To the States and back

I cant' believe its almost been 3 months. It has been so full that only just now I feel like I am catching up. My time back in the states was amazing! Packed full with weddings and catching up times. The time literally flew by. It was so great to see everyone and catch up on families, new babies, school and jobs! Life doesn't pause for any of us that's for sure.

After being gone for a year and a half, 7 weeks in the states almost didn't feel like enough time to see everyone but God worked it out perfectly. I even got to celebrate the 4^th of July in my own country for the 1^st time in 3 years!! I know that may not mean much for those of you not from America but it was a blast! I also had the honour of being back for 3 weddings of people that are very important to me! Two of my sisters and one really good friend. I was so thrilled to be able to be there and witness them starting a new stage in their lives. I can't believe my baby sisters are married! ;) As if that didn't make me feel old enough I got to see all my nephews and nieces and they are growing up SO fast! I know, I know, they all do..haha. I also got to meet my youngest niece for the first time and she actually likes me. That may sound funny to say but wouldn't you agree that there is always that hidden fear that maybe the baby won't like me even though I'm their aunt. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one with that fear. :)

So, that coupled with seeing friends that I haven't seen in years made it a very memorable trip. There isn't room here for all the stories but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute and had lots of laughs. Besides the fun times, I was also able to share with many people about what I have been doing and what my upcoming plans are. Thank you to all of you who were interested and helped me out in my passion to work in Africa. It means so much to me. Needless to say that seeing and spending time with everyone almost made it hard to leave as is always the case when I leave my home town. It even felt a little strange to touch down in Cape Town. My time felt like a blur and probably was because we were so busy with weddings and catching up that I didn't have a lot of time to savour the moments. But I didn't have a lot of time to think about that either. I came back on a Saturday and went straight to a youth camp on Monday to help out. Besides the jet lag it was an awesome time! I got to help with the teenage girls which I absolutely love! True, they can be the hardest ones sometimes but they are the ones my heart connects with the most. So, as I got to work with them and also going back into Red Hill and seeing my girls it reminded me of why I love doing what I am doing. It did feel at times that I was working so hard and the girls didn't really care. But when I came back their reactions told me different. I was greeted by screams, big hugs and exclamations about how much they missed me and how bored they were without me. I had such a good laugh with them. It was a good reminder and encouragement that even though it is so hard for me at times to leave behind my family, it is so worth it when I look at these girls, see the change in their lives and think about the ones I have yet to meet. Who knows where God wants to send me next but no matter where I go as long as I am working with the young women I am happy.

As I settle back in I am getting very excited about my next journey coming up! I am going on a 3 month trip up through Eastern Africa. We are visiting long term teams and exploring areas that have not been reached yet, in hopes of maybe sending teams on a long term basis to work there. I will post more on this trip soon. We still have room for two more people if anyone is interested. ;) Please be keeping us in your thoughts and prayers though. We still need money to come in to finish paying for our trip and we are praying hard for protection and health as we travel. So if any of you feel led to help me and my team out on this trip you can use the link to send money and/or just follow my blog as we travel and catch up on all the adventures that I am sure are waiting for us.

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.

The Young Ladies of Red Hill

Well, it hasn't been nearly as exciting of a month as in January with my trip to Zambia. I am simply settling in and it is finally hitting me that it is already February 2011. I have one more year left on my visa in South Africa so a lot of this past month I have been thinking about what I want to do about that. Should I go through the trouble of renewing it and continue living in South Africa or should I move on to somewhere else? I do know one thing for sure. I will be coming back to the states for 2 months starting at the end of May. I can't wait to see everyone!

I have been thinking about what I want to focus in on for at least the next 3 months and that is the young women in Red Hill. Right now I work with two different groups of young ladies. One group is ages 12-14 and the other group is ages 16-mid twenties. I love working with this age group and I think one of the reasons is that I want to help them find their heart and true identity. In the overwhelming sea of poverty, alcoholism, abuse, drugs, and sickness in which they live they have lost something. As they live in survival mode just to get by they don't see their true potential. Somewhere inside of them they do have dreams that they want to reach for but they don't know how and most will probably never try. I want to help them reclaim their hearts and their passion for life so that when I leave they are the ones living lives to the fullest and passing it on to others. I want to take them through a healing process so that they can see what the wounds are that are holding them back and how we can heal them and move forward. Sounds like a grand idea right? Well for me saying it is always far easier than actually doing it so let me tell you some ways that I want to help these girls.

1. I want to take them away for weekend camps to a place where we can have times of heart to heart sharing and really digging into our hearts to find what is there. I want it to be a place and time where they can feel safe to be vulnerable one on one and in a group. I want it to be a time where they discover who God has made them to be and help them take the steps to walk in it.

