Coming back!!

Time is flying by. And although sometimes I feel like I don't have enough time for everything I am getting very exciting for the things coming up. Let me share some of it with you.

Hopefully on May 15^th I will be heading to the States for a visit/fund-raising time. I will be in Alaska from May 17^th-25^th and then I will be heading down to Oregon for a few weeks from May 26^th-June 17^th. Then I will be finishing off my time in Alaska until the 7^th of July. I know it is going to be hectic and busy but I am so looking forward to it. By that time it will be almost 18 months since I have been back. Does that sound like a long time to anyone else? So, if anyone of you wants to make sure I get a visit in let me know and we can plan a good time for me to come and hang out with you!

While I am there I also want to share with you what I have been doing and what I am dreaming of in the future. Should I give you a quick overview? Oh, why not. Basically, I want to share what I have been doing in Red Hill and all that I have seen God do and what He has put on my heart to do in the future. I have been working a lot with young women and girls helping them discover their new identity in Christ and their value. I love helping them start dreaming and see how all that is within them starts to come out as they see who God has made them to be and how important of a role they can play. This love came from helping Justice Acts last year and their safe house for trafficked women. I am not helping them in as big of a capacity as I was but I am still partnering with them in small ways. The experiences that I gained from working with Justice Acts has given me the passion to work with young women all over. I would love to start, what I like to call, 'Healing Homes' in different places that give young women a safe place to come where they feel loved and safe to open up. They wouldn't necessarily stay in these homes but if they need to they would be welcome. I want it to be a springboard as well for all sorts of training that will help them. The opportunity hasn't presented itself to do this in Red Hill yet for various reasons but there is a team going to Eastern Africa to explore and visit some of our long term teams there. Eastern Africa has been on my heart for a long time and I am really hoping to go on this trip. I am wanting to go and see if doors open for me to possibly move up to Eastern Africa and start Healing Homes there and work with the young women there. There are so many other details going into that but I will share them with you when I see you.

I would love to share this vision with everyone so if you or anyone else you know of is interested in hearing it and possibly partnering with me in it, let me know.

Also, please be thinking and praying for me as I go forward in this. I need to buy my plane ticket to the states(and they aren't cheap) and I still have my apartment here that I will need to pay rent on. Then when I come back there will be the issue of paying for the East Africa trip with all the visas and also paying for my apartment if I decide to keep it. Sometimes these issues of money overwhelm me but God is constantly reminding me of how He is taking care of me and will provide.

Please be thinking and praying if you would like to partner with me in this next stage of my journey. I am so thankful for your help in anyway. If you would like to support me monthly, help me with my plane ticket, or simply give a gift you can send money to my parents to deposit into my account or there is a link on my blog which you can give at and it is tax deductible. Thank you so much for your help so far. I am so blessed by you all.

Change of Seasons

I am not the kind of person who particularly likes change but it is natural in the change of seasons in nature so it should be just as natural in the change of seasons in my life. These past two months have been so hectic with the World Cup going on and all the schools being on 5 weeks of holiday. It is a bittersweet feeling as I see it come to an end. I have enjoyed being so busy and seeing so many things accomplished. In a way I am going to miss it.

With Justice A.C.T.s things will take a different turn as some things slow down after all the hype of the World Cup. Just during these past two months our team of 20 people have personally reached an estimated 14,000 people teaching them about human trafficking and how to protect themselves. That number doesn't even count all the ones reached by the newspapers, radio stations and public service announcements. Through that and the faithful prayers of the body of Christ we have definitely seen how God has protected many people and helped put a stop to many places involved in trafficking. Our job doesn't stop there obviously but it does feel like we are going into a slower pace of life as the hype of the month is over. It is good and now we can focus more specifically on helping the government put into place protective measures and help put more safe house for those rescued.

