first full week in CPx!

Molo from South Africa (Molo means hello! Xhosa lessons are going great…I am almost fluent…hmm almost :) Here is an update on my life since my last post…

Last week on Monday and Tuesday we had a guest teacher who is the leader of a church planting movement in South Africa. He taught on their method on rapid multiplying simple house churches (simple church is simply a gathering of people who seek to worship God, love each other and seek the lost). As Floyd was introducing him to us, he told us to prepare ourselves for brain surgery…and that is exactly what we got. I have not been that challenged by teachings in a long time. So many of my paradigms of what church actually is and what it can look like were completely shaken up. He taught straight out of Matthew 28:16-20 and Luke 10:1-12 challenging us to look at the commands that Jesus set before us to “go and make disciples of all nations.” He helped us break down paradigms that are biblical about church and making disciples and what is simply things that we have learned through the church culture we have grown up in. (If you would like to hear more in detail about the teachings or the discipleship method we learned please email me!) After the two days of teaching, we all were so stretched and our brains felt so tired that we could barely hold coherent conversations! It was a really intense, but good way to start the teaching phase! It has been really challenging learning to bring the teachings I am receiving before the Lord and to ask the Father how this applies to my life and the things he has for me in my future!

This past week we also began meeting with our discovery groups (d-groups). My d-group is led by Munya, an All Nations staff member from Zimbabwe. My group consists of: Brandon and Julianna, (who I came with from Norman Community Church), Nicole (my roommate), Lifa (a black South African) and Lucas (who is from Masi). The vision for the d-groups is for them to function as our simple church during our teaching phase. We also go with these groups into the township communities for outreach during the teaching phase of CPx. Like I said before my d-group is working in Masiphumelele (Masi). We had our first day in Masi on Friday and we really hit the ground running! One of the programs All Nations runs is called Vulnerable Children (V.C). The mission of Vulnerable Children is to find child headed households in Masi and to network to find supporters who will sponsor one of these households in order that they can meet their basic needs. (If you are interested in sponsoring a child headed household please let me know!) Child headed households are homes where the parents or guardians have either passed away or are no longer present in the home (many times due to sickness such as HIV/AIDS) leaving the oldest child to take care of and provide for the other children in the home. A few people in our d-group have joined up with the Vulnerable Children program and have committed to connecting with these households, building relationship, and hopefully planting simple churches with any who are hungry and thirsty for Jesus and His Kingdom! Most of the V.C households are located in an area of Masi called the Wetlands, which is the poorest part of the township community. There are no paved roads in the Wetlands, and the shacks are packed in with just enough room between each one to walk. We had a list of shack numbers and we spent the afternoon searching for the homes. As we squeezed between shacks, ducking under clothes lines I was filled with emotion. We were truly on a treasure hunt, seeking out the lost and the broken, true treasures in the Father’s heart. Before we left for Masi that day the Lord gave me this verse: James 2:5: “Listen my brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him?” This is who he has chosen, his treasures, the poor in spirit, the broken hearted, the weary and downtrodden, the overlooked and unloved, the oppressed and the captives. This is what I long to give my life to. To seeing the broken raised up from the ashes and restored to beauty. This is exactly what the Father has done for me. He has reached down and pulled me out of the pit of despair, he has rescued me because he delights in me. And this is His heart for all His children of all nations. This is what he commands of us: to GO and bear his good news to the nations and to those in our lives, to declare to those who do not yet know that we have a Father who has saved us from death and has done great things for us! Amen!

I have found it to be a joy to have this chance to live with friends from all over the world. I love getting to share life with so many beautiful people who bring such different experiences and perspectives to the table. There are so many moments where I will find myself sharing conversation with someone who was born halfway around the world from me, listening to their stories, hearing what life is like for them. Getting to share our hearts with one another, who God is to us, and what we dream for in life. It is so unbelievable that I get to share life with people from so many different walks of life. It is amazing to get to play games, laugh, share meals, and worship together; to pray for one another, to share the deep places of our heart with each other, to go after the Kingdom and run to the broken hearted together. It is a true joy and I am daily learning how to lay down my life, my preferences, my way of doing things for others around me.

For my birthday I got to go to Boulder Beach, my favorite place in the world, and swim with the penguins! It was the perfect birthday adventure!

Here is a pic of Rachel, Amanda and me on Norman Road! We miss norman sooooo much! We daily talk about our friends who we love so dearly. We also daily talk about how much we would die for some Café Plaid, chik-fil-a, taco bueno, orange tree, etc. mmmm. We are missing the comfort foods from home :)

To end things, here are few things the Father is currently teaching me…
…to trust him; he will ALWAYS go before me and make a way for me (wow, I think I have learned this like one million times.)
…to live a lifestyle of worship. to keep my gaze on his face and not look at my circumstances but instead worship him in every moment of my life. Life is better when we walk in constant praise!
…to live from a place of fearing and honoring God above all else in my life (I have noticed that my African friends are so good at this. I am constantly inspired by this in their lives.)
…to daily lay down my life for God and others because it is not my life to cling to…this is actually so freeing. I am being SO humbled every day.

