Pictures from Mauritius

Here are a few pictures of our time in Mauritius.

Quick Update...

Well, I am back in Africa returned from the Island of Mauritius, and it was an amazing trip.

We were in Mauritius for 10 days, the first was spent on recovering from jet lag and getting settled into our flat, but after that we preached every day until the last. Of the eight days we ministered, I got to give six messages. I talked about Healing, Identifying ourselves in Christ, Being the Temple of God, Forgiving those who hurt us, ourselves, and God, Running away from God's call on your life, and my last sermon was on the Prodigal Son and the love of the Father.

Aside from preaching, I got to pray with hundreds of people. Some for Healing, some for deliverance, some for their families, and about forty asked me to help them come to know Jesus. While the preaching was satisfying, the prayer and salvations really made my trip. There were people who received their healing then and there, others who are still waiting. There were people filled with the Spirit.

I know that I went to Mauritius to serve and to bless others, but I walked away from that Island having been very blessed myself.

Right now, my hosts have Dial Up Internet Service so they're getting charged for every minute I'm online, so I won't go into too much detail, but I'll post more when I get Home.

I took about 300 pictures of Mauritius, and I received a CD with more pictures from one of the Mauritian pastors... so one of my first priorities when I get Home (after sleeping) will be to sort through the pics and post the ones that really show what was there and how it was.

Much love to you all!

Resting in Africa...

So, as Mom let you know, I've arrived in Africa. It turns out that Jackie cancelled all of this week's ministering so we could stay at home and help Annatjie recover... I also get to rest up quite a bit myself... 15 hours of flight time is a very long time, and no matter how many movies, episodes of House, or how much music you listen to, you can't really rest.

I've been here three days now, and slept most of one of them to recover from the plane... yesterday Jackie took me all over the countryside showing me Jo'burg, Pretoria, and a whole bunch of suburbs. For those of you who have been to Tijuanna, you'd find that many parts of South Africa are very much the same. The government built homes for the poor, who then built onto them or built up around them, or who knows what all.

The land here is very dry, and really does remind me of Southern California... that same kind of scrub brush... soft, gentle rolling hills (near Pretoria, not so much in Jo'burg).

My primary problem so far is that I don't know a lick of Afrikans. Everyone I've met so far can speak English, but they only do so for my benefit. Most seem to be more comfortable speaking Afrikans, or one of the African languages. I'm starting to pick up a few words here and there, and I can tell when I am supposed to laugh, but it's a bit odd sitting there listening to a whole conversation in a language I cannot speak.

Oddly, it reminds me of home a bit... how my family and I slip in and out of English and Spanish... but here, it's Afrikans, English, and one of 11 other languages.

Sunday I will be going to an English speaking church, where I will get to stand up and speak for a bit with one of the other ministers who will be going to Mauritius. I plan on speaking on Faith, in a condensed sort of way, so keep me in your prayers.

He is there.

In case you haven't heard yet. Jono arrived in Johannesburg safe and sound. He had a good flight, was ready to get off of the plane though. It was a little cooler than he expected, in the 60's or 17'c. (I had to find a conversion chart myself.) Will let you know what he is up to in a couple of days.

While I am gone...

This message is especially for the guys from my Youth Group... here are links to the 5 posts I want you guys to read and talk about. Make sure you read them before coming to group and post your own replies... I will have internet in Africa, so don't think I won't see it if no one is replying.

If there aren't any replies showing you guys talked about the posts, we'll just go over them in October when I get back.

September 5th: The Message

September 12th: Love

September 19th: The Choice

September 26th: Fear

October 3rd: Blessed...

Now, you'll notice that on the right side of the screen are three clocks. One lists Everett time (Home), one lists South Africa, and one lists Mauritius time. If you've got a question for me about one of these posts, or if you're looking for a reply, check what time it is where I'm at. I'll do my best to check your replies every Sunday. Remember though, that South Africa is 9 hours ahead of Washington, and Mauritius is 11 hours ahead.

Good luck guys!

Leaving in less than a week...

Barring any unforeseen problems, I should be getting on a plane to go to NYC on Sunday, and from there getting on a plane for Johannesburg on Tuesday morning.

Yep... in 7 days I'll be getting on a South African Airlines plane to fly to Johannesburg for the first part of my mission trip. While I am there, I'll be doing some ministry with Jackie around Springs and Johannesburg. On the 11th the Christ the King Ministries team will be coming to Johannesburg too, and we'll go together to Mauritius on the 14th to work in the city called Flic en Flac, which is on the West Coast of the island.

I would like to thank all the people that gave so generously to support this Mission Trip, every donation was a major blessing. The people who bought fudge or gave me work to do in exchange for a donation, and the people who just gave to bless me... thank you all.

