A Moment

Confess… ‘Jesus is Lord’ and… You Will Be Saved.

It seems too good to be true. Doesn’t it? All I have to do is confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior, believe in my heart that Jesus died for my sins and God raised Him from the dead, and I will be saved and spend eternity in heaven with God… Incredible! (Romans 10:9)

A few weeks ago we had our 3^rd International Leadership Academy (ILA) of the year at Shikwaru. ILA is a week-long camp for learners and educators in secondary school. We work with educators to select learners who are displaying leadership skills to come to the camp. The week is spent teaching the children how to become better leaders and instilling the Word of God into their life. The learners are given a project they must complete in order to come back to camp next year. This week was a bit different for ILA. We had a first year and second year camp running at the same time. Running one camp is exhausting, so the thought of running two separate camps in the same facility at the same time seemed overwhelming to say the least! However, we had a team coming from the States that had done the camp before, so I was hoping it would run smoothly.

I was excited about ILA this time, I had already helped with the previous two this year and I knew that it was a great opportunity to invest the lives of these children. I knew that helping with the first year group would probably be easier and I was really hoping to get to work with them…. Well, the Nomads had a meeting prior to the American team coming and not only was I put with the second year group, I was put in charge of making sure everything was running as planned for second year. Basically this meant I needed to be in all the sessions and get anything for anyone who needed something. Needless to say I wasn’t too excited about that! To add to that the second year campers are taught a program called Kids Games. It’s a really cool program that teaches kids about Christ using games. However, this would be the 3^rd time that I had to go through the training, and to be honest helping crowd control the 200+ kids that we would have later on in the week isn’t my idea of fun… I knew that I could easily get a bad attitude about the upcoming week, so I asked to Holy Spirit to keep my attitude in check and remind me of the awesome opportunity I had to share with the kids coming for camp. That prayer was answered! I’m not saying I loved every second of what I had to do, but my attitude was completely different this time and God did some awesome things.

Speaking of awesome things, this last Academy has probably been one of the best weeks I’ve spent in South Africa thus far!... Throughout the day we have a few small group discussion times to talk about the morning devotions and to get to know the kids. This time I actually wasn’t assigned to a small group, but I decided to join in on the two groups that had boys in it. On Tuesday I decided to join Jerry’s group that had Trevor and Karabo in it. Before I go on, let me tell you a little bit about Jerry. He’s 70 years old, and doesn’t like to interact with people that much. He’s a professed introvert, but when his church announced the trip God told him to go. He didn’t want to at all, but he was faithful to God’s call. Jerry didn’t know why he was here, but he would soon find out… Back to Tuesdays small group. The morning devotion was about purpose, we had a paper with some discussion questions about the devotion and we started going through them. We got through most of the questions, but it was time for lunch so I asked the boys if we could get our food and then keep on discussing, they agreed. We all got our food and then continued to go through the questions. I was the one asking all of the questions, some from the paper and others that I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to ask, Jerry sat and listened. The Holy Spirit led our conversation to salvation and what that really meant. I could tell God was moving in a great way and the boys were responding. All of a sudden Jerry pops in and takes over the conversation. At first I really didn’t want to let him take over because I was on a roll and I knew where this conversation was heading, but I let him take over. Jerry asked the question, “If you died right now and were in heaven standing before God and He asked why He should let you in, what would you say?” Both of the boys answered something along the lines of, “Because I worked hard in life and tried to do good and help people.” Jerry and I went along to explain to them that doing good things had nothing to do with getting into heaven. As Jerry was talking I started looking up some scriptures in Romans to show the boys. Obviously the Holy Spirit was telling us the same thing because he started referencing the very scriptures I had looked up. I read Romans 10:9 to the boys, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” We told the boys that all they had to do was this and that is how they would get into heaven. We explained it’s not about how much good we do or how hard we work, it’s about accepting God’s forgiveness and loving him. We told them this was their decision and they didn’t have to do this. Their response in unison was “No, we have to do this!” Jerry then asked me to lead them in the sinners’ prayer. The prayer was short and simple, but it was an incredible experience! Trevor and Karabo are now going to spend eternity in heaven with God!

All I can do is give God the glory. Trevor and Karabo’s salvation had nothing to do with me or Jerry, we were simply the willing vessels the Holy Spirit used to bring them to God! I’ve never felt so much joy in my life. I feel honored to be used by God like this. His plans are so incredible. He’s known for all eternity that on Tuesday September 28^th 2010 in the middle of nowhere South Africa at around 1:20 p.m. that I, Jerry, Trevor, and Karabo would be sitting at that table and the Holy Spirit would use Jerry and me to share God’s love and plan of salvation with the boys… I couldn’t believe that I had just met these boys 2 days ago and they had already given their lives to God. The day after the boys accepted Jesus, I told both of them that if the only thing I accomplished during my year in Africa was helping to lead them to the Lord, than that makes every second here and every penny spent to get here worth it, and so much more! I honestly feel that way.

