Some stories for ya...

Note: i wrote this on friday i believe, but have had lots of problems trying to publish it...so i hope that it works this time...just telling you that i wrote it a few days ago..in case some of it doesn't make sense.....
Hello Everyone! Well i hope that you're all doing well, i've received many emails and comments from you, and i just want to say that i really appreciate that you have not forgotten about me yet. :) Asante Sana! (Thank-you very much) Well, let's see, what have i been up to lately?? - LOTS. Man i have been really busy! - But it has been really good. Last weekend, on Saturday i went with Christa (the teacher who lives at PACC and who i've become quite good friends with) to church with a couple of her students, in the slums, where she teaches. The whole service was pretty much in Kiswahili, so i didn't understand most of it, and it was EXTREMELY long (like we're talking about 4 plus hours here....) but it was still good, an interesting experience to say the least. After church we visited both of the girl's houses. This was the first time that i have been inside houses in the slums. It was very eye-opening to see how these girls live. The first girl lived in an apartment, so it was slightly better, however still quite a stretch from what i'm used to seeing people live in. The second house we visited was more of a typical house in the slums....although i know that there are even worse. It was just one room - living room separated from sleeping area by a curtain or a sheet, i think that this house actually had a concrete floor but many i know are just dirt. - and extremely small. This girl had i think 8 people living in this space, how i do not know. And to think that this is how the most of the world lives, they do not live like many of us are used to. i walked out of that place feeling so blessed, so grateful for everything that i have. Even the fact that i have such a loving and caring family, so many people don't. So that was an interesting experience. we ate at both houses, and it's very rude to not accept their food, so the whole time you just pray that you won't get sick. :) i didn't, i know that God watches out for me. I have been going to different churches here every sunday with different friends that i've made here. it's had been interesting to visit so many different types of churches. - All very different from what i am used to. Last sunday i went to Nairobi Pentacostal Church - the Valley road campus (there are several different campus' all over Nairobi) - This is the mother church and the biggest. They have several services, and i think that in total they have about 10 000 people. It's awesome! and it was the closest thing to church at home or church that i am used to. Just the way that it was run, and it was only an hour and half long. haha....i really enjoyed myself. This past thursday evening i went with an evangelism team to a place called Riru which is about a half hour away from PACC to put on a crusade. Crusades are very popular in africa - but i don't think that they would work at all in Canada. haha it's just funny how different is is here sometimes. Basically you bring a van load of people and the a van load of sounds equipment and set up in the middle of a field or street (dirt road) and you set up a stage and a couple intruments - usually just a keyboard, and then you have several singers, and you pretty much just hold a service in the middle of the street. The whole point is just to tell people about Jesus. It's pretty awesome - because it works! i went on thursday night and 4 people gave their hearts to the Lord as well as several children, and lots of people were watcing..and i heard that more people came yesterday and more are expected today(it's a 4 day crusade) it's just something that i'm not used to at all, and have never really seen before coming to africa. but i think that it's really cool. :) (i'm trying to imagine how something like that might go over in Canada......lol) So i am learning lots and gaining many new experiences. it's awesome and i feel very blessed to be here and to have been given this opportunity. My family comes a week today so that is pretty much ALL i think about! haha. i can't wait to go meet them at the airport:) i can't wait for them to see and experience a little of what i am here. it's going to be sweet! well i will post some pics next time i'm on my computer...so watch out for those. But in the meantime thanks for your thoughts and prayers, and thanks for rememering me! :) I love you all very much!
Love, jade

Good Times :)

