Hey everyone! Here is a somewhat brief update of what I ended up doing in South Africa this month.
Ministry:
The first week here we covered school books with plastic to help them last longer with the kiddos.
The last two weeks we worked in the classrooms. I worked in one of the two Grade R classes, which is the equivalent to our Kindergarten. I love those munchkins I worked with. They have my heart more than older kids do. I loved being a part of helping them learn things that will be with them forever. They have so much love and innocence, I love it!
The two Friday nights we’ve been here we’ve done street ministry, going out to the rough neighborhoods and talking to the drunkards and others who were high as a kite. It was really interesting, I’ve never experienced anything like it before. We had out ministry hosts with us so we were safe, so that’s not what I mean. How to describe street ministry….It’s somewhat laid back because you are just walking around, letting the Spirit lead you to who to talk to and who needs to be prayed for. But still you have to be cautious of your surroundings because of the type of place we were in. I hope to do more street ministry of all kinds this year.
The first Sunday there we visited a church, and the second we got to lead a sermon together. My team did short individual sermons on different fruits of the Spirit. My fruit was peace. I got to speak on the peace that God has been placing in me that is overriding my anxiety. I used Jeremiah 17:7-8, Psalm 23, and Psalm 91 if you would like to look at good examples of freedom from anxiety.
Fun Stuff:
Our fun stuff was mostly on weekends, though occasionally during the week we went to a cafe at a place called The Farm, or to the mall to get wifi. That’s when we would get to talk to our families, update Facebook and our blogs and such.
During the two weekends we were there, the first Saturday everyone else went to hike a mountain called Table Mountain. Absolutely beautiful from what I was told, but I knew that physically I couldn’t have done it, and I also didn’t have the money to trolley to the top. So I spent the morning sleeping in, and when I woke up I wrote a blog, watched TV with our hostess’ daughter, and read a bit from a book that I have now finished. In the afternoon we went to the mall and grocery shopped, and ate at an American-like restaurant. A pretty relaxing day. It was wonderful to have a ladies-day-out and get to know Frances more.
That Sunday everyone went to a huge soccer game! RSA (South Africa) vs. Nigeria. It was held in the World Cup Stadium in Cape Town! Even though RSA lost it was still a great, fun experience. It made me realize how much I have missed out on by not going to Clemson games at home.
The last weekend, on Saturday we went shark cage diving!!! Okay, I’ll admit, I didn’t actually get in the cage. I was doing great until we had to put on the wetsuits…and the I thought I was going to be sick. I took it off but still felt sick for the rest of the ride, and eventually lost my breakfast on the way back in (I almost made it!). I was told by the others who went in that they couldn’t really see the sharks from the cage anyways, so I don’t think I missed out on that. Seeing them from the boat was amazing! They jumped out of the water for the bait, it was so crazy and awesome. Crazy awesome, but I’ll never do it again, haha.
That Sunday, we went to Cape Point, which is the most South-Western point of Africa. There we saw where the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans meet, which was pretty cool. And we also saw baboons!!!!!! They just hangout around the gift shops and restaurant, and sometimes they steal peoples food! One of the guys from our squad had his ice cream stolen right out of his hand, haha, too funny. I got a picture standing right next to one too! I wish I could put it on here but I’m on someone else’s laptop because the wifi is not strong enough to hold all of our devices at once.
We had such a great time in South Africa; I am definitely going to miss it. Maybe God will have me back there one day. Only time will tell!
