Eye-opening community work

Yesterday was our first day working in the townships. As "normal" as it felt to be on a university campus over the past two weeks, yesterday felt all but normal. My group spent a few hours in an orphanage, playing with kids 4 and under, swinging them, helping feed them, hearing thier heart-breaking stories. We were only with them for about two hours and that time was full of mixed emotion. You would go from laughing with them to wanting to cry for them all in a matter of minutes. Most had been abandoned by their parents, some had AIDS (though we were not allowed to know which ones), many had been sexually abused (they were all under 4 years old!!!). The other group went to another township and began to prepare for some work we will do on people's homes. They said that the poverty was just unbelievable. A jobless woman "supporting" 8 kids (4 that were not hers) in a 10 ft. by 20 ft. shack. A woman whose house had half a room and rotted walls that allowed rain water to wash in from every direction. While we normally feel very comfortable in the city, the townships made most American poverty look like nothing. I haev little doubt that the next two weeks will be increidble draining as we spend every day in this atmosphere. I expect it to be incredible rewarding as well, but challenging nonetheless.
Today we will be at a nursing home in the same township and I really have no idea what to expect. None of the residents will speak English and we don't know how serious any of their physical ailments are. Please just continue to pray for our team. Our project has reached a whole new level of intensity we must not rely on ourselves alone to make a difference in these awful situations.

Transition week

This has been another great week on campus so far. We spent all of Monday and Tuesday on campus, most of us spending our time following up with students and beginning the disciplship process that we hope local leaders and students will continue once we are gone. I've been blessed to meet 4 times with each of the three guys I was able to see accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. It's amazing to see the Spirit at work in their lives, opening their eyes and hearts to truths that will change the rest of their lives. Finals began on campus Wed. so we won't be back this week and may only be there for a day next week. Please pray that many students will come on the retreat we are hosting right after they finish finals and that the Lord would provide money to pay for all those who want to attend. This retreat could be crucial in connecting these kids we've met to one another so that they can continue to grow once we're gone.
Yesterday was unlike any other day we've had here. We took a "cultural day" and went about an hour outside Durban to an area call the Land of 1000 Hills. If you can, google it and look at the pictures- it was absolutely beautiful and geography that was unlike anything I've ever seen in the states. We ate lunch at a place with a great overlook of the valley and then went to a model Zulu village to learn more about Zulu tribal life. The coolest thing was that we got to watch some of their ceremonial dances. In all it was incredible educating and really fun. After getting back into Durban we went and played soccer on the beach, which is starting to become a pretty regular way for us to end our day- hard to complain about life when you end everyday hanging out on the beach and taking a dip in the Indian Ocean. And last night we had "men's time" which has become a sacred weekly event that involved lots of grilled red meat, grilled vegetables and the best ice cream bars I've ever eaten.
Today is one of the days I've been looking forward to all trip- we are headed to an orphanage in one of the townships. There are about 30 kids there, ages infant to 8. Many of them have lost their parents to AIDS and some may even have AIDS themselves. We're all thrilled for the opportunity to love on them for a day.
Thanks for all your prayers, God is continuing to bless our trip in incredible ways! Hard to believe, but as of today we only have 3 weeks lefts here.

Social issues...

