Rachael’s BLOGGY!!!

I am glad that I am finally able to talk to you all! I am really sorry that I haven’t been able to keep you all up to date recently but internet is just really tough! Its been amazing and hard to believe that it is almost over…I am really excited to come home. Jason got malaria, I got sick a few times and we are so dirty that our feet are stained orange! Despite that we are having a great time and really love it here. The views are beautiful and the days all end in fabulous sunsets. It is going to be amazing to come home and debrief on everything that has happened– and of course to also take a hot bath! But I will be home in no time and REALLY update my blog, with pictures and everything! Can’t wait to see you all!

Rach

Hello everyone!!

So I have had a chance to make my way back to the internet café. It’s been incredible thus far but also very challenging. I am really not able to check email very easily because their internet hook up is slower than dial-up and is constantly going down. So I type everything out on WORD first and then paste it into my blog.

            Let me give a synopsis of everything that has been going down here so far. First of all I got sick and am still battling my illness. My luggage still hasn’t arrived after more than two weeks and I am getting used to literally only having the basics. (3 skirts, 4 pairs of underwear, 1 pant, 2 pairs of socks and 1 sweater) Jason is also going through a lot as well. He got very ill for one night and had to get tested for malaria-which thank God he didn’t have! He also just found out that his mom was recently admitted into a hospital and is dying of liver and kidney failure. It’s been very difficult so if you could keep us in your prayers that would be great.

            What else… I am also learning the significance of food. All we have to eat on the base is rice + _____ everyday. So rice and goat, rice and beans, rice and cabbage, etc. It gets a little monotonous so we usually will get the rice and do a lot of cooking for ourselves–to get some extra vitamins. I go to the fruit market about once a week and there is like a little store with crackers and yogurts and those things as well.

            We have met a lot of locals. Jason and I were actually invited to one of the local’s house to cook dinner and eat with him so we will be doing that soon! WE usually take walks on the beach and have made lots of friends with the locals who are very interested in you because you’re white so it’s great! There are so many children. It has been tough with the kids. Let me break it down for you.

            First of all there are the kids who live on the base however the base is always open and so street kids come into the base and beg. This becomes a problem when there are not enough adults to control street kids who are already really out of control. Our housing area is a separate area on the base which is surrounded by a wall with guards at the gate. So I love our compound, its just when you go out it can be a little crazy. For example, water goes out all the time and so you usually have to walk down to the well to get water with your empty water bottles. However, all of the street kids want your bottles so you have to guard them with your life or you have no water either. So the other day I was carrying a bucket full of the bottles and kids started taking them from the bucket. Poor decision on their part—most of them have no respect for western women and think they are pushovers. However I hunted them down and got every single bottle back. So this is the problem. If you do something nice and give them your bottles it’s great for that moment but then overtime it creates a beggar mentality. Right outside the compound people are still interested in what you can give them but are more interested in getting to know you as a person. So such is life. I am in class everyday from about 8-12 and then afternoons are guest speakers who are usually optional. It’s been pretty rough but I am adjusting.

            I recently went on an outreach into the bush. It was so crazy. The whole time children were sitting right in front of me staring at me while women were playing with my hair that looks absolutely ridiculous to them. I guess that is about it for now. It’s all pretty crazy… But it’s also a lot of fun. Talking to locals and finding fun, safe places to eat is what it’s all about. I am learning to speak Portuguese and Macuwa which are very interesting. Anyway, I am going to go shopping now and hopefully will talk to you all soon! Hope everything is great in

    

 hi everyone!!

So i am finally here after almost 24 hours in plane rides alone and 17 hours in lay overs! Hooray! Anyway its been really crazy partly because none of my baggage made it here. It all got lost in London.

There is really not much to say so far because I have only been here for 2 days. I really like the food which is always rice and something else. Like beans or a little piece of chicken or cabbage. For breakfast you get bread and tea. I am about to go to the market and get a few veggies to keep myself healthy. I sleep with a mosquito net every night and everyone wakes up around 5 or 6 every morning and goes to bed at like8 every night. Its a very different lifestyle. I constantly have like 12 kids hanging all over me which is fun. You pretty much learn to talk non verbally very quickly.

We hitch hike into town every couple of days and we live right accross the beach which is beautiful. I realized last night how quickly you become grateful for the simple things. Liek last night I was like “Wow I am so glad that I have just enough water left to take my malaria medication!” And then it dawned on me that life is a little different here. Anyway that is all for now– we are doing a youth outreach for the community this weekend and I am hoping that some of them will invite me to their homes to eat with them!

Much love,

Rachael

Me and Michelle right before she left

God really is good all the time. He is the faithful one who never changes. I leave for Mozambique in exactly 32 days. I am really excited but at the same time there is still so much to do that it is difficult to think about the trip or preparations. I will probably be packing like three days before I go! I still need about $2500.00 but thats alright because

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME.

Love always,

Rach

Come like the rain.

Come like the rain.

Open the FLOODGATES of heaven

come like the rain

and open the floodgates of heaven

Download PDF Version Here

HOLY GIVEN SCHOOL

~ June 5^th- August 12^th ~

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tiding to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” Isaiah 61:1

This summer, I have been given the unique opportunity to spend two months in Mozambique, Africa attending a mission school! In applying to this program, I really questioned my motives for desiring to go to Mozambique. I suddenly realized that although I am called to spread Jesus’ heart to the nations I am first called to be a daughter to the High God! Jesus spent the first 30 years of His life being only a son and learning to foster a burning and living relationship with His Father. I too realized that I must seek after the Father’s heart first.

The Father’s heart is found in the poor, forgotten and hopeless people of society. I am going to Africa to learn to minister to the people of God’s heart; what an honor! This is an interactive school. On the weekends groups are taken into the African bush to visit growing village churches, baptize locals and heal the sick. During the week, pastors fly in from all over the world to impart knowledge and tell of how God is working in their lives. I will be living among hundreds of orphans with approximately 100 other international students on the Iris Ministries base.

Although God’s presence will be thick on this place, it will no doubt be hard. I will be on a diet of mostly beans and rice with an occasional treat of goat and fish. On top of that I will undoubtedly get worms and possibly malaria. I thought about these occurrences which stand in opposition to seeing lives transformed and decided that God’s call to go into the nations is too big to let worms deter the mission! So I will go to serve despite everything that may go wrong in the flesh.

So for this school I will need to raise $2000.00 for tuition. (Food and supplies are very expensive to cart into Mozambique.) Then there is also the money needed to fly to Mozambique which will be approximately $3,000.00. I will also be bringing supplies to the base which will be another $500.00. So in total I need to raise approximately $5,500.00. If you would like to contribute to my trip, please make checks payable to me, Rachael Sheridan, and mail it to the address below. You can look up the program at irismin.org and there are all sorts of good testimonies and amazing pictures on the website! Thanks for your support and I will come back with amazing stories of God’s power! Call or email me if you have any questions (818) 216-6891 or bambitochickle@yahoo.com

Love you all!

Rachael

Rachael Sheridan

304 Gilmore Hall

438 La Rue St.

Davis, CA 95616

wow this is so exciting!!! I am actually posting a blog. So this is going to be the site that I will be using for Mozambique and updating everyone on new information. Anyway…the end!