Hello all :) 

I just realized that I have not blogged in a few weeks, and so much has happened since then. Last week and the week before we had David Gava speaking to us about the Holy Spirit and evangelism. With the help of the Spirit, those two weeks were vital in strengthening the unity within our team and for turning our group into a team that, when we are connected with God, will be able to represent our Lord and Saviour in the best way as we journey across African soil. I learned a lot from David Gava, but I think that the thing that stood out to me most came not from his words in lecture, but rather from his actions. He is a man whom is extremely sensitive to the Spirit and His leading, and I saw that first hand as he taught our class for two weeks. His example of this led me to a deeper desire to want that in my own life. To walk in obedience at all times, to live with a fear of the Lord inside of me that guides me through everything: this is what I want for my life. Every speaker has been telling me that this does not happen overnight, it is a journey. So therefore I am happy to say it is a journey that I have started and already I am seeing more and more the goodness and faithfulness of God.

David also taught us that we need to be ready in all seasons and at all times to speak about the message of the kingdom and to spread the love of God. As an exercise to prepare us all for outreach, each of us on my DTS had to prepare a ten-minute sermon on the kingdom of God, using Matthew 13 as our main reference. It was incredible to see that each of us spoke on different aspects of the kingdom and how it all applies to our lives. I encourage you all to read into Matthew 13 and look at the parables that Jesus told that describe the kingdom of God, for this is what our mission is: to spread the kingdom. We are serving the King, and we must be able to know and understand what exactly that means and how to go about doing that.

During our last week of lecture, our speaker Dan Baumann, has been teaching me and our whole team so much. He is incredibly funny and had so many awesome stories. His goal for this week was for all of us to fall more in love with Jesus by the end of the week. Through his stories I have laughed so much and learned more about what it means to walk in a relationship with God. God loves us so much, he is good, and he is always for us, and I see evidence of that in Dan’s life as well as my own. It is exciting and such a wonderful feeling to begin to really experience and enjoy the love of God.

By the end of today, lecture phase will be over and our team will be leaving for Ethiopia tomorrow. How crazy that I have been here for twelve weeks already! Having Dan as our speaker was the perfect way to end lecture phase and such a significant teaching to have fresh in our minds as we head into outreach phase. I am looking forward to what God has in store for our team! We will be taking the train to Frankfurt, then flying directly from there to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. We will stay in Addis for a week or so and then head down to a city in the south of Ethiopia called Jinka, where we will work for about a month. From there, some of us, depending on God’s leading, will most likely be heading into northern Kenya and Uganda, and possibly South Sudan. The rest will probably stay in Ethiopia. It is all up to God and what he is calling us to in those weeks. This is all so exciting for me, because Africa is my dream and it is actually happening. The actuality of this reality has not quite struck me yet, but I know that once I am on the plane and definitely once I have stepped foot onto African land my heart will begin to beat so fast. My prayer is that my heart will beat alongside the people of Ethiopia and eastern Africa. I desire to have such a heart for these people so that I can show them the love that God has for them. Something huge that I learned from Dan this week is that the Christian life isn’t about being exactly right and making the best decisions all the time, it is about leaning more into the character of God and just falling more in love with him. Hearing from God and making decisions is difficult and frustrating sometimes, but that does not mean we give up and stop communicating with God. We should always be asking God for guidance, and yet we cannot just be stagnant and do nothing when we are unsure of where God is guiding us. We still must do something. The main will of God for our lives is to love God and love people; therefore we always have something that we are able to do. If we desire to follow God’s will, we will obey that major commandment and love. Love is an action; it is something that we choose to do. Love responds.  

My prayer is that you are continually able to be in awe of Jesus and the love that he has for you, and from that loving God and loving others will come so simply to you, that all you can do is respond. I ask you for prayers for my team and myself, for safety and health and protection from all kinds of danger, both physical and spiritual. Prayers for focus and unity within our team as well as just always going to God first and having him as the center of everything on this outreach and in our lives. Prayers for encouragement and just a joy and peace that can come only from Him so that we will be able to constantly be able to share the love of God with all that meet.

Thank you so much for your support; it does not go unappreciated nor without significance. I will be back in Germany in twelve weeks, at the beginning of July. I will do my best to update you as much as I can while in Africa, but internet will be rare so do not expect too much. Thank you again for sharing in my journey with me. May God bless you in whatever you are doing; my love goes out to you.

Take care. And remember, God loves you. :)

Love always,

Fina