Day 4 from Maddy Parks

I have never written a blog before so I am not exactly sure what I am doing. I will start by telling you that over the last few days I have had some of the most amazing experiences of my life. I have seen God working in the most awe inspiring ways. At home, I could never just walk up  to a house and expect to be invited in and offered a place to sit and talk for hours unless I had known the person that lives there for years. The welcoming spirit of the people of South Africa has really humbled me. I am very reserved about talking about my faith or anything personal, but these people are completely open and after only talking to one woman for 15 minutes we were discussing Christ and the amazing sacrifice he made for us. Yesterday my group was visiting with a young man and he invited us into his home to listen to some of his favorite music. We spent about an hour with him, about half of which we spent listening to South Africa's finest musicians. Just before we left he had us listen to some music from his favorite Cd of his favorite DJ. Tom, that was his name, took the Cd out of the player and handed it to Matt Adams, insisting that he loved people and that it is what he wanted to do. I was so touched that his man would give up one of the few things he owns to random strangers from America. This morning we got to visit with a woman named Maria. A few minutes after we arrived we asked her way she was holding her coat over her eyes. She told us that for the last two years she has had pain right behind her eyes and her sight is not very good. We asked her if we could pray for her and she said that she knew if we prayed for her she would be healed. Her faith was amazing. After praying with her we asked how her eyes were and the pain was completely gone. This opened up a window for her to ask questions about heaven and what she had to do to get there. You could tell that she was burning up inside to learn more about this amazing God we were talking about. All of my experiences here have been so eye-opening. It is awesome to see the love of Christ and His works that the team shares and all the staff here at Thrive Africa. I am really excited to take the things I am learning home and share them. Thrive is doing an amazing act of service to God and His Kingdom and the more I see the more excited I become. Until next time, we miss you all and we can't wait to tell you more when we get home. XOXO, Maddy