Camp Pictures!

last weekend we had camp for YWAP (youth with a purpose). it is the youth program at the church we are helping at. below are some pictures that i took throughout the weekend.

everyday here has been nothing but blue skies and sunny!

this is where the guys played for ywap camp and also every friday night.

pastor bryan and the camp leaders for the weekend.

saturday they had rec during the day. we had a great time watching all the kids!

bryan's wife dana and the national sybille! :) dana is our amazing cook for the time that we are here... and seriously she is amazing! i think we have all gained weight on this trip!

then sunday morning we had a prayer and worship service. parents of the children were invited to come and afterwards the church provided a huge lunch for everyone there!

First Video Clips of Namibia!

Pictures!

The whole group ready to board our flight to Atlanta!

Chris and I (with Coley in the back!)

Chris and Christina

Ian

Our flight was delayed flying into Atlanta but luckily we made it just in time for our flight to Frankfurt! Above is everyone getting ready to board... we were all SO excited for our stop in Germany! I took lots of pictures while in Germany so I think I am going to wait to post those. Either until we have a day off or until we get back to the states.

Michael and Ian completely exhausted after our day in Frankfurt.

This is our leaders house that Chris and I are staying at. This is where we have all our main meals. Chris and Christina are staying with a host family right next door and the 3 guys are staying with another family!

So weird that they drive on the left side of the road... it was so hard for all of us to get use too. Hopefully we won't be doing any driving while we are over here!

The room that Chris and I are staying in. It's a flat (a house at the back of the main house) with our own bathroom. None of the houses here have heat in the houses and since it is winter here it gets pretty cold at night. Luckily we have an electric mattress heater that keeps us warm through the night!

I love the keys they use here... so I had to take a picture! :)

This is our view from the main house... absolutely gorgeous!

From Africa!! (1st post)

We are here!!!! Well, actually we have been here for about 3 days now, and I don't even know how to explain to you all how amazing this trip has been already!! I can't believe we are here. I could really spend the next 2 hours writing about how in awe we are of just getting to be here. I can't put it into words, as we have just been learning a whole new culture, seeing a whole new (absolutely beautiful) country, and already making great friends. I will breeze through the first few days here and get to tonight, as we finally got to lead worship! So the flights. Wow. We flew from Arkansas to Atlanta, Atlanta to Frankfurt (where we had an 8 hour layover) free vacation! Frankfurt to Africa. Total time in the air, about 20 hours. Both the flight to Frankfurt and the flight to Africa were through the night, so we had 2 nights of sleeping on airplanes! Needless to say we were pretty tired when we got here. We got in at 5:30 in the morning, and by the time we got to where we are staying it was about 8:00. We were all ready for bed, but fought through and stayed awake so we could get on the right time schedule. I don't think anybody on this team has ever gone to bed as early as we did that night. I stayed up later than everyone, and I was asleep by 7 pm. So day 1 here is still a little bit of a blur. lol. So day 2 was just a lot of learning, seeing, meeting about the youth camp, rehearsing, meeting new people, etc... Learning the culture has been a blast. And again, we all were in bed pretty quick again that night. So now for today! Rehearsed again, a lot, and actually, finally got to lead worship in Africa! And all I can say is wow!! It was a very special night. The students, adults, everyone, walked into the room passionate, loud, and ready to go after God in worship! I have rarely played in a place that started out with this much energy and excitement. It was unbelievable! I think the worshipers blessed us more than we blessed them. So, here was our set list for our first worship service ever, in another country.

Let God Arise

Take It All

On Our Side

Mighty To Save

Jesus Messiah

Your Name High

God Is Bigger

From The Inside Out

How He Loves

Our God

Healer

Pics to come!!!

windhoek, namibia, africa in 3 days!

it's true, we leave on monday for namibia! we all are so excited for the trip and can not wait to see what God has in store for us while we are there! we have just recieved our schedule/itinerary for while we will be there and it looks like we will be busy doing something everyday... with about 3 or 4 days off to explore the city! while we are there we hope to update the blog (almost) every night with pictures and stories from the days events. we also hope to get posted either on the website or this blog some pdf. files of our itinerary that you can download. that way you will know specific things that we will be doing that day that you can pray for!

thank you everyone that has supported this trip either finiacially or prayerfully! we all are so grateful for this opportunity to go to africa and spread the love of Jesus!

ruthie allen

Africa support update #5 (late!)

Hey guys, I know it's really late, and this is more like the update for April than March at this point, but I wanted to send a really quick update and let you guys know that it has been a busy but amazing 2 months of being on the road. God never ceases to amaze and keep us in awe. I want to let you guys know how fund-raising has gone to this point. The last time I updated, which was the beginning of February, we were at $5,649 and I am absolutely amazed to be letting you all know that at this point, with about 21/2 months left to raise money, that total is now at $11,800!!! Praise God!! He is doing it! It's not always on our timing, or how quick we would like to see it happen, but He is faithful and will provide EVERYTHING you need to do what He has called you to do! Check back on the 1st of April for another update, maybe not another number, but a more detailed description of the financial situation, flights, shots, and some specific prayer needs. We are in desperate need of all of these things listed, some of them quickly. So I will do that on the 1st of April and give you guys some information on all that stuff and let you guys know where we are at and how it is going! Thanks for all the support and prayers!