End of The First Semester

Once again it's been a while since I've been able to make a post! I apologize for that, but we've continued to be busy the last several weeks.

Since the last time I posted we've gone to the Free State province and did a few weeks of school ministry there. It was a great experience, and it was actually the first time it was just the Nomad team doing schools. We all had a great time and it was awesome staying with host families and getting to know the Afrikaner culture more. While I was there I had my 22nd birthday and I got to have a whole school assembly sing me a birthday song. It wasn't happy birthday, but I'm not exactly sure what the name of it was.... After we got back we had another Leadership Academy. This was a first year group, and it was a lot of fun. I actually didn't get to spend much time with the group this time around because I was also landscaping Hope Lodge, the place where we stay. It was a lot of fun to get to work with my hands again!... We had extra help this time with Academy from a 2-week team from North Carolina. After Academy the NC team and the Nomads went to Zimbabwe for a week to do school ministry and surveys. This was a groundbreaking trip for OneHope and Reaching A Generation because it's the first time we've been allowed to come into the country and do ministry. We went to schools and did surveys first and then we did presentations in the schools. In 1 month the children will retake the surveys and then again in 6 months to see what kinda of impact the Book of Hope had on their lives. It was a good trip, we had a several issues pop up during the week and we didn't do as much as we planned, but we've paved the road for future teams to come in and do ministry, which is awesome!

Something else happened last week, our first semester ended and one of the Nomads, Kelsey, went home. We were all sad to see her leave and we are all very surprised that the first 3 month semester is over! Andy will stay here for the summer and will then be leaving in the middle of July; Annette, Lauren, and I will all be here staying here until the middle of November. At the end of May we will be getting in 9 new Nomads for the summer and then we will be moving into a community about an hour from here and do soccer clinics for 6 weeks. After that it will about a month before the new Nomads for the fall come in.

God has continued to reveal Himself to me and He's also shown me a lot about myself. I've come to realize that in several ways I don't put God first in my life, and that a lot of times I try to find my value in my relationships with others and not with my relationship with Christ. Since God revealed this to me I've been working on putting God before everything and not worrying so much about my relationships with others. It's been freeing and my teammates have even noticed a difference in me. It's still a struggle for me, but God is faithful and I know He will continue to grow me as He has planned.

I sometimes still find myself thinking to myself "Am I really in Africa?!" I thank God so much for the experience so far and I know that it will only get better. My team's been amazing and I've learned a lot from them. I've gotten to help in sharing the gospel with over 40,000 children in Africa, and I dare say I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth surrounded by incredible wildlife! But the best thing that's happened so far is that I've come closer to God. There's times when it doesn't always feel like it, and there's times when I just want to call it quits and go home, but it's so worth it at the end of the day if just more child has gotten to hear the gospel and I'm just a little closer to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Thank you once again for the continued prayers, without them and seeking God first all we are doing is work, which will get us nowhere.

God Bless!

South Africa Update

In my last post I mentioned how I had been in Africa for a month and now It’s nearly been two months! Time has really flown by.

A lot has happened the past few weeks. We had another 10-day team come, and this week we are doing a camp for teens who are displaying leadership potential. Having the 10-day team here was a lot of fun. We are all familiar now with what needed to happen, and I was able to be a group leader this time around. It was a lot of early mornings and late nights, but it’s all worth it. Being able to spread Gods Word is incredible and it gives you a great feeling!

Like I said, this week we are all busy with the group of teens that are here. The program is called International Leadership Academy. High school students are identified that display good leadership skills in local schools and are selected to participate in the program. They come to Shikwaru Lodge for a week of training in leadership skills. After the week they are all required to do a community project and turn in a report within 6 months of attending the training. It’s amazing to see the ambition and hope that these young leaders have. It’s such a great opportunity to sow into the lives of these passionate young people. They are the ones that will leave a lasting impact in their communities.

Life never slows down here! We’ve all been busy lately, but everyone’s kept a good attitude and it’s been a great growing/stretching experience. Something I’ve come to appreciate lately is my internet restriction. We are only allowed 30 mins of internet time a week, which isn’t much compared to what I was used to; but I’ve realized how much time I really wasted on the internet, especially facebook! I spend so much more time reading my bible and being productive. If you know me at all, you know I was addicted to facebook, but it’s been quite freeing breaking that addiction! It sounds funny, but it’s true

God is continuing to do great things and reveal Himself to us all in great ways. The more involved I get in missions the more importance I see in it!

I ask that you would continue to pray for all of us here in SA and for all the kids we are around. Please also pray for direction in what God wants me to do after November. I know it’s a long ways off, but the first two months of this journey have already gone by quite fast and I’m pretty sure it’s not going to slow down anytime soon!

Thank you and God bless!

One Month

I've been in Africa for a month now, time has really flown by! For the last few weeks we’ve continued training, and this week we finally started distributing books in schools. We’ve worked on school presentations and learned more about the Book of Hope, we even had a test….still waiting for the results, but I think we all passed J We also got to go into Mahwelereng, the community the last group of interns worked in. There we visited several churches and pastors. It was a great chance for Josh and Kelly (the leaders) to catch up with people, and for all of the new interns to meet the people of the community. While we were there we also visited the creche (daycare) that the last group worked with. We spent last week in Polokwane doing sports ministry and kids game training. It was a long week, but we all learned a lot and got a lot closer to each other, and we’ve got some great stories from the week J

Like I said, this week we started doing book distributions in schools. Right now we have a 10-day team of about 20 women from some churches in the Kansas City, MO area. It’s been amazing how many people from KS. A few weeks ago we went to a church in Polokwane. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but I think we were all surprised by what we heard. During the service they had an elderly woman named Carol come up to share her testimony. It turns out that she was called to Africa at the age of 17 in a small church in Kansas City. Her testimony was so powerful and encouraging for all of us. She’s been faithfully serving in Southern Africa for about 40 years. She has been working with the church we visited for 30 years and had asked several times to share her testimony, but it never worked out. However, Sunday, possibly the only time we will visit that church, was the day they had her share her testimony! It’s things like this that make me realize how much God cares for me and reminds me of the awesome plan He has for my life!

