Ministry Begins

Sanibonani (hello from SA) !!

South Africa has been my home for 2 weeks now and I am loving every second of it! God designed this place so beautifully— I am seriously in awe of every single sunrise and sunset here.

The people here are a lot more welcoming and inviting than in America. It’s a part of their culture to ask “how are you?” every time you greet someone, even if it’s just passing by someone on the street. Even children are very accepting of new faces here. One of my favorite things ever is greeting children with a “shop”— which is basically their handshake except you flick thumbs with each other.

Ministry here with Impact Africa has been incredible. Our very first form of it entailed community outreach. This is simply evangelism, where we go out into the poorer communities and go home to home spreading the gospel. This was very intimidating to me at first, but I am learning to love it. Sitting in people’s homes, listening to their stories, and seeing their eyes light up when they hear of Jesus’ love for them is an unexplainable kind of joy. Lots of people here have heard of the name of Jesus, but don’t know that He died on the cross to have a personal relationship with them.

The thing with community outreach is you never know what your day will entail. One day, I spent an hour trying to get an orphan child to open up to me so that I could hold him and make sure he knew he was loved, whereas another day I was in a theology battle with a few of my teammates and a Jehovah Witness member. Another day I was having a push-up contest with 10 children while helping their mom with dishes and laundry, and later went on to encourage an 18-year-old who had no idea how she was going to get to college or what she was going to do with her life. Although outreach can be totally unexpected, I have seen God move in the coolest ways. I have seen Him plant seeds in these people, by using me and my team as His vessels. I have seen Him open eyes and change hearts right before me. I have seen Him give me the words to say when praying for His people. His presence has been so clear here in Johannesburg.

Another part of ministry has been teaching middle and high school students. I never would’ve thought I’d be teaching 10 classrooms with 30+ kids when I signed up for the Race, but here I am! God is continuing to push me outside of my comfort zone for His glory. The message we spoke on this week was on potential. There are lots of young students here who become addicted to drugs and alcohol, have teen pregnancies, or are battling severe challenges at home. Life after high school is hard and suicide is high in this age group. We were speaking in the schools about potential because many of these students don’t think they have any. We encouraged them that God has a plan for them, and they can find their highest potential by putting their faith in Him. He is a provider and the One who can take us away from all the things preventing us from reaching our potential. It was pretty cool teaching about Jesus in school, I must say.

 

I’m excited for more ministry here with Impact Africa, and to see what else God has in store! I will continue giving Him my “yes”, even when that means continuing to go deeper and deeper outside my comfort zone.

I miss my people back home terribly (but definitely not missing that MN snow). I love you all and so does Jesus!