Mississippi.

29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12: 29-31

Harvest School 21 is officially over. 31 nations have graduated and been sent out into the rest of the world to spread the love and power of God and everything they have received from there time in Africa.

It has been such a huge honor to have been apart of the last 4 Harvest Schools! Creating amazing relationships and seeing God transform lives in front of me, are memories I will never be able to replace. I can not even comprehend the amount I have learned from being apart of the Harvest School staff.

Now I am in Downtown Jackson, Mississippi with a ministry and family called We Will Go Ministries (http://wewillgo.org/). I have been given the amazing opportunity to co-lead the Harvest School team with one of my favorite fellow Harvest School Staffers. 

Just to give you an idea of how the outreach has been going. Not an hour after I got off the plane and discovered my luggage hadn't arrived, I was headed to a church service held in a little pavilion behind one the the houses owned by the ministry. After 35 hours of just air time, maybe 4 hours of sleep, and feeling like it was running in the middle of the night because of jet lag, I'm not gonna lie church was the last place I wanted to be. Despite my feelings the service was amazing and afterward we all shared a meal with the neighbors and everyone else who came that day. 

Within the following days as the rest of our team arrives, jet lag slowly disappears, and we all get settled in we discover that this place has the hand of God resting on it like no other place I have been before. It is really difficult to even write the things that happen here on a daily bases because I feel I wouldn't be giving God justice in my mere words.  

In short, we found out that the Sunday I had arrived, A DJ and manager in one of the darkest strip clubs in the Jackson area, had attended the very service I could hardly stay awake in. Not only had he attended, but he received Christ into His heart! This was a man who worked in all kinds of illegal and corrupt buisness, who was vial, who on a nightly bases lead people into sin, and carried no conviction. He was at that very church service receiving Jesus as his Lord and Saviour!!  Then on the following tuesday night the owner of  a chain of strip clubs came to Bible study. As most of the longterm missionaries here in Jackson would say, "you just can't make this stuff up!"  This is just some of the fruits of this place. Some of the fruits of Amy and David Lancaster saying yes to whatever and not relenting on people who are cast off as "to far gone."

We Will Go is a living breathing example of Isaiah 6:8 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" 

Over the last week here my team and I have experienced the real tangible love of God. We have met so many people, heard so many of their stories, and witnessed the heart of God for His people. People who have nothing in the midsts of a country that "has everything," people who have never seen real freedom in a country that is a "free nations," people who have never been heard and are finally given a voice. It has been so amazing to me to be able to just sit down with these men and women, who are no different from you or I, who deserved hell just as I did, hear their stories and just listen. No agenda. We just listened and were amazed at how loved and receptive of that love, they are by just being heard. 

Our time has mostly been spent running to and from projects and following different Staff around in their daily activities doing whatever we can to help. It is a lot, but as a visitor not as hectic as some of our days in Pemba.  My favorite part has been seeing the different programs, but not feeling like you are in the midsts of a program because of how relational and intentional everyone who works here is. 

One of my favorite places is at a YMCA Building that was given to the We Will Go Community for a $1.00 a year for three years! No I didn't miss a decimal place. They have transformed this old building into a 3 day a week youth center where kids ages 5-17 can come and recieve help with homework, be discipled, play games, and get a snack for free. There is also a basketball court for the 18 and uppers to come and play games from 3-5pm Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is beautiful how the staff love the kids so well and handle some really tough situations and see grown men recieve prayer and healing in their bodies!

We do a lot of prayer walking and blessing the neighborhood while here. Today we got visit with a woman named Meghan, who used to live as a longterm missionary here at we will go, but also grew up in this town. The house she had grown up in as a small child is not, but a 5 minute drive from base. After moving to a bigger house when she was 13 her dad had rented out the original house to an elderly lady who lived there until she was unable to take care of herself. 

Once the neighborhood started to decline and become more and more dangerous to live in the house was broken into and became useless and abandoned. Meghan gets married and God begins to show her plans of restoring her inheritance in this town. One day, God, on a prayer drive through town, God directs Meghan back to her old house and she begins to pray for restoration of the old house.  Not to long after that day her dad agrees to inherit her the house and God begins to reveal to her and her husband exactly what He has in store for there new home that they plan to move into as soon God opens the door. It will be called "inheritance House." As a Harvest School team we are given Tent stakes that have been prayed over for 

months by a team of intercessors in TN before they are brought to Africa to be Sent out with the Students to all the nations we go to for outreach!  Today as we were walking through and blessing the ground and walls of this house we felt it was the perfect place to plant a stack. A proclamation of What God was saying. That by a native Mississippian taking back the land of her inheritance God was going to restore not only her family and the house, but the entire neighborhood. They will be a safe haven for all who come into their reach. 

  Cornelia, my co-leader had a dream a few nights earlier of planting a stake underneath one of the abandoned, destroyed houses in the neighborhood. This seemed like a perfect opportunity so in the rain we crawled under the House and planted our first of 2 stakes.    

Some of you are wondering what is next for me. Well If you hear anything let me know. Only joking, sort of. I am still in a lot of prayer about what is next. God has told me my time for now has Harvest School Staff is finished. 

It will be an important time for me to focus on my relationships in this season especially one very important that I have had to fight not to neglect.

On the 21st of December my mom and both my sisters are driving down to Mississippi to visit We Will Go and pick me up. Then on the 24th we will all head to Atlanta to visit my extended family for Christmas. And My intentional pursuer, Nathan, will be flying in from England on the 26th and spend two weeks with me in America for the first time! We will be in Georgia and Tennessee. This is a huge step for us so please keep us in your prayers! 

After Nathan leaves to go back to England, on the 12th of January, I will be heading to Mexico on the 20th with a crazy fiery team of Harvest School staff and alumni. To visit David Hogan, a man who lives by a measure of faith that is not comprehendible to me and most people I know.  It will be an amazing opportunity to learn from some of my heroes in life.  I will be in Mexico in a small village outside of Tampico for 10 days. Finally I will return to my beautiful town of Franklin, Tennessee where I will rest and wait on the Lord for His divine direction!

And that my friends will bring you up to date! I am so expectant of this coming week and the things God still has waiting for me and my team. Please pray for my friends and family here at We Will Go and remember sometimes the mission field is your family or next door neighbour. 

Thank you to those who have been constant in your prayers for me and for those who continue to support me financially. Money is a thing of this world that is a constant faith grower especially for a missionary. 

If you feel lead to support me financially I have a donate button on the top left hand side of my blog page that is linked to my Paypal account. Or you can email me at Rachaels7@gmail.com for other options!

If you feel lead to support me prayerfully just email me there are so many ways I could use prayer!

Thank you all so Much and Happy Holidays! May He who is worthy recieve all the Glory!

Blessings,

Rachael Michelle