last post from durban!

Although very difficult at times, the 7 days have compiled the coolest week of outreach so far. Thinking back to last saturday…We went and preached in the streets for the first time. We've done other kinds of street ministry: treasure hunting, prayer walking, picking up trash etc. and seen God work in each situation, but this was the first time we actually stood before a crowd in the streets--both nerve wracking and exciting. We were able to rent a sound system from another street performer and played music, attempted some "Zulu dancing" (well, our outreach leader, Noah, did), performed the Everything skit. then Noah preached and our friend Sifiso translated into Zulu. Afterward, they asked the crowd if anyone would like healing or would like to receive Christ. Probably about 10 people came up. I don't know all of the stories of what took place then; I only know about the woman I prayed for. She had pain in her back and a headache. I took authority in Jesus' name over the pain twice and she said nothing happened. I prayed one more time, still taking authority, and the pain left. She was so shocked she almost passed out! She looked at me like I was crazy, told me the pain was gone, and that she was very dizzy. Then she walked away…thankful and…really freaked out. haha. I was SO excited because I LOVE to see God work like that! Later that day I prayed over another lady who had a pain on each of her sides and a headache that wouldn't go away. I prayed over her multiple times and she looked at me really strangely, and said thank you. I asked if the pain was gone and she said she still had pain and then walked away, seeming frustrated. I went and told Sifiso that I had prayed over this woman and nothing had happened and asked him to pray over her because I wasn't willing to give up. He went and began speaking to her in Zulu and then told me that the woman said both her headache and pain in one of her sides had left when I prayed over her, but there was only still pain in one side. Then I was SO stoked because I knew God really was at work. We prayed for her again and the last of the pain left her body!!! Praise Jesus! He is alive! I'm so done with my doubts.

Sunday, we had a wonderful family Christmas! We did secret santa so we each only had to buy one present and filled eachother's stockings. Christmas ended up being much more meaningful this way, and after experiencing so much of Christ's power and authority, I found myself thinking about the true meaning of Christmas wayyyy more than I usually do. Some of my team mates cooked a DELICIOUS christmas breakfast and dinner...we ate wayyy tooo muchhh that day, but it was awesome.

monday was the last day of going to the orphanage in the the township called molweni. it's at the very bottom of a valley, surrounded by cliffs and mountains. SO BEAUTIFUL. it was hard to say goodbye to the kids as we'd formed relationships with them over the last two weeks. Afterward, we didn't feel like waiting around for a taxi, so we hiked up this really steep mountain that was longer than 2 kilometers...i don't know how long it actually was, i just know that we stopped at one point and someone told us that we'd come 2 kilometers, and then we kept going...and it was freaking STEEP. And it was freaking BEAUTIFUL. and it was freaking AWESOME. after that, we went to a medical clinic and watched God heal more people through our hands! It's getting kinda normal now to see God heal people through my hands...wayyyy wierd but amazing! I spoke in tongues for the first time on monday too.

tuesday we did more street ministry like on saturday! awesome!

wednesday we went to an orphanage called lily of the valley--one of the first aids orphanages in africa-- and helped them with some manual labor...that was rough, but it payed off.

thursday and friday we worked in a food bank and it was really cool! i enjoyed it a lot!

loving outreach, sad we only have 3 more weeks, but i'm so excited to come home!!! thanks for all the prayers!

