The outreach was so amazing! On Saturday we had our off day and we got to go to the Big Hole in Kimberly and the museum with all the diamonds. So that was fun! On Sunday we went to the church that we were going to be working in. It was in the informal settlement. It was really amazing! The church is mostly made up of children. There is about 15 adults and over 200 children and the worship time was probably the best I have ever had! It was just so cute! Staying all together was so great! It made us more of a family as we sat around playing cards all night!

Monday started out our outreach and my team did Muslim outreach first. We basically just walked around downtown Kimberly, split off in groups of 2. There are a lot of foreigners there and we were just supposed to start conversations with them and if it ended up on religion then we would just get to know their religion better. The first day didn’t go super great. Later, Ina and I had a conversation with an older lady from South Africa who sells fried fish on the side of the street. She had her two grandkids with her and it was just a really good experience to start conversation out of nothing. By the end of it we were able to pray with her and it was just so wonderful! You could really see the joy in her face.
Tuesday we had the kids program. There were about 45 kids. We started out by introducing ourselves and showing them where we are from on the map and they loved that! We sang songs and put on a puppet show for them. They didn’t really understand the puppet show though, especially the younger ones. English isn't their first language. After that we just split them off in age groups and played games with them. It was a lot of fun just to get a chance to play with them and love on these kids who don’t get much of it at home. I could have just sat there for the whole day and let them play with my hair and they would of been completely fine.
Wednesday we did practical work for the pastor. His family and ministry is incredible! They left a normal life to live in the informal settlement much like the people do and have 3 foster children from the camp. We started making them a house out of home made bricks and clay. It was a lot of fun with the team! We got slightly carried away with playing in the mud when it started to rain but it was a lot of hard work!
Thursday we did Muslin outreach again which went a little better than last time! By this late in the week people were recognizing the the white missionaries around town and where approaching us asking us what we were doing and we had some really good conversations! Friday we did practical work again. Most of the girls were planting gardens. It was really great to be able to give that to the community! It was slightly frustrating at the point when there was just trash everywhere and when we are digging in the ground we just kept finding more of it under the ground with nowhere to throw it away. But it was so great having the little kids come and try to help us dig as they sang the songs we had taught them. Friday afternoon we got to go to a mosque. Imam showed us around and we were just able to ask him a bunch of questions. It was a really great experience!
Saturday we split up girls and boys. The girls had the kids and boys had practical work. It was the best kids ministry we had! We had most of it all translated into Afrikaans for the kids by one of our leaders and I feel like they really got what we were telling them. We sang a lot of songs and did a puppet show, then split them up to do crafts, face paint, obstacle course, games and songs. They are such loving children! I really miss them! After the games and everything we just played with them. I was holding one of the little girls and she just fell sound asleep in my arms! It was so precious! We were able to give them all lunch and icy pack and candy before we left. Saying good-bye was so sad. Some of the guys stayed back to work a little longer and said the kids were still singing the songs after we left! We left early Sunday morning and made it back at the base at 2:30! It was a really amazing week! We all really felt like God used us in amazing ways in Kimberly.

This coming Thursday night 5 other trainees and I are taking a bus to Durban for Christmas! We are so excited to get some beach time and experience a completely different culture in Africa! We will be staying with the Skinners who ran the MMT week so I am really excited to get to know them on a more personal level. They are an incredible family! It still doesnt feel like it should be Christmas with the hot African sun! Pretty sure the beach wont help but it will be a lot of fun! I will miss you all and I wish I could be ice skating and exchanging Campbell cousin gifts but I know I am in the right place!

