IT’S HAPPENING!!

SUCH A HUGE PRAYER ANSWERED!!

the kids have been granted permission to travel this fall.

a link to the fall concerts can be found here–> http://410bridge.org/daraja/tours.php (new shows are still being added!) email me if you plan on coming to one! i would love to see you there and for you to experience daraja.

i am switching over to tumblr for this next daraja season. so if you want to stay updated on my journey, i will be blogging/ updating here–> http://caitpitts.tumblr.com/

thanks for all the prayers over the past few months! hope to see y’all soon.

so much love.

long overdue update

to my faithful follower(s), thanks for sticking with this blog.

a lot has happened in the recent months.

it is a completely new season of daraja (like the others) but this one has come with it’s own set of complications. the minister of education in kenya has not given permission for the 2011 daraja children’s choir to travel. as of today, the summer tour has been cancelled. it has been an incredible journey to walk alongside. the summer interns have faithfully walked around jericho and walked around jericho and walked around jericho.. you get the picture. they have been the spiritual front runners for the other interns. i highly admire each and every one of them.

if you would keep the 2011 daraja family in your prayers, we’d appreciate it! we fully believe jesus is writing a bigger story that would/ is going to absolutely blow our minds so for now we continue to walk faithfully along this journey. we are pursuing kenyan officials in hopes of getting the kids permission to travel for fall tour.

Phillipians 4:4-7, “⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

this is the intro video we would have shown before every concert. we are celebrating right along with this little guy’s joy “we don’t worship god for what he has done but for who he is.”

 

so much love

-cait

Daraja 2011!

it’s been a while since i last updated this silly thing. not even sure if anyone reads it any longer. but just in case, here’s an update!

i was able to travel to kenya over my christmas break! while over there i was able to see all of the children that i toured with in daraja 2009 and daraja 2010. this was a huge answer to prayer that each one of the children were able to show up at camp. my heart was insanely full of joy. these kids just radiant jesus and it is contagious.

when i returned home, i was already praying about when i was supposed to go back. i thought that it might be april 2011 for a wedding but that fell through. then i was presented with the opportunity to go back with my dad in march 2011 over my spring break (praying this HUGE prayer that this happens- in the process of looking for a corporate sponsor who just wants to send me. join me in praying big for this?)

but when it came down to it, i knew i had a decision to make about returning to daraja to be apart of the 2011 family. i prayed long and hard about which path was the path jesus was leading me to. i was reminded by louie giglio (who is a preacher down in atlanta) that it isn’t about which path you choose but what you carry with you. it is absolutely vital to carry jesus’ name wherever i go and there is grace to cover the path that i choose. so i decided to apply to be a daraja 2011 fall intern (in past years i have served on the summer team). i interviewed, and got the position!

i am beyond excited about this. i will be home this summer, nannying, and taking online courses. and then will leave in september to go on tour (i will take an online course while i am on tour to keep my enrollment in uga)! i can’t even describe to you how much joy this brings to me just thinking about jesus giving me the opportunity to do it again. he knows my heart!

so with the internship, i will for sure return to kenya in may 2011!!!!

i am in the process of writing support letters, designing tshirts to sell and pushing my donation page on facebook. if you would like to continue supporting me financially in my daraja journey, you can go to my online page and make a donation (https://my410bridge.org/caitpitts). i would also love for you to support me through prayers. these are essential and i cherish each one. there are not enough words for me to express how thankful i am for each and every donation.

if you have any comments or questions feel free to email me: cait.pitts@yahoo.com

love to you all!

cait

want to know what’s next?

