Hey peeps, what’s up?!? I know it has been awhile since I have posted on here but the last few weeks have been crazy. So here is what I have been up to:
1/23 fly to Cambodia
1/24-27 in Cambodia for Awakening
1/28-29 fly to South Africa
1/30-2/3 in Durban for Debrief
2/4 arrive in Maseru
2/5- 8 started ministry
2/9-11 went into the mountains and did village ministry
2/12-present continue ministry also celebrated Valentine’s day
You may have a few questions, like what is Awakening or what are you doing for ministry this month? Well I’m about to answer that for you.
Awakening is a AIM conference that they have World Racers attend when there are a lot of squads in the same geographic location. So, this past January there was 4 squads in south-east Asia; X-Squad, Y-Squad, A-Squad, and Gap N, so all of us got together and spent time with each other and the lord. AIM also sent some of their staff to Cambodia to preach and share with us. We did different things like evangelizing, prayer, and worship. Awakening was a great experience for my squad especially because we are at our half way point and some of us were starting to feel burnt out. The Lord did a great work while we were there. A lot of people asked for prayer, healing, and revelations from the Lord about their futures.
For me Awakening was great because I love getting to meet new people, share stories, and getting to worship the Lord. During Awakening the Lord also revealed in me a little bit more of what his plans for my future are. One night after service people were up front asking for prayer. I felt like I needed to go forward so I did. Before I even started praying I felt like the Holy
Spirit quietly just came over me and continued to give me a desire to go to Law School. Now for those of you who know me you know one of two things. First, when the Holy Spirit has a revelation for me it is usually this big, drawn out, emotional, crying, snot everywhere process. Second, I have wanted to go to Law school for a bit now to become a child advocate in court. So, this experience with the Holy spirit was definitely interesting just because it was different than any other that I have other had but it was also great because I felt like this was the Lord confirming that I could go to Law School. Now I am not sure what any of this looks like with the timing of me attending school. All I know is that I immediately started praying to the Lord and felt his peace. Awakening was also one part stressful because I was in charge of all of the money for my squad for this week. So that meant I had to go to the ATM multiple times to pull out enough money to pay for everything and make sure all of that money was receipted correctly. The cool thing though is that in Cambodia they use USD as their currency so it was great again to be using American money.
Now debrief was similar to Awakening by the fact that it was very restful and a great recharge since some of us were feeling burnt out. Durban was beautiful and the resort that we stayed at was so close to the water! So, we got to spend a lot of time hanging out with our squad and experiencing the Lord by his beautiful creation. The people of Durban are also super nice. We had to take some people to the doctors since they had been sick and the ladies at the front desk were so nice in calling a bunch of taxis for us so that we could get back home. And once when we were at the mall we couldn’t get our Uber app to work and so we asked this couple if they knew how we could get ahold of a taxi and they informed us that this was not a safe area to get a taxi then they proceeded to offer us a ride. So, my friends and I got into their car and they dropped us off at our resort! How cool is God?!?
Your also probably wondering what my ministry this month in Lesotho looks like. Well we are teaching again! Surprise!! However, this time we aren’t just teaching English we are also teaching other subjects. This month my team and I are volunteering at a local high school for students who have been kicked out of the Government schools for various reasons such as; teen pregnancy, drugs, fighting, low grades, or not enough money to continue to pay for school. We are teaching them all of their subjects like English, math, science, accounting, business educations, History, bible, and life skills. I am teaching them History! Right now, they are learning about WW1 and how Europe recovered after that war. Sometimes though they are learning about African history which can be super interesting since I no zilch about African history.
Teaching at this school has really opened my eyes to what a privilege it is to have an American education. The school that we teach at is made up of trailers on a plot of dirt with broken desks and chalkboards. No running water or electricity. There oftentimes are not books for the teachers to teach out of let alone books for the students to learn out of. I have been lucky enough to have a book to teach European history out of and the one time I had to teach African history I used notes that a teacher wrote in 2014. It’s incredible to think that currently right now every child in my high school has an iPad with all of their books that they need for ever class on it and that they can turn in majority of their school work on that iPad. It’s also crazy to think that all of the teachers had a MacBook given to them to use for class, a projector, white board, and markers, as well as what seems like an unlimited amount of paper and copiers to give worksheets, quizzes, and tests. Not to mention all of the lab space science teachers have to conduct experiments for example that the students can understand. Whereas right now my teammate is struggling to explain to her students negative and positive charges and pulls because the students have never seen a magnet to understand what a negative and positive charge is. Even with all of this the students here are great learners. These students understand that this is their second chance at their education and that the teachers here want them to succeed. The students who attend school here often feel rejected, unworthy, and like they are not smart enough to graduate. It has been incredible to hear the stories of how the teachers here pour into their student’s life’s to make them feel loved and cared for. Which in turn makes the students feel smart enough and makes them want to try and understand the classwork.
Another part of our ministry this month is getting the opportunity to go up into the mountains and evangelize to the community there. This past weekend my team did just that! We went about two hours up into the mountains to a little village and stayed with the chief. We had the privilege of going house to house in the surrounding villages to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Most Sesotho people know about Jesus because Lesotho is a Christian nation but not many of them know what it means to have a relationship with Him. Also, some Sesotho people also believe in ancestry worship. So, most of our weekend looked like coming into people’s home and sharing our story and how the Lord had changed our life and encouraging them to do the same. Often times the people accepted our message and wanted the same for their lives and sometimes we would pray for healing. Two of my teammates got to witness a miracle of a lady who’s back was hunched over and that she was constraint to her chair after praying she was able to stand up out of her chair and raise her hands over her head which she could not do for months! We also got to attend the local church. Most of us shared during church and a couple of us got the opportunity to preach. I preached about Joseph and how God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (I would love to tell you about this someday, just ask me!)
The mountains were beautiful and getting to live in them for the weekend was truly a gift. It was a great way to start our second week of ministry which concluded with us celebrating Valentine’s day by making Mexican food and eating dinner with our host. We were also able to have dairy-free brownies and cookies while we watched One Night with the King!
I’m enjoying my time here in Lesotho so much, this country is so beautiful and the people are more beautiful. I cannot wait to see what else Africa has in store for us. Please continue to pray for my team and I was we finish out our month here in Lesotho.
