CCP Update 3

Answered Prayers

Hallo,

With this being our last week on campus at TUKS, we are praying that God would continue to give us boldness in proclaiming his word, that He would water the seeds that have been planted in the hearts of students, and that He would use the upcoming Joint Winter Conference (JWC) to open the eyes of the students to see the fullness of His mercy and grace. That being said, here are some highlights from this past week of ministry.

            On Monday night Matt and I led the weekly bible study in Kiaat. We went through the four passages in Matthew 7:13-27. Many South Africans claim Christianity, yet their lives don’t reflect their faith. The goal of this study is to get the guys to examine their faith and to help them toward truly submitting their lives to Christ and actively living out their faith. After the study, Nelius, an Afrikaans student asked us if God caused suffering. We took him to Lamentations 3:32, shared with him what we’ve been learning through reading Lamentations this summer and pointed him to passages in the New Testament like James 1:2-4 and 1 Peter 4:12-19. It has been exciting to see Nelius’ desire for God grow during our time here and we are praying that he would be a spiritual leader in Kiaat in the coming semesters.

Nelius 

Another Afrikaans guy, Stefan, has slowly opened up to us. He told us he hasn’t fully surrendered his life to Christ but he hopes to get to that point. He said he has felt close to God at times in his life, but he feels he has drifted as of late. From what he told us, his experience of God has mainly been dictated by worship experience and he has had a works based view of salvation. Although worship music is great, we are praying that Stefan would find true life in the gospel and that he would have a relationship with Christ that doesn’t change depending on music. We spent a lot of time explaining that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. Matt and I have been praying for weeks that Stefan would continue to be thirsty for the Word and that he would go to JWC in order to continue to grow in his faith. Stefan told us time after time that he would be going home after his exams and not to JWC, but he texted us after leaving to go home that he wanted to go.

Matt and I have also been able to meet up with Miguel, a young believer, and go through scripture with him and help answer any questions he may have. It is a joy to see Miguel’s desire to grow in his relationship with Christ, to be discipled, and his hatred for the sin in his life. Miguel grew up in a church that was not gospel centered, but he heard the gospel and gave his life to Christ after coming to TUKS. He told us that he wants to leave the church he grew up in and join a church that he would be able to grow in, but is worried about the backlash he might receive from his parents and the rest of his community. In light of Luke 14:26, we encouraged him to choose Jesus and leave his home church and prayed for his boldness when he returns home for the holidays.

Miguel

          Each of these instances demonstrates God’s faithfulness to answer prayer, and the fact that we get to see any fruit of our ministry during our short time here is a blessing. Praise God for changing the hearts of men and answering the prayers of his children. I am continually encouraged by Paul's words in Galatians 6:9-10:

"And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

Please join us in prayer as we spend our last week on campus.

Cheers,

Jesse

Some Timely Encouragment

As to be expected, ministry in the Res has been really challenging.  Students are busy with studies and don't have a lot of time to be with us.  Oftentimes we will schedule meetings with them, only to be stood up because they have so much going on.  But God has been really faithful and is using us in amazing ways! The girls in the video are really precious and are hungry for the word. Boniwe (blue shirt) wants to be the "Spiritual Hakka", or RA, next year and is eager to learn more about the Bible in order to prepare for it.  As we read through John, it's beautiful to see her reaction to Jesus' life and ministry. Although she's grown up around Christianity, she is still very young in her faith and learns something new each day.  Tumi is Boniwe's roommate. Last week as we explained the SPECK Method (which is just an acronym used to help study the Bible), Tumi began to thank us for everything that we had done for her.  She told me to get my camera out and record her.... this is what she had to say: 

This is exactly the encouragement that Anna, Erin, and I needed! I am just blown away that God could use a sinner like me to make an impact on someone's life. I am excited to see what He does these last 2 weeks and how the Gospel continues to transform these ladies's lives!

CCP Round Two

When I realized I was going to be coming back to South Africa on CCP again, I was sure it was going to be difficult not to compare this new experience to my first summer in Africa. My first CCP was everything I hoped it would be. CCP gave me lifelong friendships and made me fall in love with ministry. Coming back, I knew my role this time would be very different and I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it as much. In true “God fashion” he has been faithful to meet all of my needs and has even made me fall in love with my new role and team. In a nut-shell, my role as the CCP Women’s Coordinator is basically just to help set the girls up for success in every aspect of this trip. One of my favorite things has been meeting with each of them one-on-one, helping them think through how they are feeling about this experience. I’ve gotten to see their walks with the Lord and get their thoughts on how ministry is going. I’ve been so thankful for their willingness to open up and let me be even a small part of their ministries.

