Africa:

In my time here I have eaten more cabbage and carbs then I ever have before. I have been called sister and mamma and auntie and madame and many other renditions of my name... My favorite being Caroline. I have seen different stars and experienced different climate. I have sang songs in different languages ( most of which I had no idea what I was saying) and I attended different churches full of singing and dancing. I have met so many new people and have made friends for life. I have grown and struggled and cried (a lot). I have experienced new bugs and creatures and I have seen wild animals up close and personal. I have walked for miles and miles and I have sweat more than I thought was possible. I have taken more taxis then I ever have before and I really can't wait to drive my own car! I have taken my fair share of bucket showers, and have attempted to do my laundry by hand and sometimes my clothes even feel clean. I have eaten new foods and as many fresh mangos as my heart desires. I have been called "mzungu" (white) by little kids as I pass by and it fills me with joy. I have seen hard things and amazing things. I have been changed by my time here and thank God for this beautiful place and the beautiful people who have welcomed me and loved me. My favorite moments here are early mornings when the house is quite and still and I go and sit outside where the air hasn't yet reached 100 degree temperatures and I drink coffee and enjoy Gods creation. And my favorite is when I am joined by little two year old Lumba, he comes and finds me in "my spot" and we just sit there in silence because both of are still trying to waking up. I love nights here when the power is out and the house is too hot to be in so we go and sit under the sky full of hundreds of stars and we talk and laugh and sing and count how many shooting stars we see. I love playing with the sweet little boys here who love to play with me hair and sit on my lap and jump on my back and take hundreds of pictures on my phone who love to play with my "down down down" aka my water bottle. These are the moments I will miss the most about Zambia, Africa. It has been a hard place and a good place for me, I don't think its a secret to anyone that I have struggled in my time here but I would not trade my time here for anything. I came and lived a dream that has been in my heart for more than four years and in my time of being here I have learned more about love and grace and the world then I would ever have at home. But now it is my time to return home, but I can not thank all of you enough for praying for me and thinking of me and checking in on me, these things have carried me through. I would ask for your continued prayers as I travel home in two weeks, to join my family for Christmas! You all are such blessing to me and I can't wait to see you all soon. 

Karlie 

The past couple weeks I have been very blessed, after being the only girl student on my YWAM base and the only American, God sent me 8 Americans and 7 of them are girls! It is a group from The World Race that have been traveling for 10 months and this is there last and final month. I can not being to express how much of a blessing they have been to me. They have adopted me into their group from the very start and have loved on me and prayed for me and laughed with me and eaten way to much ice cream with me. 

This past weeks I have been able to go out and do ministry with them and I don't think my heart has never been so full. It was the moment I had been waiting for. As we walked the streets we were greeted by so many sweet kids. That was the moment this little girl ran toward me, hugged me so tight, and looked up at me with her big brown eyes. I grabbed her hand and she said nothing but I was so captivated by that moment and how simple the love of Jesus is and how simple that little girl showed it to me. As we went to different homes and just talked with people and loved on people and prayed with people my joy only grew. 

I am thankful for Gods timing even when I so eagerly want something, I have learned time and time again he is an on time God. 

I have been so blessed by this group of people they have encouraged me and challenged me to be better. I am thankful for the goodness he poured out upon them and the sense of adventure. So thank you World Racers for coming to us and blessing YWAM Livingstone you have made a mark on this place and on my heart. 

In this past week I was reminded of one of my favorite Bibles verses John 13. As Jesus is  talking with his disciples and washing their feet they have so many questions and he simple states “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.””

‭‭I love this verse because I have experienced it in my own life time after time, in the midst of life I do not realize what Jesus is doing I don't know where he is planting seeds or where he may be furthering his Kingdom or where he is working in my own life, until I look back at the season and I have those ah ha moments where I can point and say "that time was so hard but God was working." Sometimes I even laugh at the goodness of God when it felt like everything was crazy or not making sense in life it's when he is doing something and he is sitting there saying to me "Karlie, you do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand" 

So I am not some great theologian and I am not perfect in my understanding of God or the Bible, but frankly no one is. This is my little two cents of the week. God knows, he is always working and always moving in us whether we see it or not. 

I Asked God

     I asked God to give me trust without borders. I asked him to send me, to lead me where he wanted me. I asked him to say "GO" and I would go. And so I went, I took the leap. And as I have been here I feel like I have lacked. I started to put marks on where I thought I should be spiritually and mentally. I started to limit myself and limit God. But I felt God reveling to me that he is not marking where I am at and I shouldn't either.

