time flies when you're having adventures.

It is hard to believe that I have been in this beautiful country for nearly a year! I head home in a week and a half, and I cannot WAIT to see my family and friends! I do have plans to return to Lesotho for another 6-12 months, if my finances permit it, so the good-byes to my residents, friends, and 'Lesotho family' will not be too hard this time around :o) 

In BDS news, we got a new resident a few weeks ago- she has had an extensive trauma history, but she is safe now and is settling right in at the shelter. We are excited to help her finish her diploma in computer studies as well as teaching her life skills such as budgeting, meal planning, and cooking. I am really enjoying my time counseling her, and I have to admit that I am sad to leave so soon into my time with her, even if it is just for a month! I have been training a few of our house moms in art therapy, and I wrote a manual for them to follow, so she will still be able to work through some of the effects of the trauma with them while I am away. Plus, we have Skype so I will still be available to touch base with her and our house moms- praise the Lord for technology!!

Please be praying for our new resident- that she will know the redemption that she seeks and that she will continue to heal from a difficult and damaging past. Pray for our two transition residents who are in college as they prepare for exams, and another transition resident who has begun interning at a local orphanage's clinic in order to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. And, as always, keep all of our other girls in your prayers as well :o) As for me, I need prayer for discernment- I feel strongly that I am to return to Lesotho in January, but I need a. funding and b. a home for Charlie (my horse) for the next year. Please pray that if I am supposed to be here that these things will be provided. Thank you so much for your prayers and support- hopefully I will see many of you when I am home in less than two weeks!

There are so many things to be thankful for on this adventure...

Over the past few weeks, I have taken some time to reflect on how thankful I am. I am thankful to be living the dream in Africa. I am thankful for my family back home who support me in my pursuing of my dreams, goals, and callings. I am thankful for my residents and the ways in which they stretch me and teach me. I am thankful for my team here on the ground; that they encourage me, challenge me, and love me. I am thankful for the opportunity to start new things and watch them grow. I am thankful for those who support me so that I can be here and do this work. I am thankful for the God who sustains me, through times of joy and times of suffering. I am so incredibly thankful.

Some other updates that I am very thankful for:

-We got the funding to send our girls to college! Last week we registered them for classes, and they began school this week. They are incredibly excited and grateful, and I count it as a huge blessing that we got to be a part of helping them achieve their dreams.

-We will be starting equine therapy with some of our residents. I began studying this back in the States and I am excited to utilize this innovative technique to help our girls process the trauma they experienced in a safe and non-threatening way.

-We were awarded a grant from Oral Roberts University that will allow me to create an art therapy space on our two shelter properties; this will allow me more privacy when counseling and it opens up an opportunity for me to develop our outpatient counseling program!

-Our income generating projects are taking off, and each one of our residents is on their way to having a sustainable source of income! They have started ‘the giraffe project’ making stuffed giraffes out of traditional African fabric, and we have lots of great ideas for future projects that will help them earn a living for themselves and for their children.

My time here in Lesotho has flown by, and I am grateful that I have the opportunity to come back for another 6-12 months in 2013. For those of you who do not yet know, I will be back in the States from December 10^th until January 10^th- I look forward to spending time with my family and friends and getting some much needed rest! As of right now, I am not sure where God will have me in the next year or so… I am just trying to be obedient and go where I am needed. Please pray for me- that I would have discernment about where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to do. I will need to raise support for my second stint here, so please pray that God opens the right doors and that my needs will be met. Most of all, pray that I will be still and not allow myself to be anxious about the future. Pray that I will stay the course and remain in this season of thankfulness, and continue to experience all that God has for me right here, right now. I am very thankful for your prayers, they have been felt over here on the other side of the world :o) 

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with THANKFULNESS.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

~Colossians 2:6-8

An adventure in honor

I have been learning a lot about honor lately. I grew up knowing that I should honor my mother and father. To this day I hold to this as a single woman. When I decided to come to Africa, I sought guidance from both of my parents. I am lucky, because they recognize that I am an adult that they have raised well. They trust me; they know that they have instilled good values in me. They have taught me to love the Lord, and to walk by faith and not by sight. While they were not thrilled about me moving to a third world country halfway around the world, they knew that they had to hold me in an open hand and let me go. They prayed for me and with me, and they gave me their blessing.

