Aloha Friends and Family,
After the longest 40 hours of my life, I arrived here in beautiful Kona, Hawai'i late on Wednesday evening. Getting here was difficult after getting held up in customs - I've never been in one of those stark white interrogation rooms before, so I guess you could call it an adventure... After missing my original flight, I then got rescheduled three different times, all of them not working out for various reasons. I ended up staying Tuesday night in oh-so-friendly Newark, New Jersey. Then, at 3:30 am on Wednesday, I set back off for the airport for a six o'clock flight to san francisco. I then connected through honolulu, and finally arrived on the Big Island to the waiting and much-needed hugs of Adam, Chieko and Sam, who were there for me with leis in hand. There was also a little mishap with my bag, so that didn't actually arrive with my flight, but at that point nothing was phasing me anymore, so we went for dinner and my bag showed up late that night. I am officially 100% here.
I now live with six beautiful women, who are from all kinds of places. Each one is very different from the other, and I love that. Living with them is already so much fun, and such a blessing, and for someone who, a year ago, was uncertain about sharing a room with THREE girls, being excited about living with SIX is a pretty big deal.
Here at the Kona University of the Nations campus, Voice for the Voiceless is a small division of all the media-focused departments along with PhotogenX, film studies, and Grassroots News. The idea behind all of these is to tell the stories of God's people, to bring attention to important matters in an accessible, up-to-date way.
We've spent the last two days praying into our school as a team and hearing God on His vision and His dreams for us and our students. We are getting really excited, but are realizing that we are going to need a lot of strength and a lot of guidance. We have been meeting with all kinds of people, trying to get an idea of how to work the media aspect of our school - the students will be trained in media throughout the lecture phase so that once they are on outreach, they will be capable of producing full-on stories and short documentaries in an effort to advocate effectively for the Voiceless. We are still not sure about outreach locations, but we will be praying about that on Monday.
As for me, I am doing quite well. I'm slowly getting over the time difference, though I still wake up really early, and start falling asleep at about 8pm. I'm loving Hawai'i, with it's colourful gardens and beautiful scenery. I'm finding it difficult to catch us with some of the logistical stuff for our school since the others have been here for a while and have already been working hard towards setting things up. Please, Please, PLEASE pray for energy for me as well as for Adam, Chieko, and Sam (who is fighting a cold) and also for financial breakthough. I am happy to report that, thanks to the generous support a few individuals, I have enough money raised for my first few months of rent here, praise God. I'll know more about how much I need to raise for outreach in a few weeks.
Finally, I wanted to express my appreciation for those of you who have encouraged, prayed for, supported, been there for, listened to, (put up with), offered me a hand or a hug in the last few months. Preparing for this was both exciting and hard, since it is both exciting to pursue God's plans for my life but still hard to leave my family and friend in montreal once again. I couldn't have gotten here without each of you. Mahalo!
All my love, and blessings to all of you.
Natalie
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Finding Family in the Province of Takeo
What does it look like to cram nine missionaries onto bamboo sleeping mats under five mozzy nets hung in the upper room of a simple yet lovely cambodian home? It looks like family, and it looks like the kingdom of God in a small village in the province of Takeo, Cambodia.
After recuperating from our time in Svay Rieng, we packed up our things and headed south for twelve days- days that would touch our lives in ways we never saw coming. Our ministry was entirely spirit-led, so it turned into an amazing adventure. We went on prayer walks around the village- walks that took us to both likely and less-likely places. We visited the homes of some of the local families where we prayed over the people and over the land. We hiked up the mountain that we lived near and built an altar next to the buddhist tamale at the peak. There we worshipped our king and we prayed for the province and over the kingdom of Cambodia.
On one of our home visits we met with a woman who wanted prayer for healing. We got there and quickly discerned that we needed to take her to the hospital. She had a two week old gash on her ankle, that was massive, deep and visibly infected, from an accident with a motor blade. She had seen a nurse for stitches, but those had torn out of her soft tissue and made things worse. At first, she didn’t want to go with us because her family couldn’t afford it, but we knew she needed to or she could lose her whole foot. We took her to the hospital, where she was seen and where she needed to stay for a few days. The whole process – the daily cleaning, the hospital stay, the sugar for the wound, painkillers – ALL OF IT, cost twenty dollars and this woman got to keep her foot. But this story doesn’t end there; While we were at the hospital, we got to pray for eight other patients. We saw three people get healed, we cast out demons, and we saw four people come to know Christ as their savior. For one woman the difference was literally life and death. And it was all due to our obedience in taking the lovely lady to be cared for at that hospital.
