Posted in General Articles by Jennifer Fancy on 5/28/2008
Where are we?
We are staying in a hostel. It is located in Panama City.
What have we been doing?
Taking a 16 hr bus ride to Panama City, getting in contact with our ministry opportunities, experiencing the city and praying for the people.
What are we doing?
Tomorrow some of us are going to a prison to preform a drama, sing, and share with the prisoners. After we will be spending some time with the pastor and the church that usually does this ministry.
For the weekend Kari and I will be joining team less. We will be helping with a youth camp for children at risk ages 14 to 18. Then our team will be moving into an orphanage on Monday. We will be doing a variety of things in the morning, aids clinics etc. and in the afternoons we will be spending time helping in any way and playing with the children at the orphanage.
Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts!!
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever."
Psalms 136
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Posted in General Articles by Jennifer Fancy on 5/21/2008
A recap of our time in Costa Rica, thanks to my beautiful, amazing squadmate, Cameron:
Our first four days were spent in Bambu, living at a YWAM base and helping with construction projects in the area. Each day was different, but the most remarkable day was the day we helped load bags of cement and supplies into US Army helicopters for the building of a bridge which would bring medical access to a remote village. We worked alongside Costa Ricans, Peace Corps workers, American missionaries, and men (and one woman) of the US Army. (unfortunately the US Army wouldn't allow a Canadian, or other civilians, in the helicopters without government permission. Darn.)
Our next three days were spent in Margarita, where we ministered to Pastor Wilbert and his family by gathering gourds ("The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few…") and participating in nightly church services. Pastor Wilbert has a huge heart for the people of his village, and though we had no translator and could only communicate through broken Spanish and his broken English, we were blessed to meet him and be a part of his life for a few days.
The last four days of our trip we spent in Manzanillo, a beach town with a high tourist population and Pastor Jose, from Panama. Pastor Jose's family lives in Panama, where he has lived for most of his life and planted many churches, and he has lived the past two years alone in Manzanillo building up the town's sole church. We lived with Pastor Jose and helped him with the construction of a children's building, and were blessed by rest on the beach and a hike through the rainforest (see Cam's virtual video rainforest tour below!).
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Posted in General Articles by Jennifer Fancy on 5/7/2008
I am a few minutes away from leaving San Jose
to head south, to an indigenous reservation near Puerto Viejo, Costa
Rica. Eight of us will head down together to help build a new home for
a family, begin work on a children's area at a church, dig a well, and
whatever other work or teaching is needed. A few of us will also go
from there into Panama to begin set up and make ministry contacts for
later this summer. I am so excited to have this opportunity to live
among the Costa Ricans, to love on them and learn from them!
Please
be in prayer for Aaron, Brandon, Cameron, Christie, Jackie, Krystle, Lindsey and me as well as for the people we will meet over these
next 11 days!
Thanks!!
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Posted in PRAYER by Jennifer Fancy on 4/29/2008
is a blog written by one of my team members (Jeanette Wheeler). I
wanted to ask you to participate and express our love for the men of
all ages and generations
A couple of weeks ago I was fasting and the Lord clearly asked me to pray and fast again.
"Pray and fast for the men of all ages and generations"
Within those few brief moments God revealed to me a real burden, concern, respect and love for my brothers in Christ.
The
whole vision then began to unfold…A call for all women of all ages and
from all generations to rally together for a day of fasting, repentance
and interceding for the boys and men in our lives, in others' lives,
and in the world. Men are created to be Godly strongholds, pillars and
towers for their families and for future generations around the world. Some men today walk boldly in this call on their lives. Others need to learn how to do this; they are capable - they just need encouragement and empowerment.
The
Lord showed me that for far too long, men have received attacks - on
their character, on their intentions, on their actions or lack thereof. Then the Lord shared with me how we as women can positively influence this to make change. We are to enter into their world with encouraging, uplifting and interceding words and actions.
Beyond
prayer, I was asked to repent (ask forgiveness) on behalf of how I and
generations of women have thought about, disrespected and treated men
in our lives. Any thought, frustration, attitude and word that wasn't
uplifting or edifying to them I was to ask forgiveness for. As
the first step I asked forgiveness from the men of the September 07 and
January 08 squad. This time brought encouraging verbal affirmation on
the impact that this call of obedience is going to bring.
