November Newsletter

Hi , Another month has passed here in Cape Town, and while some things have gotten a little easier other things have gotten more challenging. For one thing the weather is really improving, I have actually had the privilege of being hot once or twice in the past month and the days are getting longer as South Africa  moves into their summer. On the upside and downside, Christmas is coming. This is usually  my favourite time of year, unfortunately  listening to Christmas carols is particularly painful when you’re missing home but  I am looking forward to having a South African Christmas and just might get to spend  some of  my holidays at the home of one of my South African friends. Right now my longing for home. and all things Barbadian is one of my greatest struggles. Last month I also struggled a lot health wise but I am happy to report my persistent cough is now gone and I am now back to being 100%.        Justice Bakes This month we are not only discipling but baking!! We have just started baking once a week with two women from our community who will be part of our Adopt-A-Girl programme. For now we are hoping that the money earned will help our two ladies to provide for their children this Christmas. Clothed in Righteousness   “    I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,       My soul shall be joyful in my God;       For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,                     He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,       As a bridegroom decks himself  with ornaments,                                                    And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”                                                          Isaiah 61:10 (NKJV)  In our Women’s Bible Study we have been focusing a lot  on our identity in Christ, as a continuation of that we used Isaiah  61:10 to talk about how God clothes us in a new identity  and views each of us as His bride or bridegroom. We usually start each session with a fun activity and this week we started with a bridal shower game where the aim was to create a bridal gown using toilet paper, we had a great time as a group and in my teaching I was then able to relate our activity with how God clothes  us with a new identity and through Jesus we are made pure in His sight. Last time I wrote we were in the process of choosing a location for our safe house to be opened early next year, well we have found a house and now all or our attention will now be on furnishing/decorating and creating an official safe house programme. Things are starting to slow down as we move into the holiday season but I am sure I will have lots to share about my first South African Christmas and all the preparations we at Justice ACTs are making for  the opening of our safe house.    Faith

Memoirs of A Wannabe Missionary: A strange thing happened to me today

Memoirs of A Wannabe Missionary: A strange thing happened to me today: "Ok so today was just one of those days where I experienced such a wide variety of emotions,ooo when I was up I was soaring on the wings of..."

A strange thing happened to me today

Ok so today was just one of those days  where  I experienced such a wide variety of emotions,ooo when I was up I was soaring on the wings of eagles and then  an hour later I was like a deer caught in the headlights.

It all started with my prophetic check-up...yes you read correctly. On our base you can  arrange to have an individual  prayer time with  members of the prayer and worship department where they wait on God to see what's on His heart for the person they're praying for..so they pretty much prophesy to you for 40 minutes. For me this time brought some much needed encouragement and confirmation for what I feel God is doing my life right now....which is kind of scary because I have to rethink some things.God is up to something,I had a feeling South Africa would be a training ground for other things but I don't think I quite understood the importance of this time here,before I also felt like God was calling me to the nations, not just one specific country...believe me in the last couple of weeks I've been trying to pull a " Jonah", telling myself I'm ready to settle down,I was in some serious denial. Anyway this leaves me with a lot to think about...in an exciting way I think.

Then I had a deer in the headlights moment...I will not go in to details.

In the evening I grabbed my jacket( honestly I did!!!) and headed off to base worhsip,about  a 10 minute walk on a chilly Cape Townia afternoon. On the way I had to stop to buy electricity..you can buy electricity like you  buy airtime,you get a slip and you enter the number in the electricity box( I don't know what its called).So I stopped to buy electricity and met a lady who has visited our community Bible Study,I'm assuming she lives on the streets,I chatted with her,gave her some money for food,prayed with her and was about to leave  a when she offered me a jacket,I quickly responded with a no thank you I already have a jaaacket?Looked down and realised that I no longer had a jacket...it must have dropped somewhere along the way...I just thought it funny,some can call it coincidence but I choose to believe God was in it,just the irony of  me thinking she's the one in so much need,meeting her need and in the process me having an  unexpected need met...the vicious cycle of giving,everyone gets taken care of.

I just thought it was funny...oo I 'm thinking of doing a post about foods from the mission field so look forward to that,and a recipe for chocolate crunchies.

Till next time!

Faith and absolute certainty don't go hand in hand

It just occurred to me that last week was one of those weeks where God spoke and came through big time!! He always does  but this time He really got me.

Some people may think that because I got to South Africa I have this faith thing under control...not so my friend. The call to walk by faith and not by sight is such a perfect expression because it really is an ongoing walk,one minute you have the faith to move mountains and 30 minutes later you're sick with worry about  a particular situation.You are CONSTANTLY challenged to live by faith! I like to believe I have faith and a pretty decent amount of it...oy that sounds a bit vain,but the truth is I do think that a good set of the time.But then I noticed how I would get anxious in situations where I know or rather believe God has spoken to me specifically and my excuse would always be " well I'm  not really sure it was God "...!?!? I can't believe that I really used that excuse because the requirement to have faith  is because we are never certain about anything. If  I was always sure about the end result of anything I wouldn't need faith to continue,if God spoke to me in a big booming voice about everything I wouldn't need as much faith as when He speaks in  a..still..small...voice shhh.


