Here's whats been going on lately...

My most recent adventure was taken with 3 of my great friends to go visit our friend Heather whom we met in Ghana this past summer. Heather lives in Blacksburg, Va. Heather has an incredible story and I'd love to share it sometime with you, but not right now. Ha. We had an incredible weekend filled with kayaking, climbing, exploring, seeing beautiful cascades, and having some great conversations...I'm so thankful for good friends...
My birthday was also celebrated with a surprise visit from my sister and one of my best friends, Clint!! They showed up for Wesley worship and then we ate dinner at a mexican restaurant (figures) and then had some students come over for a night of apples to apples and peppermint patty's... :)
Clint and I went to Nashville for my birthday weekend. We got to be "extras" for the movie, "Blue Like Jazz" and dressed in choir robes and all. Haha. That was great. We also got to catch up with some friends like Erica Cain, Joe Chen, Josh Boren and Autumn Essary. I love how the Lord continues to bind us all together with his love. Also, Clint and I got to see Brooke Fraser from the second row, which was amazing. We've had this tradition to go see a concert on my birthday for quite a while now and I am really thankful for such a wonderful friend...
We took the DSU Wesley Foundation students on a fall break rafting trip to the Ocoee. It was such an amazing trip. We got to participate in a high ropes day where we rock climbed, zip lined and jumped off of a big swing. We also went white water rafting....this trip is so good because the students really grow closer to each other and the Lord...

I Miss You, Adjua Brunya

Adjua (Heckel) Brunya is one of the children at Rafiki Orphanage. Two years ago when I went to Africa for the first time, she was one of the 6 children who were at Rafiki. She was so cute; short and had a round tummy from lack of food. Now, she has grown and is 7 years old. She's still short and almost comes up to my shoulders. She's beautiful. I made a lot of connections with children, but she and I have something special. We began to understand each other through lack of language barriers. She's been learning English for about 3 years now so we can communicate, but there is still a barrier. She has the most gorgeous eyes that I have ever seen and when she laughs her whole body shakes. Her laugh is deep and you wouldn't expect it to sound the way it does, but she loves to laugh. Adjua is one of the oldest at Rafiki and she carries out a lot of responsibilities. She helps the mothers to wash clothes and she is in charge of cleaning the dishes after every meal. She takes care of the children and also helps to discipline them when they need it. I definitely do not know what it is like to have a child, but I imagine the love that I feel for Adjua and I know that it is a special love. I miss her deeply. Sometimes my heart aches for her, but I do know that I will be spending time with her, Lord willing, in about 7 months. I can not wait to see our relationship grow and our love deepen. Please pray with me for Adjua. I pray that she grows up knowing the Lord and longing for him. I pray that she remains healthy and that she can continue to lead the children with strength and laughter and love....

Your (My) Story Matters

Don't you just sometimes wonder, "is there more to this life than what I am living?" I have so many dreams right now. Dreams that could be summarized by saying, "I wanna change the world." But how do you do that? How does one person accomplish that? And maybe it isn't the fact that one person accomplishes it but rather, if each person knew the importance of their story than we all could change the world just one person living their story amongst millions of others living their stories.

I've seen places where hope seems lost and I've met faces where there is still joy. I've seen laughter in places where there are cries for peace. I've found comfort within broken concrete walls and I've taken hands that are full of scars that are full of hope longing to know truth. How can I show these people hope? With skin dark as night and eyes white as snow, I've held orphans longing for a simple touch of freedom and family. I've dressed the seeping wounds of orphans who live in captivity and slavery. These stories full of heartbreak and joy need to be shown some hope. We can be that hope by sharing the story of Christ to them.

