Meant to be, right where I am.

I couldn't be happier, to just hang out with Jesus.
This trip has been awesome. The kids, moms, culture, country in itself.
But,
Jesus, has been blowing my mind.
I've always struggled with truely knowing Gods love for me.
Perhaps it stems from a deeper root of struggling with a "fathers love"
or the fact that I couldn't tangibly feel or see Him.
Either way, I've always seen God as a provider, a helper, a guide.
"best friend," or "Love of my life" wouldn't typically be how I would describe Him.
But over these past while, God has just been revealing to me how intimately He knows me, How uncomprehensible His love is for me, and How he desperately wants to be in a relationship with me.
No, not just a "teacher" relationship.
or a "man in the sky I ask for help" relationship.
an Intimate.
Personal.
Love.
relationship.
How He is hungry for me to know Him. For me to want to seek His face. To simply spend time alone with Him getting to know Him on a far deeper level.
I was listening to some secular country love song on my ipod... One I've listened to time and time again, and thought it was just cute. When all of a sudden it was like God was singing it directly to me... ( I know... That may sound incredibly cheesey....) But I'd never thought of God that way. That he could be so in love with me... Catch His breath when He looks at the beautiful creation of me, and want to spend eternity with me. It literally took me by surprise and I busrt into tears with the realization of His immense, passionate love for me.
I don't want to be shallow with Him anymore.
I yearn to be the blushing bride for a perfect bridegroom.
I want Him to show me the perfect plan He has for our life together.
Because more and more I'm realizing how I don't want to go a day with out Him,
And I don't care where I am, what I'm doing, who I'm with,
As long as I'm with Him, doing what he wants.
So thrilling to think that I don't have to worry about what to do with my life.

God wants me with Him,
and knows exactly where He wants us to be....
And I can't wait to see where that is.

I Love the Life I'm Living.

In Kitwe, Zambia
wow.
I've been here for just over a week now, and loved just about every minute of it.
( minus the minor frustrations of unfortunate seating arangments on a 1o hr flight, and of course the slight delays to our schedule due to "Zambia time" and power outages etc. All of which are very easily dealt with if one has the right attitude and mind set.)
So needless to say, I am incredibly happy to be here.
I really can't explain how my soul seems to flourish in an environment like this.
It's like I fit.
I was born to be in cultures, areas, places like this.
I never feel more at home than when I'm in 3rd world.
Anyways. Re-cap.
We had about 35hrs of travel time before we got here,
but as soon as I was surrounded by all the familiar kids faces, laughing, high 5'ing, and hugging me, all travel was forgotten.
It was incredible to see that they DID remember me (despite the fact that my hair is now chopped off and pink...) and to see how the relationships could pick up from where they left off. We have been able to prove that we truely do care about them, and still love and pray for them.
It's been tons of fun just getting to hang out with these beautiful children... sing songs, learn their hand claps, be taught "bemba", and get schooled at basketball :P God is working in monumental ways in their lives, and it's be a real blessing to simply learn from them, by hearing and seeing what God's been doing in, through, and around their lives.
We've also been working on a playground for the orphanage, which has been pretty cool. The kids are very excited for the structure to be finished, and are already playing on it. It's huge! Including rings, tires, monkeybars, bridges, rope ladders, and rock climbing walls. It will be awesome to see what it looks like when it's done. I can tell they'll get a lot of use out of it. They're all so energetic and athletic, so it will really give them an output for all their energy.
Other then construction and kids, we've also been working with the house moms... Giving them a time of relaxation where we tangibly show them love by giving them manicures and pedicures and massage. Each mom is responsible for looking after 8-12 kids practically by herself! cooking, cleaning, parenting... helping to nurture and encourage those who all have troubled, broken backgrounds. And we think raising 2 or 3 kids would be hard! ( we did the same thing last time i was here... So it's been great to visit with the moms again and find out how they've been doing over the last 2 years) The whole thing has a great spirit about it because it reminds them of how Jesus washed his deciples feet. We want them to know we're not coming in as High and mighty westerners... But that we actually do really care about them.
you
Okay, I don't have much time, so i need to wrap this up, but i'll finish with a few prayer requests.

• Pray for my heart. I have an incredibly large capability to love people. Which means my capacity to miss people is also huge... And last time I left, I left a good chunk of me here. It was rather painful lol. (perhaps that means I should just come back and not leave? Who knows. If it's in Gods plan eh!)
• Pray for the construction project... There have been a lot of delays due to wrong equipment, broken tools, power outages etc etc. I'm pretty flexble, so I figure I just do what I can and the rest is up to God. If we complete it, sweet. If not, I focus on other things and trust God is in controle. But for those on my team who are more task oriented, It's been very frustrating. Pray that frustrations are minimal, and that it wouldn't be straining the team.
• That God would be our guide. It really doesn't matter what we're doing as long as it's in His plan .
• Pray for health. We've been very lucky so far, no ones gotten sick... But after a week peopole are getting more tired, and amune systems are getting lower.
• Safety... Again we've been pretty lucky, with only minor injuries on the site... But there is tons that Could go wrong. So pray that it doesn't
• Continued bonding between team mates

I think that's about it for now. Sorry it was short... But i hope it fills you in a little as to what i'm doing here!

