Let me give you a rundown of things we have been doing in South Africa. We have been working with Beam Africa and our contacts Erika and Louis are amazing. We have been helping them out with everything from work in the townships to work around the house and we have learned so much.
When we first arrived at Beam House, we were ready to jump right in feet first. God had a different plan though. We ended up with a lot of free time and a lot of time where we were working on the same project together as a team over the few weeks that we were here. We decided to use the time that we were together to get to know each other. One day over shoveling dirt, we asked about embarrassing stories. Another day over shoveling dirt, we asked each other about broken bones and stitches. Again, over shoveling dirt, (see the pattern?) we learned important life lessons from our contact’s son, Francois. We bonded singing Mulan, Lion King, and the Little Mermaid while washing cars- except Joe. Joe was not too thrilled about our singing :). We talked about our favorite children’s shows and listened to music as we shoveled loads of dirt into the back of the small white truck (though the bed did not seem small as we were filling it with dirt…) We used our evenings to work out together and Megan became our coach. We cooked together. WE washed dishes together. We talked about God, a lot. We had Slice of Life in the evenings. We talked about our struggles and our victories. We sat by the fire with Erika and Louis. We got charged by an elephant and looked a lion in the face from about twenty feet away. We learned to really love one another the way Jesus wants us to love one another.
Sometimes it was really hard. Sometimes we didn’t want to shovel dirt. Sometimes we didn’t understand why God had placed us here at the same time He had told Erika and Louis that they needed to stop their services in another township called Nellmapius. But God is so good, His timing is perfect, and He had so many lessons for us to learn and so many ways to use us to bless the people around us. Evan’s graphic design skills were put to work for Beam Africa. Joe learned that he likes working with his hands- We were all used to bless people for God’s glory.
On Saturday, we had the morning free so we decided to just listen to what God wanted to tell us. We spent the morning journaling, reading, listening to music, and ultimately just listening to God. It was really cool. The next evening, Erika and Louis came over and Erika told us that she had been praying for us and felt God telling her that if we just listen, He will tell us whatever he wants us to know. How cool is that? She didn’t know how we had spent our Saturday morning… We spent a whole morning just hanging out with God and then He is like, “Hey Erika, just remind them to keep doing that because I have things for them. All they have to do is listen.”
If you asked me a month ago what my month in South Africa was going to look like, my expectations were different. We impacted lives, but differently than I probably expected. Our own lives changed, but also differently than I would have expected. We worked really hard, but the work was different work than I was expecting.
The moral? Lose the expectations and just let God do His thing. You’ll learn His lessons a lot faster that way. South Africa was awesome. It has a part of my heart and I will never forget the people or what I have learned in this place.
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