Goodbye Blogger

I have decided i prefer my other blog. so this is goodbye.
sigh

cambriamichelle.wordpress.com

I'm back!

Hi friends, family and supporters!

Just wanted to send you and update on my life

God has really been doing lots in my life.

Sorry that I haven’t written in ages, it has been really difficult from the places that I have been.

I spent the last two months traveling throughout the Middle East and studying the Bible and learning things about God i never knew before, and learning about his heart for people.

It has been so SO good! Unfortunately I have had to be really careful with what I have posted or sent on the Internet because it is sensitive in this part of the world, and things are closely monitored. But now I am in Greece and so on with the discussions!

I don’t even know where to begin, I guess at the beginning! Starting just after new years we studied in Egypt for about a month.

We stayed in Cairo for a total of two weeks, and Alexandria for two weeks. We read a book of the Bible every day (or just about) and spent time really getting deep into the Word and who God is. For me He really brought me through a lot of His character. It was a really good time; God was (and still is) doing a lot in me. I have been struggling through a lot, thinking a lot, reflecting, and through it God has been teaching me really important things i need to continue on this track and make a difference in the world.

I really had a hard time not doing as much ministry in Egypt. I see now that being away from it and just focusing on God and His Word was what exactly what I needed to remind me why I am here doing this program. That God has put a passion in me for people, and during my time in Egypt and Israel, I saw that passion in me rise up, and now I am more ready than ever to get out there and love and serve His children that He loves.

In Egypt we went into a place called Garbage City, where all the trash from Cairo goes to and peoples entire lives are based around sorting through the trash. They literally live amongst all the garbage. It was so heartbreaking, yet at the same time the people were amazing. I played ball with a kid for a bit, and he just seemed so content. It never ceases to amaze me how people can live in the worst situations and yet still have joy. And something that I have come to see is that I have just as much to learn from them as i have to teach them. If not more. This life excites me!



After the month in Egypt we got on a bus and went to Israel. Getting over the border was absolutely ridiculous; it literally took us two hours.

But once we got into Israel, I quickly fell in love with it.

It was incredible, and early on I felt that God had a lot to teach me about Himself and the work of His Son in that land.

I struggled a lot at the beginning. I didnt know what to make of all of it. I had so many questions I needed answered. We were still studying the Bible at this point, and also going into Jerusalem and Bethlehem and seeing the sights. It all seemed so extravagent and complicated, and it was too much to take in. All the conflict and pain, all the religions, all the people living together yet in their own complex worlds. AHH. I knew there had to come a point where God broke my heart, because of all places in the world, this was the place I felt Him most. Yet there was this resistence in me. Because of all these questions….

Then.

We had a prayer session in Jerusalem at the International House of Prayer ON the Mount of Olives, and God was faithful to encounter me in that place. We signed up for a 12 hour prayer time, from 8 pm to 8 am. I didnt know when in that time I would want to stop, I had no agenda, I just started praying at 8….and kept praying. At about 2 am i was super tired, and I decided to go to sleep, so i went downstairs to find a bed. I was just getting ready to sleep when my friend came and asked me to come back because her and a few others wanted to pray for me. So i did, and my life shifted. I dont know how to explain it, so i will keep it simple. Through my friends prayers He showed me that I am beautiful and precious to Him, despite what I have always believed. And that in order to love people like He wants me to, I have to first learn to love and accept myself, so I can stop being so selfish. And so since then I have been on a journey to discover what that means. My friend Lindsay got a word for me that He wants to reveal His love to me through Song of Solomon, so I have been reading that as much as possible. And God has been faithful to reveal. Every day I am more and more amazed at His faithfulness, and love, and every day I feel joy in knowing that I am my beloved’s and He is mine. And because of this joy i want to scream it out and love everyone because He loves them, and well, it all just makes sense now. Thanks Jesus.



So yeah, through all of this, God has been changing me in incredible ways.

We left Israel, spent some time in Turkey, and now I am in Greece. I am still learning and growing, and it is exciting. We are finishing up our time here soon, and then next thing you know I will be starting a whole new part of track with a whole new set of things to learn from God and a whole new set of places to discover and love God’s beautiful wonderful people.

So to wrap things up, I am coming to accept is that even if this moment in my life feels dry, God is doing something bigger. Even if we aren’t doing missions work every day, that in the long run God wants to do something bigger. He wants to mold me and form me into who He wants me to be, and He wants to open all of our eyes to His love for the world and His faithfulness. It is incredible. He wants to reach the world through us. So even if I feel discouraged about my lack of action, I know that He is working things out in His own way and I can trust in that. It is awesome.

