what's going on (from stef)

Hello friends!! It’s me, Stefani!! I know, it’s a miracle, I’m writing. :)

I hope this finds all of you well. Kyle and I are doing wonderful here! I’m learning so much everyday and doing my best to apply it to my life. I feel very blessed to be called to live this life. God is good!

There are hard days here, but what I get to take from them are priceless. There are also very joyful days here which I don’t take for granted. I’m learning not to take things for granted: food, water, shelter, electricity, (common things), but even a warm room, a smile from across a room, a pillow to lay your head on at night, the shoes I walk in everyday, the warm water to bathe in, the ability to walk down the street on a beautiful day, having a family who loves me unconditionally and for who I am. Everything I’ve mentioned here is something I truly learned to not take for granted because of something I’ve seen here and I can honestly say I never will again. The people who experience life without these blessings have impacted my life too much to ever forget.

I’m reading the book “The Heart of the Artist” by Rory Noland. If you even slightly consider yourself an artist, this is a must read. Rory simply lays out what we as artists should be pursuing and what God expects and wants our hearts to look like. It has really taught me so much! I am teaching a music discipleship class on Wednesday nights and the class is divided between going through this book and music theory. The Africans are loving it!! It has been a lot of fun for me too. The only problem we had was a shortage of books. They are very expensive and especially to get shipped here. So, I decided to shoot Mr. Noland himself an email telling him the situation and see what he had to offer. After a few emails back and forth he was able to get 15 books donated for our class!!! How cool is that? Praise the Lord. I’m very thankful for Rory.


I’m leading worship 3 times a week. Kyle has been leading with me which I’m so thankful for. He literally picked up the guitar right before we came and got serious about learning it so he could help me and he has become quite the guitarist!! We have two Sunday services and a Wednesday evening service. I have really enjoyed working with the worship team and getting to know them. We rehearse on Thursday evenings and are working on learning several new songs…I teach them some and they teach me too!! I’m starting piano lessons on Thursday and Friday mornings and I have been doing voice lessons with my friend Jadie which I’m really enjoying! During the rest of the week I’m playing for funerals, weddings, or just whatever!! I think I’ve played for 10 funerals and 2 weddings since we’ve been here. I haven’t attended half as many funerals in my life…thank goodness.

This is just a little bit of what is going on here. God is just really stretching me in every direction and molding me into who He wants me to be. I have a long way to go in the process, but I’m thankful to be in it!