Greg Hinds shares his reflections on his two-week, short-term missions trip with a team from Sydney visiting Hands at Work.
Greg and the others on the team were greatly impacted by God's goodness and love, and the Holy Spirit's presence was powerful and palpable.
Greg and Team with the Careworkers of Pfunani
I was fortunate to visit communities supported through our Hazyview Service Centre team. This is not the first time I’ve visited, and hopefully not the last. God keeps drawing me into the lives of the vulnerable children I’ve met, for those that care for them, and the Hands at Work family community that supports them.
Our team spent a week in Pfunani, a remote community in Welverdiend. It was like visiting good friends as we’ve been there before and were welcomed very warmly as we arrived.
There’s so much I could share of our time, as we played with the children, helped the care workers with food preparation, spent time worshiping our God and Father, and studying His word. As we got to know each other more and drew closer together ,the Holy Spirit showed us just how powerful He is, breaking down walls of division, and breaking through hearts with one of our youth girls who gave her life to Jesus. Praise God!
God powerfully answered prayer. We made a Holy Home Visit to a young lady, whom a couple of us had met previously, as we had a gift from a lady in Sydney who has been faithfully praying for this young girl. She had not been at the care point for some time. When we arrived at her house, we were able to reconnect but were concerned for her circumstances. Now, as a young mother of 3, her house was in a poor condition, lacking sanitation, and insecure. Her husband had been in an accident and had been in hospital for around a month with serious injuries. We prayed for healing and for him to return home. God answered our prayers but in a way that exceeded our expectations.
The next morning, we saw her walking along the road with a beaming smile, as we travelled to the care point.
“My husband, is in a taxi on his way home”, she told us.
We were amazed and thankful to our good, good Father. We learned to pray expectantly.
Another huge highlight for me as I revisited many other Care Points and reconnected with our care workers, was the way they continue to faithfully serve our vulnerable children, loving them, and caring for them, even though they are so vulnerable themselves. They just keep serving daily.
Galatians 6: 8 – 10 was an encouragement to us and the careworkers:
"Those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone".