Update!

I send all my apologies for not updating you all sooner. We rarely get internet and when we do it is only for short amounts of time. I will try my best to give you all a picture of what the past several weeks have looked like. We are going into our fourth week and its crazy to think that we will be home in less than 4 weeks!

Our team has faced many trials over the past few weeks but have also seen the Lord’s faithfulness in our lives and in ministry. Our second week here was quite a tough one. We heard the news that a Campus Outreach Staff had gone missing in Washington, DC, our leaders’ little girl, Noa, had the flu, many of the girls on our team were having terrible dreams and our 11 passenger van was stolen from right in front of our house. While in the moment we didn’t understand why the Lord used these hard times to show our team the reality of the spiritual battle that we all face. So often when our lives are going well we don’t take this battle seriously but I think that the Lord showed us the importance of daily and consistently putting on the whole armor of God. Also I think that these hard times really made Hebrews 13:8 come alive in all of our lives. The same God that safely got us to South Africa was the same God that we were crying out to in our times of confusion. Circumstances do not change Him and tragic events do not change Him! This really was my battle cry during our second week here and I am so thankful for what God taught me during week 2!

With our second week being defined by tough circumstances I would say that our third week here would be defined as fruitful. We saw the Lord deliver us from the previous week and in our hearts we wanted to see that same God deliver students on UJ Bunting’s campus from darkness to light. The Lord began to work in the lives of many students and as of tonight we have seen 6 students come to Christ in the past 6 days! Specifically the Lord has allowed me and my ministry partner, Becca, to be a small part of two of those conversions. On Tuesday we were able to share the gospel with a students named Sne and after dialoging through the importance of Christ’s work on the cross she gave her life to Christ. On Wednesday, we were able to share with a girl named Confidence. As we talked through the gospel with Confidence it was evident that Christ had not completely unveiled her eyes to see the complete truth of the gospel so we prayed for her and challenged her to spend sometime that night thinking about what we had talked with her about and that we would meet with her the next day. When we met with her on Thursday and asked her if she had thought more about it she shared with us that she had been reminded of a passage as we were sharing with her and that she went home and found it. She asked if she could read it to us and as she read to us Romans 5 Becca and I began to tear up; when she finished reading she said “it all made sense after I read that”. It was so incredible to see how Christ had led her to a passage that so clearly communicated the gospel to her. As we prayed with Confidence, I was reminded of how this trip is so not about what I have to offer these students and SO much about what Christ offers! There were 2 others girls, Nicole and Patience, that came to Christ through some other girls on our team and also 2 guys, Touch and Melinda, that one of the guys on our team had been ministering to.

As we move into our fourth week we will be continuing to share the gospel in the residence halls and we will also be focusing on recruiting students to an event called the JWC. It is a weekend retreat that Campus Outreach hosts that allows students to continue investigating Christ and learning what it looks like to be sold out for Him. The conference is 3 weeks away and we will be able to go to the conference with students so we are praying that the Lord would bring students to this event. We trust that we are not just recruiting to an event but ultimately we are recruiting to Christ.

I hope that this email excites you and helps you to feel that you are a part of what God is doing here in South Africa. The Lord is using your support and prayers to reach many students here in South Africa I wish you could meet them all and that the students could meet you guys!

Here are a few things that you can be praying for in the coming week:

• Sne, Confidence, Nicole, Patience, Melinda and Touch-- that the seeds that were planted fell on good soil and that their lives would be rooted in the gospel
• Recruitment to the JWC
• Other students that I am investing in-- Thandeka, Tsephang, Jill, MK, Nomatter, Nhle, Tracy, Pepe, Zanele, NJ, & Deboro
• Personally-- that I would continue to see more of Christ through ministry, that Christ would continue to tear down my tendency to build my own kingdom that His might be built up!
• The safety of our team

Again, thank you all so much for your prayers and support! I am excited to see you all in less than a month! Hope to update you all again next week! :)

Welcome to South Africa!

Hi everyone so sorry it has been so long since I have updated you all. I hope from here on out to be able to post an update and some pictures every week while I am here in South Africa!

Hope you are all doing well and have had a wonderful week! As most of you know I left for Johanessburg on Monday. We arrived here on Tuesday around 8:30pm (South African time, which is 6 hours ahead). We spent a very, very long time on the plane so it was amazing to finally make it here! The city is absolutely beautiful and nothing like I expected.

