The feast!

"Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:46,47

On the project's last day at Ukukhanya, Penny and Prince found it fitting to celebrate all the Lord's provided by making all of us a traditional Zulu meal! This special celebration was organized for the staff at ULCC and our STINT team to properly say thank you and goodbye to the summer project. We arrived on the last day to complete a few projects and enjoy great fellowship with the Ukukhanya staff, but got much more than that. I walked into the kitchen to see a massive feast being prepared. The girls (Phondi, Pretty, and Hillary) had been up since 6AM cooking and running errands to prepare for our meal together. It was an incredible sight. There were women running around the kitchen shouting out commands and assigning tasks to everyone. In the midst of all the craziness was massive amounts of laughter. I so enjoy spending time with the women at Ukukhanya. Their hearts are beautiful, and when they laugh with you life seems a little lighter.I had the privilege of  helping them prepare countless dishes. While we were cooking I had a thousand questions for them and they graciously answered. They taught me a couple Zulu words and laughed at me as I tried my best to repeat. It was a great time. 

As I spent time with these beautiful women my mind kept going back to this verse in acts. As we prepared our meal this piece of scripture came to life! With glad and sincere hearts these women prepared a meal for us to share in. We praised the Lord for His work, and enjoyed the favor of His people. All of this for the purpose of seeing God's people come back to Him. Isn't that amazing? I feel deeply blessed to have shared in this time with these women. They worked so hard to care for us. With all the passion in their hearts they prepared this meal. It was a great privilege to be a part of that. The Word is living, and we are blessed to experience in our days. It truly is an incredible blessing to be a part of the Ukukhanya family! 

Here are some fun pictures of our time together! I got to try some new and exciting things... 

(My roommate was nice enough to let me use some of her descriptions... she's the best)

Samp and Beans: a thick type of porridge made from coarsely ground corn (a staple in South Africa) mixed with beans.

Dombolo: big, round dumpling bread (each one the size of m

y head, no joke) that is used to soak all the juices left over from the chicken.

Sweet Potato: delicious! (Left) no need for explanation here...

Amadumbe: another type of sweet potato cooked in their skin in the fire.

Boerewors: huge spicy farmers sausage 

Tripe: also known as intestines (mmm..a delicacy)

Chicken Dust: fried chicken with seasoning (the seasoning is "dusted" on the chicken, hence the name)

Walkie Talkie: chicken feet and head (parts of the chicken that "walk and talk"). Yep, all of it! Everything from nails, beak, and eyes are all still there for the FULL experience.

We had quite the day! 

Praises

"I will praise you, O lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders" Psalm 9:1

Here is a short list of things we can praise the Lord for. He has done great things! I surely can't list them all, but I wanted to list a few. Thank you so much for your prayers. We can feel your prayers all the way from South Africa :)

• While the project was in Durban twenty-two students accepted Christ and made decisions to know him personally. We can praise God for bringing his people back to him! 
  

• We can praise Jesus that our student leaders are growing in their leadership and owning the movement at UKZN more and more. Our committee organized, planned, and ran the end of the year camp with our summer team. It was so wonderful to see them excited to serve Jesus by loving their classmates and friends. 
  

• 24 beds and mattresses were donated to the center a few months back. This is such a blessing! Beds and mattresses were a huge cost, and out of nowhere a local organization decided to provide the center with every bed they needed to start in September. 
  

• We just found out this week that all the bedding and linens are being donated on top of the beds! How awesome is that? 
  

• Lets praise the Lord that the ministry at UKZN is partnering with Ukukhanya Life Care Center. 
  

• We are praying that this partnership will be long-lasting. The Lord has creatively brought them together, and I am excited to see what he does in the future. 
  

• Our team mid-year conference was a great time of healing and connecting for our STINT team. The Lord's hand was in our time and all of us left feeling refreshed and recharged for the new semester. 
  

• We can thank the Lord that the Johannesburg summer team made it safely to South Africa. They are seeing the Lord move in mighty ways! 
  

Pray with us for the new semester!

I just realized its been a while since I last posted some prayer requests. I apologize for my delay. I hope all of you are enjoying your summers! If you have a free moment, please send your prayer requests to my email (amanda.arias@uscm.org). I enjoy lifting you up in prayer and would love to hear how the Lord is working in your lives. Thanks!

Here is how you can be praying for the movement in Durban.

• We are organizing a social on campus to kick off the new semester! We hope that students who attended the camp and students we met while the project was on campus will attend. We hope the social will be a good time for community and fellowship. Please pray for our planning times, and for students availability.  We need prayer for the little details, like location, reserving rooms on campus, and activities. Pray that this time is a blessing to students and gets them excited for their new semester at UKZN. 
  

• In order to be a recognized organization at UKZN unfortunately our committee members have to complete a long list of forms and tasks. It is important for us to be a recognized organization/ student group on campus. So please pray that this process will go smoothly and that our students and staff won't run into too many bumps along the road. 
  

