Why Africa?

I have been blessed with the privilege of taking a year off of school to be God’s hands and feet in Pretoria this January-December of 2009. I will be going through the organization of Campus Crusade for Christ through their STINT (short term international) program, with a team of 9 students. We will be the very first STINT team to ever start a ministry in this location, which is so exciting. Our team will be working on the University of Pretoria campus, talking to college students about the gospel of Jesus Christ, raising and building students up in their faith, and trying to start a movement within that campus for students to begin leading themselves. Our hope is to create a self-sustaining movement on the Pretoria Campus so that every student will know at least one person who truly follows Jesus. South Africa is the educational epicenter of the entire continent. Students from every country of the continent come to South Africa to get a degree and go back to lead their countries. Because of this, we have the opportunity to not only reach South Africa, but all of Africa. We also have been blessed with the opportunity to work with young children in the South African townships. We will partner with another organization called BEAM, started by a couple whose hope is to restore the spiritual climate of the country by reaching the needs of children and their families. We will provide them with food, English tutoring, clothes, shelter, and other basic needs, accompanied with the unfailing love of God. I have such a huge heart for both college ministries as I do for young children, and so to be given this opportunity to serve in both ways alongside each other is an incredible blessing for me.