A new song, opens doors

Tonight I got to have coffee with one of our students and a friend I've made here in Tunisia. At a point while eating dinner I asked my friend "what is your biggest dream?" Him being an amazing musician he shared that he wants to write music not for himself, but for others to find the joy in the music itself. He doesn't want his talent to be about him. In the process of the conversation a door was opened to share about how God gave me music as an outlet when I was in a depressed state when I was younger. He then shared how he had a similar story, and that music was the same for him. There is obviously a lot more to this story, but he told me later that he shared a part of his life that he had never told anyone.

I know this is very brief, but please be praying for my friend. Every time we meet the conversation has been shifting to God more often. I can see how powerful of a tool he'd be for the Kingdom.

FYI, I have been learning a lot from him too. Every time we get together he is teaching me more arabic, but he also recently challenged me to write some lyrics because at some point I will go to a recording studio and possibly record a song before I leave. I have always had a hard time writing a song on the spot, knowing that I had to produce something that could be a good crossover song that can be sang by whoever and it have meaning, but for me it to be something so deep with the Lord. It was a task I had set before me, but I did succeed at the "assignment" haha... Here are the lyrics and the video:

You have ravished me  ohhh

You came and destroyed my life as I know

You have broken the chains over me

No longer bonding me to the former destiny

you're the life changer, you're the deal breaker

you're the answer to my questioning

you're the history maker, not a record keeper

you're the romance to my longing….

You're my life, you're my love

You're everything I have ever dreamed of… 

It's only a thing

I got to experience many new things today. Some very good and some very bad.

First was taking a student to the Dr. It was interesting to say the least. Though the Dr. was very friendly we definitely were not in the U.S. anymore. Nothing was in any way sanitary, and his method may I say was very unorthodox. His diagnosis was "you have infection." Haha. So he prescribed her medicine, he first asked if she would prefer injection or pill. Me thinking that an injection was a one time thing and it would be the quickest and most effective route, but then through a little more description we found out she would have to administer her own shots 3 times a day for 6 days. Needless to say she quickly chose the pill. Then he ask if she wanted a "suppository" I was like YES that's no problem, obviously not realizing what I just agreed upon for her, and she has to take it 3 times a day. So we get the medicine 1 pill by mouth, a cough syrup, and the suppository... She pulls out the suppository to take it with her meal and that is when we realize "OH MY GOODNESS" you administer this rectally. After some time she did decide that she would take the dive and take all the medicine in hopes that she'll be well. Or in Arabic "Lebes." Thankfully she has been able to laugh it off. 

Well, on to the next thing I got to do. We, like I have stated before, have gotten to make many friends within our Hostel. So a few of us went to go eat with one of the newer quests who's name is Salim. We go to this hole in the wall restaurant that he said is VERY GOOD. It was first awkward because the restaurant didn't look like one women frequent often, so Ansley and I felt a little out of place. (Anyone who's been to an arab nation understands what I mean by this.) The second thing was that the menu was all in arabic so we weren't 100% sure what we were ordering, so we let Salim take the lead when it came to ordering. In the end we wound up sharing 3 different dishes, one of which being sheep head (legitimately, not the fish).  So being kind and being willing to go on the ledge that it may actually taste good, I went ahead and tried the brains. Let me say it took everything in my power for it not to come back up. Then one of the other students got the blessing (used very lightly) of eating the eyeball. It was an experience I can say I tried, but would be very happy to never eat again. 

After that (still having the bad taste in my mouth) we all decided to go get some coffee or tea. That is a very common after meal tradition. We get to the cafe, and I got a delicious coffee (they aren't really known for their coffee here). But the conversation was quickly shifted to religion. It was an amazing conversation. I felt the Holy Spirit guiding the whole thing. He was bringing stories, and scripture, and testimonies to mind that would maybe help Salim understand why/what we believe as christians. There was a moment in the conversation where we were sharing what Jesus did and it was like a light bulb came on and he said "So it is finished?" We were all blown away! Yes, the conversation ended slightly after that but he now has many things to think about. From his assurance to enter heaven, to whether Jesus is holy. Please be praying for him. 

Lastly, I dropped off my clothes earlier in the day and it was time to go pick them up. So a male student and I walked to go get them. We were maybe 100 feet from the shop, when a guy was standing in front of me turned around walked up to me and ripped my necklace off my neck. I have re-played it in my mind so many times, and there was absolutely no fear at all. It happened so quick, but both me and the student were like well it's gone. It took a minute for it to set in what had just happened. The necklace that was taken was one that was given to me by a dear friend who had died in 2008. Since his death, I rarely ever took it off. So tears welled up, because it was the last thing I had of his. All I knew to do was pray for the guy, that someway it would be a seed planted because neither me nor the student reacted in anger. I felt he was more afraid of us. He maybe was 17 at the most 18. I thought about what needs he might have and prayed for them. So though my heart ached because it was a special necklace to me. I know God can do so much, and I hope he does! 

As you can tell many things good and bad happened today. I am so thankful for everyone of them. I know without the peace of God I would have never been able to respond in the way I did, and hope my reaction could be a testimony. 

Thank you God!

I am set free!

These last couple days when I think about the beautiful people I am surrounded by my heart breaks. I know that they need Jesus and yet due to religious, language, and cultural walls I at times have a difficulty reaching them.

I am soo blessed to have been brought up in a place through my life where there were fewer walls to jump through to see the Truth.

