I have so many thoughts and feelings in my head and a whole week of debrief to process them, so expect at least two blogs.
The resounding theme, though: I LOVE AFRICA AND AM SO HAPPY TO BE BACK!
I wanted to take a blog entry this month and describe a “typical” day of ministry in Bellville, South Africa, working with Zehandi Missions South Africa.
I use “typical” loosely because there was no such thing as a typical day, as each day was ordained by the Spirit’s moving.
This, however, is about as close as I can get to a general day. Actually, it will be two schedules, based on my activities that day.
Typical Day #1
Day-shift-baby-house days:
4:30 a.m. – Wake up and realize the temperature outside is cold enough to see your breath once again this morning. Peer around the barn floor for movement in any of the 13 other sleeping bag lined from one side of the room to the other. Someone returns from the bathroom and crawls back into their sleeping bag. I’m jealous. I quickly unzip my sleeping back, shuck off my sleeping bag liner and jump out of bed, grabbing my clothes for the day and sprinting for the bathroom before I can let my mind convince me to slip back into my warm sleeping bag. Change and head to the makeshift kitchen.
5 a.m.- Breakfast of porridge and hot coffee around the table with our contact and three other sleepy teammates- hopefully. If there aren’t three, I return to the room to roll them out of bed.
5:20 a.m.- We’re start out of the farm on the long, windy road to the N1 highway.
Our first shift at the baby house
5:40 a.m.- We arrive at the baby home and make a few more cups of coffee to get the day really started.
6 a.m.- Babies begin waking up, as their own schedule allots. We feed, burp, change, and love on them one at a time as they wake up.
6 p.m.- Our contact arrives at the babies home to pick us up and take us home. We spent 12 hours at a home for seven babies after their birth mothers abandoned them and while they wait for the adoption process to be finalized.
6:30 p.m.- Dinner time, y’all! Gather ‘round!
7 p.m.- Try my hardest not to pass out yet, otherwise I’ll wake up in the middle of the night. But I’m exhausted and can hardly keep my eyes open!
8 p.m.- Team time with my beloved Veracity. Catching up on each others’ days and sharing where we are.
9 p.m.- Bring hanging toiletry bag into bathroom; get ready for bed.
9:15 p.m.- Crawl back into sleeping bag—finally! Pull Nook out from under my pillow.
Our sleeping arrangement for the month
Sometime around 10 p.m.- Fall asleep while reading with sleeping bag pulled and cinched over my head to create a warm cocoon.
Typical Day #2
Night-shift-baby-house-days:
6:30 a.m.- Wake up and crawl out of sleeping bag the same way as previously mentioned. Although, at this time of the morning, more people are moving around starting to get ready for the day.
6:35 a.m.- Shower— well, sometimes. Other times, I sat in the makeshift kitchen and started my time with Jesus earlier because, let’s be honest, I was too cold to even think about the removal of clothes in order to get wet and then try to warm up! Eeek!
7 a.m.- Time with Jesus alone in a recess of a 54-acre guava farm.
7:30 a.m.- Mandatory morning devotional with the workers of the farm before their shift begins. A time of testimonies, stories, talking and praying.
Morning devos
8 a.m.- Breakfast of porridge, WhetBix or- on rare occasions- puffed rice cereal and hot coffee or tea.
8:30 a.m.- Morning ministry begins. This could include anything. Literally. We picked guavas with the workers in the field a few days. We sorted guavas in the warehouse for packaging. We worked in a garden to eliminate weeds. I helped with Zehandi office things. We had morning devoted entirely to listening prayer and worship and teachings.
Gardening
Picking guavas on the farm
But, my favorite ministry was the squatter camp.
Sometimes it was morning ministry, sometimes it was afternoon ministry, and twice it was all day ministry. All the time, though, it was my favorite!
The first time there, I met a single-mother and her sister as they told me the “ins and outs” of the squatter camp. I stood there for over an hour and listened to how she had been hurt by people in her life- physically, emotionally, mentally and even spiritually. She told us about how most churches and white people come in and throw money or physical things at them and expect to solve all their problems, but tend to only make their lives worse in the long run because people literally fight each other for those things and make them lose their sense of community to their selfishness. She got emotional when she said she could tell me were different; that we wanted to just listen. “No one ever comes to listen. No one wants to listen to us,” she said. She told us we were an encouragement and invited us back, after she just told us she wished people would just leave them alone. She saw something different in us; I’d pray that it was the real Jesus and his love and acceptance overflowing from us into her.
My friends, Aretha and Anne at the squatter camp
Some days, I spent time talking to Aretha's son, Ruddle, encouraging him and finding ways for him to pursue the big dreams God has placed in his mercy-gifted heart.
Ruddle and me
Some days– okay, any chance I got– I spent time loving on the kids. I felt God calling me to start a children's program after seeing the impact that the one Empower a Child started in Uganda had on the children and so the next few days, that's what I did. I played. I sang. I danced. We taught them songs. I laughed. I loved. I heard the joy in their giggles and saw God in their faces. I was back where I belong.
These kids stole my heart
12:30 p.m.- Lunch and a break to rest and get back into the ministry mindset.
2 p.m.- Afternoon ministry begins. Usually, night-shift-baby-house crews could rest through afternoon ministry in order to be awake all night, but sometimes afternoon ministry was too good to pass up. Sometimes it was squatter camp, like I previously said. Sometimes it was grocery shopping for the week. Sometimes it was socializing with the workers on their tea breaks. We went to a warehouse and put together packages of clothes and food for homeless shelters, people on the streets, and churches that assist them. We cleaned up the house/base that Zehandi Mission signed a contract on so that we could turn it from a dump into a functioning base/house for the family!
Cooking out at the new base of Zehandi Missions South Africa
5 p.m.- Early dinner for night-shift-baby-house crews so that we could get on the road.
5:30 p.m.- Leave farm and head for baby house.
5:40 p.m.- Stop at Pick-N-Pay to get snacks for the night so we don’t starve over the 12 hour shift.
6 p.m.- Arrive at baby house. Switch places with day shift people, as they tiredly shuffle out of the front door, covered in baby spit up and with their hair disheveled. Make coffee to get the night started.
6 a.m.- Leave the baby house 12 hours later—exhausted! Head home to sleep for a few hours.
So, that’s it. There’s “typical” days at Zehandi Missions South Africa’s base in Bellville!
