Holy Spirit move through this place!

Hello family and friends! I hope you are all doing well! I am doing quite wonderfully! Shelby and I have now been here for a little over a week and we are lovin life. Orientation week is now over and now that our brains are maxed out we are ready to be put to work. Today, which is Monday, we started the day with a three hour meeting. I am not entirely sure what I wrote in my last blog and how clear it was but I am just going to explain it again because I have more information now... I think! So, Shelby and I are going to be working in the morning with the program that Living Hope is starting called OVC which stands for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. What will happen is if there is someone that is in the township, which would be me, they will see a child who is in serious need and would report it to someone else that works and is paid by Living Hope to go into the homes and scope out the living conditions of that child. Now, if you all saw the township I am pretty sure that you would say that every single child qualifies as vulnerable but with this kind of place you have to be a little more extreme. So, if we see a child that has been raped or hasn't had food for weeks then we will go in and see what we can do to help. The idea is not to constantly give them relief, the idea is to go in and help these families get on their feet and to the point where they can take care of themselves. In the meeting this morning the team, which only consists of 4 other people, shared the cases they had. I will share one with you that hit me. There is a 4 year old little girl that confessed to someone at Living Hope that she was almost raped in her township. Here's the story that I was told today! This little 4 year old (please pay attention to the 4 year old part) girl was in the front of her house with her 17 year old sister. Her sister went into their home for a few minutes but while she was gone a man came up to the little girl and asked if she wanted to go under a bridge to catch some frogs. Being a sweet little girl she of course said yes and went with him. He then proceeded to take off her clothes while she was begging him to stop! When this man "was about to put her on him" a woman came up and saw him and screamed and ripped the 4 year old little girl from his grip and ran off with her. Praise the Lord for that woman! I believe that it is also important for you to know that her 17 year old sister also was raped and now has a 2 year old child from that rape! (Honestly, this has been one of my greatest fears in life... that I would be raped and become pregnant!) Can we all please take a moment to pray for this family... right now! I don't really know what to say...words can't express how much I hate to hear this. Today I heard this story and my amazing and beautiful 4 year old niece came to mind and I got sick thinking about her living in this place and having rape as an everyday reality! I mean come on! I ask you to please take a moment to pray! As I write this to you this 4 year old little girl is probably in bed tonight and from what I was told is having dreams about her attacker! I don't know what you each believe about the Holy Spirit and HIS power but believe me when I say that the Lord is amazing and alive today and living in that township. I ask you to PLEASE take a moment and invite the Holy Spirit into that little girls home tonight and every night to follow! Rape is something that is very present in these townships but I know that God is bigger and can do miracles! I know that was a downer but I figure I should tell you the other half of my daily life here in South Africa. In the afternoons I will be going into the townships called Capricorn and Overcome Heights. Shelby and I will be going to be a part of the children camp. This consists of tickling children, letting them play with my hair, hugging them, and treating them as precious children of God. It is such a privilege and blessing to be able to be used in these places because these children are often treated like dirt and like they just don't matter to anyone. When you look at the children it is honestly hard not to notice their lack of shoes, dirty clothes, and open wounds from having AIDS but when you look at their amazingly cute faces you are drawn in and then you are hooked! It's love at first sight! I am quickly building a love for this ministry and am so eager to see how God can use me in this place. I promise that pictures from the townships and children will come in the future but right now we are not taking pictures because it makes the children feel like they are on display. They see teams come and go all the time and we want to just spend this first few weeks or months to just be present with them and not put them on display. But... here are some pictures of life here in SA and the fun times we are having with new friends!

A little bit of home!