Joint Winter Conference

JWC!!!!!!!!!!

Hey friends and family!

I hope you are all doing well and having a great summer so far! So Rachael and I have the great privilege to update you all about the JWC aka (also known as) the JOINT WINTER CONFERENCE. The last time campus outreach-Johannesburg had a JWC was four years ago, so this conference was going to be a big event. All four of the campus outreach-Johannesburg affiliated varsities (universities) attended this conference. The conference lasted for two nights and three days (June 24-26). At this conference there were four main talks by Andrew Holbrook (the Campus Outreach- Charlotte regional director), break-out seminars, worship, great conversations, free-day activities such as hiking, bridge swinging, soccer and rugby tournaments, and more. 

My experience at the Joint Winter Conference was absolutely indescribable and one thing I got from the three-day experience was that God is a sovereign and powerful God. Now how is God sovereign, you may ask? Lets just say I had amazing conversations with a lot of different people. I met a guy from University of Johannesburg at Bunting Road named Ernest and he was a guy that was raised Muslim and became a Christian last year or two years ago. I met another guy who grew up atheist named Enze and became a Christian two years ago. Kabelo who is a guy that Daniel Fox and I invited to the JWC left the conference with a desire to want to be disciple and pursue discipleship because growing up, discipleship was not emphasized in his life.  Lastly, SG who was a guy that came to the JWC from WITS University came to accept Christ Jesus in this life and before the JWC, SG was thinking about becoming a Muslim because of riches and wealth, but after the hearing the Gospel message, truth was revealed to him.

                                                                                                ~ Alex

UJesu Malibongwe,(Malibongwe)

 Ujesu Upakeme, (Upakeme)

Ujesu Unamandla, (Unamandla)

… Oh li lo li lo…

150 cries lifted up these Zulu words of praise to Jesus Christ. As I stood in the throng of black and white faces, I felt the power of this battle cry to God coursing through my body. I tasted in this brief moment of one day getting to worship with all tribes, tongues, and nations in the presence of Jesus. My heart rejoiced in these worship times that included Zulu, Afrikaans, and American praise songs. Over the course of three days, as African and American hearts swelled with worship, our minds were filled with the word of the Lord.

            Teaching from the book of Titus, minister Andrew Holbrook spoke of the grace of God appearing through the man of Jesus Christ to all people.  From the stage, Andrew ripped open the word grace for the students. Our sin that ripped us from relationship with God ripped apart Jesus. Because of God’s grace, Jesus’s death and resurrection repaired our relationship with God. This grace, Holbrook proclaimed, has the ability to transform, regenerate, train and give purpose to our lives I sat in my chair feeling the grace of God wash me anew. Jesus spoke to me. I set you free. Hold fast to this grace. Many students hungered for this grace. Following the talks, men flocked to talk to Holbrook. I saw him with African man after man teaching them and laying his hands on them to pray for them.  Hearts transformed as Jesus appeared to these men for the first time.  Through his teaching, the laboring of the CO Johannesburg staff, South African student leaders, and the CCP, disciples of the nations were being made.

            In being with the South African students at JWC I realized the difficulty of disciple-making. It is a labor of love that takes time, patience, and sacrifice.  This love can only come from Christ in us. The labor of our lives requires endurance. Analogously, I felt the extent of this endurance as I ran in the early morning in the mountainside of Magaliesburg, South Africa. Frigid air burned my lungs. I gasped breath after breath asking for strength from the Lord. In these runs I realized we endure and run our race only because we have a savior who stumbled to and endured the cross.  At night I looked to the black, vast, sky abounding with stars. In the frosty air I whispered, “God made that.” As “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork,” (Psalm 19:1) I could hardly find words to describe the glory and magnitude of God.

            At the JWC, we sinners, chosen by God, tried to declare how great is our God.  Through song, dance, soccer, netball, eating we had the opportunity to come together as one people to make His name great. My spirit groans knowing that it is impossible here on this earth to praise God in the way He deserves. As the writer of Hebrews said, we are strangers and exiles on this earth and we desire a better country, a heavenly one. (Hebrews 11)  One day, one day, that day we will get to see Christ in His glory and rightly praise God.  

