abigailcriqui - South Africa

I have been in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa for three weeks now!! My squad is staying in the mission house at Global Leadership Academy (GLA). GLA is incredible. It is a private Christian high school, and it simply blows me away. I have never been in a school that is so full of the presence of God. The building alone is heavenly, and the testimony behind the school is so amazing. God is working so much in this place, and I am praying schools like this will be found across the world.

My team is working with the organization Timion, which means “to honor”. Timion works with kids that have cerebral palsy by designing and building many different pieces of equipment that help with the kids’ mobility and comfort. There are multiple physical therapists that work with Timion and go visit the homes in order to create relationships, encourage and equip the mothers, and share about Jesus. Timion also holds camps where both the mothers and the children come to have fun, learn how to do physical therapy at home, relate in community, and learn about Jesus. Over covid they started a new project, the garden, and this is where my team is involved the most! The produce of the garden is donated to local orphanages, families in need, and sold locally, but the purpose for the garden doesn’t stop there. Now, Timion is helping mothers start a small garden of their own; They call them “Gardens of Faithfulness”. This will not only help provide for the families, but it will also give the mother’s something to work on and find joy in. (If you look up Timion in Jeffrey's Bay you can go to the website! It is very cool!)

The Timion community is so inspiring. Every morning we start with a time devoted to the Lord. We worship, pray, and study the Word. I absolutely love their dependence and trust in the Lord. Seeing Jesus in the workplace outside of a church seems to be very rare, but it doesn’t have to be. They simply make God a priority and sometimes that means sacrificing time that they could be working, but ultimately, they know time spent with the Lord will always be more fruitful. Listening to them pour out their hearts in worship and cry out in prayer is such a powerful and beautiful thing.

Most of the time my team is working in the garden. We plant, pull weeds, harvest, prepare compost, etc. We also help take care of four donkeys that are used for interaction during the camps. We feed, brush, and try to tame the donkeys to the best of our abilities. It is fun! Some days we help out in the workshop! We do different task to help put equipment together, such as: staple velcro onto the wood, glue parts together, put the cushions together, etc.

Although, some would argue that this is not the ideal ministry, there is no place I would rather be, and I absolutely love it. I feel very strongly that God has us here intentionally. He is taking me back to the simplicity of His love and design, and it has been so redeeming and powerful. The Lord is tender and sweet, and He is showing me so much about myself and my future. There is so much beauty and comparisons you can make about a garden, but I will go into more detail about that later!

Ultimately, I absolutely love our ministry and the people at Timion. My dreams are sparking alive, and I will most defiantly have a garden when I get home.

I am working to make a fun video that will show you more of what ministry looks like! Pray that the technology works with me!

Prayer Points!