June 7th- Pioneers

(Sorry this took like forever to update! life has been moving at super speed again!)...

anyways!! Back to Africa...Tuesday June 7-had a rough start to the day. Woke up early after having a very vivid dream about Sam and couldnt fall back to sleep. In my journal i wrote out the whole dream, it was really long but the thing that gets me was i wrote that it was so life like and real and that it was hard to say goodbye to Sam again...since i couldnt fall back to sleep i decided to have my quiet time. During that i was just skimming through my bible and i found this verse, "For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand, and says to you, Do not fear, I will help you."- Isaiah 41:13 which was perfect because that was just what i needed to hear to start off the day. I had no idea what i was in for....

After breakfast and devotionals, we were taken to another preschool that was located in a village about an hour away. the reason it took forever to get there was because the roads were so bad. When we arrived in the village we met with the head man of the village. Theres the team!!! Then the head man is the big tall guy in the middle lol He was really cool!
After meeting with him, we were then able to go into the village and to the school to meet the lil kiddos. Remember the day before we had gone to a different preschool and the kids loved us, they had so much fun playing with us. Well, this school was waaaaaay different. These children had never seen a white person before in their life. I remember walking into the classroom and there was about like 15 kids. They just stared at us, didnt move a muscle. Then we asked to read them a story so the teacher asked the to go sit down on the floor by us and then all of a sudden all of the children started balling. they all got up and hid behind their teacher. They were terrified of us. It was so hard. When you see a child crying and scared, you want to go to them and hug them, let them know that its going to be ok but we couldnt. You could see the fear in the little childrens eyes. it was heart breaking. All we could d was be patient and just wait for them to come to us. Once the teacher had got them calmed down and back in their seats, Chip saved the day with Mentos! (the kids love candy and thats all we had at the time and it worked!!!!) Yay Chip!!!(: we got them all coloring pages and just sat with them, helped them color. Eventually they all started to warm up to us. Towards the end of our visit, they were smiling, giving us high fives and thumbs up! We could literally see a difference in the kids. No longer was there fear in those beautiful eyes but there was hope and they were happy. It was sooooooo hard but definitely worth it. We were basically pioneers. We made the way for the next team that will be coming to do VBS with them. Cool beans!!!(:

One thing that i really struggled with that day was the feeling that i was more on vacation than on a mission trip. That night it poured. Like non stop hard rain. (not like the lil 5 second rain storms we get here in AZ) And all i could think about was the people in the village, sitting in their tiny tin houses as their floor turned to mud. All the while we were in a nice warm house with hot running water and delicious food. On all the mission trips that i had been on prior to Africa, i was used to living in somewhat uncomfortable conditions. No running water, no hot water, crappy food, bugs, showering in the rain or using a cup of water, going for days without showers, no make up, uncomfortable beds. That was what i was used to and so i really struggled with feeling guilty. But after talking it out with my team, they made me realize that God was stretching me in a whole new way. I was so used to not so nice accommodations that He took me out of my comfort-zone by having me go on a mission trip where the accommodations were amazing. (totally threw me off) Its funny my comfort zone with mission trips was living in uncomfortable situations that when i was provided with amazingly comfortable living situations i was uncomfortable..if that makes any sense lol It made me really appreciate what i have at home. Also, Helping Hands wanted us to have a safe and comfortable place to come home to each day so we could unwind and talk about everything that had gone on throughout the day because most days were very overwhelming so having a safe place was really nice but hard to get used to!

Thats pretty much the big stuff for that day for me at least. June 8th post will be amazing and probably long. A lot of stuff happened on that day so stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!
!
peaces!!
-em

quotes for the day!!!

"Im God's girl, you dont mess with me"-idk who said that but i wrote it down lol

"Anyone can do childrens ministry. You just gotta leave your dignity at the door."-Peter

"You know how there is fun sized candy bars?"-heather
"....yeah."-me
"Well, youre like the hug sized person."-heather lol(:

"Sorry were not all Staffeldt's with iron blood."-Juan

June 6th-bring on them kiddos!!

(Sorry this is a few days late! just been prettyyyyy busy!!!)

Monday June 6th: After breakfast, devotional an gettin ready, we got to meet the Helping Hands staff members that we would be working with. We had tea and coffee with them and were able to just chit chat for a little bit, ask them about their day, their families and that kinda of stuff. Now ill share just a lil bit of who "Helping Hands in Africa" is and what they do.

