The Journey

Mission preparation.

The month leading up to our departure for South Africa was a busy time for us. On January 1, after spending time at home with my family for Christmas, I headed to Pennsylvania for some missions training at a seminar called Perspectives. As the name implies, I gained many incredible perspectives on God’s mission for the world and how I can be a part of what he’s doing to spread His glory and fame throughout the world. My passion and fire were reignited in that week and God reaffirmed in my heart the desire to be a part of global missions. God opened my eyes in so many ways and I’m so incredibly thankful for the opportunity we had to learn from so many different people who possessed so much godly wisdom and experience.

After the seminar, we set off for Word of Life NY for their annual Missions Conference. During those few days, and the weeks to follow, I had many opportunities to share what God was doing in my life through this internship and encourage students who were considering being a part of this internship in the future. I also got to hear from many other missionaries and cross-cultural interns who expressed what God was doing through their ministries and what he was teaching them along the way. Overall, those few weeks since being back in the US were saturated with solid biblical counsel and wisdom, encouragement, and genuine care and interest in what God was doing in my heart and life.

Towards the end of January, I had the opportunity to be a Snow Camp counselor for a weekend. Honestly, I was a bit apprehensive going into it since I had not ministered in that sort of capacity since being a student at WOL. That may sound silly considering the fact that I had just spent a year ministering overseas, however, I had trouble thinking about the fact that I had just 48 hours to build relationships with my campers and minister to them effectively. However, just before the weekend began, God brought John 14 into my path and reminded me of the consistent presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. Verses 16-18 say, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you do know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” These verses were such a comfort knowing that I was not going in alone. The Holy Spirit’s presence, wisdom, and guidance was available to me every step of the way. He was not going to leave me stranded to fend for myself. During the weekend, 2 of our campers trusted Christ as their Savior and 2 dedicated their lives to Christ. How awesome! That weekend, I built relationships with and bonded with those girls quicker than I had with any other campers in the past. What a testament to the power of the Holy Spirit at work!

Bumps along the way.

During that time, we were also working towards acquiring South African visas which was not quite going as we had anticipated. We were not able to get in contact with the officials that we needed to talk to and things were moving slower than we had hoped. Even after making a trip to NYC to visit the office in person, we did not make much progress since the person we needed to talk to had not come to work that day.  But the same verses that comforted me during that Snow Camp weekend continued to resonate in my heart during this struggle. I clung to the fact that God had not abandoned me and that I could experience peace in the fact that he had a perfect plan in everything that was happening.

It’s funny how shortly after going away from our trip to NYC with no progress, I was finally able to get in touch with people over the phone and received my passport and visa back less than a week later. Though I still don’t know exactly why God delayed the process for us, I know that he is sovereign and that his way is ALWAYS better than mine. In that delay, I was able to spend precious time with friends and family who I will not see again for a year. Even in times of struggle, God is good and there is always a blessing to be found.

Life so far.

I have now been in South Africa for three weeks now and am so overwhelmed and thankful for the privilege to be here. God has taught me so much in these few short weeks and I’m so thankful for the relationship I’ve been able to build and the daily ministries I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of. Shortly I will be sharing more specifically about those ministries and how God has been shaping my heart, for now, I’ll end with one of my favorite verses that continue to prove its truth to me since I’ve been here. “Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to his power that works within us” (Ephesians 3:20).