Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 3/16/2010
Hello everyone...
I cannot believe but today marks less than 2 months till I return home. This ride has been an adventure to say the very least but the best part is that it's not over yet. I praise God for the things to come.
We just spent this last week on outreach in a town called Sindo. It was a wonderful week of preaching and teaching, playing with kids and hospital visits. I was very privliged to get to speak Sunday morning.
I preached from Jeremiah 18 about when Jeremiah went to the potters house and waited for the word of the Lord. I spoke how we are the clay pots and God is out potter. He see's us when we are old with cracks and dirt all over us. Where the world see's imperfection and filth. Something that should just be thrown away and you should buy a new one. God see's our potential, he see's beauty and worth. He wants us to sit at his potter's wheel and mold us and rebuild us in his image. We see the cracks and try to pick up "clay" meaning we turn to the world to fix our problems or escape from our problems. But that "clay" never works. It never fixes anything and it can only hide our cracks not truly fix and remove them. But God is the maker of all things. He is our potter behind the wheel, he will never throw us away he wants to make us into the masterpiece he planned for us sense the begining of time. So sit at his wheel let he make you and shape you. Let him not hide your cracks but completly remove them and fill them in with his love and grace.
The Holy Spirit was definantly with me while I was speaking, it was a wow moment for me and God to see him use me in that way. I feel like the people understood and they were getting what I was saying. At the end I challenged them to pray in the next week and find out which ways they are trying to pick up clay and fix their own cracks. I am also praying about this and I want to challenge you to do the same.
God loves you and he see's every scratch, dent and dust on you. He loves you through it all and he is waiting for you to sit at his potter's wheel completely humbled and let him make you into his image.
Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 3/5/2010
Hello friends and loved ones....
I can not be leave how time is flying by here. We only have 2 months 5 days left in Africa then we will be on a plane heading for Houston. Then on May 15th I will be home to see my mommy, my beautiful friends and family who I miss SOOO much. My time here is has been a journey and the journey still continues I never know what is coming next and I left all expectations in Georgia before I left. The Lord has brought me to and through so many things and I can't wait to see what he is bringing me through next.
Right now I am learning to die to myself and things that I want for my life and just trust him that all is going to work out just the way he has planned. I have had to die to college. Which is even crazy that I am worried about college because we I left I had no plans to go to college or desire and I now have both. God one day just laid it on my heart that I want to go to college and so I had my mom apply for me (thanks mommy you are amazing.) But now I have to wait and that just kills. Satan loves to attack me and make me think I wont get accepted or college is not where I am suppose to go but I can't wait. I have this burning passion inside of me to know more, to have more knowledge and work hard in school. Now he has put a passion in my heart for government and the corruption in the government so he has led me to want to major in Political Science.....this will be a fun one to explain to my dad and my grandpaJ. But it is so cool how he works and changes people's hearts. I know he has my plans in his hands. He knows where I am going what I am going to study and how I am going to serve him. I just have to trust him with that which Satan hates when we trust God because his plans for us always bring forth good.
So yeah, that is what is going on with me and in my heart right now. I am just trying to stay in the moment here with my beautiful team because our time is short but our time here is not finished yet. So prayers items for me is for our team to become even closer to one another, for me to be accepted into college and for the people here in Kenya that we work with ( the S.E.E.K staff) and our leaders Paul, Erin and there 2 twins. They are all so good to us and we love them so much.
I hope all is amazing with you and that God is moving in your life....God is good and God is love....I love you!
Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 3/5/2010
"He's not a baby in a manger anymore
He's not a broken man on the cross
He didn't stay in the grave
And he's not staying in heaven forever."
The quote above is song lyrics from a song called "People get ready" by Misty Edwards. This song has been speaking to me in SO many ways. The lyrics go on to say "he's alive, he's alive, he's alive.....so people get ready Jesus is coming." Wow this song has such powerful lyrics. "People get ready Jesus is coming." So many times we forget that, we live our lives free from bondage doing as we please like we do not have to answer to anyone but there is a king and he is coming and we WILL have to answer to him. He is alive and he is coming. I can't wait to see my king and my savior face to face.
I love the part of this song that say's"And he's not staying in heaven forever." He is not staying in heaven forever...he will be back. He promised us he will be back. We don't know when but we can sit and rest on his word that he will be back.
I am not sure why this song speaks to me so much the lyrics are so powerful and the music that goes with this song always hits me right in the heart and reminds me of the king I serve. He is not a king that you can carve out of wood, not a savior that asks for so much but never gives back he is not a white man, a black man, an African, he is the LIVING GOD...he is alive.
My friends get ready because Jesus is coming and on that day we will celebrate with out creature.
God Bless you all...thank you for reading and supporting me you mean so much to me but you mean even more to the living God we serve.
Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 2/25/2010
Hello Readers....
How are you all?
I am very well and VERY blessed.
I have so much to say but so little time at 1.5 shillings/min.....
But I really want to write about the righteous anger I have built up inside of me about the corrupt government here in Kenya We had a good week of debrief and then a wonderful 2 weeks on outreach and hopefully I will be able to tell you about that later but right now the corruption here is so heavily on my mind I have to get it out. I really want everyone to be praying as often as they can for the people of Kenya and for the government officials in high places to have a softened heart to its people and stop all the corruption that is going on.
So we have had 2 separate experiences so far with the police and both times it has made me so mad. I find here I have to hold my tongue a lot more than I would at home (sometimes they just can't handle the strong willed American woman that I am).
One day my friend here Reece and I were out in town with our good friend and piki piki driver (this is a motorcycle...main way of transport) Sammie trying to locate a friend that Reece has who was visiting Kenya really close to us. We were driving all around Mbita and looking so hard. Sammie was calling ever pastor and friend he could think of who might be having some muzungus from America working with them but we had no luck. On our way back to town with Sammie the police here who stand guard at random locations stopped Sammie and said "this man is under arrest". There was no reason for him to be under arrest so Reece and I were super confused. Sammie told us to just wait and he followed the officer. And here in Mbita the police just say you are under arrest take the keys from the driver and carry our about their business "patrolling". It is so frustrating and useless. While we stood and waited for Sammie the police officer stopped 5 other drivers just to harass them and for no other reason than to get money from them. This is what the police do here. They stopped you, tell you that you are under arrest and they are going to take you into jail then you bribe them and they let you go. They just pull people over they hardly ever have a reason except they want money. It is so corrupt and so frustrating and that day they pulled Sammie over because he had 2 muzungus on his bike and when they see muzungu they see dollar signs...I just want to shout at them from the top of my lungs "WE HAVE NO MONEY"!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!! So Sammie was able to pay him 300 shillings which is about 3 or 4 dollars and they let us go. But oh it made me so mad and they do that stuff all the time here. They piki piki drivers pay a "tax" in the morning to the police office other wise they will have to spend the day in jail so it is easier to pay that "tax" in the morning instead of losing a whole days work.
The other time we had to deal with that was on our way back to Kenya after our debrief week in Uganda. They have yet again random spots on the road where police patrol and they stopped us again said they were going to take our driver to the station so he got out talked with them and paid the stupid bribe that they wanted and we were able to go. But I was so mad they started to get into our car with us and make our driver go to the station and the police had gones like rifles to small hand guns and I was not okay with them being in our car with that. Also the people here have no where to turn to. We have found working with some of the girls in the schools and talking with the teachers that often time's girls can be raped and the man can go to the jail and either pay a bribe to the police or to the family and the man can be let go free. And in some instances it's the police who are doing the raping. So the people here have no where to turn and it breaks my heart to see this. God has put such a passion in my heart to want to help the people here but he has put more of a love in my heart for the corrupt system and for praying for the people who are in charge. Like the president of Kenya and governors and police men. I want to see so much more for the people of Mbita and Kenya and all of Africa...They deserve and need so much more. They need people that they can turn to too help them.
Please remember Kenya in your prayers.
My prayer is that when I go home God will fill me with knowledge of a way I can get back here one day and help stop the corruption. Cause right now my smart mouth and annoyance does not do the trick, but I pray hard for the people and I believe change is coming.
God Bless and I love you all......Thanks for reading
Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 2/9/2010
Hello supporters....I have fantastic news
ALL MY SUPPORT IS IN!!!
Praise God and thank you all so much who gave to my trip to support me. I just checked and I am actually $60 over so wow that is just a blessing beyond belief to me and I am so greatful and thankful for you all and the money and prayer that you have donated not to me but to God and his work.
So let me tell you about my new ministry that is about to kick off. I told you a little bit about Kenya in my last blog but we just got done with debrief with our leaders (Jimmy & Kelly) from the states and it was awesome. So much fun and such a great get awasy I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with them and I know that people back at the AIM base in Georgia are really taking care of us. So we go tomorrow for our first outreach week with out new hosts (Paul, Jarod & Hezron) We LOVE LOVE LOVE them. They are fun, funny and take great care of us all. We will be gone for 2 weeks to 2 different bush churches and then back to the base for a week of rest. This is how our ministry is going to be working for the rest of our time. Two weeks gone one week home at the S.E.E.K base.
Now I want to let you know where I am with the Lord righ now.
