Sweet Reminders Through a Faith Filled Wedding

Miraculous.  That’s not the typical word used to describe the environment of most weddings these days but it was perfectly fitting for the one I attended most recently.  Last Friday I had the honor of being part of the community surrounding two amazing people as they became one.  My & Zach’s dear friends, Seth & Ellie Guthrie, said vows & pledged their lives to Father & each other in the middle of a farmer’s field underneath a breath taking sunset.  It seemed surreal…but the day certainly didn’t seem like it would yield that outcome earlier in the afternoon.  In fact, as much as I love Seth & Ellie, this little post about their wedding day actually isn’t all about them.  This post is about how amazing our Heavenly Papa is & the incredible things He will do to show off His love for us, and knowing Seth & Ellie both, they would have the focus of this post be nothing else :)

Here’s a smidge of back story on Seth & Ellie so you’ll understand why the day was so perfect for them.  In nut shell they are two of the most wildly in love with Jesus, unwavering, faith filled examples of what it is to walk in son-ship to Father that Zach & I know.  They’re amazing.

Now onto the progression of their wedding day.  From the start, the day was full of anticipation & complete willingness to allow Father to make the day what ever He pleased.  It was incredible to be part of and I want to share with you a few of the events of the day that by man’s standards would have looked like a reason to panic, but with faith & an amazing heavenly Father, they turned out to be amazing expressions of His love.

To start the day, we woke up to storm clouds & a 70% chance of rain ALL day long.  There seemed to be a large chance that the gorgeous field intended to be the setting for their nuptials would turn into the set of Duck Dynasty by 6pm.  Despite what it looked like outside, we knew Father wouldn’t allow weather to get in the way of two of his kids having their dream wedding.  Ceremony time came & what did we see in the natural?  A large ominous rain cloud gathered literally directly above the field as the guests were being seated.  What did we do?  We chose to see with our Spirits what we knew Father wanted for them & press into it.  We all began to pray together that Father would move the clouds for Seth & Ellie.  And what happened?  They moved with in a matter of minutes & the most gorgeous sunset and a RAINBOW appeared over the field.  Come on, tell me that’s not the most amazing gift from our heavenly Father?  As is that weren’t enough, there’s more.

Secondly, 5 Minutes from the end of the ceremony I get a text from my friend who coordinated the day that the caterer had his dates mixed up & had NO food to bring for the 200 guests.  What do we do?  Pray again & Google the nearest BBQ joint.  They found Big Daddy’s BBQ less than 10 minutes away & took off with pick up trucks to pick up any & every tray of BBQ & sides they could give us.  We’d already seen God change the weather for us, so certainly He could get us food.  The place was so close that we were only a few minutes later than planned to start the reception.  He is so good!

Lastly, as amazing as Bid Daddy’s BBQ had been, they only had enough food for 100 people & we had almost 200 guests.  Incase you didn’t make it past 1^st grade math, that’s half as much food as we needed.  I bet you can guess what we did by now…choose to see past the situation in the natural & see with faith.  We prayed  that Father would multiply the food & began thanking Him for it.  And I bet you can guess what happened …He did it!  We had so much food that there was an entire tray of BBQ left over.  And isn’t that perfectly His style?  Weather its loaves & fishes or BBQ for a wedding God loves to do things in excess to love on His kids.

 

My prayer is that in reading the testimonies of Seth & Ellie’s special day, you’ve found a sweet reminder of the truth that Father loves to love on us.  No detail of our lives is too small to bring to him.  He delights in His kids  & loves it when we step out in faith to believe Him for his goodness instead of succumbing to what the world would tell us about our circumstances.  He always comes through, even if it looks different from what we had in mind as our “Plan A”.  (In fact, He rarely sticks to our “plans A’s”!  He much too creative & wise to do things the way we thing they should be done J ) If you’re in a season of life where you’re needing break through, reach up & grab these testimonies & let them fuel your faith.  Maybe He’s calling you to give up your “Plan A” to receive an Ephesians 3:20 plan.  He loves extravagantly & his plans are “to prosper & not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE & a future.”  Stand on that truth, even if you’re feeling like you don’t see the evidence of it right now.  It prepares your heart to be ready to receive the fullness of what He has planned.  (Featured below- My handsome date, amazing friends & the cutest flower girls you've ever seen!)

