Hello Friends and family,
God has been lovingly working on my heart this past month. About a week before I left for South Africa I was battling with a bit of fear for the unknown of the coming months, picking up my Bible I came upon The verse Ephesians 2:10. It says “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” For me this was a reminder that God had good things already in stored for me. All I needed to do was trust in him and His plans.
My team and I have now been in South Africa a little over two weeks. We have been partnering with an Organization called Impact Africa. Impact Africa has several different ministry focuses: Impact baby rescue, Impact kids, impact students, Outreach, and internships. We have had the opportunity to walk alongside the interns here in Impact Africa in several of these ministries.
For the first week we spent our time serving through children’s ministry and Outreach. For Outreaach we went into the villages also known as squatter camps to meet new people and simply sit with them and hear their life stories always with the intention of sharing the Gospel. Often times while we listened we would help the women with washing their clothes or scrubbing the dishes. Through this ministry I had the opportunity of meeting wonderful men and women and hearing many heartfelt stories of what everyday life is like for those who live in South Africa. Through these conversations I have discovered the readiness there is for receiving the Gospel. Many are so opened to the Word of God and it touches my heart. One morning during Outreach as we were talking to two women a young man passed by my team and I. He greeted us with a “chow” a smile, and a quick stop to talk to our translator then walked away. He didn’t walk very far. He stayed close enough to where I could still see him. As we finished our conversation with the women, I Realized that he seemed to be waiting for us to come talk to him. I followed our translator up to him and stood silently as they began to talk. I soon learned that they were having a conversation about God and this young man heard about God but not the story of Jesus. He then invited my team and I to come sit in front of where he lived. As we sat I noticed this was no longer going to be a conversation with just him. His neighbors were outside ready to listen as well. Our translator then went into great detail about the story of Jesus and what it means for us today. As our translator finished they still had a few questions. My team and I had the great honor of answering these questions. After a few minutes of the discussion, with great joy I heard the words of our translator say they all want to follow Jesus. We then all bowed our heads and prayed. It was such a beautiful moment to open up my eyes and see The undeniable light on their faces. Even if they tried to hide it, their big bright smiles gave
It away. Their hearts were so opened to the Gospel Which was evident to me that God had been preparing their hearts beforehand. It truly was the greatest honor getting to watch these people come to Christ. God has poured over me blessing upon blessing these few weeks I’ve been here. From the Joy of seeing one person’s heart filled with undeniable Joy when they receive Jesus for the first time, to dancing to a memory verse song with a group of children and even to touching and feeding an elephant, I have seen God’s love and faithfulnesses. His Word is true. He has prepared good works for us, All We have to do is walk in them.
God bless you.