In this new season of my life, I have been learning about honoring my boss and my co-workers. It is easy to honor my parents. They have raised me, loved me, and encouraged me. Honoring people that I do not know well is more difficult, but God calls us to honor those who he puts in authority. I am blessed with a wonderful director here who invests in me personally, professionally, and spiritually. She makes it easy to honor her. I know that I will not always be called to honor someone that makes it easy, but I know that I will always be called to be obedient. I am learning to honor the other missionaries that I live with, our local volunteers, our residents and a bevy of new friends here in Lesotho. I am being stretched and challenged, and it is GOOD. As I learn to honor the people that God has placed around me, I know that I will learn to honor Him better also. As my time here progresses, I am changing, learning, growing. I will be very different when I come home, and I would not have it any other way!

Please continue to pray for our residents. We are still waiting on funding for our two girls who want to go to college. Pray for favor as I hopefully get a chance to meet with the Vice Chancellor of the National University of Lesotho; I am going to ask for scholarships for our girls and for them to be given local tuition rates rather than international rates. Please pray for another of our residents who is struggling with her plans for the future and grappling with the question of raising her baby on her own or putting him up for adoption. Pray that she will feel loved, supported, and encouraged. Pray for me, that I will continue to grow in my role as a leader here, that I will get better and better at loving others, confronting issues, and seeking wisdom and discernment when decisions need to be made :o)

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “HONOR your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.””

~Ephesians 6:1-3

An adventure where dreams come true

It has been a very exciting week here at Beautiful Dream Society! I found out that two of our residents who are moving into our transition program got accepted into the National University of Lesotho; it is a HUGE deal, as admission is really competitive. This is a particularly redemptive event because these two girls were trafficked to Lesotho from another African country on the premise that their trafficker (who was a friend of the family) was going to put them through college. However, when they arrived here, they were locked up without food or money for weeks on end. When they came to the crisis care shelter, I did a lot of art therapy with the girls in order to help them heal from the trauma and move forward with their lives. Every time the topic of hopes, dreams, and goals came up, all the girls could talk about was wanting to go to college and have careers. This past week I got the privilege of telling the girls that one of their dreams had come true and that they were well on their way to achieving their goals. I believe in these girls and I am so incredibly proud of them and excited for their bright futures! 

One obstacle that we face is the cost of education for these girls- it costs about $4,000 per girl per year in tuition with about $2,000 a year per girl for room and board. If you are at all interested in helping fund their education, please contact our director, Sonya Martinez, at sonya.martinez@beautifuldream.tv :o) 

As far as my life here in Lesotho, another one of my dreams has been realized this week aswell. I have found a riding stable! I have made friends with an English family who I trail ride with on some Saturday mornings just across the Lesotho border in South Africa, but last weekend they introduced me to the owner of a nearby riding school. I went out and took a lesson with her this past Friday, and she was quite impressed with my skill level and has asked me to come out once or twice a week and help her with some of her young horses. She has also asked me to consider going to a competition in October, as she thinks it will be good experience for me and then I could help her with some of her horses and students. I am thrilled to have found a place where I can do what I love, even on the other side of the world! 

It has been such a wonderful week. Please pray for our residents; pray for the funding to come in for the girls' education, pray for our transition residents who are seeking work, and pray for our future residents who will be entrusted into our care in the coming months. I am so incredibly blessed to be here, and I feel so lucky to be a part of these girls' lives. Please pray that God will use me and that I will walk daily in His will. 

'"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a HOPE and a FUTURE."'

~Jeremiah 29:11

Sometimes, adventures can be really hard.

Sometimes, living in a third world country can be tough. Other times, it's just really hard. Being here in Lesotho has stretched me, challenged me, and grown me more than I ever thought possible. I am not the same person that I was when I arrived here back in January. 

I have learned to love people who have been through extreme hurt and suffering. My heart breaks for their brokenness. I have learned to surrender the important stuff to God. He is the ultimate healer- of my residents, my friends, and myself. I have been hugely blessed to have been raised in a family that loves the Lord, with parents and a sister who tell me that they love me all the time and who pray for me daily. They have made me resilient, strong, and able to love. Many of the people that I love most here have not had that privilege. Throughout the past 7 months, I have learned how to love the broken, show grace to the wounded, and lean on the hope that I have in Christ more than I ever have before. The learning curve is huge, but God is faithful and His grace abounds in this place.