Sorry that last post was nothing but a title, not sure how that happened, but here is the content meant to go with it...
Some of you may have seen South Africa in the news lately for the xenophobic attacks that are taking place. To begin let me just say our group is an pretty much minimal risk so we are in no danger. The country, however, is in a pretty bad spot. Basically, there are lots of countries around South Africa with awful conditions and crashing economies (namely Zimbabwe) and many of those people are now coming into South Africa and looking for work. Many of the poor South Africans have not taken well to this and lately some riots have broken out in townships and some of these foreigners have even been killed. Like I said, we are at no risk, but the country is very concerned about it. You can be praying that it will end soon and that these problems will be solved without any bloodshed.
Also, this week is a bit of a transition week for us, from campus ministry to community outreach. We are on campus Monday and Tuesday, having a "cultural experience" in s Zulu village Wed. and then working in a township on Thurs and Fri. On Thursday I'll be at an orphanage in the township where I go to church and on Friday I'll be at an old folks home in the same community. I'm excited about the change of pace, but also wanting to keep relationships on campus going.
Today I was able to have follow ups with all 3 guys who I've been meeting with since their conversion. I'll see all 3 again tomorrow as well. Please continue to pray that God will continue to be with them in the early days of their growth. Also, pray that they can all come on the retreat. One is for sure, but there other two are maybes.
Time is just flying be here. With the exception of catching a breif stomach bug last weekend that has been passing throught the team I've had no complants since I've been here. God is doing cool stuff and everyday presents new experiences, challenges and opportunities to see God at work. Hopefully I'll be able to post again some time mid-week. God bless and thank you for your prayers!

Social issues...

More great stuff

We just finished up a second great week on campus. As of the end of today (our 9th day on campus) we have seen 23 students begin personal relationships with the Lord. It is one of the most humbling things in life to watch someone commit their lives to Christ and begin their new life in Him. This week I had the priveledge of being there for it twice. On Wednesday I met with a student named Ndusimo who had filled out survey and requested to speak with someone about beginning a personal relationship with God. I could tell immediately that God had been working in his life and he was ready to take the leap of faith. After talking for only about 15 minutes he prayed for receive Christ. We immediately went to another appointment I had, a follow up where with Sifiso, the guy who accepted Christ again last Friday. We talked more about assurance of salvation and fellowship with God. It was an awesome appointment. After reading the two of them a verse out of Colossians about Christ nailing all our sins to the cross they were both so visibly joyful that it almost brought me to tears. Then again today Ramsay (a guy on the team from FSU) and I were walking around talking to guys and met Victor, a kid from a churched background (Catholic) who just had never been introduced to grace. He was very interested and at the end of our conversation he was eager to begin a personal relationship with God. Again, it was simply amazing to witness.
Also, yesterday we had "social" for all the students we have met, primarily to promote the retreat we will be having before we leave. About 50 students came!! And many of them plan to come to the retreat. The student I prayed with (Sifiso) plans on coming and I am hoping Ndumiso and Victor come as well.
Tonight we have a "family night"- we are going bowling with the team. Hopefully the weekend will be some good down time. We only have 2 more day son campus before students begin finals and then we will focus on community outreach until finals end (June 13). Things are great here! Please continue to send your prayers. God Bless!

Indian Ocean, rugby, Zulu church

Our first weekend is Durban was nice. With no one on campus during the weekend we had our first opportunity to be tourists in the city on Saturday. We got up early and went to the beach for the morning. The Indian Ocean was really cool. The beach area itself was a little dirty, and very tourist oriented, kind of Miami-like. The best thing: Durban has the best bodysurfing I've ever experienced. The waves are spaced far apart and you see them coming in, breaking at the same place every time and then carrying you somtimes 50 or 60 yards back to the shoreline. We spent a good bit of the day out in the water. We also played some kids from a local township in soccer on the beach. They were much better than us, but given that they were all under the age of ten we held our own. We left the beach around 2 to get ready for much anticipated rugby match.
Those who talked to me before I left probably knew that a rugby match was the one South African "cultural" experience" I really wanted to have while I was here. on Saturday night we went and watched the biggest match of the year for the Durban Sharks. A win and four scores would be enough to put them into the semis for the international Super 14 tournament. We got pretty good seats, had some South Africas explain the game before we went in and enjoyed the experience greatly, eating giant sausuges, cheering and watching the Sharks advance to the semis of the tournament. It was a unique event, but I found rugby to be an awesome sport and I have no doubt that if I lived here I would love it as much as I love football. One of the funniest things was the American influence: the team came out to AC/DC, the played "Woop there it is" after every score and wonder of all wonders after the game they played "Sweet Home Alabama." After the game we got to actually go down on the field and meet a few players and the trainer through connections with one of the full time Crusade staff here. The last interesting note about the match was that the croawd was almost entirely white- the first time we have not been obvious minorities all trip. Whites only make up 10-15% of the total population here, but this was a "white" sport for years and as a result, still has predominantly white fans.
Sunday we went to the opposite end of the spectrum, attending a Zulu church in one of the townships. The entire service was in Zulu (the tribal language), but it was awesome to see God's people of another nation, tribe and tongue worshipping together. The only words we knew in the whole service were "Jesus," "Amen," and "Hallelujah." The township was also quite eye-opening and I really hope that we can spend our last few weeks working there (after the University students leave for winter break). Then Sunday afternoon was our first true down time of the trip. We took naps, read and generally bummed around before our meeting last night to prep for the week.
We were back on campus early today and had another good day as we begin to transition from initiative evangilism into building relationships and following up new believers. We saw two more students accept Christ today (11 now since we've been here), which is just incredible encouraging. Pray for our team to endure the long days of conversation. It can be really draining to initiate conversation and drive conversation all day long and often have people dismiss your beliefs and shut you off. But people being saved daily continues to rejuvenate us. We will be on campus everyday this week for 5-6 hours. This is the last week of normal classes before their study week and final exams. Also, please pray for a retreat we are planning for the students right before we leave (June 13-15). We hope it will unite them and set up for them to begin having weekly meetings and more organized discipleship.
I think that's about it here...
Please continue to pray- God is at work!