2. I want to do sports ministry with them. Almost all of them play netball (a form of basketball) and I want to use that as a time of building friendship while having fun. It is also such a natural time of gathering together in a group so it can be a good time to have good conversation with them as well as challenge them to keep pursuing what God has for them and the freedom in their lives that they can have. I have seen how powerful it is to build a friendship with them in the midst of everything else. One of the girls I have been discipling, Pam, is such a different person now after simply spending time with her, building a friendship and helping her find the freedom in her heart that she now has.

This is just the beginning of course. One day I would love to have a house/'healing home' where people can come and know they are welcome to stay and be loved, prayed for and find people who will help them walk in the freedom they were meant to have. (I will tell you more about these 'healing homes' some other time).

I am excited to have a few people joining me for two months that have a heart to work with these girls so we will see what we come up with together.

I want to invite you guys as well to be a part of all of all of this if you would like. If you want to help fund me personally or send money specifically for camps, sports materials or anything else you feel led to give please let me know and I will let you know how to do that. Thank you so much for always following me in my journey and please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I continue to work with these young ladies.

10 Days for Jesus

In my last update I told you all that I would fill you in on what projects I am working with. The first one I want to highlight is an outreach called '10 Days for Jesus'. It is an outreach opportunity run every December from the All Nations base in Cape Town. We are starting on the 5^th of December and going until the 16^th. We have people come from all over Southern Africa as well as America and Europe. Our purpose is to set aside 10 Days to give something back to Jesus for what He has given to us. It started with one of my friends having the vision to give Jesus a gift during His birthday month and to inspire young people to give more of their lives everyday to Jesus. So, we have 10 Days of going into the communities, serving people in whatever way we can, living in community, and receiving teaching from different leaders in All Nations. It sounds simple but yet we have seen so many lives transformed. The ones who have had the biggest impact on me are the lives of the people we have discipled in the communities who have made the decision to do 10 Days for Jesus. Last year two of the people from one of the communities we work in decided to join 10 Days for Jesus and from there decided to do Cpx (All Nations' training school). They are now on fire for Jesus and making a change in the places they live. They even have a desire to move up into Africa and become missionaries in other places. It is so exciting for me to see people who are coming from broken backgrounds, have a very little or no support base, no income and still they make a decision to follow Jesus in such a radical way. It definitely challenges my own faith!

Well, this year one of the girls ,Pam, whom I have been discipling has decided to join 10 Days for Jesus. From there she wants to go on to another discipleship program that All Nations partners with called LXp (Leadership Experience). In this picture she is in the center.

I am so excited for her as she grows in her relationship with God and has a growing desire to change communities for Jesus. She does have the challenge of finances as well so please join me in praying for her that everything will be provided for her to do both 10 Days for Jesus as well as LXp.

So, right now I am doing mostly correspondence for 10 Days for Jesus which keeps me busy enough but I am looking forward to the actual outreach time. If any of you want to know more about it or want to join in anyway please let me know. You can also have a look at the page on the All Nations website at http://all-nations.co.za/index.php/opportunities/

In the Moment

Once again a month has gone by and once again I find myself in a place I didn't expect. I love it though even though it means being a bit busier. I came into this month, and still am, learning how to sit and wait on God. He asked me to stop being so works and projects focused and wait on Him. It meant cutting down a lot on going into Red Hill and spending more time listening to what God is saying and going where He wants me to go. It was so hard because my personality wants to be busy and have some king of goal to work towards. It helped some that it wasn't only me going through this. My whole Red Hill team has been going through this. But as we work through this we find it so rewarding. We have found a closer walk with God and much more fruit in the conversations we have and in the time we spend with the people in Red Hill. It may not look like we are starting a movement or getting lots of people saved but we are investing in lives. We are connecting with people's hearts and we are seeing that doing that is what God really cares about. I need to stop focusing on getting lots of things done and be able to show lots of people results. I need to stop and focus and really care about the individuals along the way. That is what is going to be remembered. I may not be remembered generations from now for someone along the way I helped change the course of their life and maybe their family's lives. This sounds so much easier said than done. I still have projects going, on which I will tell you about soon, but it is beginning to have a different heart behind it. Life has a different feel when you go to do something but hold onto it so loosely that if something more important with an individual comes up you drop everything to do what is needed. It may not be the most efficient way of doing things in the western mindset but God willing everything gets done. Focus on the lives in your hand and there will always be time to do projects later. In the moment of a life there is no time like the present.

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!

