Mossel Bay

Since my last blog on the 10th, my South African journey has for sure been different as it should be!


On the 10th of January, the DTS team i've been with from Los Angeles had an off day from ministry. They decided to do a safari in a near by town that has a huge nature reserve and also decided to bless me with paying for me to come along which was so awesome! The safari was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. Just seeing God's creation in action made me realize how crazy complex He is. I had a really awesome experience with the ranger who was giving us the facts behind all of these beautiful creatures. After the safari, the ranger came up to Mike Fernandez and myself and basically started pouring his life story and how he needs to hear from God for direction in his life. It's amazing how even when you're not technically doing "ministry" how God still uses us and opens doors without even having to try. Mike and I prayed for the ranger and encouraged him that God is a God who hears us and answers prayers and the ranger was super encouraged and was saying how happy he was that we prayed for him. During the entire safari he really wanted to ask us for prayer but told the Lord that if the Lord wanted him to be prayed for, then we would do it automatically. It was so sweet!


On the 11th, the DTS team and myself continued on from Worcester to Mossel Bay which is about a 3 hour bus ride. When we arrived at the Mossel Bay YWAM base which is where I will be staying (the base is actually just a rented house), we tossed our stuff on the ground and walked directly to the beach which is about a 5 minute walk. The location of the YWAM base is absolutely amazing. The house itself is pretty sweet but the location is what is breathtaking. I definitely have to add some picture.


Since being in Mossel Bay, I have kind of separated a bit more from the LA team. We are still living in the same house, but now i have some responsibilities to take care of. One thing i did do with the LA team while being here was helping re-do a church in a local poor area. Some people focused on rebuilding their playground while myself and others focused on repainting their sanctuary. Although we were obviously doing work, it was quite fun! Another thing i did with the LA team was going to church with them last thursday and sunday. I love African church! It's awesome seeing a people who are so full of joy and who don't care about what others think when they are going full out for the Lord. It's been really helping me break free of the whole self-conscious, self-preservation mentality that is totally not of God. I felt so accepted joining this church and was re-assured by the pastor of the church that I have a place in Mossel Bay, South Africa in their church. The next step is to learn Afrikaans to actually understand what they are talking about ha ha.


Its been awesome to finally meet some of the staff of the YWAM base in Mossel Bay and getting to know the people i am going to be working along side for the next 6 months. The staff consists of Markus who is the base leader from Germany, Jacques who is from Jeffery's Bay, South Africa who will be my fellow staff, Fred who is a missionary from Mozambique who has been there for the past 13 years, Nathan who is the DTS leader who is from Australia, and Ana who is from Brazil who will also be DTS staff with me. Since the 17th, we've started staff training for the DTS. Training has consisted a lot of intercession for each other and for the DTS students and the base as a whole. Intercession is soooo important because it actually gives us God's heart for each other and for the students; something we all totally need. We've also had training on simply analyzing the purpose of DTS and breaking that down, as well as logistical preparation. Through training, I've realized thus far that it is my job to facilitate an environment where the Holy Spirit can teach these student and develop their character. Luckily I have the Holy Spirit myself to disciple me while discipling these students because i definitely realized i cannot do it myself! I definitely see real purpose for me being here and am assured this is where the Lord desired for me to be in this season.


A huge blessing that iv'e had this past week given to me is having the opportunity to share a room with my Los Angeles base director Werner. It's been a huge encouragement talking to him about life and hearing his vision and insight. As you know from my last blog, the Lord has been placing business missions on my heart. Werner gave me another book to read called "The Purple Cow" which testifies to crazy stories of successful business from people who came up with completely different ideas that revolutionized a specific trade. Luckily I don't have to come up with the idea by myself... I have the Holy Spirit for inspiration! Something that Werner was talking about that just got me fired up was implementing practical devices that completely revolutionize an environment and society. A specific idea he brought up was a device that uses fecal matter from humans to create energy for poor areas (such as the townships in S.A.) which already have a HUGE sewage problem. The other idea is a device that collects and naturally filter rainwater and can store that rain water up to a year. It is stuff like this that the poor really need! They deserve to have their basic human rights on top of knowing Jesus Christ as their Lord and it is our jobs to implement such ideas! I think the Lord is leading me in an area towards that.


