Home

Its been one week and one day since I’ve arrived home from South Africa…To be honest, I havent felt much like blogging since i’ve been back but I’m going to try to corral my emotions and somehow type them out.

I guess my biggest thing about coming home is realizing how easy it is to be a Christian on the mission field and how tough it can be to be a Christian at home in America.  In Africa, I had a lot of free time and a lot of time to myself, therefore, I clung to God.  I was in the word everyday, talking to Him, learning more and more about Him.  But as soon as I get home in America, its like hello everyone, goodbye God.  Which I hate and i’m angry at myself for.  Because I dont want this passion to die.  I dont want my love for God to fade.  And its easy to let that happen.  I already feel it happening, but the good thing is, I realize it.  So since I realize it, I can do something about it.  First I just have to quit being spirtually lazy and get off my butt and love God.  So while it can be frustrating, I have no one to blame but myself and i know that this laziness will change, in fact, I’m in the process of changing.  All it takes it going out to my favorite place with my Bible and enjoying some beautiful Louisiana landscape along with some hot weather.

We were warned about having reverse culture shock when we came back into America.  I dont know if I have really experienced it yet though.  Although, I have experienced something new this past weekend.  I was at the lake with my friends, which is one of my favoritest places to be.  Well one night, we went to a concert (the famous Swamp Donkeys) at a small honkey tonk.  I think this is the first time experiencing a burden for the lost in America.  Its like I have more compassion for lost people in different countries, that are poor and have never heard of Jesus.  Its like they have more of an excuse for being lost.  But that is ignorant thinking on my part.  Just sitting around the honkey tonk and seeing all of the drunk people caught up in a this lifestyle that seems so fun.  I cant judge them though, for I was once one of them.  And I dont think I was judging, for my heart was burdened.  It was filled with this desire to tell them about Jesus and to tell them that drinking may seem fun now, but it will never fill that hole in their hearts that only Jesus can fill.  But I didnt tell anyone.  Cause I dont know if its even possible to witness to drunk people.  Its hard enough to talk to them about regular things.  But seeing this made me realize how much America needs Jesus as well.  And it makes me want to have a passion for Americans and the Gospel.

So needless to say, it has been a relaxing week, but also an emotional week.  I am eager to share stories of Africa and what I’ve learned to my church, other churches and many people.  I got the privalgede to lead the Mission section at Vacation Bible School this week with the preschoolers.  Hopefully, they’ve learned a little bit about Africa.

Good things about being home:

1. Being with family and friends
2. Getting joyously attacked by my dog Omaha
3. The hot weather and wonderful sunshine
4. Driving down dirt roads blasting country music
5. Getting my apparently lost accent back
6. Drinking diet dr. pepper
7. Newk’s (the best restaurant in the world)
8. Frozen yogurt with fruit
9. Coaching cute kids in swim team
10. Listening to rap and dubstep with my BFF Brandon
11.  Going to church and seeing how big all the kids have gotten
12. Watching my former, little “brother” play baseball
13. Learning lessons about my relationship with God
14. Seeing my cows Jumper and Techster
15.  Wakeboarding and riding in boats with friends

I still have a lot of things to process and think about and wish i could write so much more in this blog, but honestly, i’m just not in a blogging mood so this will have to do for now.

But I just remembered I never blogged about leaving Africa, so i’ll just tell that story with pictures.

Saying goodbye to Kabelo

Goodbye to my Snoopy

She was so upset about me leaving, look at that face

Baby Phila slept through our goodbye

Back Home Pics

Reuniting with Brandon and a snowcone

Sweet friends got me a cookie cake!

Wakeboarding!

Teaching VBS kids about Zulu and South Africa, going to send these to Kabelo

Going to my favorite place and seeing my cows

World Vision visit

I started sponsoring a little boy from Lesotho (which is country landlocked by South Africa, often called the Swiss Alps of Africa)  in August 2010.   As I started to understand the gospel more, I knew that I needed to help the less fortunate.  I wasnt sure how to do it until I came across World Vision.  I know it’s not a whole lot to just give $35 a month, but as a poor college student at the time, I felt like I could help out a little.

I chose a little boy named Tanki because personally, I thought he was precious and we shared the same birthday.  He turned 3 this year.

I studied up some about World Vision to make sure it was a legit service and found out a lot of great things.  It is Christian based.  The president, Richard Stearns, wrote a great book, called “the Hole in our Gospel” (which i recommend everyone to read, you can even borrow it from me!)  The more i researched, I found out that you can meet your child, although i never thought that would be financially possible.

Anyways, to continue the story, I got chosen to go to South Africa to work as a part-time missionary and I began to think about Lesotho and how close I was to Tanki.

With the Hands On program, I had to raise $2,900 to come.  I sent out fundraiser postcards and got a great response (Thanks to everyone who donated!)  I got too great of a response and raised about a thousand extra dollars.  I didn’t know what to do with the extra money so I thought, maybe I could save it for a future mission trip for when I get back from South Africa.