When was the last time you prayed for something big? Like really big and believed God would hear your prayer and then answer it? This past summer while on tour with the Daraja Children’s Choir I was challenged to pray and to pray big. I believe God hears my prayers and knows the desires of my heart. A month ago, I prayed big for God to show me when I was supposed to head back to Kenya. I told Him I wanted it to be in His timing and not on my own account. During this prayer, I received an email with the subject line “Want to go to Kenya with me in December?” I believe with all of my heart that this was His perfect timing telling me about the trip He had planned for me while I was submitting my prayers to Him. I felt a complete peace about going on this trip and then found out it would be a trip serving all of the past Daraja choirs! We will love on these children, which have become my family for the past two years, by spending time with them as we continue to invest in their characters and hearts after God. This trip could not fit me any better and now knowing God had planned for me to be on this exact trip! I have $2,010 left to raise in order to be a part of this trip. I fully believe that God will provide this amount because He is so much bigger than a monetary value. I also believe that I am supposed to humbly ask for your financial support. I have a website set up where you can give towards my trip online: {https://my410bridge.org/caitpitts}. Even more importantly, I ask you to pray and to pray big for this trip. It is going to be incredible and I would love for you to be prayerfully supporting me. My trip will be from December 26, 2010 – January 3, 2011 and all of my trip funds are due November 12, 2010. Thank you in advance for your big prayers and financial support.

Last but certainly not least, thanks to all of you who have continued to support the desires of my heart, my trips to Kenya and the Daraja Children’s Choir.

to God alone be the glory,

cait

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).

#DarajaLove

today. has been. incredible.

God has taught me so much today. i love when i am able to clue in to what He is teaching me. i was given the opportunity to be relational with three people today. not usually my strong point- i love talking to people but never get/ take the opportunity to go deep. God gave me the opportunities and the conversations today. [seriously starting to think my second love language is- quality time.] it’s hard Hard HARD staying in contact with people outside of the ‘daraja bubble’. i am on a 24/7  3 month mission trip. i struggle with: when i have down time i don’t take that time to call back home and invest in my friendships/ relationships. i chose to do other things. i was slapped in the face with it this morning. but seeing God give me the opportunity hours later to be intentionally relational with three separate people- just blows my mind. i love it.

tonight, my host home is incredible. please, CELEBRATE that with me! i am learning to have a grateful heart. it’s hard to continually turn to gratefulness when i am constantly surrounded by abundance. it’s easier to be the buffer between the kids and america’s abundance. but seriously, the host homes i have stayed in literally give everything they have. it’s incredible to see. my host home for the next two nights found out last night that they were going to be hosting four people. with a grateful heart he drove the 1.5hrs to pick us up to turn right around to drive the 1.5hrs back to his house. he stopped and got us ice cream/ sweet tea for the ride home. super precious! he didn’t have to do that but he graciously gave up the next two days to give his time to drive us back and forth, and his home. i want to be a giver. Lord, help me see the areas where i can give not out of my abundance but out of my love for you and the blessings you have already given to me.
*funny memory- had an impromptu dance party to old school music (jessie’s girl, kokomo, i hope you dance..) on the ride to the house

when we got to the house the host mom had dinner waiting on us. not joking- homemade hamburgers (straight up raised the cow, to slaughter it, to cook for me) with homegrown watermelon and homemade lemonade with lemons from her garden. incredible! i love the country way of life- so simple and laid back. absolutely gorgeous- they live on a 1000acre plot of land. after dinner he took the girls around the property on ‘the mule’ (kind of like a four wheeler). we kept seeing pond after pond as the sun was setting. what a great reminder of His beauty. i love that He is a painter and that EVERY night the sunset is different. how cool that He is able to paint the sky with the breadth of His hand. the entire sky. awesome.

then each one of my girls(beth, violet and elizabeth) was able to ride the host dad’s horse. what a neat experience. tomorrow night, they are cooking a ‘feast’ for us. they cancelled their friday night plans (their yearly family reunion) to serve us. incredible picture of a servants heart. the host dad is going to teach the girls to fish and teach me how to shoot a gun (#62 on my life to-do list).

tomorrow, i have the day off in savannah, ga with collett! super pumped about that! ready to explore this city.

much love,

cait

blown away.

the past 48 hours have been incredible. God has showed up in unbelievable ways. seriously, i am so undeserving to be able to do what i am doing this summer. i am reminded daily of how thankful i am that I was chosen for this internship. truly nothing else holds my heart like daraja does.

yesterday, we were able to worship with the youth from my home church. one of the other interns is from my church too, we were both in the youth group together, so it was neat to see our kids lead our youth in worship. it was crazy energy coming from 1500 high schoolers.