I just got done with a 5 day debrief as I already told you and we did some prophesying over each other that was really good. But I had some quiet time with the Lord our last night and I have just been feeling like my prayer life with God hasn't been at it's best for a while. Like my prayers have just been words and to much talking on my half and not enough listening to him. So I sat down and was praying to God about this and he was like well KC what do you want to change? I want to hear you more and talk a little less. I want to be a prayers warrior for you, I want to pray prayers and trust and belive you hear them and they are changing things for the good of your kingdom. I want my prayers to be more than words because prayer is SOOOOOO powerful. He said well why don't you just ask me? Hmmmmmm!! Well God that would be a little to simply and I usually try and complicate my realtionship with you for some odd reason.
But it was that simple "ask"! I haven't been asking I have just been waiting for things to happen. God always brings me back to this. I always have a hard time asking for things that I need or even want. I do it in my realtionship with God and I do it in my life. God always brings me back to the vers "you have not because you ask not" but "ask and you shall recieve or it shall be given to you". Ahhhhhh why does pride always have to get in the way of asking? I hate that I have this problem, I feel greedy or like a burden if I have to ask people for things but some times when we don't ask it just takes away others blessings to us.
So I am stepping out here and I am asking...Please know that I am not wanting to be greedy, selfish, or anything of that nature. I have been so greatful to all who have supported me and given my money for this trip. But thats all I had was money to pay for this trip and right now I am only depending on my parents for money which can kind of be a burden to them (but they are wonderful parents who give me the world). I have prayed alot about this and God has said just throw it out there and trust me see how my people can work and bless others. So I am....if anyone would like to still donate directly to me that would be amazing. You can be in contact with my mom Janet her e-mail is mtnmama40@yahoo.com and she can give you our address or whatever you need.
Thank you all so much for all the support you have given me...remember my trip is all paid for PRAISE GOD and God Bless you all who donated I will NEVER be able to thank you enough.
Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 2/1/2010
So the move to Kenya has been great. We live on Lake Victoria surrounded by beautiful water, gorgeous sunsets, monkeys everywhere and people that really love us and are excited about us being here. Our host's name are Paul and Erin (Paul is a Kenyan and Erin is from Canada). We are staying at an old YWAM base at a place called S.E.E.K which stands for
Suba Enviromental Educaton of Kenya. We work with the environment here, last week I planted a tree and it is still growing very nicely. We really love it here and I can feel that this is the place God has called us to....
The cool story behind us getting here is that we were in Uganda and we had been in Uganda for 40 days when we got the call that they were moving us out of Uganda into Kenya. That kinda reminds me of the Israelites in the desert for 40 years. But it gets even cooler...our host in Uganda his name was Pastor Moses and Moses drove us to the border of Kenya and saw us off there letting us go into "The promise land" as we like to call it.
So crazy how God works, he pulled us through the desert only to bring us into the promised land of Kenya. I love God, he is teaching me to trust, trust, trust. He knew that this was going to happen all along. He had it all planned and it all set up for us. He taught and grew us so much in our time in Uganda and I can't wait to see how he grows us in Kenya.
We are getting ready to go for our first debrief the 5th-9th and we are going to be rafting The Nile River so we are all super pumped about that.
Please be praying for my team here as well as the other ones of us that are in
South Africa
Swaziland and
Nicaragua.....
I miss everyone so much and I am praying for you all. Remember God is so good and he knows all, he see's all and he has a plan for all.
Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 1/21/2010
I am so sorry but this is another blog I coppied from one of my friends here his name is Kyle and it is just information for you all on what is going on in our life's here. Please be praying for us all and thank you so much for the prayers you have already been sending up.
The Lord is moving and we are really excited...
Hey everyone, I just wanted to give you an update. So, we have been praying a great deal and talking to our leaders at AIM in GA, and we have decided that God is leading us to leave Busia, Uganda to go and minister in Kisumu, Kenya! I don't know all that much, but here is what I do know:
1) We are working with a ministry that often hosts World Race teams in Kenya (and it's usually the Racers' favorite month of the race). There is an African named Paul, who has an American wife (I don't know her name), who will be our host.
2) There are many different ministries that we will have the opportunity to work in. Of the ones I can remember, I know we might be able to work with an orphanage, do environmental education, work with their agricultural program, and do some outreach events for the community in Kisumu. We will also be traveling a good bit, from what we've been told.
3) Kisumu is the second largest city in Kenya (right behind Nairobi) and has a population of 300,000 people.
4) We are leaving on Saturday (the 23rd).
So yeah, that's all I know. Please be praying for us as we transition to a new location and as we say goodbye to our friends here in Busia.
Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 1/16/2010
This is a blog post a girl on my team named Jessica wrote and I felt it was really awesome so she has allowed me to post it for all of you....hope you enjoy.
"This is the revelation that none of us wanted to admit in the first place - that Novas was never about ministry. It was never about Africa or Central America. It was never about works or good deeds, though God in His grace allowed us to do those things.