Well the more I thought about it and prayed about it, I decided I would try to use the money to meet Tanki.  I wasnt even sure if I would be allowed to leave the country and I didn’t want to take away ministry time either.  I knew we had many holidays in April, so I  tried to arrange to meet him them.  But then I found out, World Vision needed a 4 month notice.  Well it was March by now and I didn’t have 4 months.  So I didn’t have enough time to go see him during our April Holiday.  But I went ahead and did the background check, which takes a month and signed up to meet him.

I went to Cape Town during our holiday, and by this point, I had given up on trying to meet Tanki.

But as the end of April approached, I just felt a tug at my heart, that I needed to use this money to see him.  I contacted my supervisor, the great Andy Pettigrew, and began to discuss it with him.  As time went on, he so graciously worked at trying to make this possible for me.  He contacted our IMB missionaries in Lesotho and then things started coming together.  After many emails with World Vision, Andy, and the missionaries, Tom and Cindy Melvin, the approval to go meet Tanki was given!

Even better, is that we finished up Girl’s Club on Friday, May 20, so i would not be missing too much.

I got to Lesotho on Monday, May 23.  The Melvins so kindly let me stay with them in their home in Lesotho, fed me, and even treated me to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

On Tuesday, we drove the main World Vision office, where I met our guides.  Then we drove out to the district office, which was about an hour and half away.  All of the workers were Basotho.  I was extremely impressed at how well-organized they were.  They gave me a schedule, a small handout telling me all about the things and projects they do in that district ( and it had my name on it).  I also had to sign a child protection protocol (which its great) and they gave a brief explanation of what all was going on.  I was and still am very impressed with how everything took place.

Then we all drove out to Tanki’s village.  It was pretty far out, I’m not good at estimating time, but I think we drove about 25 km on a dirt road, up hills (or mountains as I would call them in Louisiana).  His village is surrounded by beautiful mountains.  We arrived at Tanki’s house, where he and his classmates were waiting.  He goes to an early childhood development daycare.  They were all sitting in cute little plastic chairs.

I was surprised at all the things the villagers had prepared for me.  There was a big tent incase it rained.  I had to sit behind a table, because I was the guest of honor.  The opening of the celebration took place.  Tanki’s mother spoke, and several other villagers.  Then came the time I had to pick Tanki out of all of the children.  I was a little nervous because I didn’t want to choose wrong.  I had a pretty certain hunch the whole time at which one was him, but once i saw his mother, I knew for certain, because he looks just like her.  The Melvins told a wonderful Bible story about 12-year-old Jesus at the temple.  I was extremely grateful they came along and they did a great job at talking to the villagers and made me feel more comfortable.

I spoke and gave a brief version of my testimony.

We had a snack of cakes and biscuits and the village did several traditional dances.  The men danced and then the women sang and danced.  Tanki’s daycare also sang a song.

Then we had a meal of rice, sugar beans, pumpkin, carrots, samp, chicken, and porridge. I then got to give Tanki and his family their gifts inside their hut, and then came outside to receive my unexpected gifts.

The whole day was wonderful and I am so thankful that God provided a way for all of this to work out.  It’s definitely an experience I’ll never forget.

Now i’ll let the pictures tell the story.

Beautiful landscape of Lesotho, in Tanki’s village

Tanki’s daycare and the table I sat at, as the guest.

Mrs. Melvin telling the village a Bible story

Tanki’s mother speaking

Meeting Tanki for the first time.  He was a little shy.

Warming up a little, the translator told me that Tanki said he wanted to hold my hand

Traditional dancers

Women traditional dancers

Tanki opening some of his gifts

Receiving one of my many unexpected gifts

Family shot: Tanki’s sister, mother, grandfather, and cousin

Leaving the beautiful village

I truly thank God for allowing this experience to happen.  Also, once again, the Melvins for hosting me.

I must also say that World Vision truly is a great organization and I know that my money is going to Tanki.  But the thing i like most is that the whole village is involved in the World Vision process and must take care of the children.  There are over vulnerable children in Tanki’s district and about 2,000 are sponsored, so if  you’re looking for a way to help the less fortunate, check out world vision at http://www.worldvision.org/

There are millions of kids from all over the world, not just in Lesotho, that need help.

YOU are putting me together like a puzzle piece by piece

“I am growing up, working on these flaws of mine. I am letting go of pride, and I am shedding this disguise, I am facing all the facts, I am trying to improve, I am cleaning up my act, and I am doing it for YOU”

Honestly, I dont think age has anything to do with being a grown up.  Its how you act, how you react, and how your attitude is.  I’m trying to grow up.  I’m trying to not be selfish.  I’m trying to handle things maturely. and boy is it tough.  At times I dont feel 24, which i know isnt that old, but it seems old to me.  I still want to be myself.  I still want to be goofy.  I still wanna play on playgrounds and hit youth with dodgeballs at church.  But I want to mature.  I want to handle things like Jesus would handle them.  I dont want to speak without thinking first or become angry fast.  The only way I know how to attempt this is by praying.  Only God can give me the strength to become a mature person.  Not only do i want to handle things more maturely, but I also want to keep on maturing spiritually.  So maturing means growing and growing spiritually means deepening my relationship with the Lord, learning and knowing the Bible, worshipping Him.

