WE HAVE SEEN LIVES RADICALLY ENCOUNTERED BY JESUS HERE IN SOUTH AFRICA!
I was going to do a South Africa blog for the entire month of e being here, but I feel the need to share about some things happening here now!
This past week has been one of the most fruitful weeks I ever experienced in my life. The new school year started here in South Africa and with that we have been going into the schools, preaching, and sharing the Gospel to the students at the schools! We have also been going to schools during their lunch breaks and evangelizing to the students during that time. Within that time we have had conversations with Buddhist, Muslims, and something so common here in SA, people who knew Jesus, but have never heard of the Gospel. How fruitful these moments were! Even if these conversations never led to salvations, it still was so faith building for me and others. But today, we had visited a primary school here in Durban called Spearman Primary, and went into classrooms preaching the Gospel to the students there. An hour had passed by as we wrapped up our time at Spearman and headed back to the staff room to meet up and leave. When Kait and Esme walked in the room and said, “THIRTY-SIX PEOPLE WERE SAVED!” and Kayli, following behind her goes, “Two kids from my room were saved also!” We had seen 38 people give their lives to Jesus today! Never did I think I would see that! It is such a testimony of how ripe the harvest is wherever we are. The Lord is pouring out such abundance and all we need to do is go out and share what we know and what has changed our lives!
I have one more testimony from last week that I want to share!
I had been telling one of my teammates Ella, how I had been feeling almost not good enough to evangelize and how I haven’t seen any salvations with my eyes while on the race. This has been so discouraging to me. I begin asking the Lord for boldness in sharing the Gospel and praying to see salvations with my own eyes after that conversation with her.
A couple mornings after this, I had been praying that today would be the day that I would see someone give their life to Jesus. Something I didn’t know, was that Ella had been praying this exact prayer also. That day, we were going to this row of apartments and flats in Durban and doing door-to-door evangelism, sharing the Gospel, and communing with people there. This ministry used to not be my favorite and used to intimidate me so so much, but here in SA, that has been such a different story. That day, I went into evangelizing so expectant and full of faith. I almost felt like I could feel it in me that the Lord has prepared something so beautiful for this day! One of our first homes we went to, we had met this little boy named Quinn. He and his family were Christians and attended church somewhere in Durban. We didn’t talk to long with them because they had been busy that day. But the little boy, Quinn, followed us down the hall and we started talking with him some more. Conversation with him led to him eventually saying, “I want to come with you guys! I want to go and talk about Jesus with you!”
So Quinn came with us, door to door, and would knock and boldly ask them if they knew Jesus and if we could pray for them! It was the craziest thing ever. After a couple doors, we came to this one house with a lady named Dante. She knew of Jesus, but never heard of the Gospel and didn’t attended a church. So we asked her if she would want to hear the Gospel, and she gladly said yes. As we were sharing, you could see a visible and physical change happening across her face. When we had finished sharing with her, we had asked “Is t this something you would be interested in?”, as she quickly said, “There is just no coincidence in me hearing this today! I do want this! I do! There is just no coincidence!!” I was stunned. So stunned as she kept saying these words over and over again as joy began to spread across her face. We had then led her through accepting Jesus and praying with her. Then she looked at us as we finished and said , “There is just no coincidence that you have told me this news today! I have been running from Jesus, but have been so curious of Him! And now I know there is no denying Him! There’s just no coincidence here!” Tears filled up my eyes at this point that I was watching this lady accept Jesus into her heart and that the Lord has answered this prayer that I had been hoping to see come to completion. It was the most beautiful moment that had then started a chain reaction of faith for the rest of the day. After that, we had gone to more houses, sharing the Gospel as more boys began to follow us alongside Quinn. They knocked on the doors and asked “Do you know Jesus? Can we pray for you and tell you about Him if you do or don’t?” If they were denied, they looked towards us with joy on their faces saying “Onto the next house!!” It was the most tangible picture of childlike faith with the Lord. That alone would have boosted my faith that day. We had then ended our day at this one lady’s home, that was a Jehovah’s witness, and that was the first time I had ever defended my faith to someone. It was the craziest day of my life. But the most faith building and beautiful experiences.
I come on here telling you these things not to share of things I have done, but to say:
GO OUT! SHARE THE GOSPEL! TELL OTHERS ABOUT THE VERY THING THAT HAS CHANGED YOUR LIFE!
We have been mandated to go and share the good news of Jesus with everyone we come across and I feel so burdened with the fact that I am just now seeing the importance of this. Lives are being radically changed and impacted by the Gospel. This isn’t by fancy words or intricate stories of the Gospel, but the simple truth that has saved us from an eternity in hell, but that has ended us living full in the abundance of Jesus. So many people are living life not knowing the very real consequences of living a life apart from Jesus and we have the answer to how to start living that life today. So my question is for you, if you haven’t been sharing the Gospel, what is stopping you? Start today! Go out and talk to anyone and everyone of what Jesus has done in your life! You don’t have to be on the mission field to tell others about what Jesus has done in your life. You don’t have to be a certain age. You don’t need a platform or fancy words. Go out! Share the Gospel! It will be a scary day when you look God in the face and say you had never told others about the very thing He died for and that has saved your life. Let the Gospel of Jesus move you to action. I say this not to condemn but to convict your hearts! Because the Lord has convicted mine! I love you all so much. Now go out at tell people about Jesus:)
Love,
Hannah
