Week 2

Verse that stuck out to me this week:
Hebrews 12: 1-2, "...Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith..."

HIGHLIGHTS FROM LESSON:
Speaker: James Lunn, leader of SBS here at Muiz base. We covered SO much this week and in great depth, so it's kinda hard to write only the main points... hopefully it all makes sense. He taught from Romans 1-8, so I encourage you to study these chapters on your own!

*God is JUST not FAIR! If He gives us what we deserve, then we would still be under His wrath and would not experience His grace. BUT, for anyone who believes in Jesus, they are now RIGHTEOUS in God's eyes, He does not see them anymore as sinners! He sees Christ's righteousness when He looks down upon us.
*Your actions do not effect your position with God. If your actions would draw you closer to God, then Christ died for nothing. He died to give God's righteousness as a GIFT to us!
*Our job: Receive the gift. Respond to the gift. NO WHERE in between is there any earning of the gift.
*So, how to respond to God's gift? Our life = Thank You letter to God. We can't repay the gift, but out of gratitude for what he has done, we live in gratefulness to Him. We read the Bible and spend time with Him not because we have to, but because we want to!
*If you sin, you are letting yourself be a slave to sin. & you are a slave no matter what- either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. So, be a slave to righteousness!
*DON'T ABUSE GOD'S GRACE! You are given freedom from sin, but not freedom to do whatever you want!
*Life in the spirit vs. life in the flesh= constantly at battle! The one you feed the most will always win! So, feed the spirit- read the Bible, spend time with God, etc. Then temptation to sin becomes weaker.
*"Doing good things" are a natural outpouring of your salvation. Notice, Galatians 5:22 talks about the fruits of THE SPIRIT, not fruits of YOU! Peace, love, faithfulness, and so on are results of walking in the spirit!

Group Activity Highlights:
*LAST WEEKEND: girls night- had tea, painted nails, played games. Shopping with a few girls. Church and tea at Shelly's house with some girls.
*THIS WEEK:
-S'more party!
-Game night with the SBS (School of Biblical Studies) students & leaders.
*THIS WEEKEND
-Went to see the penguins at Boulder Beach in Simon's Town on Saturday.
-Church, then lunch at Kalky's (fish place by the water), then flea market close to the base on Sunday.

& FOUND OUT THAT I'M GOING TO VIETNAM AND THE PHILIPPINES FOR OUTREACH! ah I'm so excited!

This week God revealed so much to me! I'll never fully understand the immensity of His love (and i never will), but the fact that he can love me despite everything I've done, is SO amazing! Why would he love someone like me?? That just shows how great and amazing His love is!
Also, this week, I've realized that my life is not my own, it is God's. I am here because of Him. So i need to surrender every area of my life to Him and trust wholeheartedly that He will fulfill His promises. And He's God, so obviously He can do so much more than I could ever do on my own! So why not put all my faith and trust in Him!

I continue to thank you for all the prayers and support! :) Love you guys!

Blessings,
Aslyn

Penguins! They are really small, only about knee high. But so cute!

S'more party! They don't have graham crackers in SA, they use thin cookies instead!



Sea Lion! We saw 3 & they loved showing off for us haa.



@ Kalky's. They gather the fish right here... and this is also where we saw the sea lions.