Favorite moments from the wedding day

It has been over three weeks since my & Zach’s big day & the time to share about it has eluded me until now.  I’m excited to share some of my favorite moments with you!  The day couldn’t have been more perfect for us, & actually my most favorite moment of the day was the least planned part!  I’ll get to that in a minute.  I feel like I could write a post on each of my favorite moments but I’ll refrain :) Here they are in order of occurrence…

For me (& Zach too) the day was one big beautiful moment of intimacy with each other & with Father.  I woke up the morning of May 9^th & before I started into any of the typical “bridal preparations” I wanted to prepare my heart for what was about to come by spending time with Papa God.  I had barely even gotten situated on my sofa & cracked open my Bible when I heard him say “get on the floor & just talk to me”.  As soon as my knees hit the floor my heart became so over whelmed with what a privilege it is to not only marry my best friend but to be an earthly representation of Christ & his bride-the Church.  I began to tell Father how honored I felt by that.  In tears I told him that other than Jesus, this was the greatest gift He’s given me to this point in my life.  This marriage was the most precious thing I would possess & be part of.  Since it was the most precious thing in my life -the thing I placed the most value on- I immediately became overtaken by the awareness that He was worthy of having me give it right back to Him.  He is so worthy of everything I am.  When you’re in love with someone you want to give them the very best of you & the very best thing you have.  I wept on the floor at what an amazing gift I would be given on this day & how honored & happy I was to lay it right back down at Father’s feet to use & do with us what ever He would like.  After 5:30pm that evening, I would have a better gift to lay down at His feet than I’ve ever had before.  Not only would I be giving Him my life alone, but Zach & I would be giving Him our lives as a team to work in tandem & covenant partnership with him to accomplish the purposes of His kingdom.  We would learn together what it means to die to ourselves in completely new ways as we step into marriage.  We would learn how to take on the heart of Jesus in new ways.  I could keep going about the depth of the revelation He gave me on this but then I’d be out of space to share the reset of the day!

After getting off the floor (& putting cold water on my eyes) I spent the morning getting ready with my very best friends.  We took our time, relaxed, had brunch together (thanks to mama Pam!), laughed & enjoyed each other.  It was perfect.  I wanted all of us to be together that morning & just enjoy friendship as we started the day & we did just that.

We arrived at The Loom (the venue) early afternoon for pictures & my & Zach’s first look.  Another one of my favorite moments was in our first look.  When we saw each other for the first time all we could do was burst into laughter!  Our hearts were so full of joy that it wouldn’t stay inside of us.  That’s the best kind of laughter :) I also got to present Zach with a letter I’d written to him almost 2 years ago when he did his 3 month stint at Harvest School in Mozambique (little did I know at the time that I would follow his footsteps there a year later).  I had addressed the letter to “my leader” & signed it “your bride” because I knew even then that He was the one who would be given that role in my life.  It was a page of blessing & declaring identity over him in ways specific to the role of husband.  I loved finally being able to give it to him.

The ceremony held my MOST favorite part of the day!  After the vows & rings were exchanged, we took communion together & then invited all of our friends who had been in Mozambique with us at Harvest School or had served with Iris Ministries to come forward & lay hands on us to bless & speak life into our new marriage.  We told the Lord that we wanted this time to be what ever He wanted it to be & that He had full cooperation from us to crash in.  We wanted what ever He wanted even if that looked different than what some people had seen at a wedding before.  When our friends began to pray for us & declare things over us His presence fell on us so beautifully & heavily.  The musicians played “On Christ the Rock” by Kim Walker as a declaration of what we wanted our marriage to stand on & when the song was over they could tell that the moment wasn’t finished so they went into spontaneous worship singing “Holy holy are you Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the Lamb”.  As they sang the song of the throne room (Revelation 4 & 5) everyone laying hands on us picked up on it & we all began to sing to the King together.  You could feel the holiness in those words as our hearts united to lift Him higher.  It was so beautiful.  My hearts desire was for our wedding not to be about us, but for it to be about Him & in that moment of worshipping Him, where all eyes & hearts were on him, my desire for the day was fulfilled.  His presence was so thickly surrounding us.  That was the most precious gift Father could have given me on that day.  I just wanted Him to come in & be part of the ceremony as our most honored guest & He did.  It was amazing.

