Blessed

Hello good friends! I hope all is well with you and the weather is getting warmer as it cools down over here. Things have lightened up and i've got time to write a longer blog...so here it goes! God is doing wonderful things here. It's so cool to live with 30 other full-time missionaries, because when we meet at the end of the day, our living room is filled with awesome stories of people encountering God's love. Our two vans pull into a community and we all scatter for a few hours and whether it's street ministry, soccer coaching with the local youth, bible studies with families or caring for people with AIDS in a local shelter, i am always humbled to see what God makes of it. Here are a few of my favorite stories:

I go with a few of my teammates to a rehabilitation center in a local township on Tuesday afternoons. We have spent the last few weeks building relationships with the residents there and listening to their stories. Some of my favorite people i've met so far are living in that place. We mostly listen and pray. Sometimes we help them make crafts to sell or sort through the food donations with the children who live there. I was able to share in the joy of a woman who could move out of the shelter into an apartment all her own. Some of the residents, who are doing poorly, just need a hand to hold or feet to massage. I am a sucker for washing feet, and it's been so cool to massage the feet of those Jesus came for. "I have set you an example that you should do as i have done for you..."

On wednesdays i go with part of my team to Sir Lowry's Pass, a colored township we do house visitations and kids ministry in. The past few weeks, we've been doing a bible study with a woman, her boyfriend, and her neighbors. The woman has no income and struggles to get food. We've been blessed to be able to bring her food when we come, which really touches her heart. Her neighbors are rastafarians, a religion that believes a lot of the gospel, but twists and adds things to it, making it hard to get at the truth of salvation through grace alone. Her neighbors are also HIV positive. The woman, who is 23, has really been opening up to me with her struggles of living with AIDS and wondering where she's going when she dies. Yesterday, i got to speak the truth of the gospel into her life and tell her that when God sees her, He sees someone completely whole and beautiful and clean. Our bible study is the basic gospel message and i believe God is really opening up their hearts. It's so humbling and amazing to watch.

This week, we've been doing a 12 day discipleship program with the youth of Stellenburg, a white upper-class area north of Cape Town. We've been partnering with a local church and local high school. The school system is wonderful here in the fact that we can openly come on campus and share Christ! We've been discipling and encouraging the school's christian club, inviting students on our local outreaches, and doing worship and teaching nights. It's been really cool to see the students respond to us being there. It's also frustrating and challenging at times to see the lack of commitment and apathy of others. Some of our events only brought in a few students. Because christianity is so accepted and mixed in with the school and community, many claim Christ, but don't follow Christ. It's been a good ministry for me, because the kids remind me so much of the kids i've worked with in the US. And the fight against apathy is what I'm used to, coming from America. I guess this apathy transcends borders.

At the end of next week, our team is breaking up into three groups for outreaches farther away in communities we will be going to periodically throughout the year. My team is heading off to Mahvusa, a rural village in Northern South Africa. We will be working with young people there, continuing construction on a camp we are building and spending time in zone two, a refugee camp for people fleeing war and persecution from their own countries. Then, we'll be heading up to Zimbabwe to lead a week long conference for church youth leaders. Zimbabwe has many young christians who are eager and ready to do youth ministry, but don't have the knowledge, skills, and leadership training to disciple and lead others to christ. We get to train them up! Please pray for God's wisdom and direction in knowing what to teach and what these young leaders need to hear.

I can't believe i've already been here two months! I'm beginning to feel more at home in this new place God has brought me. There's a passage in Luke where Jesus turns to his disciples and says that their eyes are blessed because of what they see. Many prophets and kings wanted to see God on earth fulfilling his plan for the redemption of the world, but didn't get that chance. Right now, i feel like one of those disciples. My eyes are so blessed to see God moving and changing lives. God is so good to let my eyes see his greatness!