Thank you for listening to "illuminate", the Advent podcast from Hands at Work in Africa. Throughout the year in Africa, we focused on a different Bible story. In the first week, we read from the Gospel of Luke in chapter one - Gabriel's message to Mary, the soon-to-be mother of the Most-High. Each week leading up to Christmas, we will hear from African leaders. They will describe how the scripture is seen in their context and on the ground in Africa. This week we are hearing from Sisanda. He is a leader in Youth Discipleship with the South African Regional Support team. The story of Gabriel announcing to Mary, a teenage girl, that she would birth the saviour of the world isn't just another Christmas story for us. It's God's invitation. Mary said, "Yes!". Now that's a powerful statement. It's a really powerful statement because it highlights our relationship with God as his children. We are adopted into his family because he invited us into his family. Jesus says that no one comes to him apart from the Father drawing them in. God initiates and we respond. We only love because he first loved us and invited us into his family. I wanna pause that thought and pick it up again in a moment. Mary was from a small village called Nazareth, and like Nazareth, there are many communities we work in across Africa that a majority of people don't even know exist. Not just outside of Africa, but within Africa. They are forgotten, and the few who know of them have a "Can anything good come out of that community?" kind of attitude towards them. For example, I grew up around White River. Communities like Zwelisha and Mafambisa have always been around, but I have never known of them until I joined Hands at Work. Those are the communities we believe God has called us to. Back to God's invitation and Mary's response. Mary said yes to what God wanted to do through her. Now, I don't believe her life was meaningless and without purpose. As you know, in the first century, women only found their space in society through who they married. And Mary was on the verge of being married, so she was finding her place in society. Those of us who can remember engagement season know that it's a season where our list of to-dos is endless and all our attention is focused on the big day. It's one of life's busiest seasons. Yet, Mary could pause and say yes in the middle of life's busiest season. Which reminds us of two parables Jesus taught his followers about a father who sent out wedding invitations, and everyone on the invitation list was so busy with life that they actually had excuses. And some even harassed and harmed the messengers. What a tragic story. Jesus says that we did not choose him, but he chose us that we would go and bear much fruit. And I'm sure that being the mother of the Messiah was far beyond anything young Mary could have ever thought or imagine or dreamed. God is inviting people, and he's sending us out into all our communities to go and invite them into his new covenant, transforming hearts and drawing them into his redemption story for their whole communities. We are called to bring life and life in abundance through the power of the Holy Spirit that is at work in us. The reality is that we cannot control the responses. All we can do is just give the invite and trust the rest to God. Like Gabriel, we are just his messengers. The reason this story has struck such a nerve for some of us here in Africa is because we've seen how God has been doing this throughout Hands' history. Busie, one of our leaders on the ground here in Africa, was a single mom when she first joined Hands at Work. Out of obedience to God said, "Yes!" to what God wanted to do in and through her life. Out of her obedience, our Young Mom's programme was birthed many years ago. She poured her life into these young girls whose lives have been marked by endless disappointment and immense trauma. She invested herself into them and God used her mightily. Recently one of those young ladies named Carol, who came from Masoyi, our very first community, came back to share a testimony with us. Her testimony was so inspiring that it left us full of faith for what the Lord could do in our young girls across our communities. We've continued that legacy through our Youth Discipleship where we have been going out into our communities and finding young people and inviting them to commit to being discipled, formed and shaped by God. We've been doing this for a few years now, and we've had various responses. Some said yes immediately. Others went to go think about it a little more. Some said yes but didn't show up. Some said yes they showed up, but turned away sorrowful because they couldn't sacrifice. And others said yes, showed up, and they've stuck through with us and now we've slowly seen the fruits of that. Again, like Jesus said at the end of his parable, many have been invited, but few have been chosen. We are so encouraged by this Christmas story knowing that we have been chosen to experience salvation because of a young woman from an obscure village who said yes in the middle of one of life's busiest seasons, planning a wedding. Recently we went and identified a few young girls from Sommerset Community and invited them to be part of our 2023 Youth Discipleship, and later we are hoping to extend that invitation to all our other communities across Africa. We trust that they will not just say yes to this invitation, but they will show up, they'll be present and they will engage with what the Lord wants to do through them. Because we are convinced that the Lord wants to give them life and life in abundance. He wants to change their destinies, and inevitably he wants to transform their whole communities. Our hope and our prayers are that they, like Mary, will say yes. We know that these young ladies have been set apart by God for his purposes. So we ask that you partner with us in prayer, that they would say yes to God. That it will have as much of a ripple effect as Mary's yes has had on all of our lives.