T Minus 24

I am so excited for how God is going to use each of you and bless each of you in the days ahead. I am commited to praying for each of you by name...for His unconditional love to shine through you that you may be a reflection of how much Jesus loves each of us...sleep well, prepare your hearts and start your malaria medication!

Blessings,
Suzanne Haverty

Africa or Bust!

Packing lists are shrinking and we are making final preparations to embark on a great adventure surely to be ordained by God. I hope I can keep my hands out of my candy bag as this is the 4th trip to the store to replenish! Janis and Jason-can't wait to have you meet and join the group in Washington. Love to all!

Terry

2 days

In two days we are off... where has the time gone? I feel like the past month or so leading up to our trip has just flown by! 

If you are at all like me, you are running around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to make sure you have everything together and ready, that you haven't forgotten anything obvious like underwear and that you have also remembered less obvious things, like a gift for your home stay family... 

Part of what excites me most is trying to grasp the shift in mindset we'll experience once we arrive... I am looking forward to experiencing a different way of life; a culture that does not exist on how many things you have and how fast and how much you can accomplish in a day.

I am looking forward to peace, stillness and quiet. To slowing down and serving the Lord through our serving others in need. To hear Him speak to my heart and to draw nearer to Him in the solitude. I know He has great plans for us. Plans to use us in the lives of others and plans to use others in our lives. 

Drew and others have continued to tell us to be ready to be flexible, "TIA" (this is Africa), and not to have any preset expectations, but I do have one expectation: I EXPECT and KNOW that the Lord will do HUGE and AMAZING things through this trip. I EXPECT and KNOW that HE will blow my mind in just about every way possible and that HE will make HIS presence known. 

This is going to be amazing - AMAZING. Huge thanks to Drew, Grace, Heath and everyone on YL staff that have worked so hard to bring us all together. Huge thanks to all of the wonderful folks that have opened their homes to us and allowed us to meet and prepare for this journey together. Huge thanks to all of our friends and family that will be here praying for us and lifting us up to the Lord. and Huge thanks to the Lord our God, for making each of us and bringing us together to glorify His name.

I pray each of us has a safe and stressfree next two days as we prepare and that each of us will be able to slow down for at least a moment to pray about what lies ahead. I can't wait to see y'all at the airport on Wednesday at 11:30 am! until then, pamoja pamoja!

God Bless, 

Anne Genevieve 

4 more days...

I can't believe how fast this past month has gone by and that we are actually leaving in 4 days. I'm excited and anxious for all that we will be experiencing together. I'm praying that the Lord will prepare our hearts for what lies ahead and bless us with saftey, health, and good weather while we are there. I'm excited to experience the Lord in a new way and to spend time getting to know everyone on our trip. Only 4 days away....
In Him,
Sarah Reusch

Into Thin Air!!

Dear Friends of Henritze Family:

I will try and post often so you can communicate with us. The trip and the folks we will be traveling with are awesome! Sue has asked for specific prayer for Ben to be organized (ha-ha) and we also would love prayer for safe travel and great weather. I am still wearing my boots to Publix with my running shorts. I am so on the fashion train! We are excited about the trip and can't wait to see how God is going to work through us and the leaders in Tanzania! 

Love,

Terry H

This isn't America

My husband and I arrived home this afternoon after a four week road trip across the beautiful USA. It was an absolutely amazing experience to see this great country. Yes it is the land of the free and the home of the brave and the freedom, opportunity, and luxury that is at our fingertips is immeasurable. We spent our days crossing state borders, hiking national parks, refilling our cooler at local supermarkets, swiping the AMEX at gas stations ($5.55/gal), and pitching a tent wherever our hearts desired. While it is so easy to take our daily lives for granted, there wasn’t a day that went by where we were not so thankful for the abundant blessings and opportunities we encountered. We were proud and very grateful to be Americans.
Tonight, I rushed to make the final meeting about our journey to Africa and was hit clear in the face that it is nothing like our world. They have nothing. They want for little. Their hearts are pure. Their life is simplistic, their community strong. And the need for our service is so great. As Drew talked more about our comfort zone, my pulse started to race with excitement as my heart was filled with the chance to touch and change lives. Yet in my mind, I know that our friends in Africa will change my life more than I can imagine. I looked at all the anxious faces in the room. Not anxious with expectations but with the desire to learn, grow, and serve. This was awesome. While the packing may seem tedious, the travel tiring, and the work ahead daunting, none of us really know what to expect, nor what wonderful things our sovereign God has in store. But every one of us has a gift to give and all are up for the challenge. See you in six days.
Rachael

8 days to go - where has the time gone?