Thanks so those of you who are praying!

Much love, see you soon.

Mandie

Unless you know that life is war, do you know what prayer is for?

Hey y'all.

I officially leave in One Week!!!

(For those of you who get my "prayer update" this might be a bit of a re-read. But slightly differant lol)

I was going to write an update, letting everyone know that I got $800.oo last week, which meant that I only needed a littel over a grand... And that news in and of itself was awesome enough for me...

But then I went to check with my church, and I was informed that with my 800, my funds are more than all covered!!! Ah! Sooo exciting!!!! One week away and God just pours on an abundance of blessing! Gah! I just can't even describe the beauty of Gods timing, how perfectly he's been working out every aspect of this trip, His insane provision and the way He's teaching me every day that I have to trust Him, and wait on Him. God Is GOOD. So very very good. Sometimes I simply do no have the words to articulate how my soul seems to sing with the astoundingly stupendabulousness of Him and the Joy that brings me. (Stupendabulousness = stupendous, and fabulous, but more awesome. Like? :P )

Anyways.

All that to say, I am one week away, and obviously there is a lot to do... But it's a real blessing that I'm not really stressing it at all. (Thanks to all of you who are praying for peace?! It's working!) I feel very calm about where I'm headed. A reasurance that comes from knowing I'm going to be where ever God wants me, doing exactly what He wants me to do, and when He wants me doing it.

One thing I am going to have to work through I'm sure, will be to not compare it to the last time I went, or any of my other missions trips for that matter. I don't want my pre-concieved ideas of how I think it should be to get in the way of what God could be trying to have me do, or teach me. I'd really like to be totally open to whatever it is He has in store for me... Willing to listen to His leading voice and guidence, and to have the boldness to follow through and act on whatever it is He's telling me to do. I'm so excited to be stepping into a clean slate so to speak. God can do WHATEVER he wants on this trip... It could very well be very similar to the last time I went. Or Completely different. And I'm down for either. It's an incredibly freeing feeling when you let go of the reigns and say " your will, not mine." I'm no longer in controle of what happens during this time... And that is SO okay... Because inevitably His plan is infinitely better than mine... And He'll be able to accomplish so much more through me if I'm just willing to step in line with what He's already got in the works.

How totally Stupendabulous [ ;) ] is that!



But anyways. I feel like i'm starting to babble a bit...

that's all I've got for now... I'll try to keep it as updated as possible... But like I said earlier.. I'm horrible at this... And honestly i'm not really sure how much internet access i'll have there.

God's a provider for sure.

Hey all,

I just wanted to send out a little update,

We had our big fathers day hotdog dundraiser last weekend... And even though it was a cloudy, chilly day, people were still very supportive. We were able to make $1,100.oo. So that money can now be put towards the missions trips our church is sending out this summer!

This is really awesome because we're still trying to raise funds for our building project. (In Zambia we'll be constructing a playground for the kids.... Right now they only have some tires... And the new one is estimated to cost between 10,000, and 15,000. So this will be a nice chunk)

Thank you Jesus! :)

As well, I just found out I recieved an annonymous donation of $400.oo the other day!! That's so exciting! And really encouraging for me... I know God is a provider, and If he wants me there he'll make it happen... But it still lightens my heart when I see him coming through in a tangible way. I still need about 3,000, so you can all celebrate Gods provision, and continue to pray into that for me! :)



I think that's about it for now.

So you can keep track of What I'm doing!

Hey All...
So I've got it in my head that I can keep a blog...
We'll see how good I am at writting regularily.
But this will be for all of you who have been interested in my travels, missions trips, and Life... that I haven't been able to regularily update.
Now you can just look on here to find out the latest! Huzzah!
So, after traveling to Zambia in 2008, and then all over Asia with YWAM in 2009 (indonesia, taiwan, cambodia and thailand) I am being blessed with the opportunity to Go Back to Africa again this summer, august 2010. This is so exciting for me, because it means i'll be able to tangibly show the people I met there, that I do still care and pray for them... enough so that I'm willing to come back a second time. ( A lot of the locals I met were bitter towards missionaries because they would come, leave, and they'd never hear from them agian.) So it will be such a blessing to break that pattern of thinking for them, by actually returning.

I have 2 month now before I leave (exactly actually... Today is June 3, and I leave Aug. 3) So I'm eagerly anticipating this new challange God has for me. However, like most of God's plans...I have to live by the saying "Gods will, Gods Bill" As it stands, I am still very short of funds, and trusting that it will come it. ( If any one would like to support me, please send me an email, call me, or shoot me a message on facebook!)
Other then that, I would appreciate all the prayers I can get!
You all can pray for:

• The prep. stages... We have alot of work to do, and many things we're still running around to get.
• Team bonding. Everyone comes to the group with different personalities and characteristics. It's important that we all learn to love, appreciate, and live with those differances.
• Preparing the hearts of those we're going to serve before we get there.
• Finances coming in for all that are going.
• preparing our hearts and minds as well for what we'll be encountering while we're overseas.

Thanks so much, its really appreciated. Hope this will keep some of you in a better loop!

Be Blessed.