Zephyr Summer Love

This morning I woke up with Camp Zephyr on my mind! The crazy bugs, the hot afternoons, the mashed potatoes in your hair...or worse down your leg. The trash run and pig pen smell so early in the morning and of course the unforgettable moments of watching students worship! Zephyr is a place where so many people have poured out by loving God first, students second and themselves last. It's a place where full-time and summer staff are beginning their process of being poured out for their first youth camp today. It's a place where hearts and lives will always be changed because of the people that love like Christ! I'm so thankful for the sweet summer staff and the commitment they made to God in this summer season. Praying that God will fill them up and continually renew their peace so they can love and pour out in a capacity that is flowing from God's grace. I'm also thankfully in prayer for the full time staff AND their rockin' families who offer their lives to camp ministry without asking anything in return! If you know or love any camp staff this summer please thank, love and pray for them often. Let God fill them up through your words and prayers. If you don't know any camp or staff to pray for...join Tyler and I in praying for OUR FAVORITE CAMP this summer (of course we are partial)!!

If your lost on what to pray for I know rest is a hard thing to come by at camp during the summer so feel free to use this verse as a guide! You can never go wrong by starting with God's word.

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 11:28-30 MSG)

Praying for unforced rhythms of grace,

Aubri & Tyler 

Journeying 8,594 Miles Away

So it has been exactly 2 weeks since I got home from Uganda. Since I've been home I think and pray about Africa often. I pray about Uganda, Jinja, Kupendwa Ministries, the sweet mothers I met, the squishy babies I held and the lifetime friends I made. Thinking about my trip brings about a wave of emotion that I'm still learning and discerning. The one unfailing thought I have is gratitude. I'm just so grateful and thankful that God allowed me to be a part! When I stepped off the plane in Uganda I welled up with excitement and thankfulness! Uganda was the same place that God had called me to pray for just a few months earlier. I had prayed, wondered and desired...and the desire and prayers didn't go unanswered. God knew my heart and heard my prayers! He knew how much joy and heartbreak I would find. He knew that I would have to solely trust Him as I left my sweet husband 8,594 miles away for 2 weeks. He knew I would meet Winnie and find a new best friend 8,594 miles away. He knew I needed to learn how to love Him by watching sweet teenage mothers pour out for Him from morning to night. He knew I needed to trust His word by uttering it through tears and sobs to mothers who were suffering. God had promised and dedicated those moments in Jinja, Uganda for me. He had that promise for me from the time He was knitting me together in Shea Shea's Womb (Shout out Mom....I love you-Kwagala Nyo). It so overwhelming and humbling to see a promise carried out and to have God meet the desires of your heart. So be encouraged. God has promises set aside specifically for you! Sometimes the promise is to pray for a season, sometimes the promise is to take a new journey. When you spend that season in prayer God will give you a journey that reveals a sweet promise ONLY FOR YOU!

Disclaimer: Everyones journey/promise is unique don't compare your journey/promise to someone else's thats disqualifying the greatness of God.

Sweet Winnie and I visiting the NICU at the Hospital in Jinja

Betty, Rebecca, Ruth (one of the sweet staff at Kupendwa), Sauda, and Mirimbe hanging out and being silly!

Shamim and Baby Leah looking precious!

Stella, Shifa, Baby Hope, Me and Mirimbe posing in the Kitchen!

Visiting the NICU at the hospital in Jinja!!

A Promise in His word:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain! Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord ? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalms 139:1-24 ESV)

Couldn't put all the pictures here but there will be plenty more on facebook :)

Webele Nyo! (Luganda) Thank you so much!

Thankful and grateful!

Aubri

Praying 8,594 Miles Away...

Prayer.

One simple word that can change the outcome of someone's eternity, bring hope, and most importantly allow anyone the ability to talk to the creator of the universe but I must confess I have this preconceived notion about prayer that God is trying to shatter. Let me explain:

I have the privilege and honor of knowing NatalieBrown check out her blog: http://theadventuresofnataliebrown.blogspot.com/

She is in Kampala, Uganda (8,594 miles away).

She and her Watoto 360 team have basically"adopted" a family (read her blog for more info) they have committed to taking care of a family for 5 months. For 5 months they are going to be responsible for caring for physical, medical, financial, emotional, and (most importantly) spiritual needs. They have already done so much: buying groceries, driving them to the hospital, rolling them through a hospital to an X-ray room, cleaning their slum, bringing clean blankets and much more. I'm so humbled by the way Natalie and her team is serving and following God's leading and are being faithful with the resources they have been given. A few weeks ago Natalie contacted me for some medical/nursing advice, and with the assistance of another nurse friend (Kaela Fecht) we came up with a little info and LOTS of questions for Natalie. As the weeks have gone by Natalie has kept me updated on the families’ current status and necessities. 
It's been a veryexciting/frustrating/heart
wrenching/enlightening/overwhelming/helpless process. As I receive each message from Natalie I have learned a few things.  Reading them to Tyler and giving him my honest thoughts helps me deal with any shock, anger or unwanted emotions. And this is the part in the process where God intervened. I realized if I'm unloading all this information to my sweet husband why wouldn't I do the same thing with the creator of the universe? God gently reminded me and I was speechless (Of course only for a bit because we had things to talk about). Now when I see my inbox light up with a message from Natalie my heart races as I sit and pray from 8,594 miles away.

I sit and pray from 8,594 miles away. I pray about the injustice. I pray about Natalie and her team for Gods peace and leading. I pray about the medical conditions. I pray about the resources. I pray about a sweet African baby that I would love to squeeze and hold. I pray about the fears that this family is facing. I pray about their nutrition. I pray about the weather. I pray technology would work and Natalie would get my lists and messages. I pray that nurses and doctors would help and be compassionate. I pray about my own frustration that I'm 8,594 miles away. I pray that God would heal through his word and his spirit. I pray that God would be bigger. I pray that God would perform a miracle in Natalie her team and the family they have"adopted". I pray that as I'm sitting 8,594 miles away I would live like I believe all the things I just uttered.

After I'm done praying I try to gather the few words that I feel God just whispered to my heart and write a coherent message back to Natalie. God is compelling me and all of us to sit and pray BIG prayers. Prayers that radically change the way we view him and prayers that bring glory to his name. Prayers that fundamentally change our lives as well as lives 8,594 miles away.

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV

Prayerfully changed,
Aubri