Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 9/17/2011
I
am in Mwanza, Tanzania, Africa. It's
Sunday, so I went to church. As we were
walking to the church I was just praying.
The Lord had pulled out some verses for me to speak about, but I still
needed to preach for an hour. So I was
just praying. We got to the church and
the worship was amazing. Singing.
Dancing. Little kids Dancing (lots of little kids). It was amazing. So then it
was my turn. I just prayed as I was up there - God speak through me, be my
words, because I am not worthy of this place.
I spoke a lot about praise. 2
Samuel 22 and 1 Chronicles 16-17. I
thought it would be a typical Sunday morning.
Worship, preaching, praying. So
far it was going as planned...
I
then sat down and Pastor Simon got up and said that we were now going to pray
for people and their needs. So a number
of people came to the front longing for prayers to the Most High. Then woah - a woman hits the floor, her name
is Flora. I had never met her, but I had
met her through some of my teammates.
They had been praying for her before - she was, again, manifesting a
demon. WHAT. I had heard my teammates
tell the stories, but I had not seen it and was scared to. When she fell I was sitting down with a
little girl, about 4, sitting on my lap.
I sat there just praying, while other people held her down and prayed
for her. Then the Lord told me to hold
her head. So I put the little girl in
the chair beside me and put my hands on each side of her head. I was just praying whatever I thought I
should. Then another woman, Upendo, fell
down, also convulsing and yelling. The Lord told me to go and pray love over
her. So I got up and went to her. I got on my knees beside her while other
people held her down. Her whole chest
kept on coming up and down and she was just yelling. We were holding her so she wouldn't hurt
herself or anyone else. Then the Lord
just kept telling me to get her eyes open and just keep praying love over her
and to not fight her or hold her down but gently touch her face with love. So I had my hand on her face and finally got
her eyes open - they were pitch black.
She had been pretty calm at that point, but as soon as her eyes opened
she started convulsing ad yelling again.
I had just finished talking about light in dark places and how Jesus is
the Light and the darkness won't understand it.
That took on a whole new meaning when I looked into this demon's eyes (I
was not looking at the woman - she is a beautiful creation of the Most High and
something had taken her over). This demon was responding to Jesus and the light
that comes with Him. The Lord just kept
speaking love to me - so I kept praying love and touching this woman
gently. We were all praying. Finally, she sits up and Praise Jesus, she is
fine. She smiles - she's beautiful,
peaceful. Then I found out that her name
means love in Swahili. God's love is so
real and His love beats darkness - every kind of darkness. The darkness doesn't know what to do or how
to respond to God's love.
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Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 9/5/2011
First of
all, I loved Uganda! The people are
beautiful and they are so friendly. I
learned a lot about our own American culture this past month. I learned even more how independent we
are. In Africa, people live in constant
community. There were a number of girls
in our house. They were always
together. Four of them, maybe five,
shared one single bed sized bunk bed for most of the month that we were there. They live in no privacy - it was a bit of an
adjustment to be lying in bed, asleep, and wake up to a woman with her hand on
my chest saying, "are you asleep?" Yes,
yes I am.... I definitely learned how to
walk in other people's shoes and understand a culture that is so counter to
what I am used to. Even though I have
been on an adventure where I rarely have alone time, we, on the Race, just get
that we're American - we need some time - even if we are proclaimed extroverts,
especially when we are sick.
We worked
with a Pastor named Charles Lubwama in Seeta, Uganda. He is an amazing man of God - he loves people
so well. Our ministry consisted of going
door to door to talk about Jesus in the neighborhood we lived in on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays. Typically this
is not my most favorite type of ministry, however this month is was pretty
sweet because we didn't just go to houses, have a conversation about Jesus that
just sometimes felt so forced, see someone get saved (Praise Jesus!!!) and then
move on our merry way just leaving them to figure out this whole Christianity
thing on their own. On these Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays we also had an afternoon session under a mango tree
where people who wanted to know more about the Lord could come and hang out and
we just taught on the Bible. It was
really cool to have a purpose to the door to door. The vision for the month was that we would
have a church planted by the end of the month. It was just pretty cool have a
goal and seeing it come to fruition. On
Tuesdays and Thursday, we did things like visit hospitals or go to other
communities and work with churches there.
On Sundays we went to different churches and all of had plenty of
opportunity to preach. Something that
I've gotten pretty accustomed to and kind of enjoy as well. It's amazing when you are just up there and
the Holy Spirit just gives you words and scriptures! It's so cool - He is alive and well!
Please
pray for World Prayer Center in Seeta, Uganda.