I feel like God gave me a little insight into how much He really loves us though this experience. I can’t explain it, but I love those boys so much. It made me think, “If I feel so much love and concern for these boys that I just met, how much more does God love me!”… There was a special bond God planned between Trevor and me. The other Nomads teased me about how much of a bro-mance we had, but it was a friendship that was of God... Later on during the week the kids all cooked their own dinner over a fire at their camp, with the supervision of the Nomads. I went up with the second year boys to help them. We were sitting around the fire and then out of no-where Trevor said to me, “You know Paul, sometimes I was you were my brother so we could hang out all the time.” That was a moment I will never forget. I told him we were brothers in Christ, and even though we will only get to spend time together for this one week, we will both be in heaven for eternity and we’ll have plenty of time to hang out then!

The pastor of the church that came from the States began the first session of the week with a presentation about “Moments that can change your life” I know that many of the kids that were at camp had a moment that changed their life, and I thank God for that! We interview the second year learners at the end of camp and one of the questions we asked them was, “Was there a moment this week that changed your life?” The video below is Trevor’s answer to that question…

Healing Vingerkraal

At first glance Vingerkraal looks like any other small village in South Africa-- tin houses, kids playing soccer, dust, and some trash lying around. But this village has a tragic story...

About 2 months ago 17 children were caught between a bush fire and an electric fence. 10 of the children died from burns, 4 are still in the hospital, and 3 have made it home to Vingerkraal. This is not the only problem Vingerkraal faces. The village is without electricity, with the exception of the one school, they frequently run out of water, and there are practically no jobs there. The unemployment rate is about 80%. The people of Vingerkraal are all from Namibia and other African countries and have pretty much been used by the government and forgotten by everyone. They purchased the land that the village is on; however, the government insists it's theirs and the local lodges aren't too fond of them being near their high-end estates. Rumor has it that someone started the bush fire that resulted in the children’s death.

When we heard about Vingerkraal we decided to spend a week working in the community. We simply tried to show them that we care about them, but more importantly that God cares about them and there is always hope! We did school presentations, soccer clinics, surveys, and service projects throughout the week. It's evident that the people are still mourning the death of the children, and that they are desperate for God. Several of the people surveyed said that they needed bible study leaders to help them.

Among all this pain and tragedy I saw hope. I met a young man by the name of Hilarious (yes, that's spelled right). He was 20 years old and got saved about a year ago. I could see the hope in his eyes. He cared about the people of his village, and unlike many young people, had a plan for his future. He had a true understanding of who Jesus was and the cost of being a disciple, something that is rare to find in Africa, and America for that matter. I took the opportunity to encourage Hilarious and let him know that God could use him as the leader that Vingerkraal needed. I shared my story about how I had started leading bible studies at KSU when I was the same age as him. I didn't feel qualified and was a pretty quiet guy, but I told him it’s not about what I could do, it’s about what God could do through me, and that the same applied for him. He was hesitant about it at first, but he said he was willing to give it a try with the help of his friend Antonio, who is planning on studying theology next year at University.

I also saw joy among other members of the village. It’s crazy to think that they can be so joyful when they have so little, but most Africans I meet are very happy, much happier than many of the Americans that I know- even though they don’t have a computer, Ipod, car, house, or even very many clothes.

I feel like most of us have missed the mark when it comes to joy and peace… Recently God has given me a lot of peace and joy in my life. After years of being saved and hearing how God cares for us and has everything under control, it’s finally starting to sink in. In many of the books I’ve been reading recently it talks about how Christians are supposed to have a peace and serenity about them, so much so that anyone who doesn’t have it instantly longs for it and asks themselves “What’s different about that person?”. I realized that is something that is not displayed in my life very often. I spend hours fretting about what’s coming next in life, and am I really doing God’s will, and what is His will for my life anyways?... The truth is, God is more concerned with our love and friendship, and doing what He wants us to do today, than what our 5 year plan is. The only way we can have this peace, joy, love, and the other fruit of the spirit is by allowing The Holy Spirit to work in our lives! If you are saved, then you have the Spirit of God living in you! He’s called our Comforter and Counselor. He’s there to help you, but you have to listen to Him…. And then do what He asks of you. Sure, it may be out of your comfort zone, but don’t you think that God knows better than us? I mean He was able to create the whole Universe without our help; certainly He can help us make the right decisions in life.

My question for you is this… Is your life so directed by the Holy Spirit and so filled with peace, joy, love, self-control, and the other fruit that someone who met you would ask themselves what was different about you? And are you allowing God to take you outside of your comfort zone to the place that your friends know that what you are doing has to be from God?....... I’m not there yet, but I’m asking the Holy Spirit to help me. I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to you and that you will do what He asks of you. If you read this and feel something tug in your heart, know that it’s straight from God, not me. It’s for His glory that I am writing these words, not my own praise.

I ask that you would please pray for Vingerkraal, and especially for Hilarious.

I hope you all have a blessed week, and that the Holy Spirit will speak something to you today.

Paul Cook

Fall Semester... Or is it Spring?

