God can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. This is the one statement that I would use to describe how God worked in and through me and my team the past two weeks. We stayed in Mabarhule, a small village, in the Mpumalanga state. For the two weeks we stayed in tents, showering with buckets, cooking over the fire and using outhouses. We tried our best to relate with the community and serve in various ways. We had devotions at the primary school and a vacation bible school with them, HIV/AIDS classes at the high school, home visits, programs at an orphanage and a disabled school, led a youth service and also had daily church services. We really kept ourselves busy and God did incredible things.
I want to highlight three touching stories from my past two weeks that proclaim that Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” is true of God.
1) We led a youth service for about twenty of the local youth. I was giving the message and I decided to really challenge the youth. I encouraged them to met together and to uplift one another using Hebrews 10:25 as my reference. I didn’t really seem to get that great of a response and there was some difficulty with the translation so I didn’t feel great about it afterwards. However on our last day I got a letter from a girl whom I never really talked with but had attended the youth service. And this is what it said: “I now read my Bible everyday because of you. Your message the other day really helped me.” God can speak through us, even despite language barriers, to bring others closer to him.
2)The next story is about a twelve year old girl named Queen. She lived near our tents and so I saw her frequently. She was a beautiful girl but it was difficult for me to talk with her because her English wasn’t very good. So we didn’t talk very much. However every morning we had a conversation. A very simple conversation. It went like this:
me: “Avuseni Queen! (Good morning in Shangaan) Ungani? (How are you?)”
Queen: “I’m fine and you maria?”
And every morning for the two weeks we had this basic conversation- nothing more, nothing less. On the last day she also approached me and handed me a beautifully decorated card. It had leaves that were shaped like hearts taped all over the paper. And inside she explained that just by me saying “good morning! how are you?” every morning I showed her so much love. She greatly appreciated this and would really miss me. God can use simple actions for his glory.
3)The last story is definitely my favorite and a testimony for me that God can do anything through me if I am available. One afternoon we had off and my team and I decided to go on a “trust” walk throughout the community. We wouldn’t bring a translator, didn’t have things to offer the people besides Jesus and so we set off. As we were walking I noticed some teenage girls talking and I felt like I needed to go talk with them, so I did. As I was making small talk with them a young boy also joined our conversation. He began to ask me about what we were doing here, etc. After some small conversation i asked him if he knew God to which he replied, “yes.” Okay I thought, many of the people in this village “know” God but they don’t often have a relationship with him or are even given false information about God in their church.
So I asked, “Do you know Jesus?” and he just looked back at me with such a confused face and asked, “Jesus?” I was shocked. “You don’t know Jesus? You’ve never heard of him?” “No,” he replied. So then I began to tell him about this incredible man called Jesus. I read some verses from the Gospel of John of why Jesus came and how we can accept him in his heart and have everlasting life. I didn’t want to force any kind of decision on him so I gave him a copy of the Gospel of John and told him that we really hope and pray that he comes to know Jesus Christ as his Savior. He looked back at me and asked, “Can I do it now?” And so with great joy I prayed with him and welcomed him to the family of Christ Jesus. I was so overwhelmed with joy and I could just imagine heaven rejoicing with me. And the craziest thing about this story is that I didn’t ever really believe that I could bring someone to Christ. But God told me again, “Maria, I can do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine because I have given you power.” Amen!
God has done incredible things through me and I know He can also work in
and through you! May you trust Him and cling to His hand!
cool spider
high school visit
outhouse
our view
disabled school motto
my living area
me and my entourage
me leading the youth meeting
cleaning the chicken
elephants crossing road at krueger
my team with the pastor
hippo
snake!
the disabled class
the shower
us and the church members
