Two weeks down

Hello everyone, 

I hope you are all doing well.  Sorry for my lack of communication but things have been going non-stop since I got here two weeks ago. It has been a ton of fun so far and God really has been teaching me a lot about living in obedience to Him. By now we have completed the first part of the course (the Biblical Worldview Summit) and are now on to the second part (the Great Commission Course), which deals more with the practical side of missions. We’ve already had the chance to go on several outreaches, which have been really incredible. The first outreach we went on was during the BWS and we went to a township (a lower-class, rundown, community made of shacks) and we went door to door sharing the Gospel. But so that we would be a little less blatant we also went to people’s houses with literature on preventing TB, then after this we would lead into preaching the Gospel. It was a stretching experience especially since most of the people didn’t really speak English very well. This was the most challenging part of the outreach but overall it was amazing to realize that God wants to use me to spread His Word to the world. I am realizing that it would be unfaithful of me as a servant of Christ not to use the mouth He gave me to preach the Gospel and to not use my feet to go and tell people of His love despite our wretchedness (Rom. 10:14-15). God surely has been using this time to grow me in Him during this time and for that I am grateful.

Another lesson the Lord has been teaching me is to be ready to preach the Word at all times. So far I have had to speak on two different occasions and both have been with less than a days warning. “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). The first time I spoke was for a devotional, which only was about ten minutes, so it wasn’t that challenging. However, yesterday I had to give a sermon in a church service (my first sermon I’ve ever preached mind you) and I was only told about 12 hours in advance (so the night before). So I got up early before church and prepared for the sermon. I preached over Romans 12:1-2 and then looked back in the context of Roman to discuss what Paul means when he says that we are to give our lives as “living sacrifices” to God in light of  “the mercies of God.” I really felt very blessed that God gave me this opportunity to preach His Word. I absolutely loved being able to speak truth to people and being given the platform where I was welcomed to do so. God really is so good to us! I praise God that He would choose to use me to speak of His goodness and of His desire for us to follow Him wholeheartedly.

This is what the schedule is like for the GCC (the second half of the course, which I am now on). Everyday we wake up and have PT (physical training) at 6:30. Then we have about an hour and a half to shower, eat, and do devotions. After that we either have an event (like protesting at an abortion clinic, which we did the other day) or lectures. Then we eat lunch around 12:30 or 1:00. The next part of the afternoon we will have other activities like outreaches that we go out on. Then we will come back and eat supper and have more lectures and then maybe a night hike (or watch a movie) and at around midnight we go to bed. And then we start it all over six and a half hours later. It has been an adventure so far. I can’t wait to tell you more but for now I must be getting to sleep.

This is us at the top of Lion's Head (a night hike we did on the night we got back from the BWS).

A picture of Cape Town as we were coming back down Lion's Head

Some penguins we saw at Boulder's Beach, which is a beach we were really close to Rocklands where the BWS took place at.

Lion's Head

Thank you all so much for your prayers and for partnering with me as I have been on this trip. God is so good to us!

In Christ,

             Hunter