We built really strong relationships with this woman and her son, Kim Hong throughout the week. The family we were staying with quickly became like our own, we gained a mum, a sister and a baby brother. Our translator Sam was this incredible young man with a strong brave heart. He primarily manages teen challenge and a rehab centre for boys; but his dreams with God are even bigger. He has plans for a new community centre in the village and for a new ministry that he will call “Sons of God”, and for a traveling medical ministry based in Takeo. We got to be a part of Sam’s current ministry when we went to teen challenge to play volleyball with the boys. We also got to know the other team he was working with from the world race. Together we worshipped almost every evening, filling the nights with our voices - with our praise. We made with them the kind of friendships that go the distance – that will stretch around the globe as we go our separate ways. We asked God to meet us in a big way, and he obliged. We saw healings, we saw deliverance, we saw freedom and salvation, and we saw relationship within the body of Christ. We saw, simply put, the glory of God in the province of Takeo.
After recuperating from our time in Svay Rieng, we packed up our things and headed south for twelve days- days that would touch our lives in ways we never saw coming. Our ministry was entirely spirit-led, so it turned into an amazing adventure. We went on prayer walks around the village- walks that took us to both likely and less-likely places. We visited the homes of some of the local families where we prayed over the people and over the land. We hiked up the mountain that we lived near and built an altar next to the buddhist tamale at the peak. There we worshipped our king and we prayed for the province and over the kingdom of Cambodia.
On one of our home visits we met with a woman who wanted prayer for healing. We got there and quickly discerned that we needed to take her to the hospital. She had a two week old gash on her ankle, that was massive, deep and visibly infected, from an accident with a motor blade. She had seen a nurse for stitches, but those had torn out of her soft tissue and made things worse. At first, she didn’t want to go with us because her family couldn’t afford it, but we knew she needed to or she could lose her whole foot. We took her to the hospital, where she was seen and where she needed to stay for a few days. The whole process – the daily cleaning, the hospital stay, the sugar for the wound, painkillers – ALL OF IT, cost twenty dollars and this woman got to keep her foot. But this story doesn’t end there; While we were at the hospital, we got to pray for eight other patients. We saw three people get healed, we cast out demons, and we saw four people come to know Christ as their savior. For one woman the difference was literally life and death. And it was all due to our obedience in taking the lovely lady to be cared for at that hospital.
We built really strong relationships with this woman and her son, Kim Hong throughout the week. The family we were staying with quickly became like our own, we gained a mum, a sister and a baby brother. Our translator Sam was this incredible young man with a strong brave heart. He primarily manages teen challenge and a rehab centre for boys; but his dreams with God are even bigger. He has plans for a new community centre in the village and for a new ministry that he will call “Sons of God”, and for a traveling medical ministry based in Takeo. We got to be a part of Sam’s current ministry when we went to teen challenge to play volleyball with the boys. We also got to know the other team he was working with from the world race. Together we worshipped almost every evening, filling the nights with our voices - with our praise. We made with them the kind of friendships that go the distance – that will stretch around the globe as we go our separate ways. We asked God to meet us in a big way, and he obliged. We saw healings, we saw deliverance, we saw freedom and salvation, and we saw relationship within the body of Christ. We saw, simply put, the glory of God in the province of Takeo.
Friday, 3 February 2012
Made For This
The past ten days have changed a lot about the way I see the world. We got to spend time getting to know some of the most genuine people I have ever met. The people in the villages of the province of Svay Rieng live in the midst of chaos, trouble and defeat with a zeal and a zest for life unlike any other. Their lives are centered on generosity, simplicity and honour, and it's beautiful to behold.
We worked with an organization called Kone Kmeng, which translates to Little Children. Their mission is obviously children-focused, but the way they are going about changing the lives of young ones is fresh. It is the belief of those involved with this organization that change in circumstance is brought about by change of heart. They focus on community development/ standard of living, community awareness, education and spiritual growth. They are involved with everything from running community workshops on human trafficking and hand hygiene to drilling wells and providing water filters. They are in the business of saving lives.