                                                                                    -Rachael Newmister

Final Week of Ministry

Morena ke modishi waka, ga ke khloke selo. Before coming to South Africa, I challenged myself to learn at least a couple of words in the different languages that they speak here.  There are eleven official languages, so it was no easy task! One night, one of the student leaders, a bubbling third-year student named Mapula, taught me Psalm 23 in Pedi, her native tongue. When I was about seven, my grandma taught me Psalm 23 and it was the first anything of the Bible that I had memorized, so I wanted to broaden my linguistic horizons and pick it up in Pedi. Why not right? The verse reads “The Lord is my shepherd, I need nothing more.” The verse talks about trials for sure, but I have learned in the past six weeks of ministry that the verse applies to sharing the Gospel as well. The truth of the Gospel is so powerful that we do not need to be gifted orators or all-knowing evangelists who spit out Scripture memory verses every other word. Just proclaiming the Gospel is enough because it is as simple as telling the Good News and letting the Holy Spirit do the work.

Ministry has been so much fun, but it has also taught me a lot about humbling myself before the Lord and serving others, putting their needs before my own. The first few days of ministry, my partner Caitlin and I would knock on one door after another. We would look at each other and smile awkwardly, not knowing if we should run as we heard students approaching their doors. “Heeeeeeeyyy! We are here on our summer break and we just want to get to know South African students!” They would stare at us with blank expressions, sometimes scared and maybe looking for some sort of hidden camera. After the initial introductions were made, and we explained that yes it was winter in South Africa, but summer in North Carolina, the students welcomed us into their rooms and we were always in for a treat! South Africans love to talk and they would answer all of our invasive questions. Abbie was one of the first girls we met. We met her as she was walking to the bathroom, so Caitlin and I chased her there, and then back to her room. She was so confused! We invited her to get ice cream and asked all about her family, her favorite food, whether she liked to dance or not, you name it, we asked it. Abbie really opened up and through her we met Sisipho and Muwanwa.

            Students here are pretty open to listening to us talk about Jesus because many grew up going to church. Caitlin and I were not exactly expecting a talk about ancestral worship though. One afternoon when we were trying to start a Gospel-centered conversation, some girls gave us insight into traditional family myths and told us stories of women who claim to be witches. Then another friend from Zimbabwe explained that when you find money in the depths of the forest, you take it without asking questions and thank the ancestors that left it there. I guess we were not fully equipped to answer questions about this secret magic, but it challenged us to further emphasize the deity of Jesus. Jesus claims, “I am the way and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is the only way to life, on this Earth and beyond and it has been amazing to see Abbie, Sisipho, and Muwanwa learn more about Jesus and want to investigate him more. It is sad it is coming to an end!

Para mis abuelitos: Cuando estaba chiquita, mi abuelita me ayudó a memorizer el Salmo 23 y todavía lo recuerdo! Me lo repito a mi misma de vez en cuando cuando tengo algún probleman. Asi que cuando llegué a Sud Africa, también lo quize aprender en por lo menos uno de los once idiomas oficiales. Conozco sólo el primer verso, pero voy a seguir intentando porque Dios es el mismo Dios en cualquier idioma, en cualquier país. He aprendido que sólo decirle a alguien el evangelio es suficiente para que ellos lo crean, porque en Romanos dice que el evangelio es el poder de Dios para la salvación de cualquiera que crea. Dios fue muy fiel en ayudarnos al equipo de 20 a venir aquí y se ha asegurado que todos nos llevemos como una familia. También hemos visto a muchos jóvenes crecer en su fé gracias a las conversaciones que hemos tenido con ellos. Ahora siento una gran emoción para contarle a todo el mundo del poder de Dios a través de Cristo!

