Hello to you! What a crazy summer I’ve had. Besides the random spurts of transition and inactivity, my summer was jam-packed with action!
I look at the timeline of my summer and it is quite flabbergasting how God swiftly chugged me along by his good grace:
- Graduate from college!
- Move back to Arizona!
- Sent to South Africa for Missions!
- Go back to Arizona!
- Move to Florida!
- Start Pharmacy School!
I want to say THANK YOU to my Mission supporters for being a part of this unforgettable journey. Although you supported me specifically for missions, I believe that your love and care spilled over to the entirety of my summer. Thus, as cheesy as it may sound, this was not quite mysummer, but it was our summer. I will try my best to describe how God moved in our summer in South Africa. Soli Deo Gloria!
Note: I want to share thoroughly, so I decided to split up my testimony into 3 entries. The following is 1 of 3.
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I was told that there are three “mission fields”, as in where God is actively moving and even transforming, when we are on Missions. One: the actual people we minister to, in our case, the students in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Two: the people we work with, in our case, the team of ten KCCC members and the team of eleven CRU members. Third: myself, in this case, a girl named Gloria.
Mission Field One: Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
In case you don’t know, the main focus was to reach out to college students in Port Elizabeth. Basically we spent our time at the University and got to know the students. Our hope is that eventually, a Christian movement can start at that University. This is why the title of this site is “Pioneering in South Africa”; we are basically the first to go there and start a Campus Crusade ministry. See picture below for a glimpse of campus.
First impression of campus? “Oh my, there are a lot of monkeys… why are they looking at me like that?!?! Does it look like it’s going to pounce or am I being paranoid???” Haha. Apparently the monkeys on campus are like the squirrels or pigeons often seen at my home campus. I never warmed up to the monkeys, especially their stares when you’re holding food, but I suppose we tolerated each other. (see picture below)
A typical day on campus literally consisted of us going up to students and striking up a conversation. We simply wanted to make friends and see how God would lead the relationship. Through this, I can honestly say that I have met some amazing people and I do not consider the people I met as people I simply met and shared the Gospel to, but I consider them real friends who I do miss today.
Here are a few of my friends:
We visited a local church and the worship there was an incredible blessing.
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We invited our friends to a “Braii”, or Barbeque. There we sang songs, played games, and talked about the Gospel.
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These are our friends we met on the grass one day. We got to see a movie with them and even had a chance to talk about spiritual matters through a card game. How seemingly random and cool! We got to hang out with them and they even sent us off at the airport at 6am! They were really cool people.
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I met these girls on the grass and when they found out I was a student missionary, they started asking many questions about God. These girls were so much fun to spend time with and they were so eager to know more about God and were so willing to hear about the Gospel. I hope they continue to grow in Christ.
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This is our friend. She invited us to perform at the Arts Show! It was definitely divinely appointed that we ran into each other at campus the week before. We got to perform a song and do a skit representing the Gospel. And praise God, even backstage two people wanted to know more about what the skit was about and God led our conversations to the Gospel. Praise God!
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We met these girls through the Barbeque and they were really interested in having discipleship. Wow, their eagerness and hunger for God’s Word was so humbling. I wish I could have met with all four personally, but I trust that God is sovereign and will continue to be THE ultimate discipler.
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These are the friends we met at the orphanage. We got to play soccer, sing with them, and pray for them. I hope I have more chances like this in the future…
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More friends from the orphanage. Apparently they had never seen or touched hair that was like mine! Haha, it was “slippery” and they tried to braid it.
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The girls I met at the Bbq!
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Our friend that we met on the grass one day. She just happened to be sitting alone and had some time and showed us around the dorms. It turned out that she had been wanting a mentor/discipler and somehow we entered into her life at that time! How amazing. This was a picture on our last day. We had a chance to pray with her.
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We stayed in Johannesburg before we departed for Port Elizabeth, and to be quite honest, I was tense those first few days because I had heard a lot of stories about the country regarding crime and violence. But the thing is, there is still “life”. Like when people find out I lived in Cali for a bit, they ask if the earthquakes were really bad. And the answer is, yeah the earthquakes are definitely a threat to the people, but there is still life. It’s certainly not the best comparison, but to some degree I think the analogy works. In South Africa, and undoubtedly, here in the States too, there are serious issues such as poverty, single parenting, economic division and, well, the list goes on and on.
Lord, I pray that you would bring Eternal Healing through Jesus Christ and illuminate hearts with the light of Christ. I feel so helpless just thinking about how small I am, so I pray for mercy. Have mercy on our nations. Lord, I plead that you would raise up individuals to lead in a Christ-like manner and would facilitate in managing how to bring bodily and earthly healing as well. Lead me into action. Lead us all into action. I pray for mercy. Amen~
Overall, as I spent time on campus and in South Africa, I noticed the simple things that we have in common. The smile of a two year old baby. The smell of gasoline as the cars whiz by at 40 miles an hour. The athletes playing sports on the wet, green, grass. The professors lecturing in class while students pinch themselves in attempt to stay awake. The sound of rain tapping on the cement and the lingering smell it leaves when the sun comes out. There is life, and it is beautiful.