we came back to have beach day in port st. joe, fl. it was pouring so we did some school. seriously- humbling. i helped teach 6th grade social studies. it was tough! then we got ready to head out to the beach. the plan: to hang out, swim, build sand castles, take jet ski rides and cook hotdogs/ smores over a bonfire. what actually happened: we made it to the beach, took the kid’s play clothes off, got in the water for 20ish minutes, crazy clouds rolled in, evacuated the beach (45 people) in less than five minutes! never have i seen the kids move that fast. ever. seriously love the adventures daraja brings on! we went back to the church, had dinner and celebrated sweet David’s 11th birthday, hooray for plan b! *funny memory- fell asleep on the host home couch for an hour while the girls colored

today! we sang at camp5 bigstuf. the kids absolutely love going to bigstuf. this morning was kind of crazy but ended up being incredible. i lead the kids in their dance moves up front from the floor. i love being in this position because all the campers look past me and the kids are focused on worshipping. i am able to fully engage in worshipping my Creator. i LOVE it. i love the way the kids worship without strings. they put their bodies in a position to worship their God, which leads me instantly to His throne. seriously, one of the most unreal things to be apart of.

we headed back to port st. joe, put the kids down for nap, set up store/ sound/ brightpoint/ imaginext, got the kids up, soundchecked, ate dinner, had an incredible team devotion and then chad concert#4. 3 kids were sponsored through brightpoint- that never gets old! *memory- team prayer for the Spirit to reign and the kids being there when we were done. and incredible devo- 1 hour.

tomorrow, we head to savannah! i can’t wait- it’s a brand new church. pumped to see what’s in store.

for now i’ll leave you with this picture- seriously, HOW. STINKIN. CUTE!much love,

cait

playing catch up!

so much has happened since the last update! i can’t believe that it’s been almost two weeks! this summer is FLYING by. i really can’t handle how fast it’s going.

i am great! absolutely wonderful. my heart is in this. this is where i feel the closest to God. i love everything about what i am apart of.. the cool thing it’s not about me at all! it’s all for His glory.

as a team, we are coming together wonderfully. we are all back together! a couple interns have left for a while and then come back. it’s awesome to be back. absolutely love them. thankful that God knew what each one of us would bring to the team. prayer for our team: romans 15:5-6.

wondering what i’ve been doing the past couple weeks? maybe not but here it is : )

