Week 5 update from Lindsay

Hello everyone!

At a dinner we had at Tebogo's house with Esethu and Lebo the other night.





“Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods, in His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for He formed it, and His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand”- Psalm 95:1-7

This past week on the campus was incredible to witness God work in the hearts of the girls in Amper Daar. Lauren and I got the chance to lead bible study on Wednesday night. The topic for that bible study was how it looks to surrender your life and follow Christ. We talked through a few verses, the first being Romans 10:9-10 “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” We talked through this verse on how it is so easy to say you believe in Jesus, but that it has two parts- believing in your heart as well as saying it. We tied this in with a practical analogy of a man and a wheelbarrow. It goes like this, “a man claims that he can walk across a tight rope without falling to his death and everyone wants to see this so they cheer him on to do it. He walks across just fine and then he says I can walk this rope with a wheelbarrow and still not fall, the crowd eager to see this cheers him on once more. He completes that task, now the man asks if they think he can walk across this tight rope pushing the wheelbarrow with a person in it, the crowd says yes and so he asks who wants to jump in? The crowd was silent.” We explained how even though the crowd watched this man walk across that tight rope, they didn’t trust him with their lives and that’s the same thing as saying you believe in Jesus and confessing with your mouth for that to be true but not trusting Him with your life. Lauren and I then talked about what it looks like “once you’re in the wheelbarrow” and surrender your life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old as passed away; behold, the new has come”. From there we discussed what it looks like in our life to follow Christ, and how we are to die to ourselves and our kingdom and live for Him and His kingdom. Luke 9:23-24 explains this, “And He said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life my sake will save it”. This bible study opened the door for many conversations and tons of questions from the girls.

The next day, Thursday, we got the chance to meet up with one of the girls we have been spending a lot of time with, her name is Lebo. Lebo is always very attentive in bible study and at 3D meetings; you can easily see how she has been captivated by Gods grace. We talked with her about the bible study and she explained how she wanted to be in the wheelbarrow and follow Christ because she can see the joy that that brings and how things of this earth do nothing but perish. She wanted to pray to be in the wheelbarrow (become a Christ follower), so Lauren and I prayed with her. How incredible it was to witness God being glorified when Lebo gave her life to Christ. She has had a rough life growing up- she lost both her mom and dad and was raised by her grandma. Despite the losses that Lebo has faced she realizes that God’s grace is sufficient. Lebo is so precious and sees her need Christ and already all she is thinking about is how she can glorify God in her life. It’s amazing to see what the Lord has done in her life in such a short time. If you get the chance to watch the video on the blog page there is a clip of her. She says “My favorite thing about God is freedom, I’m free now”. Tears filled my eyes as she said this. “For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” Romans 8:2. God is for sure breaking down barriers and softening the hearts of the girls in Amper Daar. Praise the Lord, He is faithful.

Our team only has the rest of this week and next week on campus and at times that seems like not enough time, but God can do major work during that time. There is no such thing as time for God. It’s sweet to know that when we leave here there are already leaders in the res that will continue to be investing there time in these girls like Lebo.

Cultural Excursion:
This past weekend we went camping in Pilanesberg at a game reserve. We packed many layers since its winter and has been beyond cold outside. Thankfully that night was not bad at all! Friday night we ate lots of hot dogs and roasted marsh mellows to make smores and of course played an epic game of mafia. After waking up extremely early on Saturday we took our 10 person van and crammed all 14 of us in there to go on a safari. It was such an amazing experience. Basically there were roads in the middle of this huge piece of land that takes four days to get through, all sorts of animals roam around freely. We saw all the typical animals you think of when you think of Africa; giraffes, a buffalo, elephants, a snake (gross), rhinos, zebras, and many more I’m probably forgetting. By the time we were about to leave to head back home we hadn’t seen an elephant close up yet and we were all pretty sad about that. But then.. it happened. As we were only 3 kilometers away from the exit and there were two elephants standing right next to the side of the road. One walked behind the van and the other was in front of us on the road heading straight towards us. It was so terrifying all fourteen of us were in complete silence. When the elephant was coming for the van it went to the side of us and was so close we could reach our hand out and touch it if we wanted, but no one did that. Don’t worry y’all, we got the whole thing on tape so that will definitely be in the next video update!










A giraffe on the side of the road






Things to pray for:
-As we are gradually approaching the end we are only getting closer to the Joint Winter Conference. Please be praying for girls and guys to attend this and that God would continue to break barriers that seem to prevent them from coming.
-For our team to not grow weary- for perseverance
-that we would continue to ask God for big and specific things
-For the girls in Amper Daar- that their ears would be open to the gospel
-That they would see the difference between the truth of the gospel and false doctrine which they are so exposed to.
-Praise for Lebo becoming a Christian!

“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” Ephesians 6:16-20

With love,
Lindsay