After the ceremony, we partied & danced our shoes off at the reception.  It was a blast!!  The only thing I would change if I could, would be to have slowed down time.  I felt like I blinked once & it was over!  

It really was the best day & I’m so thankful for all the sweet moments & surprises in it.  They made it perfect for us.  Thank you for taking time ready up on how it went down! :)  Love you friends!





Side funny fact:  We all forgot about signing the marriage license at the wedding so it was signed at Cracker Barrel the next morning-haha.  That’s how we roll

Wearing a lot of balls on my plate...wait?

Wowzer!  Life has been a little bit of a whirl wind for the last 2 months.  I am doing well to remember what I ate for lunch earlier today much less to remember how to answer someone when they ask “how was your weekend?”  Was there a weekend recently?!  Did I miss it?  The only reason I’m able to type this post tonight is because an event on my calendar got canceled.  Life feels like it is going at 100mph right now & I know I’m not the only person who feels like that.   While I can honestly say there isn’t much I can cut out to slow down, what I can say is that this season has been an incredible lesson in learning to how to practice operating in a place of rest even when my life pace is demanding & fast.  I have failed miserably at that many times, but I’m also learning to get it right.

I’m wearing several hats right now, I’ve got several balls in the air that I’m juggling, lots of items on my plate…choose your favorite analogy.

  

Hat/Ball in the air/food item on plate #1

I am 2 months into planning my wedding & also 2 months away from it…That’s right.  We’re planning this puppy in 4 months.  It has actually been one of the easiest items to have on the plate.  Over the last 7 years I’ve heard first hand how stressful planning a wedding can be.  What I’ve realized with mine is this:  Yes, there are a lot of things to think about & make decisions on.  Yes, there are details that pop up that you won’t anticipate no matter how much of a planner you are.  Yes, at least one of your agenda items is bound not to get done by the dead line on your schedule.  NO, it does not have to be stressful.  When I feel my heart start to get pulled toward stress, I remind myself that my wedding day doesn’t actually need to have any of the things that I’m about to worry over.  Centerpieces, favors, the perfect songs, honestly even my wedding dress-I could go with out that & still marry the man of my dreams, my best friend, the person Father has blessed me to  partner with in ministry & walk through life with.  Re-centering myself around that truth keeps me from letting myself get wrapped up in trivial things that aren’t even important when it comes to the big picture of the covenant I’m stepping into.  Stepping back & taking a broad view of your situation is one of the healthiest practices you can have sometimes.

Hat/Ball/Food item #2

I work a demanding & frequently exhausting job.  I love what I do, but I do A LOT of it & I fly solo most of the time & that can wear anyone out.  Long story short, I work for a physical therapy company & my responsibility is to keep 17 of our clinics full of new patients needing therapy.  How do I do that?  I visit physician offices to nurture relationships with MDs & their staff as well as coordinating any marketing/community events that the company decides to participate in.  Here’s what it looks like in a super-simplified list: 

• Visit 210 MD offices every 6 weeks
• Establish & nurture relationship with close to 1,000 physicians in the aforementioned offices
• Keep 17 PT clinics busy with new patients
• Market multiple specialty service lines to MDs on top of the orthopedic rehab that all clinics do.  To do this you have to know your MDs, know what kind of patients they see & what programs will be most relevant to them.  It can be crazy when you multiply it by almost 1,000 docs

Sounds like a lot right?  Because it IS!  I had 3 days in a row last week that I was overwhelmed to the point of tears.  Again, I found myself with an opportunity to practice operating in a spirit of rest.  I reminded myself that my job is not my identity.  Yes, I love to perform well, but no it does not define me.

Hat/Ball/Food items #3-#?

