The Continued Africa Experiment

The Continued Africa Experiment

Ash with the girls she disciples at Howard Campus

Hello everybody-We hope everyone back home is doing well.  Ashley and I have currently been living in South Africa for almost 4 months now and it's crazy to think its already been 4 months.  We are daily adjusting more to the culture and the way things are done over here.  Although I don't think we will ever fully adjust in just one year, we have been feeling more at home and feeling like we have more energy and less exhaustion all the time.  Although there are many challenging aspects of the culture here, we have also been reflecting on the awesome parts of this culture and things we want to bring back home with us.  Every church we have visited is incredibly welcoming; after every service people stay behind and have coffee and tea and biscuits (some sort of cookie) and socialize and get to know each other.  Nobody leaves right after church because the feeling of community is incredible.  We also spent all of Easter weekend at other people's houses, most of whom we had known for less than 2 weeks at that time simply because of the overwhelming feel of hospitality and love they show one another. It got me asking the question "How do people who walk into our Churches for the first time feel?  Not about the message, but about the people?  Do they see loving and caring people who genuinely want to make them feel welcome and loved through Christ?"  I am not sure I know the answer to that but the fact that I can't overwhelmingly say yes still worries me.  When someone new comes into our Bible study do we immediately have them over for dinner and show them the love of Christ whether they know Him or not?  I have definitely been challenged by this norm over here to try and make this the norm for us when we return to the States because I do believe this is one thing the American church is lacking and needs to take a lesson from the South African Church.  Now onto some ministry updates...

Me doing Bible Study with Johannes and Mark

-Ashley and I have been able to launch 6 bible studies this semester.  We are hoping to double that by the end of our time in South Africa but we have been so excited about what God has done this semester alone

-Ashley has been able to get involved with an orphanage called iThemba Lethu that cares primarily for orphans either affected or in danger of contracting HIV which she has been really excited about and is an awesome opportunity to display the love of Christ

-We have recently been able to share with a lot of people as God has provided many opportunities to share our faith.  Pray as we follow up with people that God would open their eyes to their need for Jesus and that they would trust Christ as their Lord and savior

-Many of our student leaders have started to understand how they can minister to others in their spheres of influence and are planning on starting their own Bible studies in the new semester which is incredibly exciting for us!

God is awesome story 1

One day at the end of a long day Ashley had some time before I was done at Westville campus and even though she was exhausted she decided she would go out and try and share the gospel with one girl.  She walked up to a girl named Lindy and they got in a conversation.  At first it seemed she was a Christian, she knew who Jesus was and went to Church.  However, the longer Ashley talked with her the more she realized she had never heard the gospel that we are saved by grace and not by works and as they started going through the Bible, she was very interested.  When Ashley asked her who was directing her life, her or Jesus she said she was still very much directing her own life but she didn't want that to be a true of her. She did not trust Christ as her Lord and savior at that moment but she took all the material Ashley gave her and said she wanted to go home and really think about what Ashley told her.  This was very recent and so pray that Ashley would be able to follow up with Lindy and that she would eventually surrender her life to Christ!

God is awesome Story 2

So I (Nick) have been recently discipling a guy named Joel who is from the Congo (DRC) and is in South Africa studying.  He speaks French and has a hard time with English but we have been able to get past the language barrier and communicate fairly well.  Joel is a solid Christian and he has been bringing his friends to our times together so I can share the gospel with them because he has a hard time explaining it in English.  Recently Busizwe is one of those friends Joel has brought around.  Busizwe was not a Christian and he thought because he sinned he couldn't be a Christian.  As I walked him through what grace meant and what Christ's death on the cross meant for him he was so excited because he had never heard it explained that way.  Busizwe has now trusted Christ as Lord and savior and is now going through follow up material with Joel and I.  Pray for Busizwe that his faith would be genuine and that he would continue to be excited about growing in his faith.

Prayer Requests

-Pray for the guys that I (Nick) am following up with that I met at an outreach we did recently would see the truth and become Christians!

-Pray for the people that have become Christians this semester would genuinely get involved in our ministry and that they would grow in their faith

-Pray for our National Student conference coming up June 25-28.  Pray that many students would come, they they would be able to raise funds to go and that we would do a good job planning the conference.

-Pray as we plan the American Summer project coming over July 7th-August 6th.  Pray that we would have wisdom in planning and that the mission trip would have eternal and lasting fruit.

-Pray for perseverance as we finish up this semester on campus

Me with Lwanda, one of the guys I disciple at Westville campus

We are so grateful for each and every one of you as you have made what we get to do possible through your support and prayers.  Because of your faithfulness to the Lord, God is drawing people nearer to himself and bringing people into the kingdom of Jesus Christ through faith in Him!  Thanks for everything you do for the Kingdom of God!

In Him, Nick and Ashley