Hi Again J
Albanza is the little ‘safe place’ our group stayed at while in the Petoria/ JoBurg area. It was a beautiful escape of the city life of JoBurg. At Albanza our Africa and JBay teams went through tons of training on Spiritual Warfare. Saying that it was intense and draining is an understatement. Don’t get me wrong: it was nothing less than amazing but just something I had never really experienced much before.
The freedom of worship here is something that I love the most. Singing loudly whatever God puts on your heart and for hours at a time is something that really spoke to me. We did a lot of surrendering the 1st week at Albanza. There was a game where we had to write down important things on paper and give them away to people and lay the rest at the cross. It was so surreal to have to lay down my Dad, Brother, and Keli ( my best ) and surrender them completely to God. It’s something I for sure needed though.
B O L D N E S S is a resounding theme in my journey thus far. Boldness in every aspect one could think of. God just really keeps pushing that word onto my heart. Even in my sickness one night God kept telling me to face it boldly and know that He was the only one who could take it away from me.
After a week at Albanza we headed to Swaziland. *What a crazy cool week!* I was able to meet some amazing people from the other Africa teams. – Sweet Martha, Beautiful Denise, Katie Movic who is the greatest creation of God, and the Amazing Jenny! – God taught me a lot about identity while in Swazi. I learned that I was God’s joy and joy was a gift He had given me. God continues to use my joy in places where He sees fit. It’s such a great feeling to get to bring the joy God has given me into others lives.
I was given a Swazi name “Thandeka.” It means to give love to someone! Ask me when I get home and I’ll pronounce it for you. We also got to visit squatter camps and hospitals while in Swazi. Praying for tons of people and getting to know the people of Swazi was a blessing beyond measure.
A guy named Gary Black came to spoke to us while in Swazi and he pretty much rocked my world. He called me out on a lot of things and I really began to understand what I am doing on such a deeper level. In a nut shell, what I’m doing in Africa is normal Christianity. I’m not anything special or doing anything all that holy… God has called all of us to do things like this: It’s Normal!!!! J
After Swazi, we headed back to Albanza for a last week before our JBay team left. We had Spiritual Warfare 101 and it was the toughest week the JBay family has had. God really brought us through some super tough trials. Our family grew so much stronger in God and learned to ‘soul’y rely on Him.
Needless to say, those three weeks I grew so much. I am more in love with my JBay family every single day. Our leaders Tag and Holly remind me so much of Moad and Ashley. ß Which I am so thankful for b/c I miss Ash and Moad oh so much!!! I am very thankful for all God taught me through that month… but I couldn’t wait for the next day to head to my new home :* Jeffrey’s Bay*
