Lighting up Durban, S.A.
- Jordan Spencer
- Jan 15, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 30, 2022
HOWZIT Everyone?
We‘re excited to update you all on where we are and what God has been up to…
We left from Kona, Hi. on the 19th of December and landed in Durban, South Africa on the 22nd. YEP, you read that right! 3 whole days of travel. It was 30+ hours in the air and 25+ hours of airport layover time. If that sounds like torment to you, imagine doing that all with an 8 and 6 year old in tow.🤪🤪 Hahaha… Honestly, our girls really did AWESOME!
And to be fair it was actually only 2 days of travel because we flew over the North Pole from Seattle to Doha, Qatar and lost the entire 21st day of December. 😐 A whole day of our lives LITERALLY flew by!
ANYTHING FOR YOU, JESUS! 😂❤🙌🏻
Since landing in Durban we have met some wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ at the YWAM Base and at other churches and ministries around the area. We have been able to take part in working with and supporting the YWAM base, some other local ministries, and hit the streets for some evangelism… So here are some pictures and stories of our adventure so far:
On Christmas Day we packed bagged lunches and our team took them to a beautiful beach front area in Durban. We handed the bags out to some wonderful people and while meeting their physical need for food we were blessed with the opportunity to hear their stories, share some stories, and pray with them… meeting their spiritual needs as well. It was a powerful and beautiful way to celebrate the gift of Jesus’ birth, by giving of our time, resources, and best of all our hope in Jesus Christ to those in need of experiencing the Father’s love.
Another local ministry just outside of Durban that we have been truly blown away by and have loved being able to support has been the Careline Rehab Facility. This rehab is a truly amazing place where the name of Jesus is proclaimed freely and powerfully as the answer to the struggle with addiction. It has been a privilege to be able to share our testimonies with the great men and women there; as well as play cards, volleyball, and soccer(football) with them, lead them in worship, and we have even be able to start a Bible study on Friday evenings for the residents who want to grow in their knowledge of the Word of God.
Since week one we have had the opportunity on Sundays to serve God and the community here by visiting local churches on Sunday mornings. We get to take part in their services and children ministries. If it is a Zulu church they usually welcome us with some Zulu flavored worship (which always includes dancing💃🏻😁🙌🏻) When we visit those churches we also get to lead worship, put on skits, share testimonies, and even have team members preach the occasional message. These opportunities have been just as much of a blessing and encouragement for our team as we feel it has been for the churches we‘ve visited.
We’ve also come here with the purpose of supporting and serving local missionaries and the YWAM Base. Since they are the long term presence here in the area, they deserve to be honored for their labor here. The Durban YWAM base is a gorgeous, old bed and breakfast that they have redeemed and restored.
Some of the key ways that we have been able to support the base has been through grounds keeping, cooking, cleaning, and building maintenance. It is a beautiful property with a really nice “prayer walk”, a pool for cooling off, and a nice outdoor Braii (grill) area for doing group devotionals, worship, and the occasional cook out.
There are so many more pictures, videos, and moments I could share from our time so far here in Durban, but if I shared them all this would be a ridiculously long blog. (Lol! Perhaps it is already!) All I can say is that our family has been truly blessed in just the few weeks that we have been here and if this is just beginning, then I can’t wait to see what else God still has for us here in South Africa.
Please pray for us and our team as we continue to pursue making a difference and “Lighting Up the Dark” here in Durban. Pray for protection and bold courage as we go into the places of darkness proclaiming that the light of the world is present, powerful, and mighty to save!
He is a GOOD GOD! 😁🙌
Also, we‘d like to challenge you to pray and ask God if He‘d like for you to use His resources that He has given you to join us in our mission of lighting up the dark? If He says, “yes”, ask Him how much or how often? Then click on the link below and you can either give a one time gift of any amount or set up reoccurring financial support.
Thank you for reading and we pray that you are blessed and are a blessing!
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