1 Corinthians 13:11″ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”

One of the best ways I think to acquire maturity is to gain all the fruits of the spirit and put them into practice daily.  Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

So I know one reason for coming to Africa, is to teach me how to grow up.  And even though I might not always act like it, God is changing my heart and I know He can mold me into the strong Christian women i desire to be.  It just is going to take a lot of hard work on my part, but with God, nothing is impossible.  And I also know that God is worth it.

I am taking a facebook fast for about two weeks.  Sometimes, I feel like I spend too much time on it, so I decided to take a break.  Less time on the computer= more time with God.  And it feels great!

On Thursday, we went to Kabelo’s creche (which is a daycare/preschool.  We taught them 2 songs, Jesus Loves Me and My God is so Big.  Then we told the creation story and played games.  There were lots of kids and it was great to play with them.

I loved his dinosaur jacket.

Sweet kids wrapped around my legs the whole time

The whole group and their two teachers. God bless these loving women!

Andile is looking way better! She is up and moving, eating, walking, and going to school.  Although she is not 100% better, she is 100% better than the last time we saw her in the hospital.  It was great to go see her at her house (and not the hospital!) and get to do Bible study with her.

Sunday, the whole church took a group picture.  Here is Faith Baptist Church.  Located in Snake Park, Soweto, South Africa.

On Monday, we went to a random playground in Braamfischer with Given and played with kids.  We also told them the Resurrection Egg story.  Here are some pictures.

Some of the kids gathered around, listening to the story.

Cute, crinkled nose

This week is the start of our goodbyes.  Which is very bittersweet.  I’m ready to see my family, my friends, my dog, and to drink a glorious diet dr. pepper, but I am going to miss the people i’ve gotten to know over the past 4 months and i still wish I could go deeper and get to know each and every one of our girls on a more personal level, but I’m praying that seeds were planted in their hearts and God will bloom them at the right time.

Hector Pieterson was our first Girl’s Club goodbye.  This school has been our best at attendance, frequency, and school support.  Here’s a group shot of us with all of our girls.

It’s hard to learn all the names, but I probably knew about 10 girls by name.  This is Thando, which means love.  She always hugged and never let go!  I miss her and all of the other great girls.

Some other great girls

Today, we were unable to go into Soweto, due to a political election.  Due to the past history of riots breaking out when political events go on, we decided not to risk anything by going in.  We were unable to have Girl’s Club at Thulani anyways, since they were out of school for the election.  We hope to get to say goodbye to them next Wednesday.

Since we couldn’t go into Soweto, we got to join the Locke’s family day and go to the Rhino and Lion Park.  This was my second time going, but i love animals so it was quite enjoyable.  This time we even got to see the Lion’s feeding.  Which isn’t as exciting as it sounds, the truck dumps a big carcass of meat out, but it was still neat.

I, of course, had to partake in the petting of baby lions and tigers!

Big yawn

Tomorrow and Friday we say goodbye to our 6th and 7th grade boys and girls at Dr. Mary.  Then the next week, we’ll have to start our goodbyes to all of our friends.

Pray that this last week and a half goes well, that we get to say goodbye to everyone, and that we still stay strong in the Lord.

here is recap of my week:

We’re still on True Love Waits at Thulani. One more week and it will be complete.  Here I am with some sweet girls.

The rest of the schools learned the Bible story about Jesus and the possessed man.  We also taught them a new verse, Romans 10:9.  There they are putting together a Bible verse puzzle.

I love hanging out with the boys and girls.  There smiling faces put a smile on mine.  I pray that they understand the stories and how much God loves them.

I also got to see baby Phila, who is now about 2 weeks old.

Mother’s day was Sunday, and all the mamas were so happy!  Here they are at church.

We got a chance to venture out of the city and go about 2 and half hours out to Sibogile’s hometown of Standerton.

I got to meet her family, friends, and see where she grew up.

I got to carry baby Sabelo (a baby Sibogile’s mom takes care of) on my back like a true African woman.

I’ve always been amazed at how big and beautiful the African sky is, much different from home, I think.