A good testimony

I think one of the greatest joys in life is seeing someone that you have spent hours and hours hanging out with and pouring into really take ownership of their faith. I think that is one of my highlights this month. I had just started getting back in touch with my friends in Red Hill after being gone and I was so amazed by what God does without me even being there. It is so humbling to see how He can use us to plant a seed but us being there all the time is not a requirement to see the seed grow. Okay, I will stop keeping you all in suspense. My story, or rather the story from my friend in Red Hill is about God working through her faith. It was after the Bible study that Pam goes to on Sunday and a friend told her of a lady that was sick and couldn't work. Pam went up to visit her and talked and prayed for her. I thought that alone was amazing because they don't know each other that well and the other lady is Zimbabwean so I don't even know how they communicated. Anyway, Pam prayed with her before she left and the next day returned to see how she was doing. The lady was up doing her chores feeling completely healed. The faith of both of the women was boosted in such a huge way. For them to see how the Holy Spirit works through them and not only through us visitors was a huge thing for them to see. I have been discipling Pam for about a year now and she has been growing so much. But after this miracle from God she is even more on fire. I just pray that she will keep her simple faith as the feelings wear off as well.
So, I hope you are encouraged by my little story. And I hope that you will be able to see fruit coming from the relationships that you have as well. You never know how the tiniest seed that you plant will grow.

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.

The Power of Prayer

"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

James 5:16b

I have been encouraged a lot lately about prayer. Both the words of others speaking into my life and words that God has given me in my times with Him have said "the greatest movements and times of revival have been birthed through prayer". It really got me thinking about how much I pray. How important is it to me? Do I really believe that the first battles are won in the heavenly places before we see any fruits down here on earth? In the hour that we are living in there is a huge need for prayer warriors to rise up and take part in the battle that has already begun. With my team working in Red Hill we have seen so much evidence of the victories that are won in people’s lives through them praying and us praying for them. As important as it is for us to be physically there encouraging and teaching them I see an almost more important work of constantly and earnestly covering them in prayer. Through this I have seen the Holy Spirit transform anyone from drug addicts and alcoholics to simply insecure, shy people into passionate leaders in the house churches and communities!


After seeing all this and knowing that only God can really change a persons heart encouraged me so much more to battle for people’s lives through prayer. Of course this has to be a burden from God on each of our lives and that is what I would encourage each of you to pray for. Ask for God’s heart for prayer. Ask Him to give you pictures of just how powerful prayer really is. As God to lay specific things on your heart to pray for. Ask God to show you how your prayers are being answered. Trust me, He will give you what you ask for so be ready for it!

So, something I am asking of you when you feel lead to is please adopt a country, people group, or community to pray for. Each of us in my Red Hill team of course prays for the community we work in but have also adopted a country to pray for. We know God is raising up His people to bring in the harvest but the enemy won’t take it lying down. Each one of us wether we are in a foreign country or in our home neighborhood has battles and struggles to keep walking passionately for God. I really believe that amazing things will start to happen when God’s people start to ask and not stop until it is done!

P.S. Let me know if I can send you any information, prayer requests or etc. from the areas that we are working in over here.

A fruit of Discipleship

I think one of the best parts of living a life of deliberate discipleship is seeing others catch the love and passion of God for themselves. Sometimes it takes years to see fruit and sometimes it is immediate. But either way the feeling is beyond words when you see someone that you have poured hours of your time into finally take on the passion of God as their own.

That is what I got to experience today in Red Hill. One of the girls who is my age is growing so much in the Lord! When I first met her last year she was quiet, shy and would only talk to two of the guys on our team. Over the year she has begun to open up and gradually step out in speaking more English. Speaking in another language alone is a big step but what followed is what I get excited about. As I spent more time with her and the other ladies in her house she got more comfortable with me. She would never speak up at our Bible studies but I just sensed she had something to share. Then one night after hanging out with them she walked me back to my car and shared a Bible verse with me. She wouldn’t share it with the whole group but she shared it one on one. She told me how much she wanted to learn more about God and have a closer relationship with Him. I knew from that moment that it was only a matter of time. As I continue to see her she remains quiet in groups but I see that there is something growing inside. Especially after today when she shared that she had been reading Matthew 28:18-20 and the verses have shown her how she can share with her friends and not be afraid. I wanted to jump out of my seat for joy. I saw God fanning the flame that is inside of her. In fact when I got in the car and it was only our team I did kind of shriek for joy. I see God taking a girl that was insecure and scared and turning her into a bold bride of Christ. I praise God for the work that He does in the hearts of people! I hope and pray you guys can go out and see the amazing work that God is doing in people around you today!

