within a few miles you literally see extreme poverty and extreme wealth. When I left where we lived, a small Christian camp, planted in the middle of Botleng Township and drove less than 10 minutes, I could arrive at estates. It was mind boggling to be honest. I have seen poverty in America and in cities I have seen it in proximity to wealth, but never to the extent it appeared here. I could write a novel on all I learned during our time in Jo’burg about townships and the apartheid, but what I really want to tell you about is a girl God brought in my path one day. I learned a lot from this one hour conversation, but the biggest thing my friend taught me was to never stop dreaming, hoping, asking and believing what God can do in your life.
My friend’s name is Nandi and she is 20 years old. I met her at the Feeding Scheme where her and some of her friends volunteer and help out. She grew up on the good side of the tracks in Botleng. By that I mean, the government actually built her family a small house to live in and she received an education. She is the second born in her family and lives with her parents and other 3 siblings. She attended church some as a child, but was always bored. Two years ago a friend of hers invited her to a Church service. That night her life was forever changed. The Spirit of God came upon her and gave her new life. It wasn’t smooth sailing though. She lives in a community that runs rampid with AIDS. Most of the water is contaminated and many people are sick. No one in her family believes and many of them are involved in ancient rituals of witchcraft, which they force her to take part in. She is faced w
ith temptations that many reading this faced at her age such as, alcohol, drugs and sex. It is hard to stay strong in this environment and she humbly admitted how she falls short at times. She went on to tell me she goes to church 5 days a week and surrounds herself with the other girls pictured here. She knows that she needs help.
As Nandi shared about her life and answered my many questions, she shared her dreams with me. She told me she wanted to be a software designer working in IT. I must admit, I was kind of taken aback and ashamed of myself at the same time. It wasn’t the career path I expected to hear from this girl. When we started talking I was even sure she had been given the opportunity to go to school. Little did I know she had just finished her first college class. I was convicted that 
I had assumed she would just work in this little township. She told me that she had dreams of having a family, owning her own house and driving a Mazda 2. It was pretty cool to listen to her talk and I was challenged. I wasn’t challenged by her dreams, but I was challenged by the fact that she was dreaming and believing that despite the cards that had been dealt to her, God had more for her. She just had to believe and ask.
I turned 30 last week (Team BLING gave me an unbelievable bday – blog to come on that). I confess that a lot of my dreams haven’t been answered yet and some of that has deterred me from dreaming and asking big things. Don’t get me wrong, my life has been an UNBELIEVABLE journey and I have been ridiculously blessed, but life doesn’t look like I thought it would at 30. God used this conversation with Nandi to remind me that anything is possible with Him. It is Him that puts us where He wants us. It is Him that gives us many of the dreams and desires in our hearts. Our job and responsibility is to ask Him and believe that He will answer. We must choose to believe He has our best interests at heart. God used this conversation to remind me of His faithfulness. He has plans to prosper each and every one of His children. He has plans for Nandi, He has plans for me and He has plans for you! Just like our earthly fathers plan before we are born, our Heavenly Father does the same thing. Every one of us has a purpose. This conversation and an email from a friend inspired me to make a list of 30 dreams/things I want to accomplish this year. Some are ambitious, some are ridiculous, and some my friends helped me come up with, but it is the start of some dreams again in my life. I’m excited to see what this new decade brings in my life and I’m thankful that ultimately I am not in control of any of it and I have a Father in heaven that knows it all. I just have to ask, believe, listen and obey!
Quick Update:
Favorite 3 things about Africa: English speaking people, the Bush and Ketchup on everything! We are safe in Romania, living in a quaint, beautiful town. Seriously the landscaping is breathtaking (Please see pictures below). The name of the village we are living in is Viile-Tecii and it is in Transylvania. For the next two weeks 80+ World Racers will be loving on the people of this village. Pray for God to break down language barriers and for the love of Christ to fall afresh on these people. We head to the conference with the other 4 squads from the 22nd-25th and then onto the Ukraine. We will be back in the states on Nov 23rd!
