Get out the boat...

As the plane lands in Jackson, Mississippi I feel relived to be here after 24 hours of travelling. Wanting to get my luggage quickly so I can get into bed became a priority while I processed where I was. I had questions going around my head, ‘What am I going to experience?’ ‘What does this place look like in daylight?’ ‘God did you see those battered, rundown houses next to those beautiful done up houses?’ 

Stepping into the unknown my two-week adventure with ‘We Will Go Ministries’ had begun. 

As I awoke in this foreign land the want to get started straight away was stirring up in me. I came to be quiet and learn, and my hunger to learn was great. I looked out the window while eating my breakfast, taking in my surroundings. The birds were singing so loudly, landing all around the houses to eat the food that had been left for them. They were beautiful colours, blending in well with the bright colourful flowers that had been planted.

 I smiled.

 I liked it. 

Our friend Bonnie was soon round with our schedule for this next week and we got ready to go.
It didn’t take long before I came to the realization that this place is a miracle. Amy and David Lancaster have been ministering in downtown Jackson for nearly 11 years now with one objective. ‘Love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbour’. Through them loving on their neighbours they have seen miracle after miracle in peoples lives, in the city and in their ministry. So much so that the weekend I got in Amy and David were in Washington DC receiving a reward from the FBI for reducing crime in their area! They have been given so much by God it is hard not to stand in the midst of it all and not see that God has preformed a miracle. The feeling of God’s peace in a city that is full of gun crime is a miracle, beauty in the midst of ashes was a miracle, and houses’ getting restored is a miracle. It is all mind blowing and that’s what God did to me while I was there, He blew my mind!

The area reminded me of Pemba, Mozambique. The roads were in awful shape, with big pot holes in the middle of them. Kids are running the street. The spiritual battles were the same, which I experienced day one with our car breaking down for no reason. Education isn’t top quality. Healthy food is overly expensive and in all of that, relying on God was the only option. So in the midst of the crazy, is the one true God bringing the peace and the beauty. Which makes that place incredible. 

Part of my two weeks there included listening to the missionaries testimonies. They had about an hour to pray with us, tell us their stories and hear a little about us. Each time I was hit with God’s goodness and reminded once again about how much He loves. It is incredible how much you learn by just sitting and listening. 

I sat and listened to a lady who had worked in strip clubs for much of her adult life, not only as a stripper but also as a manager. Her testimony is one that shakes everything that needs to be shaken and I could write for pages going into detail. However she already has and its been made into a book. Moving mountains with each page the book talks about how a group from ‘We Will Go’ went weekly to her strip club just to minister and shine the light of Jesus. They never gave up on her and showed her relentless love. One day she decided to leave. She knew that if she would stay she would get killed. She has got closer and closer to Jesus, reading the bible daily and letting Him minister deep in her. She is a witness that Jesus is the only way! Seriously the only way. Not one person leaves a job like that for people. Jesus has changed her life, her husband’s life and her children’s lives. 

God did so much in me while I was there, as I said, He blew my mind. He brought back a passion I have for overseas missions, a passion that I had unknowingly pushed deep down out of fear due to the difficulties. He healed me from pain that came from seeing true poverty, corruption, great sickness and even death while living among it. He healed me and built me up ready to go for it again. 

This time Mississippi. 

There is great excitement in me to go and love on the people in Jackson through God. However there is also great excitement to continue learning what love looks like. 

So here I go again. Time to get out the boat and time to see more of His splendor. It is an honour to be part of His divine plans for me and an honour to love the ones He puts in front of me. 


We will go from ruth Alexander on Vimeo.

New Chapter....

So I have started my new chapter, whatever that means. I have landed back on UK soil and have started a time of my life that isn't about all about Pemba. I am no longer a missionary to a foreign nation and I am no longer responsible for so many people. 5 weeks in and I feel like I have done so much, yet so little. I feel like I should be on my way to conquering this new season, yet focusing on divine rest. I have nearly finished my postnatal/non-medical maternity nurse course that I started on in mid-January. I have two practical days the last weekend in February and then my tutor can look at my work, give notes, I make it better and then...done. Then I am trained and start a career as a maternity nurse.

