I spoke to Carlos the other day.
He told me it hasn't rained for a number of months again.
People are hungry.
I imagine their starving,
even to death.
I remember the look in their eyes.
Hurting,
so deeply.
I'm reminded--
"Day by day the Lord takes care of the innocent,
and they will receive a reward that lasts forever.
They will survive through hard times;
even in famine they will have more than enough."
Psalm 37:18-19
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Success
What is success?
How do you measure the success of an event? Is it by the number of those in attendance? Is it by the food and amenities? Is it by the organizational flow without major glitches?
I don’t know how you measure success but I can boldly say that I have been honored to be a part of what I feel were two huge successes.
On November 7th the first HIV/AIDS Talk; AIDS and the Gospel Conference was a huge success. I don’t have any huge numbers or ground breaking news to report but I can say that when you hear the stories of people whose lives have been, and are being, personally impacted by the HIV/AIDS you can’t walk away untouched. I don’t think hearing these speakers was just to feed my own passion, I trust that God called EACH and every person that was there there for a purpose.
It was quite an emotional day for me. I feel it an incredible testimony to have been part of such an event. It all came together with three willing hearts. Three individuals who wanted to “do” something...prayed. That's what we did. The Lord introduced me to Hannah within the first weeks of my being in Minnesota. Soon Peter joined us and we started praying. Each week we met we all had new updates as to leadings that just seemed to be “happening.” I can’t even explain how I ended up in Sheila’s apartment one day who then introduced us to Monica (an MD from Sudan). I have no idea how we were able to get Caroline and her family (from Project Hopeful in Chicago www.projecthopeful.com) to join us. These where the powerful speakers that poured out their experiences and hearts.
All I can say was God put this together and it was an honor to be a part of. I was touched and I believe others were to. It was exciting to hear a day of people with similar passions in their hearts- a passion placed in our hearts by God.
I believe this was a success.
But how do you measure success when it relates to matters of the heart?
This was a success.
I am sure.
AND THEN…
On November 12th my heart was overjoyed to have George here from South Africa. AGAIN, I was honored to have the day to hear George speak, twice. I was challenged with my experiences “behind” me as to what I will continue to do with what I have seen and heard. George challenged that we, as the North American church, need to come to the point in our own “world” that we are willing to draw a line and say “this is enough! As long as I eat, they’ll eat (children in Africa).” This is so real to me but so confusing when I'm here in the middle of America.
I almost had to pinch myself when I looked around and saw George speaking with my friends, aunt and uncle, cousins and parents. I never truly imagined that George, the heart behind Hands at Work, would ever be riding in my car. I was blessed.
So, here again- no big headline news, no earthshattering changes, no monsterous donations (that I'm aware of)- or were there? Perhaps there were and I don’t know. My North American mind wants a meter to measure success but I guess it’s all different when your doing Kingdom work.
How do we measure success?
I believe these were both huge successes! I guess I don't need to see success- I can feel it.
Thank you Lord for allowing me to be a part of these events.
How do you measure the success of an event? Is it by the number of those in attendance? Is it by the food and amenities? Is it by the organizational flow without major glitches?
I don’t know how you measure success but I can boldly say that I have been honored to be a part of what I feel were two huge successes.
On November 7th the first HIV/AIDS Talk; AIDS and the Gospel Conference was a huge success. I don’t have any huge numbers or ground breaking news to report but I can say that when you hear the stories of people whose lives have been, and are being, personally impacted by the HIV/AIDS you can’t walk away untouched. I don’t think hearing these speakers was just to feed my own passion, I trust that God called EACH and every person that was there there for a purpose.
It was quite an emotional day for me. I feel it an incredible testimony to have been part of such an event. It all came together with three willing hearts. Three individuals who wanted to “do” something...prayed. That's what we did. The Lord introduced me to Hannah within the first weeks of my being in Minnesota. Soon Peter joined us and we started praying. Each week we met we all had new updates as to leadings that just seemed to be “happening.” I can’t even explain how I ended up in Sheila’s apartment one day who then introduced us to Monica (an MD from Sudan). I have no idea how we were able to get Caroline and her family (from Project Hopeful in Chicago www.projecthopeful.com) to join us. These where the powerful speakers that poured out their experiences and hearts.
All I can say was God put this together and it was an honor to be a part of. I was touched and I believe others were to. It was exciting to hear a day of people with similar passions in their hearts- a passion placed in our hearts by God.
I believe this was a success.
But how do you measure success when it relates to matters of the heart?
