Santa is COMING soon!

I'm coming HOME soon!  That's right.  I'll be home in like 4 days.  Is
that crazy or what!  It only feels like I've been here a couple weeks. 
But soon I'll be leaving the sandy soils of Indian Ocean, and I'll be
in the good rich fertile soils of Illinois.  Leaving a beach town for
the flatlands of the midwest.  I have missed y'all extremely.  I was
just thinking today how much I miss my brothers, best friends from
home, and my church families.  I really can't wait to see all you, and
have appreciated all your support and prayers extremely.  This is
really only the beginning to my life in the missionary.  I'll be honest
in saying that I'm ready for the Lord to call me out into mission work
for the rest of my life.  I can only hope that the Lord will bless me
with your support and prayers next semester when I'm with the rest of
the Swaziland team in Manzini. 

Well it has been a couple weeks since my last email to y'all.  Things
have been kind of busy around here, but I think I was just really
excited to see everybody at home.  It was one of those moments where
you still have the desire to email, but you know that you'll be able to
share all the stories soon.  We have been doing a lot of different
things in the last couple weeks.  For these last 2 weeks all of our
teams were back together.  It was really nice to be reunited with
them.  We spent most of the days and early afternoon in track
sessions.  We had two tracks here.  Leadership and Discipleship
tracks.  The leaders put me in the leadership track.  I have been to a
few leadership conferences in the past, but this one was a chart
topper.  In leadership we talked about becoming a leader and the many
different characteristics of being a leader of the Truth.  It was truly
to be a part of this track.  Probably my favorite teaching was the one
on "courage."

The courage talk was based out of the book, 1 Samuel.  It is the part
where Jonathon (the son of Saul) is tired of just sitting back hiding. 
In the scripture we read he is with his armor bearer.   The guy with
him is clearly a younger guy.  Jonathon and the armor bearer are
sitting in this cave and outside it there is a climb to reach some
Phillistine soldiers.  Jonathon asked the armor bearer to come with
him.  He says "Perhaps God will be with us and we will overcome."  The
armor bearer says boldly that he is with Jonathon all the way.  The
Lord is with them and they kill over twenty Phillistines and leave the
fight unharmed and victorious.  This makes me optimistic about the
future.  There are going to be many times in my life when I am going to
have to make a decision that takes some courage to step to a point that
is uncertain.  In the mission field when you are in another country you
must as well go to the places that you can't be certain are completely
safe.  You must have the faith to know that whatever happens the glory
goes to God.  Wow!  What a God we serve.  I have really seen a big
change in my life in the past 3 months.  God has blessed me by sending
me to Africa.  Nowadays that is half the battle.  Many churches aren't
concerned about missions (whether in or out of the United States).  As
Jesus says, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age."  This is something we all
must think about wow we live a life that is so short when compared to
the life that awaits us in heaven with Jesus Christ.

That was only one session of a 5 day conference!  You can probably
imagine how amazing the rest of the week went right.  We talked a lot
about listening to.  That we must listen to the Lord before we can
advise others on issues they face.  Listening has always been one of my
struggles, and I'm quite glad that the Lord has blessed me with
teachings on how to listen as a leader and discipler.  During the
conference we had about 2 hours each day for ministry.  It was "Ask the
Lord" ministry otherwise known as ATL.  On the first day we did
ministry I felt the Lord urging me to join a group of the Kenya team. 
I listened and went along with them.  That day changed my whole idea
about beach ministry.  We went to the beach to talk to people on the
beach.  One of the gals suggested going to talk to the life guards. 
They are called life savers.  Funny thing that my best friend Brandon
is a life guard and now I'm ministering to a group of them in Jeffrey's
Bay.

For about a week and a half I was able to spend a couple hours each day
ministering to these guys.  I started out by just talking to them about
their families, their interest, and just getting to know them better on
a get to know you basis.  It was really great.  After a couple days I
would call these guys my friends.  They lived at a light house on the
beach.  I ministered to 4 of them and 2 of them in more detail.  The 2
I became close too were Bryan and Achona.  About the third day I
started sharing the Gospel with them, and Achona told me that he was
raised Christian, but he never accepted it for himself till he was 21
or so.  He is 27, and after many talks he and I are very close and talk
a lot about ways he can pursue his faith more.  Bryan believes in
Jesus, but also believes in ancestral worship.  I have been trying to
talk to him some about only worshipping the one true God.  He seems to
be understanding it pretty well, but he will definitely need your
prayers.  I got to know these guys so well that I had dinner with them
one night.  I was cutting up their vegetables on their bathroom floor
(it is a small place).  Also, they both came over twice to the church
that we ate all our meals.  They met my whole team, ate dinner with us,
and played some pool with us (they are really good at pool).  The Lord
also blessed them with a bible just recently.  Praise God that ministry
even happens on a beach.  Even on a beach Jesus stands in Authority. 
Well All I need to go now, but I will see you very soon.  I miss you
all, and please pray for the life savers here in Jeffrey's Bay, South
Africa.  Love Always,

Marcus