    Before this realization I stopped updating people. I didn't want to write about my struggle with homesickness and culture shock and not understand what God was doing in my life. I was hesitant to be real. I don't know why we have this thing as humans that makes us want to portray that our lives are perfect. I was feeling like I only wanted to update people if I had amazing things to say. But today I was reminded by my Dad and his good friend Oswald Chambers that " The things Jesus did were the most menial of everyday tasks." So some of my days are spent doing the most menial of tasks like doing the dishes or cleaning the bathrooms, but that is okay.

    And this is the most recent lesson I have learned. I have learned that leaving home and doing ministry is not meant to be easy it's not meant to be comfortable and I have experienced that discomfort, but I have also experienced God working in me and pushing me to be better. For me it took coming to Africa to realize so many things in my life. I have realized it's okay to share with all of you every step of my journey the good and the hard and that you will love me anyway and you want to hear from me anyway. So thank you all for your love and your support and your prayers and here is my first step in getting better about being real with all of you. And lastly I am so glad that I prayed for God to send me and that he sent me. 

Karlie 

Short Update: Moving Across the World

Moving across the World is something I can't quite describe. It is hard, it challenges me each and everyday, I am learning to be vulnerable with God and with people and I am clinging to Gods love. I am the only girl here at my school, and also the only American so I am doing my best to fit it. I would ask for your prayers and your love, as this transition is harder than I expected it to be. I appreciate all the Birthday wishes they made my day!! Thank you for all the love you are sending me, I can not get enough love and prayers so thank you for going to God on my behave. 

Love you all,

Karlie  

Africa, 

Sorry everyone that it has taking me so long to update you all. It has been crazy transitioning to African life as I am sure you can imagine! All my travels went well, only moments of stress trying to navigate by myself through foreign airports, but thank you all for your prayers on that because I made it safe and sound! 

I posted a couple pictures of the base and the people that I am staying with here, they are all wonderful people and I have already been very blessed by them. I will tell you though that it is quite the transition moving from American to Africa and it has not come without some tears and homesickness and lots of prayers for guidance and strength. So please continue to pray for me and with me through this amazing journey I am on. 

Zambia is very hot and dry, but the last 3 days we have been blessed with rain so praise God for that. I am still adjusting and learning new things everyday about culture and time and food and slow internet (or no internet). So I am taking what I can get and I am happy with couple times I have gotten to connect :) 

School starts this Monday for me, and again I know many of you are praying but I will take all that I can get. So pray for this school and this country and these people.  Thank you for sending prayers before me and for continuing to pray and think about me. You all bless me so much and I hope to bless this place. I love you all! 

God Bless

Here we go!

This will be my way of connecting with all of you while I am in Africa. I firmly believe that God has wrecked me in order for me to be able to be ready for this amazing adventure in my life. Feel free to follow My journey and my thoughts.
Just a couple days until I leave...
Today I allowed myself to cry about the unknown. In just a few short days I will be leaving for a new adventure in the new place far far away from home. There is excitement, there is joy, there is sadness, but the only way that's perfect to describe it is bittersweet. I don't know how to prepare to not see my family and my friends and my home. But what I do know is that God has prepared a way and that he has gone before. He has given me a love for a place that I've never been in giving me a heart for people that I have never even met. He's placed me in an area perfect to spread my wings and to start a new adventure. For so long I've hated goodbyes and I've been really bad at them but I have also loved goodbyes because I feel like it's a chance for you to say everything that you've always wanted to say and for people to express how they really feel. Something that is not so common in this world that we live in, being real and true with people and saying just exactly what you wanted to say are moments we let pass us by. We are nervous about what the response will be and how people will feel about what we have just said but what would happen if we just said what we always wanted to say? I felt like I have gotten that opportunity lately to thank you all and to say what I want to say. I have been overwhelmed by the amount of love and support I have received from all of you. I am truly blessed by your prayers and your thoughts and your time to see me and say goodbye.  I am lucky to have people in my life that make saying goodbye so hard. So thank you to those who have laughed with me and cried with me and encouraged me in this adventure in my life but most of all thank you for dreaming big with me and believing in me. Your thoughts and notes and time and prayers mean more to me than you can know. I would ask that you continue to pray not only for me but for Zambia for the people I will encounter and the places I will visit, and pray for my family and that this time away from each other is good and quick for my parents! Thank you all again for your love and support and prayers, you have also prepared a way for me.

Karlie Roberts