Home.

Wow, I’m actually home! The last two months have gone by incredibly fast! I don’t have much to say right now but I thought I should let everyone know I was home and safe if you didn’t hear already.

It is very odd to be back home. Talk about culture shock! I am still very much in a haze and don’t know what to do with myself here. I hardly recognize things. I feel very lost. Everything I had become accustomed to in Africa is gone. It is all different. But one thing is not: God’s faithfulness. He is the only constant; Everything else is a variable. So while I do not understand everything going on around me and do not feel very comfortable, I must hold on to the One that never changes.

Seeing God’s Power

Dumela!

 Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted. Since my last blog, we have moved on from Leratong, which was sad to say goodbye, and have begun relationship evangelism in Intabazwe. We also have the “Thrive Trip” here now. It’s a group of 14 young people just like my group but they are only here for two weeks. It has been good to have some new faces around.

Today was our third day doing relationship evangelism in Intabazwe. Intabazwe is much closer to us than Qwa Qwa. It is only about 30 minutes from the base. We have been spending the mornings there, and the afternoons working on the base. During our past few days in Intabazwe, we have witnessed some amazing things. Yesterday, we visited the house of an elderly woman who said she had high blood pressure, could not move her arms well, and could not walk. She told us that in 2008 a group like us had come to her house and prayed for her because she was bedridden. Ever since then, she has been able to get up from bed and move to her seat in the kitchen with the help of her family. But she also explained to us that life was not easy for her, it was miserable. So, before we left we prayed for her—that she would be healed and be able to walk and have full mobility of her arms. She was very grateful and thanked us many times.

Today, after visiting a new house, we stopped by to check on the woman that we had prayed for. When we walked in, she was overjoyed. There was a huge smile on her face and she was simply glowing. It was amazing to see her so happy when just the day before she said her life was miserable. She told us that she was able to sleep better than she previously had and that she felt much better than yesterday. She showed us how she could now move her arms around freely and we noticed that her foot and ankle were no longer swollen. She said that she could walk a little bit if she used the table to support herself. We also recognized that her hands were not shaking as she moved pots around. Yesterday, she could barely lift the pot and she was constantly trembling. We were ecstatic to see the work of God in the healing of this woman. We plan on returning to her house every day for the next couple weeks to check on her and continue to pray for her. She said that tomorrow she will be waiting for us outside and we told her that she will hopefully be able to walk to church on Sunday (church has been coming to her since she cannot walk there). It was just amazing to see the healing power of God!

Also during this week, the 24/7 interns (year-long) and the Thrive Trip group have been doing the same thing in Qwa Qwa. About a month ago, the 24/7 interns were in the same area and prayed over a woman who had HIV and was basically on her deathbed. She could not move or talk. While they were walking around yesterday, they ran into her on the streets. She was up and walking! She told them of how she had been healed and could now function normally. It was another amazing story of the power of prayer and the power of God.

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Thank you to everyone from KCC that sent me letters! I just got them today. They made my day! You have all been a huge part of this journey and I could not do it without you. Once again, thank you so much!

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 Prayer Requests: • The continued healing of the woman we have been praying for in Intabazwe and of all the people our groups meet throughout the next couple weeks. • The health of our team and the Thrive staff. It has been getting very cold again and people are starting to feel under the weather.

Thank you all so much!

 Dallas

Leratong Orphanage

Dumela!

So today was our second time visiting an orphanage in Qwa Qwa called Leratong. “Orphanages” here are a little different from ones back home. Many of the kids in the orphanages here aren’t actually orphans. Rather, their families cannot afford to support them or are not treating them well. So, some kids actually go back home or to a relative’s house during their breaks in school such as the one that they are currently on. Thus, we are working with the kids that are staying at Leratong over their winter break.