Hello Everyone!!
I just wanted to put these pictures up, the one is from a dorm "sleepover" that we had with all the girls in our dorm here, just to hang out and get to know each other. It was awesome, it was good to get to know the girls and just to have fun. :) so i really enojyed that. THe other three pics are from this past sunday. I went to my friend Clemence's church where her dad pastors and then to her house for lunch and to hang out with her family. It was such a nice day. She lives almost 2 hours from PAC so we took two buses and walked a bit, but it was very nice. She sorta lives in the country away from the city, it is very beautiful out there! So enjoy the pictures. i had a really nice day with her and her family.
I do not have too much to report as of right now. Things are going really well. School is fine. - Just trying to finish all my major assignments before my family arrives. (17 days!!! ahh!!) i'm really getting to know people here and build good relationships so i thank God for that. :) He is constantly blessing me.
I hope that all of you are doing well!!!!
God Bless ya!
MUCH LOVE
~jade~

learning to trust...easier said than done...

I have been challenged lately on the whole trust deal. Trusting God, as well as trusting others whom i'm getting to know more here at PAC. I think that sometimes as people, (or at least i have experienced this) we tend to take trust lightly, in that we say we trust in certain things or certain people all the time, without even thinking. I believe that if we really sit down and think about those people that we say we trust, and we really study our relationships, we might find that we have sort-of thrown around the "trust" word. i know personally, just lately the Lord has been challenging me with this idea, with Him and in my relationship with Him, but also with others. Since every relationship we have in our lives is different from all the others, how can we expect to have the same trust, or deepness of relationship with all of them? - we can't - but sometimes we do. That's what we expect. I have realized that every single person is unique and completely different from everyone else, and so likewise all of our relationships are completely different - it may seem like a simple concept, and it really is, it's just that lately i've been challenged, because no matter how simple or not, i just haven't really sat down and thought about it. i think i have been thinking about this a lot here, because i am far away from everyone that i do trust. i do not have any close close relationships here (yet), because i have only been here one month, it is not possible. To trust someone takes time. The fact that i am far away from all of those people that i have known and trust, has really enabled me to deepen my trust in Jesus - he has become the one true person that i trust with EVERYTHING. - and i know that this is how it should be, always, however i think that our natural tendency is to want to depend and talk to and rely on people in our lives rather than Jesus. So as challenging as some moments have been here, i thank the Lord that he has brought me here, because i know he has an awesome purpose in doing so and part of that is that i would grow spiritually and grow in him and learn to trust him, not just with some things, but with EVERY single aspect of my life. - This is definitely a process though. i am aways falling down, and making mistakes, but most importantly - learning from all of these experiences. i think that God had to take me from where i am comfortable and bring me to a place where i knew nothing. i needed that, because i needed and still need to learn how to rely on him COMPLETELY. and i think it took me coming to africa to realize that. i needed to get away from everything that i'd ever known. it seems very radical, but i know that's what i needed, and of course God knew that. So i don't know if any of that made any sense, but that is just one huge lesson that God is teaching me here, and just some things that i've been thinking about, and i know that there is more to come. So please keep me in your prayers as i am learning these things, they're not aways easy to learn, of course there is challenge involved, so i appreciate your prayers.
hmm.....what else to tell you.....i can't think of any really interesting stories at the moment, i know that i have some i just can't think..so when i remember i'll write again. Basically i'm doing well here. Always learning. - and mostly not in my studies...haha....just from people, and experiences and different things here. (although the studies are good...)
i'm very very very excited for my family to come....something like 24 days!!! ahH!H!H......so that's the big thing that i'm looking forward to right now. :)
so i hope that all of you are doing well!! i miss you all, and i wish that you could be seeing what i am seeing but i know that you are all learning a lot back in Canada too. Please keep the comments and emails coming..i LOVE hearing what you're up to, and all of that good stuff!!
love and God Bless!
~jade~
ps- just a little shout out----------->HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE KERRY I LOVEYOU SO MUCH!!!!! HAVE THE BEST DAY EVER.....YOU KNOW I WISH I COULD BE THERE, BUT KNOW THAT YOU ARE IN MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ALWAYS, BUT ESPECIALLY TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!! :)

God is Blowing my mind!!! - in a good way!!