In about 9 months, a friend and I am going to move to Ghana, Africa and live with orphans and be their family. I am going to live with them for 15 months and I am going to run a sponsorship program called Rafiki Friends to connect them with families in America so that we can raise support for them. I am going to help teach them about the ultimate story and how their stories matter. I'm going to build real lasting relationships with these children. There are 17 children: Abella, Adjoa, Kekelli, Justina, Deborah, Dorkas, Mebel, Etchu, Atchu, Junior, Ammisa, Laticia, Denisa, Efua, MaryAnna, Hakeim, and Emmanuel. And then there is me: Katie Heckel. A 23 year old "poor" college graduate, guitar playing, music writing, singing Mississippi girl who wants to change the world by loving on one child at a time. Every child deserves the chance to dream and have a story, right?

I would love to learn more about living in my story by going to the Donald Miller Conference in Portland. I've always admired the way Donald Miller writes and think it would be an amazing opportunity to learn from him...especially for this upcoming adventure that I am about to go on.

"Now that I have seen, I am RESPONSIBLE. Faith without deeds is dead. Now that I have held you in my own arms, I can not let go till you are."--Brooke Fraser

Living a Better Story Blog Contest from Donald Miller on Vimeo.

Malaria, Malaria

I tell you what, I've never been so sick before in my life. Thankfully, i've been getting better, but for a while, I was pretty miserable and the Lord has opened my eyes to others in places where malaria exists and I wonder what we can do about it. Can you imagine being in an environment where you sleep in the dust on the floor of a compound or mud hut where scorpions and spiders crawl across your legs in the middle of the night and know of nothing more? What about living in this environment, but not having a family. This environment where there is always a constant heat and for only 2 months of the year there is rain and a breath of fresh air. What about being in this environment and catching malaria. At one moment, your body temperature drops down to 95 degrees and there is uncontrollable shaking and shivering. Your body becomes cold and numb. And then the next moment, your temperature sky rockets and becomes 103.4 creating a terrible headache and causing you to vomit. Then your body starts sweating profusely and your temperature goes back down and then you are left exhausted. Imagine going through that cycle over and over and over again. Well, I did, but I had these cycles in the comfort of my home in Oxford where I could adjust the air to what I needed, I could take showers/baths whatever time I wanted, I had access to health care and medicine, I had the loving arms of my mother around me, the willingness of my father to bring me gaterade and slushies, and I had the comfort of friends encouraging me.

But imagine going through that in another place. I imagine the children who have no one to comfort them during these cycles. My brother, Clint had malaria in Africa two years ago and that fact really haunted him. Out of all of our teams that have gone to africa, 4 people have had malaria.

Malaria is a disease caused by the blood parasite Plasmodium, which is transmitted by mosquitoes. Malaria, from the Medieval Italian words mala aria or “bad air,” causes 350 million to 500 million illnesses per year and kills more than one million people – mostly children under the age of five.

Malaria is particularly devastating in Africa, where it is a leading killer of children. In fact, there are 10 new cases of malaria every second. Every 30 seconds, a child in Africa dies from a malaria infection.

Malaria is also the number one killer of refugees in Africa.

Malaria is Both Preventable and Treatable...

Is there something we can do about this? I pray that the Lord gives us opportunities to do something about this now that we know. Now that we've heard and been through, we've got no excuse. I've got no excuse.

Thank You Elzmerelda Robotica for taking us on the road!!

I have really exciting news!
I am going back to Ghana!!! Yeah!!!!

I just got back from a music tour with Matthew Clark. You should check out his blog entry at: www.matthewclark.net

We had a really great time. I'll tell you about the places and the people that we visited...

1. Louisville, MS
We started out at Matthew's home church in Louisville, MS and had a really great time. The people were really sweet and I believe it was really special for Matthew to be there. We shared stories with them and sang songs. Before we left for the tour, Matthew and I decided that we would be playing mostly new songs this time (instead of the songs on our cd's...we love those songs, but we wanted to test the new songs out...)

We stayed with his parents and enjoyed spending time with them. Mrs. Susan is now a professional sudoku player and that makes me happy. Haha.