With Living Hope in Red Hill I have been helping run a 4 week holiday club as well to keep all the kids busy. I see how that has been an incredible blessing because I have no idea what kind of influences the kids would have found to fill their time. It was amazing as well seeing them be so faithful in coming to the Bible clubs and to the sports clinics. It was an incredible opportunity to build relationships with them and to speak into their lives. So many of them come from broken homes and they love the chance to be loved on and have people actually pay attention to them. It can be very hard at times with so many kids eager for attention but I also see it as an opportunity to help these kids see who they really are and who they can grow up to be. So, now even though spending 8 hours a day in Red Hill with over 80 kids was exhausting and stretching, now that it is over I realize that I really miss those kids. Funny how that works isn't it. Oh, well. I will just have to make more time to see them when I go in on normal days. I can't go in without them all calling my name anyway. ;)

So now the season is changing for me when life is not so hectic. Which is nice. :) But some seasons are a little sad to see end. The good times and the good people make it hard to say goodbye. But God gives grace to move on and to look forward to yet more good times with good friends! God only knows what lays in the next season but I am excited. There is a team coming from America for two weeks whom I am working with and who knows what God will do through them. Each season for me has something new it and I am looking forward to what surprise God has next!

World Cup Time

Wow, this past month has been quite hectic. I will try and use that as an excuse for having not updated my blog (haha). As I have said in the past I need to become more deliberate in sharing with you all that is going on in the side of the world as there is SO much. It is really exciting!! The World Cup of soccer is almost here and everyone is amped up about it. Cars have South African flags on them, resturaunts and stores have flags hanging from the ceiling welcoming all the different countries that are coming to play and watch the games. It is really neat to see the local people take so much pride in what their country is hosting. They are proud and eager to show off their home. I am really happy to be here during this time so I pray that it goes over well. This will be South Africa's chance to show the world that they can handle this. So, despite all the hectic programs that I am helping with during this month I am really excited! The energy and excitement are contagious no matter what team you are routing for. So, I will be routing for one of the top 20 teams in the world....the USA!!!
On the other side of the excitement I get see both sides of the World Cup. Working with Justice ACTs does tend to bring out the more sobering side of the crime that big events bring to cities. I see both the petty crime that happens and also the crime directly against human lives. It can be so hard to bear on ones heart as you see the despair that some men and women are in and you think of the countless others that are hidden, waiting to be found. As overwhelming as it feels sometimes, we serve a good God who sees all. Being part of Justice ACTs who is a small team of 13 staff we are blown away by how God has mobilized churches, government, NGOs, law enforcement, and individuals to take part in the cause of fighting human trafficing. In just the last month we have seen thousands of people be trained in what human trafficing is, and be trained on how to fight it. The 13 of us did some of it but it was so encouraging to see others that we have trained from all over the country step up and run with it. We realized that this project was to big to stay in just Cape Town so different ones of us traveled to the cities, found key people to train and put it in their hands to see their areas become Traffic Proof. Working with everyone from government officials to people in the townships I really see how far the enemy's hand reaches but how much bigger God is. We encourage ourselves with victories that may seem few in number but we rejoice over the individuals.
It is the stories of the 5 South African girls rescued from a trafficer in Cape Town, the 21 Thai girls rescued from a trafficer in Johannesburg, and the prostituted women that we have befriended and seen give up their lives on the streets to get proper jobs and regain their life that we rejoice over. These are the lives that I would give my life for and who make it worth living in South Africa. There are more people waiting to be rescued and God sees them. Just as He has already rescued the girls listed above, I rest in the promise that He will rescue all of them. Isaiah 45:3
So, this is just one project that I am helping with during the World Cup time and beyond. I will tell you of the others soon. The others aren't quite as intense. :) But please be keeping us in prayer as we engage in the battle for the lives that the enemy has taken captive. We want to see them rescued and rehabilitated.
If you want to see more about Justice ACTs check out my links next to this blog under the title of 'Who I Work With'. They will lead you to all the different projects that I am involved in and share with you much more extensive stories than I am telling you. ;)

