Weekend Outreach: Sabie

This weekend was absolutely amazing!! We went on outreach to Sabie and it was everything we had expected it to be!

During MAD RAVE weeks and a few days before leaving, we took time to pray for Sabie and our team. We felt it would be a joy-filled outreach, and we would witness a miracle as well as see someone get saved, just to mention a few.

Friday: We packed up our stuff in the morning and began our epic road trip. It was about a four and a half hour ride to the Living Waters Church in Sabie. But the trip was awesome! We jammed out to music, played games, shared riddles, and just chatted. The church we stayed at, Living Waters, is beautiful! Pastor Hein and his wife Ronna are the youth pastors and they took care of us for the weekend. We pulled up in the afternoon, and unloaded a few things we needed immediately. The church has a log cabin vibe, and it is very cozy. We explored the church for a little while, then jumped back in the van to go get groceries we needed. Once we got back, we got ready for their youth service. We prayed together as a team and reviewed our plan for the evening. Then people started arriving. In total, the youth group had about 20+ students. I connected with a few girls really quickly. Once everyone was there, we played a few games outside. After that, Pastor Hein and the worship team led us in worship. Then we took over! Yolandi preached a message about being connected to God and it was amazing!! After she shared, Jean and Erin shared their testimonies that each related well to Yolandi's message. Then we had time to split up into small groups for discussion. Khetiwe, Erin, and I led a group of five young ladies. It was nice to have a smaller group to really connect with and discuss what our team's message was. Then we wrapped up and prayed for each other. One of the young ladies I got to know was really interested in YOYL, and we explained the program to her and she is excited about coming next year! After everyone left, we could finish unpacking the trailer and cooking supper. The guys slept in a loft area above where we had had the youth service, and the girls stayed in a room to the right, which was also where the kitchen was. We ate dinner together and had team "family" bonding time. And like we prayed for, we had tons of fun and laughter!! It really was neat to see everyone bond closer through out the rest of the weekend.

Saturday: We had a fairly early morning, because Hein and Ronna took us to a waterfall! We hiked around for a bit, and I got as close as I could to the waterfall. It was incredibly beautiful! After we had spent some time there, they took us to another one. This one had more of a garden area to explore. Then we headed back to clean up, in order to go minister at an Old Age Home. There were about five people who were there when we came, so we got to really chat with them about their life experiences. I got to chat with a very sweet lady who told me all about her amazing adventures and she gave me encouragement! We did a few of our funny skits, and then Tanaka and I shared our testimonies. We had lunch with them and then went on our way. Hein and Ronna took us to another waterfall in the afternoon! This waterfall was called Bridal Veil, and it was my favorite one. It was more of a hike to get there but it was amazing! There wasn't a lot of water falling, so we could climb down on the rocks and stand under it, and it was like a power shower. It. Was. Freezing. But I thoroughly enjoyed it! A group of us hiked up behind the waterfall too! Once we had finished there, we went back to the church to clean up and chill until we went to the hospital. At the hospital, the ladies and gents split up to go pray for people. Us ladies were well received by the patients in the ladies' ward, and the guys were able to talk with a man and he gave his heart to Christ! We also got to go into the maternity ward. There, was a premie baby we got to pray for. She was born at 27 weeks, and as we prayed for her, she opened her eyes a little, and then closed them when the last person said "Amen." It was a beautiful moment. Once we finished at the hospital, we came back and my team leader, Josh, and I prepared dinner. Jean had prepared a fire outside, so we all ate outside. It was such a fun time! We also had time in the evening to get into our groups to review and prepare for what we would do on Sunday. I was on the children's ministry team with DJ, Emile, Hendre, DeWaal, and Kefentse. We went over our dances, and prepared another skit for the kiddos. Then it was bed time, but of course, a few of us girls stayed up talking :)

Sunday: We had an early morning on Sunday! We wanted to make sure our things were packed, and out of the way before 7am so the staff wouldn't have to move around us. So we took care of that, and then got ready for the main service. We participated in worship with them, and then they introduced our team. The ladies did one of our ladies dance, and Khetiwe shared her testimony. It was Mother's Day and so we focused a little bit on that, and I saw some of the mothers were really touched by it. Then, Emile shared his testimony and we did another kid's dance for them. It was really fun! Then we took communion and then the youth, and kids were released so we went to our respective places to begin ministry. My team did more kiddies dances with the kiddos and they had tons of fun!! We ran around and jumped and danced to get their energy out so we could speak for a bit. DJ explained communion and then connected it to his message. When we finished that, we just entertained them until it was time to go. Once people began to leave, we helped clean up and we were even given some of the Mother's Day treats they had. We thanked Hein and Ronna for taking care of us for the weekend and then we packed in the van and headed to one last 'tourist' destination: God's Window. We hiked up and around there and had a lovely time to just chill before the road trip home. Then we headed home.

I definitely felt that our outreach was a success! Everyone really gelled well together as a team and we all worked together to accomplish our goal of reaching people and sharing God's heart for them. God worked in so many different ways in such a short amount of time, I really couldn't believe it. It is amazing at how much we got to experience and participate in in just three days! I am truly blessed to be a part of Team Two! I loved every minute of outreach and I enjoyed seeing my friends, now family, minister and step out of their comfort zones. I learned a lot about myself as well. God was with us every day and experiencing that, well it honestly leaves me speechless.

Thank you, to all y'all who were praying for me and my team!


--sea'sadventures--