laughing at us

to all who are praying...thank you so much. our group is doing great out here in wadupe. we are all healthy and strong. everyday is filled with a mixture of the unbearable bush life and the sweet chunks of love that make it all worth it. laughter is the greatest expression. it has become a common theme out here. we laugh at them, they laugh at us, and we all laugh at thomas (our video guy, and the team cut-up). we taught pastor rufus how to say, "what's up" and give a nice chest bump. we also put him in a hammock for the first time...he looked like a little kid grinning and wide eyed. and the kids are loving the frisbee we brought. but, life out here is not all play. we are working hard everyday to build our house, which should be finished by midweek, and we are about to start the hygiene classes and well drilling. whoohoo.

if you throw inexperienced americans into the african bush life is bound to stretch it's boundries and take new shape. when we outreach our own capabilities through the power of the HOLY SPIRIT we find that the process often hurts. stretching always hurts. but, the process is the reward when in the end we find we are stronger and better people.

the other day the team was building our shower. i was away doing some work in yei. it was a simple structure, just a small concrete slab, and a winding halway of teak poles and black plastic sheets to keep out curious eyes. but the process stretched us for sure. the africans are often puzzled by us americans. they couldn't figure why we would want a hallway, and a room for showering. "it is too big," they complained. but i had left specific instructions and wanted the shower to be completed that day, so the team followed the drawing. while they were building, several of the village men watched and laughed at the guys working. not a funny kind of laugh, but a, "you stupid americans, this will never work," kind of laugh. they even tried taking the tools and doing the way they thought it should be. this has happened on several occasions. like, hoeing the ground, slashing the grass, chopping wood, squaring a building, they seem to know how to do it better. it is frustrating...we came to help them, and now they are laughing at us and not letting us do anything...we are capable, we are smart, and having a village laughing at you while you try your best is certainly a blow to your pride. when i returned and heard about the incident, i got so frustrated. why don't they just let us build stuff how we want it. we came here with great drawings and plans but they keep undermining us. after a long walk, i realized that we were begining to lose our sense of purpose. our purpose every day is not to construct a base or drill a well. those jobs are the medium we use to connect with the people. our purpose is them. those men who are laughing at us, those men who hurt our pride when they take the shovel from our hands to show us how to do it better. JESUS says to love even your enemy. i would hardly consider anyone from this village an enemy, even when they are frustrating and annoying. so we must remember our purpose. it is not the job we are doing that matters, but the people...GOD's children. let our jobs connect us with them, but never let our jobs divide us, or become our chief purpose. i told the team, "maybe that is why we are here. to be laughed at. to give them a sense of pride, to lose our sense of pride. to let them be better than us. for once in their life, they get to be better than an 'american.'" and so they laugh...it is a beautiful sound.

thank you all for your support. the well drilling rigs are coming tomorrow, and two wells will be dug in wadupe within the next two weeks. praise GOD, wadupe will never be the same. much Love

GOD is Greater

billy

chuck norris is running across the border

i walked into sudan yesterday...literally.

a lot has happened this past year. we are now an official non profit, praise GOD. i finished my football career, and got myself a little closer to graduation. and in a few days six more group members will join me in africa, to drill a well, and love on some people in wadupe.

it has been an exciting journey for me thus far. i traveled from tuesday till sunday, when i finally crossed the sudan border...on foot. it was a glorious entrance. i was filthy from six days of dirty buses and dirty hotels. my hair was starting to dread, my feet were covered in red dust, and my clothes...well i was wearing the same thing when i left tuesday. after checking in on the uganda side, i grabbed my bag and started the short walk into sudan. my ride was waiting on the other side. i smiled so big as i read the big, welcome to southern sudan, sign. i felt free, relaxed, and excited; like i was home. then i saw lightning. and the bottom fell out. i had two choices. i could run for the car, which was about 300 yds away or run for cover, like all the other people were doing. i decided to run for the car because i didn't want it to leave me stranded. i ran down the road, with no jacket, trying to keep my pants pulled up (my belt was in my other bag), and my laptop dry. everyone was laughing at me as i struggled on the muddy road. i heard them saying, mzungu, kowaja, yesu, chuck norris. which means whiteman(swahili), whiteman(juba arabic), and Jesus...apparently i look like Him and chuck norris to these kids. either way, seeing billy/chuck norris/Jesus running down the muddy road like an idiot was quite a show. i was dripping wet, drenched, and about 100 ft from the car when a soldier grabbed me. he told me to come out of the rain. i pointed to my car and said no, im just going there. but he was adamant about me following him. so i went into an office filled with bewildered soldiers wandering why i was running across the border in the rain. i told them i didn't want my car to leave me. they just laughed and asked to see my paperwork. thankfully the rain stopped and my ride waited. so now i am here in yei. i leave for wadupe tomorrow!! i hear they have built me a house. talk about good hosts. pray for our group as they join me this week. pray for the next two months that GOD will be glorified and the people of sudan will feel loved. much Love

GOD is Greater

challenge

are we so proud of what we have been given that we cannot see our need for salvation--salvation from a world we think we have created?

have we earned the houses we live in, the cars we drive, the food we eat, and the clothes we wear because we worked 40hrs this week and purchased these things on our own?

then this week try to work without the hands GOD blessed us with, the feet HE gave us to walk on, the air HE created for us to breath, the brain he designed for us to make our decisions, and the grace HE pours on us each morning as we drive safely to our jobs. what is really ours?..GOD's Love, Grace, Salvation, and Strength. what is really HIS?... "The earth is the LORD's, and all it fullness, the world and those who dwell therein."-Psalms 24:1

who are we to hoard HIS blessings and HIS possessions?---share with the world around you.

if you are anything like me ridding yourself of clutter is sometimes a tough step. i like to have a pair of shoes for every occasion that might arise, and a jacket, shirt, and belt to match. but do i really need it? is looking together and "hip" what GOD is looking for in my life?

this week take a look in your closet and around your house, and ask, "what do i really need? what can i use to bless a brother or sister in need?" find a shelter, ministry, homeless person, family in need, etc., and share the passion of CHRIST. bless somebody.

i have been challenged by a brother to live more and more like JESUS. i hope you are challenged as well.

