Hello friends and family!
I’ve now been in South Africa (Jeffery’s Bay) for about two weeks now. It’s been an amazing experience full of new culture, new languages, and new ministry opportunities. God continues to show himself through other people and reveal Himself in new ways. He is truly amazing!
The bus ride from Eswatini to JBay was 22 hours because the bus broke down a few hours in. About 4 hours of waiting later, our bus was revived and we set off again. After arriving at 1 in the morning, we all crashed and went to sleep.
Waking up, we all saw a beautiful sunrise, an amazing host named Wendy, and a town mall within walking distance. JBay is absolutely beautiful and SO different was Eswatini in almost every way. The food, the clothes, the people…everything.
Coming from Eswatini, where the options were; to stay on the property, be at ministry, walk miles to different people’s homesteads in the 100+ degree weather, or be driven fifteen minutes into town once a week, the new freedom of things being within walking distance was exciting! There were stores like in America, people that spoke fluent English, and our home is on a school campus so we have the opportunity of making lots of new friends.
That being said, I am incredibly grateful for my time in Eswatini, I made so many amazing and life changing memories, spent a lot of sweet time with my team 9×9, and was able to serve some of the most caring people I’ve ever met. I pray that I will never forget what I learned in that beautiful country.
South Africa is much more westernized and we have access to many distractions we had in America. It is good practice to incorporate what we learned in Eswatini, evangelism, and God into our daily lives here while slowly readjusting to a more modern society. I felt God cautioning me to not change my mindset, to not indulge in the new freedoms and material things, and to not change my intentionality in ministry.
ministry is life and life is ministry.
My goals for South Africa are:
-to continue to dive into the ministry our hosts provide for us, and to show God’s love to all
-to continue to lean on God and turn towards His guidance before seeking anything or anybody else
-to find a sustainable lifestyle and mindset that is pleasing to God that I can continue when I return to America
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I’m so excited for this new adventure! The new people I’ll meet, the places I’ll go, the things I’ll do, and the new things I’ll learn and experience! I’m beyond so thankful for the support from you guys. I’ll post another blog about the ministry we’ve been doing here and the different experiences I’ve had the past two weeks soon!
God bless, and if there are any prayer requests, feel free to email/ text me separately or leave it in the comments. I’m so thankful for you all!