This week we have had orientation training with the Campus Outreach Johannesburg staff team. They have been helping us get acquainted with the South African culture as well as catching us up with where they are at in ministry on the Bunting campus. We met with Bunting’s student leaders on Wednesday. They have about 15 student leaders who are hungry to grow in knowing Christ and making Him known to other students. Also, we have spent the past three nights in the dorms meeting and getting to know students who are not involved and many who do not know Christ. Thursday night me and my ministry partner, Rebecca, along with Tuili, a South African Kingsway(another college here) alumni who volunteers with Campus Outreach, hosted a bible study in Horison, the female residence hall , that we are focusing on. We shared with the girls a passage from John 4 where Jesus interacts with the woman from Samaria and how we seek to find life in things apart from Christ when ultimately we can only find full satisfaction in Him. The girls were extremely receptive to the content and many of them shared personal stories of how they have found this to be true in their own lives. There were around 12 girls there and I would say that 75% of them do not know Christ, so please be in prayer for the salvation of these students as they will be some of the students that I invest in over the next several weeks!

Personally, being here has been really challenging. I think the Lord is showing me how small I make him back in the States. It has been amazing to hang out with the students and see the Lord working in their lives. The gospel REALLY is relevant in all circumstances and in all cultures and God has definitely proved that to me in the past few days. I can only imagine the transformation that will come in my own life once this summer is over and I pray that the students here would be able to experience transformation as well.

Please be in prayer for our team and the students and staff here in South Africa. Pray that our team really would live out 2 Corinthians 2:2. That we would be people who desire to know nothing among the South Africans except Christ and Him crucified so that when we leave what the students received will last. We acknowledge and realize that if these students claim Christ just because we are here it will profit them none; but if they genuinely receive Christ their entire lives will be transformed!

On a lighter note pray that I would be able to remember these CRAZY FUN names that they have here. As if remembering names isn’t hard enough for me most of the girls I have met have very unique names. So pray that the Lord would help me in this or that these girls would have lots of grace to offer! J

In Christ and for His Kingdom,

Holli

update

i am so sorry that it has been so long since i have updated you all.

the support raising process has really turned into a joy and i am really seeing more of Christ through it.

currently, i am right at $2200. the Lord has been so faithful over the past few weeks to really bring in the money that is needed. as i was at home for spring break a few weeks ago i had the chance to share with my home church about my opportunites this summer. i can honestly say that i have never felt so loved on by the body of Christ as i did that night. not simply because i received finanical support, but because i felt like my church was in this journey with me and are supporting me 100%. God has been so gracious in the past month in so many ways and i cant wait to see how he continues to provide for me as well as the rest of the team. please continue to pray for me in this process that i would be faithful to do my part and trust God with the rest! it's crazy to think that in 2 months i will be in jo'burg! :)

i will be having a CCP retreat next weekend where i will learn more of the logistics of our trip so i look forward to updating you with those details soon after!!

i am so thankful for each of you! keep praying!



a new adventure

so, my first blog post. 

i guess i will explain why i got this thing and such to start out.

the main reason why i created this blog is to keep my supporters updated about my journey to Johannesburg, South Africa this summer! i will be traveling there with 11 other college students and 2 Campus Outreach staff. we will be ministering to college students on the campuses in Jo'burg while co-laboring with CO Johannesburg! right now, I am in the process of raising support to get to SA. please be in prayer for me and my support raising process!

also, i wanted to explain why i titled my blog "through patience and faith"

the idea of this title came after reading through a passage in the book of Hebrews. 

Andrew Holbrook gave a talk on Hebrews 6 in Washington, DC while at a conference i attended over new years. at the conference Holbrook spoke specifically about growing and persevering in our faith. since hearing Holbrook speak from this passage I have continued to chew on all that Christ wants to teach me from this fairly short chapter. as i looked at the example of Abraham i was caught off guard by his willingness to simply wait on God to come through on His promises. Abraham lived life knowing God would come through on His promises therefore he was willing to wait patiently in faith. yeah, i know seems like a simple truth that i have heard all my life, right? but so often i do not live my life in this frame of mind. i worry about this and that when Christ has promised to provide for his children. 

what a great reminder this passage has been as i raise the funds to get to South Africa. my prayer is that i would be a woman who simply trusts God at His word and waits patiently in faith knowing He will come through on his great and mighty promises. may i trust god to grow me into a woman who lives her life as Abraham, waiting patiently in faith, not only in this season but always!

Hebrews 6:15

And thus Abraham, having waited patiently. obtained the promise.