I should have internet in Johannesburg, and I plan on updating this blog while I'm there, and I'm told I should have internet in Flic en Flac as well, so you should be hearing from me while I'm away.

To the guys from my Youth Group, there are five posts right now in the "Message" category, they are the ones on the list I gave you last week. I'll look for your replies to the threads, and hope we'll get into some interesting discussions.

Blessed...

²⁰Looking at his disciples, he said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
²²Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

²³"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
²⁴"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
²⁵Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
²⁶Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

Luke 6:20-26

Blessed... what does Jesus mean when he says that the poor, hungry, weeping, and hated are blessed? Obviously, these people are not being financially blessed. They are not receiving plenty, nor do they have the favor of men and God.

What Jesus is trying to say is that these people shall be blessed. They shall receive. They shall laugh. Those who are poor, hungry, and weeping now are often tied up in their current circumstances. They will be fed, they will laugh again, because life moves on. Your current circumstances might be horrid, you might be in the valley right now, but you will get through it and move out to the peaks again.

Jesus says that people who are hated for his name's sake are blessed. This beattitude intrigues me. It is the only one of the four that doesn't also carry a future blessing. The poor will possess the kingdom of God, the hungry shall be satisfied, and those who weep shall laugh... but those who are hated for the sake of the Son of Man are simply blessed. I think that this blessing is less immediate, when compared to the others. Hunger, weeping, and poverty are things that you deal with now. They are the stuff of day to day life. Being hated for Christ's sake is less so.

Sure, you might have to deal with someone who hates you for being a Christian every day, but it is not a constant worry. I think that people who are hated for Christ's sake, people hated for their faith, learn to treasure their faith and let it grow and strengthen. Christ promised his followers trials and tribulations that would make them stronger. Being hated as a Christian is one such trial.

The second half of the verse I quoted lists four woes that men can experience. Woe to the rich, the well fed, those who laugh now, and those who are well spoken of by their peers here in the world.

You might think that Christ is listing woes off that contradict the blessings he just pronounced in the first half, but he is not.

Christ is saying that people who are rich now will lose that wealth at some point, either in this life or when they go to meet their Heavenly Father. Christ addresses wealth many times. He frequently told men to sell all they owned, give it to the poor, and follow him. He told his followers that it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.

A quick aside here... Christ did not mean a literal eye of a needle and a camel. At that time, there were two gates on most cities in the region, one that was open during the day, but closed at night, and one that was much smaller but could be opened at any time as needed. This smaller door was about the size of a regular house door, and if a merchant arrived into town late, he had to make his camels kneel and crawl through the doorway, often times having to entirely unload the camel to make it fit through the door. Common slang for that smaller door was "the eye of the needle." Christ was saying that a rich man must get on his knees and crawl to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, maybe even shedding all of his wealth before he can make it into the Kingdom.

Plainly, the wealthy have had their comfort now, and will lose it at some point in the future, and that is why Christ proclaimed woe unto them. I feel that this ties in with the second woe, about those who are well fed now going hungry later. Basically, those who have now will lose it in the future, so woe unto them.

Woe unto those who laugh now, for they shall weep. As I mentioned above, Christ promised trials and tribulations for his followers. People who laugh now, people who are happy and celebrating, will not be doing so when those trials hit. They will hit hard times, and they will weep. It is inevitable that hard times will come along for each of us, and we shall all hit that moment when only weeping fits the situation.

The last woe reflects the last beattitude. Woe unto those who are spoken well of, because that is how your fathers treated the false prophets of the past. Paul speaks about false prophets later in the New Testament, praying that the churches he planted could resist their teachings. There were many false prophets in the Old Testament who tried to lead the Israelites away from God and the path he laid out with the true Prophets.

What is the problem with false prophets? Simply put, they tell people what they want to hear and that makes them very hard to say "no" to, so many people choose to follow them. Many false prophets gather followings of wealthy people and poor, who all do their best to spread the feel good message of their prophet.

Christ was telling his audience that if the people were speaking only praises of them as Christian missionaries, then they were not doing their job properly, they were instead giving a false message, becoming false prophets. The message of Christ is a hard one for many people who haven't heard it before. Christ tells people things they do not want to hear, and tells them that they have to give up their current life to follow after him.

People do not want to hear messages like that.

Fear

For the Lord your God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7

This verse has been branded in my mind for many years now. It has been with me in some of the hardest times of my life, and been with me in the trivial moments. The day I heard my mother had cancer, I prayed this verse over and over. Today when I got my vaccinations to go to Mauritius, I prayed this verse.

It means more than "I am not afraid..." This verse means that God did not intend for me to have fear in my spirit. King David said that God knew him when He formed David in his mother's womb, that He knew David when He knit together his flesh, and that applies to each of us. God knew us as we were forming, he shaped us, building us into the people he wants us to be; and as he was shaping and building us, he designed us with a spirit of power, love and a sound mind... not a spirit of fear.