                                                                        -Bettina Lemm

Doing ministry in the dorms at Wits was not at all what I expected.  The girls in the dorms were so welcoming and love to invite you into their room and talk for hours.  There were three girls that my ministry partner, Jaimey, and I had the privilege of getting to know.  Their names are Mmule, Masana, and Nqaba.  All of them are Christians and want to grow to walk with the Lord.  We would spend time with them almost every day, and often would take them out to play soccer, tennis, or games from their childhoods.  It was really awesome getting to know them and how different their lives were from ours growing up.  Through investing our time in these girls we really became close to them and loved getting to study the Bible and pray with them.  It did feel like a little bit of a barrier that all the girls we were encountering were Christian.  We really wanted to encounter girls who were non-Christians, so we started praying that God would place non-Christians in our path.  Then we met Ishara, a Hindu, Jehaan, a Muslim, and Kuda, a Christian but we don’t know if she was truly walking with the Lord.  We got to spend some time with them and began to share our faith with them.  Unfortunately, they were fourth years and would typically do their own thing, so it was really hard to get in touch with them to hang out.  We also spend time with some girls on the Wits women’s basketball team.  Their names are Odie, Pam, and Neli.  All of them said that they were Christians, and we prayed with Odie after Pam’s stepmother died, but we don’t really know what any of their lives look like when it comes to their walks with the Lord.  We tried to spend time with them, but they would often not show up to the things we invited them to, and Odie never seemed to be in her room.  Jaimey really had a heart for the basketball girls, but it seemed that the Lord had others who He desired us to reach.

We have the Joint Winter Conference (JWC) coming up, which we have spent the past three weeks recruiting for it.  Jaimey and I have two girls coming to the JWC, which is really exciting for us.  Masana is coming and we get to giver her her first English Bible, which was kindly donated by Katlyn.  It is an NIV Bible that has cross-references, which will be really good for a young believer, such as Masana.  The other girl we have coming is Karabelo, who is a girl that Jaimey met out on the lawn in front of the great hall.  It is completely God’s doing that these girls are able to come and really want to come to the JWC.  I would like to ask that everyone be in prayer for everyone at the JWC and for all those who were not able to come.  Pray that no matter their circumstances they will draw near to God and walk in a deeper relationship with Him.

                                                                        -Kelsey Cawthorn

            Ministry on the campus of WITS has been a very interesting process for my ministry partner, Mallory, and I.  Instead of being placed in Sunnyside Res like the rest of our CO Charlotte girls, we were placed in Jubilee Res with the CO Indy girls to do ministry.  This has presented us with numerous challenges to overcome but it has also been a huge blessing.  Jubilee seems to be the only place on campus where the security guards actually take their job seriously.  A few examples being; you have to be signed in and out of the building by an upperclassmen, the upperclassmen can only sign in 3 people at a time, the security guards get antsy when you sign in and out of the building multiple times per night, and if they found out that we were part of campus outreach they would get really angry that we were going door to door.  Because of all of these strange rules at Jubilee, Mallory and I were never able to go to res until after dinner so we usually only had around 3 hours in the dorm per night.  This was hard but it made us really value the time we had in res with the girls.  Despite the challenges, one benefit of Jubilee was that it was filled with student leaders!  We were able to spend time getting to know their stories and their heart for ministry was super encouraging for Mallory and I.  I am fully confident that the Lord is going to use these girls to advance the gospel throughout Jubilee!  Please pray that these girls would continue to be bold for Christ in Jubilee!

                                                                                    -Devin Carter

Life in Africa, Week 5

One of the things I have learned from living in South Africa is how welcoming the people are.  The first week my ministry partner and I were meeting student leaders on campus. When we where in one of the student’s leaders room she kept insisting that we sit on the bed and throw away our trash in her room.  We were hesitant to do so because we were trying to be polite. She then explained that by not doing these things it was making her uncomfortable. Others differences I have noticed in South Africa and the Untied States is the way they have a really different concept of time and they take their studies a lot more serious than American students. Overall I have really enjoyed life here in South Africa!