Do I just do that? Do I go to university? Do I rather keep nannying and have a full time job with the same people? Where do I live? So many questions...

Yet I hear His voice...'One step at a time my love, It doesn't all have to get done in a day'. 

The pressure gets less and I learn to have peace in the daily adventures and in the not knowing.

I have managed to get myself a temporary nanny job for the next three weeks to help me until I am trained. I am loving working again, being challenged and learning daily. Making new friends and work contacts, building on my CV and living the 'London life'.

I am still processing everything that happened in Pemba, as well as the sadness of saying goodbye. Not being able to see my babies grow daily, or conquering the world as medical marvels. I know I can only do this through rest and time with my Lord, which I know God will provide as He does with all my other needs.

'One step at a time my love.'

I know this is only the beginning and with that knowledge, I am excited.

Pray for me as I try and write my findings as best as I can during this course, which will allow me to step into new territories. That I hear God as He leads and I find the rest I need to process all.

Thank you for your endless support and prayers during my 4 1/2 years away. I couldn't have done any of it without your cheering on and kind words.

Thank you

Into the new...

So for those who don't know, I am back in the UK!!

I said my farewells last wednesday and made my journey to my new home, my new adventure for the new year.

I have so far been accepted into the maternity nurse course (postnatal carer). This is a six week course that will teach me about how to care for newborns, sleep training, how to care for the new mothers and general first aid skills that I would need. I am very excited about this and the potentials of a career that this can lead to.

I am however still processing my last few years and thinking about my future. Do I want to go to university? Do I want to start a full time career in maternity nursing? Where do I want to live?

So many questions.

Prayers would be appreciated during this transition onto my new season. Leaving behind my Pemba family is not easy but I know where God is leading me and with that I am excited about what God will do with my little life.

If anyone would like me to come talk at their church or home group about Pemba and Iris then please do email me. I would love to share about my experiences and what God has done and is dong in that place.

So many stories, experiences, adventures, laughs, tears, hugs, sick children, new children, death, new life, bamboo huts, floods, termites, heat, running, stopping, learning and pure beauty.

Never to be forgotten.

I had a dream....

I had a dream from ruth Alexander on Vimeo.

Surrendering all...again

I got the honour of house sitting for this Christian couple who have built an amazing house and retired here. Their house is located on one of the best beaches, has great security and someone to do the washing up!

I breathed.

I relaxed

I smiled

I wasn’t in survival mode for just a moment. I was able to sleep without fear, without mosquitoes, without stress. I turned off the phone and got away. It was bliss.


I thought of my kids every moment of those five days I was away, but I knew they were in good hands. I surrendered all to God and let Him bless me. It was so easy!

I thought back to my surgery. That moment they were putting me to sleep and God took me to the song ‘I surrender all’ as I tried to ignore the fear. A moment I needed healing for afterwards. A moment I felt puzzled about and asked the common question ‘where were you God?’

I surrendered all in the moment and it went wrong. It didn’t go according to my plan I had made and told God all about. I had made a little box for God to go in and asked Him to colour in the lines. He didn’t. He didn’t go near the box I tried to put Him in. I didn’t follow Jesus’ example of surrendering all and walking to that cross…Jesus didn’t make a box but followed His father willingly.

Still so much to learn.

However when I laid down in the hammock outside this huge beach house, watching a mother and baby whale swim by, doing tricks and bringing a lot of attention to themselves. I once again find myself saying those three little words that hold meaning. ‘I surrender all.’

With surrendering all it means following Him where He leads. It means adventures, extreme joy, extreme heartache, dreaming big and falling more and more in Love with my Saviour.

He is on the move, so I am too.