After training I will be going to Doors of Hope in Johannesburg. They have installed a "hole in the wall" or "baby bin" in the wall of the Mission Church, where babies can be placed 24 hours a day. A sensor alerts the people in the house whenever a newcomer has arrived. They come to fetch the baby and will thereafter begin caring for him/her. However, not all babies come through the "door of hope". Sometimes the police bring them, a desperate mother will hand over her baby personally, or hospitals phone us to pick up little ones whose mothers have disappeared after the delivery and leave their babies behind. If the mother is available to counsel with, they then take her through (if she agrees) to the Commissioner of Child Welfare in order that she can sign the baby over for adoption. This cuts down on the time the baby has to spend with us before going for adoption. Within the first few weeks we get the inoculations up to date and by two months of age an adoption, medical, and blood tests for HIV, Syphilis, and Hepatitis B. Once all these are in place the baby can be available for a family and the matching begins!! By June 2007 they had helped over 560 babies about 50 of whom came through the hole in the wall, and almost 200 have gone for adoption. The children we care for vary in age, size, and health. Each child is an individual and each child needs unconditional love. I will most likely be working with all the age ranges. I am so excited for this amazing experience and to give these babies love!

Thank you all so much for your prayers on this past week! We really could feel them! Love you and miss you! Merry Christmas!!!!!

MMT week was incredible! It was a long, exhausting 7 days of intense training but it was all worth it! There were a lot of new people who came for just that week and it was great to meet everyone and share in the week with them! We were split off into teams each representing a different country and we had to present that country at the end of the week. The team I was on was Spain. It was a lot of fun! We decorated the hall, got all dressed up, and shared about the great need in Spain with some fun included too. Emmanuel (one of the guests) and I did a flamenco dance together. It was slightly embarrassing but really fun. During the week we learned ways to present missions to mobilize churches and about the persecuted church. It really impacted all of us and opened my eyes and heart for the church and the needs around the world. I really feel called to go to these closed off countries and share God's love. I wasn’t too excited to go home and go to school but I really feel God has given me a big peace about this and I am excited to come back and start school to study Special Education. There is such a great need in these countries for special ed. teachers and it's a great way to get into these closed door places. I'm not sure where God is taking me but I'm so excited to follow.

Friday the 10th we leave for our World Faith outreach in Kimberly and come back Sunday the 19th. I will be a co-outreach leader and I am very excited/nervous! Please pray for me and my team! The whole group will be staying together but split up each day rotating what we are doing. We will be doing Muslim ministry (We aren’t too sure what this means but I think it's just getting to know the people and learning about their faith). We will also be doing children's ministry, and practical work in the informal settlements. It's about an 8 hour drive to get there. Please pray for safe travel and for us to have an impact in this city for God in these next 2 weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you all so much for your prayers for the team and our healing! We have all made great improvements in healing. I am feeling so much better! No more crutches and I was able to move back to my room last week! I still can’t run but i am hoping soon I can (we will see if I really do though). When the rest of the team got back it was one of the happiest days ever! They really have become family and having the life back on the base is incredible! It was just a big hug fest going all around. Hearing all of their stories of what God had done through them was awesome! Although it was hard not to be there with them I am so happy they got to have that time to serve and grow closer to one another. Please continue to pray for the healing for the girls. Deborah’s arm is healing with less pain each day, Tabea is still having strong headaches and Ema is feeling much better but has to go back using her crutches and has to rest a lot to allow her bones to go together which is very hard for her to do.


Last week in class we learned more about missions in a biblical view and understanding cultural differences. This week is continuation of that along with world religions. This is all building up for next weeks Missions Mobilizing Training (MMT). No one has given us a real idea on what it will be because they “don’t want to ruin it for us”. Its a lot of practical learning about different religions and lots of putting it into practice. I am very excited about it. I have talked to past trainees and they always say MMT week was one of the hardest but best weeks they had.

Last week they told us about the mission opportunities we have after training. There are so many wonderful ministries and I ask you to please pray for me to be led to the right one. I am so excited to see where God takes me! I should know by my next post and I can let you all know! We are all so sad this day is finally coming that we have to say good-bye to our new family. We came in as strangers and we will be leaving the closest friends not knowing when or if we will see each other agin. (we always have heaven though!!)