Novas - new way. A transformation. And it begins in our hearts and it never stops beginning. There will be no end, as long as we live and beyond.
This is the message, the journey, the road - that Jesus doesn't care about your deeds or your ministry. Do you want transformation? Do you want the new life? Walk in the new way of being loved in your brokenness. Jesus was always about people, about hearts...why would we think we are any different?
Ministry will come and go, but this is the core:
Be loved.
Be broken.
Be willing.
Be open.
Be filled.
Be poured out.
Be ready.
This process will kill you. Awake at your own funeral, giving the eulogy; you stand and testify that you're burying everything you thought integral to who you are. You testify that you believe in the resurrection, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually; that what you are burying, the shards of the reflections of beauty, will be resurrected into something more. Something more.
"Beloved, the life I have for you is more than you can imagine. I have better things for you than death. But you have to walk this road with me, the same road that I walked before you were born, because the gift I have for you is righteousness. Abide in me, and I will abide in you."
Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 1/16/2010
My team and I decided to start reading the bible and we are planning to read the whole bible in 4 months. We started this new adventures on January 1st and so far we have read through Joshua. What God has been teaching me through it is so simple...I praise God that he sent his son to die for ME and for YOU on the cross. Reading all of the laws in Exodus and Leviticus was awful and I can write these things becaue the Lord knows my heart and we have talked about it already so no worries. But honestly the laws and rules I just could not have lived under them. So many, so long, so maticulus (<---first shot at using a big word). I praised God daily for sending his son to die on the cross for me so that we do not have to live by those laws anymore. The laws of religion no longer apply in that same way to us because when Jesus died that vail was tworn.
Then that got me thinking about Jesus dieing and how in Matthew 27:46 Jesus says
"My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" Jesus held all of the sins of the world on his shoulder's and God his father for a moment could not look at him because of this. That breaks my heart. My main point for this blog is just to get you and myself to be thinking...God could not look at his one and only son who was holy and righteous and perfect because he had all of OUR sins on him. Not one sin that he died for belonged to him, he was forsaken for us. He could not be looked at by his father for US.
That is such heavy stuff for me, in my worldly mindset it doesn't make sense and it seems so unfair but it makes me even more thankful for the death of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The price he paid was beyond anything we can imagine.
Thank you God for sending your son to die for us even though we do not quite understand. Father you are so good to us all even when we run from you. I give you all praise through all things...you are so so so good to me. Thank you....~AMEN.
God Bless You All...
P.S. "Jesus would do it again if his father asked him too, and he would do it again just for YOU"
Posted in General Posts by Katherine Carr on 1/5/2010
Missionaries are very human folks, just doing what they are asked. Simply a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt somebody." -Shadow of the Almighty By: "Elizabeth Elliot"
God is good all the time and all the time God is good because it is his nature.
It has been a bit of a struggle here in Uganda recently, I do not want to lie to any of you at all. Some day's you can be on a mission field in Africa and feel further from God than if you were at home in your own bed with all the comforts and distractions of the world right in front of you. I want to speak for myself though because not everyone has been having these same kinds of struggles. I feel the Lord here, I feel him calling me and saying "KC seek me" that same verse is still on my heart that I wrote in my last blog Jeremiah 29:13 "You will search for me and when you search for me with all of your heart you will find me." I am still in a process of trying to figure out what that looks like. I feel very close to a breaking point and a breakthrough with the Lord but I have been fighting many mental attacks from Satan in the past few weeks as I have been searching. Some day's he even tries to take my joy and I can't handle it. I know who my God is I know how he loves me and I know how proud of me he is. Satan likes to tell me that my efforts will not be good enough that I might as well not try seeking God because it's not going to be what I expect and I will not be able to seek him in the same way that other's do. But I have found recently that if I find or hear these lies speaking it out loud and rebuking it is a great way to fight it and put the lies to death.
I want to encourage all of you who may understand what I am going through and you may be in the same spot or in other situations where you feel attacked by the enemy that he has no power in your life and in those lies. The only power Satan ever has is the power we give him by believing his lies and allowing him to keep growing those lies. DO NOT LISTEN TO HIM!! You are God's child, his precious son or daughter, he made you in his image to be like him and he NEVER makes mistakes. You are fearfully and wonderfully made and I love you but he loves you even more. Keep fighting and praying and please keep praying for me as well, I have found that you can't always fight these things on your own.
Praise be to GOD whom I love with all my heart.
Thank you for your goodness and the trials you bring us through. Thank you for the loved ones you have put all around me and thank you that you NEVER leave us.
Also praise God for my mom who he has brought back to him and it is so encouraging to get to talk with her and know when I come home we will be able to grow closer with the Lord together.