Through just continually sharing this vision, God has been opening various doors that i need to continually pray into and see where the Lord leads me! For this season though, I am called to be here in Mossel Bay as DTS staff to disciple and to facilitate an environment where the Lord meets the DTS students and meets me. I am incredibly excited to be used by God and to see people grow in the calling that God has for each person specifically. I feel like the Lord has just been speeding up my ability to learn about Him and His calling on my life and its amazing. I definitely had my doubts initially, but God confirmed my doubts and I've been so encouraged to be apart of the movement that God is doing right here in Mossel Bay, South Africa to reach the nations!

Arrival to South Africa

So on December 31st at 10:40 a.m, I set off on my grueling 17 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. The flight itself actually wasn't as bad as i thought it would be at all. I had an open seat next to me which allowed me to relax a bit better being 6'4" and all. The food on the airplane was good as well which was for sure a plus. I finally arrived to Johannesburg only to catch another flight at 10:40 a.m to Cape Town on New Years day. I finally arrived to Cape Town at around 1 p.m!


The day before i had left New York, I received an email from YWAM Mossel Bay (the YWAM base i will be working with) stating that i would not have accommodations there until the 10th of January which meant that i would be staying in Cape Town until then.


When i arrived in Cape Town, I was picked up by a guy named Zennen who works with the Cape Town YWAM base. I would be staying with the base director there named Virmz until accommodations were ready in Mossel Bay. The second i got to the apartment, i literally passed out sleeping until 8am the following day.


was definitely an incredibly weird feeling entering a country that is very new to me and staying in a guy's apartment that i did not know in the slightest bit. I had no idea what was acceptable in culture or what was even safe to do. I felt alone, but at the same time i knew the Lord was with me and that i was in His will.


When i woke up that day, I learned that it was not safe to walk out after dark or with valuables because of the risk of getting mugged. I met a guy from Ireland named Allen and he showed me around Cape Town. Cape Town is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I hope to post some pictures very soon!


As i walked back to the apartment i was staying in, i decided to stop by the YWAM base to meet up with a friend named Adam who i found out was on the base. I did my DTS with Adam last January. Once arriving at the base, I was surprised by a group of people from Los Angeles who were on their outreach from DTS. They had stopped at the Cape Town YWAM base to use the bathroom because they were doing ministry on the beach nearby. It was so crazy and random running into them! The whole experience was completely God ordained because they were literally only at the base for 5 minutes and had no idea i was there. They were incredibly surprised as well and invited me to come and stay with them in a town 2 hours east named Worcester (pronounced "vooster") This was such a blessing from God! Instead of hanging out in a lonely apartment in Cape Town for 10 days, I got to hang out with these wonderful people from L.A. and join them temporarily on their outreach! God is way too good haha.


For the past week, I've been in Worcester at the YWAM base there. It has been kind of weird being here to be honest. It has been nice but I've kind of been wondering what the purpose of it all is. I definitely think seeing how DTS outreach is run from an outsiders perspective has been helping me learn how to lead a DTS outreach of my own. It has been crazy to think that I am actually going to even be doing that! This past year i've been a student in YWAM, and now I am going to actually be leading. I guess it's time for some more solid food.


It has been awesome doing ministry with the L.A. team. We've been going to this hospital and just sharing the love of Christ with the sick people in the hospital. We've shared the gospel with all of the families in the Children's section of the hospital and prayed for all of the sick kids. One of the kids who has meningitis was very sick when we prayed for him and the next time we came to the hospital, he was doing much better and was much more livelier! The L.A. team has also done ministry in some of the townships of S.A. and have seen many people come to know and accept Christ as their savior which is amazing!


Something awesome that happened to me was just a word that was spoken over me during a prayer time. While a woman was praying over me, she had said she saw me traveling all over the world in the future with a suitcase  for the purpose of business. I thought that this was pretty crazy because a month or so earlier while i was on the Los Angeles YWAM base, I had felt the Lord placing a desire for business on my heart. The desire was related to the idea of starting a business in a third world country to give people opportunity to help themselves and earn money themselves while giving me the opportunity to disciple these people in Christ. This would provide a way out for the route of sexual slavery and sweat shop slavery than many people face in poor communities in third world countries. I shared this occurrence with the base director for YWAM Worcester. His name is Bruno. It was super encouraging to talk to him about this and he gave me a lot of good advice, as well as a book to read pertaining to business to get my mind going. I think i may take some online business classes and read some more books on business. This is all just the birth of some vision the Lord has given me, and im praying that it comes to pass!


So there is a little tid bit of what God has been doing in me and through me in the past 10 days of my time in South Africa. I know i am in the hand of God and i am so stoked to see what God has for me in this season. I am sorry this was so long!