wrapping up

My DTS is over, finished. It went well, I learned more than I thought I would or even could learn in just 6 months. I found more of God, I found Friends, I found love, I found my home. If you want to continue keeping up with whats going to happen over the next couple years as I head back to South Africa in September you can follow my other blog:

Lamb amongst Wolves

This will be my life blog. I'll update you one my mission work, schooling, everything! So make sure to follow that one if you have been following my blog here.

Hope you are all doing well, school is almost done...summer is almost here.

I can't thank you enough God for the things, people, and places you have allowed and are allowing me to go to. Its above and beyond my wildest dreams. I'm so ready to lay down everything and follow what You have planned for me. Lets do it Jesus!

Thank you all who supported me and who still are supporting me during this transition from DTS, to full time mission work! 

Prayer

super sweet thing just happened wanted to share it.
so i have been at the airport in abu dhabi for uhhh 5 hours now, and for a couple of those hours i was trying to figure out what i could do without any  money. so i looked in my backpack and i found this page that is titled:  1 HOUR PRAYER GUIDE. it is super cool actually, i am going to share it with you guys, but im telling you when you do this be open to hearing God speak because woahh my head got bombared with things. my one hour ended up being 2 hours so just be careful. but forreal try this its really nice.

1 Hour Prayer Guide:

1-5 min: worship, call upon Gods name (you can do that by playing worship songs, or just calling out all the names for God.)

provider,
healer,
most high,
redeemer,
creator,
sheperd
one who  gives rest,
savior,
lord of all,
king of kings.

6-10: Pray for personal revival.  Test yourself with these questions:

-is there any unconfessed sin in my life?
-do i harbor unforgiveness and bitterness in my life?
-are there any sketchy practices or activities in my life?
-am  i confessing Jesus unashamedly?

11-15: Pray for 5 unsaved friends, families, or indiviuals. Pray blessing over them in 5 areas; body, work, emotions, social and spiritual.

1
2
3
4
5

16-20:  pray for 5 things for the church  you attend

1
2
3
4
5

21-25:  Bring 5 personal requests to the Lord:

1
2
3
4
5

26-30: watch and listen.

Ask the Lord to reveal new things to you, things that He wants you to notice and pay attention to. Ask God to reveal his will/strategies and plans to you. Ask the Lord for the things that are on His heart that  He wants you to pray about. Write down what you think God is saying to you.

31-36: hopefully you have your bibles, if not grab them becauseyour about to pray through  some scriptures. praying through scriptures can mean you declare what is said over your life or others, it means asking for the charateristics mentioned in the verse, or just reading it.

2 chronicles 7:14

John 14:12-14

1 chronicles 4:10

Romans 12:1-2

2 chronicles 16:9


36-40: pray about 5 sins in South Africa, for conviction that will lead to change and repentance.

-immorality
-witchcraft and idolatry
-injustices
-racism
-ungodly covenants

41-45: pray for breakthroughs and God's intervention concerning the following issues in Africa

-the AIDS pandemic
-the increaasing number of poor and needy
-corruption on all levels
-the prisoners in africa
-wars, bloodshed and ethnic violence

46-50: pray for 5 nations for the following areas:

-revival
-salvation of the lost and  unreached
-Godly and mature leaders
-multiplication of commited disciples
-missions awakening
1
2
3
4
5

51-55: pray for 5 christian friends.

1
2
3
4
5

56-60: praise and worship

end your time of prayer with  prayer and worship. Thank God for his goodness and take time to bless indviduals tht come to mind in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.


I hope you take timeout of your day to do this, its a good way if your not really sure what to do or pray about. love you guys!

Kransoek, New Horizon and Jbay last couple of weeks

Kransoek, New Horizon and Jbay last couple of weeks:

These weeks we did basically the same things as before, nothing really stood out to me. I had some personal situations that really challenged me and the verse in 1 Corinthians 10:13 really helped me,

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

This verse seriously man carried me through the last couple weeks. We are back in Jbay now for the last weeks. It is SO GOOD to be back, I can't even tell you how relaxed I feel. We still are in outreach, next week the team from Madagascar is coming back. The ocean is beautiful, this place man its home. It was good to reconnect with the boys on the base, and with the kids on the street. Diego is still on the streets, I will be talking more to him as this month comes to a close. Its sad to think I leave in less than a month. But its also exciting because God is opening so many doors for me back home. At this point of time I'm planning on staying in MN until June, then I will head to Oklahoma to live with my grandparents and work with them and speak at various churches. As of now I am thinking of staying until September then flying back here to do the 2^nd level school with YWAM called, Bible Core Course (BCC). That is a three month school, after that I plan to sign with YWAM for 2 years to staff DTS's. So this is a rough idea of what will be happening with me over the next couple years. Its of course if God allows, but I am open to anything He wants me to do, I guess we will just take it day by day for now until those days for decisions happen. I hope you guys are doing well:)

My flight leaves March 11^th, so I will be home soon. 