hummm

So my last entry was posted BEFORE the rehab center on tuesday?? woah. SO MUCH has happened since then...Over the past 3 days I have experienced the most drastic change of emotions in my life thus far. Tuesday night, my team went to a rehab center called Careline. I think it was one of the best nights of my life. During worship, I really came to a new understanding of what living fully and only for Christ means and so, came to a new understanding of who I am and how I am called to live; how I want to live. The message was then given by one of the interns from Highway church (where we attended last sunday). The intern was so well spoken and did a very good job of getting his message across. He inspired me because I'm sure he wasn't much older than I am, yet spoke with such confidence and understanding. One thing he said that stuck out to me was that gospel means "good news," so if you hear something that isn't good news, it's not the gospel. In other words, when people say that God gave someone cancer to teach them a lesson, that's not the gospel! God's heart for us is love. After the service, we were just hanging out with some of the residents of Careline and some Highway church members. A group of my friends were standing in a circle talking to a man named Sefusa (no idea how to spell his name...it's like Sea-foo-suh), and my friend Alicia started laughing histarically on-and-on, so I went over to see what was going on, and they told me that Sefusa had prayed over her and given her joy. I went straight to Alicia and said "I want some," and she grabbed my hands and started praying for me. I felt the joy, and immediately began crying. I then went to Sefusa and asked if he would pray for me too, and he asked me to lay my hand on my stomach. I was SO convicted in that moment; more than I ever have been before. I knew exactly what God wanted me to do. See, two of my friends have asked me why I've never had my food allergies prayed for, and one of them was just a few days before Careline. For a while, I've thought that my allergies were a punishment of sorts for being annorexic. Like God wanted to teach me to value my body and food more or something...but after the service at Careline, and hearing the bit about the gospel being good news, I knew I'd been deceived. So, when Sefusa asked me to lay my hand on my stomach, I told him about my gluten and dairy allergies and that I wanted to be healed. He looked at me and said, "Okay, so you are wanting to be healed?" and I said yes, and he said, "Okay, well let me tell you this, you are free!" and before I even knew what I was saying, "I am free!" came out of my mouth! And I am free indeed! For the rest of the night I was between sobs and laughing my head off and the rest of my team was all laughing as well. We were truly drunk on the spirit…it was like nothing I've ever experienced. God's love and faithfulness shown as a whole new light to me Tuesday night. And in perfect timing too.

Wednesday morning, we met for worship, and when we were finished, we realized that one of the members of our team, Joshua, and one of our leaders, Noah, never showed up for worship. None of us were even close to imagining the tragic news we were about to receive. After a while of waiting and praying, we were finally told that 3 of Joshua's 9 siblings were killed in a car accident the day before. Josh and Noah were at the travel agency looking for flights to get him home for the funeral. Just like that. All of us were a mess all day, and I think Josh was the strongest out of all of us. Wednesday seemed to stretch on forever as we were all crushed over the whole matter, anxious about trying to find him a flight home, and upset about him leaving at the same time. But of course, we all want him to be home with his family right now.

I've never gone from such a high to such a low in such a short amount of time. But God is faithful. Sure, I've been confused over the passed few days and wondered what the point of all this is, but if I've learned anything it's that God is faithful always.

Yesterday and today our team has been working in townships, which are basically the slums here in Durban. The ones we've visited so far haven't been as bad as I expected, but are definitely extreme poverty.

So, my emotions have been kinda all over the place, BUTTTT we did get to see about 20 monkeys just chillin in someone's yard yesterday. and found GIANT avocados on the ground and ate them :) we're gonna make guacamole. and i got to hold a precious zulu baby today. :) God is faithful.

ministry day 2

First really hot day in Pinetown today. I'm actually sweating while sitting here in Mugg & Bean (the coffee shop in the mall that's about 2 blocks from our flat; the only place we can find Wifi). Yesterday, our first day of ministry, we served in a soup kitchen. Before going, I pictured us serving scoopfulls of soup out of metal bowls to a line of hundreds of people until we were exhausted and trying to fellowship with them and show them Jesus. I was soooo farrrr offffff. The soup kitchen was not a building that served lines of homeless people soup all the time, but instead was being held in a church. We walked into a room of about 20 zulu men, being led by an asian man, singing beautiful worship to our God. I was stunned. Aside from the beauty of their harmonies, there was such a presence of freedom in that place. Then, they had our team come up to the front and sing for them...and basically, all us white americans and canadians had a sing off...with a bunch of African men....wasn't the best idea. haha They showed us up for sure, but it was so much fun. Most of them didn't speak much English, so we got some funny looks at times, but it was so worth it. Each member of our team was then assigned different jobs to help out with around the place. While a few gave their testimonies, and a few led worship, and a few sorted out clothing and toys, two of my teammates and I helped out in the kitchen. You know, nothing unusual...just washing stuffed animals and plastic communion cups in the sink (a good number of them being cracked. haha this is africa? heck yeah it is. I was reminded, "We don't throw ANYTHING away in Africa," by the British lady I was helping. Today, we've been working on skits and such to pull out in situations like yesterday. And we're going to a rehab center tonight to help out there...we'll see how it goes! Loving SA so far!

