This is one of those things that was "in the works" the past few months and I said "much is happening right now...so excited about it, but with details not finalized I'll wait until later to talk about it here on the blog..." Well, this is one of those tremendous open doors that I get to walk through this year. I have six months to get ready for this, and right now I'm in the midst of doing that.
Today Dr. Bill Kuert and his wife Barbara (field directors for that area of Africa) came and met Larry and I for lunch. (The photo above is from the conference and is on the cover of a DVD from Dr. Kuert and Barbara's ministry.) It's awesome that they are in the states until July right now and so we've been able to meet. We discussed all the details of the trip and the conference. What delightful people they are! While in Africa I will be staying at their home and at the East Africa Bible Institute. They are setting up some churches for me to preach in while there on Sunday as well.
God is doing so many new things in my life and opening up phenomenal new doors for me to preach the Word which is what I love to do most next to writing.
Just keep watching the blog here for details of my adventure to Africa. I asked them today if we could stop by Mathare Valley (an incredibly poverty stricken very needy place in Kenya) and whether they would let me tour it. I said, "I want to get OUT OF THE CAR" not just drive by. I thought we might have to do some haggling over that but to my delight they said, "YES!" right away and mentioned they would line up with the missionary who leads that area to take me through there. Wow, wow. I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. Meeting them today and hammering out the details just really put me over the edge with excitement to GET THERE.
But first - I have to get the Word of the Lord for the week, and I'm definitely not ready yet, in fact only beginning. When I was a little girl, my parents could never tell me until we got in the car to go somewhere special that we were headed somewhere special. I would get so incredibly excited, psyched out for it that sometimes I would get sick. I know that sounds crazy but I would get so much adreneline rushing about it, all of a sudden my Mom would notice I threw up or had a pounding headache, where nothing was wrong before. It's that I find out something and get so keyed up I can barely stand it til' we get to that moment. Everyone who knows me knows I am prone to extreme burst of enthusiasm. One night I was preaching and 70 women ran to the altars and got saved. I mean they almost knocked me over to get there. There is NOTHING more exciting to me than souls saved. So after the service I left with the team that was with me and went to a restaurant. I was so keyed up I could hardly sit down. I was so overjoyed about these women getting saved, I took a leap and jumped on the table. (Yes, I was an adult when this happened.) Those who were there never fail to bring this up. "ughhhh...PD, remember the night you leaped on top of the table at that place?" I know, it sounds very immature and perhaps it is, but people do a lot of other immature things when they get excited. People on the Price is Right scream and run over a microwave, as Larry says, and to me, doing that over 70 souls saved? No comparison.
How can we not go over the edge when we think about about fulfilling the call of God and bringing people to Him? How can we not totally freak out when we see somebody supernaturally healed? (I have seen it many times but everytime is still like the first for me.) How can we not shout when we see someone delivered of whatever was holding them back? My kids used to tease me about doing things like speaking in tongues just about anywhere, or taking a run around the church or jumping on a chair when I preach but now they pretty much just say, "that's Mom" and they don't even flinch. Ha ha!
Did I mention I can't wait to get to Africa?
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