Happy New Year from South Africa! We are here after a very long but grace-filled journey, arriving on the Worcester YWAM base at 2am on December 26th. Our travels went smoothly and we even got a Christmas present from the Lord on December 25th when the airline upgraded our whole team to business class for the last flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town! I experienced more turbulence than I ever have before but there was lots of peace to deal with it. So, thank-you all who were praying for this specific issue with our travels! I felt your prayers and the “cocoon of protection” my mom prays over me was at the forefront of my mind!
Here’s a brief rundown of what our first week looked like!
Sunday – sleep (after sleeping very minimally in 50+ hours), team meeting and grocery shopping
Monday – rest, team meetings, move to our new room, trip to the mall for groceries again (got to meet and pray for people in the mall while waiting for the people who were grocery shopping), Shane went without crutches and we had a team healing!, evening ministry in a squatter camp
Tuesday – team meetings, drama/testimony/sermon preparation, ministry with the children at the squatter camp (drama, testimonies, mini sermon, distributing food, and lots of playing, dancing and singing with the children)
Wednesday – team meetings, children’s ministry at an apartment complex called River View (face painting, singing, gospel story, prayed for people, talked, played and always holding someone), back to the same complex in the evening to ministry to families in their apartments
Thursday – Preparation Day, practice guitar for worship songs, did laundry, got money exchanged, more grocery shopping, team meeting, drama/children’s ministry preparation
Friday (today) – Day Off! Catching up on sleep, communicating with loved ones, doing a little more laundry and spending time with Shane and Jesus! It’s a low key New Year’s Eve for us and I’m really thankful for the rest!
Random details and blessings:
- The view from our bedroom is GORGEOUS! The mountains are the most beautiful I’ve seen!
- The birds sing a lot here!
- The dogs bark all night and the train goes by every two hours with a very loud warning throughout the day.
- It’s cool in the morning and evenings! Definitely a lot cooler than Kona! I should have brought more pants!
- It’s super windy in Africa, just like tv shows =)
- They have two faucets instead of one at sinks. So, it’s impossible to get warm water to wash your face before bed. It’s either hot or cold!
- The base is has been fairly quiet because they are on Christmas break. It’s been so nice to have more silence and space. It’s going to get busier around here soon!
- When school begins we won’t have to cook for ourselves or grocery shop anymore which will save time. Though, we’re eating really well and healthy right now so I’m really thankful for the food!
- Shane and I have our own room in the building with the families. The first night we slept in our own room in the building with the rest of the team. I was sad that we had to move but I’m actually liking our new building more!
- There are no screens in South Africa. I just had to kill a big bee that flew in the room as I was typing this after it came back in 3 times!
- People drive on the left hand side of the road and it’s just so weird! It often feels like we’re driving into oncoming traffic! Thankfully I’m not one of the drivers because I’m far too conditioned to drive on the right!
- Many of the students and staff on the base are from Brazil! The families are so welcoming and nice!
- We have an hour of quiet time with the Lord every day after breakfast and I LOVE that part of the day!
- The currency here is Rand. It actually is similar to Canadian money, the bills, the colors and the coins.
My favorite part of ministry so far is loving on people and praying for them. I’ve met some very special people and I love encouraging the young girls I meet who are Christians. It’s so special to see their eyes light up when we’ve been interacting a while and we then tell them that Shane and I are married. It’s so amazing that my marriage is not only a blessing to me, but an incredible testimony to the young ones here in South Africa. I encouraged one girl about her worth, her value, pursuing purity and holiness, and got to pray for her about these things, all based on her response when Shane came over and told her that I was his wife. You should have seen her face. I think the Lord is going to use us as an example to many children and teens here about what marriage, love and family should look like in a very corrupt society.
I also love showing Jesus’ love to the many children here. I’m always carrying someone, touching someone’s head or face, holding someone’s hand or holding 1-3 kids on my lap. I love it! They experience tons of negative and incorrect touch and it’s such a blessing to show love in a physical way to these kids. I tell them about Jesus and tell them about how much He loves Him. I am so blessed to be able to do this.
South Africa is beautiful and God has much in store for me, our team and the people of South Africa over the next 9 weeks!
2 comments:
thanks for taking the time to fill us all in. Bless you guys...Shalom
It is so good to hear all that is going on! Love you sister.
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