Hello all!
~Thanks for the comments and emails, you guys are awesome, and always keep me encouraged. :)
well where to start....i had the most amazing weekend !! probably one of the most amazing i'v ever had, and definitely the most amazing since i have been here in Kenya. It was also the most difficult, challenging, tiring and moving. - Let me explain.
Friday night i went to a big even in the city, it was an all night worship event...(i did not stay the whole night i got home around 2) but it was unreal! There were over 10 000 people - mostly younger ppl...just worshipping, on fire for GOd it was so cool to see. - and the worship here is like nothing i've ever experienced before...i wish we would worship like Africans in Canada!!! haha...now that would be something....so that was a real encouragement to me...lots of fun....
Then....on the way home we were going through a rough part of town, and there were many prostitutes walking around. We decided to stop the van, and a few of the guys got out to talk to them and see if they could witness to them. It was pretty interesting to watch. Of course i have never experienced anything like that before. They responded fairly well. One gave her life to Christ, but it is hard to judge the authenticity of that, so we just keep praying. HOwever it was still good that they were able to here the Gospel, and hear that GOd loves them. So that was a pretty amazing start to my weekend, but it got even better.
So i got home after 2 in the morning, went to bed, woke up at 7, got ready and then left for a mission at a place called Kahawa Sukari. I was so tired but i was just counting on God to give me the strength that i needed. - HE DID!
Our mission was mostly house to house evangelism.....again something that i am completely NOT used to at all! - so as you can probably imagine, i was a little scared. (actaully terrified! lol) - but i wasn' t about to let my fear stop me from doing God' s work. So we went out we did house to house from 1030am until 1pm, broke for lunch and then went back out to an apartment building near by where mostly Kenya Universtity students live, and we were there for over an hour. Then in the evening we held a crusade...again something i'm not used to at all. THey just set up in the middle of the street ....they do worship, they have testimonies, then someone preaches...it's pretty amazing. Many people stopped to listen..there were about 50 kids!! so i sat and played with them most of the time..sang with them , held them etc. it was awesome. THe whole day was like nothing that i have ever experienced before.....God is unreal. i had a great time. i loved just going around and talking to people about Jesus, and just showing that you care for them. One story particularly moved me. however there were many. One girl we spoke to was named leah. Meeting with her was such a divine appointment. We knocked on her door several times, and did not get an answer, so we continued down the hall of the apartment building, but no one else was home. So on our way back we decided to try one last time. This time she answered. It turns out that she had been sleeping, but she invited us in anyways. We began to talk to her and found out that she had recently been raped, in September, and we were the third person that she had told. The drugs that they have given her to fight infection make her very sick and tired, so she has to sleep a lot, but it is very hard because it is affecting her schoolwork. (She is a student at KU.) She really opened up to us; we talked to her for quite some time. Obviously she is very hurt and confused and didn’t really know how she felt towards God. (She is from a Catholic background.) We were able to really speak God’s love to her, and try to explain that we as humans don’t always know why certain events happen in our lives, but we can be sure that God has a plan for us and he loves us. She listened quite intently and it was apparent that she was really thinking hard about what we were telling her. Towards the end we asked her if she was willing to begin a relationship with God and to trust him for everything in her life, to trust him even through challenging times. She said and so we were able to pray with her, and she committed to trusting in Jesus no matter what, and she said that she would depend on him for her strength. I was so moved by this meeting. God definitely had his hand in it. We got her contact information and also told her about the local church and how it would be good for her to come out and get connected to people there. We told her that there were several people that she could talk to and they could help her with what she is going through currently. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. i can't explain how you feel after something like that.......
so there you have it a bit of a look into my learning experiences here.....i can't even imagine what Gdo will do next, or how he will use me. i'm totally willing though, i can't wait. God always seems to find a way to blow my mind!!! i love it!
until next time....goodbye!
love, jade
xoxo
GOD BLESS!