New update for you, and it’s packed full of good stuff! Our outreach started with a two day drive all the way up the beautiful country of South Africa to the Limpopo province and a little village called Mahvusa. Jabulani African Ministries partnered with the people to build a church there a few years back. The village chief was impressed and offered us some land to build a youth camp and mission station. So that’s what we have been working on! Our dream is to have a place where youth come and learn about God’s love through camping ministry and are discipled and trained to be spiritual leaders in their communities. Our days were filled with construction and hanging out with the village kids. Our nights were spent discipling the young adults in Mahvusa and Dzingidzingi, a neighboring village. We are excited to see these young adults take part in this project and take the reigns of ministry, the way true missions should play itself out.
My heart has broken into a million pieces for the beautiful and broken people of this Province. One area has especially taken a hold of my heart and rendered it forever changed. Zone 2 is the name of a squatters’ settlement for refugees who have fled war in Mozambique. It is difficult for these people to return home, and the South African government pretends they don’t exist out of their lack of solutions for this people group. There is no running water, electricity or schools within walking distance for their children. Out of all the places I’ve been, I have never seen more poverty than I do in this place. This week, JAM began a Preschool and soup kitchen for the young children of Zone 2. It will be run by Pastor Life and his wife, Josephine, who are full-time missionaries of JAM and locals. Please pray for this young couple as they serve in Zone 2. There are many challenges and many stories that daily break their hearts.
The stories of suffering and images of poverty here are overshadowed by the hope I see God has for this place. One of my highlights was watching Lifter, a member of our team and resident of Mahvusa, minister in his home town. Lifter has a past of gang involvement, robbery and drugs, but his life has been forever changed by the love of Christ. Lifter shared his testimony this week to his peers who have never seen this new God-changed servant. Next January he will be back in Mahvusa doing soccer ministry and being a spiritual leader in his community. I am so proud of my friend and excited for the potential of having this humble leader serve his village.
After a week in Mahvusa, we took another day long drive up to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is currently one of the most politically corrupt countries in the world. The inflation rate is so outrageous, the country began using US dollars as a way to cope. All along the road, street vendors sell fruit or whatever product they might have had in order to survive. Unemployment is high as these people look for a way to support themselves and their families. Yet another broken place filled with beautiful, determined people.
We went to Zimbabwe to lead a conference for youth leaders of churches all across the country. There were about 50 youth leaders, counselors and reverends who attended. These people were so passionate about their leadership in the discipling of young people, but lacked training, theory, and resources to lead well. We came in to encourage and fill in that gap. We taught a lot about Christ-like character in ministry as well as a ton of practical application on being a Christian youth leader and pastor. The Zimbabweans have very limited access to crayons and paper for their Sunday School classes, yet alone resources and teaching curriculum and they soaked the information up like a sponge. At the end of the conference, we sat before an overjoyed and exuberant class of Christ-followers with a re-charged passion to take what they have learned to their youth groups back home. I was so humbled to take part in this process and encouraged to see the heart of these beautiful people. After the conference, we took a tour of the mission station where we were staying and checked out a nearby youth camp which was in ruins because of vandalism that happened during a war.
During these trips, we were able to look back to see how God’s work began and look forward to imagine new and beautiful things for the Kingdom. In Mahvusa, a young American woman named Laura came to serve the people in 1933 after a short term missions trip there won her heart. Single all her life, she poured thirty years into these people, building a Preschool and church and ministering to medical needs. It was this woman who led the village chief to Christ when he was a boy and this chief would later welcome us into his land to begin a camping ministry for God. Now I look forward to a future of many young Africans embracing Christ and glorifying Him through the beginnings of this young woman. In 1891, a young South African man felt called to take Christ to Zimbabwe. He was not a preacher or a missionary, just a simple Sunday School teacher, and he was ill so much his parents thought he would die in a few years. But this man spent his life in Zimbabwe, beginning a mission station, translating the Bible into Shona and opening a school for the deaf and blind. Because of this man’s willingness to sacrifice for the gospel, many schools, ministries and churches are in operation. His work helped create the churches that sent the youth leaders to our conference who will now go out and spread Christ’s truth to all the young people they represent. In both places we got to visit the graves of the brave missionaries who went before us. My heart is both terrified and excited about my future. Will I stay here and follow in their footsteps? Will following after God’s heart mean my life will only get crazier? Please pray for me as I seek God’s direction.
