7 MONTHS AND 3 DAYS!!!!

IT.IS.HAPPENING! In 7 months and 3 days my husband and I will be on our way to Grabouw, South Africa! We will be meeting up with my cousin Megan at the same spot I was previously...Agape Family Ministries! We are leaving September 16th and heading back to the states December 11th! I am soooooooo excited and so is Jordan!

Prayers:

*That we are able to pay our way without the help of all of you! =] We have been saving and it would be a true blessing if our money was used for something like this! Plus it would be so much easier not having to worry about finding a sending organization.

*That we can purchase our plane tickets within the next month! We found a good deal, and need to book them before prices go up!

*That God would ready our hearts!... especially Jordan's! I have been there for 6 weeks...but this time we will be there for 3 months, and Jordan has never been...he doesn't know what to expect or how God will use him. I know God will move him in powerful powerful ways, but his heart needs to be ready for these changes!

*That we have no complications getting Jordan's Passport, and changing the last name on mine!

*That I don't get pregnant between now and when we leave...we won't be able to refund our flight, and it would be to dangerous to go overseas if I am far along in the pregnancy...

AHHHHHH! I am so excited to watch God move through this experience! That's all we know now...but I will post when we find out more!

Please keep us in your prayers!

This little light of mine, WE'RE gonna let it SHINE!
With Love, Alissa Rene and Jordan

My Mission is Here for Now!

As much as I felt God was calling my husband and I to SA this fall, I was wrong. And I'm surprisingly at peace...which obviously means it is all part of his magnificent plan! July, August, and September of 2013 is what we are praying about! I know I'm suppose to go back, but I don't know when...and when it is GOD's time then it will HAPPEN! =]

For now...I am very excited to be supporting my cousin Megan as she leaves to go back for 2 years! I love her so much and I am so excited to see how the Lord will move!!!

So while I am here in the homeland (no matter where I go):
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it SHINE!
With Love, Alissa Rene

199 Days.

It's been one hundred and ninety-nine days since I have returned from South Africa, and the thought of that place STILL brings me to tears. Some days I just break down...I can't even stop the tears that pour down my face. The things I once categorized as a need have clearly become wants, and daily my passion for missions ignites into a larger flame. I miss it, I miss everything about it. It's like my heart is tied there, I CAN NOT wait to go back!

Recently Jordan (my fiance) and I found out that we did not get a job at a camp we wanted to work at this summer, but we have both been at peace about it and after I found out my first thought was Africa. In the past two days my heart has been racing with excitement at the thought of going back sooner than 2013. I feel God has been sending me little hints that lean towards us going. So, my soon to be Husband and I's return to Africa may be sooner than we think! We have this call to drop everything and go...August/September?? It is so possible!! ...Lord, reveal your plan so we may follow.

God is really working in my life and in the lives around me! Watching His grace, His love, and His spirit move has been fascinating. I know that no matter where at in this world I am placed, God is using my joy and love to reach out to others. Lord keep using me for your kingdom and your glory!

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!
With Love, Alissa Rene

God, why did you bring me here?

This whole time I thought God was going to use me for something big while I was here in South Africa. In a sense I was right...I have let my light shine, I have encouraged people, I have brightened smiles, and caused laughter to fill the air...but... I was wrong. I came here to change lives and I'll be leaving here changed. Yes I knew this was going to be life changing, but I never imagined it to be this big of a change. God has slapped me in the face more than once; He has gripped my heart to the point that I am aching, aching for Him in the most extreme way I have ever felt! Being radical and knowing, knowing that God has placed me in each and every situation I face...that is what I came here to learn, and that is what has and will change my life! Seeing absolute poverty, brokeness, and just being out of America will forever change my heart, but my life, it is becoming radical for Christ...NOTHING else matters! Talk about the best life changing experience ever!

I got to experience the Hillsong Church of Cape Town, located in Somerset West, on Sunday...I have never felt so alive at a church service in my life. God is just so AWESOME! Radical, radical, and radical...I long to be RADICAL for my Saviour!!!! Literally, He has saved my life! Just know that when I arrive home I am not the same person I was. God is 100% in control of my life...I am not ashamed...I live to tell the world about Him! He brought me here to prepare me for there...for home. I am changing the hearts of El Paso, Gridley, Bloomington, and wherever else the Lord leads me. All I know is when I get home big BIG things are happening. I can not wait for this Lord...prepare me, prepare me...I will follow you Lord. I am following!

As Americans, we want bigger and better, but we sacrifice what we have that was given to us to be great...if only I would have know what I had. I need to be Giving, I need to share my faith, I need to find that secret place and never loose sight of my Prayer Life. We are made righteous by Jesus; it's not about pleasing people, but pointing my life to Christ and dancing for the King!

From my heart

to the Heavens,

Jesus be the center.