It's a new church, with an amazing Pastor and amazing people!!
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Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 8/19/2011
You
know I don't really know what to write about Kenya- the month was kind of
random. My team and I were in Kitale
which is about 8 hours from Nairobi. We
worked with a man we called Pastor Moses.
He is the head Bishop of around 100 churches called New Life, which is
unbelievable. We were living with
Pastor Moses and his family. He has two
boys, Edwin and Oscar. Both of the boys
are so smart and spoke awesome English.
Oscar is at the top of his class.
There was also a woman there named Elizabeth who helped around the house
and her 3 year old son, Vincent. We had
the best time getting to know his family.
Those boys are all precious!
Pastor Moses wanted this month to be restful for us - which it was. And it was pretty amazing, considering we
expected Africa to be the roughest living conditions, that we had a western
toilet (we could actually FLUSH the toilet paper), a hot shower (which did
catch on fire one time while I was in it), and a crazy comfortable bed. The weather was amazing - the first cool
place we've been in on the Race - again unexpected in Africa.
 
Our
ministry consisted of various things. We
went to multiple churches and preached (eeekkk), we visited homes (which we
usually came home with a LIVE chicken or turkey from our visits), we went to
orphanages and to schools (where you would be teaching the class and the kids
would raise their hands saying "teacher, teacher..."). This month was great and hard for me at the
same time. It was great to have a
relaxing month, but it was challenging to manage how you spent your time and
also because we didn't really have a chance to know people, except for our
contact. The Lord taught me a lot about
choosing my attitude and being content in Him, no matter the situation. I mean seriously - I'm travelling the world
to talk about my God, who is amazing, who loves me and loves all these people
and who gives hope to the hopeless - what's there to be unhappy about!! J
 
**
We found out that we will be returning to the good ole USA on November 19th. Please begin praying for my re-entry into the
states and that the Lord will speak to me about what I am supposed to be doing
after this adventure! Love all of you!!
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Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 8/13/2011
I first just want to say that I'm sorry I am so bad at writing blogs! I will in the next week hopefully have this blog, one about Kenya and one about Uganda up!
When we were in Thailand we went to visit most of the large temples in Bangkok. It was crazy to see the size of the some of the Buddhas. The reclining Buddha was definitely amazing - it was huge and beautiful. You can look at my pictures on facebook to see more of them. But I cannot stop thinking about the sitting Buddha we visited in Phuket. It's on the top of a mountain in Phuket and you can see it from most places on the island. It's the largest marble sitting Buddha in the world and it doesn't surprise me - it's huge! I'd say that one finger is a good 2 feet taller than I am. When we got up to the Buddha the first thing that we did was pray - we prayed that God would show himself to people and that He would show them that worshipping mute idols gets them nowhere - quickly. As you walk up the stair to get to the base of the buddha are are surrounded by bells that you are supposed to ring to get merit from Buddha. Once you get to the top - you look up and you can't believe how big he is. It truely is amazing.
 But then you look around you. You're on the top of the highest mountains on the island of Phuket. You can see the whole island and the amazing ocean that surrounds it. That's when the Lord spoke to me. He said look behind you - I know that Buddha - he's pretty cool, he's huge, but men made him. I gave the men the ability to even make him. But look around you - the beautiful, plush land, the ocean that is bluer than any ocean you've seen before - the vastness. I was completely in awe of what the Lord created. It's amazing to watch people up there - they go to make their petitions to Buddha - some even buy marbles tiles and write a message to Buddha, but when you look at the people you see that they look at Buddga but they are consumed and can't stop looking the creation of the Lord. God totally trumped Buddha on his own turf - it was unbelievable.
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Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 7/18/2011
So as I was sitting here in Kenya, Africa I realized that I haven't written any blogs about Thailand. First of all Thailand is beautiful, especially where we were. We were on the island of Phuket, which has amazing beaches on every side. Our ministry was very different than any one that we have worked with so far.
We worked with an organization called SHE (Self Help and Empowerment). The mission of SHE is to add women in getting out working in the bars in Patong and other beaches and get them trained to work in hotels or other jobs, while also sharing the love of Christ. There is one road at Patong Beach called Bangla Road. It is maybe a 3rd of a mile long and has over 200 open bars on the street (open bars are bars that you can see from the street. They are basically just bars with stools and there are tons of them and they do not have doors that you have to go into). In each open bar there is about 6 women that work there. These women are mostly from other places in Thailand or Burma. All of these women work in the bars to be sold to men who will pay. The women sell themselves to take care of their families. A lot of them have children or are talking care of their parents. Most of the men in the area are western. It is a very common sight to be walking around and see a very old western man with a very young Thai woman. Our ministry for the month was going down to Bangla Road and going into the bars. When you go into a bar - you get hit on - it doesn't matter if you're a guy or a girl and they bring you a game to play with them. It may be Jenga, Connect Four, this awesome nail game or Jackpot. We would sit in the bars and just hang out with the women, not wanting anything from them. Just to hang out with them, listen to them and to love on them. It was amazing how many women would open up to you and tell you their stories. Most them hated working at the bars - said that the men were bad, but didn't see a way out of it because they had to provide for their families. We were to offer them English classes and if they really hated working at the bar, hotel training. Offer them better ways of life.
It's amazing to go into a place that is so dark and carry the Lord's presence. I could go on and on about the things I saw on that road. Women standing on the side of the road waiting for someone to give them a second look and choose them for the night. Thai men (called Ladyboys) dressed as women longing for the same attention. Children on the street begging you to buy flowers from them, while constantly being watched by the man that owned them. Women wearing next to nothing looking to be seen. Older men sitting at the bar looking completely hopeless. Groups of young men yelling at women as they walked by and considering nothing but meat to be had for the night. Families on vacation. Young western boys being exposed by their parents to girls dancing on bars with poles. The list goes on and on, but I KNOW that the Lord is in that place. His grace covers those people. His goodness is a light for them. And he is sending armies into that place through SHE to bring His light.
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Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 6/19/2011
My Teammates Need
MONEY!!!
We have a deadline coming up July 1st
and as a team we still need about $8,500.
Yes it's a lot, but not to the Lord.
Here are the 3 people on my team that still need funding. Tell your friends - I want them to stay!!!
CADENCE SNYDER
Cadencesnyder.theworldrace.org
Cadence is 23 years old and from
Virginia.
KELLEN GORBETT
Kellengorbett.theworldrace.org
Kellen is 24 years old and from
Nashville, Tennessee.
CHAR MATZ
Charmatz.theworldrace.org
Char is 25 and from Minnesota.
I
love them and I want them to stay - read about them and their journeys on the
race on their blogs. Love them like I do and pray about
supporting them!!
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Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 6/11/2011
TO GET TO THAILAND!!
Nicaragua to Guatemala: 2 pm: 6 hours in a bus to El Salvador, spend the night in a nice hotel at the bus station, 5:30 am 5 hours to Guatemala
4 days in Antigua, Guatemala for debrief (it was beautiful)
Guatemala to Bangkok: 3:30 am: 45 minutes to the airport, 1 hour flight to El Salvador, 6 hour flight to Los Angeles (10 hour layover in LA - thank you Matt for the hang out time), 15 hour over night flight to China, 3 hour flight to Bangkok.
3 days in Bangkok (I LOVE THAI FOOD and now it's obvious we are in a Kingdom)
Bangkok to Phuket: 15 hour overnight bus ride (BEST BUS EVER - had a kick out food rest, leaned back so far and had a blanket - unfortunately the food was unfortunate...)
TOTAL: 53 HOURS
AHHHHHH - Praise Jesus we are here!!
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Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 6/8/2011
ANTHONY CADENA
This is Anthony Cadena. He's 16 years old and was the most joyful kid. He had a smile that goes for ages, which you can see. We were immediately friends. He's so easy going and can understand English pretty well, which is always a plus! :) I used to tell my whole team that I want my son to be exactly like him. He's a punk 16 year old with the sweetest heart and spirit. Although he didn't play too well or often he loved throwing the football. He was always around the church just hanging out. He was baptized 3 years ago and has been seeking the Lord ever since.
