Hello friends and family.
Gosh I miss you guys and can’t wait to catch up with you when I get back July 5th. I haven’t been able to get on the internet for a while so I apologize for not getting an update up.
I am back in Australia, we got back Sunday night very late and these last 2 days have been great, but I’m so worn out. Jet lag does exist despite my logical tough guy thinking. If I could sum outreach up in one word I would have to say that it was amazing. God did so much work and I am so anxious to share pictures and stories with all of you.
To sum It up briefly, we went to Muizenberg, Cape town for 2 weeks and stayed with a YWAM base there. Then our team of 5 went up to Pretoria and stayed at a black township of a few million people called Soshanguve. We stayed and lived with a widow in the community who was with the pastors church. There We were connected with this awesome black pastor, Pastor Frans Macina. He was a ton of fun, but really got us connected with a ton of ministry. were heaps of tin houses and a lot of poverty within there. We went to churches and cell groups and schools, and hospitals and health clinics and an aids hospice. We got to share testimonies and the gospel and to pray for sick and really just serve the people there. We saw a lot of people come to the Lord and give their lives to Christ. I got to speak quite a bit and share my testimony a ton. I also got to rap for a bunch of schools and Kendra and I played a song that we wrote several times. It was sweet to see the Lord have grace on us. I am learning that we are only as effective as the Lord’s grace on our lives. People were so accepting and inviting for us to come in. We were the only white people in this community and when we would be the first to reach out a hand to shake it, they open up so much. Coming from America opened up conversation immediately and although we didn’t deserve the special treatment it helped so much in sharing the gospel and allowing them to listen to us. God was really at work and had his hand especially on our time in Soshanguve. The Lord blessed us so much throughout our trip, it was unbelievably humbling to be blessed as much as we were.
After our two weeks there we went to Bronkelspruit, Pretoria. We again didn’t know what we were getting into. We pulled into the driveway of this beautiful house overlooking a lake. We stayed with Mathys a white pastor. From there he connected us with many different opportunities. The first week we went into black townships again, and worked with an orphanage. We went door to door praying for people and for the people taking care of the orphans. It broke my heart to see the poverty and tough situations that the children have to live in. In one house we me a mother and she took care of 16 children that slept in one room about 20ft x 10ft. In that same area we prayed for the woman who couldn’t really walk and she got up and started walking very well. Then she was so joyful and told us to go pray for a guy down the street. We went down there and asked them if we could pray and they didn’t really want us to. Then the lady we prayed for came trucking down the dirt road yelling in tsutu language for the guy and his wife to let us pray for them cuz she was healed. We ended up praying for 5 more people right on the spot. It was so awesome. Then we went into another township for 4 days of ministry and did street evangelism and shared the gospel with a bunch of different groups of people. We had about 15 or 20 people in 2 days verbally give their life to the Lord. I can’t tell the condition of their hearts, but the Lord was really working and I trust that he will be faithful to bring their hearts more and more to him. On our 3rd day in that community we did open mic evangelism from the back of a truck with speakers. There I got to rap and share the gospel and play guitar and sing. It was so much fun and that day about 40 people raised their hand to receive Christ. The Lord is so good. We also got to minister in town on the street as well. We got to meet quite a few people and share the gospel as well. Our last week was a little more relaxed and we got to go see New Zealand and Slovakia for the World Cup of Soccer. It was so awesome and we got to meet and share our story with several people there. Our pastor then blessed us with a trip to Kruger national park to see elephants and giraffes and rhino’s and hippo’s and cheetah’s. We didn’t see any lions but it was still so awesome to be there.
We got back to Australia on Sunday the 20th and now we have debriefing this week. I will be home July 5th.
I am so thankful for all the Lord did on outreach. He was really with us and really used us a lot. It was such a blessing.
Can’t wait to see you all. I will email you, but I’m planning to have a story night at the end of July to share all that the Lord did and to thank you for your support.
Love you guys.
Scott
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Muizenberg to Pretoria
Well my first ten days of outreach have past. It has flown by so fast, but the Lord is so good and has been working heeps. We worked in a homeless shelter and got to speak and do worship their in the mornings and right before noon. We were able to really stir some hearts and allow the Lord to work in many of their lives. It was really a neat experience. Today i was able to meet up with this guy Jose from the shelter and we were going to go surfing but the surf was bad, so we just hung out, played some texas holdem with matches as chips. lol it was fun tho and meant a lot to him.