God at work

We finished our week on campus just hours ago and our first week here was far greater than I could have ever imagined. In four days 9 students accepted Christ- five just today! We are all just in awe of what God is doing. I got to pray with one guy, Sifiso at the end of the day. He was so eager to have a relationship with Christ that I couldn't talk through the 4 Laws fast enough for him- he kept flipping ahead of me in the booklet. Going into today we were all just exhausted and rally struggling to have some of the same frustrating conversations over and over again. When we all got back together at the day's end it was amazing to hear all the stories.
Tomorrow we will go to the beach for the first time and then go to a rugby match (which I'm pumped about!). Sunday we will do church and have some down time. Pray that God will continue this work next week. We now have lots of follow up appoinments and want to contiue meeting new students as well. We need your prayers!!
Hopefully this weekend I'll have time for a more detailed account of all that has been going on. God bless and continue to pray for the University of KwaZulu-Natal!

Update!

I have a bit longer today so I just want to give you a crash course of all that is going on:
1) The city: it's beautiful! Mountains and the ocean only 1 km away from each other. When we come home from campus everyday we come over the last mountain range and can see for miles out to sea. It's really awesome.
2) The univerity: it's very diverse and there are lots of Indian students which we did not expect. I've spent more time talking to Hindus than native Africans or whites. In fact there are very few whites at this campus- I've only talked to one. It is mostly a commuter campus for students from Durban so we hand out there basically all day and then leave in the late afternoon when the students go home.
3) Our team: we are having a blast together. We are pretty small (only 18 students) so people have gotten to know each other pretty well. There are only 7 guys and we've already bonded pretty tight as well all live in one room! Which leads to...
4) Accomodations: The place is fine but there are currently 11 of us sharing one shower every morning and like I said, seven guys in one large bedroom. We are fine with it now, just pray that we can maintain good attitudes and not get on each other's nerves. And most importantly...
5) Ministry: we have spent two whole day meeting students,getting to know them and sharing the gospel. Yesterday one student accepted Christ! We have had lots of other great conversation and have follow up appointments with about 20 students over the next two days. Please continue to pray for students to accept Christ and that he would raise up the Christians already on campus to be student leaders for Crusade and carry on whatever we can begin.
I must go now, but thank you for all your prayers- I get to watch them at work every day! Hope to update again soon!

We made it!

Just have a minute here but, we made it after a mere 30 hours of traveling. we are adjused pretty well so far. After a brief orientation at a local church we spent a few hours on campus today, meeting some students and finding our way around. It is a lot like US campuses and VERY pretty. Views from the mountains down to the ocean that are awesome. Please continue to pray and i'll give a more exteneded update soon.

