Hey Everyone!
So we have just finished up the first month of “Manistry” in Lesotho. So much has happened in the month of December that is testimony to the Lords great will and great works. As I’m writing this we are preparing for our long weekend to Durban, South Africa to relax on the beach and hangout for New Years. We have been super busy this month with ministry.
Ministry:
– Every morning three of us will walk down to the local hospital to give a devotion to patients and doctors to start off their days. Then we will wait outside and those who want us to pray for them will approach us. We have been able to see so much healing and blessings from the Holy Spirit such as the events the Disciples performed in the book of Acts.
– On Mondays and Thursdays, we go to the soup kitchen to serve people who are infected with HIV/AIDS. This is an awesome opportunity to pray for some very sick people. Also, this has definitely reminded me how lucky and blessed we are in the United States to have great hospitals and medicine.
– On Wednesdays, we get to visit the local Prison to speak to inmates. I was given the opportunity to give a short sermon one day. I spoke on 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and talked about the ways that the Lord can allow you to be broken down and put through “fire” in order to come out more like him and stronger in faith. After my talk and another pastors talk, 13 men stood up in front of their fellow inmates and accepted Christ as their savior. This was amazing and I have never seen anything like this.
– Every afternoon and morning we have nothing scheduled, we help build an orphanage. We just finished painting and laying tiles in the first building. We are now going to begin to lay foundation for the second building, this includes digging through bedrock with pick-axes and shovels.
The Holiday season this year was definitely different from anything that I have ever experienced. The few days around Christmas were by far the most difficult days of the Race so far since I missed my family and friends so much. Christmas was also probably one of my best ever. We had a gift exchange with all the guys on my team and then had all of the Pastors and their families over for a Braai (an African cookout) along with a missionary family from South Carolina. At our Braai, we cooked a sheep that I got to kill a few days earlier. We cleaned the sheep and ate every single part of it. It was quite a unique opportunity to celebrate Christmas in Lesotho and be able to truly have all of our focus on Jesus.
Spiritually this month was very strange for me. I was so happy and content and emotionally filled that I did not feel that deep need and want for more Jesus in my life. This lead to a very unhealthy complacency. Although, I did still learn so much by reading through the books Matthew and 2 Corinthians which just created so much fruit in my life. I was also to have so many fruitful conversations with leaders and squad mates.
While the month was definitely a “grind” it was probably the most fun. We got to spend so many days hiking the unlimited mountains here. One weekend we hike a few hours to a river where we camped out under the stars and then baptized two of my teammates the following morning. We have spent so many nights having bonfires underneath the stars. While we were first driving to our ministry sight in Lesotho it was about two a.m. and we were in the middle of nowhere. We stopped off to use the bathroom and when we got out of the car and looked up all we could see were stars. Since there is absolutely zero light pollution out there we were able to see the Milky Way galaxy perfectly clear. I will never forget that sight.
I’m looking forward to the next month of Ministry and seeing what the Lord can do. The orphanage should be complete by the time we leave which will be so cool to see kids move in. I can’t wait to continue to have opportunities to preach and share the word at the hospital, soup kitchen, and prison. But I’m honestly also excited for it to be over because then my mom is coming to see me in Swaziland for a week!!!