This summer, the girls have been in two residence halls: Zinnia and Inca. I’ve been able to go with both ministry teams and see some of what has been going on in each. Going with Kelley and Whitney to Zinnia is exciting because they are basically starting from scratch. We didn’t really know any of the girls there, so we just started knocking on doors hoping to meet people that would want to hangout. Finishing up with our fourth week, it has been so cool to see how God has developed and maintained relationships with students here. Kelley and Whitney have been so bold with sharing the Gospel and getting out of their comfort zone for the sake of furthering God’s kingdom. They are having great success with the Bible study they started a few weeks ago and are in the process of recruiting for Joint Winter Conference (JWC). Anna, Anna and Erin are doing ministry in Inca where I have spent the majority of my time. Luckily, Nammy, who is on staff here, had already started a bible study in this res. Anna, Anna and Erin have been trying to meet all of the girls Nammy hasn’t been able to, as well as build deeper relationships with the girls Nammy has already been investing in. I’ve been so encouraged by the way they are willing to direct surface level conversations into challenging spiritual discussions. They have been faithful to follow up with girls after Bible studies and our evangelistic meetings, challenging them to examine their faith. They have seen several girls confess they don’t have a true relationship with God, and they have been able to identify some barriers these girls have put up. Both ministry groups are praying and trusting that God will grow the seeds we have planted and bring many to faith through our efforts.

Week five for us is going to be all about recruiting people to Joint Winter Conference. The JWC is a three day camp that is essentially the culmination of our trip. We have developed these relationships and have had hard conversations with students in the hopes that when they are presented with the Gospel at JWC (or before) they would surrender their lives to The Lord. Please be praying for us as we would continue to push hard in these last two weeks. Pray that we have a since of urgency knowing that we only have a little time left. Most importantly, pray with us that students would be convinced God is better than anything else and that they would long to have eternal life through knowing Christ. Thank you all so much for partnering with us as we finish here. I pray through praying for us and supporting us that God would bless you in so many ways.

 

Hannah

That time we got to play with lions

Every Saturday our team does “Cultural Excursions.” Up until now these excursions have varied from Museums on South Africa’s history to going bowling at the mall. But the moment we have all been waiting for finally arrived. Saturday we went to the Rhino and Lion animal reserve. Which meant BABY LIONS!!

 We pulled into the park just in time for the big cats to be fed. When I say big cats I mean wild dogs (so not cats but whatever), Cheetahs and LIONS. We were able to drive into their pens and pull into a circle where they drop off food for the animals.

After watching all the animals eat, which was cool and kinda scary, we then drove through the park so that we could get to the petting zoo area. Once at this area the real fun began! We were able to get in the pens with three different types of animals. The first I went in the Eddy’s pen. Eddy being a full grown Cheetah.

               
 After that came the Servals. They look like normal kittens when they are small but when they are full grown the are the size of a medium dog and are not quite as cuddly.

We saved the best for last. We finally got to play with the baby lions! There were three of them and they were the size of dogs. It was so cool to get to be in the pen with these animals and not just get to look at them but to literally hold them. One of the girl cubs really liked my shirt. Well she liked the taste of it haha. She walked over and started biting it and ended up lying in my lap for a long time! To go from seeing full-grown lions eat lunch to holding a 6-month-old cub was surreal.

Well, yeah that was our day in a nutshell. Enjoy the rest of the blog! 

Cheers! 

Update Video 2

Malibongwe Worship Song...

One of the most exciting experiences I have had here has involved worshiping God in other languages.  As an African-American, I would like to think that I have ancestral roots in Africa.  I realize that the truth could be that my ancestors are from anywhere in the world.  Being educated in the U.S. and hearing of the horrors of slavery in the United States, I often have pondered if I have roots in Africa and how great it would be to visit Africa.  I think one of the greatest injustices inflicted during slavery in the U.S. was that the history and culture of a entire people was wiped away.  Some would argue that the African-American still has no identity.  I'm thankful that my ethnicity doesn't define who I am.  The gospel has given me identity.  That being said,  I see my time here as not a chance to identify with South Africans to validate who I am, but as an opportunity to share the identity that matters the most.  But songs such as Malibongwe give me opportunities to dream of what if's.  What if God, in His sovreignty, has brought me back to the land of my ancestors to hear His praise in various languages.  So this a video is from one of our meetings with the South African student leaders; the meeting is called CrossFit.  Enjoy!