This week we expected 100 kids to come to camp at Refilwe, but we were blessed with an average of 200 a day! It was a handful, but we all had a blast. We also saw many kids come to Christ!!
Here are some of the beautiful children that we shared our week with:
At the end of the week I asked many kids if they had a good week, the reply was always yes! Then I would ask what was their favorite part of the week. Nine times out of ten the child would say: “learning more about God!” The people of Africa, especially the children, are hungry to know more about the Lord!
On Wednesday after camp seven of us were able to venture into
a near by squatters
camp and visit some of the children’s homes.
I have never seen such poverty.
People literally living in tin houses, which may have been half the size of my little apartment in Denver.
The streets lined with trash – animals such as chickens, dogs, and cats roamed about picking through the garbage for something to eat.
Yet the children played and made the best of things.
I could tell that it meant a lot to them that we came to visit.
While there, we ran into a South African business woman who was distributing fire wood. Many here are too poor to purchase wood and usually end up just burning trash. We got to talking to her and we told her what we were doing. She was very excited when we told her that we were helping to run a camp at Refilwe. She was also very excited to hear we were working with children as she
had bags full of hats and gloves that she wanted to distribute, but she was unsure of how to get them to the children who really needed them. On her way down to distribute the firewood she asked the Lord to show her how she was to distribute them, and saw us as an answer to that prayer! Before leaving her we prayed together.
It was a joy to be able to give the kids the hats and gloves. They were so grateful and full of joy from such a little gift. They would not take them off for anything. Even in the middle of the day when it got warmer and they were running around during game time, they would not take off their new presents.
Thursday four of us world racer girls lead a Bible study for some of the teens here at Refilwe. We were not sure how many would come, but we had 4 girls and 2 boys.
They were so hungry and full of questions about God, the Bible, and us.
We were with them for over 2 hours reading the Bible,
discussing spiritual issues, sharing in each others stories, and laughing about
life with them.
Their life stories, desire and heart to follow God are humbling.
Despite the poverty and hard times that Africa is facing I know and believe the Lord is raising up
leaders for this next generation. But they need the encouragement and training. That is why it is so encouraging to know that there are places like
Refilwe that are dedicated to ending the cycle of poverty and
raising up this next generation. But there is still a lot of work to do.
Matthew 9:37
“
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