Thank you so much for continuing with me on this journey! I am so thankful for each and every one of my family and friends! MUCH LOVE from south africa!

whitney

molo from south africa!

Molo from south Africa!

FINALLY, here is my first blog update from cape town! My time here has been great so far! I do have to say that I am sorry that it has taken me so long to update but I feel that as we get settled into more of a schedule I will be able to figure out more times to spend communicating with everyone! I just wanted to do a brief overview of my time here so far:

Travelling was amazing! We truly had the Father’s travelling mercies! Our flights and layovers went so smoothly and the Lord surrounded us with the kindest, most open people on each flight! On my first flight from OKC I sat next to the most incredible woman of God, who was just overflowing with the light, love and joy of Jesus! It was really orchestrated that we were sitting next to each other because I LOVE flying and she is scared of flying! We soon learned that we both loved Jesus and I got to pray for her and contend for her during the flight and she spent time praying over me and encouraging me. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to sit next to! A quick story about the goodness and power of God: the pilot came over the speaker and told us that when they were flying to Tulsa the flight before there was pretty bad turbulence most of the way because of a storm. We soon hit some crazy turbulence, the worst I have felt in a while. Of course my dear friend was NOT enjoying the bumpy ride, so I just began praying peace over her and praying the turbulence to calm down. I got a picture of huge angels on either side of our plane surrounding us and also going before the plane and smoothing out the clouds. As soon as I shared this with her and declared this as truth, the turbulence STOPPED! And there was no more turbulence the rest of the plane ride! Praise God! Nothing is too big for him!

I LOVE where I get to live! I live at All Nations main team house and meeting place, called Africa House. The majority of the students in CPx live there as well, and the rest live in a house right across the street. I live in a room with the two norman girls and a girl from Florida named Nicole. There are 42 students in CPx and we represent 12 different nations: USA, UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Colombia and Canada. I LOVE living in community and with people from all over the world! I was definitely made for community housing and it is so fun and energizing to get to be with people all day long.

Two of the students in our class are from Masiphumelele (Masi), the township community that I have worked in each time I have come here! One is a woman named Vovo who is around my age who has fully given her life to Jesus and the other is Lucas, a former Rastafarian who has encountered the living God and been consumed by his grace and love. It is so sweet to get to go hand in hand with the sweet fruit from seeds sown into the community! God is doing so much in Masi. SO much has changed since I first went in 2007. The locals will tell you, Masi is NOT the same place! The atmosphere is changing and God is turning hearts to himself. Most of you will remember that when I was there in 2008 our team spent a lot of time praying that a curse that was over the land would be broken off. For many years on the 16th of December there would be a massive fire that would destroy dozens of homes. That year there was no fire! And Vovo shared with me that since then there have been no more big fires like that! The people of Masi are beginning to know that have a Father who loves them and is protecting them!

Here is a little bit of an idea of my weekly schedule:
Tuesday and Wednesday: Teaching days (from 8 to 5)
Thursday, Friday and Sunday: In the township communities
Saturday: Work day
Monday: Rest day

Our first week of class began last Monday and I really enjoyed it so much. We did a lot of orientation and getting to know another. We even spent one day at an adventure camp doing team building activities. It has been so stirring and exciting to get to have a few class sessions with Papa Floyd (the founder of All Nations and our primary teacher). We also spent a small amount of time going into each of the townships and prayer walking to begin receiving the Lord’s heart for his people there. I found out that I am on the Masi team. I will explain more about that later, but I know that the Lord has so much for my time in Masi these next few months. He has been giving me so much vision and excitement for what he has for our team in Masi! As most of you know it is my heart’s desire to learn a language. One of the African guys in CPx has offered to give Xhosa (the main language spoken in the black townships) lessons! We had our first lesson and my heart was so alive and excited thinking about getting to spend three months learning a language! English is spoken a little bit by most people in Masi; however, language truly is an instant bridge when you are able to connect with someone in their heart language! I can’t wait!

I really am so expectant of my time here in Cape Town. I feel that the Lord has been saying that this is a time of JOY and a time of drawing to the deep places of His heart. I know the Lord is going to pour out much of his heart and vision for my life, but more than anything my heart cries out to see God face to face and to be consumed by His love! I am praying that this is a season of being overwhelmed with God’s heart. I want to be one with Jesus, loving the things he loves, mourning for the things he mourns for and longing for what he longs for. I pray that each of you is doing well and that you are filled with the love, truth and joy of being children of God!
MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALL!
Whitney

PS I can not check facebook at the team house, so the best way to contact me is my email: WhitneyElise211@hotmail.com I would LOVE to hear from you!!!

OH here is a pic of me on my birthday! i celebrated my 23rd birthday last thursday...and i received my first birthday sunburn!! i LOVED having my first summer birthday :) thanks to all my friends and family who loved me so well from across the world!