Like I said above, today was our second day at Leratong. My group (me, Stephen, Matt, Kaitlyn, and Ashley) is working with the teenagers/high school aged kids, which is kind of weird since I’m still in high school myself but I think it helps me relate to them better. We’ve been teaching them lessons out of one of Thrive’s curriculums called “Living with Purpose.” In those lessons, we’ve been focusing on talking about their identities, who they are as God’s children, and how God can use them. Many of the kids in situations like these feel like they can never make anything of their future, but what we’ve found in our group is that most of them do have goals and dreams. In fact, most of them want to do something with their lives that benefits others. Just goes to show that they understand how they can use their own life experiences and struggles to help other people who may be facing similar situations.

The first day that we spend at Leratong was last Thursday. To be honest, I didn’t really feel like we were connecting with the kids very well and I had my doubts as we prepared for returning today. However, I asked God to just give us the words to say and to open their hearts to receive his message. While we were driving there, I felt very calm and relieved about it all. I knew that everything would go smoothly and that it would be a more successful day than last Thursday. My worry was gone and I had a clear, open mindset going in. While we were teaching our lessons and playing games with the kids, I noticed that they really were getting into it more and we were all connecting better. Even when it seemed like our group of guys wasn’t really paying attention, they were honestly trying to understand it. This was evident when one of them, who seemed a bit disconnected from the group, asked us to explain a portion of it again. While this may have been due to my lack of explanation, it was encouraging to see that he was trying to comprehend the lesson instead of just ignoring it.

Last week, we gave everyon journals and allowed them to decorate them to make them more personal. So, today we had them do a little craft project to go inside their journal. (they seem to really like crafts and are pretty artistic). The project was to cut out a shape of something that had significance to them such as the shape of Africa, or a soccer ball, cross, heart, etc. Then we gave them some questions that they could write or draw answers to on their shape. The questions were something along the lines of the follwing:

1. What is something you like about yourself? (an attribute, ability, talent)
2. Who is someone who has had an influence on your life / your hero?
3. What is your life goal?
4. Who is God to you?
5. Favorite Bible verse.
6. What is the proudest moment of your life?

While working on the project, a 13 or 14 year old boy named Thabang listed my name as someone who has influenced him. I didn’t realize that he looked up to me that much. He really liked to play hacky-sack and soccer with me, but I was not expecting to be listed as an influential person in his life as I have only spent two days with him. Nevertheless, I was honored and encouraged by this. It once again assured me that God was working through us and impacting the lives of the young men we were interacting with. I’d say that today was an overall successful day at Leratong and I look forward to spending more time there in the weeks to come.

Dallas

Farewells and Hospital Ministry

Today was fun, yet a little sad. We went to say goodbye to the people we met this past week, but a lot of them weren’t home. Our friend Bosh, who seemed to be our best relationship, was away in a different village. So, we were disappointed that we couldn’t say goodbye to her. We were really only able to visit a couple people we met. We went back to the elderly ladies’ house that we met yesterday. They were happy to see us again. Then they told us that their grandchildren had come home the other day and were very excited to tell them about the Bible story we taught them. We all found this very encouraging! We were so excited that we had already seen a positive result of our children’s ministry day.

Hospital ministry was interesting for me. I really liked talking to the men there. One man (I don’t remember his name but it started with a T so I’ll call him “Mr T”) was explaining how his colleague had poisoned him and his girlfriend, then stole his clothes and left him to die. Thankfully he and his girlfriend were both fine now. The man that poisoned him was still on the run, but Mr T was confident that he would be caught. What I found interesting about him and his story was that he wasn’t concerned about his body or his physical condition. Rather, he seemed so hurt that his colleague, his friend, would do such a thing to him. It showed to me that sometimes we expect someone with physical impairments to only be hurting physically. But we need to recognize that the pain is often deeper that that. Sometimes the hurt in the heart is worse that the hurt in the body. Through further conversation, we found that he knew Jesus and he acknowledged that God loves him, and that He even loves the man that poisoned him. I think that talking about the ordeal helped him process his emotions, and was very beneficial for him. Then we prayed for him and moved on to see other people. He was very grateful for us being there and praying for him.

