Five days!

Woohoo! Can you believe it?! After months and months of waiting, the time for me to leave for Malawi is drawing very near. I'm super excited!

Things I've done:

• Raised (almost) enough money for the trip, thanks to God's faithfulness and the generosity of so many at LCC, Montreat Pres., iSight, and family members, etc.
  
• Packed my huge backpacking-backpack to the rim
• Read about Malaria...a lot
  
• Bought lots of tiny soaps, shampoos, etc.
• Made plans to sing at church Sunday (6/28) at LCC
• Talked to my sweet friends and prayed for each of them
• Hugged my mother and daddy spontaneously, sometimes with teary-eyes

Things I need to do:

• Begin my Malaria-prevention pill regimen
• Charge my iPod TO THE MAX
• Stop worrying that I'm going to get some horrible stomach-ailment that haunts me through my entire trip (if you know what I'm saying)
• Charge my video camera TO THE MAX
• Buy some stationary so that I can write to my darling family and friends
• CALL SARA KENDALL TROUT AND HAVE A PHONE DATE WITH HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Watch all of my mom and my favorite chick flicks together with entirely too much chocolate
• Pray, but that's a given

Things I refuse to do:

• Get discouraged by the people who constantly say, "Malawi, is that near Mexico?" or "Why don't you minister to people IN AMURRKA?!" or "Oh my gosh...wear a mask or you'll get AIDS" (I'm not kidding. I mean, seriously...air-borne AIDS?)
• Plot Madonna's karate-chopping, should I encounter her (this one's a toughie, it's going to take some Jesus-intervention)
  
• Scream about bugs
• Forget to take my pills
• Freak out about my pills
• FORGET TO CALL SARA KENDALL TROUT!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
• Get angry about trivial things
• Drink the local water
  
• Forget why I'm doing this.

As always, your prayers are appreciated, my dear friends.

Malawi - More than the place where Madonna gets her kids

For those of you reading this, you may or may not already know that this summer, a week from today (6/22/09) in fact, I'll be flying (by myself) to the southern African country of Malawi.

Malawi is a very small, landlocked country in southern Africa. While it has a high population of Christians, Islam and Jehovah's Witness are also relatively prevalent, Islam especially.


Malawi is a primarily English-speaking country, but the native language of Chichewa is also common. There are also other tribal languages and dialects.

Malawi has a very high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, one of the highest in the world, in fact. It is also one of the most underdeveloped countries in the entire world.




While there are large cities in Malawi that are more developed, many people live in village settings, such as the one pictured below.



Lake Malawi is a huge and very beautiful lake that encompasses much of the country. It is the biggest lake in Africa. It is pictured below.



The organization I'm going to be working with is called "Ministry of Hope". It is based out of Black Mountain, NC and is centered in Lilongwe, Malawi.


Here are some of the kids who are or have been in the Crisis Nurseries and other orphan-holding facilities maintained by MOH.

Going Modest - And Beautiful

There's a lot of talk these days about various doctrinal and theological issues, but something I feel is horribly under-discussed is the issue of modesty.

Webster defines "Modesty" as being decent, good, wholesome, and "observing the proprieties of dress and behavior". As a young Christian woman living in a very sexually-saturated world, modesty to me isn't just an issue of applying the Biblical principle of keeping my Christian brothers from stumbling upon the site of me, but also so that I can honor and respect my future husband by guarding my heart and my body and keeping myself pure.

Now, all of this said, have I always been successful in doing this?

NO!!!

In fact, it causes me great shame to think of the way I have, in the past, presented myself through action, speech, and dress. Despite God's constant conviction on my heart, and my suppressed desire to attract attention from the opposite gender no matter what it took, it took my (AWESOME!!) mother to pull me aside and lovingly correct my ways.

My mom sat me down on her bed one afternoon and told me a few things:

• You are my beautiful daughter who I love
• You are God's beautiful daughter whom He loves, and created with love
• You are dishonoring God's creation by dishonoring your temple, your body, through revealing too much of it (through the display of cleavage, etc.)
  
• You are better than that!! And God wants more for you!

My mom also shared the following scriptures with me, which had a real and lasting impact on me:

1 Peter 2:12 - "Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world."

1 Timothy 2:9 - "And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes."

and

1 Peter 3:3-4 - "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

This was such an awesome talk my Mom and I had! It completely turned me around, and I prayed that God would forgive my disobedience and guide me in His ways to what I should wear, say, and act like so that I could live to the fullest, and honor Him to the fullest.

It's been a long journey, and will continue to be, but God (and awesome women like my Mom!) are teaching me so much about myself and about Him and what He wants for my life, my heart, and my purity. :)

If you've been struggling with this too, please share with me your journey to purity and modesty! If you have a specific set of guidelines you follow, I'd love to know them, and why you follow those particular guidelines.

I've got a few sources that my fellow Sisters-in-Christ might be interested in taking a look at, and if you have any to share, I'd love to read them!

Christa Taylor - Modern, fashionable, MODEST clothes! I love this one!
Modbe Clothing - More great, modest fashions. Some really pretty tops and sweater options here.
ModestThreadz - This company offers a TON of options, including camisoles and other items for layering.



God bless, ladies!