Hey everyone,It’s hard to believe that it has already been two weeks since we’ve gotten here! Time seems like it’s flying. When we first got here they said it was winter, but it was pretty warm. Little did we know that winter right around the corner. Who would have thought it could get so cold in Africa! The girls in the picture with Lauren and I are Thompho and Robertha, they're roommates in their first year at UJ, and are just sweet as can be!
Last weekend we got the chance to visit Soweto, a township outside of Johannesburg. We learned in the previous week when we went to the apartheid museum that families were moved out of the city to this township. There were homes practically stacked on top of one another and people everywhere. Soweto has tons of residences, but it’s not the safest or nicest place in South Africa. The town itself broke my heart. While we were there we went to the Orlando Pirates soccer game. It was insanely loud and fun. People were dancing and blowing their vuvuzala’s left and right and those things are loud. I’m definitely bringing one back to the states! The crowd was way more enthusiastic than any other sports game I had ever been to. It was awesome.
The first week Lauren and I concentrated on getting to know the girls in Amper Daar. It has been great to see how all the girls we’ve met seem to love it when we visit them. God has been so faithful with our time in Amper Daar and has given us opportunities to go into deeper spiritual conversations. We’ve gotten the chance to hear some of the girls’ backgrounds and how they’ve been exposed to Christianity, most of it being prosperity gospel type stuff. The second week we've been getting into more in depth conversations.
On Wednesday Campus Outreach Joburg has their CO meeting that they call 3D and after that Amper Daar has bible study. This week in bible study we went over the bridge diagram, which covers Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. As we broke down the verse, wages, sin, death were one side. Meaning, the wages of sin is death. The other side separated by a gap was gift, god, eternal, meaning the free gift of God is eternal life. This was a clearer illustration for them to see where we as humans stand apart from God, and that the only way to bridge that gap is through Jesus Christ, our Lord. God is doing work in Amper Daar, the girls in the bible study were so intrigued. One of the girls eyes were lit up from the time 3D started until we saw her last. I think that was the first time she heard the gospel, and it’s obvious to see her desire to know more. It’s absolutely beautiful. To see them thinking and questions arising and how the Lord is working in their hearts is really neat. We’ve given a few girls the Life Issues book series, which goes through the gospel of John, and they are all extremely excited to go through it with us! The door has been opened for gospel centered conversations and chances for Lauren and I to continue to be bold with what we say and to stand firm in faith.
This Friday (today) we’re having what they call a braii (barbque). This is an opportunity to invite the girls we’ve been spending time with and for them to meet the rest of our team. It’s also a great thing for some of the girls because they hardly get off campus for anything so this will be a sweet time for them to leave campus, eat, play games, and relax before all the big end of semester tests start next week.
Also, we have the Joint Winter Conference coming up June 24-26 it’s like our New years conference we hold in Nashville every year. The JWC is going to be an exciting time for the students to learn more, get questions answered, and grow. Some of the girls show lots of interest in wanting to come. Others would like to come but are going home for their winter break. Finals end at various times, depending on the majors. Some end as early as June 7th, but for the most part they end around the 15th. This seems like a huge barrier getting them to stay on campus until the 24th but God is mighty and can tear any barrier down.
I’ve been clinging on to Colossians 4:2-6. It says, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison- that I may make clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best us of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” This goes along so well for our time in Africa, since we have a very limited time here, we need to be making the best use of our time, loving these girls and proclaiming Christ.
Please continue to pray, here are some things you can be praying for:
-That God would continue to work in the hearts of these girls
-For the JWC, that any and all barriers would come crashing down.
-That Lauren and I would run hard for the next 22 days we have on campus, being bold in sharing.
-For the team, that we would have unity and be encouraging to one another.
-Patience, I am so quick in wanting to see results now that I forget that the Lord is perfect in His timing.
-Energy- these days seem long and can be exhausting
I miss y’all and hope that everything in Georgia and Florida (for those of you at SLP this summer) are going wonderful and I have to admit, I’m jealous for how warm you guys are. Thank you for all the encouraging emails and for all your prayers!
Love,
Lindsay
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