2. Memphis, Tn
We definitely enjoyed our time in Memphis with our dear friends. We played at Abbye and Jeff Pates house and had such a great time eating watermelon, fellowshiping with old and new friends, and Matthew and I played songs and shared stories. It felt really good to be there with people we love talking about Jesus and how we all belong in His story.

We stayed with the Karel's that night and the next day. We had such a great time hanging out with Michael, Paayton, and Bradley. They made us feel very welcomed and at home. We also cooked a really good Indian meal on that Tuesday night, which was delicious...it also took us 3 hours to make...haha.

3. Nashville, TN
What a great time we had hear. We stayed with Ms. Sherytha Scaife who is an old family friend of ours. She welcomed us in to her house with loving arms and we definitely appreciated it. The first night we were there we played at LaRawn's house where it was good to socialize with people and tell them stories. Matthew and I also learned a lot from that house concert...The next day, we played barbies, sang and danced...Oh, did you think Matthew and I played barbies? Oh well, we did, but we played with this little 5 year old girl who was so cute. We built puzzles too. :)

Matthew set us up to play at a homeless ministry in downtown Nashville and I really enjoyed it. We got to help be a part of a night where the staff fed the homeless men and women, provided stories and music, skit and speaker. Matthew and I played music for that and we even got to tag-team and speak. It was really encouraging and felt good. There is something about serving people that makes me feel so connected with our Father.

After that, we were so blessed to be able to hang out with some of the staff: Krystin and Charla and some others. They were so wonderful and we went with them to have our first taste of bubble tea? It is interesting indeed. :) We appreciate you, Charla and all the others for your hospitality and love.

That night we got to hang out with our friends Jenny and Tyler Somers from the group 'Jenny & Tyler'. If you've never heard of them, you should check out their music: http://jennyandtylermusic.com/

They shared with us new songs and we shared new songs with them and then we ended the night sitting in their living room singing hymns and praising Jesus. It was really a refreshing time and we are thankful for that night.

4. Greensboro/Durham, North Carolina
So the Lord had our plans in His hands the whole time. Even when I was frustrated with why we couldn't get places to play, He knew why. This weekend was one of the times. One of my dear friends needed me and thank goodness we had time because I got to go to her. Also, Matthew didn't mind so much because my friend lives in Durham and Matthew's girlfriend lives in Greensboro so I got to go take care of my friend and Matthew and his girlfriend, Katie Spaan got to have time together, which was so good for them.

Durham consisted of a really good time with one of my best friends, sharing stories, crying together, asking the Lord questions, getting manicures and pedicures, eating at the Melting Pot, exploring rivers and hiking, and watching old movies....It was soo good. After 3 days of Durham, I drove back to Greensboro to pick my brother, Matthew up. It was so good to see him with Katie. Katie has a really sweet spirit about her and I could really feel the spirit in her when we were together. She is really beautiful and both of them are really blessed to be in each other's lives.

We shared music together: Katie, Matthew, Katie's friend Rachel and I. We also shared stories of Africa and such...The next day, Matthew and I went to Katie's work and had lunch with her and then we had to leave. It was a really good time.

5. Knoxville, TN
Matthew and I drove to Knoxville that day. It was so good to have the time in the car with my brother. We talked about a lot of things, sang songs, read the book: Redeeming Love, and just laughed. :) It is good to be silly sometimes. Oh, and Elzmerelda Robotica took us all over the place. (Our GPS).

We went to a church that Matthew and Brian played at on their October Tour in Knoxville. It was good to see a familiar face there: Adrianne Rodgers. She's wonderful. We ate potluck and Matthew and I played for about an hour and a half. It was really good to share stories and sing songs with them. I feel really encouraged that the body of Christ is coming together and participating in the Lord's work together....

That night, I had a terrible stomach ache. Thats all I can say about that. Ha. :)

The next night we led music for a youth group. We started out with 4 of our original songs and then we lead 4 worship songs. I haven't heard a youth group that loud in a long time. They loved worshiping together and that was really awesome.

