Time is flying by...

Woww… IT’S BEEN 7 WEEKS!! I’ve been in South Africa for almost two months. The time is flying by! We’ve gone through 7 weeks of lectures and they have all been more than amazing!! The topics of each week have been:

The Character and Nature of God, The Trinity, Hearing The Voice of GOD, Father Heart of God, The Cost of Discipleship, Grace, Personal Design and Calling, and next week will be on Relationships :)

We have 4 weeks left of lectures and the 5th week we will spend in Mossel Bay, South Africa. So… what have I been doing? What have I been learning? What will happen for the next three months? LOTS and LOTS!

This place feels like home now… I mean, it did when I first got here, but now it feels normal. I know everyone much better, building some great friendships, learning so much about God, learning more of who I am and how God made me, learning to really rely on God… SO many things… I’m so thankful to be here! I have had some hard days/nights of course, but God has brought me through them… The other night we were learning a lot about the Holy Spirit and we had another school there with us just praying and encouraging us… One thing God spoke was that I am right where I need to be, that He is fighting for me, that I am like a plant that is taken out of it’s holder and being planted into the soil. At first, things might be new and uncomfortable but He is making the roots much stronger for me, and they will grow deep. So, I’m learning to really trust God with that instead of constantly asking Him what’s going on, what should I do, etc… It’s so nice to know that we have a God in heaven who is fighting for us, who wants the best for us, and who we can lean on and trust in at all times!

Soo…besides all of the weekly lectures, we have a lot more going on… Twice a week we go to a township called Capricorn. It’s a 5 minute drive so we all pile in the bed of a truck… usually 6-7 of us. It’s a pretty funny sight because we are all a mixture of people from: America, Nigeria, South Korea, South Africa, New Zealand, Kenya, Germany… but a beautiful mixture at that! We go to Capricorn every Tuesday and Wednesday. There are two ministries there on Tuesday: Children’s and Door to Door. I work with the children’s ministry. We walk through the township to a “safe house” where 12 children live with one house mother. The children have been either abandoned, abused, or just couldn’t be taken care of. They are all so beautiful and fun to be with. There are 6 girls and 6 boys. The five of us (Charlenn, Chirlaine, myself, Dachung, and Jihye) go here every Tuesday and Wednesday for 2 hours. We play for awhile with the kids and then gather them together and plan something fun! Usually we start with a song, then share a story from the Bible, do a fun craft, and then pray. Their house mother is a Christian so they all know about God and Jesus… it’s a lot of fun seeing them want to learn more… and it is soo cute and wonderful to see them pray! They all know the Our Father and will proudly/happily pray it outloud. Some of them are learning and like to pray without the Our Father which is so great to see also… they understand that they can pray anything to our God and that God hears all of our prayers.

The door to door team does exactly that. They walk through Capricorn to the different houses talking with the people, asking if they need prayer, encouraging people, sharing God's love, praying for healing. Praise Report!!~ Our team went to a house where a woman had terrible asthma, needing the inhaler, and they prayed for healing... and God healed her, AMEN? Amen!! How amazing is our God! They still go to her house and she is doing well. There are also a lot of sad stories within the community, a lot of pain, but we are in prayer that God can heal this community.

We also have outreach where we just walk to the beach, or wherever God might lead us, and share His love with people. It’s a bit challenging and awkward at first because you basically walk up to a stranger and say Hi, how are you? …and pretty much every time it turns out to be a great conversation between you and a stranger. But, I believe that God makes these “God appointments” for us to share His love with others. It’s probably one of my favorite things to sit and pray with a stranger. It’s so encouraging… and God put us on this earth to care about each other, so ya… that is some of what we’ve been doing.

What else… ah! For the last two months of the DTS (Discipleship Training School) we will be on Outreach.. so the lecture and local outreach phase will end and we will travel to a new location. One team will be going out of the country and the team I am going with is headed to Steinkopf, South Africa!! This is in the north-west part of South Africa near the border of Namibia. I don’t know a lot about this location yet, we’re just about to learn everything we will do there, what it’s like, what the culture is like.. I think we might be starting a youth group there, but I really have no idea. Either way, we all just want to do whatever God’s will is. I’m super excited! The people on my team are Dachung, Tahnii, Jihye, Refemetswe, Pascal, and Ana. Please be in prayer with us that we will see God’s vision for this place, that we will be obedient to His will, that we will have boldness, a heart for this place and the people there, and also for finances to come through. We have to raise $10,000 Rand which is about $1,500. We don't have all of the funds yet but of course God is our Provider and we trust in Him!

Thank you all so much for your support, prayers, and love. My time here has been so amazing and life changing… I’m very excited to see what else God has in store. I will try and update a little bit more often!! If you have any questions, comments, anything, feel free to comment below or email me… Love you guys lots!!! I miss you all too!! Blessings!!
Kelly