• Serve on the board of directors for an amazing anti human trafficking organization called Switch42:16.  It is a complete honor & I’m so thankful to have been given that opportunity.
• Serve on the Church prayer teams on Monday nights.  
• Host/facilitate a bible study on Tuesdays with some of the most amazing women that I’m privileged to do life with.  I’m thankful for everything they bring into my life on a daily basis.
• Marriage counseling on Wednesday nights.  I’m so thankful for couples who have gone before us & can share their wisdom.  Shout out to Josh & Laura Houston who have been amazing so far!
• Still managing to get myself to the gym 4-5 times a week to get wedding/honeymoon ready.  
• Spending as much quality time with my handsome fiancé as I can.  (And I can hear some of you thinking right now.  "She listed him LAST on her list?"  Yes I did!  Because you're always supposed to save the best for last.) He works 50 + hours a week with a completely opposite work schedule from me (evenings & weekends) so we’re learning a lot of the same lessons right now.  He has done an amazing job of being intentional about our relationship even in this busy season & I’m so thankful.  He's a stud.

While it seems like I have a lot going on, I’ve realized that it has actually been a blessing in disguise because it has forced me to learn to rest in the middle of chaos.  I told someone the other day “If I can learn to operate in rest now, I think I'll have gotten it on a whole new level”.  If I didn’t learn to stay in a place of rest I would break down (learned that one first hand).  I used to cry out to the Lord to take some things off my plate, but what He’s done has been much better.  He’s strengthened & stabilized my spirit to be able to keep its peace & rest in the middle of a crazy life.  Abiding in His love & peace is the most restful thing I can do.  I don’t need to worry about having the perfect wedding, being the best performer at my job, having the best training on being a good wife, being an all-star board member or group leader etc.  Abiding with Him & believing that I am all He says I am makes me great at all of those things & with a lot less effort than I would have to exert if I tried to do it with out Him.  He knows what He’s doing when he says “Come to me all you who are weary & heavy laden & I will give you rest”.  He is the BEST rest-giver because his rest isn’t a cover up for burdens, it actually replaces them.  He takes our burdens away completely & gives us rest.  I couldn’t do this life with out him.  This post isn’t meant to be a “busy-ness comparison” for anyone to feel more or less busy than anyone else.  It was simply a post for me to 1) vent! & 2) share that the important thing to master in a busy life isn’t how well you can multi-task but how well you can learn to abide in Him & rest in the middle of chaos.  Learning to do that will be more valuable than any self-help book on time-management, multi-tasking or “being all you can be”.  His love is what enables us be all we were created to be :)  If you’re still reading, thanks for hanging in there!  I know this was a long one, but it sure felt good to get that off my chest :)  Thanks for listening!

Strength through weakness

My heart is still so full of the things of Pemba that some days I wake up & actually feel homesick.  It is hard to know what stories/lessons to share but I want them to stay fresh, and one way to make that happen is to share them :) Some of them were learned through laughter & some were learned through struggle, stretching & tears.  They are treasures to me, precious pearls that Father gave me there.  In deciding where to start, I knew that the first thing I needed to share post-Pemba was what got me through every single day there & what has continued to get me through every day thus far being home.  It is the realization in a deep deep place in my spirit that I have no ability to do ANY good thing on my own strength.  Here is what I mean…

Here in the Western world we don’t need in the physical.  I'd never been in another place for more than 2 weeks before to see what neediness feels like on a daily basis.  We think we are able to take care of ourselves out of our own strength & ability for the most part.  We work our jobs, we make money, we pay our bills, we buy our food etc.  We do much of that with out even being conscious about whose strength we are operating in.  I had no idea how many “good” things I was trying to do for the Lord out of my own strength here in America.  I wanted to love but I did it comfortably out of my own strength.  I wanted to be kind & be a good forgiver but how can you know how truly kind & forgiving you are until you meet some one who is terribly difficult to love?  Its easy to default to your own strength in places where you are comfortable & often you’ll never notice that’s what’s you’re doing.  In Pemba, however, things are different.  You have no comforts of home, no familiarities to be reassured by, little that you can claim as your own (except some dirty clothes & maybe a chocolate bon-bon but even that Father usually tells you to give away).  You are helpless on your own.  You are brought to a place of depending on others for almost everything.  Anything that was being done out of your own strength at home was revealed & that strength was proven insufficient.  I grew in this awareness as my time in Pemba progressed but the day that it broke me was the day that I woke up & , due to the conditions in Pemba & some physical issues in my body, I literally didn’t have the physical strength to lift up my mosquito net & put my feet on the floor.  I was weaker than I’ve ever felt & I had an African day ahead of me.  I had never been in such a needy place.  I’ve always had strength in myself to at least move my physical body!  I had no option but to acknowledge my weakness & call on Father to help me.  I said “Daddy I can’t even get out of the bed this morning.  Empty me of every ounce of my own strength that I’ve been trying to hold onto & fill me completely with yours.  It’s the only way I can get through this day.”  Immediately I was filled with a new sense of strength that not only got me out of the bed but that also made my joy overflow.