We stayed with Adrianne for a couple of nights and we are so thankful for our time with her. She is wonderful. Also, we can't forget about Brusels who is just as awesome...muhahaha.

6. Wilmore, KY
The drive to Kentucky was beautiful and dangerous. Ha. I passed several signs that said: Blasting Site. Turn off cellular phones. I've never seen those signs before so that was hilarious. There was one blasting site that we had to wait for about 20 minutes for them to clear...

We were welcomed very warmly to Wilmore, KY by Nathan and Caroline Phillips. I knew Nathan and Caroline from Mississippi State. Nathan was the Ass. Director under Hugh Griffith, where I was an intern. It was really wonderful to see both of them again. I love them a lot. We played music at JD Walt's house. JD is the chaplain at Asbury Seminary. He was such a nice, kind guy and their family was very welcoming. We had a good time playing music for their neighborhood friends and some students. JD even showed off some of his skills and that was fun as well. :) We also met some new friends and really enjoyed our time with them.

That night, Matthew and I were up eating strawberries and Matthew was saying how he missed Katie and wished he could see her. Well, "lets go" I said. Matthew was like, "really?" And I was like, "yes, really." (I wanted you to hear our dialogue. Haha) So then it was decided. We would drive back to Greensboro, NC for a day and a half so that we could see Katie. :)

7. Greensboro, NC
The trip was gorgeous. The valleys and mountains were beautiful. The old barns were incredible. I really enjoyed that drive. As we drove, Matthew planned how he was going to surprise Katie. It was so cute and really thoughtful. Rachel helped us plan how we were going to surprise her. We went to Wal-Mart and Matthew got her flowers and a card. We showed up at the restaurant that Rachel said that they would be at and they were on the outside deck so we had to be really sneaky to get to her without her seeing us, but it worked without a hitch. Katie Spaan was so surprised and thankful and it was really sweet. Rachel and I let them have their date and we went and had ours. Rachel is so sweet and has a very gentle spirit as well. We enjoyed talking and we were later joined by Matthew and Katie.

The next day, I spent a lot of time at a park that was really beautiful. I played my guitar, talked on the phone, and spent time with Jesus. Later, we went out to eat with Katie's mom and had a really good time. That night we played music at a church right outside of Greensboro. The Lord was teaching us there and Matthew and I enjoyed singing songs and worshiping our God. That night, we went out with some of the students at that church and enjoyed breakfast food at Waffle House. They even made choc. milk the right way!! ;)

Later that night, Matthew read some from Redeeming Love and Katie read from the bible. We ended the night with prayer and that was really special. I felt really lifted up by them.

8. Decatur, AL
Very excited about this trip!!! Went to see Erica Cain and her family. She set up a concert outside in a pavilion and that was a lot of fun. It was good to see old friends and meet new ones. Thank the Lord for community. I don't know where we would be without it.

We got to spend an extra day in Decatur and it was so good to rest. Matthew and I spent a lot of time on the Cain's front porch talking about the Lord and His beauty reflected in nature, we ate lunch at a really good restaurant, got a watermelon (yum), took naps, ate dinner with the Cain's, and then read some more on the porch...it was so good.

9. Enterprise, AL
Our last stop on the tour was Enterprise, AL. We played for a youth group and that was really fun. We played an acoustic set of worship songs and then played some originals and ended with "In Christ Alone." We hung out with the youth at McDonald's afterwards and that was really fun. They were a great group of kids.

We stayed with Matthew's mom, Mrs. Susan's roommate from college. She was wonderful. She loves antiques so her house was filled with them.

We had a wonderful time. I was reflecting on it today and really feel that the Lord blesses us with people in our lives. He places certain individuals in our lives for specific reasons and others for simply love. I was so blessed by some of the conversations that I had with Matthew and others and feel really challenged and loved in a lot of ways. It was a great tour and Matthew and I have learned a lot and also feel that two cd's will be in the making later this year....

wahoo!!!!!!!!