All of that was to say this,my phone was stolen about two weeks ago and I frankly did not want to buy another phone so what did I do? I prayed about it  and I felt like God told me to wait...wait on God for another phone?! Maybe I was just hearing things,I'm wasn't really suuuure it was God.So rather than get a new phone I decided to wait..I waited and waited,I thought a new phone was going to come in one way and it didnt...I had not only asked God for a phone but I also told Him that I needed one by the next Friday because I was taking a team out and figured it would be the responsible thing to have a phone.So when I didn't get the phone the way I thought I was going to I started to have heart palpitations.

To make a long story less long ( I'm too far gone to make it short )  I didnt' need the phone by Friday because Friday we did not go out as planned ( another God thing) aaaaaand my ex-roommate was leaving SA and gave me her phone.


Now I have a phone and I am also reminded that fear does not go alongside faith and if I was sure about every single thing I wouldn't need to have faith :)

"Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat......"

..please put a penny in the old man's hat
if you haven't got a penny a half penny will do

and if you haven't got a penny,God bless you!!!

Well if you're still curious about what I'm on about,Christmas is coming!!!! Christmas is honestly my favourite time of year,I'm not as into it as I used to be ( gift buying just got too stressful,you can't buy  the same kind of gifts you bought when you were 13).But man there's something about those Christmas carols,the food and most of all family coming together....ooooo and lights,gotta have Christmas lights.

Unfortunately the anticipation of Christmas has brought little spasms of homesickness , I heard "lil drummer boy" playing in the supermarket and I nearly had a breakdown.This will be my second Christmas away in a row...and I have no idea what my holiday season will look like. The base is officially closed for Christmas and a lot of the staff are headed home  so I don't know who will be around and I don't know if I will have the money do do anything with the people who do stay around... sigh,Christmas.

But my housemate encouraged me that our house will have lights,and I may splurge on a santa claus  hat..maybe a piece of ham.That's  one of the many Christmas traditions back in Barbados,ham in bread with a little hot sauce. I've eaten it every Christmas morning for as long as I can remember.  We also make rum cake...I think the English call it a fruit pudding or something,either way the two are pretty similar.If  I'm feeling really adventurous I might write home for recipe. 

On the upside,I do get to enjoy a South African Christmas !

Well that's it,I just wanted to have a small rant about Christmas...hopefully we will be having a Christmas party for the women who have been coming to our weekly community Bible Study, pictures and news will follow..I think.

Ciao!!

The Highs and Lows Part 1

Ok its been waaay too long since I've posted something..so here goes.
 
Last week was a very interesting  week,I was bouncing off the walls for the first couple of days and by the time Wednesday came around I was just about ready to zone out...I definitely learned that it is not good experiences that can or will sustain us when thing get a little challenging or better yet,mundane.

Since I have been here I have met a couple of other women who are hoping to work with girls in the community and last Tuesday I had the opportunity to sit and talk with them about starting a ministry in a nearby  township.We prayed about it and  just felt like God was birthing something in us,it was truly an amazing time of prayer and I walked out of there on cloud nine,excited about what God was going to do through us.I mean I was just soooooooo excited I thought I was going to trip over myself :)

But that great experience on Tuesday could not keep me for the rest of the week and surely enough by Wednesday I had found something to be anxious about.Friday I was going to be leading some students in doing prostitution outreach on a nearby highway( for the first time !!!) and the more I thought about it the more nervous I got.I don't about you but when I entertain anxiety for long enough I start to feel sick to the stomach,just wishing that the day would come and go.

Looking back on it I really don't know what I was worrying about because its not about me at all,I always find that when  I put pressure on myself to make something happen in ministry I get very very anxious,to the point where I have no peace in my everyday life.And honestly I don't normally  realise how important that peace  is until I have lost it,I must confess that my head had gotten so full of plans and ideas that I really was not spending time with God like should have been and once that connection or flow is broken you're asking for stress...the Tuesday time with God had been great but after that I was running on my own fuel.
The more you pour out the more you need to be poured into my God...there's a song by Sara Groves that says it perfectly," I'll never be a light unless I turn my eyes to You" and that my friend was exactly what I needed to do.

Thank goodness God doesn't wait for us to get our acts together.Friday night's ministry went really well,there are some things I know I will have to change and adjust by this Friday's outreach but it was a great  start nonetheless.

Lata! 

 P.S......

Our prostitution outreach ministry is based on building relationships with women who are in prostituion, its not a formula and  we go out there knowing that it could take weeks before a relationship is started but its about pursuing these women with God's love the way God pursued us who are already believers.We usually ask the women their name,whether they have families or not,that kind of thing...trying to genuinely start a relationship with them.This one particular lady was really open to our questions,we prayed for her and she just responded in so much love and we were all hugging and she was crying it was such a special moment and afterwards she gave us her address so we could come visit her.Sooooo hopefully this week we will be doing a follow up visit and who knows what will happen from there.

Its hard to hear women's stories though,because  we talked to this woman and you realise that you can't fix her problem,that even after weeks of relationship building and praying she could still be in the same situation. But my hope is in Christ,what He did for me I know He can do for these women and its that hope and that light that we're offering these women when we go out.