Rachel's Reflections

I have been accepted by Africa Inland Mission as a full-time missionary ! 😄 Emotions of excitement and anticipation swirl around my mind when I think about this and all the possibilities it contains. I thank God for leading me to this point and all the people who encouraged, walked with me, and helped make it possible.  Africa Inland Mission has presented four assignment/location options for me to pray through and decide on. Each of them has a particular focus on Unreached People Groups (UPG's are less than 2% Christian). They are all good options but one has especially piqued my interest. I will be hearing back from AIM this next week with more details about this particular opportunity. Will you pray with me about where God would have me serve as a full-time missionary? The Unreached Many Unreached Peoples are within reach, in cities and universities, around you and I. Several churches have outreaches to them, like the English Cafe I have been volunteering at her...

Connect Week: 16 Candidates assembled in the room that first morning not knowing what to expect. Was anyone prepared to receive a 60+ item checklist? Or to run around an office building taking crazy pictures? Or to hear a heart-wretching story of a mother watch her little girl cling desperately to her grandma before saying goodbye and boarding the airplane? Or to unlock a secret about time? (curious? see below) Connect week was an unforgettable experience. I connected with AIM staff and the other 15 candidates, made new friends as well as connected with old, family friends. The week was packed with information, each night I got back to my room and tried to process everything I had learned that day. Practical, useful, eye-opening, and more for missionary and non-missionary alike. Did Africa Inland Mission accept me as a full-time missionary? Find out in next weeks blog or subsribe to receive my bi-monthly e-newlsetter to get the insider scoop. (comment, message, or email me to sub...

The wait is finally over!  Tomorrow morning I leave for Peachtree, Georgia for a week where Africa Inland Mission has their headquarters. There I will find out the long awaited and anxiously anticipated answer: will they accept me as a full-time missionary ? Connect week , March 4-10, is a heavily loaded week of training. Who is AIM ? What do they do? How do they do it? What areas do they work in? What opportunities of service are there?  How do AIM missionaries raise support?  What does it look like to minister in the African context? AIM staff will strive to answer these questions as they connect with those of us invited for this special week. While waiting for Connect week to arrive I have been able to plug back into my local church, spend quality time with family and friends, and I have been working as a waitress at a restaurant near home. I thank God for allowing me this time to invest in the people I was away from during my internship with Word of Life Ple...

Elizabeth and Refilwe clung to me. Their long faces matched mine. The dreaded time to say goodbye had come.  Last week I told them I had one more week left with them. They were sad and asked if I was coming back next year. I told them no and explained that there are still people in the world who do not know that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and people groups that do not have a Bible in their own language. I told them I want to go to some of these people to tell them about Jesus. They understood but were still sad. They both came Thursday afternoon for the final day of ministry hungry for the Word of God, excited for the fun games, and happy to see me. They also came with something for me... They each gave me a note that expressed their thanks and love. Our time was drawing to a close. The lesson was over, the games were all packed up, everyone else started to leave. Elizabeth and Refilwe sat down next to me to say goodbye, their friends crowding around.  ...

This morning I had the privilege of teaching the Bible lesson for our Larsen's road ministry. In the book of Judges God's people forgot who the Lord was and what He had done for them so they started making bad choices (worshipping idols).  During small group with the older girls we talked about why it's important to remember what God has done and the need to share those things with other people. They all gave specific examples  and ways they could apply this to their lives: daily reading God's Word and telling their friends at school about God. It was the best discussion I've ever had from those girls. Praise the Lord for their genuine interest and pray these seeds take root in their lives and grow. Gugulethu, one of the girls, talked to me afterwards. She was concerned about why the Israelites would forget God and make bad choices. This gave me the chance to review the Gospel with her, especially sin nature and the need to believe in Jesus for salvation. She had...

Wow a whole month since I wrote a blog and a lot has happened. I went to Cape Town on a missions trip and two days after returning my parents arrived in South Africa to visit me. I had the privilege of taking them into Mozambique for part of the time. They just arrived safely back in the U.S. today and I have started catching back up on the work I pushed aside while I spent time with them. SMASH Cape Town While in Cape Town I was able to help with a Holiday Bible Club (like a VBS) at a church in Mitchell's Plain. We had a good average of kids from the community each day and several of them made professions of faith. One of the unexpected things I did was adapt the songs for the specific need in that church which was not too challenging as God brought to mind several songs I learned from teaching with Child Evangelism Fellowship. It is always cool to see how God uses various things in our lives in unexpected ways.  We also went out one afternoon to share the Gospel with people ...

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 ...