I can't believe it, but we are closing out our time on campus. Our team has two full weeks at UKZN and we only have three weeks left with Ukukhanya Life Care Center (ULCC). It been a very busy semester and the Lord has worked in ways I could have never dreamed before. It has been both a privilege and an honor to watch Christ work in the lives of so many men and women! It is a bittersweet feeling to be closing out our time in bible studies and in discipleship. As I look back its amazing to see how God has used the students to change there campus for the Kingdom. We have so much to be thankful for. Since the camp five girls Bible studies and two guys Bibles studies have been meeting weekly, there have been three successful work days at ULCC with thirty plus students serving, we've welcomed in a new leadership team just last week, and most importantly, the students at UKZN have grown in their intimacy with Jesus. There are so many exciting stories I want to share! I can't wait to sit down with all of you when I get home and tell you the many things I haven't been able to share with you over the year. For now, I wanted to let all of you know that we have just over a month remaining in our STINT year. I wanted to fill you in on what our last month holds, and ask you to join me in praying for our last 6 weeks in South Africa.
The next two or three weeks we'll spend most of our time on campus finishing up the year. Our last day on campus is the last official day for lectures. The following weeks the campus will shut down for a study break and for the exam period. So, the next two weeks is going to be an very busy and emotional time. We hope to continue to meet with students and spend good time with them if they have any free time during their study break. We hope to be a good support to them as they enter into their exam period and care for them well in their last few weeks. Our last day on campus we hope to have a social to end the year celebrating all the Lord's done in this school year. There is a lot to celebrate and be thankful for!
Here are some praises and prayer requests for our last few weeks on campus.
Praise:
Prayer:
Once we finish on campus we are left with a couple important tasks. We need to start closing out the lives God has built for us here, and prepare for the incoming STINT team. We were the first STINT team to come, but we are certainly not the last! After closing out our campus times we will spend a couple weeks in Durban closing out our lives and preparing for next years STINT team.
Here is how you can be praying for us in this.
Praise:
Prayer:
Once we finish closing out our lives here in Durban we are meeting up with the Pretoria team in Cape Town to start our debrief for the STNT year. We will spend time with some national staff at a debrief conference in our remaining time. After we finish our debrief we are back on a plane to make it home in time for Thanksgiving!
Here is how you can be praying for our Debrief time.
Prayer:
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and for all of your love and support. I hope this update gives you a good idea of what our last 6 weeks is going to look like. Thank you for joining with me in praying for my remaining time, it means so much to me. I just want to say thank you so much again for all you've done to send me here this year. It's an honor to serve Christ with you, here in South Africa.
God Bless,
Amanda
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”
-Hebrews 4:14-16
He Understands:
This month at Ukukhanya renovations on the center were put on hold and a majority of our time was spent attending to the many physical needs the individuals and families in the community had. Addressing these needs brought us into several people’s lives and gave us a chance to care for them. In our times together, we’ve had the great privilege of getting to know many beautiful people. There is one woman who’s story has captured my heart. This woman, who I’ll call Grace, has deeply challenged my faith and led me into a greater dependance on Christ.
We first met Grace on a home visit with Pastor Prince. We made our way down a small dirt path to a small brick house where Grace’s mother welcomed us. She hugged me and quietly repeated thank you in Zulu, “ngiyabonga, ngiyaonga.” As we introduced ourselves Prince explained to us that earlier in the week this woman walked across the township to Ukukhanya seeking help for her very sick daughter. After exchanging a few hugs and words we walked through the doorway of their little home and met Grace. Her mother introduced us and explained why we were there. It didn’t take long for Grace to open up and explain her families struggles and the help they needed to survive.
Listening to Prince’s translations of their conversation we found out that Grace is twenty-six years old with three children. In their little one room brick home her mother, her three children, and two of her sisters children stay together. All of them sleep on the double sized bed that filled the small space they lived in. The two shared with us their struggle to grow enough food to feed their family in the cold weather and without any consistent income. Sadly their struggles didn’t stop there. As the conversation continued we learned that Grace is HIV positive and had been battling greatly over the last month. Without any source of income, as well as being physically unable to make it to the clinic, she was without proper medical attention for months. Our visit to her home that day was her first opportunity to visit a clinic and receive the medical attention she needed. In previous emergency situations Grace’s mother attempted to push her in a wheelbarrow up hill on the rough dirt roads 4 miles to the nearest clinic. There was no question that Grace and her family needed help. We phoned a doctor at the clinic and took her in immediately. As I helped Grace walk down the narrow dirt path to our car I tried to gather the right words, but our conversation was brief. I asked “How are you feeling? Can I help or do anything to make you feel more comfortable?” She answered me quietly “I’m okay. No thank you, I’m fine.” I didn’t know what else to say. I could only think that in the midst of our suffering nothing compares to the relief and comfort we feel when someone can say, “I know exactly what you’re feeling.” When we suffer we want someone we can relate to and someone who can walk through the mess with us. In that moment I wanted so badly to say, “I know” but I couldn’t.