What's amazing to me is that we all can grow up in different cultures and no matter what we can all agree the blue is blue, red is red and yellow is yellow (crossing the only bridge of language barriers). It at times makes me so upset how stretched each perspective is. Whether Christian, Jew or Muslim, we all have at some point or another put God into a box.

The thing that happened is that Muslim and Jew kept Him in a box, and in most cases aren't willing to let him out. Over time a Christian through sanctification with the Holy Spirit is a new creation completely changed and begins to see God for his true nature and character, and mimics their life after Jesus. I think about the hopelessness that envelopes the Jews and Muslims. Jews are waiting for the Messiah who has already come, and Muslims working themselves to death living in constant bondage with no assurance that the good things they do will ever be enough.

We need need more intercessors, worshipers, and people rising up to be willing to share the good news that Jesus saves. He saves us from our sin/shame, He saves us from our hopeless works, He saves us from religiosity, He saves us from separation that would forever keep us from God. Everyday I walk through the Souks and talk with the people here in Tunisia I love them more, but I am more heart broken because I want those walls to be gone so the can see the beautiful grace, and amazing freedom they could have in Christ if they could just see him for who Truly is. He definitely isn't called the Truth and Light for no reason.

Jesus I am thankful for you! I can't imagine living my life without you! I need you! It's because of you I am set free!

From Adios to Salam

On Tuesday our time was up in Spain. It was difficult to say goodbye to the staff at the Villa because they had all been VERY hospitable, and had become like more family. I can't put to words how much they helped us by passing on their passion for the North African world. So when we left I knew that we were prepared to enter Tunisia.

About 9 hours later we arrived...

Many students thought "Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore..."

They spoke very true words, first the first time since leaving the country I truly felt like I was in another country. We were now in a man's world. Meaning the number of women we saw were like maybe 1/4 of the men. It was interesting to see the vast variety of how traditional the people in regard to the strictness of their beliefs (because here you can notice their beliefs based on how they look). Once we went through customs, we then had the task of haggling for the price we would pay for our journey to the hostel. Finally we were loaded and ready, and of course the price changed like 2 times. Either way the owner of the Hostel met us where we were dropped off. He walked us through the winding streets (all being dark alleys) to where we finally can to our hostel, and we could get settled in.

The first night was very hard to sleep, our minds were going at rapid rates, and of course there were so many new sounds we weren't used to. At sunrise, we experienced for the first time what the call to prayer sounds like. When it went off I just said a brief prayer over our team then went back to sleep. When it was finally time to arise, we went and got breakfast which is a piece of bread and butter and jelly. Very simple but satisfying.

On to our first team meeting, we had a time of worship and intercession, then discussed the previous nights experiences and then on to what we have for the day. For lunch we were going to go find a local place to eat then afterwards wander the city. During the day we got to experience both extreme kindness from the people, but we also had one of the students have his necklace broken off his neck by someone trying to steal it, and 2 occasions where we were being followed. If anything it taught us what we should carry on us, and the kind of things to keep our eyes open for.

We did however have a few incredible conversations with some locals about our amazing God. I personally really enjoy talking with the women who have children alongside them. The children always provide an open door to communicate.

I know I am leaving out A LOT of details. I just wants to give you a little taste of what it has been like.

Blessings!

"The rain in spain...

... stays mainly on the plane."

The "A" Team

April 8th set the mark for breaking my record of being in the states for over 3 years. I can't believe that as I type this I am sitting in a beautiful Villa on top of a mountain overlooking Malaga, Spain. The view can't get any better we have the Mediterranean Sea to the rear that we can view from the almost every window, and mountains surrounding us. In fact yesterday a handful of our team decided to hike up the mountain behind us (pictured below).

Now that you have a better idea of who we are and where we are let me update you on what have been and will be doing. We have now been in Spain the the last 2 days. The first day we rested most the day,then later that evening we had our first official team meeting which included some worship/intercession. We couldn't have asked for a more incredible first meeting. It was incredible seeing some of our students already stepping out of the comfort zones, and praying out, or singing out as the declared truth over the city. After our meeting I got the chance to talk with one the students and get to hear some of her fears, and worries as well as get to share some of the things I battle with on a regular basis, her realizing we have a lot more in common than she thought. It was such an incredible time of breaking some of the barriers of lacking in trust.

That brings me now to how I've been sleeping. Sadly, I have yet to have a good nights rest, and today (April 11th) I have been really feeling the effects. After spending the day in class learning more about Isalm, Culture, Security Issues, and French we got to discuss briefly as a team how we each are doing which made us realize that the majority of our team last night had nightmares/strange dreams. It definitely was interesting to see how we all were connected in this matter. (So we prayed against it corporately) The other thing we decided as a team, after going through our classes today, was that we are all going to de-activate our facebooks starting next week for security reasons. It was good to know again our team was all on the same page.

As I wrap up, a few things you can pray into for us over the next few days:
1. Finances: we still as a school need to raising $20,000
2. Sleep: that when we do go to bed we have restful evenings with no nightmares.
3. Clear communication
4. Retention: that we retain all the information we are receiving this week including culture, religion, language.
5. That God already be preparing the hearts of the people we are going to get to build relationships with in Tunisia.

Thank you for your prayers and support and I will update you again very soon! Salam!

Villa Isabel

Some students atop the mountain