Hello!!!!

You are probably hoping for an update for our trip to Lesotho. Unfortunately, I am unable to give this to you. In case you did not know, we were planning to leave on Saturday to go to Lesotho to live at an orphanage for two weeks. However, this did not happen. Throughout the few weeks leading up to the trip, many things happened that seemed to be closing the doors for the trip. On Friday, the vans weren't working properly and the money for the trip had not come in from AIM yet. We spent the evening in prayer and decided that we were not going to try to leave the next morning. We decided that God really wanted to keep us here in Jefferys Bay.

So here we are! Still in Jefferys Bay!

Also, I was able to go to the Deo Doxa Braveheart Youth Camp last week! Well, let me just tell you, it was amazing! The Lord was so faithful to us in our prayers for the youth. We stayed at a camp near one of the entrances to Addo Elephant National Park. It was a beautiful camp. The cabins were nice and the facilities were great. There was a pool, a ropes obstacle corse, a bonfire area, and a hall (that's a "chapel" in America). The week started out a little bit cold, but it was so much fun. The first night we had worship and a talk around the camp fire. After that we blind-folded all the kids and led them through the bush in the dark (There were about 30 students participating in the camp).  When we arrived at our random destination, Hencor (the youth pastor) talked to them about bravery (at least I think it was about bravery. it was all in Afrikaans). Throughout the week they talked about topics such as bravery, freedom, love, and healing. We also had a ton of fun playing games, and doing team builders. The youth were divided into four teams; and each team had to come up with a team name and a creed. My team was called the Christ Warriors. One of the days we played water games and it was so much fun and perfect for that day because the weather was so HOT!

The first three days we were at the camp, each of the kids had to carry a stick around with them EVERYWHERE THEY WENT. Wherever they went their stick had to go with them. If they were caught without their stick they would have to do something emberassing like sing a song in front of everyone. On Wednesday evening, the pastor gave a talk about guys and girls. He talked about how girls just want to know they are beautiful and worth fighting for; and how guys want to know that they are man enough and strong. He talked about because these things are never instilled in us, sometimes our hearts are wounded. So the talk was given around the camp fire and the pastor told everyone to think of something in their past that wounded them and use their stick to represent this wound, and throw it into the fire. Many of the students were freed from their past and healed from their wounds on this night. It was so amazing to see God's freedom so clearly.

On Thursday evening (our last night at the camp), the pastor, Lorens, gave a talk about bravery and freedom. This talk was concluded by Hencor shaving his head to represent bravery and freedom from the past. It was incredibly powerful. After this, Lorens told everyone to get a partner or someone they really trust and pray over them for bravery and freedom. Throughout the evening many people prayed for each other and it was amazing to see how much they love each other. One of the girls in my group, Helene, accepted Christ for the first time and became a Christian. Chains were broken and people were released from their burdens and things that are holding them down. Lives were changed on that night and God answered our prayers for the youth ten times more than I could ever have imagined.

So much more happened during the week, it is too much for this simple blog page. If you would like to know more, please feel free to e-mail me.

Because we are not going to Lesotho these two weeks, our leaders decided to make it a bit more intense than normal days in Jefferys. For example, we went to a mountain (or if you are from Colorado, a hill) and we climbed it yesterday. It was called a surrender walk. It was amazing to go into the wilderness by myself and climb a mountain (don't worry, mom, i wasn't completely alone. everyone was withing eyesight). I learned to surrender my future plans to the Lord among other things. We are fasting and praying today. It has been so great already and we have another week and a half. Please be in prayer for the days to come that we will be challenged and humbled before the Lord.

Well, this is the life of a missionary. Or, rather, the life of a missionary in Africa! No plans can be set in stone. God likes to keep us on our toes. Praise the Lord!