Our Team Ministry Begins

Yesterday (Saturday), the team's second day in Cape Town, started with the Wait For Me concert at King of Kings Church (John and Avril Thomas' church). The team was amazing at jumping in and doing anything that was asked no matter how small. It was awesome to see how well they just integrated themselves and became servants. So cool! It was so much fun to go onto the buses and pin flowers in the girls' hair and boutonnieres on the boys. The kids were all so excited for this event and their faces glowed. There were skits played out, dance offs, and songs sung by the individual townships. It was awesome to see these youth supporting abstinence through so many different genres.

The team did an amazing job performing the Lifehouse "Everything" skit. We will post it to You Tube shortly and post a link to the blog as it was too big to post as a video. You are not going to want to miss out on watching this. Believe me! :)

I gave my testimony and I definitely felt the Lord with me. I was calm and collected and I felt as though I was talking with the teens I see everyday at work back home. It is amazing how the Lord can be present and calm you in a moment where your feeling vulnerable and exposed. It was an overwhelmingly emotional feeling to have my S. African and American friends there to support me. AWESOME is all I can think of to describe how the Lord has transformed me from last year until this year through giving my testimony. I hope and pray that the Lord spoke into those teenagers' hearts and that seeds were planted.

Today (Sunday) was our first day in Overcome Heights. We spent the morning at the Nazerene church in Overcome. Aaron preached on trusting the Lord and it was such a great message and a needed reminder to all of us old or new in our faith to remember that with the Lord we do not have to walk around blindfolded in our spirituality, but we also do not have to know our entire life's story in one day. We have to trust and then the Lord will lead our steps. I definitely needed that reminder. It was so great to see how the team reacted to such a warm welcome from Pastor Bassie and his congregation. They are our friends and our family in S. Africa. They sing a welcome song and everyone comes up and hugs and kisses. We saw so many people from last year. Very cool!

We then went to the waterfront in downtown Cape Town and hung out for awhile. It was a beautiful day...sunny and 65 degrees. Then we were off to the Nazerene church again for their youth service. The team once again performed the Lifehouse skit. They keep blowing me away with the amazing skills they have in touching people in this way. Then there were 3 testimonies tonight; Steph, Sean, and Ana. I keep using the word "amazing" but I'm telling you that this team is heaven sent - literally. The hand of God is covering this group and strongholds of fear, doubt, and insecurity are being demolished by Him. Steph continues to amaze me in her maturity as a 16-year-old. Wow! Mike and Tristin - you should be very proud of your little girl...who's not so little anymore FYI . . .The Lord has so many wonderful things in store for her. Sean's presence, talking about something so personal, was awesome to witness. Thank you to him for his boldness. I know there are teens and families who are going through the same things. Ana was equally amazing. She was nervous about giving her testimony but she was so calm, collected, and impactful the way that she portrayed herself up in front of those teens. Her message was so right on and was so needed. It is a message of hope and redemption through Jesus Christ - our only Saviour. So inspirational!

I am so proud of this team...proud to be a part of this team. Every person is on a journey and everyone of them (and myself) is being touched, moved, and molded through this trip. AND it's only really day two. Tomorrow we are touring Living Hope and doing our first Kid's club in Overcome as a team. I can't wait!! Please continue to pray for Overcome, Living Hope, our ACTS hosts, and our team in fulfilling our mission but also in listening, hearing, and moving in faith in what the Lord is trying to do in our lives.

Continually striving to be in Him ~ Jaclyn