The past few weeks seem to have flown by... it's hard to believe we are just 8 days out and that next Wednesday, our group of 45 will journey together into Africa...

I am excited, anxious, and so eager to see what the Lord will reveal to us through this experience. I pray He is preparing our hearts as we attempt to prepare ourselves with medicines, the right clothes, bug spray, snacks, etc... I pray He will lift our hearts today and ready them for what is to come. That He will break them in the places they need to be broken, and He will heal them where they need healing. I pray He will use us to glorify His name and that everyone who stands in our midst or passes our way will feel the mighty and amazing power and love of Christ radiating from us. 

Have a happy and blessed day - in just about week, we'll be off!  

God Bless,

agg

22 days and counting... one quick thing

One quick request of all: we are creating a "master list of email addresses" and would like to collect email addresses of any friends and family that you would like to receive the daily updates from our trip. Please send your list to Anne Genevieve at aggallivan@gmail.com  - We encourage you to include as many of your friends and family as possible on this list.  Remember, people do have the power of delete, it's a quick and painless button to push, so go ahead and include anyone that may want to know what you are up to in Africa. 

We are only 22 days out now - hard to believe how fast the time of preparation has flown by!  We missed those of you that were unable to join us last night to hear Bruce speak about Africa, the country of Tanzania and the city of Arusha. We have amazing things in store for us and I continue to get more and more excited about what is to come! 

I pray you all have a blessed day and that the Lord will continue to prepare our hearts for the journey that lies ahead. 

God Bless - agg

Lord, lift us our hearts and spirits

Heavenly Father, 

In your infinitely perfect way, you have brought each of us - unique individuals of all ages, places and life experiences - together for this trip. Many of us are at different stages of life, different stages of faith and at different levels of physical, emotional and spiritual preparedness for this trip. Lord, I lift up each person going to Africa, each individual you have placed in this group - I lift their hearts and spirits up to you now. I know you are preparing each of us in your perfect way; may you continue to do this Lord. I pray you will not allow our "human-ness" to get in your way. If we resist your will Lord, I pray you will push us to see the beauty that comes when we surrender to you. Break us where we need to be broken. Humble us where we need to be humbled. Strengthen us where we need to be strengthened. 

Help us to be ever mindful of your presence; to look for you and see you in all things. Father, I pray for your blessing upon each of us. I pray for your healing grace to cleanse our hearts, minds, bodies, spirits and souls of anything that is not wholly of you. I pray you will remove the burdens that weigh us down and separate us from you; if we do not have the strength to give them over to you Lord, I pray you will take them from us. Open our eyes to see the weaknesses in our faith, to be aware of the ways we make ourselves vulnerable to Satan. Father, I pray you will safegaurd those vulnerable places. That you will block Satan from each one of us. That you will flank us with your angels and give us the strength to stand firm and strong in your name. As we go through the day in this crazy human world, allow us to remain rooted and grounded in the only real and true thing there is - your amazing love for us. 

I pray all these things in your name and the name of your son, my savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen 

"Let us go forth in worship, let us go forth in grace..."

I heard the song Hallelujah Never Ending by Caedmon's Call the other day and it reminded me of this amazing adventure that the Lord is sending us on...

"Let us go forth in worship, let us go forth in grace, let us take to the nations a saving faith.  Let us show the world His mercy, let us be the salt and light, let us serve God together in the fight. For he who is broken has taken the day, with heavens host let us proclaim, praises be to God our King.  Praise to Him who gives us all good things, men and angels sing, hallelujah never ending."

I pray the Lord will continue to move our hearts, minds, bodies, souls and spirits towards our place of readiness as He prepares us as only He can for the exciting unknown of what is to come! 

what lies ahead?

If you are wondering about what lies ahead and haven't had an opportunity to check out the blog from YL's trip to Africa last summer, take a look at it.  http://nwatlanta-tanzania-2007.blogspot.com  

I have no doubt that the Lord is preparing our hearts right now for an amazing experience!  Hope all have a blessed and happy Friday!

agg

40something days to go...