                                                                                    -Mallory Gurley

The most striking difference about South Africa is that there are areas of very rich living close to areas of very poor. There are areas of Johannesburg that remind me of any American or European city, with shopping malls selling Burberry and people driving Audis and BMWs. Yet there are townships just outside of Johannesburg (literally thirty minutes drive), like Alexandra that we visited last week, that look completely foreign, where people literally live in shacks without electricity.

One of the hardest things for me to adjust to living in South Africa has been the difference in the concept of time. As an education major, I live by the motto, “If you’re not five minutes early you’re late.” South Africans, however, are generally very relaxed people and they run on what they like to call “South African time”. They’re never in a hurry, and since I’ve been living here I’ve often found myself five, ten, even fifteen minutes late.

One of the most pleasantly surprising things about living in South Africa has been the students’ selflessness. Last week, my ministry partner and I had just met two girls. One of the girls had “taken a pack” for her lunch that day (this is what the students say when they take a bagged meal from the dining hall). She was giving us strangers some of her food and as she handed me a candy bar I asked, “Why don’t you want it?” She replied, “You don’t give only what you don’t want.”

                                                                                    -Caitlin Curl

After spending 5 weeks in Africa I have come to the conclusions that I must be part African (Don’t let my white skin fool you lol). In many ways the culture here fits me better than the American culture. First off, if you talk to any African about soccer they will instantly warm up to you. So it helps that I love soccer and have played it most of my life and in college. Seriously though, Africa has left its mark on my life. Being here has renewed my love for Christ and my desire to glorify him in the things I am most passionate about, namely sports. I’d like to share a little bit about my experience with the sporting culture in South Africa.

One of the first students I met here plays on the women’s basketball team at Witz. She invited me to come practice with them one night. In American we are trained from a young age to be good at sports. However in Africa most women only learn to play sports in school. Many of the basketball players come from small villages so it is difficult to have a competitve bball league. Also, most families don’t have cars so it is difficult to commit to any club team. In the most loving way I say this, the Witz varsity basketball team reminds me of a middle school basketball team. Don’t get me wrong, they girls love the sports and want to win games, but they are still learning the fundamentals. I really enjoyed practicing with them and it cool to see how important team chemistry is no matter what sport you play. 

So I found out something disappointing when I got to South Africa, most women don’t play soccer. However South Africa does have a women’s soccer team that will represent that country in London this summer at the Olympics. Africa doesn’t have nice sports facilities like we do in America. In one township we visited there is only one grass soccer field for a population of over 1 million. I tell you what though, that doesn’t stop the people from playing. You see soccer being played in the street, on a dirt field, or even on a little plot of grass. Instead of goals and cones, they use shoes and backpacks. As many of the CCP guys found out, playing soccer is a great way to meet the locals. It is never to hard to find a small pick up game.

Traditional sports are important to South Africans, but I think dancing is even more important! One of my favorite experiences in South Africa happened during a church service in one of the poorest townships in Joburg. To many Africans, worship is synonymous to dancing. During this service the whole congregation was moving together worshipping Jesus. There was freedom to worship God anyway you wanted without being judged. The dance steps were easy to pick up and the Africans welcomed us into their group like we were a regular attendee. Back on the campus of Witz we taught some students a dance called the cupid shuffle. Within 2 minutes they were adding their own style into the dance and were putting us Americans to shame (there was a lot of laughter involved too). I love the culture here.

Ok this is my last remark about my experience with the sports culture. This country loves Rugby. I have come to the conclusion that Rugby players are the toughest athletes in the world. Imagine a 280 lbs (127 Kilograms) guy, who has more muscle than he knows what to do with, running full speed at you! Ok, now it is your job to stop him. Ya right! It is an amazing game to watch, probably more entertaining than any other sport out there. I encourage you to check it out sometime. Well that’s it! Hope you enjoyed reading about this.

