Armed with a burgundy Jansport backpack and a freshly stamped Bible college degree, I set off for what I thought would be six months doing mission work in Africa.

I thought I was the one with the newly acquired knowledge, eager to share it with those who hadn’t heard.

[Tweet “”Therefore go and make disciples of all nations …” ~ Matthew 28:19″]

Twelve years later, I stood in front of a seventh grade class in a Christian school in West Michigan and gave testimony to what I had found in Cape Town.

I told them about the Bible teaching church that the Lord had led me to — the one that sang the very same praise and worship songs we had sung at Bible college in Michigan.  I told them about how this church was a church that trained others to go and share the good news.  How they sent their own members to be missionaries to places like Lesotho, Kenya, the Middle East, Central Asia … even London.

Photo Credit: Free Grunge Textures

How my whole concept of the globe was shifted when I realized that the Lord was training and equipping people at the very ends of the earth to be the ones to GO.

[Tweet ” “… you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ~ Acts 1:8″]

And then it struck me — that by hearing the gospel faithfully preached week after week in Cape Town, South Africa, I was witness to a fulfillment of Scripture — that since Jesus spoke to His disciples in Acts 1:8, witnesses HAD gone to the ends of the earth.  Geographically speaking, even the fact that those kids were sitting in Michigan having heard the good news of Jesus Christ was testimony to the witnesses that had already obeyed and went, even to the ends of the earth.

This is Day 7 of 31 Days of Life in South Africa.  Click here for the rest of the posts in this series.

Related posts: 12 Ways to Encourage Missionaries & How to Grow Missions-Minded Children