What I have been up to...

This past Tuesday and Wednesday our team lead a camp for some young adults in Ingwavuma. We wanted to inspire them to volunteer and get involved with community. They all had dreams and aspirations, they just needed to hear that they could do it!! A lot of them wanted to know how to share the Gospel.

I met a girl named Amanda. She was very outspoken and had eyes to see where a lot of her community's needs were. She wanted to see changes and she really has the personality to do it! When our camp came to a close she was crying. One of our ladies went over to see what was wrong and it turns out that being with us Amanda realized that she had not delt with the pain of losing her two younger sisters and aunt in an accident last year. We were able to pray with her. She left smiling and excited to be apart of her community changing.

While someone else was with Amanda I was with a young lady named Cwalile (pronounced with a click). I went over to her because I felt like I was supose to pray for her. I asked her what I could pray for and I expected her to say for her family--she wanted to see them as believers in Jesus. Or I thought she would ask for boldness to witness because she had mentioned earlier that she wanted to be able to tell more people about Jesus. Instead this 17 year girl who wanted to be a nurse when she graduated asked me to pray that God would heal her of something in her blood. She said she was very sick and had been for a few years and though she could not explain it in english, she said something was in her blood. She asked that I would pray for her faith because the sickness had affected her faith. I prayed so hard for her in those few minutes that God would heal her, that He would be glorified through the healing and that her faith would only increase and see her through. She said thank you and walked away smiling.

At church on Sunday I sat by my friend Sean. He was telling me about what he was reading in the Bible and behind us sat our team leaders. They were talking with a young lady that said it was her first time to church. She was holding her bother's baby and telling Liz and Daneli how our team came into her school and gave her a Book of Hope. She read through it and was triggered by the part about a future. She asked her sister if she could go to church with her and so she came.

These are just a few stories of some of the lives the Lord is working through. Thank you for your support. Please pray for the above ladies, I know they would appriciate it! I love you all!

Ingwavuma, South Africa

Greetings from Africa!!!

So we have officially finished our first week of schools!! I never thought making a fool of myself in front of kids would be so much fun. They laugh a lot and they sing beautifully. They teach them when they start school to sing and they do it all of the time. Most of their songs are about worshiping Jesus. It takes my breath away listening to it. Ashley White you would love it here!!!!

In case you want to find me on a map I am living in Ingwavuma, South Africa. I am here until Friday and then I will be heading around South Africa with my team leader, Daneli. We are leading a 10 day team and should be back to Ingwavuma October 9th.

Last week we went to 7 schools and we had an oppurtunity to visit a men's prison. About 50 men and boys got to hear how Jesus loved them very much and that He had a plan and a purpose for each of them. After that me and 2 other ladies went to a hospital and read a kids book about HIV/AIDS to about 20 mothers and small children. I got to hold an itty bitty baby and pray for her.

I will put more pictures on here as soon as I can. Internet is really slow as you can imagine :)

I forgot to ask...Josh, how did your wheat bread work out for ya?

The children are beautiful and they smile, when you get it out of them. Please pray that Jesus would meet them where they are and that they would read their books. I love you all very much!! Thank you for all your support!

So this is it Kiddos!!

After 2 1/2 weeks of training we are ready to head out to the children!!! We are all very excited. We head out tomorrow (Friday) at 10am and we drive what should take 7 1/2 but probably will turn into around 9 hours to a place 5k from Swaziland. The team will be there for 3 weeks, but me and another lady named Daneli will be venturing out on our own to lead a team of 15 people for 10 days. Then we go back to our team and visit more schools. But before I go....pictures as promised :)


We went on a safari around the Game Farm!!!

Sunsets are beautiful EVERY night.

This is me during one of our very exciting classes. I am sitting by my friend Sarah from Alabama. Sadly when we divided into teams she was assigned to the other one :( I won't see her again for 2 months. The guys is Matt. He is a leader and will be doing a lot of traveling by himself.

This is us traveling into town. Traveling will be a little tighter than this. The girl I am sitting by is from Miamisburg, Ohio so I might be traveling home with her in December!

I don't know when I will get to post again. Please pray for the hearts of the children we will be talking to and for unity with our team. Thanks Friends!!

I made it!

So I've actually been here for a couple of days but I haven't been able to get access to the internet. All together it took us 34 hours to get here...."here" being a Game Farm. That's right kids I live on a Game Farm. This means while eating breakfast we watch giraffes scurry across a large dry field. It is beautiful! Our plane ride through Africa took 18 hours with a 1 hour gas refueling in Dakar, Senegal. I felt the affects of jet lag last night when I couldn't fall asleep until 3am and got back up at 6:30am. Needless to say today was a little rough. We are taking a week and a half to train here and then on the 12th we head out to are different locations. We will mostly be in South Africa with a chance of moving up north to Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, or possibly into Lesotho. I was told when I got to Florida to expect to lead a team sometime in May but recently found out I will be leading one Sept. 28-Oct.8. Where to I do not know :) Side note: we are 6 hours ahead of you.

The more I learn about Book of Hope the more amazed I am. "To affect destiny by providing God's eternal Word to every child and youth of the world" They live and breath this. And now do I. 5% of the kids in S. Africa go to church. Which means 95% of them do not. 1 in 10 people are affected with HIV/AIDS. There is a sick dilusion going through the country that if you sleep with a virgin you will be healed of AIDS. So rape is high. Kids having sex is starting regularly aroung the age of 12 or 13. So child rape is high. Also a lot of these kids have either lost one or both of their parents to HIV/AIDS. Please pray that our message of Hope and new life in Christ would penetrate the hearts of the children we meet. They said we will be going to the poorest places that they haven't been able to reach yet. Pray that the children and communities would reach out to Jesus to provide for their needs and that they don't rely on and become dependent of the Americans.

I hope to add pictures soon but have to wait until we go into town. I think that will be on Tuesday..? Rule #3 of missions work: Be flexible. I love you all!

What this is all for...

Three Stories

This link leads to a video that tells of 3 lives that were drastically changed because of Jesus. They were reached with the Gospel through Book of Hope. I have the privilege of being on the front lines. My job is to go into schools and hand out thousands of copies of the Book of Hope. I get to see the faces of the children as they are receiving God's Word, sometimes for the first time in their lives. I get to reach out to literally the fatherless, the child prostitutes, the sick, the dying and all with the message of hope that they are special...that they are loved...and that Jesus has the power to conquer anything and everything.

The world doesn't just need food to feed the hungry or clothes to warm the naked. This world needs Jesus.

I heard a quote today, "If you will hold the rope, I'll go down into the darkness" That is what you are to me. You are the support I need to go to the dark places. I could not do this without your help and without your prayers. So thank you.