Recap: Jesus...everywhere!

Jesus in the Township:

Before the boys went into Masi one afternoon, they were praying to ask the Lord for direction on who to share the Gospel with. One of the guys got a picture of a guy dribbling a soccer ball and shared it with the group. When they went in, Jason and Brin went to pray for someone, and sure enough, Tommy and Lennell saw a young guy dribbling a soccer ball across the street. After looking at one another, chuckling and shaking their heads, they headed across the street. They asked him if they could pray for him and you better believe he said yes! They asked if he knew Jesus and of course, he said no. They proceeded to share the Gospel with him and as God knew, he gave his life to Christ! Thank you, God for speaking to us and letting us be obedient to you and your agenda!!

A few members of our team went in to Masi and met a woman, who after sharing the Gospel with her gave her life to Jesus! Afterwards, our team got to follow up with her to go through some discipleship lessons to teach her more about following Christ. Brooks and Arian spent time sitting down with her teaching her about the Holy Sprit. As we went through the lesson, we asked her, “So, who is the Holy Spirit?” She responded with hope, joy and excitement, “JESUS!?!” Our hearts just melted as our hearts were filled with joy and honestly a little shock as we realized how happy she was as she recognized Jesus as her Helper and the power & authority she carried with the Holy Spirit living inside of her. It was unbelievable. J

Jesus at the University of Cape Town:

Background and Vision: UCT is the top university in the continent of Africa. So many students come from all over to attend. The vision for UCT is to share the Gospel, teach them about community and Jesus, and bring them with us to townships, then send them back home to their countries in love with Jesus with a vision of changing their families, communities, cities, countries, etc.

A few members of our team were wandering the campus at UCT. One of the teammates decided to go up to a student sitting on a bench to talk to her about racial diversity on campus, college student’s receptivity to religion, new ideas and theology, etc. She explained she was with a team from the states who are interested in coming long term and starting a ministry. The student asked about the ministry and she continued to explain, “I love Jesus. He’s changed my life, and I want to tell people about it because He brings so much freedom.” She looked at our teammate in SHOCK and then said, “I just posted on my status update, ‘I feel like I’m sitting here, waiting for someone to walk by and save me.’” Hahaha!! As our teammate continued talking to her, she felt like the Holy Spirit said she was creative and had such creative dreams that may not look “churchy”, but to not be afraid and go for them, that God wanted to use her mightily and she literally started tearing up and was like, “How do you know that?!?” She was so excited/emotional and said, “I’m so weirded out. in a good way. But this is so weird.” Our teammate was able to share how much God LOVES her and CLEARLY wants her to know that! She continued pouring out the dreams she has and our teammate got to affirm those dreams in her! It’s incredible how much our God loves His children and loves to blow our minds with just how intimate He is!!

Jesus in the Work World:

As you all know, a few of us on the team, had internships 3x/week in downtown Cape Town. Not only did we get to learn more about what it looks like to share the Gospel in the working world, but guess what?! That’s right, we gained another brother! After sharing the Gospel with a co-worker at the Human Rights Commission in Cape Town, a man came to know Jesus and Jason got the opportunity to disciple him as well. He also got to share with a leader in the office and teach her how to disciple while in the working world. It was just another example and learning experience of how to live our daily lives while pursuing Jesus in the midst of it! He is everywhere!!

"If I only touch His garment, I will be made well."

(changed the names...clearly...)

As we were leaving Suzie’s house, we met up with her neighbor Betty Jo, and her daughter and her daughter’s friend who were sitting on the curb outside of Suzie's house drinking. As we were leaving, we told them we were going around praying for people, and asked if there was anything they needed prayer for. Betty Jo said she loved Jesus and would like prayer. Each of the women had pain in their bodies. Betty Jo had chest pains and tightness in her chest, Suzie's daughter has had back pain ever since she gave birth, and her friend had stomach pain. We had all of them place their hands on the parts of the body where there was pain. Lennell prayed for healing. During this time, people were walking around, screaming, talking, and Lennell kept praying. After he finished, Betty Jo's pains and tightness was gone. She got up and began dancing in the street. Suzie's daughter said her back was better, but not completely gone, so we prayed again and the pain left. The friend said the pain in her stomach was gone. Boom. 

home away from home.

A dream come true!!

Background Info: All Nations is an organization here in Cape Town all about Jesus. They have different ministries within their organization -- one of which is called Vulnerable Children (VC). VC targets children who live in Masi (township our team has been pouring into) between the ages of newborn-18 who have no parents, one parent or kids that have an even tougher home life than a normal child in a township. People within VC basically just love, care for, build relationship with and as a result disciple these kids!

This year, for the first time, VC put on a camp for the kids!! Talk about the way to our hearts! They managed to find a location about an hour away from Masi, got the funding for the lodging, then brought a team in from Oklahoma (hometown, what what!!?) to be the staff for the week. Approximately 50 kids showed up to get rocked by Jesus! They were so excited they showed up at the spot where the VC staff picked them up 30 minutes early!! That's literally UNHEARD of here! hahaa! They were so ready to start the most fun, maybe most life-changing, week of their lives!!

Some of our team got to spend the day there on Wednesday. It was perfect. We helped serve lunch, cleaned the kitchen, hiked with the kids, played games, shared Jesus, and gazed on His beauty. It seriously felt like camp including, but not limited to, the following:

Jesus. candy. talent show. hiking. afternoon at the beach. games. even a specific word call that got all the kids attention!! (oh hey, pine cove!! haha!!) human knot. team building activities. lots of eating. cheers. yelling in general. cluster competitions. counselors breaking up any hint of flirting. encounter service. Bible studies. pit and palace (aka cleaning their cabins). and most rewarding...kids choosing to follow Jesus. learning what it means to be in relationship with Him. hearing His heart for them. looking these kids in the eyes and speaking the truth that they are not overlooked, forgotten or worthless but in fact hold such value. so much value that He sent His Son to die on the cross for them. the God of the universe adores them and has an overflowing amount of love to drown them in. His heart is for them. He's the God of hope. He's the God of redemption and restoration. there is no unforgivable sin. the old is gone and the new has come. Yes and Amen. SO FUN!