We helped out by teaching english at their dorm in Svay Rieng every evening, and by visiting the surrounding villages, encouraging the leaders of the churches there. We also mixed and poured concrete as part of building latrines for the villages.
We had the priviledge of getting to know the students living at Kone Kmeng's dorm in Savay Rieng, and it blessed us so much. There isn't one person on our team that didn't learn tons just from being with these people. There is something about meeting people who have every reason to complain, every reason to be upset because they don't have things - but aren't. The young people at the dorm are regular young people who just love life God, love each other, and love life.
I don't think I'll ever be the same. There was one night, after english class, when the students decided it would be fun if they drove us home on the back of their bicylcles. Clinging on for dear life as we raced along the main street of the town of Svay Rieng, passing Jeremy who was glued to Soytry (our translator) I realized that this is what life is meant to look like. All at once, it was like my brained checked in.
I am living in a place where you can't drink the water because you'll SERIOUSLY regret it later, but it doesn't really matter because even THAT builds community for it's comedic value...
I get to spend my days meeting and interacting with people who may or may not know what a western toilet looks like, who don't believe in toilet paper, who know what it is to work for next to nothing and who know, in the rawest sense, what it is to rely on the Lord for everything.
My friends are people who love each other with thier whole hearts, who know each other inside out, and who think it's fun to terrorize white people by riding their bikes the wrong way on the street as they ride us home.
I came on outreach to bless the people I meet. In an unexpected twist of events,however, I have found myself being blessed by a life that I somehow know I was made for.
We worked with an organization called Kone Kmeng, which translates to Little Children. Their mission is obviously children-focused, but the way they are going about changing the lives of young ones is fresh. It is the belief of those involved with this organization that change in circumstance is brought about by change of heart. They focus on community development/ standard of living, community awareness, education and spiritual growth. They are involved with everything from running community workshops on human trafficking and hand hygiene to drilling wells and providing water filters. They are in the business of saving lives.
We helped out by teaching english at their dorm in Svay Rieng every evening, and by visiting the surrounding villages, encouraging the leaders of the churches there. We also mixed and poured concrete as part of building latrines for the villages.
We had the priviledge of getting to know the students living at Kone Kmeng's dorm in Savay Rieng, and it blessed us so much. There isn't one person on our team that didn't learn tons just from being with these people. There is something about meeting people who have every reason to complain, every reason to be upset because they don't have things - but aren't. The young people at the dorm are regular young people who just love life God, love each other, and love life.
I don't think I'll ever be the same. There was one night, after english class, when the students decided it would be fun if they drove us home on the back of their bicylcles. Clinging on for dear life as we raced along the main street of the town of Svay Rieng, passing Jeremy who was glued to Soytry (our translator) I realized that this is what life is meant to look like. All at once, it was like my brained checked in.
I am living in a place where you can't drink the water because you'll SERIOUSLY regret it later, but it doesn't really matter because even THAT builds community for it's comedic value...
I get to spend my days meeting and interacting with people who may or may not know what a western toilet looks like, who don't believe in toilet paper, who know what it is to work for next to nothing and who know, in the rawest sense, what it is to rely on the Lord for everything.
My friends are people who love each other with thier whole hearts, who know each other inside out, and who think it's fun to terrorize white people by riding their bikes the wrong way on the street as they ride us home.
I came on outreach to bless the people I meet. In an unexpected twist of events,however, I have found myself being blessed by a life that I somehow know I was made for.
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Home
I've been thinking a lot lately about home; I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss days in the coffee shop with snow sparkling in the window, chatting with some of those dearest to me. I miss game nights, and I miss lacing up my skates.
I miss my Newy family, too. I miss staying up until the final minute before curfew, deep in conversation with my brothers and sisters. I miss late-night snack-and-craft time with Holly (and sometimes, Cookie) and, more than anything, I miss the people who really invested in me during my lecture phase.
I guess for me, it has always been the people - the relationships - that make a place "home".
But now, I find myself moving around on outreach, meeting all kinds of incredible people, on the go all the time. I can't shake the feeling that everything is so temporary. Even when I find I've formed a solid relationship with someone, I know that I may never see them again.