Cape Town 1 Week

Kales River Cape Town 1 week:

FARM FARM FARMMM, haha this week man. There are too many stories about this week. To sum it up we stayed in a church on a farm, we slept on the floor and only a couple days did we get something to sleep on. The kitchen smelled and was so dirty. I ended up cleaning that kitchen from top to bottom, I could not believe the food that was in that fridge. We did not eat much at this place. But the location was beautiful, the church had a huge porch that I sat on every night and watched the sunset. We worked with a woman who finished her DTS a couple years ago. Her house was close so we went to her house a couple times. One point in the week the pastor got super mad at us for not being clean enough, to the point where he wanted nothing to do with us anymore. It was strange, and it made us all very frustrated that someone would judge our ability to minister on our cleanliness. It was a wake up call though because in order for God to get to us that our team still was having problems with each other he had to stop everything. It was a bittersweet week for us, our team fixed all our problems, we had LOTS of long meetings but lots of healing as well.

The pastor was very unsettling for me, every time he was around I just ehh felt creeped out. I woke up with bruises and at one point with blood on my eye and back, not a lot just like something scratched me. The place was a bit ehh not right. The youth that went to the church were not even Christians which to me was a sign that something was not right. A church should be a place that encourages everyone, that creates a desire for people to follow God and live like him. Its ok though, we prayed a lot for the place, God will work it out. Its in his hands.

Franshoek 1 week

Franshoek 1 week:

This week again our team was split up into houses, but we worked at one church. This church had staff that were ex-prisoners. Franshoek is HOT wowww you walk out and feel like your skin is burning off. Its not by the ocean so there was not much breeze, but thank goodness there were trees around the church to provide shade. I was reading through the book Crazy Love at this time, reading that and my new appreciation for life and Gods beauty created a whole new level of spirituality for me. I would talk about Jesus and remember what he did for me and I would start to get choked up with emotions. Prayer was a huge part of this week for me, ministry was a bit slow and communication wow it was horrible hahah but its ok we worked with it. The coolest thing we did was visit the Franshoek maximum security prison. Man it was so cool, we went their twice, the first time we just visited. Hahaha if you want to know more about it you can ask. Each section had a different atmosphere, this prison was doing a lot of cool things to get the guys out of their former life onto something new. God played a huge role in this prison with how they dealt with things, there was even one section that had a room of 27 guys that were Christians. This prison gives them all opportunities to hold church services, every day they do worship, its really cool. Not every guy at that prison is a Christian, but its a huge influence around them. God is really moving. I am pen pals with one of the guys in the prison hahah these guys are funny seriously.

This was the only week I had a problem with my tattoo and my nose ring. I had to take my nose ring out, and cover my tattoo a lot of the time which was a bust because of the heat. But its all good, I was able to do that.

I also felt very blessed this week, on Sunday the pastor of the church brought Lillian and I up and had the congregation wash our feet. It was so humbling, he then spoke blessings over us, he told me that I will be telling America what is happening here. Which guess what doors are opening left and right for me to speak at churches in MN, Oklahoma and Arkansas, God is so faithful. 

Ashton 1 week

Ashton 1 week:

This was my favorite week by far, SO MANY wonderful things happened. Over all this week taught me that when you seek Gods kingdom first thats when he will add things to you. I stayed at a house with Lillian from Brazil who during outreach became our mother, and someone I really admire and look up to. The house was fantastic, everything I had been missing from back home was at this house, they had a pool, a treadmill and more food then I could have needed. I was so blessed this week.

We worked with a church and their youth group, these kids grabbed all of our hearts. It was a group of very unique, and talented kids. They were apart of all of our ministry with us, which was awesome, they helped show us around. Asthon was so beautiful. The landscape was mountians, mountians, mountians, and beautiful colors all around. Everywhere you looked there were flowers. The beginning we started with a prayer walk and man I was just hit with a revelation of how truly beautiful God is, and how lucky I am to be living at this very moment. Ashton helped me appreciate my life, and my health.

My heart continued to break as the week went on, we visited a hospital wow I dont have words. All I can say is guys seriously we are so privledged to walk, to eat, and to breath without struggeling. It hit me so hard that I had been living with such an ungrateful heart, taking SO MUCH for granted. After this week was over my whole mindset started to change.

The youth man, these guys were great. I still am in contact with a couple of them, most of them were 16 and under so it was cool to be able to mentor to them. Sandy did some awesome things with the youth girls, she became someone who they really looked up to. And this week for her wow it pushed her to seek God with everything, which was amazing just in itself. She helped the girls and the girls helped her. Its mind blowing how many girls are getting raped here, almost every one of the youth had gotten raped, it was heartbreaking.

At this point of outreach my shoes hahah it looked like I had come off the streets, but at the end of the week I ended up getting blessed with Two pairs of shoes, perfume and some headbands. It was incredible, God is faithful and when you wait upon him after we learn how to wait he will provide, it might not be in the way you think, but he knows what you need.