• had a wonderful host home in panama city beach, the couple had been married for 59 years and were still belly laughing at each other- super precious
• we debuted “thriller” on the bigstuf stage
• over 15 kids have been sponsored through brightpoint for children [PRAISE THE LORD]
• traveled to montgomery, al — SO much fun! we were able to interact with a super cool organization (common grounds). it is a safe house for inner city kids of montgomery. the couple that started it are white and felt called to be the church to the poor black people of the city. my host home was incredible. he did all of the construction for this organization and they were in the process of selling their house to move to the inner city. so encouraging! daraja went through a ‘civil rights’ museum, which was interesting- learned a lot about america’s history and to think that it took place where we were was really cool. we had a rocking concert with the inner city kids. the kids joined in and danced throughout the entire concert. at common grounds we taught their kids one of the daraja dances and they taught us their scripture verses (psalm 8:1). so cool!
• we left and headed to fort walton beach, fl. we sang at a northpoint community church satellite. that was really neat. the church body was beautiful. my host was cool- they put their 12yr old daughter on a plane to australia for 3 weeks while we were there. we were able to hang out on sunday afternoon with 3 other daraja groups. the girls got to ride on a speed boat/ drive it. such a neat experience. the kids played really well together- taught each other the game of sardines (backwards hide& go seek) *random memory- host home served me soy milk!
• we went back to bigstuf and 2 of our kids were interviewed about kenya and their future. betty was asked what do you enjoy about being apart of daraja “leading others to the throne of grace” and moses was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up and with full confidence said “the president of kenya” GO GOD!
• we hung around panama city for the day and went out in the ocean. little bummer- we got oil on us. weird that i am living through this ginormous oil spill and swam in it.
• i had my first off night! it was wonderful. i was able to go to extended worship night at bigstuf camps. absolutely what i needed. He completely filled me. then was able to layout, get my nails painted, eat what i wanted and be a 20yr old for 36 hours. it was wonderful. *random memory- the room i stayed in had 68 jonas brothers pictures on the wall.
• then we traveled to crestview, fl! this church rocked. we arrived on the last night of their vacation bible school. they invited our kids to join in.. since they did the adults were able to scoot away and enjoy date night at starbucks! this rarely happens so it was absolutely wonderful! my host was great, military family following God to georgia. put their house up for sale and are moving within two weeks of doing that. crazy faith. *cool God story- i run the sponsorship table. one of the girl’s from the choir her brother was up for sponsorship- a couple came up and were inquiring about how to get started and i told them a quick synopsis about each kid on the board. turns out they were hosting the girl and ended up sponsoring her brother!! wonderful.
• this brings me to this past weekend in pensacola, florida. we got to the church and unloaded. had a dance daraja dance party. brushed up on how to use our sound mixer. and then met our host homes. me and ann (another intern) ended up getting placed in the same host home! so uncomon! can’t even believe that happened. we had a total of five girls! haha. it was a blast. *funny story- ann was teaching the girls to use a deep voice and say funny stuff to each other. i was brushing my teeth with one of our girls and said something to her in my deep voice and it scared her so badly she cried. tough parenting moment. whoops.* the church was wonderful. they ended up providing lunch for us and an afternoon of organized games! it was awesome to get to hang out with the daraja family. met and INCREDIBLE couple. so encouraging. *God story- they have been married for 10yrs, were on the last leg of their marriage until october when they saw the choir sing at a conference in atlanta, they rededicated their lives to jesus, got stationed in pensacola for 2 months before he gets deployed to afghanistan, saw daraja’s poster in a local magazine print up and decided to come see us and felt called to daraja academy- WHATT! absolutely wonderful. this morning we loaded up the bus in the torrential downpour. but it was so great to do it together. we were stopping to use the bathroom on our drive and pulled into a little gas station, whose toilets didn’t work, but a man from kenya was there and talked to our kids. cool! went to the next truck stop and loaded up on snacks and saw this funny sign we got to the church in port st joe! we did school and introduced our 6th grade class to negative numbers. *funny story- we asked them what “1 – 3” was and they responded “impossible” it blew their minds. such a humbling experience to reteach that sort of stuff. i absolutely love it!
• we will be in port st. joe for 3 nights! i lovee my host home. they are wonderful- an older couple that just want me to feel at home and that i do. praise the lord.

we have a busy week ahead of us. we will cross the eastern/central time zone 7 times in the next 3 days. that’ll mess with you. but cannot wait to worship at “The Walk” and “BigStuf camps”

as a team we have been reading through this INCREDIBLE book. i absolutely 100% recommend it. it’s called The Gospel Primer. it is set up for you to read the gospel daily. it is an incredible reminder of SO MUCH truth! i love it. we were challenged to read through it once a day and pick out which part stood out the most.. today’s “that i might his glory and kindliness see and cherish him fully in all of my days obeying with pleasure whatever he says fulfilling the calling he’s laid upon me to show forth his glory deliberately.”

so that was long winded but should catch you guys up. thanks for all of the prayers. they are felt. i really appreciate all of the encouragement and the understanding of me being completely M.I.A. for a while.

much love,

cait

wow

yesterday was incredible.

daraja was able to lead worship for two church services and then put on a full length concert. it never gets old seeing my kids worship Jesus, oh to have faith like a child.

yesterday, 8 kids were sponsored through brightpoint! how incredible to be a part of that, leading people to give to needy.

i was able to talk to my sunday prayer partners yesterday. i love when i humble myself to ask for prayer, it works. thank you sunday prayer parter 🙂 love y’all.

i had been asking God for more responsibility this tour. satan was attacking me with the lie “i am not needed to make this tour happen”. i am thankful that God revealed that lie to me and i was able to fight it. with God’s sense of humor, i got more responsibility. the sound board. i ran it for the first time last night. definitely a new thing for me. i enjoyed it! it helped knowing that God had orchestrated that for me!

