Settling In

If anyone has heard from Zach and Dan please send me an update…I feel like a mom whose kids went to college and the next time you hear from them is when they unexpectedly show up at the door for Christmas.  Don’t worry Mrs. Lindor and Howell, I know they are safe and doing fine; however, because of the lack of communication, this post is simply a Lindsay update.  Sorry to all the Dan and Zach fans out there.

The casual month to get settled into my new life in Vanderbijlpark has afforded me quite a lot of time with my sister, her family and now my mom who arrived last week.  I realize if you’ve spent anytime with my family you know we are slightly obsessive about my niece and nephew, but everyday is a joy with them.  They are both an incredible gift who remind me how blessed I am. 

My garden flat (AKA a backyard apartment) is really nice and is in a great location.  I attached some pictures of it below.  It is a new beginning here.  Making the transition of living in a foreign country and going from living with 30 to just myself is hard, to say the least.  The Lord has really taken care of every need, even to the point of sending a 5 year old to come visit me on my loneliest night.  He is abundantly faithful.  As difficult as it is for me to be alone, I’m grateful for the time to pursue the Lord more.  Saying that seems silly and incorrect, as I am well aware that the Lord pursues me far more than I Him, but I’m learning to use this time for intimate and sweet fellowship with Him.  Honestly, if I accomplish nothing, but am able to have a deep and real relationship with Christ then my life will be what it was intended to be. 

There are lots of opportunities to get involved with different things here.  Lately I have been going into Life Christian Foundation’s (LCF) office on a daily basis to help where I can, get to know the people I’ll be working with and get oriented with how everything works.  I’m blessed to be working with some great people.  Come January, I will be helping organize a three-day event called M.I.A. (moving into action), which is basically a gathering of people from all over the world who want to serve.  The goal is to get people to “move into action” for Christ.  There will be representatives from different non-profit and ministries from 20 different African countries (each country south of the equator).  Everyone who comes will be previously connected with one of these organizations or will get connected with an organization at the 3-day event.  We will worship together, go to workshops together and at the end of the three days everyone will go serve at whatever organization they connected with for however long they want.  If this is something you are interested in or know of someone who might be interested in the website is www.mia2012.co.za.  I will also be involved with investigating the possibility of getting Young Life started here.  There are a couple other things in the works, but I’m waiting to see how things develop. 

Please pray for protection over my time with the Lord.  I happen to be easily distracted and I don’t want to lose the time I have been gifted.  I also am in need of a car (or some mode of transportation) starting in January.  Lastly, pray that we would engage the people and projects the Lord really wants us to.  There is great need, but also great opportunity for the church to be the church; however, if we don’t follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, we as the church do more damage than good.  

The longer I am here, the more I have to depend on the Lord for strength, direction and joy.  I am very happy to be here, but it has been difficult yet the Lord has given me lots of strength thru your encouragement.  Thank you, you have no idea how your words have given me courage to follow what the Lord has put in my heart.  It is truly together that we experience more fully who God is (Eph 4). 

I leave you with this:

            “Everyone is born an original but most die as copies” 

--Abraham Lincoln

I encourage you to be bold enough to let Christ show you who you are and BE that…for the sake of Christ, for the good of this broken world... be the light.  

P.S. Pics are coming...sorry couldn't get them up now