bay without too many interruptions. As was somewhat expected, a few of my teammates lost their luggage, but it has already started arriving here for them starting the day after we flew in. In addition to that is the one topic I really wanted to post about. One of my leaders, Melissa, lost her passport and didn't know until we were going through customs in Johannesburg. They wouldn't let her through and they now deported her back to Canada (where she is from). Please, if you can give anything, send money to her account (visit her blog: http://melissaregier.myadventures.org). Please support her because, as of right now, she does not have the money to get a plane ticket back to South Africa and, if she cannot come up with it, she will not be joining us here. So, please, send as little or as much as you can so that she may join us again. I currently have all of my money in, so I am no longer in need of support if anyone was thinking of sending me support, please send it to her instead.
As for Jeffreys Bay, this place is amazing! I cannot believe that I am actually here, that I will be here for at least 3 months, and that this is my home. Really, this is my home now. It's crazy to think that I am only blocks from the Indian Ocean. It's insane to think that these 54 people I didn't know a week ago have already become like family to me. Jeffreys is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We went to the ocean. Oh wait, let me interrupt myself and say that stereotype #1 of Africa has been shot down. That would be that Africa is warm. Ummm... I'm freezing! We are all sitting around in the sanctuary area singing and talking and no one is wearing less than a sweater and some are wearing jackets. At night, it gets really cold here in Jbay and the wind is cold as well. Okay, so, back to the location. It's really weird for me because, when I applied for the trip, I was expecting to be in the middle area of South Africa, in specific Swaziland. Now I have ended up in Jeffreys Bay, right on the ocean, surrounded by stores (including Billabong). It almost doesn't feel like I am actually in Africa. Other than the accents of the locals, I feel as though I am still in America, like I've never left. We are living right in town, a block from stores and coffee shops, two blocks from the beach. It is on a compound called UCSA, a Christian camp area. The cabins we are staying in hold 12 people in two rooms, have one toilet, one shower, and two sinks. We do not have dressers, just one closet area. It's small, but the girls I am rooming with are amazing. One of them is not here yet, she had to wait in Georgia to get her visa, but should be joining us sometime tomorrow along with one other teammate and two of our leaders. One more leader will be joining us on Sunday, then we will just have to wait and pray that Melissa will be joining us again.
I feel like this is all fairly scattered, but life kind of has been as well. We traveled for over 32 hours the past couple days, so once we got here, we kind of crashed and are still attempting to settle into life here. It should be better after this weekend. As far as I know, we are going camping this weekend, then will be able to completely settle into our rooms. Today we were able to spend most of the day in free time wandering around town and getting the essentials that we left in America that wouldn't fit in our suitcases such as shampoo, conditioner, bedding, etc. Everything is easily accessible, which is nice, but at the same time, it's not what I was expecting at all because it is almost too easy. I wanted to leave the comfortable lifestyle, but I suppose I will get used to this, and it is still very different from the US.
I will not be posting pictures of any ministry we are doing for at least a month. This includes any people I will be working with. It was by request of our leaders and really makes sense, so I just wanted to explain it to everyone quickly. Basically, it is because we do not want the people to feel like we are coming in and they are, in a sense, caged animals for our entertainment. I hope that makes sense. So, we will not be taking pictures of ministry sites until we get to know people and have their permission instead of just snapping shots of them (imagine 54 people, not the same ethnicity as you, coming into your home and taking pictures of you). I will, however, post of what I am doing in the sites.
Well, this is very long and I'm not sure when I will have internet (I'm just going to copy and paste from my word processor) so I hope it is not extremely overdue by the time I get it up!
In Him,
Bri
I'm sorry for lack of pictures! I will post some as soon as I can! My camera is not with me right now and I didn't have time to put them on my computer before I left for town (it's a little difficult to organize because we are not allowed to leave the base unless we have at least 3 in a group).
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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 9/15/2008
And by that I mean: FIRE ANTS. Okay, not really. But they are painful!
This week cannot be put into words. I have grown so much this week. It was amazing, trying, fun, difficult, learning, teaching, growing, and gaining. Our team is HUGE! 41 students and 14 leaders. If you could all pray for unity, that would be amazing. It is going to be difficult to keep a team this large together unless God intervenes, and I know that is very possible! So, please keep team unity in your prayers.
It has been so amazing to see our team grow in Christ and into a family over this week! Here are some pictures from training camp! They aren't in order, just so you know!
This is a picture from us learning the drimes. It's basically a play without words, set to music. This one is to DC Talks' song: In The Light. I am the one on the far right with shorter green shorts!
Okay, I messed up the formatting on here, so I can't post under each picture. The next one is of one of my team leaders, Amber. We had to feed each other because we were late for lunch after the bell had rang.
Right after leaving the Atlanta airport, we got on a school bus and were brought to training camp about 1.5 hours from there. I am sitting with Sam on the left (my right) and Loretta on the right (my left).
The final picture is amazing. I know a lot of the people in it are my teammates, but here's what happened. We were all put on buses and dropped off in various locations to do an ATL: Ask the Lord. What we did was we gathered and prayed and asked God what He wanted us to do. We were left in a trailer park that was mostly filled with a Hispanic population. Our team gathered that we should: gather and kids. So, we split up. Part of the team began gathering garbage and the other part started collecting kids. As we came over this hill, this was the sight we saw, which was amazing! God blessed us through that, we got to play with the kids for about an hour. Yesterday, for dinner, we then went to a park, and we came across one of the little girls, so it was amazing!
