South Africa; a very different place from Asia. No more rice fields or weird looking cows everywhere. South Africa, from what I have seen, is filled with many, many mountains, news animals, English, and new adventures waiting.
My team is living in Jeffrey’s Bay; also known as the surfing capitol of the world. No, I have not gone surfing yet. I want to.
Yes, the land is very different here than it was in Asia, but the main difference is ministry. In Asia I felt as if ministry found me and I didn’t have to go out searching for it; it was laid out right in front me. We had specific things we had to do each day. Here, I don’t feel that way. In Asia God taught me how to “do” ministry and love on people. Here, I am in the process of being “sent” out into the world. This may not make much sense because I am still on the same mission trip.
South Africa is very similar to America in many ways. People speak English. People have money. Some people know the Lord. Some. Here, God is teaching me to physically go and seek out those people who don’t know the Lord, or even find the ones who do and pray over them.
The other day we walked through a village that is right around the corner from where we are staying and as we came upon people we would stop and pray over them. One woman fell to her knees and wept. She was most likely bound by the bondage of alcoholism, but I believe the Spirit was there in that moment. Sometimes you can just feel it. Other people came up to us and asked us for prayer. When people come up to you and ask you for prayer you have to believe the Spirit is with you; how can you not.
It was our first time in the village. A lot of our ministry has consisted of us volunteering at a horse farm. There we have already spent countless hours in the dry heat shoveling poop & mulch, brushing & feeding, and harnessing up horses. I do enjoy getting to love on the horses, but at the end of the day I look at the relationships that are forming between us and the other workers there.
For Christmas we stayed in J-Bay and celebrated it with the other team living here. For new years we are driving to Cape Town to meet up with the rest of our squad to celebrate! When we drive back to J-Bay we are leaving the guys behind and they will be joining the rest of the guys from our squad and going to Lesotho for a MANistry month. Prayers for them as they enter into the new country. Us girls are all very excited to see how the Lord is going to work in their lives in January.
Below are a few pictures of J-Bay and some of our experiences here:
We went driving one day and saw GIRAFFE’S!!
Us in the village praying over people. We were praying over this man and that he might get the chance to see his family for Christmas.
One of the sweet horses that let me rest on her back after a hard day of shoveling mulch.
The beach! Just a 15 minute walk from our house!
The mountains we passed by on our way to J-Bay! They were HUGE
