The first week we got there we started learning so much! We started learning about intimacy with God and through that learned about prayer and intercession. It blow all of us away at how we could change so much of the world just through prayer and how God has given us the ability to change the climate in places we go. The second week we learned about African world view which brought so much understanding as to why things are the way they are within Africa. I got so much understanding from it all and more knowledge to be able to see Africa for what it really is. There are so many things that people in the western world amuse that why the people live the way they live, why HIV/Aids has spread with it did, and why people are treated the way they are! Yet that is what we see on the surface and not what is deep down in the hearts of these people!
God has taken me to a whole new level in Him and literally lit us on fire to be using prayer so much more! He showed us that we need to start declaring over each other the gifts that we have and praying hardcore for the world we live in. We started a 24 hour one day a week prayer and intercession time for whatever God puts on our heart during that time. He also really challenged me to dive into the book of Daniel for the next four months. That He wants to teach me the foundation for my future vision through the book of Daniel and the life He lived.
During one of our 24 hour prayer/intercession times, God gave me Daniel 9:18-19, which says, “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my Lord, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” I really felt like this was God's heart for the people of Africa. That its not about the people being these great righteous people but its about the heart that God has for them so that His mercies would pour over them! God would see the humity thats in their hearts and His love would pour over them!
We spent a lot of time around the community and getting to know the people. It gave us the opportunity to really understand the culture and be apart of the peoples lives in the month we were here. Really being able to see the world view of Africa in front of us and truly understand it!
The last week and a half we spent the whole time just being out in the community. We split into groups that focused on different areas of the community to minister to the people and captive their stories through our photography that God had put on our hearts. Me and another teammate, Emily decided to stay on the street because there was so much beneath what the eye could there. Anyone can walk down the street immediately seeing the poverty, physical disabled and mentally ill, men sleeping under trash, street kids, baggers, and people trying to sell things. We wanted to be able to show the dignity that these people had and the beauty that is within them. Isn’t of showing boys that just lived on the street, we wanted to show the pride in the little jobs that they did to survive the streets. It was a challenge but really what God laid on our hearts and we started see the people in a completely different way!
One way that God gave us to do that was to make it about the people instead of getting the picture. As two white girls we wanted the attention off of us as much any white person can, so instead of holding the camera to our eye to shoot, we shoot everything without looking through the camera. It made it to where we got the true looks on their faces and showed them at work selling or living on the streets exactly the way they always are. We didn't go into it expecting a lot of great pictures but in the end God had really given us some really good pictures that we couldn't have gotten otherwise!
God has taken me to a whole new level in Him and literally lit us on fire to be using prayer so much more! He showed us that we need to start declaring over each other the gifts that we have and praying hardcore for the world we live in. We started a 24 hour one day a week prayer and intercession time for whatever God puts on our heart during that time. He also really challenged me to dive into the book of Daniel for the next four months. That He wants to teach me the foundation for my future vision through the book of Daniel and the life He lived.
During one of our 24 hour prayer/intercession times, God gave me Daniel 9:18-19, which says, “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my Lord, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” I really felt like this was God's heart for the people of Africa. That its not about the people being these great righteous people but its about the heart that God has for them so that His mercies would pour over them! God would see the humity thats in their hearts and His love would pour over them!
We spent a lot of time around the community and getting to know the people. It gave us the opportunity to really understand the culture and be apart of the peoples lives in the month we were here. Really being able to see the world view of Africa in front of us and truly understand it!
The last week and a half we spent the whole time just being out in the community. We split into groups that focused on different areas of the community to minister to the people and captive their stories through our photography that God had put on our hearts. Me and another teammate, Emily decided to stay on the street because there was so much beneath what the eye could there. Anyone can walk down the street immediately seeing the poverty, physical disabled and mentally ill, men sleeping under trash, street kids, baggers, and people trying to sell things. We wanted to be able to show the dignity that these people had and the beauty that is within them. Isn’t of showing boys that just lived on the street, we wanted to show the pride in the little jobs that they did to survive the streets. It was a challenge but really what God laid on our hearts and we started see the people in a completely different way!
One way that God gave us to do that was to make it about the people instead of getting the picture. As two white girls we wanted the attention off of us as much any white person can, so instead of holding the camera to our eye to shoot, we shoot everything without looking through the camera. It made it to where we got the true looks on their faces and showed them at work selling or living on the streets exactly the way they always are. We didn't go into it expecting a lot of great pictures but in the end God had really given us some really good pictures that we couldn't have gotten otherwise!
1 comment:
Heya Jenn.... Just wanted to let ya know that I think you're a brilliant photographer! Looking at yo pics, I had to do a double take coz this is the kinda stuff I'd expect to see in a National Geographic type magazine or one of those BBC type thingumies. You were born to do this Jenn, and I'm sooo glad you're doing it for God's glory! I can so see your heart and passion in these pics! Well done Dottie! Much Lurve.
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