Along with interceding and repentance, fasting was the last part of the process. I believe that fasting brings the cry of one's heart to a closer intimacy and urgency to the Lord. It can be a fast of food, things, events, etc.
The day that was chosen is Wednesday, April 30th…the last day in April.
Join me for a day of impact: impacting men's' lives, our lives and therefore the world!!!
The
vision that the Lord showed me was that this needs to spread like wild
fire. The more women that are praying…the greater the interceding…the
greater the change…the greater the impact. Please join us on this day. Send this message to women all over the world…even send them this blog.
I believe that God is calling thousands of women to participate on this day!
A few things that are laid on my heart for us to intercede for our brothers about:
-Godly
men to come along side each other - covenant brothers that will love,
challenge, and uplift and hold each other accountable.
-Direction in the calling the Lord has put on their lives and to rise out of a life of discouragement and confusion.
-For a life that rejects passivity and abounds in courage, strength and power.
-That
they would be men who pursue the woman God has chosen for each of them
(if called to marriage) and that they would then lay down their life as
Christ laid down His.
-Vision, obedience, encouragement and power to step into spiritual leadership of their family.
As
this day comes nearer my prayer is that God will reveal to each woman
what this day looks like…for things to pray for, repent for and fast of.
The
call of obedience for this day is so strong. I can't wait to see the
change that this is going to make! Thank you for joining me in
uplifting the men that are currently impacting and will continue to
impact our lives.
You can check out her blog at jeanettewheeler.theworldrace.org
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Posted in General Articles by Caitlin Woodward on 4/29/2008
I'm volunteering to write a blog for my sister. It's not that she doesn't think or pray for people back home. She hasn't been sitting around doing nothing the past few months. And what God's been taking her through is nothing less than amazing. Her gifting just isn't writing so as the Body it's my privilege to share with you some of her stories.
Jenn has one of the biggest hearts for God's people I think I've ever been near. She has His spirit for each unique culture we've been a part of. In China she eagerly bought a Tibetan coat, scarf, and hat to blend in with the people we were around. She was a jolly and warm Jesus walking the streets using broken Mandarin to meet the people. Within the first couple of days we were in Africa she had already made good friends that were willing to sit for six hours to braid her hair. From the neck up Jenn was Black-African. It allowed her to engage in conversations with many women as we traveled about the complexities and beauty of hair. Right now she's looking for a festive Latin American dress - something bright and flowing that she could dance in. Something warm and graceful that would reflect the women in this culture.
 This apostolic nature - and by that I mean a vigorous passion for the nations to know Christ - has, sorry for being blunt, saved our team's butt more than once. The courage inside Jenn's heart has also grown over the past months allowing this passion to be communicated to us. This nature brings a willingness and responsibility to share with us the news of where God's heart may be for a certain people group. During her times of intercession - deep prayer - God speaks to her about His people, His most precious creation. And when Jenn shares this with our team we get a glimpse of how in love He really is. It's refocused us some times and awakened us into action. It also gets the focus off of us. For we fail and stumble more times when we try to do it by ourselves. Yet it is God who is in love with His people and He chooses us to love that way too. By His grace we get to work together in this.
More than once Jenn has suffered for God's people. And in her delicately compassionate way everyday she humbles herself to suffer more for the cause of Christ. In her prayers and actions Jenn allows the Spirit to break her heart for the people. She wants to not only know their pains and sufferings but to feel them as well. She is deeply serious when she lays herself down to be used and beaten and misunderstood only because that is what Christ is asking of her some days. Some days she even asks for more.
Why would anyone want to hurt for people they don't even know? Because it's what Christ did for us when He knew our sins. Because it's how He wants us to love His people. Because it is the attitude Jesus had. Because that is the beginning of how we're going to bring Kingdom to earth - to love the widow and the orphan and the rejected. To understand their pain and walk with them in it. To become slaves to God's mission. To serve and love until it hurts  and then some.