                                                                                        -Jaimey Etten

Jaunting through Jo'burg

Sawubona (hello in Zulu) friends!

I hope that you all are doing well and having a great summer in the United States. I have so many stories to share with you all, so I will stick with those that are relevant to ministry in South Africa. Ministry in general is very difficult because there are so many factors that can hinder it such as tiredness, poor health, people being unavailable to meet up to hear the gospel, various fears, and more. As for ministry in South Africa at Wits University in Johannesburg, some of the factors previously listed, created obstacles for our team when sharing our faith with the students. The team’s biggest obstacle was to create time to build relationships with the students and share our faith with them as the Wits students prepared for their final exams. Wits University is like Davidson College, so the students study all the time and so much that their sleeping schedule is a mess; staying up all night and sleeping during the day. Also, the students were very friendly and were willing to get to know us, so that made ministry a tab bit easier. It has been awesome to witness God overcome the obstacles that were had to face when sharing our faith with the students.

God has also been using Campus Outreach’s social events on Fridays for the students to see that being a Christian is not boring, but fun. Our past social events include a game night during week 1, a braai which is a cook out during week 2, cupcake night and girly activities for the girls and bonfire for the guys during week 3, and a black light party during week 4 which was last week.

As for Daniel Fox and I’s specific ministry, God has been doing tremendous things. Last week on Thursday (June 7^th) we found out that Sizwe a first year student who lives off-campus came to faith after a one-week period of sharing our faith and building a relationship with him. Also, about two weeks ago Daniel and I shared the gospel message with a student who lives off-campus named Vincent and on Thursday June 14^th he shared with me that he gave his life to Christ this past Sunday. Also, this week God led two students named Frank and Chris to Christ through Wes Gaylor and Patrick Mauney. As a whole, all 18 of us have been faithful with building relationships with students and sharing the gospel message to students when the opportunities to do so arose. Also, a couple of the students that we have been ministering to are planning to attend a joint winter conference that Campus Outreach is hosting at a place about four hours from Johannesburg. Please pray that students at Wits will continue to hear the gospel whether it is at the conference for those who are going or throughout the rest of the school year for those who are not going to the conference, but have been attending Campus Outreach events such as weekly meetings, socials, or bible studies.

                                                                                    -Alex Wong

            This week of ministry has been different from the others in a couple aspects.  On Monday and Tuesday our team was able to help with a ministry called Rays of Hope in the township of Alexandra.  Rays of Hope helps to employ women in Alexandra by teaching them a trade—these women are learning to weave baskets and crochet blankets.  Once these baskets and blankets are made they are sold throughout Africa and other countries.  As a team we were able to make some improvements to the Rays of Hope facilities by painting and cleaning up a couple of rooms.  Our team really enjoyed working with this ministry because of their initiative to share the Gospel by meeting the needs of individuals.

            In light of ministry on campus this week, we were able to be on campus from Wednesday to Friday.  This week was interesting because many of the students left campus for their winter break.  Several of the students that we had gotten to know left campus so it was the last time we would probably be able to see them.  However, there ar several students left that we are hoping will decide to commit to go to out Joint Winter Conference (JWC).  Please be praying that we will see students make a decision to come!  One small thing I would also like for you to pray for is a guy named Roger.  He is a third year students at Wits.  Phil and I were able to share the Gospel with him on Thursday and he confessed to believe in God but understands that he is not walking with him.  Pray that God would change Roger’s heart to a heart that desires to know the Lord and serve Him.
-Daniel Williams

                                                                                   

