The STINER's STINT...

Exciting news everyone, God is sending me to Durban! Durban is about an eight hour drive from Pretoria in the Kwazulu Natal province. I want to give a brief description about the decision making process here and tell you more about the campus in Durban in my upcoming newsletter. 

A couple weeks ago the nine of us spent some time with our Campus Crusade National Campus Director, Jacquie Bland. During our time Jacquie presented to us what she called a STINTER's STINT. Essentially six of us will STINT away from our original campus to new locations to serve at universities that currently have no full time staff. After a month's time we will reconvene to evaluate our effectiveness. Before Jacquie came to Pretoria to meet with our STINT team the Lord gave her this idea during a restless night's sleep. She had spent several days praying about the details and asking the Lord exactly how to go about it. I trust Jacquie and how she follows the Lord. When she presented the idea to us, we knew that she had spent a great deal of time praying about it and what it meant for our team. The original plan was for all nine of us to stay at the University of Pretoria and work with the kids at Beam Africa. God has bigger plans for us! The team at U.P. is currently twelve strong including our STINT team. There are three national staff members working at U.P. and nine student leaders in the ministry. The U.P. campus is alive and the students are leading in great ways! 

We’ve spent the last month on the U.P. campus and at Beam Africa. In our time we have seen the Lord move in great ways! We feel blessed to serve in these areas, yet there are so many other campuses in the country that aren’t being reached. In considering these other campuses, we have decided to split our team of nine. In just a couple days, three team members will return to U.P., three will start at the University of Johannesburg, and three will move to Durban to work at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. This is the STINTER's STINT. 

Before we made the final decision about the team splitting, we took a day to meet with the Lord. We wanted to make sure this is what God wanted for us. This year is about what God wants for the team, not necessarily what we want. In my time, the Lord comforted me with His word. I was going through the book of Acts and studying the path God set for Paul. It was exciting to read about how Paul and his companions kept moving forward by the power of the Holy Spirit! They moved forward until the Spirit stopped them. I was specifically struck by what happens in Act 16:4-10. This scripture has been encouraging to revisit and live from as we prepare to make this split.

“As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” - Acts 16:4-10

The Spirit is leading us to Durban, and we will follow until we are stopped. The STINTER's STINT means a split, but it also means that we are able to reach more campuses for Christ in South Africa. I am excited to move to Durban and cannot wait to see where the Spirit leads us next. Please join me in praying for our team as God breaks us into three smaller teams as we follow His Spirit. If you have questions about the decision to split, please feel free to comment or send me an email. Your support is appreciated deeply!

I plan on sharing more details about Kwazulu-Natal in my prayer letter that should be sent out by the end of next week. From what I have learned about the University I will feel right at home. Thank you for your prayers and for reading. I am thinking and praying for all of you. I would love to get an update from everyone, so I know how to lift you up in prayer.

Thank you for your love and support, 

Amanda