 |
| Ash with some of her girls in a first years Bible study (The girl on the far right is a Hindu girl who comes to Ashley's Bible study, Pray that she trusts Christ as her Lord and Savior) |
“These
differences in lifestyle (and many others, which we may not be aware
of) affect us at a very deep level. Sometimes we don't even
understand the forces at work on us. We find that we are quite
emotionally unstable. One day we feel pretty good. The
next day we will feel quite depressed for no apparent reason. We
often feel that we have no extra energy. When we return from
work, all we can do is collapse on the bed."
This
quote is from a book that I have been reading about reaching out
across cultures and bridging the cultural gap that exists between us
and I think it really exemplifies well how we feel right now. We
would be lying if we said everything over the first 2 months has been
easy and wonderful, although at times they have. As the quote
says we have days where things are simply amazing and days that are
honestly hard to make it all the way through, whether it be
emotionally, spiritually, or physically. We have seen God do
amazing things, 5 people have come to faith in Jesus Christ so far,
we have shared the Gospel with over 100 people, and many others have
gotten involved in our ministry and are starting to get discipled.
We have been able to start 5 bible studies with people we have
met and have seen God do some really cool things. However one
of the main things that always looms majorly over our heads is the
spiritual darkness of this place. At the Westville campus,
where I (Nick) am currently spending most of my time there is a
Muslim call to prayer at the Muslim mosque on campus where the Imam
prays over a loudspeaker and you can hear is ll over campus. Walking
around we see women who only have their entire bodies except their
eyes covered. Hinduism is also very prevalent here among the
Indian population and it presents multiple barriers to the Gospel as
they are very universalist in their ideologies,
thinking that all ways lead to God . The prosperity
gospel, which essentially says if you become a Christian God will
make your life easy and you will be rich and never suffer hardships,
is very prevalent and leads many black South Africans away from truly
worshiping God for who he is. There is also a religion called
shembe which is quite prevalent over here and it is close to the
truth but yet so far away. Walking around on campus or in the
community can truly weigh on you as you think on and dwell on the
spiritual darkness all around us.
At
the same time God is working in incredible ways. Ashley and I
do love the people here and do love that God has called us to be here
even though it has been hard at times. As I said before we are
seeing people come to faith in Jesus Christ which is the most amazing
experience. We have seen new people coming around any getting
into Bible studies and Ashley has met multiple Indian Christians and
I have met one or 2 as well. We are really praying that the Indian
Christians can reach out to their Hindu and their Muslim friends in
ways that we might not be able to. God has surely shown us that
he is the same God here in South Africa that he is in the US and that
he is ever faithful. We are constantly reminded of 1
Corinthians 15:58 that
says
"Therefore,
my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor
is not in vain."
Thank
you for making it possible for us to be here. God has already
grown us in ways we did know he would and has already used us in ways
we did know he would. As a result of your faithfulness in
supporting our ministry 5 More South Africans will worship with us in
Heaven for eternity! On to some cool stories and prayer
requests
 |
| Ashley and I spending some time with some of our students, 2 are from South Africa and 2 are from Zimbabwe |
Cool
Story 1-So I was on campus walking around looking for a guy to share
with and I saw a young guy sitting by himself, which is always a good
sign that he has time to talk! I went up to him and asked him
if I could talk to him about spiritual things. His name is
Nkanyiso and he said yes we could talk. I have honestly never
met anyone who knew so little about God or the Bible. I asked
him if he knew he could have a relationship with God and he said if
he could he really wanted to. I shared with him who Jesus was
and how through Jesus we could come into a relationship with God and
he prayed with me right there to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and
savior! Pray that as I follow up with him he would grow in his
faith and would see everyday more and more just how much God loves
him.
Cool
Story 2-One day Ashley went out sharing and met a young girl named
Nomusa and shared the gospel with her. She was not a Christian
and didn't know much about God however she was very interested in
what Ashley told her about who God is and how Jesus died so that she
could come into relationship with God. Although she did not
accept Christ on the spot she took the booklet we give out and said
she would really think about what Ashley said. A couple of days
later she went to one of our Bible studies that is set up in her dorm
and ended up saying she wanted to accept Christ as her Lord and
savior. When one of the leaders asked her if she k we how she
said yes because this white American girl shared with her how she
could know God! It is so great to see God bring people from
death to life in Christ, and Nomusa ended up coming with us to our
student camp this past weekend, God is awesome!
|
Prayer
requests-
-Pray
for energy and wisdom for Ashley and I as our schedule looks
different here than it does at GA Southern. As we adjust and
adapt to life here, pray that we would have wisdom in how to use our
time well
-Pray
for our team, we have 1 other full-time staff and then 4 part time
people working on 3 different campuses, Ashley and I are on 2, and
because everyone is at different levels of involvement it makes
working together a challenge at times, so pray that we would love
each other well
-Pray
for our Bible studies as many of them are in the startup process.
Pray that God would use them and grow them for his glory and
that students would grow in their faith and love for The Lord as a
result of our bible studies.
-Pray
for community for Ashley and I, we haven't met too many people our
age that we can be friends with which has been hard at times. We
have found a great church and have been able to get involved in a
community group which has been very refreshing
-Pray
for my (Nick) rugby outreach, I have been going to rugby practice in
the evening for the university and trying to reach out to students on
the team, it has been a challenge at times because rugby culture is
very unwholesome to put it mildly. Pray that I would have
opportunities to share with the guys and that God would use me in
that team to make a difference for his kingdom. I have been
able to share the gospel with a few people so also pray that God
would work in their hearts to draw the, to Himself.
Sorry
for the long post, but thanks so much for everything you do , for
your support in prayer and financially, that makes what God has
called us to do possible. South Africa thanks you for
everything you do, Ngiyabonga Hamba Kachle! (Thanks and Goodbye!)
-Nick
and Ashley
PS
You can always check out all of our pictures on our shutterfly site
at http://naborsmissiontrips.shutterfly.com/
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