As life in Pemba went on I found myself praying that same prayer every single morning.  I would posture myself in humility & ask “Father empty me of every bit of myself today.  Empty me of any pride & ‘self’, empty me of any love or grace or kindness or ability to forgive that I might try to show out of my own strength & fill me with YOUR love, YOUR grace, YOUR eagerness to forgive, YOUR kindness…”  It has made all the difference in the world in how I go through my day.  I just have to stay totally empty of me & full of Him.  I feel more loving, more patient, more compassionate, more able to forgive & actually more like myself than I’ve ever felt before.  When you willingly die to yourself every day, you’re just a dead man walking & that’s the perfect place to be.  Perfectly dead to yourself, fully yielded to Jesus & falling more in love with Him by the moment.  There is so much peace & freedom that comes with that.    That’s what He wants for us- to stay completely empty of ourselves, to stay needy needy needy for Him &, because of that neediness, to receive the fullness of all that He is.  Neediness sounds contrary to what we’re taught here in the West but it is more liberating & full of joy than anything I could gain out of my own strength.  Paul says it is 2 Cor 12:9-10...

"...and he [The Lord] said to me 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power Is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."

A little black box full of promise

I’ve found myself using the “F” word quite frequently over the last 2 days.  Yep, “Fiancé” has been rolling off my tongue since last Saturday afternoon at 1pm.  Zach hit one knee & asked me to be his wife & I couldn’t be more ecstatic about the future we’re walking into.  It is so full of promise!  Everything about how our engagement went down was a prophetic act of the life that we’re entering into together & I want to share it because it is true for all sons & daughters of the King.

Zach can share his side of the story much better than I can, but long story short the place he had planned to propose at fell through last minute (Literally an hour & a half before I was going to be dropped off).  He knew this engagement was important to Father, so he knew there was an even better plan that was about to fall together.  He ended up being given FREE access to a roof top venue down town that usually costs an arm & a leg to rent.  That’s prophetic act #1.  Father knew the desire of Zach’s heart & it was a desire of His heart too so He prepared the way for a engagement spot that was better than anything Zach could have put together on his own.  Typical Daddy God right?  He is so faithful!

I was 99% sure I was getting engaged on Saturday but I had no idea how or when.  Zach told me he had to work until 4 so I knew it wouldn’t be until after then.  I had time to have a last minute lunch with my sweet friend Sarah & she took me to The Loft at Soby’s On The Side in down town Greenville.  When I realized we were walking to The Loft & not the restaurant I decided something was definitely up.  We got to the door & I saw a sign that said “Guess who didn’t really go to work today?”  Oh-my-lanta, here we go!  I knew what was going on.  I opened the door & there was a beautiful staircase lined with candles & roses leading me upwards.  I followed them to the roof to see my man waiting for me.  I bounced (literally) over to him & after some sweet words were exchanged he dropped to one knee & pulled out a little black box…

Before I continue, you should know that I had no idea what the contents of that box looked like.  I knew I just wanted to marry Zach.  I didn’t care if there was a plain metal band in there.  Ok, maybe I cared a little but I didn’t need a ring to prove anything to me about his love for me.  His actions over the last 2 years had proven that.  I know that Zach’s heart for me is 100% good.  I was ecstatic to become his fiancé.  And now that you’ve heard that, I can also tell you this:  anyone who is a woman or knows a woman also knows that we do love beautiful things.  It’s just how we’re wired.  I can’t help it J I didn’t need a beautiful thing to say “yes” to Zach, but it would definitely be nice to see a pretty ring in that box.  I’d wondered several times about what the ring would look like.  What girl doesn’t?  I’d imagined pictures of rings that I thought would match up with what we could afford.  Neither of us are high rollers by any means, but I knew I’d be happy with what ever he gave me because it was from him.