Blessings to all of you.

<3 Cambria

p.s. I am going to post this on both my blogs, cambriamichelle.blogspot.com and cambriamichelle.wordpress.com.

I am still trying to decide which i want to keep, since i made this for my time in sensitive countries i dont necessarily need it anymore, but wordpress is growing on me.

I have also discovered i am not so good at posting blogs, so id like to start sending e-mail updates weekly if possible, so if you would like to recieve those, post a comment with your e-mail address!

if you have questions feel free to e-mail me

cmfinzel@gmail.com

The last for a while.

This is the last post before my new blog.

This is important. Read AT LEAST the bold italicized paragraphs of this blog before entering my new blog.

I MEAN IT.
for good measure i wont put the link til the end. HA.
---------------------------

Greetings from Colorado.

Hello everyone!

How are you?

I hope very well!

And happy new year!

This blog is going to sum up my life in the last few months since my last update, and it will bring you up to date with what God has been doing in my life.

I left South Africa December 17^th after an amazing stretch of trials, growth, and learning. I am currently in Colorado for the holidays, but I leave January 4^th to fly back into the world of missions, starting in Cairo, Egypt.

South Africa was a place that I came to love very quickly. The culture is fascinating, and I came to love the town of Muizenberg where I lived. It was a cute little community with so much beauty and so much culture. Parts of this town were very wealthy by South African standards, and felt very westernized which helped me feel at home. But then other parts of the community were very poor and dangerous. About 10 minutes walk from my house was a township called Capricorn. Capricorn is the remnants of displaced living from the Apartheid, and so it is essentially shacks set up very close to eachother where people who cant afford normal housing live. It is a dangerous place, with much crime and gang violence.

My team did most of our ministry there. The set up of our days were generally the same every week. Monday thru Friday we had class from 9am- noon, and then the rest of the day was set aside for photo assignments and ministry.

We involved ourselves in ministries with a local high school tutoring, doing Bible studies, holding prayer vigils, and teaching photography to young kids all in the township of Capricorn. God really gave us all a heart for this township being that it was very close to home (literally) and there was much sadness, crime, and poverty there. What is awesome is the Bible studies which seemed to be the biggest ministry of ours, are still going on after we left! There are friends of ours who are as committed as we were to seeing a change come to Capricorn through a common love of Jesus Christ. While we were there, I really did feel a shift in the overall feeling of the area as God was doing His work.

It was a blessing to be in South Africa, and I learned so much about social injustices in the form of prejudice, violence, and judgement. It was very strange seeing the separation of the whites from the others in the area, as many whites feel fear around the colored and black people (yes there is a difference between colored people and black people and yes it is politically correct to call them that in SA, look it up) of the community, and so they generally avoid them as much as possible. It is so strange to see neighbors treating eachother in that way.

I learned quickly that I wanted to see if I could bring these people together, and so I befriended people of every race in the community of Muizenberg. I like to think that when people see a white person interacting with people not of their color, it makes them think twice. That is the sort of influence that needs to be raised in South Africa.

I also made a point to just do ministry by getting to know the people in the town of Muizenberg. From the black waiter at the local pizza place, to the colored owner of a small coffee shop, to a white manager at a restaraunt, I found the most joy getting to know the people in the community and minster to them by being a walking example of love.

Now for the sake of keeping this blog shorter than I have been known to keep them in the past, I will tell you about what the coming months of my life will look like.

First and foremost, I have to make it absolutely clear that I will not be able to communicate normally in the coming months. In Egypt we have to take special care not to draw attention to our ministry, and so the YWAM leaders there have asked us not to use facebook at all, use limited e-mail, and only communicate via blog that is made out to be for tourism. Since Egypt is such a muslim country, they do not want any foreign missionaries there at all. So I will be making a new blog to use during my time in Egypt, Israel, and Palestine specifically. I will post the link on this blog, as well as key words I will use in my new blog so you know what I mean.

As far as ministry, I am not entirely sure what we will be involved in yet, as we haven’t been able to communicate with the people in Egypt about it a lot. I do know that we are going to have some learning time in Biblical studies, and we will study the Bible on location! What an incredible opportunity!!

I look forward to seeing how God uses me in Egypt and what ministry he will allow me to be involved in.

So from now on please keep up to date with me on my other blog

Know that I wont be able to post any more photos while im in Egypt and probably Israel too. I wont be e-mailing unless I am sure it is a secure connection and people are being cautious. That means you!

