Alainna Turns 21 & Heads to Swaziland

First Day of Ministry

We had our first day of ministry yesterday in Pretoria, South Africa. We did street evangelism in the afternoon and went out to minister to prostitutes in the evening. Street evangelism has always been daunting to me, but doing it in South Africa is much different than doing it in America. People are more willing to talk to you and don't find it strange for you to go up and talk to them (especially if you're American. We used that to our advantage). Four of us were sitting on a bench and praying for the people that surrounded us. My team member Jacques is experienced in street evangelism, and he encouraged us to listen if God told us to talk to someone and also gave us some crazy methods that only he can pull off. We listened to God's voice and ended up talking to a cleaning lady on her break. We also ended up hanging out with some college students from a fashion school for a while. It was not about sharing the gospel, but about getting to know people and showing them were interested in their lives. It was about listening and trying to treat them the way that Christ would. It was also about being obedient to what God tells us to do and trusting him to follow through, because we can do nothing apart from him.

In the evening, me and a group of girls from my team had the opportunity to minister to prostitutes. We worked with a center that provides a way for women to get off the street and start a new life. They work with these women throughout the week by visiting them and inviting them to the center if they need food or a place to stay. They provide Christian rehabilitation, counseling and discipleship, and job skills training. We walked the streets, talked to the women, gave them small gifts, and asked if they would like us to pray with them if we felt it was appropriate. It was a very difficult night.

You see prostitutes in movies. You have a stereotype in your mind. But when you look into the eyes of a woman standing a street corner waiting for cars to stop by, everything you once believed about prostitutes is shattered. These women were just like me. Just like me. Some were even dressed like me. Some of them were only fifteen. Fifteen. That’s five years younger than me. They know no other life but that of the street. Some of them had children. What really shocked me was that these women have the opportunity to get off the streets, but many do not take the opportunity. It is the only life they know, and they are scared of anything else. It could cut them off from their only friends or family. They also fear their pimps, who often control their lives and will beat and abuse them if they try to find a new life. Many of the women became nervous just because we were talking to them.

There is something so wrong about what I saw last night, and it is hard to put into words. All I can describe is the sick feeling I got in my stomach—that feeling that something is so unjust, so tragic, so opposed to the way God created the world to be. These women were beautiful women with beautiful hearts. They have stories, and they have dreams. They are people just like us. I looked into the eyes of one of the women and said, “You are beautiful. When God looks at you, he sees that you are beautiful.” I pray she believes that. The center we worked with calls them “ladies of the night,” because it is more respectful. These ladies of the night are not what I expected them to be. They are not mature women, but broken little girls, regardless of their age. And they need someone to care about them and love them with the love of God and treat them like normal people despite their occupation. I ask that you pray for these women.

On Monday, we leave for Swaziland, where we will engage in full-time ministry. The trek is beginning. I had no idea that our first day of ministry would hurt so badly, but God is teaching me to entrust people to him. I cannot save them. Only he can. My heart may break with compassion, because that is the way God created me, but I have to be able to move on if I am going to continue to minister to others. I have to trust God to take care of those ladies of the night, because he loves them even more than I do. Denise calls it closing the doors of my heart and knowing that God will continue to send people to help them. It doesn’t mean I stop caring about them or praying for them, but it means that I trust God to be the loving savior that he is. He has shown me how much he loves me. I should trust him to do the same for them.

Pray for God’s protection over my team and that we stand strong in the midst of spiritual warfare. Pray that we remain unified and that we trust God rather than trusting ourselves. Pray that God works in the hearts of the people we will minister to. Lastly, pray that we stay grounded in the truth of who God is and what he has done for us.

South Africa is a beautiful country. I will be sad to leave it. But I am also excited to move from the city and into the towns and villages.

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.

Training

I have been in South Africa for a week! Staying at a farm called Mooiplaas (literally translated "pretty farm") with a team of 15 people from over 8 countries. I am even picking up some Afrikaans, which disturbs those who actually speak it ;) Our leaders are incredible imitators of Christ, and they have so much to teach us. Our training has been emotionally exhausting, as we are working through the sins of our past and present and the burdens we each carry. It has been both rewarding and difficult. But the Lord can use a healthy servant much more than he can use an injured one.

