Daily life

It has been brought to my attention that I have written very little about daily life here, my apologies for this.  I do want to give each of you reading this blog a picture of this place, I want to write so that you all feel as though you too are here with me.  This is where a creative writing course would have been beneficial, but alas, I never took creative writing, so bear with me as I try my best.  I will do this in multiple posts so as not to give you all a headache.

My day begins at 7am when the alarm wakes me from sweet slumber.  Knowing that a cold basin bath awaits me, I take my time getting out of the single bed that I have called my own since June.  Crawling out from under the mosquito net, I make my way to the "showers", with my basin in hand.  I will save you the details of the bath, except to say that there is a lot of quiet yelps from my stall as I pour cold water on myself....eeeekkkkk!!  Worship begins at 8am in the classroom along with a short Bible study, intercession time or chapel time when we students are asked to speak about something on our hearts.  Class officially begins at 9am and runs until 1pm.  We have learned a lot in class about the world, people, evangelism and missions.  In the afternoon I remove my student cap and replace it with my teacher cap as this is the time when I do homeschooling.  I am doing the best I can in this department, I am not trained as a teacher nor do I recall all that I learned in grade 8, which means that a lot of my time is spent quietly relearning science and math, not to let Kenzie in on the fact the her Mom doesn't know it all.....do they know this at 13?????  I think she might have an idea!  You have also noticed that my grammar and writing is not top quality, I write how I speak and often make up words, not good when teaching a grade 8 student how to write!!!!  YIKES.  Philippians 4:13 is a much quoted scripture these days.  The evenings are usually spent watching a DVD in our room until the power goes out, which some nights is as early as 9pm. 

In 2 weeks time we will leave for outreach, my team is heading to Sudan.  In Sudan, we will have different ministries to work with, it appears that I will be able to put my nursing to good use as the need is great for basic care.  We will be teaching and preaching, as well as building, digging or anything else that needs to be done where we are.  I am looking forward to this stage of the journey with only a little trepidation.  We will be gone from Arua for 3 months and I do not think that I will be able to access the computer, so please don't stop visiting after a long silence...I promise to be back, undoubtedly with much to say.  Our days on outreach will look very different, and to be honest I am looking forward to the fact that I won't have to sit in a class all morning, this reeks havoc on my A.D.D..

I will tell you a little about Arua in the next post, before that though I might take some time to look up creative writing styles so as not to bore you all to tears!!!!

Blessing friends,
Cheryl xoxox

Never say never....

I was chatting with a friend the other day on FB.  My friend made a comment that has been grieving me ever since.  We were talking about my experience living here in Africa, my friend said "I couldn't do it", then  promptly corrected the statement by saying "actually I wouldn't do it".  Now, I know that we are not all called to live in Africa or any other third world country for that matter, the comment grieves me because it suddenly struck me that so many Christians in this world share that same attitude. The attitude that if something is uncomfortable or the least bit difficult I am not willing to do it, even if God asks me to.  I have no idea if this is where my friends head is at and this is in no way a judgement on this person, it just made me think about how many of us out there think this very same way.  Not too long ago, I too was not willing to give up my comforts and still I must confess that I miss them very much, but I am at a point in my journey where I can say that anything is worth it if I am doing it for the one who died on the cross for me.  If Jesus can do that and think of me, than giving up warm showers and toilets really doesn't seem like much. 

Saying "yes" to God is not always easy, and believe me, sometimes what he asks is way beyond us, but I can say that I have already been richly blessed because I did finally say yes.  What is God asking you to do, where does he want to send you?  If He is speaking, listen and be ready.  Remember too that God has a sense of humour and I would be a little nervous about saying things like "I wouldn't do it", "I couldn't do it", "never", "not me" etc.....Be ready to do the impossible.

On a side note, friend, if by chance you read this, know that you are very special and you have a tremendous gift, use your gift wisely and for the One who gave it to you.  You have the potential to be a world changer, believe it and never say never.  God will give you whatever you need in order to fulfill the call he has for you and you could never even imagine a better path than the one He has chosen.  See yourself the way He sees you, it might surprize you.