Cambriamichelle.wordpress.com- DO NOT OPEN UNTIL YOU HAVE READ WHAT IS IN BOLD!! please!

And here is the key for the way I will speak:

God- My father

YWAM- the Y

Ministry (opportunities)- touristy things, touring with, touring opportunity

Missionary- traveler

WHAT IM DOING- my journey/ my travels

Ie: I wanna be a full time traveler and so I am setting out on a great touring opportunity with my father and a great traveling family I met at the Y in Egypt.

Meaning: I want to be a missionary and so I am involved in ministry alongside the Lord and a missionary family I met at YWAM in Egypt.

Haha. Get it?

Now for good measure!

Photos from South Africa!

Ncobile, sweet woman I stayed with and did a photo story on

Kids in White River, South Africa

Capricorn Park, South Africa

I WILL MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU FOREVER SOUTH AFRICA!

Here is my new blog:

Cambriamichelle.wordpress.com- DO NOT GO THERE UNTIL YOU READ at least WHAT IS BOLD IN THIS BLOG

:)

I. Love. South. Africa.

Life.

Greetings from South Africa!!

Before I forget…I want to update everyone on Dear Panama…I want you
all to know that we haven’t just forgotten about it. We didn’t just
leaving Panama having done our part and feeling good about ourselves.
Our hearts are still very much in Panama with those children and with
Matt and Misty and their ministry. We are keeping in touch with them
and supporting them in prayer. They are very busy at the time with
their new job in the government building, but they are still working
on getting the book published and passed out. I will keep you updated
when I know more.

As for my life here…
It is interesting. I have talked about the contrasts here…haven’t I?
It is very peculiar. You walk down the street and see rich white
people and poor black people not so much as exchanging glances…it is
sorta unnerving. I often feel on edge and strange. I get begged for
food or money on a daily basis, something I have learned to turn my
cheek to and ignore. How should I feel about that? I mean, really, I
wish I could give to every hungry kid, every desperate mother, every
ashamed father. But I cannot, it just is not realistic, is it? It
breaks my heart little by little. Because I know God loves each and
every one of them.
So in that way, it is oppressive being here.
Rich, poor.
Black, white.
Smiles, scowls.
Tears, laughter.
Danger, safety.
Every day I see them all, its like a warm and cold wind hitting me in
the face simultaneously, which is an ironic metaphor considering its
windy here all the time anyhow.

So really I love it and I hate it here. I love the warm. I hate the
cold. I hate the warm. I love the cold. It is all so confusing.

Anyhoo. I am done trying to explain myself in a poetic way. It is not happening.
So I will get on with it.

A day in my life besides all that. I wake up, eat breakfast, and go to
class in the living room of the beautiful house we have been blessed
to live in. We start the day of worshipping or praying together...or
both. Then we learn, about photography, and the culture of South
Africa, about God’s heart for the people of the world.

Then we have lunch and the rest of the day is ours for ministry. This
is all pretty general….there is a lot more to my life…but this is the
easiest way to explain it, because frankly I am jumping at the
opportunity for simplicity right now.

Every Monday evening we have a prayer vigil in the local township
Capricorn. This place is about a 10 minute walk away. Oh I feel
another poetic streak coming on…

It is insane. I walk out my door and see huge (by African standards)
houses everywhere, with large gates and fences, guarded by spikes,
barbed wire, electric fencing. I walk by a high school. I walk by a
park. It all looks pretty normal (minus the security). Then I cross a
main road. I see a cemetery. I walk past it, and I see a shopping
center. A McDonalds. A grocery store, some quaint shops. I walk past
those…and there it is. Endless houses stacked on top of each other.
Tin roofs, trash littered in every gutter. Children in filthy and torn
clothes, shivering against the setting sun. Boys with harsh looks, way
too mature for their age. The danger sends shivers up my spine,
and poverty stings my nostrils. I cannot show this of course. I act
normal, confident. I smile at the children as if this lifestyle is
totally normal. This is the Africa I remember.

I don’t judge them, I love them. I don’t assume they are unhappy or
dangerous, I assume the best of them. It is the things that I have
heard that run through my mind. The prejudices that are still left
over from the Apartheid that only ended a mere 15 years ago.

Its the old white woman that stops me on the way to Capricorn to ask
me if I know where I am going, and that its dangerous. She would never
come within 100 meters of a township. EVER. It just isn’t possible for
her. Because of how she has been raised.