…Now back to the story.  All of those thoughts were flooding my mind while he held the unopened box infront of me.  The words “Will you marry me?” came out of his mouth & then he opened the box.  I was completely unprepared for what was inside.   It held a ring that was more beautiful than anything I'd imagined & that says a lot coming from a chick that can normally pick something apart in a minute flat!  Every detail was what I would have pictured if someone had asked me to describe my dream ring.   I was overwhelmed.

Please hear my heart here- I am NOT saying that an engagement ring should be fancy & frou-frou in order to be precious.  If that’s what you hear, you’re missing my heart.  The man giving the ring is what matters.  That’s why mine is so precious to me.  You see, the ring I received was given to me by Zach & by my heavenly bridegroom.  They both worked together to get it to me.  It was much more than what Zach & I should have been able to have on our own.  God blessed us with that ring & through it He said, “I have more for you than you could ever get for yourselves.”  It spoke directly into my heart reminding me of all the promises the Lord had given me to break off old fears of my past.  The ring yelled into my heart “You are CHOSEN for this.  You are WORTH IT.  You are PROVIDED FOR.  You are a Daughter-Queen.”  I found myself thinking for a moment, “This ring is too much” & I heard Jesus say “You are MY bride.  That makes you WORTHY”.  It is my ring of promise.  I get to have a reminder on my hand for the rest of my life that tells me how abundantly good He is to His laid down lovers.  When we lay down our lives before Him, He loves to surprise us with His goodness!  He stands before all of us with a beautiful ring of promise asking “Will you become one with me?”  When we say “Yes” to joining with Him & coming under His love that’s when Ephesians 3:20 comes to life in us.  It is posted under my blog title & I love seeing the ways Father fulfills that promise with each new day. 

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work with in us, to Him be the glory in the church (the bride) & in Christ Jesus (the bridegroom) forever & ever.  Amen” 

Here’s a little peek at what his proposal looked like J His sister, Molly, was a rockstar & took amazing pics.  Thanks Molly!

Last Pemba Post (Crazy to think!)

Abba has done so much over the last several weeks that I am truly at a loss for what to say.  I've attempted to start writing a post several times but I haven't known what to say or share. I could share a story or a testimony but every time I would start to type, I just couldn't find words to do justice to what Daddy has been up to.  It's been intense & wonderful.  This will be my last post from Pemba because, frankly, I want to squeeze every last drop of what He has for me out of my time here.

There is no way I could tell you in one post all Abba has done here but one thing is certain- He has changed me deeply.  I'm a different person coming home than I was when I arrived here.  I'm still Madison, but I've stepped into things He's been trying to awaken in me & heal in me for years.  He brought me to the very end of myself here & showed me how to operate out of His strength & none of my own.  I had to be brought low low low to be taken high high high.  He broke me to pieces & showed me the abundance- the richest of fare- that comes in dying.  When you die there is nothing, no strength, in you but He brings you to life by pouring Himself into every part of you.  The emptier I became, the better it got.  I'm more of the Madison He created me to be.  I don't know if there will be noticeable change to everyone around me but I know what is on the inside & I'm forever changed & marked by my King.  This time has been the hardest & most wonderful thing I've ever done.  I can't believe He called me to this & I got to come be smashed to pieces & brought to life.  It was heavy, it was deep, it was beautiful, it was perfect, it was holy.  I'm so thankful that he can take my little "5 loaves & 2 fish" life & multiply it.  It's what he does for all who will give all of themselves to Him.  You don't have to have a talent, a special gift, or even know what your calling is.  You just have to say "Here I am.  Here is all of little ol' me for you" & watch him multiply you to do the miraculous.