In the evenings we helped out with a youth program in capricorn which is a village basically where the living conditions are more than rough for these kids. The teens were amazing tho, and we were able to run the youth service on friday night. I got to do a rap for them, and well it was pretty crazy actually, about 50 kids or so were going wild about it which was so fun.
The Lord is constantly breaking my heart for the lost. There are lost people everywhere, but this area that i have been in is extra lost. It breaks my heart.
last week we took 2 soccer nets out and started playing soccer on this one rocky/sandy field and about 50 kids rocked up. It was really neat to serve and interact with them. Jeff was able to share his testimony and it was sweet cuz he has coached some top notch national players that could really relate to the kids who played with us.
I got to speak twice to the homeless shelter, and have been constantly sharing Christ with people. I don't really think it is safe to put a number to the salvations that have taken place, because only the Lord knows their hearts but about 6 people have verbally said they want to change on a 1 to 1 bases. These 5 or 6 seemed really sincere but again it is hard to tell. I am really thankful for my time here to really be a light in the community and to have about 8 or so lengthy relegious conversations with people that have really challenged them. The Lord is growing me in this area of effectively sharing his love and sharing his Word.
Thank you for your prayers.
If you could pray for me, i have been fighting a cold, but really the Joy of the Lord is my strength, so also pray that i would just be effective and keep finding my strength in Him alone.
We leave for pretoria tomorrow morning, we will fly there and then be living in a house in a village i believe. From what i understand the area is really broken and it looks like we will have more opportunity to witness on our own. I am so excited.
I miss all of you guys. It's tough to be away, but at the same time i have peace in the Lords plan and calling for me.
Following Him means literally leaving my family and friends behind for this season in my life so I'm alright with it.
God bless you all
P.S. Please pray for God to work like crazy through us to the people while we are in pretoria.
p.p.s. tickets for a worldcup game would be kinda nice as well.
In the evenings we helped out with a youth program in capricorn which is a village basically where the living conditions are more than rough for these kids. The teens were amazing tho, and we were able to run the youth service on friday night. I got to do a rap for them, and well it was pretty crazy actually, about 50 kids or so were going wild about it which was so fun.
The Lord is constantly breaking my heart for the lost. There are lost people everywhere, but this area that i have been in is extra lost. It breaks my heart.
last week we took 2 soccer nets out and started playing soccer on this one rocky/sandy field and about 50 kids rocked up. It was really neat to serve and interact with them. Jeff was able to share his testimony and it was sweet cuz he has coached some top notch national players that could really relate to the kids who played with us.
I got to speak twice to the homeless shelter, and have been constantly sharing Christ with people. I don't really think it is safe to put a number to the salvations that have taken place, because only the Lord knows their hearts but about 6 people have verbally said they want to change on a 1 to 1 bases. These 5 or 6 seemed really sincere but again it is hard to tell. I am really thankful for my time here to really be a light in the community and to have about 8 or so lengthy relegious conversations with people that have really challenged them. The Lord is growing me in this area of effectively sharing his love and sharing his Word.
Thank you for your prayers.
If you could pray for me, i have been fighting a cold, but really the Joy of the Lord is my strength, so also pray that i would just be effective and keep finding my strength in Him alone.
We leave for pretoria tomorrow morning, we will fly there and then be living in a house in a village i believe. From what i understand the area is really broken and it looks like we will have more opportunity to witness on our own. I am so excited.
I miss all of you guys. It's tough to be away, but at the same time i have peace in the Lords plan and calling for me.
Following Him means literally leaving my family and friends behind for this season in my life so I'm alright with it.
God bless you all
P.S. Please pray for God to work like crazy through us to the people while we are in pretoria.
p.p.s. tickets for a worldcup game would be kinda nice as well.
Friday, May 7, 2010
South Africa
Hello everyone.
I'm in muizenberg which is right outside of capetown. It is absolutely beautiful here. We arrived at to the Ywam base at 1 oclock wednesday morning and got right into things on wednesday. God is so good. Our trip was really relaxing and was kindof a nice break from the craziness of everything.
We have been doing worship and speaking in a homeless/drug rehab shelter the last 2 mornings. It's been really neat to interact with people that have barely anything. We worship and have a message then they get food for breakfast and lunch.
