Our month in South Africa was spent partnering with a ministry called Revelation Ministries just outside Cape Town, South Africa.
Most of our days were spent in the projects where Revelation Ministries is located, an area called Lavender Hill.
A big part of this ministry involves providing a safe place for kids to play after school. The kids here are subjected to so many things that no child should have to be subjected to. Drugs, alcohol, gang violence and domestic abuse are normal, every day realities for these kids.
But when they come to the ministry center to play after school, they’re able to just be KIDS! They get to have a safe place where they can run and play and climb all over us, and we just get to love them.
Many of these kids are Muslim and don’t even know who Jesus is, so to be able to demonstrate His love for them every day has been so, so special.
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We also got the chance to go to an elderly living home every week to talk with the residents there, hear about their lives, pray with them, paint their nails, play dominos and share stories with them about what Jesus is doing in our lives.
It’s been so incredible getting to learn about their lives and where they’ve come from, to laugh with them, to basically be their temporary grandchildren and hold their hands and let them give us hugs and kisses on the cheek.
I’ve been learning that sometimes loving people is more about allowing them to love you in return.
Mary and Me!
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I think my favorite part about this month has been the consistency. We’ve gotten to see the same kids day after day and we’ve been able to go back to the same elderly living facility several times as well. Language barriers have been SO REAL on the race, and if you know me at all you know that I hate surface conversations. I like to go deeper! So the fact that they speak English has made it so much easier to build those relationships with them.
It’s been a hard month in a lot of ways. We faced some big challenges. As team leader I had to have a lot of hard conversations and confrontations with our host that I really didn’t want to have. At the end of the month we had our very first team changes, so I had to leave the team I’ve been with for the last six months and enter into a new season with a brand new team!
But in spite of all that, this month has been an amazing adventure.
We’ve gotten to do some really cool things on our off days, too! I got to explore Cape Town, climb to the top of Lion’s Head and stand on a rock that made me feel like I was on top of the world, and I even learned to SURF!!!
Left to right: me, Brittany, Claudia, Sequoi, Sam, Alex, random guy
The Village! #ittakesthevillage
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Despite the challenges, this month was amazing and I feel so blessed to have spent month six of my race taking on Cape Town, South Africa with some of my favorite people.
Next up: Swaziland!
