Seasons Change

As I was walking to class on this beautiful fall morning, I couldn't help but notice the vibrant colors of the leaves as they were falling and the crisp newness of cool weather in the air. It's fascinating to watch the seasons change, bringing a renewed feeling to our world.
Creation is such a reflection of its Creator. It's as if you can see a beautiful picture of our Savior in every aspect of creation! God is perfectly orchestrating the changes in creation, the leaves changing, the cool weather, to bring about a new season for us to enjoy. Psalm 104 is a wonderful passage that speaks of the Lord's great and mighty works.
As I thought about these things, it led me to think about how it is exactly the same in each of our lives. There are a lot of changes and new stages of life that I am going through right now, and honestly they don't always make sense. But you know what? The Lord of the universe, the One who knew me before I ever existed, knows exactly what He's doing! Just as He brings about change and newness to create new seasons, so will He do in my own life. He is perfectly orchestrating the circumstances and changes in my life to mold me into what He wants me to be. He has an ultimate plan for my life. He longs for me to experience ultimate joy.
It would be silly if a leaf chose not to change color or fall to the ground, because we know that in order for the season to change, those things must happen. It might not make sense, but they are required in order to create what is best in the bigger picture. Well, it's exactly the same for us! How foolish would it be to try to go against the changes and circumstances the Lord is overseeing in our lives. If He has a perfect plan, and if He sees the bigger picture of our lives, why wouldn't we fully submit to whatever He sees as best for us? Things might not always make sense to us, but what does make sense is to fully trust in the God who is completely sovereign over all things.
So, my challenge to you is to look at what the Lord is doing in your life. Look at the changes, the circumstances, the new seasons He is bringing about. Then ask yourself "Am I fully trusting that the Lord knows what He's doing, and have I fully submitted it all to Him?" I know this is something I need to do daily, and pray that I will do that. I want to experience the full joy that He has to offer me.
As crazy as it sounds, I want to be a woman who is like a leaf in the fall. Willing to undergo change, willing to fall to the ground if I need to, and ultimately willing to be completely surrendered to the perfect will that my beautiful Savior has for my life.

How's that for a Tuesday morning walk to class?

Happy fall :)
-K

In Awe.

As almost all of you know, I finally made it back safely to America! It's hard to believe that my 7 weeks in Africa have come to an end, and that I'm already preparing to begin classes in a little more than a week.
I know I've talked a lot about some of the fun and exciting things that I got to do and see while I was overseas, but I want to fill you in on what happened in the lives of the people we came into contact with. I want to make sure you know how lives of students were impacted by the gospel this summer. As the title of this blog says, I really am in awe of all of the awesome works of the Lord that I got to witness in South Africa.

Let me start by saying that I feel so priviledged to have even been used by the Lord and to have had the opportunity to go on this trip. I am nobody special, nobody with special abilities, and I think I saw more and more this summer of how God can use any ordinary person who is open to doing His will.

God definitely did some huge things on the campus of UJ-Bunting during our time there. As a team, we saw 15 people come to Christ, many re-dedicate their lives to the Lord, and also a large number become interested in Christianity for the very first time. It was so awesome to see the Lord move, and it seemed like He moved in times when we least expected it. As I write this, I can't help but to think of Psalm 126:5, which says "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!" I feel like that verse really defined a lot of our team's heart this summer. We had various trials and had many times when it would have been easy to just give up. We cried over and labored in the lives of many South African students who do not know Christ. But guess what? The promise of this verse rang true! The Lord called us to be faithful in serving Him no matter how hard it may be, and as a result, we were able to reap with shouts of joy! What a great thing to know that the Lord is faithful to His people and to carry out His promises. To Him be all the glory for the lives that were changed for eternity!

I could probably write a book on all of the students that we built relationships with this summer, but that would take way too long! Instead, here's a great video of our trip that Doug Rose put together. It will let you directly hear from some of the students whose lives were changed forever.

