I can’t believe that it has already been two and a half weeks here in South Africa with our amazing ministry, Love Story. The love that flows from their hearts is amazing and they are really so good to us. They go out of their way to make sure that we have everything that we need and I am learning so much from them about what living for Christ looks like. My favorite part of their ministry so far is definitely children’s ministry and city feed. I can see so much good being done at city feed already. My teammates and I are breaking out of our comfort zones to openly pray over one on one if they are open to it. And through that I am learning that the power of prayer is so very strong. Personally I befriended two brothers named Phillip and Steven. I got the privilege of learning their story the second time I spoke with them which saddened my heart. They were originally working for an older woman by watching her dogs and in return they got to stay at her house. Unfortunately that woman passed away and the people that took over were very unkind to Phillip and Steven. They started to take away their things and eventually the dogs (even Phillip’s own personal dog) and told them they had two weeks to get out. Their lives were instantly flipped upside down. A few days later the house that they were staying at burnt down with all of their belongings in it. The people blamed them for it even though it was clearly arson and put their names and faces in the newspaper telling other people to not hire them because they couldn’t be trusted. Since then they have been on the streets for two weeks. They lost everything that they had and were then basically blackballed for something they didn’t do. They told me the next day that they were walking a far distance to a job opportunity of working for a company and in return they get to live in a camper. We prayed together for that opportunity and after city feed i prayed that for them and that they wouldn’t be at city feed because that would mean they got the job. For about 4 days now they haven’t been at city feed. The joy in my heart was overwhelming! When you go on a mission trip it is almost expected to see miraculous healings and transformations but wow was this cool enough for me. God is soooo good and He really does provide.
I’ve also been learning a lot of things about myself and the different beliefs that other people have. For one I’ve learned that I LOVE worship. I’ve encountered a completely different kind of worship at the church here. The worship here is loud, it’s dance worthy, and it’s so real and completely encouraged to worship however you feel the need to. I’ve seen people fall to their knees in worship, worship quietly to themselves, and completely lose themselves in dance. At first I was pretty nervous to try new ways of worship because I’m from a more conservative church. But the atmosphere and the Holy Spirit was so strong in me it just happened. I love to dance to worship. I love to dance carelessly, outrageously, and joyously because God’s love is too good to not celebrate. It’s been an amazing discovery and something that I’ve been missing back home. I have never experienced God as much as I have been when I am fully worshiping Him.
Another new thing I’m learning about is the Holy Spirit. I have always lived where the Holy Spirit is pretty much a separate thing and it isn’t a living part of the trinity. That’s just how I have learned it. But here the Holy Spirit is so important. I’m starting to learn about it as a powerful part of the trinity that I want to seek a relationship with. To feel the Holy Spirit in me when I worship, to feel it’s presence as I pray over someone. To ultimately become intimate with it. I’m still not really sure what that looks like but I want to explore it. Some of my teammates and the ministry leaders here talk about their experiences with spiritual gifts of speaking tongues and healing which I am still a little fuzzy about. It is spoken about that when you speak tongues you are feeling the Holy Spirit come out of you but I have always learned that it is used to speak another language to communicate the Bible to others who speak in a different tongue. So I’m still a little confused how I feel about that and the fact that it’s not really in the past but it is still happening now. I’ve been learning a lot of new things and I’m focusing on God to show the truth to me as I’m surrounded by different perceptions and interpretations of the Bible.
