Peponi (paradise)

i have this overwhelming longing today to be in a bus traveling down a road full of pot holes in the warm evening of Uganda. i just wish so badly to sit on a bus for days staring out the window at the beautiful moon and stars. i miss the languages, i miss the smell so badly lately.

i can’t wait for the day that i have my own truck and i can just drive with the window down, drive down forgotten dirt roads park in a valley and watch the stars, i can’t wait for the smells to engulf my lungs again. i can’t wait to sit in the boiling sun beside a child and just talk. or just sit, i know it will happen, its just a question of when? i can’t wait to witness something beautiful to be brought to tears at the utter joy in poverty.

lately it seems like attacks are coming from all corners of the map, its brutal, i want to go back to the beautifully broken amazing incredible Africa. maybe i’m crazy, its just i feel at home there. maybe my life doesn’t make sense to anyone but i can’t explain the desire in my heart to be back in africa. its not that i want to run away form home its quite the opposite i want to go home!

the plans are in the works to go home, but at the moment its difficult because work is either very little or non existent. but my prayer is still to return in feb of 2013, to begin laying the ground work to live in africa permanently. my goal this time around is to have enough money to buy a truck, and start the process for apply for a Ugandan passport. at some point i would like a DRC passport to but i figure Uganda will be easier and it will help in the long run, and once i have the passport going to and from the country will be that much easier.

i could really use prayer that God would open a job up that would pay a very good amount of money, i have been praying that a job up in the canadian north would open up were i could work 12-16 hour days and make enough money to put money into savings so that i can actually put down on a truck as well as start raising funds for the plans to move over there for good. also just that god would help me in this time that i’m away from home (for those that don’t understand this, i love canada, but it is no longer home to me, don’t take that the wrong way, its just that my heart and were i feel strongly that god has called me is to live in africa, that is home).

Lion Chaser.

A few weeks back I was blessed by a team from New York that came and they paid my way to go on safari with them. This was an awesome trip for me but hard at the same time I was having a few days off feeling very down and out of it. as I sat in the van roaring down the road looking out at the African plan around me in western Uganda I was feeling frustrated with my life. How was I going to raise money for YWAM with only two months to raise the 7000 I need? How was I going to deal with that issue or this issue? It seemed like everyone had life sorted out but me. Our van came to a halt next to the Ugandan Equator. I got out and walked to the second van, the van full of all the guys. They invited me to switch vans and so I did without hesitation, I wanted a break from the other van. We took off down the road, I sat in the uncomfortable chair just listening to the conversation and thinking about life. And at one point one of the men passed me a book and said I needed to read it. So I opened it and I began to read. The basic point of the book is about being a lion chaser, being someone that would stand against the odds when everyone calls you crazy.
See I don’t think God intended us to live life on the side lines. I think he intended us to be lion chasers. Men and women of God that would go way beyond what was normal or natural and do the abnormal and supernatural; look at the bible for example. You have a boy named David; he was 17 years of age. He looked after his father’s sheep, not only did he kill a giant with a pebble pulled from a stream, but he was also anointed and appointed by God to be king. How about the woman in Jericho? She took in to spies and protected them! Need I even point out the greatest lion chaser I can think of? Jesus, at thirteen years of age he preached to the teachers of the bible in a temple! He healed the sick he dared to say he was the son of God. can you think of anyone that you know that would willing put themselves out there and say hey guys I’m the son of the one true God, and I will prove it by healing the sick, raising the dead and preaching the truth? And then back it up by being nailed to a cross and raising from the dead three days later! Jesus by our standards was nuts! But he was nuts for God! He willingly chased a lion even though he knew it would cost him his life. Even when people warned him and told him to hide or even tried to defend him with sword he still pursued his lion! If I look at the bible almost every person of faith in the bible seems to be a lion chaser. They went beyond all odds. I had this awesome opportunity that I think was one of these lion chaser moments. I was given the option of going to church or going to a prison. I said I would go to the prison and when we were deciding who would preach I decided I would do it. Everything in me was saying your tired take a break; you don’t want to preach here. I didn’t want to do it but there was a small piece of me that was like but it’s a lion, lets chase it. So I went along with it even though I didn’t really want to. And so we got to this prison. And we go in and my friends and I move to the front of a room full of about 120 prisoners. What the heck have I gotten myself into; I went into a lion fight with my bare hands! I hadn’t even prepared any kind of message! I sat there looking at these men thinking this through thinking, what was I going to say, what could I possible say to these men? Sure I had been in fights I had done illegal things back home but I never murdered anyone, I never committed a crime punishable by prison. What could I offer this lion? How could I chase such a strong lion? And then it came time to get up, I can see it now: “in the right corner standing at 5”9 weighing 175 pounds, Joel, and in the left corner standing 4” tall weighing 300 pounds of pure muscle THE LION!!!!” I can tell you I have faced many fights, none of them seemed as bad as going into a fight with a lion with only my bare hands. So I got up no message prepared, and I said a quick prayer, I set my feet apart and ran at that lion with everything I had. Man did it feel like I was getting the snot kicked out of me. And then came the big moment. I’m in my corner bruised and beaten I think and that lion isn’t even breathing heavy let alone bleeding! This was it. my finishing move. “so if anyone would like to give their life to Jesus I want to ask you raise your hand” all of a sudden to many hands to count go up, the lions bleeding! “ok now I want to ask you to make one more step of faith and stand up.” all of a sudden that lions was on the ground completely knocked out, roughly 60 of the 120 men in that room were standing! The point I’m trying to make is that lion chasing is scary, and sometimes we get burned, I was fortunate this time, but sometimes when we chase a lion we get burned and we have to pick our self’s up. But regardless of if you win the fight or chase, you will always come out that much stronger, because even if the lion wins you still chased it; you still said I’m not willing to settle for second best. God never said follow me and you won’t get hurt. In fact he said the opposite there would be trials there would be pain. Some would die horrible deaths for Christ. Others would witness a different lose, a lose of family and friends. The incredible thing is though that those that chase lions will witness the kingdom of heaven advancing at incredible rates. In one month I witnessed over 500 people saved, in one month! This was because I stepped out and I chased that lion down and I fought him as hard as I could! So are you going to be a lion chaser? Or are you going to run away like everyone says you should? I will tell you, chasing lions is one of the best things I have ever done!

sadness overwhelmed by joy.

I have witnessed joy in moments of sadness. I have seen the broken become whole. I have seen people healed. I have seen the strong, the angry, the hateful all fall on there knees upon meeting Christ for the first time.

I have heard stories of 5 year olds standing up for god only to be shot through the head by an AK a few seconds later. I have witnessed the poor giving and the rich taking. I have witnessed the weak win against the strong. I have seen the unforgivable forgiven.

When I look back at my whole life, it’s hard not to realize how incredible the things I have seen are. The things I have survived.

And now I’m adding a new part to my journey. Christmas this year is rough. I’m in Africa which is incredible surrounded by incredible people, but I would be a complete liar to say it felt like Christmas to me. Because it honestly doesn’t. we just put up our tree, my families not here to embarrass me. I don’t get to hear my brothers making the same stupid jokes, or play the silly games. I don’t get to go to my friend’s silly parties that usually leave me questioning our sanity. So well life is incredible here I do miss home at this time of year.

The other day I felt a bit down and one of the Youth Leaders, James, said hi to me via facebook. He pointed out how crazy it was we could talk well being so far away. And its true how crazy is it?! anyway we talked and I told him about what has been happening and life here and he told me about stuff in vic. And it was encouraging to know that what I’m doing is building peoples faith in Canada; even when I can’t see it.

Sometimes being here is bitter sweet. I’m becoming so comfortable with preaching but I don’t want to be a preacher. I’m realizing there is a part of me that’s scared to step out at times. In music and in speaking. I know I’m good at both of these I’m not being prideful in this I have been complemented all around the world (literally in Canada, the US, Europe, Africa) at what I have said and my singing. But the truth is I’m scared to step out because I guess sometimes I don’t feel like I’m good enough to. I feel like I have made so many mistakes people would be foolish to listen to me. I feel like well I might have something valid to say its buried under a lot of crap.

Today was rough again; I spent most of the day just resting after being at another all night prayer meeting. I went to school with Peter but then decided to go for a walk and ended up walking for a couple of hrs. I got lost in the back country of Uganda, I don’t know who else that’s white who will EVER see the places I saw it was great. And well I’m a bit better I still feel confused at times as to why I’m here what I’m doing were is the purpose for my life here. I know bits and pieces, I know gods teaching me about trusting him and being secure in who I’m, I know that he’s teaching me to love in a whole new way. But other then that I don’t know what the plan is.