Sometime this week I'll be posting a blog about all that God taught me personally during my time in South Africa. Can't wait to share with ya'll! :)

Love always- K

Nearing the End in South Africa.

A lot has been going on since the last time I was able to update you! South Africa is still going great and I am having a blast.


Things on campus have been slowing down as exams are going on and students are beginning to go home for their break. We have had some rough days, but overall Paige and I have still been able to get some good quality time with girls to study the Bible with them, take them to our weekly meeting, and just continue to love and serve them. As a team, we have had 11 students come to Christ over the past 3 weeks, so it has just been awesome. God is moving in big ways on UJ-Bunting’s campus. If we leave South Africa and nothing else “good” happens while we‘re here, those salvations have made it worth everything for us to come.
Last Saturday we had a great excursion day. First, we went to an orphanage here in Jo-burg. We got to play with the kids while we were there and they were precious. It brought me to tears thinking about how these children don’t have earthly parents who love and care for them, but I was quickly reminded that what they do have is a perfect heavenly Father who loves them more deeply than any earthly father ever could. It was really hard to leave the children and I definitely would have taken one home with me if I could have! After the orphanage we visited Soweto, which is a township outside of Johannesburg. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Everyone is outside, there are kids running around everywhere, and everybody knows everybody. We definitely looked like a big group of tourists while we were walking around, but we did have a student with us who had grown up there, so that made it much better for us. It was a great cultural experience, and it was nice to be able to get out of the big city. That night, we went to a professional rugby game. It was the first rugby game I had ever watched and I really enjoyed it. Those of you who know me know that I love contact sports, so it was very entertaining for me to see them tackling each other with no padding or protection! J


This past weekend we had an another amazing excursion. We went to Swaziland in order to go to the wedding of an African couple who was involved with Campus Outreach when they were in college. (Swaziland is surrounded by South Africa, but is actually a different country. Another passport stamp- yeah!) We got there Friday afternoon and went to a market and a restaurant with home-cooked Swazi food. It was so much fun. Saturday morning we were able to visit a nature reserve where we saw a waterfall, a traditional Swazi village, and people performing traditional Swazi dances and songs. It was great to get a taste of their culture. The wedding was that afternoon, which was another great cultural experience. Swaziland is definitely the most beautiful land I’ve ever been in. It is covered with mountain ranges and open land that is gorgeous. I can’t describe it. I’ll have pictures up as soon as I can J


That’s all I have time for now! This is most likely the last time that I’ll have internet access until I get back to America. This coming weekend we have the JWC camp with the students, and then our team will be staying there at the camp additional days through Wednesday. We’ll be helping build houses in the township and hosting vacation Bible school for the children who live there. After we leave the camp, we will head to Krueger National Park for a safari. I can’t wait! I’m so looking forward to all of these awesome things that we are going to be doing. It’s hard to believe that exactly 2 weeks from today I will be on the plane heading home. Our time here has gone by so fast! Please just continue to keep us in your prayers as we finish out this awesome time in South Africa. Continue to pray for the students we’re reaching out to and for UJ-Bunting’s campus. The Lord has been so good to us while we’ve been here. For those of you whom I will see when I get back home, I so look forward to explaining my trip to you in more detail and sharing with you more of the great things that have happened! I love you all so much, I miss you, and you’ll be hearing from me again when I’m back in America! J

Love always,
Kim

A Little Glimpse of South Africa.

Pushing through in South Africa.

Hey everybody!
Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated you all. We’ve been super busy here in South Africa and have had very limited internet access since we’ve arrived. I’ll try to update you on all the things that have been happening over the past couple of weeks!

