Hi from Africa!

Looks like I've failed at weekly updates, so I hope you'll let me get by with a 4 week update! God has been at work in ways we couldn't have imagined these past few weeks. We've seen Him grow students all over the campus and felt Him change and challenge us more and more every day. We're learning to love and depend on Him completely and are seeing His faithfulness shine through. Isaiah 43 has been one of my favorite passages this summer. It reminds me that our God is the ONLY savior, who has called us to be His own. He promises to be our God through all circumstances and makes us new so that we may work toward His glory alone. This is the truth that we tell ourselves before setting foot on campus and we hold tight to it throughout the day!

Ministry in Skoonveld has been great! We're learning that it's not our own words that are going to save these girls, but God's grace and His grace alone. Every day, we're trying to set our hearts solely on loving these girls and loving God with all that we have within us and praying that He would take it from there. There have been two girls to pray to receive Christ in the past 2 weeks. Praise the Lord! We've also met a few girls who are already really solid believers and wanting to pour into other girls. It's so exciting to see how God was moving before we got here to prepare these girls. We're going through Life Issues with seven girls. It's a great way to get into deeper gospel conversation with them, so we're praying that we'll be able to continue meeting with them to finish all four books. Exams have been our biggest barrier lately. They have 4 weeks of exams here and are in week 3 now. All the students are really diligent and want to study for days for their exams, so it's hard to find them when they're not busy. Emily and I have been helping them by going to hang out in their rooms and giving them a reason to procrastinate, whether they like it or not. We're convinced Jesus is more important than exams.

TK finished exams yesterday and has decided to be a full-time Skoonveld minister for the next two weeks while she's still on campus and has no schoolwork. It's been the most encouraging thing to watch she and Beaulah set aside so much time and thought for these girls when they're just as busy as everyone else. It's so motivating to see their devotion to the first years and their love for the Lord.

Emily and I are truly starting to LOVE all of these girls. It's been so great to just sit and get to know them. They're so much fun and it's going to be more difficult than I know to have to leave them. With exams finishing, some of them are leaving for home in the next few days, so we're trying to get as much quality time in as possible. Today, we learned all about weaves. It was one of the more enlightening conversations I've had so far. They're also starting to try to imitate our accents (They think our accents are cool and that they don't actually have one. We think it's opposite.) They say things to us like, "See you laterrrrr" and "Yeeeeeaaaahh." They're actually getting pretty close! My favorite place to hang out with the girls is in the kitchen because we get really good time together and they like to teach us how to cook SA food! Also, in other news, I have officially touched a bunny. I couldn't fully catch it, but petting one is enough for me.

Ok, thank you for all of your prayers for our team and for the students here at UJ. God is truly at work and it's incredible to see His faithfulness! Here are a few specific prayer requests:
- For JWC recruitment, that there would be 10 students from each res attending
- For JWC funding - We're praying for money for transportation and student registration fees to come in so that as many students as possible can attend
- We would use our time wisely on campus this week because it's the last time we'll get with some of the girls, and that our hearts would be set on God and His ministry alone.
- Praise for the new Christians in Skoonveld!
- Praise for Kira and Jeremy and how great they have been as leaders!


P.S. Need a pick-me-up? Listen to Chris Tomlin's "All My Fountains." Works every time!!