We have also learned some songs in local languages to teach the children and worked on writing testimonies and sermons. We meet for devotions at 6 a.m. every morning, where we practically freeze to death. On Wednesday, we leave for Pretoria to finish training and begin ministry. After that, we will travel to Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.

We went to an Afrikaans-speaking church yesterday. I understood every word. And I made one of my Afrikaans-speaking team members sit next to me, so that helped a bit ;)

I won't have internet for much longer, but if you know me at all, you know I have to tell at least one story.

The first morning at training, we woke up and were told to meet our leaders at a certain time (though time works a bit differently here) wearing close-toed shoes and carrying water bottles. We figured we would be doing a work project or something. We were wrong... They took us to the bottom of a mountain and told us to get to the top in 45 minutes. There was no trail. There were 3 groups of us: the hardcore ones, the almost hardcore but too tired ones, and the didn't feel the need to prove themselves group. I started hardcore, but quickly fell back to the middle group. There were also some stragglers. Oh and we had to carry a rock to the top of the mountain with us. One team member (I won't mention names) was stupid enough to pick up a giant rock that weighed at least ten pounds.

Massiye, from Zambia, came back for those of us who were straggling behind the hardcores and showed us the way up the mountain. Maybe there was a lesson in this crazy hike after all. At the top of the mountain (sooo beautiful), we talked about the journey to the top, how we had to keep moving and keep our eyes on the goal. The Africa Trek is going to be a crazy journey, but we will need to keep our eyes on the goal--becoming more like Christ. And we will have those more experienced than us to show us the way. At the top of the mountain, we prayed with one another, reflected on our expectations of the trek, and chose a burden we wanted to get rid of. We took our rocks, and all at once, we threw them off the mountain and screamed out our burdens. Then we found a new rock and wrote on it what we wanted God to fill us with to replace the burden we had thrown off the top of the mountain.

I don't know what God is going to do on this trek, but it is already not what I expected and way better than I expected at the same time. God's will is so much better than our silly plans. God will do a work in the African people through us, but he will do it his way. And I can't wait to see how he does it.

Miss you all. Thank you so much for your prayers. Pray for protection against spiritual warfare and the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

(Trina Skinner from Papua New Guinea and South Africa was my editor. She would kill me if I didn't include her name. Rachel Lynne Ickes would also like a mention for sitting next to me while I wrote this.)

News From Alainna

Hi Folks, This is Alainna's mom.  She asked that I post an update.  She and her team are well.  They are on a farm in South Africa.  She said it's beautiful, nestled between some mountains.  They are in training and in God's word daily.  She said the Lord is preparing them to go out and do His work.  All are healthy.  Please continue to pray for them and all the teams that have joined up with them.  There are people from all over the world that have come together for the purpose of spreading God's love and shining His light.

Through the prayer of dear family and friends, they are strengthened.

 

The Africa Trek Team

As soon as Alainna has internet service she will be able to read your comments and write her own post, until then, you're stuck with me. : )

Be Strong and Courageous

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

 

The Lord acknowledges when the things he asks us to do require courage, but he also commands us to have it. We don’t get any outs when it comes to following Jesus. If he tells us to do something, we are supposed to do it no matter how much courage it takes or how hard it feels from our human perspective. Jesus does not do things the way we would do things. But we are not gods, and thank God for that ;) 

We can plan away, but the truth is that Jesus is not going to submit to our plans. It should be the other way around. Just because my team and I are submitting to Jesus’ plans, it does not mean that it is easy for us to do so or that we do not need courage. I never planned to go to Africa, but there came a point in my walk with the Lord where doing anything but going to Africa did not make sense anymore. 

It is very easy to fall prey to the belief that the need for courage is the same thing as fear, and because fear exemplifies a lack of trust in the Lord, we must not be good Christians if we find ourselves needing courage to do his will. But God often commands difficult tasks. He gave his son the most difficult task of all—a task that Jesus courageously completed.  So pray for courage for me and my team to do the will of the Lord. 

Also pray for safe travels, as we fly out tomorrow night and arrive on Sunday morning in Johannesburg after a long layover on Saturday.