God is closing the chapter of me living In Pemba. He is leading me to England for a new adventure there. What will I do there? I am still not sure. Maybe working full time, maybe education or maybe ministry.

I do know that when I get back in January (date still unknown as ticket still not booked) that I will go on a 6-week maternity nurse course and then hopefully get an 8-week job after that. Beyond that will be a surprise.

My time in Pemba has been one I will never forget. I am so pleased I did it, living the dream with amazing people along side me. My Pemba family will forever be close in my heart and I look forward to future visits and adventures around the world with many of my friends.

I look forward to watching my babies grow up and dreaming big for them. Seeing them walk into their destiny and not letting any limitations hold them back from what God has for them.

I know I will always be learning lessons from Pemba. My time has been a blessing and I know Pemba will forever be blessing those who step foot on the red dirt soil.

But for now…I will be concentrating on ‘finishing well’ here and continue to be training up my Mozambican friends with all the childcare skills I know. I want to teach anyone who wants to listen about our Saviour, knowing any seed I sow while I’m here will grow. It will be a busy season but I want to finish this part of the race as well as I can.

Prayers in this transition period would be appreciated, as they are much needed! There are many details that need to be sorted out. Also a big thank you to everyone who has supported me during my 4 1/2 years here. Couldn't have done it without you all! 

So all you UK folks out there…Get ready!!! I’m coming!!! Stay posted for more details.

Learning as an 'Akuna'....AKA a foreigner

So this week I managed to single handedly flood a small part of a village. I have to now pass through a village every day to get to the other base where I work. Each day I see a piece of land that no one was using and I always wondered why there wasn’t a house there. One day I decided to use that piece of land to turn around in a car I was using and got stuck in mud very quickly. Unknown to me there was a burst water pipe underground which has made the ground very soft. The car being stuck in the ground then made a great hole for the water to spurt from. This could then not be fixed for a few days. Therefore I did not make eye contact with the villagers for those few days. I am sure I wasn’t in their good books. But I learnt….I will now not be questioning why land was not being used. I am sure there is a good reason.

I have learnt the rules for the road here…use your horn to communicate; it is not just used as a form of aggression. Everyone but you has the right of way. Motorbikes will and do come from all angles, so if your car has side mirrors…use them! The roads generally do not fit two cars so if you see a car coming towards you, get out the way quickly because as I have said…everyone else has the right of way.

I have learnt that the British dry sense of humor gets lost and can often offend unless you are talking with a local who knows you well. Do not try and be funny to a stranger. Especially those in authority over you, like the police or immigration. This will not break the ice. Just no. Don’t do it. Believe me!

I have learnt the language (mostly) that is spoken here. The Portuguese is not really Portuguese you would hear anywhere else in the world. It is mostly pigeon Portuguese, which to me is perfect. I find learning languages really hard to learn. But my local friends here have been very patient with me, and still are.

I have learnt that long leggings are a big no no. Very un-cool. But you can wear bright pink and orange together, chequers and stripes and winter hats in 40-degree weather. Every lady has a handbag and that bag holds respect. No one is to look in that bag but her. If you need something from that bag she will be the one to get it, however close friends you are!

I have learnt that music from years ago is very big and is played all through the night. ‘I found a love in a hopeless place’ is everyone’s favorite. Closely followed by ‘shine bright like a diamond’. However I feel that anyone else in the world but me, knows what new music is a hit right now.

I have learnt not to take running water, electricity and a fridge of food for granted. That crazy stuff can and does happen, but God is always there with you in it so never fear.

I have learnt how to be ok with not knowing the latest trends and tv shows. I have learnt to be ok with eating the same meal 5 nights in a row. I have learnt about living and working in a community, when to open my doors and when to have boundaries. I have learnt how to live with nothing but trusting for needs to be met. I have learnt that in an atmosphere of worship, even those with deaf ears will feel the attraction to draw near into His presence..

