Catching up on posts!

I’m sorry I am so behind on my blogs. I have been writing them, just not posting them. Enjoy!

March 21, 2010

Example of God’s provision and power:

Today I woke up tired in body, mind, and spirit.  All I wanted to do was lie in bed all day and be depressed, but God in His wisdom and mercy brought me out of my house and began to work.  Ps 95 was read in church this morning and I was reminded of why the great God, our Maker, should be praised with all that we have.  As the praise team began joyously singing in Arabic, clapping their hands and dancing I was encouraged by their jubilation in praising our Great God.  I was immediately refocused on who my day is to be centered around. Thank you Lord for humbling me.

March 22, 2010

Little Hands That Pray!

Prayer- communication with God.  Or, is it more than that? Is it about trusting no matter how bad things may look or how impossible they may be that God is our ultimate provider and has all things under His control.  It’s faith in His sovereignty; faith in His grace.  As an adult I find myself praying without the faith and the trust in God and His provision and plan.  Jesus wasn’t kidding when He said, “Be like a little child”.  Malaria has hit our compound with full force- everyone is getting it.  We have one family that it really hit hard- all four kids a week at a time had malaria.  All of them for the first time, so it was really bad, Nandain, the youngest child, was very sick with a very high fever.  The father and our clinical staff was very nervous.  Our children (that live on our compound) decided they need to pray over Nandain.  So, a group of children marched up to the clinic, ask all of the adults to leave, because they were going to pray for Nandain.  They shut the door and they prayed and prayed.  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. 

March 29, 2010

Lay out the palms- the King is coming

Today I was walking with my friend Gira and we passed a Catholic church that had palm branches strewn all around.  Gira and I just remembered that yesterday was Palm Sunday.  I can’t remember that I forgot.  Palm Sunday- the Sunday Jesus entered into Jerusalem the people shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”  A week later He was crucified by maybe even some of those same people. (Matt 21:1-11_ Do you we do that too?  One minute we are praising Him for the great things He has done and the next minute we betray Him by disregarding Him, because things do not go our ways.  Yet, Christ still died for us and then He conquered death!

March 31, 2010

My Kawaja!

Some children have teddy bears, some dolls, some puppies, some even goats, and some, some have Kawajas! Kawaja means, white person. I have been adopted as a child’s own personal Kawaja.  I have a little friend, named Grace, she is eight years old.   See Grace is always around me. She is always peeking through my windows, knocking on my door, searching high and low for me.  If, I am not at home(even if I am and I am just hiding) she will camp outside my door and wait. There has been a couple of times this week when I woke up in the morning or I was taking a nap and opened the door and there was Grace sitting Indian style facing my door.  She had a big smile on face and said “My Miss Olson, I am here for you!”.  Grace has so affectionaly called me “My kawaja” and when I told her that she shouldn’t call me that, because she knows my name and I am teacher and calling me “My kawaja” is disrespectful she started calling me, “My Miss Olson”.  

April Newsletter

April 3, 2010

…who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you.  I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. Isaiah 46:3-4

This weekend is special; it is the weekend we remember the wonder working power of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The creator of life gave His life for the WORLD! He not only sacrificially gave His life, but He even conquered death and rose again. Who does that?! Well… Jesus!!! 

Remembering the reason why I am even on this earth I am reminded of the Great Commission.  Jesus before He ascends into heaven says to His disciples, “Go ye into all of the world and preach the gospel.” Now, as Christians today we take this as a commandment as we should also with a servant like spirit go preach the gospel to the whole world through words, actions, and relationships.  ECTC is a sending institution. We prepare pastors and missionaries to go back to their people and to other people throughout all of Sudan- many different tribes and tongues.  ECTC recently has just sent out four missionaries (which they are financial sponsoring) into the schools of Melut and Ikotos.  Two more men will be going to Aweil.  I am privileged to be friends the four men.  I was able to talk to them before they left and listen to the huge hearts God have given them.  The two men going to Melut are going to work in a primary school which heavily Islamic. Their hearts are to build relationships and love these people that are from a different tribe then themselves. The other two going to Ikotos are going to an area that they are from.  God has given them a huge heart for their people. I am so excited to see how God is going to use them in the primary school and the community that struggles with cultural clashing with Biblical truth.  Please, pray for these six men as they go into the unknown only following the immense peace God has given them for these areas. All people, all tongues going into the entire world and preaching the Gospel!  I am so excited that ECTC actively believes that we are all one body, serving one God, no matter what tribe, language, or culture. This is a HUGE message for Sudan where tribalism is the cause for the majority of wars and government corruption. How amazing is the purpose of God?!

