No. 1 - Her name is Sandra

So my internship has come to an end and there are so many stories to be told, some great, some amazing, some 'so like God', some depressing, some encouraging, some intimidating, some humbling. So what I have decided to do is for the next couple of days I am going to share some of my highlights in ministry and what better way to start this off with letting you in on a little secret our students who were at 'Not A Fan' camp found quite intriguing.

Meet Sandra Madida (the young lady in the middle with a purple weave). She is quite the extrovert hence purple weave. She is a first year student from Howard Campus studying Design and Fine Arts (she later got a transfer to Johannesburg, WITS in the middle of her study year.). She has a flamboyant personality that seems to have a magnetic attraction to everyone. And yes, she is related to me, actually my younger sister and there are so many similarities in us that its creepy. 

Left to right: Noscelo Duma, Sandra Madida, Ayabulela Soboyi

We grew up together, not going to church and not having a relationship with the Lord but when I came to Durban thats when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Saviour when the Gospel was shared with me but for her, that only happened later. She has never been interested in knowing God, the bible, her spiritual identity but that's until she was met by one of the interns on campus and invited her to come to camp (big co-incidence with her related to me and all). I was really shocked and in my trying to get her plugged into our campus ministry - epic fail so you could imagine my surprise. I think what urged her more is when she broke up with her boyfriend who left her in tatters and meeting one of the interns wouldn't have come at a better time for her. You could imagine my excitement when she called me up and was like she is coming to camp and that no good for nothing bugger was out of her life. 

So as camp went on by super intervention - what stood smack in front of the students faces was the call and to an extent, the challenge to rise up as disciples and identify ourselves as completely devoted followers of Christ. This message hit hard for many of our students with some having to look in their mirrors and their hearts and have a conversation with the Lord on where they are in this picture. Are they yielding to his every motion or is self still sitting on throne. For Sandra I am far than sold that she had an encounter, much like most of our students who had an encounter with the Holy Spirit not judging nor condemning them but showing them the path that leads to life. For some, including Sandra it was the first time the Gospel was heard and testimonies of such made that evident. For my sister, she was able to identify what really mattered the most which is not sitting in perfect rows in church but is intentionally building relationships centered in Christ (not that ridiculous boyfriend of hers), relationships reaching to represent the perfect love of Christ. She and our students loved and had an awesome experience at camp and we PRAISE GOD for that! Sandra made so many friends at camp and I enjoyed having my little sister there and telling her story is so so so amazing - I think its mostly amazing because its not just HER STORY. It resonates with other students!

Thats the story of my Sandra - she is still going strong. Though she is in Johannesburg now, she is plugged into an awesome ministry there on her campus and part of a womens' bible study. This is one of the greatest highlights for me this year. Not only introducing Sandra at camp but having the students who recently came to the Lord most of which are discipled, getting plugged in fellowship with like-minded peeps, looking towards learning more about God and wanting to experience him personally in their lives. It never ceases to amaze me what camps can do in ministry...its like all the 3-5 months working on campus is put together in 2 days and we mitigate all ministry on campus. For the students I have been discipling this year, having seen their spiritual growth and them slowly GETTING IT is worth all the Sandra's and dresses!

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this post are to be taken more serious than not because they are factual (except for Sandra). As for the camp and the radical experience students had, thats so like God! This by all means does not reflect on the position nor direction of my manhood (Barret has discipled me quite well). For all the guys that are going to read this with a shocked look of: 'How could you...' - well firstly you will get over it as soon as it hits you how awesome this weekend was for me and the students and FYI I killed the wig and personation so don't be a hater but be a worshipper of the Lord Jesus Christ (hahahhaaha). This is all for ministry

Bafana