My first month is done! Being in South Africa has been such a blessing and a challenge. God has been speaking so much to me about who I am and what I am made for. Week 2 we joined our host church on a mission trip to Lesotho. Being able to go to a 12th country was such a blessing and a lot of fun. I actually had to drive there and back. Driving on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car was a challenge, but we made it alive. In Lesotho we did a Holiday Club (VBS) for the kids of the surrounding villages. It was so cold and windy and a lot of the kids had walked miles to get to the church and only had a pair of holey pants and maybe a jacket. None of them were adequately dressed yet they still came with the biggest smiles. The ladies I was with and myself got the opportunity to go into one of the villages to visit with some of the women and pray for them and speak into them. The village we were in was surrounded by mountains and the stars at night were so incredible. It got so dark and looking up at the stars and realizing that it’s completely different constellations than what I’m use to and there’s a whole bunch of new stars to marvel at made me so excited! Everything there was so simple and so relaxed. It brought me down to Earth even more so and made me realize that I really don’t need a single thing to be happy, only Jesus.
Weeks 3 and 4 were pretty similar to each other. We were back at HOPE Schools, where we were the first week helping with Holiday Club. By this time they were back in school and everyday I was there I helped in grade 3. I was blessed with the task of tutoring the kids who had fallen behind or needing extra help. I was so at home and doing exactly what I love. There was one boy I met during Holiday Club that stole my heart and working with him almost every day broke my heart to pieces and by the time I left he had my whole heart. He was the one I wanted to pack up in the pack and take home with me. So many of the kids broke my heart though. I will never forget their voices “Good morning Aunty Hannah!!” Such a beautiful sound. Waving good-bye to them on the last day and seeing them all drive away in the buses was so hard, but I know I did my best and loved those kids with the love God has poured into me and I know they felt it.
Some things that God has been speaking to me:
Sitting in East London enjoying the most beautiful Sunday afternoon we’ve had so far I start to think about life in Texas.
“I should be hanging out with my friends.”
“I should be done with church.”
“I should be eating lunch.”
“I should be having a picnic at Zilker Park.”
“I should be laying out in the sun like this, but in Austin.”
“I should, I should, I should…”
I soon realized that I am exactly where I SHOULD be and all of those thoughts are I COULD be thoughts. I don’t want to live with the “I could be” thoughts because those thoughts hinder me from living in the moment and enjoying what’s in front of me now.
I am an intercessor and prayer warrior. I knew this at home because I loved to pray but it’s being confirmed more and more. God speaks to me or shows me things and I have been given a voice to use and to speak out and pray what He’s showing/telling me. To pray for the people around me, the villages we go into, ministries we’re involved in, anything that’s placed on my heart. I’ve witnessed first hand, multiple times, the power of prayer and know the importance of it. There is a girl on my team, Kacy, who is exactly the same. She’s a feeler, a crier, a prayer warrior. We have had some life changing prayer, worship, and cry sessions together because that’s just how God made us. God placing us together was not a mistake. “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20
There’s so much more I could write about but I’ll end it here before the wifi goes out. I also have to pack because tomorrow we leave for Swaziland!! Pray for us and our host, El Shaddai Ministries! It’s all squad month so it’s over 50 people altogether in one place!
