We arrived in Jo’Burg (which is the
hip-cool way of saying Johannesburg) around 6pm on Thursday December, 30th. Our
travel time took “only” 36 hours (which was really quick compared to our last
bus adventure across Africa). For the month we’ll be staying at Rosebank Lodge
& Backpacker, which is the lodge our entire squad stayed at for a few
nights at the beginning of November.
January is our “ATL” month, where we as a
team have the opportunity to seek our own ministry. Going on The World Race is
quite a step of faith and this month challenges us to take another step. Our
“plan” (which means nothing since it’s not necessarily God’s plan) is to serve
at the lodge (construction projects) as well as in the community. Our lodge has
helped us get in touch with a few organizations in the area including “Child Haven” (remember this for
later!).
Today was our first Sunday in Jo’Burg and
this is how it all began:
On Saturday we attempted to Google for a
church near the lodge, not much came up besides “HisPeople” which was meeting
at 9am. So on Sunday morning we woke up, had breakfast, prayed that our first
English service in months would be a blessing and we also prayed for divine appointments.
We made our way to the church and on
arrival we instantly felt at home. Just seconds after walking through the door
we were met by Mark & Terry. Mark is a prominent youth pastor in South
Africa and Terry is a professor at Bethel University in Indiana who is here for
2 weeks. After brief introductions wthat Terry knows about The World Race and
has done mission trips with AIM! (remember
we prayed for divine appointments).
The service was great and the day continued
to get better and better. After the service, Mark approached us and invited the
7 of us to his house to have coffee & lunch with him, his family &
Terry. We had an amazing time at their house and we got the opportunity to
share stories from our past 6 months. Throughout our talks we learnt that
HisPeople is the group ultimately behind Child
Haven and other groups including Baby
Haven and Young Mothers Haven.
God absolutely blew us away today, we
thought we’d just be going to church
but we now have countless phone numbers including a personal connection to 2
orphanages and a young mothers ministry! GOD
IS GOOD!
It seems like every month we’re learning
more and more about what “hospitality” really means, while at Mark’s house we
were blessed with a delicious meal, great conversation, and he even drove us to
a grocery store so we wouldn’t have to walk with all the bags! Now who does
that for someone they’ve only met for 5 minutes in the lobby of their church?
In the book of Hebrews, Paul writes “Do not
forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained
angels without knowing it.” (13:2), for us today we didn’t host angels, they
hosted us!
It also says in Psalms 139:9-10, “If I rise
on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there
your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” It’s true! God showed up here in Jo’Burg!,
even though we’re over 13,000km away from “home”!
We’re getting more and more excited about
what this month has in store and we look forward to keeping you all as updated
as possible with how God continues to work through us here in Jo’Burg!
