Rachel's Reflections

Welkom This past weekend my friend, K-tee, and I had an adventurous trip to Welkom (a town in the Free State province) to visit our friends from last year. It was great to spend so much quality time with K-tee (pictured far right) during the taxi rides to and from, especially the blessing of sitting next to each other both times. In Welkom we saw DK, Connie, and Grace (3 on the left) who were students with K-tee last year, as well as other friends. W e shared a lot of laughter and memories and were all encouraged in the Lord throughout the time. Every night, before going to sleep K-tee and I would read the Quiet Time passage from the Bible and discuss it with each other. Thankful for friends, safety, and making memories. Next Stop: Cape Town Early Saturday morning (30 September) we're off to Cape Town for SMASH (Students Ministering and Serving Him). The Word of Life staff, interns, and students will be leading this trip for youth from various churchs in the Johannesburg

Parents This week has shown me the incredible heritage my parents have given me and I thank God for them. When my mom was homeschooling me she always read missionary stories or updates from her missionary friends. I have a rich knowledge about missions that most people my age do not have because of her and it has fueled my love and interest in pursuing missions long-term. My Dad has always been talking to people, networking, and building relationships. I have recently stumbled upon several people who I thought I did not know but was shocked when half-way through the conversation they say "oh you're Dan Williams daughter! I remember him from ... " (often Nairobi, Kenya at the AIM-AIR hangar, but other places as well). It felt so good to reminisce about common memories and familiar places and the rest of the conversations were able to go deeper because of this. Even now my parents  are always there for me, supportive of me, praying for me, offering advice, and walking thr

As the U.S. celebrated Labor Day, ending summer and moving into fall, South Africa celebrated the arrival of Spring! :) The weather is finally warming up; last week  we hosted a Spring Braai (aka barbecue) for families and youth. As the kitchen intern my primary responsibility was helping with lunch/food details. We planned to cater for 200 people but praise the Lord we had over 250 people come and still enough food to feed everyone. The weather was perfect allowing for great conversations, games, sports, and crafts. Everyone enjoyed and left encouraged, but most importantly the gospel message was shared and seeds planted in people's hearts. ------- Two girls in my weekly ministry at Zandspruit on Thursday afternoons have been visibly growing in their knowledge of God. They asked for Bibles about two months ago but for various reasons I was unable to give them each a Bible until this week. They kept asking and reminding me, revealing their sincere hunger for the Word of God. It