The Journey

 Yesterday morning I woke up with one of the worst migraines I've ever had so I went back to sleep and  I had a dream about Zambia. When I woke up, I was once again in my dark room with my head still throbbing... But I couldn't help but have my heart leap with excitement! I seriously felt like dancing and laughing and I caught myself asking - "God, what are you going to do next? How could it possibly get better than this? You are turning my dream into a reality but it still doesn't feel real!"  A few hours later, my mom came home as I was sitting on the couch watching the Travel Channel of course. She ran over with a huge smile on her face and told me that $950 had been added to my account!!    I seriously couldn't say anything or make any kind of expression other than my jaw dropping... I was lost for words! God is so good! And that is literally all I can think of to say! He definitely answered my question from that morning and He most definitely pr...

        So officially I only have 77 days to go before I head out on my 2 month journey to Afrika! I cannot even begin to describe the excitement building up in me! I've been dreaming about this trip for the past 7 months and it is now so close! But what blows my mind even more than how close this trip is coming up is how faithful God has been throughout this process!  Lets overview... When I had started making plans for fundraising and writing letters... I felt like God was telling me "Woah, hold on. I DON'T want you to fundraise AT ALL until I tell you to." Now first of all, I'm cool with following direction from God.... but this seemed crazy!I was like  "What?! God, is that really you? This is insane! But, I'm just going to trust you no matter how crazy this seems."  So, I think me and God had a pretty good understanding after I finally said "Im just going to trust you." You see, when you tell God, "I'm going to trust you...

  Sometimes I look back at my journey to South Africa last summer and wonder what happened to all of the people we met in the squatter camps.   And then, I start to picture their faces and remember their stories. Each of them had a different story to tell. They all came from different places and different walks of life. But the one thing I will always remember is the smiles on their faces despite the poverty and harsh life around them.   There are days when all I can do is smile when I remember the little kids who I danced with and the parents I laughed with and shared Christ with. But other days, I can't help but end up on my knees or face down on the floor crying for them...   I don't know what happened to those families or the children I met. And it scares me... not knowing. The worst part is... I don't know if some of them even survived up to this point. I know that sounds so harsh and depressing but that is the reality of the squatte...

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell." -- C.T. Studd When I saw this quote... I couldn't help but think of how so many Christians choose to live their everyday lives. Too often many Christians are just content with going to church and playing it "safe". They don't take risks... they don't step out. Some, are even too afraid of what fellow believers will think about them if they do or don't raise their hands during worship. And then I thought to myself - "How can anyone even be a true christian without taking risks for what they believe... For WHO they believe in?" Come on, think about this for a second... Every great man or women of God we hear about in the Bible or other books or hear stories about... Took a risk! Jesus himself gave up everything, an entire kingdom, just so he could do his father's will! He knowingly risked being criticized and looked dow...

                                           We live in a world centered around - US. We litterally get everything handed to us. We get the privalage of being able to take a quick run to the grocery store where everything is already packaged, already cleaned, and sometimes already prepared for us. And you know what happens to alot of that food? It gets thrown out. We don't eat it and it either rots, gets old or the left overs get thrown away. But do you realize.... that right now, there are children digging through garbage looking for something... TO EAT? There are families looking for their daily meal.... AT A DUMP. And most of those people...  LIVE THERE. When I was walking through the Diepsloot squatter camp of South Africa I saw things like this all the tim...

Ever since returning from Africa... I don't think I have ever been the same. No matter how much I tell stories or try to explain to people what I've seen... They will never understand unless they see it for themselves and even then I am not sure how many people would understand. I'm not even sure if I could even explain what happened and still do it justice. I know I have annoyed most people with how much I talk about Africa. The truth is... I'm completely and utterly obsessed. And I can't even begin to tell you how many annoyed remarks I have gotten because of my obsession. I've heard everything from "You're consumed by this Africa thing" to "Your crazy. What happened to you?" and things like "You have a life outside of Africa you know. Just be greatful for what you have in America." But the thing is... I have an Africa shaped heart. I don't think a day goes by that I don't think about the people I met there. I kn...

I haven't really done as much  as I need to do to raise support for my mission trip to South Africa and Zambia this summer. I have planned on going door to door and I'm about to send out more support letters and make about 100 phone calls. But, over all.. It's not much. Despite that, I have already had about 10 people randomly pledge to support me! I had no idea people were so enthusiastic about what God is using me to do in Africa! I can say for sure that I know God wants me to go back! Today at church, an amazing woman I know walked up to my dad and handed him a $100 check towards my trip! I haven't even sent her a letter yet! He didn't really have to inform her, she simply asked if I were going back and was happy to contribute... Just like that! I've had similar situations happen to me in the past few months and I definately know for sure that- God is faithful! More than blessed, Olivia (Thabisa) Cartwright