Visit Alexandria

ma We spent 3 days in one of the poorest townships in Johannesburg. During our time there we helped renovate an office space at a non-profit organizations that employees African women and equips them to be financially stable. The women are taught how to make handbags and crochet blankets. The organization is called African Soul. I really enjoyed getting to know the women there and they taught me how to make a bag!

My African Brother

Spending time with Sbo. He lives at the guest house we are staying at with him mom. We pend a lot of time playing soccer in the backyard. I was able to attend his soccer game last weekend and it was really cool to see the difference between youth soccer leagues in Africa and in the States. The youth players are very good in Africa.

Lion and Rhino Park

Our Trip to the Lion and Rhino Park was exciting. I chose to pet a lion but others chose to pet a cheetah. This was a male white lion who was 7 months old. He already had really sharp claws and loved to chew on things!

Quick Update

It has been 3 weeks since I left the United States. Since then I have visited townships, museums, and even attended a Rugby game. I have seen lots of small vehicles and ate many new things (including chicken liver) but the most important time of my day is spent on the campus of the University of Witswaterand, Johannesburg. It is here that I have been blessed to meet many amazing people and built some meaningful friendships. Some of them are involved in the campus ministry I am a part of and others are students in the Residence Halls. Every conversation presents an opportunity to discuss God. Religion is something South Africans like to discuss. I feel that our team is open to talking about any kind of religion, even if we are confident that salvation is through Christ alone. Tonight we met with a student who is Hindu, her name is Ishara, and we chatted for about an hour. During that time we talked about Darshan and the Trinity. By asking about Hindu beliefs we were able to share about Christian beliefs. Darshan is how a Hindu devotee (believer) connects with a divine entity through the eyes of an idol. There is much more that goes into it but the eyes are always the most important part of the idol. In the Bible we are commanded not to make any "carved image" or worship idols. My ministry partner (her name is Kelsey) is a fine arts major with a concentration in Sculptor. I was intrigued when she told me that when she sculpts she has to be hypersenestive to what can be precieved as an idol. I asked her to explain more about that to Ishara. The conversation easily transitioned to the trinity because like Darshan, it is also a difficult concept to grasp in Christianity. During Bible Study this week, there was a student who had a deep, profound understanding of faith and the triune God. Her name was Remo. She brilliantly explained the trinity and I will try to paraphrase her words. Just as the mind, the body and the spirit of a person work in unison and agreement, so God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit work as one because they are ONE God even though they are all different complementary persons of God. WHEW! Anyway we were able to talk about the Triune God of the Bible tonight with Ishara. Hopefully tomorrow we will get the chance to hang out with her again. Other Highlights from the trip: We have had the opportunity to meet many students, we hosted a bbq (known as a Braai in South Africa) and over 100 students came! We have had a special opportunity to meet the women's basketball team at Witswaterrand and I hope it will turn into a fruitful ministry! There have been at least 2 professions of faith and many people attended Bible Studies this week and are asking good questions! Praise the Lord God is teaching our group a lot about his unchanging attributes through a study of the Old Testament. Our Theme is HIStory, focusing on God's story throughout history that reveals his plan of global redemption through Christ! Prayer Requests: That God would graciously allow us to share the gospel with those who do not know Him. There is power in the gospel! (Romans 10:14-15) There are many Christians that we have had the privledge of getting to know, please pray that God would continue to bless those friendships. That we would have opprotunities to study that Word and pray together. Pray for health, a few members of our team have fallen ill and many are beginning to feel a constant tiredness/exhaustion. Finally, I am so thankful that God has brough us here, it is clear that he is doing work in our hearts. Our aim is to be faithful to his calling to proclaim the good news of Christ. Campus Outreach is a great ministry to be connected to because they believe in the power of discipleship AND establishing believers in the fundamentals of having a relationship with God. This means that ministry takes time because it is important to build relationships. Once we have a relationship with the student then we will talk about Jesus (Who he is and why he came). Through this we come to know God's great power and His gracious love which leads us to worship Him! The greatest joy known to man is found in the worship of the one true God, in the adoration of a God who paid the ultimate price to rescue us from our sin. Check out 1 Thess 5:9-10 :) This weekend we will help renovate a community center in one of the poorest townships in Johannesburg. We will also attend church there on Sunday. No doubt, tt will be a powerful experience. I will write soon!

Our Team has a Blog!

I apoligize that I haven't had a chance to post anything to my blog since I arrived in South Africa. I have limited access to the internet. Here is the link to my teams blog which is updated regularly! www.ccpteam2012.blogspot.com

Enjoying the last few days in the States

With only a few days left before we leave for South Africa I have found myself strangely alone. I graduated a little over a week ago and it was a weekend full of excitement and celebration. My parents were in town and my coaches even came up to see me walk across stage (in my soccer cleats! Haha). Now the campus seems empty and I hardly see anyone I know. However I enjoy doing things on my own and even went to see a movie by myself for the first time. I realized that for the next 7 weeks I am going to be with 19 other people non-stop. They are all my good friends and I know I am going to have a great time with them, but I am glad I had some alone time prior the trip. It wasn’t too long ago that I hated to be alone. Jesus has changed that. No matter where I go or what I do, I know that he loves me. Spending alone time study the Bible is also really powerful. I have been studying through Hebrews this semester and I love it when I can just read through a couple verses and just take my time in the Word. God has grown me tremendously in my knowledge of His word. I am hoping and praying that God would use me to teach others to study the Bible down in South Africa. This missions trip has been a blessing in my life. The support raising has been huge piece of that blessing because I have been able to connect with people who get to share in the joy that God has in store for us in Johannesburg! I will be able to blog about once a week while I’m down there! So stay tuned for updates :)

Graduation Is coming up

Next week will be last full week of school! I have a lot going on right now, but I'm thankful that I still get to spend some time in God's word and being involved with Campus Outreach. It's sad that this will be my last semester with them. This ministry has done amazing things in my life. My testimony is basically this, God placed a Christian in my life and they just loved me and shared Christ with me. The ministry guided me in my walk with Christ and taught me about to study the Bible and Pray. It was on my first beach project that I felt really connected to a church.

