When poverty was plastered on the tin shack walls and ally-ways we walked through with gray water streaming by our feet, my eyes were opened to unimaginable brokenness. Day after day we saw the Lord perform miracles and bring life and hope to his children; my heart was transformed and restored. He molded me and shaped in me a new sense of boldness, urgency, and authority that I’ve only ever read about in the bible. yeah He’s that good!
Learning how to live out the great commission in every moment!
Matthew 28:18
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
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This is a blog that i should have written months ago but to put it lightly life got crazy in Africa!!!
(some minor details)
The transition from Costa Rica to South Africa was a long one, we ended up having 2 layovers and all in all it took us about 4 days to get there. But in that transition we got to explore both Toronto, Canada and Frankfurt, Germany. Exploring new cities with some of my best friends while at the same time asking the Father how he can use us and who we can love on these short excursions created unforgetable memories. It was a great last hurah for our squad before we’d have to part ways in South Africa.
Also, during transition I was raised up as a team leader! This was a huge honor and also a new responsibility to take on for the rest of the race. It has given me such a great opportunity to serve and love my team in a new way and I’m learning a lot about myself through this position.
(end of minor details)
now to the fun part… AFRICA
The Lord brought me to Africa!!! How cool is He!!! Sometimes the fact that I’m traveling gets mundane or normal to me but then other times, like right about now, I’m just in awe of how the Lord has brought my dreams to life! Oh, how He gives me life!
So exactly why did the Lord bring me to South Africa….?…. well that’s a loaded question.
BREAKTHROUGH!!!
Radical breakthrough all around, everyone can have some, it’s free and beautiful and it comes from a loving Father.
Well, it definitely wasn’t that easy, but wow did he dish it up!!!
My team, salt & light (sometimes known as spiders & lice:):) and relentless, the guys team, were placed in Johannesburg with Impact Africa! (Impact Africa actually does it all and is bringing the kingdom so go check them out cause this blog will not do them justice https://www.impactafrica.org )
From there we were thrown into the battle! The way that we were thrown into evangelism and multiple other ministries was surprising to us but orchestrated by God. He equipped us every step of the way!
Our battle field for those three months looked like five or more squatter camps filled with millions of people from all over Africa. The way we fought came in many different shapes and sizes but overall our only goal was to be Image-bearers of Christ and serve, love, and share with everyone the simplicity of the gospel.
Everyday we walked into theses squatter camps having no clue where the Lord would take us, but knowing that He had gone before us. Some days we would spend hours just talking about Jesus, sharing testimonies, scripture, praising Him and discipling one another, other days we would spend hours in the streets playing with kids and doing laundry. One of the coolest things was, no matter what we were doing or where we were, we could feel the presence of the Lord!
Breakthrough!!
The people in South Africa are very spiritually aware and weather it was witch doctors or ancestral worship they believed in a higher power but many had never heard the truth that is in the gospel. What an incredible blessing the Lord gave us to share with them these truths. Over the course of our three months we got to witness dozens of people put their faith and hope in Christ for the first time. wow was that glorious!
Early in our time there, while hanging out with a group of young girls and reading them some stories in the bible, one of the older girls who was sitting with us showed a real interest in learning more about God and told us how she wanted a bible to read, but didn’t have one of her own. Upon hearing this I felt God prompting me to give her my own bible that i have had as a girl growing up. It had been with me through so much and I felt God telling me to pass it on so that now this girl could have his words to guide her through her life. There are a lot of different languages spoken in South Africa so i wasn’t sure if an english bible would help her, but she spoke great english and she confirmed that she could read it well too. I then knew that I needed to give her my bible and so i took it out and handed it to her. It became hers and got to pray a blessing over her and her developing relationship with the Lord. What’s even cooler than this, is the fact that stories like this were so common for my team and i. I’m pretty sure every single one of us gave away our own personal bibles at least once, honestly probably more than that! We were giving away so many bibles that we ended up having a church that collected money from their congregation and gifted it to to us to buy hundreds of bibles to pass out to the residents in these communities! God’s word is being planted and flourishing there. It’s amazing!
Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
With our incredible ministry came the very real and recognizable spiritual warfare. Our team had to fight day in and day out for each other. Taking a knee and pulling out our shields of faith. Through speaking truth over each other and interceding for one another the Lord showed up and broke down so many walls and strongholds we didn’t even know were there.
Never once did these things come easy there was a huge hurtle to jump over just in learning how to do evangelism and speaking so boldly about my faith but never will i go back!
Being here in the city in Thailand has been hard. I’m missing the beautiful trees in Africa, the clean air and the stillness. Although I do miss Africa very much and will forever have a piece of my heart there, I know God has so much for me here in Thailand and for the rest of my life. I am beyond blessed with this life I have and wouldn’t change it for anything. God is so good!
