This school term technically ended on June 30th, but for us, it ended on June 10th. It was actually kind of comical towards the end, because we were trying to teach enough to finish our curriculum at the end of this term. The date for our “last day” kept moving up and we really did just make it.

 

The last lesson for all our classes included a challenge for the kids to stay pure and a chance for them to make a commitment, as well as a gospel presentation. Out of our 150 students, 14 responded, desiring to make a commitment to stay pure. At first Megan and I were a bit down about how few responded, but the Lord really used this to teach us a lot about Himself. We were busy questioning what WE had done wrong to cause so few to commit, when God showed us that it is HIM that is working in the lives of those kids, not us. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)

Just last weekend, Megan and I experienced our first Youth Rally. A week earlier, we had been asked to lead a portion of the Youth Rally, and we were both very excited about this opportunity. We spoke with the Pastor of the church and he told us that we would have about six hours to lead, so we decided to give a True Love Waits presentation.

 

We were to get to the Rally at 10:30 on Saturday morning, and when we headed out for Fort Beaufort, about an hour and fifteen minutes away, we had around six hours worth of stuff prepared. When we arrived at the Rally, absolutely NOTHING worked out the way we had planned. No one was at the church when we arrived and they didn’t show up for another hour or so.

 

We ended up getting started 45 minutes after that, and were told that we’d only have 45 minutes to give our presentation, so we frantically tried to figure out what to cut out. Later, when we had gone slightly over our allotted time, I actually had a young man come up in the middle of my presentation and ask me to finish up. All in all, it was one of those “character building experiences”.

 

For me though, the whole experience was a huge testament to what God is doing in my life. Sixth months ago, the whole situation would have left me frazzled and probably very angry. And honestly, that was still my fleshly reaction. But the whole time, I could feel God in me, increasing my patience and giving me love for the people. Praise the Lord that He takes us imperfect people and allows His light to shine through us anyway.

For about the next month, until the beginning of August, the schools will be out on break. On July 1st the National Arts Festival came to Grahamstown. This is an annual event that I have been hearing about since before I arrived. Our little town doubles in population and all the main streets in town are closed off and filled with craft vendors for an entire week. Megan and I have been walking around looking at everything for the past two days. They also have a ton of shows, including drama, dancing, and concerts. Last night we went to the ballet. It really has been a fun atmosphere here (I know, everyone feels sorry for me, huh?).

 

Next week we will head down to George (half way between here and Cape Town) for our annual mission meeting. All the missionaries from our region will come, and I am really looking forward to it. Also, I think that Megan and I are going to take a few days afterwards to explore the area down there (there is supposedly a place where you can ride ostriches—horray!)

God really has been doing so many things in my life, and that’s exciting. The past six months have been the hardest I think I’ve ever experienced, but looking back I can see how much God has changed me. Just the other week, I was having a bad day. Megan was sick and in bed. I was alone and I realized that there was no one I could call to talk to or to come hang out with, so I went walking through town. I was so lonely and my first reaction was to question why God had allowed this. But then I started praying, and I ended up just chatting with God the whole day.

 

This may sound very strange, but it really was one of the most intimate times I’ve ever had with the Lord. And I had to be THAT lonely and THAT sad to experience the comfort and love that I felt that day.

 

The whole experience really has changed my outlook on the occasional homesickness that I feel here: If it results in that kind of close walk with the Lord, BRING IT ON!! God has also been showing me how much I need Him in the area of ministry. I’d just like to state that the longer I am here, the more I realize that I am pretty bad at this. Being here has seemingly brought out all the junk I was able to hide when I was in the States. In fact, I think I had myself convinced that I was a pretty good person, but being here has convinced me that in actuality, I am far, far, faaaaar away from being a good person. Any goodness at all in me is entirely from the Lord. And any good I may be able to do here is also ENTIRELY from the Lord…

 

 “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant…” (2 Cor 3:5,6).

• Pray for our time at the mission meeting. It should be encouraging to meet with the other missionaries. Pray for safety in traveling.
   
• Pray for the kids at Ntsika who committed to purity. This is really a hard thing, for anyone, but especially for kids in their culture. I believe that it is only through God that they will be able to hold to this commitment, so pray that He intervenes in their lives. Pray that we will be able to do follow-up with them, including a Bible study and that they stay committed.
   
• Pray for the work at Alexandria. We will be starting there in August and it will be a challenge to keep up with, as we will be teaching five classes, going out there probably twice a week, and it is about 45 minutes away. Next term looks to be a very busy one!
   
• Pray for the Morris family (our supervisors).  Bob’s mother fell very sick a few weeks ago, and Bob made the decision last week to go home to the states. He had already been planning on going right after our mission meeting, but because of her rapidly declining health, decided to go a few weeks early. He left on Monday and he will be gone until the beginning of August, so be in prayer both for the situation he faces in the States, and for his wife, Susan and their kids back here.
   
• Pray for unity among our team. We will all be together (except for Bob) during the mission meeting, so pray that we will grow closer together during this time.
   

     heather :-)

See some Photos from Heather Here