...so my mom and sister came at the beginning of this month, and we had such an awesome time! it was such a blessing...and gift from the Lord, really, to have them come (it was my first time to see them in about 8 months!!!)....i know it seems like forever ago, but I still wanted to post some pics. :)....i wish i knew joburg better, because then I could have shown them some WAY more cool places, but at the same time...it was cool that they got to experience what's normal for me living here day to day, so hopefully when i go home, well...at least 2 people will have a frame of reference and be able to relate when I tell them stories and such ha.
anyway...mom and michelle, thank you SO much for sacrificing your time and money to come see me! it really meant SO much!!!!...and it makes me EVEN more excited about coming home for Christmas. Lord willing. ha. so, Christmas, hurry :).



we went to the lion park one day...no, it was definitely not even close to a safari--where the REAL lions live...but, i guess seeing fake lions is better than seeing none...ha



took mom and michelle to the Organic market....we all stood at a pottery booth for about an hour trying to make decisions...ha...



one cool thing we DID get to do was go to Cape Town. it was my second time to go, but first time driving...and don't worry, i got lost. a lot. but, thankfully, despite that, we still made it to some cool places....



those tiny dots are michelle and mom...and i really didn't feel like i was that far away from them!...



sunset on top of table mountain....we picked the perfect day to go up...and of course it was beautiful....





accidentally cut off the first word of the sign...ha. oops.









A couple of days after my family left, my home church came to do a mission trip in Pietermaritzburg....we worked with an orphanage that cares for some of the most beautiful children I've ever met...most of the kids are aids victims, but are alive today because of the miraculous hand of God....the workers there told us it's rare to go throughout a day working in this place, and there NOT be a miracle....


they're also involved in ministering to families in need...I think, every month they hand out 2 tons of parcels filled with food to families in Sweet Waters, but that doesn't even come close to meeting all the needs...







anyway...guess that's all for now...

i'll leave you with a verse...

"Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have i in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."--Ps. 73:23-26

some of my teammates put together a sound slide of my sketches with sound affects and some of the people's testimonies from Zim. it's really cool to hear the nationals talking about the Lord and how He has changed their lives.
Let me know what you think. :)

Stories of New Life from Africa Stories on Vimeo.

so. over a month ago I said I would post sketches from our trip to Zimbabwe. And, I'm just now getting them up. (sorry. it's been a busy time). We traveled a lot on this trip, and so, there are basically 3 different places these drawings are from. I filled up about a 70 page sketch book! It was the first time in my life I've ever completely finished filling up a sketch book...ha. so I was excited. anyway. so here they are:

first place we went was Mberwengwa where there was the baptism:

having church under a tree

the people were singing and praising as people were getting baptized.

reading the bible during the church service

pumping water for the baptism. and yes. it took all 100 kids. :)

this lady was one of the most joyful out of the whole congregation. it was awesome to watch as she praised the Lord through singing and dancing.

this is one of the church members being baptized. they put a tarp in an animal trough and filled it with water. you do what you gotta do. :)

These sketches are from the hospital in Sanyati:

and these are from Central Baptist....a church that is a beacon of light to their city...reaching people with the hope of the gospel in daily ministry:

anyway, so that's a few of the 70 :) you can check out the story our team put together....with photos and video at
http://www.africastories.org/gospel-explosion/gospel-explosion/

God is working in mighty ways, and it's awesome to get to see it and tell about it.

got back from Zimbabwe Monday...it was an interesting trip and i'm glad i got to go.

we had some major car trouble on the way there. ha... went through 2 cars, before finally renting a truck. we were supposed to leave at 4am. but the car wouldn't start. so we left at 6am. drove a couple of hours. then the engine overheated, so we stopped. then the battery died. they replaced the battery and we started going again. then it overheated again. so we had to drive all the way back to jo-burg with the heater running to keep the engine cool.