And so were my last few weeks: crazy, significant, and full in many ways. I spent my 25th birthday living in a hut and chasing after and loving on snotty faced kids. I celebrated holy week and a Christ who came down to live in the dirt of our lives and sacrifice for the salvation of the world very dirty myself (I showered twice) and contemplating my own sacrifice. Following Jesus is crazy! God is huge. My heart is full.
I would like to begin supporting the work in Zone 2 by raising funds for the ministry and soup kitchen. If you are interested to see how you can get involved, please send me your email address or click to follow my blog. I will be sending out a newsletter shortly that gives more information on this area and steps to get involved. Thank you so much for your prayers and support! I am very blessed to have a wonderful family of people who love to see God move as much as I do. May God give you grace and peace as you live out resurrection!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
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!
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!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Outreach
These last few weeks have been full of really awesome ministry moments! God is really passionate about the people of South Africa! I hope to share details soon, we've been a bit busy lately.
This week begins a 12 day discipleship program with the young people of Stellenburg, a white suburban area near Cape Town. We actually get to present the Gospel to the entire local high school in one of their assemblies! Please pray that God reignites passion in their hearts and challenges them to take steps towards Him.
This week begins a 12 day discipleship program with the young people of Stellenburg, a white suburban area near Cape Town. We actually get to present the Gospel to the entire local high school in one of their assemblies! Please pray that God reignites passion in their hearts and challenges them to take steps towards Him.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Community
I want to start off my sharing what I’ve been experiencing living in community. First off, we are doing a new thing. My ministry family consists of people of all different races from all over South Africa. Because of the recent end of apartheid, you just don’t see that here. Walking down the street, you hardly ever see a white and a black or a colored hanging out together. We hang out all the time. And although there are work places and ministry organizations that are mixed, we don’t know of any other group who actually live together. As an American, I feel a great privilege to be able to look in at the diversity of a people from a country with a past, forming a family.
Our diversity is beautiful. Our diversity is also messy.
We have different ways of interacting with each other, different ways to joke, our voices speak in different volumes and different languages. We eat different things and pray differently, worship differently, and think in different manners. We offend a lot and have to back pedal often. A few times we have had to sit down and argue things out. It’s important and good that we do this because we are a family and a body working towards the same mission. If you look at history, you see that every big movement arose out of really strong, committed community. And I think that if we’re able to do this with the extent of differences we have, the extent of movement potential is enormous. A mentor of ours told us that if we can’t do life in community together, there is no hope for the future of South Africa. He may be right.
We had a girl’s camp this weekend and it was wonderful! We had about 20 Xhosa high school students and youth adults from one of the biggest townships in South Africa. They were beautiful girls and were really eager to hear from God. They soaked in all the sessions like a sponge and it was amazing to hear them sing their praise and worship songs to God. A lot of breakthroughs happened on the second night and God really helped many to let go of things they were holding on to. We also did an outreach on Saturday with the girls and our guys at a local township. We had over 500 children and youth. I’m pretty sure we had the whole township out there!
To the extent that ministry with God in South Africa is amazing, it is also really hard. There’s a lot I miss about America, and I feel like if I count the challenges here, I would never run out of things to say. I’m just glad that God loves to lift up His children when they are down, because I am down a lot. I was okay letting God make me weak, so that He can be strong, but then He asked me to be nothing so He can be everything. And that’s a lot harder. But that’s following Christ. And that’s the road I’m trying to walk right now. It’s worth it.
Our diversity is beautiful. Our diversity is also messy.