It's all about you,

yes it's all about you!

Yay, I don't have my life all together, but I got caught up in the Grace of God!

So Many Blessings

A few weeks ago we walked up to Village of Hope where Megan volunteered at last year. These are two of the little boys that live there. They were so excited to show me around and loved the camera!

Even with such poverty and pain here the mountains are breathtaking!! This is Dias Beach at Cape Point. Rachel, James, and I walked down to that beach...the sand was perfect, hardly any footsteps in it. The sound of the waves crashing along the rocks...amazing moment. God is so rich in his beauty! 

ME AND THE BABOONS!!! Gerrit stopped the car for us so we could take a few pictures! They are everywhere...equivalent to the amount of deer we have back home. Deer run in front of our cars...baboons run in front of theirs. 

One of the many penguins along the shore!

I love these girls!!! Gerrit and Ami's children...well half of them: Sisipo, Me, Elizabeth, Nina, and Avusie! We taught them how to play the game Signs, and it was our ritual every night! 

Doing Therapy with Little Miss Faith! She lives at the Asphie` House. Such an adorable little girl! Doesn't smile that often but when she does she lights up your face! Everyday after breakfast we spend a couple of hours doing therapy on the children and Range of Motion exercises! My favorite part of the day!!! God has definitely shown me that an Occupational therapist is for sure what I should be doing! Thank you Lord for putting that desire in my heart!!!!! <3 

After our Craft Day we held for the children at Agape 4, we had our first little service project...cleaning the school! We swept and mopped and had fun doing it! 

A house in the township. No picture will ever show what my eyes saw that day walking in the township. My heart broke into pieces. I will never say I am poor again...I will never say I am starving...I will never forget what God opened my eyes to that day. This house is actually one of the more in shape homes. As we walked through the town I just felt disgusted with myself. I am such a selfish person. How have I been so selfish? These people have nothing...they wake up everyday and wonder if they will be able to have a meal today. How sad is that! I eat because I can...they eat when they can. 

A few houses down a mother was giving her baby a bath in this pan outside...in the cold and most likely in cold water. Water is not just in the houses...they have to walk to go get it, and it's not clean water. I have never stopped and thanked the Lord for hot water and running clean water until that moment when I saw that mother look up at me with the sunlight hitting her face and sadness in her eyes and as she looked back down at her baby my heart twisted.  

These beautiful children saw our camera's and one by one they came up and lined up to get there picture taken! After I took this picture even more kids and some adults grouped up for a photo! Something so little to us, and to them brought such excitement! Their faces just lit up when they looked at the screen and saw the pictures of themselves!

 Walking on the road through the township. Children play in the streets and dogs roam around. Dogs are like wolves here...and they are everywhere! The children usually smile at us as we pass and wave at them, but some are so broken they stare at us with their broken, hurting hearts.  

On the way to the BEACH we stopped to get gas. The gas station window had this in it! ha ha! If they only knew what our winters were like! 

At the beach with the Kids from Agape 2! Had so much fun in the sun! Water was nice and refreshing every time it swept over our feet! The children loved it as well! One of the little 4 year old girls grabbed my hand saying "Tannie! Tannie!" (which means auntie) and would run with me in the waves! It was her first time ever going to the beach...so happy I spent it with her!  

All the kiddos from Asiphe`!!! 16 beautiful blessings God has touched my life with! So beautiful outside we took them all out and enjoyed the sunshine all morning. We even fed them outside! Thank you Lord for Sunshine!!!

Farrah. Beautiul Girl! Trying to make her smile during therapy.

<3<3<3

Everything I am doing is for Christ. 

Every opportunity that comes my way I will take.

I have 2 weeks left here and I am not about to miss a single moment!

Thank you for all your prayers and support! 

THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE...I AM LETTING IT SHINE! 

EVERYTHING we do is for Christ!

We have been quite the touristy team this past week. A nice day of adventures on Monday the 27th! First stop: the top of Table Mountain! With all the rain the rocks were too wet to be able to climb the mountain so we took the cable car to the top. What a BEAUTIFUL view! We hiked around on the top, took lots of pictures, and saw Rock Pirates (these cute little groundhog-bunny looking animals)! We then went to Hoet Bay where we took our shoes and socks off and ran into the Indian Ocean! Very cold, but luckily it was warm enough outside that jeans and a long sleeve shirt was enough...one of the warmest days yet. We ate at the seafood restaurant by the shore then went to the National Park called Cape of Good Hope. Here we went to Cape Point where we could see where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet and could hike down the mountain to the most beautiful beach ever...Dias Beach. It was at the bottom of cliffs... completely surrounded by rocks and the sand was the perfect white/ light tan color. (Don't worry, I have LOTS of pictures.) On the way out of the park we spotted baboons!!!!! They are by far the cutest ugliest things I have ever seen! The baby ones were pretty cute!!! We drove a little farther and spotted an Ibex, similar to an antelope. We then drove to Simon's Town to see Penguins! It is crazy because we were just driving along and a baboon runs across the street...a deer is normal...not a BABOON! We got there and went out to the beach and sure enough spotted penguins! There were baby penguins too!!! So cute and fluffy! After a long day we drove around False Bay and back to Grabouw! Such an amazing time! Baya Dankie (Thank you very much) Gerrit and Ami!!!

