Update from South Africa! I can’t believe I have already been living in Africa for a month now. The time has flown as I’ve found a sweet sense of home here. Life in Africa looks a lot different than the past three months of my race.
Coming into South Africa I knew it wasn’t going to be like what people think of when they hear “Africa” but I didn’t know what exactly to expect. What I found was a beautiful country, filled with different terrains and landscape at every corner, an amazing group of people, very friendly and filled with culture, and a place very similar to home, aware of who Christ is but not following him.
My five teammates and I are spent this past month living in a small beach town called Jeffrey’s Bay. We live with an amazing host family who speaks English (this has been such an amazing blessing!) in their sweet home and do ministry with Team Zion who lives right down the street from us. Ministry this month looks more like physical work; volunteering at a local horse farm, working with children who live on the local dairy farms (who’s parents usually have alcohol problems), helping a origination who works with children in need called Joshua’s Project, and doing construction building a new local Christian school.
During our first month here I experienced my first Christmas away from home. It wasn’t easy but it sure was memorable. We spent our Christmas Eve walking through and praying for people in a local shanty village that is bound by drugs, alcohol, and poverty. We were able to show people Gods light, give hope, and even arrange for a man to be with his family on Christmas. Christmas day was spent building community with the teams and families we live with. God knew asking me to be away from my family on these holidays would be hard but he sure did bless me immensely when I followed His will.
Going into our second month here we are down to a team of three girls. Alyssa, Hannah and I are holding down the fort here in J-bay while our amazing men serve in Lesotho together this month. Keep them in your prayers as they serve together as men of God! Also keep us in your prayers, that God will move and allow us to be part of some amazing things while where here.
Look out for another blog about what God’s doing in my life soon!!
Sometimes building a school looks like staining tons of wooden planks! Me and Lyss loved it!
