My weakness is His strength

Wow. I can't believe it's been three weeks tomorrow since I got on the plane to come here. Somehow it feels like so much longer yet so much shorter than that. We now have our ministry placements, the area of ministry with which we'll primarily be working for the next 6 months to a year. Now that we know that, our schedules will start to take on some form of normality. I'll be working with Impact Kids, which has three different preschools in the communities of Diepsloot, Kya Sands, and Kwagga. My job will include planning events for the preschools, finding sponsors for students whose families can't pay for their schooling, and following up with and discipling the kids' parents. While it may seem odd that Impact Kids only has preschools, I've learned that it's very important for a child to go to preschool, because that child is 60% likelier to graduate high school if they attend preschool. 

This week we start our Zulu classes! So far I've learned only simple things like sawubona (hello), Unkulunkulu uyakuthanda (God loves you), and salle kahle (goodbye). I can already tell this is going to be really challenging. 

God has been really challenging me to rely on Him and showing me how I really can't do anything outside of Him. The truth is, I'm not all that good at evangelizing. I walk up to talk to someone and my mind goes completely blank. I can hardly keep up a conversation with a stranger at home in the US, let alone in South Africa with cultural and language barriers! But through this God had shown me how much more I need Him than I ever thought before. And the best part is, He chooses people like me who are horrid at this kind of thing to do it because through my weakness, He will glorify Himself. 1 Corinthians 2:3-5 says, "I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but in God's power." Praise God that it doesn't depend on me! Please pray that the Spirit will move in power through me and that God will ultimately receive the glory for what's happening here in South Africa.