Helping Hands in Africa started back in 1991. AT that time, the program was mainly a feeding program that was started after Michelle Tessendorf saw a bunch of young kids rummaging through the dump looking for something to eat and drink. Then, Michelle and others who were involved with Helping Hands started to realize that yeah they were feeding these children, but spiritually these kids were still hungry and thirsty. As a result, Helping Hands has now grown into an amazing, life changing organization that not only focuses on physical needs but spiritual needs as well. Helping Hands is restoring the hope in the eyes of the people in the community. They are not just coming in, giving them food and leaving(first of all, the doesnt really fix much) but instead, they invest their time, love, their everything onto the lives of people all over Africa. Their mission statement is, "Helping Hands is dedicated to restoring hope for the future in disadvantaged communities by providing opportunities for individuals in the community to develop skills that will equip them to take responsibility for their own economic, health, educational, social and spiritual upliftment." They are not just putting a band-aid over the problems these people face, they are starting at the roots and helping these villages get to where they can eventually support them selves. I could go on and on about this amazing organization but i will stop here. If you want more information on Helping Hands, the programs that they have going or ways you could help you can go to their website, www.helpinghandsinafrica.org and if you ever take a trip to Africa, which i strongly urge you all to do, go with Helping Hands!!!!! They are fantastic!!!!!!!!!! :D

Now on to the rest of the day! After meeting the staff, we took a tour of Top Village and got to go into one of the classes at the preschool and hang out with the kiddos. SO MUCH FUN!!! We colored with them, played tag outside, they sang and danced for us. we had a blast!!! man do those lil kids have rhythm!!!! they sure showed us up!! haha The lil boy in the picture started bustin some movies in the dance circle we had goin. (Picture takin by the amazing Paul!!! he became our groups photographer for the trip. thanks Paul!!!)

After hanging out at the village, we came back for lunch then Michelle gave us an AIDs presentation, the same one that they give at the schools in South Africa. It was really interesting. I learned a bunch of new things just from a short little presentation. One thing she said that totally opened my eyes was when she talked about the culture in Africa and the its polygamist where here in America its monogamist. If someone came up to you one day and told you that what you are doing is wrong, that monogamy is wrong, that you need to start practicing polygamy, you would probably get pissed off and stick with what you know. right? well for me thats right, id be a lil pissed. But thats exactly what is happening to the people in Africa. You cannot expect them to be happy with that or want to hear what else ya have to say. That approach is doomed to fail. Helping Hands definitely does not use that approach because that will just get ya no where!!

After all that we went to Molelwane for VBS!! We had so much fun with the kiddos! After one day of VBS the kids loved us all! The craft that they made was decorating canvas backpacks with P.R.A.Y written on them. P stands for praise, R for repent, A for ask, and Y for yield. They were to draw a picture for each word. One of the little boys drew the AIDS symbol on his. He was wanting to ask God to heal this land of AIDS. If that doesnt touch your heart then you must not have one. These kids are way too young to have to be worrying about that, but obviously they do! UGH!

It was hard to leave, we all just wanted to stay and play with them. haha One of the girls at the table i was at asked me about the purple bracelet that I had on. It was my "Never Lose Heart" bracelet that was made for my best friend Sam back when she was first diagnosed with cancer. All I told her was that it was in honor of my best friend who had passed away. She smiled, said it was beautiful then went about finishing her craft. Later that day before we had to leave, she asked me about it again. She would hold my hand and just rub her fingers over the letters. Right before we had to leave, she asked me for it. At first, i didnt want to give it up, but then i realized how much this little girl loved it and slipped it onto her wrist. She had the biggest smile i have ever seen! SHe was so excited. I felt good after giving it to her. I was able to share my Sam with Africa that day. As I left, the little girl came running up to me, gave me a huge hug and said, "God bless you." Soooo hard not to cry!!!! lol She wore that bracelet very single day. (: The cutie on the left, look at her wrist(: Love you Sam!!!

