Last month I returned to The Republic of South Africa for the second time in my life. During my first visit I fell in love with the country. It was full of bright colors, beautiful sunsets, exotic animals, elegant art, rich culture and friendly locals.
In 2010 I went on a “Summer Project” with Campus Crusade For Christ (CCC). It was my first time being overseas and I remember expecting the country to be rather rural, rugged and underdeveloped. However, when I got there I was quite surprised how industrialized, developed and similar it was to home. Therefore, after living in the rural villages of Eastern Europe, the slums of India and the frigid Himalaya Mountains the past 7 months… it’s comforting to return to a land of familiarity.
During the course of my first trip, I was located in Pretoria, involved in two ministries. The first was focused on campus outreach at Pretoria University. We built relationships with students there, made friends, shared the gospel and encouraged people to get involved in the campus ministry there. The second involved volunteering at a local orphanage outside the city. The name of the orphanage we worked at was “Beam Africa”. I will never forget those kids, they had a major impact on me. In fact my experience there is the reason I became a teacher. And I still believe to this day that in due time God will send me to teach His orphans in this world. If you’d like to read more about it you can check out the link at http://www.beamafrica.org
As for this year, I was placed along the Eastern Cape, in a small town called Jeffreys Bay. Named after Jeffrey, the first man to start a business there in 1849. Jeffreys Bay is a small hippy town loaded with tourists. People fly in from all over the world just to get a shot at riding the waves there in the surf capital. Therefore, I also wanted a shot at these waves! It was incredible being out there among those powerful, very long, fast right hand breaks. I can now officially say “I’ve surfed at the SECOND most famous surf location in THE WORLD!”
So enough about surfing let’s talk about ministry…
What did our living situation look like?
During the month we stayed with a wonderful family who hosts World Race teams on a regular basis. In fact hosting racers is a major part of their ministry Gods given them in Jeffreys. They love bringing in teams throughout the year who are about half way through their journey to bless them with a refreshing more laid back environment. Traveling around the world country to country is taxing on your body. Especially when the living situations aren’t what your use to. For instance there’s been plenty of months my team and I couldn’t even brush our teeth with the water at our location because it was unsafe. However, this month out hosts Lyndon and Anthea provided hot showers, filtered water, bunk beds, reliable electricity, a full size kitchen, a frig, couches, a TV and on top of all that luxury… we lived directly on the beach! I felt a bit guilty living in a cozy beach house the first week. But as the month progressed I realized it’s okay to rest and recover for a short time during ministry. Living in the slums every month doesn’t make me a better missionary or give me more favor in Gods eyes.
Now, although our flat for the month was much nicer than usual… we still did ministry. I promise it wasn’t a 30 day vacation on the beach.
What did Ministry look like?
Ministry looked different throughout the month of January. We had two teams there, so we split up and had each team focus on a particular ministry for the month. At one point we baked bread at the Victory 4 All bakery. This small bakery was strictly used as an outreach program in the slum communities there. The city does a good job of hiding theses slums by placing them on the very back end of the city, away from everything. In fact you would probably be oblivious to the fact that slums even exist there. However, we’d wake up every morning, eat breakfast and then walk to the bakery to work. Three of us would make a HUGE pot of soup for the soup kitchen, while the rest of us prepared and baked the dough. Once the bread was baked and the soup was cooked, we went to the soup kitchen to serve lunch. After that we took the freshly baked loaves out into the slum communities, while praying and fellow shipping with the locals.
After a couple weeks of serving at the Victory Soup Kitchen/Bakery, my team and I were relocated at “Feather Foot Horse Farm” for the remainder of the month. At first I thought the ministry was sorta a joke. I didn’t understand how hanging out with horses all day would glorify Christ and further His Kingdom. However, within a couple days my outlook completely changed. God really opened my eyes in a cool way.
Feather Foot is owned by a wonderful woman named Hilmary. Hilmary was originally a house realtor and after six years of selling houses, she decided to open her very own horse farm at the age of 26. When she first opened the ranch she started with 6 horses. Today she has a whopping 64 in counting. It’s only been 5 years since she opened the farm and Although 64 horses is a large number, Hilmary has a close relationship with each one. I’ve never seen someone have so much control over their animals.
Now, although having relationships with animals is nice… Hilmary also has great relationships with her students. One of her major reasons for opening the ranch was to work with youth in the community. She has a lot of young girls coming in and out on a regular basis for riding lessons and many of them love it there. In fact on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons we would work with her disabled students during riding lessons. Now although I don’t know a whole lot about horses, I do know a lot about teaching others. And when Hilmary taught these young girls how to gracefully ride their horse it was a beautiful site to see. The way these little girls looked up to Hilmary was captivating.
So why were we at a horse farm?
Well several months ago, Hilmary lost most her help at the ranch, leaving her no one to help run things. Therefore, our hosts Anthea and Lyndon, heard she was struggling through a mutual friend. A few weeks later Anthea gave Hilmary a call and said, “How about I send you some young volunteers five months out of the twelve to help out on the ranch?” That’s when we showed up…
The 1st day we got there I remember how stressed and exhausted this woman was. It was difficult to hold a conversation with her because she was always doing something. However, one day I decided I’d just go up to her office and start a friendly conversation with her after work.
As we were chatting about her goals for the future of the farm, I eventually asked “when was the last time you took a full day off from the farm to rest?”. She responded, “well It’s been at least four years”. At that very moment I really wanted to tell her to leave the farm for a few days and let me handle everything. However, I’m not a rancher… But for the next 12 days I busted my ass to help her in any way possible because she NEEDED help. I cleaned up the smelly horse poop, fed the animals, fixed her lawn mower, mowed her property, cleaned her dishes and most importantly I was a friend to her. By the end of the month my team and I got to know Hilmary very well and we developed a true friendship with her. By the time we left I could tell that what we did made a difference.
Hilmary’s life isn’t one you hear about on the news or on a Christian website. She lives a quiet life on a horse farm in Jeffreys Bay. And one night before bed, she got down on her hands and knees to ask God for help. Therefore… God sent us. Being a follower of Christ doesn’t mean massive revivals follow you everywhere you go. It means picking up your cross, denying self and serving the people God places before you. It’s a very simple task, but it’s not for the faint of heart.
We are called to proclaim the gospel to the lost… But we are also called to encourage and refresh our brothers and sisters in Christ. We shouldn’t focus on one more than the other. We MUST do both!
(last day with Hilmary)
“May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.” (2 Timothy 1:16-18)
(Taking a ride on the beach during our last day)