It’s the boy who begs me for
bread. He is so hungry, he tells me. I could just get him a hot
chocolate? he asks.

It’s the young concerned mother who tells me to keep my money tucked
away somewhere safe. That this isn’t America.

It is the tiny child who clutches to me and tells me not the walk home
from Capricorn after dark, it is not safe. Just stay here with him
tonight, keep him warm. Oh how I wish I could.

It is when they ask me for something, anything to make their lives a
little better. I feel helpless. But at the very least I can pray.

Our prayer vigils have been amazing. A chance to meet people in
Capricorn, to pray for them. To open up our arms and raise up prayers
to the God that loves us so much that he would send His only Son to
die for us. That He would pour out His love and mercy in this place.
That His love would spread like the air stirred by a butterfly’s wing,
picking up speed and momentum until everyone in Capricorn could feel
and know His love, and from there all of South African would cry out
His Holy Name.

It has been a blessing to pray for Capricorn.

As far as other ministries. A man named Clinton has lived in South
Africa all his life and is from Capricorn. He lives in Muizenberg now
and is actually dating a girl who was on my DTS. She came here for
outreach instead of Panama with a whole group from my DTS, and so she
and Clinton have continued on Bible studies started during the
outreach phase. There are Bible studies every day of the week, and
many people eager in Capricorn to join in. They have great turn out.
There are so many that want to join in that they need more leaders. My
friend Kristin and I are looking into starting our own Bible study or
some other sort of ministry in Capricorn twice a week. Even if it
doesn’t become official many of us love to go into the township during
the week to meet people and hear their stories, ministering to them
when God prompts us. That at the moment makes the entire experience
worth it. Meeting the people that God loves very much.

There are other ministry opportunites at the highschool and in an
orphanage that I may get involved in. My leader Steve is also looking
into other ways to plug in.

We have been learning about empowering people through our photography. I believe it is valid to believe this is possible. People who are marginalized have a lost a sense of being. The DO life, they exist, but they dont live. Thrive. They have lost purpose. People in Capricorn often ask me to take their photo. I have learned that they want it because when they see their photo, it proves they are a person who is real. They exist, and they are living. All I must do is care for them, love them, tell them that God loves them. This is this ministry track is about. Using our photography to empower people. Show them they have real VALUE. More on this later....

I would appreciate prayer that God would show me what ministries to
get involved in for the rest of my stay here in beautiful Cape Town.
That he would show me where He wants to use me, and that I would be
open to it and I would thrive in His plan and His love.

Thank you for your love, support, prayers.

I am thinking of home and missing it often.
And you too.

<3>

Working on it.

Hey guys! Greetings from South Africa! I am so sorry I am AWFUL about blogging these days (not that i have ever been good at it)

Internet is just stinking expensive and out of my way, and things have been really busy between ministry and school.

Still working on getting involved with more ministry opportunities, and I will update as soon as I can about all of that!

Thank you to everyone who has given to me financially, I am getting closer and closer to having all my funds for the next 3 months!! Praise God!

And of course thank you for continually praying for me as I continue on this spiritual, emotional, and physical journey!

I love and miss you all!!

<3 Cambria

Internet Cafe.

It is so interesting sitting a little internet cafe in south africa. I am surrounded by people speaking who knows how many languages. The girl to my left, German (not gonna lie, its entertaining trying to understand her, i sorta can!). The girl to my left, english. The dude behind me, Afrikaans.

I love this place. It is so fascinating. It is dangerous, yet I have found comfort. It is beautiful, but there is so much underlying ugliness (traveling apparently has made my english worse). It is rich, but yet SO poor. There are tons of blacks, and tons of whites. There are beautiful smells, and there are awful smells. And on and on.

It is really incredible what this place does to my senses.

Tomorrow I start track officially. I will need all the prayers I can get. I am so excited and so nervous all at the same time. I have already been presented with numerous ministry opportunities I cannot wait for! There is a township nearby (Capricorn) where we will hold bible studies, and mentor young girls. I would love to lead a childrens Bible study too, and teach art. Pray that God uses me in ways I never expected in Capricorn. That he provides a means for us to disciple in new ways.

As of now I have managed to raise 1700 dollars, HOW incredible! Thank you to anyone who is reading who gave! God is good!

And thank you 0f course for all of prayers, it really means the world to me. Every day I wake up encouraged knowing there are people out there thinking of me and holding me up in prayer.

I must go now, im racking up the Rand on this computer.
Will update again soon!

Love,
Cambria