Posted in Mozambique by Dania Spillett on 5/22/2012
I’ve had almost 5 months worth of a challenging, fun, emotional, amazing, life-changing adventure and there’s still 6 more for me to experience…That is ONLY if I’m able to get fully funded in the next six weeks.
$13,500 raised - $2,000 to go
Fundraising is extremely challenging while on the missions field. You can have people plan events, do bottle drives, organize other activities and share with their friends but there’s only so much you can do as a missionary already abroad.
I know this might sound like a repeat of my blog in February when I was trying to meet my last deadline but God provided. In fact, He provided thousands while I was in Haiti and even more before I had left Canada - and I know that He will continue to provide. BUT I still need your help.
This is it. This is the FINAL DEADLINE.
I’m a person who always likes to finish what I’ve started but this time I can’t do it on my own and I need to rely on you to help me reach this final goal. I know I’ve asked many times before but I’m asking one more time – please pass it on to whomever you can; share it on Facebook or Twitter, tell your friends about my story, this adventure, my blog and my need for the $2,000 in order to complete the last 5 months of my journey.
And if YOU can then I need YOUR support too! Skip a coffee or two, make a lunch a couple extra times, bank that one day of tips – whether it be $10, $20, $50 or a few hundred – everything helps and is greatly appreciated.
You can pass a cheque or cash on to my dad (before June 15th) if you live in Edmonton, AB or click on the “Support Me” link to your left and donate online.
Gracias. Mesi. Multu mesc. Speciba. Obrigada. Kanimambo.
"If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5
| |
|
Posted in Mozambique by Dania Spillett on 5/20/2012
Yup, that’s right. After another change in continent, another 52 hour travel day(s), buses and planes, 4 different currencies, crossing 3 borders and a still occurring battle with head lice – I have arrived in Africa. Mozambique to be exact.
For the next three weeks I’m stationed in Machava: a suburb of a suburb of Maputo, the capital. Our ministry contact for the month is Angie – a strong and persevering woman of God who founded the ministry Beacon of Hope in Mozambique 11 years ago. She has a piece of land with two homes; one for herself and her four adopted children (5-28 yrs) and the other house for her “boys”.
In Mozambique school only goes until 10th grade and then you’re on your own. So, Angie takes in 10 teenaged boys every January and has them live on her property for at least a year. She teaches them English, other higher level subjects, skills and trades and what it means to be true men of God. The boys become part of a supportive community and many of them have become more successful in life due to the time they spent learning and being loved at Beacon of Hope.
My team has joined with another this month working to help Angie and to encourage her in her ministry. In the mornings everyone works in the large garden while myself and two others work on organizing Angie’s database of supporters while helping her plan and expand the business side of her ministry. Although I’m a relational person, and am missing out on some of that thus far, I feel like I am in my element.
In the afternoons we teach English and another subject to the boys and play soccer with them afterwards to get some physical activity. Additionally, we spend time in the early evening praying for the country, its people, Angie and her ministry. She’s been facing lots of challenges with her residency papers, adoption papers (in process for 5 years) and other projects around her property – you can keep her in your prayers!
As for me and my team you can pray that we would grow in unity in order to better face any battles and spiritual warfare we might confront. Please pray for emotional strength and courage as we experience and process the adventure on which God has led us. Pray that we would continue to grow more and more in tune with His voice and what he has for us. Pray that He would bring us to such a point of change and renewal in our spirit that we will never be able to revert back to the old. You can pray for physical healing as well since we have had 8 people on our squad (myself included) who have been battling head lice since we left Moldova last week.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12
(Yes, I took my title from the popular song because it has been stuck in my head for the last week and EVERYONE has been singing it since we arrived. Maybe it'll be stuck in your head now...)
| |
|
Posted in Moldova by Dania Spillett on 5/14/2012
Life in Moldova means…
Running to the grocery store for “chocolate milk” at 11pm
Getting to make our own food
Easter cake
Grocery shopping at a supermarket
Making Turkish coffee
Iced lattes and gelato coffee
Having tea, dessert and fruit plates during church
Having my first salad in 4 months
Danish cheese
Sour cream….lots
Working with Campus Crusade for Christ
Teaching beginner and advanced English Club for 2 weeks
Teaching in high schools and Universities
Meeting/getting to know over 200 students
Painting an orphanage
Youth outreach in Transnistria
Living in an office, orphanage and apartment
2 weeks in Transnistria (a “country” not recognized by the UN)
2 weeks in Chisinau, Moldova
Living with two incredible women of God (Zina and Cornelia)
Sitting at round tables during church
Singing with 3 different worship teams
Getting pedicures
Fast internet
Day trip to Odessa, Ukraine
3 new shirts (to replace those already worn out)
Shopping at a 4 story mall
Getting back into exercising
Learning to be team treasurer
3 types of currency
Being too busy to read
Learning Russian and Romanian
12 passenger “mini buses” with 30 people
Hot, hot, hot weather…and a week of rain.