It truly touched our hearts to look around at these kids who were in the midst of sharing an experience, creating fond memories, becoming an even closer community than they already are, and seeing a glimpse of how God sees them and the dreams He has for them away from the responsibilities they carry at home. Kids being kids. Beautiful. So thankful to be a part. Home away from home. :)

surf's up!!

You better believe it...we did it...although...I'm still not sure if I can say I've been surfing. hahaha! I went. I got the wet suit. I got the board. I went in the water. I rode a wave on my stomach. I rode a wave on my knees. But I did NOT ride a wave on my feet. As a matter of fact, every time I made it to my feet, I felt myself losing control so instead of trying to figure it out, I just screamed and voluntarily leaped off the board only to be reminded EVERY time that my ankle is actually strapped to the board. whoops!!

Tommy, on the other hand, immediately went into instructor mode for the rest of us who had never been! it was so so helpful!! He's such a surfer!! Are we surprised?? no way. He was even teaching me the simple things like how to win a battle between you and the wave. hahaha. (I was having problems fighting the waves just to get OUT to the waves...hahaha!) We did the whole...practice on the sand bit and everything. haha! 

Even though we couldn't feel our feet AT ALL by the end, it was so so fun! We had a blast and hope to get one more run in before we head home! 

braai.

“Braai” is Afrikaans for barbecue!! And they are obsessed with them here! Don’t worry…they still call BBQ sauce BBQ sauce…but don’t know what a BBQ is. That’s fine. J Except it is different. How, you ask? No gas!! Hahaha! They make fun of our BBQs because we use gas! Even charcoal is made fun of as taking the easy way out. Haha! Oh, the differences. Pretty sure pops gets a hard time back home for busting out the charcoal every now and then because it’s so old school. Haha! Honestly though, straight wood fire in the fire pit and grill. It’s so fun!!

Brief South African Culture Lesson!!

It’s customary to host someone new in town or new anywhere with a South African Braai! How fun is that?! So…we’ve enjoyed them to say the least…let’s just count them all, why don’t we?

#1 - when we first got here, Joe and Sarah (the people taking care of the house we’re in for the summer), hosted a braai for us at our house, invited friends here and we had a blast!

#2 – Lennell and I’s work had one for us our first week as well! On the rooftop of our building (pics to come)!

#3 – We had one for the Waco team when they came to visit!

#4 – Justin, a friend here, and his wife had a fish braai for us! It was yummy!! Borderline the best one we had…no, no…I think for sure it was the best.

#5 – 4^th of July!! You better believe we invited over all our American friends here in the Cape and had a good ol` Braai and listened to a whole lot of patriotic music. Duh!!

#6 – We had one for a couple of my favorites at work a few days ago – Christine and Dannese.

We’ve had more, but those are the ones we can think of off the top of our heads. J As you can see, we’ve definitely had way more guests than we ever imagined. We’ve just had more events than we ever assumed having to be quite honest. I mean…we’re in South Africa…we thought we’d be in our own little world for 9 weeks. WRONG. Haha!! Thank goodness b/c it’s been so fun meeting so many wonderful people and just sharing life, laughs and food with them!

Fearfully and wonderfully made.

We’re all so fearfully and wonderfully made…not only does that apply to our physical beauty, but how our inner beings are made…what skills we have to offer the world…what things, people, surroundings, etc spark our interest…how our brains work…so uniquely and differently from one another in order to truly come together, support one another and show Christ’s heart to the world.

Here’s one OF MANY examples…

A member of our team is an occupational therapist and has had the wonderful opportunity to come in contact with many children in Masi with disabilities, survey them, and help them! She has also had the chance to meet with their parents and talk to them about their child’s disability and offer advice and simple suggestions to their daily schedule in order to make life much easier for the child and the family as a whole! Not only has she had the chance to meet families as we’ve gone to houses within Masi, but she also got in contact with “Baby Safe.” Baby Safe is a ministry through All Nations who reaches out to families in these circumstances. Brooks actually got to go to a meeting and present some material for these people – including Baby Safe staff that could share with families they come in contact with as they are there for months and years to come as well as the parents of the children. I mean…what are the daggum chances? We just happen to have brought an OT on our team?! NO!! Not by chance!! Not only do we get to share God’s heart with them, but also God’s mind! It was such a practical experience, but totally ordained by God!! So many families have now been given knowledge that could transform their lives by our team simply sharing the education we’ve been given. Incredible. Life changing. Forever grateful. 

testimony time.

We met a man in the street. He initially seemed disinterested in what we were talking about. However, as we spoke to him, he became more interested in what we were saying. We asked him if he knew God, and he began talking about how God sometimes told him to stop drinking. We asked if we could pray for God to touch him and speak to him, and he said yes. As we began praying, God began pouring out truth to him. He is a good man, he is a leader in the community, he is not defined by guilt, he is a good spouse and father. After we finished praying, we asked him what God said, and he said God said to “stop the beer.” We talked to him about why this was important. We then asked him about having a relationship with Jesus and if he would like to do this. He said yes. He prayed to receive Christ. After he prayed, he said he felt calm and that God said “one wife is good.” 

Our Father is so kind and simple! He's full of truth to share with his children all over the world. come on! :)