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?, What shall we drink?, What shall we wear?' For the gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” - Matthew 6:31-33

This was the first and only week we wanted to stay longer at a place. We connected so well with the youth and the people, all of us girls ended up crying when we were leaving. Whoo it was sad. 

Kransoek and Plettenberg Bay

Kransoek 1 week:

Almost every place we went during outreach there was rain at some point in the week. This week unfortunately was VERY rainy, it limited our ministry a bit. The highlight for me was when we did an openair, I think it was Thursday but man this day our team bonded so much haha this day was a huge highlight for me when I look back on outreach. An openair is like a church service outside, so we did dances dramas and testimonies. After our program we all split up and prayed for the crowd, whooo it was powerful, many people came to Christ. I had kids running up to me asking CAN YOU PRAY FOR ME, sometimes all these kids need are just loving arms.

Other then that day this week was one of the toughest emotionally and spiritually for me. I felt very uncomfortable with some situations, I was fighting with a girl on my team and felt pretty hopeless that we were ever going to work things out. During this week I read through the book of Acts and one story that encouraged me was a story about Paul in chapter 28. A viper snake comes and bites him, “He however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.” (v. 5) He just shook off the snake, it made me realize that when I am connected with God, spending time with him and something like a snake comes and attacks me I should not fear just shake it off and move on with life.

New Horizon Plettenberg Bay 1 week:

House visits was the biggest way we ministered, that and church services. We do devotions as a team every day and the beginning of the week we realized we had some serious problems as a team that we worked through. This week I still was fighting with the same girl, but it was a silent fight, as I was in quiet time one day praying I remembered a verse I read earlier in Romans 2:1, 3

“Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things...Do you suppose, O man-you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself-that you will escape the judgment of God?”

whoooo that hit me hard, I realized man I have been focusing and judging this girl so much it was blinding me of the things I was contributing to the situation. For awhile I thought it was only her that was doing wrong, then I read that verse and it slapped me in the face. So I prayed that God would give me the words to speak to her, I took a third person and spoke with her. After that we were able to realize both of our OWN wrongs, we decided to focus on ourselves which really helped us. During house visits we were even able to use our whole ordeal as an example to other girls.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Uitenhage and Christmas

Uitenhage 1 week:

This was a quiet week for us, we did a couple things. We were on our own, so no church. We did house visits, picked up trash, did kid zone, and just hung out with the kids that always hung out in the street. We were staying in a black xhosa community. The apartide in South Africa ended just 10 years ago, so you can still feel the differences when you walk into different streets. There are clearly white areas, colored areas, and black areas. They are working on mixing, schools are mixed now but there is still lots of hurt from white people, rascism is still present. Bernard told me that by just hugging or greeting a black woman on the streets I was making a huge impact, he told me that they will never forget that day. Man it was crazy, I remember there was a group of older women, they call them Oma's, in the street when we were coming out from a house and they just stood their and we went around and greeted everyone I had a woman start crying because I touched her. Its cool how God can use a simple hug to heal a deep hurt.

At the house we were staying at I never was in the house, always sitting outside because there was shade haaa the house was right across the street from a shop. So young kids always were coming up to me asking me super funny questions like, “so on TV I see that everyone walks around with a gun, is that true?” There were some awesome doors opened up with the older youth during this week, I ended up talking for hours with these four boys and almost everynight we would pray together, it was cool.

Jbay for Christmas:

The holidays did not feel like holidays for me, one there was no snow, and two I never heard Christmas music. The food is a lot different as well, I cant really explain in over writing so you can ask me about it when I see you next. We had Christmas at our base leader, Dan's house, with our team, some staff, and another team from Canada. It was a packed house, and a whole new experience, it was one of the only Christmas's I have had without snow. During this weekend we had another staff member join us to help lead our DTS, his name is Ettienne he is 25 years old and wow his story is crazy. Ask me about it.

Jbay 2 weeks

Outreach

I know its been awhile it was kind of crazy getting Internet access while on outreach. And when I did get the opportunity I had limited time. Now I am updating this from back home (Jeffrey's Bay). I'm going to highlight just a couple things from outreach, and if you have any questions or want more stories well then be my guest and ask away. In general man we experienced the extremes from sleeping on the floor with nothing, eating rotten food, to sleeping in a house with a pool and more than enough food. God moved and he is continuing to move.

Jbay 2 weeks:

We had lots of ministry this week, we worked with a local AOG church, we did a lot of things with kids. The first week man the kids were over 100 but as next week started it got a little smaller. Our first day of kid zone was a mess but as we did it more we realized what worked and what didnt. During these two weeks our whole team was together, it was nice doing ministry with both teams as a whole.

During the second week we did a youth service, and the communication man its horrible so we had NO IDEA we were going to run the whole program. It was so funny, with our flexibility, we ended up getting up, asking the Holy Spirit to lead us and away we went into worship, dramas, and entertainment. It was better then planning something, because we were forced in that situation to rely on God, and we had no other choice then to be obedient to him.