Hey peeps!
First off let me apologize for not posting in a while! To be honest I’m not a huge fan of blogging so it’s hard for me to prioritize it when there’s so many other things I could be doing. But God is just so good I had to give a little update! 🙂
Location-
On March 4th our whole squad of 18 moved into a missionary house on the campus of a Christian school in Jeffery’s Bay, South Africa. It was a big adjustment going from rural Eswatini where we lived in multiple houses to the chaos of living all together and right next to a large school. At times it’s a total blast and other times it takes everything you have not to burst into tears… but through it all I have relied on the Lord like never before.
Ministry-
Upon arriving we were split into three teams which would each serve at a different ministry. We have an all guys team and two teams of girls. The guys team is doing a variety of manual labor but is primarily focusing on helping in the building of 30 missionary homes. One girls team is serving at a local preschool and the team I am on is working at an after school program called Beats and Books.
At Beats and Books the goal is to transform the communities by creating an environment where the local kids can thrive musically, intellectually, and spiritually. Students from grades 6-12 come after school and are provided a meal, a safe place to work on homework, and music lessons/tutoring. I primarily help with tutoring which can vary from Math in Afrikaans (google translate and my knowledge of Pennsylvania Dutch came in handy with this one) to English or History. It has been awesome getting to build strong relationships with the students and being able to pour into them spiritually.
Personal Update-
For the last year or so I have been praying for a deeper relationship with the Lord and he has so clearly shown me that He heard my prayers. Back at training camp we were all asked to read the parable of the sower as homework after a session. So the next morning during my quiet time I flipped to Matthew 13 and started reading. Often I have looked at this parable and thought man I feel like the rocky ground because over my walk with God I have often gotten super excited about the Lord and then slowly gotten distracted and stopped really seeking Him. But while reading it this one morning I so clearly felt the Lord say, “Stop associating with the Rocky ground, you are rooted in me!” The next morning our mentor came up to me and said, “Here’s your key!”… a few months before there was an opportunity to buy a key necklace to help support others an their fundraising. People pray over our name and engrave a word on the key that they feel the Lord speaking. I read the key and my jaw dropped, the word the Lord spoke to me that morning is engraved on the key… “Rooted”.
If I had one thing I had to sum up what the Lord has taught me over this trip it is the importance of being rooted in him, planted by the streams of water. He is where life comes from, where I get my strength and what keeps me from drowning in the storms. Like a tree I literally cannot survive without being rooted.
He is such a sweet God, and he reminded me once again of that this week. A few of us went to our favorite Christian coffee shop for a community dinner. The owners made us each a cute little place setting and on the back of our name was a unique little word of encouragement, mine read, “ Planted by the River of Life… continue to live your life in the Savior, Rooted and built up in Him…”
Anyhow, be encouraged that our God hears and sees you… even when it doesn’t feel like it. He is alive and longs for you to spend time with Him.
I love and miss you all!
Alicia
