South Africa Outreach - Week 5 Summary

Note: Week 4 and 5 are posted at the same time so read week 4 first! Just scroll down!

Week 5 has finished which means we are half way through our 10 week outreach! During our time of prayer and worship as a team this morning, I prayed that the next 5 weeks would supercede the last 5 weeks 10 fold in all that God wants to do in and through us! Amen!

Last weekend, we went to Cape Town as a team and celebrated on of our team member’s birthdays! Ashley turned 21 and we celebrated by going to Hillsong Church, walking through a fancy mall and having lunch together at Waterfront (a marine with a big mall and a bunch of restaurants). It was nice on one hand to walk around in a mall that felt more like “regular” life, do something fun as a team and celebrate one of our birthdays! On the other hand, it had some culture shock components. I had a really hard time at Hillsong Church, which gave me a glimpse of the potential culture shock that could come once we return home after outreach.

We’ve been spending a lot of time in townships and see a lot of needs and poverty. It was really hard to go to a huge church with a ton of money and a very programmed schedule. They had a timer on a tv at the back and if the worship, announcements or speaking went longer than allotted, it said “Time’s Up!”. Our time there really grieved my heart and made me upset. I felt more of the Spirit in the little church in the township than I did at some big mega church. I’m sure there will be more processing like this as we go along and transition home.

One of the biggest themes of week 5 is sand flea bites. It all started last Saturday when I got some red bite marks on my ankles. They got worse for the next few days and when we went to the pharmacy, I was told that I reacted quite strongly to sand flea bites. How disgusting! I’ve got about 45 bites scattered on my lower legs, around my belly and from my hands to my elbows. They itch like crazy and I tried to say away from the meds for a few days after I found out what they are, but it just was driving me crazy and affecting my sleep at night. So, things are getting under control now and I’m thankful. They are still itchy at times but I have a daily antihistamine to take and a topical ointment to apply. I also invested in a bottle of insect repellent to hopefully keep them away from me! Today, the landlord is fumigating our housing so hopefully if there are any in the mattresses, bedding or clothes, they will DIE! Generally, we pray for life but this week my prayer has been “To any bug, rodent or sand flea in this room, die in the name of Jesus!” =)

In ministry this week, we’ve continued to do prayer walking and door to door evangelism in the Red Hill community on Monday and Thursday mornings. Monday was awesome as I got to lead 2 women to the Lord in one of their homes! The harvest is plentiful and hearts are ready! That’s for sure! On Thursday, another 2 women came to know the Lord through our team! One is the lady we built the house for and the other is her cousin =) I now have a Xosa Bible to give my friend that I mentioned last week, but her door was closed on Thursday so I’ll have to bring it next week.

On Wednesday night, we worshiped with the church in Red Hill again. I love the worship times with them! The singing and dancing is so much fun! Then we lead a teaching on the simple church model so that the church can start cell groups in homes in the community. The hope is that next week, we’ll split into pairs and support them as they get started! Shane led the teaching and facilitated the evening and he did a wonderful job! He is so good at those kinds of things! At one point, I looked up and there is my Shane, standing at the front, speaking into the mic and teaching the people as he carries a beautiful, black toddler in his arms. The little guy was pretty fascinated as he watched Shane and my heart melted again. I love my husband and I’m so grateful for this time in moments like that.

Tonight (January 28^th) we are heading back to Red Hill to join in with the youth! We’re going to do our drama and testimonies and it should be a fun time. I pray that the Lord moves in power for salvation as many of the kids that come to youth don’t know Christ.

As for the camps in the afternoon, I’ve spent most of the week at the soccer camp instead of the surf camp. After all this sand flea stuff, I needed a break from the beach! I definitely enjoy soccer more and have been getting beat up playing defense this week! I got to share the word twice to the kids this week and it was good! Shane has been continuing at the surf camp and though it may sound strange, now that we’re apart for 3 hours a day, I’m missing him a lot! It sounds sappy but we’ve been together almost every waking moment for 4 months and I really like it!

Random points:

- We’ve been in Muizenberg for 2 weeks now and have 2 weeks remaining before we go to Sommerset West for 3 weeks.

- As I type this, I have the house to myself for the first time! I don’t anticipate to be this lucky again on outreach so I’m loving this hour or two! I made a cup of hot chocolate to make this time special =)

- We’ve started eating lunch and supper at the local YWAM base and it is soo nice! It greatly reduces the time around meals as we were shopping, preparing and cleaning up after each meal as a team. This is way more convenient!

- We had a meeting with a lady who lives in South Africa who lead the first Call2All DTS in Kona when our school leaders did their DTS (we are only the 3^rd Call2All DTS). It was envisioning about Call2All and I enjoyed it!

- An hour of scheduled quiet time entered the schedule again this week and I’m very thankful to have it back in the schedule for most mornings! I like this time of the day!

- We’ve started a 4K Mapping project here in Muizenberg. It isn’t one of the specific themes for this location but we were given a project to do for YWAM Muizenberg. We are going to map out all the places that they have a presence in ministry and outreach in the area. It will be a tangible way to see where they are and where they are not for future endeavors and areas of ministry!

- I’ve started the last required book reading for our DTS and I’m really enjoying the book so far! “Going Public with the Gospel; Reviving Evangelistic Proclamation” by Lon Allison and Mark Anderson. I’ve also started a book called “The Bait of Satan; Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense” by John Bevere which I think will be a part of walking in great freedom and wholeness for me!

Hopefully, the end of week 5 will mean the end of the sand flea saga! I’m looking forward to the weekend and spending our day off (Saturday) with Shane! I’ve felt some breakthrough this week emotionally in the challenges with our team. It’s been hard to see the light some days when tensions and frustrations are running high, but God has a bigger plan for our outreach than that! So, I’m so thankful that some of the difficulty emotionally has lifted in the last few days! Please continue to pray for me, Shane and our team! We need it and really appreciate it!