• Things on UJ-Bunting’s campus have been still been going great. Over the past 2 weeks, we have had 6 students accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. God has blessed us far more than we deserve! The names of the students are: Melinda, Touch, Sné , Confidence, Patience, and Nicole. Please pray for them, that they would be bold in the decision that they’ve made and that they would be plugged in to a local body of believers.
• Pray for us this week as we close in on recruiting students for the JWC (Joint Winter Conference) that we have June 24-26. This is a conference that CO-Johannesburg puts on for students who desire to know more about who Jesus is and also for those who want to grow in their relationship with Christ. Pray that the barriers that students have would be removed and that they would have the desire to know Christ more.
• This past weekend was an awesome weekend for our team. On Saturday, we went to the Lion Park. We drove around the different “lion camps” and got to see lions, zebras, cheetahs, antelope, ostriches, and a giraffe. We also got to pet lion cubs and feed the giraffe. It was so much fun! For dinner, we had reservations at a restaurant called Carnivore. As you can tell by the name, this restaurant is famous for the meats they serve. The waiters come around to each person and give you pieces of all the different kinds of meat on the menu. They had around 10 different meats and it’s all-you-can-eat. Some of the meats we had were: impala, antelope, wildebeest, crocodile, lamb, buffalo, pork, chicken, and beef. I never thought I would try all of these wild animals, but I did! It was such a cool experience.
• For those of you who didn’t know, our van actually got stolen from in front of our house last Saturday, in the middle of the afternoon. We were also all at home when it happened. This was scary to us because it most likely means that someone had been watching us and scoping out our house. We were without a car for a couple of days, but thankfully we were able to get a replacement. The bad part is that we have to pay for what the insurance didn’t cover, which is around $3,000. Pray that we would be able to raise the funds that we need to cover that cost. If you want to give in any way, please let me know.
• Here are the names of the girls that Paige and I are really focusing on and ministering to: Lucia, Aphiwe, Linkie, Patience, Lerado, Londeka, Kamota, Neo, Toby, and Promise. It would be great if you could pray for them with me. Pray that they would feel loved by us and that we would be able to live out the gospel before them. Pray that God would draw them to Himself and that they would see that He is worth giving their lives to.
• Continue to pray for our team’s safety and health. A couple of our team members haven’t been feeling well, so pray that they would heal quickly and that the sickness wouldn’t spread.
　

That’s all I have time to write for now! I miss and love you all, and hope that I will be able to update you again much quicker than I have been able to. It’s hard to believe that I will be on the plane to come back home in just 27 short days. Our time here is going by very fast, so pray that we will make the most of the time we have left here.
Soak up some sun for me back in the States! J

Love always,
Kim

Greetings from South Africa! :)

Well, it’s been 3 days in South Africa and I don’t even know where to begin! Our plane ride here seemed as if it would never end, especially the 11 hour flight from Amsterdam to Johannesburg! It’s been really hard to get over the jet-lag after arriving here, because we basically lost an entire night of sleep on our way here. But we can’t complain, because we got here safely, had all of our luggage to arrive, and we have a nice, cozy house to live in.
A little bit about our house- It’s called the Butterfly. We have two nice common areas where we can all hang out and spend time together, a large kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a nice big patio. It’s so much different here than in the states, because there are walls topped with barbed-wire around every single house and building here in Jo-burg. A little bit of a change coming from a small town where we don’t even have to lock our doors!
Wednesday, we had an orientation session in the morning with some of the CO-Johannesburg staff. They talked about what their ministry looks like, safety precautions, and other things we need to know about living in South Africa. We then walked around the local mall that we will be shopping at for groceries, things we need, etc. It’s really convenient, because it’s only about 5 minutes away from our house. We also took a tour of UJ-Bunting, the campus that we will be investing in this summer. All of the student leaders have been nothing but so welcoming to us ever since we arrived, and we’ve already gotten to spend a lot of time with them. Wednesday night is also when CO-J has their weekly outreach meeting called “Le Life,” which basically means “The Life.” The staff didn’t waste any time throwing us into the dorms to start meeting students. We went around to the different hallways that we’re assigned to, started meeting students, and invited them to the weekly meeting. It was so awesome! The South African students are SO friendly and so excited to meet Americans (I mean, I guess we’re pretty cool.) There ended up being around 125 students at the meeting, which was their largest meeting of the year! The momentum was high and everyone seemed excited to be there. The Lord is already moving here on this campus, and I can’t wait to be a part of this awesome time.
Thursday, we had day 2 of orientation and went over some more information about South Africa and about our campus. We then went to campus and played some touch rugby. Let me just say it was so much fun. There were a lot of Africans watching us play, and I know they were laughing at and talking about us uncoordinated, un-athletic Americans. Oh well, it was still fun. We then got to get some rest back at the Butterfly before heading back to campus for the evening. We had a girl’s Bible Study in my dorm and had about 20 girls show up. It went so well! They were slightly shy at first, but we can tell that a lot of them definitely have interest in the gospel and who Jesus is.

