The gospel is beauty!

Goeie Dag! Meaning good day in Afrikaans... that's right...be impressed! Not really, I am terrible at this language and everyone speaks English here so it is very difficult to learn. But this is something I heard a lot while I was at camp this past week. We were doing a teens camp from Monday till Thursday morning. I had no clue what this was going to be like going into it and I tried not to have too many expectations which was more difficult than I thought. Having done several ACU leadership camps it was hard to get that out of my head but it didn't take to long because this camp was nothing like it. Both, however, were pretty amazing. The camp was talking about worship. They discussed different types of worship and how to worship the Lord with your personal talents that the Lord blessed you with. While the whole week was fun and a blessing there were a few things that were truly amazing to experience. One of which was swimming time. There was a swimming pool, which is pretty normal to most of us, but for these teens it was the best gift they could have received. When we would tell them everyday they would literally all scream with joy that they were getting to swim. There were 77 teens at this camp and almost every single one of them got in the pool at once. The joy was amazing to watch because I have never seen teens so excited about something that I am so used to. I have the gift of having a pool in my own backyard at home and swam it occasionally while these kids jump in with all their cloths on because they are so excited. I have never seen so many people swim in jeans before. :) Anyways, on Wednesday night we decided that it was important for the teens to have a time of worship, a time to experience God personally. Keep in mind that less than 50% of these teens consider themselves Christians so this was a new experience for them. But that night was absolutely amazing! We started out singing a few songs and then someone on the leadership team came up and started sharing a word for the girls and a word for the boys that the Lord had given him. Before I knew it almost every single person was in tears. We, the leaders, starting praying and laying hands on the teens and asking for the spirit to move and He most definitely did. Almost every single teen went up to the front and accepted Jesus that night! This was an amazing sight and a wonderful thing to see the Lord working in some way on so many kids. Later that night in my cabin, which consists of myself and 6 14 and 15 year old girls, I got to have a wonderful conversation with them. My Bible was sitting on my bed and one of the girls picked it up and starting reading something random. Then all of the other girls started saying, "my turn, my turn!" They were so eager to read about Jesus and see what he has to say. Then one of the girls started to read the story of the Samaritan Woman. We started to talk about that story and then they started asking me questions about dating. They were shocked when I told them that God doesn't have an age where it is okay to start dating. I gave them my personal opinion on the matter and we proceeded to have a wonderful conversation about what a God centered relationship can look like. I was SO excited to get to talk to them about this because they don't see those kind of relationships often and I am not to sure that anyone talks to them about what a good relationship looks like. Sometimes it frustrates me because there are so few opportunities to speak truth into these teens and you really do have to take every single tiny chance you get before you send them back into their world. Being here you realize how much you really do have to trust the Lord with every person you talk to about Him because we see and encourage these kids about 5% of the time and then they go into their normal lives where the world prevails. You have to trust that the Lord has planted a seed in them and that he will, in some way, make a way for it to grow. The next morning I wake up and we have one last group session with these teens. So my co-leader and I have one more opportunity with these teens before we all go our separate ways. During this time I asked them if they were serious when they said they wanted to know Jesus and accept Jesus into their life. I made them all look at me in the eyes and tell me yes or no. I told them that if their answer was yes then wednesday night was the biggest and most important night of their life, not their high school graduation, not their wedding day, but the day they accepted Jesus. I looked into their eyes and while most of them gave me the answer I hoped for one of them was honest and said no. He said no! I am aware that maybe the other kids just said yes to please me but with them and with the one that told me no I ask the Lord to work in their lives in some way for them to see. I pray that this camp experience, the relationships they are making, will start building a foundation for a life with Him, their heavenly Father! I pray that somewhere along the way they can truly look at me or whomever and give them a confident YES! I pray that there again is a seed being planted in every single one of these teens somewhere along the way.

We had some team building along the way! It was a lot of fun!

Serving breakfast!

These are my favorite boys! Emmanuel and Yacee!

We were planning our strategy for capture the flag! We won!

These girls had me talk literally 40 to 50 pictures of them!

"Whom shall I fear?"