I thought I would get our "blogging" started by sharing a few things with all of you, and I am hopeful you will commit to sharing back to the group through our blog as well.  The purpose of this blog is to give us all a place to share our excitement, anxieties, ask each other questions, pray, give thoughts and words of encouragement and whatever else we want.  It is simply a way for us to come together as a team as the Lord prepares our hearts and we attempt to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead.  It's a way for us to share this experience with friends and family that can't accompany us physically, but are with us in spirit and in prayer, as we get ready here at home by raising money, securing items to take and give to the local people and YL Africa staff, having our shots, getting our passports and paperwork in order and whatever else it is we are doing in advance.  and it's also the way we can share our journey day by day as it unfolds with family and friends once we are actually in Africa.  Your comments can be as short or as long as you like, I just encourage you to share where you are.

For those that don't know me, my name is Anne Genevieve Gallivan (I go by the whole thing - Anne Genevieve - not Anne and definitely not Angie, although AG or AGG or pretty much anything else is fine if that's easier for you.  I am named for both grandmothers and I would hate to leave one out...)  I am a volunteer YL leader at Woodward Academy and I am so excited that the Lord cleared the way and the paved the road that has made this trip a reality for me.

I am blown away by what I hear from the Lord when I slow down long enough to listen, what He reveals to me when I open my eyes to see and what He teaches me when I am a child that is willing to learn.  He breaks me in ways I never knew I needed to be broken, and then He builds me back up IN Him.  Time and time again He proves He knows my heart better than I do, and in every way possible, in ways I could never imagine, He lets me know just how BIG He is, and it is just awesome.

I am stoked for this trip. I can't wait to see what He does in my heart, in your hearts, in the hearts of friends and family who share in this journey with us from home, and of course, what He does in the hearts of the people we meet.  I am praying for huge things from Him. I praying He will put us in the paths of the people He wants us to meet.  I am praying He fills our hearts, minds and mouths with only the words He wants us to speak.  I pray that He will fill each of us with his never ending bountiful love and that we will share that love with everyone we meet.  I pray He will break down the barriers we may face in ways that only He can and that He will not allow us to limit Him - that we will remain ever mindful that HE IS GOD.  I pray that His grace, peace, love, forgiveness, hope and joy will burn so brightly within each of us that it radiates from us, that we will be on fire with the love of Jesus Christ and that His love will be impossible to deny or ignore.

Keep praying - the Lord is BIG, He is HUGE; He has plans for us.  As we are told in Jeremiah 29: 11-14, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart." 

Let's call upon Him together, pray to Him together, seek Him together, find Him together and allow Him to use us according to His plan so that we, and all His people, may prosper. 

God Bless,

Anne Genevieve 

Preparing Our Hearts

We invite you to "post" anything here you'd like to share, aka. encouragement, thoughts, verses, prayers, etc... Our hope & prayer is that this "Blog" would serve to help record the story behind the awesome Journey the Lord has in store ahead of us, as we set out together this summer to serve Young Life's Mission in Arusha, Tanzania. While we're in Tanzania, we'll be posting "Trip Updates" on this page, to allow family & friends praying for us at home, to share this experience with us. Our Trip will leave out of Atlanta on July 16, & return on August 2. The bottom line here is simple... this is God's movement, not ours... & He's going to use this journey together with Him into the heart of Afrika, to change each of our lives forever.

KEEP PRAYING....

"If you CLING to your life, you will LOSE it, but if you GIVE it up for me, you will FIND it." MATTHEW 10:39

"But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths, all ideologies, is that GOD is with the Vulnerable and the Poor. GOD is in the Slums, in the cardboard boxes where the Poor play house... GOD is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives... God is in the Cries heard under the rubble of War... GOD is in the Debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and GOD is With Us... If We Are With Them." - Bono

"People ask me, "Doesn't it Paralyze you to walk so closely & intimately with Suffering?" "No," I tell them. "If I've learned anything from my time in AFRICA, it's that though the suffering is overwhelming, so too is the HOPE." - Jena Lee

"He is no fool who GIVES up what he cannot keep, to GAIN what he cannot lose." - Jim Elliott