Well, thats all i got for that day! Hope ya enjoyed it and it wasnt too long!
much love to you all!
-peaces!
-em


quotes for the day:

"duck...duck...duck...OOPS!"-thei kids version of duck duck goose. so cute!!(:

"whoever invented tea in bags was a genius."-me

"I dont know how to dance....i got to pee now!-heather

"i was so bummed when that place closed....i never went there though..."-heather

"Emilie, you could land an aircraft carrier with that shirt."-peter (i was wearing one of my neon shirts)

South Africa-June 5th let the good times begin!

well real quick before i go on about my amazing trip, today was somewhat of a rough day. Didnt end up going to bed till 5am, my sleep schedule is all messed up!! woke up wide awake at 9am. then pretty much kept on packing up my room the rest of the day. Found a letter that i had written to Sam but i guess i forgot to send it..that was hard to read. I thought about her a lot today. the thought that she is no longer here kills me. just miss her so much! I want to be able to sit down and hang out and tell my best friend all about my Africa trip, but i cant....and just packing up my room was depressing. :/ but now on to the good stuff!

South Africa-Sunday June 5th.
Started our day off by going to church of course! We went to New Life Church for their Sunday morning service. Mike and Michelle Tessendorf, the people who started Helping Hands in Africa pretty much started that church and helped to get it to where it is today which is AMAZING! I had a smile on my face throughout the whole service. I thought we let loose at Sun Valley but man oh man, the people at New Life were movin and grovin! Everyone was so happy and just dancing and really enjoying worship. WHat was cool was that i pretty much knew all the songs they sang and really got to let loose in worship as well. You could definitely feel Gods presence in that building. I have never felt so comfortable in another church before. Everyone was so welcoming and you could just tell they were happy that you where there. They showed that they really cared and wanted to truly invest in the lives of the people in their community. The attitude and atmosphere of New Life was incredible. During worship there was one song that we sang that i felt as if they were singing it just for me. It was just what i needed to hear that day...

"When the oceans rise
and the thunder roars,
I will soar with you above the storm.
Father you are King over this flood,
I will be still and know you are God."

With all the crazyness and heartache and just dumb stuff going on in my life lately, i have felt like i was in a never ending "storm" just swirling around getting lost in the waves but hearing the people in the church sing that, i totally felt as if they were just singing it to me, God was telling me that it will be ok, He is there. idk how to explain it besides just being one of those "God Moments" it was amazing!!

After church we went on a short game drive and saw some pretty sweet animals!! Mainly rhinos. they were sooo cool!!

After the game drive and eating and all that important stayin healthy stuff, we went to Molelwane, the village that we would be doing VBS at, met the pastor and then he took us on a tour of the village. At first there were a few kids walking along the dirt paths just a few yards from us and then all of a sudden there are about 20 kids running along side us, holding our hands and walking with us. we didnt know them and they didnt know us but they didnt care. if you just smiled at them, BAM they were glued to your hip and you just had a best friend. Those kids just longed for love and affection. Never underestimate the power of a smile. To those kids, that means the world to them! While we were walking and just hanging out with the kids, the little girl that was holding my hand looked up at me, smiled and said "youre beautiful." Now when a guy says that to you its like, "awww shucks. youre so sweet!" but when a little girl who is now an orphan due to HIV/Aids says it you you, it just melts your heart and you want to take her home with you! She left me speechless. All i could do was smile and hug her to keep myself from crying!! haha While walking through the village, i noticed that if you looked in the dirt, you would find more bare footprints in the dirt than shoe prints. That hit me hard. I knew that we were going into a poor village, but just the fact that these children are walking around barefoot during the winter time when there is glass and trash all over the place was hard to see in real life. I knew it was happening, but it was just hard to see. Makes you want to take your own shoes and socks off and put them on the kids feet! The first picture of the building is of the church that we held VBS in for the kiddos. the next picture is just one of the tin shacks that are scattered around the village and then the last picture is just a group of the boys who waled around the village with us. SUch beautiful kids!!! they LOVED getting their pictures taken(: once they saw you had a camera BAM they would strike a pose of grab the kids next to them and ask you to take a picture. The last picture is Will showin the kiddos their pictures. They were so stinkin cute! i miss them soooo much!

one thing that i struggled with that day was being intimidated by the kids. yes i know, dumb. but i was just so worried that i would do or say the wrong thing or that i would scare them or something. I was just nervous i guess. but its hard to mess up with them. As long as you have a face to smile with, arms to hug them with, hands for them to hold and a heart to love them with, youre good to go!!! That night i found a verse that helped me out a TON!! 2 Timothy 1:7 it says, "For God did not give you a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self discipline." I LOVE this verse! It reminded me to not be afraid or nervous when working with the kids, Gods in control! Gotta share this part that i wrote in my journal that night after reading tha verse, it just makes me laugh. no joke this is what i wrote..."dont fear because God is with you and He has given you a "Spirit of POWER" to go and kick some satan-ass!" hahaha sorry for the language but that just made me chuckle. well i think that pretty much wraps up that day!! so thats all for now! (:

peaces!
-em

quotes for that day:

"you are such a pushover. if someone takes your pie, you fight for it! dude, if someone took my pie they would have a fork in their eye."-peter
"DONT TAKE PETER'S FOOD!!!"-Will (yelling from inside the bathroom lol)

"Did you know we swallow 500 spiders a day?''-Kaylee
"No, thats like in your life time and its like 50."-Sarah

back on American soil....