On another note, my plane leaves from Atlanta at 1:10 this afternoon, then we will be traveling until midnight tomorrow (Wednesday) when we will finally get into Jeffreys Bay. If you could all be praying for safe travels, that would be great!
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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 9/8/2008
I have been blessed with the most amazing, supportive church family I ever could have asked for. I did not, in any way, expect the support they have given to me and it means so much to me! I know many of you are reading this so, if I missed the opportunity to thank you, I don't want to do it again. Thank you all so much for everything. Honestly, it is going to be so difficult for me to be away from you all for so long... but I will be back!
Many members have blessed me with little gifts to take along and I am so grateful! I think God is really setting in my heart that Psalm 91 is a chapter for this chapter in my life, because, as I opened a gift I was given, stamped inside was a verse from the Psalm. Psalm 91:11 ~ For He shall send His angels to guard thee in all ways."
On the side of being ready to go, my suitcases are... packed? Or not so much quite yet. I have one zipped up, I will not open it (let's hope). I have another that I keep throwing things at (quite literally, I find something in my carry-on that doesn't need to be so it will go in my suitcase). And I need to wake up in 4 hours to get ready to leave. I will be running on little sleep my first day in Georgia, but it will be worth it for the final times I was able to spend with my church family. Honestly, you are all my family!
That being said, I need to finish organizing my suitcase and carry-on so that I might be able to zip them up until I arrive at my first destination. I still have more to do tonight (including cleaning my room, I don't want to come back to a mess! :) ), and we'll see when I actually shut my computer down (for anyone who doesn't know, it is on constantly, I will probably shut it off right before I leave for Georgia, minutes before in fact!).
So, I am off, to spend my last hours in MN, for the time. I know I will be back, but it will be a few months, though I have done this before, spent months away from my house, I have never spent it so the option of coming home is so distant. A 3 hour drive is a lot different than 22 hours of travel (not including layovers!).
Before I end this, I just want to let you all know what my plans are as I don't know the next time I will be online. Tomorrow morning, I have a 7am flight to Atlanta, GA. Between 11am and 2pm, my teammates and I will be arriving at the airport. We will then be brought to Gainesville, GA (an hour from Atlanta) for our week of training camp in the states before we all board the planes to Africa. That is Monday, Sept 15th. We will have more than a full day of traveling and will arrive late in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa to begin our adventure of a lifetime!
Please keep my team in your prayers as we are setting out to follow God's call on our lives! I am so eager to see what God is doing in Africa!
In Him,
Bri
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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 9/8/2008
Here is what I have been meaning to post, the verse that I was given to read in regards to my trip. I wanted to post what I had learned through reading it with the concordance in hand, however, since it is 11:35pm and I have to get up at 4am to catch my 7am flight, I am just posting a picture I put together (painting under the words) instead of the whole background and everything on the Psalm.
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Posted in General Articles
by Brianna Poster
on 8/29/2008
After waiting forever (particularly for a coupon), I finally picked up the book Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. I have seen nearly all of his NOOMA videos (if you haven't, I highly recommend them) and have loved them immensely. And the same is true of this book. Though I have only gotten through the introduction and part of the first chapter, it is great to see a new perspective on things, to read in words what I could not form on my own. Here is an example:
"I'm convinced being generous is a better way to live.
I'm convinced forgiving people and not carrying around bitterness is a better way to live.
I'm convinced having compassion is a better way to live.
I'm convinced pursuing peace in every situation is a better way to live.
I'm convinced listening to the wisdom of others is a better way to live.
I'm convinced being honest with people is a better way to live." Rob Bell
Lately, God has been opening my eyes to many new perspectives. Guiding me in understanding my own beliefs, because sometimes I know what I believe, but I can't put down a reason as to why. I feel strongly convicted on some topics, but feel incapable of explaining my viewpoint. I love it when God reveals things to me. Here is a quote that I read on a facebook friend's profile:
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and
the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to
find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a
healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know
even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to
have succeeded." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
New perspective: worldy success vs personal success. Living for only yourself vs living to breathe life into someone else. Success in the eyes of the world is so meaningless. It is self-seeking, self-centered. It is a world with standards based on unachievable perfection and flawed ideals. It is living a life for yourself but by the ways of the world. Which leads me to something else I read recently, it may not sound great at first, but listen to how much sense it makes:
"All the world has to offer us is pleasant looking manure, no value, no worth, it's just a pile of manure, and when we study it and dwell upon it we will start desiring to look like it... But when we start looking to our Father, dwelling on our Father, we will start looking like Him."
This has begun to get long already, so I am going to end it with my newest discovery. It is a book I purchased months ago and has since sat on my shelf, not because it got lost between all of the others books (no, it's far too large for that) but because I wasn't sure how to use it. Anyway, that was a fairly unnecessary introduction for one of the best study resources I have found. It is The Strongest Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. Using the KJV of the Bible, it is a way to go back to the root of each word and find the true meaning God had behind the text. I am currently going through a verse that was passed to me in regards to this trip, and I will be posting about that verse shortly (however, right now it is 12:30am and I should get to sleep!). Anyway, this is a great way to study Scripture, I absolutely LOVE it! It takes longer, but it also gives more meaning and is really helping me to meditate on the Scripture instead of just reading through it. Somehow this book is going to fit into my suitcase so I can bring it with to Africa... yes, I will make it fit or it will be my carry-on (it would give me enough to do on the plane ride! :-D)
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