At the clinic Ali and I sat with Prince while Grace received her first proper medical examination. As we waited, I replayed over and over in my mind our conversation back at the house and on our walk to the car. I looked around the clinic and in that moment found myself asking “God, where are you, and what can I do?” It was clear that this family was suffering in the broken reality of this world, but I would never know the pain they truly feel or experience. In all honesty, I felt inadequate to enter into their lives and care for them, because I would never truly understand what they’re going through. As we continued to wait, I wrestled with these thoughts, and the only thing I could think to do was pray. When Grace and her mom came back into the waiting room we heard from the doctor that her case was indeed severe. From the visit we learned that Grace has TB and arthritis, with AID’s as the underlying cause. We scheduled appointments for her in the coming week, to ensure that she would receive proper medical attention and medication to fight her disease. We left the clinic and brought her back to her home, telling her we would see her for her next appointment.
On our way home from the center both Ali and I were silent the entire drive. It wasn’t until we were almost home that I started to find comfort from the Lord in my confusion. I was reminded of the passage in Hebrews 4. Even though I will never understand the depth of Grace and her family’s suffering, Jesus does. “For we do not serve a High Priest who is unable to sympathize” (Hebrews 4:15). Christ came and suffered in every way to give us the chance to know Him. He truly is the only one who can say, “I know.”
Sports Science faculty: “This bible study is something we have to do!” - Jade
A couple months back I introduced you to Jade Davids and shared her exciting story with you. I’d like to revisit her story and update you on how God is using her to advance the Kingdom today! The Lord’s creative plan humbles me as I look back and think about all Jesus has done in Jade’s life.
In May this year the Lord creatively brought Jade into a relationship with Him. She attended an outreach for Sports Science students, that three of our student leaders, Sbu, Anele, and Mdu organized. These men planned this event after realizing there was little available to their peers for spiritual exploration and growth. Their decision to change that fact started with a survey, which eventually led them to organizing a speaker and discussion time.
Surprisingly, the boys asked me to be the speaker. I was asked to give a short talk on how students can engage their spiritual side while participating in and studying sports. Jade and two of her friends decided to randomly attend after seeing a poster in their class. The three of them sat in the front row that day! The talk was designed to communicate to students that finding success in sports is not about winning or losing, but to find yourself fully dependent on God. I shared my struggle in sports of desiring strength, pride, and power over humility, weakness and dependence on the Lord. Following the talk we had a brief discussion time where students who attended had the chance to process all they’d heard. After the talk Jade stuck around to chat with some summer project students. I remember looking over at her group as I finished a discussion with a few students and seeing the two summer project students praying over her. Tears streamed down her face as she tightly grasped a bible they'd just given her. I’ll always remember that picture. I knew that God captured her heart that day!
Two weeks later I had the privilege of officially meeting Jade and hearing her story at our CCC camp (retreat). When she talked about her new relationship with Jesus you could feel her passion. At the camp Jade expressed a deep desire to develop her relationship with God and others. Once we got back on campus Jade asked me if I would consider discipling her over the next semester. She’d spent her winter break praying through her growth and felt led to both discipleship and sharing her faith with others! So, for the past six weeks I’ve been meeting with Jade, focusing on her growth in Christ.
Our time has been spent praying for the campus, sharing our faith and exploring what it means to live as an example of God’s love at UKZN. A majority of our times together the Lord has put it on Jades heart to do something for women in the sports science faculty. Jade was bothered that there was nothing available to the women in her major. After praying for guidance and direction she felt God calling her to lead a Bible study! She was hesitant at first, but day after day her heart grew heavy for her peers. Setting her fears aside, she asked her friend Jess to co-lead a study with her. Today she is co-leading the first women’s bible study in the sports science faculty!
Jess and Jade’s bible study can be traced back to three men who felt burdened for their peers, and said yes to the Lord’s call. Three men were obedient to Christ and the Lord’s faithfulness is before us! This movement started with a few faithful and obedient men, and today God has used it to bring forward two faithful and obedient women! We truly serve a creative and faithful God.