Jenn hurts for people in a very real way in order to reveal Christ more alive in herself. Believe me, I know. There have been too many times to count during these past months that Jenn has listened to me complain when she could have been worried about her own business. She has prayed for me when she could have been serving someone else. She has held my hurts because she saw the importance of sharing each others burdens. She has laughed and walked with me because see understands the joy and benefits of living this life together.
Jenn Fancy, thank you for loving me. Thank you for loving the nations. Thank you for motivating me to love more simply by your sweet example. You are a huge blessing and encouragement to my everyday. So don't worry too much that you haven't blogged in over five months...just keep doing your thing!
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Posted in General Articles by Jennifer Fancy on 12/31/2007
Hello everyone and Happy New Year.
We are off to a closed country so please pray for us.
- Pray that God would equip and strengthen us to do his work
- that we can bring light to the oppression and heaviness in this country
- continued health and safety concerns
- God's wisdom and discernment to do what he is calling us to do
- Protection from evil
- team unification
Our next destination will be in Africa and an update will be posted in about 3 weeks.
Thanks for all your prayers.
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Posted in General Articles by Jennifer Fancy on 12/22/2007
This month has been full of the Lord's presences. I have experienced God working through me in powerful ways. I am forever being changed for His glory. Thank you for praying and encouraging me.
I want to wish you all a...
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
A couple of Christmas stories from this month...
I went to an all women's bible study. There were over 20 women there who were all seeking the Lord. I have been trusting God, and walking by faith, and He has been doing what He needs to do and I get to watch Him do it. not knowing what to share beforehand, scriptures just poured out of me. while spending some time in prayer, the Lord gave me a broken heart; I had no idea what it was from, it had nothing to do with me. So I asked of the women, 'does anyone have a broken heart'? After translation, almost all the women made it known that they had a broken heart. There were lots of tears and the Lord touched and healed hearts. He showed me one girl in particular and made it clear to me that He wanted me to give her a hug. I went to hug her and she held on and wept in my arms. God is giving me His heart for His people. She went on thanking me and thanking me. All I could say to her was, 'it's not me, it's God. He loves you and has you in His arms'. I have seen her twice since then and she is full of joy and so happy that the Lord is wiping her tears away and giving her Joy.
I went and visited a man named Elmer. I walked into a small wooden home, not knowing what I was walking into. I was with two people from a church going door to door, sharing about God's love-building relationships and loving my brothers and sisters whether they knew it or not. Elmer's situation literally brought me to my knees - he seemed on death's door with cancer. The love of God took over my heart and swept over Elmer. We spent time together with the Lord in His presence. God brought words back to his lips and refreshed his spirit. After that visit he wanted more of God, and I came to visit him again. he wanted me to read the Bible to him, to sing worship songs, and pray together this same day he sat up in bed, did a little dance, and even stood on his feet. The doctors had told Elmer just days before that he would die soon, unless a miracle happened. The Lord gave him strength in his weakness. God really showed me His life in Elmer, that among the flesh and bones he was wrapped in, that were failing him, Jesus would never fail him; Elmer believed it. God's breath was keeping him going and that was it. Elmer is holding on to Jesus and I pray that God will keep Elmer close to Him all the days of his life. Never let go dear friend. Please join me in prayer for Elmer and his family - his mother, wife and two teenaged children.
A couple of thoughts from the past three months...
I have been thinking, 'when am I going to wake up and realize I am living in another world'?. But the reality is I am waking up to another world, the Kingdom of God. Sometimes I think to myself..Where am I?... Is this really me, cause it sure does not look like me... So many times I have been amazed to see God at work in my weakness, in my helplessness, in the depths of my heart, and in different parts of the world. I was thinking about this, it's not that God all of a sudden showed up and started working. He opened my eyes and my ears, I expect to see Him everywhere I go, in all that I do, in every word that I speak and the way I react. It is Him loving me, living in me, and by His grace I see glimpses of His glory. Not because I deserve it, prayed enough, or followed all the right rules. He knows my heart and He knows yours too. During this Christmas, I want to encourage all of you to let the Lord love you, take heart for He has overcome the world. Believe it-really, and live. Spend it in the presence of the Lord. And know that this is the greatest gift of all. All for His glory!