This was a success.
I am sure.
AND THEN…
On November 12th my heart was overjoyed to have George here from South Africa. AGAIN, I was honored to have the day to hear George speak, twice. I was challenged with my experiences “behind” me as to what I will continue to do with what I have seen and heard. George challenged that we, as the North American church, need to come to the point in our own “world” that we are willing to draw a line and say “this is enough! As long as I eat, they’ll eat (children in Africa).” This is so real to me but so confusing when I'm here in the middle of America.
I almost had to pinch myself when I looked around and saw George speaking with my friends, aunt and uncle, cousins and parents. I never truly imagined that George, the heart behind Hands at Work, would ever be riding in my car. I was blessed.
So, here again- no big headline news, no earthshattering changes, no monsterous donations (that I'm aware of)- or were there? Perhaps there were and I don’t know. My North American mind wants a meter to measure success but I guess it’s all different when your doing Kingdom work.
How do we measure success?
I believe these were both huge successes! I guess I don't need to see success- I can feel it.
Thank you Lord for allowing me to be a part of these events.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Please Join Us
You are invited…
To hear George Snyman, founder of Hands at Work in Africa.
George will be in Minneapolis, from South Africa, for one day speaking and sharing his heart and the heart of Hands at Work .
WHEN : 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 12
WHERE: Vision of Glory Lutheran Church ://www.vogchurch.com/ 13200 State Highway 55, Plymouth, MN 55441
WHO: Anyone interested in hearing about God’s heart and how God is working in Africa. Come hear how you can be involved with Hands at Work.
Refreshments and fellowship to follow.
Here is a word from George:
WHEN : 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 12
WHERE: Vision of Glory Lutheran Church ://www.vogchurch.com/ 13200 State Highway 55, Plymouth, MN 55441
WHO: Anyone interested in hearing about God’s heart and how God is working in Africa. Come hear how you can be involved with Hands at Work.
Refreshments and fellowship to follow.
Here is a word from George:
With 180 000 new orphans every month in Sub-Sahara Africa the Church in large must ask the question, "What does the Bible say about this to us? What does it mean to my congregation who lives in a global village? How can this bring new spiritual life, meaning and context to us as Christians in North America?" As desperate as the African Church is for physical support from North America to help this orphan generation, the North American Church is equally desperate to get involved in something that will bring spiritual insight, life and purpose to them. There has been only a few opportunities in history where the world was looking at the Church and said, "Only you can solve this problem!" The AIDS pandemic in Africa is such an opportunity. It is a window to display the heart of the Father and the compassion of Christ on centre stage. It is also an opportunity for us to bring compassion in action right back into our Churches. Christianity is something that must be lived - sacrificial living brings life! That is the very core of our Good News! The big challenge Church leaders face is how to get involved. Hands at Work is an African organization with strong relationships with Churches in many countries in Africa. Our passion is to mobilise these Churches in the poorest areas with the least resources to support the orphans, widows and dying and to care for them holistically. In doing this we invite the Church outside Africa to partner with us in this.
Read more about Hands at Work at
http://www.handsatwork.org/
Please come, hear more and bring your friends!!!
Contact Dara Hillstrom if you have any questions: 480-272-2742 or darajean15@hotmail.com
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Mark Your Calenders, Nov 12
Think for a moment. Is there one thing that you just wish everyone you love and care about could understand about you? Is there anything you long for people to understand completely, if even for just a brief moment? What is that one thing that you find yourself thinking on occasion (or more often) that others just don't seem to understand? (I trust I'm not the only one who has these things;) And what if you did have the opportunity to give these friends a chance to, if not fully, at least get a glimpse of understanding into the very depths of your heart.
Well...if your reading this you probably know and can at least verbalize what you think my hearts cry is. Some of you understand and other probably just wish "Dara could talk about something else," and many wish you could understand more but Africa seems like such a foreign world that it's almost impossible to feel anything real from the stories of it.
On November 12 George Snyman, the founder of Hands at Work in Africa (based in South Africa), will be in Minneapolis doing 2 speaking engagements. In the morning he'll be meeting with Pastors and church leaders to address what the churches responsibility and roll is, and can be, in responds to the AIDS pandemic. In the evening George will speak about the work of Hands at Work and what God is doing throughout Africa. This will be open to everyone, so please, spread the word and join us.
This is a great opportunity to hear and understand what and who has been a part of my life and influenced me. George has been a significant person whom God has used to show me His heart! I will post a message as soon as the final details of times and places for these events are set. Please, do all you can to mark your calenders to join us. Maybe together we can understand more.