Seventh Months, two school terms, and second R&R.  I have been here for a while.  It is kind of strange, some days I feel like I have been here forever and other days I feel like I just arrived. Yes, I have had my struggles, but I was reminded the other day when I was chatting with Tara on G-chat. She said some days I do not miss Goli, but all days I do. I feel the same… some days I do not love Goli, but all days I love Goli.  Some of you will understand that feeling, others will think I just made a grammatical error. Just go with it, ok…

First term finished on Wednesday and we will begin second term on April 26.  I only have one more term at ECA and three more months in Sudan! Time has flown and I am going to miss my Sudanese family. Yesterday, I was shown how much I will miss my home here.  Yesterday it started raining and there was a group of thirteen compound children that were running to find shelter from the rain.  They ended up in my house! Those of you who have seen my house will know that thirteen children plus me in my house is very TIGHT! Think women’s bathroom at Hope Church and cut that in half that is the size of one room in my house where fourteen people were for almost two hours. We had fun, though, we colored, drew, and listened to kids Bible songs.  We sang “Lean on me, when you’re not strong…”, “Zacheus was a wee little man…”, “The wise man built his house upon a rock…”, and “I may never march in the infantry…” .  Thank you, Jesus, for rainy days and lots of fun!

I am leaving on R & R/ cautionary leave to Kampala, Uganda on Thursday.  During my cautionary leave I have the amazing opportunity to go on a trip to Karamojong, Uganda to go visit a missionary couple and the Ik tribe. I am so excited to see the amazing things that God is doing in that place, with that tribe. I also will be attending the Central Region Short term conference that I and another short termer (Amy from Canada who is working in Kampala) have the privilege of organizing.  Because, of elections in Sudan there are some concerns for 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. I will be out of Sudan until AIM deems it ok for me to return.

Elections… remember, elections in Southern Sudan will be held April 11. To remind you, from my March Newsletter and last prayer letter, because of the Peace Agreement in 2005 Southern Sudan will have its first general elections in April 2010.  Please, pray that God’s hand will guide this election process and Southern Sudan in general. Please, pray that God will rise up leaders that seek after His heart and can lead in faith. Please, pray that God will squash LRA threats, other rebel activity, tribal fighting, corruption of the Southern government, power struggles and tribalism within the Southern government, and the determined spirit of Northern Sudan to infiltrate the South with Islam(by any means). There are many different reports about the elections and not all positive. Please, join the church of Sudan in crying out to God for this country. Pray that God's protection will be upon them and sustain the spirit of hope. Please, lift up their arms in prayer, just as Hur and Aaron lifted up the arms of Moses so Joshua could win the battle. Brothers and Sisters! My Sudanese brothers and sisters are fervently praying for God's peace to come over this nation and they are getting weary(as they have been praying for a long time) and exhausted and are in the midst of a serious battle! Please, hold up their arms, as they are fighting on the frontlines of this Spiritual battle in Sudan! Hold up their arms in prayer, so that God can use their willing hearts to overcome the enemy and prevail(He can do it without them, but pray with us, please)! Hold up their arms!

Our team is planning on getting together on April 11(first day of voting), from 2- 5pm(those of you in Missouri it is 5-8am), 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 at the same time we are. I realize it is early, but Southern Sudan needs us to hold up their arms.

I wish you all a happy Easter and pray that you are reminder of Christ cruel death for our sins and how He conquered death in order to give us His grace!

Praises:

·        I apologize, I should have done this months ago.  Around September and October I asked you to pray for Francis Taban and his family. He was the man whose baby son died.  In January, Francis’ wife, oldest son, and daughter all moved to Goli to be with Francis. Praise the Lord! This family is now together and living strong together.

·        Safety that we currently have in Goli.

