What an amazing last few weeks it has been! As you may or may not know, our team planned to do a mission trip in the middle of September to Botswana and Zambia. At the last minute it was cancelled for various reasons. One being that the bushmen we were planned to minister to moved away. How does that happen? The whole tribe, just gone. Still confused by this one, but that’s irrelevant.
Anyway, Darryl and Ben graciously planned another trip for us before I went back to the States. We went to a place about three and a half hours south of Badplaas called Newcastle. It started out as a really tough week because some of us (myself included) apparently drank some bad water and had some stomach issues. So the beginning of our trip could have gone a lot better. It was pretty obvious this was the enemy at work - I saw it physically and emotionally. But he had nothing on us. The team boldy stepped out and kept going through the power of the King. Thank you, Jesus!
While in Newcastle, we held a conference (that’s a loose term, really) in the community. We had been told the week before that the pastor we were visiting was excited about us coming and was renting out a venue that could hold 1,000 people - and he was fully expecting to pack it out. Now, that didn’t all turn out to be completely true. The pastor we visited was super pumped about us coming, but the church we used held 120 seats. And about a third was filled the whole time. But like our team discussed, we prayed for the hungry. We would rather have 40-50 hungry people than 1,000 hardened hearts.
The lower number of people was a little bit of a relief to me because I preached twice while we were there. That’s right, ya girl was up on stage two times sharing the Word. And if you know me, that isn’t me at all! So you can just call me Mfundisi (Pastor) Kelsey when I get back. ;)
Saturday night!
Our conference was Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. On the first night, McKinley spoke on mirroring the love of the Father and Darryl followed up with the goodness of God. Friday night Matt started with an in-depth sermon on prayer. Virginia was next with our identity in Christ. I was first up Saturday night with Ezekiel 37 and the valley of dry bones. Woo! What a great time that was! This is so clearly out of my comfort zone, but it was completely the Holy Spirit speaking and not me at all. It was so much fun. Ben finished the weekend with how we are the Light of the world. We were invited to speak at church on Sunday morning, so your’s truly got up there again spoke about finding our rest in Jesus.
Sunday morning
During the days, we were able to recoup and refuel before going on home visits. Newcastle has an incredible community of believers and it was awesome to get to know them personally as they led us into their homes. We were able to pray over this sick, sing, dance, laugh and cry with other believers in the community (ok maybe that last one was just me). It was such an encouraging time of ministry.
I have met lots of people since I have been here. I try to learn their names and remember their faces, but sometimes it just gets hard. And sometimes there are those people that just stick out to me. It’s like I know it right when I meet them or we enter the same room. So far, it has happened only a handful of times since I’ve been here, and one of those times was while in Newcastle.
We were doing home visits Friday afternoon before the conference started in the evening. It was the second to last home we were visiting and I was pretty tired. I didn’t really feel well and my legs were aching. I was ready to go home and take a nap. I never had any idea who we were visiting or their story, so I went in blind every time. We walked into this man’s home. It was uncomfortably hot inside. We were led into the room where this man lay, almost completely limp. He was on a mattress on the floor facing the television. His brothers situated him so he was sitting up and could converse with the group. He was probably in his late 30s or early 40s. Despite what circumstances I saw, he had a grin on his face. I knew he would be one I would never forget.
He told us bits of his story. In February of this year he was in a car accident. Car accidents are very common here. He has a spinal injury and is basically paralyzed from the neck down. He has a very small amount of movement in one of his hands, but nothing that would be beneficial to him. We prophesied over him and then went to pray for him. I sat down next to him, put my hand on his shoulder to pray and the tears immediately started. I can’t quite describe it. Of course I was sad for him - I felt broken for him! But was that why I was crying? I feel burdened for so many people, but not very many of them bring me to tears like this. As we prayed, I looked up at him and saw tears streaming down his face as well. The Holy Spirit was moving in that place!!
He wasn’t healed right then and there, but I firmly believe that sometime in his heart was healed. It is really easy to walk away from a home visit thinking that nothing changed with the person, but this home visit was different. There was a hope in that place. There was peace. And all of this that can only be brought by Jesus. I told this man that I’m excited to see him again soon, but when we meet again he will be walking! I know that the Lord wants to heal him. I know that the Lord sees him. And I hope he knows that too.
After the conference we headed down to Durban for some relaxing before our crazy week of Christmas parties started. We visited uShaka, a marine world, and spent some time on the beach. It was a good week!
Turtles at uShaka!
Here is something fun: Thanksgiving and my birthday! This year was my golden birthday - turning 24 on the 24th. And it turned out to be Thanksgiving as well. I may or may not (may) have had a little breakdown the night before about missing my birthday and turkey day with my family. We do everything together as a family, so I was pretty bummed to be missing out this year. So I went to bed Wednesday night with puffy eyes, a bad mood and an expectation for a terrible next day. But thank you Jesus it was wonderful! I started the day out by leading the Bible study with the cooks and preschool teachers and they all sang me happy birthday! It really warmed my heart. I then spent the day with Nomsa and we ran all over town preparing for the preschool graduation the next day (seriously, we went everywhere). But it was so much fun to spend the day with her! And I got bombarded with hugs by the preschoolers, so that was pretty fun too.
We had planned a Thanksgiving meal with the interns, Darryl, Janine, Ben and De, but since I was gone all day I wasn’t really part of the planning or cooking. Right when I got home I took a hot shower and rested a bit before dinner. Since it was Thanksgiving, I didn’t expect much for my birthday. But let me tell you, I have the best friends in the entire world. Not only did they wake me up in the morning by putting my toothbrush and toothpaste in Jell-o (shoutout to Jim and Dwight on The Office), but they completely surprised me with the best birthday evening ever!! We played games which were mainly aimed to embarrass me and had dinner in the cabin. The place was decorated with gold decorations (hence my golden birthday) that McKinley got in the States and some my mom sent. I’m pretty sure I cried like three times that night. After dessert, we watched the show 24 projected on a bed sheet taped to the wall and brought out some mattresses. I ended the day by sobbing over letters that everyone had written me. And by everyone I mean my friends here AND my family back home. Talk about the best birthday ever! I am so beyond thankful for the community that God has blessed me with while being here. Like I said in a Facebook post, I expected to make new friends while here, but I didn’t expect to find family. I can’t even put into words how much I love them all.
What a great birthday surprise!
The best Thanksgiving/birthday ever!! Love these people!
As I’m winding down, people have been asking how they can pray for me. Some people I give more general answers and some people are stuck with me dumping my heart out on them. To everyone who has asked, or to those who haven’t and are still praying for me - thank you! These past few weeks have been filled with so much joy and peace that could never come from any worldly thing. As sad as I am to be leaving South Africa, there is such a peace about leaving and moving onto a new season of life. I still have no idea what I’m going to be doing, but I’m really excited to see what the Lord has planned for me. I’m getting quite excited to see what is next! I also have such a sense of joy in my little time left here. We are currently having Christmas parties for all our preschools and feeding sites (look out for another blog post coming soon!) and let me tell you, it has been FULL of joy! These children have completely stolen my heart. I love when they run up to me and bombard me with hugs. I love having full conversations with them while they speak Siswati and I speak English and neither of us can understand each other. I love dancing with them. I love their laughter. I love showing them a picture I just took of them and seeing their reactions. I am so thankful for the joy and peace that has been on me recently. Thank you so much for praying.
In Christ,
