Happy New Year!!!
On New Year’s Day we started our travel days to Cape Town, South Africa. Four of the teams shared one bus for a 32-hour bus ride. At 4am we stopped at a gas station for 3 hours sleeping on the grass, so the driver could rest. The last 2 hours of driving our teams divided up for the rest of the journey.
To start the New Year off I had more changes than a typical month. For this month we had another round of team changes. In this team change I have been placed on an entirely new team! I am sure shortly the blog will be switched so you can follow their stories. This was very hard news to receive. Leaving the family that I have been with for the past 6 months was tough, but God has a plan and something new for me to learn with other members of my squad.
This month we live in cabins right next door to our ministry at Camp Joy. Both places are just a 10-minute walk to the beach. Camp Joy is a place where men and women can voluntarily come for 6 weeks to change their lives. Many come from addictions, gangs, drug dealing and other rough situations. They come with a dream of getting out and living a better life than they currently do. Each day we start the morning off with devotions and also finish with them in the evening. They do some manual labor and also have life skill’s classes. They have a brick-making machine so the men can gain skills they can use to provide an income. I now have a decent idea of how to make bricks after making 9 or so! We play ping-pong, pool, soccer, and some cards in the free time.
There are rival gangs amongst those that come but within the walls we are all one community. The rival gangs are known as the Americans and the British with several gangs under each side. Many crazy sad stories have been shared. But when meeting everyone you would never see it. The guys are full of joy, laughing, joking, and of hope for a better future. Xavier always messes with me but I always seek revenge by tickling him! I have instant victory every time. We all have different pasts but everyone is still ticklish, even a gangster. I have been adopted into a small family with the guys. My “two sons” are best friends and are from rival gangs, and “grandpa” is 2 years older than me. The guy on the right “Xavier” is the son of the kingpin for the Americans. His dad was shot in the head in a mall parking lot in 2006. There were at least 6 killings after his death for retaliation. The guy on the left “Jason” was part of the British gang. One guy showed me today that he burned himself so the scar formed would hide the tattoo from the gang he was a part of. Another gentlemen had a leg boot on from a healing bullet wound in his foot. Many have served prison time and some are waiting to see if they have time to serve.
It is a very hard life for all the people that come to Camp Joy. But there is hope found in Christ. We got to say goodbye to one guy who graduated today! He will be facing the hard life he had before, but with a new way of thinking that will hopefully bring him through tough times to the place he wants to be and back to his dreams and goals, and away from drugs and gangs.
This month our contact is affiliated with one of the Hillsong Capetown campuses, so we get to go to Hillsong Church on Sundays! This is really exciting for me because I really enjoy the music that Hillsong bands come out with. The church was a former nightclub, and one of the largest. It really reminds me a lot of being home at Kearney E Free Church.
View from my backyard
As always thank you so much for your prayers and support. I could have never done this without your prayer and support!