mugg and bean

We've now been in Durban almost 4 full days, and have been sleeping a good bit of that time. We're staying in a suburb of Durban called Pinetown. Honestly, I've felt right at home from the minute we got here. I love the weather- cool in the mornings and evenings, but warm during the day. I love the way people dress here- WELL. The Zulu language is BEAUTIFUL and I've enjoyed trying to learn it. Speaking with clicks, though, is a lot harder than you'd think. For instance, my friend's name is Xoli, which is pronounced *click*-oli, and i literally have to stop everything I'm doing when I'm trying to say her name, which can be awkward when you're walking through a mall jam packed full of people. Ahh there's one thing that is a bit stretching for me; there are SOOO MANNNYYY PEOPLLLEEE. crowded crowded crowded everywhere! I'm learning not to carry much with me, and to make sure I put a jacket in the top of my bag so that someone would really have to dig to steal stuff from me. Luckily, no one on my team has been robbed. I was most nervous yesterday when we went shopping in downtown Durban. It's a bit of an odd sensation because Durban is a big city with big skyscrapers and big businesses, but it's also entirely African. In structure, Durban is not so different from New York City, but in nature or culture, Durban is a different world! Until we went to Highway Church (about 2 blocks from our flat) this morning, I was one of about 20 white people I'd seen since arriving in South Africa...13 of the others being my team mates. Highway, however, is full of white people, and we're not really sure where they come from, haha, cause they're nowhere around us. I absolutely loved the service this morning, and felt a freedom there like I've never felt in church before. The church leaders actually allowed teenagers to speak up and women to speak up and they were so welcoming to us YWAMers, who are honestly not always so well received by the church.

So, tomorrow is our first real day of ministry. Tonight we're doing a prayer walk around our neighborhood where we'll be doing lots of ministry. I have kinda mixed feelings about it. I'm kinda nervous and kinda excited!

from the jberg airport

So, this is a far overdue and non extensive update on our traveling this past week...

Monday, we began our journey to Durban, South Africa; our first outreach location. We took an hour and a half long water taxi from San Pedro, Belize to Belize City. There, we had to say goodbye to the two girls and two small group leaders who are doing their outreach in Guatemala! We cried a little saying goodbye, but we're also so confident that God is using us for great things how and where He wants to, that it's hard to be too sad. We then took a taxi ( the first time I'd been in a car in 3 months! felt crazy!) to the Belize City airport. Our outreach team had to split into two groups to travel until we got to Amsterdam, where we all met up again. So, the first team left at 12 pm, and while my team was supposed to leave at 3 pm, our flight got delayed 4 hours. In the Belize City airport, there is absolutely nothing to do. A little cafe was open when we first got there, but then it closed around 2 pm... normal?? oh Belize...haha I have to say, I don't miss Belize yet. I'm sure I will before long, but I don't yet. Finally, we had a nice smooth ride to Miami, and I about kissed the American soil when we landed! I have never loved America as much as I do now. I really appreciate the order and the civilization. haha. I got my first starbucks in 3 months and about peed my pants!! I really and actually did fall on my knees and tear up a bit haha. ohh it was glorious! another thing I never knew I missed until I saw them: American gift shops! They may be expensive, but at least they sell things you actually want to buy. And its not expired. Anyway, we got to spend the night in Miami at the Embassy Suites. Ahh it was glorious! I slept in a bed without sand and mosquitoes and noseeams and WITH airconditioning for the first time in 3 months!! At 10 the next morning, we went back to the Miami airport to catch our flight to JFK, which we just barely caught. We then had a 6 hour flight from JFK to Amsterdam....where I got more starbucks! We had about a two hour layover in Amsterdam before our 10 1/2 hour flight to Johannesburg... We've now been in the Johannesburg airport for about 5 hours and have 3 or 4 more to go before we fly to Durban....been a good trip so far. I'm gonna try to update my blog a lot more on outreach, but we'll see how that actually works. so, until later. :))