We met Sibogile’s cousin, Sipho. Sipho is homeless and lives on the street in Standerton. When Sibogile saw him, she started crying and could barely talk because he was so dirty.  We got to take him to KFC. I hope and pray that he returns home soon and stays.  Here is Sipho with Kabelo

Here are some more pictures from Standerton:

Sibogile with some of her family

eating Ketchup like its candy

Love me some Kabelo

A piece of my heart:

I love South Africa.  Its beautiful here.  The people are great. And its easy to live.  I have everything I need. When most people think of Africa, they think of lions, elephants, huts, the bush, tribal people wearing loin clothes, carrying spears, and speaking with only clicks.  But South Africa is nothing like that.  Its a city life. (although, dont get me wrong. There is lots of poverty, people live in shacks. People die in the winter in their shacks from lack of heat. People starve to death.  There is AIDS/HIV everywhere.  Soweto has tons of shacks and problems and is still very African) Its busy.  They’ve got more malls than anywhere i’ve ever lived.  I have a hot shower every night.  I have tv with endless movies.  I have pretty much any type of food i could want to eat.   Its physically very easy.  I’ve got friends up in North Africa who are living in 130 degree weather, sleeping in huts, not knowing when there next meal might be.  I guess what i’m trying to say that its been easy to live in South Africa.  I sometimes wish it was more challeging. I wish i didnt have endless internet, or clean water, or hot showers.  But maybe thats for another stage in my life, so I’m trying to embrace all the good things and be thankful to God for what i have.

God really is amazing.  And I really really see how much i need Him in my life. I cant do anything by myself.

Slow Down Time

Its hard to believe that May is already here and I only have 28 days left in South Africa.  Time has flown by.

This past week, the schools have been on yet another Holiday break, so we did not get to have girl’s club or teach L.O. class.

On Monday, April 25, another sweet baby girl was brought into this world.  Philani and Portia had a little girl named Phila.

It was also Philani’s birthday, so now he gets to share it with his daughter.

On Tuesday, Sibogile celebrated her birthday.  We went to downtown Joburg, which was my first time.  She kept telling me, I couldnt come all the way to South Africa, and not go to Jozi, which is the heart of the country.  Its like any big city, crowded, skyscrapers, and busy.  There are street vendors all over selling things.  We went to the top of Africa, which is the tallest point, 50 floors up.

The rest of our week was filled with our Bible study at Zanele’s, discipleship with Sibogile, another trip to Jozi with Given, and visiting Andile in the hospital.  She is extremely sick and the doctors do not know what is wrong.  As you read this, please say a prayer for her. I did find out tonight, that Andile was supposed to get release from the hospital.  This is a reoccurring problem.  She gets sick, goes to the hospital, gets better, goes home, then repeats the process.  If she does have meningitis, she needs to be treated properly before its too late

She is in Baragwanth hospital, which is a public, government funded hospital and it is the largest acute hospital in the world.  Needless to say, there are thousands upon thousands of patients.  This is only one building of the hospital, it has 429 buildings.

Sunday, we got to go with Philani to his home township of Chiawelo. We went to his old church.  Which was very large and it was great to see all of these Africans praising the Lord.  We also got invited to an engagement party of one of the churchgoers, where we got to eat a delicious meal of rice, potatoe salad, beets, chicken, beef, cakes, and custard.  We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Philani’s childhood friends.

Monday, we spent the day with Given, who is 22 and is a great pastor.  His mother cooked pap and beef stew for us.

We went to play snook (billards) and all 3 of us got beat! but it was still fun.

We have 3 weeks of Girl’s club left.  Pray that God will plant seeds in these girls and boys hearts through the Bible stories we will be teaching them.

At times, being in Africa can be frustrating.  Not having a car, not doing what I think I should do, not getting to spend time with a person I’d like to build a relationship with, and always being on someone else’s plan or time.  But through this frustration, and sometimes even anger, I think God has been working on my heart.  I’ve definitely learned to be patient.  I’ve learned to use my time, while waiting, more wisely.  Instead of being angry, I’ve learned to spend time with God, read His word, talk to Him, or listen to worship music.  I’ve learned to be more faithful.  For the first 2 months in Africa, I struggled.  I was often bored, I didnt know why I was here, and i was lonely.  But God was faithful.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops
perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

Sometimes, well many times, I feel like I havent done anything in Africa.  But God has shown me that I dont have to see things, like people being saved, or a huge change to know that I’ve done anything.  God’s commandment is to love people. So in my last month here, I’m just going to love the mess out of people.  Its been hard to let go, but God is in control.  He knows exactly why I’m here and I’m letting go and trusting in Him.  Maybe thats why He brought me here, just to work on my heart?

I love the people I’ve met here. I love the children and babies I’ve gotten to know, and while sometimes it can be frustrating not getting to know them on a more intimate level, I am still very glad to have gotten this opportunity.  Just pray that these last 4 weeks, I give all I have, that I dont worry about going home or summer jobs. That i just love these Africans and love God.

More pictures from this past week:

Mom and Daughter

Getting my hair done by Kabelo and Momo

Sweet baby Blessing is already a month old!

Hanging out with Given’s cute little sister

Oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead

Sorry for not posting a blog for almost two weeks. I’ll do my best to update.

We finished up True Love Waits at Hector Pieterson and in both of our classes at Dr. Mary.  We still have two weeks left of it at Thulani. The last lesson includes signing committment cards, which says that they will wait til marriage to have sex.  Pray that the boys and girls that sign these cards are truly making a promise to God and to themselves and that they will stick to that promise.

