Life Lessons from Living in South Africa: Growing or not?

I have struggled with my gardens while living in South Africa.

My friend, Bethany, & I planted the garden 

only a month after I moved here in 2012.

After that, it began to grow and flourish.

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Then the predators began to come.

The monkeys would steal the tomatoes, potatoes, and even eat some flowers.

Mama monkey carrying baby

They would uproot my root vegetables, leaving the half eaten carrots on top.

~~~

As a missionary, my goal is to share the Gospel, 

lead people to Christ and help them grow in their spiritual walk.

My garden often reminds me of the spiritual growth in 

myself and the South African ladies that the Lord has put into my life.

The Gospel was planted & watered.

The seed took root and appears to be growing.

~~~

A little while ago, I was sitting in the front room studying for my Zulu class.

I briefly looked out the window to see a monkey thief 

pulling out all of my beautiful carrots.

I ran to the window and clapped my hands to chase it away.

Then, I returned to my studies.

After a few minutes, movement from the window caught my eye again.

That monkey came back to pull more carrots out.

This time I got up and opened the veranda door and threatened him 

with a shovel in my hand.

He calmly looked at me, grabbed a few more carrots, 

and climbed back up on the roof.

I was frustrated with that bad monkey by this time.  

My carrots were not as big as I wanted them to be,

so I was not ready to dig them out yet.

After mumbling a few words about how I wanted to kill those pesty monkeys,

I sat down to continue my studies.

Just as I sat down, I saw that the monkey thief

 had already returned to the carrot patch.

That was it!

I had to do something more permanent about it!

No, I did not kill the monkey.

(It is illegal to do that here.)

I bent down and picked up all of the uneaten carrots 

that the monkey had pulled out.

