Wow outreach is still going better than I even thought it could!
So it turns out that the youth event on Friday isn't going to have just 250 kids... its looking more like 500! The team is super excited and I feel very blessed. I have been praying that God will just use me to speak to them. That none of my thoughts or feelings will be there, that it will just be God. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. From talking to some of the youth kids throughout the week I can confirm that they feel this heaviness too. Just in this past week we have heard of two girls getting raped to the point of hospitalization and a young boy getting jumped. So heartbreaking. I can feel that Friday is going to be very important... I just pray we don't screw it up!
We were able to see a little bit of Durban on our day off and that was really nice. We went to the Indian Ocean- that makes three oceans that I have been in! I thought that was pretty cool. The water was warm, but no.... I still didn't seen any sharks... But there's always Mozambique! We got to go to uShaka Marine World and hang out for the day. I'm not a huge fan of water slides but I conquered my fear with the help of some peer pressure and actually had a good time.
We were able to do prison ministry the other day and that was a huge eye-opener for me. I thought we would go there and bless them, but God had other plans. Even though we spent the night before learning Zulu Songs to sing to them, they put together skits and a couple of Zulu dances that brought me to tears. The dances really hit me hard and for the first time I felt like I was in Africa! I have been here three months now and it only just hit me then! Haha. Over 35 men stood up and wanted to give their lives to Christ after the message. I feel so honored that God used our team to make an open door for ministry there. Usually it is really hard to get in to the prison, but the directer found favor in us and I don't think we let them down! Praise the LORD (PTL)!!
Yesterday we were supposed to go to a home for elderly people with Cancer and AIDS. There was a mix up and we weren't allowed in due to another group already there. Many of the team members were upset, but I just felt like "ok God, then what do you have for us?" We got a phone call yesterday morning asking us to come to a school and help out there so we phoned them back and we were able to go and hang out with over 100 kids during their sports day. I hung out with a bunch of kids waiting to participate in the race. We danced and sang the Zulu songs I learned, but one of the girls I was especially fond of. She was a tiny Hindu girl in a bunch of Christians. I knew she wasn't a Christian by the red band around her wrist that signifies she worships another God. She told me her family wasn't Christian and she didn't know Jesus. Other boys wanted to pray and I told her she could pray with us if she wanted to. We stood there in a circle and she loved it. She held my hand the rest of the day. She pulled me to the side and whispered in my ear, "Um.... are you a multi millionaire?" I giggled and told her that not everyone in America is rich. She had her eyes fixed in mine and I knew she could tell there was something more to me and my team than she could grasp. I'm convinced it was the love from Jesus. She told me that I must come and see her the next time I was in town. It broke my heart as I explained to her that this was the only time we would be there. I whispered in her ear "Always remember Jesus" and she took my hand and promised me she would. I pray for more interactions like this. This was incredible.
We were able to run the prayer meeting at Stanger Baptist Church last night. I gave a brief message on intercessory prayer and Tanya and Katlyn led the prayer. It was a great night and praying through the prayer call of the mosque was very intense. Its hard to explain. I have also been struggling with the mixed messages of my tattoos. I knew coming into other cultures with arm tattoos wouldn't be easy all the time, but some of the things I am dealing with in that area are harder than I thought. When they ask me about them I freeze up. I know what to say, but for some reason when I am confronted with it I can't manage to blurb out what God has spoken to me about my tattoos. Haha I have had mixed feelings about it. They are GREAT for kid's ministry though!
Over all outreach has been incredible. Today we are celebrating my good friend Katlyn's 21st birthday! And its nice to celebrate as a team... as an outreach family.
More to come... This is only the first week!
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