I am so happy to tell you that we will be having an Inner City outreach! The dates are changed to January 4th-16th. (4 days before graduation). They are still working out details for our World Faith outreach. So please pray for that! It will be at the beginning of December.

My room has been attacked by bugs continuously for the past few nights and I have more mosquito bites than I ever have had in my entire life. We are spraying our bug spray almost chocking ourselves out of the room and keeping up our neighbors but we are having a lot of fun with it and bonding with each moth attack on Elisabeth. December 7th is American cultural meal! We have to make a power point and try to rap up Americans cultural in 15 minutes and make a food thats a traditional meal. We are going to try and attempt to make a Thanksgiving meal! Which means me and Lisa will do it all while the boys watch but it will be a lot of fun and we are very excited.


Thank you once aging for all your prayers! I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Minor Bump in the Road

     Hello! I am sure you have all heard about the accident but I will fill you all in the best I can! Sorry if the first half has a lot of details and ends very vague. It just means I lost my patience. I just want to start off saying thank you so much for all of your prayers!!! God is so amazing! Prayers from literally all around the world.
       We left Thursday morning at 5 for the outreach. It was raining most of the time but we were making great time! We stopped for lunch much earlier than we excepted. It started to rain when we were eating so we jumped back in the car and took off. Me and the Elise (the girl sitting next to me) decided to get some sleep before we got there so we leaned back and closed our eyes (I was sitting by the window seat 3rd row and I praise God I didn’t rest my head on the window). At about 12:30 a cow stepped out on the road a and truck going about 120kph swerved to miss the cow losing control on the wet road (sunny at this point though) just missing our leader in front of us smashing into the side of our 15 seater van (on my side). My eyes where closed so I just remember being hit but not knowing what was going on. It hurt but I didn't register the pain. Everyone jumped up and I think I tried but I felt the pain and grabbed Elise’s arm. When I opened my eyes I say Ema (in the front row) with blood on her face. I couldn't move because the pain was so intense on my lower back wrapping to the front. The window was gone next to me and people where getting out of the cars on there hones just looking in a me. One of the leaders, Solange, got me to lay down with my head on her lap just praying and keeping me focussed on her. It was hard because Tabea who was right in front of me was passed out and everyone was trying to wake her up. The people who weren't hurt were great help comforting those who were or just badly shaken up. Our team nurse was able to check everyone but couldn't get to me so Linda, one of the girls on the team is a nurse, so the boys were able to put her through the window to check me out and take my blood presser and pulse. She kept me focused and got my breathing slowed down. After about 30 minutes (ha gotta love Africa!) the ambulance showed up. They had to put me on the stretcher through the window (which felt so dumb and completely unnecessary). They took us to the state hospital, which if you know Africa, thats the last place you want to go get care. They checked me out not even giving me an X-ray, gave me a pain shot in my stomach, said I was good to go, and gave me a wheelchair while just watching me struggle until one of my team mates jumped up to help me into it. Please pray for those hospitals! They have so many people there who need care and cant do it because of lack of money, recourses, and education. When Ema got her X-ray back there was a crack on her hip but the doctor said it was nothing; thats when Charmaine the nurse got us in the care for a private hospital over an hour away. It was Ema, Deborah, Tabea, and I. It was a long wait in the hospital but it was amazing care. Tabea and I have major bruising to our pelvis, Tabea has a concussion, Ema has a cracked pelvis but not too bad and Deborah has a broken arm with a pinched nerve and is in the hospital now. We got to stay at an amazing B&B sort of place with each of us having our own room with an amazing view of the mountains and city for only R800. We have been so blessed. We joined the group friday morning. It was so great to see them all! We had counselors and split off in groups to talk about what we felt and what we experienced to get the full picture.  Friday was just so great to be with my friends and and just laugh (even though laughing is painful it was amazing!). Im really learning to ask for help. I hate being the baby having people get my food, helping me in the shower, and getting dressed but oh well...I am my Father's child. We arrived back on the Saturday late afternoon. The rest of the team got to continue with the outreach! Sad to say no one is in Somerset. The remaining 4 on our team joined Belfast and they were all excited to get out there! We are so happy for them and can’t wait to hear all the stories of what God is doing in Gazankulu. Jaminah, Finn, and Roberta also stayed back. Finn and Jaminah and both still in a little pain from the crash and just weren't mentally ready for an outreach and Roberta flew forward in the crash messing up her teeth. Please pray for fast healing for all of us. For the rest of the team on their outreach and everyone to be at peace with what has happened. Thank you all so much for your prayers!!!