Then I dug out all of the rest.

~~~

Although, the carrots were all planted at the same time,

I immediately saw the drastic difference in their growth.

This reminded me of the difference in the spiritual growth

 of myself and those around me.

Everything may look the same of the outside, 

but it is what is below the surface that God is concerned about.

Week after week, I have invested in the spiritual growth of others

 by teaching Bible Studies and discipleship courses.

Yet, there is an apparent difference in the growth rate of each individual.

This life lesson from my garden reminded me that 

there are hindrances in each of our lives to spiritual growth.  

It is our duty as Christians to go before the Lord 

in prayer asking Him to examine our hearts, 

cleanse us with His Word, and help us to grow as He sees fit.

It is not the rate with which we grow that is as important as 

the fact that we ARE growing!

Lesson from my "differant"day

This past Wednesday was just differant.

Do you know what I mean?

Do you ever have one of those "differant" days?

You know, the kind of days when things are just, 

I don't know "not normal",

just "differant"?

Every once in a while I have one of  those days.

Sometimes they just seem to pass by, 

but mostly I think they are "differant" 

because something during that day made it memorable.

Wednesday seemed to be a normal day.

I got up,

did my devotions,

household chores,

made some phone calls,

studied my Zulu,

prepared for my discipleship lesson,...

...normal Wednesday things.

Then I did my rounds of picking up the kids for discipleship.

During discipleship, I was amazing as we reviewed, 

with what the children were remembering.

It just encourages you to see spiritual growth in children.

We really had a wonderful and productive time.

Don't you just love those times when you meet together with believers 

and noone wants to leave, because you all feel like a family?

That is how our group feels about one another.  

It is truly a blessing!  A small jewel from Heaven.

Oh, I forgot to mention that at the end of the Bible lesson,

a teen boy talked with me about assurance of salvation.

He realized that he was saved, but not growing.

After, discipleship, the whole group walked out to my car.

In a matter of seconds it was full of the first batch of children to take home.

As I got in and started the engine, I noticed a group of people standing around the shop where I was parked.

Normally, that many people are not there.  

What a great opportunity!

Being the only "umlungu" (white person) in the area,

people always notice me.

I smile and greet them in Zulu.

This time as they looked at me, 

I felt the opportunity to give them some Gospel tracts and John & Romans.

I turned the car (full of kids) off,

opened my trunk,

and got out all of the literature I had.

Wouldn't you know,

it was exactly enough for each of them!

After talking a little in my broken Zulu with them,

I got back in the car to take the waiting children home.

Just as I was getting ready to pull away,

Londiwe reminded me that I promised that teen boy I talked with, a Bible.

Turning the car off again,

I went to the trunk of my car and handed him a new Bible of his very own.

He was happy that he could now read his very own Bible.

Finally, I got back in the car and drove the first batch of kids

 down the hill to where they lived.

On the way down the hill,

one of the girls asked me for some tracts.

I told her that I had given them all out.

But then, I remembered that I had a stash of English tracts

 in my glove compartment.

I told her I only had English.

She smiled and asked for some.

I gave her and some of the other kids some to hand out.

I really wasn't thinking about what I had just done before taking them home.

I was wondering why she was asking for tracts all of a sudden.

After dropping those kids off, I went back for the rest.

On our way home, we saw people carrying the tracts 

that I had just given to the kids.

They were handing them out to their friends and neighbors.

I guess my mind was so busy with what I needed to do 

to get the kids home safely.

It wasn't till I got home and had a chance to reflect on the day's events,

that I realized what had happened.

Earlier, when I stopped to give the tracts and John & Romans to the people at the shop and also when I stopped again to give the Bible to the teen boy,  

I had forgotten.

What had I forgotten?

I had forgotten that I was being watched.

Watched by who?

A car packed with Zulu children.

They had listened to me teach them during discipleship - 

how to grow in the Lord,

how to explain salvation to others,...

Now they were like a captive audience.

They watched me stop everything to reach out to lost souls in need of a Savior.

I wasn't even thinking about them watching.

I had been so focused on reaching out to the people,

 that I didn't realize that I was teaching those children by my actions.

Thankfully, my actions were Christ-like.

What a powerful lesson I had learned that day. 

God has really used the fact that those kids saw what I was doing 

and they wanted to mimic my Christ-liness.

It was not their Bible teacher they wanted to be like,

they were reflecting what I did - reaching out in Christ's love,

because I was reflecting His love to others.

God's love in our lives is so powerful.

I love the passages in John where it talks about God's love being perfected in us.

I John 4:12 "...If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, 

and His love is perfected in us."

God's love is perfected in us when we, who are undeserving of God's love, 

reach out to others who are also undeserving of our & God's love.

It is God's love working in us that empowers us to love the unlovely.

What are children seeing in your life?

I know this particular event on this "differant"day really made me think.

How about you?

Happy Birthday to them!

The week before Christmas, 

Londiwe and I were invited to my very first Zulu birthday party.

The party was for Nobhle (the first girl that Londiwe led to the Lord).

We arrived early and got to talk with the family and help with the decorations.

Then, the children started to arrive.

When I left my house that morning,

 I grabbed an illustrated book for children about the birth of Christ. 

 I thought, maybe I will get to show it to someone as a tool to witness to them.  

Little did I know what the God had planned.

As children arrived, I had a chance to talk with some of them.

This area, where Nobuhle lives is called Protea.

There are many people there, that we have not yet reached with the Gospel.

It is about an hour walk to our church from Protea.

It is always amazing to see how the Lord works things out.

Usually at a party the kids are so busy doing activities,

but at this party, the activities had not yet arrived, 

