a much needed vist

yesterday i was able to go back to Walk in the Light (the ministry i worked with last summer and am staying at this summer). I spent the day helping out around the ministry. I am so thankful that i got to go back and be reminded of the way God is moving in that township. Driving up the hill and getting to Haniville was like finally getting back home. i had such a big smile on my face. ha it was ridiculous. Throughout this experience so far there have been certain days of frustration and resentment towards the study abroad program because we are so far removed from the Africa i know and the Africa i have come to love. We stay in a wealthy, privillged area where we are waited on hand and foot, which is a blessing, but it is also hard at times. Yesterday God really just reminded me of why i am back in South Africa, and just confirmed that i am here for the right reasons, and he has started a process in me that is taking some preparation and time. While i was at walk in the light i was able to hear about what has been happening in the ministry and within different individual's lives over the last five months.

a little background information:

Walk in the Light: it is located in a township, Haniville. It serves the needs of the community through various projects. It is located on a farm, which employs locals from the community, and provides the majority of the ministry's income. On Wednesday nights there is youth group for the younger kids. Senior Youth is on Friday evenings, and Thursday night is knittng club for the women of the community. Haniville has an HIV rate of 60%. Because of haniville's HIV rate, Walk in the Light has created programs that address this need. Bruce and phindille drive patients to and from the clinic daily to receive their ARV and TB meds. Phindile and Bruce do home visits regularly and provide food packs for several different families each month.


walk in the light.




a couple of the girls from the senior youth.


senior youth boys


Bruce Taylor is the South African who started and runs Walk in the Light. His ministry is based around this idea that we, as Christ followers, are called to love our neighbor. He has committed everything he has to his neighbor, the township of Haniville. I have never seen such an incredible illustration of love and selflessness as i have seen in Bruce.

Phindille: She is the Zulu woman that runs walk in the light alongside Bruce. She is from Haniville and is the backbone of the ministry. She is in charge of organizing the clinic runs, she knows everyone in the community, their individual needs, and the resources needed to meet those needs.



Neels Stein: He is a character. He helps out at Walk in the Light. He has an incredible story and devotion to Christ.

Yesterday at Walk in the Light I spent the day sorting through donated clothes and labeling them. It was great just to be back and to spend some time with Phindi learning about what has been going on in Haniville since i left in June.

the clothe packs that are passed out in the community.

bruce told me this week that 40% of their land was taken away from the government to create an oil line going from durban to jo'burg. this cuts their income nearly in half. pray for this and for the ministry if you get a chance.

these past two weeks have been awesome.
my prayer for myself and for my group here in South Africa is that we as are able to see the beauty in the brokeness rather than focusing on the bad and almost pitying the people we come in contact with.

I John 3:18- 20
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

i was reading Matthew out of the message this week and this verse kept on coming up.
matthew 11
"walk with me and work with me - learn the unforced rthyms of grace."

my prayer for myself is that one day i will get to a place where i am truly able to allow God to work through me in ways that his grace will flow from me. the concept of both receiving and giving grace is a hard thing for me to grasp. i am praying each day that i am able to seek out God's grace and learn how to give it in my daily routines.

the other day my dgroup was talking about the phrase "break my heart for what breaks yours."
i have been thinking alot about that since we met last week. i pray that prayer alot. i have been realizing more and more though that God has broken my heart, he has given me an aching heart and compassion of his people here in South Africa, and now he is waiting for me to do something about it. It is my job to figure out the tools he has equipped me with and the ways in which i can best use them for his glory.


Psalm 94:16-19
"Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers? Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."

i have been thinking a lot about what it means to follow Jesus. i think we get it all wrong sometimes.
like i mentioned earlier, one of my frustrations with being here is how safely and comfortable we are living. it is just so far from the life i feel i was called to live as a christian. Jesus and his disciples knew nothing of comfort, of convenience or safety. my friend alex was talking today about how our caravan passed a man on the side of the road whose car had broken down, and yet we drove past him. As an imitator of Christ, is it my job to stop and help, to reach out to the hungry, the thirsty, the lonely, the broken ... yes, it is. I think far too often i am too scared to ask myself, what would Jesus do in that situation, because i know it, and the answer is always the more challenging option, it is always the option that will make me uncomfortable and inconvenience me.

i am learning each day, more and more about what i am doing on this earth, and the life i am called to.

ecc 5:7
Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.
i truly am in awe of my creator. i am learning what it means to sit in is presence and be content.