Another Week for God

     On Thursday the 28th we will be going to Somerset which is near to Gazankulu. This spot will be the toughest place because the church was planted by the previous January team. We are up for the challenge and extremely excited! We will be doing children and youth ministries, going to the local schools and informing them about HIV and AIDS, as well as working in the church with the whole village. There is a pastor at the church that will help us but we will have to make all of our lessons and schedules. Please pray for  our leaders and the team to have unity and that we will let God lead us in all of our lessons and relationships we build with these people. We will have to walk far to get our water then boil it. The same water we will have to use for our bucket showers with a small curtain for privacy,  right next to the whole in the ground toilet.

     This past Monday through Wednesday we got HIV and AIDS training so we will be ready to teach and care for them when we get there. On Thursday we learned skits and practiced dramas. I am so excited to be able to use these! We had a campout with our team this weekend to practice. Our team is so blessed to have 2 South Africans and one of them, Deborah, speaks several African languages and her first language is actually the one they speak in Somerset. We have a couple people who play the guitar so we will be able to have praise and worship, as well as a hunter and a boy scout! I am excited to see everyone's talents, gifts, and personalities play out during this time. 

(top)Devin, me, Else, Tabea, Erica, Ema, Jamina, (bottom) Finn, Andi (leader) Deborah (leader), Roberta

Upcoming Events

     These past weeks have been so amazing! We have really gotten to know God and ourselves in ways many of us couldn't have imagined. It has been hard for some, opening up the past and allowing God to come in and heal them but it’s been so great to watch God transform lives. The classes have been so great and we are learning so much but sometimes with early mornings and late nights it’s kind of hard for me to stay awake so you can for sure put that on your prayer list! (I just need to learn to go to bed earlier) We are almost done with Inside Out and we are all so excited for our off weekend! We have 3 of them where we are able to leave base from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. They will have things around base still but we are free to rent cars and explore! We are all busy making plans and getting so excited for it! But since Inside Out will be over we can leave base every Saturday to go to the mall or something around Pretoria.
     Our rural outreach is Oct. 28th. We are anxious to see who will be on our teams. We will be divided into 3 teams. I will give more information on where we will be going as soon as I find out. But we would love prayers for our teams and preparing us for these tough 10 days. We will be sleeping in tents, cooking on a fire, and ministering to people that may or may not speak English. Please pray for good weather! It is rainy season here and we are hoping it will not be raining the whole time. We have heard some horror stories of the mud and the tents, so hopefully that won’t happen.
     My roommates are so great and our friendships are growing each day! We have so much fun together laughing and just being stupid. I am loving our great talks at night too. It is hard sometimes with the language barrier for them to find the words and express themselves but we are working through it with many laughs. The friendships I am making now will last a lifetime!
     I have been feeling very called to full time missions but I have no idea on that that means or where God will take me but I am so excited for the unknown!
Also, our Inner City outreach is very iffy right now. I guess the organizations OM has gone through in the past aren’t open during Christmas and New Years when we were planning on going so we could really use your prayers on that trying to find a way to make that happen.


Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support! Love you and miss you all!