Back in Cape Town

I apologize for not blogging in so long. The initial plunge back into a culture not your own is always a bit hard. So, for the past three weeks I have been catching up with people, getting caught up on where ministries are now, and finding my place again in the big picture of things. There have been up and down times. But even through the down times I haven't doubted my coming back here. I will admit there are times when I wish I could go back to somewhere familiar but God has me in such a good place that I haven't come to the point of jumping on the next plane to America. ;)

I think my favorite part of being back has been reconnecting with people and re-finding what God has put in my heart. I walked into Red Hill again and immediately felt at home. The kids all still remembered me and the ladies were ecstatic to see me. I couldn't have asked for a better reception! I also got to see how some of the ladies kept meeting together in Bible studies and prayer meetings on their own initiative. It was then that I realized that no matter how much I love working with people on a surface level I love connecting them to Jesus. I love seeing them find the love of God on their own and all of a sudden it makes no difference if I am there or not. So, I have started the process of thinking and discussing with many people about what project I really need to pour myself into. Don't get me wrong Justice Acts is still very close to my heart. Especially after doing a presentation with them yesterday (which I will describe in more detail later). I am just now figuring out what my role is with them and how I can keep my main focus on discipleship. As I told some of you when I was in Alaska. You can give some one food and shelter but they will still die and be separated from God forever.

Well, now you know what I have been thinking and praying through. I am sorry that I haven't told you a more exciting stories. I will soon, though, I promise. I have many to tell!! But this was for the sake of catching you up on where I am at and why I haven't written in so long. God bless you all.

God's Heart and Mine

God has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted (Isaiah 61:1)! What an awesome privilege, right?

Well, how could I even think of doing this when my heart wasn’t even healed from certain things. Is it possible to minister to people and expect them change in areas that you are still working through? I guess you really can because it is through those times of being weak that God is strong. But I will admit that it was hard for me to say to girls that God has perfect plans for them and that they need to trust Him for absolutely everything when I, myself, was doubting these very things. I just sounded so sure of myself when I would speak to people but inside I was torn.

I began a few weeks ago to see how my heart was becoming hardened to certain things. I had begun shifting to working more full time with Justice Acts and although I know that this is what God wants me to do I wasn’t fully prepared for the shock to my system.

For those of you who don’t know, Justice Acts is an organization who is fighting human trafficking in the Western Cape of South Africa. With the World Cup coming to South Africa there is an increasing amount of people being trafficked into the large cities for prostitution or slave labor. I am working with them to start a safe house for some of these under aged girls that will be brought in for next year. We are hoping to have it up and running by next year May, Lord willing. There is a lot to say about it but I will save that for my next blog.

Well, as I begun to work with Justice Acts, doing presentations and attending other meetings, I felt something shifting in my heart. As I was constantly being bombarded by stories from trafficked girls about their families that sold them, pimps, or the men that bought them, I found it very hard to keep God’s heart of love inside me. I know in my head that God loves these family members, pimps, and buyers just as much as He loves you and I and His heart breaks for them. But I found myself almost loathing them. I was closing my heart to them. I had stopped believing that God had perfect plans for them as well even though they had turned their backs on Him.

God really confronted me on this and I saw where it would lead me. If I let this hatred in where would it stop? Would it lead to shutting out all men because of the ones that I see in these stories? I really felt like that was how my heart would end up. It scared me so bad and I had to cry out to God. I have traveled half way around the world to comfort the brokenhearted and here I was shutting out some of the most hurt ones. If I can watch drug dealers and gang members come to the Lord what’s to stop pimps and sex addicts? It took me quite a few days to overcome the feelings that had entered my heart and have God completely transform it again. In fact I am still dealing with it daily.

But you know the amazing thing about God is that He does it! He used not only times between just Him and me but He used friends to change my heart when really none of them knew what was going on inside of me. I love the way my God works!
Psalm 103.