Love you all and am praying that you will have a Christmas that is more than just another great time,
and that it is full of the Lord's love and grace.
Love you all and you are all on my heart
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Posted in General Articles by Jennifer Fancy on 12/14/2007
"When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams in the Negev.
Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him." Psalm 126
tears fall...
tears and pain
thank you Jesus for taking the blame
As I think about life and all the tears cried
many tears were for me
and what I wanted and my will to be
I surrender all to you Jesus
Your will be done
Please give me eyes to see and ears to hear
The pain that you endured for my sins
unable to grasp
undeserving
I accept
and
repent
I tried it on my own
And now the tears I cry are through new eyes
For your kingdom to come
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven
The tears I cry are yours
my heart is yours
my life is yours
Your tears are falling on the land
over the people
touching hearts
changing lives
the love that first changed me.
"We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19
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Posted in General Articles by Jennifer Fancy on 12/7/2007
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations. Isaiah 61:11
Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
John 12 23-25
The month of November went by so fast. I cannot believe it has been so long since I have posted a blog. God is at work here in the Philippines. We have been witnesses to some great fruit. As well as scattering seeds among the people.
Who am I with?
There are ten of us this month. Kari, Renee and I are working with Seven-Eleven. Most of the days we are all going in different directions. From construction sites to working with Pastors and everything in between.
Where are we staying?
We are in Dumaguete City, Philippines! We are staying with a couple that teaches at the Bible College in town. They have been such a blessing. Sherry and Lloyd have been missionaries here in the Philippines for four years. They have the gift of hospitality. I have felt completely at home. It is a joy to have their support and encouragement with ministry, cooking, cultural information and fellowship.
What are some happenings during the day?
I spent a couple of days with an ICM(International Care Ministries) worker named Annie. She is an amazing woman of God who is in charge of the three preschools that ICM funds and partners with the local churches. She also lives at the ICM orphanage. She is not only busy aiding the preschool teachers, she is also helping start seven more preschools that will open this summer in other surrounding churches. I had received an opportunity of going with her to visit the preschools and orphanages. We have become good friends and I am so thankful for her encouragement. We visited a church the same day and shared what the Lord put on my heart and two people shared with the church for the first time what God was doing in their life. During a time of prayer God healed a woman's crippled leg! Praise God.
International Care Ministry- Where there was 7 churches competing by singing two songs. Cam, Sarah and I judged-giving a first, second and third place. I have been going to another orphanage that is not through ICM it was started by several churches coming together seeing a need. It is called Rainbow Orphanage - we took the babies to the doctor and spent time with the toddlers.
I spent some days going with Pastor Attos and some members from his church on outreaches to the local community. The first time we went out two ladies from the church took me to visit a man named Elmer who was dying of cancer - watch for the next blog about his healing! - I also got an opportunity to share my story and hear a couple of other women's stories. It has been incredible seeing God break down walls and heal the sick!
As well as, construction sites, worship services, medical outreaches, feeding programs, teaching a seminar, visiting Pastors and speaking in front of churches.
What have I been up to in the evenings?
Renee, Cam and I went to a worship concert. It was called One Desire. A bunch of churches gathered together and put on a huge worship, sermon, prayer and fellowship time in this gigantic arena - next week four others and I will be performing a Drime here in front of approx 5,000 people - so I have been practicing for that! nervous-a bit!!! It was four hours of amazing worship and I was floored by the hunger and desire that the body of believers in the Philippines demonstrated to God. God moved in a powerful way that night. Words cannot describe it!
I went with Lloyd (Lo Lo) and Brandon to a College Bible study. Again it was exactly where I was suppose to be.
We have a gathering most nights checking in with each other and going over the next day who is going where.
Cooking meals some nights and cleaning up after some other nights.
Hanging out with Jesus and teammates.
Days of rest?
We have one day of rest a week. We were able to go to Apo Island and go snorkeling. Lloyd and Sherry came with us, it was a blast. We were also able to go to the sand bar and walk in the middle of the ocean! We met some locals there and they fed us snails and fish. God's creation is incredible. During this time I met locals and tourist and had some great conversations. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!!
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