Well guys, times flying by for me here across the world. I’m currently on a plane headed to our last and final country. Crazy right? I never could have imagined how fast 7 months could go by just like that.
Here’s just a quick little update…
South Africa. A time for brokenness, walking though hard things, but most importantly GROWTH. I know most times these “hard times” are talked about, others feel bad. But truly, it’s not something to feel bad about, for as it’s said in Romans…
“There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”
??Romans? ?5:3-5? ?MSG??
SO POWERFUL.
We should rejoice with all that falls at our feet attempting to tip us.
If I had to sum up the last two months with 3 verses, it would be these word right here.
It’s a beautiful thing. Seriously.
Something that said very often at training camp was “you can do hard things”. I knew this was true… or at least I could encourage everyone else with these inspiring words, but what I’ve learned is that I also can do hard things. It’s possible. Especially with God. After overcoming, “we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”
So Growth was HUGE in South Africa.
I have to give a bit of a shoutout to our little town we had the pleasure of living in during these two months. An abundance of love overflowed through our ministry!!
Heidelberg, Western cape.
One seriously small town full of huge hearts of gold. Everyone knows everyone. This place may have been the closest feeling to “home” I’ve had the whole race. It was good for the heart.
We started off painting… EVERYTHING hahaha. We arrived right before the beginning of a new year for the school kids, pre-school, and also the Bible college, so we helped get everything spic and span for the students and the church. We spent our whole first week “revamping” the whole place with a fresh coat of paint.
We had the opportunity to work with two local public high schools near us! This was my personal favorite ministry. We held assemblies once a week including a message or a skit, which everyone loves. We were able to just hangout with the children during break time to just talk about being a teenager and where God is in our ever changing lives. The teenage gals I connected with are so incredibly powerful and the Lord is working though them even if they are unaware of it right now.
We did a lot of out reach with the Bible college which included making house visits in the township, going to pray for patients at the hospital, and visiting the elderly home. Each time we would go out, I came back with a very full heart because the work that the Lord is doing through all these different ministry opportunities is so so so powerful and prevalent in Heidelberg.
Community. Oh, the community. We are so used to pouring out to the ministries. I mean, of course thats what we are here for, but the community in Heidelberg poured out and served up more than we could ever repay. Welcomed us with open arms and seriously took us in as family. The church members always made an effort to cook us meals everyone once in a while (helped us 19 years old out tremendously). The Bible college students become great friends to us and always swung by the house to just hangout and get to know us. They would also take us to the most BEAUTIFUL places in this small town such as the dam to jump off rope swings and taking us to a farm where we drove straight up a mountain with a breath taking view. We really couldn’t have asked for anyone better to be our family for the past two months.
Heidelberg, you and your people truly left a mark on my heart and pray that we did the same.
Now that we are heading to our last country, Im excited to push with everything in me to make the best out of these last 3 months! I pray me and the other teams do not get overtaken with laziness or complacency. I pray we chose to dig in even more for God’s kingdom here and truly fight for His fame. Also, I pray we fight to live out the gifts that God has graciously given us and equipped us for a time such as this. Really remembering why we are here and never forget who we are doing this for. The children in the Philippines are laying super heavy on my heart lately and I believe the Lord has unbelievable things in store for our ministry, the kiddos, and this county as a whole.
P. S. Love you guys dearly and thank you for supporting me through this whole journey!! Means the absolute world to me!!
