Month: October 2018

These past 5 weeks have been really great. Every day I am always moving and doing something.

Every morning I wake up at 6:30AM, which may be nothing to some people, but for me it’s pretty crazy. The rest of my day is usually quite active leading me to finally go to bed between 11PM-12AM. Generally, I am busy studying or working with my DTS or exploring the gem that is South Africa. 

Very rarely you will find me actually resting. In fact, to keep up with this busy schedule, I have coffee as a useful crutch on really hard days. Maybe not the best addiction, but they make them really pretty. It’s hard to resist. I mean look at this cuties.

Anyways, my main point is I am finally taking time to stop and relax. It’s actually taking a lot of self-control to restrain myself from pursuing another activity versus taking time to write this blog update. So here we go!

The lectures here have been very challenging in a good way. To makes things worst (or better; I am not really sure yet) the staff and leaders challenge us to challenge these challenging teachings. Although they have great speakers and teachers, they always emphasize the importance of questioning everything they say. The leaders here truly want us to have our own unique relationship with God and don’t want to be an interference to that. Confusing a bit, right

Through this confusion there has been a lot of breakthrough in my life. Even in the areas where I didn’t know I needed breakthrough. It’s really helping me understand who I am, how God sees me, and how He sees others. Every week I am able to apply what I learn on my outreach into the surrounding communities and townships.

One thing I am working on when I go to these places is just loving on people. A lot of times missionaries, or even just some Christians in general, feel like we must get straight to the point and bring people to “salvation”. Sharing the Gospel is important, but God calls us to love Him above all and love His people.

These are the two greatest commandments. Loving people isn’t always preaching. It’s playing soccer with some kids on the street, or having a friendly conversation with someone sitting by themselves, or even picking up trash in your community.

I am currently practicing love by listening to people. Very often I am quick to speak and am already thinking about the next thing I am going to say rather than intently listening to the other person. Sometimes the best way to reach out to somebody is to just listen and understand.

I am going to cut this blog just shorter than usual because there is some subjects I can’t talk about yet on here, but I can’t wait to. The most I can give is that God is good and He is working in BIG ways in my life and lives around the world. Thank you so much to everyone who still supports me today. If you want to be updated on blogs like this, you can sign up with your email on the bottom of the page. It will notify you whenever I post a new update.

 
Prayer Requests:

- There have been fires in the surrounding townships. Please keep these people in your prayers as many search for
new homes.

- As we prepare for our big outreach, some students in my school lack financial support. It would be very appreciated if you could pray that God opens people's hearts to donate to them. 

- Pray that somehow, by God's incredible grace, that I can be as awesome as Kyle, please please please pray hard. (My friend Kyle hacked my blog.)

Blessings,

Catherine H. Fisher

 

Hi Everyone!

This update is long overdue. It has been a whirlwind of an introduction to the Youth With A Mission, Muizenberg. It’s only been three weeks and there has already been so much breakthrough in my life. Of course I will never understand the complete nature of God and who He is, but this time is already changing me. Everyday I am learning something new.

Before I hop any further into this letter, I just want to explain how grateful I am for your support. Being in this place now, away from home, has made me so very appreciative of all the love and support I received when I was home and how you all still share your love with me today. Thank you so so much. Words will never be able to describe how grateful I am. (Most of you are probably wondering about South Africa already so I will hurry along.)

As some of you may know, traveling to get here was a bit of a mess, but in the end, God prevailed and pulled us through. I was greeted with familiar faces and a new community of people who love God like me and even more so. The first week was pretty relaxed because students from all over the world were just showing up and classes hadn’t started yet. We were able to explore a bit of Muizenberg and some of the surrounding areas during this time.

Muizenberg is truly one of a kind. It’s always pretty windy here. Honestly, I don’t even need a hair dryer. I just have to go outside. The wind is such a blessing though, especially on hot days (which are rare so far, but summer is coming/here). Our base sits right next to Muizenberg Mountain, a gorgeous steep mound. Just this last Saturday, we woke up at 4 in the morning to hike the mountain to catch the sunrise. It was breathtaking. Literally. I was out of breath going up that mountain. The sunrise was gorgeous too.

Later that same afternoon, my new friend and I went surfing at a nearby beach and caught a sort of intermediate wave (more like thrown off). That was the second time I had ever been surfing in my entire life. My first lesson had been the week before. You can imagine how that wave ended. They have Surf Ministry here in Muizenberg, so I am hoping to join in on that perhaps.

Speaking of ministry, the spiritual stuff that is going on here is crazy. I am not talking exorcisms or anything like that. It’s the little breakthroughs that are making all the differences in the world to me right now. My understanding of who God is as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and their fellowship with me as well is deepening more and more. To be completely honest, I did not know God completely. I mean I still don’t and probably won’t ever, but it’s incredible how much I didn’t really understand about God.

For instance:

• Want to know more of what Heaven is going to look like? Genesis 1 & 2 Fam.
• Jesus was the first fully human being since Adam.
• Worship isn’t just singing or dancing. It’s way bigger than that. (I’ll get into that later)
• Ephesians Man. Ephesians. That is wrecking me right now.
• There is no ladder. There is literally nothing you can do to climb up to get closer to God or take step down and get further away. There isn’t even a ladder to climb. Stop pushing yourself away from God. Come sit in His lap boldly (Ephesians 3:12) and talk with him.
• Still don’t really fully comprehend this yet, but working on it: the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father, and vice versa. BUT the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God. *pfft mind blown*

This week is Identity in Christ, which will be real interesting. Recently, we have been talking about God’s character, but now we are going to see what He says about us. We haven’t even been really talking about us and already how I view life is being affected. For example, did you know worship is so much more than just raising your hands and singing a couple verses? It’s a daily thing. Everything that can declare the glory of the Lord is worship. That means cooking, cleaning, long boarding, surfing, doing nothing, and etc. are all ways to worship God. It’s living life for God and with God. Adam and Eve worshipped by naming animals, having fellowship with each other, and just living in the Garden that God gave them. It doesn’t matter where you are or who you are with. As long as you do it in spirit and truth (John 4: 23-24), you are worshipping. At first, this was hard for me to understand, especially because we have work duties. I thought, “How can doing chores for two hours every day be worship?” However, I am starting to notice a difference in my life of how I serve others. I find myself to be more willing to do the things that most people don’t want to do. Being responsible and doing our chores is also a way for us to honor God for giving us beautiful building to live in.

Oh, I could just go on and on, but I am already close to 1,000 words. (Which, by the way, is the minimum word count for our first book report of the school season. Foreign To Familiar by Sarah A. Lanier. A good read.) There is also the chance I am overloading you with too much, so I am going to wrap this blog off by saying thank you one last time. I hope all is well. Thank you for reading this.

Blessings,

Catherine H. Fisher