And at the same time god does amazing things. Last night I snuck out of the prayer meeting and sat in the field by our church just listening to some Christian music and worshipping god in my own way and was brought to tears in god’s presence. And on the road today I had some woman give me a mango for nothing. And a man talk to me in perfect English. I don’t know, I don’t understand god sometimes.

The pain found in joy?

the dull rumble of voices and baggage moving. someone laughs off in the distances they recall a story; someone walks by speaking with a British accident, another in Russian, one in Thai. the song plays on repeat in my headphones as my fingers run across the keys to the beat of a thousand thoughts. my life feels a bit like an airport these days, i feel like i don't know who i'm sometimes, i'm Canadian? but i mean i have lived and traveled in so many places in the world in the last two years. i have seen everything from cultural Thai dancing to Riots in the streets of Uganda. i have seen albino babies then they vanished in a country that considers a black baby that's white (black albino) the greatest sacrifice. i have lead worship; I have been the quest speaker. I have met Government officials and been an Assistant to great Godly men. i watched the sunrise in more then one country in one month.

so why am i writing? what words do i have to give right now that are wisdom? i could quote the bible, tell you how everything's going to be ok, but is anything really ok? and do we really want things to be ok? i didn't travel the world because my life was ok. i traveled around the world because something was missing and i wanted to find out what it was. i have witnessed beautiful moments in these travels, but i have lots of regrets. i regret how i treated my team on outreach in Thailand. i regret that it took me more then 4 months to work out my problems with one guy. I regret the way i treated the people i worked with in sound and music in Uganda.. what is the point i'm trying to make? life, life is short, life lasts but a moment, i have witnessed this first time, in one year i have gone from being in a relationship to being broken, i have gone from having not spoken to an important person in my life for more then 7 months to talking to them almost daily. i have healed from the brokenness, met new people worth investing life and time in. all in a year. i have watched riots erupt from peace, and peace erupt from violence. i have witnessed Gods protection. but one moment that reminds me of how life is so short is a story that has always been in my mind. when i was in the hospital in Uganda i met an old man on his bed. i led him to Christ in what i truly believe were his last moments, i'm not a doctor, nor can i say that he didn't get better and leave the hospital, but i can tell you that i felt death waiting for him, i could tell his body was as tired as his soul, i also had a strong sense that god was calling this man home. its an eerie story. sure i didn't witness his death, but i saw a man at the end of his life, having run for so long from God and from Death and here they were on his proverbial door step knocking. Life is short it lasts but a blink of an eye. i lived in Thailand for 9 weeks. here i'm at the end of it. I can't believe I am already heading back to South Africa. there is so much in this year i wish i had done differently, i wish i had loved more. I wish i served people more, I wish i had cared more. I wish with all my heart i had spent more time with God, more time trusting. I wish i had opened up my heart to the world around me and allowed myself to bleed again. what would have happened, what would have changed?

Burundi - November 2010, on the river that feeds into lake Tekynika

We all hate those moments where we are having a great time and time goes by so quickly. I hate them too, but I also found a way to enjoy them. when I am in those moments that i don't want to end. i just take a picture. i keep it stored in my mind right next to the chords to The Scientist by Coldplay or Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's. I will never forget the moments sitting on the beach in muizenberg learning a new language and listening to the ocean crashing into the beach as if to give a loud protest, that the sand shouldn't be there. or to look at the stars and how they refused to be overtaken by the night sky. When we were created in Gods image we weren't given a promise life would be easy or full of Good times. but if you look around you i think we can all agree god never meant for life to just be full of hard times and bad times. i think there is a mix. i think that we can look at life and be sad because life hasn't worked out the way we thought it would, or we can look at life and each moment and find the joy, the joy that is found in pain. I remember the night i was walking a friend home and she saw a little girl and she was so scared of one person that every time she saw anyone she didn't know she thought they would kill her. she fell on the ground crying as a child walked by her. i was so angry, so broken in that moment for this grown women. brought to your knees by a child.....what must fear like that feel like? but i found joy in that moment because in that moment i decided i was there and witnessed this great atrocity on her life so that i could be the change i wanted to see in the world, in that moment i began to watch out for this women with my life. and to pray for her and seek God for her, as the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months, things came to a pivitol moment, when the man that scared her came into the house and threatened her she coward in fear, i stood in the gap for her, i stood between her and this man, i was ready for any punch any pain that would follow. i witnessed a fear i had never seen in that moment, worse then before, i saw a child in the women as she hide behind me, i was so angry, how could one human hate another so much that they would cause this fear in someone. again i resolved to stand with my friend through this trial and the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months and as i stood with her i saw the child disappear behind a strong women. with a faith for God i had yet to see anyone trump. she began to walk herself home, she began to stand up for herself. not every moment works out this way. sometimes it really is hard to see the Son through the clouds, but i think its enough just to try to enjoy every moment and find life in the bad moments. i think that if we can learn to do that in this short life, we can truly say we have overcome. i think we can be a light to a world covered in darkness.