On April 19th abut 8 of the youth went to a beach called Corinto. It was our day off and we were in Leon that day. Anthony never got in water - he knew he couldn't swim, but for some reason he did that day. I don't believe the kids had been there long when a number of them were in fear of their lives in the water. Emerson, who I wrote about earlier, was such a brave boy and hero. He pulled a number of the kids out and saved their lives. He had Anthony's hair, but just couldn't hold on. A man from the beach saved Emerson's life. Anthony went missing in the ocean that day. We got the phone call around 1pm and I personally didn't even know what to do with the information. My first thought was "why Anthony?" That night we just went back to church and just prayed and worshiped the Lord. The boys stayed at the beach all night. In Nicaragua it's tradition to stay up all night when a funeral happens, but the girls came back from the beach. I was sitting there journaling and crying and will never forget looking up to see Gema standing in the doorway and her face. I just ran to her and held her. Some of the other girls started trickling in. I just held Gema as we both just mourned for Anthony for hours. It was surreal. It was and is still so unfair. The boys came back from the beach on Wednesday morning and we all just held each other and cried. I will never forget that night. All of the youth came to the church. We had a slideshow of pictures of Anthony. Emerson was screaming Anthony's name and asking why. Abel was crying and praising the Lord at the same time. Cristofer and Gato just looked dazed. We were all messes. Asking the Lord why. Throughout that whole time, the Lord kept speaking life to me and some other teammates. It was crazy. I know I believe in a big God, but I never thought I would be one to really when the time is in front of me believe that God could actually raise the dead. I didn't only believe it. I knew it. I know it with all my heart. I just kept seeing him walking along the beach in his jeans, wife beater and hat with that smile. On Thursday morning around 7:30 we got a phone call that his body had been found on the beach. Such a miracle that was. To find him, with the whole ocean, but just as it says in scripture, the Lord rules the sea. He does! We all piled in the truck, emotions running high. There was anger - I was saying not nice things to the devil to get him out of there. We got to the beach and just waited. The earth under me was shaking. My flesh was telling me that he's dead, but my spirit was speaking such life. It was the weirdest day.
Finally the brought his body back to this side of the water. He was already in his casket. It was so strange to me that he was in the casket and not living. We went straight the funeral home after that. The funeral was sweet. We all just cried more and held each other more. Emerson, Gato and Abel threw themselves on the casket screaming for Anthony. The kids there love each other - they are more than friends. They live life together, support each other and truly love each other. The Lord was still speaking so much life to me. I watched as they lowered Anthony's body into the ground and poured cement over it, still knowing that the Lord is bigger than the grave.
I miss Anthony with everything I am. I love him so much. He was and is such a light for the Lord. Just his smile screams joy. I've since asked the Lord so many times why He was speaking such life to me. Anthony is not walking this earth today, but he still has such life. Life with the Father. Life without the struggles that he had on earth. Life without pain and disappointment. Perfect life. And I also know that the Lord was speaking to life in the community. We had the honor of staying there an extra month. And man oh man did the Lord bring life. There is still sorrow and mourning but so much life too. Andres is back around the church and back where he was, Abel is stepping so much into his leadership, Emerson is seeking the Lord and got his first bible of his own. I still ask the Lord why. Why Anthony? Why did he get the water? Why did he have be so young? But I know that the Lord has a plan and purpose. Anthony's verse was Jeremiah 29:11. The Lord does have a plan and a purpose and he's using Anthony's life in so many ways.
This blog has taken me so long to actually get the guts to write. I just couldn't do it before. I'm still crying now. I just miss him so much. Please pray for New Song in Candelaria and for Anthony's family and friends!
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Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 6/7/2011
Andres... what to say about Andres! God is good - that's one thing. The first couple of weeks that we were in Nicaragua I really only new Andres by name. He was a boy that used to come to church a lot and then got into a little fight with one of the other kids there, his best friend, Anthony, and stopped coming around. I had seen him a couple of times, but not too often. He is 16 years old and was getting into things that 16 year old just shouldn't get into. He lives with his aunt and uncle, his brother and some cousins and has no real authority in his life. He can come and go as he pleases. He has such favor of the Lord though. He is a protector and his a strong boy. He is so little, but it just reminds me of David in the bible. He's little in stature but is so big in heart and character. He is definitely a 16 year old kid but when I would walk with him or be with him he was such a gentleman and would look out for me. He is such a blessing for me and was the hardest for me to leave. I love this kid! so much!
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Posted in General Posts by Clara Copley on 6/7/2011
GATO!! Yes that means cat is Spanish and yes that's his name, well nickname. His real name is Marvin, but everyone calls him Gato because his eyes are green and beautiful and look like a cat's. :) He has the sweetest heart. He has the heart of a servant for sure and he such a gentleman. He has a wonderful family as well that just took me in and love me really really well. Right now he's in a place where he has a lot of questions for the Lord. Pray that those questions get answers for him. Pray that the Lord reveals himself to him fully. Oh man I love this boy so much!
These sweet babies are Tito and David! They are PRECIOUS! Tito is a little mess and kinda violent sometimes. But he violently loves too! I can just remember walking down the street and him running up the street barefoot and without a shirt on to greet me and jump on me. David is his little brother and gets the brunt of a lot of Tito's messness! He is so sweet and shy. But he looks up at you with that little smile and you can't help but melt. Everytime I looked at David I thought about how much he looks like my cousin John did when he was little. They are Gato's cousins and they all live in the same house. There are lots of people in the house and it's just filled with love.
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