Hello! I hope that you are having a great start to your new year! Thank you so much for all of the prayers that have been prayed for the mission work here in South Africa and for myself. God has been so faithful in His protection and care since I landed here in South Africa on January 26th. I have spent the past two and half weeks living with an LCMS missionary family (the Rodewalds) in Pretoria and also with a Zulu pastor and his wife in Mhluzi Township. I am working on Zulu language and cultural lessons while getting real life experience within the Zulu community. Everyone has been very friendly and has welcomed me into their lives, and even though I am the only Caucasian or American here, I don’t feel unsafe or uncomfortable in Mhluzi.


The Mhluzi Township is a very large location with a mixture of African cultures. Pastor Khumalo is a very outgoing and dedicated pastor at St. Peter’s church who has connected me to several groups such as Love Life and Caring Friends. Love Life is an organization that reaches out to high school students about making good life decisions. This includes programs for recreational activities and a special unit about sexual health and HIV/AIDS. I have learned a lot about how to communicate about these issues in a way that is culturally relevant and appropriate in South Africa. I also went with the group to visit a female empowerment group that meets each week and learned about ways girls are encouraging each other to make good choices and reaching out to the community. I was asked to share a little about myself and share words of encouragement which is very commonly asked of me when I am out in the community.


The Caring Friends group that I worked with does educational outreach and palliative care for people who have HIV/AIDS. I have spent time with them surveying in a squatter community on what the residents knowledge was about TB in relation to HIV. I have met with several families, and many times resources were not available for children to be in school. The grants that families are given for school have to be used for food and the basic materials of shelter. It can be very hard to see the situations for individuals and their families, as even the basic resources for sanitation are not well established. Caring Friends continues to reach out and provide encouragement and support to people in every way that they can despite the great challenges that they face. They also provide care, such as cooking, cleaning or even helping to bathe those people who have become too weak to do so due to HIV/AIDS. A day in the life of someone dying from HIV/AIDS takes a great deal courage and strength. It has been a blessing to me share prayer with them and to see the strong Christian spirits of those who have recognized that their earthly days may be short, but their eternal home is awaiting them.


In addition to language lessons and working with these two groups I have also had the opportunity to work in a grade R (kindergarten) class. I love spending time with the children and they have taught me many songs and games. The language barrier continues to be great, and at times can lead to very difficult situations if I am without a translator. Thankfully, when I am out in the community people are very good about translating for me, and I even had a translator for the youth church service I went to on Thursday night. I have also done an hour long radio program the past two Wednesdays with the pastor that can be heard throughout the township. Pastor Khumalo interviewed me and especially had me focus on the importance of following Christ while you are a youth. It has been a great opportunity for me to share the Word of God and encouragement with people while I have been in Mhluzi Township. A woman from the church also asked me to go with a group of about thirty children who have been orphaned to the Pretoria zoo on Sunday, so I also got to help take some of the kids around and had a great day getting to socialize with the children and making good memories with them.


In addition to my work during the day, I have also made many friends here that I have enjoyed spending time with in the evenings. The church secretary, Mathuto, and I have done some shopping for some fun African style clothes and walk to and from work together every day. I also greatly enjoy spending time with the men who run the Love Life and the women who are in Caring Friends. The Rodewald family is a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed meeting other missionaries and people from the seminary. I truly feel that God has blessed me with a strong South African Christian family and will greatly miss everyone here! I am going to spend one more week out in the township with my missionary partner Shara who I just met and is wonderful! I will then head to where I will be working in Shongweni with Shara after a few days in Pretoria. I will keep you updated more frequently once I have a regular internet source. God’s blessings on your day and I thank you again for all of your prayers, encouragement and support!


Love in Christ,
Julia Wehrenberg

"In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog! Your support means than I could ever express. In the future, I will be sharing stories from the mission field, so for this post I am thankful for the opportunity to share with those of you I am just now meeting how God has directed my life into His service. Looking back at events in my life that once seemed random, I can smile and thank God for divine wisdom and guidance.

It was from the blessing of baptism, being brought up in the Christian faith and my exposure to diversity from international students, that my joy in knowing all people are made in the image of God began to grow. While growing up, God used the time I had to mature in my faith and go on mission trips to help me fist feel called to His work in Africa when I was fifteen. Later I attended Concordia University Chicago for a degree in Social Work and went to mission conferences every year called Beautiful Feet. I would meet with other missionaries and organizations to share my desire to serve, but never found a position that needed someone with a social work background. I continued to volunteer with children and international students in Chicago hoping serve God wherever He placed me. God then opened the doors for me to study at Stellenbosch University, South Africa during the spring semester of my junior year of college.

While studying in South Africa, I was assigned to do service learning work for a course in Sir Lowry’s Pass Township where I was able to use my passion and interest in HIV/AIDS work by running a support group for children affected by the virus. I fell in love with the country and people of South Africa, and hoped that I would one day be able to go back.

Thankfully, my return to South Africa came sooner rather than later. I received a message from LCMS World Mission three days before I graduated from CUC this past May asking me if I would like to consider applying for a new missionary position in South Africa. After going through the interview process I received my official call for service in Shongweni Village, South Africa in August. In this position the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa has asked me to assist the pastor in caring for the spiritual needs of the people in the village while I work with children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS by running support groups and education programs.

God has brought together my love for sharing His saving Word, the interest He has given me in social work, and my desire to work as Christ’s hands and feet for the least of those who are orphaned by HIV/AIDS in this missionary position. It truly is a blessing for me to be able to serve as a missionary, and I am thankful that God directed my path from the very beginning even when I did not realize or expect it.

I am also thankful to God for you. It has been through the prayers of so many that I have been supported and encouraged. God promises never to leave or forsake us, and your support is one way that God has reminded me of this throughout the past several months. As I pack my bags and leave for a new home, I am comforted in knowing that I have new family to meet in Shongweni Village. My brothers and sisters in Christ are there and I am grateful that your support has given the opportunity to go and share with them the eternal life that is ours in Christ Jesus.

Merry Christmas and Blessings on a wonderful New Year!

Love in Christ,

Julia Wehrenberg