I haven’t blogged in a while!
To my avid readers I have to apologize (again) for taking so long to get a blog up. Maybe when I explain the last few weeks you will understand:
So Kim and I were blessed to get to return to our wonderful family for the 2nd week of Beat the Drum. We were also joined by Chad and Paul, which made the already full house, even crazier. Getting to spend extra time with this family was such a blessing. I was able to have several good conversations with Mieta, who is still battling breaking away from alcohol. We also had the opportunity to talk about Jesus to the always drunk gardener, who came by most nights. We hope to have planted some seeds.
The best part of the week for me had to be the relationships I built with 2 of the girls in the class. I team taught with Chad this week, and on the 2nd day of teaching we were able to split up the guys and girls for gender specific talks. After class 2 girls came up to me for help. One girl in tears told me she recently had an abortion and now her father wont talk to her, she has been kicked off a counsel at school, and everyone knows about it. In her words, “I have lost everything.” Not feeling very qualified in the counselling department, I turned to scripture and also prayed for her. She didn’t own a Bible, so I made a mental note to get that problem solved!
The other girl came to me, also crying, because her boyfriend of several years, who she has a 1 1/2 year old child with, beat her recently and broke up with her. She told me she believed in Jesus and had a Bible, so I gave her a few scriptures to read whenever she felt sad and alone. I also got to spend precious time telling her who she is in the Lord and that she deserved much better than this guy.
My heart broke for these girls as I realized how blind I am to some problems in the world. Chad had a guy tell him that he and his girlfriend were both HIV positive. He asked Chad what the chances were of their baby having HIV. It shocked me how real the problem of HIV/AIDS is here. That wasn’t the only story from kids we heard that knew they had HIV. I realized how important it was to share the information we have about the disease with these kids because they have never been taught the facts.
Finally, the last day of class came, and Chad shared a powerful testimony with our class. Most all of them made a decision for abstinance until marriage! The best moment of the week though had to have been when Chad asked the class who wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts and all 36 kids shot out of their chairs! It was a powerful and moving moment for me, to see God give these kids a hope that they had never known before!
So the morning after our last teaching day we headed out at 6am for a 6 hour drive to a town called Ugie where we would work a camp for 7th graders. All throughout the week we had spent time preparing and planning our teaching times, games, and activities. I, of course, chose to be on the game committee. We had picked a theme of Quest for the weekend and focused on “An Invitation into the Epic Life.” In about a day and a half, Chad and Gary taught through sessions called “The War Begins,” “Chosen by the King,” “The Great Invasion,” and “Suiting Up for Battle.” Saturday night Gary had the opportunity to present the Gospel.
Almost every single kid, besides one or two that already knew Jesus, came up front to receive HIM! It was incredible. The next morning after the last session, group leaders were had the privaledge to “knight” their kids and welcome them into the family of God. The best part for me was to see how each of the World Racers’ gifts played a part into making the weekend so wonderful.
Directly from Ugie, we left for a town called Matata. Here we would spend the first couple days of the week visiting different schools and showing the “Beat the Drum” video and another called “In Your Face,” which gives the terrifying facts of HIV/AIDS. During this time we were also given the opportunity to visit an AIDS home and pray for people there. That experience was a little hard for me to handle.
Following the Beat the Drum in Matata, we left for one of Anna-Maire’s favorite places on the Wild Coast. Here we stayed for a couple days to relax and enjoy the ocean…although the rain kept us from doing that most days. We did get to hike one day for 4 hours along the coast…it was beautiful!!! During this time, we got to relax for a bit before heading back to Jeffery’s to start our official debrief sessions. I can’t believe the time is almost over!
So basically the last week we have started debriefing the year and preparing to come back home. However, in the midst of this, Anna Marie wanted us to have one more last ministry day as a team, which was yesterday. So the Red team got together and prayed about what God wanted us to do. We decided that we s
hould do a mini-open air near the beach, sharing testimonies, the gospel, and our drama for one last time. However, in World Race world, nothing ever goes as planned. We were not able to find a place that would let us use their power for our sound system…so time for plan B.
Our original goal was to play with some kids and share the gospel, so we decided to grab a few street kids and play some soccer near the beach. Ashley literally said, “Hey kid, you want to play some games? Get some of your friends.” And like that we had 3 kids of 10, 13, and 19 follow us down to a grassy area for some soccer….which eventually turned into rugby. After the playing, we sat down in the shade and Ashley showed the kids her old iodine/bleach experiment from Guatemala, sharing the gospel through it. Gary asked the kids if they wanted to accept Christ, and the 19 year old said yes! We prayed with him right then and there. He also wanted us to pray for them because they live on the street and don’t always have food. Gary made a promise to find out more information for him about a program here that helps to get kids off the street. He was going to meet our friend today at noon with the information and lunch! It still amazes me that we may make plans for things, but the Lord knows exactly where he needs us!
That brings us to now. We will spend this next week debriefing more and thinking back on a year of fun memories. There are only about 10 more days before we are officially done and everyone breaks off to different places. Most of us will head to Cape Town for a couple days before flying back to Johannesburg and then home. Pray for us as the end draws near, and we have to say goodbye to friends we have spent the last year of our lives with! It has been a wonderful adventure with wonderful people! So until something else blog worthy happens on this trip…peace out foos!