I have learned what it means to sacrifice. To lay down everything that I love to follow my calling to a place where luxuries are small, suffering is great, and familiar faces are few. There has been so much grace; I miss my friends and family more than I can put into words, but my team here is amazing, and they love, encourage and support me. Although there are sometimes national diet coke shortages, I do not go thirsty. And I get to see healing through the suffering; such awe-inspiring, beautiful healing. God never promises us that His plan will be easy, just that it will be GOOD. 

My journey is fulfilling. My path is straight. My hope is strong. My God is great. My life is good. It is hard sometimes, but it is good :o) 

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men, for He satisfies the thirsty and and fills the hungry with GOOD THINGS."

~Psalm 107: 8-9

Lions and giraffes and elephants... oh my! Time for a cousin adventure!

This past month I was blessed with a much needed visit from my cousin, Ben. As I talked about in my last post, I have been struggling with homesickness- along with compassion fatigue and feeling a bit burned out since I do not have my usual 'self-care' methods: horseback riding, girls nights out, game nights at friends, the young adults group at church... So a visit from one of my favorite cousins came at just the right time! It was wonderful to meet up with him in Johannesburg and get to go on a safari and to the Lion Park. Oh, and big THANK YOU! to my aunt Rose and uncle Roy for treating us to a fantastic sushi dinner. Sushi is my favorite, and I was not sure how I would last a whole 5 months more without it :o) Many adventures were had, and I came back home to Lesotho with lots of stories- it finally felt like I was living in Africa!! The trip also helped me to realize how important it is for me to monitor my time off and make sure that I do things that relax and restore me... I am much more useful in my job here if I am energized and enthusiastic! Here are a few snapshots of our trip:

The cousin adventure begins!!

Oh, you know, just some elephants in the road...

Rwar!!

As far as things with Beautiful Dream are going, things are busy but good! Our Africa director is transitioning into a role based more in the States, since her daughter and husband have to be there for school and work reasons, respectively. This leaves Cristen, our assistant director, and myself with a lot of responsibility. It is exciting and intimidating all at the same time :o) Please pray that I am able to step up and meet these responsibilities with vivacity, and that God gives us all grace in this time of transition. I also need prayer for my finances; I raised 60% of my needed support for the year, and now that I am nearly 7 months in I really need that last 40%! Other than that, please continue to pray for our residents in the midst of court cases, all of the cases are dragging out and we have not seen one end since January. Yikes! But our residents are strong, steadfast in the Truth, and they feel encouraged and supported. Praise God for His unending grace, it is present here more than ever! 

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul."


~Psalm 23: 1-3

Even on the most exciting adventures, you still miss home.

Today is one of those days where I would give my left kidney to be able to go home for a week or two. I don’t know why- it’s been a good day. And I have a lot to look forward to on this sunny, beautiful Friday. It has been a busy and long week, but a great one. I have been blessed with many opportunities to serve our residents, I have gotten a lot accomplished, and I have even met a few new amazing people. Yet today, I am homesick. It probably has something to do with the fact that the longest I have been away from home before was about 5-5 1/2 months. Yesterday marked my fifth month of being in Lesotho. My mom reminded me that I am ‘almost halfway to coming home!’ That didn’t help.

I know what I signed up for when I agreed to be a missionary. That my funds would be much better stewarded if I put them towards program supplies and health insurance, rather than a plane ticket home. I’m not sorry that I have chosen to stay the full year before seeing my family and friends again… but days like today certainly make my heart ache to hug my horse and dog, go out to sushi with my best friends, and curl up next to my mom and tell her about my day. Not to mention have a fishing date with my dad and a sister night with Lisa. I just keep reminding myself that all of this missing will make my time with them in December that much sweeter.

Please be praying for me, that the homesickness would ease and that I will trust that God will equip me for these next 6 months. I know that I have told a few people that I am fairly certain I will be back after Christmas for at least a second year, if my finances permit it. Please pray that the Lord makes his plan for me clear and that I trust in Him for financial support and to get me through the homesickness that I am sure is still yet to come :o) Thank you all for your continued prayers and encouragement, I appreciate it more than you know!!

“In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”

~Jonah 2:2