This place has changed me for the good, has given me perspective and made me much more secure in myself. This place has made my relationship with God bigger and greater. I learnt that the big God I believe will be there for others, is there for me too. That He makes blind eyes see and deaf ears hear in the natural and the spiritual.

This is place is a great place of learning, particularly because I am a foreigner. However that is something I shouldn’t take for granted, but to use it to go low and slow, to humble myself and forever be in that place of learning.

This place is a gift and it is an honor to be here for such a time as this.

Coffee break...

I am sitting here horribly sleep deprived after looking after our youngest baby of 2 ½ months this last week, due to him having a bad stomach bug. I just dropped him back at the baby house. My dress that was once cute and looked amazing on my sister when it belonged to her, is now very ragged and torn from 4 months of being here. My hair is a mess and all I want is a coffee. I am sitting in a delightful restaurant that is facing the beautiful Indian Ocean trying to just ‘take a moment’. The waiters are nowhere to be seen and I’m not sure if I can stay awake long enough before I get my coffee. My wallet is basically empty and living month to month makes moments like this rare. But the sleep deprived self in me somehow got me here. Village kids are playing /fighting on the beach in front of me. It is the school holidays here right now but one can’t tell if this is a normal everyday event for them. They are waiting for the fisherman to come in to present their daily catch. They help pull in the boat and watch as the fisherman shows what his morning of work has produced.

I sigh. I love my life.

As I was rocking Natanael through out the night this last week, as he was suffering from bad stomach cramps I thought about how I am living my dream. I always wanted to help children in need. Take in babies that have no one and to see a community rise up in knowing who they are in God. I prayed over him during the days and nights, not only for him to get well but also for his future. I prayed for purity and faithfulness and that he would walk in what God has for him as he really was chosen. God saved his life and He wouldn’t just leave him after that. God has plans for him.

What an honour to be part of that miracle! I oversee 21 children, plus training up 14 educators who work in the houses with the kids. I have seen personal miracles in each one of their lives and it’s amazing!

My coffee arrives; it is slightly spilt so I get a nice coffee mug ring on my dress to go with everything else. I don’t care. I sip my coffee as I watch tourists come back to shore after snorkeling this morning. A must for anyone who comes to Pemba. This really is a beautiful country.

In this last month I have lost so much. The bamboo hut Rahab ministries runs in, which was the safe place our girls used to come to each week for an evening off. The land Rahab’s new building would have been, my house and the certainty of being able to live here. The government is starting to control the amount of foreigners that come to live in Pemba as it is starting to get very packed. However that includes missionaries. To live here means you have to fight your corner, show your qualifications and argue that what you are doing here really is helping.

           

Temptation to just pack up and leave sets in.

I started to think. I would only really have enough for a flight to South Africa. Maybe I should go there? But I couldn’t afford to stay there, but I can’t afford to stay here either but that hasn’t stopped me the last four years. What do I want my life to look like? I am almost 30 and that scares me.

Then I remember…I am living the dream God gave me.

I remember those miracles I have witnessed and excited to see the many more we are contending for. Through the hard times and the good times. It was time to focus on the reward...time to focus on Jesus. 

My friends, after years of going to the courts and countless meetings with their lawyers have finally legally adopted their little girl here. She is now six but they have known her since she was days old. She fits into their family so well. She is just like both of them in so many ways. She was set apart just for them.

In all the busyness of dealing with everything that has been going on, it was a breath of fresh air for our community here. A day of celebration.

They had a dream and they never gave up. They prayed and fasted and walked through it all, and they won. They could have given up and gone home to live an easier life. But they kept going and fighting for their child.

What an amazing testimony it is. I love adoption; God speaks so much through it. A reminder that we are adopted even though we have messed up so much. God never gives up on us and we should walk in that identity every day.

Well my coffee cup is empty and I think it’s now time to go home and sleep for the next 24 hours. Thankful to be able to ‘take a moment’ and be reminded once again that I can’t do this, be He can, so we will.

Excited for the miracles that will come tomorrow.