Just when I thought I had seen it all, and God had shown me all there is to see as far as His beautiful creation, we arrived in Coffee Bay, South Africa. Situated right on the beach, camping out in a backpacker’s hostel, we began our first month of ministry in this continent.
Our host is named Mandy, a 29 year old South African that just returned from 4 months of bible college in Hawaii. The campgrounds we’re tenting on, Bomvu, belong to her family and look out on Coffee Bay beach. Though it is winter here and I’m finally getting to make use of the fleece and scarves I’ve been hauling around the past six months, it is little short of a beach bum’s paradise.
Four of our teams are together at this location for the month, totaling around 35 people, which is quite a blessing with all the ministry outlets we’ve been given in this place.
Our primary ministry this month is to the surrounding community, focusing on the children. For our month’s stay we are helping to jump start Mandy’s vision. Every day of the week we’re putting on free soccer, surfing, and swimming lessons in the afternoons, and inviting the villagers to join us for our morning worship every day and church on Sunday. Each free lesson is concluded with a short message about Christ and an offering to pray for anyone who will let us.
We began this week by walking the hills surrounding us to visit villagers in their homes, spread the word about our free lessons, and get consent forms signed for all the children who wish to attend. Once that was accomplished we dove right in to the games. The response so far has been amazing! We started with over 70 children and the number has grown each day. I have been helping with the soccer program this week and have loved watching the kids pour into the school grounds as the clock strikes 2pm. We all play and hang out for a few hours and thus far every single child has stayed to hear the message. It’s really encouraging to have such a strong response from the beginning.
All the people have been welcoming and excited to join in what we’re doing. This area has a strong history of acoholism, drug use, and HIV/ AIDS spread through unsafe promiscuity; so the opportunities to transform lives through the redemptive love of Christ are vast.
