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Africa is so overwhelming! I do
not even know where to begin. God is doing so much in Jeffreys Bay,
yet so so much in my own heart as well. My ministry team and I are beginning to
build relationship with some families in the townships and it is really neat!
I’m excited for what God has in store for us and for what He wants to show
these people through us! There are no limits to how we can show God’s love in
the township. For example, yesterday we went to see our friend Sweetness and
she was not home, she was at the clinic, but her mother Joyce was there. Joyce
was sitting on the couch and we could tell that her back was bothering her and
she wasn’t feeling well so we asked if there was anything we could help her
with around the house and she said yes. So Blair, Alexis, and I stood in the
kitchen washing Joyce’s dishes. It was so funny because it was nothing like
washing dishes in America.
It was interesting to say the least.
One day last week it was raining and
very cold so our amazing ministry leader Kristen drove us to the townships and
through out the townships while we visited people. At one point we were sitting
in the van in Ocean View (one of the townships), praying, asking God to show us
where to go and God said turn left and so we did and then He gave us something
about bananas so we stopped at this small grocery shop in Ocean View and Alexis
and I got out of the van and walked inside. Alexis went straight to the
Vaseline and picked some up. I was so confused as to why but I didn’t question
her on it. She then picked up bananas and took both the Vaseline and the
bananas to the counter to pay. We introduced ourselves to the shop owner and he
told us his name was Mohammed. We asked him where he was from and he said Somalia. We
talked to him some more about his family and he asked us a lot of questions
too. I saw the Karan sitting beside him so I asked him about it. We had a
really neat conversation with him about Christianity and Muslims for about an
hour. We finally left to find the rest of our team but later ended up back at
Mohammed’s shop with the whole team. We talked to him and his friend more about
who Jesus is and about the bible. It was neat! Mohammed is such a nice guy. He
gave us a huge bottle of coke before leaving and the next time we visited him
he gave us each a banana.
God is truly starting to break my
heart for the people in the townships. We were visiting our friend Theodora and
she told us about a four year old girl who was raped by a Somalian man. So
because of this one Somalian mans actions all the Somalian’s were pretty much
kicked out of the townships. As soon as we left Theodora’s house we went to
check on Mohammed. The shop was still there but there was nothing left in the
shop at all. Everything was gone and so was he. I have no idea where Mohammed
is now. I pray that he is safe though! This is really hard for me to process
and I am still trying to process it all. It’s hard to fathom but I know God is
using this situation for good. It wasn’t a mistake that God led us to Mohammed,
to know him only for a short week.
There are so many stories much like
Mohammed’s and much like the four year old child who was raped. There is
Theodora who didn’t get her grant from the government to feed her son this
month but God is providing! There is Regina
whose house is partially burnt and has a hole in the roof from an electrical
fire but it hasn’t rained yet and God is providing the means to fix her house.
There is sickness and pain and hardship but GOD is in the center of it all. He
is crying with His people. My prayer is that they know that! My prayer is that
even though their bodies are sick, their houses are falling apart, and they
really don’t have much; I pray that they would cling to the cross of Christ! I
pray they know how temporary this life is and this is just the waiting room for
eternity.
God is teaching me so much and it is
overwhelming to think about it all. He’s teaching me to reply completely on Him
FOR EVERYTHING!. For strength, for nourishment, for rest, for words, for
actions. He is teaching me how to live in community and how to call upon my
teammates when I need something. He is teaching me to discern when the Holy
Spirit is speaking to me and most importantly He is teaching me how to obey the
Holy Spirit, which is such a hard thing to do sometimes. He is teaching me
about prayer and the power of prayer. He is just teaching me!
Thank you all so much for your
prayers! I miss each and every one of you more and more each day! I hope all is
well! Please let me know if there is anything I can be praying for you guys
about. Please pray about all the situations that I have written about, please
pray that my head won’t explode and that I can process everything God is doing
here. A lot of my teammates and leaders are sick right now so please pray
against the sickness here! One of my teammates, Erin,
had to leave yesterday for good so please pray for her situation.
Also, Friday we are leaving for Beat the
Drum which is an AIDS awareness program in Somerset East (which is like three
hours away) and it is going to be OFF THE CHAIN! God is going to do some
incredible things! So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be in prayer for it next week. My
whole team is leading plus about 50 other South Africans will be helping as
well. We will be speaking to farmers, prisons, schools etc. about AIDS/HIV!
“God blesses those whose
hearts are pure, for they will see God.”
-Matthew 5:8-
