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!