The trip has started... kind of

Well in some ways I now feel a day into my trip. But we are still in Atlanta. We met today at a hotel near the airport for a briefing before we go. We spent a few hours thisn afternoon in meetings about all different stuff and then a few hours after dinner in our small groups getting to know one another better. I'm really excited about my small group. Our leader is Troy Coons, the trip director. He lived in South Africa for five years as a kid and has worked all over the world with Crusade. Also in my group, Andrew is a grad student at UGA who God has worked mightily in over the last few years in Athens. And Dan is an upcoming senior at FSU. I am acutally the youngest one of the group, which is unusual for me after leading some small groups in SigEp, but I think there is a lot of wisdom for me to learn from these men. Our group as a wholeis 18 students and 6 staff, a great ratio for us! Our team is mostly UGA kids (11) but Georgia Tech, FSU, UCF, Mississippi St. and Alabama-Huntsville are also represented. We leave the hotel at 6:15 tomorrow morning so I'm headed to bed but pray for what I hope to be the longest travel day(s) of my life tomorrow- over 30 hours from leaving this hotel to our hotel in Durban.

Packed and ready

After two crazy days of errands, packing and good byes all is ready to go. I'll spend the night with our team at a hotel near the airport tomorrow night for a briefing and then we'll be in the air early Sat. morning. Pray that our team clicks well when we all meet tomorrow. With kids from 5 different schools it may be easy for the UGA kids to stick together (we are 11 of the 18 total students). But hopefully everyone will connect quickly. Also pray for travels. We will travel for a total of 28 hours (4 separate flights) and have an 18 hour flight from NYC to South Africa. Should be good time to get to know each other, sleep, hopefully, and read or watch some movies. We'll arrive in Durban Sunday night and then we plan on going to campus for the first time on Monday. Hopefully by Wed. or Thurs. I'll have a good idea of how often I can get on the internet and how well this blog will really work. See you in six weeks!

Finals over!!

Half the battle of this week (finals) is over as of just a little while ago. I'll be packing up today and heading home for two days before meeting the team on Friday. Please pray that all goes well getting things together and that I feel ready to go in every way when Friday arrives. It's crazy to think I'll be on campus at The University of KwaZulu-Natal in a week!

One week!

The latest from our project leader...
Please continue to pray.

Hey Guys,
ONE week until we meet in Atlanta! You all have done a great job of raising support and it has been encouraging to hear how the Lord has provided. PLEASE post to this group about how the Lord has provided for you! Also, feel free to post about any other prayer requests you have.

Here's a few prayer requests heading into the final week:
1) Rest - I know this is a busy week for some of you, but ask the Lord to give you half a day or so of rest - to connect with him, to relax, and be refreshed. Do something to take your mind off school and the project!

2) Connection with Students: We will go on campus in Durban Monday after we arrive. Pray the Lord will direct us to students who are open to the gospel and that we would be full of faith as we venture out. Col 4:2-6

3) Safety: Be praying the Lord will protect us from spiritual and physical attack in Durban. We for sure will encounter spiritual attack from Satan as he does not want the kingdom to be expanded. Pray for physical safety, that the Lord will protect us while we are in Durban. 1 Peter 5:8

4) Team Unity: Pray we will be unified together as a team, coming from different campuses and stages in life. Pray the Lord will empower us to love one another and serve each other well. Romans 15:5+6

5) Your staff team for project: Pray that the Lord will give us wisdom as we prepare to lead this summer. Colossians 1:9

OUR VISION:
'MOVEMENTS OF STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL EXPRESSING THE GOOD NEWS AND GOOD DEEDS OF THE GOSPEL TO THE CAMPUS, COMMUNITY, AND THE WORLD.'

OUR MISSION:
- Building relationships with spiritually interested students by sharing the good news of the gospel;
- Building bridges in the community by expressing the good deeds of the gospel;
- Partnering with CCC Durban by co-laboring with them to spread the fragrance of Christ in the city.


looking forward to co-laboring with you in Durban!