Doing the school presentations has been great! Yesterday after we were done with out last school in the community we were in and we were heading out it happened to be the time when school got out and we saw hundreds of kids running around with their Book of Hope, it was so awesome! Seeing that makes all the training, stress, and hard work fade away.

If you're interested, my new address is:

Post Net 30

Private Bag X 2449

Mokopane, 0600

South Africa

I’m really excited about the rest of this year, and I know it’s just going to get better and better…. I ask that you all continue to keep and the team in your prayers!

Well, I've been in Africa for two weeks now, and it’s been amazing to say the least. We all have safe travels to SA and our team is really coming together.

For these first few weeks we’ve been doing a lot of training and just spending time with God. The first ten days here we stayed at bush camp, which is basically what it sounds like, we were out in the bush camping. It was a great experience that I will never forget! The beauty of God’s creation here in SA is incredible and when you are out here you can just feel His presence. One of the interesting aspects to our camping experience is that we were only allowed to bring ten items with us. It was a challenge, but you really learned to just live with the basics and share everything. We had some given items like our bibles and sunscreen, and eventually we were allowed a few more items. Since then we’ve moved into the Hope Lodge which is a very nice.

I’ve seen a ton of really cool animals like giraffes and Zebras and Warthogs, eaten some interesting things as well. I will tell you that I am not a huge fan of chicken feet, but it’s cool to say that I’ve eaten it anyway. One of the most amazing things here in SA are the stars! They are so bright and you can see so many more, the sky just glows with them. It’s been really cool because right before I left KS something I read was Philippians 2:14-16 “ Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like the stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life..” There are several cool things that really apply here:

1. Don’t complain, living in a team with people 24-7 and being very busy with ministry isn’t necessarily easy and when we don’t complain or argue it makes a great testimony and a great team.

2. Shining like the stars has a whole new meaning for us now after we’ve seen the awesome night skies in SA.

3. In the last part it talks about holding out the word of life, how applicable to OneHope where we literally hand out the Book of Hope to kids!

Something else that’s been great here are the sunsets, and the weather! It’s nice and cool in the evenings and it really doesn’t get too hot, but the sun is a lot more intense here.

It’s been great just being able to relax and truly spend time with God and have Him fill us up in preparation for a busy next few months of ministry! I’m getting anxious to get into the ministry here and see God do some awesome things!

Florida Training

I made it to Florida for training and so far it's been really good. I've gotten more excited and it's been really nice getting to know my team... And, the weather down here is amazing!

I've found out more about what we will actually be doing (at least what we thing we will be doing) in SA. OneHope as a whole is trying to focus more on how to make a lasting impact on the communities that we go to. Bringing the Word to children is their mission, but after we leave what will happen next for the people we've ministered to?... What OneHope is doing is working on a program called Cultivate. It involves thoroughly researching communities and finding out what the greatest issues are in that community. Then we develop a ministry plan specifically for that community that local churches and Christians can keep sustaining. Cultivate focuses on
three things:

1. Listening to the community

2. Evaluating and coordinating the communities assets

3. Identifying and striving for outcomes

I will still be doing book distributions in schools and OneHope is still completely focused on getting God’s Word out, but we are trying to make a sustainable impact for God where-ever we go!

Yesterday I went with my team into Fairview community, right next to OneHope’s headquarters, and did surveys to help with the research phase. It was a little intimidating at first, but every door we knocked on got easier to do. Yesterday we also got to go to the beach during sunrise to do devotions, it was great. Above is a photo of that awesome sunrise.

I’m really looking forward to what God has in store for me and how He will use me over the next year… Just a few more days and I’ll be on that 16 hour flight to SA!

Here We Go!

Night has fallen on my last day in Kansas (for 10 months anyway). I had a great day hanging out with my family and eating a ton of my mothers amazing food!... I'm definitely feeling a mixture of extreme excitement and kinda scared at the same time!.... It's hard to believe I'm finally going, it seemed like this day would never come.

I really hope that I get a lot closer to God though this experience. I hope that there are days I can just go out into the savanna with my Bible, a journal, my camera and just chill with God and get to know Him!... I've gotten a lot of encouragement from people the past few days, and I know it's been the Holy Spirit speaking through them, and that has been very comforting to me. This is a huge step for me, and I trust in God that He will be faithful to be with me through every bit of it and give me a whole new perspective on life.... God's blessed my life so much. Wonderful family and friends, provision for all of my needs, and now this once in a life-time opportunity to serve Him and be involved with what He is doing in South Africa! God is good.

Packed & Ready To Go!

I packed my bags yesterday and I'm ready to go! Amazingly I fit 10 months worth of stuff into one check bag, one carry-on, and my messenger bag! I didn't think it was all going to fit in there, but with some creative packing and some cramming it all fit :)

The picture is of Shikwaru Lodge, where I'll be staying... I don't think that's the actual place I'll be staying, but it gives you an idea of the surroundings. I found out a few days ago that the internet at Shikwaru isn't the most reliable, so I'm not sure how often I'll get to post, but I'll do my best to keep everyone updated as much as I can!

I'm really getting excited and I just want to go! I've been getting ready for this trip for just about a year now and it's finally about to begin :)