We made gospel bead bracelets with the schools told them the meaning of all the colors.  We challenged them to memorize the meanings and they first person to say it, would get a soccer ball. They had to memorize this:

Gold=God… God created everything. God created people to be in a perfect relationship with Him. John 3:16

Silver=Sin… But people sin and are separated from God because God can’t be with sin. God is Holy. Romans 3:23

Red=Jesus’ blood… Jesus is God’s Son who died on the cross so we can be forgiven of our sins. Romans 5:8

White=Forgiveness… If you believe in Jesus, what He did and trust in Him, then you will be forgiven. You can have a relationship with Him. John 1:12

Green=Grow… Once you have a relationship with God you grow by… going to church, praying, reading the Bible, worshipping God, ect. Philippians 3:13

Lesego memorized all of this almost word for word and said it Tuesday! Pray that these girls understand the Gospel and God’s love for them!  

The schools are on another holiday break due to Easter, and a couple of other South African Holidays.  Last Wednesday, Thulani High School let out early, so we went to the soccer field and watched Pilani coach and played with some cute kids.

This is right before I got Karate Chopped by a South African karate kid

Sweet Faces

This Friday we celebrated Good Friday at Faith Baptist Church in Soweto with several other local churches.  The service started at 9 am and went til 5 pm with a good lunch of chicken and pap in between!  I enjoyed the preaching and worshipping. Its great to get to worship our Lord in a different language. We ended the service with the taking of the Lord’s Supper.

Here are some shots from Good Friday:

                     The kids playing in a cage

I think this may be the first Easter I really stopped and thought about what Jesus did on the cross for me and ya’ll.  I mean, growing up in church, its kind of like Easter is just a holiday and tradition.  But now that my relationship with Christ has grown and is serious, Easter is much different to me.  Maybe not outwardly different, but definitely inwardly different.  Just to think and dwell on the fact that Christ was beaten til almost death, and then hung on a cross to die and bear my sins is amazing.  God loves us so much, He sent His son to do this for us.  It certainly makes me think that my problems are so trivial.  It makes me fall in love with Jesus even more.  That He would do that just for me (and of course for you).  So our Jesus died.  But then He rose again.  He conquered death.  For all of us.  We will die on this Earth one day, but if we have Jesus in our lives, we will live forever with Him in Heaven, because He conquered death. He rose again.  He shed His blood for my sin and your sin.  We dont have to be guilty anymore. Sin doesnt have a hold on us.  We can be free in Christ. Because He died and rose again.  It seems so simple sometimes, but it took me a long to figure all of this out.  How much He loves me.  I had to rebel against Him for a long time.  I pushed Him away.  I ran from God.  But He accepted me back with open arms.  Because He loves me so much.  He loves you so much.  Its amazing.  Its hard to put into words what i’m feeling and thinking on this Easter Sunday, so sorry if these previous words seem jumbled up.  Most importantly, just praise the one who paid your debt and raised your life up from the dead.  And if you dont have a relationship with Jesus, He is waiting with open arms for you.  He loves you.

Whether your black, white, brown, African, Asian, American, or whatever, He loves you.

As I type this, our friend Portia is in the hospital waiting to deliver her baby.  Please pray that the delivery goes well and the baby and mom are healthy.                                  

Cape Town is the best town

I got the opportunity to spend the last weekend of our holiday in beautiful Cape Town.  I’ve been to many beautiful places in my 24 years, but I have come to the conclusion that Cape Town is the most beautiful.

It was a great time to get outdoors and enjoy the beauty that God has created for us.  A lot of times in the hustle and bustle of our lives, we forget to enjoy nature.  We forget to look around and see all these marvelous things God has created.

I cant imagine what Heaven is going to look like if places on Earth are as beautiful as Cape Town.

Amos 4:13 says, “He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, 
who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the LORD God Almighty is his name.”

I think sitting in awe of His creations is a form of worship.  Just knowing that our God can create something so perfect and magnificent is amazing.  I cant really think of a word to describe God and what He creates, nothing sounds good enough.

My pictures dont even show the actual beauty of the places I went to but I hope you enjoy looking.

1. We spent most of Friday driving along the coast and stopping at lookout points and then we ended up down at the beach.

2. We also went to Table Mountain.  The weather was great all weekend, sunny and warm, with little wind, so we were able to ride the cable cart to the top.  I want to go back someday to hike up the mountain.

3.  We got to visit with the penguins on the beach!

4. We went to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, which the farthest southwest point of Africa.

4.  We got to watch a sunset on the beach with a view of Table Mountain as well.

Our God is amazing.

I really encourage you to try to go to Cape Town once in your life.

I’m very thankful I got to experience a great weekend with great people in a great place, in awe of a Great GOD.

The Lord is my Shepherd, i am His sheep, He is all i need.

A lot has happened since my last blog post and I’ll try to recap as best as I can.

First thing: Sibogile had a baby girl!  She was born March 29 at 6:15 am.  Sibogile was at the hospital, but the midwives did not come so she delivered the baby by herself.  Talk about a strong woman!  We got to visit her later that day and meet the precious baby.  Her name means “blessing” in English.  I dont think i’ve ever held a 10 hour old baby, especially an African one.  

