It's so crazy that I've been here for 3 months! These past 3 months have been so difficult but absolutely amazing. Every day I am
learning to trust God more and follow his voice, even when things don't make sense. I knew things would be different here, but there are so many things we don't think about in our daily lives that are culturally defined. One of the biggest lessons I've learned here is that there isn't a right way or a wrong way, there are simply different ways. It's been so cool to see how even though people may be very different, we all love the same God and can find common ground in unexpected ways.
I have made some amazing friendships since being here. One thing I prayed a lot for before coming to the field was that God would bring musicians to our church. By the time I arrived, there was already a group of three guys that were playing for our church. Since then, we have all gotten to be great friends. They are all incredibly talented musicians and I know it could only have been God that brought them to our church. I am still praying for more musicians so that we can grow our team and I am seeing more people come in. One of my closest friends here, Stacey, has just starting to sing with us. She has an amazing gift and has spoken so many words of encouragement and wisdom into my life already. I am so excited to see how God uses her in our worship team! There are several other people about to join the team that have great hearts for worship and I can't wait to see how God uses each of them.
About 6 weeks ago, we had our first ladies event. It was so great to see all of the ladies get together and form some new friendships. We have another ladies event coming up at the end of this month and I am praying that more new friendships will be formed. Both me and my roommate, Meredith, have made friendships with several ladies outside of the church and we are praying that they will come to church soon. I have a friend that I am inviting to Bunko night, so would you pray that she would come? I know several of the ladies in the church are inviting friends that don't attend church as well. This night will be a great opportunity to have fun outside of church. These ladies need a community that will surround them with the love of Jesus and the truth of the Bible!
During my year living with my parents, I helped out with the youth group at their church. I have never felt called to youth ministry and was unsure about being in there, but I ended up loving it and the kids so much. I figured that would end once I left, but one of the first things I started doing here was helping out at youth. These kids are so curious and ready to learn about the Bible. They have such good hearts and bring more and more friends each week. I am so excited to see them grow in their relationship with God and to reach their friends and family. Several of them have even started serving on different teams on Sunday mornings. I've just started working with a few of the youth to start building a youth worship team and they are so excited! Our youth pastors, Aaron and Sara have been doing such an amazing job teaching the youth and I can't wait to see how they grow even more once we start doing worship. These kids have a true desire to know more about God and to serve him in their lives. The South African school system is much more intense than school back home. These kids are put under so much pressure to perform. The next few weeks are exams for them, so many of them are feeling a lot of stress and anxiety. Would you pray for them that God would give them peace and that they would trust in Him to get through these exams?
Last month, our whole team went up to Rustenburg to meet with our fellow South Africa missionaries with AGWM. This was my first time to meet all of them and it was an incredible experience. I was actually able to lead worship for one session and play on the team for two other sessions. Being the youngest missionary there, I definitely felt intimidated leading worship. I didn't think there was anything I could offer to these people who have been serving God faithfully for so many years, but God doesn't care about age or experience. I felt God move so strongly in those worship sessions. Our last evening ended up being a time of worship, prayer and prophetic words. God spoke so strongly to me and confirmed that this is exactly where I am supposed to be. I am so grateful that God knows our heart and gives us exactly what we need when we need it most.
For those of you that don't know, Northplace meets in a location called The Sharksboard. It's a center that monitors sharks in the area and they do shark dissections that the public can attend. It's so amazing that God has provided a place that is big enough and within our budget to meet, but we have been looking for a permanent location for a while now. There are a lot of things that we will be able to do like host small group meetings or pastoral counseling that we cannot do right now. In the meantime, I know that God has a place for us and that we are at the Sharksboard for a a reason. It has honestly been a great opportunity for us to see how passionate our church is about serving. We have people standing around waiting to help with set-up and tear-down each week!
I can't believe that I get to do this everyday. I get to wake up and spend my day building the church and serving God. This is the best job in the whole world and I know that I could never do it without each of you supporting me whether it's financially or in prayer. I cannot stress enough the importance of your prayers. We are fighting battles daily against spiritual oppression. There is such a lack of proper Biblical teaching here and a blending of religions that has become a messy and incorrect theology.
Things to Pray For:
1. Friends we've made outside of church to come to church/give their lives to the Lord
2. For the youth to continue to reach out to friends, grow in their faith and to have peace through their exams
3. That each member of the worship team would continue to grow in the call God has placed on their lives
4. For Northplace to find a permanent location and that we would continue to grow at the Sharksboard