March Update Letter
March 27, 2010
Hello! I know it the end of March and I just now am sending out my update letter. I am sorry for the tardiness. I have decided to write my update letter a little different this month. I also apologize, because it is much longer than usual. I hope you enjoy it, though.
Alarm clocks or goats
Some people get roosters, some people have alarm clocks, and some people even have someone to wake them up, but me, I have a goat. I call him Billy, he comes by my window every morning and goes “ehhhh”, “ehhhh” at a very high pitched level. It is very exciting!
Leslie and Amy
As you all know I have been privileged to have a roommate since January. After seven weeks Leslie has left. On her way back home she got to go to Ethiopia and Kenya. I am so thankful that God sent her to Goli. She was such an encouragement to me. A week after Leslie left I received a visitor from Kampala. Amy, another AIM short termer, came to visit me for one week. It was so much fun to get to know her and just share with one another our struggles and our hearts. We had fun; even though I tried to make popcorn for her three times and failed each time.
Tiredness
These last couple of months I have truly been learning what it means to lean completely on God. I am constantly getting confronted with a variety of verses that state that God is my life source, my stronghold, and my strength giver. A couple of weeks ago I was reminded of that when I had reached me limit and realized how tired I was and how much I had been doing things in my own strength. Praise the Lord, I am learning to be more intentional in giving everything over to Him. I am still stressed out, but things are much better than they were and with God’s strength I will finish and finish well.
Business in Yei
If you have been keeping up on my blog you would see the pictures of my Business Studies class on our field trip to Yei. It was a fun day; we learned how businesses run in Yei, shopped for the business they are starting at school and at chicken and chips at Twins Hotel. Two of my students had never been on a field trip before and it was the first one I had ever led by myself. We all had a new experience.
My business studies class is in the their second week of running their snack shop business and so far it is hit. I do hope they are actually learning business techniques, but the rest of the school is defiantly enjoying it.
School is coming to a close
We are currently in our final weeks of the first term. It has been quite a term as we all get used to each other and try to fix the kinks. Term Exams began this week and our last day of school is April 1. We will than reconvene April 26. We have all bonded this term. Last weekend we had our first sports day. All of our students participated a long with the all of the Bible college students. Parents came and cheered and over all it was a great day. Laughter filled the sports field and cheers and claps were heard all morning. This day really brought us together as a community.
Rain, rain, please, come our way!
Last week it started raining. Rainy season is on the way. Right now it is still hit and miss and last week it was still incredibly hot- I even got sunburned. So far this week we have had wind and I have not had to jump in the shower before I get into bed in nights. Praise the Lord! I am just on race to plant all of my vegetable and flowers before rainy season is in full force. Oh yeah, so I am caring on Tara’s legacy and I have a garden. Thanks to Leslie, I have one green pepper and three tomato plants. I also have basil, parsely, oregano, dill, carrots, cucumber, squash, green beans, peas, and many different types of flowers. Now let’s just hope they all come up.
“I pray for fighting, please Jesus let them know that you love them and we love them too…”
I do not know about you, but sometimes I forget that God is listening. I ashamed to say that sometimes I even think, “ what is the point in praying, nothing will change anyway”. In the last couple of weeks I have been reminded consistently that Our Mighty God is a listening God and He is in control. This control does not mean things will always turn out beautiful and nice and neat or that we know what the end product will be. It means God is God and He is in control. He created us and He has a master plan. I know that for some of you this is not a good enough answer and you want something more explainable, but most of the time this is good enough for me.
Each week in chapel we break in to small groups and pray with our students. Last week I was put with the pre-school students and was humbled as one of them began to pray, “I pray for fighting, please Jesus let them know that you love them and we love them too and that we need peace and peace means they have to stop fighting.” Another students prayed, “Please, God I pray for the unreached people in North Korea that they will be able to know who you are because you love them”. The heart of child is so precious and so humbling at times. I am learning that these children have such loving hearts and are so committed to putting things into God’s hands. There are been so many ill people around our compound with both malaria and typhoid lately. One of our families had three children get malaria last(all for the first time) and the youngest child was very, very ill. A group of our ECA children decided they wanted to go pray for Nandain so they gathered themselves together, marched to the clinic, and politely asked if all of the adults could leave the room, where Nandain was sleeping, so they could pray for Nandain. The adults, including the nurse and the father, left the room and listened as each and everyone one of those children cried out to God on behalf of Nandain. You see they know that God is in control and all we have to do is trust Him and give up our control. What a valuable lesson to learn from a group of children under the age of eleven.
A community!
I am so blessed to live in a community of people that truly care about me. I do not know about you, but sometimes I feel like, “is there any point to me even being here?”, “am I actually making a difference?”, “would they miss me if I was gone?”. Selfish thoughts, I know. I was humbled this week, when I became ill on Tuesday. I was so sick that I missed three days of school and did not even have enough energy to walk outside of my house. Wednesday, I had visitor after visitor checking on me. They all expressed to me that they thought I was dead, because they had not seen me all day. I had visitor after visitor come a pray for me. Thursday, the same thing happened, person after person checking on me and praying for me. On Friday, more people reminding me that they are praying for me. Even though, I am still sick and not one hundred percent better, today I still have a community people that rejoiced with as I went to the dining hall for the first time in four days and are standing by my side encouraging me in strength and coaxing me to eat. God is definitely teaching me that His plans for me are not in vain and I am not the one always teaching, but I am the one being taught.
Praise the Lord for homework passes and dress down coupons!
For those of you that do not know before I came to Sudan I taught at North County Christian School (in St. Louis) for two years. Every year NCCS has a mission’s week and they choose a missionary or a mission cause to raise money for. This year I was blessed to be chosen as the missionary. I am so excited to say that they raised a great deal of money and it is going to fund resources needed for ECA. Praise the Lord and thank you NCCS students and staff!
Prayer, prayer, and more prayer
In a couple of weeks it will be April. With April coming most of you are thinking strictly about Easter, weddings, and graduations. People in Sudan are thinking about something different. Because of the Peace Agreement in 2005 Southern Sudan will have its first general elections in April 2010. There are some concerns for elections political and social instability. Africa Inland Mission and my Sudan country leader has decided that the best option is for all AIM Sudan team members to take a precautionary leave of absence from Sudan for the month of April. We do not believe that anything terrible will happen, but are requesting prayer for safety for the Sudanese and for hope. Please, pray that God’s hand will guide this election process and Southern Sudan in general. Our team is planning on getting together in on April 11(first day of voting) and praying for Sudan and the elections. We would like to invite you to lift up this country’s future and safety to the Lord.
Thank you!
I want to thank you all for your encouragement and prayers. I truly appreciate it! I hope you all have a great day!
Praises:
· I have had two visitors since January. It has been awesome and I am so thankful for it.
· Our students are making progress on so many levels: spiritually, educationally, and physically.
· My relationships with people are getting stronger and stronger.
· God’s provision in the money raised during NCCS’ mission week.
· God’s unyielding strength and grace from day to day.
Prayer:
· Please pray for me as I am still very weak from being sick and not quite sure what is going on.
· Please pray for the last week of school; for both students and staff. Pray that we can all finish strong.
· Please pray for the upcoming elections and for Sudan in general.
· Please pray for the community of ECTC malaria, flu, and typhoid are spreading like crazy around here.
· Please pray for me as I seeking God’s guidance in my next step after my year is up here.
Have a great day!
Only Because of God’s Amazing Grace,
Danielle Olson
