Arise, shine, for your light has come!!

For those of you who have asked countless times, “How was your trip to South Africa!?” This is finally my reply, and I apologize for its’ length in advance. You are warned!


If you want the short story—God is BIG. God is MOVING. And God is PRESENT.

But you want more details than that :)
The city of Durban, South Africa is the biggest port throughout all of Africa. That means there are thousands and more ships from every single country in the world that go in and out of Durban ever year. This past year, Durban also was the host for the World Cup 2010 (only the largest international soccer tournament. No big deal.) Millions of people have travelled to, from, and throughout Durban over the past few years than ever before. What does this mean in the grand scheme of things? The city of Durban has the potential to literally change the world—and it is being used by God for His purposes, not just our own.

Just a few years ago there was an area of Durban that was filled with slums, prostitution, gangs, drugs, etc. It was a dark and dirty place that you did not venture to on your own. About 10 years ago, Christian leaders of Durban began to get a vision from God that God wanted to change the face of the city of Durban. That God wanted to use Durban somehow in His great plan. So, these leaders began praying for that: for the face of the city to change. What happened? Government officials sometime later had a huge meeting, decided it was time to “change the city,” and they completely demolished the dangerous part of the city that had previously been home to sin and darkness! Commence, uShaka:

They completely redid the area- it is now clean, beautiful, and a major tourist (and native) attraction in South Africa. uShaka is on the Indian Ocean, and it is one of the cleanest beaches I have ever been to! The first whole day we were there the team took us out to uShaka and we walked along the beach… we felt completely safe, got to see the World Cup Stadium, and enjoy the “winter” of Durban (a nice cool breeze at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit).

So now we have the answer to, “why Durban?” Because God has a plan for the city, to be used by God to His glory and power. Nations have come to rebuild Durban, and the city will be a blessing to the other nations. The vision is that the city is living between Isaiah 61 and 62, (which you should read all of) but the main passages that are so REAL right now for the city are these…

Isaiah 60: 1-5

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,

and thick darkness the peoples;

but the Lord will arise upon you,

and his glory will be seen upon you.

And nations shall come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Lift up your eyes all around, and see;

they all gather together, they come to you;

your sons shall come from afar,

and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.

Then you shall see and be radiant;

your heart shall thrill and exult,

because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,

the wealth of the nations shall come to you

Isaiah 61:1-4

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

They shall build up the ancient ruins;

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

Durban was helped be rebuilt but thousands of people from other nations. All of a sudden tons of missionaries and churches are popping up in Durban. God is moving here! He will use Durban to be a light to other nations, and God has anointed Durban with Truth—to grant to those who mourn in Zion a beautiful headdress instead of ashes… Aaahh!! Scripture coming to life. Amazing.

So that is why I went to South Africa. I didn’t know most of that when I got on the plane, but wow did God make it all very evident within the first couple of days…

I left from Houston on July 16th with my wonderful friend (and bridesmaid!—more on that later) Jennifer Blessing. We had a long 11 hour layover in Frankfurt. We actually braved the German subway system and figured out how to get into town, saw the sights, and then fought sleep for a few hours before our flight to Johannesburg.

We arrived in Durban on the 18th around 2:00 pm SA time (= 7:00am US time!) and were driven to the Oakford Priory in Verulam, just outside of Durban. The Priory is an old group of buildings that used to be a convent, but was abandoned some years ago. A team of 6 people have been in Durban for the past year faithfully cleaning, networking, and getting ready for the Gateway camp. The camp, Gateway 2010, was run under YWAM (Youth With A Mission), which has subgroups of YWAM called King’s Kids all around the world. There were a lot of King’s Kids and YWAM leaders from Holland that were the main leaders of camp. And oh my goodness these people are AMAzing! They have all devoted their lives to God, to following Him where He is working and spreading the Gospel of Christ.


