Kindle and I have been experiencing powerful things in the communities when we are out doing ministry, so I thought it would be fun to share what an entire day of community outreach looked like for us last Wednesday!
Kindle and I got out of our vehicle to do ministry together, walked about a hundred yards, and saw a woman sitting in front of her shack washing dishes. Our translator greeted her, and she ushered us into her front yard and we offered to help her finish up the dishes. She accepted our offer to help her wash dishes, and had a great time getting to know each other as we worked. Her name was Enough.
It is much easier to share the love of Jesus with someone if you are willing to roll up your sleeves, and assist them in what they’re doing. Everywhere you look people are doing things: washing dishes, cleaning laundry, sweeping their house, cooking, etc. The act of serving others really helps to bring down walls, and shows people that they are genuinely cared for as a human being, even before the gospel is presented to them.
Once we were done with dishes, I (Ryan) asked Enough if she knew the story of Jesus. She said that she knew a little, and would like for us to talk to her about it. What unfolded from there was a beautiful conversation about the Gospel. There is something so special about watching someone’s eyes as they hear about, and comprehend what Jesus did for them for the very first time. The only way I can describe it is a joyous spark of hope. By the end of the conversation, she looked like a completely different person. She ended up accepting Jesus that day, and we referred her to the great church that we partner with in her area so that she could receive discipleship as she learns to walk out her faith. She had been named Enough because her mother didn’t want to have anymore kids, but we felt that God wanted her to think of her name as “God is enough for me!”
Before we left, we and another woman who had been sitting in on the conversation, laid hands on Enough and were praying for some of her needs. The other woman (who was already a believer) coughed two times during the prayer. After we left Enough’s house, the other woman stopped us and said that she had coughed because during the prayer she felt a demonic oppression leave her that she had felt for two years. It was so intense she was constantly aware of it and it would distract her terribly whenever she would try to pray. She received complete deliverance from that oppression when she laid her hand on Kindle’s back to help intercede for Enough! Kindle has since followed up with her and the woman is still so grateful that she is free from the oppression.
As we stood outside praising God for the deliverance, Enough came with her nextdoor neighbor and told us that she needed to hear about Jesus too! We got to share the Gospel with her as well and pray with her. (Pictured in below, left photo)
After that interaction, we walked down the next street and encountered an old woman (gogo in South Africa), who was blind in her right eye due to some children accidently throwing sand in it while they were playing two years prior. She was easily pushing 80 years old. We caught her as she was walking to a doctor’s appointment, but she was able to sit and let us pray with her. After just a few minutes of praying, we saw her very damaged looking eye clear up, and she proclaimed that she was able to see about 50 meters down the road with the eye now. While we were praying for healing and as she began to see, she proclaimed in her own language, “God is working, God is working!” At that point we were about to share the Gospel with her. During the conversation we found out that she belonged to a strange sect of folk Islam which Zulu people (the tribe she belongs to) were only able to attend. Usually people belonging to this cult are very closed off to Christ, but because God had just touched her eye, she was very torn and said that she needed to go home and ponder and pray about the things we had spoken to her about. It was a beautiful interaction and we are believing that God is going to use the miracle He did in her, coupled with the knowledge of what Jesus did for her, to bring her into His fold.
After that, we went to lunch and drove to another community down the road. We had several great conversations when we got there, but the last conversation of the day was really special. It was with two women who had been best friends for 25 years, and both loved God. They had questions about how to minister to their families in regard to ancestral worship, because they desired to be a witness to them, but didn’t know which scriptures to use. We were able to give them some tools to use as they ministered to their families back home. At the end of the conversation, one of the women told us that she has been dealing with terrible back pain for the last several years, and as soon as we walked through her front gate all the pain went away! We had been praying that God would work unusual miracles through us, like when healing would come to people just by Peter’s shadow falling on them, and we’ve actually been seeing it!
God is doing amazing here, and we’re blessed to be a part of it. The need is so great, that just by showing up God is able to do mighty things. We want to say thanks so much to all of our supporters who are partnering with us in finances and prayer to keep us out here. We have the best team, and we feel your prayers.
Speaking of prayer, here are a few things you can be believing for with us this month:
- That our internship class would continue to fill up for next year with all the people God wants to wreck for Himself and missions in South Africa.
- Wisdom as we lead the missionary interns we are in charge of, and that they would continue to grow in health and maturity.
- That God would give us rest and strength as we do ministry and spin all the other plates that being a full-time missionary comes with.
- That we would connect well into our new church and community here.
The Bridgfords in South Africa 