Wednesday we got to go to a Themba Care service; it is a different organization that Megan worked with last year. This is a church service for the patients with AIDS that don't leave the facility. It was so uplifting to see these people sing and dance and cry and rejoice all at the same time. These people have nothing...nothing that is but the love of Jesus Christ! So encouraging! Later that night we also went to a township bible study that was started by Daz and Lisa from Village of Hope. This community has no electricity at all...they have the bare minimum...if that. We had the opportunity to pray for some of the people within the township, so many broken people.

On Thursday (30th) the four of us and our two British friends went to Cape Town to the Jewish Museum, on accident, and then found the museum we wanted...the Holocaust Museum. What an eye-opener! So sad; it made my stomach churn. We had lunch and walked to the Green Market!!! So many tents, so much stuff, and so little time! Got to buy real Africa stuff!!! So exciting, but yet the most stressful situation of my life. Bartering is some intense business!

Friday we had CRAFT and GAME day for the kiddos. We brought 4 big bags full of school supplies so we thought it would be nice to have an organized day for little projects. We made kites, flowers, planes, colored, and played on the playground. All the children from Agape 1,2, and 3 came to the school at Agape 4, so it was a crazy day, but fun and something different for the children. For lunch we had a yummy African dish. Yummmmm yumm! And in the afternoon, after the children left, the 4 of us swept the gym and mopped. Gerrit and Ami's kids taught us a fun African Jumping Game! I got 3rd place...mad hops, no big deal...haha!

Wow. What an amazing weekend (July 2-4th)! We went to stay with Megan's friends Theresa and Derick. What a blessing it was and what an amazing Christ following couple!!! Their love story is absolutely heart-warming and was COMPLETELY based on Faith.  Not a story you can just type out...I would butcher it if I tried! ...Sovereignty. That is what I learned this weekend. To trust the Lord with everything I have, with everything I am, and to be everything HE wants me to be. In life we hit rough times and happy times, but what I have learned and what we as believers need to understand is that EVERYTHING we do is for Christ...that is why we are here on this Earth in the first place...to praise is Holy name! A question that Derick asked me was "Why are you here in South Africa? Are you here because the opportunity came up and you thought it would be well worth your time, or are you here because God wants you here and this is all part of his plan for you?" Derick was so full of wisdom and with that helped me realize that everything we go through in life is part of God's plan for us...and though we might be going through a difficult time, it is important to realize that God is using my life for the glory of His Kingdom. Even in a horrible situation we need to praise God through it! It was an amazing reminder of how "my" life is not mine at all...it's His. It always has been and it always will be. My fiance`, my family, my friends, my stuff is not more important than Jesus Christ! Derick also asked, "Do you love Jesus because he died on the cross for you or do you love Jesus for who he is?" Wow...it's so not about him dying for us. Yes it is amazing that He would do that for us, but that is NOT why we love Him, not why we should love him. He just made me realize how much deeper my relationship with my Father needs to be. It was an amazing God-glorifying, eye opening experience!! And if this past weekend was the reason I came here...then it was worth it.  

So in love with this place!

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it Shine!
With Love, Alissa Rene

God is working in this Place!

This picture was taking at Agape 3. Children ages 5 and 6. They all call me 'Lisa' because for some reason no one can pronounce Alissa, and Lissa turns into Lisa. So I have learned to answer to most "L" names. =]

This is Ayanda. She was my little follower when I was at Agape 2. No matter where I went she was right there with me...holding my hand, sitting next to me, or sitting on my lap. She saw me the day after and came running up to me and gave me the biggest hug ever! She is such a happy little girl!!!!

We had the opportunity to help out at Kids Club on a Friday night, ages 6-12 years. We danced, worshiped, played games, and had a message. It was all in Afrikanas so I actually had no clue what was going on, but listening to people pray in another language is so powerful. Any who, afterwards I went up to this little girl who was off by herself and said, "Hello, vat is ya naam?" Her name is Maliska. She was the sweetest thing and was so excited that I came up to her. We didn't talk much, but I held her in my arms and that made her so happy! She ended up being on the same bus that took us back to our cabin and she got so excited when I hopped on the bus! She scooted over and patted the seat next to her with a huge smile on her face! The whole way home she kept her hand on my knee and I put my arm around her! She was full of smiles the whole way...it was so cute!