Monday we had our outing in Durban, seeing the city and going on TOP of the World Cup Stadium. I’m terrified of heights, and it was really cool. Tuesday through Friday morning, however, we learned dances! We meaning myself, Jenn, Ashley, Bethany, Alisa, and Shelley—pretty much the only Americans that were ever at camp. These women are incredible ladies of God, and I could not have gotten through camp without them. It was so easy to learn dances and automatically just feel connected to them all. We learned dances to do during worship times of Gateway, which began on Friday afternoon…

And teams from ALL around the world came! The majority of the teams consisted of King’s Kids leaders and their “youth groups,” ranging from 10-30 people per team. There were over 250 people total at the camp, with over 13 countries represented! Brazil, France, Spain, Holland, Switzerland, China, and more. There were a lot of “Dutchies” from Holland, and they are incredible people.


Basically everyday we would wake up, have breakfast, and go to a worship service/teaching, where one of us dance team girlies would do a solo if we felt called to. We’d then have lunch and then head over to our workshop time from 2-5, during which I was so blessed to teach dance classes. Then dinner, then another worship/teaching/dancing…. whatever the Spirit would lead us to do! Then we would fall into bed after risking a scalding hot or freezing cold dripping shower :) (we were so blessed to even have hot water!)


I think it will be best if I categorize things by what I learned…


--I learned to trust God’s plan. From the very first practice we had as a dance team my back began to be so painful that I didn’t want to move. During workshops, the second I would teach choreography, shoots of pain would go down my back. Right before we would dance during worship, it would hurt to stand from the pain… but always, when we were ministering for Jesus and dancing during worship, interceding for the broken—no pain. It was truly God covering me with His grace. I kept fighting things, asking, “why am I still hurting? Why aren’t you healing my back? So many have prayed over me, so many others have been healed… why not me?” And it’s humbling, but I had to get to the point where I realized that God will use you because we are broken, not in spite of it. God has the power to heal. Sometimes His plan involves working through pain and worshipping through pain—God is still God and can do mighty wonders through hurt and broken people. Amen!


--I learned more about freedom. Within (literally) the tent of meeting where we would have worship time, there was always a sense of peace and freedom that filled my heart as we worshipped and as we learned of God’s Truth. While the band lead worship they left room in front of the stage for our dance team to lead the way in dancing for the Lord… I cannot explain to you the freedom that dancing like that does to your heart. All inhibitions aside, without worrying about anything but being lead by the Spirit to praise, with all liberty to dance when we felt called to… I will never be the same. My dancing, my way of worship, has been transformed because of the freedom there is by the Spirit.


--I learned more about spiritual warfare. Beginning on our plane ride from Frankfurt to Johannesburg I saw darkness in a way that I never have before in my life. I will not go into details, because frankly Satan doesn’t deserve the satisfaction of having his cleverness be repeated. If you want to know more about this, please feel free to ask. But the amazing part of all of this is that God is so much more powerful than sin! Remember, He has already won?! Yep. And He will win again. And seeing and hearing about movements and things He has won in Durban made me way more aware of the spiritual side of life… which is every side 


--I learned more about God’s Spirit. Again here, there are some amazing stories that I would love to share with you in person, so feel free to ask. Basically it goes back to freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty! Yep. Liberty… to do God’s will and to bow down completely before God and sincerely say “do with me what you will, God! I am yours!” God’s Spirit moves you in the direction that God wants to take you.


--I learned about unity. Under Christ. Can you imagine raising your hands in worship with over 250 people, from all over the world, giving thanks to God in your own language?? … Wow. It brought tears to my eyes. Here we are, all from different backgrounds, cultures, languages, ages, and geographies of the world—saying “thank you” to God for what He is doing in our lives. Saying “use me” to God for whatever his will is for this world. I have a way better and deeper appreciation for other cultures now than I ever have before.


I came back to the States on the 28th to be in my roommate’s wedding (which was BEAUTIFUL!) The rest of the Gateway camp stayed on outreach, for about 2 weeks, ministering around South Africa and taking what they had learned in our workshop classes to the community. I cannot wait to hear how everything went! Already photos and videos are popping up on facebook of performances around SA that happened… wow Jesus. You are amazing!

(Appletizer, sparkling apple juice... yummy :) )

This trip changed my life. Not just with the way I dance, not just with how I worship. Everything about me. I look at life differently now, with the realization that God can and will use me everywhere I go. There is freedom in Jesus!!