Hello from South Africa everybody!!
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Posting a general update on here because in a couple of hours I leave for Eswatini and will be without data and Wi-Fi for a while! This will be my last update for a couple of months, so let me fill you in on what God’s been doing in my life!
Starting with our travel day! We left Guatemala and got ready to embark on a three-day adventure of hopping on different planes and buses. It was 64 hours total, and I didn’t sleep much. Lucky for me, I did get to explore Qatar for a couple of hours during our 15-hour layover there. It was so cool! When we finally arrived in Durban, South Africa, God gave me an amazing surprise: getting a piece of home for Christmas—the beach! The first place we stayed was just a short hike from the beach. The culture here is so hospitable, and we were given a warm welcome by so many people! We made friends with a family and their daughters, and they invited us to dinner and then to Christmas dinner a couple of days later. We were so blessed by our new friends’ kindness that made Christmas special despite being so far away from family.
The day after Christmas, we moved from our little home by the beach to a foster village. Our task was to put on a week-long holiday program for 80 kids. LIV Village was our start to ministry here in South Africa. It was an amazing time filled with crafts, games, and messages with the kids. They were super sweet, and even the troublemakers were engaged with our Bible skits! We ended with a birthday party for Jesus and water games. The kids had a lot of fun, and so did I. Unfortunately, the week went by quickly, and I was left missing 80 sweet faces.
We headed to our third destination here in Durban: a house in Kloof that a former YWAM missionary had recently bought. Ministry started to look different for me. We visited retirement homes and got to hang out and talk to everyone there! We often did ATL (Ask the Lord). This included anything we felt the Lord asked of us. For me, it looked like prayer walks and evangelizing at local malls. We had a lot of time organized specifically for evangelism, visiting apartment complexes, knocking, and asking to pray over people. Once we had finished the apartment complexes, we moved on to the houses next door. We also had the opportunity to speak at a high school and a primary school, encouraging students and telling them about what Jesus has done in our lives!
I remember praying as we were leaving Guatemala for Jesus to show me a salvation. I craved to witness someone accept Christ. Now that I was entering a mainly English-speaking country, I was excited to understand what God was doing in people’s lives! Just four weeks after my prayers, I was set in a group with Kait and Sophie. We were evangelizing at apartment flats when we came across a woman who was sick. She didn’t seem to have much patience, and others from our group had already knocked on her door and been turned down, but she let us stay. We began to share with her the GOOD NEWS: Jesus had died for her! She said she knew but was so hurt. After three prayers and a conversation about God’s true character as redeemer and caregiver, I was blessed to witness this woman give her life to Jesus! It was something I had been praying for, and it was the first time I had ever seen someone give their life to Christ. Since then, there have been over 40 salvations witnessed between my team here in South Africa—just in one week!
“Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.””
John 4:35-36, 38 NIV
Days after the encounter at the apartment flats, Kait and I were speaking at a primary school. A class of 7th graders sat before us. We shared the gospel with them, asked them if they wanted to accept Jesus, and got to see 36 kids choose Jesus! Next door, two more kids accepted Christ, along with an Uber driver and two students from a high school nearby. In the span of a month, God not only answered my prayer but provided in abundance. He is Jehovah-Jireh!! There is something exhilarating about life in South Africa. The harvest here is ready, and the fruit is sweet.
I was also able to go shark cage diving while here! It was an amazing experience getting to see blacktip sharks inches away in their natural habitat! The fun didn’t end there. Our thoughtful ministry host took our team to visit USHAKA Marine World a week or two later. We spent the day going down every water slide we could and watching sea animal shows. When it came to the dolphin show, I did not mess around. I won a dance competition that let me pet, kiss, and feed a dolphin for free!! WOOHOO
As our time in South Africa comes to an end, I am definitely weepy. I will always have so much love for this country. God is doing such exciting things here, and the hearts of His people are growing softer toward the King of Kings. That being said, I am so excited to get back to Swazi! We leave in a few hours from now. Swazi was the place I fell in love with living life for Jesus, and I can’t wait for the fresh revelations Jesus will offer me upon my arrival!
LOVE YOU ALL DEARLY!
here are some pictures:)
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