One day last week, we got to go with our national friend Brenda to her job.  She is a volunteer Home health care worker.  She goes around an area of Soweto called Tepisong and checks in on orphans and HIV/AIDS patients.  She gets a small payment from the government but its not much.  We were given a donation to help some of her patients so we got to use the money to buy some basic necessities for them.  Pap, chicken, porridge, beans, tea, sugar, washing powder, milk, cooking oil, and some left over hygiene packets from the Mfuge team.  We visited 5 orphans, all with HIV.  Many lived with a relative or with an older lady who they call aunties.  All of them lived in shacks, many with many other people living in the shack as well.  The Bible has several verses on orphans. James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Exodus 22:22 says, “The Lord’s revelation at Mount Sinai. “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.”  These are just a couple of verses in the Bible that talks about the fatherless and how it is our duty as Christians to care for them.  I think a lot of us like to blame the government for not taking better care of orphans.  But honestly, from a Christian view, its not the government’s job.  We as Christians were doing such a poor job at taking care of the fatherless, that the government had to step in.  God commands us to look after the widows and the fatherless.  I would love to see the church begin to obey this commandment and really do something about all the millions of orphans in the world.

The little girl in the pink is a 10 year old orphan with HIV.  She lives in the green shack behind her with these two aunties and several other children.  She is very small for her age.  Please pray for her.

The little girl in the green is an orphan with HIV who lives with her aunt.  Brenda and another home health care worker are also in the picture.  Pray for these sweet people also.

We also got to visit a man with full blown aids.  He lives alone and has to use crutches to walk.  You can tell by his face and eyes that the AIDS is really affecting him.  He said he would love to go to church so I hope we can work out a way to get him there since its quite a distance from his shack.

On Wednesday we headed to the Two Oceans Cluster meeting where we met up with many other missionaries and their families from all over South Africa and the islands.  First Baptist Orlando came out with about 60 people to minister to us and help run the conference.  The worship was absolutely fantastic and it was so great to worship our Lord and Savior together.  Some things I learned about worship.               1. It changes our focus 2. Its a witness to the nations 3. Worship is warfare.  I also liked this quote, “you dont worship because life is good, you worship because God is good.”  I think a lot of times we get caught up in blessings.  I mean its true that all blessings come from God and that we are truly blessed, but what happens when something doesnt go our way or something bad happens?  We tend to not worship God.  But honestly, we deserve nothing but hell.  So His grace is enough of a blessing.  If we didnt receive one good thing in life but salvation, that should be enough to praise Him for eternity.  So what I got from worshipping this week is that I should worship all the time, no matter the circumstances or how I feel because God is good.  No matter what, He deserves all of our praises.

The preaching was also great and I learned alot from the former First West pastor Dr. David Uth.  Kind of a small world meeting a pastor from my hometown in Africa.

If you notice the title of my blog its, the Lord is my Shepherd, i am His sheep, He is all i need.  I learned a lot this week about God and all of his different names, and just really how amazing He is.  Like Yahweh.  It means I AM.  Because God is a verb. Its like God saying to us I AM, I WAS, and I AM TO COME.  I cant really put into words all I learned this week about God because I would take up way too much room, but we are like sheep.  We’re stupid and we’re prone to wonder, and fall down on our backs with too much wool(burdens) and then we cant get back up.  and God is our Shepherd.  He seeks us.  He finds us.  He picks us up when we’ve fallen down.  He is truly all we need.

I’ll say one more thing about what I learned this past week and its about our “rome”.  It comes from Acts 27 and Paul’s journey to Rome.  Our “Rome” is that thing or ministry that we have a passion for but we dont often go after because we get scared and play it too safe.  Well Jesus didnt all us to be safe.      ’When God saved us, when He called us, He meant for us to go to “Rome”.’  So i’m trying to figure out what my Rome is.

On Tuesday, Zach, Lori, and I headed up the Magaliesburg Mountains and went hiking.  I love to hike and hiking in Africa was amazing.  It was beautiful.  God really creates some absolutley amazing things.

At the conference we took some pretty awesome team pictures.  Here are some of the best ones

So even though we can be silly, I still would love for ya’ll to pray for the HIV/ Aids orphans and people in Soweto.  Pray that more can be done to help them.  Pray that churches all over would step up, show God that we love Him, and take care of the fatherless.