Crazy Life

I don't honestly have much to report to you. I wish I had a huge praise report to share and encouraging stories of people overcoming. But not anything so exciting yet. To be honest, it has been somewhat of a rough patch for me this past month.
God is moving me into a new season so I am just trying to figure out what that is. This past month has been a lot of orientation for those wanting to serve long term with All Nations. I am praying hard about making a 3 year commitment to work with All Nations here in Cape Town and then maybe farther up north in Africa one day. So, please be praying about that with me. That God will reveal to me if He wants me to commit and if so what He wants me to do.
With that in mind I have been exploring the different passions that God has been putting on my heart and figuring out how to put them all together. I have fallen in love so much with working with the kids and youth in Red Hill, and then I have really loved exploring the Safe House and human trafficking options. I have to ask how you combine all of these? God is revealing it to me slowly and it is a real test of my faith. Being here for 7 months now and the need to know what I would do if I came back next year I am desperate for answers.
Out of this state with so much on my mind I haven't been able to do to much ministry but God does keep me strong. He knows what I need and I know that it is my work to push through the hard times. Even though I am distracted, everytime I take the first step to go up to Red Hill all it takes is the first few moments of seeing my friends and I forget all else. I enjoy so much talking to them, hearing their stories, and playing with the kids that almost anything could hit me and it wouldn't effect me. Strange I know but it is through those times that God is revealing to me what I am doing next.
It is an adventure. One that you don't know where it ends because of all the twists and turns but one you don't want to turn back from. The next turn is scary not knowing where it leads or what it holds but something inside you needs to know so you keep pushing on. I don't know about anyone else but that is the way my life feels.

The Passion for a Safe House

So, let me tell you what has been brewing on my heart these past few months. Besides the fact that I have become a regular celebrity in Red Hill. I have been working with the kids steadily now for about two months so now everyday that I drive up there are always around a dozen kids that will yell my name and surround my car. Yes, it makes me feel loved !

But, that is not what I will focus on now ;) The passion that God has been growing in my heart is for the broken, abused women and children. The ones that have been taken from their families through lies and false hopes and put in a lost place of violence and abuse. The ones also that are with their families but are looking for a place of safety, love and joy to escape to. These are the ones that have been growing in my heart in a bigger and bigger scale. The two main things that have really escalated my heart for this people group is:

With the 2010 World Cup of soccer coming to South Africa the amount of women and children being trafficked into South Africa has skyrocketed. What will happen after this is over? Where will they go? Who will take care of them when their families don’t take them back?
There is a large number of domestic violence in all countries but in the townships I have found very few houses not touched by it. With so few people being able to afford the bride price most just live together which gives the men very little incentive to treat the wife or the children fairly.

These are the helpless ones, the orphans, that God has put so heavily on my heart. These are the ones that I want to reach out to and help. So, what I have been praying into is starting a safe house for abused women and their children in this area of Cape Town. To provide a place for them to be discipled, trained and be able to go out and live in the communities and disciple others like them. It will of course take time but I have already met people who have given me huge tips in starting one and people who want to team with me and start one. I would so much appreciate all your prayers for me and for this project. God will have to provide everything for it. From the funding, to the cooperation of the government, NGO’s and communities, to the volunteers and staff to make it happen. So, please share with me if you would like to be involved with it as well and see with me where God takes this vision from here.

Life...you never know what each stage of it will bring. Two weeks ago I was somewhat lonely. With everyone leaving it was really quiet and I had no idea what was in store for me. It was nice to have a quiet week catching up on rest that I needed before starting again. The week was also a blessing because it was the same week that a friend in Alaska passed away. It was so hard for me to deal with it on my own and also feeling the grief of everyone there was tough. I am sure people could tell I was not myself. I even turned down leading a Bible study because I was still in shock. God has really brought me through it in a good way. I am still overcome by sadness thinking of what people are going through but I know God is doing something great through it. I also couldn’t have done it without my friends here. There were two in particular that were so encouraging. One of them is a married lady on my team and she gave me the most wonderful hugs at the exact moments that I needed them. It was a tough week but with the help of my friends here and my Red Hill kids I got through it.
I started last week helping with the children and youth clubs there. For a long time it has only been two guys doing the work so they were more than happy to let me and two other girls, that are also interns, join. I can’t say how much I love those kids up there! They are trouble makers, rambunctious, noisy, and always climbing on you but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I started to get to know them last year so I know some names and faces but it is so much more fun seeing them four days a week and watching them grow.
The more time I spend with them I realize how much I missed working with children. They are such a huge part of my heart. I love discipling people which I am still doing. I go up to Red Hill one night a week and meet with a group of ladies which is really nice. It is such a privilege to be a part of their lives as they grasp the truth of God for themselves. And as rewarding as that work is, I have still been missing the children. I can see why they are so close to the heart of the Father. So, all that to say how my kids in Red Hill have really helped me get through a tough week. And they have gotten me excited about working with them for the rest of the year!

Just 3 of my many kids!

Enjoying fruit leather from the states

thanks to Codi and Stephanie!

What can I say after staying away from my blog for so long? God is still moving in my life, bringing up things that I need to learn but mostly helping me walk out the things I have learned so far.
One major thing is not walking in the fear of man but in the fear of God. A few weeks ago a couple from Pretoria, who are a real father and mother in the Lord, prayed me through identifying that strong hold in my life and starting to walk free of it. I was a huge people pleaser. Always wanting to look good in others eyes, never wanting to let others down, and certainly never wanting to walk in a way that would cause conflict. The couple prayed with me until I could remember the exact moment that certain spirit took root in my life and how it effected me. It was so overwhelming. I didn’t even fully realize how big it was until I started to walk in that freedom. It weighted me down and controlled what I did and said in such a huge way. Trying to live up to what I thought people expect of me and then to they way people live their own life just gets to be to much at one point. You can’t be who God really created you to be and you can’t walk in that freedom that He has waiting for you. It really does hold so much back from you. I wish I could say that it has been easy but that would not be true. But it is the hardship that makes it so much more a God thing. Everyday I am faced with the temptation to give into the fear of man but when I resist it, it is afterwards that I feel the freedom washing over me! Walking in a way that pleases God is more amazing than I thought! It gives me so much joy, peace, and refreshing!
And that is probably what I can narrow down everything I have learned up to this point. God is doing such amazing things in my life and in the lives of those people up in Red Hill and it all revolves around having Him the center of our life. Nothing in between us, nothing holding us back from the power that He gives us. When we realize what holds us back from Him and get rid of it you will be unstoppable. The whole power of the Holy Spirit that is inside of you will be seen on a whole new scale. Of course we have access to that power right now and it is always there for us to see but imagine more. Being closer to God in such an intimate way that there is nothing standing there waiting to be taken care of. Clear access to His throne, His Power, His Glory! All of that indwelling in you, in your very being just waiting for you to want badly enough to share it. I can only picture this in my imagination but I want to see it become real in my life, in the lives of the people I am around and the ones that I disciple.

Training

Since I am now back in full swing here in South Africa I wanted to let you know what I am doing. I am working back up in Red Hill again. As most of you know Red Hill is the township that I worked in last year.
Last year our focus was on rebuilding the houses and starting up small Bible studies. We were all new at it so we didn’t really know what we were doing. Now the focus has changed a little bit so I am getting used to it. Also the team has connected with a lot of new people so I am trying to catch up to where they are. I haven’t been up there a whole lot since I have been back but I already love it. I missed it more than I thought. Just seeing the people that I knew from before makes it so comforting being back. And it is always fun to meet more of the people that live there. Well, enough of what is new there let me tell you what we are doing up there.
We are still focused on starting small house churches just changing our emphasis a little. We are trying out this new thing for us called T4T or training for trainers. It is a few basic lessons to for us to teach the main commands of the Bible to people in Red Hill and it is easy enough so they can then pass it on to others. Our vision is to see the people we are working with now to take leadership and feel that they can lead their house church. We want to see them reach out to others and share the gospel then take in more disciples and train them to do what they are doing. Up until now we have always been kind of the leader in the house churches so we wanted to change that. If we pull out of Red Hill all of a sudden we have no idea if the people will take ownership and keep the Bible studies going on. I know that God would look after His children so I am not to worried. But the vision to go along with this training is to see house churches starting all over Africa that have been started by the people we are training now and by their disciples.
I got to see it kind of start the other day when I was up there. I was visiting a couple of guys and telling them about the training we are going to start. The one guy was excited to start and he was in a sense already looking for men to start a house church with. That was encouraging in itself but it got even better. His friend who was sitting there listening got interested in what we were doing as well. The guy on my team who could speak the language started talking to him and soon led him in a prayer to accept Jesus as his Savior. He too is now interested in the training so that he can share his story with his friends and family. It was so amazing to see his face change and to see the joy that came over him. I couldn’t have asked for a better day!. God has so many surprises in store for us.
That is what I live for and why I keep coming back here. I love to see people that are not living for anything come to the understanding that God has something special in store for them and take that into their lives and into the lives of the people all around them. Africa is in desperate need of Godly leaders and I feel very honored to be a part of seeing some them start stepping up to the plate!