Current Details

-Inside Out    
     For the next 4 weeks we will be studying Inside Out. This will consist of Knowing and Loving God, Knowing and Loving Self, Knowing and Loving Others and Knowing Purpose. We have heard testimonies from past trainees that these weeks will be the hardest and most wonderful weeks we will experience as God breaks us of our self and truly brings us to Him. We are all very excited and a little nervous to see what this will be for us and see where God takes us. For this week, we are learning more about God's love for us and He created us for an amazing relationship with Him. We have all realized how big God really is and how small we are but no matter how small we are compared to the universe, God loves and died for us so we can have a relationship with Him.
We have read"Calvary Road" and had to write a little summery over that. We also have "Father Heart of God," which is due at a latter time and "The Life You Always Wanted," which will be our bible study group book.

-Living in a Community
     Here around camp is based on living in a community and living in harmony together so we all take turns taking care of each other. I have kitchen team once a week, practical work around the base, and cleaning the public bathrooms. I got the privilege this week to clean the boys.
My practical work this week was sweeping roofs and cleaning the gutters. We failed our first room inspection but passed with flying colors the next time after we got a note from one of the team leaders.

-Sports
     We have a sport each day. This week we ran.. but it turned out okay after many walking breaks chatting it up with the other girls. We also play volleyball, soccer, dodgeball and will have an aerobics class which is an enjoyable part of the day.

I try to post as often as I can but apologize when I can't get to a computer with internet or don't have the time to write out a post. But I will definitely try as often as I can and thank you all again for all of the support.


Below are a few pictures:

Milkshakes at the Airport

Walk Around the Base

My Room

My Base!

My First Post in SA!

     Hey guys! My plane landed at 6:30 Friday night, the 3rd, in Johannesburg. I was the the third student to arrive on the base so I have been able to slowly meet everyone as they got here. We had a relaxing time getting to know everyone playing soccer and volleyball in the hot South African sun. There are only 3 other Americans here with me. The others are from Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, Romania, Singapore, South Africa and Ivory Coast (and a few others I am forgetting). It has been so fun with the cross culture experience on base! I have been helping people a lot with English since it's, for most of them, not their first language. It is only the beginning of spring right now, but when the sun is out its very warm but at night and early mornings its so cold!
Wednesday we stared training bright and early for 6 o’clock devotions. A somewhat average day looks a little like this:

-6 am devotions
-7:30 breakfast
-8:30 teaching lesions, with breaks in between
-1 o’clock lunch
-2:30 Afternoon Activities (from work around base, team building, life coaching and days at the mall)
-4:30 sports
-6 dinner
-7:30 Evening Activities (like spending time together at the coffee shop on base and worship around the camp fire).
     
     Our Lessons so far have just been just going over rules and getting us ready for the next few months. They will go more into our life with God, Bible studies, and preparing for our outreaches by learning about subjects like AIDs or other religions. We also meet once a week with our Care Groups, which are like our small groups. In mine, there are 3 girls and 2 boys with a both a man and woman leader. The woman leader will also meet with us individually once a week so we can discuss what we have learned and any problems or personal issues we might be going through. They're basically our spiritual leader while we spend our time here.

     I'll try and update you guys as much as I can.
I am so excited to see what God has to show me! Thank you so much for all of your prayers! They are helping greatly!

Here I Go!

     Many years ago, God called me to something different and to break out of the norm. He called me to pick up my life and follow Him in missions, and now I find myself leaving for South Africa for 8 months on September 2nd. At a time in my life when I should be going to college and figuring out what I want to do with the rest of my life, I will be playing with the street children and reaching out to the prostitutes. For the first 6 months I will be in Pretoria, South Africa in a Missions Discipleship Program (MDT) and then traveling to Zambia to work in an orphanage for the final 2 months. I am so excited to experience God and His love in a whole new way! I will try to blog and put pictures up on Facebook as often as I can once I'm there to share my experience with you all, but I will never know how often I'll have internet access.Thank you all so much for your prayers and support and I can't wait to start this journey and new chapter in my life!