I am so excited to share stories & catch up with everyone at home & hear about your lives too!  I can't believe I'll be home in just over a week.  Pemba holds a place in my heart that not much else will be able to reach but I can't wait for what is coming next.  I'm taking all the treasure Abba has given here with me in my little jar of clay & can't wait to let him pour me out how ever He desires.  He's the beautiful one.  He's the Holy one.  He is worthy, He is worthy He is worthy to receive all glory & honor that comes from our jars of clay being broken before Him & our treasures poured out at his feet.

On a practical note, here are a few things I'm excited about coming home to: running water, a shower that's not from  holding a bottle over my head or the ocean, using a restroom that has a flushable toilet & that isn't infested with bugs that try to attack you while you are in an awkwardly vulnerable position, no bed bugs, consistent electricity, not feeling swet drip down your chest, back, legs, face all day long (including while you're laying in bed trying to fall asleep), working out & being able to be motivated by the option of a shower afterwards instead of demotivated by the though of having to take one, vegetables!!!, not having to have a group of 4 people to leave your home, having a car to drive places instead of walking or hitch hiking, not being woken up in the middle of the night by village people doing circumcision ceremonies or witch doctors, not biting down on clumps of dirt or an occasional bug in your plate, not having to carry toilet paper in your bag all the time...etc.  I could keep going but I'll save that for another post :) As much it sounds like those things are strange & uncomfortable I think I'll actually miss all of them a little bit (except the midnight witch doctor shenanigans).  They were part of life here & they made this time everything it was.  I couldn't have been brought to the end of myself with out them!

See you state side soon!  Lots & lots of love!
Madison

Pemba Update 4- A day in the life...

October has come & gone I can't believe my first month in Pemba is over.  My heart is a little sad that I'm at the half way mark. I feel at home here now.  The things that were strange & uncomfortable at first have become pretty normal & nice.  I can't wait to come back to my friends & family in the States but I hate that I have to leave my little life & family here to do it.  It's a different world here, so I decided to give a brief play by play of a day in my life here.  Ready set go...

1) Wake up & climb out of your mosquito net around 5:30am (the sun is all the way up by then).  If you're the first one up- walk to the bread tree to get your house's basket of bread rolls for breakfast.  The large quantities of MSG makes them slightly addictive so watch out. :)
2) Eat, brush your teeth & wash your face with water bottles, put on your capulana (native dress) & get in the Word for a while before 8:00 class starts.
3) Attend class from 8am-1pm. This is about 2-3 hours of worship & 2-3 hours of teaching mixed together.  Half the time we're all just laid out in the floor soaking in Fathers presence.  It is so thick!  The honey of his presence is poured all over you.  It's a yummy, warm, sticky, delicious presence.  Agendas are determined by Holy Spirit so no two days are the same & He loves worship!  There's nothing sweeter than loving on your King & being loved on in return.  October class teachings were mostly on identity as a son/daughter & inner heart healing.
4) Finish class around 1pm & head to the cafeteria to stand in a massive line & have lunch with the kids who live on the base & the Mozambican bible school pastors.  You usually meet someone new at lunch & you always get rice & beans!
5) Afternoons are filled with different activities: small group meetings, extra elective classes, soaking/intercession in the prayer hut, going to the water store to buy clean drinking water, carrying 50lb bags of rice & beans on your head to divide up & give out to local mamas, hitch hiking into town to go grocery shopping (it takes a minimum of 3 hrs to "run" to the store), making trips to the well for water, visiting the villages to love & minister to people, cleaning your house, washing your laundry in buckets (tedious!  You'll redefine what "dirty" is to cut down on loads), work out hopefully with out having a heat stroke & if you can squeeze some extra time in you get to journal!
6) Dinner bell rings around sunset at 5:30.  They bring some variety into dinner for us...you could get fish heads, cow hooves, matapa (an amazing local dish made of a spinach like plant, tomatoes, onions & ground peanuts), or cabbage all served with rice.  The best dinner nights are Wednesdays & Saturdays - you get a tiny little chicken breast or "spaghetti" (noodles with chicken broth)!
7) After dinner  for the first few days of the week we have classes, house family time & Wednesday night church.  Thursday - Sunday nights are open to hang out or process what's happening in your heart.  Every thing is a process here.  It's a process to take a shower, go to town, walk to class with kiddos grabbing all over you.  Things take about 3 times longer than you would expect but I've grown to like the pace here.  It's an event oriented culture rather than a time oriented culture so you can't get stressed about time because no one is in a hurry.
8) Take a bottle shower & get ready for bed around 8:30.  I tuck in my mosquito net & hit the hay around 9.  It's amazing the sense of security a tiny little net can give you when it comes to protection against flying & creeping things at night.  Busy days make for restful nights & I've slept great here.  I've been attacked by bed bugs twice now but I've conquered them both times (I have the 50 bite marks to prove it) :)

