Rachel's Reflections

Communion plays a significant part in my salvation testimony because I pretended to "get saved" just so I could eat this "snack." Thankfully the Lord convicted me of my sinfulness a few years later and I was saved at the age of 8. Partaking in communion yesterday, during the Good Friday service at Lawley Family Fellowship, reminded me of God's graciousness in the midst of my sinfulness. Jesus, God's one and only Son, was willing to suffer so much pain and humiliation in my place so He could offer me the gift of eternal life, and anyone else who accepts it. I know I am a daughter of the King (John 1:12) and I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I will spend eternity with Him in Heaven.  I have confidence in this because of what happended 2,000 years ago, and you can too. Our remembrance of His death on Good Friday and our celebration of His resurrection on Easter Sunday are equally important. Every day of a Christian's life should be lived out in light...

Salvations: At our KHS ministry  this last Tuesday evening Jabu gave a very clear presentation of the gospel. The messages from the last few weeks have been building up to it, presenting man's need lost state in sin and the need for something more in life. When Jabu finished we broke up into small groups and gave the students a chance to respond to the message. Praise the Lord for the many who trusted in Jesus to save them from their sins for the first time! One girl, named Ashley, wasn't even supposed to stay the whole time but she desperately wanted to. She got permission to stay for the whole thing and was one of those who trusted in Christ as her Savior. This is the end of students first term for school so we will not get the chance to see them for several weeks. Praying that God will strengthen them in their faith and draw them closer to Him.  Visas:  Exciting news, after a loooooooong wait Caleb and Ashley will finally be able to join us in South Africa this week...

Apartheid Museum -  I walked around a corner in the middle of the museum and before my eyes was a room containing 103 rope nooses hanging from the ceiling. Each noose represented a life of a young person taken for participating in the student uprising in 1976. I went numb. WHY?! Why would one group of people treat another group so horribly based on racial differences? How could they? Immediately following this room was a short documentary filled with images of young people getting beat up and shot, I cried at some of the sights. Later I saw the Hector Pieterson memorial, he was only 13 years old but he was one of the first victims of the violent response to the student protests. His memorial stands today as a reminder to South Africa of its past, the flowing water is a symbol of the tears the country shed. My emotions were so mixed up the whole day but now I have a new perspective on every day life here and the people I interact with.  Community - This weekend I had...

Ministry:  I am teaching the lesson next week at Zandspruit! Please pray for me as I prepare both the lesson and my heart for this opportunity. While most of the kids speak English some of the younger kids are still learning it and do better in their own language so I will probably have an interpreter to help.  ( Never stop helping or teaching others) Manual driving: Excitement! My practice has been officially put to the test. I have practiced my manual (stick) driving a few times since landing in South Africa on January 20 but only on our dirt road where it is safe. This last Wednesday I got to take the manual car out on the main road and I was super happy. :) I still have areas to work on: my right foot needs practice gently pushing down on the accelorator at the same time my left is easing up on the clutch so I don't stall, I need to be able to change gears without looking, and I need to make better use of the e-brake when at a stop. Driving on the left side felt perfe...