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