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Answered prayers:

• My roommate Stephen is completely better. It seemed to just be some 24 hour bug. Thank you for your prayers!

 

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for “Mr T” that we met in the hospital. Pray that he would remain in God’s care and that he would let go of any resentment towards the man that poisoned him.
• Pray that the people we met this week would be at church on Sunday and that the seeds we planted would continue to grow.

 

Thanks!

   Dallas

Relationship Evangelism and Children’s Ministry

Today was our second day doing relationship evangelism. It has been very interesting. It seemed a bit awkward to simply walk into someone’s house (through the back door) and explain that we’re from America and just want to build relationships with people in the area. However, the people were very inviting and hospitable. We got to talk to a lot of interesting people. They were all funny and engaging. Mostly we just asked about their lives and culture, which eventually led to discussing beliefs. Side note: many Basothos who claim to be Christian actually mix some Christian beliefs with traditional beliefs that involve ancestral prayer and such. Thus, when they say they are Christians, we often need to ask more questions clarifying what that means to them. What we found was that all the people we talked to were Christians who were not involved in ancestral worship or prayer. Today, we even met a young man (age 24) who was already a leader of his Christian church. He had a lot of encouraging things to say. He explained that he was nervous about being chosen for a position of leadership at such a young age, but that he overcame that and is now very comfortable.

Today was also my ministry group’s turn to do a children’s ministry day at one of the churches in Qwa Qwa. We played lots of games, danced, and sang songs with the kids. They really enjoyed the chicken dance! Then we told the story of Daniel and lions’ den. They were extremely attentive and really got into it. After the story, we asked questions and gave stickers if they answered correctly. Those kids love their stickers. Then it started snowing! Everyone got really cold, so we just kept playing games to stay warm. Also, once we started taking pictures, all the kids would fight over who got to be in the pictures. They really like seeing their pictures on the screen. They all run around screaming “shoot! shoota!” Then, some high school aged guys let me play soccer with them. We played “monkey in the middle” with a soccer ball. I’m not too good at soccer, but they liked getting me involved and kicking it to me, possibly just to laugh at me, but it was really fun.

I would say that the last couple of days have been really fun and interesting. I have learned a whole lot about Basotho culture and how to interact with them.

                                                                                                                        

Last night was super windy! Our cabin was literally shaking. Our ceiling isn’t very solid, so the wind goes through it, making a lot of noise. It’s quite difficult to sleep. We’re pretty much just waiting for our roof to blow off.

                                                                                                                 

Prayer requests:

• One of my roommates Stephen was very sick today. He was throwing up and could hardly eat anything. Pray that he would feel better.
• Please pray that God would grow the seeds that we planted in peoples’ lives today and that more and more kids would come to the church this week.
• Pray for all of the local people who are living in small, cold houses as temperatures drop, and snow begins to fall.

Our First African Church Experience

Today was our first time at an African church in Intabazwe. It was a small building surrounded by tin and brick houses. I’m pretty sure half of the congregation was wearing some kind of South African/ World Cup apparel and there was even a South African soccer jersey on the podium haha.

Upon entering, we sat down and were greeted by the pastor. Music began nonchalantly and people began standing up to sing and dance. All of the children were seated in their own section and were very well behaved, as most Basotho children are. The small church continued to fill with people until it was full. On stage, there were 3 singers, 1 drummer, 1 bassist, and 1 pianist. All of the singers had amazing voices! We spent about an hour singing various songs, mostly in Sesotho. Everyone got really involved in it–singing at the top of their lungs, dancing in the aisles, and proclaiming prayers and praises. In between the songs, members would come to the front and give testimonies about recent occurences or anything positive happening in their lives. After the singing, a man came up and gave a sermon based on the moving of the ark. Throughout the sermon, a woman translated into English as quickly as she could. One of the main lessons that I took from the sermon was that God doesn’t want his Spirit on “your donkey” (as in, the moving of the ark), but rather he wants his Spirit in you.

