Fill Us Up, Send Us Out

We concluded our four days of training yesterday with a study on cross-cultural ministry. Today, we will begin putting into practice all that we have learned this week. We have split the 30+ young people who have been trained this week into three different teams, each sent into a different township. My group is heading to Daveyton, where we will be doing ministry in a squatter camp (an informal settlement). Justin and Wes will also be helping lead teams heading into Tsakane and a more rural settlement called Grootvlei. Please pray for our safety as we travel today, as well as for our ministry to the people in these townships. Pray that we would be an encouragement to the local church and that hearts would be moved toward Christ as the Lord works through our group. Thanks for praying!

Update

Just a quick update from South Africa. Thank you to those who prayed for Justin. He was able to see a doctor who gave him a shot (you will have to ask him where! :) and also got him started on some antibiotics. He is already feeling much better today. Besides Justin's minor illness, it is a praise and a blessing that our team has been very healthy so far on this trip. Sickness can often be a distraction from the mission on a trip like this, but we have experienced God's hand of protection from sickness as we had long, tiring days of travel, as well as in our adjustment to a new environment and new kinds of food here in SA.

We just finished our first session this morning called "Triple T" (Telling The Truth). We learned that our own personal testimonies can be a powerful tool in sharing the gospel with others, and we were given time to write out our own testimonies and share them with a group. It has been amazing to watch our students really embrace the community here at J-Life, as well as the teaching. I have seen incredible growth in each one of our students in just the first few days here as they are stretched and challenged outside of their comfort zones. And this is just the beginning. Please pray that God would continue to grow our students into maturity as they are stretched each day.

STeM Day 2

Today we woke up at 6:30am for a time of group prayer. It was great to unite our hearts together in prayer with believers from many different cultures and languages. We followed that with a time of personal devotions. We are studying the life and ministry of Christ for the next ten days--really exciting stuff! After devotions, we had a time of worship together as a group and then a group discussion surrounding the Scripture that we read for devotions. (And all of that BEFORE breakfast!). After breakfast, we had our first session of practical training for the short-term mission. We are on a short break now (it is noon here), and then we are heading back for another training session. It's been a very busy morning!

One concern for prayer...Justin has not been feeling well. He often has problems with inflamed tonsils, and he has started feeling an infection coming on. We wanted to take every precaution, so he has gone into town this morning for a doctor's visit and to get some antibiotics. He is really doing fine, but please pray that he stays healthy and strong so that he can continue pouring into our students. Thank you for praying!