Debrief was a five-day trip to a hostel in South Africa where we came back together as a squad. During that time, we all processed the last month as well as renewed our minds to go back on the field. Then we first got there, I didn’t think I needed to process. I thought we had plenty of time for that, and was thinking ministry was a slower month. That is, until we went to night sessions where they talked about ministry and what it was.
Ministry is a lot more than I thought. Though we didn’t have a large amount of scheduled ministry, we ministered to our host, his team, and my teammates quite a bit. At the time, I didn’t think spending time with each other would make a big effect overall. Ministry is as simple as building up a teammate or spending time getting to know my ministry host and serving them. This past month, we had time to be built up in the Spirit and the knowledge of who God was and is and the things he did with His disciples.
As I sat by the pool at our hostel, I realized that God has taken my team so far from where we first begun. We walked into the hostel as a family of six sisters who would do just about anything for each other. Not to mention, we were paired with another girl group of five on our squad and our squad leader with us. So, more like 12 sisters. Either way, I’m blessed to have stumbled on this family of sisters who have such a heart for the Lord. God showed me this past month a small glimpse of what it must have looked like for the disciples to learned and grow together. We learned a lot from each other.
While at debrief, we had some free time to renew our minds as we saw fit. Behind our hostel there was a mountain and, without any hesitation, I was going to climb that thing. That morning I read Mark 9:2-8 and I was excited to have some Jesus time up on top on the mountain – I just had to talk someone into it. I few minutes later, my teammate walked up to me and asked, “Would you maybe want to climb a mountain today?” We decided to jump in the pool before climbing up, due to it being Africa. It’s most always hot, but for sure at least by midday. We got on our swimsuits and started to head toward the pool. On my way to there, I talked to another one of my teammates and she decided she go would go swimming with us and then have some quiet time at the top of the mountain. Once we were done swimming, we all got changed into our climbing apparel. I filled my backpack with my journal, bible, snacks, rope, first aid, water, and anything else I could possibly need. We started up the mountain, only to realize this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. The mountain was steep and the elevation was real. With a back pack full of weight, we got tired out quickly. We stopped every few minutes to regain our breath, but after getting a quarter of the way up it got easier as our bodies got used to the elevation. The rest of the way, we now faced the jungle portion of the mountain. The day before, some of my squad mates hiked up and ran into some monkeys and a snake. There was no path we followed – we were making our own. This was a good time to crack jokes, as we were imaging that there were stairs somewhere and we had gone the wrong way. We ran into some thick brush and got some scrapes along the way while also being coated with a thick layer of sweat. We finally made it the top to realize it took an hour or longer the get all the way to the top.
We only had hour and forty-five minutes to get back down for night session, and it would be dark by then. We snapped a few pictures and then started to head back down, knowing going down would be the hard part. Eventually, we made it down – after some debating which direction to go and where the hostel was located.
At the first site of the pool, it was a consensus we would be jumping in as soon as we took off our backpacks. Two of my squad mates were by the pool – one being in the water and the other on the sidelines, encouraging him to go underwater. I put my legs in the water and plunged in mid count as my squad mate was preparing to go under. To his excuse, it wasn’t fair – due to me being warmer than him. We swam for twenty minutes and got ready for that night session.
God has begun to reveal things to me in ways I didn’t think possible for me. He has been answering a lot of my prayers and continues to build my faith every day. I ask for a mountain at my new ministry site, he surrounds me in mountains. I ask for inside toilets, he gives us three. I ask for a mirror because I haven’t seen myself in days – and I wake up to see a mirror attached to my bed. On a safari I went on during debrief I asked God to show me an animal that they don’t see every day and we saw it. This month I know God is going to do far greater things than I can think or image and He continues to show me that in small ways every day.
I’m now currently in Swaziland, Africa. I’ve made it safe to my ministry site and we will be working at different care points in the area it love on children and share the good news while building relationships with them. We also have a pre-school at our site, so children are always around. This month, we are living with three other teams from our squad. I’m excited already to see as we all work together as one big body. I’ll be updating as much as possible this month so look out for upcoming blogs.
I’m also still 2,100 short for this month’s deadline: I only need 42 people to donate 50 dollars. Come partner with God to give God’s hope and love to the nations. Help me to continue the work of the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God. Thank you to everyone back home for your continual prayers and support.