I feel like I have SO much to share with you already, and I’ve only been here for 3 days. Here are just some random things to share with you all:
1) My ministry partner for the summer is Paige Donham, a girl on our team from UNCG. This means that we’re assigned to 5 floors of a dorm on campus and will be doing all of our ministry together. I’m so excited to work with her!
2)The dorm that we’re assigned to is called Panorama, and it’s 10 stories high. I know the dorms at UNCC are big, but these things are about twice the size of the one I live in. They’re huge!
3) I’ve met about 30 girls over the past 2 days, and I can probably only remember close to 10 of their names. Let’s just say their names are way more complicated than American names. Makes it difficult for a southern white girl to pronounce. Just saying.
3) Driving here has been quite an experience. (I personally haven’t had to drive, but some guys on our team have learned). Since they’re new to this whole driving on the left side of the road thing, we’ve had some close encounters to say the least. The South African people look at us like we’re insane, because there are 14 white Americans all piled into a van, driving around having no clue what they’re doing. Wil Sessions has been hilarious while chauffeuring us around!
4) The weather here has been absolutely beautiful. It’s cold at night, but during the day it’s been about 65° and sunny, which I think is perfect weather.
　
I hope this gives ya’ll lots of info and insight as to what I’ve been doing over the past couple of days. Sorry it’s so long, but I want to keep you all as informed as I possibly can. And sorry if it’s a little jumbled, I’m writing this at nearly 1am, so I’m a little sleepy.
Please just continue to pray for us: pray for boldness in the dorms, pray that the hearts of the South Africans would be open to the gospel, pray for the leaders on the campus here, and pray that the Lord would give us rest and strength as we’re trying to catch up on sleep.
I love you all SO much and will hopefully update again soon J
Kimberlaquishanitamoniquatoyaredneckolodea (I guess you can say that’s now my ghetto African name)

Almost There!

Okay, so I'm only 5 days away from boarding a plane and heading to a completely different country. I absolutely cannot believe that it's almost here! This week has been crazy, as I've had 5 final exams to take, had to move out of my dorm room, and begin packing for South Africa. I've been busy to say the least. I should be studying now, but I wanted to take a quick little break to update you all :)
First, I've got to say how loved that I've felt by my church, Hickory Grove, and just how awesome they have been. They have supported me in so many ways and it's been unreal. First off, they supported me financially to help get me to South Africa. That was a huge blessing. Then, they prayed for Lauren, Morgan, and I in both services last Sunday. Hundreds of women laid hands on us and the entire church body lifted us up in prayer. Our college Sunday school class also prayed for us this past Sunday to send us off. On top of that, we found out yesterday that the entire staff team at HGBC prayed for us in their staff meeting. Talk about feeling loved! I am so thankful for each and every one of the pastors, staff, and church members there who have influenced me, and who are so passionate about seeing the gospel reach the nations.
Second, it's been crazy how the Lord has provided the financial support I needed to have this opportunity! Never did I imagine that I would be able to raise $5500 in support. But oh wait, that's actually because I didn't do it. God has clearly provided this money for me, because there's no way I could have done this on my own! Even over this past week, He has specifically provided the exact amounts of money that I have needed. It's such a cool feeling to just sit back and watch the Lord do His thing. I mean, He's kind of perfect at that, ya know.
Lastly, here are a few details that I've found out since I blogged last:
-We're having a parent send-off in Lynchburg, VA on Sunday evening. So technically, my last night at home will be Saturday. The send-off will be a time for all of our families to meet each other, find out any last details, and say their goodbye's to us.
-We are flying KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
-We will be flying out of Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. on Monday evening at 5:55pm.
-We will have about an 8 hour flight to Amsterdam, and we will have a 2 hour layover there. We will then fly straight from Amsterdam to Johannesburg, which is an 11 hour flight. So all in all, it will take us around 21 hours to get to J-burg. Whoo!
-Our theme for the summer is "We Are Witnesses," which clearly fits our trip perfectly. We will be studying the book of Acts together as well.
-The first couple of days we are there we will have orientation to get us aquainted to South Africa, so we won't be jumping in first thing.

