Whoa! 4 Weeks!

Above is a picture of tone of the socials - the Low Country Boil. So much fun!! 

 

It's crazy to think that I'm 4 weeks into Project! It feels so long ago that I got here but at the same time it feels like it was yesterday that I got here. This week is pretty packed full because it's relationships week. Relationships week means we talk about guy/girl relationships, friendships, marriage and how all of this is supposed to reflect Christ and both girls and guys are to point each other toward Christ. It's been super sweet to delve into how much Christ loves His bride the church! So much so He gave Himself up for her! For me! It's also been good to be reminded that I am not made for this, that I will never find "the one" because Christ is that One. He is the ultimate satisfaction, the ultimate bridegroom. Being reminded of that made me long for heaven! 

Perhaps one of the sweetest times this week was during our Bible Study Training time on Friday morning. A video was showed of Papua New Guinea and the Kimyal people receiving the written word of God for the first time. The people were crying and thanking God for bringing them such a gift. It made me realize how blessed I am that I have the written word of God, on my phone, in multiple versions, access to it virtually anywhere. I am so incredibly blessed! It also lit a fire in me to go and share this amazing gift with others. I don't know how and I don't know where, but God does and wherever He wishes, I will go where He sends me. 

One sweet thing to look forward to is I get fly home for the weekend next week for a friends wedding. So excited for this sweet friend! I'm also excited for the time in the planes and airports to be able to process everything that has been happening these last 4 weeks and figure out what God has really been doing in my life. To be able to step back from project and reflect halfway through is such a gift! So thankful! 

Thank you for all your sweet prayers and encouragement. God is doing big things! 

One week in!

The girls - Sarah, Kayla, and Ella - I will be leading and living with for the next two months :) 

I've been down on project for a week and a half and I've had a lot of ups and downs emotionally. I am learning that I am indeed deeply sinful and have no idea what I'm doing. But a sweet friend reminded me shortly before I left - without my failings there would be no need for the Gospel and that is what I'm clinging to. 

But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9

My perhaps most deeply rooted sin is that I love to have control. I want so badly to control people's thoughts of me, to manipulate what they think of me so that they think highly of me. But this being my first project ever and being a room leader - there are lots of things I don't know and can't control. God is slowly prying my hands off of the desire and need to control everything and instead teaching me to trust Him. God has me here for a reason, He is sovereign and planned these two months from the beginning of time. And I'm learning to believe and know that I should never ever be in control. Who am I compared to the God of the universe?

The schedule here is really intense. We work about 40 hours a week and have talks, small groups, leaders training, or an all project social almost everyday. Leaders have Wednesday evenings and almost all of Sundays off so I'm learning to use those times wisely. It's been really hard. I'm learning that I have a lot lower capacity than I thought and I absolutely need those times off to withdraw to have some introvert time. Pray that I use those times and never neglect them! 

Would love for you to continue to pray for me as I learn to let go and let God!

 

Departure!!

I head out for Summer Training Project tomorrow at 6am!!! I am so excited for what God is going to do this summer. God is going to do so many great things and change lives. God is so good! 

Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Who have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

~ Psalm 73:23-26 ~ 

I love that this verse says there is nothing that I desire besides God, but then says my flesh and my heart may fail. My flesh and my heart will fail this summer, but my God is my strength and my portion forever. What a promise! 

Last days...

I can't believe I only have 3 days left in Morocco! It's crazy how fast time has gone. But at the same time it hasn't gone by all that quickly.

I spent this last weekend in Fez spending lots of time with my host family. I technically live with just two people, but my host parents kids come over with their kids all the time that it's an endless party. I realized how much I will miss each one of them. Little Mahmood and his chubby cheeks (pictures later), the sweet little granddaughters, the ever motherly Hesna, the fun-loving Selma, Dunia and Nada with their sweet soft voices and bubbling energy. My host mom and her craziness but her sweet love of Christina and I. My host dad and the constant smile he has on his face. The two daughters so opposite in personality but seeing how much they care for each other and for their families is such a blessing. I will miss them so much! I wish I could take them all home with me! It was so nice to be able to spend lots of time with them this weekend.

This weekend I also had a chance to reflect on all my experiences thus far. In looking back I realized I lived every moment to its fullest. I remember specific moments where I said to myself, "Joanna, you're in Africa, you are incredibly blessed." I remember being in the desert and being in such complete wonder at all that God is and His creativity. I remember seeing the incredible power of water as it rushed over cliffs and plunged down and thinking, "My God is even more powerful." I remember being in Spain and enjoying myself and having so much fun, and thinking of the eternal party and joy that I will be a part of when I make it to heaven. God is just so amazing in who He is! Could I really ask for more?