So here I'm the Christian traveler, sitting in an airport in Thailand, i'm tired, my body doesn't care about time zones anymore, i hear tribal, national, what ever kind of languages more then i hear English. i have regrets but i choose to say this is the moment i get up and try again. because Jesus is always standing in the gap like i did for my friend. hes always there and committed to helping us. even the small moments count, one last mini story. i remember in a village in Uganda a women brought me her child that was less then a year old, and as i held this small child in my arms i can't tell you the joy i felt, such a tiny thing, so innocent. so fragile, it trusted me to keep it from getting hurt in the moments i held it. isn't that kinda like us with God, we need to trust him, to know hes always got us in his lap, in his arms.

Anxiety, what’s that?!

I can remember it as clear as yesterday, I walked into the Paris train station, I walked up the stairs and bought a ticket. I was heading to London! Finally, my trip was almost over and I was almost home. There’s just one problem. I’m about to go into British land. And with that deal with some of the toughest customs in the world; it doesn’t help in my back pack I have a fake gun and a machete from Africa now does it? so I go through customs. And of course my bag goes through the X ray machine, before I know it I have four guards surrounding me asking me to follow them and off we go into a tiny room that can barely fit three people let alone five comfortably. We go through the whole talk, why do you have these items etc. and finally after much anxiety on my part and much joking on there part the French customs tell me I can go board my train, but that I might get the items taken away or I might be put in jail in London, GREAT! So I ask what I should do, now let me say, you would think being away form home traveling alone for more then 7 weeks I would be ok with trusting god but no, he still has to remind me. One of the guys says, “do you believe in God?” of course! “well pray then!” this was just a crazy thing to hear. But I still didn’t take it as a God moment. And so I hop onto my train.
The train rocks back and forth as I sit in my seat, the temperature is just right I sit there praying my head off till I fall asleep. I can hear what feels like each bolt and piece of metal tapping away at each other, as if to say I’m alive, even though I’m just a medal object I’m alive. I drift off and begin to dream. I wake up an hour later. And I begin to worry about the “weapons” in my bag. So I pray again, only this time a few minutes in I hear God: “Joel, why do you keep bringing this up? Did I not take care of you in Africa? Did I not watch over you in Italy and France? Why do you think I can’t watch over you know?” Have you ever had one of those moments were you just feel like an idiot before God? I had one of them moments. And man did I feel like an idiot. I mean come on, I stood ten feet from a live hippo and God protected me. And I am worried about custom agents? Sheesh, aren’t I just a genius!
Every once and awhile we fall into this anxious thought process, we get worried, how am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to raise the money I need. And then we go to God and yak his year off about our issues! And we completely forget who we are talking to. We are talking to GOD! I mean he created the heavens and the Earth. And we are worried about paying a hundred dollar bill, or putting gas in the car, or about finding the one? He controls the weather. He controls all the money in the world. and you think he can’t deal with our tiny issues? The other day I was so frustrated with my life I locked my self in a room and I started to complain to God, but something in me told me to be silent for a minute. When I was I began to hear God, you know what he said. “Joel, no more talking till later in the day tomorrow.” I’m dead serious. God told me not to talk! Talk about rough! Its not easy being around people and not being able to speak. But God taught me something in those 20ish hours, he taught me to listen. I think this is something we all need to learn; when we get stressed or worried we need to learn to take our problems to God but also learn to listen to what he is saying in that situation. Then we will grow, and then we will find peace that passes understanding. So when you get hit by anxiety or stress or fear or what ever, go to God but don’t spend an hour talking and telling him your issues, spend a few minutes telling him your problems, then let his peace flow and listen to what he’s saying. You will be surprised just how amazing these little moments can be!

The Greatest Trend ever started (its not twitter).