Arriving in Alex

            Howdy y’all! In many ways, life in Johannesburg very much resembles life in a similarly sized city in the States: morning rush hour on the freeways, neighborhoods quiet but for the yappy dogs next door, stores bustling with afternoon shoppers, and everywhere English being spoken. But some of the differences have become particularly apparent this week as we engaged in mercy ministry (see the paragraphs from Daniel and Alex later this week for more on our ministry). To explain, as we worked at a orphanage and organization in Alexandra, a township to the north of Jo’burg, we saw that here the physical boundaries separating the very rich and the very poor are much more easily crossed. There are no “train tracks” delineating different socio-economic classes; rich and poor live literally next door to one another, and the gap between the two is much higher than that in the United States. With that in mind, the scramble at the university to get the best education is put into context: many of these students come from places like Alexandra, and a college degree is how they get themselves and their family out of such stark poverty. Personally, I have never been put in this position; this fact of life humbles me and grows in my heart compassion for those in need. Please pray that this compassion increases in us all. We cannot ever take for granted the things that we have; instead, what could happen if we view what we have as what we could potentially give away for others’ benefit?

                                                                                    -Phil Swanger

            What is life in South Africa like? I can already hear the question as I get off the plane in Charlotte. As a 20 person team in a single guest house in South Africa we have been doing well.  we all have spent at least 2 summers together with each other already and have been looking forward to spending yet another summer together in another country. Everyone works well together. We have ministry partners that we go into the Res (pronounced “rez”, their dorms) with and even though we thought that we were very similar to them we have all found how different we are from our ministry partners. Still God uses us to work together in unity to reach the campus.  We have had disagreements but have quickly settled them and grown closer to each other and to God.

                                                                                    -Daniel Fox

Week 3, Ministry

            Ministry on the Wits campus has been quite an experience! Relationships are being formed with many students on the campus, and I am really seeing that ministry comes a lot more natural when friendships have been established. After a week or so of talking with students about America and what we think of South Africa, through God’s grace, we have been able to have conversations about Jesus and also share our own personal story about walking with God. Katlyn and I have been able to get to know a few girls pretty well so it’s so cool to get to answer questions they have about Christianity and to talk with them about what is holding them back from fully giving their lives to Christ. This has been a very rewarding experience but at the same time it takes A LOT of perseverance and love.  Please pray that we will rely on God’s strength and that we will have an increased love for the lost.

                                                                                    -Jessica Reed

            Ministry for my partner and me has been pretty good so far.  We have met all types of people.  Some of the people we have met have asked us to come party and go to the clubs and drink with them and some of the people we have met have been really strong Christians and we shared our testimonies with each other.  There have been three girls that really stuck out to me and have just been sitting on my heart ever since we met them, there names are Tanaka, Chido, and Tatenda and they are all from Zimbabwe.  Them being fro Zimbabwe has made it really cool getting to know them and they have taught us a few words in Shona, which is their language.  They even translated my favorite Bible verse and my partner’s favorite Bible verse into Shona for us to memorize.  All three have come to all of the Campus Outreach meetings so far, which has been really cool that they have been so faithful because all the students are in the middle of their exams right now.  Therefore, they have all been studying quite a bit because exams and school are just so important to the students at Wits.  They are all under a lot of pressure.  There has also been one girl named Thelma who has really clung to me and another girl on our team, and she has been really fun to get to know.  She is only 16 years old, so she is much younger than most people at school.  Last week at the beginning of our social on Friday she pulled me aside and we walked around the Matrix (student union/food court), and we had a deep gospel centered conversation.  She told me she was glad that I had invited her to the weekly meeting the night before, because it was a really good talk.  The talk was about how most people only look to having money, fame, and fortune and that ultimately that’s never gonna satisfy us, because only God can satisfy us.  She was telling me that she couldn’t wait to go back home because she wants to share this with her brother, because that’s all he wants in life is the money, fame, and fortune.  Somehow we got onto the topic of the gospel, and I asked her what she thought the gospel was, and she was kinda taken aback for a moment, like she didn’t know how to answer that question, but then she said that she thought of Romans 6:23.  So I asked her, “What does Romans 6:23 say?” to see if she really knew or if she had just heard other people say that a lot.  She answered and said, “For the wages of sin is death, but…”  Then she couldn’t remember the rest of it, and I said, “Well the rest is the good news part,” so I helped her to remember the rest of the verse.  Then she said, “I just like to tell people the first part because it makes them feel bad.”  This makes me think that she doesn’t truly understand the gospel herself.  So, hopefully I will get another chance like that to talk to her again, or someone else on our team will.
            Ministry for our guys has been going pretty well also, I think.  They have done a lot of their ministry by going to play soccer with guys they meet.  I think the guys at Wits have enjoyed this a lot, but at the same time the culture of South Africans is to say yes to things such as this no matter if they want to or not.  So our guys are trying to be able to “read” or with the guys more and see if they really do have the time to go play soccer or if they are trying to study instead.
                                                                                    -Erika Lowder