That was a glimpse into "a day in the life of a harvest school student".  It's pretty active!  This week also had several "firsts" for me that were noteworthy so here are 3 of the highlights...

1) Some of my roomies & I went snorkeling last weekend!  We met 2 Mozambicans who loved Jesus, had a boat, & charged a great price so that was qualification enough for us :). We rented snorkeling gear & set off for an adventure in what looked like a pirate's get-away boat!  It was hilarious to see 8 girls crammed into a fishing boat sitting on top of nets & rope while being rowed to a near by reef.  The two guys who were our guides were hilarious & spoke great English.  They had both gotten saved from Iris groups coming to their villages & showing the Jesus film.  One of them was Paul & when I met him his first 2 questions to me were "What is your name?" & "Do you know Jesus?"  Fun fact- they had 3 little fish that had been living in a pool of water in their boat for 2 months.  There was a tiny leak down there so they always had fresh water.  They named the 2 bigger ones Justice & Mercy & the baby's name was Kevin :) Yes I have pictures.

2) In class on Thursday we got into our small groups with our Mozambican bible students & had a foot washing ceremony.  Calling it powerful is an understatement.  Foot washing ceremonies almost seem to have become "trendy" in some places but we wanted to press deeply into it.  We reflected on what Jesus did for his disciples when he washed their feet.  When Peter objected to letting him wash his feet, Jesus reminded him that unless he let him wash his feet he had no part of Him.  It's hard to let someone wash your feet, especially if you would rather serve them than they serve you but Jesus says "let me wash your feet". Everyone felt extremely humbled to have their feet washed but the whole time we were reminded "You are worthy.  Jesus says you're worthy".  I touched Jesus' feet every time I touched theirs.  Every time I picked up a dirty foot to clean it I was cleaning Jesus' feet.  These men are my brothers.  I felt so honored to wash the feet of amazing men who are getting trained up to carry the Gospel to their country.  It was a blessing to serve them & pray for them while we washed.  I wept the entire time...and so did several of them.

3) I had the privilege of spending my Saturday morning with several amazing Mozambican teenage girls who live on base.  Two of my roommates planned a day date & met up with them at 8am to go to the market in the village near by.  We bought ingredients to make matapa & shema for lunch.  I've described matapa above but in theirs they add coconut milk & mango...it's to die for!  Shema is a dense corn meal porridge that you roll into balls with your fingers & use to scoop up the matapa to eat.  It's my favorite dish here!  I'd had it in Zambia years ago & was stoked to find out that they have it here.  I could eat matapa & shema everyday.  We brought the ingredients back to their house, cooked, painted our nails, & they semi-corn rowed my hair while they told us their dreams.  We had a blast.  They want to grow up to be economists, doctors, & lawyers.  They are going to do it!  They are so dedicated to their studies here & all of them speak at least 3 languages- Portuguese (national language), Macua (the local language), & English on some level.  They are amazing girls & next Saturday were having them over to our house to cook them pasta (their favorite dish).  We hope to be able to adopt their dorm for the rest of school & add some little sisters to our house.

It's been a fantastic week.  It feels like every week gets better than the last.  Sure I have my bumps- days where I'm pooped, where I've gotten super sick, where I'm sunburned 10 different ways & miss home but, man, is it worth it!  Father has given me abundant grace & joy to deal with any discomfort & he's healed me every time I've gotten sick.   He's so good, He's so beautiful, He's so faithful, & He loves so well.  Thanks again for taking time to keep up with me & keep me covered in prayer.  I say it in every post but your prayers are invaluable to me.  Thank you for keeping me lifted up, fought for & blessed!  I love you guys.

Love, hugs & blessings,
Madison