I know that I will always have a sense of home with my parents, and with my brother and sister. Mum, Dad, Alex and Katty, you know me better than anyone else. We might argue lots but I love that we forgive more. I hope you know that I'd do anything for any of you in a heartbeat.
I know that I will always find home with my senior camp family. I know that I have a home in Newy, and I know that I have a home in all kinds of places because of the beautiful relationships that I have with people in those places; The Chans, The Wockners, The Miskiewicz's, Trinity, Saint Mike's, Jackie, Mel, and so many more. But what about here, in the villages of rural Cambodia? Here, where it's hard to communicate even my name with the people I so desperately want to get to know?
How do you build home where even relationships are temporary? How do you build home where relationships only run so deep because of circumstance and language? Do I let timing and language determine that I simply don't persue "home"?
Here's the thing:
" They say 'home is where the heart is', so if you give your heart to God... home can be anywhere." - Micheal Cooke.
If I give my heart to God, then I find home wherever He is - in service, in joy, in peace,in hope... In love. I find home in the kingdom of God.
When I love, and when I give, and when act out of grace, then I bring heaven to earth. I build the kingdom of God. I build my home.
Because my heart is God's, my home is in relationships. They are a reflection of God's character, and in the space between two people who care about each other, the kingdom of God is found.
Because my heart is God's, I am able to build my home wherever I go. I make space for the kingdom of God in every circumstance - a smile with a stranger, a cup of tea with an old friend, a cuddle with my dad. I establish heaven, I make space for God, and in that space I find rest and peace... And home.
My house is mine to build, not out of bricks but out of love.
So I'm charging into hell, and I'm bringing heaven with me. I'm building my home where there are the remnants of hell. For me, home is where brokenness was, but restoration is found. Home is where the was selfishness, but now there is humility. Home is where integrity and love reside. Home is where the kingdom of God bridges the gaps formed by race, ethnicity and language.
Home, they say, is where the heart is.
I miss my Newy family, too. I miss staying up until the final minute before curfew, deep in conversation with my brothers and sisters. I miss late-night snack-and-craft time with Holly (and sometimes, Cookie) and, more than anything, I miss the people who really invested in me during my lecture phase.
I guess for me, it has always been the people - the relationships - that make a place "home".
But now, I find myself moving around on outreach, meeting all kinds of incredible people, on the go all the time. I can't shake the feeling that everything is so temporary. Even when I find I've formed a solid relationship with someone, I know that I may never see them again.
I know that I will always have a sense of home with my parents, and with my brother and sister. Mum, Dad, Alex and Katty, you know me better than anyone else. We might argue lots but I love that we forgive more. I hope you know that I'd do anything for any of you in a heartbeat.
I know that I will always find home with my senior camp family. I know that I have a home in Newy, and I know that I have a home in all kinds of places because of the beautiful relationships that I have with people in those places; The Chans, The Wockners, The Miskiewicz's, Trinity, Saint Mike's, Jackie, Mel, and so many more. But what about here, in the villages of rural Cambodia? Here, where it's hard to communicate even my name with the people I so desperately want to get to know?
How do you build home where even relationships are temporary? How do you build home where relationships only run so deep because of circumstance and language? Do I let timing and language determine that I simply don't persue "home"?
Here's the thing:
" They say 'home is where the heart is', so if you give your heart to God... home can be anywhere." - Micheal Cooke.
If I give my heart to God, then I find home wherever He is - in service, in joy, in peace,in hope... In love. I find home in the kingdom of God.
When I love, and when I give, and when act out of grace, then I bring heaven to earth. I build the kingdom of God. I build my home.
Because my heart is God's, my home is in relationships. They are a reflection of God's character, and in the space between two people who care about each other, the kingdom of God is found.
Because my heart is God's, I am able to build my home wherever I go. I make space for the kingdom of God in every circumstance - a smile with a stranger, a cup of tea with an old friend, a cuddle with my dad. I establish heaven, I make space for God, and in that space I find rest and peace... And home.
My house is mine to build, not out of bricks but out of love.
So I'm charging into hell, and I'm bringing heaven with me. I'm building my home where there are the remnants of hell. For me, home is where brokenness was, but restoration is found. Home is where the was selfishness, but now there is humility. Home is where integrity and love reside. Home is where the kingdom of God bridges the gaps formed by race, ethnicity and language.
Home, they say, is where the heart is.
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