Yesterday morning, I sat on the rocks by the ocean in Cape Town for some quiet time. The combination of Justin Vernon's voice, the book of Proverbs, my journal, the most gorgeous scenery I have ever encountered, and Jesus makes for an ideal experience. We flew into Cape Town on Monday night after flying from Bangkok to Nairobi to Johannesburg. For this week of debrief, we were supposed to be staying in our tents on the back lawn of a conference center, but instead, the lady that owns the resort gave us the cottages for the entire week. It just so happens that there are penguins that live by the ocean in front of where we are staying. I never would have thought that a penguin would be the first animal I saw in South Africa. We are definitely blessed to be able to relax for a few days, spend time with our team, eat good food, and worship in the local Methodist church of Simon's Town. The transition from Thailand to here is rough in many ways, but it has been softened by the beauty of Cape Town. I completely fell in love with South Africa as the sun set over the table mountains and the ocean while the plane descended onto the runway. Before we even stepped off, I knew this place felt like home. On Monday, we will return to reality and venture out to our ministry site in a part of Cape Town called Ocean View. When we tell people where we are going to live, their mouths drop open in disbelief. From what I have heard, it is in the heart of the slums and a potentially dangerous place. They tell us not to go there, and they can't understand why we actually want to live there. However, this makes me all the more excited. I can't wait to find out what we will be doing for the next three and a half months. I already love the people here and their friendliness. It is also nice that everyone speaks English. I somewhat forgot what it is like to be able to communicate with everyone around us, and it will make conversations with people more meaningful. Today, a couple of us took a two-months pregnant lady we met on the side of the road to lunch, and her story already began to break my heart. I am excited to just LOVE on anyone and everyone during this last leg of our trip. God is filling us up this week to overflow onto our amazing, new home. 

 

I spent January at SHE Ministries in Phuket, Thailand with the sixteen other girls on my squad for our women's month. God taught me how to trust him, hope in him, and just love. SHE (Self Help and Empowerment) seeks to provide employment, training, and counseling for women involved in commercial sex trade. Because of SHE, many women have come to know how much they are WORTH and how much they are LOVED by God. 

I will never forget my first encounter with a demon possessed lady, and I'm not quite sure that it is something I can accurately describe. Karson, Kaitlyn, and I took Supena to eat McDonald's and hang out with us one afternoon on Bangla while we were prayer walking. Supena shifted in and out of her demonic state, acting as herself one minute and laughing and staring off into an unseen, dark world the next. She told us of some of the awful things going on in her head and the air around us. Then, she would look into my eyes, as if seeing me for the first time. She looked and looked and just laughed. The demons inside of her did not like me one bit, and the only way to call her out of this was to speak life over her. It was like nothing I have ever experienced. 

 

As much darkness that was on that street, though, God's light shone brighter. I got to pray with so many unexpected people that God placed in our path- from bar girls to club promoters to Burmese  shop workers to the  woman, Pawn, who sits at the end of the street making bracelets and praying day and night. Pawn is a light in a dark place. Each glimmer of light was a reminder of why I was there and why I fought for that whole street. Often, it was necessary to take a step back and remember how much God loves, and will always love, each and every person there. There is hope. There is even hope for the seemingly unreachable girls dancing in the plexi-glass boxes on the second story of the bars. God already has Bangla in his hands, and his presence followed us wherever we went that month. 

 

He taught me how to love and be friendly to the people we come across every single day. Most importantly, he taught me the power of prayer and that he WANTS to use me. 

 

One night after worship, my team was interceding for the night at SHE. There was a boy on the YWAM team staying with us that had a 104 degree fever, and I really wanted to pray over him before they needed to take him to the hospital. He came and sat in the kitchen while several of us prayed for almost an hour. I could feel the Holy Spirit in me while my hand was on his back, and as I prayed, my arm just started shaking. Then my leg started shaking. An uncontrollable feeling of joy fell over the room, and this boy experienced some freedom in Christ as well as some healing. He went to the hospital just to sleep for the night, and he woke up the next morning completely healed.