The next few days bring lots of studying for my Arabic final on Friday morning. Pray that I am diligent in my studies these next two days so that I do well. On Friday afternoon I head to Casablanca Airport via train and fly out at 1:45am on Saturday. I have layovers in Frankfurt and Toronto before finally arriving in Minneapolis at 3:30pm. It will be a long day but I like that it's all in one day even if I have to be up early. Pray that I have safe travels and that I am able to stay awake so that I don't miss any flights.

Thank you to all who have read my blog these last two months. I feel so blessed by the emails and facebook posts. I am so blessed by the Body of Christ that has followed me all the way to Africa via cyberspace. I hope that you have been equally blessed and encouraged! Much love to you all!

España :)

This last weekend was spent in the wonderful land of España in the beautiful city of Madrid. At the beginning of my adventures in Morocco some of the girls going through the University of Minnesota program looked into going. This weekend was good because we had no other trips planned through ALIF (Arabic Language Institute of Fez). I'm glad we chose a weekend near the end because being in Spain really made me long for America as it is very similar. We found cheap Ryan Air flights for $70 round trip and a hostel for $20 a night. We were super excited!

We left Fez Airport on Friday at 1pm and arrived in Spain around 3:30 we arrived at our hostel around 5pm, changed then hit the town! And by that I mean we found the nearest restaurant that served Sangria and that was close to the movie theater so we could see Harry Potter. It was fun to sit, relax and enjoy our drinks and food without worrying about being called at or harassed in any way. After HP we went back to our hostel and passed out.

Saturday I woke up early and was able to catch up on emails but we all headed out around noon and found the closest Starbucks then we were typical girls and went shopping. Not souvenir shopping, but a typical American shopping trip. We apparently picked the perfect time to go to Spain because they were having their twice a year sales. Most countries in Europe allow stores to only have sales twice a year for a week or two and one of those times for Spain was this last weekend. Also, who knew Madrid is the shoe capitol of Spain!! Aka I was in heaven! Such cute sandals! After this a few of the girls took a nap while a few of us went out for a late lunch and to the Reina Sofia Museum. Saw Picasso's Guernica! So amazing!

After that we met back up with everyone else and went out for dinner and drinks. The other girls wanted to go out late after dinner but I didn't want to partly because I was tired, but mostly because Jesus calls me to live a righteous life and I don't think clubs are the scene to live righteously in. I instead went back to the hostel and got into the Word.

Sunday since our plane didn't leave until 1:30 we were able to sleep a little later and get Starbucks, again :) We got back to Fez around 2:30, Christina, my roommate, and I went home and just relaxed the rest of the night. It was fun coming back to our host family and realizing I missed them a little bit, and I think they missed us too.

It's crazy to think that I will be back in the states in 12 days! Looking back, I have really lived it up. I took every opportunity I could to experience as much as I could and I'm so full of awe and wonder at how much God has blessed me with. I'm excited to come home, but I will miss life in Morocco. Especially my host family. I love them dearly, even when they're noisy while I'm trying to sleep :) Also, I was reflecting back last night on my times in the Word and how every time I open my Bible God directs me to exactly what I need to hear to feel encouraged, strengthened and full of joy at life. This whole adventure has strengthened my trust and reliance on the Lord because most of the time He is all I have who will understand exactly what I am dealing with. God is just so good all the time!

If you all could pray though that I get seriously into my studies, I have done fairly well on everything but I am getting nervous for the final exam. I know that I will do well if I discipline myself to study well. Thanks so much for reading!