 

Overall, it was a great experience! The entire service was very energetic and worshipful. I look forward to visiting another church next weekend.

Dallas

First Week In Africa

Dumela! (hello in Sesotho)

So it is currently 8:30pm Saturday night here. This week has gone by extremely fast! But I am sooo glad the flights are over. My team is awesome! We all get along very well and have had way too many laughs in such a short time. Upon arriving, we got situated in our cabins and got ready for dinner. They served us authentic Basotho style food. We had steak, melee pop(?), and salad. All the meals have been delicious! (no, I’m not starving mom).

It rained on our third day here. Which made it very cold. But the other days have been very nice. As long as the sun is shining, its not too bad…yet.

We spent a couple days taking some classes about the Basotho culture and some of the ministries we’ll be doing this coming week. We are planning on doing relationship evangelism in Qwa Qwa next week and holding a kids ministry day at the church there one of those days.

Today we climbed Mt. Everest. Thats right, Mt. Everest! Its one of the 3 mountains on the base. Ok, ok, its not THE Mt. Everest, but it was still quite the hike. Its actually the easiest of the 3 here, so I look forward to getting to climb the other ones.

The base itself is very cool. There are lots of animals such as zebra, wildabeest, springbok,  deer, ostriches, wild horses, and some other ones I can’t remember. I have yet to see the zebra but I’m sure I will. Today was the first time I saw the ostriches. They were quite interesting. Currently there are hunters in parts of the base so we’ve seen a few slaughtered animals (got some good pics). There are also a lot of random house cats all over. We find it quite amusing.

While doing a team building exercise on a low ropes course, everyone pointed out how long of arms I have. So they have deemed the “Dallas Reach” as the newest unit of measurement haha.

Ok, this is getting way too long. I shall end it soon.

And don’t think that I haven’t been doing anything useful this week, cause I know that’s how it sounds. I’ve actually learned a lot already…but I’ll save that for another time

Prayer requests:

• that God would help calm all of our nerves about relationship evangelism next week.
• that God would help us learn more about ourselves and our identity.

 

ps: pictures take a really long time to upload on here so I’m not going to try right now. Maybe I’ll see if Facebook is faster

Okie Dokie,

Dallas

In Paris

So we made it to Paris fine. The flight wasn’t too bad. There were games and movies to entertain ourselves with. I got a couple hours of sleep on the plane, and a couple on the airport floor. Still very tired.

Its about 4 o’clock here and everyone is pretty wiped out. There’s not much going on. The most exciting thing happening in this airport is when the segway guy goes by. Our next and final flight is at 11:20 pm and its about 10 hours. Hopefully I can get more sleep then…

I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get internet again, so until then, farewell.

-Dallas

Final Thoughts

As I get all the final preparations together before I leave Sunday, a lot has been on my mind. I’ve been thinking about what I want to get from this trip, and what I want to give.

What I want to get from this trip:

I want to get a more defined mindset and a more refined heart. I want to better understand God’s will for my life and what I can do to follow that will. I want to come back as a changed man. I don’t want to be the same as when I left. I want to be a better man.

“So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding.” Hebrews 6:1a

What I want to give in this trip:

I want to give all that I can. I want to do my part in bettering the lives of the Basotho people in any way possible. I want to serve when I’m tired, when I’m energetic, when I’m hungry, when I’m thirsty, when I’m sore, when I’m strong. After all, that is the main reason that I am going. Too often I tend to focus on what I’m going to get from this trip and forget that the purpose of me going is not for my own benefit, but for the benefit of the people I am going to be in contact with. As long as I serve joyfully and zealously, I will learn many things as a result of that. It will come no matter what.

“Whenever you are able, do good to people who need help.” Proverbs 3:27

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” Romans 12:11

Leeland – “Follow You”

I feel like this song accurately describes my mission and desire to ‘follow God into the world.’ For faith without works is dead.