Quick Pre-Christmas Update

Dear family and friends, Christmas is FAST approaching and I am not ready! My mission team and I will not be meeting over the holiday season. But I did learn news that we will be teaching in a school while there. I am very excited about this and am looking forward to seeing how schools in Lesotho operate. I also cannot wait to see those faces looking back at me..it is a much different experience than looking at a picture...I promise you. Please pray for us as we prepare our teaching material and also our plan at the clinics..we have about 8 hours a day worth of activities and lesson that we need to plan. But during this holiday season I hope we all keep in mind the reason for the celebration (or what is SUPPOSED to be a celebration). Our Lord, our Savior was born. He came into this broken world to offer salvation, forgiveness. Something we all desperately need. Please try to remember that when the stresses of the holidays start creeping up. It's not about big fancy meals, pretty lights, and over the top decorations. It's a time of remembrance. And a time of CELEBRATION! So Merry Christmas to all of you!

Thanksgiving...not just a Holiday

It is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And on my day off I am sitting here thinking about all I have to be thankful for. I will not even attempt to write that list here because it is endless. But specifically I thought about my opportunity to Go on behalf of God and share His love and His Word with the Basotho people. Think about that for a moment. The creator of the universe...of ALL things, deemed me fit to go on His behalf. That is quite overwhelming. Here I am, no one extraordinary or special (by society's standards..not God's) and I have the ability to go across the world to share the most important news in the history of the world. 9 months ago I stood on the side of a mountain and told a precious group of children that God LOVES them, that God is powerful, that God knows them by name. I am not in any way trying to brag about myself. I am simply explaining how AMAZING God is! He picks the least suspecting person and gives them an amazing gift. Unfortunately we often miss this, we don't realize the gift (whatever it may be) when it is given to us, or we realize it but we mistake who it was from. That is a tragedy. BUT I am so THANKFUL for His blessings. They are overflowing and overwhelming and I am undeserving. Which brings me to my update. I have been asked by the Floras (the missionaries we will be serving alongside) to hold an infant CPR class during my upcoming trip. Apparently the new moms have been given misinformation and it has resulted in terrible consequences. I am broken hearted that this is necessary but overjoyed to have the opportunity to teach them something that may very well save their child's life. But my plans are to take it a step further. God has laid certain things on my heart that I feel the need to share with these young women. I would like my infant CPR class to also be a young women's class/talk/discussion/lesson..whatever you want to call it. I want to share with these women how valuable they are to their creator. How much He loves them no matter what is in their past present or future. How He died on a cross for them specifically and individually. How He wants them to come to Him with all their problems, trials, fears, and worries. How they can call on His name even when they don't feel worthy enough. Big plans....but they aren't my own, they are His..and He is much BIGGER! I hope whoever reads this takes the time to really think about what they are have been given and who has given it to them. We all have so much to thank God for. And if we just took the time to THANK Him, our lives would change.

Can you believe it has already been a year?

                    A year ago I sat in the sanctuary as I read a bulletin insert and heard a woman speaking of a mission to Lesotho. I had never heard of the country of Lesotho, she said it was in Africa, but where in Africa...no clue. Hmmmmmmm..... The wheels started to turn. If you know me well then you know I am full of  ideas and "kicks" as Nathan calls them. So assuming this was just another kick, when I mentioned going on that mission trip, Nathan rolled his eyes (more like smiled and nodded "ok sure"..which is his version of the eye roll). I mentioned it to my mom and dad..they did their versions of the eye roll as well. No one seemed to take me seriously when I said I wanted to join a group of strangers and travel across oceans to an unheard of country and share the gospel with its people. Honestly, I probably would have rolled my eyes as well. But God wasn't laughing....this wasn't a crazy head in the clouds Arianna scheme to Him. This was real and this was His calling in my life.  And boy, what a calling it was!
              I met with the team and quickly became part of it. We prepared, we prayed, we grew closer as a team. I fell in love with this group of once strangers. To have a close knit circle of friends that shared my love for Christ and shared my commitment to answering God's call, it meant more to me than I thought possible.
In the past year, these people have become some of the dearest friends I have. I was honored with the opportunity to see God work through them on that mountain in February. I saw love flow through them as the spoke to and prayed with the Basotho people, played with and loved on the children. They had such passion for the gospel. We worked LONG days and everyone returned with a smile on their face, we got little sleep and everyone woke up with a smile on their face and fire in their heart. It was incredible to see. It is impossible to describe but I'm blessed to have witnessed it.
                 I said this when we came home and will say it again. If for no other reason, God brought me all the way to Lesotho Africa in February 2013 to watch these people and what it means to truly live for God. And that alone was worth every penny spent and every mile traveled. They played such a crucial role in my personal journey.

               And by God's grace alone, I have the opportunity to serve with this group again. Some won't be joining this year and we have a few new members but I can already see God working in this team as we begin to prepare for our Journey to Lesotho.

I will update this blog feed as we prepare over the next three months. I encourage you to come back and see what God is doing in and through this amazing group of people.

 Lesotho team Feb 2013