I have been overwhelmingly blessed this month.
Cape Town, South Africa is the most beautiful place I have ever been. In fact, I'm writing this blog from our hostel bedroom in Noord-Hoek while overlooking the Atlantic ocean surrounded by mountains. It is amazing to experience such beauty. We have been blessed to be able to go on several tours around the Cape and to be able to see everything here. As we toured around the Cape every turn reveals another awesome view with a beautiful beach and a new spectacular water color. Everyone should come visit this city and see how beautiful it is. (I hate to say it, but I think it is more beautiful than Lake Michigan! Mom, you will have to come see it on your quest to find the most beautiful beach in the world.)
Our ministry contacts for the month have been such amazing people to work with. We have been working with the organization New Hope International, Jeremiah Project. This organization is run through Ma and Pa and out of their humble home in Elsies River, a colored neighborhood in Cape Town. They run an organization that reaches out to children in their neighborhood. They play with the kids whose ages range from 2 through about 15 when they get home from school and they provide a safe atmosphere for the kids to come to and to experience God's love. Ma and Pa also do weekly feedings where Ma makes a humongous pot of soup and at 3pm on Fridays she begins to serve it to all of the neighbors that want to participate. People line up in the driveway with their bowls to get some soup to eat for dinner. They also do a similar feeding at nearby squatter camps on a monthly basis.
Ma and Pa are some of the most humble and loving people I have ever met. Their home is always open to whomever wants or needs to come inside and talk. Ma sells ice cream cones out of her front door for a very reasonable price so that the neighborhood kids don't have to walk to the store through the dangerous streets to get ice cream. Everyday they watch Enrique, a 2 year old from the neighborhood. Enrique's mom works the night shift and needs to sleep during the daytime and his dad is addicted to Meth so he is rarely able to care for Enrique. Ma watches Enrique tirelessly everyday and she sometimes watches other kids during the day as well.
We stayed in Ma and Pa's home with them for the month and ministered to the neighborhood kids with them. Everyday we would play with the kids when they came home from school and do our best to love them tirelessly as Ma does. We also prayed in people's homes for issues that were going on in their lives and participated in the feedings.
It was a blessing to live with Ma and Pa and to experience the ways that they are ministering to their neighbors.