The Engine roared louder and louder it seemed, the earth was getting closer, my heart was beating faster, faster, faster...this was it, i could see it now, the plane shook as hit it the ground the sun relentlessly pounding on the metal, attempting to cook each person without mercy. the engine began to slow down and become a dull hum, but still my heart beat, faster, faster, faster. this was it... i was finally home!

as i stepped off the plane into the airport i took a deep breath, my lungs were attacked violently by the smell of BO, i just smiled and said to myself, “TIA, this is africa”

i will never forget the traveling i have done, when i close my eyes at night i am reminded of the beauty i have witnessed in brokenness, in hopelessness, in poverty.

i took a bus from Burundi to Uganda, and as the sun went down and gave way to the cold Ugandan evening the stars erupted in the sky like little fire flies, as if to say they would hold back the darkness from completely taking the night. i sat in the chair i had occupied more then 8 hours now looking out i could see the savannah of Southern Uganda. the moon painted everything in a beautiful glow. my heart wouldn’t slow down it knew it was home, as i looked out the site of the mountains turning into hills and then flat lands and then god knows what my heart grew with the anticipation, only a few more hours and i would get to greet my old friends, i would begin a new life.

One night as i walked home from church i saw off in the distance a thunderstorm brewing, i heard the clap like a kick drum but it didn’t stop it carried on the whole ten minute walk home (and you think I'm exaggerating..) when i got home the power was out so i did one of my favorite things to do. i grabbed some corn off the charcoal stove, i went to the front yard of my pastors house and lay on his trampoline. listening to music i just laid there and looked at the stars still visible, i watched as fire flies ignited the sky and the storm came closer, breaking the sky in beautiful colors of blue, over taking the stars.

so why all these memories? when i went to bed tonight i couldn’t sleep...laying there all i could think was that i needed to write, i needed to bring life to my thoughts. i needed to give them emotions, names, reason. maybe that doesn’t make sense, but to me it makes perfect sense.

over the last 14 months god has talked to me in a thousand ways. he has spoke through fire flies, threw mountain ranges, through people, through enemies, through words and music, through the stillness of a night, through the dying breaths of another human being.

lately god has been speaking to me about Love, i don’t understand love, i don’t understand it on a spiritual or human level. its a strange thing to me. one it doesn’t make sense because our world has so devalued the word, we say we love that movie or this song or that book, we say we love the way this feels or the way someone speaks, we say we love each over. but what is love? how can we use the same word to talk about loving a piece of paper with words on it and then turn around and use that word to talk about a living human being. now don’t get me wrong, I'm no fool, i realize we don’t actually love a book, that would be ludicrous but we do say it. heres another one: when did the only way we could show someone love become a physical thing? i mean sure its normal for us to kiss the girl (or guy) we like, but i heard it said once, god doesn’t want to climb in bed with you. so if love is something physical how do we show it to god? because i wouldn’t even know how to begin going about planting one on gods lips, let alone i really don’t think he wants me to kiss him.

God really convicted me of this in the South African winter (this would be summer for anyone north of the equador) he started talking to me about intimacy and what love really was. hes still teaching me just so you know, i still have ALOT to learn, but this is what i have been learning.

God DOESN”T want to kiss you but he does want to romance you, he does want an intimate relationship with you, but he doesn’t want to climb in bed with us. so what does that mean? honestly i think a higher form of intimacy is honesty. its being open, its saying the things you never thought you would tell anyone. its about holding nothing back. now i know god is God and he knows all blah blah blah, but think about it this way. say you knew someone did something really bad, someone you really cared for and you would be there for them no matter what. but you knew they did something bad, isn’t it so much better when they come and tell you what they did. when they are open with you, doesn’t that build your trust? doesn’t it show you that they trust you?

I know God knows what goes on in my head and in my heart, but i think he truly desires for me to tell it to him, he desires for me to go on a walk with him and tell him what’s hurting me. what is confusing me.

God Loves you so much that he DOESN”T want harm to come to you, BUT God also loves you so much he would NEVER take the choice away from you. to me this is amazing, because so many times we have blamed god for the things we have done or the harm that has come to us, when really its not his fault, yes he could stand in he is god he can do everything and anything, BUT would it really be love if it didn’t allow for us to make the choice to love him back? to trust in him?

