God our Shepherd

                Don’t
you just hate it when God interrupts your plans?  Especially when they’re plans for His
work?  This has been one of those times
where, as a squad, we’ve had to step back in humility and remember the kind of
God that we serve.  We also needed to
remember that our relationship with Him is more important then what we do for
Him.  Before I get ahead of myself, let
me fill you in on what has been going on up to this point. 

                We flew
into Johanessburg, South Africa on June 2^nd.  We stayed at a hostel in Johanessburg for 2
nights where are ministry plans for this month changed.  We then caught a night bus up to Nelspruit
with the intention of staying over night there and then getting a bus to our
ministry sites.  Well we found out when
we got to Nelspruit that our bus fell through. 
So our over night stay turned into a four night stay, during which it
feels like our ministry assignments changed daily.  Our first day here, we were all wondering
what was happening.  And then God spoke.

                On our
second day here, there came a knock at the door.  A lady showed up that knew the owners of the
house.  But she came because God spoke to
her and told her to come here and pray with the leaders here.  She had no idea we were here, and she had no
idea what our situation looked like.  So
while she met and prayed with Dave, Tonya and Jen she began prophesying for the
squad.   She was praying things over the
squad that she couldn’t have known and prayed things for the leaders that they
didn’t even know.  God spoke through her
very clearly.  We are not ready as a
squad for Mozambique.  We need to become
a family of one, and some individuals need to push through some stuff they’ve
been struggling with.

                After
that day God has been moving like crazy in our squad.  We’ve fasted and prayed together, talked
together, and played Corn Hole together. 
God has definitely moved and made us a family in a few days time.  It was such a humbling reminder that God is
our shepherd, and sometimes He decides to lead us to resting streams before He
takes us to the fields of Mozambique. 
And this has been such a resting stream. 
We’ve been staying at the Betor House. 
This is a house just for missionaries to come and stay.  This house is just such a warm place and the
owners are so loving and hospitable.  It
has truly been a blessing to stay here.

                But, it
seems that today our time of rest is over. 
We’ll be leaving this afternoon on a 20 hour bus ride to Vilanculos,
Mozambique.  There we’ll be working with
a group doing a hodge podge of different things.  Evangelism and orphanage work are the only
things that were mentioned, but there’s really no telling what all we’ll be
doing.  We will be camping in the bush
this month, with limited or no internet access and limited or no toilet
access.  I’m excited about that
part.  I’m not excited about the limited
budget we’re working with this month though. 
Because of all the unforeseen expenses with staying here and staying at
the hostel, all the travel in between and the ridiculously expensive bus ride
to Vilanculos.  We have a much tighter
budget this month to work with.  While I
might not be looking forward to it, I’m not worried.  Because God has been in control and provided
so far.  He won’t stop now.