Hello world!
So the beginning of this blog, I actually wrote at the end of February when we were leaving Swaziland. I never posted it because of Wi-Fi and then I felt like it was too late to post. However, I thought parts of it were important in order to share what I learned in South Africa.
While we were in Swaziland, we stayed at the AIM base and they partner with an organization called Children’s Hope Chest. Their goal is to help serve and provide for the children and families in eSwatini (Swaziland). They work similar to Compassion but have much more to their ministry than just sponsoring a child. Although people can sponsor a child, the organization helps pay for children’s school fees, they have a music ministry, sports ministry, CarePoint ministry, Shepherds ministry, maintenance ministry, and Timbali (Women’s ministry were they make all kinds of crafts and then are able to sell and make an income). My ministry for the month was the AIM office working in the PR department helping with computer work, putting in attendance and CarePoint work. I sat in front of my computer from Tuesday through Friday from 8am-3pm helping put in attendance mostly. It was very tedious work because we had to input the check marks of every CarePoint (which there are about 40 or more) and then check mark every box for the students for the whole month. Each CarePoint had about 6 to 9 pages worth of students and you could only do the month by weeks, not the whole month at once. I would sit there sometimes and although I knew I was helping them with tons of work, I still found myself asking what was I really doing. I would come back home to hear cool stories from everyone else and how they met all these people or how they were able to play with the kids for an hour and I would just wonder what I was learning through the office. I learned a few things sitting there but I’ll just share one.
I wanted to grow in confidence in discerning the voice of the Lord. In Swaziland, I was encouraged by my team of 7 every day to step out in boldness and grow in just that. Whether it was talking to a stranger on the streets and telling them Jesus loves them or just speaking word of truths over my doubts and fears. One day, while we walked the streets asking the Lord what to do, they encouraged me to ask the Lord what our plan would be. It was difficult and I found myself feeling unqualified for the task. Without my team being able to lift me higher in the area I doubted, I would still be believing that I’m not qualified and I can’t hear the voice of God all the time. They sat me down for 30 minutes one day encouraging me in what it looks like to hear and obey.
Fast forward to South Africa, we worked with an organization called Impact Africa and we all absolutely loved it! If you have a chance, go check them out because what they are doing is incredible. They have interns that come and volunteer and they are able to teach them and help them grow and we were no different. Every Monday, we would go into the office and sit through classes that poured into us so we were equipped to pour out throughout the week. Tuesday through Thursday we would walk through Squatter camps (poor communities were immigrants stay and live in house made of tin with lose sewage running down the camp) and evangelize. Every Friday we had children’s ministry in pre-school and in the Squatter camps. The month gave me the perfect balance of growth and comfort.
At the end of the month once we left, we went to this thing called an Awakening. It’s pretty much two different squads that are in the same country meeting up and being able to be poured into. They had different groups of ministries that we could join and grow in. I sat at the evangelism table because it’s what I’ve been wanting to grow in since Swaziland. One of the days there, we had an opportunity to go out and evangelize and everyone that sat at the evangelism table was going to lead a group out. So lucky me, I lead a group out to evangelize and I did not feel confident at all but I’m really glad I did because the Lord did something really cool. My team of five that I lead, went to the mall. Three of us walked around for a while till we sat down to eat. As I opened my menu I felt this urge of paying for someone’s check. I turned to my waiter and told her I had a weird request but asked if I could pay for someone. I told her about this sweet old lady in a wheel chair that I saw as I was walking to my table and knew that’s who I had to pay for. My waiter brought over the waiter of that table and it turns out they were sisters. I pay for the check and the waiters leave and maybe 30 seconds go by and I just get up and chase after the waiter. I got their attention and said,” when the lady at the table asks for the check, can you tell her it’s been covered and that Jesus loves her.” I go back and I’m eating when my waiter comes over and encourages me to go and speak to the old lady because she is wondering who it was that payed. So I mustered up the courage and went and just explained why I was there and the I just really wanted her to know how much she was loved by God. That was it, I went back to my table, finished eating and then asked for our check. The two waiters come over and kept saying thank you, thank you! This is what one of them explained to me, “Africans are liars, and I was ready the ring up the check for the lady again and just keep that money since you had already paid. But when you came up to me and told her to say Jesus loves her, I was convicted and couldn’t follow through with it anymore. You ministered to me so much today and showed me the importance of giving without receiving, so thank you.” I was in complete shock! I thought that in paying for the check, the Lord wanted to minister to the old lady, which I’m sure He did, but it spoke more to the waiters! We were able to share the love of God with them and pray over them and just encourage them before we left. God is so cool how He moves and I am so glad I decided to sit at the evangelism table.
So just to encourage you the way my team did with me, if you feel like you need to say something to someone or do something, don’t think its dumb and selfish, because the Holy Spirit lives in you and is speaking to you. If you feel like you need to give someone a hug, give them a hug. If you think you need to tell someone “hey, Jesus love you”, go and tell them. Don’t think it’s dumb or that you’re not hearing from the Lord. If it’s not dishonoring the Lord and leading us into sin, why wouldn’t it be a word from the Holy Spirit? So go and be confident.
