Outreach...

I love this place. And these people. And everything! I am really enjoying myself here. It is hard to believe how fast it is all going - only two and a bit weeks left! It is going to fly by. We have been keeping pretty busy here, mostly just going different places and talking to people. We spend a couple days a week in a township called Delft. We mostly just go door to door talking to people. In their culture, an open front door means "come on in, we're ready for visitors" so we can literally just walk into someone's house, sit down on their couch and start chatting with them. They are very open people and will tell you their entire life story - what's going on with the family, health concerns or troubles finding a job. We usually just chat a bit and then spend time praying with them. It seems like most people here believe in God and absolutely love prayer, so our role is to really encourage them in that and help them grow in their faith. I remember on the first day as we drove through the townships, I jumped to a lot of wrong conclusions about them and the the people who lived there. I now know that they are a beautiful group of people who are friendly and open and welcoming. I feel very secure and welcome in Delft and just love spending time there. I also got the opportunity to preach in the church there last Sunday. It is a pretty small church, but it was my first time every preaching! It was definately a great experience. The congregation was so welcoming and really put me at ease. Just imagine a bunch of black mama's amen-ing and hallelujah-ing after everything. LOVE IT! We are running the entire service on Sunday, so that should be interesting! I'm not speaking at all, but I'm just excited to go back there.

We also spend a fair amount of time at the beach evangelizing. Just as people are very open in Delft, it seems that South Africans are very open in general. It is becoming so easy for me to just sit down next to someone and have a conversation with them. They love chatting and sharing about their lives. I have met a lot of really interesting people who have crazy stories to tell. I have talked to quite a few homeless people, but also to a lot of the surfers or other people who hang out at the beach. I have noticed that these people are very spiritual, just in general. Mostly everyone I have spoken with have some sort of belief in God and have stories where God has supernaturally showed up in their lives in miraculous ways. However, there is this disconnect when it comes to living a daily walk with God. So I think that our role here in SA is not to necessarily preach the gospel and lead people to Christ, but to encourage people who are already Christians and disciple them and help them grow stronger in their faith.

I am still loving this beautiful country. Today we went for a hike up a mountain near where we live. It took a pretty solid 1.5 hours to get up and it was pretty intense. But the view from the top is amazing! So worth the hike :) Every time I am struck by the beauty of this city (which is quite frequently) I remember how awesome God is. He made it all.

I don't really know if anyone reads this blog, but thank you to the ones who do! Your support is greatly appreciated, as are your prayers! Some specific prayer requests would be for safety for our team, as Capetown can be potentially dangerous, and also that God would open up so many opportunities for us. Pray that God would direct us to specific people or ministries or situations that we need to be involved in. Thank-you for your prayers! I hope everyone is doing well!