Leading, Learning and Living

Life as a leader is tough! Mornings are early, nights are late and my day is packed with discipleship, ministry, meetings and food fits in there somewhere. When I agreed to come on this trip I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park but at the same time I didn’t see events unravel quite like they have. The Lord is continually breaking my heart for those things that break His heart. I’ve cried more in the past week than I have this entire year. I love my [very] large team and each day is one day closer to becoming the community God desires from us. I’m building relationships with students I may never see again so I am learning to embrace this position I have been placed in. I’m pouring all I have out to each one, hugging on them, eating chips (french fries) and ice cream with them, praying for them, driving them, walking with them to the beach and reading to them nightly. By the time I return to my own room I am wiped yet wide awake. I stay up for a few more hours working on school work, reading books for discipleship and preparing for my next one-on-one. And some how I wake up the next morning ready to conquer another day of discipleship and ministry. None of this I could do without first seeking the Lord. He HAS to be my source of strength and energy in the morning, EVERY morning! I have to hold fast to His promises! 

Jillian feeding one of the precious babies at Virginia’s creche

Next semester is going to look quite different. My Swaziland team is going to have 12 students instead of 40! Our community is getting smaller. We are having to open up to people we normally haven’t spent time with. We are establishing a new network of people in another country. Life is going to look so much different. In some aspects the smaller teams are going to be easier to handle, yet from another perspective my leadership team isn’t going to be in the house up the street, in the apartments across the street or in the room with me as I go back home from ministry. This leadership team we have created is a family of it’s own. We are the size of most teams and we are only the leaders! The Lord has been good to me in establishing this network, this family that accepts me for who I am. We are all new at this, we are all learning together as we go and we are working out many kinks along the way. I have great hopes for what lies ahead and the work the Lord has laid out for us.

Sara and Meghan doing music therapy with some of the residents at Algoa Frail Care Center

Ministry is still going well. The little babies at Virginia’s don’t cry nearly as often as they used to when all these white girls walk through the door. We have been able to bless the ladies that work there by taking them to the new mall here in Jeffreys Bay, taking them out to lunch and bringing cookies along! The babies are all so precious and I would love to take them home with me! Algoa Frail Care Center is getting easier to handle. Sara P has been doing music therapy with the “school children” (a group of four girls that are higher functioning) and about 4-5 boys on a weekly basis. They seem to enjoy it and are responding well. The girls are so sweet and they dance and sing to the music. We have been asked to paint some basic pictures on some of the walls. We are in the process of getting this done and I will post pictures as soon as it is finished! We are in the process of planning a lunch for the staff, a Christmas party and taking some of the kids to a petting zoo/farm. I have also adopted another ministry team that goes to a township close to Virginia’s. I drive them Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays and it has been a blessing watching them come closer as a team. They are encouraging and hearing their stories of the people they minister to encourages me as a leader! 

Becca, me, Em and Brianna after dinner at 3 Fat Fish! (Our bill comes in the fish!)

I am blessed to have such an amazing family!