SMASHed for Jesus

Jack, one of the students, sharing his testimony with the team.

SMASH Port Shepstone

SMASH (Students Ministering And Serving Him) is a missions trip we take every year with a group of 30-40 teens & young adults to take them outside of their comfort zones & expose them to missions. On the first day after going to the church where we were serving for the week and fellowshipping with the members for a bit, we had some training on how to share the gospel and your testimony. Quite a few of the students had never really shared their testimony before & it was so encouraging to see some of them get up afterwards & share what Jesus has done in their lives with the rest of the group.
David, one of the students, sharing the gospel with a vendor.


On the following two days, the team had the opportunity to apply the things they had learned as we went out to the surrounding community handing out invitations to the Family Fun Days and the Women’s Conference that we would be hosting later in the week as well as sharing the gospel. Over the course of those 2 days, we had the opportunity to share the gospel with 216 people on the streets, on the beach, at the taxi rank & in different communities and 52 of them trusted in Christ as their Savior! It was thrilling to see the students grow in their confidence as they shared the gospel boldly with others & saw God at work through them. We also had the opportunity to visit the hospital across the street from the church where we were able to visit with the patients. What a wonderful opportunity to be the hands & feet of Jesus as we shared & prayed with the patients.

Silvano sharing the gospel with some boys after the game.
Finally Wednesday & Thursday arrived, the days we had been waiting for; our Family Fun Days! We welcomed young & old to come to the church to enjoy games, archery, face painting, movies & food. The pastor of the church also performed a magic show in which he shared the gospel. During those two days, I had the opportunity to run a game similar to an escape room with two of the students. After almost every game done, we had the opportunity to share the gospel as we related the game to what Christ has done for us. It was such a joy listening to Silvano, one of the students, share with a group of boys as they hung on his every word. While the students & teens played their various rolls running games, serving food, painting faces etc, they took every opportunity to share the gospel & THAT'S what it's all about!
 
The one thing that stands out for me (Thato) is seeing someone sharing the gospel for the first time. That’s how it is for the teens who come on this trip. The growth that you see in the individual when they get to share is so amazing and all of them have their own story to share about how they see the Lord work. The teens that joined us to go down to Port Shepstone did very well through this trip & we thank the Lord for them. Please pray for them as they are back home now that they will continue to boldly share their faith as they did while they were on SMASH.
Thato did a great job leading our team for the week.
On the day before we left, we had the opportunity to hold another Women of Worth conference. We had over 80 ladies from different churches and communities. It was a great time of encouragement and fellowship as we again talked about sitting at Jesus' feet. I had the opportunity to teach a session on how to study your Bible as well as Bible journaling. The ladies commented that they were encouraged and challenged by the message to spend more time in God's Word & felt better equipped with more tools and tips to do so. They also has a fun time getting artsy as we spent some time journaling together. Thankful to the Lord for the privilege of sharing with these wonderful ladies!

While other teens were out getting smashed at parties during these school holidays, we were busy getting smashed for Jesus. By the end of the week we were all exhausted, but with no regrets. In fact, quite the opposite. We saw God do some BIG things. We had the privilege of ministering to 459 people & saw 55 people trust Christ as their Savior!
The dream team!

Please pray:

- That the Lord would continue to grow us, unify us, & use us in our marriage

- Ongoing discipleship relationships

- Thato's ministry at Bosasa

- That those who came on SMASH would continue to grow and share their faith boldly

- That those who trusted Christ during SMASH would continue to grow

- 5:05 ministry; that the Lord would continue to grow it & that many young adults & unchurched would come & receive the saving message of the gospel.

- Summer Camp (December 7-14)

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