God is here, Wifi is not.
Praise God.
Every day brings a new awareness of God and the world as a whole. Every day brings new challenges and moments to be thankful for.
One of the first challenges I encountered was the unique situation of having too much. For my first month, we have four teams at the same ministry, which means that I had 21 other awesome people that I wanted to get to know better every day, and not enough quality time with each one. I am still figuring out how best to love whoever it is the Lord puts in my path each day, while being as intentional as I can with each person on my team and in my squad, to let them know that I value them and want to know them and their heart.
I am SO thankful for the conversations I have gotten to have with my teammates, there is such depth to each person it is a joy to see how God is working in their lives.
Day one of ministry started off HOT. We got to run a little mini-VBS called Jubilani kids for the children who live in the squatter camps of Diepsloot and Zanspruit. There are over 150,000 people who live in the 2.5 square mile area of Diepsloot, which gives a whole new meaning to the term “elbow room.” It was so cool getting to bring some joy and Jesus to these kids; at the same time it’s hard knowing how many more are out there that need to hear the same message.
Day two of ministry had Team Koinonia combining with Team Shine for work projects! I was super proud of both teams putting in hard work all day to help build the foundation for a church expansion in Diepsloot. It was a physically taxing yet joyful day, getting to work side by side with another team and a group of volunteers from the church giving up their time to build up their own church – such a beautiful picture of what the body of Christ can and should look like.
Days three and four of ministry had us doing outreach in the community, which looks like us going door to door, offering help with whatever needs to be done, talking about Jesus, and praying for anyone who wanted it. It was incredible how open and welcoming the people were. We would be walking the streets, invited in, and be immediately seated. One of the most special moments so far was getting to pray a prayer of salvation with two women after conversing with them for over two hours. I was blown away that night by this encounter and the opportunity to directly witness and be a part of the harvest this early in my journey. God just laughed at me the next day by allowing our group to talk to two other women for several hours and have ANOTHER chance to pray a prayer of salvation with them! It is amazing to build up the church and grow disciples, but it is something special to witness new believers coming into the kingdom.
There is so much that has happened that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Hoping to post some more of what’s going on, and even some of the adventures we sent it on during the rare days we have off! Would love prayers for continued health as everyone is going down sick (special shoutout to my mom for keeping me healthy this far).
So thankful for your continued support, much love to you all! If you’ve read this far, comment and then share what God is doing in your life! Challenge: Encourage someone in your life right after you read this!