Dumela! (Setswana for Hello!)

Got back from the best trip of my entire life yesterday. yes, no joke, it was the BEST!!! Im still processing everything from the trip, just trying to get my thoughts together so i can tell you all what happened without leaving anything out!!! but thats not possible. So much stuff happened, its so hard to fully explain the impact of this trip and everything that happened to my team and I so the solution to that problem is for you to take a trip to South Africa. Do it. You will not regret it!!!

ANywhooo!!! Ive decided to blog about each day individually instead of trying to cram it all into one post! that would just be ridiculous and i would end up writing like a whole book!! so day by day posting seems better to me!!! today ill just start with introducing the trip and maybe the first 3 days since it was just traveling pretty much!

The team consisted of 13 people from my church's Nation2Nine college/young adults group. (4 guys and 9 girls) Will and Leslie Alyea were our amazing leaders for the trip! Thats the team and the kiddos we did VBS with. Miss them soooooo stinkin much!!!

we left AZ on June 2 and arrived back home June 13. The organization we worked with down in South Africa is called Helping Hands in Africa. ( i will tell you more about them later on!! they are fantastic!!)

June 2nd and 3rd were basically traveling days. We didnt actually arrive in South Africa until the 4th. CRAZY! So our flight left phoenix at like 7:30ish i think, had a 9-10hr flight to London. Watched the movie Yogi Bear on the plane, sooooo cute!!! As i was getting off the plane, the flight attendant said "Cherrio!" haha totally made my day(: then had like an 8hr layover in the London airport. was only supposed to be about 6 but our flight got canceled and we ended up leaving for Johannesburg around 9pm instead of 7pm. sooooo boring!! found out that Americans are not well liked by some people lol oh well!!! once our flight finally left, i watched Ringo! It was alright, cussed a lot for being a kids movie! after that movie i still had like 8 1/2 hours to kill so i watched tv and listened to music. tried to sleep but i couldnt get comfortable! was so sick of being on a plane!! Arrived in Johannesburg, SA around 11am on the 4th. Got our bags then loaded up the trailer and the van and drove about an hour then stopped for lunch with the Tessendorfs (thats who runs Helping Hands) did a lil bit of shopping! got some pretty sweet stuff!!!(: then got back in the vans and drove about 2 more hours to Mafikeng. unloaded the luggage, got situated, had some yummy dinner then team time and off to bed! and thats all for now! tomorrow will bring on the next days events!!! so stay tuned!! you dont wanna miss it(; seriously! im just getting started!! it just gets better and better with each day! (:

p.s. time difference in South Africa is 9hrs. (ahead of us) in London its 8hrs.

peaces!
-em

updating of the blog. check!

Got so much to update! Apparently since im not in school at the moment, i have to find something else to procrastinate on since i dont have home work to do and that is now my blog...oops!!! time to fix that!!

Last week I met with one of the most amazing women i know!! (Mrs. Cindy B!!!!) Love her with all my heart!!!! Anyways, during our much needed starbucks visit, she told me about this amazing thing called Blurb.com. Basically im creating a book out of all my blog posts!!! its sooooo freakin awesome!!! Its going to be my present to myself, kinda like a house warming gift but for my dorm..haha The book will have all my posts from day one up until i leave for NMSU. That will be my Volume #1 of Em's Junk Drawer. I cant wait for it to be finished!!! I work on it like everyday now. not gonna lie, prob the best book ever, besides the bible of course(: haha small side note about my blog, found out today that there are a bunch of random people that I dont even know reading my blog!! People in Moldova have read it!!! along with many other countries. How crazy is that?!!! Just think, something I wrote may have in a way helped them out or been just what they needed to hear. How cool is that?!!! or......they now think im some crazy lady.........i hope its the first one!