GOD is Greater

shoutout

i just want to give a quick shout out to my friends, and true servants of Jesus Christ, Chris and Lindy Thompson. they have just moved to nairobi kenya to be missionaries in the slums of nairobi. check out their blog at www.onlyservants.blogspot.com. please give them your prayers and support as they reach out into the uttermost and do great things for the kingdom of GOD.

chris and lindy, never lose hope, never lose faith, and never quit. GOD's hand is on you and your work. much love.

GOD is Greater

justlisten

recently i have become close friends with a homeless man here in boone. i dont know why i feel a strong connection with him, but i feel he truly is a brother in Christ who is filled with hurt and emptiness. over the past few weeks he has been coming by the son's light coffee house (check out the link to son's light ministries) just to talk with me. i first met him when he stopped me in a parking lot asking for money for food. i took him to chic-fil-a, gave him my cell number, and expected to never hear from him again. but i think GOD has different plans for this man and me. little by little we have gained each other's trust and have opened up to each other with personal stories, both sad and happy. he comes by almost everyday to just sit with me on the sidewalk and talk about life. last night i got a call around 11 to come to the coffee house. my friend was there and was in bad shape. when i walked up he embraced me and cried on my shoulder. i stood there in the parking lot holding a 41 yr old man, starved for love, starved for a shoulder to cry on. we sat down on the sidewalk and he poured out his heart. he was at the "jumping off point" and repeatedly he told me he was tired of life. i have offered him help with finding a place to stay and some new clothes, but last night he told me, "billy, the only thing i want from you is friendship. someone to listen to me. if i had all the money in the world it wouldnt heal this hurt inside of me. ive got a hurting soul. ive got an emptiness i cant fix and i dont know how. i know everybody tells me Jesus loves me, but why do they have everything they need and i live on the streets. they just dont understand. im tired of life. every morning i crack my eyes open i ask God why He woke me up again." i didnt know how to respond. I prayed, "GOD give me the words to say." but the only thing that came out was "love." i said, "i dont know how to fix your situation. i dont know how to help you get over addictions, and get you off the street. but the only thing that is going to fill that emptiness is love." but as darkness flees from the light the mention of love seemed to scare him. he stood up and frantically said to me, "ive got to do something, im tired of this. i better go. see you tomorrow." im afraid he doesnt know that GOD really loves him, and i really love him, and there are others who really love and care for him. i dont know if i will ever see him again. i prayed last night that GOD would comfort him through the night and show him a reason for living. it is hard not to fear the worst for him, but i have faith that GOD will keep him alive and bring him back to a place where he can find love. we have the ability to give him all the material things he needs to live a "normal" life, but he knows and i know that he will still be a broken soul. sometimes we need to give money, food, or clothes, but sometimes we need to just listen. either way it is all about love.

please pray for my friend. he has been a big help with teaching me how to minister to the homeless and i hope that one day he can help me teach others how to reach out to those on the streets. this is what the name whythewoods is all about. reaching out to those who sleep in the woods, under the bridges, behind the walmarts, and and in the alleys of our world. please keep praying.

GOD is Greater

dailyprayer

thank you guys so much for praying for me through this time of sickness. i am feeling much better now and the malaria is finally getting wiped out of my system. i should be 100% by next week.
friends, my plate is full. wtw is becoming a full time job and with football and school looming in the foreground i know that i will need the strength of GOD to get me through the next several months. as whythewoods continues to grow and develop, and my personal life becomes busier and busier, the last thing i want to do is forget where my strength comes from. only by giving do we receive. and it is by giving our soul, body, and mind to GOD that we receive His divine strength and ability to do His great work. i wrote this prayer a couple years ago, and i pray it from time to time when i am feeling spiritually or physically weak, because it reminds me to give everything that i am to GOD and He will lift me up; He will heal me.

a daily prayer

LORD GOD, in the first of morning, when my eyes open and see the sun of another day graciously given by You, i give my spirit to be filled with the joy of Your Love.

in the day, when the harvest is ready, i give my hands and my feet to Your service, to Your will, and to all who need to know the Love of JESUS.

when the day is done, and the darkness closes in, i give the battles that rage in my mind, i give the struggles of the day passed, and the fears of tomorrow. i give You the still moments of solitude when satan wants me.

LORD GOD i am Yours. today, in this moment, i give my life.

amen

prayerwarriorsunite

hey guys. well the old devil is on the war path trying to disrupt the great things that are going on with whythewoods. i have continued to speak at churches and schools including local ellis middle school and new hope baptist in woodruff south carolina. but today i am being admitted into the baptist hospital for what we think is...you guessed it, malaria. i have been feeling the symptoms for about two weeks now, and after visting the doctor wednesday my symptoms have gotten increasingly worse. i pray that it is just malaria and nothing more serious. i appologize to those churches i will have to cancel on this upcoming weekend, but i hope you can understand. please pray for my health, because i know that as the work with whythewoods becomes greater so will the spiritual and physical battles. please don't worry for me....GOD is Greater.