so the children all gathered and sat with nothing to do.

What a perfect opportunity to share the Gospel with a captive audience!

I pulled out the book I brought, along with my Bible.

We asked the children if they would like to hear about 

the greatest birthday ever - the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Their faces were gleaming with excitement.

As we read from Luke 2 and showed the picture book, 

I could see that God's Word was speaking to the heart of these children.

Near the end of my lesson, I explained that you can have 2 birthdays-

1) the day you were physically born 

and

2) the day you put your trust in Jesus as Saviour

(you are born into the family of God).

When we finished out Bible lesson,

7 children responded to the invitation.

4 of those children prayed to receive Christ as Saviour that day.

small children with Nobuhle (middle)

We praise the Lord for Nobuhle, 

the opportunity to share the Gospel with these children,

and for the 4 who were saved!

I am currently having a discipleship class for those children

 every Wednesday in Protea.

Please continue to pray for the area of Protea 

and for these children to grow in the Lord.

More party pictures:

Our Ocean Adventure

When Londiwe and I finished our study on the Book of John, 

we decided to do something fun together.

So we went down to the Indian Ocean.

It is only about a 45 minute drive from my house.

Londiwe does not get to see the ocean very often.

Here in South Africa, alot of families, English and Zulu alike, 

will go down to the beach over the holidays.

Remember, our seasons are opposite of yours,

so Christmastime will be Summertime.

We enjoyed: walking along the shore, picking up seashells, exploring the rocks,

having a picnic lunch, and playing in the sand.

After lunch, we spent time in God's Word, 

sharing what He has been teaching us from our personal devotions.

I turned around at one point and there was Londiwe writting in the sand.

What did she write?

She wrote: 

"Gina and Londiwe are one".

What does that mean?

It means that -

1. She sees us as friends, 

which we are

2. She doesn't see a cultural or ethnic barrier between us, 

which is true

3. She feels that she has grown in the Lord,

 which she has

4. She feels like we are both moving on with the same goal -

 to win others to the Lord and help them grow too,

 which is true!

Londiwe could have written anything in the sand, but she chose to write that.

There it was written in the sand for the whole world to see.

While we were there, I noticed that people would stop and watch us.

I mentioned this to another South African missionary.

She said that they were probably confused or wanted to understand what they saw.

They saw a white American young woman laughing, playing, singing,

 and reading Scripture with a young Zulu woman.

The two of us were thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Although, South Africa has been free from an apartaid rule for some time now,

it is still very much followed.

It is never common to see a white person in the tribal area.

The Zulu people only work for the whites in their homes and buisnesses.

they work as maids, garden workers, truck drivers, 

store cashiers, cleaning ladies,....

Only on a rare occasion will you see a white person with a Zulu.

This was one of those "rare" (and precious) occassions.

I love the ocean, sand, waves - I was surprised by this wave

 while Londiwe was taking my picture.

For me, it was also a good day to get away and enjoy the sunshine and ocean.

While I was growing up, my family would go to Virginia a few times each year.

As an adult, I cherished those times that we could go to the ocean. 

When I was finishing high school, I wanted to be an oceanographer.

So I began studying, but the Lord got ahold of me 

and led me into ministry instead.

It was such a blessing for both of us to get away

 from the normal surroundings of life

and reflect on all that the Lord taught us from the Book of John.

Thanks you for praying for our Bible Study times.

We are now studying the Book of I John.

We meet every Wednesday from 1:30-4:30/5pm.

Friend, Farm, Fun

Winter time for me, means that I can go out and visit 

some new churches that I have not been to.

It is a delight of mine to meet other believers 

and to have wonderful fellowship with them.

When I don't have a meeting, I look for a like-minded church to visit 

in hopes of getting invited to come back later 

to share my ministry with the church.

My friend Ann

Last weekend I visited two churches in Lebanon, PA.

I had the added blessing of being able 

to spend some time with my dear friend Ann.

Ann was a missionary to the inner city kids in the Philadelphia area.

               She lived in the city and has served the Lord faithfully 
                                    since she was a teenager.

Now she is blessed to live on this beautiful farm in the country.

Her days are still filled with the sound of children 

chattering and playing outside.

There are also peaceful quiet moments where she can spend more time studying His Word 

and encouraging other believers.

When you live on a farm, there is alot of work to be done, 

so she helps the farmer and his wife by watching the kids.

She is like a mother, grandmother, sister, part time homeschool teacher, 

arts and craft teacher, hard worker, missionary,....

Anns crafts

Ann is truly a modern day portrayal of the Proverbs 31 Woman.

 Proverbs 31:13 

"She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands."

Ann loves to make beautiful things.

God has truly given her the gift of making something beautiful out of nothing.

During my visit, she taught me to knit this pretty scarf.

Since the weekend I have made more scarves and have also taught my mom.

More than making the scarves, I enjoy the times we spent together learning, talking, and making something beautiful.

The scarf I made during this visit will always be precious to me, 

representing the special memories I have with her.

During my visit, we also talked of God's faithfulness to us as we serve Him.

He always provides for our needs and lovingly leads us in His will.

I am so thankful that God has placed His faithful servants in my life.

They have already gone before me and have valuable life lessons to share with others, like me.

The Bible says we should be learning from the older folks.

 1Pe 5:1 ¶ The elders which are among you I exhort, 

who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, 

and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

 1Pe 5:5 ¶ Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. 

Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: 

for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

Who are you learning from and 

what spiritual life lessons have you passed on to the younger generation?