More importantly that having you understand my heart, I pray we can understand more of God's!
Well...if your reading this you probably know and can at least verbalize what you think my hearts cry is. Some of you understand and other probably just wish "Dara could talk about something else," and many wish you could understand more but Africa seems like such a foreign world that it's almost impossible to feel anything real from the stories of it.
On November 12 George Snyman, the founder of Hands at Work in Africa (based in South Africa), will be in Minneapolis doing 2 speaking engagements. In the morning he'll be meeting with Pastors and church leaders to address what the churches responsibility and roll is, and can be, in responds to the AIDS pandemic. In the evening George will speak about the work of Hands at Work and what God is doing throughout Africa. This will be open to everyone, so please, spread the word and join us.
This is a great opportunity to hear and understand what and who has been a part of my life and influenced me. George has been a significant person whom God has used to show me His heart! I will post a message as soon as the final details of times and places for these events are set. Please, do all you can to mark your calenders to join us. Maybe together we can understand more.
More importantly that having you understand my heart, I pray we can understand more of God's!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Watch Online Today!
I just got finished watching the Living Truth production about Hands at Work in Mozambique. It's fabulous. My heart is overwhelmed with praise to see how the lives of children and families that I visited last year have changed through the work of Hands at Work volunteers. Those of you who have spent hours looking at my pictures with me will recognize faces on this new production, because of that I hope it's more personal for you. I hope these children are more than a number to you, more than a statisic. They are God's beloved. They're suffering and they're children with hopes and dreams. I have hugged these very children. God has given me the opportunity to know these children and we are called to them.
Watch and pray.
http://www.livingtruth.ca/
(on the right side there's a box that says, "Living Truth News" click on the Watch Now in green)
Watch and pray.
http://www.livingtruth.ca/
(on the right side there's a box that says, "Living Truth News" click on the Watch Now in green)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Living Truth Returns to Mozambique
Remember last year when I was in Mozambique and the tv crew from Canada came to film the work of Hands at Work in Mozambique? Well, they returned this year to show the progress that was made from the funds raised by the telethon. I cannot WAIT to see how things have changed and to see those familiar faces that I love. I was just looking online to find how we can see this in the States. What I have found is this:
On Sunday October 11 at 8AM EST (that would be 7AM Central time, right?) on National NRB Network (DirectTV channel 378) they will be showing and doing the "telethon" for "Hands at Work- Mozambique: Back to Africa."
You can also watch online after it has aired at: http://www.livingtruth.ca/ (someone needs to teach me how to make this a direct link:)
Check it out the website and you may see Carlos's familiar face:) I hope you have the chance to watch this on tv or tape it (or whatever people do these days;), or watch it online. Be blessed as this is aired and see how God has continued to work in Mozambique. I can't wait to see Carlos on TV. Please watch and pray.
On Sunday October 11 at 8AM EST (that would be 7AM Central time, right?) on National NRB Network (DirectTV channel 378) they will be showing and doing the "telethon" for "Hands at Work- Mozambique: Back to Africa."
You can also watch online after it has aired at: http://www.livingtruth.ca/ (someone needs to teach me how to make this a direct link:)
Check it out the website and you may see Carlos's familiar face:) I hope you have the chance to watch this on tv or tape it (or whatever people do these days;), or watch it online. Be blessed as this is aired and see how God has continued to work in Mozambique. I can't wait to see Carlos on TV. Please watch and pray.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
NOVEMBER 7th
PLEASE CONSIDER COMING TO THIS EXCITING, IMPORTANT, STRAIGHT FROM MY HEART EVENT:
(click images to enlarge)
If you have any questions, please email me: darajean15@hotmail.com
If you don't live in the area and can't come would you please consider praying as the planning and prep continues for this day? If you are one of my dear friends in AZ or anywhere else in the country/world don't you think this would be a great excuse to come visit me here in Minneapolis:) All are welcome!!
More info as the day draws nearer...
(click images to enlarge)
If you have any questions, please email me: darajean15@hotmail.com
If you don't live in the area and can't come would you please consider praying as the planning and prep continues for this day? If you are one of my dear friends in AZ or anywhere else in the country/world don't you think this would be a great excuse to come visit me here in Minneapolis:) All are welcome!!
More info as the day draws nearer...