This isn't to say that God never meant you to have fear. You can be afraid without having a spirit of fear. If you are standing face to face with a lion, and there isn't a plexiglass wall between you and that lion, you should probably have some natural fear in that moment. If you are in a plane that just lost two of its four engines, a bit of fear makes sense.

That said, you can conquer that fear. You can rise up above it and continue on doing what needs to be done.

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, ^a]">[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

This is another Psalm of David, and another verse about fear that has spoken to me for many years. David knew a lot about the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He was a mighty warrior from his days as a shepherd that fought lions and bears to his days as the head of Israel's army.

In this Psalm, David says that God's rod and staff comfort him. To the modern ear, that doesn't make much sense. Take a moment, and think like a semi-nomadic shepherd, and it will make more sense. The shepherd's staff was the tool he used to guide his sheep. We see them in cartoons with the long hook on the top. Shepherds really used that hook to grab sheep that had gone astray, or to lift a sheep out of a crevasse that it had fallen into. It was the shepherd's rescue tool. The rod, however, was the shepherd's offensive tool. It was a club made of stout, hard, wood, that could be used to bash the head of a predator or a thief.

David is saying that he knows God has the tools both to defend him from threats and to rescue him if he gets into something he can't get himself out of; we have that same assurance. God has the tools to defend us from any threat, and the tools to rescue us should we get into something over our heads. That fact is such a comfort to me. I can keep living my life, trying new things leaping into the void, looking for God's will, knowing that if I jump off a cliff but don't make it to the other side, God can lift me out of that pit and put me back with the other sheep.

Mysterious Ways

Who would have known that 30 years ago the son I was believing God for would not be born until both of his sisters had made their appearance in this world? Each child's birth was a test of faith. And much like Hannah each one was dedicated to the Lord. The adventure has been in watching them grow and mature.
I cannot believe that my son is traveling around the world by himself. I guess there are plenty of people who do this as part of their lives but still a mother's heart has to pray for his safety. (So she doesn't fall into worry!)
His fund raising is almost complete! Another $100 came in today. Given out of sacrifice. It is so humbling and yet I know that God will honor that family.
As you may know, we are having a fund raiser August 29th. We need your support! Our hearts are to send enough money with Jono to sponsor at least 5 Bible students in Mauritius. The address is 7600 Cascade View Drive, Everett. Our church meets in the Boys and Girls Club and that is where the fundraiser will be. Some of the monies raised will also go towards our home missions, so Missions will be the song of the day! There will be live music, Hawai'ian Barbeque, Sno Cones, Cotton Candy, etc. Tickets will be sold at the front door.

If you have any questions email me at debbijohn02@gmail.com

The Choice

There are thousands of choices we make each and every day. What's for breakfast? What will I wear today? Do I leave on time, or will I be late? There are other choices that effect our entire lives. Whom will I marry? Where will I live? What do I believe?

That last one is perhaps the most significant choice you will ever make. What will I believe about the world around me? Which God will I follow? Where will I send my soul after I die?

In the old testament, there is one woman who exemplifies this choice: Ruth.

Her story begins with Naomi. Naomi was a Jewish woman who lived in Judah with her family, but there was a drought in the land, so she and her family moved to a foreign land. In that land, Naomi's sons married local women, and they assimilated as a family. Then things got worse and Naomi's husband and sons died. All of them. That left Naomi and her daughters in law without anyone to support them. Ruth and Orpah were the daughters in law. At that moment, Naomi didn't think she could support these other women, so she told her daughters in law to go home to their own families to find new husbands.

That was when Ruth made her decision.

Ruth 1:16-17 ¹⁶ But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

Ruth was a Moabite, a people that the Israelites had conquered when they left Egypt. She had no reason to love the God of the Israelites. However, she had lived with Naomi and her family for some time and had learned to love them, and through them learned to love their God.

She chose when Naomi told her to go home to her own people that she would now be one of God's children. "Your people will be my people and your God my God." She did not ask God, she did not offer a sacrifice or try to perform any rituals, she simply decided that she would follow God and that he would be her God.

Some people would call her arrogant, audacious, bold... but God honored her. She went home to Judah with Naomi, married a wealthy man, and became one of the ancestors of King David and Jesus Christ. This Moabite, a race God had ordered the Israelite army to crush, was honored above so many and made a part of God's chosen line of Kings. All because she chose to follow God and didn't give anyone else an option about it.

Now, how does this apply to our modern life?

Well, we each have to choose if we will follow God or if we will go back to living our lives outside of his will. God is not going to make us come and join his family, we have to choose to do so. We have to say "I want to follow you, I want you in my life, and I don't want to go back to what I had before."

When we pray that, and ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, we are taken back into God's family. We are adopted as sons and daughters of God, made joint heirs with Christ.

It is that simple, really.