Hot showers
Washing machine
Goats tied-up along the sidewalks
Fun times!
| |
|
Posted in Moldova by Dania Spillett on 5/4/2012
I think so often we are focused on what is coming in the future, what the next obstacle or goal is, that we completely miss what is right in front of us. 
Last week was a challenging week for me. Our team, Unveiled Pursuit, had just switched ministries for the 3rd time this month and were settling in to life in Chisinau, Moldova working with Campus Crusade and University/high school students. I think because we had moved around so much already my mind and my heart just wanted to stay disconnected from the upcoming ministry. I was feelingemotionally drained from all the relationship building we had already done and had yet to do; as strange as that sounds coming from an extrovert like me.
Since we left Romania almost 4 weeks ago we have been to 4 different churches, met 70 people (tried to) at the first English Club in Transnistria, hung out with 20 youth at Christ Saviour Church, met 2 sets of
Campus Crusade staff and for the last week have been building relationships with 100 or more students who come to English Club here in Chisinau.
My good intentions are there. I want to learn about these people and about more than just their names. I want to know their hearts; pour into their lives and learn about their struggles and dreams.
But it’s overwhelming – especially when we just had to leave the last group of students we were finally getting to know.
Anyways, I think because of what I was going through emotionally my mind wanted to shut down and escape from this environment. So I started thinking about home a lot and imagining what life will be like when I arrive back in Canada in December. This might seem normal to some after being gone for 4 months but I had actually been pretty good about not concerning myself with that and just experiencing what the World Race and these last 4 countries have had for me – so thinking about home was a change from the norm.
But I became really distracted. One thought led to another and here I was thinking about where I will live, what I’ll do for work, what will have changed, etc. Not in the sense that I was worrying about it at all, just that I was thinking about it and considering all sorts of scenarios; scenarios that I clearly couldn’t predetermine or control at this point.
 It became kind of a sense of excitement that was fast forwarded 7 months when my excitement needed to be here and now. I doubted that I could truly be changed throughout the rest of my time on the Race.
Silly me. We ended up worshipping and praying in the park later in the week and I got the sense that God was trying to speak to me. In the bush I saw some branches that looked like a butterfly and felt like God was asking me:
“Don’t you want what I have for you here? Aren’t you excited about all this (around you) and what I have in store? Because you should be – you’re going to be changed.”
It was as though He was telling me I’m inside a cocoon and I still need to be here for a season. I might not see the change in myself already and I might not see the change that is about to happen but I am being transformed into something more beautiful. Each day, week and month God is teaching me something new that will help me fly – and if I don’t take that time to grow and focus on where He has me currently then I will not develop to my full potential.
It was a good reminder to have faith in His power, in the huge plans he has for each country and, in turn, I must have faith in my own ability to change and let my experiences change me.
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" – Romans 12:2
| |
|
Posted in Transnistria by Dania Spillett on 4/26/2012
From April 9-13th we held English Club in the evenings and our team split into pairs to teach three levels: English Zerro, English Easy, and English Hard. Matt and I had the Zerro class and luckily managed to round up a translator each night, otherwise it would have been especially difficult. One night we had an English professor at the University as our translator and she invited us to go the next morning and teach in one of her classes. We, of course, said yes since we’re CLEARLY skilled and trained professionals….
It was an eye opening morning for me. Our class was a small one consisting of less than a dozen, 19-year-old engineering students. We mostly just had conversation but I really enjoyed getting to know some people closer to my age after doing physical labour the last two months. The most intruiging part for me was when I brought up my Bucket List and described to the students what it meant. I then asked the students what was one thing they wanted to see or do before they die - or something they would put on their own Bucket List.
Less than half the class had an answer.
The rest said that it was a hard question and that they hadn’t thought about it much. I don’t know about you but I have enough dreams to last me a lifetime. Enough places to visit, cultures to experience and wonders to see. If you asked me that question I could probably give you a huge list of things right on the spot. So to me, their answer was strange. I’m always dreaming big dreams for myself and here are these 19 year olds with their whole lives ahead of them and their not stretching themselves. Why? They don’t necessarily even know that they CAN dream beyond Tiraspol, Transnistria. I just wanted to make sure they understood the very real notion that the world is at their fingertips but they have to reach out and stretch themselves in order to realize their dreams.
I got to know some of these young adults in English Club and I see the potential in each one of them. To see them confining themselves to their city, or to the predetermined idea of what their future should look like, made it seem like they needed to be broken free. Their dreams, big dreams, are not out of reach. And the more one focuses on future goals and aspirations, the more one can accomplish and the less one gets bored and discouraged by sometimes monotonous, day to day activities.
What is something you can add to your Bucket List? Are you confining yourself? What is your big dream? Step out in boldness and act. It's not impossible.
"Keep your heart open to dreams. For as long as there's a dream, there is hope, and as long as there is hope, there is joy in living." - Anonymous
| |
|
Posted in Transnistria by Dania Spillett on 4/25/2012
Yup. True Statement.