Hello friends and family! Blessings! I have decided that the Lord wants me to be real with all of you and I feel I should share with you exactly what He has been teaching me! Since arriving in South Africa it has honestly been difficult to have time with the Lord every single day! I am beginning to understand why it gets more difficult as time goes on to stay close to him because life starts getting in the way. Yes, I am here for missions and to spread the gospel but when you do that all day it is hard to find time to let Him speak into your own life when that is the most important thing. Every single day I feel at some point in the 24 hours Him calling me to come spend time with Him! I crave Him and know I need to talk to Him but some days it just doesn't happen! Can you relate? It annoys me so much because I know I need to seek Him there is just times when something else grabs my attention and He gets pushed off to the side! There is also a time coming when I am having to decide between two different roads and I need the Lords guidance in this like crazy! I feel a miracle coming on, this might not make sense to any of you but it is a miracle of freedom from something and I feel it coming in the next two months! I am eager and excited to see where the Lord takes me and how He is going to work in me but there is also some fear involved in this. Because I feel all of this coming and I feel fear when I am not supposed to fear I need to be seeking after the Lord like crazy! With this being said here is what I wanted to really share with all of you and hopefully it will encourage someone out there! This morning I woke up and for some reason went straight to my journal and Bible! This doesn't usually happen in the morning for me and if you are someone who reads His word in the morning props to you because I have never been able to do that! Anyways, this morning I opened my Bible to where my pen was and it was opened up to Psalm 27. I always have my pen in my Bible but never read anything where it is marked but today I did. This is what Psalm 27 says; "the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war may break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in His dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high on a rock!" through these words being spoken into me I had a feeling of fullness! I might not make sense when saying this but it was a fullness as in full of His strength and not my weakness! Such a good feeling and a very safe feeling! This Psalm gave me so much strength that I do not have but that my heavenly Father has plenty of! Are there ever times when you feel as if you are in a war zone? Well, I sure do! So often I forget the absolute truth. I forget who I belong to...who my Father is! Is there ever a time when you feel safe? My mom has always been someone that makes me feel safe. When I am sick or in pain of any kind there is something so special about your mom being there to hold you or brush your hair out of your face..this is the feeling the Lord has started to give me! He is a tender, loving, compassionate Father who only wants good things for His children...he loves me, you, because we are His daughters and sons! What beauty it is to walk into a war zone with Jesus Christ walking ahead of you fighting everything off of you so you can stand with your hands raised to the one who truly loves you!I hope this is encouraging to someone out there. These words don't give justice to the fullness of the Lords strength but I hope you are blessed!:)

"Your strength is limitless!"

Why hello there! Greetings from Kommetjie, South Africa! Well, Shelbs and I have now been here for a month... CRAZY! This past weekend we went on a volunteer retreat and the whole way there I was looking out at the mountains and just amazed at where the Lord has brought me! It has been a month and still I can't get used to the idea that I am really here in South Africa. Just amazing! Anyways, on the retreat we went to a place called Herolds Bay where we chilled on the beach and did a whole lot of relaxing. It was wonderful getting to be around all of the volunteers and share life with them for a few days. It is absolutely incredible to get to know so many wonderful people. These are people that have given up a year or more of their lives to come serve the Lord here in South Africa. I just love being around all of these people that actually get me and my passion for the world and for missions because they have that same passion. Yes, the weekend was wonderful but it had to end some time. So we are back to work! I am extremely excited about the weeks to come because this week there is a team from the USA working with us and the kids. Next week we are doing a teens camp which I cannot wait for. Then the next week an Australian team comes. I am not exactly sure what this month will be like but I am sure it will be eventful. So far today we had a block party by the primary school in Capricorn. Shelby and I led the kids in the "cha cha slide" dance which was super fun with at least 100 little children. It is a lot of fun to have a large team here because they did a dance, a skit, face panting, and were really great with the kids. They are such a blessing and the kids love to have new people around. Tomorrow we will do the same party in Overcome. This is a really great outreach because it gets our name out there and hopefully more children will start coming to kids camp every week. Please be in prayer about this and about lots of kids and teens coming to kids/teens club. One thing that I have noticed and starting thinking about is that these kids futures are in real danger. I will be tossing a ball with a child and I look up and see a group of teenage guys and they look so scary and dangerous. I ask the teens that do come to club (which is about 5) why the other teens don't come and they all say it's because they are doing drugs. I look at the smiling faces of the young children I see every week and wonder what their futures are going to hold. Right now I have an opportunity to plant a seed of love in them but the hard and scary thing is that the world they are living in and growing up in is making it very hard for that seed to grow in any way. The Lord is so powerful and he makes everything possible but sometimes it is hard to be hopeful when you look at the world these kids go home to. The only thing I can do is pray and put these children in the Lord's hands which is the best place for them to be! Well, I will try to be more consistent with my posts especially this month since there is lots going on. Thank you all so much for reading my blog and for the prayers. Blessings!

