New month, new country, NEW MINISTRY!!!
Here in South Africa, we are staying with a ministry called Impact Africa, located in a suburb of Johannesburg. As I’ve said before, this ministry seems to be my favorite yet. I am here with my 6 lovely teammates and 7 others from a team also on my squad.
One of the main ministries we do here is community outreach. When we do this, we go into communities called “squatter camps”. If you have never heard of a squatter camp, here we go! Squatter camps are communities ranging from 1,000 to 700,000 people. People come from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Swaziland, Mozambique, Lesotho and other parts of Africa and South Africa to live in these camps. They come in hopes of finding a job here in Johannesburg. These camps are rough. They consist of shack after shack made out of bricks, tin, sticks, mud and any other scraps that can make up a “house”. Some camps are lucky enough to have electricity and a sewage system, but most of the time sewage is flowing right through the middle of the street. There are stray dogs everywhere, massive dead rats in the street and wonderful smells as you can imagine with an open sewage system.
Sometimes people have lived there for 25 years and some for only a week. Some are here with their siblings, children, wives or husbands, and some are completely alone. Either way, every single person there has had to sacrifice their homes in hopes of finding a job to support themselves and their families here in Johannesburg. The sad thing is, many many people in these squatter camps still cannot find a job. Some have been without work for years and years. Most people end up working “piece jobs”, which are just one time jobs like mowing a lawn, cleaning, painting a house or cutting wood. While these jobs are at least something, they are still not enough to support a family. Moral of the story is: these people are suffering.
Here are some pictures of the camp:
This is where we get to go and share the good good news of Jesus Christ and share the hope he gives us. This looks like us going on groups of 2 or 3, along with a translator, going shack to shack talking to the people living in these camps. We dont barge into their house and shove Jesus into their face, but rather we take the type of approach that Jesus took. When we go into a house (usually everyone is more than happy to welcome us in), we start by getting to know them. We talk about where they are from, what brought them here, how many kids they have, are they married, how many siblings, and so on. This opens up the conversation to a more personal level. We ask about their story and struggles before we say any of ours. We really do care about every single person we talk to and we want to make sure they know that. Another thing we do when we go into people houses is serve them. If they are doing their laundry in a bucket, we step in and finish it and hang it up for for them. If they need water, we take their buckets and walk to fill it up for them. If they are sweeping, we will sweep for them and so on.
Here is me helping with a woman’s laundry, her name is Lawrence:
We do this to fulfill this saying, “If you are not preaching the gospel with your mouth, you should be preaching it with your actions.”
Once we are done helping them with whatever they need help with, we begin to ask them about their faith. Many of them go to “church” and know who God is, but don’t really know the story of Jesus or even know Jesus at all. And like I said in my past blogs, knowing Jesus is crucial. Most of the churches here work on the basis of false prophets and teachings apart from the Bible. Many many people in these camps are being lead astray by these false churches and are not receiving the true life and hope the Jesus wants us to have. The churches teach them that only a “prophet” can pray to God, that Jesus is mad at them all the time, that Gods blessings only come in material things and so on. But I believe that is why God has placed this ministry here. We get to go out and speak true life and true hope into people lives. People who have never heard of Jesus are hearing and giving their lives to him and receiving salvation for the first time ever!!! That’s huge!!! People who have been taught wrong about Jesus are learning and are given a bible to see for themselves. People are being healed through the power of prayer and most importantly, people are receiving the true hope of Jesus Christ.
Here is me sharing the Gospel with a woman who had never heard the story of Jesus:
When I get into a house and ask them how they are doing, the most common answer I get is “we are suffering”. They say “if God is real and Jesus loves me, then why am I suffering”. And to be honest, that’s something even people in the States ask. But I feel privileged that God uses me to answer this question.
It’s really important to start with this scripture:
Matthew 6:19-21 says “do not store up treasures for yourself on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.”
A lot of the time we miss the focus of the gifts God wants to give us. We are so quick to think that the Lord isn’t blessing us because he isn’t giving us material things on this earth, but that’s not true. God loves us so much that he doesn’t just want to give us gifts of this world that will fade, he waves to give us gifts of the spirit that will last eternity. The verse from Matthew says it very clearly, and it ends in a big statement. It’s basically saying that wherever you believe your true treasure is, there your heart will be also. It’s sounds a little abstract, but it’s true. If we really believe that the only gifts God wants to give us are of this world, that means we most likely don’t believe that we have the gift of eternity in heaven. Therefore, we begin to live for the world and give into our suffering. But if we truly believe that our treasure is in heaven, then we begin to live our lives a different way. Suffering in this world will come, but it cannot change our treasure in heaven.
God tells us over and over again in the Bible that our treasures and possessions on earth can actually hurt us more than they can help us. Our possessions are one of the biggest things the devil uses to distract us from God. Picture it like this. If you have a glass of water, you can fill it with two things, sand or water. Sand will represent things of this world like our possessions, jobs, cars and houses. Water will represent Jesus. The cup will represent you and your life. Say you fill your cup up with things of this world, the cup ends up being about 3/4 full of sand. When you try to pour water into that cup, only about 1/4 a cup can fit in. In other words, when we fill our lives up with things of this world, we don’t leave room for Jesus. But say your cup is only filled with about 1/16th worth of sand. When the water is pored in, so much more water is able to be poured into that cup. What I’m trying to say is that, when we empty ourselves of worldly things, we leave room for Jesus to come into our lives. The Bible tells us the lesson over and over again.
In Jesus first teaching ever in his life, he taught on this matter.
He said:
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.”
(Matthew5:3-6MSG)
Jesus is actually saying that we should feel blessed when hardships come our way because that is when we can be filled with spiritual blessings upon spiritual blessings. When we have less in the eyes of the world, it becomes easiest to welcome the eternal treasure of Jesus into our lives. He says it again in James 2:5 “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him.”
And this is the hope that we get to speak into these people’s lives. It’s not just a mask to cover up suffering, but it is a real hope. I can see it first hand in these people. I can see their joy being restored when they realize that their true treasure in Jesus Christ.
It is not by my own strength that I have the power to do any of this, but it is only because of Gods power that I am able to be in these situations. I only have the power to be a messenger of the good news, but God has the power to change hearts and we have seen him moving in many!
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Thank you everyone who reads my blogs, it means a lot to me that you want to follow along my journey! I hope and pray that my blogs are able to give a small glimpse into the big things that God is doing.
I am still about $500 short of my fundraising goal. The deadline is coming up soon in February and I would love to become fully funded. Donations can be given on my home page of this website. Just click “donate” and it will walk you through the rest! Please help spread the word if you know others who can help!
Xoxo
Ashley(:
