February 2014 Newsletter Dropbox

((Note: The below is a preview, however the link above provides clearer photos. Dropbox didn't offer an ability to show previews like Scribd did.))

  February 2014

Art Supply Drive-I need your help!!

When I am in the States in May I would like to load up on art supplies.  I teach 266 kids every week for art class so as you can imagine, I need LOTS of art supplies.  My goal is to bring back 60lbs of art supplies.  Here's how you can help:

My friend Mary Nell will be my contact person who is helping me with this project.  She is a member of High Praises Church so if you are a member you can get the items to her.  If you have questions, or don't go to HPC, you can email her at marynellanthony@anderson5.net. 

The kids absolutely LOVE art class and it is a privilege for me to be able to do this for them.  The vast majority of schools in Ethiopia don't offer art due to the limited supplies.  So this is HUGE for them!

Here is a list of item ideas that would be useful:

Glue Sticks
Pipe Cleaners
Foam Sheets
Pompoms
Markers
Paper plates
Cotton balls
Scissors
Buttons
Googly eyes
Wood clothespins
Craft sticks (all sizes)
Feathers
Tissue paper
Streamers
Watercolor sets

We do not need:
Crayons
Stickers

Other items are welcomed!  Each class has about 35 students so please keep that in mind when getting certain items.  We need enough for each child.

Thank you in advance for your help.  God bless!!

Going to the States for Training

I am coming to the States in May for a training.  It will be just a short, 2-week trip with only one of those weeks being in South Carolina.

I will be attending the ICAP (International Christian Alliance on Prostitution) Global Training in Wisconsin.  This is a training that I heard about and was invited to back in April of 2012 and I have been excited since then to attend this trip.  But some things came up at the beginning of the year for Mussie and me that threatened my ability to attend this training.  I had to wait to hear answers back from those things to see if I would be able to attend the training and I am happy to say that I am going!!

I was really praying that I would be able to attend the training and I was really conflicted when it seemed I wouldn’t be able to go.  But I prayed about it and God made a way!

This is going to be a great training for me so I can get the upcoming prostitution ministry up and moving from just a project proposal to an actual ministry!  Not only will this training benefit me but I will be able to take back a lot of valuable resources to the Ethiopians that will actually be running the ministry-resources that they wouldn’t normally have access to-so they will better be able to perform their jobs.

I know this training will be invaluable.  Last April I went to a training that was held in my town of Debre Zeit, Ethiopia that was geared towards ministries in Africa that do prostitute rehabilitation ministries. The speakers there were amazing and insightful and some of them will be speaking at the global conference in May.  I am super excited to be able to train amongst people from all over the world that have the same passion for these women as I do.

I will be in the States from May 15-June 1.  Please pray for me as I go on this trip and attend this training.

Change

Change

Ahh, change.  Sometimes we usher in change with open arms.  Other times we desperately hang on to our current circumstances hoping and praying that they will never change.  If I had to sum up my time in Ethiopia with a few words, “change” would definitely make the list.

It all started with change.  Leaving everything I had ever known to live in one of the poorest countries in the world that I knew little about.  When I moved, I knew that my life circumstances would change but I had no idea the change that would happen in me as a person during the next 2+ years of my journey.

God has used my time in Ethiopia to bring me through a refining process.  Change isn’t usually easy, especially when we think we don’t need to change.  We can either accept the change that God is wanting to do in our lives or we can reject it and suffer.  I can’t say that I willingly accepted the change that God challenged me to.  There may or may not have been some ugly girl crying that took place.  But I eventually wised up and realized that God was doing this for my own benefit. 

I have been in some really deep, dark places in the past 2 years.  I have had some real moments of intense struggle.  I have had some moments of doubt.  I have had some moments of worry-worry that I wasn’t accomplishing what God brought me here to do.  I have had some real moments of being lost-lost as to what I am to do next with ministry.  I have had seasons of dealing with spiritual warfare that I thought I would never come out from under.  I have had seasons of serious illnesses.  But God used all those moments and seasons to change me into the new me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says that when we become Christians we put off our old selves and become a new creation.  I definitely felt that when I became a Christian around 6 years ago but I guess I never realized that after that time, we still had changing to do.

My process of change was painful and hideous and I was not always in a good place during that change.  I was not always a good wife, mother, and friend to those around me.  But I finally feel as if I have come out on the other side.  Recently, God has been showing Mussie and me other changes that we need to make in our marriage, family, and ministry and sometimes it is overwhelming.  Change is scary and it is painful. 

Sometimes, when God changes the course of our lives or ministry it breaks our heart but if we can just realize that He is there putting back together the pieces of our heart for our benefit and His glory then it can make the process easier. 

I know that Mussie and I are starting another season of change right now and while I don’t know what will come of it, I am confident that it is the best thing for us because it is what HE wants.