I will never understand why i am alive today when i wanted to kill myself and there are so many people around me that i know or know of in one way or another that are dying younger then they should. there are people with cancer, people that get hit by drunk drivers, or reckless drivers, doesn’t god love them to? this is the one part of love i don’t understand, and i’m not sure i have an answer, at least not a good one, but i think that the only way we can look at these kind of things is that one Sin made us all dirty, and God seems to love cleaning dirty things. i guess that answers why he never gave up on me. i think that harm comes to people not because god is an evil god, not because they did something wrong (though some things DO have consequences) but rather i think its just life, i think that when humans took the bite of the apple we made a choice, a choice God in his LOVE gave us, he warned us that harm would befall those that ate of the apple. we choice a world ruled not by Gods love but rather by the devils hate. but god still loves us so much instead of turning away from this horrible dirty world that we took over, he choose to continue to love us, to continue to pursue us day in and day out.


this brings me to something I'm just starting to understand.
I find the song How he loves to be an incredibly amazing song. and i’m still just learning how amazing it is. the song uses such amazing words to describe a love thats really impossible to explain.

one part in particular always brings a shock to my heart. “if his grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking” think about it. if gods grace were to be compared to an ocean, there would be so much depth, so much length to that ocean that you would be drowning no matter how good a swimmer you where. this is grace. it covers us to the point that if it were a body of water you would drown! talk about amazing!

jesus started one of the craziest trends the world has ever seen, he choose to love a world that choose to deny him. he went not to the perfect people (or at least they thought they were) but rather he went to what the bible says is the poor, the tax collector, the prostitute, but lets but that in terms for our world: Jesus came not for the perfect but rather for everyone that was considered dirty, the prostitute, that kid that sits in church quietly and struggles with homosexually, the girl that cuts her self, the alcoholic, the druggy, the guy that cut you off in traffic, the teller at the bank that just can’t do what you want her to do for you, the person that stole your car, am i hitting a nerve yet? lets try it this way, Osama bin laden, Joseph Kony, Hitler. now i have your attention don’t i? yah, jesus came for them. so many times we take the greatest commandment, the greatest trend ever started: LOVE. and we only apply it to 1/8 of the people around us. its easy to love your family, your stuck with them, but what about that guy that robbed you? what about your wife that cheated on you? what about the guy that murdered a child or raped someone? i know what i’m saying no one wants to hear, even i struggle with it, but the fact of the matter is Jesus came to earth to LOVE EVERYONE, not just those of us that turned to the cross for salvation, he loves those that don’t love him back, i think when hitler died, or osama i truly think god wept. i wouldn’t be surprised if when people get to heaven god doesn’t feel a bit sad sending them to hell. now maybe your thinking but he loves so why not let them in. and thats your answer, because he loves us so much he gave us the choice to choose him or choose something else. and if you have ever bought anything you will understand, once you make a choice to buy something you can’t get a refund (ok yes you can, and god gives us many choices to change our minds, but there comes a point were you have to decide once and for all.)

i saw on facebook the other day a picture a friend had shared it was of a man hugging another man at the gay pride. one man was a christian man who went out to say sorry for the way the church had treated homosexuals. to me this is amazing. that instead of making fun of someone he made the choice to love instead.

don’t get me wrong i’m still learning, there are so many times in my life i haven’t loved people the right way, and i have so far to go, but i think that its time we as christians as CHRIST FOLLOWERS begin to follow in his footsteps instead of walking beside them stepping in a foot print once and awhile and saying oh thats nice. its time we talk a path thats not easy, a path, a trend, that could change the very way we live, that could challenge the very way we think.



i don’t love africa because its better then the world over here. i love africa because it teaches me so much about God, every time i spend time in africa with friends i witness RAW Christ. i love africa, because i see a world that is in need of gods love so much, but also has so much of gods love to offer. and i want to be a part of cracking open the lid on that one. i don’t want to go in and do the white missionary thing where i say i’m better then the Africans, now i want to go in and learn, i want to go in and share in growth together. and build a better africa and one day a better world. a world where, “True progress means, matching the world to the vision in our heads...” not a world where we “always chance the vision instead” and the vision is LOVE i know it sounds like a Beetles song but its the truth, Love is the answer, love is what we need, and love means loving everyone! it means we stop posting angry posts on facebook about someone that ticked us off, it means we start talking to each other in love not anger. it means standing up when everyone else sits down.


"Following Jesus is simple but not easy. Love til it hurts and then continue to love” ~Mother Theresa.