2: Timothy 1:7, I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.

Hey Everyone!  Let me start out by saying this trip has most assuredly been the most exciting thing I've ever done in my life.  Joining with total strangers all with the same Savior has been amazing.  Something that I think has been challenging for us all is fear.  Fear of meeting new people and not being liked.  Fear of getting on that fifteen hour flight.  Fear of just being away from home.  Fear of snakes, scorpions, and the bugs that frequently crawl around in our huts.  Fear is everywhere from the petty little things that aren't so petty to us to the seriousness of the devil working over here through the witch doctors.

Yes, we have been afraid, but God doesn't yell at us and say "toughen up".  He says, "Its okay, I love you and I'm carrying you through this."  Prayer and Scripture have become so much more important to us.  He is growing us in ways I would have never imagined.  Our fear, our weakness is growing us all in the Lord. 

In the Hospital me, Danielle, and Megan entered a room with a sign on the door that read "The Dark Room".   Inside we found a little boy curled up in a ball on an iron bed.  He looked as if he had a flesh eating disease.  It was the result of chicken pox not being treated.  This room, that was the size of a shoe box, smelled extremely foul.  I looked into his eyes and saw such fear.  I wanted to cry for him to pick him up and take him home to the U.S. to get him real care and help.  He was just lying there in pain in his own waste and at night he had to sleep in this creepy dark room. 

We gathered around his bed and sang praises to God.  Danielle read him Psalms 18; a Scripture that she says has carried her through her fear.  Then, as me and Megan sang, she prayed over him.  She prayed that God would take away every bit of evil out of that room and that he would never be afraid.  I felt so much better after she did.  I felt God's presence in there.  Normally, I hate leaving the kids in the hospital fearing what's going to happen to them while I'm gone; but I know that when we left God didn't.