Posted in General Posts by Anna Barnes on 10/21/2009
We found out a few days ago that our next country will be Poland. Two of the university students we have been working with here, are from Poland and thier parents live in Warsaw. God blessed us so much with putting these two students in our path to lead us to our next destination. The best part is, we will be living in thier house with thier family, and the mom will be cooking for us! We hope to stay in Poland at least a week and the head over to Prague, Lord willing! We leave tonight on the midnight train to Kiev and arrive early tomorrow morning. I have loved my time here in Odessa. The ministry, the people, and this place has been so good to us. Please continue to pray for our travels, we will be doing a lot these last few weeks. We are in the home stretch and getting very tired, pray that God will renew our minds and give us His strength. Blessings to all you at home!
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Posted in General Posts by Anna Barnes on 10/2/2009
After cancelled trains, sleeping on the streets of Moldova and backpacking through the city, we finally arrived in Odessa, Ukraine. We were met at the bus station by our new friend Natallica who took us to an apartment in the outskirts of town to stay the night with one of her classmates. They fed us borsch, a Ukranian potato type stew when we got there. After walking what seemed like miles and miles, we were so happy to have a place to stay for the night. After an interesting night of sleep we woke up and decided our first order of business was to find our own place to live for these next 3 weeks. Natallica helped us, (after about 5 options fell through) find a 2 bedroom flat in the center of the old part of the city. Although we don't all have beds, I cant tell you how nice it is to have a place of our own with hot water and heat! It is funny what gets me excited these days. Hanna, Kim and I are sleeping in the basement, it has no windows and is very quiet, kinda reminds me of our basement bedroom back in the states. We have a little kitchen and three TV's. We already searched all the channels, and they are all in Russian, even MTV. Having gone a year without TV though, we don't even miss it. I am really excited about our ministry this month, we will be working with college students from the local University. We went to "English club" last night and met several of them. A few of them came back with us last night to eat dinner and watch "Elf" with Will Ferrell. I don't think they all quite understand American sense of humor, but they had fun just spending time together and with us. We have already been to the black sea and have plans to pick nick there tomorrow and at least stick our feet in. Our team in the only one here in Odessa this month and I feel extremely blessed to be here. God has taken such good care of us already. I am looking forward to the relationships that we have already begun to build and just enjoying this beautiful city.
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Posted in General Posts by Anna Barnes on 9/14/2009
Top 10 things WE love about Romania!!!
10: The town color is lime green
9. Gypsies are real...
8. Going to town to buy 2 pigs is easier than trying to buy a coke light.
7. My friend Kara's name means _____. in Romanian.
6. Hitch hiking. nuff said
5. Eastern European fashion...the good, bad and the ugly
4. The smell...cigarettes and manure
3. Our outdoor shower, you can have a conversation through the shower "sheet" while dinner is being prepared.
2. No dancing allowed. no questions asked.
Drumroll please......
The number one reason we love Romania....
1. Your more likely to get a ride into town on a horsedrawn cairrage than a car. go figure.
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Posted in General Posts by Anna Barnes on 8/12/2009
Maswane is 19 years old. She is an INNOCENT victim of HIV/AIDS. Maswane was raped by her uncle when she was 15 years old and is now dying of this disease. In the mornings Darci and I walk about a mile to get to her. She lies in a mud hut with her stepmother who is her primary caretaker. Maswane's body is covered in scabs and sores, she is suffering from a skin disease her body is not able to fight off due to her failed immune system. She lies in a mud hut, about the size af my closet in the states, and stares at the walls. She is not able to wear clothes and can only lie on her back, due to the condition of her skin. Her body is in such horrific shape she is confined to her mattress on the floor. We found out Monday morning that Maswane was out of all of her medication. I had some ibuprofen in my bag and gave her all I had left. She will not be able to get any more medication until she is able to go to the hospital and the possibility of her going is slim. I cannot describe what it feels like to go sit in this hut and do my best to put on a smile and give her an encouraging word. I can't hold back the tears and I leave there physically and mentally drained. How do you pray for someone like this? When do you pray for healing and when do you just pray that the good Lord will take her home? The only hope she has is in Jesus. She is a Christian and I believe she knows she has a new body waiting for her in heaven. My heart breaks for Maswane and her stepmother. This is real. You hear about it at home, see fundraisers and benefits on TV, maybe give to some of the AIDS relief organizations but until you are here, in Africa, holding the hand of a girl dying of the disease, you just can't understand. Please pray for Maswane. Tell others her story and ask them to pray. She fell victim to this disease. She didn't do anything to deserve this. She is a child, her life her health and her innocence were TAKEN from her. I know God is good, He is faithful and he has a plan. We read Maswane Psalm 23, please read it and think and pray for those who are dying here.
Much much love...