Another big thing that happened for me last weekend was my trip up to Sams house. My girls (Kelly, Taylor and Jess) and I took a road trip up to Kirkland to visit Sams parents and pretty much go through her things. We were all dreading the trip, but just like with her funeral, it was really good for us. We remembered the good times. Told stories. Laughed. Sam was definitely with us. Of course it was hard since that was the first time for us to be up there without Sam. Yes it hurt, that pain will never go away but being there, together, remembering Sam and all the good memories we shared was just what all of us girls needed. Out of all the things I brought back from Sams, probably my most favorite is her horse ring. I have yet to take it off. Every time i see it, it brings a smile to my face. I remember how much she loved horses. I remember going horse back riding together. cutting pictures of horses out of magazines and making a horse book (which i still have!!!!) I remember my birthday party at wild horse ranch rescue and Sam fell in love with Pistol the lil buckskin. I remember going to Bush Gardens and running into the Budweiser Clydesdales barn with her to see the horses. I remember visiting her in the summer up in Baghdad (AZ) and she took me on a tour of the town and pointed out each and every horse there was. I remember talking to her in the hospital about her final decision on her "Make A Wish" and that she decided to get a horse. (A palomino of course!) Who would have thought that a tiny ring could be so powerful?!! Sam, even though you are gone and no longer with me, you are not forgotten. Not a day goes by that I dont think of you. I can still hear your laugh. You had the best laugh. I swear I heard you laughing with us when we came up to visit your parents. (yes i know, crazy talk!) as you said in the poem you wrote me, "even though we will be far away, you will never be gone from my heart, because our friendship will never be torn apart...." Gosh i miss you woman, so freakin much! I know youre up in heaven right now, blessin all them angles and Jesus with the sweet sound of your laugh!! so jealous!!! Love you Sam. always and forever!!!!

So I leave for Africa on thursday(TOMORROW!!!!!)...to be honest, never thought I would ever be saying something like that. I have dreamed of going to Africa for like ever!!! and now its happening. This is insane!!! Not gonna lie, totally freaked out for this trip but I am sooooooooooooooooo stinkin excited!!! I cannot wait to see how God works through my team and I. I cannot wait to meet all the lil kids we get to work with! I cannot wait to tell you all about it when i get back! I just cannot wait!! I feel like this trip is coming at the worst but totally best time for me. (if that makes any sense at all!!) My life is moving at super speed right now, I am just so caught up in GO GO GO! ME ME ME ME ME! life is just so stressful and overwhelming and i feel that Africa is just what i need to get me outta that cycle even though knowing that i will be gone for 11 days and not getting stuff done here at home is stressing me out lol but im ready. I need this trip. God has a plan an i wanna see what that is!! So Africa, here I come!!!!(:

Thats all for now, so too-da-looooo!
-em

quotes for the day are now back in action!! mainly from the kiddos i nanny..

"my tummy hurts. A video game will make it feel better Emilie."-PJ

"The black bees dont eat people, just wood."-Beau

"How am i supposed to cyber stalk him if he does not have a facebook?!"-girl in one of my classes last semester

"yes i know you have a cut on your finger, you just showed me."-me
"its not my finger. its my thumb silly."-Beau

"Eww, he looks gross. Been eatin his vegetables. Too much broccoli. He'll be dead in twenty years."-Beau

"Brother, that looks kinda fun but youre freaking me out."-PJ

"Its, its, its like kil medicine. but for bugs. it kills bugs. But your not a bug so dont worry. Brother look! Its kill bug medicine. Emilie open your mouth, gotta check for bugs....AHH!! Dont panic. There is a spider in your mouth. BANG! killed it. Oh Grace, would you stop eating scorpions!"-Beau

"As president of the United States, here is 2$"-says grace as she hands me 3 pennies.
"Um, Emilie, those are our pennies and they are staying here."-PJ

"Whats that called? A fruit cake?"-kate
"No, thats what youre called."-randy
"Its a FRUIT PIZZA!'-me

"That was poison-chocolate-kiwi. It will make your brain get books in them."-Beau

"Um, Emilie, my girlfriend just turned 38 because that was her party."-Beau

"What if horses had horns? like a bull?"-me
"that would be scary."-jess
"well, if it was like a unicorn horn, that would be cool."-me
"then its just a unicorn. duh Em."-Taylor

"You trying to get to Kirkland junction"-police officer
"No, Kirkland, Arizona!"-kelly