We have had an amazing year here serving in South Africa, and as we reflect we cannot help but feel overwhelmed by the ways God has moved in our lives, and how He is moving in South Africa! Thousands of hours of quality ministry happened, countless lives were touched through Impact Africa’s outreaches and ministries, and the Kingdom was advanced in South Africa. At the internship, we had 31 individuals participate in the internship program, and logged over 1,250 hours on the field, and over 260 classroom hours through trainings and classes.
Our last batch of interns for the year departed just before Thanksgiving, and we had an amazing semester with them. A definite highlight was the fact that we were able to take our interns across the border into Lesotho for the week on a surprise mission trip, and they got to experience what ministry in rural Africa is like. Going from the densely populated townships of Johannesburg where thousands live in 12′ x 12’ shacks that are all crammed together, to a mountain village full of shepherds, animals, and less than 300 people in Lesotho is quite the change of pace.
As urbanized people, stories like The Parable of the Lost Sheep can take a bit of imagination to relate to. It is a surreal experience using parables about sheep in sharing the Gospel with an actual shepherd. Myself (Ryan) and several other team members were able to do just that. When we asked a young shepherd what he’d do if he lost a sheep one evening, he emphatically said, “I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I found it”. We got to use that classic parable from the Bible and it went straight to his heart with hardly any contextualization needed. Through that parable, he readily understood the spiritual truths we were communicating, and gave his life to Jesus.
I am also always amazed how many miraculous healings happen in rural settings. In the two hours we were in a village (we got rained out, so we weren’t able to do the whole day), we saw God heal five individuals of various ailments. It is amazing the hunger for God that exists around the world. The harvest is truly ripe!
In addition to village ministry, we were able to engage in several ministries in Lesotho that are outside of our typical routine in South Africa. We worked with an anti-trafficking non profit, several orphanages, and assisted in running youth services. At the end of the week, we took the interns on a horseback trail to a waterfall as a fun day.
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On a personal note, 2023 has been an amazing year for the Bridgford family. We were able to move into our own house and off the ministry property, which has been an amazing blessing and gives some elbow room for our growing family.
Speaking of growing family, Kindle is 38 weeks pregnant, and we will be welcoming our baby boy into the world within the next couple of weeks. Please keep her in prayer for a safe delivery, and for a healthy little guy.
Here are some ways you can be keeping us in prayer:
- A safe delivery of our baby boy
- We recently changed churches when we moved homes, so prayer for plugging in quickly and building community is appreciated
- An increase in finances as we are adding to our family, and since we have bills again now that we’re living off base
- For an increase of individuals coming through the internship now that we have the staffing to handle more interns
The Bridgfords in South Africa 