today is host home day. we are able to hang with our kids at the host home all day. hooray! we woke up, watched dora and are working on homework now. later we will nap and then go to a pool party/ welcome to daraja party for VIOLET.

she and Dan landed last night in atlanta! and they will meet us in Columbus in a few hours!! praise. the. Lord!

tomorrow we head to panama city. david and anna (two interns for last summer) will be there! i am stoked to see them.

cait

life on the road!

it’s crazy the things that you end up missing that you never thought about before. one i am currently missing: the way my clothes smell after i wash them at home. i do laundry for four people every couple of nights and it just isn’t the same. don’t get me wrong- i am extremely thankful for the washer and dryer that my kids don’t have but there’s something about the way my clothes smell when i get to wash them at home.

i am loving tour. it is going fantastic. God is on the move. He has been making connections. filling my heart. uniting the team. fulfilling miracles. all in front of our eyes. it’s seriously incredible! i am humbled everyday. i cannot believe i get to do this for two more months. i am thankful everyday. for His strength because i could not do this without Him.

since the last update, here’s what’s been happening:

we spent three nights in panama city. my host (Catherine) was wonderful. God picked them out specifically to teach me valuable lessons. they were the most servant-hearted people. my girls (Veronica, Josephine and Gloria) were wonderful the whole time.

while in panama city we got to see the beach for the first time and swim in the ocean. had to explain what a ‘wave’ was. so beautiful. we sang at bigstuf camp for the first time. i was able to lead. incredible. the kids led 1500 campers to the throne. i love being able to lead- it is so intimate. nothing can distract me. it’s just me and my kids worshipping together, praising our God. absolutely love it.

our host took us out on her boat. we had a sunset picnic for dinner and saw a dolphin. it was beautiful. we had a concert at northstar church. the local news came out and interviewed our kids. go God! six kids were sponsored through brightpoint! praise the Lord. and people invested in daraja. absolutely wonderful to be apart of this.

then we headed to phenix city, al. a family graciously opened up their home/ pool to us. we had our first full- out daraja swim party. we had ‘daraja swim lessons’ all of the 2010 kids learned how to swim. it makes it so much easier knowing kids have the confidence to go under water and come back up. we then headed to our church.

greater mount zion- an african american church. absolutely wonderful! this was one of my favorite churches last summer and again this summer. it was powerful. my host (Mr. Charles and Mrs. Cheryl) absolutely precious. treated me and the girls (Gloria, Grace and Elizabeth) like princesses. i led the concert by myself. seriously the most encouraging thing. so fulfilling.

after the concert, i ran brightpoint table and imaginext wall. brightpoint for children is an organization that sponsors kids to go to school. and imaginext wall is raising money for the daraja academy. we had one kid sponsored! praise the lord. at the imaginext wall, people come and get an envelope with a number on it (1-250) and place that amount of money back into the envelope. awesome idea. our goal is to go through the wall 3 times over the next 6 months. if this happens we’ll raise $94,000 to go straight to the daraja academy.

God story- a little girl (3ish years old) came up to me and said she couldn’t find an envelope that she could fill. i told her that it was okay and thanked her for wanting to donate. she reached out her hand and in it was a penny. she wanted it to go to the school. absolutely. melted. my. heart. love when God knows exactly what will encourage my heart!!

we are now in columbus, ga! our hosts (Dee, Mark and Garrett)  are funny. they took me and the girls (Faith and Vivian) to two museums and to an imax movie at fort benning.

it’s been a wonderful past couple of days. i am exhausted. but completely filled. tomorrow DAN AND VIOLET arrive in the US!!!!!! praise the lord. the two year battle for that sweet girl is almost over. absolutely cannot wait to see what God is going to do with her story. we have three concerts tomorrow. would love prayers for strength.

so much love!

cait

still going!

We are tracking right along with our “firsts” and concerts. I haven’t had internet to post for the past few nights. When I get a chance, I’ll blog again about what’s been happening! Hope you are wonderful. So much love! Our last 2 members of Summer Daraja2010 will be leaving Kenya tomorrow- please pray for safe travels.

cait