Blessed be the Lord

Oh my goodness today was SUCH an amazing day! I think the best day I've spent here in Africa. God is so incredible and soo awesome and His plans for us and blessings for us are so great. I love how He blesses us so hugely when we are least expecting it and today was definitely one of those days. So... last week Tuesday we met three guys, Lucky, Sepiwae and Lindo, who are SOO in love with the Lord. They are such a huge encouragment to me. Since 1999 they have dedicated themselves to the work of the Lord and have been on a crusade (with a pastor) preaching the Word of God in different townships and villages around here. They are young godly men, 2 are 23 and one is 25, and they are so dedicated to the Lord and His work and completely live by faith. Me and D were talking about how rare it is to find young men dedicating themselves fully to Christ. It is soo encouraging. They are so kind and easygoing and comfortable to be around. We met them because we always need transulators for our kids club and so a lady we know told us about these three guys. They came and helped us do kids' club last tuesday and it was so nice having them there to help us and be with the kids. They got right in there and joined in on the games and they spoke in Zulu for the puppet play we did.

So, now about today : ) After church D and I went to our very first black church service and it was sooo deadly! Wow I really felt like I was in Africa today! It is the church where our 3 friends have been preaching for the last 6 months (and we only met them last week!). They invited us and so we came at 10:30 cause they told us that's when it started.. so we get there about 10:35 and there are only 4 sisees there.. and we were like.. "Um, is this the right place?" (It is just a white and blue striped tent that they set up) It was the right place but no one was there yet.. not even the preacher! haha, so we just walked around the streets, the only white girls around, and it was just so nice to do that. Then about 11:15 we heard singing from the tent and so we went back to join the service.

Black church services are SOOO awesome! Soo lively with their sweet dance moves and beautiful, powerful singing voices. Soo passionate about the Lord and His work. Soo welcoming and kind to all who enter there little tent church. One lady even came up to me and she shared how it was soo great to worship in one body, whether we are black or white and I totally agreed with her. It was amazing. Even though me and D, I'm sure, looked very "out of rhythm" with the dancing and couldn't sing half the songs because of the language, I felt so welcomed and a part of that church family. Oh my goodness though! They made us go up to the front and share our names and where we were from! And they even got Dione to come up and help a girl come to the Lord through a prayer! haha I told D I was so glad it was her the pastor picked and not me! lol. Shame she was nervous and unsure of what to do. The service just kept going and going until about 2:30. Three hours long! And the pastor was so loud and shouting and he was so into his message. It was deadly. It was an incredible message about the walls of Jerusalem being the protection of the city and how holiness in our own lives are the walls around us and how holiness is what will protect us, and how the walls of Jerusalem fell down and needed to be rebuilt just as the holiness in our lives and communities need to be built up again but there is so much unholiness being lived out.

After the lively, uplifting service D and I decided to invite the 3 of them out for lunch. And oh my goodness was it ever a blessing to them! It was there first time ever being at the resturant and when they opened the menus they didn't have a clue what to do! We had to help them choose their food cause they just didn't know how to go about doing it. And after a big, hearty lunch of steak on a bun with fries and a nice big cold coke, we offered them some icecream and they just couldn't believe it. They were so grateful to us for taking them out, what we would think, a small blessing, but to them it was so huge. Shame though, we fed them so much! They had a hard time finishing it all and then they ordered icecream and when we got it they were soo BIG! We were all so surprised and so the poor guys struggled to get it all down but in the end they said that is was a battle to be won and so they all finished it. Except for me cuase I didn't care if I lost.

Oh man, it was hilarous. So just before we invited the 3 guys to come to lunch the pastor said that he had to go to a prayer meeting... and he was already late cause the morning service went for three hours! So he is in his car and saying goodbye to everyone when he finds out that we are taking the guys out for lunch. Then one of the guys tells us that the pastor is going to join us too. Man I love how the Africans view time. They are never on time for anything and in this case today, when they are very late already for something it's still ok to go and do something else before getting to that previous meeting! Soo funny. But it was great having all four of them there.

Lindo(left) and the Pastor are in the picture with me, and Lucky (middle) and Sepiwae are in the picture with Dione.

Then when we finished about 5:30 we drove them back home in time for them to get ready for their next service which started at 6:30. The three of them preach every night at 6:30, Monday to Sunday! In that same tent church. Amazing hey? Here is a picture of Lucky's adorable nephew and of us and them and Lucky's mother.

When D and I got back to the mission we decided to go to the 6:30 meeting as well, cause we loved it so much in the morning, plus we wanted to hear our friends preach this time. Shame, they were so surprised they saw us back there again. The people were so welcoming once again and this time D and I started to get better with our Zulu dance moves! haha. It was so fun just laughing with the sisee beside me as I tried to dance and praising the name of Jesus with everyone there, so loudly and freely.

These 3 friends of ours are so great and we are so blessed to have met them. They are a huge blessing to us. Please would you pray for them as they continue on in their ministry of preaching the Word of God to many different townships and towns around the area. At the moment they are praying for a car so that they can drive around to the places they wish to minister to, as well for a sponsor from overseas, like a church or a group of people, to help them with their ministry vision. They have a desire to one day go to Canada and do their ministry overseas. They also have this great vision to start up their own mission here in Africa, similar to ours here at Melusi, with a care center and different ministries. So please, would you pray for them in these areas. Thank you so much. And thank You Jesus for your many blessings of this day.