In the afternoons we help with living hope childrens program. The little african kids are so fun and joyful. They jump all over me and i can't sit down without one on my lap. It's really a great opportunity.
The nature is absolutely gorgeous but the culture is kindof backwards to everything i've known. There are villages of colored people and of black people, basically they live in little 10x10 huts alot of them. Where there should be only one house on the a plot, there are 5-7 huts. I am so excited to get to really sow into the kids and into the adults that we work with. Thank you for all of your support and prayers.
If you could pray for divine appointments and the power of God to be revealed as well as his love in the lives of the people we interact with.
I love you guys.
God Bless
Sunday, April 25, 2010
South Africa... May 4th
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAFhXG8IYmA
You can check this video out, we made it in order to make people aware of we are doing and to raise finances for our outreach. Please don't feel obligated to support financially but i just wanted to allow you to see it and be apart of what we are doing.
God bless
we leave in 1 week. crunch time.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
tic tic tic
Hey mates
Wow i miss you guys. But the Lord has been providing my every need and i am so thankful for this amazing opportunity that the Lord has brought me on.
Last week we had lectures on biblical relationships and it was really good to check my heart and make sure that i deal with things in my life. Forgiveness and humility have got to be 2 of the most important things in any relationship really. Cuz we are all human and we all make mistakes. It's what happens after that that will make or break the relationship.
We also had a sweet lecture on Fearing God. The biggest thing that stood out to me was that we need to just be aware of God's preferences. It can be easy for us to offend the Lord when we are careless in action and we don't live intentionally.
I gathered that the only way we can really live with integrity is if we fear the Lord. We know that he is always watching and that we are constantly living for him therefor it always keeps us in check. Or at least it should.
We just finished our week on evangelism. The main focus of it was on healing and on miracles. I guess i'm like most of you and thought that miracles and healing are of the past and that evangelism is always building relationships first then leading them to Christ's love. Although that is such a great way to spread the gospel there is also that off healing and miracles.
If we look to Christ's life we can see his ministry. It was soley based on him healing people's sicknesses and forgiving them. I'm finding that the Lord has passed on these gifts of the Holy Spirit to his diciples as well as the apostles. The sweet thing is that it is passed on to us. We have the power of the Word of God and the power of Jesus Christ in us. I'm really seeking and longing to use the power of God to bring people to him. It's a little radical to me, but i am noticing that when you really read the Gospel, Christ and his followers used healing all the time in order to have the word of God spread.
only a few more weeks before we leave on outreach. If you could pray for school finances that would be awesome... 4 students still really need money in our school to go to South Africa
We leave may 3 or 4.
God Bless
Scott
Wow i miss you guys. But the Lord has been providing my every need and i am so thankful for this amazing opportunity that the Lord has brought me on.
Last week we had lectures on biblical relationships and it was really good to check my heart and make sure that i deal with things in my life. Forgiveness and humility have got to be 2 of the most important things in any relationship really. Cuz we are all human and we all make mistakes. It's what happens after that that will make or break the relationship.
We also had a sweet lecture on Fearing God. The biggest thing that stood out to me was that we need to just be aware of God's preferences. It can be easy for us to offend the Lord when we are careless in action and we don't live intentionally.
I gathered that the only way we can really live with integrity is if we fear the Lord. We know that he is always watching and that we are constantly living for him therefor it always keeps us in check. Or at least it should.
We just finished our week on evangelism. The main focus of it was on healing and on miracles. I guess i'm like most of you and thought that miracles and healing are of the past and that evangelism is always building relationships first then leading them to Christ's love. Although that is such a great way to spread the gospel there is also that off healing and miracles.
If we look to Christ's life we can see his ministry. It was soley based on him healing people's sicknesses and forgiving them. I'm finding that the Lord has passed on these gifts of the Holy Spirit to his diciples as well as the apostles. The sweet thing is that it is passed on to us. We have the power of the Word of God and the power of Jesus Christ in us. I'm really seeking and longing to use the power of God to bring people to him. It's a little radical to me, but i am noticing that when you really read the Gospel, Christ and his followers used healing all the time in order to have the word of God spread.
only a few more weeks before we leave on outreach. If you could pray for school finances that would be awesome... 4 students still really need money in our school to go to South Africa
We leave may 3 or 4.
God Bless
Scott
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Getting ready for outreach.
Hello.