unloaded all our stuff and repacked it in another truck. prayed and got in. and guess what? this second truck wouldn't start either. ha this was at 4pm. so 12 hours later we were still in jo burg!. ha.

so we finally rented a 4 wheel drive diesel truck and it was amazing! :)

i want a truck like that when i grow up. ha.

then we finally got on the road again, and made it. third time's a charm i guess. ha

we went to 3 diff. places while there. camped in the bush for the first few days and got to watch about 74 people get baptized in an animal traugh....within the last year, about 600-700 people have accepted Christ, and about 6-7 churches have been planted...mind you, this place is like in the middle of no where...the gospel is just spreading like wildfire...it was really cool to see....

after the baptism, we went to Sanyati to a hospital compound where there is a m couple and the husband is the only doctor in the ENTIRE hospital! ..which, that means he is literally on call 24/7. They almost never have electricity, and a lot of times there's no water either....how this hospital is functioning with sparse electricity, such little money, broken equipment, etc...i mean it seems impossible....but, it's functioning. miraculously. nothing is impossible with our God...It's amazing how they have really taken care of what they have, and lives are being saved and needs are being met both physically, as well as spiritually....it really is a place of hope admist a lot of turmoil. ...and for this doc to be spread so thin, he and his wife both were so joyful despite the hard circumstances....it was really neat to see and hear all that is going on...

then, we went to the capitol and visited a church that is doing some awesome ministry within the city. doing lots of human needs projects while penetrating lives with the hope of the gospel...

my job while there was to do sketches of the people of Zim and all that we saw and experienced...it was super hard, because i wanted to be able to draw as fast as you can take a picture. and that's just impossible. i would see really cool things and want to draw them, but the people would move before i could capture them, or we'd have to leave...i got so frustrated at first....but, eventually got used to it and just tried to do my best...

hopefully some of them turned out ok. :)

i'll post pics and sketches soon.

now, i'm in Cape Town! Just arrived today and will be working with Hope2Africa teaching an art class for one of the camps they're doing for some youth.

I'm already falling in love with this city even though i've only been here a few hours. it's really beautiful! you turn one way and see mountains, and another way you see the beach....so the best of both worlds. :). basically, no matter where you look, the scenery is beautiful.

Anyway. that's life in a nutshell. a long nutshell. ha.

"The Lord said to Moses, 'See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, Son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with the ability and intelligence, with the knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft...According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do."
Exodus 31:1-11

God, fill me with your Spirit that I may accomplish the task you have called me to. You called the Israelites to construct the ark, the tabernacle, the bronze altar, etc. and then you set your Spirit upon the people, equipping them with the skills they needed to accomplish what you had called them to do.
"...I have filled him with the Spirit of God...."

the reason Bezalel was skilled for craftsmanship was because of You. because you filled Him with your Spirit. His ability came from you. and it was to be offered back to you. in praise. worship. in serving your people. to bring you glory.

"...for FROM Him and THROUGH Him and TO Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:36

...this gift of art You have given me comes from You, is done through You, and it is to You....may You be glorified through it....


recently finished projects from the past few weeks:

just finished a series of African cards to sell for Lottie Moon.
did 3 sets...one set for Christmas, and then one set of portraits, and one set of scenes.

here's the Christmas ones: :)





African portraits:



African scenes:

...did portraits of some of the people in Sudan for our forward team in Nairobi:







paintings for a Baptist Press Article on countries in turmoil (can view article on africastories.org):

Tunisia

Women harvesting in Nigeria
Ivory Coast

Egypt
cowboy of Sudan


paintings for Flavors of Africa project (putting together recipe book of African dishes...the point of the project is to expand our audience and help people who don't know much about Africa know more about what God is doing in this part of the world...something like that...ha...) so I'm in the process of doing pieces depicting Africans cooking, harvesting, etc. to be used in the project :








scenes from Madagascar:

women worshiping in the Congo:

"...for FROM Him and THROUGH Him and TO Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:36