The first seven

After Myrtle Beach we drove to the Clemson area and spent the night at a beautiful lake house that a family that has a good relationship with CO allowed us to use. The next day we rested before we left for the Atlanta airport. We drove to the airport in a 15-passenger van the next day for our 9 o’clock flight to Johannesburg. The next two days of traveling were long. We transferred in London and had a 10 hr lay over! AH! We finally made it to Johannesburg safely. Since then a lot has happened in our first week. We went straight to work when we got there. That morning around 7 am we were picked up from the airport from some of the CO Johannesburg staff and got in the “kumbees” (South African name for bus) and drove straight to the work site where we would be building houses in the townships (slums) for the next three days. Thankfully we had breakfast before we went to the site. We worked a full day alongside other Africans and Afrikaans apart of the church in Delmas (a nearby town). The Lord seriously provided energy for us that day. It was only the Lord because it was such a long two days of very little sleep. The next couple days in the township was beautiful and wonderful. Being in community and having fellowship with people who believe in the same gospel across world never gets old, every time I’m in awe of how big God is. The men got to know the community through doing hard labor alongside each other and the women got to know the community through talking with other women and spending hours and hours with the little children.

I will tell you some of my favorite stories. Lauren (my ministry partner) and Emily were asked by one of the mothers to tell the kids a story about Jesus. They were really nervous and didn’t think what they said would really make sense to them because they were so young. But they had a translator and went ahead. They first prayed that God would use their words, because ultimately it will be God that changes their hearts. They asked at the end of the story if they knew Jesus and loved him and they all said yes. So they don’t know if the kids were sincere so Emily and Lauren were left having to trust that God was present.

Next, I was making “pap” pronounced “pop” because of the SA accent, which is like thick porridge, with one of the mothers in the community, Johanna, and a Afrikaan pastor came up to talk with me and introduce himself. I began talking with him and he told me this awesome story of when he went with his seminary to Angola to minister there. When he arrived there were hundreds of people there to hear what he had to say. He said people came from as far away as Ethiopia to hear them! And they had heard just from word of mouth! He said him and his fellow men looked at one another and said, “Let’s go! Let’s preach the gospel!” And many people came to know the Lord that day. What I loved the most about that story was his excitement and all their excitement to preach the gospel and the way he said, “Let’s go!” Was as if he on the frontlines on a battlefield. It was so awesome.

Finally, another favorite that I witnessed in the townships was seeing this old worn bible, all the pages weathered, sitting on the kitchen table in Johanna’s house. It was laying open and as I looked closer I saw it was written in her language which was like a “no duh” it was written in her language but it was just not what my eyes expected after looking at a English bible my whole life. It was just so encouraging to see God’s word so loved that it was in another language and it was worn from the hands of someone who is dedicated to living for him for so many years.

After three days there we left the townships and headed for Pretoria. On our way there after only driving for 20 mins one of our cars got in a accident as it was turning on to the highway. The driver was someone on our team who like anyone from the U.S. forgot to look left and also right when taking a right hand turn and turned into traffic, not getting on the left hand side of the road. It could have been really messy and someone could have gotten seriously hurt but God’s hand was in it. No one was hurt. One thing that was pretty humorous was that the police didn’t even give the driver a ticket and they didn’t report any information. They like reported the name and birth date! I’ve had this experience with law enforcement in like every other country outside of the U.S.

Now at this point we have left the townships sadly and we are at the residence we will be staying at for the next 4 weeks. It is in Pretoria, South Africa, a very beautiful city. This is where we will be working alongside the CO Jo’burg staff to share the gospel with the students at TUKS (the nickname for the University of Pretoria). The house is beautiful, safe, and located a nice neighborhood. For the past week we have been setting up camp and getting settled in and learning about the city and spending a lot of time with the church that CO Jo’Burg is sponsored by. The past couple nights we have been at the church where there has been an event held each night to invited people to watch the world cup games for 2nd and 3rd place (poor Netherlands). I have enjoyed getting to know the other South Africans apart of the church and singing with them in worship. I am really eager to start spending time on campus and getting to know the students and being challenged by God to be faithful in sharing his gospel. So far what I have seen how little faith I put in the power of the gospel to transform lives and God has been working that disbelief out of me. I have learned to live in light of the truth that "I am the sower and he is the grower" (Mark4:26-29). And I have found so much freedom in this truth.


Here are a few things you can be praying for:

That our team would continue to be united in our mission and to love each other and not afraid to love them by loving Jesus first aka confronting each other about sin when necessary and then also giving each other grace in our failure.

That we would make great friendships on the campus and not be afraid to fully identify ourselves with Christ. That in those relationships we would listen to the spirit and learn when and how to share best with each person according to where they stand spiritually and what they are ready for.

That we would be a team that goes to God constantly in prayer for everything and is what our mission would be built upon
before anything else.