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Posted in General Posts by Anna Barnes on 8/12/2009
After 5 days of traveling through 5 countries and turning one year older, in Zimbabwe, we made it to Swaziland. We are working with team Spectacle so there are 12 of us here. Our ministry, The Nsoko Project is dedicated to bringing care to victims suffering from HIV/AIDS. There are several "care points" throughout Nsoko which have feeding centers, school rooms and places for those suffering to come. In the mornings we are going to different homes in the village to spend time, pray and help with any chores the people might have. All of the homes we are visiting have someone dying of AIDS. In Swaziland half of the population is dying of this disease. Swaziland recently surpassed Botswana as the country with the world's highest known HIV/AIDS prevalence rate. It is estimated that between the year 2030 and 2050, Swaziland will no longer exist due to the rapid destruction of this disease. A few of us went into town to visit one of the local girls in the hospital who was suffering from HIV. It is a shameful disease for these people and she wanted to keep it a secret from her family. The hospital was similar to the village hospital I visited in Mozambique. There were three small beds in a crowded room with the girl we were visiting sharing a room with a lady who was pregnant and one with the flu. The conditions were anything but sanitary and comfort was the last concern for the patients. It is a huge blessing for them to even get to go to a hospital. The pastor that we are working with, Gift, has been a huge blessing to us. He has told us that the average life expectancy here is 30 years old. Most die a long, painful death due to HIV/AIDS. My prayer for this country is for those individuals to be educated and aware of the affects of this disease. The majority of the country is Zionist, a mix of Christianity and ancestor worship. Most of them do not know the Lord and therefore have absolutely no hope. Please join me in remembering Swaziland in your prayers daily. I have never been anywhere that has affected me so much as this dying nation.
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Posted in General Posts by Anna Barnes on 7/23/2009
Thank you God for bringing us to Malawi. I am here in Lilongwe, Malawi at the Children of the Nations base with my Young Life leader from Atlanta and a few of my brothers friends from home and college. It has been just what I have needed, to see familiar faces, love the ministry and the people, and enjoy my time with the other interns and teams staing here from the States. God has blessed us with several amaizing ministry opportunities here including visiting village homes, sewing with the widows, playing with the children and holding sick or abandoned babies at the crisis nursery. I am learning SO much about myself, love and faith while I have been here. Trusting God to provide has been amaizing. He is constantly speaking to me and blessing me through other people and situations. I am learning to distinguish the difference between what I want and what I need and being in a place of complete satisfaction with what has been provided for me. My mentor, friend, sister, teacher and high school Young Life leader Keltner has been unbelievably accomidating and a God send for me! Having her known where I have come from and where I am now has been so comforting for me and truly a blessing in my walk with the Lord. Malawi is everything and more I could have imagined. This experience has been worth the race for me. I am excited now to see a glimpse of my future and somehow I just fit with this place. Thank you Lord for knowing, thank you for providing, thank you for hearing.
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Posted in General Posts by Anna Barnes on 7/8/2009
Head North. As of right now, July 8, 2009 that is the plan for the 17 of us who are still here in South Africa. We know that the Lord is calling us to Malawi, and we will do what it takes to get there. The little money we do have will be spent mostly on transport for our 3 day bus ride and multiple visa costs. Food and lodging is still up in the air, along with our ministry. I can confidently say (after a morning of prayer) that I am ready for the challenge. God is going to do His thing and take us along for one heck of a ride. We are ready to move on and get to where He is calling us. Thank you Jesus! Now its time for You to show off and do what You do best. Here we go on one huge leap of faith. To be continued...
"...For we walk by faith, not by sight...'
2 Corinthians 5:7
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Posted in General Posts by Anna Barnes on 6/7/2009
Well, I can offficially say we made it throug our first ATL month in Laos last month and are now in Nelspruit, South Africa. We flew into Johanasburg about a week ago and then took a bus in. We have been staying at an amaizing missionary house for several days and have been truly blessed by the caretakers here. Yes, we should be in Mozambique by now but the Lord had other plans for us. We were not able to bus out on the scheduled day last week so we, as a squad have been staying here waiting for our transportation to come through. I am so happy to say that we will be getting on a bus tomorrow for 20 hours to Mozambique! We will be doing some type of orphanage ministry, I am not exactly sure what it will look like but hopefully we will have some sort of communication to you know what we are doing. We are on a tight budget so we will in tents and cooking our own food, please pray for us that we will be able to find a can opener and something besides beans we can eat out of a can! The Lord has done such amaizing things while we have been here in South Africa, blessed us and has gone before us on our journey to Mozambique. We have been deffenitly living the "Acts" life while we have been waiting to see where God was going to lead us, but he has confirmed our travel plans and we are set to head to the bush!
Thank you Lord,
Acts 16:6-10
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Keltner and the girls
Shakira!!!