• This weekend we are having a leadership training for our committee members. Please pray that Anele, Mdu, Sbu, Zethu, and Sli feel blessed and encouraged in our time together this weekend. Please pray that each of them connect with Jesus. We are praying that this time will be a good time to reflect on the last semester, praising God for all he's done in this year! Also, we want to enter the new semester energized and excited to see what God has for the movement at UKZN. Please pray that the committee will feel cared for and loved. 
  

• Pray for bible studies on campus. We are currently organizing  two large gatherings for men and women on campus to help get students plugged into bible studies. The idea is to have one giant study for both men and women, and from there break apart into smaller studies. Please pray that students will be available to attend, and that their schedule will allow them time to be in a study. Many students struggle to find open times in the their days to attend study and discipleship. Please pray that it would be on their hearts to join a study and get involved. 
  

• When the summer project was here in May hundreds of students met with the project students and expressed a desire to talk again with someone about faith. Pray that these students will be available to talk with someone again. It is exciting to see so many students curious about faith in Christ. 
  

Ukukhanya Life Care Center:

• Pray for safety as renovations continue. The building still has a lot of work before the center opens in September of this year.
  
• Prayer for God's provision financially and physically as the center prepares to open. 
  
• Please pray that we can be examples of God's unfailing and endless love to the people of Ntuzuma. Our time spent at ULLC is so important, and we are thankful that the Lord brought us to Penny and Prince. Please pray that we will love and serve everyone at the center with Christ centered hearts. 
  

New Photo Updates

Here are some of my favorite photos from some on campus outreaches we had with the summer project here. There are some fun photos of our team as well. Hope you enjoy! 

Zethu and Me outside the Physics building at UKZN!

The Durban Campus Staff 

The Summer Project team participating in the Soularium freeze frame outreach! 

Students filling in the Soularium Survey. We estimate that close to 200 students visited the

 table that day! 

Ukukhanya Life Care Center before renovations!

Durban Summer Project Team 2009

Ntuzuma Township

The kids at J.G. Zuma in Ntuzuma. We are working with the Crossroads ministry once a week. To read more about Crossroads Visit Crossroads Ministry

Buyi

Every Thursday we work at the Life care centre. Each week looks different, but each day spent with the staff and families challenges me to seek the Lord and walk in his grace. The families and individuals we've met over the past few weeks have really touched me, especially Buyi. 

Ten mins after we arrived at the center a woman walked into the gate really upset. The three of us were the only staff at the centre, because there was a funeral that morning. This woman was so upset. She was crying so hard, she couldn't catch her breath. We invited her to sit down and talk to us, and to see if we could help her. She explained to us that earlier in the morning she came back from walking her kids to school to find all of her belongings in her front yard. Her entire house was cleared by painters and land workers, because the owner of the house has decided to move back in. She and her three kids have been there for 12 years, and she was kicked out with no warning. The owner didn't tell her anything about it, he just expected her to leave. All of her stuff was tossed out on the ground and she was told to never come back. She has three kids, and no where to go. She is completely on her own. Two of the kids are her boys, but the little girl is her sisters daughter. Her sister passed away a few years ago, and she has been caring for her little girl since. Her sister was her last family member in the area. The more she explained things the harder it got to keep from crying. So, the three of us just cried with her, and listen to her. It was so hard. We didn't know what we could do to help. We had to wait for Penny and Prince to get back to the centre before we could do anything for her. It was only our third time there, so we had no idea what to do. Once they got back they called her, and helped her get in contact with the right people, and helped her every way they could. 

I don't know how much help we were, but I am thankful that we were there to listen to her and care for her in a time where she felt so alone. We just listened to her, and prayed with her. We sat with her and agreed with her that what was happening to her wasn't right. Eventually she had to leave and pick her kids up from school, but when she left she seemed to feel better. As I walked her to the gate, she said that we were the first people to sit with her and just listen to her heart. It seemed like she was satisfied with someone simply hearing her out.  She gave me a huge hug, and I cried as she left. It was so hard to know what to do. I wish I could have just fixed the problem, but it was out of my control. I didn't have the right answers and I didn't know exactly what to do, but I did my best to love her the every way I knew how. I sat with her and cried with her. I listened to her and agreed with her that this isn't the way God intended life to be. The only thing I had to offer her seemed so small, but after she left I knew God used our time together. The only thing I could give her was what God offers me daily... his love and his attention. 

Please pray for Buyi and her family. I have not seen her since our meeting that one morning, but I am confident that we were see her again in our time at the center. I hope to develop a relationship with her and her children. 

Some new pics from a recent game ride...

I plan on writing more about this amazing weekend I had staying with the Slabbert family on the Nambiti game reserve. It was an incredible weekend, and I can't wait to share all my stories with you. We went on three game rides in our time, and we were really blessed to see the amazing animals we did. Check out some photos we got from the weekend! 

A little closer look... 

Hippo yawning... So awesome
It was right next to us! 
It is so rare to see Cheetahs and we saw 3! 
Check out the colors! 

Hippos! The baby is so cute :)

A beautiful sound...

I wanted to share a short video clip of some girls who visit the Ukukhanya Life Care Center (ULCC) everyday to practice their music. There beautiful voices really touched me, and I had to share this with all of you. 

Please pray for these girls and the relationships we have developed with them. We hope to spend quality time with them and support them in every way possible.