Hi!!
We are in Jeffery’s Bay, South Africa! We got here on Friday, July 1st. Right before, we went to Kruger national park where we saw lots and lots of animals! It was so cool how close we got to them! Some of the animals were: elephants, leopard, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, buffalos, and crocodiles! It has been so sweet being in Jeffery’s bay! I feel like the Lord has been teaching us all so much about Him and who He is. He has been revealing a lot to us about what He is calling us to do in the future. This week, our ministry is called Timione. This ministry supports children with cerebral palsy. They have a carpentry area where they build wheel chairs, walkers, and other things that help them make their life more accessible. They also have a program called “Farming Gods Way”where they teach the families how to garden so they can be self sustainable and turn that into helping provide for their family and if they want to sell the food they can. This is helpful because it’s hard for families to have a job if their child has cerebral palsy so it allows them to learn how to sustain their family and make a little income. Another program Timione has is they have a garden where they harvest crops to give to the families with someone who has cerebral palsy in their family. This week we have been working in the garden. We worked in the garden and helped harvest crops and pull weeds. The weeds strangle the crops so by pulling them it tries to save the crops. While gardening, we have been having good quality time and quality conversations. The organization we have been serving with and what they stand for is so cool and I am so glad we are part of it. Even though we are not seeing the giving of the crops to the families with someone with cerebral palsy, we are pulling the weeds that are strangling the crops and cutting off the nutrients and water supply. Then this allows them to grow which in turn will be given to the families. The Lord uses all things to help, serve, and glorify Him. We do not have see the fruit of what the Lord is doing but it will still come to fruition which is so cool. We have been loving Jeffery’s bay so much so far! Everyone is so kind and selfless. A part of our day we have been learning to adjust to is that Jeffery’s bay has 3 “power outages” a day. They are scheduled for around 2 hours each. We learned that it is because of the debt the nation owes to the electric company or the other reason is if the electric company workers are on strike.
Here is a reflection of something the Lord has been teaching me this week:
While simple at its root it’s more complex. Similarly to having to pull weeds from the root to remove the problem, we have to bring our struggles to the Lord. The Lord prunes away the parts of us that don’t look like Him. He pulls and pulls and pulls until he can pull the root out. Ultimately He wants us to look like Him. Our God is patient. We are never finished, we are and will never be perfect. He will continue to prune us, pulling away the weeds that we contain that don’t reflect Him or that suffocate the gifts He has given us or that make us look to the world versus to the Lord. There are many off shoots to the main root but the Lord works on each and every one of them to make the crop ready for harvest. To make the crop produce fruit. He prunes away the parts of us that don’t reflect him so we can look more like him. In John 15:1-2 It says “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.”