We just found out our outreach teams. We had 2 locations to pray about and choose from. The one team would be staying in Capetown the whole time. The other team would be staying in Capetown for 2 weeks, then heading to Pretoria for the last 5 weeks.
I prayed about it and really felt the Lord give me a peace about Pretoria. I will be going with Jeff and Ann Boardman, an older couple, along with a guy from Alabama, a guy from Newcastle, Australia, and a girl from good old Lancaster county, Kendra Martin. It should be so awesome. In Pretoria we will be staying most likely in a very poor area, that will be very primative and harsh living conditions. I am really looking forward to it although it will definately be a challenge.
Things are going really well here. I am really praying about where the Lord wants me next. And what my next step is for my life.
I really feel like God is calling me to a big part in coaching in the future. But i'm not sure when that season of my life will be. God is good and I pray he will reveal it to me.
thank you for your prayers.
Scott
Sunday, March 14, 2010
It's been a while...
Hello everyone.
Well it's been about a month i recon since i last posted, in that time the Lord has been doing so many awesome things in my life and has been stretching me and really challenging my heart.
The past 2 weeks we were at sherwood cliffs which is a rehab community in the bush of australia. It was so beatiful there, as we were in the mountains around cliffs and tropical fruit God really gave me peace just about being here once again. It was so amazing to have time away from the urban area and be in the amazing presence of God's creation.
We got to be with guys that were in rehab for 10 days. It was really neat to be able to minister to them and serve the amazing ministry that was going on there. The Owner of the place lived completely off of faith for his finances. It was an amazing testimony of how God provides. They have so much land that was either donated or paid for by donations.
I am learning more and more how God will provide. It was neat for me to see the faith of the owner for his complete reliance on God. I am also praying as he is for my finances to continue to come in as i have been very blessed with them, but am still trusting for the Lord to provide even more.
Just last night i met a guy named ryan at the skate park who is from South Africa, he just moved here 2 months ago and is a Believer in Christ. It was so neat to connect with him, and we plan to get together to hang out soon and talk about things as he may be able to help guide me in some of our ministry as i go to south Africa in the beginning of may. It's amazing how the Lord brings things together.
Prayer wise i could really use peace in my heart and wisdom to now which path God wants me to go in over the next 6 months. I sense the Lord is wanting to do some sweet things in my life. Also i have been able to make an awesome relationship with a guy from saudi arabia who was raised muslim but is seeking truth. I met him playing soccer and have been able to hang out with him and discuss Jesus with him. He even has an arabic Bible. How awesome is that. If you could just pray for wisdom in all of that.
God is so good.
Thank you for your prayers and your continual support.
Sincerely,
Your brother in Christ
Well it's been about a month i recon since i last posted, in that time the Lord has been doing so many awesome things in my life and has been stretching me and really challenging my heart.
The past 2 weeks we were at sherwood cliffs which is a rehab community in the bush of australia. It was so beatiful there, as we were in the mountains around cliffs and tropical fruit God really gave me peace just about being here once again. It was so amazing to have time away from the urban area and be in the amazing presence of God's creation.
We got to be with guys that were in rehab for 10 days. It was really neat to be able to minister to them and serve the amazing ministry that was going on there. The Owner of the place lived completely off of faith for his finances. It was an amazing testimony of how God provides. They have so much land that was either donated or paid for by donations.
I am learning more and more how God will provide. It was neat for me to see the faith of the owner for his complete reliance on God. I am also praying as he is for my finances to continue to come in as i have been very blessed with them, but am still trusting for the Lord to provide even more.
Just last night i met a guy named ryan at the skate park who is from South Africa, he just moved here 2 months ago and is a Believer in Christ. It was so neat to connect with him, and we plan to get together to hang out soon and talk about things as he may be able to help guide me in some of our ministry as i go to south Africa in the beginning of may. It's amazing how the Lord brings things together.
Prayer wise i could really use peace in my heart and wisdom to now which path God wants me to go in over the next 6 months. I sense the Lord is wanting to do some sweet things in my life. Also i have been able to make an awesome relationship with a guy from saudi arabia who was raised muslim but is seeking truth. I met him playing soccer and have been able to hang out with him and discuss Jesus with him. He even has an arabic Bible. How awesome is that. If you could just pray for wisdom in all of that.
God is so good.
Thank you for your prayers and your continual support.
Sincerely,
Your brother in Christ
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