Hello everyone!
We are officially in month three in South AFrica! I can't even believe I have been gone for two months already and are on the way to month three. It's crazy! Things in Swaziland wrapped up well. We had to say goodbye to the patients we had visited every day for three weeks. I didn't realize how saying goodbye to a few of the patients really would have effected me. I will write a blog sometime soon on a few of them with some pictures. I need to do a Swaziland overview blog soon for you all.
I just wanted to update you on where I was now. I am in Pretoria, South AFrica. It is the administrative capital of South Africa and is a very large city. We are working with an organization calle "POP-UP" (People Upliftment Program) ministries. It. is a non-profit organisation based in the Salvokop community. POPUP is primarily a training facility providing skills development and training for unemployed and disempowered individuals. You can check out their website here for more information: http://www.popup.co.za/
This month is different than the other months because we all are kind of doing different things. We are here with another time that we were with last month and that is good because know them pretty well. But just like the program wants to empower individuals, the organization wants to empower the volunteers in the areas that they are good at and interested in.
In light of that, currently I am helping out with the adult education program. Day 1 I thought I would be in the classroom helping the students. However, I was put in a classroom for three hours with a student who needed a proctor in there and I graded English tests for three hours. God and I had to have a heart to heart and He had to remind me of how I was serving this teacher by helping grade her tests even though it wasn't the kind of ministry I thought I would be doing.
In the afternoon, I helped them serve soup outside the base to locals who are in need of food for the day. It is always humbling to see people bring cut open 2 liter plastic pop bottles as their soup containers for their food for the day.
Today I graded more papers, but I was able to spend some time with other teachers and staff who came in the kitchen as I was grading. That was really good for me to talk to these individuals and get to know their stories. As most of you know,I love hearing people's stories. 🙂
In the afternoon, I went over to the daycare that they have on site and I played with 3 and 4 year olds for 2 1/2 hours. It was soooo good to be with kids again. I haven't been with kids for the last month and I just love being with them. I will hopefully playing with them more in the upcoming weeks.
Tomorrow we will be doing an outreach program with the German missionaries that are here. I don't know yet what we will be doing. Friday I will help the Adult Ed classes with their mock interviews and play with kids probably in the afternoon.
I am really excited to see what God has in store for us here. This organization has a really strong biblical understanding and is strong in the spirit. We have staff devotions together in the morning and these students are hungry for guidance of all kinds and most of the students are our age. I just can't wait to see what God is going to do during this month. More to come!
