This is a blog post written by the radiant Betsy Gottsacker who is on the squad I’m mentoring! http://betsygottsacker.theworldrace.org/post/stepping-out-in-africa/
“Cambodia came to an end with an overflow of abundance, a sweet baptism, and much needed renewing rest in an ACTUAL bed. From Cambodia we traveled 3 hours to Thailand, spent 8 hours in the Thailand Airport during a layover, 8 hours in flight from Thailand to Kenya, 1 hour layover in Nairobi, wrapping up the travel with 4 hours in flight to Johannesburg, South Africa where we met two other World Race Squads from different routes.
This retreat was hosted by Adventures in Missions called “The Regional Awakening.” We were asked to pick from four specialties throughout this retreat. Our options were hospitality, evangelism, intersession, and worship. Our squad felt very blessed to walk alongside the other squads in fellowship. I decided to step out out my box of comfort and step into the role of evangelism. Now I look at evangelism simply as relationship building, talking to people and sharing stories (something I tend to be fairly good at.) Being a part of the evangelism team I had the opportunity to encourage 150 other World Racers to actually go out into the community, pray and encourage other people within the community of Pretoria. We were dropped off in teams no larger than 3 people at local strip malls. Madison, Natalie and I teamed together- I ended up really connecting with these girls! Let’s humbly say the three of us were a power house. I have never seen two individuals hear from the Holy Spirit so clearly before. Being dropped off at the strip mall I needed to find the courage to start these conversations- doubting my knowledge of the Bible (which I rebuke.) I remembered my days selling books and something we would say quite often, “ACTION CURES FEAR.”
My two sidekicks in evangelism met a woman sitting on a card board box reading a book. Her name was Susan. Ironically Susan was reading a book about a rad dude we know well, Jesus. We struck up a conversation with Susan about her walk with the Lord, her job, family, and her dreams for her life. The three of us prayed for healing for Susan and unity within her family. Susan encouraged us to find the break room of the grocery store she works at. Susan expressed she wasn’t sure how open others would to talking to us or having prayer. Madison, Natalie and I set out to find this break room with no luck.
As we turned back to meet someone else to encourage and pray for. Susan grabbed our hands and marched us up some hidden stairs proclaiming to everyone that the three of us are her sisters. Susan introduced us to her friend Johanna. We prayed over her and for her daughter. After praying for Johanna, different people’s hands started to shoot up requesting prayer. We prayed fiercely for healing, unity in families, success, and courage. We prayed for over 20 different people in a grocery store break room in South Africa. We saw Jesus miraculously heal people, we saw tears well up in eyes, we saw the Holy Spirit working in this place. Little did we know that the Lord wanted to use the three of us in such big ways in only one hour’s time. We left the break room with Susan walking alongside us, tears in her eyes.
The Lord knew what he was doing by sending the three of us out together this day. Not only did we feel the presence of God, but it set a very valuable pace for this upcoming month in Botswana for me. Let me just say the people in Africa may be some of my favorites around the world. My team will be evangelizing at the local university in Gaborone and extending hands to join us in fellowship and games. This afternoon we were at UB (University of Botswanna) from 10am-7pm. it has been awesome to build new relationships with people in this community.”