                                                                                    

Living in South Africa

I’m really excited that I get to update you all on life in South Africa!  Things here are definitely different than life in America, but they also share many interesting similarities.  I think one of the biggest adjustments for myself has been the South African concept of time.  For instance, if a South African says that they will be there, “now now” they mean that they will be there in 10-15 minutes, and if they say they will be there “just now” it could mean that they will be there in an hour.  It’s definitely been a challenge to adjust to  that difference.  I would say that for myself, the food has not been very difficult to adjust to.  There are a lot of differences but I have not really had anything so far that has been difficult to eat, because it tastes pretty good!  One of the foods that we have seen over and over again has been “pap” which is a thick cornmeal that you eat with your fingers. 

As a driver (this is Katlyn) I would say it has for sure been a challenge to adjust to the roads here.  Not only are we driving on the side of the road that we are not used to, but the traffic signs and roads are really difficult to get used to.  You will frequently have two or three lane roads turn into a one lane road without any warning, and all the cars will try to quickly merge.  It is definitely getting better and I believe by the end of our time here our drivers will be really used to it, but it is definitely different than driving in the United States.

                                                                                                -Katlyn Yoder

            Fences run into fences. Walls block civilians from viewing residences and businesses beyond the gated barriers. On top of these fences and walls spikes and/or electric wire become the common accessory for most of the homes in Johannesburg. A security sign warns a wandering passerby that an alarm system is in place. If these sytems are breached ferocious dogs bark their final warning. These images and sounds replace the memories of green lawns meshing into neighbors verdant grass at home in the states. The lawns at home communicate a sense of trust and community. Here faith in the neighbor seems is severed similar to the barbwire that separates neighbor from neighbor.

The residents of Johannesburg who live behind these walls of Johannesburg are gated from freedom. Their eyes communicate their bondage behind bars. We can see their hunger for fulfillment as homeless people beg for food and money outside of our car windows every day when we drive to the campus of Witwatersrand. Then, from behind their books and exams the students at Wits yearn for life. I see God has sent us as a team  to “…proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1)  

 Each day we leave Sunbury bed and breakfast to go to campus we open a 20 foot steel door that protects us from the outside world. We travel in three’s wherever we go. We have a guy with us at all times.

            I am learning these boundaries are for our protection and freedom just as God’s law is for our protection and freedom. Having boundaries has actually compelled us to live as a deeper community. I learn that the dependence and trust I put in my brothers and sisters is a smaller picture of how I need to be secondly dependent on Christ. The way we serve each other by cooking meals, traveling together, and cleaning for one another depicts a picture of Christ coming to serve and not to be served. I am continually sanctified as I grow in community with these men and women.

            Thus, living in Johannesburg has pushed me to cling to the law of the Lord. The more we are slaves to his righteousness and obey his commandments, the more Christ lives in us to bring us freedom. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” As my pastor from college says, freedom lies not in “how far from God we can stray but how close to Him we can stay.” Living here has shown me how close I need to cling to Jesus. I need to desire to be in His presence, to remain behind His shield, and under the shadow of His wings.  In James 4:6 he says, that if we “draw near to God He will draw near to us”. I pray that as a community we continue to draw near to God, and slowly, person by person the inhabitants of Johannesburg will be transformed into inheritors of the Kingdom.

                                                                                                -Rachael Newmister