Our time of rest in Cape Town was incredible to say the least! After being there for one day I was ready to become a permanent resident. We got to stay right on the beach and had a great few days seeing the sights and just relaxing. The weather was kinda cool and the ocean was freezing, but that didn't stop me and Theo from taking a few swims. We got some odd looks walking around on the beach in just our swimming trunks when everyone else had on jeans and coats, but who cares, we enjoyed it!

We returned to Shikwaru and started Bush Camp 2.0. The new team had been up there for a few days when we joined them. Once again the Bush Camp experience was great. It's so nice to just get out in nature and spend time with Jesus.... The new team is great, although there is quite a bit of estrogen around the Hope Lodge now! Josh and I are outnumbered 8 to 2.

Although back in the States summer is coming to an end, it's just beginning here. It's definitely starting to warm up again, and we are starting to see some green coming up out of all the brown around us! We're hoping it will start to rain again soon. I think its been a good 2-3 months since we've had any.

The past few weeks we've been doing a lot of training with the new team. We plan on spending a lot of time in the local communities this semester investing in just a few schools. Most of our plans have been put on halt for the moment though. All of the schools in SA are on strike demanding an 8.5% increase in their pay. Since about 90% of our ministry involves working with schools, this is an obviously throws a monkey wrench in our plans. But God has other plans in mind... OneHope has a new curriculum they've recently come out with called 17 stories. It's 16 different stories from the Bible starting with creation and ending in Jesus' resurrection. The stories are displayed as pictures on a card that children will collect. When they get all the 16 cards and put them together and turn it over it shows the 17th story, a summary of all the 16 stories. With all of the children out of school with nothing to do, we've decided to start training some of the mothers and grandmothers in the community on how to use the curriculum so that they can simply gather up the local kids around their house and have story time.... We've also been continuing to do research in other communities.


God's been showing me a lot lately that all He really wants from us is our love. So often we worry about what God's will is for our life. I can tell you what it is, simply love Him! We complicate our lives and spend countless hours trying to make sure we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, when all along God is in complete control and He just wants us to spend time with Him. Although spending time with Jesus seems a simple task, many times it can become quite difficult. The last thing the devil wants us to do is to become closer to Jesus, so he will try everything he has to get us away from him. We live in a world that's in an epic battle; however, much of it we are blind to. There are angles and demons both fighting for us, and this is something we need to be aware of. We know that the ultimate victory lies with Jesus, but we need to pray God's protection over our lives and continue to seek after Him... I challenge you to seek after God with a new passion and conviction! If you aren't reading His Word, I encourage you to do so. And if you are already reading His Word on a regular basis, read more. Take aside 30 minutes to spend in prayer with Him, or just go for a walk and enjoy His creation... When you take the time to be with Him, even when you are tired and may not feel it it, you will become more and more aware of how much He loves you. Jesus died for you, and He would have gladly died on the cross if you were the only person in all of humanity that He could save!

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and in some way I hope that God will speak to you through it. It's not because of anything I've said, I normally don't even write like this, but I just felt like God was calling me to do so... It's been so awesome getting to know Jesus better, and I just want you to experience to same.

Please continue to keep me, the team, our ministry, and the children of SA in your Prayers!

Rest

I've now been in SA for six months! The summer semester has ended, as well as the World Cup and soccer clinics. The summer flew by, but during the summer God has continued to work in my life and reveal to me more things about myself and Him. I'm learning to always put God first and care less about what people think of me. God also taught me a lot about forgiveness this summer.

The majority of the summer Nomad team left in the middle of July. Right after they left we got two 10-day teams back to back that did school ministry and soccer clinics. It was a very busy two week period, but I really enjoyed working with the teams. Now we are in a short, but much needed, season of rest! This week we have been resting, and getting the Hope Lodge back in order after a busy summer. This next week we will officially be "off" and we are planning to visit either Cape Town or Durban to get some time in at the beach!

After we return from our short trip my final semester in SA will start. The new Nomad team will be getting here on August 12th. It consists on 5 girls, that means for the fall semester there will be 6 female Nomads and me! This could be interesting, haha!

I'm excited for my last 3 months in SA. In a lot of ways I've gotten very used to being here, and have almost grown blind to the amazing landscapes around me, but just in the past few weeks God has awoken my heart again to the display of His incredible glory in SA! I've even had a few of those "What the heck! Am I really in Africa?!" moments.

Soccer Time!

The World Cup is finally here and you can feel the excitement!

We've started soccer clinics here in Modimolle. The soccer clinics are for all of the children in the local community. It focuses on the Fruits of the Spirit. We teach the children a short lesson about a fruit of the Spirit and then play a game that demonstrates what we've taught them.

It's been a lot of fun playing with kids and doing a new type of ministry. The summer team is also here, it's been a blast so far living with all the new Nomads. We're staying at a horse farm out in the country and again God's glory is revealed all around us.

God's continuing to grow me up and work in life, as well as the lives of those around me. God has also continued to burden my heart for missions and I plan to continue in missions work after I return from South Africa.

My time in Africa is about half over! In some ways I feel like I've been here all my life and in other ways it seems like the time has just flown by!

I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here and for what God has in store for me next!

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!