Let me tell you a little about our first week (April 9-14) in Transnistria.
We began this month working alongside a small church in Tiraspol and their involvement with Campus Crusade for Christ. During the day half of our team would go to School #17 and teach English to students aged 13-18 while the other half would go to the University and survey people about Orthodox Easter (which was coming up), talk to them about our beliefs and invite them to English Club every evening.
I was a part of the latter group.
I’ll tell you a bit about our evangelism experience and you’ll have to tune in tomorrow to find out what English class had in store.
It was interesting working in a country that was so entrenched in communism. We would walk down the street and hear music blaring from megaphones, apartment buildings all looked the same, plain grey, schools were numbered rather than named and I even saw an armed member of the military briefly walk into the back of our church service one week.
You know that oppression and persecution that us North American’s truly only read about? I experienced it – to some extent.
The KGB is real and active; our ministry contacts had their phones tapped months ago and had previously been arrested. When we first were informed that a few of us would be evangelizing/speaking to people about Christianity at the University we were also told HOW we could speak about it.
We could not openly preach or speak about how others can have a personal relationship with Jesus. Any talk about religion or invitation to seek out Christianity had to be precariously brought up by relating it to our own personal stories about God. Our speech had to be strictly about what it means to be a Christian or about ourselves and what knowing Jesus has done for our lives … and then we had to hope that the students we spoke with would put 2 and 2 together and realize that could happen for their lives as well. Talk about intricate evangelism while beating around the bush – and I am not a beating around the bush type person.
It’s such a strange feeling to be censored in my speech about Christianity and MY beliefs. We had to be careful wording things for fear that it may be unsettling to the military or that someone might overhear and report it, jeopardizing the ministry that is already established. It certainly makes me grateful for the freedom of religion we have in Canada but also makes me even more appreciative for all of those willing to risk persecution around the world in order to spread the Gospel in many of these “closed” or “restricted” countries.
This is my indebted thank you to those oppressed, tortured, suffering, imprisoned and martyred in order to expand the Kingdom of God and speak truth to the ends of the earth.
| |
|
Posted in Transnistria by Dania Spillett on 4/21/2012
Wait, did I say Narnia? I meant Transnistria.
Where, what?! That’s right. After our month in Romania Team Agape was disbanded and shifts were made creating the new team Unveiled Pursuit. If I thought that was enough change it turns out thatRebecca Burger, Michael Jensen, Rebecca Spires, Matt Blair, Tyler Hamilton and I are NOT in Moldovalike we thought we would be this month. We’re in the “pseudo” country of Transnistria.
Transnistria is a “country” that lies between Ukraine and Moldova and came into being after Moldova’s fall from communism in 1991. I put the word country in quotation marks because technically it is not recognized by the United Nations (or the rest of the world) as an actual country; only by the Soviet Union.
To make a long story short, the people of Transnistria did not want to be a part of Moldova and visa versa because they have more similarities to Russian culture. Although Russia did defend the people against some military attacks, it didn’t want them to become a part of the Soviet Union either - so the people of Transnistria were left to fend for themselves and create what truly is a land of their own.
They have their own border crossing;
Their own passports
Their own license plates
Their own capital (Tiraspol);
Their own President;
Their own military police;
Their own currency (Transnistrian Ruble);
And they speak the Russian language.
And you thought you knew everything.
| |
|
Posted in Romania by Dania Spillett on 4/5/2012
This weekend our whole C squad has come from our ministry sites to meet up in Brasov, Romania in order to make team changes and then head off to Moldova together.
I know I haven't said too much about my other family members of Team Agape but my team mate, Rebecca Spires, wrote a fun blog about us all that I think is worth checking out.
Check it out here!
| |
|
Posted in Romania by Dania Spillett on 4/3/2012
Burning the yard today I stood enthralled by the flames thinking about how symbolic they are of my life this year. The burning hot flames blaze across the ground seeming to destroy everything they reach. As the smoke dissipates it slowly becomes visible that among the black, charred grass there are small patches of green grass and trees that stayed alive during the fire and have been left to keep growing amidst the death that surrounds.
This image reminds me of my life; the world can take a toll on me, it can seem like there is death and darkness all around me. In fact, even God may bring me to a point where it feels like everything in my life is being burnt to the ground - but then the fire stops and the smoke clears and what’s left are these shoots of new life sprouting up all around. A sign that hope isn’t lost; new life begins and will continue to grow, develop and rejuvenate my life in all the barren spots that previously existed.
“Set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain and I can’t control, I want more of you.”
That’s the song that came to mind as I watched the fire burn and that’s my prayer for this year.
I pray that God sets that fire in my soul which cannot be controlled.
A fire that continues to ignite a passion for life, love and to see His lost found.
A fire that wipes out the weeds and strongholds that try to take over my life and allows for God to replace them with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
I want more of Him.
I pray that I see myself rely on Him more and more each day. That I have more trust in His plans for me and more faith in His big picture that I cannot see. 
| |
|
Next 10 Articles >>
|
|
|
