My Dearest Africa,
To say that you have changed my life would not only be a great understatement but would also not do justice to the extent that God has used you to challenge, mold, and call me. It was just last July while I was in Pretoria that I learned about the World Race. It was also then that I received God’s call for me to finally devote myself to overseas missions, when Austin Edwards shared the saying of V. Raymond Edman: “Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.” It was with this quote that I was encouraged to devote myself to missions and little did I know that it would be taking me back to you sooner than I realized. It was barely a year after this trip that I would return to your beautiful continent and the impact that you made on my life during my second visit would rival that of the first.
The first stop on my second trip would be to Lesotho which is somehow pronounced “Le-soo-too.” It was here that I was greeted with a heavy dose of homesickness though it was nothing that you did to me. On the contrary it was something that you helped me out of and aided me in seeing the never ending faithfulness of our Father when the faith of man is at its lowest. Despite my dreary mental and emotional state the Spirit still worked through me to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior calling 33 new believers, my new brothers and sisters, to hope in Christ Jesus. It was also then that God healed many people of physical ailments through the laying of hands and prayer. I cannot contain the joy that I get when I recall this day. Thank you for those people who committed their lives to Christ and thank you for the 170 others who did the same in August alone in Mokhotlong, Lesotho.
My next month would be to Nsoko, Swaziland to partner with Adventures in Missions and Children’s Hope Chest with the entire squad. This was a very interesting month filled with many laughs, cries, frustration, people, and not to mention dirt. Not to be rude or anything but why do you insist on the daily, and nightly, dirt storms? Does it give you joy to fill our tents and lungs with red dirt or are you just trying to force us bathe more often? If it is the former than that is really rude of you and if it is the latter then jokes on you, it didn’t work… Anyway I do want to thank you for this month, though it was stressful for many people to be around 60 others day in and day out, I am a raging extrovert so my time was rather delightful. It was in that realm that God taught me a lesson here, that I need to seek him before I seek others. It was so easy every day to fill my hours with talking to others but it was a challenge to find myself alone with you. You helped me learn to get away from people to seek a proper relationship with our Father. I know that the largest problem in Swaziland, and the rest of Africa, is fatherlessness but you know as well as I do that where the fathers of this world fail, our Father in heaven will always be closer than we think. Though ministry was hard this month it helped challenge my patience and faith that God’s will is going to be done regardless of my handy-work. Thank you for an awesome month of growth. P.S. Thanks for letting my pass out Toms, I didn’t actually believe that they did what they said they did till now!
As you know I ended my time in Port St. Johns, South Africa. Though I prayed for God to take be back to Pretoria to be able to see where I was called in the first place, he deemed it better for me to be in PSJ, or at least someone on my team. Either way I write this letter at the table that I have eaten nearly every meal this month and could not thank you enough for this beautiful town. I remember when we first heard our month three ministry, saying that we were in a “tourist town.” While we were thinking something that resembled a South African San Diego, we received a regular town that just sat in between the jungle and the Indian Ocean. I am so glad that this is what we got. I was able to see so much of God’s beauty through the cliff-side views and the African schools. God’s love and redemption is ever present here. Though I have been very frustrated with the school systems in Africa, God has used that to show me his job for me in that broken system. To love these kids, not to teach them. They have people giving them lectures every single day of the week but the amount that they have people embrace them with the love of Christ is less than they need. Thank you for helping me see this. Would you continue to encourage Salomon Bam, our ministry host, to continue strong in his ministry with these kids here. He is such a faithful man of God and I thank you for allowing us to be a part of what God is doing here through him.
From the barren mountains of Mokhotlong, through the dry, thorny dust of Nsoko, and to the seaside jungles of Port St. Johns; I love you. I do not know whether I will ever return nor is it even in my control to do so, what I do know is that you have changed my life. I know that wherever I go I will take a part of you with me and I leave a part of my heart with you. Give my love to Oliver, Tebo, Tsepo, little Tsepo, Metabo, Bitty, Pilo, Tamara, Three, Solomon, JB, Prince, MVP, Mawande, MK, Sangiso, and everyone else that I didn’t include in this list.
With the deepest thankfulness and reverence,
Colt Wakefield