That's all I can think of for now! Back to studying I go.
Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I have a lot to do before I leave. I'm planning on spending as much time as I can with family and friends, as well as consuming as much American food as possible! :)

Love you all lots!
-K&W

Let's Give This a Try!

Well, here it is...my first time "blogging." I just wanted to share a little bit with you about all of the exciting things that are happening in my life right now, primarily with my trip to Africa!
First off, for those of you who don't know, I'm going to Johannesburg, South Africa for eight (that's right, I said eight!) weeks this summer through Campus Outreach's CCP (Cross Cultural Project). Campus Outreach is the same ministry that I spent the past two summers with at Myrtle Beach. I am excited beyond words for this trip. It's been kind of hard to focus on school work and exams when I'm leaving for Africa in a little over a month. The Lord has already placed a love for these people in my heart, and I haven't even met them yet! I am definitely eager to get there.
I am still currently in the process of raising support to go on this trip. The total cost for the trip is $5500 and I'm a little over the half-way mark. It has been unreal to see how the Lord has provided support for me and for our team so far. Family, friends, and people I hardly even know have been beyond generous in their giving. I still have a lot of money left to be raised, but I know that God is going to provide...He always does! Our team goal is to have all of our support raised by April 29th..so let's keep praying that God will do big things! This semester has really been exciting because I've been seeing the Lord's faithfulness through this support raising process. It's an awesome feeling to know that the God of the entire universe will provide for even your smallest of needs! To all of my supporters- I couldn't be more thankful for each of you.

We have also found out a few more details about our trip over the past week:
1) We're staying in a "fly" little house in Johannesburg called the Butterfly. It has bars on the doors and a fake ADT security sign, so that's reassuring. My dad said we'll probably have to take turns having machine gun duty on the roof at night (haha, funny). I'll post a video tour of the house as soon as I can.
2)We're either flying out of ATL, DC, or NYC. We should have that decided by this upcoming week. We're also still planning on leaving May 16th.
3) We're able to bring 2 suitcases a piece, thank goodness! :) Since I'm going to have to pack bulky winter clothes for South Africa, I guess I'll have to learn how to "pack light" (I think that's impossible).
4) We're going to be ministering to the students at the University of Johannesburg- Bunting Road campus.
I'm sure I'll find out more details super soon!

Here's a video of some South African students who have been impacted by the CCP in previous years. For those of you who haven't seen the video and want to check it out, here it is:

As far as prayer requests, there are a couple of things that you can specifically be praying for:
1) Time management; that I would be able to manage my time properly and stay focused on school work.
2) Support; that it would continue to come in and that I would be faithful in this process over the next couple of weeks.
3) Our team as a whole: that we would continue to draw closer in our relationships and that we would all raise enough support to cover our trip.
4) The students at The University of Johannesburg- Bunting Road Campus; pray that they will have open hearts for us to come even now.

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
   I will sing praises to you among the nations.
                           -Psalm 57:9
Much love!

Kim Possible :)