·        Rain! We received rain yesterday and it cooled us down a little bit.

·        Christ selflessly dying for our sinner selves and conquering death!

Prayer:

·        SUDAN!!! Please, pray for elections, safety, hope, security, faithful men and women standing up for truth!

·        Safety for my friends who are staying in Goli and in other parts of Sudan while elections are going on.

·        Please, pray for the Southern Sudanese government. Please pray for the corruption and tribalism within the government.

·        Please, pray for me. I have been sick for the past two weeks. I have no more energy and am definitely ready to go out for a break.

Only Because of God’s Amazing Grace,

Danielle Olson

daniolson84@gmail.com

www.daniellesafricandiscoveries.blogspot.com

March Update Letter

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

daniolson84@gmail.com

www.daniellesafricandiscoveries.blogspot.com

Class Lessons

In senior one geography we were learning about relief and how to tell the relief of a place. So I had them climb up the water tower so they could draw a contour map of ECTC. There definate things about teaching here that make it obvious that you are not in the States. "Hey mom and dad, guess what Miss Olson had us do today"...I'm sure that would go over well. Well it got the point of the lesson across.

Field trip to Yei!

We took our first feild trip last week to Yei! So yeah! These are two pictures of my Business Studies class. I have three amazing students. They are doing a business simulation project by starting their own business, aka snack shop, at our school. So we went into Yei to talk to a shop owner about running a business and ask him questions. We were going to talk to the Commerce department in Yei, but that man was in Uganda. We also went shopping for our business. We bought biscuits, soda, and sweets. Perfect items for a snack shop. We also had cold cokes, chicken and chips for lunch. They had so much fun and one them had never been on a feild trip in his life. It was a great day!

Meet Leslie!

I am so thankful and excited to tell you how blessed I have been for the past three weeks. I had mentioned that it was a concern of mine of being alone at Goli. I knew that God will give me the strength and ability, but instesad he sent me a roommate for eight weeks. How awesome is that? Awesome, right! I am so thankful for Leslie; it has been really nice to have another American around and that is my same age. I am learning a great deal from. Leslie is from North Carolina and is just in Sudan for eight weeks, but she has given that eight weeks to God. It's so amazing! I am so thankful that God has brought her into my life. Thank you for praying! See God does know what is best for us and He answers prayers. Thank you Lord!

Raining on my parade!

February 2 for most American's is known as Ground Hogs day, it also happens to be my birthday. I had the opportunity of celebrating my 26th birthday in Sudan. How awesome is that? AWESOME!!! My thoughts exactly! It was a normal day, when I first woke up, than I opened my door to go get breakfast and was greeted with a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!DANIELL" and a present! I then was greeted by song from all of the teachers at school. The teachers even gave me a cake and coffee party. One of my students made the cake. It was great! I got presents and a balloon! Leslie and I enjoyed sunflower seeds and peanut M&Ms, wonderful yumminess I tell you! Thanks to Judy Moler for providing these amazing yummies. I even got enough internet connection to call my Aunt Margaret, with whom a share a birthday with. We only got 30 sec of connection but it was amazing. I was able to talk to my mom for a minute and half on skype as well. Yeah! The next day we even had rain! I'm sure it wasn't for my birthday, but I'm continue to think that it was for my special day! It actually RAINED, I know right, crazy! You see it is currently dry season and the hottest part of dry season. Leading up to the day of rain(Wednesday) I was jumping in the shower in my pjs and my top bed sheet and getting soaked, going to bed like that and than waking up half way through the night and doing it all over again. I have done that since the day of rain. The rains came and this was like the first rain of rainy season rain. It lasted for about 2 hours and was like a wall of rain. It rained so hard that I had a stream of water running through my front room. Crazy, right! It was amazing! So weird, but such a blessing. Thank you Lord for the one night of coolness! A break in a season of tortureous heat and constant sweating! What a great birthday week. My Birthday cake!

Yummies of Goodness! Thanks Judy!

My birthday balloon- compliments of Maretha!

You can't see it but there is a goat hiding under the awning from the rain. It rained so hard the goats couldn't escape. It was hilarious to see them moving in circles to escape the pellets of rain.