Meet my new family here in South Africa! We are special!

This is where I drive every single day! :)

I wish there was a picture that truly did this justice!

This is Ivan! He is on our team.

This is the "Cha Cha dance".

"He came to bind up the broken hearted!"

Why hello there! Can I first off just say how wonderful it is to know that people are reading my blog! It makes me happy to know that people are actually interested in what the Lord is doing over here in South Africa. So thanks for the support! Well, life here in Kommetjie, South Africa is going pretty quickly! I can't believe it but we are coming up on our third week here! CRAZY! In those three weeks we have made amazing friends, hugged on a lot of precious children, seen beauty that makes me amazed at the Lord I worship and I have become very aware at just how broken our world is! Not much has changed for me right now. We are continuing everything that we have been doing. We are doing random things in the mornings and working in the townships with the kids in the afternoons. This morning we had another meeting and talked about the different cases we have to work with. We got an update on the four year old little girl that was almost raped. The 18 year old boy that tried to rape her was released from prison on a 300 rand bail which is not very much money! So now this boy is living about two houses down from the little girl and he walks by her house almost like he is taunting her! We also learned today that he planned the whole thing with a friend but the friend backed out and was actually the one who ended up telling the sister who then told the police. It just breaks my heart that this little 4 year old girl is having to live near this boy who tried to hurt her so severely! I can't even imagine how scared she must be! Through all of this and through different cases we find ourselves very lost and a little hopeless. It is so hard to know what to do with each situation but the comfort that I have is that the Lord knows exactly what needs to happen and how. We are trying to figure out if we should remove a child from their household and we simply can't decide that on our own. This is where trusting the Lord and the Holy Spirit in us comes into play! We have to trust that we hear Him and hear Him clearly to make the right decision for these children. We can't play God but can ask Him for guidance! Also, this morning I have been introduced to two new ministries that I will be involved in and could be involved in. The first has to do with pap-smears. About a month ago a team from the US came to give free pap-smears for women and ended up doing about 300. They have discovered that this is a great need because mothers are either not discovering that they have cervical cancer and dying or they are discovering that they do have cancer and not doing anything to stay alive. So... my job is going to be to look at the results in a month when they come in and organize people to sit down and tell women if they do have cervical cancer or not. Then I will also be apart of following up with the women to make sure they get treatment. Now this does sound depressing and not very fun but I am actually very excited about it! One of my deep desires for ministry right now and through my life is to build deep relationships with people and I haven't really had the chance to do that yet here. I have been in the office or working with 40 to 50 kids at a time and there isn't time to spend one on one time with people so I am hoping this gives me the chance to enter into those relationships. I am extremely eager to get in there and pour into a life! Any life! This brings me to the other opportunity for ministry. Today I was told that there is a program through Living Hope called Life Exchange. This is where you are able to be a mentor to one person and a part of that is going to do activities such as hiking with them. When I heard about this my heart started to pound so fast and I got goose bumps because I want to do that SO BADLY! All I want to do is invest in a life and get to know that life on a deep level! This program takes gang members or drug dealers out of there everyday lives and brings them into a mentoring relationship with anyone who is willing to share Jesus with them! If there is anything that the Lord is helping me discover it is that I have a DEEP passion for this kind of ministry! Even writing this I am getting so eager to get involved with someone, just one person that needs to know who Jesus is! One person that is caught up in this world and speak light and truth into who they are! Life Exchange asks for a 2 year commitment so I am not sure if they will let me do this with someone since I will only be here the next 8 months but please pray that they do! I want to so badly! Please pray that if this is not where the Lord wants me that I will be patient and have my eyes open for the opportunity to use my passion somewhere else! So, life is going pretty great here and I am so excited to see what happens next. The Lord keeps telling me to concentrate on one day at a time and not focus or worry about tomorrow! Each day is a chance to be used by God whether you are in Africa or in Texas! I encourage you all to take a day at a time and just be open to what that day has in store for you because I promise you will meet someone that needs some love shown to them! You have been given the greatest light in existence so use it! ;)