Charlene, our Outreach Staff Director, recently shared this testimony in her newsletter. I loved it so much, I just had to share it here.

“Our summer interns spend time in our local village, Intabazwe. They are encouraged to really get to know a few families by continuing to spend time with them in discipleship and prayer. Several interns became friends with an elderly lady named Rosalinda. They met Rosalinda the first day of ministry and learned that she had suffered a stroke two months before, which left her partially paralyzed on her left side and unable to walk. They prayed for her healing that day and saw little change.

“As a group they decided that they would make sure someone visited Rosalinda everyday and prayed for her. After three weeks of persistence, they not only told Rosalinda about the love of Christ, but they showed it. On the last day of ministry, they knocked on the door and for the first time, Rosalinda walked to the door and opened it proclaiming ‘Praise the Lord!’”

The Thrive Trip team met a man named Thomas who was suffering from epilepsy. Thomas had no family and was living with a friend. The man who cared for him was gone most of the time, so Thomas was usually left alone. When Thomas was younger, his mother read Bible stories to him and his siblings. Both of his parents tragically died, and the children were left to the care of their grandmother. Unfortunately, his grandma was a sangoma (witchdoctor) who tried to poison the children. Thomas thanks God for being saved from being poisoned.

The group prayed for Thomas, asking God to heal his epilepsy. When they were finished, Thomas said that he had felt power course through his body, and he knew that God had healed him.

When the group returned to his house after lunch, Thomas was already looking better. He was talking more clearly, and both of his eyes were open. They shared Scriptures with him about the healing power of God.

The next day, Thomas was walking down the street, waving to them. He told them he was filled with joy, because God sent them to him. He can’t read, so he has the friend he lives with read the Bible to him. He wants to bring the man to Christ and to church with him on Sundays. Thomas says he will always remember the day he was healed, and he wants to share Jesus Christ with everyone he knows!

When we hosted a team from Mountainview Church in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, God—as always—worked as much in the lives of the team members as He did in the lives of the nationals they touched. Here’s the stories of three of the team members.

Chris
Chris was most impacted by a woman his team met, Sarah. He was touched by her love, humility, and trust. He believes the level of trust she was able to show was possible because though she had never had a white person enter her home, the love of Christ abounded. The experience was humbling and will stay with him forever. Chris says his heart is broken for the people of South Africa, and God gave him compassion for their situation. He now feels equipped with the information and the heart to better allocate his resources for sending others into the mission field.

Lani
While Lani was in Intabazwe ministering, she met a woman who said something she will never forget: “Maybe God sent you here just to speak to me.” Lani was also utterly taken aback by the amazing power of prayer. Her group met two men who were alcoholics, and after praying with the men for an end to their addiction, the men stopped drinking.

Aiden
This was Aiden’s first mission trip, and he feels this experience has truly shaped him. His eyes were opened to many things, including the enormous amount of potential in the people of the villages—the potential for the adults and children to become incredible leaders. God showed Aiden the power of sharing Jesus Christ with people through relationships. He is anxious to share what he has learned here in South Africa with the members of his community back home. Aiden is also waiting for God to send him on his next mission trip. His heart has been burdened to share the love of Christ all over the world, “How can we stay in the United States when there are people out there like [these people]?” He is returning home equipped with a heart for many, many more mission trips!

Christina Corvin, one of our Outreach Staff interns, shared this amazing story with us:

When I was out doing ministry with the team we hosted from The Falls Church, we saw God do the miraculous!

On our second day in Qwa Qwa, my group saw a woman sitting on her front step, eyes covered with her hands. We introduced ourselves and found out her name was Maria. Her eyes were horribly bloodshot and had a slight cloudiness over the pupils. She said she had been in pain for over two years. And then she pointed to her feet and told us she couldn’t wear shoes because her feet had been painfully swollen for a long time. We asked if we could pray and she said, “If you pray for me, I will be healed.”

We were all instantly encouraged by her incredible faith, and we prayed for her. When we finished praying, she told us the pain was gone! We were so excited and told her that we would keep praying, because by the end of the week, she was going to see us coming, clearly.

Sure enough, we went back the next day, and her eyes were no longer cloudy, and there was still no pain. And then the next day, God had healed the pressure, and the blood vessels had relaxed and her eyes were no longer bloodshot. She thanked us repeatedly and told us she thanked God for bringing us to Africa. We left with our spirits high and our hearts encouraged by God’s healing grace. He is not just alive and moving, He is alive and moving in the small corners of the world, like Maria’s house in Qwa Qwa. We thank God that Maria can see perfectly and pain-free again.

Oh, and she can wear shoes again, too.