It is so important to be a part of a church. We are able to be a body of Christ and reflect his amazing grace and be a light to the world. It is through the church that we have opportunities to serve/honor God and to be spiritually fed off good teaching from the Bible. Finding a good church can be hard, but this is a great website to help you get started: http://www.9marks.org/ I love my church in Greensboro! Its called Immanuel Baptist. This church has welcomed me and the pastor has poured our so much wisdom into my life. The women have been so encouraging and go out of their way to help me if I need it. One thing that has always stood out to me about Christians is how selfless they are. It's an amazing thing, because the focus is on Christ :) Glory, Praise, and Honor to him forever! haha

Anyway, I am excited to see what the church is like in South Africa! I know that we will be living very close to where it is located and we will spend a lot of time there on Sundays. Stay tuned for Pictures!

The joy of being Supported

If you know me, you know that I tend to talk a lot. However, when I am blessed to be on the receiving end of someone generosity...I am left speechless. It is a powerful moment to be floored by thankfulness. God has been providing for this trip in remarkable ways through friends and family. Last Sunday I had a young woman in high school who handed me a white envelope and said (with a beautiful smile), "I want to help you go to South Africa". I gave her the biggest hug I could manage and told her what a blessing she has been in my life. She has a lot of musical talent and has been singing during our Sunday services. It has been cool to witness someone so young, fall more in love with Jesus each day.

I met with the missions team at our church with Alex Wong (CCP team member), and I was praying that God would just give us the words and bring to mind Scripture that would help us to explain the vision behind the missions. Well God answered my prayer! I shared that going to South Africa is going to enlarge our hearts so that we are thinking of global redemption (Act 1:8) and have a heart for global missions. One of the best examples of short-term missions is in Paul's letter to Thessolica. The gospel took root and grew in the hearts of the young men and women in that city, and through them spread into the whole region of Macedonia (1 Thess 1:8-10). So the vision for the CCP 2012 group is that God would use us to build up Christians, who have a desire to glorify God by spreading his word and building up others!

Bill Moore is the Campus Outreach staff person who will be leading our team down there. Bill was also able to lead a team to South Africa 2 years ago. He traveled to South Africa last week so that he could get details of our trip sorted out. While he was there, he told me he was able to meet with some students who he met and mentored 2 years before. They had grown tremendously in their love for Christ and Bill was extremely encouraged by them. This just gives me clarity and excitement because God truly does have a purpose for us going down there and laying down our lives for others. I can't wait to go!

support raising Zebra Dance

The girls and I were just trying to have a quiet night at Caitlin's house, where we focused on support raising for the missions trip. God had something else in store for us though. This video captures just a little bit of the fun we had that night. God has been gracious to me by blessing me with solid Christian friendships in my life. We learn, grow, and seek Christ together. If you can...try to watch the Zebra Dance from my previous post at the same time as this one...hopefully you will see some similarities! haha

The Zebra Dance

A few girls who are going on the missions trip got together to spend some time working on support and hanging out...then we came across this video. That's when things took a random turn...see next post for details

The CCP Family

Here is the group of students and Campus Outreach staff I am going to South Africa with! It is a mixture of students from the Campus Outreach Charlotte Region. The schools that are represented in this picture are UNC Greensboro,UNC Charlotte, Davidson, Wingate, and Elon! I couldn't imagine a better group to go with. All these men and women have been to multiple Campus Outreach leadership training opportunities such as the summer beach project and new years conference! They all love the Lord and are working hard to bring Him glory.

South African Reality

3 Months Out

I am just an ordinary woman who is about to graduate from college, and yet I have been called to do something extraordinary. Today I am 3 months away from boarding a plane and heading to South Africa. Raising $6,000 has been a slow process but I have been encouraged by how many people have been moved to join my support team. My very first donation came from a woman who I had just met. She heard about what I was doing at an UNCG spartan club banquet. I was surprised and almost brought to tears when she told me she would like to donate $100 dollars. It wasn't about the money, although I was overwhelmed by her generosity. God brought us together! It is beautiful to see how He orchestrates everything and how He ultimately will provide everything for what He calls us to do. At 22 years old I cannot even begin to relate to the financial struggles of everyday life. I am thankful that God made us in a way that we experience joy through giving. I realize not everyone who donates will do it because of their relationship with Jesus, but I hope that as they hear testimonies about what Christ does in the lives of people...they will want in on the action and invite Jesus to take control of their lives. It says in Psalms 16:11 "you make known to me the path of my life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." We were created for fullness of joy and we find this in Christ, who is God. This joy never fades and we can never be separated from His love!