We have different ways of interacting with each other, different ways to joke, our voices speak in different volumes and different languages. We eat different things and pray differently, worship differently, and think in different manners. We offend a lot and have to back pedal often. A few times we have had to sit down and argue things out. It’s important and good that we do this because we are a family and a body working towards the same mission. If you look at history, you see that every big movement arose out of really strong, committed community. And I think that if we’re able to do this with the extent of differences we have, the extent of movement potential is enormous. A mentor of ours told us that if we can’t do life in community together, there is no hope for the future of South Africa. He may be right.
We had a girl’s camp this weekend and it was wonderful! We had about 20 Xhosa high school students and youth adults from one of the biggest townships in South Africa. They were beautiful girls and were really eager to hear from God. They soaked in all the sessions like a sponge and it was amazing to hear them sing their praise and worship songs to God. A lot of breakthroughs happened on the second night and God really helped many to let go of things they were holding on to. We also did an outreach on Saturday with the girls and our guys at a local township. We had over 500 children and youth. I’m pretty sure we had the whole township out there!
To the extent that ministry with God in South Africa is amazing, it is also really hard. There’s a lot I miss about America, and I feel like if I count the challenges here, I would never run out of things to say. I’m just glad that God loves to lift up His children when they are down, because I am down a lot. I was okay letting God make me weak, so that He can be strong, but then He asked me to be nothing so He can be everything. And that’s a lot harder. But that’s following Christ. And that’s the road I’m trying to walk right now. It’s worth it.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Camps
This week I served in camps on our base. The first one was our Jam camp, which was for all the teenagers and young adults from our various communities we’ve been discipling. We did a lot of encouraging and hanging out and it was awesome to see the diversity of young people from so many different communities come together. The second camp was a school camp for troubled youth. There were some atheists and a lot of Muslims and it was cool to share with them about what I believe and how that got me to South Africa.
The more I live here, the more I realize the sameness of people. Teenagers from rural villages and white South African suburbs joke around and ask the same questions as teenagers in California do. Substance addicts and the disabled in the townships of Cape Town have the same mannerisms and speak of the same struggles as the homeless of Sacramento do. My eyes have been widened to see how far God’s heart truly reaches.
Today, I’ll be doing some street ministry, followed by a Team 1,000 meeting (we are beginning to organize 1,000 people for ministry during World Cup). I hope this finds you all well! Please let me know what you guys are up to and how I can pray for you, any news from America means so much to me!
The more I live here, the more I realize the sameness of people. Teenagers from rural villages and white South African suburbs joke around and ask the same questions as teenagers in California do. Substance addicts and the disabled in the townships of Cape Town have the same mannerisms and speak of the same struggles as the homeless of Sacramento do. My eyes have been widened to see how far God’s heart truly reaches.
Today, I’ll be doing some street ministry, followed by a Team 1,000 meeting (we are beginning to organize 1,000 people for ministry during World Cup). I hope this finds you all well! Please let me know what you guys are up to and how I can pray for you, any news from America means so much to me!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Local Ministry
We just finished our first week of local ministry and it was wonderful! We have about six different communities we serve in locally. We begin each day with worship and prayer and then split up into groups and serve these communities. Many areas are pretty new for us, and we are just beginning to build relationships and pray for God's direction on how we can best serve. God opened a lot of doors in our first week. Here is the low down of some sites we are serving in.
Hout Bay has a fisherman's township that we've been praying about serving in. The people aren't very friendly there and until this week, we haven't been able to build any relationships with young people. On Monday, we met a man who is doing soccer ministry with the local youth. He is very excited to partner with us in ministry and we are excited to work with the youth in sports ministry.
Cape Academy is a boarding school for ten to twelve graders from disadvantaged communities who show leadership potential. These students are away from home and don't get the support and love that families bring. We're doing a bible study there on Monday nights and it was so cool! We had about twenty students show up and they seem really happy to be there. I was reminded of how much i love youth ministry!