my boast in YOU alone

I’m trying to really learn and understand what it means to be selfless.  We grow up in such a selfish society.  Sure, we are taught to share starting at an early age, but do we share because we want to or because we have to?  Anytime we give food to kids here in Africa, such as a cupcake or fatcake (donut), they immediately share it with other kids.  They even share suckers.  One will suck on it for a while and then pass it along.  Now as gross as that sounds, it’s still sharing.  Its community. They care about each other. They arent sharing to get something back in return. Its something to see and take with me.    Now this gets me thinking about when I give or help others.  Why do I do it?  Its it for vain pursuit? To make myself feel better?  To show other people that I’m a good person?  I have to admit, that sometimes, I give or help for selfish reasons.  The Bible has so many verses about helping the poor.  It was one of Jesus’s main topics.  So its important.  Very important, but so is the reason behind doing it.  And that reason is Love.  As I continue to grow in Christ, learn more about the Bible, and learn what true worship is, I see that everything comes down to love.  And that makes a lot of sense because we learn in the Bible that God is love and love is God. 1 John 3:17-18 says, ”If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

This verse got me thinking about Christians (including myself) in America.  We sit in our big houses, with multiple rooms, drive in our nice cars, run in our Nikes, and dress in expensive clothes.  We’ve got food to eat and plenty of it.  We’ve got computers, iPods, cameras, HD tvs, and smart phones.  We’ve got money. Even when the economy is down and times are tough, we’ve got money.  Then we have the audacity to ask God, “why are there poor people in the world?”  But I think its God that needs to be asking us that question.  We claim to be Christians, but we don’t give or help the poor, so like the verse says, How can the love of God be in us if we just sit back and never help?  I also hear this a lot, “There are too many people to help.”  Well one of my most favorite quotes is, “don’t fail to do something just because you can’t do anything.” Even if you help just one family or one person, it helps.  If we truly love God and learn from Him, then we will love people and we wont be able to live with ourselves unless we help.  Now, I know there are tons of Christians who do help, but we, as God’s children need to do more. Myself included.

Now, I know this is long, but bear with me.  All of this got me thinking of the verses, Matthew 6:3-4, “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  So, many times when we give, we tell others about it.  Sometimes when I give things or help, I feel like a proud parent who just wants to tell everyone about how awesome their kid is.  But I shouldnt feel like that at all.  I shouldnt feel proud that I gave.  I shouldnt boast about it.  Without Christ, I couldn’t give, I wouldn’t be blessed beyond measures.  Why do I try to take the credit for things?  Its silly.  God is everything.  Without Him, I”m nothing.  I’d be in hell tonight.  I’d be separated from God.  I need to live to make my boast in Him alone.  My prayer for my own life is that I will not boast about myself, that I will always give all the credit to God.

Lecrae has this awesome song

So I know the above words might be a little random, but on Monday, we gave some things to a boy who was in need.  And it felt good to give.  His sweet, shy smile brought a smile to my face.  When you give, it does make you feel good.  Which I think is okay, as long as you give God the glory and credit.  Then I got to thinking about the Matthew 6 verse, don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.  So I didn’t know if I should blog about giving to this boy.  Does that mean I’m boasting about how I gave if I tell people?  Well after much thought and prayer, I decided to blog about it because of several reasons.

First off, I didn’t give anything.  I didn’t use one Rand or dollar of my money to buy these things.  I just got to be the deliver.  Lori’s mom and friend donated all the money for him.  We just got to pick out the things and bring it to him.

Secondly, I”m not telling ya’ll this to boast.  I’m telling you so that maybe you can see how God provides for people.  And then maybe, when you see the love of God, you can show your love to Him by giving the poor.

And thirdly, I want to show you how the Africans gave to the poor.

So let me tell you a bit about this sweet boy. Nkosinathi is in his last year of school, which is called Matric.  His father died a few years back.  His mother is HIV positive and moved to another province where she does a lot of drinking. He has several younger brothers and sisters who live with an uncle.  So as of right now, Nkosinathi is on his own.  For a couple of years now, he’s moved from shack to shack staying with people.  He has barely anything.  But he is strong.  He is smart.  He’s going places.  He showed us his poems and stories.  He wrote about getting a good education, staying away from girls until his education is complete, and how men who drink and gamble are lazy.  Nkosinathi wants to get a job and make money.  But with that money, he wants to provide for his younger brothers and sisters. Nkosinathi is a Christian.  He is strong in his faith.  He even refused to participate in ancestor worship in a place he was staying at and they stopped feeding him and helping him.  He had nothing and was willing to keep having nothing for Christ.  Now, with the help of a couple of Africans in the church, he has his own shack to himself.  Its quieter and he can do his studies in peace and not have to worry about living with a family.  With the money from the generous women in America, we were able to buy hot plates (to cook on), a tea kettle, an iron, pots and pans, Pap to eat, sugar, and tea.  So by God providing, Nkosinathi can cook and have a little bit more than he had, even if it’s not much.  It was also amazing to see how these African women, who gave him the shack to live in, love God, and by loving God, gave to the poor.  These women are poor themselves and to give a shack that could bring in rent money is a big sacrifice, but they love God and it shows.  Here we are with Nkosinathi 

So I hope this post made sense to you, I know its jumbled and I ramble a lot, but my main points are if we love God, then we’ll show that love by giving to the poor.  And our boast should be in nothing but Christ.

Going back to love, we got to share what love truly is in Boys and Girls club at Dr. Mary. 

