What do I want to say…
I know I have said this, but I am so cold in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I’m sure my entire team is annoyed by my constant shivering, but come on people, I am from Southern California, land of the heat.
All joking aside, it really hasn’t hit me that we are in South Africa when this time last week I was celebrating my dear friends birthday. After 70 hours we reached our ministry site called Khayalethu, which is an all boys home that helps get boys off the streets. All I can say about where we are staying is that God has totally blessed us and is transitioning us into this gently. We were suppose to be roughing it in our tents in the back lot of the house, but 18-23 of the boys that live here are currently on holiday, so our hosts have accommodated us with bedrooms, beds, “facilities” with HOT water, full use of the kitchen, they even threw a coffee pot thing in our room with mugs, coffee, and tea. Checkers (the local grocery shop) is about 15 minutes down the road, so figuring out how to feed ourselves while walking around with a calculator trying to make sure we stay on budget, while converting our USD total into rand (1:12), it has been interesting. Actual ministry is changing every day here. This week, my team is being split up in the local township between the soup kitchen, safe haven, and creches (day cares, except the r makes some sort of clicking sound with your tongue so it isn’t pronounced the way you probably did). In the evenings we are helping sort through the 3 storage rooms, and cleaning the facility so when the boys do return on the 17th/18th we can assign them new clothing, toiletries, school supplies, etc. Next week we will be going with Mia (Khayalethu’s social worker, who is an absolutely rad woman with a crazy heart/passion for these boys, and who is fighting for them to be more than what their society says they could ever be) on house visits to the cities where the boys came from so we have a better idea of who they by the circumstances from which they were removed from to better interact and mentor them. In addition to that, each member was given a group of boys to assist with school and to mentor,my three being Mario, Anele, and Zolani, and I ask that you join and pray for them as they return from holiday and begin their third trimester.
In the few days since being here, I have experienced a spectrum of emotions. Adjusting has been a little hard, not going to say it hasn’t,but the need for redemption through this city and even through this house is great; God is big enough for South Africa. Every morning, I have been praying/singing a song from my church back at home that we close house of prayer with:
“This city Lord, it is yours.
This city Lord, it is yours.
So break our hearts, break our hearts,
for the people who are far from you,
break our hearts.
Teach us to love, the way you loved us.
Send us out, send us out.
Pour out your fire, and flow through our lives.
Send us out, send us out.
This city Lord, it is yours,
This city Lord, it is yours.”