Imizamo yethu is the township that is closest to our base. It is super diverse and has people from many different African countries who come here to find work. We had a big soccer game with the local youth and hope to do house visits and compassionnate ministry in the homes of the people there. We are also praying that God opens doors for us to minister to the girls there.
Sir lowry's is a township we've been doing children's ministry in for a few years. The children have opened doors for us to begin building relationships with their families. After walking through the township and visiting and praying for families in their homes, we go to a big field and completely exhaust ourselves playing with the children. Right before we left, we met a few youth who were interested in starting a small group. There is nothing for the children and youth to do here besides drugs and abuse is really common. I've only been to Sir Lowry's twice, but my heart has broken into a thousand pieces for this place and the people here.
As for me, i'm doing well. South Africa is wonderful and inspiring and humbling and i feel so priviledged to be where my biggest passions and the world's biggest needs collide. God is definitely moving here and i love being a part of it. Please pray that God continues to open doors and give us direction as we enter our communities. Pray for the young people we will be meeting and disciplinig. And pray that we love well and share Christ's love with the world.
Hout Bay has a fisherman's township that we've been praying about serving in. The people aren't very friendly there and until this week, we haven't been able to build any relationships with young people. On Monday, we met a man who is doing soccer ministry with the local youth. He is very excited to partner with us in ministry and we are excited to work with the youth in sports ministry.
Cape Academy is a boarding school for ten to twelve graders from disadvantaged communities who show leadership potential. These students are away from home and don't get the support and love that families bring. We're doing a bible study there on Monday nights and it was so cool! We had about twenty students show up and they seem really happy to be there. I was reminded of how much i love youth ministry!
Imizamo yethu is the township that is closest to our base. It is super diverse and has people from many different African countries who come here to find work. We had a big soccer game with the local youth and hope to do house visits and compassionnate ministry in the homes of the people there. We are also praying that God opens doors for us to minister to the girls there.
Sir lowry's is a township we've been doing children's ministry in for a few years. The children have opened doors for us to begin building relationships with their families. After walking through the township and visiting and praying for families in their homes, we go to a big field and completely exhaust ourselves playing with the children. Right before we left, we met a few youth who were interested in starting a small group. There is nothing for the children and youth to do here besides drugs and abuse is really common. I've only been to Sir Lowry's twice, but my heart has broken into a thousand pieces for this place and the people here.
As for me, i'm doing well. South Africa is wonderful and inspiring and humbling and i feel so priviledged to be where my biggest passions and the world's biggest needs collide. God is definitely moving here and i love being a part of it. Please pray that God continues to open doors and give us direction as we enter our communities. Pray for the young people we will be meeting and disciplinig. And pray that we love well and share Christ's love with the world.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
training done!
Hey friends! Three weeks into South Africa and I'm settling in pretty well (although we move around so much, "settling" isn't the best word to use). This last week has been dedicated to meeting with about 40 other ministry leaders in the country to discuss and dream about world cup ministry that will happen in June and July. We are still in the dreaming phase, but have some good resources and hope to take children and youth sports ministry training to youth leaders throughout the country as well as host big screen showings during world cup with street and compassionate minsitry and evangelism.
Next week will be our first week of really getting our hands into local ministry projects. I'm eager to begin building relationships with the people in the townships, communities and schools we will be serving at locally. My ministry family is such a wonderful support and we laugh so much when we are around each other. I still miss America and the people I love who are still there. This has been the most challenging transition I have experienced so far and I'm learning to cling to God for strength more than ever...which is a good thing. I am in a good place.
Next week will be our first week of really getting our hands into local ministry projects. I'm eager to begin building relationships with the people in the townships, communities and schools we will be serving at locally. My ministry family is such a wonderful support and we laugh so much when we are around each other. I still miss America and the people I love who are still there. This has been the most challenging transition I have experienced so far and I'm learning to cling to God for strength more than ever...which is a good thing. I am in a good place.
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