The schools are going on a 2 week Holiday so we wont have Girls Club til April 12.  We celebrated the holiday with cupcakes!

Here are some of the kids with Benjamin (the Locke’s son) at church.

Here I am with Portia.  She’s gotta be the cutest pregnant lady ever!  She is due in April.  I look like a giant next to her!

Our other friend Sibogile (in the picture up top, with the big belly!!) is due anytime now, she is at 40 1/2 weeks and is going to the hospital tomorrow.  Please pray for safe deliveries and healthy babies for these two women.

I’m glad God is showing and giving me opportunities to see His love.  He is giving me so many ways to grow.  Whether it’s in patience, selflessness, being servant-hearted, having a Christ-like attitude, or just learning to love people, God is so unbelievably awesome.  I’m halfway through my term.  I can’t believe I only have about 2 months and week left.  Please pray that I use this time for the Lord and that I’m spent when I get home.

Sangomas

This week we had a group of 11 guys and girls here from the Mission Fuge camp.  They are leaders from various M-Fuge camps around America, and M-Fuge is concentrating on South Africa for the next 5 years.  This means when the American youth are at camp during the summers, they will learn about South Africa and their weekly offerings will come to help South Africa in some way.

Here is the Soweto MFuge team eating lunch at Gogo’s house 

So we had a busy but great week.  The 6 of the girls taught our Girl’s Club this week.  They taught about hygiene, handed out hygiene packets full of deodorant, toothpaste/toothbrush, pads, and soap.  They also led a Bible lesson on Proverbs 31 and how God looks at our hearts to find our true beauty.  Girl’s Club was also filled with exciting games and making bracelets.

Some of the Mfuge girls teaching at Girl’s Club 

The team brought bracelets to make so the girls could remember the lesson on beauty 

The 3 boys and 2 of the girls got to work with Pilani and his soccer boys.  They helped train the boys and played soccer with them and just loved on them.  We got to join in a few days at the end. It was about to storm this day and the sky looks awesome! 

The game ended in a penalty kick shootout and my team (the green team!) won 

We also got to join the team with street evangelism, passing out newspapers, and prayer walking on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at Lehae, Snake Park, and Dobsonville.  It was great to see the team’s enthusiasm about being in Africa, meeting the people, and sharing the gospel.

Here are some shots from street evangalism/newspapers 

I also got to do experience some things this week that I haven’t yet.  We toured the Op Tower and museum in Soweto.  It was very interesting to here this man talk about African history.  A “prophet” lived in this place and claims to have predicted many things such as AIDS coming to Africa, September 11, and Nelson Mandela being put in the hospital this year.  I also learned that dinosaurs used to live in Africa until the Aliens came and destroyed them.  We got to go inside a traditional hut and see many odd statues.  I also learned that R.I.P. does not mean ‘rest in peace’ but it means ‘return if possible’.  After leaving the museum, the tour guide showed us this sign; I hope I don’t get a curse put on me! (Sarcasm).  It’s still important to be respectful of this man’s beliefs even if I think its crazy!

A traditional African Hut

The best part of the tour was climbing the Oppenheimer Tower and seeing a 360-degree view of Soweto!

Another thing I learned more about this week is ancestor worship and sangomas (witch doctors).  As we walked through the townships, handing out newspapers, I saw about one Sangoma per street, so there are many of them.  People go to Sangomas for illness, for miracles, for healing, and for ancestor worship.  I learned that if there is a round hut in the backyard of a house, then that is where they practice their ancestor worship (although, they don’t have to have a hut to practice it).  The hut is round so no evil spirits can hide in corners.

When we were handing out papers in Snake Park, we came upon a Sangoma training house.  There were two older Sangoma women training a young man to be a Sangoma.  He was in his second level, which is the “crawling” level.   They invited us into the yard, where the young man was dancing and doing chants.  The two teachers seemed to be showing off a bit for us and went and got their drums. 

It’s sad to see these people pour all they have into being a Sangoma and into ancestor worship, but it is a huge reality in Africa.  Although many many people claim to be Christian here, they pull all of their beliefs like ancestor worship into their churches and make it not about God or Jesus.  They may read the Bible and believe a lot of it, but these churches such as the Zionist or Shinites, add things in like sacrifices and false prophets.

Please pray that these people can see God and know the true teachings of the Bible and give up their traditional beliefs.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

Its been a great week of making new friends and seeing God work through them.  On the M-Fuge’s last day, they went to the Lion and Rhino Park and I got to join them!  It was more safari like than the Lion Park I’d been to previously and it was fun to hang out with the group and see God’s beautiful animals. 

I got to pet more baby lions and a full grown cheetah named Eddie 

Please pray that Mfuge and the missionaries can find a specific place or need to send the money to that will greatly help the amazing South Africans.

Please pray that their future summer campers will learn God’s love for the poor and unreached and have a desire to help as well.

Please pray for the South Africans who believe in sangomas and in traditional ancestor worship beliefs.  Pray for the sangomas as well.