In the worst of the worst... God is there.

Hmm.. I don't even know where to start. I guess there has been a lot on my mind from tonight. For those of you who don't know,  Jay and I are youth leaders at our church's youth group. Tonight at youth group our youth pastor, Dan, showed pictures from his trip to Togo, Africa and talked about what he experienced there. Now I've seen many different mission trip slideshows over the years but none have affected me like the photos and stories I heard tonight.

If you know Dan, I encourage you to talk to him about his trip and hear about what happened. For those of you who don't know Dan, I would like to share a little bit of what he told us tonight.
Of course there's the stories of the obvious culture shock of going to the bathroom in public, women not wearing tops, and African people wanting to touch you because they've never seen a white person. But the those aren't the type of things I want to share. I want to share the things that really weighed heavy on my heart and brought me to tears.
These people in Gbent Chal, Togo are some of the most hopeless people you could imagine. The average life span of people in Gbent Chal is 32 yrs old. Children have to walk 10 miles a day to get drinking water.. and that's not even clean drinking water. Dan showed us pictures of the water which was filthy, he said that he wouldn't want to touch the water let alone drink it. We in here in America complain about simple chores when these people don't have any other option than to walk 10 miles to get water or else they die.
There are about 40 orphans there in the village, some of whom both parents have died others one parent has died and the other has left them to fend for themselves. One of these orphans is a boy who is mentally retarded and is a mute. Dan said that this boy is of no use to anyone because of his handicaps he cannot work therefore he roams in the fields all day and scavenges for food. His feet are torn and bloody because he has never had shoes, and he wears a sweater around in 130 degree temperatures because that is the only clothing he has. Dan was Jesus to this boy and gave him a t-shirt and shorts and also his Crocs, which were his first pair of shoes.
There are some orphans there that if you ask them their age will not know it. They do not celebrate their birthdays in Gbent Chal and have no parents left to keep track of their age. The most saddening thing is that some of these orphans don't even know their own names. If they ever even had a name in the first place, they don't know what it is and most people refer to them as "hey you" or "boy" or "girl". I can't even imagine not even having a name, I would feel so worthless.. and sadly I'm sure that's how many of these children feel.

Gbent Chal, Togo is one of the most forgotten, broken, hopeless, negative places in the world... and yet in the midst of all of that, God is there. The people of of Gbent Chal have never heard of Jesus but are interested and open to learn about Him as they are curious to why wealthy Americans would want to come help them. There is an African pastor moving himself and his family into Gbent Chal to minister to the people. Mentor Leaders(the organization helping out and bringing in mission trips) is breaking ground this month on building an orphanage for the children. They are also breaking ground on putting in two water purification wells. Sonny, a Muslim man that drove Dan's group into Gbent Chal, decided to stay in Gbent Chal with the group while they were there because he was curious as to what they were doing. While he was there he stopped praying to his Muslim god and started praying with the group to Jesus.
Check out www.mentorleaders.org to see what God is doing and to donate to the people of Gbent Chal.

God is real and God is moving. What do you need to do to see God become real and move in your own life and the lives of others? What do you need to do to further the Kingdom of Heaven??

Goodnight.
-Alisha

What is Positive Negative You May Ask?

Well hello there,
This is my first time ever "blogging"... I guess I use to have one of those livejournal things back in the day, but I'm pretty sure all I wrote about was stupid insignificant things like how much I loved Hilary Duff and other random things like that. Don't worry, this blog is not going to be about stupid insignificant things. I've really been thinking lately about writing some sort of journal or blog about the things I experience in life. I feel like I've been through so much in my short life already and that God has so much more in store for me, so why not share it with the world, right?
There are some of you out there that will get the name of this blog, there are others of you who may wonder what the name means. The name "The Positive Negatives" originally comes from my brother Nick who came up with this name for a band he wanted to start. Since Nick's death in 2006, this name has been used for many different things in memory of him. As I was thinking of a name for this blog those words "positive negative" just seemed so appropriate. As I grow older I am noticing more and more how negative this world is... all the disease, death, sin, hate, hypocrisy, selfishness. At the same time I continue to see God's beauty in this world and His faithful hand at work in my life and the life of others. That is obviously the positive side to "positive negative"... and thus the meaning behind my "finding the positives in a negative world". I plan to share stories of my past and how I've seen God in the midst of dark times. I also plan to share stories of my life now as I continue to see God do amazing things, especially as my husband, Jay, and I travel around (Jay is a Christian solo-artist) and minister to kids.
I invite you to continue reading as I share my journey and hope to inspire you to look for God's hand in your own life... even the midst of negativity, He is always there.

~Alisha