Pictures from Ghana :)

This is the new group at Rafiki and the DSU and MSU group together....












This is the group that was there two years ago when Clint and I and the rest of our team from MSU first came to Rafiki







Captured moment: Hanging out on the porch at Rafiki with the kids...










This is our classroom where we taught math and english. We also made visors and played with plato. It was wonderful.











(Left)
This is my families compassion child, Ebenezer Amoo. He is amazing, so sweet, shy, and after meeting him, my life will never be the same. I encourage all of you, if you are a sponsor for compassion, you should go on a trip to meet your child...it will change your life. :)
(Right) This is Clint and his little fella, Abella, who adores Clint.

"2 Weeks and we all can feel a calling"

The delta state group came together with the msu group and had an amazing time in Ghana...

(sorry i'm a little late at blogging...but consider this a taste of africa tardiness--ha)

"OH THE PLANE RIDE"
6 of us DSU people left from Memphis on May 11th and headed towards Amsterdam, but because of the volcano's ash that errupted in Ireland (?), the plane was late arriving. Had the plane left on time, we would have had a 2 hour layover to make our connecting flight to Accra, but the plane was 3 hours late so we had a total of 6 minutes to get from one gate to another...luckily, the Lord must have held that plane because we did it and we were on our way. We met up with Sarah, who was from Virgina, and finally our team was ready for Accra...

"FINALLY ACCRA"
We arrived in Accra May 12th at 7:30 p.m; however, our luggage did not arrive. We figured that would happen though since we had to literally run to the correct gate leaving for Accra...I was traveling with some students who have never been to Africa before, and one student, Chessie, says, "i even imagined Africa to smell like this..." She has believed that the Lord placed this continent on her heart when she was a child so she was really excited to finally be arriving...

"WINNABA"
The next day we woke up and had to get accustomed to "Africa time" fast. (That seems like an oxymoron statement: africa time and fast that is...ha). As the students would tell you, Africa's time is must different then America's time. To them, time really doesn't exist. As part of their culture, tardiness does not exist. When you make a plan, you don't have to stick to the time they tell you...this takes a lot of time to get used to because here in America we are used to being on time and that tardiness is not acceptable. We went to Winnaba, which was a town about an hour away from Accra to meet up with the boys from MSU. We were welcomed with some delicious coconut...the guy even climbed about 4 stories up this palm tree to cut the coconut down with his machetti. Wow. That was a sight to see...That day we joined the guys to play with the children on the beach...it was a good first day...

"WORSHIP AS ONE"
Something I loved about what we did each night while we were there as a team was we worshiped together. We had time for people to share what was going on in their hearts and then we praised the Lord and then we usually closed in prayer. I believe that time united our teams together. I was so humbled by peoples honesty. I praise the Lord for that. It was a time where we encouraged, challenged and loved one another...

"KAFUI AND HEATHER"
We did some work in Accra, but our hearts were aching to go to Rafiki Orphanage. I believe Micah shared about Kafui and Heather. To meet them and hear about what Heather is doing for Kafui completely shook my world. Heather is 22 and while we were there, she was fighting for Kafui's freedom and had decided that she was going to adopt her. Heather is not a believer, yet she is pouring out love and compassion to this child who has lash marks on her back from "so called believers." I can not even begin to fathom what Kafui's view of the church must be. Even though Kafui has a dark story, she has innocence in her eyes and a heart that is full of joy. Heather is beautiful and has really challenged me in my faith. We got a good amount of time to share with each other about our lives and to encourage each other and I will be forever grateful for that time.

"COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL"
While we were there, I got the opportunity to visit the child that I sponsor named Ebenezer Amoo. He lives in a village called Mankessum, which happens to be a village that our team two years ago got to go and work at. We visited schools, churches, and did a medical mission there. Clint was able to go with me to meet Ebenezer, which I am very grateful for. He photographed the whole visit and got to be there to participate in the warm and gracious welcome that we received from that village. Mathias drove us and when we arrived, there was a reception where people greeted us and informed Clint and I about the village and how Compassion began there. In this compassion branch, there are 265 children who have sponsors, but we were the first to visit so it was a really big deal. You could tell how appreciative and grateful they were. One of the men even said they wanted to name a building after the "Heckel's", but since it already had a name, they would put up a plaque instead. After the reception, Clint and I got to go to Ebenezer's school. We pulled in and realized that this was the school that we had visited two years ago. How special is that? We walked out of the car and immediately heard, "El bruni, el bruni", which means "white person." Ha.

Ebenezer's school pavalion had a whole lot of children in it...probably around 200. We made eye contact and smiled, but he was so shy at first. He came up to meet me and my translater informed me that they had told him I was coming a week ago. He also told me that Ebenzer had been so excited and couldn't sleep the night before. We took some pictures, but then a dust/rain storm moved in so we had to move to the school office. There, Clint talked with Lydia, the compassion tour representative about Compassion, and the translator and I talked with Ebenzer. He was so sweet and precious. Later, we got in the car and Ebenezer sat in Clint's lap. I believe the moment my heart sank was when Ebenezer took my hand and placed it in his. I can not even begin to tell you what my heart felt at that moment. We arrived at Ebenezer's house, which he lived in a one room compound. I met his grandmother and his sister and we were able to present him and his family with the gifts that I had brought over from America that my family had helped pick out. They were so appreciative and this definitely was a life changing experience for me... On May 17th, 2010, my brother, Ebenezer Amoo came into my life and in to the lives of my family...not that he wasn't a part of my life before then, but now it is so much more real...

I am so thankful for that opportunity...

"RAFIKI ORPHANAGE"
The teams packed their bags and we headed off to Winnaba to live at Rafiki Orphanage for the rest of our stay. Wow. Those 7 days were amazing. We spent time playing with the children, teaching them math and english, doing arts and crafts, singing songs, and just holding them...

I was encouraged with what Jesus did with the children when He told them to come to him in Matthew. It says, "Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people,but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." And he laid his hands on them and went away.

There were times when we got discouraged because we were not teaching them with words about Jesus because of the language barrier, but then the Lord reminded us how Jesus loved on the children...he didn't begin to preach to them, but instead he touched them and laid his hands on them. Love needs no language. I often try to think back to the people in my life during my childhood and remember what they "taught" me. But for some reason I can not remember the things they taught me, rather, I remember the times they played and loved me. One day, these children will remember the bruni's that came from America to spend their summers with them...they will remember the times that we made them laugh and play. I pray that they ask further questions and relate the purpose of our trip to Jesus. We pray that these children at Rafiki will remember us and that the Lord will gain glory through this act of service because we know that the Lord doesn't need us, but allows us to be a part of His kingdom building.

"Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead. Now that I have held you in my own arms, I can not let go till you are." -Brook Frasier

"BACK IN AMERICA"
We've been back in America for over 2 weeks now and my heart is still pounding with "what to do next." The question that lingers on in my heart is: it is so important to take care of orphans and by placing them in Rafiki Orphanage they are being rescued from captivity and that is so important, but is placing them in an orphanage all we are supposed to do or are we to place them in to our own families????

"FUTURE WORK"
I've been praying to the Lord a lot, and will continue to pray, but doors might be opening for Clint and I to go back in a year and work at Rafiki for 15 months...This would be amazing and challenging at the same time... We are going to be working on sponsorship opportunities for people to sponsor children at Rafiki as well as opportunities for churches to partner with Rafiki...

Thank you for your prayers and support.
We will continue to pray for Clint, Adam, Derek and Micah as they continue to be the hands and feet of Christ to the people in Ghana. We pray for their strength. We pray for their courage. We pray for their ability to teach. And we pray that they will continue to see and feel the Lord in powerful ways while serving with Him...

1 John 2: 6 says, "Those who claim to live in Him must walk as Jesus did."

Ochiababa,
Katie Heckel
:)