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Heart of God
I went to a Jeremy Riddle concert tonight. I was volunteering at the Compassion International table. I always love doing this. This is the first concert I have been to since returning from Mozambique. Tonight was especially moving to my vulnerable heart. Before the concert started this one guy kept coming back to the table. I could tell that he was really contemplating sponsoring a child. He would ask some questions and then leave, come back and look at the little faces again and then leave. Throughout his many visits to the table he asked a number of financial questions. I could tell that finances were what was holding him back- he wasn't sure he could afford this commitment.
Once the concert started it only took him about 2 songs before he came back to the table and sponsored a little guy from Bolivia. It was a beautiful thing to watch. He contemplated, he prayed and I believe he is sacrificing for this child. This man will be blessed for this. I just wish I could have stood on that stage and told everyone what this man just did and what an impact he is making. I have seen first hand the life changing impact that sponsoring children makes. It saves a life and hopefully a soul.
Whenever I volunteer at concerts like this I look forward to hearing how the artist shares about Compassion and what it means to them. These artists are the ones who get to stand on the stage and share the impact of Compassion.
Jeremy Riddle spoke from his heart. He shared about what he has seen come from Compassion. Then he read Isaiah 58:6-11,
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Hearing his heart reinforced my own. Well, no. Not mine- GOD'S! This is God's heart. Undoubtedly GOD's HEART IS WITH THE POOR! God's heart is with Mozambique, with South Africa, with Liberia, with Brazil, with each orphaned child. What a treasure it is to seek after the heart of God. What a blessing it is for my heart to care (minutely compared to what it does to Gods heart) for something that grieves the heart of GOD! What a gift- we're blessed to be a blessing...
www.compassion.com
Once the concert started it only took him about 2 songs before he came back to the table and sponsored a little guy from Bolivia. It was a beautiful thing to watch. He contemplated, he prayed and I believe he is sacrificing for this child. This man will be blessed for this. I just wish I could have stood on that stage and told everyone what this man just did and what an impact he is making. I have seen first hand the life changing impact that sponsoring children makes. It saves a life and hopefully a soul.
Whenever I volunteer at concerts like this I look forward to hearing how the artist shares about Compassion and what it means to them. These artists are the ones who get to stand on the stage and share the impact of Compassion.
Jeremy Riddle spoke from his heart. He shared about what he has seen come from Compassion. Then he read Isaiah 58:6-11,
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Hearing his heart reinforced my own. Well, no. Not mine- GOD'S! This is God's heart. Undoubtedly GOD's HEART IS WITH THE POOR! God's heart is with Mozambique, with South Africa, with Liberia, with Brazil, with each orphaned child. What a treasure it is to seek after the heart of God. What a blessing it is for my heart to care (minutely compared to what it does to Gods heart) for something that grieves the heart of GOD! What a gift- we're blessed to be a blessing...
www.compassion.com
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Isaiah 1:17
God works in mysterious, no, MIRACULOUS ways! In November 2008 when my college friend Sarah Berreth boarded a plane to visit me in Mozambique she had no idea what that trip would be the start of. I couldn't stop crying when I saw her in the Chimoio airport. I couldn't believe that she was the second of my close friends to travel to the other side of the world to see me. Little did I know that God had much more in store than using her to get me through a very tough time in Mozambique.
Today, Sarah is back in Mozambique living and working on the mission where I lived. Over the course of her 6 months back in the States God continued to move in her heart as He had started to do while she was in Mozambique. Sarah, being the tender-hearted, obedient servant she is responded, in faith, and left on May 31 for the biggest change of her life. She bought a one-way ticket to Mozambique and is open to what the Lord may have in store for her.
Life in Mozambique is hard. It was hard for me. It's hard for Sarah. Somedays, weeks, months will be better than others. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I wouldn't have made it had I not had the support I did from "home." Without the prayers of all of you, God only knows what my year could have been like.
Mozambique. It's a tough place- a WONDERFUL place but a difficult place. PLEASE, as you think of it pray for Sarah. My heart aches for I know how difficult it is. My heart also yearns for the joy I know is there. My heart misses Mozambique more than I have ever missed anything before.
If you feel so moved as to follow Sarah's journey on her blog I know you'll be blessed (she doesn't have internet set up yet though). Her address is: www.temperarysojourner.blogspot.com (sorry, I can't get it to make an easy click link!) Also, I know she would be blessed to get encouraging words from anyone, everyone (I was!)! Her email is: sarah_berreth@hotmail.com
Sarah shared this verse as she prepared to be obedient and go: Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Sarah read this and responded. How pleased the Lord must be!!!
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