Let’s face it, the past several days here at Refilwe have been pretty rough. Here’s the scoop. Friday (June 22, 2007) we had training for the upcoming week of children’s camp ministry. I only made it a few hours before I had to leave – a mild fever, abdominal pain, etc, prevented me from going anywhere that day or the next. The coolest part – a bunch of girls prayed over me, and immediate I felt much better! A good 80%! And then Monday night when I was praising God about feeling better, a WR friend said “80% isn’t good enough, let’s pray for 100%!” So once again, my WR friends prayed over me (and several others – some with illnesses, some with minor injuries, etc). Since then, I’ve been feeling 100% đ So praise God! Also, even while I was sick, I thanked God for His timing – before camp, with time to rest up and pray for the upcoming week.
But satan’s attacks do not end there. Some girls were having bad dreams (not me this time), so we prayed over the house. No bad dreams for them last night. Then last night, the guys started having the bad dreams. Please
lift this up with us tonightâthat satan will have no authority here. And that Christ will reign in all parts of our lives, even dreams.
Personally, I’ve felt attacked with the children’s camp. My group of approximately sixteen 12-year olds are amazing – they’re so smart, most of them speak at least two languagesâtheir native tongue (Zuluâone of the 11 SA languages) and English. They AMAZE me at their athletic abilities tooâseveral of them are super fast runners, excellent at long-jump (jumping approx 6 feet or so!), great at soccer/ âfootball.’ Many of them come from near-by squatter’s camps. And/Or live on very little necessities. Which also means it’s challenging to keep focused from approximately 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day, doing recreation games, story times (usually in skit format), singing & chanting. My boys especially are full of energyâŚand have apparent spiritual battles too.
Yesterday, (Tuesday, June 26, 2007) I clearly presented the Gospel with my group. The story of the day was “God’s love saves.” The actual presentation went well, creatively keeping their attention through crafts, stories, incorporating the South African flag (like the Wordless Book, if you’re familiar with that approach), chants, songs, etc. Approximately 5 or 6 children desired to know Jesus as friend and Sin-taker (Savior) and prayed for the first time!!
PRAISE GOD!!
Another 5 or so children said that they had prayed to Jesus for a personal relationship before.
Yeah! But throughout the day, the boys were really rough with each other, mostly with words and some physically, ending in tears for a couple of the boysâŚand for me. What broke my heart was when one of the really good boys asked to transfer to another group because the “other boys were so mean.” Thank God I was able to convince him to give it another day. (He enjoyed today! Another praise!!) What a challenging, spiritually draining day!
Honestly this morning I had a hard time. I love âmy kids’ so much! And pray for them by name daily. Yet loving & sharing Jesus’ love is not always easy. But thank God His
“mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning; great is His faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Today I spent about an hour in prayer, weeping over these children, praying that the Lord will allow His seeds to fall on good soil (
Matthew 13:1-23), that many children will come to know him, that the spirit of rebellion and apathy will be broken, and that these wonderful children will become strong leaders in their families, communities, & country for the Name of Christ. And today, the Lord blessed the group!
They actively participated, without too many rough words, etc. A huge change from yesterday! In a similar manner, please
pray with me for these children. Pray that God will receive the final victory over these kids and multiply their grain/fruit a hundredfold (
Mt. 13:8, 23) leading many others to Christ.
Also, please continue to
lift me up: Spiritual strength and renewal each day in the Word and prayer; Warmth (It’s cold! It snowed today in Jo’bergâapprox. ½ hour drive awayâfor the first time in 20 years.); Team dynamicsâcurrently things are going well, despite the very real challenges of community living. Also, please
pray with me, tomorrow (Thursday) after children’s camp, I will be going to Joe Slovo, the closest squatter’s camp, to see where many of my kids live and talk with people about Jesus.
PS–
An update on your prior prayers — Our first & second days we had about 200 kids each day! Thank you for your prayers!!
Praise God! Today, several children stayed behind, many chose to stay at home under blankets due to inadequate warm clothing, so we probably had closer to 150 kids, approximately 13 being “my kids.”
PPS– I took the South African sunset pictures during our drive from Swaziland đ
