one of to schools we ent to
the tent revival we had all week another school in Kwaggafuntane

yeah he looks cute now...

this is how you shake hands with a giraffe in Africa

Our last meeting with Dirk and Rogers

the Braai party we had with our new South African Friends!! This was our serious picture...

Hey everybody sorry for lack of postings we have had some late nights this past week. But man God has been doing some really incredible things! Since Wednesday we have been goin to a small Village about an hours drive from Pretoria call Kwaggufontane( Lord help me thats spelled right) to be apart of a church revival. And not like in a building, in a small tent with some plastic chairs, some wooden benches. But man we were priviledged to see God do an awesome work in their hearts and even more so we believe he worked in ours too. It was just incredible to see the peoples expressions and hearts change from Wednesday to Saturday. We felt so blessed to be apart of that.

Well for the past few days we have been doing some pretty random things.

Before our outreaches on Friday we went to a lion park! It was crazy! We played with some 2 month old cubs that were as big as a big house cat. Micah and I take back everything we ever said about wrestling a lion. Cause when we saw the beast itself the nose came to almost our shoulders...sooo...were second guessing ourselves on that one. We also fed some ostriches and a giraffe. It was absoulutely crazy. Were gonna put some pictures up later so you guys can see what went down.

On Saturday we were planned to go to some Mayors Convention, where we were supposed to minister to about 4000 people, but sadly it was very abruptly moved to a date in the middle of July so we were kind of bummed out about that but you know what they say T.I.A (This Is Africa). So since this event is cancelled and we have an orphanage to go to later that night, what do we do? Yeah thats right go to the mall. We ate at a restaraunt called Spurs. And just to let you know the theme was Native Americans. And its a South African food chain...yeah it was a little wierd, but the food was good. Later that night before our last night of the revival we stopped by an orphanage and this one by far touched us in the biggest way. I think by this point most of us knew what to expect because it was almost a routine for us: We go in, pray, sing some songs, give a testimony, and leave. But this one was different. This was not just an orphanage, it was a rescue shelter. For children wanting to escape every kind of child abuse you can imagine. And our hearts were immediately convicted, cause this was not a routine. It was amazing to see the transformation in their hearts and in their faces, I will never forget it. And just like everytime we have gone some place to minister God ends up doing a work in us as well.

Yesterday we all woke up and drove back to Kwaggufontane and we split up into two groups. Alicia and Micah went with Rogers to a youth service and then Melissa and I went to another Chruch service with Dirk. Melissa and I had a great time at our service. We didnt realize that we had been in there for almost 3 hours! God really moved in the service and just like He has been doing all week God has continued to stretch us in the way we think of worship and how we think of church, cause it is just so different here, but it is still the same God we all worship. And from what we heard from Micah and Alicia the other service went really really well. Where Micah and Alicia both got to share a brief message, and we heard they really brought the rain! We were all very excited to share our experiences when we met up again to talk about all God had done in our services. From the churches we left in a hurry to go see a play that our host, Anneretha, had written. It was so cool! It was in a theater where this ministry called 13th floor uses the arts to share the gospel and be Jesus for people. It was quite the experience. The play was amazing, and it incoporated music and dance as well. At the end of the show one of the head guys named Flaps came up to us (hes a 35 year old white man with dreads and a lip ring, yeah we felt right at home) and he immediately knew we were Americans. I dont know what in the world gave that away... anyways. We got to meet a lot of the leaders of the ministry afterwards for coffee.

One of the directors of 13th floor is a guy named Warren and he invited us to a Braai...thats right a Braai. For those of you un south africaners a Braii is a South African BBQ. So we of course accepted such an invitation and spent the evening over at Warrens fiancee's place with a bunch of other South African friends to watch the soccer match between Brazil and the US. It was really great we got to meet a lot of new friends that we are of course facebooking as we write this and it was also awesome to see other people our age who are passionate about Jesus half way around the world.

Well that should catch everyone up to speed on what is going on. We are leaving in about an hour to go to Potchefstroom today for a couple days, then Wednesday we finally head to Zambia!

Thank you for all of you who have been praying for us!

Ben

Lojani. Ninjani.

