About halfway through our time here already, and 2 weeks til the end of the race. Its a weird feeling, 8 months overseas behind us. But despite the slight tinge of sadness that comes from the end of any season, I could not have asked for a better place to end then here in Johannesburg with impact africa. The ministry, the living accommodations, and the people make this place a perfect spot to be before the imminent reentry into the states.
For one the atmosphere in Johannesburg is a lot more western then the places weve gotten used to for the last few months , all the latest technology and urban areas here make it a good environment to get readjusted for home. Our base is kind of tucked back in a neighborhood and it was an old bed and breakfast at one time but now serves as am operating location for Impact. The peaceful landscaping, flowers, tiny pond, fire pit, pool and extensive places to walk around on real grass (uncommon sight in our swazi/cambodian homes) have made this place feel almost like a little rehab center for us to process our last few months of life. The rooms have air conditioning which I was beginning to forget about, the beds are comfortable, they feed us really well, and there are plenty of places to play cards. Oh and theres a laundry machine that we can use whenever we want which is honestly the biggest luxury out of anything, all year Ive been either hand washing or going to a laundry mat or just not doing my laundry so I wouldn’t have to deal with the first two options.
The ministry itself is pretty much just straight street evangelism which isn’t something Ive gotten to do a whole lot since Guatemala so its been awesome. We go to the townships or slums where poverty and crime are at their highest and just walk around looking for people to talk to. Its not really scary at all, something we often overlook is that while these places are statistically unsafe in comparison to where we might come from, they are still peoples homes, families homes, and when your just walking around it feels pretty normal. That being said at night time it would probably be a bad idea to get caught on these streets. The fruit of this ministry is very tangible and it has been a huge encouragement as I get ready to go home. Everyday we get to see people come to the lord, see people encounter the holy spirit for the first time, give people bibles, we’ve seen people get miraculously healed, and watched so many hard hearts begin to turn their ear. Its a blessing to be here and I hope to take the work we do here home with me. The staff here are mostly young people only a few years older then me who come from the communities we do outreach in. All of them love the lord and are super helpful as translators and mentors on how to work in the culture here. Spending time with just the guys has been really encouraging to me here as well. Lots of good conversations and games have filled my offtime. Every night we have worship and intercession by the fire which has been a super sweet routine that’s definitely benefited my faith. Gods been revealing a lot of stuff to me in scripture about my life, my future, my callings, and his people and its exciting having some insight into the season ahead as this one comes to a wrap.
Til next time amigos. I have no pictures from here really so sorry about the lack of visual content but that just means Im having a great time so cheers to that.
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