The Cascades D’Ouzoud

This weekend I traveled with a few other students from Alif to go to some huge cascades south of Fez. To get there we took the 2:30am train on Saturday morning to Marrakesh, we arrived there around 10:30am had breakfast then took a Grand Taxi for two hours to the Cascades. We had 5 people cramed into 4 spaces. It was very uncomfortable but seeing the Cascades was so worth it! The are set of hug powerful water falls that are absolutely spectacular. Half of the group I went with stayed at the Cascades overnight and just walked around and were in complete awe of the beauty. We ate right next to the falls and saw monkeys climbing up the cliffs next to them. It was beautiful! We spent the night, five of us crammed into a three person room to save on money, but we all passed out easily being so tired from no sleep on the train. Our experience trying to get a Grand Taxi on Saturday was very frustrating. We went out to the Taxi drivers and the quoted us a ridiculous price. We said absolutely not, and countered with a lower offer. They said, “You are rich Americans, you can afford it!” We said, “We are students and cannot.” The thing they said next really annoyed everyone, “Well make your daddy pay for it!” I was so annoyed. Do they really think that Americans sit on their butts all day and that money just grows on trees for us. This was really frustrating for me as this does not fit my families situation at all. I wish right there and then I could tell that taxi driver just how much my family has had to go through to get to where they are today. On Sunday morning only one other girl and I wanted to try and get back to Fez at a decent time so we left the cascades around 9:30am in a grand taxi. We arrived at the station in Marrakesh around noon and took the 1pm train back to Fez. We got back to Fez around 8:30 and went our separate ways home and passed out. I was so exhausted from the whole trip and even though we spent more time in transport trying to get there, seeing that water rush over that cliff at who knows how many miles an hour was absolutely worth it! I am very glad I chose to do it. An interesting thing happened on our way to Marrakesh from the Cascades. Once we got to Marrakesh our driver was trying to ask us where we wanted to go, we told him the train station and he said he understood but then he took us to the bus station. When we go there I told him no, the train station. He proceeded to tell me that there was no train station in Marrakesh and I would have to ask a Petite Taxi to take me there if there really was one. Petite Taxis are any cities local taxi service. I said no. The girl I was with and myself each paid $40 to get to Marrakesh and we were going to get our moneys worth. Finally some other random guy was able to explain to the driver where we wanted to go and also proceeded to get in the taxi with us. He kept wanting to talk to us but I was so annoyed and tired that I was very short with him. Once we got to the train station our driver asked for more money!!! I was so disgusted with this that I just walked away. He was yelling after us but did not follow because we were in a public space and there is not much he can do about it. I do not understand this countries hunger to get as much money as they can out of Americans. Overall though, it was a good experience, even with taxi drivers and hotel owners trying to rip us off several times. I am glad I went even if it is just for the experience of getting to know what Moroccans truly think of Americans. And seeing those cascades...worth every penny.

Sahara

I camped in the Sahara, only a stones throw from Algeria. It was amazing. I left the school in Fez with a bunch of other students around noon on Friday. We traveled for about 8 hours southeast to the town of Erfoud, we stopped along the way in various places to take pictures of the landscape. I never knew how diverse the landscape of Morocco is! We arrived at Hotel Xalcua which is a five star hotel! It was beautiful! We spent one night here to just relax and sleep. Air conditioning never felt so good!

On Saturday we left and drove another hour to another hotel that organizes the camel excursions. We relaxed and swam here for the afternoon and around 6pm we went out on the camels into the desert. Riding camels is cool and all, but man does it hurt your butt! I have been so sore in such a strange place. But it was worth it. We camped right next to a giant sand dune. Had a delicious dinner and then were entertained by some African drum tunes. We all were taught how to dance like Africans and had an amazing time.

Saturday night we all pulled our beds out of the tents to sleep under the stars. I have never seen so many stars. So far away from cities and almost no pollution there is nothing hindering the view of the sky. It was beautiful! The Milky Way was crystal clear and I saw so many shooting stars. Just the glory and wonder of it all was overwhelming and points so directly to the creativity of my Lord. I was so overwhelmed by it all that I cried, tears of joy and wonder at the unending power and love of my Creator God who loves me so much. It was breathtaking.

At about 4:30am on Sunday a bunch of students woke up to climb the giant sand dune and watch the sunrise over Algeria. It took a while because every step I took I would slide down a little bit. But the view from the top was overwhelming. Just miles of sand and desert in every direction. Everyone was singing the song from the Lion King and we were all so loopy from lack of sleep. When the sun came up it was almost as breathtaking as the stars. Absolutely beautiful.

After the sunrise we rode the camels back to the hotel to shower and eat breakfast. People tell you that the sand will get everywhere, but you really don't believe them until it happens. It literally gets in every crevice of your body. And it's so fine! About 10am we started heading back to Fez. We made a stop along the way for lunch in Midelt. We stopped near Ifrane to feed the monkeys that live in the mountains. Then we stopped in the town of Ifrane which is like a little swiss town in the middle of Morocco. Very beautiful and so quaint. We finally made it back to Fez around 9pm.

Reflecting back on the whole weekend I just feel so incredibly blessed. I feel like God was reaching down to me and just showering me with love and reminding me how real He is. This is something I really needed to be reminded of being so far away from home and in a country that is so oppressive and averse to my faith. I'm just continually in awe of my time here. Every day is better than the one before and every day I'm learning more and more how to trust my Heavenly Father.

It's crazy to think that 4 weeks from today I will be home! This awesome adventure has gone by so fast! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!