Hello and how are you from South Africa. Holy cow. I never knew it was possible to see so many kids and pray over so many people in one day. We visited an orphanage for disabled children and adults, five schools, the local hospital, sang and handed out tracts at a local mall (guarded by security men with machine guns--not joking), and ended the day by attending the ongoing Crusade that we attended last night.

The hardest part of today unanimously was the hospital. Our group along with a few local pastors prayed over every patient in the hospital. We prayed and sang in the waiting room, Micah shared and encouraged the staff, and there were many tears. Our hearts broke as we had the chance to share encouragement and pray over the patients in the hospital. One young lady I had the chance to pray with cried and cried as we prayed God's power and healing over her life. The pain she must have felt as she attempted to talk to us about her condition. It was amazing to see and pray for them. It was the first time in a while that I had felt God's power in such a strong way. I felt and prayed for something that I haven't in a while--- for God's power and Holy Spirit to flow through the veins of the patients so that they knew He was there. Without a doubt, God's Spirit made Himself known and evident while we were at the hospital.

The schools here are so different from the states. We were able to pray over the students, share testimonies, and pray over the teachers and staff. The students sang songs to us about God being the light in the darkness. I cannot imagine that a group of people would be able to walk into my school, talk to my principal, share the Gospel, and then open an invitation for students to be saved. Another incredibly different thing about being in Africa... God has been so good to us in these first two days. He has revealed himself in ways that seem unimaginable for me in my small mind. As always, God is faithful. Thank you for your prayers! Continue to pray for the pastors who do so much work here, as well as educators, who feel that sometimes their time is wasted... what they are doing makes a difference and it is obvious to us as outsiders. Pray for encouragement for them--- that God would provide peace, health, and energy to them so that they can minister to the people that God has called them. Until tomorrow!!!!

-Melissa and Alicia

Today was our first full day and it feels like we have done enough stuff for an entire week!!! This morning we woke up very early, and to put it in perspective...I accidently set my clock one hour early so as Micah and I are getting ready we suddenly realize no one else is up and instead of wakig up at 5:30am we wake up at 4:30am ready to roll...that'll bless ya!! So anyways, we eat a wonderful

breakfast and Dirk (our multi ministries liason) gives us an awesome devotion. The day was jam packed full of activities. We visited a primary school, a high school, an orphanage for disabled children, and a prison. Every place we went there were times where we sang songs (i brought my guitar) we shared testimonies and Rogers (another multi ministries man, he's a baller) would preach the gospel. And most of the time people would sing back to us. That was incredible! When we first walked onto the campus ive never heard so many kids sing so loud...and so in tune!! haha!! it was amazing. One of my favorite parts was being in the prision. We shared our story and songs and testimonies with over 150 inmates. It was very moving and they were so receptive to the gospel. We were so exhausted! but that was not the end of the day!! We then went out to a small village where they were starting a church and we had and evening service there. And that was a cultural experience. About an hour before it started they did these praise songs in Zulu and the only way to describe it is African bluegrass gospel. And they have one volume LOUD!!! It was definitely a unique experience. Andy Milligan and I lead some worship songs and then Dirk preached a great message. We ended the night like any group of american missionaries should...eating at KFC and im not gonna lie...its about as good as the U.S. haha! But anyway...we are all exhausted and we have another long day just like this tomorrow. God has already really been speaking to us, and we are looking forward to see him work in many more amazing ways. Thank you for your prayers.

Ben

as David Crowder plays in my ears we come up on hour number 14 of the flight and Africa greets me with the sunset. it has been long I won't lie, but i've watched Benjamin Button, taken, and two lovers; I have slept and read Larry Crab, Shane Caliborne, and CS Lewis; but I have only stood but once (thus I have cankels)
I have no idea what the next 6 weeks will hold, but I am reminded that just for me Jesus came. if I share that love with simply one person I feel like my trip will not be fullfilled.

as I prayed in the months leading up to Africa I had a chance to pray with one of mentors named Stan Gibson. out of the hundereds of prayers I prayed his stands out. Stan said over and over "God, You are worth it... moving to Vegas or Delware, or stayin in the place you are now, servering right where you are, or going around the world, talkin to everybody you meet or spendin time tell one, God You are worth it.... " as I land in South Africa those words run through my head and heart.
dear God, use me, work in me that You might work through me! my I stand amazed that I might love You more & love people more!

-Micah